Steve Blaze of Lillian Axe
by Deb Rao
Staff Writer
Lillian Axe will release their latest album Deep Red Shadows via Love & War Records on July 20. Recently Lillian Axe announced that former Metal Church singer Ronny Munroe will be taking over vocals duties replacing Derrick LeFevre on Aug. 1. Ronny is slated to make his debut with the band at B.B.Kings in New York City on August 9th. Lillian Axe has just announced that they will be performing at Rock N America Festival on July 25. For tour dates visit www.myspace.com/lillianaxe.
Guitarist Steve Blaze has checked in with Hardrock Haven to discuss the upcoming tour and the future of the band with new singer Ronny Munroe.
HRH: Steve, Thank you for checking in with Hardrock Haven to discuss the exciting news regarding Ronny Munroe joining Lillian Axe as new singer. How did this all transpire? What prompted Derrick LeFevre to leave the band? Was he tired of being on the road?
STEVE: About a week before we started to do his vocals, right in the middle of doing the record he informed us that he wasn’t going to go out on the road and tour. He would only do sporadic things here and there. That really took us all by surprise.
HRH: That was a bad time to leave. You are making a record and naturally you want it to be the best you can. You would figure you would be touring with the singer that is on the record. Correct? You must have been in shock? What was your reaction to the news of his departure?
STEVE: Exactly. We were totally in shock. I was like; you got to be kidding me. Not again. He wanted to stay closer to home. For whatever reason. We never really got a real answer on it. He didn’t want to go out and tour other than doing a few shows here and there like weekend warrior stuff.
HRH: Looking at the situation, it could be a blessing in disguise because Ronny Munroe has a great following and vocal style. How did you get Ronny to join the band?
STEVE: I met Ronny in Seattle two years ago. I always keep in mind other talented musicians that I have met. Because you never know when yourself or somebody is going to look for somebody of good caliber. As soon as it happened, I wasn’t expecting it. The first thing I thought of was Wow. You can find guitar players or drummers those guys are a dime a dozen. But to find a singer even a decent singer is so difficult to. I started thinking not only did we play with Ronny; he was really good a great front man and really nice guy. But I ran into him at Rocklahoma as well. I talked to him there for ten minutes and just that little bit of a click it told me enough that I wanted to talk to him. We contacted him. I did my homework here. I thought I got to look beyond the box here and don’t think there is going to be another voice exactly like Derrick or Ron. Because those two guys very similar to each other. The chances of that happening for the third time are going to be virtually impossible. Do we really have to have that? I need a great frontman and a great human being. I need an individual that is going to come in and not only sing well but be an integral part of everything that we have done. A person that we want to have in our family. We started talking and we got along really well. He researched Lillian. We researched him. We flew him down and we spent three days together. We were joined at the hip for three days. He walked in and the blend was there. The magic was there. I do all the back-up harmonies live. He and I were spot on. Lot of times when you harmonize with a singer you have to learn all the nuances and really understand how they sing. So you can match your harmonies up with them. He and I just blended perfectly. It was great. It was better than I thought it was going to be. We got along just wonderfully. I am really anticipating and looking forward to where we are going to be able to go with this. It is a blessing. God has blessed us with the right guy. We didn’t have to search that far. My fear was sitting around and sitting though video after video listening. How long do you really find out who is the right guy by listening to a guy sing? There are a lot of good voices out there. But what are they going to be like onstage or with you? What are they going to be like living with you on the road? Those are the kind of things you have to look for. You might find a guy that is just the perfect talent and he likes to have sex with chickens. (Laughter) I don’t know what somebody is going to be like or what kind of weirdness they are going to bring in? We were fortunate in that Ronny and I when we talked to each other and thought that is exactly what I was thinking. Like we were talking to ourselves. It was just meant to be.
HRH: It is awesome that you found a perfect replacement. Do you think the direction and signature sound of Lillian Axe will change or be affected by the new line-up?
STEVE: No, Lillian Axe is going to always sound like Lillian Axe. From the first album up to the new record so much has changed. There is so much growth and directional change but it all sounds like Lillian Axe. The only thing I can really attribute that to be is one of the main things I have always been the prominent songwriter in the band. I utilize the strength of the guys that are around me. I know how they shine and what their strengths are. When I write material I know that they are going to bring the best out of these songs. My songwriting that won’t change. It will improve and continue to grow and get better and continue to grow. Having somebody like Ronny will just allow me to write stronger and better songs and take the band I wouldn’t say a different direction but a growth of direction. He is the kind of guy that will sit there and will work with me. He is a lyricist and I am going to work with him and collaborate with him lyrically as well. Because I respect what he can bring to the table. I am not going to lie to you. I have always been very protective of the songwriting of this band in the way that I openly welcome ideas. If somebody brought ten great ideas to me that were better for the band. It is not about me having my songs on there. It is about what is the best for the Lillian Axe record. I am always open to collaborating. Most of the time the band has been like hey we love your writing. That is the signature of the band. Keep doing it. Now Ronny is going to be able to bring his own thing to it as well. I think it is just going to improve everything all around.
HRH: I totally agree. Now the new album Deep Red Shadows comes out on July 20. How did you come up with the title of the album?
STEVE: Actually, we have a song on our Psychoschizophrenia record called the “Deep Blue Shadows.” Because of the fact that this album started out as an EP with just four or five songs that we were going to put out and be loosely based around vampire lore and immortality. It had a gothic kind of feel to it. As we got into we started realizing that there are other songs in the past that would be great acoustically done that would fit the theme of this record as well. There is a dark side and light side but everything is kind of heavy passionate kind of feel to the whole record. I love the title Deep Red Shadows. I am glad it popped into my head when it did. But the whole blood theme of this record. I always thought that would be a great title for an album of songs that have a thematic red line running through it. So I wrote the instrumental called Deep Red Shadows. It works perfectly with the whole theme of this record.
HRH: That is great. The one thing that you mentioned is that there are a lot of acoustic tracks on this album. Now you worked with some great people on this album. Sylvia Massy produced “47 Ways To Die.” Tell us about this song that is the upcoming single for the album.
STEVE: : Sylvia Massy actually mixed “47 Ways To Die.” One of the gentlemen that is working our record at radio knows Sylvia and he brings her songs now and then. She liked a couple of them. She heard this song and really liked it. I was very honored to hear her comments on that. It really made me feel good because of her abilities and knowledge for her to like the song as much as she did. She also wanted to re-track the whole song. So due to the time restraints we couldn’t do that. The next best thing we sent the tracks to her in California. She mixed the song from scratch. She did an amazing job.
HRH: When are you going to be shooting the video for “47 Ways To Die?”
STEVE: We are talking about that right now. There is so much going on because the record comes out in a few weeks. Then we got to work Ronny in. The song is just going to radio right now. Hopefully, we are going to have some success with that because videos and singles go hand in hand. I would say September we will be able to knock down a video for this song. We are throwing some ideas around right now.
HRH: You also worked with Ty Tabor from Kings X on the song “The Quenching Of Human Life.” How did this transpire?
STEVE: I have known Ty over the years. I really like Kings X a lot. I was able to be instrumental in getting Ty hooked up with a guitar company that I have my own guitar line through. Now Ty has his own guitar line too. It is called Gilford Guitars. I have done a few guitar shows with Ty over the last couple of years. I got to hang with him. So I asked him if he wanted to master the record and do a solo on one of the songs. He was happy to oblige. He did a great job. It was a great honor.
HRH: Tell us about the upcoming tour in support of your upcoming release Deep Red Shadows.
Steve: We just got added on to the Rock N America Festival on July 25 in Oklahoma at 3 P.M. Then we come back and do a New Orleans show, a show in Louisiana and then we pick up with Ronny for 2 1/2 weeks. I do know we are doing B.B.Kings in NY. The last day of the tour we will be on Eddie’s Trunk show. I know it is an East Coast kind of thing. We are still waiting to get the schedule.
HRH: We wish you the best of luck on the upcoming tour and with your new vocalist Ronny Munroe. I hope to catch the band at one of the East Coast shows this summer.
STEVE: Thanks for the support. Stay tuned for more East Coast dates. C’mon out and say hello.
Lillian Axe will release Deep Red Shadows via Love & War Records on July 20th. Guitarist and founder of Lillian Axe guitarist Steve Blaze checks in with Hardrock Haven to discuss the upcoming release with a special Track By Track. “47 Ways To Die” is slated to be the first single and being sent to radio stations across the country with a video that is scheduled for a September filming. The song was mixed by famed producer Sylvia Massy.
The old cliche’ that life revolves around change could not hold more true for the band Lillian Axe. As previously reported, singer Derrick LeFevre is leaving the band on July 31. Former Metal Church singer Ronny Munroe is stepping up to the plate as lead vocalist. But not before the release of the new Lillian Axe album featuring Derrick LeFevre.
They say you can tell the strength of a good band by just the way a simple acoustic song is performed. Founding member Steve Blaze takes the band to new heights with his guitar wizardry on the acoustic re-make of four songs that have become Lillian Axe classics and fan favorites. The entire album has a very young “Twilight” vampire feel and mystic ambiance. The song ” Nocturnal Symphony” would be a great song title for the next “New Moon” saga. The band is evolving and will be performing to new and old fans on July 25 at Rock N America with a set time of 3 P.M.
Guitarist Steve Blaze takes on the horrors of the oil spill and everyday real pain that the people from the Gulf Coast are facing everyday on the song “The Quenching Of Human Life” and the Katrina aftermath and recent oil spil on “Sad Day On Planet Earth.”
Hardrock Haven is proud to feature a special track by track by founding member of Lillian Axe Steve Blaze.
Under The Same Moon -“It tells a story of an actual individual being transformed into a vampire. The whole physical and emotional changes that he goes through as he watches his last sunset and realizes that all of his loved ones will now be gone from him. His entire life will change. The pains of falling in love with people that going through life that will already die as you go on. The curse of immortality. It is a very dynamic, passionate roller coaster ride of a song. Actually, my personal favorite on the record.”
47 Ways To Die -“Is about mankind’s penchant for trying to kill itself all of the time. We have become a society that we do so many things to get ahead. We are so greedy and selfish that we don’t care and the reality is that we sell ourselves and we hurt ourselves in getting to that one goal. So many people around the planet have turned so selfish. There are a lot of wonderful people on this planet but at the same token, I see us at a downward spiral because quite frankly, individuals in all societies have started to become really self indulgent and self absorbed. As we get like that everybody is trying to be the best looking, the richest, the best in their field. You see people going to no ends to get to those situations for themselves. In the meantime, they leave a wake of hurt people behind them. Basically, they kill themselves physically and spiritually at the same token. 47 ways is just an arbitrary number showing there is so many different ways that we can kill ourselves and there is only really one-way to live. If man can screw himself up, he will find a way to do it.”
The Quenching Of Human Life – “This song is about how frail this life is and how easily we can lose it. Time waits for no man. Time is going to go on. You make the best of it with what you will. It is all up to us to do what we can do to make our lives better. You can’t blame other people. You have to move forward because life is so fragile and so easily extinguished and taken from us.”
A Minute Of Years – “It is about the curse of immortality. You can’t appreciate life if you don’t have death involved. You can’t appreciate goodness with bad. There is no reference point. What if we were given the gift of immortality and we could live forever? What kind of pains would that put you through?”
Nobody Knows (acoustic) – “This was on the first album. A lot of people thought that was going to be a big single for us. I wrote this song a long time ago. We did it acoustically because I really wanted Derrick to get the shot of singing it. Because he did such a great job on it. It is always such a big crowd pleaser. Because our first album it is not the easier thing in the world to find. It felt like it was a song that needed to be re-done. The method in which we record acoustic songs and utilize the keyboards. If you take the acoustic songs on this record and crank them up especially with headphones they sound so good. Derrick did such a great vocal job. It sounds like you are sitting in the room with 3 or 4 guitar players. They just sound so nice. We wanted to take a few of our catalog songs that were fan favorites and re-do them a little modernize and give them a different kind of feel to them. I thought it was time it got rejuvenated.”
The Day I Met You (acoustic) – “If this song was on Top 40 radio, I think it would be one of our biggest songs in our career. This song has gotten so many hits on you tube. Even metal heads listen to that song and get choked up. I wrote this song. It is on Psychoschizophrenia. Once again, I thought that it needed to be rejuvenated. Recorded it a little differently. The original version is just one guitar and vocal. Added some strength with cellos. I had Derrick sing it his style. It is one of those songs if I hadn’t written I would have been jealous of who wrote the song. It came to me very quickly and it was very pure. I think it is probably the most liked of all Lillian ballads.”
Sad Day On Planet Earth (acoustic) -“This was the title track on the last record. I wanted to see how it would be done with all acoustic parts. It is about how beautiful this planet is
but how we keep screwing it up. Like the oil spill we are dealing with here in Louisiana. Every time I write a song it seems like people prove me right in my ideas.”
Nocturnal Symphony (acoustic) -“This was on the last record too. In a heavier version. It has been one of the fan favorites live. Being that this album had kind of a vampiric overtone to it. This song is a vampire love song. It is about an individual offering immortality to his love interest. We wanted to do this all acoustically as well. When you do a song acoustically it allows you to approach the vocals a little differently. It allows you to utilize keyboards in a different way when you can get them in a mix and they are not drowned out by drums and bass. We took a different approach to this song,”
Deep Red Shadows (instrumental) – “That was the last thing I wrote for the record. I have a lot of acoustic ideas. I wrote it and recorded it. I had no idea what I was going to do with it. But I just started playing and that is what came out. I was happy with it so I did the overdubs and layered it and tried to make it a beautiful ending to the album.”