Akron, Ohio-based Brian Lisik grew up in the bygone and halcyon era of mass vinyl, cassette, and compact disc consumption.
The inevitable live album, following his eight previous studio releases and another currently in the works, is not a shocker in and of itself. The ferocity, irreverence, and fresh relevance of the captured performance, however, belies the fact that this is not a brand new band chomping at the bit and hungrily clawing for its rightful place at the proverbial altar of rock.
‘Brian Lisik & Hard Legs: Hotsy-Totsy!’, recorded during a particularly fiery set at Akron’s Rialto Theatre on the eve of Lisik’s most recent birthday, assumes its place in his established musical canon while hinting, not so subtly, that there is still plenty of gas in the tank.
Equal parts flippant and devotional, ‘Hotsy Totsy’! also finds Lisik tossing out a dizzying array of random pop-music interludes throughout – from The Troggs and the Drifters, to Mac Davis and Brenton Wood – appearing and disappearing as wacky musical menageries with head-scratching abandon.
If Lisik’s most recent album release, the largely low-key ‘Gudbye Stoopid Whirled’ that Elmore Magazine called a “tasty bare-bones hash of timeless folk-pop and rockabilly, shaggy garage-rock edge and power-pop sparkle,” was his sweeping indictment of the vapidity of pop music’s current landscape, ‘Hotsy Totsy!’ in many ways inserts the exclamation point.
Far from a literal career retrospective, the album still manages to touch on Lisik’s most noteworthy musical tomes, both original and inspired, in ways that almost accidentally make Hotsy Totsy! his most honest and unguarded to date. The vibe provided by a roomful of true believers sharing that experience makes it even more poignant, as Lisik & Hard Legs ignite a 40-minute sonic forest fire, leaving nothing but the raw, charred, profanely pulchritudinous essence of his sound.
Ticket info
All tickets are for general admission and priced at $10 (plus fees) in advance. Tix can be purchased online via the link below:
