Antics are no joke

Indie rock band Antics is pretty young -- both the band itself and its members -- but definitely not to be underestimated.

It's been about six months since Tayler Bledsoe, Taylor Tuke, and Joey Briggs became a band, but they already have an EP out and it sounds like they've been together for much longer. Never mind the pretty vocal harmonies and clear instrumental talent, it's that intangible sense of chemistry that makes them sound seasoned.

In a way, they are. All three of them grew up in Boulder and went to Fairview High School, where Bledsoe said they were “band boys and a choir girl.” From there, Bledsoe and Tuke headed to CU-Boulder and Briggs to CU-Denver where he's studying music recording. From there, they sort of just fell in together -- Briggs on guitar, Tuke on guitar and vocals, and Bledsoe on vocals, banjo, and ukulele.

“My best friend was dating Joey, and then I became really close with Joey, and we all started playing together,” Bledsoe said. “I wrote a song called ‘Lovely Ghost,' which is on the album, and I wanted Taylor to do vocals on the album, so he did, and everyone was like, ‘well, shit.'”

Bledsoe is planning on transferring to the same music recording program in Denver, and she has quite a leg up. She started writing music in fourth grade, and when her father wouldn't pay for her to record, she started buying equipment in sixth grade. Now she's got her own recording space on Pearl Street called Moosilla, named for her dad's nickname for her.

Antics recorded a charming video for Kickstarter, hoping to raise $5,000 to record an EP, but they only reached $400. That obviously didn't deter them -- they got six tracks down and the Antics EP was just released online.

“We're hopefully going to print it sooner or later,” Tuke said. “Next step, we kind of want this album to get out somewhere, somehow. We're trying to practice more often and prepare ourselves for the live music.”

They'd like to start booking local gigs and shoot a music video, and they've even had invites to work on a video in Los Angeles, but they're all busy with school.

Some offers are too good pass up, though. Antics are "98-percent sure" they're going to L.A. to play a house party for Bledsoe's godfather, who happens to have some excellent industry connections. He's the music for the "Twilight" series, and the band just submitted their song “Temporary We” to be considered for the final movie.

Still, the trio is balancing those big ambitions with a desire to keep things local and independent as much as possible.

“The longer we can stay independent and do our music the way we want to do it, with me recording it, the better,” Bledsoe said. “Once you give other people power, it gets a little tricky with ‘Whose band is it?'”

Right now, it's all theirs, and their different musical backgrounds styles have come together well.

“I think our best stuff comes when we write it together, though, and we just sit down and work it out. But again, you have to bring stuff from different places,” Tuke said. “Joey and I come from straight rock, so that kind of brings and edginess to it. I don't know, we kind of go under indie folk just because it's probably the simplest way to put it.”

“With their background in rock,” Bledsoe added. “But my background in hip hop and R&B, you can kind of hear influences in all of it. We're trying to create something different so we can stand out from the usual folk.”

They all have a few years of college to go, so they'll be around Boulder and Denver for while. They're more than OK with that, and they'll be a band to watch in 2012.

“I think Boulder is one of the best small town places you can be for music,” Bledsoe said. “I would be sad to leave.”

Here's hoping they stick around.