Seventeen years after the release of their self-titled debut album, local psychedelic country-rock band I See Hawks in L.A. are back with Live and Never Learn, the group's first album since 2013's Mystery Drug. It's been a tough five years for the quartet, too; two members — Rob Waller and Paul Lacques — lost parents, and many of the songs on the new record deal with that grief.


The band have chosen to premiere a couple of tracks with L.A. Weekly, and that's perfectly appropriate because both are Los Angeles–themed. “Last Man in Tujunga” is a breakup song set in the Southern California hills, while of “King of the Rosemead Boogie,” Lacques says:

“This song explores the exotic nightlife in the seedy motel bars along Foothill Boulevard (Route 66) in the early 1990s with reimaginings and twisted lyrical and spiritual contributions by members of Old Californio. The guru appears in many guises. In this case, a gender-fluid semi-housed wino artiste headquartered at the corner of Rosemead and Foothill boulevards, where all of life's needs are met. Studied guitar with Shuggie Otis. You never know.”

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