May 03, 2011 Music » Music Features

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Uh Huh Her plans for two releases this year 

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click to enlarge HEY, LADIES: Uh Huh Her

  • HEY, LADIES: Uh Huh Her

The list of actors who try their hand at music seems endless these days, but there are also a handful of musicians who find themselves in front of the camera — and not just for music videos. Leisha Hailey became a familiar face through her acting stint on The L Word. Now that she's back on the road with her band, Uh Huh Her, she hopes people remember she was a musician first — she started at age 18, performing with The Murmurs for more than a decade.

"The L Word came along sort of randomly and I think what's strange is that's how people got to know me. And now I'm back to doing what I did before, but now I'm considered an actress who's in a band," Hailey says by phone while on the road in the midst of a corn field somewhere between Missouri and Minnesota.

The band is out on tour in support of its newly released six-song EP, Black and Blue. It plans to release a new full-length album, Nocturnes, this summer, if all goes as planned. Hailey says the new EP is more upbeat than the band's debut, Common Reaction, but not as dark as the album to be released.

The tour is the band's first since 2008, a fact that made them a little anxious. "We were really nervous in a way to see if people were still going to remember us, in a way," Hailey says. "So far, we're doing really well, so we're happy about that. It's been fantastic."

Since that time, the band was dropped from its label, fired its manager and tried to rediscover who they were as a band. Though they haven't been playing shows, they were writing and recording and Camila Grey — the other half of the duo — was out on tour with Adam Lambert for eight months.

"We went through a lot on the business side," Hailey says. "We had to decide how we were going to restart everything. We rented a space in Van Nuys and spent the entire summer writing. We had no money to fund everything and it was all done out of our own pockets. We wanted to take our time. This is the first chance we had to just be together, get to know each other, write for months on end — I really feel like this has been when our band formed in a true way."

Going out on the road gives the band the chance to promote the EP, remind their fans about their music and ramp things up to the release of Nocturnes. The EP and full-length were recorded separately, though the song "No Sacrifice" was recorded along with the full-length.

While the band was spending time looking for a label to release Nocturnes, they now feel the best way to release it is probably on their own. "We have a whole system in place and a team of people we love," Hailey says. "I don't see the point of being on a label — for us. We need to be careful how we do it. You can put something out easily, but we'd like to have something to back it up — a licensing situation or something on TV or something."

Hailey says the new album has more of an "organic" feel to it, thanks to the use of live drums and trumpets. She also adds that the tone is a bit darker, likely due to the loss of their label and going through tough times after that. With her background in The Murmurs, the new album has a bit more of a natural feel for Hailey, as well.

"I come from the alt-girl scene," she says. "We still play with synths, obviously, because we like really lush, orchestral and synth-y paths, but it's got a bit more of the rock feel."

As for where their music falls on the landscape today, it's not something the duo worries about.

"I think that to think too hard about that stuff is a waste of time," Hailey says. "You'll be the person trying to follow a trend or be like somebody else. I think what's important is being true to your ear and stick with your musical vision and therefore you'll have creative success and people will fall into place. I think you have to be true to who you are. We don't really think about that stuff. We're nothing like what's on the radio today."

UH HUH HER $13-$15. May 11. 8 p.m. Visulite Theatre. www.visulite.com

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