If punk came out of boredom, frustration and a lack of activity, then just imagine what artists, and in particular the alternative rock crowd, should be able to do with today’s enforced lock down and the growing sense of anger and frustration.
And whilst it seems unfair to apply pressure onto our favourite recording artists, perhaps the very thing we should be doing as music fans is to make demands for greatness; to challenge and support interesting artists to create impactful and meaningful art. Now may well be the time for the alternative crowd to musically define punks original defining theologies of ‘no future’ and ‘year zero’.
Though created before Covid arrived fully formed, Kickin’ Lillies debut single ‘All these bad dreams’, certainly aims at greatness; looking to musically soundtrack some of the fear and sense of mortality we surely all face.
Angry, fierce, and kicked off with the opening gambit ‘I just can’t sleep’, ‘All these’ uses riff heavy screeching guitars to power a rock/grunge crossover onslaught which faces down nightmares and chases them back into our subconscious; it’s timely crossover into today’s climate not lost on the band who champion a philosophy of personal responsibility, “The song, without going into too much detail, is about how negative energies can affect people’s thoughts and behaviour. We believe this is a struggle people come across daily and we hope people listen and interpret the song in their own way and relate’
Formed as a low-key supergroup, with members of Laurens Court, Fracas and Rhythm, Wood &, Shapes, Kickin’ Lilies have had their hearts in the North Eastern alternative scene for a number of years, enough time to build up individual reputations and to hone their collective alternative skills; something the band are keen to put to effective use immediately and carry on the momentum of ‘All these; “The new single is a taster of what is to come, it shows that we can accomplish variation in our sound. From mellow and intimate sounds that can quickly explode into a fiery crash of attitude.’
Planned to be released through a launch party, ‘All these’ finds Kickin’ Lillies reflecting on their own personal responsibilities; how do you control the controllable’s and do the very best with what you have “Yes, as we did have a show coming up that was planned to promote the single and let people hear the song live to get the full experience of the song, but things happen and everything must continue to progress positively, we have been working on promoting the song online as best we can.”
Perhaps reflecting the philosophical differences between punk’s ‘tear it down’ manifesto and grunge’s ‘build a new world’ sensibilities, the rest of the year finds Kickin’ Lillies plug in their guitars and carry on creating, ready for the day when they can get back out and play for likeminded people keen to build rather than destroy “Obviously it’s very frustrating not to be able to play to everyone, but using this time to get ourselves out there and start focusing on other areas of the band.“
Whilst the boredom and anger continues, we need to keep making demands of our creatives, and they need to hear that we’re interested.
Dreams’ is set for release on Monday 6th July 2020.