4/7/26.
We're going back to The Beach again. In our recent post the new Eyes and Flys 7" I proclaimed an "official" indie scene in Long Beach, California. And, here we are, two weeks later, checking in again on that scene.
sonnyskyes has been plugging away in the Long Beach music scene for well over a decade, and "the imaginary friend ship" was released in 2013, but the artist (Mike Smith) recently released a digital only release in June 2024, and he mentioned that he and his band (who in the past have included members of Crystal Antlers) play at Vine - a bar owned by...Dustin Lovelis from Softjaw.
I listened to this about 5 minutes after giving another Long Beach band, Nectarines, a quick listen. I liked Nectarines and their gothy take on the Pixies (their S/T album came out in 2017), but I "the imaginary friend ship" had so much more sound to it.
My immediate comp for this sonnyskyes release was Franky Flowers. [Quick sidebar here - when Franky Flowers comes up on my Bandcamp app shuffle, I stop what I'm doing and listen. The "In Loving Memory" EP has never grown old to me.] Deeper into the record I thought of Cindy Lee or Nashpaints. The interesting thing to keep in mind is that sonnyskyes was making this music back in 2013 - roughly around the time Cindy Lee was starting and well before Franky Flowers or Nashpaints even existed.