Artist description L.I.V. (Tyler) In The Universe are a retro-indie-rock sextet from Chicago, IL. Drawing such diverse influences as Bikini Kill, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Weezer, Deftones, Foo Fighters and The Pixies, their sardonic wit and crafty multi-instrumental craftsmanship make them one of Chicago's finest local bands. William Francis, lead vocalist and band leader, has wanted to become a great singer since he was six and would stand in front of the mirror singing Frank Sinatra tunes into his hairbrush. He has extensive experience singing in Karaoke bars, for his friends in his living room, and in his car. He decided to move beyond singing in the shower and uses his talent in studio work and recording. Webster Chapman, drummer, is a devout funk freak and Van Halen fanatic. His influences combine the styles of Edward Van Halen with Stewart Copeland and Dennis Chambers, the Greyboy Allstars with Galactic and Rage Against the Machine. The result is a whiplash meter, propelling even the clumsiest dancers to the floor. He started music lessons in the fourth grade and kept at it through college. While in high school, Webster won the Louie Armstrong award for best jazz student as a senior. He is currently enjoying a burgeoning success with his four piece funk act, Spatulatakra. Female Bass Player is the songwriter, piccolo bass, and bass and keyboard player of the group. Like the rest of the group, she had an early start. Watching a neighborhood garage band hooked her on heroin while in elementary school. He saved her lunch money to buy a Sears Silvertone guitar and started her own garage band. Later on, she switched to bass and studied jazz and composition while in college. After too many bar bands and near successes, she decided to find her ìown voice,î which lead her to the piccolo bass and William Francis. Other than the Roland V-Guitar solos by Sir Millard Mulch on the upcoming L.I.V. (Tyler) In The Universe CD, all the guitar ìsoundingî voices are actually produced by the piccolo bass. Sara Kent provided all the great guitar solos for the CD. He was musically trained at the College of Music at the University of Colorado at Denver. Sara quite capably constructs solo parts to fit any style of music from the mellow-jazz flavor of ìMy Dad / Vietnamî to the tasty Celtic-rock fills on ìWeird Picnicî on the upcoming CD. His past experiences, besides the usual band routine, include writing film and television music as well as a stint in the house band for the TV game show, Nitro. Vic Knight has an extensive background in jazz and Latin music and excels in percussion as well as many brass instruments. Although his musical preferences run along the lines of John McLaughlin, he is adept in many styles. Recently, as a reward for his talents, Dennis was given a gift of a shakuhachie flute from a 75-year-old flute master while visiting in Japan. Hoku Wakarmasu, keyboards, is also from Japan. In August, Sir Millard Mulch saw them open for Nina Gordon and was so impressed that he agreed to sign them on his own Ed Furniture label and produce the band. Look for their upcoming CD soon.

Music Style Indie Rock

Musical Influences Pixies, Foo Fighters, Meatloaf

Similar Artists Pixies, Foo Fighters, Meatloaf

Artist History 1040ez

Group Members Sir Millard Mulch - drums, William Francis - guitar, vocals, Female Bass Player - Bass

Instruments guitar, bass, drums, keyboard

Albums Army of Sexy Uniform Girls

Press Reviews "I sort of like this record. Conventional corporate music wisdom tells them to play it safe and stick to their anthemic formula, but on Army of Sexy Uniform Girls, at least in terms of production and mixing, there are some truly startling moments. The opening track is a wonderful-sounding mess of weird guitar distortions, flanged vocals, sound clouds washing in the background, distorted drums, and a funky rhythm section. There are other great moments of ear candy on this record, but the embarrassing and uniformly dumb lyrics make it difficult to listen to. Actually a lot of the sound and "look" of this record (intentionally blurry, overexposed photographs of L.I.V. in sunglasses, leather jackets, cigarettes, beer, and smiles) makes Army of Sexy Uniform Girls an uncomfortable mix of both new ideas and that contrived old rock'n'roll concept of "Hey, man, let's get back to our roots, back to the basics, man - we gotta reach the kids." Let's give them an E for effort. It's more of the same, only different." - College Music Magazine

Additional Info We play for drunks and smokers. Exclusively.

Location Venice, FL - USA

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