Music & Me: Lizi – Head of Reviews at AltCorner | Feature

It’s time to get to know – Lizi, Head of Reviews at ALTCORNER! We set Lizi 10 questions about their musical likes, their guilty pleasures and what music means to them.

It’s time to get to know – Lizi, Head of Reviews at ALTCORNER! We set Lizi 10 questions about their musical likes, their guilty pleasures and what music means to them.

1 – How would you describe your taste in music?

My taste in music is very eclectic so to speak. I have been known to listen to anything from death metal to classical! There are very few genres that I dislike and even fewer that I haven’t been known to listen to.

2 – Who do you consider to be your favourite band and why?

Now this is a hard one! People who know me, know that it changes almost daily! But there are a few that will always share the number one in my heart! Like A Storm because musically they bring something that is innovative, I mean come on, how many bands do you know that can mix a didgeridoo, choir and metal and make it sound ridiculously awesome? Ice Nine Kills have been a band I’ve always admired but it’s only recently that they cemented their place as a shared number one band. Their latest album Every Trick in the Book has some of the best lyrics I’ve heard and live they are just incredible! HIM will always be special to me as they have some of the most relaxing songs I’ve heard (something that I need a lot these days) and then there’s More Than Most, their lyrics really speak to me and have helped me through a lot of tough times recently. Also Motionless inWhite and New Years Day for the same reasons as above. Also all (not including HIM as I’ve never met them) are some of the nicest and most genuine people I’ve come across which always helps.

3 – Who is the best live band you’ve ever seen?

This is tough too! It could go to Misfits because if you can play a 40-song set and never once lose the crowds interest, you have to be good! Or there’s the way both Black Veil Brides and Ice Nine Kills command the stage and have the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands but I think it’ll have to go to Heck. While they don’t have much of a stage presence (I mean come on, they’re rarely on the stage anyway!) their crowd interaction and crowd presence (that’s where they play the majority of their set from you know) is insane! It’s like being in a jungle gym with them climbing on anything and everything and each time I’ve seen them (in venues varying from a tiny pub to main stage of a festival), they’ve never had a bad performance.

4 – What is the one song that you could listen to forever?

Ice Nine Kills – Hell in the Hallways. The lyrics speak to me in a way that quite a few songs do but this one has the added bonus that it doesn’t make me cry, it just makes me happy.

5 – What album, if any, was a turning point in your ‘musical life’ and why?

Green Day – American Idiot. I remember being obsessed with the likes of S Club 7 and bands like that when I was a kid and heard American Idiot on TV one day and fell in love with it, while Warning will always be my favourite Green Day album, American Idiot opened up a whole new world of bands for me and started the ball rolling to me wanting a path in music.

6 – In 3 words, what makes a good album or song?

Emotive. Relatable. Passionate.

7 – A festival or a gig? Why?

A gig, while I love the fact that a festival allows the possibility of finding a good 20 new bands you like and seeing multiple of your favourite bands in the same venue, a gig has the guaranteed protection from the weather (we all know how Download turns out each year) and you can have some small awesome venues (Fuel in Cardiff, I’m looking at you) where it gets sweaty and a bit mental while still keeping the intimacy of being able to see good bands closer. Also in some cases, seeing the next big thing before they make it. There’s also the added bonus that prices are a lot cheaper and most of the time, you have a good idea if you’re going to like the bands on show and there’s no clashes!

8 – Who would be your 3 dream festival headliners?

HIM, Like A Storm, Ice Nine Kills (I’ve noticed there’s a pattern forming here)

9 – Who are the best new band you’ve discovered lately that everyone should know about?

Virtue in Vain, they’re a Cardiff based metalcore band who I had no idea existed until I saw them open for Ice Nine Kills. Sound problems aside (which happened all night), they sounded incredible and are a very talented group of young lads!

10 – What band or artist is your secret, or not so secret, guilty pleasure?

I don’t think it’s that secret but One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer. I didn’t like 1D much on X Factor but grew to love them (I’ve even travelled from South Wales to the North East England to see them front row on their stadium tour!) while quite a few of their tracks are cheesy, they are a talented group. And with 5SOS, I don’t understand the hate they get for being featured in things like Rock Sound and Kerrang. Their music is pop rock and really good at that, just because they had a platform to millions of teenage girls supporting One Direction, doesn’t make them any less credible. Plus they’re bridging the gap between mainstream and alternative, helping boost the underground scene.

Elizabeth Birt

November 15, 2016

Band management assistant. Goth princess and lover of all things music and sport.

@lbirt1993

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