MAGIC GIANT play Fonda Theater Jun. 29, Belly Up Jun.30; photo Wilder Bunke
Magic Giant shall soon be coming to SoCal to woo audiences with their remarkable brand of indie folk-rock music. The trio is scheduled to play at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood Jun. 29 and the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach Jun. 30.
Zambricki Li, one of the three main band members of the group, is especially looking forward to these two upcoming dates.
“We’ve been on tour really since December,” Li said. “It’s a celebration of us coming back to southern California after I don’t even know how many shows. So at both of those shows we have a lot of people I think are coming to both nights so it’s going to be a really fun party.”
Southern California, Li says, is not only immeasurably instrumental to shaping Magic Giant’s music along with their success in the music industry but is the best possible place there is for people who come to see them play live to truly enjoy themselves.
“Nothing beats coming to Southern California for a couple of days and going to shows and going to the beach and going through Hollywood and having like a crazy night.”
But whether they’re playing in California or someplace else, Li and his bandmates have made their unique, acoustically driven music equally fun for themselves and concertgoers of all sorts since forming Magic Giant in Los Angeles during 2014.
And it’s fun that Li and his bandmates aim to produce for audiences at each show.
MAGIC GIANT; photo Brantley Gutierrez
“If you’ve never heard it before, it’s kind of the energy and instrumentation of Arcade Fire and almost some of the storytelling of Tom Petty,” Li proclaims. “If you read through the lyrics and kind of sync into the meaning of the songs, there’s a story there. But the shows are like huge dance party events.”
Magic Giant already enjoys a devoted fanbase due to this unique approach to their music which has helped make their first full-length album In the Wind a success with fans and critics alike. The song “Set on Fire” still remains among the 40 songs currently listed on the Billboard Alternative musical chart a year after the album’s release.
Li credits the success of the group’s very first album due to the group taking an unorthodox approach to its composition and creation which he credits with helping in its success.
“We bought a little shuttlebus and we put solar panels on it and basically took all of our recording equipment and retrofitted it into this bus,” Li recalled. “As we played festivals and we played shows we were also recording our album and we were also writing along the way.”
In the Wind is also unique due to being recorded in locales such as a redwood tree on the coast of California not to mention a daisy field and airstrip in Colorado. Being able to create such music at such places is not only a stimulating and fun process but results in what they consider to be the ultimate sharing experience that occurs when they finally have the opportunity to play it live.
“Playing it live is like getting to make a painting and then literally carry the painting along around the country, around the world, showing people our art,” Li mused.
Magic Giant isn’t at all afraid to show off art in progress. If you’re lucky and attend a concert then you may even be privy to hear songs that the group is in the progress of creating.
“We try not to be pretentious about stuff and our art and not take ourselves too seriously,” Li admitted. “So, we’ll write on the road and then we’ll kind of debut songs on the road before it’s even demoed or recorded, and we’ll see how people react to it and their response and we might even rewrite the song after playing it out.”
Live performances have always been important to the band. By trusting the feedback of concertgoers, Li says Magic Giant is able to better guarantee that they make songs that people wish to hear both live and in recorded form.
“It’s a little risky but it allows us to make this the show experience and the things we learn on the road get baked together into the songs.”
Even though their current summer tour ends at the end of this month with two additional appearances next month in July, Li says that he and his bandmates are already planning.
“We’re getting back in the studio once we get off the road this summer and do some new material,” Li said. “We’re so happy we get to tour and we’re already working on a fall tour. It’s already kind of in the works so we’re doing that, new music and all that good stuff.”