In Bloom: Lilys Poised For Massive Resurgence; New Music, Reissues And Live Performances Planned

We suppose all the recent activity should have been enough of a clue that the proverbial gears are purposefully turning in the camp of legendary indie rock act Lilys, but even so the scope of the information brought to light by an interview published by Chickfactor yesterday is breathtaking. Indeed, we don't know which exciting information to lead with: that mastermind Kurt Heasley is resolved to substantially increase the number of all-too-rare live performances; that a new release is almost a certainty (although it may or may not be released under the moniker Lilys); that there are definite (but not yet finalized) plans to reissue three Lilys records over the next year-and-a-half.

While all of the above has felt inevitable for some time, in some ways it almost seems too good to be true. "I do see playing live a lot more over the next few years," Heasley tells Chickfactor. He says he loves playing the mod-ish, Monkees-influenced music of his mid-period releases Better Can't Make Your Life Better and Services For The Soon To Be Departed, and that he hopes to find the right line-up in order to perform some of that music live, in order to "materializ[e] the mythology."

With regards to the reissues of old recordings, Heasley confirms what has long been thought, that he intends to reissue Lilys' legendary, 1991 full-length debut In The Presence Of Nothing. Heasley states that not only does he hope to reissue that album (and hopefully the related b-sides? and some rarities? please!), but also two others. We assume, but do not know for certain that, these two others must be the towering EP A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns and the mind-blowing LP Eccsame The Photon Band, which were released by the now-long-defunct Spin-Art Records. We had been told years ago by someone that the dissolution of Spin-Art had thrown the rights to those latter two recordings into a black hole, although that might have been speculative chatter. Nevertheless, and whatever they may be, three reissues are hopefully a dead certainty. "I am currently negotiating the reissues of 3 records over the next year and a half with Mike Schulman of Slumberland Records. He just sent me some old DAT recordings today that I am looking forward to hearing. We've also talked about recording a new project."

Wait, what was that last thing? We've been aware that Heasley has been steadily working on new music and recording, but in the interview he confirms that and notes his recent work with Nighttime Gallagher (a/k/a former Apollo Sunshine guy Jesse Gallagher), who also abets the present live iteration of Lilys. Heasley's new ideas sound tantalizingly massive, and they may be the most exciting of all of the news broken by Chickfactor. Calling the new music "solar pop," Heasley states, "Whatever it is, it's not just about the music anymore, music is visual and physical, it's a whole show and I have a lot of ideas for the next project that include a big multi-media environment." Amazing.

Lilys played a fairly surprise, barely announced show Sunday night in Cambridge, Mass., in preparation for a performance this coming Thursday at Chickfactor 22 at the Bell House in Brooklyn. According to the Chickfactor site, Lilys are expected to perform some new songs, which like WOAH. As of press time, passes for the show (actually both nights of the two-night event) were still available. Stream some Lilys music below, and get excited for all that is to come. And, hey, did you know we curated this awesome Lilys tribute comp featuring songs recorded by Speedy Ortiz, Lubec, Arc In Round, White Laces, Infinity Girl, Soccer Mom, Cuffs and many more? Cause we did. My, that was a time.

Lilys: Facebook

That Was The Show That Was: Clicky Clicky Community Servings Benefit Show Thank Yous And Wrap-Up

Well that was quite a night, wasn't it? I mean, the Pats scored like 55 points! Oh wait, right, the rock show. THE ROCK SHOW. The rock show was tremendous! Not only were punters treated to four Clicky Clicky faves delivering impassioned performances, but we raised a tidy sum for a great cause, Community Servings, whose various services we have detailed here often, and include providing nutritious meals to the critically ill and their caregivers.

The show kicked off with an entrancing solo set from the magical K. Heasley, a/k/a Kurt Heasley, the visionary behind the long-running, shape-shifting indie rock enigma Lilys. Kurt, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar and seated on a wide stool he carried into the club with him, played mesmerizing versions of "Ginger" and "YCJCYAQFTJ" from the towering A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns EP; "Cambridge, CA" from the LP Better Can't Make Your Life Better; "Will My Lord Be Gardening?" from Precollections; and "Claire Hates Me," the transcendent closing number from Lilys' full-length debut In The Presence Of Nothing. While Mr. Heasley complained of some sniffles whatever effect they might have had on his transcendent performance were imperceptible. A more tender version of "Will My Lord Be Gardening?" you will, in almost all likelihood, never hear again. Here's a similar version from 2009.

Local shoegaze titans Soccer Mom grabbed the proverbial baton from Kurt and launched into an intense set heavy on the foursome's desperate and dense noize-gaze sounds. Bassist Danielle Deveau was playing fairly fresh from having pieces of metal extracted from her ankle, but she executed with nary a wince from between Will Scales and Dan Parlin. The lads traded off good cop/bad cop style on their very loud, dynamic and textured tunes, and highlights of their set included the single "Canoe" and several new tracks from the foursome's pending 2014 collection, which we could not be more amped to hear.

The Hush Now burst from the proverbial carbonite of a two-year hiatus with a leaner formation (gone are the keyboards that colored the band's last LP, 2011's Memos) and more tricks. The band played about eight songs, all of them brand new and likely to appear on their own planned 2014 set. The opening salvo was an Adam Quane-sung number titled "Pandas," and a clear highlight was a subdued and sad new one sung by guitarist Noel Kelly called "Manchester UK." Earthquake Party! delivered on its youthful, shambolic promise, exploding like a bomb each time it blasted through a selction from its repertoire of compact, fizzing power-pop. Highlights of the set included convulsing versions of "Little Pet" and "One More Night Could Ruin Us," each from last year's Let's Rock, OK? cassette. Surprisingly, the trio pared down to a duo for an uncharacteristically moderately paced cover of "Stephanie Says," a sweet nod to the late October death of punk pioneer Lou Reed. And with that appropriate close, the night was done.

There are many, many people who helped make this event the success it was, not the least of which are Sadie Dupuis, who took a break from an insanely busy life to DJ between sets, and Joe Turner, who washed the stage with dazzling visuals throughout the night. And while we are certain we will forget a name or two, our feeling has always been it's better to try to acknowledge everyone and fail rather than to not acknowledge anyone at all. So here we go. A huge Clicky Clicky thank you goes out to not only Sadie and Joe, but also Tim Leahy, Nick Lorenzen, Richard Bouchard, Barry the totally relaxed and affable sound guy, Carl Lavin, Wayne S. Feldman, Christian Housh, Kurt Heasley, Will Scales and Soccer Mom, Justin Lally and Earthquake Party!, Noel Kelly, Barry Marino and the rest of The Hush Now, Jeff Breeze, Jed Gottlieb, Michael Marotta, Anngelle Wood, Adam XII, Jonathan Donaldson, Bryan Hamill, Perry Eaton, Jay Kumar, Lisa Deily, Kristin Bishop And Rook, Ilya Sitnikov and all of the folks who came out to support the cause. We are excited to do it again next year, bigger and better. Stay awesome, Boston.

OH! If you would like another opportunity to support the great work that Community Servings does, you can buy a pie, right now, from my good friend Nick. All of the details are right here, but the long and the short is you give them $25, they use that $25 to feed a critically ill client for a week, and in return you get a pie in time for Thanksgiving. I believe that is called a win-win. Do it now.

Clicky Clicky Presents A Benefit Show For Community Servings Featuring Earthquake Party!, The Hush Now, Soccer Mom & K. Heasley of LILYS | 3 Nov. | TT The Bear's Place

[Flyer: Matt Klimas] After months of planning, we are thrilled to announce that Clicky Clicky Music Blog will once again present a bill for the ages, four of Boston's best indie rock acts, performing together for one night only Sunday, November 3, to raise money for one of the worthiest charities in all of the Commonwealth [Facebook event page]. The evening will be headlined by explosive Boston noise-pop makers Earthquake Party!, who are joined by Clicky Clicky favorites all The Hush Now -- yes, you read that correctly, the band is back from a two-year hiatus -- as well as shoegaze goliaths Soccer Mom and the legendary K. Heasley of the transcendant, shape-shifting Lilys. The lineup is amazing, as Earthquake Party!, The Hush Now and Soccer Mom are each finishing up albums that we expect will be career-defining, and K. Heasley of Lilys, well, every record he's made has been career-defining. The bands will perform to help Clicky Clicky raise funds for Community Servings [Link]. The Jamaica Plain-based organization prepares and delivers daily free, nutritious meals to almost 800 acutely ill clients (as well as their caregivers and children) in 17 cities and towns in Massachusetts. If you'll permit us to copy and paste from Servings.org as we did last year, Community Servings' web site, "meals are prepared with delicious, fresh foods and are packed with the nutrition needed to fight illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and lupus. To meet our clients' needs, we cater to their dietary restrictions, providing for 25 special diets."

The goal now is simple: we want tickets to this event to sell out, as soon as possible, so that we can accomplish three things. First, we want to raise a substantial chunk of change for Community Servings to help support them in their mission of feeding those in need. At the same time, we want to convey a strong message that Boston's indie rock community continues to help make a difference in people's lives when the opportunity arises. And our third and final goal is that we can have a night so big, so successful, that the first question everyone asks the next morning is "when can we do it again?"

So click this link and buy your tickets. We promise a show so amazing that people will talk about it for a long time to come (last year there was a blizzard, and the cats from Johnny Foreigner ended their set by doing snow angels on the sidewalk outside Great Scott. That was something). All the bands are playing for free, so all proceeds after the club covers its costs go straight to helping pay for nutritious meals for our chronically ill neighbors and their caregivers and kids. We're also planning raffles or other ways for you to agreeably part with a little more hard-earned money the night of the event. We'll have more details on that as the date of the show approaches. For now, though, here's what you need to do:

1. BUY TICKETS. LOTS OF TICKETS.
2. RSVP AT FACEBOOK AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO THE SHOW
3. ATTEND, GET BLOWN AWAY.

That Lineup Again:

Earthquake Party!



The Hush Now



Soccer Mom



K. Heasley of LILYS