Ladada

Ladada are a band who mix the lean, insistent sound of punk rock with bright, surf-influenced guitars and the cool, drifting melodic approach of shoegaze. Beginning as a solo project in 2014, the group's recognition grew, as did their membership, with their pop-infused sound gaining energy and texture as they evolved into a full four-piece band. Ladada was founded by Josiah Schlater, whose other projects include Mae, BAMM BAMM, and Tokyo. A native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Schlater initially conceived Ladada as a solo project in 2014 after he returned to Virginia Beach following a sojourn in Brooklyn, New York. Renting a storage space where he set up a makeshift recording studio, Schlater recorded a handful of songs one-man-band style, and in August 2014, he issued a seven-song EP as Ladada. Family and academic commitments kept him away from music for a while, but Ladada returned in April 2016 with a five-song EP fittingly titled Hi Five, which traded the lo-fi attack of the debut for a tighter and more energetic approach. By the time Ladada released the La Bamm single in April 2018, Schlater had transformed Ladada into a full band with the addition of second guitarist Jonnie Schilling, bassist Robert Smith, and drummer Bobby Rangel, boosting the intensity of the music. Three months later, another single appeared, "Heaven on the Rock" b/w "Winter Wash," as Ladada worked on their first full-length album. ~ Mark Deming