When it came to choosing their debut single, Epileptic Lizards felt like their decision had been made for them. The deliriously wonky south Wales art-rockers self-released ‘Telltale Boogie’ on the 29th of March and it’s a good snapshot of what they do; the restless stylistic tendencies, technically accomplished playing and Coel Gifford’s ripped-up vocal. It’s also armed with a weapons-grade funk riff that’s the terrifying love child of Primus and Parliament. It staples itself to the audience’s brain.
“Every time we’d come offstage people were like ‘When’s it out?’,” says Gifford, aged 20. Drummer Karl Horanszky, who’s sitting next to Gifford at one of The Atrium’s recording studios, laughs. “Everyone ignores the rest of the set and they’re like, ‘Oh, that one that goes BAM-ba-DA-ba-DA-ba!”
“For me, it was a bit of a test. Ok, let’s see if this thing people are saying – ‘I want to listen to it’ – if it’s real. And in less than a month we’ve had, like, 950 streams off no marketing whatsoever. That isn’t terrible.”
The band started in 2019 with Karl and Coel collaborating online. Bassist Sam Duval joined asap. Post-lockdown, the Lizards took their first steps as a live act at full-band open mics, which proved tough but instructive. “The first ones (gigs) were quite sobering,” says Karl, from Ammanford.
“We’d play our own material and it wasn’t that great – and some of them were the same songs that we have now – but we really did go through a grinding process. That did bring up some turbulence, but for the better, because we hadn’t worked ourselves that hard. We were underdeveloped. “And then we finally got Jo in.”
Keys player and the band’s prog guru Jo Mountain, 26, was a reluctant recruit. The band had previously tried and failed to convince them to join but after eventually co-opting Jo to play on a cover of The Beatles’ ‘She’s So Heavy’ “they never left”.
“That’s when our sound started to refine itself,” says Karl. “We started to get that funk element, that ‘70s element, the parts we were missing. And it was like ‘Ok, this is like this is interesting’.”
The band, who are now around 30 gigs deep, have played the Cardiff circuit and are making inroads into Swansea, where they are finding common ground with fellow psychedelics Z-Machine. They’ve also played with Mclusky-esque alt-rockers Monet and Beefhearty noise-jammers Rainyday Rainbow.
Epileptic Lizards’ Nile-wide blend of influences and impressive technical ability to play across genres means that they don’t fit easily into pigeon holes. In the course of our chat Coel and Karl namecheck disparate acts ranging from System Of A Down and Tool, via Miles Davis, Jeff Wayne and George Harrison, to King Crimson and Gong. It gets reactions.
“Even if we play a show we’re not happy with we’ll come offstage and people are usually still complimenting us,” says Coel, from Bridgend. Karl adds: “And there’s usually one guy who’s buzzing a bit too much.”
While debut single ‘Telltale Boogie’ clocks in at three and a half minutes, their prog instincts mean a track like ‘Praying For The End Of Days’ runs for 20 minutes through smooth movements and jolting time signature shifts.
“It’s not for show,” says Karl. “When I try to do something mad on the drums, it’s to express a kind of madness in the song. I don’t do some choppy fill for the sake of it.”
Coel agrees: “We definitely do write to suit the song. ‘Praying for the End of Days’, for example, is about a guy who doesn’t really know what to do with himself. He’s nihilistic and he’s pessimistic. And the song is a progression through his emotions, having this realization and a panic attack.”
Karl jumps in and address Coel: “There’s this thing you do that I really like – there’s a there’s a word for it musically, which I can’t remember – but it’s the way you play describes the feeling. And it’s meant to be a panic attack.”
“So, you’re singing constantly with no breath and I can hear that you’re like out of breath, but you’re still going! So, it’s playing for effect, yes, but with intent.”
“God, we’ve spent like nearly two years on this 20-minute song, trying to get each second of it (right), and there’s still cuts to be made and still more refinements to really get it so that there’s not a second where it bores you.”
“We do also have a load of other (shorter) songs – we’re still a prog band so they’re gonna be, like, five minutes long minimum – but because there’s so much life and blood gone into that song that I always feel like we’re not giving people a good show if we don’t play it.”
“There’s a huge amount of effort that goes into four musicians learning a 20-minute song that’s been composed and performing the 20-minute song, note for note.”
I want (us) to be a music-first band where we’re trying to hone in on the quality of the music and the quality of the live show.” “This (the studio) is more toned-down. We’re thinking of how to make the best listenable experience, but a live show is a different beast. “The hard work we’re putting in is paying off.”
Epileptic Lizards are at The Moon Club on Womanby Street, Cardiff, on the 13th of June, in a support slot with Rainyday Rainbow and Enabling Behaviour.
