photo credit: Graham Barbour

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The members of Kendall Street Company are checking in on Zoom from two locations in Virginia’s state capital. Four out of the band’s five members—acoustic guitarist/lead vocalist Louis Smith, bassist/vocalist Brian Roy, drummer/percussionist Ryan Wood and saxophonist/ keyboardist/singer Jake Vanaman—are spread out in the lush grass at Maymont Park, relaxed and unbothered as the warm spring sun slowly creeps in. At the same time, electric guitarist/vocalist/ banjo player Ben Laderberg sits propped up against an old-growth tree at neighboring Byrd Park, approximately a mile down the road from his bandmates—cellphone in hand and smiling at the camera. The Old Dominion-based group are meeting virtually to discuss their most recent offering—a genre-bending, 7-track EP dubbed the Untitled California Project.

The band’s latest release, which dropped on June 24, is a stark contrast from their previous work on 2021’s The Year the Earth Stood Still: Inertia and The Year the Earth Stood Still: Ninurta. Whereas Inertia and Ninurta are both full-album sonic statements that flow naturally from track to track, Untitled California Project is an eclectic, multi-layered mix of individual cuts built around one consistent theme—California.

“It all started with Jake. He has a cousin named Mark who lives out in Hollywood, and he was developing this TV show during the pandemic,” Laderberg says. Then, Vanaman takes over the backstory and explains, “They were working on a little side gig, making a parody of an old show called California’s Gold. They had no name for it, so it was just called ‘Untitled California Project.’ He asked me if I could come up with some sound-isms or soundbites—theme songs for this little spoof TV thing. So Brian and I sat down and came up with a few things. And, after we got the rest of the band together, a few more things came out of our improv.”

Roy recalls: “It was just one afternoon. The framework of almost every song—with the exception of one or two of them—was put together in a couple of hours.”

Collectively, the band lets out a snicker and Wood says, “However, the show didn’t pan out. They stopped the project, but our creative juices were still rolling, despite the fact that we are a bunch of East Coast, Richmond, Va. kids who have all been to California like one time.” He then adds with a laugh, “Ah, the irony of the project.”

“So this is our ode to California,” Vanaman notes. “There are elements of that story in all of the songs.”

In conjunction with the new EP, the band will finally head to the West Coast for a tour that will serve as their California debut, following a packed spring schedule. The members of Kendall Street Company are more than ready for their upcoming long-haul drives— self-described road dogs known for their live prowess. And, on their upcoming trek, they’re hoping to cross paths with at least one of their musical idols, Dweezil Zappa. (Laderberg recently wrote a letter to the guitarist, inquiring about potentially laying down some tracks together this fall.)

Untitled California Project is true West Coast celebration, jumping from classic cowboy tunes to blissful melodic daydreams, hard-rock bangers and even a tinge of rockabilly. The set opens with “California #1”’s Saturday Night Live-style invocation, with an announcer introducing the five-piece ensemble in a vocal style akin to NBC’s enduring late-night hit. That heavy jazz standard eventually flows into a twangy ballad made out to Joni Mitchell, “California #17” while some tight riffs and rocking drums dominate the surf epic “California #X.” Elsewhere, the ensemble dig into an increasingly refined, bluesy early-rock beat on “California #B,” and “Crab Surprise”’s funky Grateful Dead-style jam section segues nicely into the Frank Zappa-inspired “California #24.” And, on the EP’s final tune, “California #690210,” Laderberg even channels a bit of Michael Stipe’s timber from the 1993 favorite “Chance (Dub).” Ultimately, the band members believe the musical collection unfolds like a play.

As Ross says, “It works out that [the songs] were in order— only the ones with numbers get larger as you go down [the tracklist]. But that was more of a coincidence.”

“I think the whole EP reads like a theatrical event,” Vanaman says, summing up the concept. “In my mind, I’m visualizing a full theatrical presentation. It’s a very fun-oriented record, for sure.”