Lydia

Words and Photos by Joe Hernandez

Originally formed in 2003, this band from Gilbert, Arizona, has gone through many changes. Founding member and vocalist Leighton Antelman is now the only remaining original member of Lydia. The rest of the band’s lineup includes keyboardist Matt Keller, guitarist Shawn Strader and touring members to play bass and drums during their live shows.

When asked to describe the sound of his band, Keller responds with “that’s a hard question.” He continues saying “we have some guitar, some piano, some drums and some singing. Just listen to it and find out for yourself!” It becomes obvious Keller and company isn’t so much concerned with fitting their music into a genre or sound, but instead creating a piece of art they are proud of and enjoy. “If anyone wants to tag us to a certain genre, that’s tight, but I don’t personally. I don’t really care; I’m all into it. If you think we are indie rock, pop or norwegian death metal—whatever, that’s cool. We’re just playing music. Whatever comes out is how we roll with it.”

Since Antelman revived the band after a hiatus in 2010, the guys have been busy evolving their sound by following the indie pop trend of blending different genres and sounds into their music. The three albums released post-hiatus alone show the evolution of Lydia’s music in the last eight years. After being independent throughout these years, the band is set to release it’s seventh studio album, titled Liquor, with Weekday Records on July 13, 2018.

Prior to signing to Weekday Records, 8123 managed the band. Though 8123 is made up of a great team of people and community of artists, Weekday Records presents a new opportunity for Lydia. When keyboardist Matt Keller joined the band, it was the first time Lydia signed to a formal label and wasn’t working as an independent band. Keller describes signing with Weekday as an exciting opportunity for the band to work with a new team of people, “[Weekday Records] let us make the album we wanted to make.” Initially, Lydia tried to continue creating the record independently. The guys rented a house in Big Bear, California, and set up a makeshift studio to work on the record. After completing a few songs on their own, the band hit a wall and sought help from Weekday Records, who recommended the producer Eric Palmquist. Some artists Palmquist worked with in the past include Mutemath, Hunny, Bad Suns and Thrice. According to Keller, Palmquist and Lydia worked incredibly well together. “It turns out [Palmquist] was awesome. He had incredible ideas. He did a really good job pushing us to do the best we could do and constantly reacting to ideas in a cool way. At the end of the day, we produced three songs on the record and Palmquist did seven,” describes Keller on working with Palmquist.

Lydia’s main focus in their music is ensuring all three members’ voices are heard and represented in the music. While the band may have their own studios set up in their homes, they’ll meet together to pick apart demos and build off of ideas and concepts together. While the guys had taken a similar approach on prior album releases, Keller remembers not expressing his own dissatisfaction with a certain work and going along with what the group was thinking. “In the past, I may hear a particular key part or vocal line, and I remember recording this. I didn’t like it, and I didn’t speak up.”

This record was about evolving the group’s dynamic, encouraging everyone to speak up and ensuring the best record possible was being made. In addition to Antelman, Keller and Palmquist, a new individual was brought in to contribute to Liquor. Shawn Strader was officially brought into the band for being an incredible guitarist, and adding a new perspective to the music. Strader brought a unique perspective that elevated elements of music and, according to Keller Strader, would come in with “obtuse” ideas such as playing a bridge “upside-down” and pushed the band to take a different approach in their writing and recording.

The lead single, “Goodside,” further shows the band’s creative process and the variations a song goes through. The track began as a song that Antelman brought in and Keller wrote a bridge for after hearing. Eventually, the majority of the song was scrapped and Keller’s bridge became the actual song. The melodies of the chorus didn’t come to the band easy, as Keller remembers walking around Palmquist’s studio until Antelman had an idea. According to Keller, this is Lydia’s typical creation process. Nearly every song on the record took multiple iterations and changes before the group was happy with it. There’s one song on the record that didn’t follow this, Keller explains, “There’s a song on the record called ‘Way Out,’ that me, Leighton and our buddy Kevin wrote in one day, and it didn’t really change much. That never happens.”

Not long after the release of 2015’s Run Wild, Lydia had already began early work on Liquor. Keller and company had already started writing and discussing ideas they had for new music while on their tour with Pvris in 2016. Nearly three years in the making, Lydia is finally ready to share their debut on Weekday Records, and the outcome of all the time and work they’ve put into Liquor. “We really pushed ourselves to deliver and have something we were proud of,” says Keller. Prior to the release of Liquor, Lydia fans can expect three more singles to be released, and a headlining tour to follow.