» Alternative Ulster Interview - Nov 2007
What's the title 'Voodoo Priestesses & Interplanetary Craft' about?
We are trying to tell the world that we want to bring Karen Carpenter back from the dead and have her duet with Jello Biafra, with Ministry as the backing band.
Your sound contains a wealth of original ideas - who are your influences?
Musically, no one. We get together and see how far we can push what we're doing, how deep into it we can all get. The main influence is each other and the things going on in our heads. Influences from other people's music are unwelcome.
What’s your plans for the near future?
Voodoo, voodoo and more voodoo. We're taking the band and the record around the country and ramming it down as many throats as possible. We'll be all over this island for the rest of the year, and onto the mainland through December and January.
How ambitious are you, what level of success would you feel comfortable with?
Success is illusory, and comfort is boring. We have a great record and we're playing great shows, and people are digging it. More of the same, bigger, faster, harder - that's what we want.
We are trying to tell the world that we want to bring Karen Carpenter back from the dead and have her duet with Jello Biafra, with Ministry as the backing band.
Your sound contains a wealth of original ideas - who are your influences?
Musically, no one. We get together and see how far we can push what we're doing, how deep into it we can all get. The main influence is each other and the things going on in our heads. Influences from other people's music are unwelcome.
What’s your plans for the near future?
Voodoo, voodoo and more voodoo. We're taking the band and the record around the country and ramming it down as many throats as possible. We'll be all over this island for the rest of the year, and onto the mainland through December and January.
How ambitious are you, what level of success would you feel comfortable with?
Success is illusory, and comfort is boring. We have a great record and we're playing great shows, and people are digging it. More of the same, bigger, faster, harder - that's what we want.
» Alternative Ulster - Nov 2007
Belfast based quintet Lotion are unafraid to tear up the rulebook and create their own, and their latest, bizarrely-titled offering hops, skips and jumps above and beyond anything they've even come close to before now, laying a Glasgow kiss on you that leaves you wondering exactly what just happened. It’s eclectic, boisterous and often sounds like a gaggle of kids throwing a tantrum, so it’s far from perfect but the tangible heart and energy that’s gone into the musicianship and the stellar production wins out over minor gripes through sheer, unremitting perseverance.
Drawing from an obvious love of the riff, an abundance of ideas save them from relinquishing their experimental whims to lug-headed down-tuned rawk posturing. The songs are built upon lynchpin guitar motifs that smack hard and heavy while throaty bellows flare above the tail-spinning left-turns and neat tricks.
Brimming with confidence and a seemingly reinvigorated and settled line-up, Lotion suddenly have their game face on and are a force to be reckoned with.
Drawing from an obvious love of the riff, an abundance of ideas save them from relinquishing their experimental whims to lug-headed down-tuned rawk posturing. The songs are built upon lynchpin guitar motifs that smack hard and heavy while throaty bellows flare above the tail-spinning left-turns and neat tricks.
Brimming with confidence and a seemingly reinvigorated and settled line-up, Lotion suddenly have their game face on and are a force to be reckoned with.
» David Roy - Irish News 26/10/07
Onto new business: the Voodoo Priestesses & Interplanetary Craft EP by Lotion. Having been around for a couple of years now, their second release sees their sound mutating into something altogether darker, heavier and more complex.
Where older songs like 'Beaufort Scale' and 'Inside' were content to be big, catchy slabs of fairly straightforward alternative rock, all four new tracks here sound like they're practically caving in on themselves. Someone has put a mosh-powered prog-hardcore rocket up Lotion - it suits them well.
Guitars riff, chug and squall across tumbling, pummeling drums and big bottomed bass, while the singer lurches from tuneful croon to throat stripping, bile baiting howls as he works through his issues for your listening pleasure.
While the influence of Helmet and their Irish proteges Kerbdog is still apparent (particularly on the sludgy 'Pandora's Closet'), the overall feel here is much more overtly 'metal' than before. The inclusion of some electronic sounds, samples and effects also adds a layer of intense atmosphere to proceedings. Stand outs 'The Book Group' and 'Exurro Terra' come off a bit like a cross-pollination of Fantomas, Nirvana and Deftones, which is no bad thing in my book. There is also a hidden final track that nicely recreates the effect of accidentally leaving a pocket dictaphone recording for an entire day and then listening back to the demonic sounding results as the batteries die. Leave this on in your little brothers room on Halloween night if you're the sadistic type.
Though i've not seen them live in ages, apparently the current Lotion show is a deafeningly loud spectacle, which you can check out for yourselves tonight on the bands hometurf at The Magnet Centre in Newry. Visit them online at www.lotion-music.com and follow the links to their myspace and bebo pages to hear their songs.
Where older songs like 'Beaufort Scale' and 'Inside' were content to be big, catchy slabs of fairly straightforward alternative rock, all four new tracks here sound like they're practically caving in on themselves. Someone has put a mosh-powered prog-hardcore rocket up Lotion - it suits them well.
Guitars riff, chug and squall across tumbling, pummeling drums and big bottomed bass, while the singer lurches from tuneful croon to throat stripping, bile baiting howls as he works through his issues for your listening pleasure.
While the influence of Helmet and their Irish proteges Kerbdog is still apparent (particularly on the sludgy 'Pandora's Closet'), the overall feel here is much more overtly 'metal' than before. The inclusion of some electronic sounds, samples and effects also adds a layer of intense atmosphere to proceedings. Stand outs 'The Book Group' and 'Exurro Terra' come off a bit like a cross-pollination of Fantomas, Nirvana and Deftones, which is no bad thing in my book. There is also a hidden final track that nicely recreates the effect of accidentally leaving a pocket dictaphone recording for an entire day and then listening back to the demonic sounding results as the batteries die. Leave this on in your little brothers room on Halloween night if you're the sadistic type.
Though i've not seen them live in ages, apparently the current Lotion show is a deafeningly loud spectacle, which you can check out for yourselves tonight on the bands hometurf at The Magnet Centre in Newry. Visit them online at www.lotion-music.com and follow the links to their myspace and bebo pages to hear their songs.
» Francis Jones (www.culturenorthernireland.org)
Battling It Out in Belfast
It’s all about potential and passion. Battle of the Bands competitions are rarely going to offer up the finished product.
What was particularly encouraging about the JD Set Unsigned was the abundance of enthusiasm and endeavour on show, the five groups short-listed going all out as they vied to win this competition aimed at unsigned university bands...
...They may have issues of a moral or mental concern, but Lotion are certainly not lacking in confidence. A thrilling musical freak show they are punk psych pioneers, their songs disturbing vignettes, blasted at us with lacerating vigour.
The frontman wears a dress and is completely at ease with that, he also bellows out the belligerent lyrics of ‘Book Group’ with Mike Patton-esque ferocity. Around him his cohorts attack their instruments in a unified frenzy, unfurling heavy, loud, skull-crushing music. These guys like to accessorize, a Stetson here, a surgical mask there, and they’ve even got their own dancer. It all adds an enthralling visual dimension...
...In the end individuality won through, Lotion winning my and the other judges’ votes, unanimous winners of the Belfast heat of this UK-wide competition. Commendable mentions to all the other bands who participated and to the organisers and good luck to Lotion as they bring their fearsome tuneage and sartorial strangeness to the latter stages of the contest.
Read the full article here
It’s all about potential and passion. Battle of the Bands competitions are rarely going to offer up the finished product.
What was particularly encouraging about the JD Set Unsigned was the abundance of enthusiasm and endeavour on show, the five groups short-listed going all out as they vied to win this competition aimed at unsigned university bands...
...They may have issues of a moral or mental concern, but Lotion are certainly not lacking in confidence. A thrilling musical freak show they are punk psych pioneers, their songs disturbing vignettes, blasted at us with lacerating vigour.
The frontman wears a dress and is completely at ease with that, he also bellows out the belligerent lyrics of ‘Book Group’ with Mike Patton-esque ferocity. Around him his cohorts attack their instruments in a unified frenzy, unfurling heavy, loud, skull-crushing music. These guys like to accessorize, a Stetson here, a surgical mask there, and they’ve even got their own dancer. It all adds an enthralling visual dimension...
...In the end individuality won through, Lotion winning my and the other judges’ votes, unanimous winners of the Belfast heat of this UK-wide competition. Commendable mentions to all the other bands who participated and to the organisers and good luck to Lotion as they bring their fearsome tuneage and sartorial strangeness to the latter stages of the contest.
Read the full article here
» Eamonn P. Keyes (fastfude.com) 05/09/06
Arriving without fanfare,nor indeed information, I know a couple of the Lotion guys from their Rhesus days.
This is a markedly improved unit in every way from those heady days, with a court order eventually forcing John "Die the Flu" O Neill to move from bass to guitar.
In addition to a new bassist and drummer, they've also acquired new vocalist Marty, who fits exactly into what they're doing.
And what they're doing is..although still influence-driven...well performed contemporary rock, rooted in the likes of Faith No More/Tomahawk and Perfect Circle.
It's a very common sound locally, and suffice to say that Lotion carry it off better than most, thanks to the vocals and a solid couple of songs on this CD.
"Beaufort Scale" is possibly the better song, although it's a bit of a sprawling epic at over 5 minutes long, and Marty shows right away that he can hit those frequently awkward high notes on the nail.
The frequent radio samples tend to be just a bit too common and too high in the mix for me.
Nice wee breakdown in the middle, but the drumloop could've been cranked a bit more and the echoed end a tiny bit earlier to keep the tension up.
However, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here, like the chant at the end, which could have been expanded to better use earlier, in my opinion.
"Inside" is in broadly similar vein, but is more of a rock stomper than the previous song.
Again there's a nice melodic touch at work in the song, with major/minor modulations adding to the repeated chorus.
Overall, it's a good start from the band, being a solid base to start from, showing interesting diversions at appropriate times, and no trace of shakiness in tuning, performance or tightness.
Maybe a touch too much influence betrayed overall, but with time and experience that'll hopefully be diluted out,leaving Lotion's true vision of what they're about more evident.
This is a markedly improved unit in every way from those heady days, with a court order eventually forcing John "Die the Flu" O Neill to move from bass to guitar.
In addition to a new bassist and drummer, they've also acquired new vocalist Marty, who fits exactly into what they're doing.
And what they're doing is..although still influence-driven...well performed contemporary rock, rooted in the likes of Faith No More/Tomahawk and Perfect Circle.
It's a very common sound locally, and suffice to say that Lotion carry it off better than most, thanks to the vocals and a solid couple of songs on this CD.
"Beaufort Scale" is possibly the better song, although it's a bit of a sprawling epic at over 5 minutes long, and Marty shows right away that he can hit those frequently awkward high notes on the nail.
The frequent radio samples tend to be just a bit too common and too high in the mix for me.
Nice wee breakdown in the middle, but the drumloop could've been cranked a bit more and the echoed end a tiny bit earlier to keep the tension up.
However, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here, like the chant at the end, which could have been expanded to better use earlier, in my opinion.
"Inside" is in broadly similar vein, but is more of a rock stomper than the previous song.
Again there's a nice melodic touch at work in the song, with major/minor modulations adding to the repeated chorus.
Overall, it's a good start from the band, being a solid base to start from, showing interesting diversions at appropriate times, and no trace of shakiness in tuning, performance or tightness.
Maybe a touch too much influence betrayed overall, but with time and experience that'll hopefully be diluted out,leaving Lotion's true vision of what they're about more evident.
»
Tom (Knights Of The Round Table) 16/03/06
More spoken word and a few tunes played over the PA led to the arrival to the stage of the mighty LOTION.
Fresh from a showcase the previous night at The Menagerie, which was a heartfelt but quiet gig, the LOTION boys were psyched up almost to the point of frenzy. Before we all knew it, the lead singer had taken to the stage in a white linen dress! The drummer had snaffled a dress from somewhere too and was busting similar moves on the drum kit. The LOTION breed of distorted, pulsating Metal began to wash over the audience, the rhythm guitarist dandering around the crowdfront in a Metal-daze and lead singer Marty+lead guitarist Sean becoming increasingly detached from reality. After a cresendo of crazyness, heavy guitars, and electrical samples (including the sampled cry "Fuck You Bitch" that rang out as a song-opener), Marty had at last entered the Shamanic inner world that Jim Morrison liked to delve into on stage. In this deranged state he started taunting the audience by pulling his dress up scandalously high and wiggling a pair of Y-fronts at everyone.
As the music rose, the dress rose too;
As the guitarist "took off" on a solo, the dress was "took off" with it
As LOTION got their riffs dripping in the crowd's ears, Marty got a bottle of Lotion dripping over his practically naked body, smulching it in and around every part of his heaving torso…
The finish was as powerful as the whole set: a screaming, writhing Marty fired the microphone at the lead guitarist's half-full pint glass, shattering it in the face of an audience member, and flung himself Kobain-style onto the drumkit, where he writhed in pain until the last chords were played out and the band closed to an uproarious finish.
Amidst all this freaking around, the band didn’t appear to miss a single beat!
If you like Belfast metal then you're probably happy enough with the world already. If you’re like me though, and you find that Metal doesn’t really float your boat (We are Knives and, at a push, one or two other groups excluded), I’m 100000% confident in saying that if LOTION can sustain that kind of tightness, originality, and psychosis, then they have just made Metal very interesting again.
Fresh from a showcase the previous night at The Menagerie, which was a heartfelt but quiet gig, the LOTION boys were psyched up almost to the point of frenzy. Before we all knew it, the lead singer had taken to the stage in a white linen dress! The drummer had snaffled a dress from somewhere too and was busting similar moves on the drum kit. The LOTION breed of distorted, pulsating Metal began to wash over the audience, the rhythm guitarist dandering around the crowdfront in a Metal-daze and lead singer Marty+lead guitarist Sean becoming increasingly detached from reality. After a cresendo of crazyness, heavy guitars, and electrical samples (including the sampled cry "Fuck You Bitch" that rang out as a song-opener), Marty had at last entered the Shamanic inner world that Jim Morrison liked to delve into on stage. In this deranged state he started taunting the audience by pulling his dress up scandalously high and wiggling a pair of Y-fronts at everyone.
As the music rose, the dress rose too;
As the guitarist "took off" on a solo, the dress was "took off" with it
As LOTION got their riffs dripping in the crowd's ears, Marty got a bottle of Lotion dripping over his practically naked body, smulching it in and around every part of his heaving torso…
The finish was as powerful as the whole set: a screaming, writhing Marty fired the microphone at the lead guitarist's half-full pint glass, shattering it in the face of an audience member, and flung himself Kobain-style onto the drumkit, where he writhed in pain until the last chords were played out and the band closed to an uproarious finish.
Amidst all this freaking around, the band didn’t appear to miss a single beat!
If you like Belfast metal then you're probably happy enough with the world already. If you’re like me though, and you find that Metal doesn’t really float your boat (We are Knives and, at a push, one or two other groups excluded), I’m 100000% confident in saying that if LOTION can sustain that kind of tightness, originality, and psychosis, then they have just made Metal very interesting again.
» Tom (Knights Of The Round Table) 06/08/06
LOTION were their usual unusual. Guitarist Sean, sporting a ballaclava and ski-mask, rocked it up to at least an 8.9 on the RIFFter scale down amongst the audience, and Del battered away at the drum kit in some fetching gimp-gear! Marty (lead vocals) opened the performance with a verbal sermon (from the holy Book of RIFFelations!); tremendous! By the end of the set there had been a festival of tight and even (metallically) ‘funky’ music; and the drum kit was destroyed as the mini-moshpit at stage front went bonkers.
[I remember crashing down on top of one of the band (Del?? Huggy??) as drink-doused poet Alex Wylie ripped me to the ground with a manic bear-hug in the closing bars of the last number]
[I remember crashing down on top of one of the band (Del?? Huggy??) as drink-doused poet Alex Wylie ripped me to the ground with a manic bear-hug in the closing bars of the last number]
» Stef - no-ordinarymusic.com - 2006
Sit back and get ready, because things are about to get rowdy. Lotion are a five piece from Belfast and with this, their first demo, they blow a breath of fresh air over everything stagnant on our current roster.
Opening track "Beaufort Scale" is Lotion's 5 minute masterpiece that works away, actively festering in the subconscious mind, before maturing to an eventual explosive climax.
In vocals stylistically reminiscent of Brandon Boyd (incubus) emotions are freely divulged across a sea of defiant guitars and with continual exertions of energy on all accounts, the band scrape closer to a solid sound that helped early 90s rock bands such as a perfect circle, gain memorable success.
Second output "inside" continues to display Lotions undeniable influence of 90s rock but as the band successfully managed with the previous track, they pull off a performance that quite clearly displays addictive traits of their own.
With tracks of this standard, Lotion certainly have the ability to take on the British rock scene with a full tank of fuel and hopefully take themselves all the way.
Opening track "Beaufort Scale" is Lotion's 5 minute masterpiece that works away, actively festering in the subconscious mind, before maturing to an eventual explosive climax.
In vocals stylistically reminiscent of Brandon Boyd (incubus) emotions are freely divulged across a sea of defiant guitars and with continual exertions of energy on all accounts, the band scrape closer to a solid sound that helped early 90s rock bands such as a perfect circle, gain memorable success.
Second output "inside" continues to display Lotions undeniable influence of 90s rock but as the band successfully managed with the previous track, they pull off a performance that quite clearly displays addictive traits of their own.
With tracks of this standard, Lotion certainly have the ability to take on the British rock scene with a full tank of fuel and hopefully take themselves all the way.