Interview with: Glenn Dagrossa and Freddy Villano from LAZARUS

[Freddy] Thank you.

[Glenn] Thanks.

[Glenn] LAZARUS consists of Dave Mercado and Artie Dillon on guitars, Nick D'Alessandro on drums, Freddy Villano on bass and me on vocals {Glenn DaGrossa}.

[Freddy] Well, I guess the most obvious influence on Episode One is IRON MAIDEN, though some people hear SAXON while others hear QUEENSRYCHE. It's probably a blend of all of that, since those were our main influences growing up. Episode One, being the debut, has a strong scent of who and what originally influenced the band. I think that with Awaken, we've shed most of that and created a record that is definitively LAZARUS. We're still evolving though. That's the beauty of making music (or any art form for that matter): you're never quite satisfied with where you're at. At least I'm not... haha.

[Glenn] For Episode One? No, it wasn't predetermined. The style is because of the band, not just songs. It's hard for band to find their own sound without being derivative. I think on Awaken we finally found a sound that people will associate with LAZARUS, whereas on Episode One we had a sound that people associated with our influences.

[Freddy] I think if we had anything in mind with Awaken it was just a conscious effort to more closely define who or what LAZARUS is.

[Glenn] I write the music and Rich Angora, (former guitarist and founding member of LAZARUS) writes the lyrics. Even today, he continues to write lyrics for the band. His themes range from war to organized religion. The lyrics on Awaken are very contemporary and very relevant to our times. But in response to your composing question, there are no hard and fast rules for how songs are conceived. Sometimes lyrics dictate the music and other times music will dictate the lyrics. There is no rule of thumb for me.

[Freddy] The composing process is really the recording process. You may think you're entering the recording studio with a finished song, but things inevitably evolve along the way.

[Glenn] Things that were written changed as we were recording.

[Freddy] Actually we didn't end up releasing the album. First of all it's not finished. We decided to take a bit more time for the mixing and mastering and we would have had to compromise the integrity of the product if we adhered to the May 2nd release date. The sound of the band has evolved and as a result we wanted to take our time with the final touches. Also, we decided to shop it around to some labels who've expressed an interest in the band. We want to take this to the next level and rather than put it out on our own, which we did with Episode One, we thought we'd see if there was any interest first.

[Glenn] We did the gig though. It was great. Apparently, we were the third largest draw in the short history of the newly re-opened Sundance in Rocky Point, Long Island. There is no video footage that I am aware of, unfortunately.

[Glenn] Awaken is a much darker and much heavier record than Episode One.

[Freddy] And at the same time it's also more melodic than Episode One. There are songs on Awaken that send chills down my spine when I listen to them.

[Glenn] Both records were down at the same studio with the same engineer, Tarik Solangi, but we learned from the previous record and we brought in different guitar rigs, bass rigs etc. We definitely had a 'sound' in mind for Awaken that I think we captured.

[Freddy] I didn't feel any pressure because I didn't play on Episode One ...hahaha... but that's about to change. Here's a METAL TEMPLE exclusive: We are going to do a remix and re-master of Episode One and I'll be re-cutting all of the bass tracks and we're gonna re-release it with new artwork!

[Glenn] He speaks the truth ...haha. We are going to re-release Episode One as part of a major promotional push we plan to undertake in the coming months. But in response to your question, I think, as an artist, you're always competing against yourself. You always want to improve upon what you did before. It's like what Freddy said earlier: you're never quite satisfied with where you're at.

[Freddy] At this point we're not sure who is going to release Awaken. We have a great deal of respect and admiration for Lance King and what he's built up over the years at Nightmare Records, but we haven't received any 'official' offers yet. We haven't really made the music from Awaken available to anyone just yet. There is a demo of one track, As The Dark, So the Light, posted on www.myspace.com/lazaruslongisland. If anyone wants to give that a gander it's there and it's indicative of the direction on Awaken.

[Glenn] Up until this point, Awaken has been self-financed too. So, unless someone steps in, it too will be a self-financed record. We've been a DIY band for the past two years. And most of that falls on Dave's {Mercado, LAZARUS guitarist} shoulders. Between him and Freddy they book our gigs, do our PR, manage the day-to-day affairs. It's a lot of work for them. I just write the songs...haha. But seriously, as I said earlier, the biggest difference between the two records is that Awaken embodies the LAZARUS sound, whereas as Episode One was probably a bit more derivative.

[Glenn] Illegal downloading was bad for the record industry but seems to have been good for the touring industry. I think that bands are forced to perform live more now than ever, at least since the invention of MTV, in order to generate income. We think that's great. We want to play live. We want to tour. It's what a band like LAZARUS does. MTV kind of squelched the mystique out of only being able to see your favorite band in concert. And it's nice to see some of that coming back now.

[Freddy] We use our childhood heroes, like IRON MAIDEN, for inspiration. When MAIDEN was forming in the UK in the late ' 70's Punk was all the rage. MAIDEN somehow channeled that attitude into their prog influences and came up with something really identifiable. I think you'll hear that same type of evolution for us on Awaken. We're not going Metalcore, but the music on Awaken is certainly darker than Episode One and it embodies a power and toughness that is more contemporary.

[Glenn] I have this fantasy that LAZARUS will someday be HUGE in Europe. Maybe it's because people express a lot of enthusiasm for the band in Europe, but when I see bands like VIRGIN STEELE playing in Greece and MANOWAR doing these big festivals in Europe, I say 'why not us?' We're cut from the same cloth. LAZARUS is a talented group of veteran musicians. The band's music and stage performance was designed for playing arenas. We have killer tunes. We're poised for the big stage.

[Freddy] The main goal for us at the moment is to finish Awaken and hopefully find a home for it. We would love to come to Europe and play the summer festival circuit. It is what this band was built for. So, if anyone out there reading this is a manager, a booking agent or a label manager, please contact us. We're ready to roll!

[Glenn] Right now it's not available. Hopefully that question will be answered by a label sometime over the next few months.

We'd like to thank METAL TEMPLE for the support and hope to see you all out on the road sometime over the next year.