Los Angeles-based synthpop/rock duo Uh Huh Her will stop in Philadelphia as part of its U. S. tour for the excellent new album “Future Souls.”
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a full-length album from the out duo, Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey. Hailey said the long break between 2011’s “Nocturnes” and this year’s album was necessary because they are navigating the nuances of being independent artists.
“After we got dropped from our label, we had to figure out how to become indie artists and it was a hard transition for us,” Hailey said. “We had to find a rehearsal space, get our own equipment and figure out how to release albums, and that is no small task. That’s taken us the last four years to finally get to a place where we have a small business. We feel like we have our team in place that we need. We hire people out when we need them, like a publicist or marketing help or social-media help. So basically we have to spend a lot of time doing logistical work instead of what we want to be doing, which is concentrating on the creative aspect. But if you don’t do the business side, it’s all kind of pointless.”
It certainly helped that Uh Huh Her benefited from the fans already being familiar with Hailey from her role portraying the character of “Alice” on TV show “The L Word.” Hailey said that level of exposure was a boon for the duo when they first started out.
“I had always done music but it was very different to be on the show and people were coming because … they didn’t even know I had done music when they watched the show,” she said. “They had learned that side of me through the show, which is weird. It was a weird combo of fans of the show and people that were there to see the music. At this point, it’s weeded out the audience so that it’s all people who are there for the music. But it was also a blessing because it would have taken us years to get an audience that size. We were playing our first show ever in front of a sold-out crowd.”
When asked about being more in control of the group’s artistic and business affairs, Hailey said it has its ups and downs.
“There are things that have been great about it,” she said. “We’ve learned so much as artists because when you put effort into art you just made and you hand it over to someone, you have to let go and trust that they will do the right thing with it and market it the right way. But I think when you do that, a lot of different people put in a lot of different opinions and things can change because of that. Whereas when Cam and I do it ourselves now, we have complete control over the image, the feeling and the sounds, all the things that matter to us as artists. That’s been really empowering, as well as learning the business side of things. You can get really ripped off when it comes to labels. They basically take most of your money. You don’t really see any money. You work really hard and you don’t see the return unless you’re a huge artist like Katy Perry or Justin Bieber. So people at our level work a lot without seeing any financial gain. Not that it’s about money, but if you want to survive this way you have to think about things like that — what we’re spending our money on and what we’re going to get back.”
Keeping a sharper eye on the business side of things was one of the reasons the duo decided to self-produce their new album, and record it mostly in their home studio. Hailey said recording at home let them be more creative and spontaneous with songwriting.
“We did the drums at a real studio because we didn’t have the ability to do that,” Hailey said. “It was very different because you don’t have the time constraints and you don’t have to pay the exorbitant amount of money to rent out a real recording studio. We basically over the past couple of years have been collecting equipment in order to have a home studio. Since we’re electronically based, we can do most of our production here. Cam would work late or I would get up really early and do drum loops. We could go in and out of the room when we felt like it or work on it together. We brought people in to collaborate. So it’s really different when you have a studio at home.”
Uh Huh Her did find time in the flurry of activity between albums to release an EP. “EP3” features reworked, stripped-down acoustic versions of songs from the duo’s earlier albums.
Hailey said that while those versions of their songs were fun to do, they’ll be sticking to the original versions of those songs when they perform live.
“We’re going to do everything in its original form when we play live,” she said. “That’s just really what our show is like. I think the fans loved it. We did it for them because they’ve always requested that we do that. Cam is classically trained and there is nothing better than when she just sits down and plays with just her vocal and a piano. I’ve always wanted that personally as well. That EP was released to keep feeding people content between albums because we have these long breaks between albums. It was just a nice way to give them what they wanted.” Hailey and Grey both enjoy creating music in the studio but Hailey said the creative process of writing the songs doesn’t compare to the thrill of performing them live for their fans.
“For me, there’s nothing better than a live show,” she said. “I love the audience. I love the energy a show has. In the studio you can get lost in a void of laboring over something over and over. Live, the pressure is on and I like that.”
Uh Huh Her performs 8 p.m. May 18 at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. For more information or tickets, call 215-222-1400 or visit www.uhhuhher.com.