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laellaescribe · 7 years

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That Lying Bitch - A Review

At first glance, you might assume that a band named That Lying Bitch is made up of pretty mean dudes (or some really self-aware ladies). The truth is, TLB is made up of 4 talented, kind, and honest-as-hell gentlemen from Chicago, IL.

Previously only having released 4 singles, an album of 10 cohesive songs has been long awaited by fans. And that time has come.

The self-titled album takes the listener through all 7 stages of a breakup (though maybe not exactly in order). As cited here, TLB was formed after lead singer Darren Vorel’s not-so-pretty breakup, and the songs show it.

We open with a song about fun, which is a genius move. The video for ‘I’ve Been Doing Fun Shit Without You’ (here) is free spirited, and exactly what everyone aspires to feel like after a breakup. Vorel sings about all the great things he’s doing without this girl who’s done him wrong.

He does let a bit of transparency leak through in the second verse: “She’s not the one/she’s a runner up/’cause you threw my fuckin’ love away,” but quickly recovers with the line, “But I’m no longer alone.” It’s a theme that recurs throughout the album: Well, maybe I don’t have you anymore, but I’m definitely doing better than you are.

“Girls are comin’ over/And I’m crying on their shoulders,” Vorel admits in another moment of transparency in ‘Fun Shit’, presumably telling his ex that he’s sad, sure, but that’s not stopping him; nothing is.

‘How Am I Supposed to Hate You When I Love You’, shortened often to ‘Hate/Love’ on TLB’s set lists, might be one of the most relatable songs on this album for those of us who have had our hearts broken in any situation. While some of TLB’s music feels very specific to Vorel’s breakup, Hate/Love is something we can all understand: You did me wrong, you’re wrong for me, but I want you back anyway.

The sound in these first two songs is similar, and I’d venture to guess that Vorel wrote them closely together, and shortly after the breakup. They were the first two videos released on the band’s YouTube channel as well. They are loud, fast, and downright hard.

The vibes of both ‘Fun Shit’ and ‘Hate/Love’ are angry, vengeful, a little bit sad, and just what you want to listen to when you’re pissed off, driving around, thinking about that person who not only broke your heart, but also stomped on it and maybe caught it on fire a few times.

Where the first two tracks are loud and angry, ‘Cum Get Yr Shit’ is honestly kind of a bop in comparison. The feeling of not being able to let go because “You’re everywhere I look/you’re everything I see” is so brutally transparent. At first listen, I thought, “Why didn’t he just mail it all back to her?”

But it’s more than that. There’s so much - beyond just the “book on fashion” and the “hairties and panties,” there’s the feeling that if she wants her shit back, then she needs to come get it and, honestly, face what she’s left behind. It would be so easy to get rid of it - mail it, burn it, donate it, whatever - but if she comes to get her own stuff, maybe she’ll come back. Or maybe she’ll still leave, but she’ll feel a little worse about it.

Come get your shit - and face what you’ve done at the same time.

“You’ve Been Telling Lies to My Best Friend’s Girlfriend” takes us back to the anger, and the heavy sound. And honestly, this song is a shock at this point in the album. Where before this, we’re led to believe that this girl who has left, has done so without a second thought, now suddenly she’s still involved.

And she’s really pissed Vorel off, it seems, by running in the same circles, which is just plain not cool - if you do wrong, then you don’t get to keep the friends I introduced you to. And you definitely don’t get to talk to them about me.

Besides, as the song goes, “I’d rather hear that shit from you.”

Full transparency here, I have a special fondness for the next song on the album, ‘Drinks On Me’. Those of you who have read previous blog posts know that I once took a road trip from my hometown in Southeastern Pennsylvania to the suburbs of Chicago to see TLB perform and film a video. Though the video hasn’t been released (ahem), this is the song in question. So, I’ve got a lot of totally not objective love for this jam.

‘Drinks’ is the night at the bar with all your friends where you literally just want to drink and forget. And you know it’s not gonna be any better tomorrow, you know it’s not gonna hurt any less tomorrow, but tonight you can dull the pain. How? “About a thousand shots” - or, if we’re being true to the TLB brand, a whole lot of Old Style.

“I never knew it was so easy to break my heart,” gives the same sense of sadness we see throughout the album: How could she do this? I don’t understand. But, for tonight, the rest of the song tells us, it’s okay, because we’re just gonna get wasted.

The next track, right smack dab in the middle of the album, has a very simple message: “I miss the shit out of you.”

Both the title and essentially the only line of the song, it feels like Vorel is back in his ‘Hate/Love’ mindset: angry at himself and at the girl, and not sure who’s more to blame at this point. We all want our feelings to sort themselves out after a breakup, particularly a traumatic and dramatic one, but sometimes all you can do is just admit that you have no idea what the next step is.

And, honestly, that’s okay.

‘We Are Getting Back Together in 2000 Never’ and ‘Coverband’ come as a matched pair for me. The sound is similar, the message is similar. The most recent additions to the final lineup for the album, they show a ton of growth in attitude, and honestly in songwriting. I love this whole album - there I go, not being objective again - but these two songs are far and away the best, the most truthful, and the most creative.

‘2000 Never’ features the bop sound of ‘Yr Shit’ but with a much larger sense of closure. “Cause I’ll be somewhere movin’ on/Drivin’ with my music on/You’ll be just some girl I left behind me” is probably the most iconic line of the album. Maybe we haven’t totally left this girl behind just yet, but the future is clear, and she’s not in it.

Bassist Dave Tirio (rhythm guitar + backup vocals for the Plain White T’s) offers us some deep, rough backup vocals for this song that provide an incredible contrast to Vorel’s smooth, high singing. Tirio’s voice finds its home here on the the song you’re most likely to dance to, and the grittiness works so well against the rest of the happy beat of the song.

‘Coverband,’ as a whole, is quite possibly the most brutal song of this album. If someone wrote this song about me, I’d never want anyone to know it. It’s harsh, it’s angry, and it’s almost calm in its revenge. ‘Coverband’ is that person who never yells, but instead just stares you down and lets you know how angry they are while keeping their tone completely even. And maybe cocks an eyebrow at how absolutely stupid you are.

“You left a headliner for a coverband,” Vorel sings. Here, the theme of, “I may not have you anymore, but I’m doing better than you” morphs into, “Oh, and I was always better, and you’re kind of a fool for tossing it out the window, so good luck with that.”

From the title ‘I Can’t Wait Till You Get Dead,’ you’ll think I misspoke when I called ‘Coverband’ the most brutal song of the album. But ‘Get Dead’ is pure hatred and anger in comparison to ‘Coverband’s quiet acceptance.

‘Get Dead’ is the moment you found out that she lied about cheating on you. It’s yelling and screaming and dishes thrown at walls. It’s fighting where the rest of the album has been leading up to being done fighting. This sudden turn of events is shocking to the system at first listen, but it fits quite well in its place here at the tail end of the album. It’s the culmination of all these other feelings, these other songs of anger, of sadness, of hatred, of regret.

‘Get Dead’ is the moment when you aren’t struggling to hate her anymore, when you don’t miss the shit out of her anymore, when you just want her to go the fuck away.

Which is why the album has to end quietly.

‘Totally Fucked for You’ is the only acoustic song on TLB’s self-titled record, featuring only handclaps and a guitar to go along with Vorel’s quiet crooning.

Placing this song after the anger of ‘Get Dead’, after the acceptance of ‘Coverband’ is a bold choice, since it seems like a few steps backwards in the breakup grieving process.

But the beautiful thing about an album is that it plays again. (Or, in my case, again and again and again). So where ‘Totally Fucked’ may seem like an unhappy ending, it’s really just another step in the cycle. And at some point, the cycle has to end, right? So while right now, we’re totally fucked for this person who stomped on our hearts and set them on fire, at some point, we’ll just go back to doing fun shit without them.

That Lying Bitch will be appearing at Slidebar Rock N Roll Kitchen in Los Angeles, CA for a free show on Wednesday October 18th. Details here.

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bringinbackpod · 3 years

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Interview with Tom Higgenson

Together with American Songwriter and Sean Ulbs of The Eiffels, we had the pleasure of interviewing Tom Higgenson over Zoom video!

Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, IL, Tom Higgenson is best known as the lead singer of the Plain White T’s, most famous for their acoustic hit, Hey There Delilah. The band received two Grammy nominations for the song, and quickly achieved notoriety around 2006. More recently, the T’s released an independent record in 2015, American Nights, and a synth-heavy pop record in 2018, Parallel Universe.

The latter album inspired Tom to branch out on his own in a solo project he named Million Miler. His 80’s-inspired synth-pop tracks are straight out of Stranger Things or Back to the Future. Million Miler has released six singles so far, but keep an eye on him because big things are coming this spring….

Long before ��Milly”, though, Tom started a punk rock band with fellow Plain White T, Dave Tirio. They joined forces with their childhood pals, Darren and Eric Vorel, to form TLB, formerly known as That Lying Bitch. Now a trio, Higgenson and the Vorel brothers released TLB’s sophomore album, Blood & Sand, on Halloween.

Beyond TLB and Million Miler, the label also writes with Chicago-based dream pop duo Fairview and dance pop solo artist Jessica Jarrell, all of whom are signed to Tom’s record label, Humans Were Here.

Currently, Tom can be found hosting a weekly solo live stream on the Plain White T’s Facebook page, a show he has dubbed “The Wednesday Club”. Fans vote on a set list each week, from Grammy-nominated hits to no-longer-available deep tracks.

Tom can be found on Instagram @higgypop.

We want to hear from you! Please email [email protected].

www.BringinitBackwards.com

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