Review Fix Exclusive: Trickshooter Social Club’s Larry List Talks ‘Monte Carlo’ And More

Review Fix chats with Larry Liss-guitarist and co-founder of Trickshooter Social Club, who discusses how the band got together and what their goals are musically.

Review Fix: How did the project start?

Larry Liss: Like every great rock band’s success story it starts with the scent of burning tacos, a couple screaming at the top of their lungs at each other and some really bad, blue wall to wall shag carpeting.

We answered an ad for a “studio” that was close to my and Steve’s (Simoncic the other co-founder of Trickshooter Social Club) house. The studio was a basement of an apartment that had ventilating that allowed you to smell and hear everything that was going on directly above you. In this case, burning Mexican delights and well, a very loud and Tarantino-like disagreement. But we did come out of that room with a handful of riffs that later showed up on albums. That said, we did not return.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Liss: We are all about pieces and parts. We send voice memos back and forth constantly. Building off each other’s stuff. Even if we have fully-finished thoughts, we eventually break them down and try other paths in. With us, it’s always about serving the song. And you don’t truly know what’s working until you rough it up and play with it for a while. We’re lucky in that we trust each other’s instincts and aren’t precious about every bar of music, so that we can dismantle ideas without any fear of feelings getting hurt. Everything’s fair game.

Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?

Liss: I think our new song “Honey I Believe” from the new EP “Monte Carlo” is definitely one of our best. It was actually written in the beginning of the pandemic. Steve and I sent a bunch of riffs back and forth, like we usually do.

But we both jumped on “Honey” right away. Lots of ideas and builds happened quickly. Steve immediately hit this crazy-good melody and then penned this story of a woman hitting the road to face her demons. I fell in love with it that second and it just fueled the excitement more. And when we got to a good arrangement we didn’t want to wait to get into a recording studio. And with the lockdown, who knew when that would even be? So we learned a whole bunch of new software. Learned a ton of new tricks. And were able to

actually push this song to a cool place sonically. It’s then we got some interest from our now label Animal Farm Music. They were and are amazing to work with. So we sat down (over Zoom) with their studio engineer and ended up having this truly amazing collaboration. Suffice it to say we love where we netted out.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2021?

Liss: The goal is always to put more things into the world. We’re relentlessly writing (and now recording) and we’ve got a label that’s been a great partner. So we’re going to be full on getting music out there. We’re also excited at the prospect of getting the band back on the stage. We miss it terribly. To feel amps pushing air. Kick drums thumping in your chest. And to glance across the stage when you hit that middle 8. It’s those moments we live for. And can’t wait to have again.

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?

Liss: There’s a couple of ways we hope people connect with our music. We are a riff and groove driven band. We know when a part is working for us if we’re all feeling it in the studio. And we want people to connect with that groove. The other way is that Steve is such an insanely talented lyricist, that we want people to connect with these words and these characters. Fucking up and seeking redemption. Loss and loneliness. What we’re running from and running to. Things we can all relate to. And hopefully we connect with people on that level.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Liss: Right now, we’re full on promoting the new EP “Monte Carlo”. That said, we’re so lucky to have this label behind and supporting us. So we’re going to produce as much music as possible. Making visual art to accompany it. We’re also going to try and make our way to the UK and play some shows there–as well as LA, NY, Denver and a tour across the Midwest. And, as we do, we’re going to continue to invite new Trickshooters into our world. There’s always a seat open with us–for rappers, percussionists, pedal steel players, whatever. We want every show to be different. We never wanted to stand on stage, stare

at our shoes and play songs. So we built this community of folks. And we’re not going to stop building on it.