Lollipop Factory

Lollipop Factory is a two-person spectacle of a band from Columbus, Ohio. Guitarist David Tweed and drummer Bekah Manning shred like Queens of the Stone Age and harmonize like Queen, creating some of the most outrageous music you've ever heard from such an economical lineup. - Lawrence Journal-World, Lawrence KS

If Queen married Queens of the Stone Age and they honeymooned with a circus, they might sound like Lollipop Factory -- an audacious duo that plays near-pompous, high-powered, harmony-laced rock with a winking sense of humor and madcap glee.

"I don't even think of our songs as like real songs," said David Tweed, the band's guitarist and vocalist. "They're more like bombastic, Frankenstein pop-metal contraptions."

As for their stage look?

"It's our pajamas," Tweed said. "I guess if Willy Wonka played for the New York Yankees, I'd describe the look that way."

He likes to wear a top hat, you see, with striped stockings. Drummer Bekah Manning, meanwhile, plays with such monstrous, crashing energy, her hair flails about like she's caught in a tornado.

"Bekah is awesome," Tweed said. "You'll never see anyone who looks like they're having a better time playing drums. She makes the best drum faces ever. She sets the bar for that stuff, and I try to keep up. Basically, I'm all about jumping or climbing on anything that's in radius of my guitar cable."

They have a blast together because together is all they have. About 13 months ago, they bought an RV and hit the road forever. They have no home or apartment to go back to.

"We thought if we traded our rent for gas money, we could make this work doing it full time," said Tweed. "So we bought an RV. It's kind of a pioneer lifestyle. The RV is like our covered wagon. But it's really fun."

For Tweed, the Lollipop Factory mainstay, the fun kicked into high gear when he met Manning. He worked for a pipe-organ company in Columbus, Ohio, that sent him to Lexington, Ky., to work on a church organ. Manning worked at the church.

"Usually, when working on pipe organs, we'd always get invited to some Wednesday pot-roast dinner thing," Tweed said. "She was at the only empty table with a friend. We went over and invaded their space and kind of hit if off."

Did they. He later helped her move into a dorm room. They were painting the walls in the middle of night when they decided to pull up stakes.

"We were like, 'Screw this. Let's go to Columbus.' So we didn't even finish painting the wall, we just moved."

She joined Lollipop Factory shortly afterward but on guitar at first, then drums.

After the band's other guitarist had twins, Tweed decided to carry on with Manning, his girlfriend, as a duo. Her powerful vocals, stage presence, and chemistry with Tweed help Lollipop Factory produce an impressive wall of sound.

"We don't use any loop stations or backing tracks," Tweed said. "We're definitely playing everything here. I just try to channel the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. As the personnel in the band became less and less, we just added more gear."

Including their 26-foot 1983 Coachman Leprechaun, which has taken them about 27,000 miles in the past 13 months.

"It has the highest-quality fake wood-veneer paneling," Tweed bragged. "And floral wallpaper from 1983. It had super-low mileage. We bought it off Teamsters who used to campaign in it."

Their plan: Keep touring and revisiting cities to build a following. It's working so far. When they return to cities such as Milwaukee, Memphis, and Madison, Wis., they find larger crowds than before.

"It's getting good. People are coming back to see us," Tweed said. "The main thing is, we want to be able to keep doing it. That's our short-term goal. If we can do this and keep enough money to keep the RV going, that's success."

- Dave Richards, Erie Times-News - Erie Times-News, Erie, PA

Lollipop Factory, a fantastically talented and wholly original two piece... The night started with Lollipop Factory launching brutally into music as inspired by Tim Burton as anything else, all Pee-Wee's Big Adventure goes to hell, all Beetlejuiced out... Bekah played drums like no one I've ever seen. Sporting gigantic heels and a zombie ballerina outfit, she played a little trapkit standing up and never lost a beat. One of her cymbals rattled like a hi-hat but she only had a single pedal (her bass kick), resulting in a very original and engaging percussive approach. David, for his part, played through a deceptively simple pedalboard... a wah and two Boss OC-3s. Also, he played through what appeared to be at least sixty amps. The rollicking textures hooked me and the vocals knocked me for a loop, Bekah and David's harmonies spot-on and bliss-inducing...

- Corbie Hill, http://afraidofthebear.blogspot.com, North Carolina live music blog - Afraid of the Bear, Raleigh-Durham, NC

...Lollipop Factory kicking so much ass we almost died.

- Justin Tranter from Semi Precious Weapons, Razor and Tie recording artist - Justin Tranter, Semi Precious Weapons

Last night I also ran over to Off Broadway and checked out a KILLER band called Lollipop Factory from Columbus, OH. Just one guy and one girl in the band and they killed it last night. When they come back in town I will let you know about it and I encourage you to check it out. The music is killer and Bekah Manning the drummer owns that kit!

- DJ Todd Morgan, 105.7 The Point blog - 105.7 The Point St. Louis, MO

The typical method for discovering a new band is going to see a different band, sharing the bill. The bands know about this potential for discovery. In fact, this method is so common that bands intentionally set up shows in each other's conquered territory.

Last night, I intended to see Terminus Victor at Mike n' Molly's. I discovered Lollipop Factory. They are my new favorite band.

In top hat and tights, two people from Ohio perpetrate a bizarre oratorio of structured, elaborate hard candy on unsuspecting beer drinkers. I was thoroughly unprepared, having expected a more psychedelic Fu Manchu.

I am not the first to mistake Lollipop Factory's tour itinerary for a metal band's. Unless the venues listed have all changed ownership, they will perform to metalheads tonight, tomorrow, and next week I wonder if those audiences will be surprised, too. I can't imagine them not being receptive. Whatever else it is, Lollipop Factory is a spectacle. Men in spandex do play metal. But they usually accessorize it with studs, not stripey stockings.

And I suppose, in a roundabout way, that you could label the music as metal — if you, like a lot of the world's butchest leather aficionados, think of Queen as heavy metal. In other words, Lollipop Factory recalls much of Jellyfish's louder material — while the top hat and stripes provide the visual cue. (If you forward to the 5 minute mark of this video, you'll see what I mean. Ignore the extra guitarist, he's a figment.)

The last she-bang/he-strum duo I stumbled across were dressed all in red, and they were really awful.

In March 2001, I attended my third SXSW. Having roughed it for a couple of years — sleeping in cars, etc. — I felt lucky to have hit jackpot digs. My friend Chrysta Bell was living in a loft on Neches, between 5th and 6th—a considerable upgrade.

On the Friday, I returned from umpteenth beery barbeque to find her hosting an extremely relaxed (some might even say "stoned") music attorney from LaLa named Ian Montone. Chrysta Bell's group was on the splits, and she was well situated to make a new launch. This guy Ian had dropped by to chat and Chardonnay about it with her.

By the time I got there, things were wrapping up — and I practically insisted that everyone get across the street to see my new favorite band Call & Response at an outdoor event.

We made it in time to catch all of the Call & Response set, and also saw the aforementioned duo in red. I specifically remember it was the worst guitar sound I'd heard to that point. And I asked someone next to me if I were imagining that the instrument (acoustic, yet amplified) were covered in brown construction paper. It sounded as if it were covered in brown construction paper. (It looked that way, too — but one learns not to trust one's senses after a few Shiners.)

The Montone fellow disappeared. Someone suggested that he'd taken a call from an important client named "Diddy" or somesuch. It's a good thing that he didn't catch the red pair, as he might not have been willing to negotiate a seven figure contract for them the next year.

Or maybe he did see that set, and — using his music professional skills — extracted something worthwhile from it. Who knows, perhaps if it weren't for Call & Response, those two would still be married, driving their own van, and living off I-75 — just like Lollipop Factory.

Call & Response evaporated into various side projects and Real Jobs. Chrysta Bell found a new patron. Meanwhile, Ian Montone and the red pair made a million dollars.

I think my happening upon the bands at last night's show will not result in such rich consequences. Terminus Victor's karma may not earn Lollipop Factory a million dollar record deal. But that just means that you'll be able to get good seats next time.

Do.

- Rob McColley, Smile Politely, Champaign culture blog - Smile Politely, Champaign, IL

Bekah Manning and David Tweed don’t make confectionery treats. Instead, they make tasty metal music...The two-piece group has often received comparisons to duos such as The White Stripes and The Kills but have a darker sound that pulls from metal bands such as Black Sabbath. - Northwest Arkansas Times, Fayetteville, AR

Channeling influences like Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Jack White, Lollipop Factory combines heavy guitar riffs and drums with Freddie Mercury-esque vocals and what Bekah Manning calls “cheesy Vegas orchestra arrangements.” It’s a look and a sound that hasn’t been in St. Joe before.

“If I were to say we’re carving out a new genre I would say pomp rock. Maybe I’d call it show-biz heavy metal,” Manning says. “We definitely have a showbiz element to us.”

Though it’s only the two of them playing, they manage to sound like a full band. David Tweed says the trick is “a little smoke and mirrors,” which includes a wall of amplifiers and octave pedals. But that’s it.

“We don’t use loop stations. Every note you hear is actually being played, no loop stations, no backing tracks, no prerecorded harmonies,” he says. “This isn’t karaoke for us.”

If their sound doesn’t suck you in, their look will. Their outfits have a “Willy Wonka, Wizard of Oz, Clockwork Orange vibe,” Manning says. But their look isn’t just a gimmick or something to distract from their music. Rather, it’s something to build up the audience’s expectations, like the stage manager of a club in Nebraska who took one look at the duo and said, “You guys better blow me away dressed like that.”

“We don’t see it to give us an edge or to give us a crutch or anything,” Manning says. “We look at is as upping the ante.”

– Lacey Storer | Stjoelive staff - St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO

Shortly after our arrival, Lollipop Factory from Columbus kicked into gear...the band was full of fire. Strutting and slashing the stage, the glammed-out duo sounded like QOTSA had gone on a blistering bender of nothing but Queen and early Bowie. Not only was the sound incredible, but Lollipop Factory also understand the value of stage presence. The pair posed and pouted and paraded across the stage as if they had been born there.
- Kyle Melton, Buddha Den, Dayton music blog - Buddha Den, Dayton, OH

The Lollipop Factory has two members. So that means some people might start the comparisons to The White Stripes or The Kills. But Jack White probably never wore a mini-skirt on stage. Tweed rocks a skirt simply because he thinks he looks good in it. So it's not unusual for him and drummer Bekah Manning to wear the same ensemble. It's all part of an image the Columbus, Ohio-based band upholds as they play boisterous rock that's part Black Sabbath, part Jellyfish. We talked to him on the phone right before they left for an indefinite tour.

So, what's with the skirt?
I think I look damn good in a mini-skirt. I have to deal with a little butt grabbing, but that's becoming the new handshake anyway.

You guys have put out two albums already. What's your inspiration?
Caffeine has a lot to do with it. I think of our songs as contraptions instead of compositions. I love vocal harmony and about every song we do has (them).

How do audiences respond to you?
It's been nothing but positive feedback. We just quit our jobs today and we're gonna live on the road from now on, town to town. We're going to do this without a net.

- Christian Czerwinski, Lansing State Journal - Lansing State Journal, Lansing, MI