Saturday, 1 May 2021

The Lillingtons - Automaton

  
(photo : Bambi Guthrie)

  There's always a danger that any release by Newcastle, Wyoming kings of pop punk The Lillingtons (https://www.facebook.com/TheLillingtons) will be their last. They seem few and far between nowadays and stories of them reaching the end of the road often resurface so anything we do get should be treasured. I frequently tell anyone that'll listen about my love for their Death By Television album (https://fasterandlouderblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/retro-reviews-lillingtons-death-by.html) but pretty much everything they've ever released is great, including their brand new ep. 

  Titled Can Anybody Hear Me? (A Tribute To Enemy You), it's 6 lovingly rendered covers of songs originally recorded by a band they had a strong kinship with. From San Francisco, Enemy You were never the most high profile of bands but they produced a small but impressive body of work. Tragically, frontman David Jones (who was earlier in another excellent band, After School Special) passed away in 2015 but his memory lives on. 

  The ep is a fitting tribute and it's available on vinyl and cd from Red Scare Industries (a portion of proceeds will be donated towards to National Suicide Prevention Lifeline).   https://redscare.storenvy.com/ 


  This is the opening track, it was originally on the 1999 album Where No One Knows My Name (https://enemyyou.bandcamp.com/album/where-no-one-knows-my-name). You can hear the Enemy You version here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUOYODllgEE

  It may be a cover but it sounds like classic Lillingtons. Please don't let it be their last release. It's called Automaton...

By the time you get this note I will be nowhere to be found
I know the secret and I'm going underground
My eyes have seen the things they never should have seen
And now they know it and they're coming for me
They'll keep trying in any way
But I'll be running every day (and I'll be hoping for you)
Automaton
Skins with cyborgs beneath
They're automatons
And they're coming after me
Only toil, strife and time have brought me to this end
Thought I was different but I'm just the same as them
And all the thoughts and ideas I believed were mine
Are only borrowed from someone from another time
Don't you cry for me today
I never had a chance anyway ('cause under my skin it's the same)
Automaton
Skins with cyborgs beneath
They're automatons
They're coming for me
They're automatons
Less man than machine
They're automatons
And they're just like you and me
  

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