Interview:Lizards Have Personalities

1. First of all, big hug to you Andrew, thanks for taking your time for this interview. Please, introduce yourself and the rest of your bandmates.

You’re certainly welcome! And super big hug to you too, Stefan! I’m Andrew. I do guitar, vocals and write most of the lyrics. Paul does bass and vocals sometimes. Joel plays drums, does vocals sometimes, and helps write lyrics and guitar occasionally. Together we’re Lizards Have Personalities! We know the band name is stupid. But we think it’s funny. It doesn’t really have any meaning, just something we thought of randomly. It flows nicely off the tongue though! And it’s scientifically correct, so we’re being educational. Haha!

2. How did all of you get together to form a band? Long life friends or just a random set of events?
I’m not originally from Kansas, where our band is located right now. I moved here from Texas to go to college and that’s where we all met. Joel and Paul have been life long friends but their connection with me and the beginning of the band was a random set of events. A year ago, Paul and I were randomly assigned as roommates in a college dorm and when I found out he loved bands like Hot Cross, Envy, and Thursday we just had to try to start playing music together. I essentially wrote the entire first EP (In All Honesty) and Paul and I recorded it with the help of a friend. Shortly after, Paul’s best friend Joel, who is a multitalented instrumentalist, returned back to the country after being in Senegal for studies, so we asked him to get on drums. After the first practice we just knew it was going to work. Since then it’s been amazing.

3. I usually ask about screamo in the band's country, but you guys hail from the USA, so it's quite a huge picture to talk about. What are your thoughts on the local scene in your hometown when it comes to this genre of music?

The Kansas scene is one that’s hard to point your finger on. There’s a lot going on. In the town Lawrence, where we are, there’s a decent punk and indie scene. In Kansas City, which isn’t too far from here, the hardcore scene is decent. There is basically no screamo scene. We are it. But there’s a lot of amazing bands that have sprung out from here though, such as The Get up Kids, Appleseed Cast, Ten Grand, and Coalesce. Currently, we have a circle of friends that are trying to build a scene here. It includes LHP, Texas Instruments, Sports, Canyons, and Grizzly J Berry. It’s kind of cool that we’re actually a big part of creating a screamo scene here!

4. Any thoughts about the rest of the world?

I feel like throughout the world there are little pockets of bands helping the screamo revival and I really love it. California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York in the U.S.A., Japan, and the entire European screamo/hardcore scene are especially amazing. I love that it’s an international scene! Hopefully we can become friends and work with bands from pretty much every country and culture. We’d love that.

5. Since screamo and diy attitudes are entwined with one another, what have been your biggest experiences concerning diy?
Yeah, they most certainly are entwined! Not just through the screamo or hardcore scenes either. We mostly play house/basement shows and we love it. We never ask for guarantees or any money, but we appreciate it of course. I want to keep it that way. Cops can shutdown shows or make promotion difficult sometimes (especially in our scene) but other than that the bands and people we met have been priceless. Through the DIY scene we’ve been able to play with bands such as Crime in Stereo (R.I.P.), We Were Skeletons, Pianos Become the Teeth, Calculator, Sleep Bellum Sonno, Hostage Calm, Perfect Future, Zona Mexicana, Cloud Mouth, Burn Idols, Innards, мища, For Want Of, Prawn and soon La Dispute. I think that list is a testament to how powerful the DIY scene can be if bands work together. We print our own shirts and cds with the help of our German friend Benny from Druckwelle Design (http://www.druckwelledesign.blogspot.com/) who does absolutely amazing work and is a sweetheart. However, the most important thing, to me at least, is that we spread our music to people who want to enjoy it. DIY allows for a certain sense of artistic freedom and creativity of expression that is rarely observed. This is the reason that we have and will always continue to provide any music we create online for free. I strongly believe music is something that should be shared and experienced without the thought of money.

6. People have also been introduced to your emo side project called, well, "Emo Side Project". How did the idea to play solo come into view?

I’ve been playing solo way before this band started. Emo Side Project started in around 2004. Lizards started in early 2010. I’ve always loved playing and recording music (especially acoustic music) and that was an outlet to write whatever I wanted, however I wanted. It’s largely influenced by bands such as Elliott Smith, Dashboard Confessional, and lately Owen. Early in ESP’s existence, I released an album of “emo versions” popular rap songs (like Baby Got Back, Forgot About Dre., In Da Club, etc) which is what got me a lot of internet recognition. However, there has also been a lot of sincere music that I’ve written over the years. I think currently I have something like 20 albums I’ve written? Mostly about past relationships and experiences. For those interested, all the music is download for free on my website:http://goodbyespace.blogspot.com/

7. Aside of you having a "band" next to LHP, do the other Lizards have projects of their own?

Not particularly. Joel constantly writes solo songs. It’s nothing concrete but they’re great melodic hardcore punk songs, like Verse or With Honor. Paul is trying to start a folk-metal band. It’s pretty funny! Unfortunately, neither has any music I can link to!

8. I am always interested in what do band members listen in their free time. Care to share some guilty pleasures?
Haha! I love this question. It depends on who you’re talking to! But: I listen to screamo, emo, pop punk, indie-rock, and post-rock. Guilty pleasure: I know lyrics to a lot of boy bands like Savage Garden and Backstreet Boys and some bad modern rock. Joel listens to hardcore but also romantic era art music, free jazz, classic rock, and metal. Guilty pleasure: dance-pop like Lady Gaga. Paul listens to a lot of hardcore and post-hardcore. Guilty pleasure: pretty sure I heard him listening to Creed and Nickelback once. Oh, and horrible metal-core.

9. Do you find yourself, as well as the band in general, being under influence of the said bands? And do you find a specific band to be a major influence on your work?

My biggest screamo influences are probably The Saddest Landscape, Sed Non Satiata, The Kodan Armada, Suis La Lune, Funeral Diner, Saetia/Hot Cross, and I Hate Myself. However, I also listen to a lot of emo (American Football, Cap’n Jazz, Braid, etc) and indie (Elliott Smith, Cursive, This Town Needs Guns) so I can see how those styles would influence it a little. The other dudes in the band listen to mostly hardcore, so the hint of hardcore in our band is definitely an influence of theirs.

10. Do the Lizards have some plans for the future? Maybe plan to conquer Europe on a tour?

I’m always constantly writing. Musically, right now we have planned: a split with our friends Costumes, a possible split with Caitlyn Bailey and Polina (maybe even a compilation will come out of this?), and I’m starting to write our first full length album! We’re still a new band and we’re trying to build our fanbase, especially in Europe. We’re trying to find a label to help put out our music too because want to print some vinyl records. In terms of touring, our first tour was this summer (we did Southern USA) but it went pretty well! I think we’ll try to tour the east coast or west coast of USA next summer. After that maybe a European tour?! We need to make friends with some bands in Europe, connections with labels, and other things that would help us though before we can pull that off! It’s insanely difficult to do international tours in a DIY band. Plus, we all have school and we’re busy! It’s easy to sit home and write music but more difficult to be away.

11. Talking about the Euro conquest, have you managed to get and talk to some labels/bands from Europe or are you at the moment focused just on USA?

We haven't talked to any labels yet. But we are actually more interested in European labels than USA! Hopefully we can get in contact with a few diy ones soon!

12. Does LHP have some bands that they would wish to work with?

Of course we do! My dreams are to work with The Saddest Landscape, Suis La Lune, Daïtro, and Touché Amoré. Joel and Paul would love to work with more hardcore styled bands like Defeater, Ceremony, and Circle Takes the Square. Paul and I really love Thursday.

13. Do you guys indulge in some other hobbies beside music?
Yes! I’m in graduate school for Biochemistry. So in my spare time I mostly work in the laboratory. For anyone interested, I mostly work with cancer biology, signal transduction, and protein crystallography/computational design. Paul is the secretary of the Society of Open Minded Atheists and Agnostics at the university here. He is going to undergraduate school for philosophy and political science. Joel is involved with a lot of social activism (particularly in the Gay-Bisexual community), has a strong interest in literature, and goes to undergraduate school for theology and gender studies. We all love eating, watching movies, collecting records, and playing video games!

14. I guess it is not fair for just me to ask questions, so this space is reserved for you!

Andrew: Stefan, you’ve been strongly involved in the diy screamo revival scene. I think more than you even realize! What has been your favorite part about doing this or amazing experiences you’ve had, bands you’ve met/talked to, etc?

Nice question! One of the amazing things is that I actually got to know myself a lot better. It started out as just love toward music, but in the process of entwining myself with it, all that focused passion spilled onto something more and I discovered my other passion, writing. You could say that I actually grew in time which was consumed with tunes. It's amazing how music can change you not only on a personal level, but also on a social one. I'm really grateful for all the lovely people I met through screamo, no matter how physically you are distant from them. That is also one of the precious experiences, that sense of connection with others and the remarkable feeling when a band you love and write about tells you that they admire you for what you do.

15. In the end thanks again for doing this interview Andrew! You have some last message for the blog, "fans", friends, bands?

To Stefan: Thanks again for the amazing interview! I hope you continue to do this blog and be a part of this amazing scene, because we all respect and love you for it!

To fans: Thank you for taking the time to listen to our music, for providing criticisms or letting us know how much it means to you or how it has influenced you. It means the world to us and is one of the best experiences one can have in life. Also, talk to us if you can! We love meeting new people!

To bands: Most on the bands posted on this blog I personally listen to and love. If you’re on here, thank you for making amazing music, being a part of the diy scene and allowing your music to be heard and spread for free. Please ever don’t stop.