The Lickerish Quartet follows up 'Masterpiece' debut EP with 'Threesome Vol. 2,' set for release on January 8, 2021

Check out The Lickerish Quartet's hard-charging new single. It is great!

The Lickerish Quartet's first single and video, "Snollygoster Goon," out today, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020!

 

The Lickerish Quartet, left to right: Tim Smith, Eric Dover,
and Roger Joseph Manning Jr.

 

 

November 20, 2020 -- THE LICKERISH QUARTET—ex-Jellyfish members Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Beck, Air, Cheap Trick, Imperial Drag), Tim Smith (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Finn Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Umajets) and Eric Dover (Imperial Drag, Slash’s Snakepit, Alice Cooper, Sextus)—is standing by their promise to their fans to release more new music before the end of 2020. 

 

Today they’re excited to announce their highly anticipated THREESOME VOL. 2 EP, which will be released January 8, 2021 via Stranger Danger Records and Tapes. Pre-orders will be available starting Friday, December 4 here. The first single and video, “Snollygoster Goon,” can be seen now on the band’s official YouTube page and streamed on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon.

 

In addition to the new music, THE LICKERISH QUARTET is offering unprecedented access to the band thanks to a plethora of exciting “Experiences,” which will be available for purchase on their official website. These exclusive offers include: “Perform / Record On Your Song,” “Co-Write a Song With Us,” “Video Chat,” “Music Lesson,” and many others. 

 

It’s the follow-up to their debut EP, THREESOME VOL. 1, lauded by critics as “a masterpiece” which was released May 15, 2020 via The Lickerish Quartet/Label Logic, as distributed by Ingrooves and can be purchased and streamed on all digital outlets.

 

With song titles like “Snolllygoster Goon,” “The Dream That Took Me Over,” “Sovereignty Blues,” and “Do You Feel Better?” Manning, Smith, and Dover’s undeniable chemistry can once again be found throughout THREESOME VOL. 2. The songs formed from the same sessions that begun in 2017 offer a slinky and feisty landscape of temptation, freedom of thought, hope and dreams, and a shout out to all who game the systems. An edgy second round of soaring vocals, angular guitars, and pulsing drums, enveloped by timeless keyboard arrangements requires multiple listens to appreciate fully. Manning, Dover and Smith ruminate on these new songs:

 

“Do You Feel Better?” as told by Tim Smith:

A romp along the primrose path of temptations, internal and external, real or imagined, the tiny demons we dance with throughout our lives.
A pulsing bass and hypnotic guitar rhythm plays like the backing band to a striptease you’ve sneaked into, and don’t know where to sit, but all are welcome!
Some things are more dangerous than others, of course, but this song is sort of a combination of letting your guard down, because of preconceived notions of what’s right or wrong, and justification  of actions you think you understand to have under control. Who knows?
Experiences do give us perspective, and this song tries to play between the id and superego--a Screwtape letter demon, and an Angel of Mercy.
 

“Sovereignty Blues” as told by Roger Joseph Manning Jr.:

 

“Fears fire’s all they’re fanning, but I won’t light up their fuse.” A tale as old as humanity. Group control over another through the tried and true tactic of fear. And always partnered with a fatal dose of “divide and conquer.” But who’s actually pulling the levers and pushing the buttons of the propaganda machine behind the Wizard of Oz’ curtain of crowd control, so to speak? Irrelevant. Ultimately, the perennial question for any person, provided they value sovereignty above all else, is: am I going to choose love over fear, peace over chaos, and God over the ego in any given moment? Everything can be taken from a man but one thing (to quote Viktor Frankl): “The last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” And with that in mind, grab a torch, march to your own drum, and sing along!

 

“The Dream That Took Me Over” as told by Eric Dover:

 

You are driving without a destination lured by the wanderlust of your own making.  You turn up the stereo volume and continue along, moonlight reflecting off the chrome of your vehicle.

We invite you to put the top down and take a ride into the inner dialectic of our conflicted protagonist as we answer the question: Is there equilibrium in the chaos or does science hold the key? 

 

“Snollygoster Goon” as told by Eric Dover:

 

A frenetic forensic foray into classic old as civilization themes involving

greed, graft and corruption as applied to any political sphere.

The music is Adderall based in theory to reflect the absolute

breakneck speed at which the corruption flourishes. The snake oil salesman kissing babies, the saccharine unimaginative public image.

 

The first single from THREESOME VOL. 1, “Lighthouse Spaceship,” has had nearly 50,000 plays on Spotify since its release in March. Lyric videos for “Lighthouse Spaceship” and “Fadoodle,” as well as an acoustic performance video for “There Is a Magic Number,” can be seen on the band’s official YouTube page.

 

Rave reviews emerged about THREESOME VOL. 1 since before its release. Popmatters.com hailed, “Fans of both Jellyfish and Imperial Drag will rejoice at the Quartet's sound. There are doses of XTC/Queen/ELO-style harmonic structures, flirtations with progressive and psychedelic rock, and tasteful but deeply impressive musicianship.” While the Minneapolis Star-Tribune declared, “If you love the harmonies of Queen, the songwriting of Brian Wilson and the lushness of Borns, (‘Lighthouse Spaceship’) is a must-add to your playlist.” The Day (CT) proclaimed, “This mini-masterpiece offers the same joy-crafted recipe fans loved about the '90s-era band (Jellyfish): Four sugar-packed tunes of Queenisms, lick-the-spoon Wings frosting, wry Fountains of Waynery, and a quick waterside through Brian Wilson's acid-period brain.” And MusicPlayers.com concluded, ““…these tracks are dreamy good! The songs cover a variety of classic pop styles from a time when you didn’t have to clarify that pop was actually a form of rock music, with a heavy dose of ‘70s vibe and incredible vocal harmonies draped over jangly electric guitars, folky acoustics, vintage keyboards, and bass grooves that can only be called… exceptional.”

 

Proclaims Tim Smith, “THREESOME VOL. 2 finds our threesome in fine form, with four new songs to get you through COVID times and beyond!”

 

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Sights and Sounds: Get ready for the arrival of the Lickerish Quartet on May 15, 2020

What promises to be one of the best albums of the year (based upon the fantastic track "Lighthouse Spaceship," here are details about the debut offering from The Lickerish Quartet.

THE LICKERISH QUARTET

THREESOME VOL. 1

 

Roger Joseph Manning Jr.  Vocals, Keyboards

Tim Smith  Vocals, Bass, Guitar

Eric Dover  Vocals, Guitar

 

 

 

Absence makes the collaborative heart grow fonder. Just ask the three masterful musicians who comprise the modern-day supergroup known as The Lickerish Quartet. Fans and eagle-eared listeners alike will instantly recognize the shared pedigree that Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Beck, Air, Cheap Trick, Imperial Drag), Tim Smith (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Finn Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Umajets), and Eric Dover (Imperial Drag, Slash’s Snakepit, Alice Cooper, Sextus) all have together by way of the melodiously fruitful time they spent in the ’90s alt-rock cult-favorite collective known as Jellyfish. After many years in the interim of supporting the visions of other artists, they were eventually able to reconvene on their own in early 2017, spending whatever time they could spare in the ensuing three years to create something they could truly call their own.

 

To that end, Manning, Smith, and Dover’s undeniable chemistry can now be found within every sonic pore of the four songs that comprise The Lickerish Quartet’s cheekily named Threesome Vol. 1 EP, which is set for release on May 15, 2020 via The Lickerish Quartet/Label Logic, as distributed by Ingrooves. From the mischievous harmonic invitation of “Fadoodle” to the folk-tinged uplift of “Bluebird’s Blues” to the twangy lamentation of “There Is a Magic Number” to the cosmic muscle of “Lighthouse Spaceship,” Threesome Vol. 1 confirms the communal strengths of a trio of songwriters who have clearly retained an intuitive sense of knowing exactly how to elevate the sum of each other’s musical chops.

Watch the lyric video for "Lighthouse Spaceship" here.

 

“While touring with Jellyfish, it was pretty clear to me that both Eric and Tim had plenty to say as writers in their own right,” Manning reports. “All these years later, it was like picking up where we left off in many ways. Ultimately, the songs go on their own journeys, but I also think our collective vocal sound puts a stamp on all of them, no matter who’s singing lead. That’s what really joins it all together.” Smith very much agrees with that assessment. “It’s a good feeling knowing we found a way to blend together again as the three of us, and then find new ways to explore our ideas,” he marvels. “I think all the songs we did make something magical out of the mundane aspects of daily life.”

 

Threesome Vol. 1 opens with “Fadoodle,” a Dover-driven look at how to rekindle the fires of a long-entrenched relationship. “Well, I’m always looking for new ways to say dirty things,” Dover observes with a laugh. “I found a big list of naughty words from back in the day for what people used to denote fornication. It’s fascinating, because this has the distinction of being a pop song that has the world’s oldest slang yet is released in the 21st Century.” Adds Manning, “This one has that eighth-note driving thing that was a big part of the glitter sound of the early punk wave, so it’s got that kind of energy right out of the gate. Thankfully, once we had Eric’s lyric in place, it was just a free-for-all in having fun with the vocal interplay.” 

 

Next comes Manning’s “Bluebird’s Blues,” which features Mellotron and a 3D feel born from a musical bed he initially came up with back in 1988. “That one was very much a guitar song,” explains Manning, “and after showing my idea on piano to Tim and Eric, they were able to run with it immediately to give it that folkie guitar feel that it needed, and was calling out for. All of our contributions, including those of our drummer Jeremy Stacey, show the intricacies and clever ways of how we were able to move through that folk chord progression.” Interjects Dover, “It was an instantaneous thing we did, from Note 1. It set the mood, and it’s a beautiful moment. Being able to do that is one of the things we have going on together musically.” 

 

 

The third track is “There Is a Magic Number,” a Smith-penned rumination on how to deal with the sad circumstance of two people who have drifted apart after putting the blame for their dissolution on a number that signified the last straw — all buttressed by a signature trippy guitar line courtesy of Dover. “That just had to do with my favorite ’60s psychedelic garage records along with a little bit of surf music thrown in because I like some of those clean, twangy things,” Dover confirms. Adds Smith, “You never really hear any sad surfer music, do you? I just thought this was an interesting play on the idea of what could cause a relationship to end, without them really knowing why but blaming the circumstances on the final number you reach in your head after experiencing X amount of things, X amount of times.”

 

The EP concludes with the quite heady 6½-minute trip on a “Lighthouse Spaceship.” Manning reflects, “It was just a big experiment we were eager to conduct, and Eric’s genesis for the idea of the lyric really helped pull it all together. Once we had that very vivid imagery in hand, we could start expanding upon it in the arrangement to help paint the visual extension of his lyrics, which are wonderfully psychedelic.”

 

While The Lickerish Quartet don’t anticipate playing any live dates together anytime soon, they can confirm there are two more four-song EPs waiting in the wings, if demand warrants their release. Acknowledges Manning, “Realizing original ideas of my own is the most gratifying thing about making music, and the natural progression of what the three of us are doing together is you want to share it with people.” Declares Dover, “I’m always going to have time for doing music with these two people, even if we don’t live near each other. And if we only do two songs instead of 12, then we only do two. I’m cool with that.” Concludes Smith, “There’s a level of trust between collaborators who all share the same general goal. Only that can keep it interesting and push it even further to where it can go. At the end of the day, as long as all three of us are excited and inspired with what we come up with, we’ll figure out a way to do more of it.” Hear, hear. Given the inherent, aurally seductive nature of Threesome Vol. 1, we have a feeling many fans both old and new will want much more of The Lickerish Quartet music in their lives — and then some.