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Stoked On You: Going coast to coast with California’s Melissa Brooks & The Aquadolls

A band’s first ever cross-country tour of the United States is a very exciting experience. New cities to play in, new bands to share bills with, and plenty of new friends to make. And it can be an eye-opening introduction to how life can truly be on the road. Sure there are a few bumps along the way, but overall it’s a thrilling adventure that’s usually unforgettable. This can be said for Melissa Brooks & The Aquadolls, a psychedelic garage rock act from California’s Seal Beach, who are currently on their first full-length tour.

Brooks and the gang will be tearing the roof off Firehouse 13 in Providence on Tuesday, August 9 with local support coming from Atlantic Thrills, Neutrinos, and Food Court. The band started only a few years ago, back in 2012, when Brooks and guitarist Ryan Fralich were in their late teens.

“When we started the band we were just doing it for fun, we were playing every show we could get,” Brooks tells Vanyaland. “Now it’s grown a lot, a lot of people are coming to shows and they know the words of the songs and they’re singing along. Our shows over the years have really grown and we’ve created an awesome fan base. This tour that we’re currently on is definitely the biggest step that we’ve taken with this band.”

So far, Brooks and The Aquadolls have played in cities such as Denver, Omaha, Minneapolis, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and most recently, Harmony House in Rochester, New York, this past Sunday. The shows have had a different vibe than what the band usually receives on the West Coast.

“We’ve been playing around the same set list but the crowds have really dug it,” Brooks says. “Our favorite show so far probably has been in South Dakota at Total Drag Records in Sioux Falls. We had a really good turnout there, everyone was so nice and people were dancing. It was a really intimate show too because it was in a record store so we were all pretty close together and it was real nice.”

The band’s sound started from having a vintage pop sound reminiscent of Phil Spector’s girl groups of the ’60s, to recently incorporating a synth element. Brooks has a pretty wide taste in music, explaining: “I love rock, I love pop, I love electronic, I love old school doo-wop, I love everything. Growing up it was kind of a melting pot of all those different styles and genres. I guess that’s what originally inspired me. With the first record Stoked On You, I was definitely listening to more doo-wop and surf rock but now I’m going back to my other roots with pop music. I feel like we’re trying to combine the sound that we originally had with the garage rock but we’re also cleaning it up, adding beats and making it more exclusive.”

Notably The Aquadolls have been on Burger Records’ artist roster ever since releasing Stoked On You with the label in 2014. The Southern California-based garage rock label has received a lot of acclaim so far this decade for their work with artists like The Black Lips, Cherry Glazzerr and Thee Oh Sees. “We’ve gotten to play a lot of really awesome festivals through Burger Records,” Brooks says. “We got to play with Cat Power which was really awesome. It’s been really cool being a part of the label.”

After this current tour, The Aquadolls already have plans in store.

“I’ve been working working on the next release for the past two and a half years so there will be some new music that’ll be released very soon,” Brooks says. “It’ll definitely have more of a punch than the current songs do.”

MELISSA BROOKS & THE AQUADOLLS + ATLANTIC THRILLS + NEUTRINOS + FOOD COURT :: Tuesday, August 9 at Firehouse 13, 41 Central St. in Providence, RI :: 8 p.m., all-ages, $10 :: Facebook event page

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