January 5, 2012

Hands on the Roof

Converse and Filter have teamed up to bring you Hometown L.A., a series of videos shot throughout Los Angeles that capture some of L.A’s best bands playing in a variety of locations. Shot in black and white, the video’s focus on unique and beautiful locations throughout LA – and the bands that bring them to life. Look out for more videos in the Hometown L.A. series throughout 2012. This time, we catch up with Hands in Angelino Heights.

Geoffrey Halliday, Ryan Sweeney, Sean Hess and Alex Staniloff make up the Los Angeles based band, Hands. Originally a two-piece from Philadelphia, Geoffrey and Ryan moved west and the band has been making music as a quartet ever since. With distinct strengths and disciplines from each member, Hands has had a good run opening up for many top acts around the country and most recently during festival season in NYC. Needless to say, they’ve experienced a lot in 2011 and are ready for whatever 2012 may bring them.

Playing on the rooftop of Alex’s home may be a first for the band, but the backdrop of Echo Park means more to them than just beautiful scenery. “A lot of the venues around here are places that we’ve frequented; both to see shows and play them,” says Geoffrey. EchoPark (Alex’s home is in a subset, called Angelino Heights) is home to many talented individuals as the band points out. “There are just a lot of people creating stuff all over the place,” says Geoffrey, “there are filmmakers, fashion designers and painters… it’s a nice artistic community over here, for sure.”