| How sweet it is |
|
by Kent Farago the Carillon Cranbrook quartet leaves an impression One of the first things that I was taught when I first walked through the doors at the Carillon office was to always make sure that my tape recorder was working before con- ducting an interview. Always. Before the start of an interview, I typically ask the interviewee to do the awkward "Check one-two-three" thing to make sure that they can be heard properly on tape. Why I didn't think to do a mic- check before my interview with the ladies of Lillix completely boggles my mind. About an hour ago I sat down with my tape recorder in hand to playback the conversation that I had with Lillix, ready to pump out an article chronicling the recording process of their new record and per- haps include a humorous tour story somewhere in the mix. I pressed play, ready to make notes on what parts of the interview would be suitable for print. Instead of the sound of the four girls' voices, however, I was welcomed with the sound of silence. Well, not really silence. It was more like a faint hum of the motor spinning the tape in the player. Other than that … silence. My tape recorder didn't record the interview. The one time I didn't mic- check the whole thing goes bonkers. I'll be damned, though, if I'm going to let an interview like the one I had with Lillix go to waste. That wouldn't be fair. Instead I'm going to write about what I picked up on over my half-hour sit-down with the band. When I heard that I had the opportunity to interview the mem- bers of Lillix, I was more than a little intimidated. I would be face-to-face with four very talented and attractive women asking generic questions that they've probably been asked a mil- lion times before. My intimidation metre later went through the roof when I was told by their manager that they were unaware of the inter- view until a few minutes before I arrived. Great, -- not only was I going to be wasting their time with generic questions, but I was going to be ask- ing generic questions while taking up their down-time. Immediately after I met the girls (bassist Louise Burns, drummer Alicia Warrington, guitarist Tasha- Ray Evin and keyboardist Lacey-Lee Evin) my anxiety was virtually non- existent. The girls didn't have the intimidating rock star egos I assumed they would have. Instead I was greet- ed with warm smiles and they thanked me for taking the time to do an interview with them - something I was not expecting at all. The conversation got started and my once-generic questions morphed into topics like the relationship- rumour-mill that is Myspace, the experience of playing one of their first shows in the aisles of Blockbuster Video in their home- town of Cranbrook, BC and the joys of touring across Canada in an RV. When the conversation shifted to the topic of their new record Inside the Hollow, the girls all beamed with pride in what they recorded. As well they should. Inside the Hollow has been generating great reviews and the album's lead single "Sweet Temptation (Hollow)" rivals Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" for single of the year. It seems as if everything is cur- rently in line for Lillix and that 2006 could really become their year; to be honest, I truly hope that it is. |