www.facebook.com/lifeaslions
From: Los Angeles, CA
Sounds like: Rock
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound?
We all grew up loving rock and roll. We were the kids that picked up an instrument and started running with it, getting in to bands at an early age. We all started playing shows in High School bands or earlier and just never stopped. The sound we have developed has come from all of our backgrounds, previous bands and all of our different taste in music. It all revolves around the central theme of loving rock and roll and that’s really what keeps us motivated.
2. Who thought of the name “Life As Lions” and is there any meaning behind it?
The name Life as Lions came up organically. We were brainstorming names and fell in love with the idea of Life as _____. We decided on Lions because we loved what that represented at the time, but as we’ve grown as a band over the years, it has taken on a truly new meaning. You see a National Geographic depiction of a mature adult lion, with scars on his face and noticeable battle wounds on his body, you realize a lion has to fight for everything it ever wanted and is truly a symbolic creature of determination and pride. It’s a good name to try to live up to.
3. What do you want listeners to take away from your music?
We want listeners to love rock and roll as much as we do. We titled our 3rd EP “Rock is Back” because we kept hearing from people that ‘rock is dead’ or ‘rock and roll died years ago’. We certainly didn’t think so. We were like, ‘screw that, let’s make people love rock and roll again’, and that’s our goal. We hope to write those songs that inspire people to hang up their glow sticks and neon tank-tops and throw up their horns. \nn/
4. What can you tell us about new music? How will it be different than the material on the "Rock Is Back" EP?
Rock is Back was music we wrote after moving to Los Angeles from Texas. It was a lot more aggressive than anything we had written up until that point. Maybe traffic had something to do with it, we can’t say for certain. However, this next round of music is a mix of some of the writing styles we did in Texas and that aggressive Los Angeles writing that we’ve done lately. We have a lot of material we are working on and we are loving where it is headed.
5. What can people expect from your live show?
You can expect a high energy, polished show with a tight and cohesive sound.
6. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Just 3? Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World and Andrew WK. We can start there.
7. Any crazy show stories?
Shows are always crazy. We will play anywhere, which sometimes can be hilarious. You could be rolling up to a House of Blues, or you could be outside in the van drinking Whiskey-Monsters and realize you are loading in to a church youth-group theater. Or better yet, you could be showing up to do an ‘in-store’ show at a skate shop and be playing to tax-exempt weekend shoppers who want no part of you. Though those kinds of shows have the potential to become a disaster, they can easily turn out to be the most fun. A while back we got asked to play a house party. We were stoked to play because we LOVE house parties. So we load up and drive like 2 hours away to this house. We get there and call the guy that asked us to play; No answer. The house is dark, looks like no one is home. We remember there was a Facebook event created, so we try reaching out on Facebook. No go. The event had been removed. We are sitting in our van with all of our gear ready to play this house party, but it turns out the kid got grounded for throwing a party at his parents house the night before, had removed the facebook event and failed to call us. We found this out about an hour later as we were driving back. We were so bummed that we didn’t get to play that we made a call, got placed on a bill as a fill-in for a band that couldn’t play that night at a venue in Houston. We invited all the kids that were supposed to come to that house party and raged. It was a really fun show by accident.
8. What’s your take on the current state of rock?
On a large scale, rock doesn’t seem to have much of a mainstream outlet. You don’t see much rock and roll showing up in local scenes these days either. There is obviously a lot of EDM and Hip Hop out there. There are a lot of sub-pop and shoe gazer bands out there too, especially in the LA market. But it doesn’t seem like there is a huge demand for Rock and Roll. You don’t see a lot of leaders for the genre, except for the Dave Grohls of the world. I think in an over-all sense, people are having a hard time identifying with the genre these days. It’d be cool if someone came out and was like, “ok… this is what rock and roll is now”, but that is really an un-rock and roll thing to do.
9. What’s the current music scene like there in California both locally and state wide?
That’s simple. As long as you are paying, you’ll have no problem playing.
10. What’s your take on legal/illegal music downloading?
Well, we have a habit of giving out our music for free, so the real question isn’t about illegal downloading, it’s more about how we feel about the state of digital content distribution.
We want our music to be accessible to as many people as possible without annoying limitations. If people want to pay outright for a download- awesome. If they just want to stream and listen on a non-committal basis- awesome. We are just glad you liked the music. Maybe, hopefully you shared that link with a friend.
There is so much digital content out there these days that it is very easy to be overlooked. A lot of sites offer ‘unsigned’ sections that help grow locally, or up and coming artists, which is cool. I think the hardest thing is that, since there are so many artists viding for your attention, it takes a lot to stand out. More so than ever before, which makes bands do some outrageous things just to get your attention.
11. What’s next for Life As Lions?
We are in the process of writing our 4th EP. Lots of new material is on its way. We look to be coming to a town near you very soon.
