Review: Lux Lisbon - When I Hear The Culture I Reach For My Revolver

Lux Lisbon, one of the first bands to really catch my attention at The Sixty One, makes infectious pop rock. Their mini album is called 'When I Hear The Culture I Reach For My Revolver', four tracks of monumental epic guitar rock. Their bio on The Sixty One declares a clarion-call guitar sound (a clarion-call is a powerful request for action or an irresistible mandate). They're pretty spot on with that assessment. The sound erupts with a confidence that you don't often see in a band's first release.

I've been listening to the album on my iPod on morning walks and it definitely gets the blood flowing. Track 1, 'Plastic Lullaby' has a luscious jangly guitar sound, reminiscent of U2, with beautiful boy/girl harmonizing. Stuart Rooks vocals take off in the chorus and I caught myself singing along after just a couple of listens. Total ear candy.

'Poppy Fields', the second track, has been some compared made to the chorus of U2's 'City of Blinding Lights' because the line "Oh you are so beautiful tonight". Yes, they're the same words, said in a similar manner and I do hear some U2 influence in their music. However, my take, it's a completely different song. I mean, how many songs are titles 'All I need?' I was thinking about that on my morning walk yesterday when Radiohead's All I Need came on. It got me thinking about Jack Wagner's sappy song with the same title. Air, Fat Joe, Matchbox 20, Amerie and probably 1000 other bands have songs of the same title, but I digress... 'Poppy Fields' is a fantastic song.

'Cherry Blossom Tree' is a sweet, softer song, just as the title suggests, but the guitars get going in the solo and the song crescendos into a grandiose spacious sound. It's another song fromt the album that lodges firmly in your brain and you can't get it out of your head (but do you want to?!)

'Animals' has great hooks and lyrics, but it is so steady and rocking that you're almost tired after hearing it! OneMonkey of The Sixty One commented that "You need to check your pulse!" True true.

The final track 'Sunflower' is in the same vein Rob Thomas sound, a mid-tempo pop-rock that really shows off Rook's flourishing vocals.

Technically, all of the musicians play tightly and it's obvious that they've pushed themselves in their craft. Stuart Rooks vocals are always powerful and emotive, allowing him to sing both the ballads and the more rockin' music with equal skill. The band has clearly found their own distinctive sound and if they can get the exposure, they could be chart toppers.

What I don't get is the title of the album, When I Hear The Culture I Reach For My Revolver. I should have asked them about this in the interview. Is it a commentary on the bad music that is so popular and pushed by the RIAA (like the 'New country' genre that I so loathe)? Is it some statement about gun culture?

Experts say that music with exercise boosts brain power. The extra cerebral assistance obviously hasn't helped me figure out the meaning of the album title, but it certainly keeps me from getting bored and quitting my exercise routine early. My only complaint is that five tracks clock in at just over 20 minutes and it's simply not long enough to satisfy my needs. It's finished just as I'm completely into the groove. Gimme more, Lux Lisbon!

Lux Lisbon's mini album is available at iTunes.

A Conversation with Lux Lisbon

Lux Lisbon's Stuart Rook (vocals, piano) and Chris How Kin Sang (guitar) kick off the MaxBumps.net series of band interviews. They are charming blokes who make some lush, epic rock music... Lux Lisbon. W00t!

Batface89: Tell us the story of how the band formed. Who are your band members?

Stuart Rook: There are six of us so this could take a while - maybe put the kettle on here. We met at University in Nottingham, before moving to London, broadly speaking - I was always a fan of Chris' guitar playing in other bands so roped him in, and the songs lent themselves to the whole boy/girl harmony thing so we saw Charlotte Austen (vocals, guitar) playing a house party and thought, "yeah, thats it". You had to be there really. We borrowed/stole Ellie (Eleanor Garlick, violin) from another band who we were mates with in Nottingham and Ali (Alistair Jones, bass guitar) is a mate from halls with no discernible band history.

Chris How Kin Sang: We met our drummer Kris (Toczek) on the internet CH:when we all moved to London. Like most skilled occupations in England, drummers are in short supply. Ours is from Poland. He came over to rock.

BF: Why did you choose the name Lux Lisbon, a character from Sophia Coppola's film, The Virgin Suicides?

CH: The main reason is that we used to have a really long name for the band that people couldn't remember or abbreviate easily because it was too long. So, our name now is easier to remember when you are typing luxlisbon.com into your computer.

SR: Nice...

CH: Thanks... so, we were forced to change it. Even though it was literally awesome. One thing I have learnt: no use having a band name no-one can remember or repeat back to you. No matter how ace it is.

BF: It's a great name and the film was so beautiful and tragic.

SR: We quite liked the film. It was quite good. Even aside from literary reference, as two words it sounds quite nice.

CH: And it alliterates and has a 'x' in it which is the best letter of the alphabet.

BF: X is a terrific letter.

SR: Just ask a scrabble player.

BF: How would you describe your sound?

CH: We settled on "widescreen-epic-indie-rock". The songs drive the sound we go for but having the boy-girl harmonies, violins, tremolo/delay guitars and so on kinda makes it quite a big soundscape and (in theory), whatever the musical equivalent of cinematic is.

BF:Who are your musical influences?

CH: We all different things but commonly like The Beatles, Radiohead, Arcade Fire - basically bands with great tunes that also can turn it on the big stage and with big production.

SR: The Beatles at Shea Stadium, now that was a light show.

BF: Can you talk about your song writing process? Are you the main songwriter or is it a collaborative process?

SR: They are all my songs and I have the original idea and normally a fairly well formed idea of how it should all sound. I tend to go to Chris with a song and we'll work on it together and hammer it out in a rough form before presenting it to the band and it's taken from there. None of our songs come from 'jamming' - I hate that expression - fun is fine, but only in moderation - that's my view. Stop having so much fun and get back to work. Look busy.

BF: Let's talk about The Sixty One. This is the first place I heard your music and immediately I knew you were going to get some serious bumps.

SR: If only I were an underdeveloped teenage girl old girl who's bustier friends were teasing her, that'd be music to my ears...

BF: Haha.

CH: What?

SR: Nothing.

BF: How do you think the musical landscape will change with artists communicating directly with fans, a la The Sixty One?

SR: I'm really surprised that The Sixty One seems to be the only site that shows a band who has listened and liked a tune instantly and then lets you get in touch. On some other sites like MySpace you don't get that sort of feedback, which can make it feel a bit empty. The fact that someone spends their points on you on The Sixty One gives bands something to go on. You still need a 'traditional' site with more info and material than you can put on The Sixty One - I'll mention again now: www.luxlisbon.com

CH: Not as good as mine.

SR: Thanks.

BF: Has the site brought a lot of new fans your way?

SR: Well, yes, it has, but the site doesn't seem to have taken off in the UK yet, so in terms of getting anyone to come along to a show, which is really what unsigned bands need to get going, it hasn't translated into new faces at gigs. It has translated into lots of kind words from Americans and Canadians though. So, thank you.

BF: My pleasure. What is your favorite other band posting on The Sixty One?

CH: I like Simon Wilcox. She is quite good.

BF: I agree. She's incredible.

CH:Though like a man from the stone age, I bought her CD's rather than downloaded her MP3s. Not very 2008! But, she is from Canada so I can't really get to her gigs.

SR: Not with that attitude.

BF: How easy/hard has it been to get exposure for the band?

CH: I don't know what it's like in America but in England that's illegal.

SR: And it may well be one of the only things that is very easy and very hard.

BF:This is a general question from The Sixty One listener and MaxBumps contributor Apocalpyse. How do artists keep their musical integrity? For example, the Rolling Stones selling their songs for Cadillac commercials). How do you know if a musician has 'sold out'?

SR: I must say I don't buy the whole idea of 'being a sell out' and get a bit annoyed when bands kick up a stink about other bands selling songs to adverts or whatever - they'd probably be better advised writing some tunes people like - rather than moaning on to score cheap points. I dunno, bottom line is why shouldn't Mick and Keith let some guy use their tune over a car advert? The tune is still the same and I reckon as long written a song you are proud of what happens to it afterwards is neither here nor there.

BF: I agree. I like hearing new music in commercials, like that new Kia commercial with the great Joe Purdy tune and Sarah Bareilles' Love Song in the Rhapsody commercial.

CH: It's up to the band really. Frank Zappa was once asked to be on the cover of Rolling Stone - he told them to fuck off. Fair play. But does that make the people who appear on it sell outs or have less integrity? I suppose selling out is doing something inconsistent with your own values. Assuming your own values weren't really obviously terrible in the first place. Besides, it's probably the record companies that do this as they own most of the rights.

BF: I wonder if Modern English is happy about having 'I Melt With You' selling the Cheesy Beefy Melt at Taco Bell? I wonder. Thank you very much for the interview and I wish you the best in the future.