Hi! Tell me about your band and what kind of previous experience do you have as musicians?
Every member of Lyken21 plays multiple Instruments and was on the local circuit doing shows with other projects. We all have different paths – Punk, Metal, Rock Hair Metal – but it works well because we have something different to offer the material as it’s presented for the live review
Why did you pick your band name? How did you form? Why did you decide to play the genre or genres you do?
Lyken21 was picked because it was original – no one in the world had it – zero results when searched on google. The word is a play on werewolves (Lycan) and 21 was the singers number
What can you tell us about your latest record?
The latest album is called Cyclical Insight. It’s a typical Lyken21 album in that it has a variety of songs on it in forms of style. It’s all Metal/Hard Rock oriented but you can hear the influences of the many bands we have toured with, and our own differing taste in music. We have songs that question the status quo, to some power metal tones, some traditional old school Metal – and a cover which we feel most anyone will know instantly but enjoy our version better. We have also recorded a song in German – Doomsday Deception – because when we did our shows in Germany this song was one that seemed to get the most feedback – live it worked well – so Marton just did the vocal tracks over after the tour.
What the kind of album feedbacks are you waiting for?
Lyken21 never releases or leaks songs from the upcoming releases. We have played 2 or 3 songs from the new album live – for a few shows this year (2019) and the feedback was genuinely great, with inquiries to our release date etc. We expect the feedback for this will be as good as our last 2 CD’s
Are you gonna to make some world tour in the future? Do you think this is available for everybody option to tour around the globe? What do you think band have to do to get such opportunity?
We Play abroad all the time – so the short answer is Yes – we will be doing shows supporting Cyclical Insight – and doing it in more than just New Jersey. Always Have Always Will! In regards to opportunity – we would say that the world is a big place and you need to push your art in the manner in which you’re comfortable. There has to be value in the process – whatever the metric – the last time we went to Europe we sold every CD, and piece of Merch we had – plus got our fees – I’d say it makes it worth it – but the sacrifices to achieve these goals are that of compromise on other fronts. Our goal – is that we maintain a healthy Life’s Balance – so that if opportunities arise – we can discuss them democratically without prejudice or harm to our paradigm.
Do you believe in heavy music scene without money?
It would be foolish to suggest that money is not important in music. Recording, rehearsals, gear, travel hotels etc. It takes money to make money – and while we’d love to say we’re selective, we do play shows that are lost leaders on occasion. With that said though – if you’re close enough to us have a worthy benefit and we have the time; we’d play for gas and food
What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Our Singer hates music sharing and thinks Steve Jobs ruined the music business. He also submits to its value in getting your message across a wide spectrum of places. Yes – we do give songs away – and yes we’d rather have someone get it from us than youtube. We do this because our last album was already being downloaded and shared about 15000 times before we even had a copy of the album in our hands.
This is the new way – and that genie can not be put back in the bottle.
Who are your musical influences? Have you ever think your band could be so famous as your favorites?
You would run out of ink writing down all the artist we listen to or respect that have influenced us. Suffice to say that it cover the entire spectrum of music and musicians – jazz, rock, classical, punk, opera, blues to name just a few styles.
Do you have a formal music education? Do you think it’s a Kind of important thing?
Yes, we all have had schooling in music to varying degrees. As stated before we’re all multi-instrumentalist. All of us write songs and not just for Lyken21 but many projects abroad. It is important at the minimum to receive some training – in any form or fashion from a neutral third party. If nothing else – to obtain the rudimentary elements to build your foundation. No matter how long you play, sing etc you will always be learning and trying to expand the horizons of what you are as an artist. There’s no perfect system, but if you value what people will think or say about you, than you must be honest with yourself and make a solid effort in learning the roots of your craft. Without that you will always be playing catch up – and quite frankly wasting your time.
How do you balance your music with other obligations – mate, children, job?
It is Lyken21’s most cherished philosophy. MAINTAIN A LIFE’S BALANCE! It’s is the most important thing this band preaches to anyone we talk to. Work, mates, family THEN Music. Not that music is taking 4 steps back, but if you don’t have money, a clear head, a good life that includes hobbies (other than music) Activities that include friends family you will never be fulfilled as a human being much less a musician. Passion for your art is great but the juice will not be worth the squeeze if you don’t have someone to share it with, or a place to share it. We have turned down no less than 120 shows because we maintain that truth.
How do you handle mistakes during a performance? Or you can assure there are no any mistakes during your gigs? Do you get nervous before a performance or a competition?
In order – we practice so we don’t make too many mistakes, we have tons of live experience to handle whatever comes at us, we do take pride in our presentation, and NO we never get nervous – It’s what you work for – by the time you hit that stage it’s about the people who took money out of their pockets to see a performance – and if you don’t give them something to remember – they’ll go elsewhere – and we never want that to happen.
What’s next? Thank you!
What’s next? Well some festivals – we are writing material for the next album which will be an EP – Playing some shows here in the USA – as a warm up to hopefully being back in Europe for a few weeks late 2019 – or early 2020.
Thanks so much – Be well.