Liily just released their impressive debut album "TV or Not TV" and yesterday, the genre-bending band brought their controlled chaos on the legendary stage of the Troubadour.
The night started very pleasantly as Fernanda and I spotted Kyle Chandler in the audience. This brought us sweet memories of watching Early Edition in our respective home countries. I’m only realizing now that our shared love for the American culture is the result of a very intense soft power that included TV shows, movies, and music. It was very powerful in France and Brazil because Fernanda and I watched the same shows, listened to the same music, and have the same references. I watched Early Edition on French TV (It was called Demain à La Une in French) at the end of the 1990s and it reminded me of a time where my head was already full of fuzz-driven music. Grunge was my music because it resonated so much with the teenage angst I was experiencing, like many. Of course, Early Edition was not generating that same type of emotion, it was something I watched on boring Saturday mornings because there wasn’t anything else to do much other than watching TV, yet I liked it. Kyle Chandler hasn’t changed a bit and for a second I thought we went back in time. I had to pinch myself because when the supporting band Milly got on the stage, they sounded and looked straight out of the ’90s too, channeling that teenage angst I was just talking about. And you know what? It still resonates with me now, probably because teenage angst turned into adult anxiety in a world where music remains a solid refuge for everyone pertaining to the community of self-declared outcasts. Milly delivered a good set, playing perfectly the part of the introvert normcore band alternating clean low pitched verses and fuzz-driven catchy choruses. To play that kind of music you need to be extremely sincere and vulnerable and Milly is all of that. It’s refreshing to see a band that is not calculating anything beyond the amount of fuzz they’re gonna put in their sound. Milly loves to pretend they have a beef with Liily on the internet, but they are friends in real life. Their music is much more different than their name suggests though. But before I come to this, let’s say it was a funny-looking marquee tonight. One of my friends saw my Instagram story and asked if I was at a Milly Vanilli tribute show. Fortunately, I wasn’t. I was happy to be where I was, at a Liily concert. Everything started with a very intense intro that abruptly turned into the Red Hot Chili Peppers Can’t Stop. That goofy bit says it all. Liily doesn't take themselves too seriously but it would be wrong to assume they’re not serious about their music. Their level of musicianship is pretty mind-blowing. The set started with Wash and you only need to look a few seconds at the drummer Maxx Morando and his bass counterpart in the rhythm section, Charlie Anastasis, to understand this band is not amateur. The other thing that strikes you is the charisma of every damn member of this band. They all have their persona and style and together, they create an intricate wall of sound aiming at touching your nerves in ways you couldn’t anticipate. The singer, Dylan Nash, looks like a British hooligan and he seems to be willing to get into a street fight with the fans of the other team. He looks at the audience in the eye, ready to battle, throwing punches in the air, pounding as he screams louder and louder. Rather than talking, between songs, Nash keeps singing and confronts the audience on an artistic level. The band doesn’t hold back, to the point that Nash had to leave the stage for about a minute to throw up. It’s punk, it’s noisy, always stimulating, and never boring. Sam De La Torre, the guitar player, is having the time of his life on stage. He smiles a lot, sometimes evilly as he’s about to enter a furious and abrasive part that will get the audience crazy and assure moshing, even in LA. The band played most of their brand new album, granting us electrifying renditions of TV or Not TV, Early Bopper and Odds Are It’s Blue. They were many jaw-dropping faces in the audience right after their performance, including mine. The band is tight, engaging, and unique. What else do you need? I got back to my house pondering the thought I might have just witnessed the show of a band that will matter in the next years. I arrived at the door and a red cat was sitting on a magazine. It was an early edition of Rolling Stone Magazine and Liily was on the cover.
Dylan Nash (Liily):
Sam De La Torre (Liily):
Dylan Nash (Liily):
Maxx Morando (Liily):
Charlie Anastasis (Liily):
Milly:
Photos: Vincent Walter Jacob