Living Illusion

Artist/Band Profile: Very soon the band name Living Illusion will be engrained in everyone’s mind. As the group works at changing the conscious independence and evolution of the music industry they are setting themselves up as a power to be reckoned with. Known for awesome live performances that leave their audience feeling thoroughly rocked and begging for more, Living Illusion is infecting people across the globe with their music. Once you’ve heard them you’ll be just as captivated.

Founding members, Shane and Jason Lamotte, joined together in 2002 and spent the next three years perfecting their first album. The CD is a combination of songs written over a 5 year span and is a journey from teenage angst to adult self-realization. Tapping into the angst ridden feelings adds to the music’s hard rock edge. So far they have succeeded in building a following for their music by merely marketing themselves. At the rate it’s going, world domination may follow.

While the brothers were accompanied on their album by Andrew Degroot and Lyle Molzan (drummer for Jann Arden) they have since formed a solid touring group. The new additions to the band come in the form of Mark Stephens on bass and Sean Kamenski on drums. This addition assists in completing the edgy sound and high energy performance the boys were looking for. Sean and Mark will continue to perform with the boys and are going to be recording on the next album starting some time this winter.

While the band may not be picked up by a major label just yet they have been marketing themselves effectively. They receive airplay on almost all the college and university stations in Canada and have begun to branch out into Australia. They play as many gigs as they can a month and still manage to hold down full time jobs. Unfortunately for the business world, their positions may soon be available for those of you who are looking for regular employment.

Similar Artists: Chevelle, Tool, Silverchair, A Perfect Circle

Music Style: Hard Rock, Conscious Rock

Reviews: You have to give Living Illusion credit: the Edmonton band has not only put out an independent CD, which they just celebrated at a release party a couple of weeks back at the Sidetrack—but they’ve also accompanied it with a DVD featuring an acoustic song and an interview with the band. Pretty ballsy for a group that is still establishing itself, wouldn’t one think? But Living Illusion doesn’t really want to play by any set music industry rules; brothers and founding members Shane and Jason Lamotte are champions of the independent spirit and want to show off that an up-and-coming band can do more than record a simple demo and pray for the best.

For Shane, the album that most influenced his musical career is Frogstomp, the 1995 debut from Australian youth-rockers Silverchair. As those of us in our 20s and beyond will recall, the Aussies in question were a genuine rock phenomenon simply because the members of the band were 14 and 15 when this album was released. No member of Silverchair was old enough to drive a car when the band’s first single, “Tomorrow,” became an MTV fave.

And while many critics at the time dissed the kids as simply being Pearl Jam wannabes who won a few talent contests Down Under, Silverchair had a simple formula for success: even at such young ages, the band members had a penchant for writing simple, hooky rock music. And it helped make Frogstomp the first album in Australian history to enter the domestic chart in the number-one slot.

And it was those rock melodies that made Lamotte a fan—and want to be in a band even that much more. “They were all so young, the songs weren’t difficult or very hard to play,” he says. “But the melody lines were so catchy and they could write simple, catchy hooks, too. And those songs just got stuck in your head.”

Lamotte has been playing guitar since Grade 7, about the same time the Silverchair trio got together. And the fact that three guys who were so young could go on to find fame and fortune was not lost on Lamotte. “It was the first CD that made me think ‘why can’t I do this?’” says Lamotte.

As well, what impressed Lamotte is that, despite the ages of the band members, Silverchair was able to do something with a debut that hardly any band ever does: according to him, the music was mature enough to make him think the band had been recording for years. “It is rare that a band’s first album is so solid that everyone likes it and connects with it,” he says. “But they did it.”

Unfortunately, the band could never replicate the success of that debut, and few music fans outside of Australia have heard their fourth and most recent release, Diorama (which, by the way, has earned the band the best reviews they’ve ever received). At the moment, Silverchair are still together, but Chair man Ben Gillies has taken time to work on his other band, Tambalane, which embraces a funky ’70s groove and has received good press in Australia.

As for Lamotte, Living Illusion is the realization of a dream he had when he was just 17 and started a band with his friends on Vancouver Island. He was crushed when, upon graduating high school, none of his friends wanted to go on, so he moved to Edmonton, joined up with his brother and started anew. After all, why let go of a dream when a trio of Australian kids showed you that if things go your way, it could come true? V

By STEVEN SANDOR

Influences: Chevelle, Tool, Silverchair, A Perfect Circle