The ‘Spray Q&A: The Like

We like The Like. And when you’ve heard The Like, you’ll like The Like, too. The Like are three teenage girls - Z Berg, Charlotte Froom and Tennessee Thomas - who sound like Justine Frischmann fronting The Foo Fighters.

We fell in love with The Like the moment that the lead-off song from their UK debut EP What I Say And What I Mean blasted from our speakers last month. To say that we’re expecting to hear a whole lot more from The Like in 2006 is a gigantic understatement.

We caught up with The Like singer Z Berg for a chat about R Kelly, synchronised swimmers and hating animals…

Who are you, and where are you?
I’m Z Berg. I’m a
Cancer, I hate avocados and most animals, and I’m in a band you’ve
never heard of called The Like. Right now I’m home (in Los Angeles),
but I just got home and I leave again for tour very soon.

Why should people buy your records?
So that I can eat.

How’s the album coming along?
Well,
since we finished it over 6 months ago, I’d say it’s coming along
pretty well. Every time I check to see how it’s going it’s magically
finished!

You’re on all kinds of ‘next big thing’ lists. How are you preparing for the big-time?
Bomb-proofing the basement, and getting lots and lots of canned and dried food.

Who is the best band you’ve toured with so far?
Well, touring with Kings Of Leon was fun… and since it’s the last one I did it’s the only one I remember. So them.

If you weren’t a jetsetting global rockstar, what would you want to be?
I would want to be a makeup artist to pay my way through forensic pathology school.

If the day before yesterday is two days after Monday then what day is it today?
Friday the 13th.

What’s with the synchronised swimmers in the new video? Whose idea was that?
It
was the idea of our friend Mike Myerburg who directed the video. And
hello??? Who doesn’t want to spend a day with 16 16-year-old girls in
bathing suits?

Preach about something you love (not related to the band) in less than 100 words.
R Kelly’s Trapped In The Closet (Parts 1-12). It’s the Finnegan’s Wake of our time.

What’s on The Like iPod?
Dylan,
The Band, Emperor, Bathory, Judee Sill, Linda Perhacs, Vashti Bunyan,
Pulp, Blur, Oasis, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, The Jesus
And Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Nico, The Velvet Underground,
Mazzy Star, The Sundays, Ride, Lucinda Williams, The Stones, The Stone
Roses, BRMC, Kasabian, The Icarus Line, Soft, Vietnam, Simon Dawes,
Royal Trux, Fleetwood Mac, Grateful Dead, The Pogues, Donovan, Kevin
Hewick, Big Star, Bow Wow, The Wake, Snoop, Mary Hopkin, Jay-Z.

Favourite movie soundtrack?
Soundtrack to Performance.

Motorhead have Cheese And Chive Ruffles on their rider. What’s on yours?
In your country, cheese, bread, tea, twiglets, shreddies, and so much chocolate.

Say something rock and roll.
I hate love.

What are you going to do right now?
Go back to sleep.

Listen to The Like at The Like’s MySpace page

[interview by Stuart Heritage]