By Logan Broyles | Downtown News

San Diego’s prodigal sons, the indie rock group Pinback, are returning to town to play their old stomping grounds. Playing their last show for the foreseeable future, Pinback is playing at the Casbah on June 11.

Loyal fans would be wise to get their fill of the band while they have their chance. The group will be going on a brief performing hiatus while they wrap up their latest album over the summer. Soon after, founding member Zach Smith will be hitting the road with his other band.

Smith and Rob Crow share singing and writing responsibilities and play an array of different instruments. They founded Pinback in 1998 as a way to keep busy in between making albums for the other bands they were in, Three Mile Pilot for Smith and Thingy for Crow.

“Both of our bands were kind of on hiatus [at the time and] since we were friends I just asked him to come over and do some recording for the hell of it,” Smith said. “It wasn’t really meant to be a band but it sort of evolved from there.”

Depending on which one you ask, they have different stories explaining how they met.

“Rob swears we met when we were 15 and he interviewed me for the magazine he was writing for at the time,” Smith said. “I think it was when we were about 19 and his band Heavy Vegetable was playing a lot with my other band Three Mile Pilot.”

Their laid back yet multi-textured indie style incorporates bits and pieces of pop, folk and rock music with beautifully layered vocal harmonies, creating music that Smith describes as “pretty on top but evil underneath”

The bandmates are San Diego natives, but Smith originally grew up in Del Mar while Crow hails from Encinitas.

They’ve toured every corner of the country and parts of the world, yet their travels seem to have only made them love their hometown even more. Smith said San Diego is the only place for him.

“I like the style of life here in San Diego,” he said. “I go traveling a lot to other cities and everywhere else seems like it’s ten times faster, but I enjoy somewhere where I can just kick back.”

Smith added, “We’ve been home a lot lately because we’re working on a new album right now, we’re just kind of going with it and not worrying about when it’s supposed to be released or anything like that. I’d say we’re a few songs away and we’re still messing around with a lot of it, it should be out sometime this year.”

It seems fitting that they’ve scheduled their last show at the Casbah before taking a break.

Smith said, “The Casbah happens to be where Rob and I have had so many shows with Pinback and our other bands over the years so it’s special to us … [it’s] kind of our hometown club where we feel the most comfortable.”