Neon Love Life
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Neon Love Life

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States | INDIE

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States | INDIE
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"Top 5 Indiana Recordings for 2011"

1 Neon Love Life,
"Tuesday Night"

Mainstream rock needs help, and Neon Love Life represents a four-woman rescue expedition. Salvation from mindless monotonous metal can be found in "Tuesday Night's" guitar songs constructed on energy, hooks and a poise that skillfully teeters on the unhinged. Booze flows, money's tight and love is either rapturous or a wreck in these first-person tales. Sharon Rickson vents frustration ("How many bones do I have to break?") within rockabilly-punk tune "A.M. Sun." Rickson's partner in rock, Lindsay Manfredi, employs a refined loud-quiet-loud attack on "Sleepwalking": "You'll never know how I sing when I'm asleep, but I'm watching out for your face." - Indianapolis Star


"Review: Neon Love Life, 'Tuesday Night' by Marc D Allen"

“I’ll take you where you wanna go,” Neon Love Life promises on “Grounded,” the third track on the band’s impressive debut disc. And these four women absolutely deliver on that boast: Tuesday Night is a full-throttle, no-nonsense collection of seriously fun and fearsome punk with a pop edge that’ll remind you at various times of The Pretenders’ riffs and Patti Smith’s howl..." - NUVO Newsweekly


"Neon Love Life: rockers and mentors by Paul F.P. Pogue"

...If you put an acoustic guitar in Manfredi's hands and tried to pass her off as a singer/songwriter in the Lilith Fair mold, it would totally seem convincing. (Also deceptive. This is a band with a song about drinking lots of whiskey.)

Blackman is every bit the wild maniac drummer that three generations of Muppets have taught us about.

Plummer has this whole Jimmy Page thing going on where she's focused and vaguely distant and doesn't seem to see anything in the world besides her guitar when she's playing. (She tells me I'm not the only one to have mentioned this.)

Rickson is by far the most old-school of the group, who reminds me of those manic '70s-era singer-songwriters who would push together an album with nothing more than a guitar, gumption and a battered 8-track recorder.

I'm trying hard not to pigeonhole anyone here; think "iconic" and you're close to what I'm getting at.

Their music rolls along at a blistering pace; an hour-long concert feels like about 15 minutes. It's stripped-down hard rock with little pretense...
- NUVO Newsweekly


"Review: Neon Love Life at Radio Radio by Paul F.P. Pogue"

...this is one uncannily dynamic live band. No stage tricks, no frills what-so-bloody-ever, just four-on-the-floor rockers, their instruments and the amps turned up to 23. It’s drinking music, rocking music, party music, and most importantly, it's a whole hell of a lot of fun.

All this was on display Friday at Radio Radio, as they unveiled their debut album, Tuesday Night, to a sellout crowd... - NUVO Newsweekly


"Review: Punk Rock Night (Jan. 22) by Rob Burgess"

...Neon Love Life took the stage for the first time at Punk Rock Night and proved why they're among the best live acts you can hope to see in Indianapolis. Neon Love Life opened for the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band on the Vogue state last year and somehow managed to match the onstage intensity of that show. The all-girl four-piece rolled out one memorable, catchy rock 'n roll earworm after another. Days later and snippets of their many sure-to-be future hit singles still run through my head... - NUVO Newsweekly


Discography

Album - Tuesday Night
Whiskey
Love Control
Grounded
AM Sun
Sleepwalking
Tuesday Night
Lovers Lie
Clark Street
Indiana
Ghost

X103 - Acoustic
Your Future
Love Control
Lovers Lie
AM Sun

Whiskey, Love Control, Sleepwalking, AM Sun, Lovers Lie and Your Future are all getting airplay on X103, Indianapolis's Alternative Rock radio station.

Photos

Bio

Neon Love Life is an all-female American rock band that has quickly become one of year's most notable “buzz bands”. After reaching near-legendary status in its hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, Neon Love Life released its debut “Tuesday Night” in September on Roaring Colonel Records (the vanity label of My Old Kentucky Blog, the uber-popular music blog and XM/Sirius “Blog Radio” station). The album’s first single, “Love Control” was propelled by a stunning video (directed by Matt Mays of Mays Entertainment) that became an out-of-the-gate YouTube sensation receiving thousands of hits from an international audience.

Since the album’s release, Neon Love Life hit the road earning a well-deserved reputation as a hard-working band with a powerful live show touring both as a headliner and as a supporting act for The Bangles, Girl in A Coma, Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Howler, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Sick of Sarah, Hunter Valentine, and Vanity Theft. Neon Love Life has received national radio airplay, appeared on CBS, FOX, and PBS television affiliates, and leveraged a multi-faceted strategic social media campaign to win new fans and develop a large, loyal fan base.

While Neon Love Life frequently receives favorable comparisons to the likes of The Runaways, Hole, Patti Smith, and L7, NLL’s sound is truly all its own, blending tribal 4/4 rhythms, crunchy power chords, psycho-billy bass lines, with melodic vocal hooks communicating lyrics of social consciousness, empowerment, and the human condition that make for a truly innovative, provocative, and inspiring rock experience.

The record’s title “Tuesday Night” is a reference to one of the designated nights of the week the girls would write, rehearse, and record songs that would ultimately comprise their debut LP. “Tuesday Night” was produced by Andy Fry (Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos), mixed by Vess von Ruthenberg (The Lemonheads), mastered by Roger Seibel (Death Cab For Cutie) and sounds like a band on a mission to get out of the studio and into a van to win music lovers one stage at a time.

The ladies of Neon Love Life share songwriting duties which likely explains the eclectic mix of songs and sounds heard on “Tuesday Night”, like the album’s opener “Whiskey”, an amplified anthem and live show staple that is now starting to gain substantial radio airplay. NLL just shot a video for the song “Indiana” featuring footage from the motion picture “Video Stop”, an indie film where the band also makes a cameo appearance.

Singer/guitarist Lindsay Manfredi is a tattooed beauty whose look could perhaps best be described as a rocked-up and punked-out Sarah Jessica Parker. Lindsay’s voice is a dynamic instrument that can deliver a vulnerable whisper one moment, a raging scream the next - always compelling and never forgettable.

Guitarist Ashley Plummer is the “Keef” to Lindsay’s “Mick” incorporating surf-rock licks and overdriven 70s-glam riffs into the NLL sonic palette - think The Pixies’ Joey Santiago taking guitar lessons from Mick Ronson.

Bassist Sharon Rickson authoritatively pumps eighth note rhythms on her Fender bass in a way that would make Dee Dee Ramone proud; Rickson also incorporates a Rockabilly sensibility into her playing and singing styles; no doubt, a nod to her past as a fixture on that scene.

Tasha Blackman is arguably the most seasoned musician of the group having learned to play drums when she was only a pre-teen; it is as if Tasha was made for the world stage with her Aladdin Sane red hair, smart fashion sense, and impressive drum chops that are equal parts Moe Tucker and Tre Cool.

Outside of their musical endeavors, the women of Neon Love Life are feminist activists passionately supporting such causes as Planned Parenthood, Rock The Vote, and the band’s pet project: Girls Rock! Indianapolis - a week-long rock camp they operate from their home base in Indianapolis. Girls Rock! Indy is basically a “school of rock” for teen girls that is affiliated with a national organization originally founded by Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill and Le Tigre).

Neon Love Life dreams big, loves deep, and works hard. Don’t be fooled by their girl-next-door good looks and well-intentioned politics, these girls are ready to rock faces with a new-school rock sound, an astonishing live show, and a message of love…a life of neon love.