{"id":19228,"date":"2020-08-25T05:30:25","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T09:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19228"},"modified":"2020-07-21T10:52:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T14:52:00","slug":"three-is-the-magic-number-the-lickerish-quartet-part-2-of-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/25\/three-is-the-magic-number-the-lickerish-quartet-part-2-of-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Three is the Magic Number: The Lickerish Quartet (Part 2 of 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a> \u2026 <\/i><\/p>\n

Manning says that the never-made third record would have been a double-LP that showcased each member\u2019s songwriting, one side each. \u201cLike Sloan\u2019s Commonwealth<\/i>,\u201d Manning suggests. That 2014 double LP \u201cstill sounds like Sloan, but you really get each guy\u2019s personality. And as a Sloan fan, I was just so envious that they were able to do that \u2026 and we weren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manning says that when he got together with Dover and Smith in early 2017, the initial attempts at songwriting were very fruitful. \u201cWe thought, \u2018Let\u2019s get together and write, and see what happens,\u2019\u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd it was clear to me [those songs] were what a lot of the song submissions for a third Jellyfish album would have sounded like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The \u201cSpaceship\u201d Takes Off<\/b>
\nJellyfish showcased a wide stylistic palette. But The Lickerish Quartet may prove to be an even more eclectic enterprise. \u201cHonestly, we just came with no rules about it,\u201d Smith says, other than \u201cjust writing songs that we liked for ourselves, and informing those songs as best we can.\u201d He allows that some of the music on the new group\u2019s first EP \u201cwill have some of the sound that people will remember from Jellyfish, but I don\u2019t think that was the driving force.\u201d<\/p>\n

The care and effort that went into making densely-layered tracks like Jellyfish\u2019s \u201cGlutton of Sympathy\u201d is something that has carried over to The Lickerish Quartet. That means that the recording process can be a lengthy one. \u201cIt took a lot of time to record a lot of the vocal things,\u201d Smith says. \u201cYou have to be passionate about that, and you have to be willing to sit there for the hours that it takes.\u201d He laughs and admits that it\u2019s \u201cnot sexy to be sitting there, just singing one-syllable phrases over and over again, and multi-tracking yourself doing \u2018ahh\u2019s.\u2019\u201d But with its subtle echoes of Badfinger\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Over,\u201d a new track like \u201cLighthouse Spaceship\u201d showcases the group\u2019s finely-tuned approach.<\/p>\n

Those writing sessions in 2017 yielded a bounty of new material. \u201cWe wrote together for about three weeks, and came up with about 20 ideas,\u201d Manning says. \u201cI was like, \u2018We\u2019ve got enough here for two records! Let\u2019s take the best ten or twelve and see what it would be like if we put our money and time into realizing them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The trio called upon an old friend to help them with the drum parts. Jeremy Stacey has earned high regard for his work with a dazzling array of acts, including Ryan Adams, Robbie Williams, Steven Wilson, Noel Gallagher\u2019s High Flying Birds and many others. Stacey has been a member of progressive powerhouse King Crimson since 2016. And even though he is an in-demand session musician, the British drummer jumped at the chance to work with The Lickerish Quartet.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeremy was [already] friends with all of us,\u201d Manning says with a laugh. \u201cHe said, \u2018Oh my god: you guys have a project? You need a drummer? I will practically do it for free. I want to be on this record! What\u2019s that going to take?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Another friend provided the final piece of the puzzle. Adam James is a longtime fan of the music Manning, Dover and Smith have all done in the past, and wanted to do what he could to help get The Lickerish Quartet going. \u201cHe said, \u2018How do I get to watch you guys make a record?\u201d Manning recalls. \u201cWe entered this business agreement with him where he fronted some funds to help us get the ball rolling.\u201d James is credited as Executive Producer on the group\u2019s debut release.<\/p>\n

Adam James \u201cgot to be a fly on the wall,\u201d Manning says. \u201cAnd you know, you can\u2019t do that with just everybody. We just basically laid out the rules and regulations and healthy boundaries, and I\u2019m happy to say it worked out.\u201d Manning says that the Executive Producer was \u201cfun to have around. Frankly, he was a voice of an unbiased mini-critic, if you will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manning credits Stacey and James as critical to the success of The Lickerish Quartet\u2019s debut EP. \u201cI don\u2019t know how we would have done it without these people really bending over backwards to help us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s long been clear that there is no chance that Manning and Andy Sturmer will work together again, Manning\u2019s friendship with original Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner might seem to make him a good way of making The Lickerish Quartet an actual foursome. \u201cThat was never a thought,\u201d Manning says. \u201cBecause he\u2019s so immersed \u2013 and understandably so \u2013 in his solo career.\u201d<\/p>\n

And even if Falkner did have the time and inclination, it still wouldn\u2019t happen. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you,\u201d says Manning with a slightly nervous laugh, \u201cThree cooks in the kitchen is plenty<\/i>.\u201d He makes it clear that he enjoys working with friends like Dover and Smith, but emphasizes that it is work. \u201cMaking any album can be an arduous and really challenging process for any [group of] well-meaning individuals. So I don\u2019t know how we would have done this record with four or five members, be it Jason or anybody else. We barely got through with three!\u201d<\/p>\n

To be continued \u2026<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One \u2026 Manning says that the never-made third record would have been a double-LP that showcased each member\u2019s songwriting, one side each. \u201cLike Sloan\u2019s Commonwealth,\u201d Manning suggests. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,51,62],"tags":[1130,4271],"class_list":["post-19228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","tag-jellyfish","tag-the-lickerish-quartet","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19228"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19237,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19228\/revisions\/19237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}