Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Meet Beautiful Lies on the B-Side!


Coming off their release of their full length 'Yeah, Finally' in 2009, the boston band Beautiful Lies are quickly making a name for themselves. Sharing stages with bands like The Click Five and Afroman, they have been around the music business for a while now. With a considerable amount of success in Europe like a lot of bands start off with, they are on their way to developing a strong following in the United States. With no shows on the schedule for now, I hope to see them out on the road soon. You know besides their date on the moon.

I recently sat down to sit with Zach via the interwebs (farthest to the right) and we talked about everything from the name to their favorite covers!

How did you come up with the name Beautiful Lies?
My brother Nick and I started Beautiful Lies initially as a side project to a band we were touring with. He had already used the name for his solo demos and we liked the sound of it (plus hate the process of coming up with band names). He says it is a means of finding good in a world that can be negative a lot of the time.
What is your favorite album of 2009 thus far?
MuteMath- Armistice

How do you about the song writing process? Does one person write the lyrics or is it more of a collective effort?
We each write music and lyrics separately and bring them to the band for the final touches. Typically whoever writes the song will sing the lead vocals with the rest of the band covering the harmonies and other parts. Sometimes the songs are complete demos with full band recordings done by each songwriter, and other times they are acoustic ideas.
Who are your major musical influences?
I'm heavily influences by the alternative rock of the 80s/90s as well as the classic pop of the 60s/70s. I am influenced by a ton of different artists whether or not it actually comes out in my music: Pixies, Nirvana, Foo Fighers, Counting Crows, The Beatles, Beck, Elton John all had a large influence on me as a younger writer. I really try to listen to as much music as possible because a love variety as well as learning new ideas and ways to express them through music and lyrics. In addition to the alternative and classic pop I love hip hop and electronica, indie and punk rock, even latin and world music. Currently into The Decemberists, MuteMath, The Fireman, Dandy Warhols.

Who are you listening to these days?
I just made a "2009 Summer Mix" cd-r (yeah, an actual cd, remember those?) for our van that had Dandy Warhols, Death Cab, Decemberists, Brian Vander Ark (Verve Pipe singer) 30Hz (European breakbeat) some indie electronica, some one hit wonder 90s alt bands and 4 instrumental Dr. Dre tracks!

Do you ever play covers? If so, which songs?
We get really into our covers and try to make them sound as much as possible like the original recording because it is an exercise on how to play differently than we're used to, plus it is a lot of fun! Sometimes we go overboard like the past Halloween when we covered Weezer's entire "Pinkerton" album front to back (also the year before that we did their "Blue Album") Other times we pick covers that make us laugh ("I Melt With You" by Modern English) or by bands that influenced us ("Where Is My Mind?" by Pixies).

What are you up to right now, music wise? What can we look forward to?
Right now we're making plans to tour in Europe this winter. We are lucky enough to have an awesome label over there (Stargazer) who has gotten our new album "Yeah, Finally" on the shelves of stores all over Germany and other places. We're also excited to see a ton of friends and fans that we met when we went last March. Also, you can look forward to a BL attempt at a holiday song at the end of the year!

What's the most unusual place you've played or recorded in?
One thing that is unusual is that we became the first American band to play in Nasice, Croatia (which was an awesome show at an awesome rock club packed with hundreds of people who were really into the music!) but we've always loved playing shows anywhere and everywhere whether they be in traditional venues or not. Among some of the stranger places we've played include a yoga studio in Switzerland, a rap show with Afroman, a sweet sixteen, a wedding, New Jersey, and even at peoples apartments/basements/etc. We're always happy to play no matter what the environment.

What's your favorite treat?
Doing these interviews! that and Butterfingers!

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The boys have just released the Christmas song they talked about on their myspace today, check it out and hopefully we see the boys back on the road soon!

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