Chicago four-piece The Dead Licks recently relocated from Dayton to the Big City and with it has come a newfound sound that brings together the spacious and tenacious urban indie rock of The Strokes and Interpol mixed with the hummable hard hooks of The Cult.
Their new album In Disguise is out on March 20th and Glide is premiering this fresh white noise stunner that mixes the ethos of big guitar records mixed with black-rimmed glasses indie cred. Check out the album in full below and a little Q&A Glide recently did.
On the album, the band shares: “We were planning on going on a Spring weekend tour until the Covid lockdown hit the Winter of 2020. This album was a collection of songs written and recorded during the pandemic. It was recorded at various studios around the city of Chicago, as well as the band’s apartment. We’re excited to release the album and start working on the next, as we’ve sat with this one for awhile. We plan to play live shows and spread our music as much as possible in the years to come.” is an unhurried affair, with roomy, often breezy songs that stretch their legs — with many of them clocking in around the five-minute mark, they’re not quite jams. But they evoke a similar spirit, taking pleasure in playing with and lingering over new sounds
First, I have to start by saying what an amazing album this is. Really enjoyed listening to it. I understand it has been a long time coming! How does it feel to have In Disguise out in the world?
We are excited and relieved about In Disguise being out in the world. This project has been in the works for a number of years now, so to see it finally in the hands of our fans is extremely satisfying. The feeling of relief stems from all of the time and energy that has been put into this album. We have learned so much through this process, so we cannot wait to get back to the writing process for our next project.
Could you tell me a little bit about how the band came together? What’s the origin story of The Dead Licks?
The Dead Licks met at the University of Dayton when an accidental email was sent out. The guitarist Jack Grbac had reached out to who he thought was the head of Street Sounds, a student-run recording studio. But he sent the email to the entire organization asking if anyone was interested in playing music together. Out of everyone the email was sent to, Tom Inzinga (lead vocals) was the only one to respond. Tom was friends with drummer Jimmy Gallagher from Chicago, who was interested in playing together as well. The three recorded a 3-song EP during their sophomore year in 2015. They then met their bassist Johnny McNamara their junior year, and the four of them have been playing ever since the fall of 2016.
What were some of your inspirations for the album?
A big inspiration comes from the artists that we listen to. We listen to a lot of The Strokes, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tool, Arctic Monkeys, and Wilco to name a few. In relation to our first album, we craved a warmer and more melodic sound. During the COVID 19 lockdown, we regularly used a drum machine in our apartment when writing. This was used in a few of our songs and has become a regular tool we use for writing music.
