Fog Lamp came together in West Oakland during the pandemic lockdown. Aaron Firestone, the band’s singer and main lyricist, started jamming with his friend Adam Selken. They decided what direction to take as the band evolved.
“We tried a bunch of different configurations,” Firestone says. “We both played guitar and synthesizer. Adam also plays several other instruments and programmed computer drums for the first couple of years and our first two albums.
“I met another keyboard player, Leslie [Allred], when I was hanging out at The Lodge in Oakland,” Firestone continues. “I mentioned that Adam and I were looking to add more low-end sounds to our songs. Leslie said he played bass, if we were looking for a bass player. I asked him if he had a bass synthesizer. He did, so he joined up.”
The trio started perfecting their sound at their Oakland rehearsal space, Coconut Canyon West. “Most of the songs start with riffs Adam works up,” Firestone says. “I’ll separately write lyrics and see what fits the theme of the song he’s come up with. Leslie writes his parts to accompany the melodies Adam’s written. I started on guitar, but slowly moved into just singing.”
After the trio coalesced, they made two albums, Conversation? and Anxious Stargazing. “We recorded them at our rehearsal studio, using a drum machine,” Firestone says. “I overdubbed the vocals at Adam’s house. He wanted me to take an aggressive approach to my singing, so he got me drunk and I yelled most of the vocals. On our new album, Still Entangled, I wanted to take a more tuneful approach, so I went back and forth between yelling and singing, adding more melodies to my yelling.”
They also added a drummer to the lineup. “Rachelle Hughes was in another band,” Firestone says. “They told us to look them up if we ever wanted to add a live drummer. They introduced us to Kurt Schlegal, who produced Still Entangled, the first album we made in an actual studio. We recorded in January 2025, at Kurt’s Lucky Recording in Brisbane. It was very cold when we were there, and that probably helped us focus. Kurt weighed in from time to time with his opinions, which were always helpful.”
Firestone says the band played the songs live, together. “We’re a band,” he says. “We don’t do a lot of jamming or solos. All the parts contain rhythm and melody, with Rachelle holding down the groove. We’re constantly changing up the rhythms and melodies as we go along, to amplify our message.”
“Library Cop” opens with Hughes laying down a fractured drum beat. The band jumps in with a stuttering rhythm as Firestone describes a cop peering over the shoulders of people to see what they’re reading, a metaphorical take on the censorship the current administration is trying to apply. “Death of Idealism” describes the dread people feel when good intentions don’t produce meaningful results. A chiming guitar hook rides a dark synthesizer rhythm over a pop/punk beat as Firestone delivers an ironic vocal.
Like many current bands, Fog Lamp writes honestly about today’s social issues and political realities, lightening things up with a dose of sardonic humor. “When we play live, people clap and cheer,” Firestone says. “A few people sing along, here and there. I think our audiences are mostly left-leaning. Folks that don’t agree with us haven’t confronted us yet. We want to encourage people to question the path that has been laid out for them.”
The band is largely self-contained, handling their own booking and publicity. They have their music up on YouTube, along with a few videos they’ve put together. Firestone made their most recent video effort, for the song “Uncomfortable Laughter.”
“I used live footage with a desert scape, as well as found footage that has to do with the lyrical content,” Firestone says. “I would rather have people formulate their own ideas, rather than going into it too much.
“YouTube helps us get the word out and we try to play a gig about once a month, to get heard by new people,” he adds. “We’re slowly but surely building a following, but we all have day jobs. And three of us are also going to college, so it’s a lot to juggle.”
Fog Lamp will play at 8pm on Thursday, May 21, at Spats, 1974 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. 510.841.7255. Listen to Fog Lamp at: foglamp.bandcamp.com. Instagram: @spatsbar. Watch the video for “Uncomfortable Laughter” here.
