On the release of their debut album ‘Happy to be Here’, Lucid Liars chat to IGigs.
We have caught up with you before, but in this lazy world we love a good simple, intro; what is your FFO for Lucid Liars?
We’re a 3 piece indie rock band from Inverness in Scotland, we try to bolster our guitar, keys and drums lineup by incorporating electronic elements, live looping, ambient textures, and brass/string arrangements. We’ve been told we sound a bit like a “rough around the edges” Editors, as well as Frightened Rabbit, The Black Keys, and The Twilight Sad in places.
‘Happy to be Here.’ is a bold album title in this context, what were your thoughts behind the album title?
We thought the album title would need to be inclusive of the current global situation, so it’s a little tongue in cheek. When you say the album title it’s supposed to evoke sarcasm, or alternatively “what have these guys got to be so happy about?”. This goes for another track on the album, ‘Sad to Be Gone’ as well. The album does actually end on a happy note, although truth through sarcasm is a big theme on the album.
‘Two Ghosts’ kicks off your debut album,but was one of your first songs, how has it developed since it’s inception?
‘Two Ghosts’, alongside ‘3am’, were the first two songs we wrote for the project and they represent the furthest in both directions we wanted to go. The track has been remixed to fit in to te context of the album and is overall a little cleaner while coming across as more agressive. We had a lot of talk about how we should kick off the album and ‘Two Ghosts’ came up on top every time.
There is a ‘big sound’ to Lucid Liars tracks that demand a live context, how have you met the challenges of COVID?
We basically had to adapt. We went from rehearsing weekly, working on an album, setting up a tour, and about to release a single, to suddenly not being allowed to be together in the same room. By the time the pandemic was starting to take effect in February, we were about half way through ‘Happy to Be Here.’.
The rest of the album was put together remotely while we learned about home recording, and experimented within the confines of the situation. The biggest problem was the drum tracking which took a lot of trial and error, and took a lot of tweaking when it came to fitting with the sound of the tracks we’d already finished. Overall we’re very happy with it.
What would be your ideal first live gig to play when ‘normality’ resumes?
I’d like to go back to where we had our first gig, Madhatters. I’ve been concerned about how local gigs are going to look post-COVID, and also very worried that a lot of venues just aren’t going to exist. In an ideal word, we’d be playing the album in full to all our local fans in a venue we have a special connection with, playing alongside local bands we haven’t been able to see in over a year.
As ‘Lucid Liars’ what are the biggest lies you have told and why?
One of my friends shaved his head at the start of COVID and I told him it looked great when it made him look a bit like an alien…hopefully he doesn’t read this.
