INTERVIEW: Lizzie & The Makers are the ‘Twin Peaks’ band you were hoping to hear
Photo: Lizzie & The Makers’ new album is called Dear Onda Wahl. Photo courtesy of Shervin Lainez Photos / Provided by Reybee Inc. with permission.
Lizzie & The Makers, the rock ‘n’ roll band fronted by Lizzie Edwards, is set to release their second full-length album this fall. Listeners have received a few glimpses of the new album with the release of two singles: “Lover by Proxy” and “Mermaid.” For Edwards, this recording effort pushes the envelope for the band and takes them into new territory.
“I think our first album was definitely very rootsy and southern rock-inspired, and this album I think, because we collaborated with Reeves Gabrels and Mario McNulty, we get a little more into our ambient side of songwriting. There’s a little more edginess and otherworldliness to this album that I don’t think you hear necessarily on the first one, but still really rock ‘n’ roll.”
Edwards called “Lover by Proxy” a traditional rock song that with grooves that don’t sound exactly traditional. The sentiments of the track are something that the singer believes many people can identify with: the idea of dating someone to fix them and then moving on once the fixing is done.
“I think it’s raw,” she said of the single. “It’s authentic. Rob Clores, our keyboard player, really adds some interesting sounds to it to make it a little more interesting than just your typical southern rock song, and I like the beat to it, too. I think it really grooves.”
Clores and Edwards are joined by guitarist Greg McMullen, bassist Brett Bass and drummer Steve Williams in the band. They collectively recorded the album at Mission Sound Recording in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. One of the most interesting choices they made had to do with the album’s title, Dear Onda Wahl.
“Greg McMullen, who is my co-writer and lead guitarist for the band, when we trade demos, he likes to be playful with the titles, and we’ll sometimes change the title to be phonetic,” Edwards said. “So we actually have a song that started out being called ‘Deer on the Wall,’ like a deer head mounted on a wall. When he sent the demo back to me, he titled it, ‘Dear Onda Wahl,’ and I really liked it. I liked the idea of this mythical person that we’re writing this letter to. The album is kind of a letter to this person asking them what’s the meaning of life, why are we here, is it ever going to get better, and so I kept it because I liked the mystery behind it. And I actually had a friend, and I told her the name of the album. And she immediately went and Googled ‘Onda Wahl’ to see who that person was, and so I thought, yes, this is the album title. I love it.”
Another tune on the recording is “Magic River,” which apparently was inspired by a night of binging David Coverdale material. Coverdale, of course, is the lead singer of the classic rock band Whitesnake; he is the voice behind the mega-single “Here I Go Again.”
“There was just one night where I kind of got really deep into everything David Coverdale, and then I sat down to write,” she said. “And I found that every melody I was writing could be a David Coverdale song. Sometimes you get in a hole. I’ve gotten into a PJ Harvey hole before where I keep deep-diving and listening to all her material, and that night I just happened to do it with David Coverdale. So I’m a fan of Whitesnake, but I think it was more of a fleeting David Coverdale binge than a regular one.”
Taking all the songs together, Dear Onda Wahl is an album with obvious rock influences, but also some soul influences and blues influences. Edwards said the music of Lizzie & The Makers doesn’t fit into one genre perfectly, and that’s perfectly fine with her.
“I usually like to say we’re big fans of Twin Peaks and David Lynch, so I say we’re kind of a rootsy, blues rock band that has gone through a David Lynch portal and come out the other end a little bizarre,” she said. “If we ever were one of the bands that appeared on that show, this is what we would play. This is what the music would sound like. … I want to be one of those bands. I’m like, please write another season David Lynch so I can play in one of those episodes.”
Edwards added: “I would say I’m a serious fan [of Twin Peaks]. When the new season came out, I went back and rewatched every original season … everything. I read the books. I read everything, and I actually still haven’t watched the final episode because I don’t want it to end. I’m still waiting to watch that one because once I watch it, there’s no more Twin Peaks, but, yeah, I would say I’m a serious fan.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Lizzie & The Makers’ new album, Dear Onda Wahl, will be released this fall. Click here for more information.
