Lion of Ido takes pride in its show at Webster Hall

With enough recorded material in the can for its debut, Lion of Ido is turning its focus to its live show.

"We wanted to try something a little bit different," says singer-guitarist Ido Zmishlany. "We wanted to add some more electronic elements, make it more dramatic electro pop."

The Valley Stream-based band is trying to make its concerts a bit bigger as well. "We wanted to make it more of an experience," says Zmishlany, who will test the idea Thursday at The Studio at Webster Hall with openers The Urgency, which includes former Tripside guitarist Ryan Siegel and comedian Blake Reiter as the evening's host.

"The idea is to have people walk into the show, walk into our arena and see us all in a different way," Zmishlany says.

Lion of Ido's plan is to take this new show on the road in the next few months, as they continue to build buzz with their promising EP "Hard to Love," available for free download on lionofido.com.

Balancing the fun pop sound with more serious lyrics - "I know I am hard to love, I have no money," Zmishlany sings, "things are unsure" - "Hard to Love" offers a pretty good idea of what Lion of Ido is about, and it also extends to Zmishlany's production ideas.

He recently remixed Train's "Hey, Soul Sister" just because he liked the song, but the band liked how it turned out so much, it allowed Zmishlany to post it on the band's MySpace with its blessing.

"The band reached out to me and were totally into it," he says. "It was such a great surprise."

Lion of Ido plays The Studio at Webster Hall at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $10 through websterhall.com and $12 at the door.

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