Author: Richard DeMaria and Kainoa King
On Friday, Jan. 29, The Ugly Sweaters – vocalist and lead guitarist Mandla Gobledale (senior), bassist Jorge Tobon (sophomore) and drummer Seth Hansen (junior) – performed their first show of the semester in Stearns Hall. Joined by electric violinist Mac Schoen (sophomore), the group played a mix of new tracks and old favorites like “L.A. L.A.” As the band entered and took their positions, people had already begun jumping up and down, and continued to do so non-stop throughout the duration of the performance. Although the setting was stripped-down – no laser lights were shooting through a dry-iced room, nor was the venue anywhere near the size of, say, the Staples Center – the Ugly Sweaters’ music proved to be no less captivating.
During the show, the band played hook-heavy alt-rock with bruising enthusiasm. Not only did Gobledale, caught in the moment, accidentally yank his guitar from its amp from gyrating too much, but Hansen, at one point, missed the skin of his snare and drummed his own forehead into a bulging injury.
These are the sort of antics that continue to draw crowds. Having only started a few months ago with no long-term intentions, this Sweaters lineup – the second in the group’s history – probably couldn’t have imagined the enthusiastic response they received from their audience. What began as a one-time gig performing in Emergenza’s Battle of the Bands at Hollywood’s On The Rocks, now has Gobledale, Tobon and Hansen gaining acclaim in Los Angeles and booking shows at house parties and warehouses across the city.
“To be honest, I thought the plan was just to have me and Seth play for that [On the Rocks] gig,” Tobon said. “I thought it was going to be so temporary. Before you knew it, we had another gig in Hollywood, we had another [opening for] Gym Class Heroes [on campus]. We’re getting a lot of opportunities to share our sound with the community.”
If all goes well, the trio could even perform for tens of thousands at the Taubertal Festival in Germany – not bad for a group of guys who practice in the cramped space of Gobledale’s Stearns bedroom. The Ugly Sweaters today looks and sounds different from the Ugly Sweaters of early 2009, the band’s first incarnation. Gobledale, then a junior, played an original song at Oxy’s annual talent show Apollo Night – the same night future guitarist Noah Tovares, then a sophomore, played one of his own. The two liked each other’s music and saw the potential to make some together.
“I sort of recognized him as someone interested in writing and performing music and we could use each other as support for our own musical endeavors,” Gobledale said. Next the pair had to find a drummer. Soon Noah Hubble, a sophomore at the time, joined Gobledale and Tovares to complete the band’s lineup. There was just one more thing missing: a permanent percussion set. Without a drum kit of their own, the trio had to travel -equipment in hand – to the Booth Hall rehearsal room and use the practice kit, a process Gobledale called “the biggest hassle in the world.”
Frustrated, Gobledale hit Craigslist looking for a drum set. His search led him to the beachside home of an aging punk rocker, and for 50 dollars, he inherited the rocker’s kit. With drums in tow, Gobledale, Tovares and Hubble now had all the necessary components for their new band – they only needed a name.
Inspiration came when Gobledale found a hideous sweater at a dollar-a-bag church rummage sale. He and Tovares played with the idea of a band uniform. Each could come onstage, they decided, dressed in some gruesomely tasteless top. Gobledale lent a third sweater to Hubble, and there they were: the Ugly Sweaters.
“It was a little bit funny and catchy and easy to remember,” Gobledale said. It was a fitting name for a band of serious musicians with a sometimes goofy and good-humored approach to performing. “We just want to make sure it doesn’t become a buffoon act. We want people to be able to take us semi-seriously. Hopefully the music speaks for it.”
Eventually, the summer hit, and the members went their separate ways. Tovares became the head of a cappella group Cadence, and Hubble transferred out of Oxy, leaving Gobledale solo with his songs. In September he approached bassist Tobon, whom he knew from Res Life, and drummer Hansen to revitalize the Ugly Sweaters, and so began the current incarnation of the band. The new lineup did not click immediately; Tobon and Hansen started out playing only Gobledale’s songs. Within a month, though, Hansen and Tobon had started contributing to the band’s sound.
“After a while, the musical chemistry grew,” Tobon said. “We added our own instincts into the music and melded our style with Mandla’s and it became this cool fusion of sound.”
Hansen, who also drums in the Oxy Drum Line and two other student bands, described the group dynamic as a supportive one.”The three of us get along really, really well,” he said. “We all can rely on each other as musicians. None of us are as talented as Jimmy Paige, but we’re all super reliable – we all know how each other’s systems are going to work.”
From a technical standpoint, the new members brought additional perks.
“We all work well together . . . Jorge’s ability to skillfully play bass while singing is impressive and he, along with Seth, are able to bring their own talent to their respective parts,” Gobledale said.
With the former lineup, Gobledale and Tovares had to trade off bass duties, an instrument neither had learned to play. With Tobon, the Sweaters got a full-time bassist. Hansen contributed a pair of vocal chords, adding a harmonic layer Hubble could not provide.
“It’s really cool and exciting for [Hansen] – his singing opens up the sound completely,” Gobledale said.
Tobon described them as versatile musicians, willing to adapt to each other’s tastes and changes in style.
“We’ve gotten more ambitious with our music – Seth might throw in a crazy jazz fill in the middle of a punk song, for example – and we’ve managed to achieve it without much adversity,” he said.
Within less than a month of forming, the new lineup booked a September gig as part of Emergenza’s Battle of the Bands, a corporate-sponsored, worldwide talent search culminating in a final round at Germany’s Taubertal Festival. They sold tickets to somewhere between 70 and 80 Oxy students, and, with a sizable share of the audience voting in their favor, won the contest handily.
They also won their second battle, again at On The Rocks – a contest attended by only two Oxy students. Even without the guaranteed support of an Oxy crowd, they scored highly.
“We only technically sold two tickets, but we still got everyone else in the club super into it and placed second as far as votes,” Hansen said. “This incarnation of the Sweaters is notorious for getting people to jump around for awhile.”
Now the band is looking towards the third round of Emergenza’s Battle of the Bands, this time in May at the Whiskey A-Go-Go, with several more unaffiliated shows scheduled before, including spots at the Loft and the Boogie Den at the end of February.
“The Whiskey has been my dream,” Tobon said. “I’m a huge Doors fan – that’s where they started. It’s been a huge dream of mine to play there.”
That they have progressed this far is a testament to their exciting stage presence. In their short time, the new trio has developed a reputation for frenetic live performances. Once, when performing at a vegan cafe, Gobledale was so entranced that he nearly headbanged a nearby P.A. speaker. “We were a little more subdued in our younger days,” Gobledale said. “We’ve gotten crazier and crazier.”
At their most recent Oxy show, Hansen, his drum stick recoiling from a strike, smacked himself in the forehead, unbeknownst to him until the next morning.
“I’m pretty sure at the show on Friday, I was playing and I hit myself in the face accidentally with a drum stick and I woke up and had this . . .” he said, gesturing to a walnut-sized lump on his fo
rehead. “I woke up and was like, what the hell? I was drumming too hardcore.”
This kind of music-induced haphazardry – bludgeoned foreheads and equipment failures, ad-libbed verses and crowd interactions – are all part of the show. Without their stage presence, they’d be just another band.
“We’re connecting with the crowd instead of getting up and just playing songs,” Gobledale said. “I’m playing to an audience, not just there to look like a singer; it’s more entertaining if someone is into it, even if it jeopardizes the singing.”
Their energy has earned them fans beyond Oxy’s limits, and unaffiliated Los Angelenos have even showed up at their on-campus shows. Their opening set for Gym Class Heroes last semester lured a few MySpace fans out to Oxy, and a handful of non-students have joined their Facebook and MySpace pages after each show.
“When someone shows up just because of the music, that’s the best thing, it means it’s not tainted [by friendship obligations],” Gobledale said.
Now the Ugly Sweaters stand on the edge of an exciting but uncertain future. The three members are each a year apart, with Gobledale set to graduate in May of this year. The band’s post-commencement life is, at this point, up in the air. Either Gobledale will leave L.A. and with him the songs, or he will remain, and the current Ugly Sweaters can keep playing music.
“Come the gig in May, we’re going to have to re-evaluate where we’re at as a band,” Tobon said. “We want to be in it for the long haul, but if the situation doesn’t allow it, we’ll all be very happy with the work we’ve done this year.”
Whatever the future holds, Hansen is excited.
“I’m super, super pumped for our future,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve ever done anything in a band this big and I’m so excited about the possibilities we have in front of us and what we can do with it. I’m trying to keep realistic about it, but it’s getting harder and harder not to be fantasizing about touring around places.”
Friday’s Stearns concert ended with their new song “Abandoned in Wisconsin,” and although the lyrics of the song ended in a round of “goodbyes,” it is certain that this will not be the last anyone’s sees of the Ugly Sweaters.
The band will be playing at the Loft on York Blvd. on Friday, Feb. 26, and at the Boogie Den at 521 Union Pacific Ave on Saturday, Feb. 27. Hear them at myspace.com/uglysweaters.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
