Late in 2018 I came across a band whose potential reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the future of music. This of course would be Liliac. I play them weekly in some fashion on the icehouse and I pimp them when I can on Facebook and other social media. I picked up their first release of cover tunes and their management sent me a copy of Chain of Thorns for the rotation.
Over the years I’ve written many stories over the exaggeration, to me, on the “death of rock and roll”. I’ve called out those saying such (yes, you Gene Simmons!) as being idiots but it really depends on perspective in as much as reality. Gene Simmons and many saying it used to play before 100,000 fans that simply went crazy. Last time through Dallas, KISS played at a venue that holds roughly 4,000 and that didn’t sell out.
The audiences are certainly smaller. True. Everything about the industry has changed since the 80s and yes, those days are gone. But rock and roll dead?
Far from it. Liliac has put out their first full original release in Chain of Thorns (available now) and I promise you, rock and roll is doing quite well, thank you very much. There’s a “familiar originality” in Liliac. It’s rock and roll to be sure but they’ve managed to carve out their own sound they put both into covers as well as originals and in the end there’s no mistaking who you are listening to. Liliac in short order have been able to define a sound without being repetitive.
The title track (Chain of Thorns) has been out for a while and already has 343k views on YouTube. Go ahead and give it a few more if you’re not familiar with the band. I’ll wait here for you to catch up and join back into this review.
(listening to Not Afraid)
Uh huh – I told you. Great stuff, isn’t it? Well buckle up cause this was not a one-time event from the band. Speaking of Not Afraid, that does happen to be next on the list so you’re back just in time to keep on with this review. The energy established in Chain of Thorns carries over to Not Afraid as you find yourself hearing a touch of the 80s on guitar to go with the rhythmic beat established early on.
Next stop – Dancing in the Dark. Wow. We’re slowing down at least to start. A bit of a OK THERE WE GO – back to the driving beat you’ve come to expect from this band. Ok, slowed it down again. In this one we do change the pace several times within the song, showing another dynamic of the band that is well on their way to establishing their own style.
Liliac has done an amazing job of prepping people for this release. Showing a mastery of social networking, they understand the power of selling the art. You can find their video that describe each and every song on this release and it was here, even in a snippet of the song, I knew would be a personal favorite – Mars. There’s just an optimistic enthusiasm in the lyrics and sound. I wish I could say this would be everyone’s personal favorite, but each hold their own and pinning it down to 1 won’t be easy and as I get to hear all of this release, it’s solid across the board.
There are 2 more songs on this 6 song EP that as a whole, light a rocket for this band, setting the bar high for anything they do after this. Given what they have already done in a relative short order, this EP shows why I feel the future of rock and roll is in great hands. I also find myself being a bit selfish as when the 6th song finishes playing for like the 20th time, I only want to know – when’s the next one?
That and are you coming to Texas any time soon? J
Great job, Liliac. You’ve got a permanent home in our rotation and in my own collection of personal favorites.
iceberg
