LAURA SITS DOWN WITH LIPSHOK

 Lipshok

January 2021

Interviewed by: 
Laura Williams
Vinyl Lollipops

Lipshok is:
Scarlett Dark - Keyboards/Vocals
Massimiliano Maggiari - Guitar
Phil Jameson - Bass
Joe Londeree - Drums

Laura:
What genre of music do you consider Lipshok to be?

Scarlett:
Ha ha, sometimes tough to answer. We think of it as gothic hard rock with some symphonic metal.  It seems that different people hear different genres and influences. Maybe it’s just original? Unique? Different? I like all of those.


Laura:
What's the ultimate direction for your band?

Scarlett:
To keep playing and writing new songs and getting this stuff out there. I am compelled. I don’t have a choice. It’s true. I have to do this. (I have to do other things too like have a day job, but music is a lot more fun)

Laura:
How would you describe your music making process? 

Scarlett:
Well, I like this question. First of all, since I’m the primary song writer, I usually start with some keyboard stuff, chord progressions, fooling around shit, and then from there a vocal melody comes to me almost instantaneously.  I start messing with those 2 things, vocals and chord progressions. 

Then I force the bass player, (who happens to be my husband), to come out to the studio (in our garage) and play along just to see how it sounds with other instruments.  Of course, this can be a long boring process as we argue for the first ½ hour about how it should go and then he gives in as he realizes what I’m doing.  Once I have a working arrangement of the song, (i.e. verses, choruses, bridges, etc.) I start adding vocal melodies and lyrics. All of this can take 10 minutes to an hour depending on how much cooperation I get. Next we record it so we don’t forget it.

Lastly it gets sent to the drummer and guitarist. They work on their parts and when we get together next we put it together as a band. I’m always amazed at how the song expands once we get everyone in there and this little ditty that I wrote becomes a huge wave of sound! LOL.

Laura:
Why call the band, “Lipshok?”

Scarlett:
Ah, of course. Important question. A lip shock happens when you are singing and touch your lips to the mic and there is an electrical problem and you get shocked in the old mouth.  Let me tell you, it isn’t comfortable. It feels like a bunch of little needles poking your lips. The first lip shock was huge. A blue arc you could see. The guy said at the time, “Wow, I just shocked my lips!”   I said, “Oooo, you got a lip shock!”  Then we ran from there. Of course, we had to make it one word and change the spelling so it looked cooler. Of course, whenever this happened to me everyone laughed. So, I eventually went wireless to avoid the problem, lol.


Laura:
What should fans expect to experience at a show?

Scarlett:
An honest to God musical extravanganza!! Ha ha, actually a sincere effort to tell the stories people think about in musical form. Maybe share the emotion and thought patterns that are prevalent in society. Unusual and unique melodies that can haunt the back of your mind. Most importantly, have a good time!!! 


Laura:
Typical question here.  Who has influenced you the most via music?

Scarlett:
Wow! So many and at the same time so few. I have always loved super orchestrated music, that is keyboards with guitars with harmonized vocals like choirs. I mean, I go back to Elton John, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and now Within Temptation, Nightwish, Ghost, Lacuna Coil, and Evanescence.

I used to be an opera singer!!

Laura:
How can fans and future fans locate, listen to and buy your music?

Scarlett:
We are all over the place now. We are on all the streaming services like: Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, etc.  We are signed with a European label “Sliptrick Records” for distribution in Europe, and are on CD Baby in the US.

Website:
www.lipshok.com

www.sliptrickrecords.com/lipshok

www.cdbaby.com/lipshok


Laura:
Is there anything else you would like your fans to know?

Scarlett:
Everyone should hang in there. 2020 was a rough year and hopefully 2021 will get better and we can all look forward to seeing and hearing live music again. Love what you do and do what you love. We are always going to be creating and writing and recording and performing as it is the way of things.

Laura:
What's coming up next for Lipshok?

Scarlett:
Well, we are just getting out the new music from “LIPSHOK: Shadows of a Dark Heart.”  There’s a lot of interesting stories on this album. For example, we did an animated video of the number 5 track “And So He’ll Fly” which is a song about Icarus and an updated version of the tragic story.

“Looking Glass” is about Alice in Wonderland and how everyone wants to be her and go there.

“Alive Once More” is about being a vampire and never really “living.”

“Answer the Call” which is somewhat political about the events and the problems of immigration.  (I don’t usually write about political stuff as I live in Fantasyland, but I couldn’t ignore this one)

“Revenge” about just that, getting revenge in a really bad way.

“Don’t Fear Defeat” is about going on despite being afraid to lose, etc.

——

Lipshok is represented by:
www.metalcoffeepr.com
Metalcoffeepr@gmail.com
http://mhf-mag.com/



 Laura Williams
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