There’s no shortage of music or characters in Lawrence, and this weeks Spotlight focuses on the self-proclaimed “Wierdo Rock Band”, Lizard Brain Trust. The intro to their Spotify bio reads as such: “After a fourth failed attempt to perform a submarine exorcism, Lawrence, Kansas band Lizard Brain Trust gave up their collective desire to rid the world of clown demons, sold the remainder of their comic books, and agreed to start an indie rock band.” If that doesn’t speak volumes to you about who they are, well, perhaps the clown demons have already gotten to you. Always a blast to see live, take a seat and enjoy the ride!
“…after some calculations we concluded we all blacked out for a period of about 9 weeks and when we woke up, the band and all social media accounts had been created for us.”
7eight5: Tell us a little bit about yourselves, your names and what do you play?
Lizard Brain Trust:
Colin – bass and good vibes
Barry – synth, guitar, master chef skills
JP – drums and pep talks
Seth – guitars, vocals, depression
Cameron – all kinds of fuckery
7eight5: How long have you been playing together? And individually, how long have you been playing music?
Seth: We’ve been playing together as Lizard Brain Trust since 2020
Cam: A good chunk of us have played in various bands together over the last 25+ years. Personally, music was what got me thru high school and I think all of us can relate with that in some way.
Seth: I didn’t go to high school.
Cam: …
Seth: That’s not true
7eight5: Where did the name “Lizard Brain Trust” come from?
Cam: None of us remember, but after some calculations we concluded we all blacked out for a period of about 9 weeks and when we woke up, the band and all social media accounts had been created for us.
Seth: Nice try FBI. We promised David Icke and Billy Corgan we wouldn’t tell.
7eight5: Describe your sound for us.
Lizard Brain Trust: 80’s and 90’s indie rock meets 2024’s depression
7eight5: Finish this sentence: (fans of (insert band here) would love your music).
Lizard Brain Trust: I like to say that if Kurt Cobain had heard “Alien Lanes” he may have made an LBT record.
7eight5: There are some shows where you wear some green cape outfits. Could you explain their origins?
Lizard Brain Trust: We lost a bet with ourselves.
7eight5: Who were your influences growing up, and what impact has that made on your music?
JP: Cameron Hawk has influenced me from day one. And Mac McNeilly. The impact on my life has been cathartic. On the music I play to – can you patch that up in post?
Barry: Synthesizers inspired by Danny Elfman, The Shining soundtrack (Wendy Carlos), wolves, dumb ghosts, and disappointed extra terrestrials.
Seth: Sonic Youth, Jenny Lewis, The Weakerthans, Guided by Voices, The Cure, Nirvana, Bright Eyes, The Get Up Kids, Kill Creek, Ultimate Fakebook, Phoebe Bridgers, Bel Biv Devoe, Bobby Brown, my older brother’s cd collection, The Replacements, Descendents, The Anniversary, Steve Albini, Frogpond, the new Waxahatchee record, New Order, Pixies, Wilco, Jawbreaker, Mr Show,Pandora on my work computer in 2010, holiday parties, fireworks, bad b movies, Halloween, nightmares, skateboarding, video games, ghost stories…this could be a really long fucking list. I try to rip them all off as much as possible. Local bands were a huge gateway drug for all of us.
Cam: what Seth said, but also I feel like the weird shit like dead milkmen, monks, modern lovers had a huge effect on the way I perceive music. Let’s just say I don’t take it too seriously, but nothing matters nearly as much. Makes sense right? 🤣
7eight5: Do you remember your first show? What was that like?
Cam: we almost died of heat stroke. It was great.
Seth: It was hot and sweaty and I briefly died but was revived by Barry’s guitar solo
7eight5: How have you grown since starting to play together?
Cam: mostly horizontally
Seth: Ahhhh, shit. Cam’s right.
7eight5: What do you do outside of your music?
Cam: Listen to others’ music
Seth: So much music. Daydream about music. I also haunt a local hospital.
7eight5: Where do you get influences from when writing music?
Cam: When I was younger, I wrote about girls and relationship shit because I hadn’t figured it out for myself. Not that I’ve figured it out, but I have a wonderful family and now the real-life shit that inspires me to write music is the stuff that pisses me off. That’s probably why I’ve gravitated more and more towards punk and more urgent/aggressive stuff as I’ve gotten older. Punk has always resonated with me not as a genre but in the sense of hey, you can literally make whatever music you want. Like the “music industry” doesn’t follow rules or regulations so why fuck should a songwriter have ANY set of rules or templates they should follow?
Seth: A line from a book or movie or song or some random weird shit you hear a stranger say in passing. Sometimes it just comes from some fucked up feeling or a memory of an episode of Unsolved Mysteries from 30 years ago
7eight5: What comes first for you, the lyrics or the music? Or is it more 50/50?
Cam: Music always came first for me until my partner made me realize how important lyrics are. Like I still gravitate more towards a clever chord progression or something, but I’m less likely to be won over by half-assed lyrics. I’ve been guilty of too many of them, call it a trigger.
Seth: Lyrics generally come first for me. I care, probably too much, about lyrics. It’s the first thing I notice in music and the main thing I focus on with most of the shit I write
7eight5: Where do you want to be as artists/a band in 5 years?
Cam: Treading digital mud in the Bandcamp cemetery
Seth: Writing songs about the end of the world
Seth: “What you lose in the oranges you make up in the strawberries and bananas” – my great grandfather, the fruit seller
Cam: Make them want to rewind, not fast-forward.
7eight5: What’s a goal you are hoping to achieve?
Seth: Putting out another album. Finding my inner child. Charging that inner child rent.
Cam: What Seth said about second album. It’ll probably be out before the next pandemic, but not the next season of Severance. We’ll get some goodies out in the meantime though, you just see!
7eight5: How do you go about setting up shows to play?
Seth: That’s kind of a juggling act because the five of us live in three different states, but when the stars align it works.
Cam: I’m about to hold the third intervention to convince Seth to just play to a backing track because it’s better than just tinkering in your basement and easier than wrangling all our asses. I’ve been using this great intervention company. They weren’t the ones from the tv show, tho. Those fuckers are expensive! In all seriousness, we take any opportunity we can to play live but because of how spread out we are, we feel we have to be open to different lineups and arrangements. It all creates kind of a collective vibe which I think is pretty cool. It also means we’ve already played in multiple states despite only playing a handful of live shows in our existence.
7eight5: How far have you traveled to play a show?
Lizard Brain Trust: Had a dream we played on Mars, but last summer we played a couple of Colorado shows so probably that.
7eight5: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned since the band started?
Seth: Just to be open to stuff. The fun thing about a band is that each of us brings something different to all the shit we do.
Cam: Kinda like what Seth said, it’s cool to say yes to things. But one thing I’ve learned is that saying no is important too. Like anything, it’s not black and white, ya know? I think it’s like, be open to the fact that your experience may be different. That a thing that works for others may not work for you, etc. Moderation in moderation.
7eight5: What’s the best piece of advice you received regarding music?
Seth: “What you lose in the oranges you make up in the strawberries and bananas” – my great grandfather, the fruit seller
Cam: Make them want to rewind, not fast-forward.
7eight5: How can people get a hold of you?
Lizard Brain Trust: Lizardbraintrust@gmail.com or Instagram are probably the easiest ways
7eight5: What Have you any shows coming up?
Lizard Brain Trust: Nothing planned right now, but we’ll have some shows in the near future.
In the meantime, check them out on socials, on Spotify, and check out their video for “Ghost World” off of their album “The David Christ Memorial Indoctrination Fund for the Cure!
