After rocking the stage during Lone Star College-CyFair’s Cy-Fest in a heartfelt performance at his old stomping grounds, 26-year-old musician Jordan Lane is happy to see that his band hard work is continuing to pay off.
The Cypress Woods High School graduate and LSC-CyFair alumnus said he feels like he’s living a dream as guitarist and vocalist for Houston band Lucid Illusions.
Lucid Illusions is a three-piece blues/punk rock band that has played with national acts and has released multiple albums. It was named Best Local Band by Chron.com in 2022 and 2023.
The band includes bass guitarist Conner Graham, drummer Donovan Hansen and Lane.
“It's a weird feeling because you work so hard for so long and you see very little growth and then one day you wake up and you realize, ‘Oh hey, it's actually working,’” Lane said. “It was good at the end of the day to see hard work pays off.”
The band was formed in 2017, Lane said, but band members had history predating Lucid Illusions, being introduced at a younger age.
Hansen’s father worked as a radio host who reported on Houston traffic and Lane’s father was a listener. Lane’s dad would call in on his way to work with traffic tips and report back ups. Their fathers formed a friendship and encouraged their sons to play music together.
Lucid Illusions recently performed during the Cy-Fest celebration hosted annually at LSC-CyFair, where Lane had graduated, worked, and performed in the school’s jazz band. He was excited to be back on campus and see familiar faces, from professors to old friends.
Friends and professors weren’t the only people in the crowd that Lane knew.
Lane’s mother Kimberly Lane was also in attendance and has been a math professor at the college since 2007.
“A lot of faculty and administrators came over to watch him perform,” Kimberly said. “It was just such a proud, proud, proud moment for me and my husband of course. …He performed there before in that same amphitheater with the jazz band but to see him doing it there with his band now was awesome.”
Kimberly said her son has been into music since he was 4 years old. As he got older, he learned how to play the violin, sing in the school choir, and even taught himself how to play the guitar. Her son was also a scholar, she said, and only had one B when he attended LSC-CyFair before graduating and starting at Sam Houston University.
As Lucid Illusions gets ready for their performance on KPRC 2’s Houston Life Oct. 18 and House of Blues show Oct. 22, Lane said his band continues to put in hard work.
“People don't get to see all the rehearsals and the studio time and the meetings and just all the administrative work that happens on the back end,” Lane said. “It’s just a lot and people don't realize what all goes into it but it's really rewarding to see it come to light and to put out a good product and to be able to keep doing it.”
(Written by Ralph Green, a suburban reporter producer at the Houston Chronicle.)