is the alter-ego and nom de plume of songwriter-by-night-corporate-executive-by-day Sam Jacobs. Formerly failing indie label exec and manager to D-list reality television stars, Jacobs began writing songs to get his funk out after returning to a suit and tie uniform. In late night bars, at 4 in the morning in Lower East Side apartments, he collected all the old song fragments that had lain dormant in his mind for years, accumulated like patches from a quilt. Stitching them together yielded bursting passionate rock songs and lyrics swirling around mortality, his love affair with his wife, her battles with chronic pain, and all the other things people write songs about.
Jacobs titled the first collection ’Everything Is Good’ and started sending it out to fans, friends and industry folks in July 2006. The album is filled with courageous, graceful rock epics touching on the old refrains, filled with a subtle darkness and an almost naive belief in the power of honest good music.
Lipstik has a knack for melody and the anthemic outro; the codas for ’Honey Eyes’, ’Clear the Brush’, ’Natural Beauty’ and ’One More Time’ all leave lasting impressions of gorgeous melody. Throughout the album, Jacobs stabs the songs with a modernist’s taste for the eclectic. From the untethered jazz horn blows in the ’The Fuck Off’ to the dissonant guitar squawks of ’One More Time’. Comparisons have ranged from traditional touchstones (Tom Petty, Wilco) to darker references. One critic called the deceptively simple love song ’Erica’ "bluegrass Leonard Cohen" - the growled vocals dropping death and addiction, the brooding cello swirling beneath the banjo, the sing-along chorus.
Over 2007, Lipstik began stepping out more publicly playing shows, receiving song-writing awards, placement on industry A&R compilations and in independent film.
Perhaps most interestingly, Lipstik also created the Lipstik Music Club, a monthly email featuring a new song a month culled from their archives, demos and the glut of material they’re prepping for release in 2008.
They regularly play at clubs in New York including a recent headliner at the West Village rock institution Don Hill’s.
2008 will see no fewer than five new releases from Lipstik including two EPs, a singles collection and and a home recorded LP all in addition to the formal follow-up to ’Everything Is Good’ titled ’Pain Is a Reliable Signal’ and produced by Paul Brill.
Says Jacobs, "Our focus, and specifically my focus, is to just continue to put music out. To continue to write songs. We’re here for the long term. The music industry is a strange and fickle beast these days but I’m just focused on writing and performing songs as long as I can pick up a guitar and my brain works and I can strap a melody to a chord progression."
Lipstik Music Club