{"id":10952,"date":"2013-03-08T05:10:12","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T10:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=10952"},"modified":"2013-03-08T08:35:12","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T13:35:12","slug":"blowin-wind-with-steve-blaze-of-lillian-axe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=10952","title":{"rendered":"Blowin\u2019 Wind with Steve Blaze of Lillian Axe: \u201cFans relate your music to a time in their life and they have such a connection with it that they don\u2019t want change.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?attachment_id=10961\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10961\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10961\" alt=\"Steve_15\" src=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Steve_15-240x300.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>If you were a teenager at any point in the 80s and living in the muggy Crescent City New Orleans, you remember Lillian Axe. In my memory, Lillian Axe was the biggest and best hard rock band in New Orleans. Whether they were playing my school gym or playing an arena opening for Ratt, you could always count on Lillian Axe delivering a high energy, high quality fun performance.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Nearly 30 years and numerous lineup changes, lead guitarist\/songwriter Steve Blaze is still leading Lillian Axe on his endless call to continue bringing the bands hardcore fan base new music. Lillian Axe\u2019s latest release The Days Before Tomorrow is a testament that Blaze and The Axe are far from out of ideas. I recently had a chance to talk to guitarist Steve Blaze and it was like talking to an old friend even though the two of us have never really met. We reminisced on the days of old, talked about the band\u2019s latest album, and his current band Circle of Light featuring the original incarnation of Lillian Axe. Sit back and enjoy y\u2019all.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Steve, thanks for taking the time to talk to me today. As a long time Axe fan, it\u2019s great to finally interview you for my site. How are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thanks Don. Man, I\u2019m doing really well thank you. Can you hear me ok? I\u2019m actually in my car right now and I\u2019ve got you on Bluetooth.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I can hear ya just fine brother. Look at you all high tech and shit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] I\u2019m telling ya. I really appreciate you having me do this brother.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?attachment_id=10963\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10963\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10963\" alt=\"Lillian+Axe+lillianaxe2\" src=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lillian+Axe+lillianaxe2-300x300.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Steve, I just wanted to start out by saying I\u2019ve been a long time Lillian Axe fan. I grew up in Metairie so I saw you guys quite a few times at St. Christopher\u2019s school gym so I\u2019m totally dating myself here.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Nice. I remember those days very well.<\/p>\n<p>==============================<\/p>\n<p><strong>The last time I saw Lillian Axe was at the Masquerade here in Atlanta on the Psychoschizophrenia tour.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh wow. That was a great venue. Is that place still open?<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>It sure is man. It\u2019s one of the longest standing rock clubs in the Southeast I think.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That is awesome. That was a really cool place to play.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Congrats on being inducted in the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame by the way. That must have felt really good to finally be recognized as a staple of the New Orleans music scene.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thanks brother. Rock music is pretty much a bastard child in New Orleans so when were inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame last year, it was almost like some retribution for us. The problem was that the city itself and the entertainment media didn\u2019t support hard rock and still don\u2019t to this day. There were and still are a lot of great rock bands around here especially in that time period but they just didn\u2019t get the support. We were finally getting recognized because we never really had that on a larger scale like I felt it should\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w9uhLUlwhTo\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>Let\u2019s go back a ways Steve. The metal scene in New Orleans seemed really strong at the time. We had bands like Victorian Blitz, Dark August, Razor White, Lillian Axe, Hagan just to name a few. Was there a reason why all those great bands weren\u2019t flocking to LA like everyone else with dreams of stardom?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well first off, at that time as you recall there were so many venues to play. We had literally a rock club in every city like Thibodaux, Houma, Lafyette, Shreveport, and Monroe. You could do a different venue every night for five days a week and you wouldn\u2019t play the same place for two months. It was really thriving. We really did have our own little scene that just kind of spread out. It was virtually impossible for a band to just pack up and go live out in LA. We knew that we didn\u2019t have to do that in order to get recognized and get a record deal so we just cultivated our market as much as we could.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>As a young guy growing up in New Orleans, Lillian Axe was a big inspiration to me as a musician to not feel that going to California was the answer to pursuing that dream. I remember those years being really exciting for a young kid in New Orleans where LA was a universe away.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thanks brother. You know, it was exciting for us because at that time hard rock was just starting to get some radio play and bands like Motley Crue and Ratt were starting to open things up. We would go play Houma, LA on a Tuesday night and have like 500 people there. Now you can play a club on a Saturday night and draw 200 people. It\u2019s a real shame how society has become so numbed out to the rock music scenes on our planet. It was exciting back then though because it was new. People weren\u2019t spoiled back then. They didn\u2019t have the ability to sit on the internet all day long and look at concerts on the internet. It was a great time and it\u2019s a shame that things have changed and kids don\u2019t know what they\u2019re missing out on.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019m telling you Steve. I was lucky to not only remember seeing the scene when it was like that but I was a part of it in a few different bands. What do you think it was that killed local scenes all over the country it seems.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, it\u2019s bigger than just killing the local scenes. The national scene was killed to. Look at bands as big as Rush and Def Leppard and even those guys aren\u2019t selling out arenas any more. I mean, they\u2019re doing great for the times but even some of these huge multiplatinum acts aren\u2019t filling arenas any more. It\u2019s a rarity. The entertainment scene itself is just terribly expensive these days. I mean, I don\u2019t want to go pay $150.00 a ticket to go see Van Halen or Kiss or anyone. It\u2019s ridiculously over priced, the economy is tough, and people just don\u2019t have the money. You also don\u2019t have the level of media support anymore. Radio and TV just don\u2019t support it. Back in the day, I was doing radio interviews all the time as an unsigned artist. Do you even hear interviews with bands on the radio at all anymore unless it\u2019s internet radio? The whole entertainment industry needs a complete enema and it needs to be flushed out. There just needs to be a change.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What changes do you feel need to be made?<a href=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?attachment_id=10964\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10964\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-10964\" alt=\"lilian1\" src=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/lilian1-300x230.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We need to quit having free downloads and the industry isn\u2019t doing anything to keep it from happening. We spend money making records and it is so difficult to get recouped. It\u2019s like we\u2019re giving this stuff away and people don\u2019t realize how much it costs for us to make it. It\u2019s hard to keep the clubs open because people aren\u2019t going out to see live music like they used to. All they have to do is pop it up on YouTube or something. It\u2019s terrible. It hasn\u2019t deterred us but we just have to be smart about what we do. We\u2019re all smart enough to be involved in other entrepreneurial things in our lives so that we don\u2019t have to rely on music as our only source of income. It\u2019s very difficult out there for everybody. It\u2019s rough but we do it because we love it. That\u2019s why Lillian Axe has been around for so long.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Back in 1987 I saw Lillian Axe open for RATT and at 14 years old I remember being so impressed by that. How did you Lillian Axe end up as an arena opening act without even having a demo out?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We were a very big draw all throughout the South and we were doing really well. There were some promoters who were doing 5 shows down here and I guess the ticket sales were not what they wanted so they added us to the shows to increase sales and that\u2019s how we got hooked up with our first manager who got us our first record deal.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fdguUKnWTvs\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>The debut album was released in 1988 and I was so surprised to see that the there was a whole different line up than the one I knew but it was a much stronger lineup in my opinion. What lead to you and Danny King pretty much revamping the lineup for that deal with three guys from the Texas band Stiff?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, what happened was MCA records wanted to sign the band. We were playing in Dallas and they sent out five of their people to see the band play. We met with them and then later I got a call from the guy who was going to manage us and he said, \u201cHey, MCA only wants to sign you. They don\u2019t want to sign the rest of the band.\u201d We had been having some issues within the band. Some of the guys were going through some stuff and since I wrote the songs and owned the name, they wanted to just form a whole new band around me. I went to bat for the guys but at the end of the day, they were like, \u201cWe\u2019re not going sign you unless you make the move.\u201d We were going through some difficulties at the time and I felt like the band could even be broken up in three or four months and I didn\u2019t want to miss out on that opportunity. I kept Danny (King), our drummer, and then reformed the band with Ron Taylor, Jon Ster, and Rob Stratton. It was a tough time but 20 something years later I\u2019ve reunited with Johnny Vines, Mike Maxx, and Danny King to form Circle of Light. We just released our album Rebirth a few months ago and we\u2019re out doing shows and playing songs from that era of Lillian Axe that never made it to any of the albums.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I have the Circle of Light album and I have to say that I loved hearing all of those old classic Lillian Axe songs done by the original lineup. How did this come to be and what was it like reuniting with your old friends?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First off, Danny stayed with us through the Love and War album. After two albums it just wasn\u2019t working out so he took off in 1990. Through the years I would see Michael or run into Johnny here and there but we never really stayed in touch. There was some anger and resentment but I understood it. Lillian Axe did a show in Houston once and Johnny\u2019s band Logan actually opened up for us. He got up on stage and sane \u201cMisery Loves Company\u201d with us and we had a good time. Me and my wife ended up going back up there to spend the weekend with Johnny and his wife and we reunited friendship wise.<br \/>\nWe were talking and I just said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we just reform the original band, call it Circle of Light after our song of the same title, and just go in and do a record of some of those old Lillian Axe songs that never made it to record. Johnny thought it was a great idea and we contacted the other guys. They were cautious at first and not quite sure but we got together and it felt like we hadn\u2019t skipped a beat. We jammed on songs that we hadn\u2019t played together in 20 something years and it just went amazing. Over the course of the next year we did some shows, rehearsed, and then went in and recorded them. We\u2019re all good friends again and it\u2019s been great. It\u2019s been full circle.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>It was so great to hear those songs done and they really have stood the test of time. I had a bunch of those songs on a cassette tape that circulated around New Orleans in the \u201880s until it got eaten by my tape deck.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Yeah, there are a lot of demos floating around even to this day. I met this guy in Cleveland who had a whole plethora of demos and there were songs on there that I didn\u2019t even remember doing [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why didn\u2019t you guys record \u201cAxe Attack\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Oh man. Ya know, to be honest, that was kind of our phrase and our motto and everything but I just felt that some of those songs were a little too cheesy, a little bit dated so we\u2019ll just let that one be a demo [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I still remember that I had this Lillian Axe shirt when I was in Catholic grammar school and I used to wear it under my uniform and a buddy of mine would always come to me and go, \u201cAXE ATTACK BRAH!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] That\u2019s funny man [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?attachment_id=10965\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10965\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10965\" alt=\"lillian_axe_small\" src=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/lillian_axe_small-300x224.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" \/><\/a>In the mid\/late 90\u2019s, Lillian Axe took a hiatus and came back with Fields of Yesterday which was stellar. Long time singer Ron Taylor departed not long after that. What led to Ron\u2019s departure and the complete change in the Lillian Axe lineup?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, in 1996 when we took a break, I feel like there were a bunch of different factors. With Psychoschizophrenia my writing was really starting to blossom and I was finding who I am as a songwriter. I was writing some darker stuff, longer songs with more intricacies and things like that and getting away from that style that the other guys liked which was a little more commercially formatted. I was really getting into writing songs more like \u201cGhost of Winter\u201d, \u201cWaiting in the Dark\u201d, and things like that. The more serious side of what I wanted to write about and I think the other guys kind of wanted to be the next Stone Temple Pilots. I think that was part of the reason that everyone wanted to go off and do other projects and give Lillian Axe a rest for a while. I was probably the biggest proponent of that and that\u2019s when I started Near Life Experience. After a few years, we started talking about doing a reunion show and we did a show in Dallas and we had a great show and decided to just work the band back together. We then did the live album and felt like we were crawling back to where we wanted to be. We had a couple of changes. Sam Poitevent came in and replaced Jon (Ster; guitarist) who was having some serious personal issues and Ken Koudelka replaced Tommy Stewart (drummer) who went on to do Godsmack. We went out and started doing shows and after the live album we wanted to start working on a new studio album and Ron just didn\u2019t want to do it. I don\u2019t think Ron wants to go through the hectic nature of this business anymore. He wants to stay home, make music, and play locally and that\u2019s good for him. It was a shame because he and I really had a great chemistry and we did a lot of great things together. People don\u2019t understand that there\u2019s a lot more to it that just going out there and doing it. He just didn\u2019t have it in his heart anymore.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I know that \u201cLove &amp; War\u201d gets a lot of praise but as a long time Lillian Axe fan, I always felt that Psychoschizophrenia was a jewel of an album and I feel that is some of your best writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I agree with you that Psychoschizophrenia was a turning point for me as a songwriter. Before our newest album, I thought that Psychoschizophrenia was our best piece. I mean, I love Waters Rising and Sad Day on Planet Earth but I just feel that there was a certain magic to Psychoschizophrenia. After Poetic Justice and they told us to get in there and do another record. The record company bought me a recording studio for my house and something just clicked with me. The writing for that album was like the flood gates opened. My creativity and my ideas and the melodies came so easily and it was a new phase that I had never experienced before. From that point on it\u2019s been my compass into how I work right now. That came back to me when I was doing Days Before Tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Steve, I\u2019ll be honest. I was very apprehensive about listening to the latest album and I didn\u2019t do so until I scheduled this interview with you. Talk about being blown away. This is probably my favorite album since Psychoschizophrenia. What a great record and it\u2019s almost progressive at times. Do you hear this a lot from long time Axe fans?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I hear this from tons of people. A lot of times, I get angry at first when people are like, \u201cAw man, you got another singer. I\u2019m not going to like this.\u201d Then I\u2019m like, \u201cWait a minute. I\u2019m still writing the songs and it\u2019s still the same band. Give me a break [laughs]. Then I start to try and see it through their eyes. The fans are going to be apprehensive because they don\u2019t want you to come in and have another singer. When we chose Brian to be our singer, we knew we were going to get critiques and criticisms no matter what. The guy could have the voice of an angel and people still won\u2019t like it. Fans relate your music to a time in their life and they have such a connection with it that they don\u2019t want change. 95% came out saying that they didn\u2019t know what to expect but that they were blown away.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Change, especially when changing vocalists, is a tough thing for fans to swallow.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Everybody is going to be apprehensive when you make a change like that. I hear some people saying that they don\u2019t like the change and to bring back so and so. Well, that ain\u2019t going to happen. When Derek and Ron left the band that was their choice. They didn\u2019t get fired or get asked to leave. They quit and walked away. I would think that your support would be with the band and with me, the guy who is still there and is going to make music for you instead of closing up show and calling it a day. That would be unfair to the fans for me to put to rest just because the singer leaves. That is my dedication to our fan base and I will continue to make the best music I can.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Steve, I\u2019m so glad to hear this and I am with you man. I\u2019m glad you\u2019ll keep bringing us new Lillian Axe music for as long as you can. Let\u2019s lighten things up a bit here brah! Question: If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh man [laughs]. I think it would be Brad Pitt [laughs]. Not for reason that he would make me look good or anything like that. I like the guy as an actor and when I\u2019ve seen how he acts in movies like \u201cLegends of the Fall\u201d and \u201cInterview with a Vampire\u201d, he is able to really capture this kind of inner sadness and where he\u2019s kind of introverted. That really epitomizes a lot of how I am. I wear my heart on my sleeve and he\u2019s an actor who can portray those kinds of internal dilemmas that I go through.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finish this phrase Steve: If I wasn\u2019t a musician I would be\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An actor [laughs]. You know how it is. All musicians want to be actors and all actors want to be musicians [laughs]. I kind of fall into that category and I\u2019d love to be an actor. I\u2019ve always wanted to be in movies. Eric the bassist and I even did a low budget vampire movie that you can see on YouTube called Slayer Zed and the City of the Dead. We spent a year in pre production and had a $400,000 budget. We had a cast and everything and were ready to start filming and then Hurricane Katrina came and destroyed everything.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Steve, thank you so much man. I\u2019m bummed that I don\u2019t get to see any Circle of Light shows.<\/strong><br \/>\nMan, we\u2019re going to be doing more shows. Do you ever come down here at all?<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I was just there with my mother visiting my uncles in the Parish. Had a kick ass shrimp po-boy, some beignets, and some king cake. Filled my belly with the food of my homeland brah!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] That\u2019s awesome man. Next time you\u2019re here let me know.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>And last but not least, there any more plans to tour? I haven\u2019t seen a Lillian Axe show if fucking years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Well, we just found out that we\u2019re going out in April with Dio\u2019s Disciples and Geoff Tate. That is supposed to be all major markets so hopefully we\u2019ll be in your area and coming to Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>============================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>That sounds like that will be a kick ass tour and I hope it comes my way. Steve, thanks so much for doing this interview today man. This was great and it was like talking to an old friend. I feel like I\u2019ve known you for 25 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well you have [laughs]. It\u2019s been great brother. I really appreciate you and please keep in touch anytime and let me know when you\u2019re coming down here. Hopefully we\u2019ll be in Atlanta on the tour and we\u2019ll definitely hook up brother.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thanks so much to Steve for this really fun interview.\u00a0 For more on Lillian Axe, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lillianaxe.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.lillianaxe.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you were a teenager at any point in the 80s and living in the muggy Crescent City New Orleans, you remember Lillian Axe. In my memory, Lillian Axe was the biggest and best hard rock band in New Orleans. Whether they were playing my school gym or playing an arena opening for Ratt, you could always count on Lillian Axe delivering a high energy, high quality fun performance. Nearly 30 years and numerous lineup changes, lead guitarist\/songwriter Steve Blaze [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[239,902,895],"class_list":["post-10952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-lillian-axe","tag-near-life-experience","tag-steve-blaze"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}