The Witzard

Full disclosure: Lions producer-guitarist and founding member Dan Ubick and I are friends, frequent collaborators, and mutual fans of each others' collected bodies of work (or at least, I would like to think so). With that said, it's really a no-brainer that nearly any given time Ubick and his number of creative outlets decide to unleash genre-blending music upon the unsuspecting world, I'm ecstatic to have the opportunity to write a piece centered around it; I've previously had the wonderful opportunity to interview Dan twice before, coinciding with the releases of The Lions' This Generation and Soul Riot, as well as having the coveted honor to premier their Ross Harris-directed Clash re-interpretation, "The Magnificent Dance." In addition to The Lions and former Stones Throw-signed Funk/Breakbeat group Breakestra, Ubick has been fortunate enough to work with everyone from Snoop Lion to storied emcee Big Daddy Kane and even formed his own The Beatles/S...

" THE LIONS "In The Dungeon" unplugged performing "WHEN IT RAINS" off the brand new record Soul Riot on Stones Throw Records . Thanks a ton to Ross Harris and Stanley "Babylon Burning" Gonzales for direction and sound," The Lions exuberantly wrote on their Facebook page Thursday afternoon upon the release of their first unofficial video release behind third album, Soul Riot . "Our first attempt at a proper video for "When It Rains" didn't turn out how we'd hoped, but we are actively searching for directors and have a couple in mind... We did do an unplugged performance that came out great though," Lions ringleader Dan Ubick said in a brief follow-up email preceding our recent second interview conducted for this very site, The Witzard ; alluding to a filmed and since scrapped proper "When It Rains" video treatment, as well as what's seemingly amounted to the just-released The Lions in the dung...

(1) I read that you've known Peanut Butter Wolf (Chris Manak) for quite a while now. So, what made you sign with Stones Throw after all these years for the joint release of This Generation? Yeah, I met Wolf back when he started Stones Throw and was still up in San Francisco. He signed a group I played in for 5+ years called Breakestra that my friend Miles Tackett leads. I signed with Stones Throw because Wolf is an artist himself and really believes in the groups he signs. He and the guys at the label put in a ton of time strategizing about how to best help get the band heard by more and more people. I obviously am into that (Laughs), plus they have a great track record and very loyal followers. (2) For those who aren't exactly familiar with The Lions, would you care to go through each member and their companion instrument/role in the band? Sure. On drums we have Blake Colie, bass is Dave Wilder, percussion is Dave Chegwidden, organ and piano is Dan Hastie, on guitar i...