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Jun 22, 2009 By Frank Valish Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern Music Go Music

This is what we know about Music Go Music: The band is based in Los Angeles. It has recorded nine songs over three EPs, incorporating elements of disco, Carpenters-esque soft rock, prog, and even metal, all the while sticking to a heavily melodic pop format. Its first single, the ultra-catchy “Light of Love,” has earned well-deserved comparisons to ABBA. And the band consists of three players who mysteriously refer to themselves as Kamer Maza, Gala Bell, and the über-capitalized, one-named TORG. The official band bio says that they are former punk rockers, but this last part may or may not be true.

“My parents made me take piano lessons when I was really little, but they’re not really music people,” says Kamer, whose father is actually something of a family drumming legend. “I guess I became interested in stuff around the same time most people do, when I was 12 or 13. Gala’s parents were really hip and were playing Talking Heads records when she was really little….TORG was in this band that was on Caroline Records in the ’80s, so he’s definitely the most legit of any of us.”

After muddling through his early years listening to oldies radio and Fine Young Cannibals, Kamer graduated to playing in a seventh grade biracial rap group and later, garage bands. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that he came upon the holy grail of pop music, which would form the basis for Music Go Music.

“I was at some store and they were showing this ABBA Gold DVD,” says Kamer. “That was my first exposure to their stuff. Maybe since I came to it late, post-backlash to ’70s disco, pop music never had any negative connotations for me. Although I was really into The Ramones and The Clash in high school, I didn’t really put it together that these guys really hated Elton John and Donna Summer. It just all was similar in my mind, in as much as I liked the song.”

The first track the band wrote was “Light of Love,” with its soaring vocals over a danceable beat. And while later tracks explore more varied textures, the genesis of the project had a more pure, albeit casual, aim. “As a lark, we thought it would be fun to try to write and record a really archetypal pop song,” says Kamer. “The goal was to mine these pop tropes as a little experiment….We didn’t really have an agenda except to amuse ourselves.”

Music Go Music certainly make intriguing music. But what of their real identities? Trusted sources have suggested that Kamer, Gala, and TORG actually are part core members of L.A. indie rockers Bodies of Water. Online buzz has noted similarities in Gala’s voice to Bodies of Water’s Meredith Metcalf, and, if that is the case, than her husband and co-founder David might not be far behind. But Kamer, for one, is not telling.

“Playing the Music Go Music songs is different from the other stuff that I do,” says Kamer. “You have to put yourself in a different headspace in a way….We just want Music Go Music to be examined on its own terms and not perpetually in contrast. We just want to give it a chance to do its own thing.” (www.myspace.com/musicgomusic)