In this edition of This Week In Dallas Music History, we turn the page back to 2001, when former Observer writer Russell Lyday chronicled the rise of Lift To Experience.
When the story was written, the band was about a year removed from its career-altering performance at SXSW, when former Cocteau Twins member Simon Raymonde signed the band to his label, Bella Union Records. But Raymonde did more than release the band's first and only record, The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads, on his label; he mixed the entire thing, too. And that put the band members in a weird position with one of their heroes: "It was strange being in a situation where you're telling your rock icons to fix something on your record," said drummer Andy Young, who now fronts the psychedelic act The Flowers Of God.
The article, which goes on to describe the band's brief rise, is filled with quips from frontman Josh T. Pearson, such as this one from the song "These Are the Days:" "[Lift To Experience] are the best band in the whole damn land, and Texas is the reason."
Unfortunately, the band would last only a few short years after this piece was written. Its members, though, have continued to make music. Aside from Young's work, Pearson's first solo record, Last Of The Country Gentlemen, will earn its release on Mute Records on March 29. Check out the trailer for the album right here.
And give the entire article from 2001 a read after the jump.
Check out the article online in the Observer archives.
