History
Lilygun’s history is a turbulent one. The band was formed by the enigmatic singer/songwriter/musician, Anna-Christina, the driving force behind the group. On Lilygun’s climb to success, the singer suffered a Subarachnoid Brain Haemorrhage and almost died. The shock hit hard. Her life stood on a knife's blade for a few deadly months but it was not to be the end.
Her operation and recovery were a miracle. Pure determination resulted in her return to the music industry. Clawing out from the pit of despair and defying all odds, she made an astonishing comeback. The charismatic singer proved what a courageous being she is and her spirit showed there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. Her light was music.
Lilygun has been plagued with countless line-up changes which meant endless auditioning for musicians often kept them out of the limelight. Anna-Christina’s health issues throughout the band's early years also held back progress but eventually, Lilygun found their way out of the shadows and catapulted themselves into the edgy Alt Rock medium.
In the early stages of Lilygun, the band was recognised as Anna-Christina and Piranha, Lilygun's extraordinary original bass player. They began playing with guest lead guitarist, Aaron John, who became a key ingredient in the development of Lilygun's sound of today. This remarkable musician with unparalleled talent to invent, changed Lilygun forever.
Lilygun have seen it all! They rolled up to one of their gigs without a drummer (he decided to go for dinner instead of fulfilling his duties) which is possibly one of the most awful things that can happen to a band on the night of a gig. However, they dazzled with an unplugged set and effortlessly glided through stripped down renditions of their songs. They were greeted with rapturous applause from an audience demanding more, and Lilygun obliged.
Ironically, due to the success of this gig, it led to the beginning of a series of successful unplugged gigs that followed as well as Anna-Christina's solo acoustic EP release.
Eventually, Lilygun began to creep into the media's attention and received good demo reviews on music websites, were published in several magazines, and were aired on XFM, TotalRock and many other radio shows.
They recorded Diamonds with producer, David Ryder Prangley (of Rachel Stamp fame). This recording was Lilygun's first Single, self-released in March 2008 and went on to receive brilliant reviews, even making the 'Most Popular Hits of 2009' on an online poll. A string of gigs followed through the year including The Women in Music Festival in Birmingham, the Surface Unsigned Festival, Carling Academy Bar, where they were first joined by drummer, Belle Star (from Killing Miranda), and the Borderline supporting Die So Fluid.
Lilygun also played with guest drummer, Robin Guy (of Faith No More/Bruce Dickinson fame) for a few shows including Gotham Festival at 02 Academy Islington. They recorded their debut EP Peace of Mind at the famous Britannia Row Studios (the direct descendent of the original Pink Floyd's studio) where Anna-Christina and Piranha took full control of the recording, both taking part in engineering, recording and mixing. The first Single Conversations, self-released August 2009, earned fantastic write-ups, was published in Devolution Magazine and received air play on Radio Nightbreed and Radio Rheinwelle in Germany on The John Peel Show.
The highlights of 2010 saw Lilygun support Anna-Marie Hurst at the Scala, The Eden House in Colchester and Bristol and a headlining show at Camden Underworld where they were joined on stage by David Ryder Prangley on bass. The band's first EP Peace of Mind was self-released that summer. Lilygun also had a full page article published in the Observer newspaper in November.
During 2011, Lilygun began to record their debut album. Live performances grew to new heights with successful shows at 02 Academy Islington, The Garage, Electrowerkz, and other venues in and around London.
2012 was Lilygun’s year! After much anticipation, they released their first two album Singles Scum and Moonlight on Zeff Music. Both were well received by critics, most notably the second Single Moonlight receiving rave reviews, making XFM’s Playlist on the Ian Camfield Rock Show and a nomination for a Pure Rawk Award for ‘Best Single of the Year’. Lilygun’s self-titled debut album was released in September on A Line Records/Cargo Records.
It received outstanding reviews from a cross-section of reviewers and DJs, from Rock to Pop, Metal to Goth, and Alternative magazines and websites. It featured regularly on radio and podcasts both in the UK and abroad long after its release.
The band was interviewed live on radio for Raidersbroadcast and Anna-Christina and drummer, Belle Star (now a regular member) did their first Skype interview on America’s XPat Radio. Other interviews for Riot Music followed. Lilygun made ‘Band of the Month’ on Roomthirteen.com as well as ‘Album of the Year’ on Nanobot Rock Reviews and specially recommended on Riot Music.
Following the album release, they received an endorsement deal and were booked for two big festivals in London, The Renaissance Alternative Music Festival and Gotham Festival at 02 Academy Islington.
An album tour followed of successful gigs in and around London. The Intrepid Fox, two headlining dates Upstairs at The Garage, The Jubilee Late Night Show at The Barfly, The Flag in Watford, The Horn in Hertfordshire, and The Twist in Colchester to name a few, wrapped up the year's hard work.
2013 saw Lilygun return to The Renaissance Alternative Music Festival in May as well as a string of shows throughout the beginning of the year. They were lucky to be one of the last bands ever to perform at the legendary London venue, The Bull & Gate, before its closure in April.
Whilst Lilygun began to focus on creating their second album, Anna-Christina began a spin-off project she called, "Pretty Little Lady?". Solo acoustic music with an edge and "not for the faint-hearted", Anna-Christina performed a series of intimate gigs in and around London throughout 2013 to 2014. Having never performed solo in the past, her shows generated interest and received good reviews.
She released a collection of songs as part of her first acoustic EP called Pretty Little Lady?. One song from the EP was released every Sunday throughout the month of May 2015.
Songs from Pretty Little Lady? were featured on radio shows throughout the year and were popular. Anna-Christina performed her solo set at several headlining shows in London including the Avalon, the Dublin Castle, AlleyCats, Proud in Camden, and Monto Water Rats. Other stand out gigs were The Flag in Watford, The Horn in St Albans and The Renaissance Alternative Music Festival in London.
On Halloween night, Anna-Christina released her first official music video for her acoustic song titled, Little Boy Blue. The video was directed by Jordan KK and filmed at Unit 2 Studios.
By 2016, the recording of Lilygun's second album was in full swing. "The Big Eight" (songs) as Anna-Christina called them, were chosen out of a selection of twenty demo songs. Most of the musicians playing on the second album also performed on Lilygun's debut. In true Lilygun fashion, the making of their second album didn't go without a little drama. The first few mixes were lost when the studio hard drive decided to die!
Lilygun released the much anticipated first Single from their second album on 8th October 2016! Inside was the last song written by Anna-Christina before suffering from a Subarachnoid Brain Haemorrhage. She decided it was fitting to release the song on the same date as the incident using her head X Ray as the cover!
Lilygun followed this up a with their first music video.
Directed by David Ryder Prangley, the Inside music video clocked up over a thousand views on Facebook in less than 24 hours. Lilygun proved to not only be unique in sound but also vision. Anna-Christina’s raw and powerful performance was captured beautifully in the video and she was delighted when a reviewer described her as "a Gothic Kate Bush". Inside made 'Video of the Week' on Belgium's Rock Your Underground and Lilygun were back in the news!
On 17/7/17 the band released their second album Strength & Grace as a Limited Edition CD. Within six days of its release, the album sold out. This was a testament to their continued popularity, despite the lack of live shows in recent years. The following September, Anna-Christina was invited to perform live on radio for the first time. She played acoustic versions of songs from the album and a Garbage cover version of Fix Me Now on K2K Radio.
By November, Lilygun had released their second Single What Goes Around with another music video, and Strength & Grace was reissued. The cover for the album was designed with two faces. The first edition has a white side, and the reissued edition, a black side with a different booklet. This made both versions special. From the songs to the packaging, and videos, an effort was made to ensure everything was an authentic representation of what Lilygun had become.
In the following years, whilst old fans remained loyal, Lilygun reached the eyes and ears of a whole new fan base with their videos and releases. A series of behind-the-scenes videos and photos from their video shoots were released and Lilygun had prominent air play on radio both in the UK and abroad.
In 2023, the passing of Lilygun's drummer, Belle Star, was devastating news to Anna-Christina and everyone who knew him. Please read this dedication R.I.P Belle Star. Anna-Christina wrote, recorded and released a special song in his honour and performed it live at a tribute concert on Saturday 29th July 2023 at The Underworld in Camden. The song features his drumming and helped to raise money for a charity that was dear to him.
Lilygun is currently on pause. Read Anna-Christina's personal message here Farewell!.
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