Janine Schaults

And the award for the next band most likely to be featured on an episode of "The OC" goes to: The Like. Fox's soap has already prominently featured the trio's fellow L.A. scenesters Phantom Planet, Rilo Kiley and Rooney. Tracks like "What I Say And What I Mean," a hook-laden romp, and the fragile "Too Late" off of their first full-length release, "Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?" scheduled to hit stores on September 13, are ready-made for The Bait Shop's PA system.

Doe-eyed lead vocalist Z Berg met bassist Charlotte Froom and drummer Tennessee Thomas in 2001 while still in high school. In the three years that followed, the girls released three EPs and shared the stage with the above bands, making a name for themselves all before the age of 18. They grew up surrounded by the music industry: Berg's father is an A&R executive and Beck producer while Froom is the daughter of Elvis Costello producer and Thomas is the daughter of Costello's drummer. Berg, however, is quick to assert that accusations of nepotism are just fodder for magazines. "As far as real life is concerned as opposed to portrayed in articles, what our parents have done is that they've been awesome parents who have great taste in music and who understand what we were doing enough to not be angry at us for not going to college and becoming doctors," Berg says.

The Like soon found itself signed to Geffen and auditioning producers for its debut album. Former Prince and the Revolution member Wendy Mevlvoin, ("she's just a rad woman," Berg exclaims) and John Goodman (Blonde Redhead) nabbed the gig. The result sounds a little like a Bangles album if Prince wrote all their songs.

As a self-proclaimed "aesthetic fanatic," Berg pays close attention to The Like's visual image. "I get a good sense of a person from their taste and how they dress and what they like... so I think that's important," Berg says. "But at the same time, if anyone judges us because, I don't know, we wear shorts --then they can fuck off."

The Like opens for Tori Amos at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on August 31.

(2005-08-23)

Also by Janine Schaults

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The very first song Missy Higgins wrote won a prestigious radio contest in her native Australia that had record labels knocking down her door only to be told by the spunky 17-year-old that she was determined to finish high school and take a six-month backpacking trip across Europe before making a record
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