Metal go getters KISSING LILITH have a few single's out and about, with plans already set for more single's expected real soon. The band discusses these releases, song process, lyrical content, formation, how they got their name, to building a presence and just releasing music!
1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?
Gavin was the one who came up with a list of band names that he sent to people we figured would be our target audience to see what resonated most with them. He chose names he thought were catchy, edgy, and sexy. Most importantly, he chose names he could easily imagine on posters and lineups with similar already successful bands. “Falling in Reverse, In This Moment, Kissing Lilith, A Day To Remember”. It just sounded like success to him. Some of the other popular choices from the list were “My Sweet Mistress”, “Carnal Rule”, and “Paradise by the Ashes”.
2. Why did you want to play this genre?
We (Cody and Gavin) come from very different backgrounds musically. Cody being a jazz major and classic rock fanatic while Gavin having a deep love for alternative 2000s, nu-metal, and 90s rap. The music we play is a combination of our influences and childhood heroes being concentrated through the creative lens of our perspectives on how their art spoke to us growing up.
3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?
Yes and no. We met just prior to the band being formed when Gavin auditioned to be the lead singer of the band Ozolith. A former band of Cody’s. While Gavin didn’t get the part, Cody still wanted to work with him on something separate and after some back and forth texts and rough guitar tracks being sent, the band was born.
4. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Kissing Lilith is based out of Ohio, Specifically Cleveland and Akron areas. The music scene has really changed over the past decade with it becoming a much more welcoming place for new musicians to spread their wings and work together with other artists. There are a plethora of local bands we’d recommend checking out including:
Killstreak, Unhealthy When Unhinged, Dead Cassette, Cult of Crowley, Burning River Band, Truss, A Sense of Purpose, Dread, and Pray for Sleep.
5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?
Real life events and personal internal/external struggles and ideologies inspire the lyrics to our songs. Basically Gavin writes about what he knows about and can bleed most honestly only the paper when writing. Cody just writes..and writes..and writes..the man is a machine.
6. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Toxic relationships, healing, self confidence, self doubt, inspiring others and ourselves to be better and live happier, suicidal thoughts and topics of depression and regret, topics of internal turmoil and hope for finding peace and happiness.
7. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Usually Cody will write a guitar riff or a full track and send it to Gavin. Sometimes it’s one or two riffs. Sometimes it’s 10 whole tracks. From there Gavin will listen and see which tracks resonated with him the most. Then we both choose one song to focus on. Cody will finish writing the body of the song on guitar and then Gavin will write lyrics and vocal melodies. We set up times and dates to get together and demo the song. Rewriting as we record to make sure the song makes sense and is impactful. Afterwards we outsource the drums to a session drummer for recording. Lately we’ve been having Bradley Knepp (the human metronome) as our session drummer and he has been doing a phenomenal job. After the song is written and demoed out as much as possible we take it to a studio engineer to properly record and mix the track before prepping release.
8. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
So far we have released two songs and three photo shoots. Song 1) “Lipstick and Gasoline” ~ a heavy hitting song about a toxic relationship involving sexual manipulation, a fake pregnancy, and death threats. This song features fast pace rap like lyrics with a catchy hook alongside aggressive instrumentals to make the listener feel the exciting and anxious tension of the relationship throughout the entire song.
Song 2) “More Than Worth It” ~ a powerful song telling a story that every artist has lived: being told you are not good enough to do what you love to do. Derived directly from first hand experiences of Gavin from previous creative projects. This song leads with Gavin’s aggressive vocals and fast pace rap/singing but is further impacted by the chant vocals of the audience coming together to feel the power of the message “We are more than worth it”. With perfect pocket drums, “leveling up” guitar solo, and clear call to action, this song is one to inspire anyone and everyone who has ever been told to “give up” on their dreams.
We have 3 photo shoots out being the original cover shoot at the bar top, the Hellraiser car shoot, and the drowned shoot. We have multiple shoots being edited currently and planned for the future. We always take time to carefully plan and imagine the full scope of these shoots, just as we do for writing music. We feel many musicians and artists have forgotten that the photo shoots and cover arts are part of the image and artistic process. One of our biggest pet peeves or let downs is hearing an amazing band with an awesome image and then all of their photos are just 4 people standing side by side with their arms crossed in the wood or an abandoned building. We’re both guilty of it as well in other projects but for this one we would like to treat every aspect of the band as a form of true expression.
9. Do you have any new music in the works?
Yes! We currently have a studio session planned early February with Scooter Allen at Rewire Studio for our 3rd single and then will be headed to work with Billy Morris at his studio in Bay Village for our 4th single. One of which will include a music video and acoustic version of the song.
10. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
As of right now we are currently focused on building our social media presence and releasing music. With only 2 songs out we currently have average 1k followers on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Along with 1.6k monthly listeners on Spotify. It’s been an amazing journey of trial and error trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t for social media marketing and song promotion. Once we have our 5th official single released we will be holding open auditions for a permanent drummer and bassist. With the schedule we’re on now we hope to hold these auditions by early summer of 2025.
11. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
We plan on releasing regular content on all social media platforms including short and long form content, content for people just meeting us, content for people who have been following us for some time now, releasing singles ever 8-10 weeks, photo shoots and live sessions posted on social media, music videos, featured artists, new merch, and finding the rest of the members of the band. We also have back end plans of having out social media audited, planning interviews like this one and on podcasts/radio stations, and finding new ways to interact on a personal level with our audience.
12. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
As of right now we have our music posted on all platforms. Our main platforms being potify and YouTube under the band name, Kissing Lilith. You can find our social media on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. We do have a merch line available through our linktree on all our social media.
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