Todd May & Co.

NO DEPRESSION: Shorter Artist Feature from Issue #26 March-April 2000
Lilybandits Storybook beginning COLUMBUS, OH
By Brian Manke
In the inside sleeve of the Lilybandits’ new album, @ 33 1/3, there is a fictional story about how the band formed. It portrays them as an oddball foursome sucking the lime out of life in a tequila-soaked Mexico. When slipping down to Columbus to interview the band at the Blue Danube, one of the more infamous haunts that dots High Street’s campus backdrop, such stories continue to flow.
And flow. They remember the time that Todd May (vocals, guitar) wrote a song about Randall Adams, the Ohio native wrongfully committed for murder of a Dallas police officer and the subject behind Errol Morris’ 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line. “They did a story on Adams on ‘Current Affair’ and they ended up using our song during the piece,” Jose Gonzales (guitars, vocals) interjects. “Adams, went to school with my father, and he heard the song. So, when they were doing the ‘Current Affair’ thing, he told them he wanted it in the piece. He made us 500 bucks,” May happily recalls.
Whatever the subject, the Lilybandits will unravel a story about it — and make it interesting. The tales range from Trent Arnold (bass, vocals) expounding upon the drinking adventures of Ned ‘Hoaky’ Hickel, the Dash Rip Rock bass player known to cause a wicked hangover, to band members sharing parental secrets to keep up on the latest children’s craze.
This characteristic carries over to their music: The Lilybandits play a song the way they would tell you a story. It will draw you in and make you feel at home, whether it’s the floating pop of “Past Few Days”, the slow-waltzing twang of “Beautiful”, or the rollicking punch of “Fire In The Hole”. These songs vibrate a certain warmth through their simplistic messages and homespun feel.
Which is not necessarily the feel you would imagine from co-producer Tony Maserati, a producer and mixer known for his work with hip-hop and R&B artists such as Puff Daddy, Notorious B.I.G. and Mariah Carey. Working in the Brooklyn studio name-checked by the album’s title, the Lilybandits had to hand over some degree of trust. “Sometimes, I got the feeling Tony didn’t know what was going on, but we guessed he’d figure it out,” Gonzales says.
“He has to. That’s how he pays bills,” May states.
Arnold adds, “Not with us. We cause bills.”
Perhaps, but whatever intriguing or compelling follies may follow that opening, you can be assured it’s going to be a story you’ll want to hear.
- No Depression

THE COLU8MBUS ALIVE Thursday, July 9, 2009 6:00 AM

Erika Carey and the Calamities
"Erika Carey and the Calamities"
Web: myspace.com/erikacarey
More so than guitars, the accordion seems like an instrument that'd create something of a barrier between frontperson and audience. I can't speak for the ComFest set by singer-accordionist Erika Carey and the Calamities, but at a previous gig at Victorian's Midnight Cafe, there was definitely something coming between the players and those watching.
It could've just been the squeeze box or maybe a case of veteran players - like former Lilybandits frontman Todd May, former Greenhorn drummer Mark Spurgeon and Megan Palmer fiddler Betty Blockinger - still getting used to playing out together. It could also be a matter of earnest musicianship winning out over showmanship.
Regardless, the six tracks on their self-titled debut are unquestionably inviting. Carey's accordion and Blockinger's violin wash smoothly over a sound that pays homage to bluegrass and the best alt-country, with her vocals suggesting a lower-key Neko Case, in both octave and attitude. She and May make especially beautiful harmonies together on "Five Years."
Here's hoping the barrier breaks for their 10 p.m. show on Saturday, July 11, with Matthew Hoover and the Supersaints at the perfectly intimate Rumba Cafe. If not, try closing your eyes. -Melissa Starker
- Columbus Alive