Murray Lightburn calls his music Neo-Blues, disassociates himself from Morrissey and indie music, doesn’t like Death Cab for Cutie, and, as of this interview, hadn’t heard much of the bands he’s touring with, the Great Northern and the Eulogies (they're at the Grog Shop Saturday).
“For a long time people would compare my singing voice to Morrissey but what they don’t realize was that I only discovered Morrissey after somebody heard me sing and said hey you sound like this guy and gave me a cassette of Hatful of Hollow in high school.“
“I think there’s definitely an influence but I think it’s quite understated. It’s like when people compare us to TV on the Radio, the only reason they compare us to TVOTR is because there’s a couple of black dudes in that band and I’m a black dude. They might as well say we sound like Living Color or Bad Brains.”
Lightburn calls the Dears’ songs “Neo-Blues,” explaining it this way: “Maybe if I have one regret I wouldn’t have added Whites Only Party to Gang of Losers… we’re not very politically correct, we did all kinds of [un-PC] jokes towards each other all the time just for kicks… it’s kinda how blues lyrics can be. There’s humor, there’s optimism in the darkest situation, it’s so dark that you have to laugh. [We’re] a bluesy outfit, but not in a traditional way. We’re Neo-Blues.”
