A Quick Q&A With The Liars Club

Finding their feet in Barrow's Underground Music Society (B.U.M.S), The Liars Club tap into the anger of the times; attempting to tackle broader themes of abuse, mental health and suicide through their snarling brand of post-punk. Rehearsing and living above the towns local record shop, the four-piece have garnered a reputation much further afield than their hometown over the past twelve-month. As lockdown begins to ease, we caught up with Noah and Dan for a quick little chat...

Where did the name ‘The Liars Club’ come from?

The name has a back story about both Noah and Dan's dads; a story about trying to get into the bar in Manchester named the liars club, both a drunken mess and the name pretty much comes from the bar name.

You guys have become local heroes and played several gigs in Barrow, do you think a strong hometown support network has contributed to your success?

Yes absolutel,y we love our hometown support, all the support we get is great but I really think barrow swallowed us the right way, and the people who are die-hard fans at the moments are really proving that we get more of a cult following than just an all general sense.

Has growing up in a small, working-class town influenced your song writing and the themes you explore in your music?

The themes explored in our songs are more geared towards general life but some of things definitely become more apparent in small towns like our own, but in its own way Barrow being the singular way that it is has channeled the inner punk inside us, Barrow itself is a ‘very hard to do anything’ type of town it’s crowded off from a lot, so making it as a band is a lot harder but that challenge in its own right will prove a lot if we progress.

Your music has been compared to the likes of IDLES and Slaves, are there any acts that have been particularly influential on your punk direction?

There is actually a lot of different music and different genres from a lot of backgrounds that influence our music, there’s a very different view on our music because it delves more into punk yet some of the music itself is influenced by totally different stuff. No bands in particular because it ranges. I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint it to a couple of artist or bands, however at the moment we are currently listening to artists such as JME and a band called Standing On The Corner, and even going as far back as Bad Brains.

In December 2018, the band sadly lost its original bass player Jake Davies to suicide. Do you think making more music has helped you in the grieving process, and do you use it as a tool to talk about mental health? Do you still feel Jake’s influence is present in The Liars Club?

Jake was a hard, hard loss, however, it’s also his legacy and a part of what he’s left on the world so continuing the band is continuing his legacy and his music, there is still music unreleased at this point that Jake helped write when he was alive and in that way it’s like he’s still living on through the music. We always promote the awareness in mens mental health and especially in our gigs we like to mention little bits as it’s a big part of us and problem we face and choose not to ignore the reality of how it affects other people, but in our own way we hope our music helps channel some pain. When you come to our gigs you can release it, and for that time be completely away from it and feel a sense of calmness in the manic, fast-paced madness!

You’re all still working ‘normal’ jobs as well as making music, but the success of the band pre-Coronavirus indicates that The Liars Club are on the rise. Is the end goal to make the big-time? If so, is it exciting to imagine music as your full-time jobs?

Absolutely, our dream is to be doing this full time! We would love nothing more than that be the case and hopefully we manage to push it as hard as we can post corona, and kick up to a next level! That’s the reason we do this, so we can do this for the rest of our lives and stamp a huge imprint on the world.

Your live shows are renowned for massive energy from both the band and the audience. Are you excited to get back on stage? Can fans expect any announcements from you while we’re still in lockdown?

We are dying to get back on the stage and create that place of release again, and yes we will have more news to come during lockdown. If lockdown remains to be the case, more music is on its way still and once gigs are back on, we will be. We are already chatting with promoters in Manchester and London and hopefully, once this lockdown is over, we’ll be front of the queue for gigs.