A New Tomorrow: An interview with Lee Resistant & The Lost
Lee Resistant & The Lost find life in old songs and a path to a new tomorrow
Sometimes you have to look into the past to find the future. It is a sentiment that UK transplant Lee Resistant understands quite well. Once a member of UK punk band Fletcher, Lee has found new life in old songs, revisiting material he wrote for his previous bands while giving them a new sheen for current times. With a solo career established, Lee Resistant formed his latest outfit, Lee Resistant & The Lost, during the close of 2017. He found that some of his old material not only held up over time, but still had much to give in way of connecting with new listeners.
Now with two EPs under their belts, Lee Resistant & The Lost are finding that sometimes looking back into your past is a great way to move forward. Their latest EP, Thirteen Years Gone By..., features reworked and re-recorded songs from Lee's previous efforts, songs that are part of the catalyst that propels the band towards all new material on the horizon.
We spoke to Lee Resistant not long after the release of their new EP and talked the past, the present, and the future.
The EP has been out for a little bit now- you’ve been getting a good response to it- how does it feel?
It feels really good, the reaction we've had to it so far has been very positive. The songs themselves had a good reaction when they were originally released back in the day, so the issue for me was releasing re-recorded versions that I felt had to be better than the originals, otherwise what would be the point?
The lead track “Least Resistant” is a rework of a Fletcher track from back in 2003- are the other songs on the EP as well or were they songs you had written outside of the band?
"Least Resistant" and "Where Would You Run?" are from the 2003 Fletcher full-length My Revenge, and "Wishlist" is from the 2002 Six Track Sound EP. "For The Few" is a song I wrote for the band I started after coming to Canada, RUCKS, which was active from 2007-2009. Brian (bass) and Alex (drums) from LRATL were in that band too, so we have a long history of playing together now.
Share with us a little of your reasons why you’re looking at some of these songs you wrote and giving them a revisit and re-recording.
I've been concentrating on playing solo acoustic shows for the last few years but, really, I've always been a 'band' guy, so when I decided I wanted to end 2018 with a full band show it was a chance to dust off a few of my favorite songs from the back catalog, several of which I never actually sang back in those days! It was exciting because I genuinely never thought I'd get to play those songs in a band situation again, and I think they're great songs that stand the test of time.
With regard to recording them, I'd been writing for a LRATL full-length, and the collection of songs I have for it feel like a more solid piece of work together, so I didn't really want to cull a separate EP from it. Revisiting some of the older material seemed like a perfect way to bridge the gap between my musical past to where I'm at now, and also break the guys into my production process with a little less pressure! [laughs]
Thirteen Years Gone By...
Tell us a little bit about your history with Fletcher- you guys were together from a few years from 2000-2005?
That's right. We were signed to Deck Cheese Records in the UK at the tail end of 2001 and Pyropit Records in Japan in either late 2003 or early 2004. We got to do a lot of cool stuff and played with most of my favorite bands... I have really good memories of those days, and it felt like we were on the cusp of doing so much more when things pretty much fell apart. We were touring as much as we could while holding down full-time jobs at the same time, and things were basically at the point where the next opportunity on the table would have involved quitting our jobs and going on the road for three and a half months across North America and, from my viewpoint at least, that seemed like too much of a chance to take for the other guys.
Did it end on good terms?
For me, no it didn't. I don't know if it's because I'm stubborn or a complete asshole, but Fletcher played our last show together on July 17th, 2005 and I walked out of the venue afterwards and didn't talk to any of the others for ten years. For me, playing music has never been about being famous, or getting rich, or any of that bullshit, but I think the disappointment of seeing what we could have done together collapse was really hard to take at that particular time.
You’re originally from the UK- what prompted the move to Canada?
Hahaha, let's just say MySpace has a lot to answer for, and leave it at that!!
How did Lee Resistant & The Lost get started?
LRATL actually started as a solo recording project at the end of 2017. I was writing songs that I was hearing in my head as 'full band' productions more than strictly acoustic material, so my aim was to put out a song on the first of every month for the whole of 2018. That was a pretty ambitious schedule at that time, so it ended up being a five-song EP called 42/43. I have the word LOST tattooed on the knuckles of my right hand, so I called the project Lee Resistant & The Lost, as it was basically me and my right hand doing everything! [laughs]
Putting the band together with Jakob, Brian and Alex for that 2018 show was a bit of a revelation, and I was like "this feels REALLY good!", and it's progressed from there.
So my favorite track on the new EP is “For the Few”- how did that song come together?
I think "For The Few" was written in late '07/ early '08. We were doing shows at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 28 in Chatham, Ontario, and there was a mural thing on the back wall with the Laurence Binyon poem 'For The Fallen' on it. That World War One poetry has always resonated with me for some reason, so it got me thinking about people of all walks of life who have laid down their lives or sacrificed everything they have, for something they believe in. I think there is no more honor in life than that, so "For The Few" is my humble tribute to them.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=389704548 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1292710377]
I really enjoyed the EP- but it’s not the most recent music you’ve released- as a solo artist, you co-released an EP with Curt Murder. How did that collaboration come about?
Yeah, I kinda screwed up my scheduling and both records were out within a week of each other! Curt and I have been buddies for a while and we'd been planning to do a split since August of last year, so once we figured out when we could get together I recorded it at my home studio in Chatham. Curt runs Reel Too Real Records, which is a DIY, cassette-based, limited run deal, so we released it via that and digital. The record is called Split The Difference, basically because we look like brothers! Haha
The song on there- “Over and Out”- it’s brilliant- evoking, haunting. Do you approach songwriting as a solo artist different to when you write for The Lost?
Thank you, I appreciate that! My approach to songwriting tends to stay the same... I'm not one of those people that records or writes down every single idea I ever have in the hopes of making something out of them. To me, that's a recipe for utter crap! [laughs]
If ideas come to me I will keep them in my head, and if they're good then I will remember them. Some songs come together pretty quickly, but others will make themselves known to me when the time is right. It's a pretty fluid process for me, and I feel like more of a conduit than a 'composer' most of the time. I never force a song just for the sake of getting it done, I still have unfinished songs from 2011 or so kicking around in my skull.. they'll let me know when they're ready!
You’re currently working on new material for Lee Resistant & The Lost- how have these currently reworked songs helped shape the material and the direction for the new music?
It's more like the new material helped shape the reworking of the old songs... I feel a bit more capable as a writer and arranger these days, and I find I 'hear' a lot more layers within songs but also have more of an ability to manifest those ideas too.
When are you hoping to have the new album done by?
The current plan is to have the full-length finished by the fall, and hopefully find a label willing to put it out early next year. We're going to do a standalone single release in early September to keep things ticking over, and a video for 'Where Would You Run?' from 'Thirteen Years Gone By...' is in production at the moment. I'm also figuring out my next acoustic record, and I do everything DIY so there's plenty to keep me busy! [laughs]
Lee Resistant & The Lost's new EP, Thirteen Years Gone By..., is out now. Stream and purchase via Bandcamp. Photo by: Chris Forrest at Synicalist Photography.