Local Blood, an alternative post-punk band hailing from Vilnius, Lithuania, emerged onto the music scene with their debut EP "A Lure Of Sights" in 2017. Over the years, they supported renowned bands like "Son Lux," "The Underground Youth," and "Girls Names," while actively participating in local festivals and shows. In 2022, after an extensive creative process, the band marked their return with the full-length album "Dystopian Disco," featuring singles "My Blood" and "Control." The release catapulted them to prominence in the Lithuanian music scene, earning them a nomination for Rock Band of the Year at the Annual Lithuanian Music Awards. Undeterred, in 2023, Local Blood continued their musical journey, participating in significant projects and events, including "Loftas Fest," "8 Festival," and the "Europavox" showcase festival. The year culminated in the release of their latest full-length album "Loverman" and a limited LP, celebrated with a solo concert at the Art Factory "Loftas" venue in Vilnius on November 13th.
1. How did the band form and what does the band name mean? Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
Well… These two questions are closely related, so we'll answer both at once.
We delved into music more seriously just before finishing high school. Around 2006-2007. It was the time when indie rock dominated the scene. We vividly remember listening to The Killers on Winamp and watching Arctic Monkeys on Youtube, who were already headlining Glastonbury at such a young age. It was truly inspiring. Growing up in a small industrial town with not much to do, music seemed like an escape to us. Fueled by youthful maximalism, we decided to start playing ourselves.
We distributed roles among us - who would handle the drums, who would play the guitars, who would take on vocals and so on. We bought cheap, used, and somewhat battered instruments and began learning to play with it together. It was a fascinating time with countless evenings spent in the studio, listening to loads of music, sitting on our favorite green couch and talking. Every bit of free time was dedicated to and revolved around music.
Later on, we went our separate ways, moving away for studies. But our love for music didn't wane, and a few years later we came back together. It was somewhere around 2014. Slowly, we discovered post-punk, a genre that drew us in. We felt that this was our music, and we wanted to create in that direction. It was around that time that we began working on our first EP, "A Lure of Sights." And that's how the band came to be.
As you've gathered, we're first and foremost great friends, and some of us are even family. We grew up on the same street. That's how the name Local Blood came about.
2. First concert that you ever went to?
We grew up in a small town where concerts were a rarity. So, we started attending larger concerts relatively late when we could travel to bigger cities. Perhaps the first significant concert experience was the Linkin Park concert in Vilnius. At that time, they were highly popular, making this concert a memorable one. Later on, we began traveling to festivals, such as Opener, where we had the chance to see many of our idols from that time.
3. What's your writing process like?
Our writing process is very fluid. We do not have one way to create music. Sometimes we jam together and discover something that sounds amazing and come up with a basic structure and complete the song this way. There are times that we do everything with a computer, record parts separately and glue a song that way. In a way we always learn how to create something. But in the end we just do it the way that best suits the song.
4. What other artists or songs inspire your music?
We like quirky music. We enjoy minimalistic music. High-energy bands like The Amazing Snakeheads (unfortunately, they no longer exist), Snapped Ankles and Viagra Boys serve as an example of how you can experiment with music and how crazy live shows can go. On the other hand we have a lyrical, softer side and artists such as Van Morrison or Nick Cave inspire us. Also we listen to a lot of stuff in between and it’s really hard to pick only ten songs.
5. What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
When you go to a concert, you want more than just to hear the music you could otherwise listen to on Spotify. You seek an experience. So, we strive to make each of our concerts memorable. Whenever we have the opportunity, we try to do something extra – incorporate additional instruments, artists, create a unique atmosphere, and do something special with staging.
6. Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been, best shows?worst shows?
We’ve never toured. We had, however, many gigs and participated in many Lithuanian festivals and showcases. But we’ll fix that next year - as we are planning a tour abroad now. Talking about the worst shows, we had one last year. It was a show, a week before our release show of “Dystopian Disco”. It was a mess. And knowing that we will have our biggest live show yet in a week, didn’t help. But we took our time and had one of our best shows ever. And the best show that we’ve ever had was the “Loverman” release party. It was an amazing experience for us and for people who came there. The most professional show we’ve ever had.
7. What's up next for the band?
From 2017 to 2022, we took a break and stopped. But we came back with our first full album "Dystopian Disco". And now, after a year and a half, we've released our second album "Loverman". So, the past couple of years have been very intense.
Looking ahead, we plan to slow down a bit with creating new music and take pleasure in what we've already accomplished. Maybe we will release an EP, but not an album. Maybe. We also want to shoot a music video and go on tour finally, to spread our new music in Lithuania and abroad.