LIONS & GHOSTS: ROAR OF TWO STYLES

“In America there seems to be bands that are at polar opposites,” said rock singer Rick Parker. “You have bands like R. E. M. who play really artistically credible music but who are anti-fashion.

“Then you have bands like Motley Crue on the other side who make no attempt to do anything artistically credible--it’s all flash. There’s a place for it all. But there aren’t many bands who try to do both.”

Parker believes his band, Lions & Ghosts, is one of the few American bands to bridge that gap. That fashion ‘n’ passion combination isn’t unusual in Britain--witness groups like the Cult and Gene Loves Jezebel. But it’s a less common sight in the more stratified American rock scene.

As a result, Parker said, people have associated the Los Angeles-based Lions & Ghosts (which headlines the Roxy tonight) with the British rather than American scene. But while the members of Lions & Ghosts have a Brit-like penchant for ornate outfits, Parker said this is simply a result of living in Tinseltown.

“We do have our own style,” he said. “We live in a cosmopolitan city. We’re not from Georgia. We’re not a backwoods, Dixie-type band. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But we would be insincere if we dressed up in jeans with holes in them and cowboy hats. We come from a place, Hollywood, where people wear a different costume every night. We just have fun in looking slightly outrageous.”

Lions & Ghosts has also managed to forge a fairly distinctive sound on its recent debut album, “Velvet Kiss, Lick of the Lime.” The LP is a kaleidoscope of wispy and concrete musical textures. The strength of many of the tracks comes from the tension created by lacing together mellifluous vocals and sweet melodies with surging guitars and solid rhythms.

Recorded in London with producer Peter Walsh (Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel), the album also includes several Beatlesque tunes that employ “Eleanor Rigby”-like strings. Unfortunately for Lions & Ghosts, this simply created another round of accusations that the band is more British than American.

While acknowledging that the band members are all Beatles fans, Parker added, “We didn’t have this desire to incorporate England into our sound. People think that, but it’s not true. People always try to associate us with European acts.”

Lions & Ghosts has its roots in Banner, an early-’80s, mod-influenced L.A. group led by Parker and bassist Todd Hoffman. In 1984 the pair disbanded Banner in order to form a more psychedelic outfit in the Three O’Clock mold. They recruited guitarist Michael Lockwood and drummer Michael Murphy, adopted the new name and played the local circuit until they were signed by EMI America Records.

The group opted for the name Lions & Ghosts (the title of a poem by Parker) because it reflected both the material and ethereal worlds. This yin-yang theme plays a major role in Parker’s lyrics, which usually flesh out the anguish and ecstasy of love relationships.

Parker claims that all the quartet’s songs have concrete meanings, but he feels it’s important for lyricists to keep their work vague and open to interpretation.

“I’ve always enjoyed music where I could inject my own imagination in there somewhere. If it’s too literal it doesn’t leave any room for the listener to come inside and create his own world.

“So when someone says, ‘Oh I really liked this particular song of yours’ and they give some long explanation of what the song’s about, I just say, ‘Right on man, you got it.’ I don’t care how different it is from our original concept. The intention all along was to get a personal relationship going,” said Parker, who studied art and literature at UCLA before dropping out after his third year.

Lions & Ghosts is now gearing up for its first national tour, which is slated to commence in early January.

“I feel a tremendous anticipation,” Parker said enthusiastically. “Ever since I read Kerouac I said music is my ticket to the world. I’m going to see everything. Let’s get a band together and I’m gone.”