Saturday, November 8, 2014

July Fighter Soothes Studio 5 With Their Chilled-Out Rock Ensemble

November 5, 2014 - Show #228



Northeast Minneapolis natives July Fighter were featured this week on “Live From Studio 5!”, bringing with them the tale of their new album and their laid back, harmonic rock sound. The group righteously jammed a multitude of tunes off of their most recent album, Live and Let Live, as well as a few numbers off of their two previous releases, the self titled July Fighter and The Cow

In a 2010 interview with Dwight Hobbes from the TC Daily Planet, frontman Jimmy Lyback describes that the earliest inklings of July Fighter began to take root after writing a number of songs that he felt were too chilled out to fit the driving, “in-your-face” alt-rock style of Sunshine Behavior, Lyback’s previous group which also met with local success. Lyback mentioned that once the last members of Sunshine Behavior left the group, he finally caved to his family’s insistence on pursuing what would eventually become July Fighter. 


In the studio, the group described the band’s writing process up to that point as completely organic, focusing less on sticking to a specific genre and instead letting whatever came to mind instantly spew out of their respective instruments. Though they mentioned Queen, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, and Joe Walsh as a few of their key influences, their sound encompasses a legion of styles, including classic rock, pop, country, and even a taste of ska. However, Lyback mentioned that part of what made their most recent project, Live and Let Live, so different from past releases was the amount of time the band took to write before heading into the studio, as opposed to writing as they went along. The band plans to spend the upcoming winter writing and working on their newest project, which Lyback has stated will more than likely be an EP called Ordinary Lifestyle.



July Fighter’s current roster includes Jimmy Lyback on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Spencer Franson on lead guitar and backing vocals, Colin McCowan on drums, and Mike Thoreen on bass. Jeff Buesing also assists the group with pedal steel, and Tony Wilson steps in from time to time to slap the bass guitar. 


Provided below is a link to July Fighter’s Reverbnation Page:

Click here to listen to this show at ANY time from ANYWHERE on the planet on our FOREVER archives:  https://archive.org/details/228JulyFighter
Check out the video on our You Tube page here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGjRPMv22nI&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA

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-Article by Seth Hynes-Marquette

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