THE LYRES

The Lyres are, for all intents and purposes, Jeff Connolly - keyboardist, record freak (he earned the moniker "Mono Man" for his refusal to allow stereo recordings into his collection), and all-around madman.  The band has gone through literally dozens of line-ups, with members being booted or exiting due to Conolly's legendarily difficult personality (Conolly once gave his definition of a group as "a group of people who do exactly what I tell them to do.")

Of the dozens of bands that emerged in the 1980s garage rock revival, Lyres were one of the few that seemed to realize that the point wasn't about how much paisley clothing you could wear or finding the right vintage effects pedals (i.e. wallowing in nostalgia for an era you were too young to have actually witnessed -- the musical equivalent of living in an episode of Happy Days), but about playing cool stripped-down rock & roll. Jeff "Monoman" Conolly understood that the Sonics and the Ramones were traveling in the same direction, but merely using a different path to get there, and, as a result, Lyres' recordings have an energy and passion that's stood the test of time far better than most of their contemporaries. While Conolly's Vox Continental organ keeps his 1960s obsessions up-front throughout, the rest of the band is capable of generating a hard-driving groove, and the performances capture what was exciting and soulful about 1960s punk without drowning in a sea of "retro." (Allmusic)

The Lyres originated from the ashes of DMZ - essentially the same concept, with perhaps a slightly more new wave/punk approach.  DMZ even managed a debut album on Sire(!), produced by Flo and Eddie (!!) though garage fans have dismissed it as too slick.

After DMZ shattered, Conolly founded Lyres with fellow ex-DMZ'ers - who soon enough fell by the wayside.  The band made a name for itself with their second album, On Fyre, which sold surprisingly well, even in the US, while establishing them a solid European following.  The follow-up, Lyres Lyres, was even better.

After that, the constantly-re-aligning band seemed to lose its inspiration, closing the 80's off with the intermittently successful A Promise Is A Promise, then largely disappearing, poking its head up once or twice in the 90's with a full-length album or another single or EP, as well as a stream of live albums from various sources.  The inspiration of their early days showed only in flashes.

The Lyres were inactive for most of the early 2000's, but of late have been touring again, mostly in Europe.  Conolly remains Conolly.

Lyres wiki
DMZ wiki
The Lyres Allmusic
DMZ allmusic
Right Now! The Lyres
Amusing Interview with Jeff Conolly

On Fyre
Lyres Lyres
DMZ: Live at the Rat