Not Your Everyday ‘People'

Often compared to Pavement and Robert Pollard, the Henry Clay People don't feel like a Los Angeles band, but that's just what they are. Says vocalist/guitarist Joey Siara: “While we don’t quite fit in with L.A.’s noise scene or the singer/songwriter crew ... we've found a nice little niche."

The band's third full-length album, Somewhere on the Golden Coast, follows in the footsteps of 2006’s Blacklist the Kid With the Red Mustache and 2008’s For Cheap or for Free, but this time around, the album has a more freewheelin' feel. When recording the album, producer Aaron Espinoza wanted to capture the band's renowned live show, so he encouraged it to do away with the headphones and overdubs, drink some beers and record live to tape.

Did they succeed? To find out, download their new song, "Slow Burn," and then go see them at Soma on Saturday, where they'll open for Silversun Pickups and Everest. In the meantime, check out this list of Top 5 Best Sounding Guitars that the band sent over to me:

1. "My Sweet Lord," by George Harrison: Slide guitarmonies makes us all weepy. Clearly we could have put on a bunch of Harrison tunes.

2. "Venus," by Television: Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd kill it on this I read somewhere that Richard Lloyd could double his guitar perfectly while Tom wouldn't double because he'd be playing it differently each time.

3. "Like a Hurricane," by Neil Young: Neil is my favorite guitarist. He is like a caveman discovering fire and going crazy with it. Two of my guitars have Bigsby Vibratos on them just because of Neil.

4. "Everyone Chooses Sides," by the Wrens: The song is great. The guitars sound blown out.

5. "LAX," by Hot Snakes: San Diego's finest.

T. Loper is a writer for the San Diego music blog Owl and Bear.

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