'I'm going to go until I'm 100.' Perry's Brian Lisik ready for Music for Maui in Massillon
Brian Lisik was noticeably at ease prior to his album release concert at Rialto Theatre.
Walking through the Akron venue, the 54-year-old Perry Township resident plopped on a stool in a restaurant space separate from the concert hall but well within earshot of the opening acts.
Talking to a concertgoer, the Northeast Ohio indie rock music veteran chatted about his love for songwriting, the state of the music industry, the value of live performances, and his freelance writing for the West Side Leader, South Side News Leader and as a correspondent for The Canton Repository.
There was no hiding away in a green room for the Akron native and Ellet High School graduate. Less than an hour passed before he was standing on the stage behind a microphone with a guitar slung around his neck, banging out song after song of fresh material from his new album with the band Hard Legs, "Nu Wreckard."
A few days later, Lisik chatted on the phone, explaining why he's still rocking and why he's so at home around music.
"I plan on being Willie Nelson or something," he said with defiant humor. "I'm going to go until I'm 100."
"The endgame's sort of the same it's been since the beginning," Lisik added. "I'm trying to put myself and my music and the band I'm playing with now ... in front of as many people as possible."
"I don't know if that's much of a business plan," he said with a big laugh.
Lisik's next audience will be as the headliner of the Music for Maui benefit concert at 6 p.m. Thursday at Lions Lincoln Theatre in downtown Massillon. Tickets are $25 in advance at https://www.bluemacaroontheater.com/ and $30 the day of the show. All proceeds will go to the survivors of the Lahaina fire.
Lions Lincoln Theatre, 156 Lincoln Way East, can be reached at 330-481-9105. Blue Macaroon Theater Company of Doylestown is promoting and producing the concert.
Opening for Brian Lisik & Hard Legs will be Librarians with Hickeys, The Myth and the Akronauts. Special guests will be Lauren Brabson, Jim Gill and Lisa Hopswood.
Hard Legs features Lisik on vocals and guitar; Robb Myers on guitar; and Martyn Flunoy (of The Bizarros) on drums.
Lisik comes across as unabashedly old school. He prefers a "dirty, old rock band" sound over studio polish, and cites influences like Keith Richards and Paul Westerberg.
Excerpts and highlights from the freewheeling chat have been edited for brevity.
Deep sea archaeologist or rock star?
Childhood fantasies of being a deep sea archaeologist or baseball star weren't realistic. So Lisik discovered music, first through his dad's Chuck Berry and Johnny Cash records.
"From a very early age ... I wanted to do something where it's my thing," he said. "I wanted to create my own thing. ... Music just has been the thing that has stuck, and I realize I can sing pretty good and I love writing words and telling stories."
"I get these ideas and I put them down," Lisik said. "Maybe it's just therapy, but I keep doing it, and the songs keep coming, and … it's a really great feeling to write a song and put it together and actually bring it to life."
'Bryan Adams being hit in the throat by an aluminum baseball bat'
Lisik's first critique came when he performed in a high school talent show.
"Someone described my singing as being like Bryan Adams being hit in the throat by an aluminum baseball bat," he said with a blast of laughter.
"I thought that was a very poetic description," Lisik said of his rasp-tinged, alt rock vocal style delivered with Midwest sincerity. "When I open my mouth, this thing comes out. I was probably impersonating someone at first, and it just became how I sing."
Lisik's approach to the new album
"Nu Wreckard" features Steve Norgrove on bass and engineering by Nate Vaill, as well as a guest spot by saxophonist Ian Early, formerly of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, on the song "Better Than Nothing."
"It's a hard-rocking record to put it mildly," Lisik said of the album, which was released in mid-October on music streaming platforms and can be purchased on CD at https://brianlisik.com/.
"This one is like, three old guys walk in a room and here's what happens," he added.
"Marrying compelling storytelling lyrics to raw, brash instrumentation, I guess that's kind of my thing."
'The cosmos will ensure that they hear it.'
With multiple albums to his credit, Lisik has seen the music industry evolve and change during his career.
Record companies still exist, but it's not uncommon for unknown musical artists to become online sensations, tallying millions of views or listens on TikTok, YouTube and streaming platforms. None of it fazes Lisik, however.
"The people who are supposed to hear it or need to hear it, one way or another, the cosmos will ensure that they hear it," he said of his music.
Random rock and roll talk with Brian Lisik
Following an interview, Lisik was game for a round of rapid-fire pop culture questions.
First album he owned?
Waylon Jennings, "The Ramblin' Man."
First rock concert?
"Waylon Jennings at Ponderosa Park in Salem, Ohio."
Top five favorite musical artists?
The Replacements, Faces, Jesse Malin, The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty
Favorite 2023 summer concert?
"PorchRokr was killer this year (at Highland Square in Akron)."
Are you a Swifty?
"I don't think they've sent me my card yet to be a Swifty (the nickname of diehard fans of pop music superstar Taylor Swift) ... but I was very impressed with her when she first came out because here's this young girl, and I think she's in high school, and she writes and composes and plays guitar, and it's all her own stuff and it's good stuff."
David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar era Van Halen?
"No contest … I'm a Roth guy through and through. David Lee. Diamond Dave.
"How I warm up my voice is doing the David Lee Roth yelps."
Reach Ed at (330)580-8315 and [email protected]
On X (formerly Twitter) @ebalintREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Perry musician Brian Lisik headlines Music for Maui in Massillon
