Lucid Street Interview – Xperience

Lucid Street Interview – Xperience – by Liam Sweeny.

I came across Lucid Street, an amazing and versatile band. I had a chance to connect with members Cait, Nolan, Deb, Mike, and Phil, and we got it all down on “paper.”

RRX: I always ask my guests if they have anything they want to say at the end, but let’s try it up front. What’s on Lucid Street’s mind in the present? I’ll give you the floor.

Cait: “Opening for Vixen on 1/19! We’re so thankful to everyone involved, especially John Myers with Entertainment One Presents for picking us for this show! I’m also currently preparing my vocal harmonies for the album!”

Nolan: “To get the album out”

Deb: “The Vixen show; my first real show with Lucid Street!”

Mike: “Album release show…tbd”

Phil: “Not one specific thing; just thinking about all the logistics of the next 6 months”

RRX: You started as a rock band in the COVID “era.” Which wasn’t easy. I mean the music scene was in a coma, yet bands came up in it too. Says something about music. Were you able to practice face to face and do shows? Did you do them anyway?

LS: So we weren’t exactly a COVID “era” band, we were just post COVID when things started to open up again. We started meeting each other at open mics in May of 2021 and had booked our first show in July 2021 at the Heritage in Colonie, while still operating under the name Thunderbird. We ended up changing it to Lucid Street in November 2021 as things started to get more serious, but yes! We always were practicing face to face and doing shows, since the music scene had started to reopen Spring 2021. We were all definitely itching to get out and make music with people, so we crossed paths at the perfect time. We like to say that we emerged and started making a name for ourselves at an opportune time. Venues were starting to look for bands again, but a lot of bands hadn’t started gigging yet, so we were able to sneak our way in.

RRX: Your first album is coming out this Spring. Do you have any plans for the day it drops? Are you stoked for it? Was it smooth sailing getting it together or any headwinds?

LS: Yes it is! No solid release date plans yet, but it will definitely be late Spring! We are all very excited about it! It’s currently 3/5 of  the way recorded, but should be finished being recorded in the next month or so. So far it’s been pretty smooth sailing! Our audio engineers (Nick Relation & Peter Jones) are absolutely amazing, so we’ve had a great time.

RRX: You have had line-up changes, and I love the fact that bands can sort of outlive the people who started them. Do you think bands on their own can have a “spirit” so-to-speak, that transcends the members of the band?

LS: This is a really interesting question! So I (Cait) definitely think that bands can have their own spirits, but the lineup we have is definitely the lineup we need. Phil and I are the only original members of Lucid Street left, but I think we both agree that we currently have the line up the band has always needed. Each of our current members are exclusively the only grouping we’ve had that shares the same goals and ambitions for Lucid Street as an entity, thus sometimes you need to go through a couple changes to find the correct grouping of people.

RRX: Cait, you play violin in the band. I play guitar and I think of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan when I’m playing. Who are you thinking about musically when you’re practicing, or jamming – who’s the Jimi Hendrix of violin? Or is it just Jimi Hendrix?

CT: Yes I do! So, I’m a classically trained violinist and have been playing for 18 years now (I started when I was 4)! Translating that over to the music we play and to our originals has definitely been really interesting for me, and took a good year before I was fully comfortable playing at Lucid Street shows. As a violinist, my favorite music to play is from the romantic period, so Charles Auguste de Bériot (my favorite composer) is definitely my biggest influence, but I am also very influenced by Antonin Dvořák, Vittoro Monti, Niccolò Paganini, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I also have to give credit to my amazing violin instructor Anna Durand, because much of my style and flare as a violinist comes from her.

RRX: Lucid Street is a cover band. Or at least you play covers, and probably originals. Obviously, you’re working on the album. So here’s a question, how do you carve out your own identity as a band when sounding like another band is expected?

LS: So, we don’t consider ourselves a cover band, we consider ourselves a hybrid band, meaning that at most shows we play originals and covers. We have done exclusively original show cases, but we are also able to do a show of only covers if the venue that books us requests it. We have 42 minutes of original music, thus can fill up a full slot of originals (and we’re still writing things for album 2 right now!!), and have learned & performed over 250 covers since forming in 2021! Much of our identity is formed around our influences, hence why we cover so much Queen, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Heart (etc), but we’ve branched out a lot in the last year, and cover six different genres regularly. We also like to make our own versions of songs that sound nothing like the original, such as our covers of “Toxic” or “Let it Go”, so that we can perform music our audiences enjoy while still making it our own.

RRX: Cait, you have great influences in singing, Freddie Mercury, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and others. Why are they your influences? What binds them? What is it about them that drives you when you sing?

CT: Thank you! I definitely have to add Ronnie James Dio to that list; I’d say the four of them (Freddie, Mariah, Whitney & Ronnie) influence me the most. As a singer I have always been drawn to the music that is the most difficult to sing, and that other vocalists shy away from, because I love a challenge. Queen is my favorite band of all time, so Freddie is certainly the one I hold to the highest regard. His showmanship, writing, and outlook on life inspires me in everything I do. Mariah’s music is certainly the hardest to sing, but I feel like I’ve learned the most from her by listening to the way she articulates while singing. Whitney’s power awes me each time I hear her sing, and she’s the first vocalist that inspired me to try singing something that was not musical theater. Finally, with Ronnie, I feel like my origin, path and goals as a rock singer have operated somewhat synonymously to his. Furthermore, his passion while singing and lyrics were truly what motivated me to form my own rock band, so I have to give a lot of credit to the mighty Dio.

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