New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Green Light Go Entertainment) Imagine a whole movie crammed into a three minute song, inspired by
Syd Barrett and Quentin Tarantino and featuring a cross-dressing, bucket-carrying, howling maniac who collects peoples blood with a wooden spoon and puts sleeping pills in people's burgers. Not where you thought this was going, eh? "
Syd... Is A Serial Killer" is the latest song from Calgary rockers
The Lions, and it's a cinematic, over the top and darkly humorous exercise in writing not only a bigger than life character, but also a bad ass rock song. Driving rhythm and an avalanche of clanging guitars propel this song, and wooden-spoon-wielding Syd into your brain.
Chris Millar (vocalist and lead guitar) explains the origin of "Syd". "The song was created after watching a documentary on Syd Barrett and then
Dusk Till Dawn right after, thus creating the idea of turning Barrett into a ballerina dressed serial killer." Check out this track and others on The Lions' upcoming
ICONOCLASTIC : Motion Picture Soundtrack / Pub Songs and Sing-a-Longs. Download "Syd...Is a Serial Killer" now:
http://glgpub.com/file_download/188/The-Lions-Syd-Is-A-Serial-Killer.mp3
As you might expect from the title,
Iconoclastic: Motion Picture Soundtrack and Pub Songs and Sing-a-Longs showcases the band's diverse approach to music making. The band produced the album with
Brad Taylor at Taylor Sound, taking a different approach from previous albums. "We usually play the songs for a while before recording," Millar explains. "This time, we worked on the songs for a week, then went in and hit the record button. The guitar parts were improvised around the chords we jammed out the first day, and then we had a few months to polish the sound. We did some classic sounding pop tunes and soundtracks for short films, split into different acts and scenes."
"
Roman, The Ubitsey Mesti" is the tale of a Russian assassin tracking down his victim. Millar's slow and simmering guitar gradually builds to a discordant climax as the assassin closes in on his prey.
Justin Luchinski's steady, throbbing bass and Dumenko's cymbal splashes contribute to the dramatic effect. "
The Social Commentator" is a sci-fi epic - a fight between humans and machines - in three acts. It moves through acoustic folk, stomping rock and wailing proto-metal guitar passages before coming to a triumphant conclusion.
The Lions are from Calgary, Alberta and play rock and roll that is melodic, aggressive and jazzy, often all at the same time. The trio consists of Chris Millar (vocalist, main songwriter and guitarist adept on six, seven and 12-string guitars), Liz Dumenko (drummer)and Alex Duncan (bass, backing vocals and keyboards). "The Lions sound like
Snatch, Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and any other movie Guy
Ritchie has made without
Madonna in it," Millar quips. "We can go from '60s pop, to groove driven riff rock, to rowdy good time pub tunes. We have a big sound, but we don't use synthesizers.
Everything you hear is guitar effects or, occasionally, Alex on piano."
