Lightning Rules
Portland, Oregon, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2016
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There’s rock. There’s roll. And there’s rawk ‘n’roll! This is the latter. In fact, you probably can’t do better than their own description, which is “an aircraft carrier worth of riffs shoved into a 5-song EP”. Rawk.
It’s the debut offering from US outfit, Lightning Rules, and they do like blast out some Clutch tinged stoner desert groove rock. And there is nothing wrong with that. Even better, they’ve done the sensible thing and went down the EP route, rather than torment us with a so so album. I’d rather have a quarter of an hour with my balls pinned to the wall than eighty minutes of tedium.
For a three piece band, they make a helluva noise, and there isn’t really a bum track here. Granted, the last couple don’t live up to ‘Corsicana, 1894’ and ‘Degrees & Separation’, but if you’re looking for a cracking new band, then give Lightning Rules a punt. - The Rocker
When it comes to Amplified, we work with all sorts. The band’s “size” isn’t normally anything we’ll make note of in a post. Oregon’s Lightning Rules is…a bit smaller than usual. How small, you ask? Well, their Facebook page was just created four days ago, and only has three likes, one of which is me. That’s a lot of faith to put in a band, right? There’s a few good reasons why we’re talking about Lightning Rules today. First, they introduced themselves as “a project comprised of members from deeper rooted Portland area bands,” and more music from the place that birthed Red Fang already has our attention. More interesting: we don’t know who’s actually in the band. Allow us to direct you to their first piece of released material, “Corsicana 1879.”
Something about these dudes playing with giant, bearded paper bags over their heads is hysterically funny, and once you get past the weird gimmick, you’ve got an immensely tasty fuzzed out sort of stoner rock jam to dig into. If you’re a Clutch fan, this should be right up your alley. (And let’s be real here, there’s two kinds of people: Clutch fans, and those who are not to be trusted.) The band also addressed their email to us with “tender kisses,” so they obviously know that the way into our hearts and onto our website is to butter us up. We’re curious to know who the men behind the bags are, whether they’ll keep playing with them on once their identities are revealed, and when we’ll hear more music as good as this first taste, so keep an eye on Lightning Rules in the future for the start of something potentially very cool. - Metal Insider
The Skinny: The hard rocking Portland, OR trio, Lightning Rules, formed in late 2014 and kicks some serious ass - this is heavy rock done right! Individually, members Wess Willis (guitar, vox), Jov Luke (drums), and Adam Smith (bass), know their instruments well but when playing together, hold on to your hat... these guys are both dirty and fucking bad-ass! Ok, ass-kissing aside, we've got a free download of their new song "Degrees and Separation" - get it now!
With a sound reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age, Mutoid Man, Death From Above 1979, and Clutch, Lightning Rules's brand of rock will be eaten up by a wide variety of fans. Their debut EP is the 5-track EP #1 and was almost entirely recorded live at Sellwood, OR's Magic Closet Studios. Due out on September 24th, we're super-pumped for this band to be heard by the masses! - Pure Grain Audio
Lightning Rules ‘EP #1’
The Pacific Northwest is always looking for new, exciting music and Portland’s own Lightning Rules has what you are looking for, melodic metal. Formed in late 2014, Lightning Rules is hitting the mark with an in-your-face attitude and are releasing their first EP, simply titled ‘EP #1’ on Sept. 24, 2015. This three piece group sounds more like fiver and puts out an exciting, hard rock sound that will blow your mind. If you love Shinedown, Royal Bliss or Queens Of The Stone Age you’ll want to take a listen.
‘EP #1’ was recorded almost entirely @ Magic Closet Studio in Portland, contains lively guitar riffs that flow together seamlessly and an impressive explosion of steadfast beats from Jov Luke. The colorful songs all complement each other well, highlighting the band’s bond and they seem to thrive on adrenaline. Wess Willis’ voice is a screaming beauty, plenty of force, and soul to give this music all the power it deserves.
Opening song “Corsicana, 1894” is a pounding jewel that begins with some screaming reverb and in which Wess belts out “Don’t look to Heaven, keep your eyes on the ground” a suggestion we all should listen to. Track 2 is called “Pull Me From Hell” and although the song is definitely very rockin’, it provides a little more room to show off Wess’ vocal talents and let his killer set of pipes breathe. The third song from this EP “Degrees & Separation” finds bassist Adam Smith laying out a thick foundation of lower end, while Jov Luke pounds his heart out on the skins and Wess sheds his guitar to pieces.
‘EP #1’ is a solid piece of work, its own animal. I have no doubt this album will give heavy music fans of all types something fresh and new to talk about. Lightning Rules has a lot of potential, a good handle on their instruments and high energy, all that is a must for a band that wants to make it in the music industry. They have a high voltage ambiance, so turn it up full blast, until your neighbors call the fuzz.
Cast:
Wess Willis – Guitar and vocals
Jov Luke – Drums
Adam Smith – Bass
Song list:
1. Corsicana, 1894
2. Pull Me From Hell
3. Degrees & Separation
4. In Spades
5. A Collapse - Northwest Music Scene
Nowadays it seems as if new bands are appearing all over the place these days in today's music industry. Sometimes you have big build ups and announcements teasing you for either new music or new bands/projects and sometimes bands will just pop up right the hell out of nowhere and take you by surprise. If say this new band was the latter, how would you feel about giving their songs a try, even if there was no build up, announcements or teasers for them? This is a practice we will put into place for a band that popped up right the hell out of nowhere in the past several months and their name is LIGHTNING RULES.
Formed only just recently, LIGHTNING RULES are a three piece Heavy Rock band from Portland, Oregon who all seem to go by mysterious names with their members and judging from the paper bearded bags on their heads in their first public release of a video, a weird choice of attire too. If that gives you reason to worry then don’t as there is a reason to not worry which I’ll get to a bit later but onto the main topic of this review which is the band’s debut self-titled EP. Clocking it at around 17 minutes across 5 songs, the debut self titled EP from LIGHTNING RULES, well, rules. That sounds a bit of a weird way to describe it but there is reasoning behind it as the music on this EP is actually surprisingly enjoyable. Even though they may have only been made known very recently, the songs they give us are actually very like-able as all five songs on their debut EP are all enjoyable slices of Heavy Rock.
Starting off with “Corsicana 1984”, this song alone gives you a taster of what this band are all about as it has heavy but dirty sounding guitars, drums that sound deep and bass-y and a vocal performance which is very good as it sounds just right for a song of this caliber/musical style as do the guitars and drums. The next song “Pull Me From Hell”, seems to follow the same formula but with a slightly clearer sound, making everything sound just a little bit more heavier then the first track, which is by no means bad as it is very enjoyable, but the extra clarity on this track makes you like the bands sound even more.
The third and fourth songs “Degrees And Separation” and “In Spades” seem to be the heaviest songs on this EP. Both seems to take their cues from both Hard Rock & Heavy Metal with their guitar melodies, drum beats and also the vocals too and both songs sound heavy as hell together but that is by no means bad as the band give it their best to deliver a punchy and powerful performance and deliver they do as both songs are enjoyable. The final song on the EP “A Collapse” takes a little bit of the styles used on the previous four songs and combines them into one with elements of Heavy Rock, Hard Rock & Heavy Metal all rolled into one to create an enjoyable closing song that has heavy dirty sounding guitar riffs, pounding drum beats and a vocal performance that is good.
I’ve pretty much summed up what this EP sounds like with the descriptions of the songs but I’ll add on a few more little details. I’ll start with the production which has actually been done very well for a release of this type and the mixing & production techniques used on all five songs work together well to accommodate each songs sound. If I did have one complaint about this EP, is that at times it can be hard to make out the lyrics sometimes, as in places the vocals get a little buried underneath the guitars, but fortunately there is plenty of punch and oomph in the performance to make up for it so it’s not really that big of a problem.
Bottom line, the debut self-titled EP from LIGHTNING RULES is five enjoyable slices of Heavy Rock with some elements of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal thrown in too. The end result is an EP from a band who despite only revealing themselves to the world very recently, are capable of creating some very enjoyable songs and that is present on this EP, which I recommend you give a listen if you’re looking for something that sounds unique but good. - Metal Temple
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Wess Willis was born with a hole in his face. A cleft lip, nose and pallet required a childhood full of surgeries to correct. The resulting self-consciousness would take even longer.
“Being a kid’s tough on it’s own, but having a screwed up face really adds to it. I also had to go to speech therapy. So fronting a band didn’t really feel like an option. I started off on drums, but I knew I wanted to sing and play guitar, so I had to figure out how to get over myself. I figured if I played my guitar loud and fast enough no one would notice the flaws. Growing an enormous beard also helps.”
Moving to Portland in 2007, Wess was enamored with the local music scene but found it equally challenging. He worked for years on various projects, none finding much traction.
“I was always a guitar rock guy which was very out of vogue at the time. It felt like it was all banjos and group vocals and a much more sensitive aesthetic. I didn’t grow up in the Northwest, so a lot of the true indie influences were unfamiliar to me. I tried for a number of years to do what I thought was a Portland sound, but ultimately it was just this terrible middle-ground between indie and hard rock without being a particularly good representation of either."
That changed in late 2014 after a candid conversation with friend and record producer Sebastian Rogers [Samadams and Catherine Feeny].
“I was between bands and going in circles as far as my writing was concerned. Sebastian’s a talented guy but super direct. He basically kicked me in the ass and told me I was writing garbage because I was trying to be something I wasn’t. That’s not exactly what you want to hear, but he was right. I threw out nearly every song I had, got rid of the extra layers and just started over. I knew the music I wanted to make was aggressive, hard charging, red-assed rock, and it always had been. So thats all I wrote from then on and stopped worrying about how it would be received.”
The results were immediate. Lightning Rules was quickly formed, pulling together Jov Luke [Novosti] on drums and Adam Smith [Grandhorse/Dedere] on bass. The band began quietly (in one sense of the word) playing shows at local spots like Habesha and the Kenton club and working on their debut EP, due out in September.
“Everything became easier once I was making something that was authentic to me. I had stressed so much about genre, but ultimately the Northwest music scene is about honesty. People want to see conviction, and there’s no way to have that if you’re aiming too hard at a specific target.”
Wess sounds at his most convicted when speaking about rock music, what he considers his native tongue.
“Rock music is supposed to be about release. There’s a physical dimension to it, you get sweaty and your heart rate raises and it gives you that release. We wanted a sound that just rips, a cavalcade of riffs, high vocals, big drums big bass. The sort of kinetic, balls-out intensity where it’s all from the gut because its too fast and too loud to think about while you’re doing it. The songs are all shorter; they sorta start in, go for the throat, then hop out. Early Queens of the Stone Age had all that. Death From Above 1979, Clutch and Baroness’ are other good examples. What was great about those first two bands is they are still a ton of fun, despite their heaviness."
The culmination of these influences can be heard on Lightning Rules' forthcoming release: a 5-song blowtorch simply titled EP#1. Recorded at the Magic Closet in Sellwood, it was engineered by Ian Watts [Ape Machine], mixed by Tony Lash [The Dandy Warhols, Elliot Smith] and mastered by Stephan Hawkes [Gaytheist, Red Fang].
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