Interview with Charlotte Froom
By Jessica Netishen

I am talking on the phone with Charlotte Froom, who is the bass player for up-and-coming indie girl-group The Like, when she interrupts herself to tell me that her phone smells because there is salmon cream cheese on it.  I kind of lose my interview footing at this point. 

Froom, who is barely 19 years old, is taking her newfound fame in stride, and is remarkably grounded about all the praise that has been thrown the band’s way.  When I ask if she was bowled over by the positive reviews of The Like’s new album, Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?, she replied that she had read the Rolling Stone write up (which received three-and-a-half stars), and was “very happy, since they’ve gotten harsher with their reviews recently.”  She wasn’t even aware of the other major stories on the band (Blender’s “Next Big Thing: The Like,” or the LA Weekly feature).

 I found this attitude refreshing, and that feeling only increased when she admitted to being puzzled by some reviewers’ comments on what the Like sound like.  “Someone said that we sounded like early Radiohead,” she laughed.  “We don’t sound anything like them – you can’t pinpoint down what each [member of the Like] sounds like.”

Rather than miring herself in a growing pile of press clippings or an endless hipster/mathematician conversation (The Like sound like The Sundays, minus the helium vocals, plus Donnas-like crunch, minus…[conversation goes on ad infinitum), Froom would rather focus on The Like’s future, and she is eagerly looking forward to the Like’s next round of touring. 

“We just finished the tour with Tori Amos,” Froom stated, “which was great.  She was so much fun, and she’s a  really good example of how to treat your fans and crew.”  But, she said, the band can’t wait to go out on tour with Kings of Leon this fall.  “I’m excited to get into a packed club, full of college kids and music fans who are receptive to new rock music.”

The Like’s most recent release, Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?, was released on 9/13/05 on Geffen Records.  They will be touring with Kings of Leon during the fall of 2005.