Lillix

Lillix emerged as a pop/rock ensemble anchored by guitarist Tasha-Ray Evin, her older sister and keyboardist Lacey-Lee Evin, bassist Louise Burns, and drummer Kim Urhahn. The Evin sisters first took up instruments while still barely in their teens inside the basement of their family home in rural Cranbrook, British Columbia. School friend Burns soon joined on bass and backing vocals, allowing the group to begin performing regularly throughout Cranbrook under the name Tigerlily. A rough demo reached Vancouver entertainment attorney Jonathan Simkin, who spotted their promise and drew on industry ties to polish the recording before submitting it to Canadian and American labels. Maverick signed the band in January 2001 following a showcase at label head Guy Oseary’s L.A. office.

Once the deal was secured, Tigerlily was renamed Lillix and the song catalog was expanded through work with seasoned industry professionals. Additional showcases followed, drummer Urhahn was brought aboard, and the band began tracking its debut with a rotating cast of producers and co-songwriters. Label transitions and image adjustments stretched the process, yet Falling Uphill finally appeared in spring 2003. Red-hot producers and writers including the Matrix, known for Avril Lavigne sessions, Linda Perry, who has worked with Pink, and Glen Ballard, associated with Alanis Morissette, all contributed. The group’s lively cover of the Romantics’ “What I Like About You” became the theme for a WB sitcom of the same name, after which Lillix promoted the album through mall tours and summer radio festivals. Their next release, Inside the Hollow, slated for 2007, introduced new drummer Alicia Warrington. Producers James Michael and Jeff Saltzman shaped the record, lending it a new wave-meets-modern-rock sheen comparable to the one Saltzman gave the Killers’ Hot Fuss.