Lord North

LORD NORTH- NAKED EP (2012)
Posted on February 27, 2013 by jamesconnoroakley
For Fans Of: The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, The Pink Spiders

Rating: 8/10

Key Tracks: Sussex Blues, I’m So Over It


I’m probably partial to this release since I like this band as people. But just listen and I think you’ll enjoy their work too.

Lord North is a rock band from Oklahoma, but they’re a big part of the Texas local scene lately, so I’m counting them as a Texas band. At times, this release feels like blues, then it feels like folk, then it feels like in your face rock n roll. I can’t be eloquent or articulate when I’m describing this release, because that wouldn't do it justice. This isn't some hip band trying to revive rock n roll. This is a band of good people that are going to be a big deal someday. Joey Todd’s vocals are sincere as well as confident and differentiate the band from all the rock n roll try hards and punk “revivalists” that are polluting the Texas underground scene lately. Now that the neon filled “scene” days are gone, people are looking for actual musicians to listen to in the underground. Lord North is the band to follow. Buy their CD on Itunes or check out their Facebook. - 605 Music

Lord North’s Naked EP left us stunned (click here for full review). In just four tracks, we were amazed are the purity of their style and the ferocity of their sound. Greg recently sat down with Lord North’s Joey Todd and Chris Hendrik to discuss their origins, upcoming album and influences.

That is, before things turned violent…

Greg of Nanobot Rock Reviews: You live by the belief that “Honesty is the best policy.” So I expect only truths from you guys.

How did you land on the name Lord North?

Chris: Joey and I are pretty avid history buffs. Lord North was the Prime Minister of Britain for the majority of the American Revolution, known mainly as the P.M. who “lost America”. He was fighting a lost cause in trying to regain control of the American colonies, and personally introduced the Intolerable Acts. We chose this name because we feel like we are trying to regain control of what’s important about music. Passion, honesty, skill. Things that are really taking a beating from pop trends today.

If that means we have to be a little intolerable too, so be it.

Intolerable? Are you thinking of blowing up drum kits live on television and trashing hotel rooms anytime soon?

Chris: We’ve definitely destroyed our fair share of gear in previous shows. On the crazy, belligerent scale, there is nowhere to go but up.

Goal driven, I admire that.

Chris: We do what we want. Whether or not that is what it takes for a particular crowd is beside the point, but it usually is.

So you’re history buffs that are hell bent on being crazy and belligerent, yet your sound is anchored in blues. The Naked EP doesn’t strike me as “Sex Pistols meets Prim and Proper British History.” Where did you find your sound?

Joey: Well, it seemed only logical that aggressive rock n roll would be the bedrock of our sound because not only do we all feel that at our core, that’s who we are, but that it’s the ideal basis from which to evolve. We all hail from the North Texas’ hardcore scene, and have each served some time in a hardcore /punk band or two, but at the end of the day, we each found out on our own that our respective experiences in these bands were a little…eh…one dimensional at best.

In bands like those, there didn’t seem to be much room to for the music to evolve without purists (or your bandmates) crying foul. We had always known each other from various endeavors in the scene, and were friends, and one day, around the same time, we all happened to just look around and say “What the hell are we doing? It’s time to do something real.”

And in the end, we just drew from our surroundings. Living in Oklahoma, we’ve never really thought of ourselves as “Southerners,” we tend to think of ourselves as “The Frontier!” or “The Wild West” and I know it’s been that way for most Oklahomans. As hokey as it sounds, but at the same time, though we don’t agree with most of (actually, hardly any) of our Red State’s Conservative values, we should each draw a bit of influence from our stomping grounds which, at the very least, make for interesting and off the beaten path writing material. I mean, I grew up next to a Cheyenne/Arapaho reservation, for God’s sake!

Furthermore, I feel as though it gives us a distinctly different feel than most of our more Southern rock n roll counterparts in the way that we’re lucky enough for our music to have come out with a distinct high energy, an energy I feel we share with The Flaming Lips, Kings of Leon, and most bands that hail from our neck of the woods.

Yet Naked doesn’t hold close to one distinct style, per se. It begins rock with “Six Gun Hands” and ends with the folk-stomp “I’m So Over It.” Were these four tracks meant to be a sort of “here we are” moment for you guys?

Joey: We’re not here to follow any preconceived rules on what rock n roll is supposed to be as set forth by some bearded douche on pitchfork.com, we’re simply here to chase our passions with as much vigor as possible, and hoping our bodies don’t give out before our minds! (laughs)

I feel, and I know that I can speak for the other boys in the band when I say this, that rock n roll is more of a sentiment or a feeling than a strict sound. Take bands like The Avett Brothers, or even Mumford and Sons, for example; they’re ALMOST strictly acoustic folk bands, that stay fairly true to the Appalachian tradition from which they draw their instrumentation, yet play with a totally unexpected intensity. And when I see a band giving all they’ve got, and who have the songs and performance ability to keep your foot stomping, and your heart full, whatever the sub-genre they may claim, that’s rock n roll! If we can pride ourselves on nothing else, it’s our ability to stay true to ourselves, and move freely between sounds and genres, while maintaining that rock n roll feel. I guess we just picked our four most diverse numbers and said, to answer your question, “Here we are, this is what we’re all about, take it or leave it - Nanobot Rock Reviews

Lord North, from the Durant area, presented an unusual set, from hard rock to slow solo, spiced with quiet vocals in the background. Their last song opened with drums, then all instruments kicked in as they did the Buddy Holly “Not Fade Away,” for their cover song.

The band’s lead started it off by thanking Shiner Beer, the Range (KHYI 95.3), and Gartin opened the critique, saying, “We love your music, love, love, love.” There was some good-natured ribbing from the judges’ table about the attire, saying there were two barefoot beach boys, one Where’s Waldo, and a 1980s leather jacket. “All perfect for the downhome surfer sound. Great songwriting. We enjoyed it.”

Rush commented on the band members’ continual tuning, “When you first started tuning on stage, I though maybe you need to get a tuner, but then, when you did it between every song, it became cooler and cooler until it became part of the experience. You guys rocked hard. You are loving it and rocking hard. You did very very well.”

Dillon agreed, “Great job, you guys.” - Scene in Town Magazine

-Vincent’s Take-

“That’s definitely my bread and butter!” is the first thing I thought as soon as I pushed play on the stereo, turning, in just a few seconds, my house into a small concert hall and the sofa in a warm and cozy stage on which to shake my moneymaker!

Naked EP by the American Lord North is a slap in the face for all those rock’n'roll wannabes who, with a guitar in the hand and hair tousled, celebrate themselves as the new discoveries of rock. Rock and roll is dead, and only those who play the real rock’n'roll can realize it. The good old “five strings, three chords, two fingers, one asshole” no longer takes the mainstream and maybe this is due to the improper use of the term “rock’n'roll” to appear more cool, to describe what it is not, to boast of such a degree that only a few can gain on the battlefield. From the first notes Naked immediately brings to mind a great album released in 2005, by one of the best bands of the genre, the Swedish band The Hellacopters. The album, Rock’n'Roll Is Dead, to be exact, started with a great song, “Before the Fall”, which used the same intro riff of “Roll Over Beethoven” by Chuck Berry (who else but the true King of Rock’n'Roll), confirming once again that rock’n'roll was dead, but only for those who wanted him dead.

Similarly, the North Lord EP opens with a huge piece of style, fast, direct, engaging, dirty, noisy and sweaty, “Six Gun Hands,” blunt lyrics sang with the perfect attitude; one that requires a bit of boredom, a bit’ pissed off, but without going too fussy (I also love the old rock cliché of a recording which continues for a few seconds after the end of the track). So, also the second track, “Sussex Blues”, dirty and saturated, reminds me of great pieces of modern music by Jon Spencer or Jack White, so garage-rock soaked that only a band that has seen a lot of dust and mold in some old basement used as a rehearsal room can birth. Feedback due to the eardrum splitting volume, voice so saturated it is brought even to distortion, stone-breaking guitars seemingly the hammer of Mars, the god of war and weapons, who forged the strongest swords for his warriors through the hammer. Like a hammer forging still glowing metal, the Lord North molds, one after another, great songs, beautifully designed and built with a structure so solid that, in its simplicity, it can demolish the walls of any concert hall. Now take everything I wrote above and “copy/paste”. Now you have the perfect description of the third track, “My Name is Shame”, in which the electric guitar really cries its heart out in a bloody solo àla Gary Moore, which is the perfect counterpoint to the vocals, so confident, cool, mocking.

And, the cherry on my music pie “I’m So Over It.” It is a great acoustic piece of country/rock that seems to say “if you are cool, if you play rock and roll, if you know how to run a song, you can do with an acoustic guitar, a snare and a mandolin.” How can you blame it? The Lord North, with their four song EP Naked, prove to be able to hold their own, whether on a stage in front of a huge audience or at a party based on beer, beautiful girls and friends, with just a couple of guitars and the right attitude. And that is what makes a real difference.

You know, “it’s only rock’n'roll but I like it, like it, yes I do!”

-Greg’s Take-

Is honesty really the best policy?

I think so; I’m just making sure we agree.

For Oklahoma Rockers Lord North, they are nothing but honest. Their sound bleeds honesty. It is gritty, raw, slurring Okie rock in an authentically pure form.

They are a fundamental foursome which doesn’t shine within glam, frills or over-the-top theatrics; they harness the dirty side of rock with electrifying passion. Their Naked EP is four tracks of “This is what we got, like it or leave” rock. And I have to say, I like…I like a lot.

Lead vocalist Joey Todd, guitarist Chris Hendrik, bassist Derry Todd and drummer Alex Carlock play with their entire being on each and every track. Their music is an expression of themselves. Now I realize how strange or seemingly obvious it is to say something like that about music, but for Lord North, you can feel the sweat and energy in each track. They play the fine line between Punk and Rock in the opening track “Six Gun Hands”. The fast-paced opener will have you looking one direction while they side-swipe you with the remaining three. “Sussex Blues” delivers a very Mad Caps-like track packed with driving beats and swaggering vocals. Naked comes to an apex on “My Name is Shame.” The bluesy distorted track breathes a smoky joint-jam. The dimly lit song is one by which a band can be labeled. It seethes passion and originality. For a four song EP, Lord North delivers a diverse punch. They cap the release off with “I’m So Over It,” which will have you double checking which band you’re listening to. The light, almost country, track will have you scratching your head before you lean back, sigh, an - Nanobot Rock Reviews