Do you know what ‘Lyric Lounge Review' is? It's a special music site and, frankly, I only heard of it recently, when I received a very provocative email someone sent me, asking me if I liked music... What? Me? Who could ask me such a question? It was the married couple Jordan and Tanya Russell, who founded LLR (Lyric Lounge Review). I checked out the site, liked it and thought I'd interview the couple. I booked a ticket to Heathrow Airport and... I need a refund. How did you know I interviewed them on MSN? Let's get things rolling now. OK guys, everything you say will be held against you in print. Please introduce LLR. J: It's cutting edge music journalism with an honest, uplifting approach. We endeavour to find the best music out there, new talents and established ones, then help people decide whether they like them or not. It's writing about music by people who live, breathe and sleep music. We try to help artists that we believe are talented – we attend all gigs where bands request us to and, if the artist has potential, we write a detailed gig review on the site. It's usually accompanied by an interview and photos, so that people can find out more about the band. Tanya is a guest judge at talent contests and she approaches artists to either invite them to an LLR live session or a review of their material. We also listen to all the stuff sent to us and, where we perceive talent, we contact artists and write a live review for the site to promote them. We're in touch with music festival bookers and we recommend bands we think will appeal to that festival's audience. We also mention bands/artists which we feel have real potential to our contacts in the industry. Live reviews involve a video session in the studio with our very close friend, sound engineer Doug Robson, who owns the studio and is a genius in production. He ensures that bands sound their best. We interview them in detail between performances. Then we upload this on the site for a limited period. We offer invitations to signed and unsigned artists and often offer complimentary photographs from live reviews to the artists, so they can use them as promotional material. If we can secure funding, our next step is to set up our record label. When someone's recommended to us, we do our research and contact them. But some bands are difficult to research, because of their common names. For example there's a band called Brand New and another called ME. It's very hard to find them on Google. We also review concerts by well-established acts. Our recent reviews include performances by Elvis Costello, the Waterboys, Jools Holland, Bad Manners, The Damned, Razorlight and The Levellers. We will be reviewing Noel Gallagher and the Stone Roses at V Festival and also Pulp in December, which Tanya is very excited about. The one act that we haven't done yet but would love to is the Rolling Stones – we're hoping for another tour.
How did the project start? J: Tanya was doing freelance journalism, but became disillusioned with the mainstream music press, which often has an underlying agenda. Since music was her greatest passion, I decided to help her set up a publication dedicated to honest reviews, written in a way that would help people imagine themselves being there. Our ethos is to promote what we love, not bash what we hate. We have seen many talents struggling to get a foot on the ladder and thought LLR could help get them some of much needed exposure. We started LLR in 2005 as a small project, by getting a free site up and running and reviewing any gig we could. At first, it was hard to establish links in the music industry. Gradually, we built a fan base and got more contacts. Now we can go to almost any gig we want. Reviews are somehow what we've done our whole lives – as a guitarist I was always criticising other guitarists' techniques to improve my own. Tanya is a bit of an indie aficionado and an expert in her field – she's the first to recognise a band's talent.
That sounds great. Now tell me what attracted you to music? T: Music was always an integral part of my life. When I was growing up, my dad was a record dealer, so it seemed natural to go into music journalism. I particularly enjoy the excitement and anticipation when watching a new band that you realise halfway through the first song is going to end up being your new favourite. The first band I became obsessed with was Pulp. I have their logo tattooed on my arm and both my dog and tortoise are named Jarvis after the singer Jarvis Cocker. J: I've been playing the guitar since I was 18 and my heroes were Queen members – Brian May was a guitar legend and I wanted to be like him. I was a typical angry metal teenager, but calmed down and turned happy when I met Tanya. I started looking for music that reflected how I felt. Tanya was a big influence and my interest in music took off when we met, because I had to go to so many gigs with her. My main interest at gigs is photography – I love taking pictures and having split seconds to make or break them. It's a like a dual between you and the lighting most of the time.
Why didn't the two of you pursue artistic careers? J: We kind of did. We recorded a few tracks as a band called the Lyricals. Tanya is an awesome lyricist but doesn't have the discipline to pursue an artistic career. She gets bored during sound checks and jamming for new tunes and goes off to buy chocolate! I got a bit nervous playing in front of people – when I played in my first band as a teen, I could only go onstage wearing a baseball cap that covered my face! We have been thinking about setting the Lyricals as a duo and maybe playing a few gigs in January. Tanya is a great keyboardist and is learning to play the guitar, but she doesn't have the patience to learn some chords. What were you doing before LLR and wasn't it a risk to focus on a new private project? J: Tanya is actually a very successful head of English in a school and is so dedicated to the children she teaches that she refuses to quit the profession. Luckily, as festivals tend to be in the summer recess and concerts are evening based, as are our studio sessions, the two positions are quite complementary.
How are you able to cover all your expenses? J: “Tanya is quite well paid and at the moment it all comes out of our own pockets. We're hoping to secure funding in the future. She is also a storywriter and is about to publish her first book, which could help in funding future projects we want to pursue. How will you make money out of this? J: Sponsors and adverts. Some bands have expressed an interest in advertising with us, but, as we are passionate about music, we always listen to the bands first – we will not promote music we don't believe in, like manufactured pop, which is not what our readers are interested in. Record labels would also be a huge jump towards pulling in a big profit margin.
How do you promote LLR? J: A year or two ago, we realised the effect of social media like Twitter and Facebook – there's no point having great reviews if no-one knows where to find them. So we have started using social media to promote ourselves and bands we like. Anyone who wants to contact us should know that our Twitter is @lyricloungerev and our Facebook is facebook.com/lyricloungereview. As for our website, it's www.lyricloungereview.co.uk I guess I should do my share and try my best to promote the promoters by letting everyone know where they can find you. You are doing an awesome job. Keep it up. Send me your record deals to: [email protected]
