on fyre

The Lyres arose from the ashes of DMZ to create this nostalgic punch drunk garage punk prosopopoeia.  Jeff  'Monoman'  Connolly was the driving force of both underground Boston bands:   "I remember being four years old and the day we moved away from Albany, New York....We said goodbye, visited some family who had an electronic piano/organ, but it looked just like a regular piano. Also, I used to bang away at my grandma’s baby grand when we stayed with them in New Hampshire. There was a Sears Silvertone record player that my parents owned and they had a few LPs, not much. I think I really liked Prokofiev’s 'Peter and the Wolf', that got heavy play, and also '76 Trombones'…That was kinda the '96 Tears' of its day...[When I joined DMZ the music scene in Boston was] very local, not much, the real rock ‘n’ roll groups were very underground. Then in the spring of 1976, it just kinda appeared all of the sudden everybody wanted in on this thing and it turned into a scene, almost overnight. Remember, this was the 200-year Bicentennial Anniversary of the USA, and people in Boston were very energized already...The music that DMZ and Lyres were perpetrating was not the kind that lent itself to great success on a commercial scale. People [like David Robinson] left to go back to University, to better-paying bands, like what became the Cars. DMZ and Lyres have musical leanings that make stability of the line-ups nearly impossible. I get along with almost everybody who’s been involved...My favorite and first band [whose records I collected] were the Searchers and they were the role model for me as far as searching out undervalued songs and ideas. That pretty much underscores 99.9% of all my activity. There’s that intoxicating rush of “hearing” a song that’s been there all along, that makes you say, 'Where was I? How come it took me so long to find this?'...Some of these rock tunes translate better than others. DMZ and Lyres always had a bit of the 'think tank' streak in it. All the other bands did it to some extent, but we were the ones that “painted ourselves into a ’60s corner,” according to one big guy ... When we recorded the stuff for 'On Fyre', we weren’t thinking at all!  ...  We've always stayed in our category, waiting for people to like us for what we are, not what they could make us be...Every record I've made for Ace Of Hearts [record label] was done completely live in the studio." 

'On Fyre' features Jeff Conolly on vocals, organ, and tambourine;  Danny McCormack on guitar;   Paul Murphy on drums;   and Rick Coraccio on bass and backgroud vocals.  The album spearheaded the neo-80's garage revival and became a cult classic.  






Don't Give It up Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba0bybFE2PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U0dIi--fxfk



Help You Ann 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LqF5P3Fa84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpboa7u1KAA





'On Fyre' 
full album:




1. Don't Give It up Now  (Jeff "Monoman" Conolly)
2. Help You Ann - 4:09  (Conolly) 
3. I Confess - 6:40  (Ray Graffia / Jerry Kollenberg )
4. I'm Telling You Girl - 9:32 (Conolly)
5. Love Me Till the Sun Shines - 11:12  (Dave Davies)
6. I Really Want You Right Now - 15:11 (Conolly) 
7. Tired of Waiting - 18:51 (Ray Davies)
8. Dolly - 21:59 (Conolly) 
9. Soapy - 26:18 (Lyres)
10. The Way I Feel About You - 30:03 (Lyres)
11. Not Like the Other One - 32:47 (Conolly) 
12. Never Met a Girl Like You Before - 36:10 (Ray Davies)
13. How Could Have I Done All of These Things - 39:10 (Conolly) 
14. Swing Shift - 42:44  (Lyres)
15. Trying Just to Please You - 46:51 (Conolly) 
16. Busy Body - 51:17 (Lyres)
17. Someone Who'll Treat You Right Now - 53:34 (Conolly) 
18. She Pays the Rent - 56:40 (Conolly) 
19. You've Been Wrong - 58:58 (Conolly) 
20. I'll Try Anyway - 1:02:55 (Tony Waddington)