Two hours until stage time and The Like’s equipment has gone AWOL. “There’s been a bit of a mix-up,” notes lead singer Z Berg as she marches about Dublin’s Crawdaddy in a skimpy (and distractingly see-through) dress.
Turning heads is nothing new for the attractive front-lady of LA’s latest female-rock export. She’s even been nominated for US animal right group PETA’s ‘sexiest vegetarian in the world’ award.
Should she miss out on that accolade, then there’s still plenty more in the offering for the 20-year-old. Along with raven-haired bassist Charlotte Froom and Anglo-American drummer Tennessee Thomas, Berg has steadily garnered attention on both sides of the Atlantic for The Like’s intelligently crafted debut, Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?
All aged between 19 and 22 years old, the trio hail from Orange County, California, (“The OC is so-true to life there it’s, like, scary”) and are daughters of prominent music industry figures. Berg’s father is producer and former Geffen A&R man Tony Berg, Thomas’ dad is long-time Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas, while Elvis Costello, Crowded House and Paul McCartney producer Mitchell Froom is Charlotte’s father. Her step-mum, meanwhile, is Vonda Shepard, famed for the Ally McBeal theme tune.
Understandably perhaps the three are eager to play down their illustrous parentage.
“Apart from having great record collections and Charlotte and Tennessee meeting through their parents when they were like, five, our parents have had very little to do with the band,” Berg says drearily. “I think they came into the studio maybe once or something while we were recording.
“When we started the band we knew that there was going to be charges of nepotism from some people who know who are parents are. You know people are always going to be cynical and sceptical. So I guess we consciously kept our parents at a distance. And anyway when you’re a teenager you want to sort of separate from your parents, so we were like, ‘Go away. We love you but stay the fuck away from our band.’ And they did.”
With a certain air of rich-girls-on-tour and a penchant for saying ‘like’ (the source of their moniker) Froom and Thomas could well serve as extras in The OC. Berg however is much more in keeping with the group’s pop-punk-rock aesthetic. The classic rock-chick in all senses, there’s much more lurking beyond her mascara-daubed eyes then a first glance might tell.
As the group’s songwriter, it is she who is behind the recent hit single ‘June Gloom’ and certainly, Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?, could be described as a gloomy, though not, as Berg is quick to point out, angsty record.
“They’re just really sad songs,” she says. “To be angsty, I think that you have to think that your problems are really important. You have to really whine and moan. I just think the songs are really sad and pathetic. I wish that I could write songs that weren’t so personal, but really that’s all I do.”
It’s for this reason she didn’t print the lyrics on the album sleeve. The next record however, “is rapidly developing into a revenge record” and will, she says, “definitely have its lyric printed”.
Some guy is soon to realise hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. For now though, Berg is all smiles. There’s a meet-and-greet to be done. “A guy from some band called Clannad is here,” her tour manager says as our interview ends. “They must have been someone my father produced,” says Berg as she gets up to leave. “Hopefully he’s young and handsome.”