Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Liscomb.
Megan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started Soft Lions in late 2013 while I was fronting the band Boy King. In that band, I was just a singer, but in my spare time, I was writing songs on my own on guitar. I wanted to start a new band to give those songs a place to go. To back me up, I recruited Jon Bonser from The New Kinetics on drums and Lex Pratt from The Very and Wild Wild West on keys and backing vocals. Lex eventually moved on to pursue her own projects, and my friend Ana Ramundo joined to fill out the lineup.
We self-released EP’s in 2013 and 2014, and signed with Orange County label Velvet Blue Music in 2015. Velvet Blue released our 2015 EP Spellbreaker on gorgeous 7″ transparent orange vinyl. In 2016, we recorded XOXO, our first EP with Ana in the band, at Tiny Telephone in SF with John Vanderslice producing.
Over the years, we’ve played countless shows in Southern California, toured to Seattle and back, played an unofficial showcase at SXSW, and recently headlined a stage at Femme Wave, a Canadian feminist arts and music festival.
We’re currently in the process of writing and recording our first full-length album.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely not always been easy, which makes me even more grateful to every venue that took a chance on us, the friends who helped us book shows in new cities, and the amazing support of other women in the music scene.
There are little crises behind the scenes pretty much all the time, but we just keep going and give every show the best performance we can. The biggest struggle we’re currently facing is getting enough money together to finish our album in the studio the way we want it done. Right now, we have four songs recorded, and we need to record about six more, then pay for mixing and mastering too.
One of the ways we like to raise funds is by throwing a big DIY show, and thankfully our friends at Helmuth Projects have graciously agreed to let us use the space on February 10, 2018 to have a party. We’ll be playing all of our new songs and joined by locals The Fresh Brunettes and our favorite LA band Bearcats for this all-ages blowout.
Please tell us about Soft Lions.
Soft Lions is a female-fronted rock and roll trio inspired by garage rock, 60’s girl groups, and the fuzzy, jangly sounds of British indie pop from the 80’s.
One of the things I strive for is to put together inclusive shows that feature wildly talented women and POC on stage as much as possible to counter the overwhelmingly male, white makeup of many rock show bills. I really admire people like Monica Mendoza who has inspired me so much to book shows that reflect the world I want to live in. I’m humbled to have shared the stage with so many talented and diverse people.
I’m proud to be a feminist voice in our music scene, writing songs that reflect my experiences and beliefs. In my work, I’m often looking at topics like harassment and gender roles, but working from a personal point of view, so it feels like hearing a story rather than a lecture.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I don’t know. I do my best to stay present and I don’t worry about alternate realities. The one we’re in is overwhelming enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://softlionsmusic.com/
- Email: softlionsband@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/softlions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/softlionsband
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Soft_Lions
- Other: https://velvetbluemusic.com/
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