LITHUANIA, the exciting punk band from Eric Slick (of Dr. Dog) and Dom Angellela (of DRGN King) is now streaming “Place Of No Tomorrow,” their 3rd single off of their debut full length Hardcore Friends. Hardcore Friends is set to be released by Lame-O Records August 14th.
Eric Slick and Dominic Angelella have been collaborating asย Lithuaniaย for about a decade, and yet until recently theyโve only had an EP (Heavy Hands) and a 7″ (Domesticated God) to show. The two friends are infinitely busyโSlick plays drums in Dr. Dog and Angelella writes songs for DRGN KINGโbut they finally orchestrated the time to record their first full-length album aptly titledย Hardcore Friends, being released by Lame-O Records this August.
Slick and Angelella first met in the jazz program at University of the Arts in Philadelphia and quickly realized they were the oddballs amongst their classical peers. They immediately connected through mutual musical interests like Husker Du, Captain Beefheart, Boredoms, and Bjork. Dom would take Eric to basement punk shows in West Philly, while Eric would take Dom to the Avant Gentlemanโs Lodge, a defunct venue that catered to the Philadelphia art scene. Eventually the two began playing music together and started a conversation about bad band names. โWeโve been a songwriting duo this whole time,โ said Eric. โWhen [Dom] saidย Lithuaniaย I thought, โOh, itโs like that no man is an island thing.โ No man is an island, so two men are a country, and I thought that was hilarious.โ They began playing shows around Philadelphia and went on a short tour last May, but quickly realized they would need to expand live and so they addedย Ricardo Lagomasino on drums.
Recorded in five days by Joe Reinhart and Kyle Pulley at The Headroom Studios in Philadelphia,ย Hardcore Friendsspans the last ten years of their friendship. โItโs an old perspective,โ says Angelella. โAll of those early songs are from or about five years ago. Itโs this thing where youโre a completely different person. Itโs cool to update it to now.โ
Writingย Hardcore Friendsย was a completely contrasting experience for the two: Angelella was used to being the sole songwriter in DRGN KING while Eric was usually playing drums in a band. The first half of the album contains older songs from 2007 when Slick was staying with friends in Asheville and emailing song ideas to Angelella in Philadelphia. The second half is all brand new songs written over the past year. โItโs sort of like this chronological narrative of our friendship,โ says Slick. โIn the past year weโve gone through some heavy stuffโfamily stuff, relationship stuffโand it was pretty wild. We finished up this album with a wiser perspective on the first half of it. We even sequenced it so it would tell that story.โ
Hardcore Friendsย opens with the pop-fueled and fleeting โGod in Two Persons,โ moved along by Slickโs reflective vocals and racked drumming. โPieces,โ the first single off the album, is a solid anthem with unshakeable guitars and genuine lyrics that invoke the likes of Stephen Malkmus and Archers of Loaf. Aside from their mastered melodious punk style,ย Lithuaniaย is just as capable of writing a dawdling and quiet song like โCoronation Day,โ showing their softer side with acoustic guitars, synthesizers, and Angelellaโs mollifying vocals. The album closes with โHardcore Friends,โ a mid-tempo anthem with guest vocals from friends Frances Quinlan (Hop Along) and Rachel Browne (Field Mouse). Itโs a culmination of what the rest of the tracks have been leading up to: a resilient friendship that resonates in the face of failure and heartache, and prevails sonically.
