Lithuania | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo racheldelsordophotography.com

Rock and roll just feels damn good. Like an ice cold beer on a scorching summer day, it quenches a deep-seated human thirst. Longtime veterans on the Philly rock scene front, both Eric Slick and Dom Angelella know this fact instinctively.

Ten years in the making, their collaborative project Lithuania hits the spot — hard. It’s no-nonsense, no-frills rock and roll for the everyman. Their debut record Hardcore Friends (out last year on Lame-O Records) took a scorched earth policy towards songwriting: Go hard and leave it all on the table. Live, it’s even stronger. After seeing them open up for a Districts/mewithoutYou secret show in late 2014, I knew Lithuania was gonna be the Philly band to beat in the near future.

Flash forward just over a year. Early January. The winter winds are whipping down Broad Street, and we’re linking up with Dom & Eric to film a couple tracks before they rip it up at Boot & Saddle. But it’s a little different. For these, we wanted to showcase a softer side — the songs are just as high-intensity lyrically as they are in full, but turned 90 degrees to emphasize that Lithuania aren’t just rebels without a cause. This is The Key Presents: Lithuania.