On May 21st, 2010, Jeff Ladd was carried from this dying Earth on the wings of angels to a place free from suffering and full of light and love. Jeffrey co-founded Faith Strange as well as Life With The Lions back in the idyllic days of 1992 as well as sang, played flutes and 'sundry implements' as he called them, in various musical projects throughout the 80's, 90's and 00's including Copernicus, Ground Plan, The Baby Flies, Disturbed Girl, Miracle Party, Pierce Turner, Life With The Lions, Black 47, Jo Gabriel, as well as a few others that escape me at the moment. He was presently working on a solo record, a new l.w.t.l. record and two other projects that were slated for release through Faith Strange Recordings in the near future, that were sadly not finished when this tragedy struck. They will remain unfinished for the foreseeable future. He was also a published poet who wrote constantly.
Words cannot begin to describe this unfair and unfortunate turn of events other than the fact that Jeff loved all, and hate, greed and all of the rest of today's fashionable sins were not part of his beautiful soul. He abhored violence of any kind and felt deeply and unwaveringly connected to The Creator - The True Vine and the spiritual world and did not adhere to any one organized religion (the root of all wars and its suffering) but took knowledge and strength from all of them, hence the term 'faith strange' that we came up with many years ago. Years of forced Catholicism and its hypocrosies in schools growing up together can do this to a person quite easily. He taught me a lot about temperance and forgiveness and being who we really are amongst all sorts of odds and energy vampires and going forward on all accounts when the unexpected side of life reared its ugly head and tried its best to cut you down and destroy you. I am totally convinced his gentle, beautiful soul, is free and at peace and amongst us and is watching over the ones that knew him and loved him.
Until it's time to walk and laugh together once again in The Golden Light of The Great Beyond.
l.w.t.l. - R.I.P.
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November 2009
l. w. t. l. - a. k. a.
(fs11) - Professionally duplicated cdr in full color hard cardboard sleeve.
Live archive recording from life with the lions from 1995 recorded at A.K.A. in N.Y.C. with the quintessential lineup of Jeff Ladd, Mike Fazio, Vincent James & Rick Watson
OUT OF PRINT
You can hear soundbites and download a streamable mp3 of the entire performance here. High quality artwork can be found here
We hope to finish work on a new disc soon, as well as a reissue of The Garden ep from 2002, both slated for 2010 release.
l.w.t. - a.k.a.
A live document from the archive recordings of l. w. t. l.
Live at A.K.A., N. Y. C. - Autumn Solstice, 1995, 9pm
Jeff Ladd - Vocals
Mike Fazio - Electric Guitar, Scat B. Vox on 6
Vincent James - Drums
Rick Watson - Electric Bass
Nonchalantly recorded live to 2 track DAT without soundcheck in front of an audience by Phantom Watts (including the overbearing noise gate on the electric guitar that ruined the song intros & outros, but we guess it does pre-date Glitch at least!)
Blessings to all that were in attendance who swirled and shimmered the magick light fantastic with us.
track order:
1) Quiet Dream
2) Walking On The Wire
3) Still
4) Faith
5) Stay
6) Fall From Grace With Me
7) Spooky
8) In The Rain
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Formed out of the ashes of 1992, life with the lions came to be. After releasing a nationally acclaimed independent CD in 1994 which was ignored by all labels except the ones they didn't want to be on, lwtl later on began recording for a major label and producer (both of whom will remain nameless) which will never see the light of day thanks to broken promises and supersize egos. Between appearances on Reaction Volume 4 and E=MP3 (both now out of print) and much thought upon the subject, founding members Jeffrey Ladd and Mike Fazio (ex-Black 47, Pierce Turner & eastern-bloc touring legends Copernicus) have decided to pick up the pieces and continue on by themselves. As Peter Gabriel once said: "If you want some control, you've got to keep it small."
Through the years, lwtl have found themselves constantly expanding their tonal pallet from dream pop and swirl to Achtung Baby era dance club to slow acoustic pieces straight out of the Zeppelin III era. Never ones to repeat themselves, life with the lions is as of late, preparing a new recording of somber organic landscapes washed with eerie pedal steel guitar and mellotron ambience. Dark, slow moodscapes and deep, mournfully textured tone poems with a powerful reflection on loss and its aftermath, that weave a spellbinding, ethereal aural cloth. To be released on Faith Strange.
life with the lions - ...these dream days (fs1)
Jeff Ladd - Vocals, Flutes
Mike Fazio - Electric Guitar, Bass, Keyboards
Vincent James - Drums
Joe Khejl - Electric Bass
Fred Parcells - Trombone, Tin Whistle
Includes a cover version of the Pierce Turner classic 'All Messed Up'.
OUT OF PRINT
available only as a digital album on Bandcamp
