Lucy Fitzgerald 
Q: Hi! You’ve opened the EP with a cover of Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys — what drew you to that song, and how did you approach reimagining it without losing the spirit of the original?
A: California originally included a snippet of “Good Vibrations” on our “Summer Fun Medley” which was a hit single on Laurie Records in 1981. We have been longtime friends with The Beach Boys and with the passing of Brian Wilson, we decided that a tribute to him would be appropriate. We imagined it as a male female vocal duet on top of our signature sound.
Q: The EP includes two original tracks, “Come Fly To Fall In Love” and “Island.” How do those songs complement the cover — what themes or moods tie them all together?
A: We release music with lyrics that are happy and positive. In a world filled with so much negativity energy, we think the opposite is a positive contribution.
Q: Your instrumentation is pretty rich on this release (theremin, mellotron, multiple guitars, etc.). How do you decide which textures to bring into a track, especially when covering a classic song?
A: We have a sound palette for our production approach which we generally use (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, Mellotron). Occasionally, we add more unconventional elements. The theremin was a logical choice for Good Vibrations since that was a feature of the original.
And the fuzz bass an idea originally thought through by Brian Wilson for good vibrations, but then discarded, we resurrected it, and thought it was a nice break in the action.
Q: Loretta Pieper Fradkin’s vocals add a beautiful dimension to the EP. How did the two of you approach the vocal arrangements together, and what do you think she brings to the sound of California that’s unique?
A: Loretta is a trained Church choir vocalist. When combined with my blended harmonies and my lead vocal style, a unique sound emerges.
Q: Covering a legendary track like Good Vibrations is bold — were you ever nervous about how it might be received, or did you always feel confident in your interpretation?
A: We are confident with everything we do. And we are pleased with the outcome. And the critics worldwide agree.
Q: Given that Good Vibrations was released on June 20, 2025, how has audience feedback been so far? Any surprise reactions or interpretations you didn’t expect?
A: This was an attempt to do Good Vibrations as a vocal duet. The track has a lot of unexpected twists and turns in it, and we were pleased that the critics have understood what we were trying to do.
Q: When producing this EP, what were some of the biggest challenges—technical, creative, or otherwise?
A: the biggest challenge was the sheer amount of vocal overdubs to create the sound that we’re famous for. Creatively we’re adhering to a sonic formula which we’re happy to do. It’s a complicated production, isn’t it? But it is our signature sound.
Q: For “Island,” there’s a strong sense of escapism and tropical imagery. What inspired those lyrics / sonic choices? Did you have a particular place in mind?
A: Romance and travel keep coming up as a lyrical theme for us. Island was originally written in 1972 and updated for 2023. A particular place in mind? Any place you want to escape to that you’ve been waiting all your life for.
Q: How does this EP fit into your larger journey as an artist (or “California” as a project)? Has working on Good Vibrations changed how you think about your sound or your goals?
A: good vibrations is the first of four covers within which we stamp our sound on extremely familiar material from the 60s as for our goal I think it’s widening our audience worldwide and in no way does it detract from our songwriting ability. I think it enhances our audiences perception of who we are. And speaking of who our audience is, statistics tell us that our prime audience is between the ages of 18 and 34 years old! Of course we also have the baby boomer crowd, but we’re particularly pleased to see so many young people into such a retro sound.
Q: Looking ahead after this EP release, what’s next for you for the rest of 2025? New singles, a full album, tours, collaborations, something different?
A: we have already released the second and third of the cover singles in the series of four: “brown eyed girl“ and “the mighty Quinn“. Both of them number one in various radio charts, thus justifying our reasons for doing them.\
Listening to songs so you don’t have to! Just kidding :D, you totally should. Music blogger by day, nurse by night
