Interview with: Lizzy Borden

There are a lot of people to blame for that! Probably myself mostly, because I was just listening to the record label; you do a record and plan a full European tour and they say Ok we put the record out and then they say no wait till the next record and this thing goes on and on. We played in Spain last night where we've never played before it was amazing, the crowd had every record...we should have done this long ago! Hopefully this is the start of something...

Everyone has all of our records, so they are obviously fans. Everyone is curious to see a US band coming here. Also everyone who comes at the signing sessions has the whole package, so there is quite a fan base that I didn't know about, so I am pretty excited about that I should put my attention more towards Europe, we are playing at 'Keep It True' in Germany.

You know everybody says that! I thought that there was a limited ticket number...(laughs)

It's been great up until two days ago when everyone got sick. We were going through Poland and everyone started coughing and I was the last guy who got it, but I am going well! I have the night [note: the day before the Athenian show] out so I am hoping everything will be good!

We've just finished our tour with LORDI. It was fun, we did 5 or 6 weeks with them and then we had 4 days off before starting this tour. Now we have five shows left and then continue next year!

Now I see a difference. We played 'Sweden Rock' and there were 15-19 year old kids in the audience. They wore MOTLEY CRUE and METALLICA t-shirts on, long hair again and I could see the fire in their eyes going nuts and I was like wow this is great. In the US there are older people; they are happy to be there but they don't share the youth's enthusiasm. I love the enthusiasm here that is why I want to keep doing it! I watched W.A.S.P. the last five years they started playing here more often and now I understand why.

We were inactive... You know after ' 92 Heavy Metal was dead in the US. We could have continued to tour but it would have been rough! So, we just decided to have fun. I created a band called DIAMOND DOGS that were a NEW YORK DOLLS type of thing. I just wanted to do something totally different. We ended up writing 300-400 songs; just kept on writing and writing because we didn't tour just a few shows around LA but it was mostly about writing songs and becoming a better songwriter. I wrote so many songs and figure out how I could involve in I didn't know what...but I gained a lot of experience, and that thing turned after years to the STARWOOD project which was kind my love for CHEAP TRICK, so we did one record which was called If It Aint Broke Break It and we are going to release another one soon.

I think it was ' 98, we hooked Alex Nelson our old guitarist when Metal had a little resurgent and Brian Slagel from Metal Blade called and he said you have to return, you have to keep going, you had enough vacation, move it!. So we booked the tour we started touring and then we recorded Deal With The Devil

Two. Ira Black is our guitarist but we have Chris Sanders who plays second guitar on this tour. I don't know what will happen after that! After all we recorded the album as a four-piece.

We did a tour with WASP we did as a four piece and it was great it was kind of cool because Marten Andersson plays 8 and 12 string bass and Ira is such a great player so believe me it was filled up and was fun! But LIZZY BORDEN is a two guitar band...

Countless (laughs) You see, missed opportunities, listened to the wrong people... if you look back, you wonder what isn't this band bigger? Everyone says that, and that is because we never had a management and all the things that other bands did have access to. We didn't really miss too many opportunities we just haven't got any. We had to make our own breaks. I may have had some missteps but I don't regret the music.

I do. I really see that we are playing to young kinds who love us like we are a brand new band. And people are really looking at us like they just discovered us. We're playing Me Against The World it's like a new song and we play stuff from the new album and they react like they know this songs for years. It's such a great thing for us.

I proposed some ideas to the record label for our 25th anniversary and they were not that interested. I said lets do a full vinyl release, and they said yeah, but everyone is doing this right now we have to wait in the line.. and then I came up with a few different other ideas....

I know, I want something special to celebrate these years properly but their ideas were so lame. And I said Forget it. Probably this is one more of my regrets.

We recorded 'Sweden Rock' and the two shows from 'Bang Your Head'. So, we have so much footage to choose from. I haven't even heard or seen any of that; once we see it all we'll figure out how we want to do with it. Festivals are different from the solo performances.

I love them both. But in a festival you have to get in perform and get out! It's a little bit crazy but if you think harder LIZZY BORDEN is a band for festivals. So, it is good to have some festivals in your tour. But we can also do clubs. It is different and sometimes there is little room for our show.

It is important. When I first put up the ad that I was looking musicians for the band I mentioned the term Theatrical Metal. This was (and still is) what I wanted. Take for example the song Psychopath; this was a song that was written for a thing that I did on-stage. So, I see music and show as a combination without separating on from the other.

Actually I like things planned because I have more opportunities to improvise. I can do so different things in the framework of our main show. I like that. When I first saw KISS I was so impressed from the choreography and the show flow but withing that there was also improvisation tha made thing even better. And that was the blueprint. One the other hand you have bands like NIRVANA that had no blueprint and unless you are John Lenon things will become boring. And I don't wan my shows to become boring!

The situation now is a little bit weird with the record company. They want us to do singles the way that BEATLES, Elvis and the people in the late 60s. You are doing a single and then a video until you have 12 songs and then have a full length album.

I don't know yet. Our touring schedule is so heavy that I haven't decided yet what I want to do.

No, I don't. I have to sit down and write. And you start writing new music that it's you can do anything else. It's all about that. I don't want to try follow up Appointment With Death that was the best reviewed record we did the last 25 years. But by doing singles we can put more work it and do something very good in the end. This is something that I am toying with; it's an idea that worked for Elvis and actually builds great enthusiasm but I don't know how it will work in the end.

I have the next two concepts in my mind. The one is just too big. It's a Master Of Disguise thing. It's bigger than I have the ability right now to do. So, it will have to wait. You know when I did Menace To Society I had already Deal With The Devil in my mind but I did it after ten years. When you are planning something that big you need bigger places to perform. Hey, we need a bigger place to play here in Greece. I think tomorrow [15/12/08] is a start! And that's the way we are looking on it. Just like we did in Spain, Germany and Belgium...

I just want to say that we are happy to be here [Greece] after 25 years even though this show was planned in such short notice. But I think it will work just fine!