Liptease performs a highly-dancable brand of r&b influenced electro-pop.  Vocalist John Engle urged everybody at the Bowery Poetry Club to dance from the first notes Michel Heyaca played on his laptop over Tom Manning’s funky drumming.  The band counts house and Latin music, Mozart, and classic soul among its influences.  Liptease is a dedicated trio; alumni Engle and Heyaca are based in New York while Manning is in Boston studying at Berklee. Working a new CD and touring keep them connected to each other and with a growing fanbase.

Before the set, in the front room of the Bowery Poetry Club, I asked Heyaca and Manning how they managed being one band in two cities, and, in the spirit of the business and networking side of CMJ, what promotional techniques have worked for them.