SPIDER LILIES
Music is a powerful force and if you ask any of the Spider Lilies about what drives them they will agree that it fuels there lives in a special way. The all female band which formed as Cloud Nine –an all female cover band back in the early 90’s have a deep passion for creating music and together have returned to do what they love to do best—create original music and play some of there favorite covers entertaining old fans and making new ones. The band consist of Kathy Grimm, Cynthia Brawley, Ellie Musser, Theresa Carroll and Nancy Deitch.
The Spider Lilies originally formed as Cloud Nine and then became the Booze Hags before changing their names to the Spider Lilies releasing a full length CD “Everything” in 2005. They play an intense mood filled dark style of progressive rock that will rock your soul and fill your head with a solid vibe. They built up a large following and won awards such as the Cleveland Undercurrents best band in 1993. They would break up in 2008 and go their separate ways when original bassist Stacie Rothermel could not continue due to illness. After finally finding a new bass player with Nancy Deitch about a year ago, they deciding to return and have been moving forward with a full force of energy and passion for doing what they love to do—create music. They also realized that the chemistry they had as a band was something that was special and fuels their creative fire like no other and Deitch has fit in naturally to provide the solid beat to the lineup on bass.
Carroll said they missed playing their originals and since getting back together writing has become something they will do more of as it has been a natural flow of energy with the special chemistry they have. “We decided we really missed our songs. I think we are planning on writing more, and we enjoy at looking at different covers too and do unique things that others don’t do like the Zepplin songs and Sunshine of Your Love, and we are going to write more and we are going to record and play out. Also, our originals which are still really meaningful with myself as a lyricist I still really love singing the songs I have written, and then the Led Zepplin covers too, but our songs too. We missed our songs. We missed playing together and the chemistry that we have which is different which we found out from playing in other bands is that together we have a really cool chemistry.” And as other members chimed in plan to (play play play)!
Expect new material and more shows says Carroll, “Play, Write music and record. That is what we really love, said Carroll. We love doing music that is more complicated and long songs! Yeah, like most of the songs we do are six minute songs. Cynthia just said that we make more than music and that is the way we look at it, everybody provides a very bright stroke and we love to do that. A lot of times when we get together it is just so easy and I think that is another reason that we came back together is that being in other bands is OK, its fun, but it is not the same feeling or same chemistry that we have it is not the art . People ask us, ‘how did you write this?’ and it is we just did and it wasn't that hard.”
Playing as an all female band has also set them apart. While most go the pop route, the Spider Lilies stick to their progressive style of rock challenging the barriers. “The expectations are different from male bands. I mean we heard we had people ask what we were wearing, and places were more interested in what we were wearing than in our music and one time we had someone literally ask us where the tape was because they didn't actually believe that we were playing which was ridiculous....We had a lot of that. We had people think that we as woman couldn't possibly be playing these songs because there had to be a man behind it somewhere !”
If you love music and want to hear quality music....be sure to see the Spider Lilies. In addition to their great original material they include plenty of eclectic covers and deliver a show you do not want to miss. They plan on playing out more and are returning to Akron to play Annabell’s on April 20th. Keep your eyes on there Facebook page for other dates and news from the band.