REVIEWS
Southland Blues Magazine
August 2006
LICKERISH
Gasoline
By Jim Santella
Founded in 2004 by two CSULB English department faculty members, Lickerish combines a powerful blues/rock driving force with searing blues commentary. Singer/guitarist Lloyd Kermode and drummer Gary Griswold, who both teach at CSULB, drive Lickerish along with bassist/singer Tom Bowman. Their obvious aim, to communicate with a large audience through conventional means, is fulfilled through rock lyrics that they’ve created for this project.
“Dominoes” talks about peer relationships, while “California” discusses the positive glow of our golden state, and “Cold World” grabs the blues by the horns with a message about reality. The true passion of the blues, however, remains absent from most of the program. The band relies instead on repetition and brief lyric phrases in a hot rock setting to make their point.
“Change My Mind,” a folk song with a sincere message, stands out as one of the album’s best selections. “Lightning,” an example of the album’s fiery rock texture, puts them in touch with generations who’ve grown up with rock stars on the radio as well as through our progressive array of recording technology, from LPs to cassettes, CDs, MP3s, and iPods.
Southland Blues Magazine
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antiMUSIC.com / Rockworld.com
August 1, 2006
F.U.C.U. (file under cool & underrated)
Artist of the Month
LICKERISH – GASOLINE REVIEW
By Gary Schwind
I first encountered this Long Beach, California, band when they opened for David Lindley. They were quite good the night that I saw them perform and they're quite good on this album as well. Lickerish is a multi-faceted band that incorporates several distinct influences in their sound.
The album begins with a real classic rock sort of sound. "Deep Love" is a guitar-driven song that would do pretty well on any classic rock station that I can think of. Somehow it reminds me of John Mellencamp. A few songs later, in " Hold On ", Lickerish reminds me pretty distinctly of Cheap Trick. On this song, they've captured that upbeat, somewhat garage-y guitar sound that Cheap Trick did so well.
Another facet of this band is politically-tinged songs such as "Gasoline" and "Dominoes." These songs really remind me of protest songs from the 60s. These songs are very much in-the-moment and influenced by the times in which they were written. "Gasoline " includes the following lyrics: " Like a fish, they're gonna take you out of water. Like a lamb, they're gonna take you to the slaughter." I don't know about you, but I find those lyrics poignant and pertinent.
The other major influence of Lickerish is the blues. "Cold World" and "Killing Floor" [the Howlin' Wolf classic] are bluesy tunes. "Cold World" starts with a Stevie Ray sort of riff and is a mellow blues jam. Perhaps the best way to sum up Lickerish's version of "Killing Floor" is to say that this might have been the result if Mark Knopfler had done a song for The Blues Brothers soundtrack.
This is a solid album filled with catchy, meaningful songs. Lickerish shows they are just as proficient in the studio as on stage. Bluesy classic rock fans, this one's for you.
Lickerish - Gasoline
Label: Indie
Rating: ****
antiMUSIC.com
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antiMUSIC.com / Rockworld.com
August 1, 2006
LIVE – ROD PIAZZA & THE MIGHTY FLYERS / LICKERISH / SAVAGE CITY
The Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA
June 30, 2006
By Gary Schwind
Savage city is a large ensemble with guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, trumpet, two tenor saxophones and the vocals of Deanna Savage. Deanna has a big voice similar to Candye Kane. At the beginning of their set, her vocals weren't coming through the sound system as strong as the rest of the band, but that condition was remedied as the set went on.
Savage City played a high-energy set featuring "I Feel Lucky," "Old School," and "Don't Roll Them Bloodshot Eyes at Me" among others. "Old School" is the tune where Deanna Savage most reminded me of Candye Kane.
Midway through the set, Deanna left the stage while the band played an instrumental, featuring scat vocals by the trumpet player. It was pretty well done, and overall, it was a good opening set.
Lickerish began their set with "Killing Floor" from their just-released CD. I noticed that Lloyd Kermode played an electric guitar for this set. Last time I saw them, he played an acoustic. It changes the sound, but not drastically so. Another thing I noticed was the energy level. Savage City had displayed a lot of energy on the stage, and while Lickerish has only three members, they weren't lacking in energy.
The songs Lickerish played were shorter than the versions of those songs on their CD. They seemed to play with a sense of urgency, leaving very little time between songs. Maybe there was a sense of urgency to fit in all their songs in the allotted time. Personally, I think it's a good thing. You could tell that they were there to play and not to regale you with tales of what had happened to them during the week. I'd say they did a pretty good job of getting through their set list, playing eleven songs (seven originals, four covers.
Lickerish set list:
Killing Floor
Cold World
Ain't Too Proud to Beg
California
Gasoline
I'm Tore Down
Angel
Imagine
Drive Me Crazy
Hard to Handle
Change My Mind
All in all, it was a good set from this Long Beach band. The sound was good, the energy was good and the crowd was into them. I would give one bit of advice though. Your original songs are really good. I wouldn't mind seeing you minimize the cover songs to play more of your originals.
Then came Rod Piazza and The Mighty Flyers. At the beginning of their set, Rod came to the stage in a bright yellow suit and played a harmonica solo. After a couple minutes, he was joined by the drummer. Then came the piano player and guitarist. Finally the two saxophone players came to the stage. They cooked from the first note. They finished their first song and I thought, "Where do they go from here?"
I needn't have worried about that. They cooked through their whole set. And that's not just a turn of phrase. The temperature in the room actually seemed to rise when The Mighty Flyers were on stage. Aside from the ability to make room temperatures rise, there is something else unusual about The Mighty Flyers. They are the first band I've ever seen where the keyboard player is a part of the rhythm section. Instead of a bass guitar, this band features the bass lines of the keyboard.
At one point during the set, everyone left the stage except for the keyboard player and the drummer. That was incredible. I've never seen anyone play the keyboards like her. That was probably the hottest number of the whole set, which is saying something.
All three bands put on a great show, and I would go and see each of them again. Orange County, if you missed this show…too bad. It was a good one.
antiMUSIC.com
The Coach House
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