Ben Ballew likes to play guitar and keys while singing.
Jeff Ballew likes to play bass.
Alex O'Farrell likes to play drums while maintaining his status as the best looking member of the band after both Jeremiah and Jeff.
Diana "Baramaphone" Austin (Baritone Sax) can ride the sax. Please don't deny the power of a woman behind four feet of brass and wind.
Jeremiah "The Diva" Austin (Trumpet) is a jazzy noodle maniac. word...
Influences
The Pepper Sisters, Big Fat Fish Co., Anthony's, La Fiamma, Fairhaven Pizza, Boomer's, Little Caesar's (c'mon, sometimes you don't got money), Casa De Sherri, La Vie En Rose, Le Chat Noir, Old Town Cafe, Espresso Avellino, The Bagelry, etc.
Sounds Like
Sam & Dave fronting the E Street Band; Sweat; Sam Cooke feat. Booker T & the MGs w/ the Memphis Horns; Tambourine; The Beatles at Muscle Shoals Studios; Billy Preston smiling; Curtis Mayfield at Hitsville, USA.
After recording Problems & Solutions, the Love Lights emerged a more sentient band. Aware of the instrumentation, musicianship, and enthusiasm at our disposable, we began pairing melodies and rhythms reminiscent of the ones we were raised on and currently enraptured with. We began smiling more when we plucked our strings, beat on our drums, and blew our horns (which is fairly difficult to do at the same time).
The song "Fences" was the first song we wrote for the album that explicitly recalled those roots and influences. With only rough sketches to guide them, the Love Lights’ horns, Jeremiah, Sarah, and Diana crafted what I still believe is a brilliant counter-melody to Rob’s vocal melody. It’s bold, melodic, and unison; it sounds like something the Stax horns would have played behind Otis Redding. The first time we played it in rehearsal, the lights in the room got brighter (I swear!), brows were raised, and a new precedent was set.
At the time, I had just seen the documentary A Great Day in Harlem, about the once in a lifetime gathering of jazz greats for a single photograph. At one point, one of the older musicians referred to the young musicians "young lions." This was the next generation, paying tribute to the structures, melodies, and rhythms of their predecessors, but bringing a new fire and electricity to the fold. Still cubs, to be sure, but they could bite. There was something of the that same fire and electricity in what the Love Lights were now doing, and the phrase appropriately stuck.
Young Lions is not a perfect record, but it is the start of something new and old. And, as Joey "The Lips" Fagan said in the film, The Commitments: "I believe in starts." Listening to the completed Young Lions, this is a start that the Love Lights are excited to share with you.
Debut album from The Love Lights
A unique fusion of indie pop music with a shot of a three part horn section. The first full length album that was the stepping stone of a very unique band. In Problems & Solutions, The Love Lights first attempt at creating pop music for people to dance to, the listener is introduced to a concept that the band would later alter by taking the soul underlinings and running as fast as possible. Problems and Solutions is a unique approach; a cornerstone work from one of the Northwest's most unique bands.
Hey Guys...and Gals! Just wanted to stop by to let you know we posted the final mixes for "The Nickajack EP (Part One)" today. We'd love it if you stopped in for a listen and let us know what you think.
Played your tunes at every intermission tonight at the CD release show. Thanks for goodness and sorry you couldn't make it! It was such a beautiful show.
Thanks so much for playing the show with us, Lights! I feel like our bands will always share a special love connection. Also, I have a couple pictures to send your way. -Chris