State of the Art: Lust for Glory

*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Washington!

Just about everyone likes Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Eagles, old Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult and other late sixties/early seventies Hard Rock favorites. If you like Rock in any form, you are not likely to find friends with similar tastes saying they hate these bands, right? Heavy riffs, bluesy, heavy hitting solos, blasting drums and booming bass lines were the foundations for everything that we listen to today, much of it having direct underpinnings paying homage to these gods. As good as the music has always been, the live shows were where all of the glory was, however. Festivals that lasted weeks in a time of free love, fun Rock ‘n Roll and overt illicit drug use are pillars on which today’s Metal grounds itself. Such is the case with my SOTA band this week. Lust for Glory flies in the face of just about everything modern in favor of their Lo-Fi take on what music should be.

Lust for Glory was formed in 2005 in Portland, Oregon but has since migrated to Spokane, Washington. Having quite a few line-up changes over the years, current members include Sean Genereaux on vocals and guitar, Kat Anderson on bass and Scott Carr on drums. With the desire to always sound like they are live, they are gritty, unpolished and honest. Zero compression on any of their recordings which, incidentally are recorded from garages and basements to assure that the edges stay rough and have an old-school sound we grew up loving. They have been categorized as Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative, Garage Rock, Guitar Rock and Bedrock (whatever the hell that means LOL!). When asked what he thought, Sean Genereaux states: “I have heard people cite a few other bands after listening to us, which is nice and all. But if I were to describe the music, I’d say: ‘If the Foo Fighter tried to be the White Stripes, and failed? We would totally open for THAT band’”. Maybe. Not heavy enough in my humble opinion, but it is his band and he trumps me all freaking day. Based on this statement, you probably smiled as I did; and, yes, there is always a sense of levity in Lust for Glory’s sound and lyrics. As clarification, Sean goes on to say “I don’t wanna change your vote, or increase your awareness of anything. I just want you to turn it up. And maybe, if you’re driving, you might drive a little faster”. Raw? Yes. A joke? Absolutely NOT! Thankfully, Lust for Glory never cross that line into absurdity. To start, Sean is an astoundingly good player and songwriter. Rich, fuzzy and heavily distorted guitar lays a foundation that is Doom heavy in a Black Sabbath kind of way with guitar melodies, timing and vocal harmonies reminiscent of Iron Butterfly and Led Zeppelin. His vocals, while raw as intended, are deep and rich with just a hint of Southern Hard Rock imparted to add weight to his vintage, echo chamber type of effect. Super cool and really, really easy on the ears. To make their sound sit very low, booming, distorted bass is another hallmark that defines the Lust for Glory sound. Often sitting on top of the vocals and guitars, the bass gives LfG a huge, heavy sound that is unmistakable and will definitely entertain the heaviest of head bangers and vintage Rock fans alike. Being a trio, the drummer has to kill it and Mr. Carr does not disappoint. His range of styles is baffling. He could play just about anything tightly and hold down any damned tempo he plays in his sleep. His drumming is also effectively used to keep the Lust for Glory on a defined course as well, keeping them from hitting the extremes of their musical spectrum. Unusual, refreshing and so damned cool. One might even go as far to say “nifty”.

Currently, Lust for Glory have five releases. Live at Ladds was a “self-bootlegged EP” released in June of 2010 which was followed by their “unfinished EP” entitled Plast Life EP in November of 2011. Considered their debut, American Soniscope was released in March of 2012. Blue Idle was released in March of 2014 followed by their latest, Those Times are Now which was released in December of 2015. Guess what? The live bootleg sounds just as good as the latest, each having such a refreshing variation of everything described above that Lust for Glory will never run out of cool music to play and keep us entertained for years. A perfectly imperfect job well f’ing done! Too damned cool. Can’t get enough!

More information on Lust for Glory can be found on: Facebook  ReverbNation  BandCamp  Soundcloud  YouTube