Few bands have the capacity to whip up a storm quite as ferocious as that of Liars. Led by 6’ 5” giant Angus Andrew and surrounded by a self-propagated mystique borne of two albums worth of churning witchery, the thundering industrial post-punk juggernaut, completed by Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross, have recently completed work on their third album, ‘Drum’s Not Dead’.
The band’s previous record, ‘They Were Wrong So We Drowned’, is perhaps unique in that it can justifiably be described as a concept album about the persecution of witches; Angus describes it as “a concentrated example of a shared mood”. This time round Liars attempted to avoid sticking to any single subject matter: “We let go of thematic constraint for freedom,” says Angus. “Freedom to magnify our individual songwriting processes and to learn how to collect from those many and varied pools. However, at the conclusion of recording, we realised there was a theme worth mentioning. The struggle between two fictional characters: Drum and Mt. Heart Attack. But we don't really like to talk about their problems. They had to work it out for themselves on this record. We just helped them document it. As the listener, it’s not important to know what their arguments were about. But the song-titles may help.” Then again, they may not – Liars’ song titles have tended to be notoriously longwinded and wittily esoteric affairs and new single, ‘It Fit When I Was A Kid’, continues the trend.
Liars clearly don’t want to be easily understood or pigeonholed. When they signed to Blast First, Sonic Youth’s old label, the legendary New Yorkers were quick to heap praise on the band, with Thurston Moore hailing their “wonderful noise guitar explorations”. Comparisons were quickly drawn and, once Angus embarked on a lengthy relationship with Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O, the couple’s two bands were quickly identified as part of a new New York post-punk movement, with Sonic Youth as their forefathers. “We don't feel like part of a scene,” insists Angus. “We have bands that are our friends, and have similar amounts of experience as we do, and they definitely influence us in many ways. It's more like friendships, less like a band of bands.” Julian’s drunken interjection from the barroom floor perhaps sums up the band’s feelings: “I hate our scene.”
The originality of Liars work gives good reason for them to want to avoid comparison with other bands whilst their incendiary live shows ensure that they stand out from the crowd. “We’re tired of looking at bands stand there like a glass of milk. I think that helps us want to destroy the whole game. Be brutal,” explains Angus. On stage the band are gloriously deranged – “We enjoy going out there together as a group playing this music, it’s a great release of energy and stress. It’s fun and challenging. And you do it with your best friends. Halloween party every night! Like Homer said, ‘let your freak flag fly!’ It's a free pass to do so on stage.” Liars have honed their stagecraft and admit that it takes some effort: “You learn how to play live with experience in the sense that you become aware of space between songs, order of songs, and what their visual ingredients are.”
The pleasure of live performance as “a situation where the accidents are appreciated as being pure, and impossible to repeat,” was carried into the recording of the new album. After adopting predetermined guidelines for the recording of ‘They Were Wrong…’ the band’s change of tack was more than just an avoidance of a predetermined theme: “we explored our individual needs and discovered a more natural approach to recording. We used traditional instruments and a very proper studio in Berlin and concentrated on playing the songs live together as best we could – sonically.” Angus and Aaron each write for the band (“separately, both geographically and theoretically”) and they approach songwriting with a fair degree of prudence, in Angus’s phrase "With a long stick, very slowly and cautiously... until we can see the whites of it's eyes." The two of them “come together to critique and learn from one another’s process. In the end each song is handled very differently, we value the evolution of process and try to explore new ways of creation with each song we write.”
The completed record is to be released with an ambitious bonus DVD that aims to “give people more for their money, as well as emphasizing the importance of creative processes relating to different mediums in a simple and fun way,” explains Angus, before adding, “Also, ‘cause we got the technology to do it at home.” The DVD will feature three videos for each track, one from each band member, all of whom were keen to be involved: “We love to make things, and here is another outlet for our creative juices to flow.” They recognise the “need to offer more to the consumer now than just a lil’ slip of paper,” and it’s a refreshing attitude for a band to have. “With the age of downloading, (which all Liars are part of and enjoy) we recognize the need to re-develop the CD package, offer more. If you don’t want someone to download your record, make it worth buying. I mean you get more fun stuff in a chocolate kinder egg than most CDs!!!”
Mark Ward