Can You Dig the :Digs?

*Originally written for DIG Magazine online but was officially published and edited long after my time at the publication.

https://www.digmaglb.com/music/can-you-dig-the-digs

*One member (Ava Zell) wasn’t present for the interview but she later answered a few questions through DMs.

Lead singer Andrew Padilla rehearsing one of many songs to be performed live.

“I slept like four hours today,” shared lead singer and founder Andrew Padilla. “I don’t know if that says a lot but when it comes to music, in the middle of everything, I’m either listening to music or playing it. It’s just one of those things you have to have, it has to be there”

Inspired by the raspy, indie, alternative sound from the likes of the Strokes, the Arctic Monkeys, and the Smiths, the Digs are a local band composed of Cal State Long Beach students and alumni looking to inspire connection and have fun making something new as a byproduct of self expression.

Claire and the drums will never be seen without her trusty cowbell.

Starting from a casual turned geeking conversation about a Strokes sticker, Padilla, 19, and eventual band drummer, Claire McLoy, 19, initially met for tutoring on math homework. Their shared passion and fandom for the garage rock icons would lead to Padilla creating a Reddit post on r/CSULB in search of other members, eventually leading the duo to Aris Ammons, a 23-year-old CSULB alumni with six years of experience playing the guitar. With that, their three person band began.

So, how deep did the trio need to go before coming up with The Digs?

“Well… we went through like 50 names and they all sounded really corny. Our first one was called ‘Three Four Seven Eight’ and it was annoying because no one could find us. People would just look it up on YouTube and ask ‘What is this time signature stuff?’ I think we went with Three Way Date, then we went with The Pikes, and then we went with The Digs,” Padilla shared. “We had to change our name from the Pikes because there was a CSULB frat with the same name,” added Ammons.

One of the band’s two guitarists, Aris Ammons goes to work.

It wasn’t long after adding Ammons and settling on a name that they realized they needed a bassist. Luckily it wasn’t long before Ava Zell, 21, was introduced.

According to Zell, “I’ve grown up playing music with my family playing in bands with my dad and brother, in school and various other projects. An old coworker connected Aris and I and the rest is history!”

Before even conceiving the idea for the band, Padilla released an EP on Spotify titled Whoopsie Daisy. A culmination of his passion for early 2000’s rock and the isolation he experienced during quarantine, he would go on to use the EP to recruit his bandmates as well as guide him in the creative process.

“There’s this one song called ‘Grown’ and that one’s about every stage of my life and I feel like that defines what all the other songs are about; the stages in every teenager's life and how they deal with loneliness, ” he shared.  “I like that it resonated with my bandmates too and I hope it resonates with more people in the future.”

The newest instrument and member to join the band, Gio Aguirre finds his footing at his first practice with the band.

The youngest and newest member of the band is Gio Aguirre, 18, on the keyboard. A graduating senior in high school, Aguirre, despite only recently joining the band, has actually known Padilla the longest and, like the rest of the band, is passionate about creating music.

“I’ve been playing piano for around six years. I started off playing classical music and writing sheet music a little bit and then I went into more improv and started trying to make my own type of music that way. (...) A little background, the way I met Andrew is I was friends with his sister for a couple years back in middle school and one day she invited me to her birthday party and I met Andrew and found out he played a mean guitar,” he shared. Aguirre cites his academic responsibilities for the delay in him joining the band but ultimately, this is The Digs!

With the band growing, McLoy admits that it’s somewhat a struggle to coordinate rehearsals but also acknowledges some of the magic that that brings. “I think the rarity of it makes it all special. We still do have time for our own social lives but we try to make time because we do this for a reason, it’s fun,” she shared.

“There’s just a romance to being in a band,” Padilla added.

The emotion and intimacy with which they perform is a fun but raw look into each individual member, why they play music and the band as a whole.

For Aris, “It allows me to express myself because I’m not the most talkative person, I don’t like talking that much, so I kinda let music do the speaking for me even in what I listen to, not just the music I play.”

Gio is impassioned by  the endeavor of originality, “I like the fulfillment of hearing something that we created that sounds good. Experimenting with it a little bit and then finding something that hits and you get that feeling of that’s it, that feels good.”

“I have a billion different songs stuck in my head all the time and it just allows me to get it out there,” shared Claire. “I’m doing that constantly anyways, anybody who knows me knows how I’m always playing the drums on myself but it’s nicer to be able to play with people and get those ideas out.

Moving forward, The Digs hope to further define and refine their sound as well as, one day, producing a full fledged album.

The Digs have an unreleased single titled “Over My Head” that is one of many songs they’ll be playing at their next performance at The Pike Bar in Long Beach on May 21 at 5:00pm! To keep up with everything else related to the Digs you can find them on Instagram at @the_digs_band!