Liars
Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross are Liars. That is true.
Whilst studying at Cal Arts in Los Angeles, Angus and Julian met Aaron, began to hit things, and record the sounds of the things they hit on to four track. They relocated to New York once they had ‘perfected’ art, Julian at this point however was merely a roadie and close friend rather than the drumming powerhouse he’s become today. For the initial stages, the line up consisted of Angus, Aaron, Pat Noecker on bass and Ron Albertson on drums, the latter two added after responding to an advert.
The four of them would record the first Liars album, the mouthful that was ‘They Threw Us All In A Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top’ over two days in October 2001. It sat uncomfortably alongside the New York punk funk movement (The Rapture, DFA et al), but was promoted as being part of it – and the pigeonholing was something they strived to shake off.
This line up would author just two more Liars releases, the EP’s ‘We No Longer Knew Who We Were’, a compilation of their early demos, and ‘Fins To Make Us More Fish Like’, which showed things were about to take a pretty drastic turn towards the weird. After its release, Angus and Aaron severed ties with the rhythm section, and replaced them with Julian Gross, whose first recorded input would be the split EP with Oneida, entitled ‘Atheists, Reconsider’. The weird drones, banging of sinks and spoken word sections pointed even further in to the unknown.
Retreating in to a forest with TV On The Radio’s David Sitek, they became obsessed with witches, experimental music, and abandoning their past. They made ‘They Were Wrong, So We Drowned’. Misguided critics hated it in their droves, Rolling Stone and Spin giving it the lowest possible mark. People, it seemed, felt cheated by Liars.
So they f**ked off to Berlin for a bit, stuck their fingers in their ears, took them out again and made another leap in to uncharted territory with ‘Drum’s Not Dead’, released in 2006. It was an album that revolved around two fictional characters, Drum and Mount Heart Attack, and as the title suggested, was heavily rhythmically based. Accompanied by a DVD featuring three videos for every song, it turned out to be something of a masterpiece too. And with it, people finally ‘got’ Liars.
Fitting then that as soon as people are OK with their doggedly experimental approach, they should return this year with a self titled, straight up rock and roll album. Expect the unexpected, even if the unexpected isn’t particularly complicated.
** COMING SOON**
Tom Hannan had a fascinating chat with Liars drummer Julian Gross in the recent past, but then he buggered off on holiday. Once the lazy arse gets his lazy arse in gear, expect a revelatory piece so astounding that you won’t believe such a lazy arse of a person could have written it.
LIARSLIARSLIARS.COM: They write this themselves. You gotta appreciate the personal touch.
MYSPACE.COM/LIARSLIARSLIARS: Holy flurping shnit, here are five tracks from the new Liars album!
LIARS @ MUTE RECORDS: If you’ve got Mute’s seal of approval, it means you’re one of the greatest alternative bands in the world. Which Liars are. See what their label has to say about them.
THEY THRE US ALL IN A TRENCH AND STUCK A MONUMENT ON TOP: Just because they don’t play anything off it any more doesn’t mean ‘Trench…’ isn’t an absolutely killer album, you know.
LIARS @ BARFLY: Between ‘Trench’ and ‘Drowned’, the latter album which Liars were still figuring out how to play at that point.
LIARS @ ATP, 2004: … yet by the time it came to that Christmas’s ATP Festival, Liars had utterly nailed it.
THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM ON THE BROOM: Liars chose this as the track to usher in the dawn of ‘Witch Rock’.
THEY WERE WRONG SO WE DROWNED: ‘You followed ‘em in. Now you must pay the price’ – so said Tim Dellow of the Liars’ second LP.
WE FENCED…: “We’re doomed, we’re doomed!” – the genius of the second incarnation of Liars dawned on us with this one.
IT FIT WHEN I WAS A KID: The cover of which features Liars naked, sucking each other off. Really.
DRUM’S NOT DEAD: Drum was alive and, ahem, kicking – as this incredible album proved. Really, it’s the ‘Pet Sounds’ of weirdrock.
LIARS @ THE HIPPODROME – TAKE 1: One perspective on the Liars live, circa ‘Drum…’. This is how much this band divide people.
LIARS @ THE HIPPODROME – TAKE 2: The same gig as above, viewed through very different eyes.
VIDEO: PLASTER CASTS OF EVERYTHING: The first single from their self titled ‘rock’ effort came with easily the best video of 2007 so far.
LET’S NOT WRESTLE MOUNT HEART ATTACK:
WE FENCED OTHER GARDENS WITH THE BONES OF OUR OWN:
BE QUIET MOUNT HEART ATTACK:
THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM ON THE BROOM: