Finding an Anchor and North Star with Liily

Photo Credit: Aaron Kohn

LA natives Liily return with ‘Wax’ everywhere 11/13/2026! Liily are Dylan Nash [vocals], Charlie Anastasis [bass], Sam De La Torre [guitar], and Maxx Morando [drums]. We got a chance to chat with the band. Here’s what they had to say!

You have experienced some major success in opening for bands like Weezer and blink-182 in arenas and playing at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo. Now your latest Wax marks your major label debut on Atlantic. How does it feel to be in this position from where you started?

Charlie - “I've been thinking about that a lot lately because there is this linear trajectory when it comes to talking about bands or being in the music industry. It comes with a tremendous amount of pressure. We came out of the gate swinging and were very young. We have believed in this band more than anything for such a long time now. There have been moments where we may have been the only one. Our community has felt and shared that belief.”

“We were nineteen or twenty when we first started going, the pressure of constantly growing or constantly outdoing yourself is hard. We've had a lot of once in a lifetime opportunities but we've also gotten a lot of no’s as well. This concaction of yes and no puts into perspective what's really important. The guys in the band are really tough, so I've leaned on them a lot over the years. Being a little older, feeling like you may be losing momentum. I started chasing what people want to hear and getting consumed with the outcome of stuff and losing sight of what's important when making music.”

“Before making this record, there was this really revelatory moment where we were like "lets go make a record, because that's all we want to do". You know that advice if you can't fall asleep, is to sort of not care if you fall asleep. It's like that, I don't care about the no’s and yeses anymore. The only important thing is making music. Out of that ethos comes the best opportunity we've ever had, which is Atlantic coming around.”

I love the sound you guys bring on Wax, which features some gritty guitar, awesome melodies and percussion, and dynamic vocals and hooks. What goes into making a Liily song vocally and instrumentally?

“That's the lifelong learning process of just making music, especially for us. Any system starts to sour really quickly. We realized that songs sound so good because how much fun we had making it. It can be frustrating to feel like you're in a process of building a house and then when the next song comes, it's like doing it again with new materials.”

”With regard to the hooks, it's just chasing something really exiting. We were facing restrictions and felt that was kind of monotomous. For example "this is a punk song, why is there a pretty vocal melody over it?" We let go of those restrictions and realize how important any creative moment really just happens. Instead of saying "this doesn't work with what we've got" we started opening it up. It made it like "oh my god, this is one of my favorite songs I've ever written". Writing is kind of like a finger-trap, the harder you pull, the harder it is (to get out). I started feeling like I was getting in my own way. My whole goal now is not doing that anymore and moving foward as well.”

Thematically, Wax tangles with issues of ambition, self-worth, and struggling with anxiety and loss/grief. Can you share a bit about the background of some of the experiences you all had that went into the themes of Wax?

“That shared feeling of ambition that we've all had, just that fucking frustration of "where are we at?" I know what we're doing is great, but it's roadblock after roadblock. The counter is to not feed that anxiety. Because you start doing that thing where you start waiting for permission from someone to excel in life. But rather be like, we have control over this.”

”Regarding loss, there is a track on the album called "Bunny", that was my dad's name. I lost him in 2024 and that song was a huge component of feeling like the victim. Music is the only thing I've had that's given me an anchor in my life. My anchor and North Star, especially in the wake of losing my dad, was just shutting out the noise and channeling it into something positive. The irony of it is, shutting out that anxiety and shutting out that ambition opens doors rather than closing them.”

What are you most looking to in sharing Wax with the world not only online/physically, but in the live setting?

“I think that the thing we're all looking forward to is trying bridge the gap between our live show and recorded music. Everything that has been put out is trying to bridge that gap. We've always said "if you don't get it from the record, come to a live show and you'll get it". We're already working on the next record as well!”