Couches kicks off tour tonight 5/9/13 at Amnesia (watch video for "Killer Mutant Butterfly")

Nacent SF trio Couches are setting out on their “Real Lazy Tour” of the West Coast during May, and it all starts tonight at Amnesia with a set sandwiched between headliner Brasil and opener Old & Gray. Frontman David Mitchell (whom you may recognize as the founder of 20 Sided Records) describes the band’s sound as “slacker indie rock,” which he explains is “original indie rock, like Pavement, Built to Spill, Archers of Loaf, Sonic Youth, etc.” The three-piece is planning to release an EP in September as a preview for their debut full length, which should be out early Spring 2014, and just last week dropped a video for the track “Killer Mutant Butterfly” in anticipation of their 17-gig tour:

Comprised of Mitchell (guitar, vocals), Chris Griley (bass), and Mike Dubuque (drums), Couches self-describes as a “random bunch of misfits,” formed under some truly random circumstances. The frontman (who previously played in Slow Trucks, The Suggies, and Street Pyramids) met Dubuque (formerly of SF-via-New Jersey band Mr. Thumb) at a bistro around the corner from his house where the latter is the kitchen manager. The two struck up a conversation about music and, both of them being band-less at the time, Mitchell explains that “It was common sense to start jamming.” A mutual friend later recommended bassist Griley, rounding out the three-piece.

They have been playing a handful of shows ever since, heading up to Boise’s Treefort Music Fest back in March and most recently joining one of my other favorites Oceanography for a set at The Night Light at the end of April.

Slacker indie rock is a way of life for Mitchell. “I’m a stoner, I am a slacker, and I’m a big time daydreamer, but I work hard for my band, my record label, and my friends,” he says. “I like to think Slacker Rock is a bunch of starving musicians who love playing music, but try to keep the tunes a simple as possible. That’s what I go for with anything that I write. I like to think my motto for writing/playing music is less is more.”

That ethos is rooted in a desire to do what slackers do best – not try too hard: “I hate when bands have too much going on or they have 5-10 members, but sound bad,” explains Mitchell. “With that many members, you could be creative and make the tunes amazing, but most bands just sound like a wash of noise. I like good music from people that don’t try too hard. Music is my therapy and it’s my emotions and feelings being put out on the stage for you to either understand and enjoy or to dislike it and move on.”

This blogger, for one, understands and enjoys. See you tonight at Amnesia, or if you can’t make it, Couches will be back in the area at the end of the Real Lazy Tour, playing the Ash Reiter-curated Hickey Fest on May 25. Full details on tonight’s show and the rest of the tour are below.