Los Angeles based band The Paranoyds are halfway through opening for The Kills on their “God Games Tour.” They played at The Rave for the first time on Feb. 13.
The “God Games Tour” is the biggest multi-city tour the band has contributed to so far, which ends March 16. They’ve opened for other artists such as Jack White before, but the band said they have never toured for this long.
The group describes their sound as garage rock, alternative rock and broad rock.
The Paranoyds started making music together after vocalist and guitarist, Lexi Funston, met Layila Hashemi, vocalist and keys, in preschool. Later on in ninth grade, they met bassist and vocalist Staz Lindes and, drummer David Ruiz in 2015.
“Touring and being in a band with your best friends is really fun. We three have the foundation and David is the most patient man in the world honestly,” Funston said.
Hashemi said that for a group that had been a trio for so many years, adding Ruiz to the mix is a perfect fit for them. They said they feel more like family than friends.
Their opening set was just under an hour, and featured songs from three of their most celebrated albums such as “Carnage Bargain,” “Talk, Talk, Talk” and their most recent “I Like It Here.” Their set was a thoughtful mix of songs from various stages of their growing career.
They awoke the audience, which consisted largely of older adults waiting to see The Kills, with high energy performing their first song “Face First.” The group has a unique sound that features loud guitars and distorted vocals.
The band’s style felt very reminiscent of the 80’s in some ways, especially since they were wearing matching dramatic blue eyeshadow. The set was decorated in bright tinsel under colorful stage lights, and a black light which was bright and bold — almost like an old roller rink.
After almost every song they thanked the audience for coming out early to support them in their opening act, which felt sincere and heartfelt.
The band said they proudly consider themselves DIY, meaning they do everything themselves — from writing the music to designing album covers, the band keeps everything in-house.
“We do it all. Everything we outsource is from our friends, who also make everything themselves in DIY setups,” Ruiz said.
Funston described the process of creating their album cover for “Talk Talk Talk” which was released in 2022, that took up the bulk of their set they played many songs from during the show. The cover shows the band dressed in tin foil hats staged under a blue hazy glow, alluding to alien activity.
“We found the person we wanted to work with, came up with the concept to wear tin foil hats, and even made them ourselves,” Funston said.
Funston said that the band’s songwriting and recording process is very collective, everyone plays a part in making something new when it comes to their sound.
“Whoever’s feeling inspired will come in with a riff or a short little thing and we’ll workshop it at practice and we’ll make it sound more like the Paranoyds,” Funston said.
From the band’s first studio album, “Carnage Bargain,” up until their more recent projects, a notable change in the band’s growth and development when it comes to their sound is apparent.
“We made it sound like whatever we wanted it to, ‘Talk Talk Talk’ was more like let’s try to write 80’s pop songs with guitars and ‘I Like It Here’ is more free. There’s no constrictions,” Funston said.
Although Funston takes the lead for many of their songs, Lindes and Hashemi contributed vocally during the show as well. This added a harmonious layer of unison to their sound, which made it feel like they were all one singular voice.
As they continue their tour, the band mentioned they feel extremely welcomed by The Kills and are overall excited to continue on the road for their next upcoming shows.
“They’re fun, nice and welcoming. They’re really warm people. They look so cool, you think they’re going to be cold and too cool, but they’ve been so nice, their door is always open,” Ruiz said. “It’s the first time where their crew has helped us out so much where it almost feels like we have our own crew.”
Their energy while closing the show and welcoming The Kills to the stage was unforgettable and made a notable impression in Milwaukee.
This story was written by Sofía Cortés and Shannyn Donohue. They can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].
