Aaron Jollay - Bass, Trombone, Coronet, Backing vocals / Tim Schreiber - Guitar, Lead Vocals / Andrew J. Steck - Farfisa Organ, Keys, Bass, Backing Vocals / Mercer West - Drums, Percussion, Assorted Sundries / Javier Morales - Saxophone, Keys' board
Influences
Nolan Strong and the Diablos, T-Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Nuggets bands, Nathaniel Mayer, The Falcons, Andre Williams, Gino Washington, The Costers, Guided By Voices, Ike and Tina Turner, The Young Rascals, Mothers of Invention, The Golden Dawn, Olivia Tremor Control, The Shangri-Las, The Tammys (especially the Egyptian Shumba), Syd Barrett, Question Mark and the Mysterians, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, MC5, The Velvet Underground, Captain Groovy and his Bubblegum Army, The Monks, The Sonics, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Equals, Skip Spence, Love, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, Roxy Music, Eno, early Ween, Irma Thomas, Joe Meek, Bo Diddley, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Krautrock bands, The Rants, The Triggers, The Hentchmen, The Small Faces, The Incredible String band, The Music Tapes, The Zombies, The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, etc. etc.
The Lickity-Splits began in the splendid summer of 2003 with Timmy Tumble (Tim Schreiber) on lead vocals/guitar, Andy Steck on Organ/vocals, and Aaron Jollay on Bass guitar/horns/vocals. They began practicing with Jeremy Beck (who was Andy's roommate at the time) on drums and played their first show in November 2003. For the first three years of their existence they were known by the lengthier moniker of Col. Knowledge & the Lickity-Splits before shortening their name in November 2006.
Tim had been doing a radio show on WUOG 90.5 FM Athens based around 50's & 60's R&B Doo-wop and soul, Mid-60's garage stompin' music & psych, folk-rock, etc... and had been writing many uptempo rock tunes incorporating these styles and fusing them with the heap of pop melodies he had been writing for many years. The rock & roll band was quite a change from the psychedelic genre-hopping pop Tim had been recording since the age of 16 as Cornish in a Turtleneck or the Booty-rap anthems of the Ypsilanti All-Stars back in his hometown of Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The band spent most of 2004 playing shows and recording their debut record, FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN WITH COL. KNOWLEDGE & THE LICKITY-SPLITS. In 2005 they were signed to Alive/Bomp records in Burbank, CA who released the record and who were quite surprised that they recorded it at home on a cassette recording machine.
In May 2005 they went on their first tour playing several shows up the east coast and midwest for over 3 weeks. They spent the rest of the year playing shows in Athens, Atlanta, and several other places in the southeast US as well as working up material for another record. In September of that year Jeremy Beck left the band and they recruited Mercer West. Following this Tim began planning their first west coast tour for March/April 2006.
In February 2006 the band learned that Ariel Pink, a musician many members of the Lickity-Splits liked plenty, would be touring and letting various local musicians be his backing band in every town he travelled to. They took it upon themselves to learn 9 of Ariel's tunes and performed with him on February 28th 2006 at the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta. Later whilst on tour, they backed him up again at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX performing a brief set before a giant crowd. In Hollywood a week or so later they performed with Ariel Pink once more at an Art/Film Happening.
Several songs from the Ariel Pink performances are viewable on Youtube:
The west coast tour took them across the southern states into CA, up the coast to Seattle, WA, then back through the Rockies and plains ending in Saint Louis, MO. After their return from tour, a saxophone/keys player named Javier Morales joined the group and began playing several shows with the Splits upon their return. In 2007 The Lickity-Splits finished their swan song and copied and gave/sold it to friends, their sophomore record, Another Taste of the Lickity-Splits. The band soldiered on for a short time longer before petering out and Timmy Tumble focusing on his solo project Timmy Tumble as well as playing organ, guitar, and percussion in the multi-multi membered Athens based band Dark Meat in which Aaron Jollay also plays Trombone.
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Join us in one month's time at The Brooklyn Soul Festival, two nights of the legends of soul music, August 28 and 29, featuring Otis Clay, Barbara Lynn, Maxine Brown, Roscoe Robinson, and Hermon Hitson - backed by Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves (Aug. 28) and The Sweet Divines (Aug. 29).
$15 advance will call tickets still available via our myspace page, as are special $25 two-day passes - save money by reserving early...tickets will be $20 at the door if we have not sold out. Look forward to seeing you there!
Be sure to come early on Saturday, August 29, for our record and vintage clothing fair 11am-5pm - no cover for this part! Top soul DJs from around the world will be spinning the finest 45s for the dancefloor both nights!
It was a rainy night in New Orleans at a bus station in the town, I watched a young girl weeping as her baggage was taken down. It seems she'd lost her ticket changing buses in the night. She begged them not to leave her there with no sign of help in sight.
The bus driver had a face of stone and his heart was surely the same. "Losing your ticket's like losing cash money," He said, and left her in the rain.
Then an old Indian man stood up And blocked the driver's way And would not let him pass before he said what he had to say.
"How can you leave that girl out there? Have you no God to fear? You know she had a ticket you can't just leave her here where she doesn't have a friend. You will meet your schedule, but what will come of her in the end?"
The driver showed no sign that he'd heard or even cared about the young girl's problem or how her travels fared. So the old gentleman said, "For her fare I'll pay. I'll give her a little money to help her on her way." He went and bought the ticket and helped her to her place and helped her put her baggage in the overhead luggage space.
"How can I repay," she said, "The kindness you've shown tonight? We're strangers who won't meet again a mere 'thank you' doesn't seem right.
He said, "What goes around comes around. This I've learned with time -- What you give, you always get back. What you sow, you reap in kind. Always be helpful to others and give what you can spare, for by being kind to strangers, we may help angels unaware. "