Doleful Lions

Facebook  /  Bandcamp  /  Tumblr

The Doleful Lions came together in Chicago in 1996, Jonathan Scott at that time was playing in the post hardcore band Cinco De Gatos and acquired a 4 track for Christmas 1995. Jonathan was starting to lose interest in the music he was playing in Cinco De Gatos and was becoming more influenced by bands like Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, The Byrds, R.E.M. and Guided By Voices whose album Bee Thousand was a huge influence on Jonathan and his recording on 4 track. He eventually left Cinco De Gatos in 1996 to do Doleful Lions full time and recorded a 6 song demo with his brother Robert at Soto Sound Studios in Chicago, Jonathan sent the demo to any label he could get an address for and Parasol Records signed the band in 1997 and released a 45 of two songs off the Doleful Lions demo. A move to Chapel Hill NC in late 97 and the formation of a functioning, playing live Doleful Lions recorded their debut with R.E.M. producer and Let's Active's Mitch Easter with additional recording and production by the dB's Chris Stamey. Motel Swim was released with great acclaim with a few journalists even saying it was the best debut album of 1998.  Various band lineups were commonplace throughout the history of Doleful Lions with already close to 25 members coming in and out since the first album with Jonathan Scott the only constant. Doleful Lions have released 8 albums, 7 of which were on Parasol and the most recent Let's Break Bobby Beausoleil Out Of Prison! on Wild Kindness Records. Doleful Lions also maintain a Bandcamp page with many other semi-official releases. The band is currently Jonathan and his younger brother Robert who has been a constant in the band since 2006 and whose production work especially on the band's album "7" remains a major influence on the direction the band has currently taken. 

Selected Press /

"Sixties revisited by modern-day spacers. This is what The Beach Boys’ 20/20 might have sounded like if you heard it under sedation, from down a corridor, with the pitter-patter of light drizzle in the background. For Doleful Lions, tape hiss isn’t a statement or a handicap, it’s another instrument. Beneath it, the ghosts of “Like A Rolling Stone” (“The Red Top Lounge Flesheaters”) and The Amen Corner’s “Paradise” saunter through a perfect Sixties garage decked out as a flying saucer. There’s nothing here quite as colourful as “Black Foliage”, by kindred spirits The Olivia Tremor Control, but there’s nothing quite as erratic, either. A must for wanderers, tender souls and those who like to look at the world with a lazy smile through a light layer of mist."  /  UNCUT MAGAZINE

"There are moments during Out Like a Lamb that make you wish that R.E.M. followed up Automatic For the People with an album like this one, but R.E.M. are long dead, and it’s time for someone else to pick up the slack. Out Like a Lamb isn’t perfect, but at least they tried to be perfect. Go listen to “Surfside Motel” dozen times and let yourself fall in love with the Doleful Lions."  /  Adrien Bergand ( POP MATTERS )

"(Song Cyclops Volume One is) A beautifully bizarre indie-rock Narnia that dead-rings a lost Radiohead soundtrack to Dungeons and Dragons. One of the most original albums of the year"   /  Gear Magazine

Videos /