Liquor Goat

Biography

Liquor Goat formed in 2000 near Dallas, Texas. Members Steve Chapman and Vince Clemens were looking for a vocalist for what was going to be a cover band. Lew Morris responded and a bass player and drummer was added shortly after (bass and drum members varied several times over the course of the band's tenure). Once Lew demonstrated the ability to write his own lyrics, the band decided to move in the direction of an original hard rock/heavy metal sound while playing a few "modernized" versions of classic rock songs. Some of their most popular covers were, "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones, "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield and "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream.

Live Performances

Liquor Goat's first performance took place at The Rock (now shut down) in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas. The crowd loved their modernized versions of the covers they played as well as their originals. The Rock would prove to be Liquor Goat's "home club" the entire span of the band and they returned there many times to play. In Fort Worth, they were regulars at the now defunct Tattoo Bar. They were reviewed in several music "zines" at the time and their live performance was frequently considered high energetic. Lew Morris' vocals ranged from a low, smooth, Jim Morrison sound (the style of which he used to sing the cover of "Sunshine of Your Love") all the way to the heavy growl of Rob Zombie.

In the Studio

Liquor Goat did actually record a full-length album at Fatt Traxx studio in Carrollton, Texas in the winter of 2001. It featured many of their popular covers as well as their set staple originals at the time. When they were short on the amount of songs they wanted, Lew Morris came to them with the song "Don't Stay" that he had written on his own several years before he joined the band. He also wrote the guitar parts for the song "Darker Black," though he never actually performed them or recorded them (Steve and Vince recorded the guitar parts on the album for that song). Lew Morris also played impromptu keyboard tracks for both of those songs to fill them out more, though the keyboard was never used in live performances. The song "Don't Stay" from those recording sessions was later used as a bonus track for the Coilback album, "Love is Dead." A running joke was that the band was going to title their debut album, "Greatest Hits, Vol 2," as an inside joke, giving a nod to all the people who had claimed to see them in venues they had never played.

Band tension and Demise

While on stage, the band seemed cooperative and friendly, behind the scenes there was plenty of tension. Vince (lead guitar) wanted to write more songs, but he kept showing up with incomplete songs (which he insisted he had complete lyrics for). Lew was constantly stuck trying to finish writing the partial songs that were brought to the band. Lew was also becoming frustrated with having to write many of the guitar parts due to the fact that Vince was having a hard time coming up with things. Vince accused Lew of writing in "weird time signatures" as the reason he couldn't play the tracks. The original drummer left due to the fact that he didn't like the heavier sound the band was taking and Andy Moore stepped into the drummer's seat. Lew wasn't happy with the finish product of the Liquor Goat album and kept fighting the release of the album citing a lack of quality on many of the recordings. There was a constant power struggle between Lew and Vince when it came down to band matters, especially promotional materials. Vince insisted being the center of the attention of the band, going as far as creating a "group" photo that was posted in clubs that featured each member in individual photos with himself placed in the center. He refused to give the band copies of any video or photos that he shot during promo shoots or in the studio. Lew kept asking to have the group pictured as a more cohesive unit, but Vince refused to release any control of promotional material to the rest of the band. Frustrated, Vince left the band shortly after the original drummer stepped down. Lew decided this would be a good time to "regroup and reorganize," the sound of the band.

Liquor Goat becomes Coilback

After Vince's departure, Lew decided to take up the reins for the guitar and start writing more songs himself. They decided to start as a new band, with a slightly heavier sound and less focus on cover songs (though they still always had at least one cover in their live set). Steve stayed on rhythm guitar along with Scott and Andy remaining on bass and drums respectively. After the first Coilback show, Scott decided to step down as the bass player citing lack of time to dedicate to the band. The band auditioned a few bass players and then brought in Rick M who was already playing in The Filthy Skanks, a local punk band. He did double duty for a short period of time, but after a few months, decided to depart with Andy to form the band Secret Silo. This left Steve and Lew the final original members of Liquor Goat in Coilback. After several auditions, a reorganization was made and Steve Green was brought in on drums, Steve Chapman moved to bass and adopted the stage name "Vlad Cadillac," leaving Lew to take on the guitar and lead vocal duties. Many people consider this the true "original line up" for Coilback since most of the songwriting and stage performances done under that name took place with that lineup.

Current members related bands and projects

Lew Morris has brought back Coilback a number of times with a few different members, but many of the members of Liquor Goat and Coilback have moved out of state and made the possibility of a reunion very unlikely.

Final lineup

Discography