Lendway Make Their Way
If you’ve been hanging around Burlington, Vermont lately you may have heard the sounds of a relatively new band called Lendway. The band was awarded “The Deli’s” December artist of the month, and has recently released their debut album The Low Red End. Lendway has mostly played in the Burlington area including venues like Red Square, Nectar’s, and the Monkey Bar. Big Heavy World will also be pleased to have Lendway perform in a few weeks for the BHW Baker's Dozen Birthday Bash on April 17th (See above).
The band features lead vocalist/guitarist Mike Clifford and lead guitarist/vocalist Matt Hagen, who provide the driving force and collaboration behind a majority of the bands original work. Bassist/vocalist Kevin Lynam and drummer/vocalist Todd Gevry form the rhythm section, which complete the bands sound with a solid, smooth sounding foundation.
Their music has been classified by some as 60’s psychedelic-indie-pop or 90’s shoegazers. Certainly the band has admitted to strong influences from The Grateful Dead, Beatles, and Pink Floyd. Their love of the vintage sound is readily apparent when standing in their room full of vintage amplifiers and equipment. Most notable about the band’s sound is the strength of the vocal melodies and harmonies. Strong four-part vocal harmonies, along with attention to song writing have definitely helped in creating their own unique sound.
Lendway, in its current form, has been around for almost two years. However, the original members met and played together several years ago at Johnson State College of Vermont. This experience provided the basis of a friendship that gave the members the strength and will to re-form several years later. As a testament to their friendship and humble beginnings, the members named the band after their landlord at Johnson State.
Lendway re-formed when lead vocalist Mike Clifford decided that the extensive repertoire of original music written over the last few years was too good to let die and needed to be recorded. The desire to focus on great song writing/composition and sound, along with a tremendous interest in the recording process led to the creation and release of their debut album The Low Red End in November of ’08.
The Low Red End was the culmination of hard-work, thoughtful song-writing, recording, re-writing, and re-recording. The album was released on 12” vinyl as well as CD. Pressing on vinyl was something the band really wanted to accomplish, a likely tribute to their vintage influences. The raw tracks for the entire album were recorded by the band themselves using their own recording equipment, which were subsequently mixed and mastered by Ryan Powers.
Currently the band is working on both an EP, and second full-length album scheduled for release in spring/summer of ’09. The EP is a collection of “darker” songs originally written for the The Low Red End and intended to be a set of songs that transition well into the next album. The band is looking forward to the completion of the second album as they feel that the writing is focused more on their current arrangement and it will highlight continued growth of the band.
Lendway plans to hit the road with a mini-tour around Vermont on the strength of these new releases this year. No matter what happens this group of friends are definitely enjoying the moment and looking forward to making things happen this year. More info on Lendway can be found on their myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/lendwaymusic, and the Big Heavy World Crew is proud to have Lendway join us for our Baker's Dozen Birthday Bash on April 17th.
