MANHATTAN, NY—I was told by a dear friend of mine about a band that he had recently played a gig with called The Liza Colby Sound. He told me that there wasn’t anything stupendous about them as far as originality though for what they do, they do it well. My buddy talked these guys up so hard that I felt the need to take a trip to Manhattan to check them out, and boy was I surprised.
They played at a venue called the Mercury Lounge, to which I had previously heard much about. It was a Wednesday night and I still feel that regardless of the fact that this was NYC in the middle of the week, this place was packed with people for a late night show. I arrived to the venue a little bit early, and found a few members of the band hanging outside with a few of their friends. My pal introduced me, and I had no clue what to expect. These guys seemed a lot older than me and perhaps more experienced in music upon appearance. Thousands of questions were racing through my mind about this unfamiliar group.
After the instrumental members of TLCS picked up their tools on the stage, we waited for the lead singer, Liza, to make her appearance. What fell before my eyes was this beautiful woman dressed in tight clothes looking like she was ready to destroy us all with soulful singing. This lady was a knockout both in her looks and in how she carried herself vocally on the stage. It’s been a long time since I have heard a female singer with such raw power and feeling behind her voice.
The music behind The Liza Colby Sound was as tight and in the pocket as it could be. Guitarist Adam Roth was shredding hard as bassist Alec Morton held down a tasty groove with his vintage hollow body bass from the ’70s. Although there weren’t too many tricks coming from the kit, the drummer was hitting the skins hard, which accompanied all the other sounds going on from the group.
As their set progressed, it seemed their songs did as well. Each track was more enhanced than the previous one, and the crowd was going nuts from what they were watching. It seemed almost impossible for any of us not to dance the entire time. It seemed as though the band fulfilled exactly what their intentions were.
Consistency of the music followed a wide range of influences. There was a very retro sound of soul music from the late ’60s to early ’70s. To my understanding, each member of TLCS has had a lot of experience playing music in NYC for a very long time. While some of them have displayed their talent doing movies or tv programs, they still managed to throw down their passion as a band, creating their own songs.
My friend was certainly right when he told me that these guys do what they do well. There was nothing too spectacular about their originality, yet they played their genre of music without any flaws whatsoever. The end of the set left me thirsty for more, which is quite an achievement for a band playing in front of a brand new audience knowing close to nothing of their music. All I can say is that The Liza Colby Sound made such a good impression on me that I will be looking forward to seeing them again.
