We catch up with Ricky of Lucid Liars ahead of Belladrum 2024 and ask them a few questions.
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What would be your FFO list?
We like to think of ourselves as a more rhythmic Twilight Sad combined with the hook focus of Frightened Rabbit, but have been told we sound like We Were Promised Jetpacks, Editors, Augustines and Foals. One really drunk guy in Glasgow once said “You guys sound like folk music but like with really loud guitars and drums”, I’m inclined to trust that dude’s assessment.
Last time we saw you it was for the headline gig at Upstairs, how have things been doing since then?
Man, it’s been quite a year so far! That Upstairs gig was amazing, really enjoyed having Reliever and Crashkid. Since then we’ve been gigging steadily including an appearance at the Two Suns festival at the Classic Grand which was pretty surreal. We initially said Upstairs was our only Inverness gig of the year but because the gig went so well we were offered some pretty awesome opportunities so felt the need to change up our plans.
I guess we can say Upstairs was our only planned headline show in Inverness right enough. Also no Chris I won’t learn any more jokes because the “man walks in to a drum kit” bit is perfect!
You have been making a concerted effort to perform outside of Inverness, what are the challenges of trying to build an audience further afield?
I think it’s a challenge but there’s usually always a positive to it. We’ve always been a band that likes to pick and choose our opportunities carefully as we don’t want to oversaturate ourselves but then you get to like Glasgow, Aberdeen or Edinburgh and it’s hard to oversaturate because there’s so much happening compared to Inverness.
You’ve really got to put effort in to promotion, like our last headline gig in Edinburgh for example we ended up with 200 posters through the city during Fringe time, got a good 70 people through the door, and we ended up with a bunch of CD sales on the night. Someone gave me a fiver just as thanks for playing! Just such a different world.
I mean you always get out what you put in to a gig and working with 4 other highly motivated guys in Lucid Liars that also believe in what we’re doing has been helpful because we all have different skillsets and motivate each other to do well.
You have three original songs to wow the Belladrum audience, which ones would they be and why?
I tend to want to move on from the past very quickly, so if it were me I’d play our second album ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ from start to finish! But no we understand that there’s some of the older tunes that people love to hear. I think it depends on who you’ve got in front of you, and because our style changes a bit across all our releases, it’s making sure you’ve got something for everyone.
We’re looking at building our Belladrum set around All My Time from ‘Happy to Be Here.’, Eyes on You from ‘The Best is Yet to Come’, and Rabbit in Your Headlights also from the first album. If there’s 3 diverse enough songs that tell you what you can expect from us, it’s probably those 3. All the songs we’ll be playing are available at our Bandcamp, by the way, so that’s a shameless plug out of the way!
Festivals are renowned for horrible clashes, which act on the Belladrum line-up would you least like to clash with and why?
I think we’re so far below the radar for the established acts that it really won’t matter to us, but in terms of who I’d like to catch and hope we’re not on at the same time it’s got to be Be Like Pablo.
I’ve been following them since the Dan Against the World days and if I miss the opportunity to see them on the big stage I’ll be pretty upset. Inconsolable even. We’re on at 3.30 on the Seedlings stage on the Friday so I’ll need to get the times out and see where I can head after dropping our gear off to the car.
What are your favourite memories of Belladrum?
The third year I’d attended Belladrum! I honestly can’t even remember which bands I’d seen or who was headlining but that festival atmosphere of all your mates around, bumping in to people you haven’t seen in ages and taking everything is something I really hold fondly. Oh, also trying to put a tent up with no actual skills in putting up tents was also a laugh.
Given the Love theme, if you had to create a love playlist with only five songs, what would be on it?
My music taste is pretty sad… don’t judge me.
Just Like Heaven – The Cure
Say Yes – Elliott Smith
Treetops – Beat Radio
Eyes on Me – Faye Wong
Sex is Good – Nicky Blitz
If you could travel back in time which Belladrum would you like to revisit?
Frightened Rabbit were a very special band to me and unfortunately I only had the opportunity to have seen them twice, luckily once at the Ironworks. I really wish I was able to attend Belladrum 2012 to see them. Given what happened with Scott I would have liked to have attended the tribute at Belladrum 2018 as well, but it just wasn’t on the cards.
In your act’s repertoire, what is the most romantic song you have?
You know, I was just speaking to Jack, that’s Jackprime on drums not Jackto on bass, about this. He said that some of the people he spoke to thought our lyrics and songs came off as “bitter”, I don’t hear it personally.
I think a lot of people see ‘All My Time’ as a love song, but to me the only romantic song in the catalogue is ‘Everything You Want’ from ‘The Best is Yet to Come’. It’s all about uplifting devotion to another human being. What’s more romantic than that? Certainly nothing else we’re doing. We’re too bitter!
What’s on the horizon for you after Belladrum?
Lots of recording and gigging! We’re working on some new songs behind the scenes, and in our typical fashion we’re taking our time exploring new sounds and arrangements. We have gigs planned in Aberdeen and Glasgow, a show up north we’ll be announcing soonish, supporting Wrest at the Raigmore Motel in October and Monsterfest at Eden Court in November. We’ve been focusing on making every gig count this year and each has been its own special highlight this year. Watch the socials for updates! Facebook and Instagram.
Lucid Liars perform at The Seedlings Stage, 330pm 26th July.
