Kurt Heasley

Lilys
Origin	Washington, D.C., United States
Genres	Indie rock, indie pop, shoegaze, dream pop
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Slumberland Records, SpinART, Ché, Primary, Sire Records, Darla, Tiger Style, File 13, Manifesto, Rainbow Quartz, Rocket Girl, Frontier Records
Associated acts	Apples In Stereo My Bloody Valentine
Members	Kurt Heasley
Past members	Harold "Bear" Evans Ken Heitmuller Mike Glasgow Dana Cerick Alex Hacker Archie Moore Beth Sorrentino Jay Sorrentino Paul "Pablo" Naomi Art Difuria Bryan Dilworth Mike Lenert Dave Frank Michael Deming Rich Costey Robert Andreano Thom Monahan Aaron Sperske Trevor Kampmann Torben Pastore Jason Falkner James "Fuzzy" Sangiovani Steven Keller Mickey Walker Gerhardt Koerner Don Devore Mike Musmanno Don Piper Michael Johnson Tim Foote Mike Hammel Matt Horn Tommy Joyner Steven Keller Chris McAllen Trish Scearce Mario "Pel" Lopez Mark Scott Ariel Pink Dan Horne Jesse Gallagher Spenser Gralla Noah Bond Doug Tuttle Matt Werth Alex Craig Travis Roseberg Chris Colley James Richardson

Lilys are an American indie rock band formed in Washington, D.C in 1988. The only constant member is Kurt Heasley, with the line-up changing regularly. Several of the band's tracks have been used in television advertisements, and the band's biggest hit was one of these, "A Nanny In Manhattan", which reached No. 16 in the UK after being used in a Levi's advertisement directed by Roman Coppola.

Heasley has collaborated with other acts such as Nobody, appearing on the band's 2005 single "Fancy", a cover of the Kinks song. and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, singing "Tschuss" on their 2003 album And This Is Our Music. He also contributed "effects" to Poole's "Snowcicle" on the band's Alaska Days album, and performed on Apples In Stereo's 1995 album Fun Trick Noisemaker, and Neko Case's 2009 album Middle Cyclone. He co-wrote the Twitch Hazel contributions to their 1997 split double-7-inch EP Kramer's Beach. He has also produced recordings by other artists including The Asteroid#4 (Apple Street: A Classic Tale Of Love And Hate, King Richard's Collectibles), The Ladybug Transistor, and Mazarin and co-engineered Echo Orbiter's Laughing All The While.

The band's music has shifted style several times in its history. The early recordings, including debut album In The Presence of Nothing, were strongly influenced by My Bloody Valentine. They then moved through dream pop before settling on a new style that has been described as mod revival and a particularly strong influence from The Kinks, and other 1960s bands such as The Monkees and The Zombies leading to the 1996 album Better Can't Make Your Life Better, Later releases included elements of psychedelic rock and a return to their earlier shoegazing sound. The band have gained a reputation for sounding very similar to other artists and bands over the years, with Michael Sandlin of Pitchfork Media going as far as saying "You might say Lilys frontman Kurt Heasley is a world-class thief", but as one journalist put it "I know we're supposed to hate bands that sound too much like other bands, but the difference with the Lilys is that they do it so blatantly and so shamelessly that it's somehow rendered okay."

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Wikipedia