Get in the Lifeboats! Or check out their music, it could save your life! Get in the lifeboat if you have to!
First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
Like many groups, I suppose, we struggled to find a name. We must have spent months before we chose the group name. We had even started rehearsals long before we came to a decision regarding the group name. The problem with a group of 5 members, is to get everyone on board and to get them all to agree! We had boards with hundreds of proposals. One of us had actually already suggested Lifeboats. At the time, it was not accepted. However, after thinking it through, we said to ourselves that it corresponded well with our idea of this project! The “life boat” represented what music means to all of us in our lives. To top it off, it is a funny name! We produce a style of music that is very codified, so it is amusing to go off the beaten track.
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
The band was created with the current line-up mid 2019. Basically we are 5 buddies who get together to create music we love and that makes us dream. The 2 years that followed the creation of the group was constituted of writing, rehearsals, recordings and video shootings. COVID allowed us to take a lot of advance before the release of the group (3 clips were shot before the launch of the group). The official release of the band was back in June 2021 with the first single “Your Own Violence”, quickly followed by “Till the End” and “Second Mind”. In January 2022, the 4th single of the band, “Cut from the Same Cloth”, was released and marks a turn in our universe, with a voluntary more jovial and natural side, which contrasts with the dark side of the lyrics.
How would you describe your sound?
We consider our music as a kind of Hardcore Punk, tinted with some Rock’n’Roll. We play on the duality of the two distinct, but complementary, voices of the band. This allows us to have an aggressive yet melodic side to our music. It is our vision of “modern rock”.
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
Rise Against, Stick to your Guns, A Day to Remember, Beartooth and all the groups that revolve around these bands. We are also in admiration of the French group named Resolve and Landmvrks who motivate us further and pave the path we wish to achieve.
What’s the last song you listened to?
Haha! Nothing to do with the Lifeboats universe for sure. The last single of Katatonia “Atrium”. Nevertheless, it is always a good idea to be enriched with all kinds of music from different styles and horizons!
What’s your source for hearing new music?
To party! Firstly because it is a passion for all members of the band, but mainly and more seriously, because it is the best place to talk about music with friends. There is always someone who has something to share!
The queue of a Spotigy playlist is always full and a great way of discovering new songs!
Concerts and festivals are also a good idea for discovering new kinds of music!
Who is your dream producer?
Hum, difficult question. The one who will manage to bring out exactly what we have in mind, and for the moment, we do not know him/her yet!
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Blink-182, Heineken and the Jera On Air! I think that with these elements we could have a good time!
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
How do we stay motivated when composing music in a country where rock, and even worse metal, takes a back seat? I would say that we are probably a bit sadomasochistic, way too optimistic and surely unconscious haha!
All joking aside, it is the passion that motivates us. The first time we discovered this style it made us all dream, and being in a band while giving it your all, is living a part of that dream. We are a little bit like the rock star we secretly admire. It allows us to get out of our everyday routine. But I think what it really is for us, is that when you start dreaming and you get a taste, you never want to stop, you want to go farther and bigger! So we just keep going and we never give up!
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
First, we compose the instrumental part of the song. Often, someone from the group proposes a draft with a beginning of an idea. For example, a verse, a chorus and a piece of structure, and sometimes even the words. Then we all work together on the draft to transform it so it corresponds to the Lifeboats style and image.
Generally, we leave the city for a whole weekend, typically to the countryside to isolate ourselves. All we need is a computer, a microphone, and a guitar! The process can be rather long, to put in agreement 5 people is not always simple, but that allows to go farther into the ideas proposed, test them, and keep what works best.
At the beginning, we’ll usually sing “false lyrics” (yoghurt as we say in France). Then we write the texts. The lyrics are rather dark and it turns around our personal experiences, without pretention nor claim but always full of sincerity.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
We use social networks such as Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook … On social media; we try to stay as natural as possible. Our desire is to stay authentic to ourselves and who we are as individuals. We do not want to play a role of “false bad boy”.
When we are on stage and on the networks, we are as we would be in real life, sometimes very far from the cliché image of metal bands. This allows us to be closer to our public, because we are just like them, our natural selves.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeboats_fr/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2vGWwJu1DndWtt2AhRAplt
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAC86Ta534s4DAM1_pGxcNg
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/lifeboats
What’s next for you?
The first “chapter” of the band is coming to an end. We launched the band over a year and a half ago, released 5 singles and a cover during that time span and played at some really cool shows. Now we are focusing on the next step, which is writing our first album. Obviously, there will be events happening before the release of the CD, notably with a new single planned for the end of this year (we are currently filming as we speak!). And there will be concerts of course, including a French-German tour with the band Vermillon.
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
We are called Lifeboats, we are just 5 normal guys who want to keep having fun, so come join us! The more the merrier!
Bio:
Lifeboats, a band from Lyon navigating in a punk, HxC and rock’n roll register. A duality confronting aggressiveness and melody, sounds as brutal as elegant led by these 2 distinct but complementary voices. A kind of powerful and modern rock’n’roll fed by 5 friends with very different backgrounds but who finally meet to do what they really enjoy.
