Las Vegas Weekly

Checking in on The Lazystars on the eve of their EP-release show

Local band The Lazystars hope to reel in people’s ears with their new EP.

Timing is everything for The Lazystars.

After loves lost and band breakups, the four local musicians who would become The Lazystars were just waiting for the magic to happen again. Guitarist Dave Meeks ran into old friend Dave Hawkins as he was putting together a new ensemble. Drummer Brian Havens, formerly with The Killers, had returned from Oregon. Bassist Tony DiVincenzo was joining Hawkins’ new venture. It helped that new venues like Wasted Space were offering local bands the opportunity to feel like rock stars. On the eve of the release of The Lazystars’ new EP, Light of Day, Hawkins sums it up: “Timing is everything in the music scene.”

Dave, compared to your days in Psychic Radio, how do you think the local music scene has changed over the years?

Dave Hawkins: I’ve seen the music scene change so much over the years. It just comes in waves. … Now I think that all the venues downtown like Bunkhouse and Beauty Bar and then Wasted Space, there are three venues that have rejuvenated the music scene and the talent just kind of appears out of nowhere. Timing is everything in the music scene. We’re in the best time of it right now, I believe.

The Lazystars - Light of Day

Given your experiences with other local bands, how did you all come together to form this group?

Tony DiVincenzo: Dave [Hawkins] was just destined to write songs. ... We all knew he had an amazing talent, and the coolest thing was just to back him. I’ve played in Hearsay and Psychic Radio with him, pretty much all of his local bands. It was kind of like a married couple. We would play for a while here then it wouldn’t work out and we would play for awhile there and it wouldn’t progress then this band just kind of came together.

Brian Havens: We started jamming together every Wednesday and it was just instant chemistry. As a band, the right timing was everything. That’s why we don’t try and rush anything. We just kind of surrender to the right time. We have paid our dues in the sense of trying to rush things.

Do you have a favorite local venue where you like to perform?

DiVincenzo: At Wasted Space, you feel like a rocker. It’s a real accomplishment. It’s the new trendy place to play. The stage is so small and the crowd is so close, but people just eat it up.

What was behind the decision to go with another EP rather than a full length CD this time?

Hawkins: It’s a feeling that you have. When we’re ready to make that full record, we’ll know that it’s time. We just kind of feel like we have these little gems of songs and we want to throw them out there – like reeling the line out and catching people’s ears.

Do you have a favorite track off of this new EP?

DiVincenzo: “She Knows Everything.” Hands down, best track.

Dave Meeks: I like the openness about it. It sounds very open and sonically, it just sounds very good.

Havens: You can vacuum to it, you can work out to it…

Hawkins: When you listen to it, you can truly relate it to whatever your life is going through at that moment. It’s very open in that way. For me, when I say “She knows everything” the she I’m taking about is Vegas.

Which of your songs tends to get the best crowd response?

Hawkins: “Nothing Else Matters” off our first EP was big. We save it for encores now. It’s sort of a raise-your-beer type of song. We’ve had audiences singing along to it, which always trips me out, because I barely know the words.

Havens: “Pictures and Photographs.” It’s that feel-good song that I think helps everyone think about the beautiful times in their lives.

DiVincenzo: Plus, pictures and photographs, that’s what everyone’s doing right now with camera phones and all that. Everyone can relate to it. God, Kodak could buy it. Not that we’re going to sell out.

Brian, have you had any backlash since your recent major haircut?

Havens: It’s been a very challenging process. Most of the girls have been saying, “Aw, it looks cute. But I loved it when it was longer!” I’m going to keep it short for awhile. … It was kind of representational of the idea that I’m not hiding anymore. Here’s my face. Here we are. Here’s our music. You’re going to like it.