Living in a small town just outside Belfast, Ireland, Lee Rogers’ music sounds as resilient, gorgeous and scarred as that legendary territory. The robust, resplendent songs on his new album, Gameblood, absorbs all the senses of the listener, with his open-hearted, lyrical storytelling evoking both tender wisdom and elegiac musical craftsmanship.

Rogers describes the recently released first single, “Life and Lies,” as “a slightly cheeky, heartfelt ballad that everyone can relate to.” It’s about “finding love and just a little light in the darkest places.” The video was shot by Jamie Neish in a bar in Belfast, which Rogers calls “the perfect setting for this song. The fun part is I was genuinely drunk during the shooting, so there was little acting needed.”

The vision for the video came from Rogers.

“I always had this visual in mind for the video for ‘Life and Lies.’ It couldn’t really be anything else — that slight lost soul, not caring about himself or what’s around him,” Rogers continued. “Neish brought it to life and captured what I envisioned would be that moment your life can change, no matter where you are or how bad things seems to be. It was a lot of craic making it, and you can tell that I had more than a few whiskeys, haha.”

Watch the Big Takeover’s exclusive premiere of the video right here:

The song is featured on Gameblood, due May 13 on Belfast-based Zenith Café.

On his fifth major recording and third official release, Rogers comes across as a tender yet macho noir outcast, honestly giving musical solidarity to fellow wounded exile-pioneers holding similar relational and existential pain.


The tender-raw yet cinematically sophisticated instrumentation on Gameblood has everything from classic U.K. folk rock-albums like John Martyn’s Solid Air, the soulful singer/songwriter craft of Keb’ Mo’s Blues Americana and the glistening if lacerating baroque balladry of Tom Waits’ Mule Variations. A tattoo artist for many years, it’s that field’s attention to human vulnerability and creative detail that sets Lee Rogers apart from most musical artists today.

To buy Gameblood, go here. For more on Rogers, click these links:

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