Little Green Men

MAY '07

Harder Beat Magazine Online

From garage to silver screen

By Lee Herrera

Little Green Men - better than ever

Very few local bands today can claim that they’ve stood the test of time. In today’s world where music styles and fashions come and go like a pair of sneakers, so do bands that are not grounded on the love and belief in what they do. Fort Worth’s own Little Green Men can claim that stake of having survived trials and tribulations that would slay most bands to rest.

Founded by guitarist, Andrew Williams, in 1992, LGM began as merely an outlet to have fun and perform live. What was once three friends getting together, playing Rush covers, quickly morphed into a passion for wanting to take it to the next level as a real band. The band started writing and replacing covers with original music, and in 1995, independently recorded and released their debut album, Encounters.

The original line up remained the same for nearly ten years, releasing a second record, No Intelligent Life, in 2000. But in 2002, Andrew, decided that a change was in the air. In an effort to achieve a more über-progressive sound, LGM morphed from a power trio into a five-piece, complete with keyboard player and dedicated front man. After a test run that lasted about a year, Andrew, Motown (bass) and Ryan Young (drums), then the nucleus of the band, decided that was not the step that Little Green Men should’ve taken, and the band started to wither away with their “new” sound.

In 2003, due to musical differences, LGM was on the verge of calling it quits. Not to let everything that they worked for go down the drain, Andrew decided to put an ad out in Harder Beat’s Missing Parts & Pieces, in hopes of finding a musician, “whose instrument is their voice.”

That missing piece was none other than Andrew’s old TCU buddy, Kevin White. “He called me up and asked me about putting the ad in HB, and I was like, ‘Well, I happen to know one musician like that!’” remembers Kevin. “We’d always wanted to jam together since college, but he always had a solid lineup in LGM and I was always committed to other bands. This time, though, the timing was perfect.” After a quick one-night practice, the band felt confident about Kevin, and a “trial by fire” audition was set for Kevin to front the band 48 hours later at a gig in Fort Worth. The show went so smoothly and the chemistry finally felt right, that LGM knew that Kevin was the right man for the job.

A couple of lucky breaks soon followed this new line-up that would prove to be the best yet. They got a coveted spot at the 2004 Milwaukee Metalfest. Their set was well received by the audience and their popularity instantly rose. “Jack Frost [from Seven Witches] was there and he told me after the set how refreshing it is to hear a band like us in a sea of sound-a-like screamer bands,” says Kevin. “I saw him headbanging in the crowd when we were playing,” he laughs, “and that gave us some extra energy.” LGM came home fired up and used that fire to fuel their creativity. Supernova, the band’s third offering, was released in late 2004, to critical acclaim.

The band then took a well-deserved break to concentrate on their individual careers and personal lives before beginning work on their next record. But luck would strike again, as independent movie producer/director, Ray Hosack, of Reality Pictures, decided that LGM would be perfect for his upcoming film, Deception. A long-time fan of the band, the award-winning filmmaker had LGM’s dark vocal melodies, searing guitars and punishing rhythms in mind all along for the soundtrack to his suspenseful script. The band will even make a cameo in the movie during a pivotal scene.

“We’re hoping this film will do for us what Singles did for Soundgarden and Alice in Chains in the early 90s,” notes Kevin. The band’s cameo scene will be filmed right here in Arlington at Rob’s Billiards on June 10. “Everyone is welcome to attend and be filmed in the movie,” relates Kevin. “We’d like everyone to come on out and be part of it.” For more info on the movie and how to be a part of it, log on to www.lgm.net or myspace.com/deceptionthemovie.

Not to be satisfied solely on the movie itself, LGM are finishing touches on their new CD, titled Worlds Collide, scheduled to be out this summer. Looks like the stars are finally in-line for Little Green Men to put DFW on the map. Forget about the sky, with LGM, the stars are the limit.