Ex Licks

About

After three years playing, writing and earning comparisons ranging from Wire to TV on the Radio, Gang of Four to the Replacements, Seattle band ex Licks releases their debut LP. Guitarist Shawn Kock (Absolute Monarchs, Das Llamas, Blood Drugs) & Seattle DJ Alex Noble (Lex FX), started the band as a living room collaboration, mostly working out songs Shawn had written on guitar that didn’t fit into the more rigid corners he’d painted himself into with his heavier bands. With Alex switching between drums, bass and guitar and handling vocal duties, the band took life as a Guided By Voices-inspired home recording project, with no intention of ever playing out. But bands have an inertia of their own, and eventually the duo recruited Dan Paulus (Parini, Broomsticks, Underworld Scum) to play drums and solidified their line-up as a three piece with Alex locking down on bass guitar — ex Licks was born. The big-beat lessons Dan learned from the arena rock and metal of his youth lock with Alex’s sinuous, guttural bass lines, creating a propulsive rhythm bed equally conducive to pogoing or head-bobbing. Dancing on top of that, Shawn’s wiry guitar figures and stabs switch nimbly between aggressively melodic and sublimely jarring. As the primary singer, Alex’s raspy, stentorian shouts are augmented by Shawn’s almost-emo keening, with Dan throwing in some vocal accents as well, giving ex Licks a refreshingly catchy and full-bodied three-part vocal presentation.

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