By JOHN BURNETT By JOHN BURNETT ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald staff writer If Living in Question were to change the band’s name, they might consider Lazarus. The East Hawaii hard rockers have just released their third studio CD “Recipes and Remedies” —
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
If Living in Question were to change the band’s name, they might consider Lazarus.
The East Hawaii hard rockers have just released their third studio CD “Recipes and Remedies” — seven years after their previous studio release, “Green,” and a little more than four years since the band’s last show at downtown Hilo’s Palace Theater, the venue that cemented the band’s status as local legends.
“I think it’s the best record they’ve made. That’s my opinion,” Scott Schorr, the band’s producer and owner of the international indie label Lazy Bones Recordings, said Monday. “They’ve been broken up for so long, three or four years. And to come back and do what they did. I’m blown away by it.”
It took about 15 months from the beginning of the project until the CD’s release, due largely to diaspora. Two band members, guitarist/vocalist Chris Albers and bassist Jason Paulsen, moved years ago to Los Angeles, while vocalist/keyboardist Glynn Motoishi and drummer Frank Bianchini still live on the Big Island. Schorr also left Hawaii a few years ago, washing ashore in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
“We decided to get together for a month last year at my place in L.A. and see what happened,” Albers said. “We got a lot of songs written. It all started there. But because of everybody’s schedules and separate lives, it took a long time. … But we’re still friends; we still have music in our hearts. So we thought why not give it another shot and see what comes out of it.”
The album was recorded mostly at Albers’ Sun Worshipper studio in L.A. with vocals and some instruments added in a house Schorr and the band rented last winter in Kapoho.
“Chris really stepped up to the plate on this record,” said Schorr. “In the past, I did all the recording and engineering, but this time, since we were spread out all over the place — New Zealand, California and Hawaii — Chris did all the engineering. We produced it together and it was a great experience.”
Albers had to work the recording around his own busy schedule, as he also works for Chris Robinson, hitting the road with the Black Crowes’ frontman and recording his solo shows, a gig he describes as “a pretty fun day job.” Albers and Paulsen also have another band, No Second Thought, which is still together but currently on the back burner, Albers said.
“Recipes and Remedies” is currently available exclusively at www.lazybones.com, and the first 500 copies ordered are autographed by the band. It will be available on iTunes on Oct. 9. No live Hawaii shows are currently planned. A CD release party and showcase for some industry heavyweights is tonight at the Swing House, a Hollywood recording and rehearsal studio. LIQ is also playing The Viper Room in West Hollywood on Oct. 8.
“At first, we had no plans to play live,” Albers said. “We just wanted to do the record. It really helps to have more music in our catalog for the placement business (in television, films, video games, etc.). And that was the original intention, to have more music available for placements, because we get residuals on it. But after spending so much time on it and hearing the songs, we thought it would be fun to play live again.”
Motoishi, a father of two daughters who runs a Big Island construction company, is “really proud” of the way the record turned out and is looking forward to the shows, as well.
“I’m just really excited to be able to play with the band again and (have) another opportunity to play to the L.A. crowd,” he said. “It’s hard to be away from family, but when you’ve got something you really believe in, you’ve just gotta do it. I got to take a little break because my wife (Marilyn) is so cool.
“This all kind of came about organically. We never really had any plans to get back together and jam, but it just grew naturally and we’ve got some pretty good contacts on our side, so we decided to play this showcase and let ’em know what we can do, and let those who do it for a living say whether we get to go any further with it or not. If it happens, great. If not, none of us are going to be upset about it.”
