Things arent exactly going to plan for Tulsa band Lizard Police. Not that its a bad thing, as its original aspirations were far from grandiose.
In the beginning, we just wanted to play rowdy, stupid shows for our friends, singer Mitch Gilliam. We were just focused on playing fun music, as cliché as it sounds, and on making weekends a little dangerous again around Tulsa.
Thats the part thats worked out. Weve gotten a reputation for ruining peoples shoes, he said, and we usually have to help mop up all the beer after the show.
However, Lizard Police has gone above and beyond its original call of duty, releasing its full-length debut, Make Muscles, in March and readying a follow-up EP for this summer. The bizarre, but perfect blend of indie pop and hardcore music that Gilliam, Austin McAfee and brothers Nick and Clay Flores are crafting seems almost to demand the amount of work theyve put into it in two short years; its more than friends thirsting for new songs, its a growing legion of fans lusting after a nowsignature sound.
We are like a power-pop band, but you can tell we listen to a lot of hardcore. The fact that a lot of it is just sexed-up pop music has made it really accessible to a lot of people, Gilliam said. I see us as a band that doesnt have a limit. There are no constraints to any certain aesthetic. I see a lot of people latching on to that, from older hardcore dudes to younger kids listening to MGMT.
Lizard Polices upcoming EP, the tentatively titled Coweta, seems telling of the route the guys have taken from their small Tulsa suburb.
The A side is about the people who get stuck in small towns and sell themselves short, Gilliam said. The B side is about people who take that experience and turn into hard-asses, make cool shit out of it and dont get stuck.
That soon will be trailed by a yetto-be-titled album thats been given a promising mantra.
Our motto for this new record is, More lasers, Gilliam said. Its cramming in as much stupid guitar, bass and drum stuff in there while maintaining the pop core to it.