Talented trio Leopold and His Fiction reaches deep

By Molly Gilmore | For The Olympian • Published September 04, 2008

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San Francisco pop trio Leopold and His Fiction often are compared with The White Stripes, a trend that began when the outfit was a duo.

"We'd set up on stage, and before we'd even play a note, people would be, like, 'The White Stripes,' " said Daniel James, the band's leader and sole original member. "Once we started playing, there were similarities with the vocal range, and I'm from Detroit and they're from Detroit.

"We have a lot of similarities, so I don't mind people saying that. But at the same time, it's hard to get out of a cliche."

James admitted he's made the comparison himself, too.

"People ask, 'What do you sound like?' " said the singer/guitarist, who will play with the group Friday in Olympia. "I'd tell them it's garage rock '•' roll, it's like this, it's like that, and people would have blank looks on their faces.

"So I'd be like, 'We're like The White Stripes,' and they'd be like, 'Oh, I'll come to your show, for sure.' "

However, there's more going for James and his bandmates -- bass guitarist Micayla Grace and Jon Sortland, who plays drums and organ -- than a tenuous connection to a hot band.

"They have their White Stripes-y vocal arrangements, their indie-rock strumming, and a few guitar riffs that wouldn't be out of place on a Lynyrd Skynyrd album," Erik Henriksen wrote in the Portland Mercury. "They do more than inspire the lame name-dropping of other bands, however -- namely, they'll make you nod your head and tap your toes."

The band's second album, "Ain't No Surprise," is due out in January.

"This is going to be a masterpiece compared to the last one," James said. "We reached deeper within ourselves, deeper into our roots -- country and blues and classic-sounding rock.

"This one I did entirely myself from start to finish with the recording process and the mixing process," he said. "We wrote all the songs ourselves. It was recorded in living rooms, in my apartment, in closets, in an old theater -- anywhere I could put up a few mikes and press record."

The itinerant recording was necessary because of San Francisco's tiny and crowded apartments, James said.

"We can't be too loud after, like, 6 at night. I'd go to friends' houses when their landlords were out of town. I was running all over town to record it."