Canadian rockers Lions in the Street release their new single “Shangri-La” on Friday 20 September 2024. The single is available on all streaming platforms LISTEN HERE. Watch the music video HERE.
“Shangri-La” is the second single taken from the band’s highly anticipated album Moving Along released Friday 8 November 2024. Pre-order the digital edition of the album HERE. Pre-order the album in CD and vinyl formats HERE.
“Shangri-La is a rock’n’roll song that goes back to the call and response blues tradition via the Faces and Rod Stewart,” says Lions in the Street’s frontman and guitarist Chris Kinnon.
“We wrote it after living in LA for a long time making a record, then returning to 40 straight days of rain in Vancouver, Canada. It’s a song about the struggles of being in a rock band, with (in our humble opinion) the best classic rock guitar sounds since the second Black Crowes record and the Georgia Satellites.”
Lions in the Street are rock ‘n’ roll survivors
Comprising the Brothers Kinnon (Chris on vocals and guitar; Jeff on drums), riff-master Sean Casey (guitar), and classically educated bass player Enzo Figliuzzi, the Canadian/California-based band has played with everybody from garage legends like the Dirtbombs to arena stars Kings of Leon, making SXSW best-of lists numerous times, and in between hanging out with the Rolling Stones’ legendary manager Andrew Loog Oldham. But putting integrity first had a cost: obscurity.
Lions in the Street began their career by signing and then walking away from the troubled TVT Records (NIN, Pitbull, Little Jon), Nickelback’s 604 Records (Carly Rae Jepson), and legendary manager Allen Kovac (Motley Crue, The Cars, Blondie, The Bee Gees), earning them a spot on the music industry’s blacklist. Years in the wilderness resulted—working as a garbageman for almost a decade, surviving cancer, serious workplace injuries, and almost deadly car accidents, and going back to school.
Yet, despite experiencing the best and worst of the of old music business—from hanging out with Todd Rundgren, Bob Ezrin, and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, to seeing an A&R guy almost fired just for going to see them play—the band somehow kept going, releasing music piecemeal.
For example, Lions in the Street released an EP in 2013 on British legend Sandy Roberton’s label. Roberton ran Blue Horizon, the English label that launched the 60s British Blues rock movement with John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, and Rory Gallagher.
Now the streaming platforms revolution has given Lions in the Street a new life an audience, allowing them to release largely-unheard music—finally finished and remixed/remastered.
LITS’ upcoming album Moving Along captures their trademark swing and swagger. The title track, mixed by Rick Parker (Beck, BRMC, Scott Weiland), is a menacing, harmonica-driven vamp “worthy of Mick and Keith at their sticky fingered best” (Jambase.com). “Moving Along” is also the lead track in the upcoming Paramount film “Cassino In Ischia”, starring Prison Break’s Dominic Purcell.
Never to rest on their laurels, Lions in the Street are also putting the finishing touches on a live album and a record they made with multi-Grammy-Award winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Greta Van Fleet, Brandi Carlile, Rival Sons).
“This is rock with a direct line back to the nasty blues, jump tunes, and country boogie that birthed the whole damn genre. Untamed, direct, and bristling with hairy masculinity, Lions in the Street play rock like the cause it is… that is when you do it right.” – Jambase
Album Track Listing
1. Moving Along (4:57)
2. Mine Ain’t Yours (3:47)
3. Walking Back to You (4:12)
4. Gold Pour Down (2:48)
5. Lady Blue (3:45)
6. Waiting on a Woman (3:51)
7. Already Gone (3:04)
8. Shangri La (3:47)
9. Hey Hey Arlene (3:07)
10. All For Your Love (3:38)
11. Truer Now (4:13)
12. You’re Gonna Lose (5:59)
Lions in the Street – Line-Up
Sean Casey – Guitar
Enzo Figliuzzi – Bass
Chris Kinnon – Lead vocals, guitar
Jeff Kinnon – Drums
Production Credits
Engineered, Produced, Mixed by Shawn Cole
Mixed by Rick Parker, Mark Rains, Shawn Cole
Recorded at Mushroom Studios and Blue Wave Studios
Artwork by Sean Casey
Band photos by Gregory Crowe
All songs written by S. Casey, C. Kinnon, A. Kinnon
Track By Track with Chris Kinnon
Moving Along*
Relentless locomotive groove and harmonica with a message of resilience. Getting up after you’re knocked down, again and again. “When I was poor, I was a harder man I tell you. Worked 47 hours a week. But with holes in my shoes, I didn’t have no blues. Now I’m in an awful place.”
*Featured in upcoming Paramount film Cassino in Ischia starring Prison Break’s Dominic Purcell.
Mine Ain’t Yours
A fierce rock’n’roller with heart-on-its-sleeve Stones/Rod Stewart and the Faces influences, this song’s about standing up for yourself when people take something that doesn’t belong to them. “That isn’t how you make it. Mine ain’t yours for taking.”
Walking Back To You
A southern rock jam a la Allmans, Derek and Dominoes, and Delaney & Bonnie, this is a song about forgiveness. Sometimes people are good to you even when you don’t deserve it. The outro guitar and piano sound like they could have been taken from a lost Layla session.
Gold Pour Down
A short, up-tempo rocker with R&B horns over top of a chugging guitar groove, this song encourages people to stay hopeful, faithful, and positive, and to always let the good prevail even when things seem hopeless.
All For Your Love
A modern take on Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, this is mid-tempo, minor electric blues rock with edge. A song about both despair and sacrifice.
Lady Blue
This wistful ballad would fit on a Skynyrd or Eagles album. A classic northern take on a southern rock, a la Neil Young or the Band. A song about regret, with organ swirls, languid vintage guitar tones, and a James Burton-inspired guitar solo setting the tone.
Waiting On A Woman
A saxophone solo over top of a guitar riff that’s all Keef attitude—say no more!
Already Gone
A Chuck Berry by-way-of Johnny Thunders stomper, this features a half-time chorus that invokes Rod Stewart and the Faces at their sloppy, countrified best.
Shangri La
Vancouver might be the world’s rainiest city. Try spending months in sunny Los Angeles making a record then coming back to 40 straight days of rain in “Shangri-La.” The instant-classic guitar riff that starts the song grows like a ’70 big-block Camaro.
Hey, Hey Arlene
Another Chuck Berry and rockabilly-inspired throwback to 50s rock’n’roll, but when you grow up listening to the first Clash album.
Truer Now
Pedal steel and acoustic guitars, with a chorus that invokes Zeppelin III influences.
You’re Gonna Lose
Hey, you can fight a garbage man, but you’re gonna lose! As mean a guitar riff as anything since the James Gang, and with an outro Albert King-inspired jam that will keep the Cream fans happy!
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