Interview: Liberty Lies at Wildfire 2015

Liberty Lies are an alt-rock five piece based in the Black Country and they played a blinder at Wildfire a couple of weeks back. I managed to get the time to chat to them after their set down by the lakeside as we avoided shark attacks courtesy of Disposable (you had to be there!)…

So where exactly are you guys from?

In between Wolverhampton and Birmingham in a little place called Wednesbury.

I’ve actually been to Wednesdbury…

WHAT?! Why? What business do you have in Wednesbury? It’s not going to be anything exciting. Jeremy Clarkson said it’s the worst town in the world and he’s probably right. That’s why we’ve come all the way to Scotland with it’s lovely lakes and gorgeous sunshine… and sharks.

How would you describe your sound?

We just generally call ourselves “alternative rock”, very loosely. We take influence from a wide range of stuff and meet somewhere in the middle of the heaviness and the softness. We just write what we like.

How long have you been together as a band?

We formed in 2008, but this line-up’s been together since around 2012. Adam (drums), Josh (guitars) and Shaun (singer) were in the original line-up. Wolfie (Adam, bass) and Liam (guitar) ed later on.

So what material have you released?

New Addiction, our first EP, came out in 2009. When Wolfie ed, we did our first full album Reflections that came out in 2013. Our latest EP, Fracture, came out in February and we’re touring on it now.

Is Wildfire part of that touring schedule?

It’s effectively the last date on the tour. We’ve been on the road with Empire and Max Raptor who are both playing here as well. It’s been a short run but an awesome tour with those guys. We could do more with them – cool guys.

So are you pretty much self-organised and funding?

We have a manager, but we pretty much release everything ourselves. We’re very DIY. Everything’s on iTunes and Spotify, and we sell hard copies as well. We’re just normal guys out for a good time, so if the audience want to come and chat and get a CD they just have to walk up.

I missed the first minute or so of your set, but when I walked in it looked like you’d been onstage for ten minutes. You were in full flow, sweat pouring off you… Is that how you normally perform or was this a situation where you’ve got limited time and you’re just going to nail it?

If you put that energy in, then it translates to the crowd. If you just stand there, you’ll feel the vibe’s just down. But if you’re going for it… At least one of us usually gets injured during a set – cuts, bruises… we have a pulled calf today! We just have fun, we love what we do. We write music that we like and therefore it translates on stage into energy. Also, because it’s the last date of the tour for us, it’s a release. We don’t have to worry about playing tomorrow, or our voices. Liam doesn’t have to worry about his cut hands… If we had a gig tomorrow, Shaun would have to be on a chair! Yeah, Shaun and David Grohl…!

During your set you asked the crowd to move forward and they actually did. For so many opening acts, the band get ignored when they ask the crowd to do something. Did you expect them to do as you asked?

Ah, they wanted to get close to Shaun’s smile! You’ve got to read the crowd, and if they respond early on then you know you can get good . Every person today had a smile on their face straight away. I think that’s just because of how we look. Wolfie with the guns out and everything. Everyone just seemed to be into it today, as much as we were.. fuck, there’s a shark! [I told you, there was indeed a shark in the lake – Mosh] Anyway, yeah, everyone went mad so so did we. It was great to see people singing along with our opening track. A very pleasant surprise as we don’t get to come up this way very often. I think last time we played Edinburgh there were about three people and that was family!

Did you drive up last night or this morning?

We drove half way and stayed in Carlisle. Have you ever been there? The city centre’s full of lunatics. I love it. Got here this morning and just chilled out, walked around. It’s great. Any chance we get to come back to Scotland we’ll take it.

Fractures is out now and you can get it online from loads of places, but direct from the band probably puts more in their pockets!

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