Crazy lixx has put out two excellent albums in their relatively short career. But last year’s new religion made a big impression here at the rockpit and ended up with our coverted ‘album of the year 2010’ crown! New rockpit recruit tanya caught up with loke recently and here’s what he had to say!
TH: On behalf of the Rockpit, I want to thank you for taking the time to do this interview and Happy New Year to you.
LR: Yeah Happy New Year to you too, it’s no problem.
TH: Firstly, a real big CONGRATULATIONS for being our number 1 in our ‘Best Album of 2010’ poll on the Rockpit website: how do you feel about that?
LR: Yeah thank you, we are really excited about that, to be honest I’m quite surprised, not that I don’t think we deserve it or anything, but we’re not a very big band as such, there’s bigger and more obvious bands that could have got it, but yeah, really happy!
TH: I really love the sound of the band, when you guys first got together what were your intentions?
LR: I wasn’t in the band when they first got together but, I know that Crazy Lixx were formed at the time where you only had power metal or growl, those were your two options if you were into hard rock, and I know that Vic and Danny had some ideas about someone should do something else, this was about 2002/2003 and they listened a lot to old Skid Row and Guns and Roses, and they basically just said ‘lets do that’ and they did. They obviously have revolved from that sound a bit since then but that was their intentions, if you listen to the first two demos it sounds a lot like Skid Row, it sort of has that style.
TH: I have read that there has been tension in the past with previous band members, how do u guys relate to each other now?
LR: Ahh we’re fine, there hasn’t really been any tension since I joined the band, the big crisis they had was when they got rid of the old bass player and the old rhythm guitarist ‘cuz they ended up in a fist fight or what ever and they said they couldn’t keep them in the band no longer.
TH: Where did you draw the inspiration for the songs and who writes the majority of the songs?
LR: Danny writes the majority of the songs and Andy writes a fair share too and its really a question to them because I haven’t written anything [ laughs], obviously I contribute on the bass end, I draw inspiration from the songs themselves and obviously from other bass players too.
TH: There are some clear influences going on into the music of Crazy Lixx, but I wanted to know how this sound reflects each of the member’s musical taste. Do you all enjoy the same music styles or do you have different likes?
LR: No we all have different music styles, I guess we all converge into what we do, I think all of us like that style and that sound but that sort of posts in different directions for each one of us, I know Joey is into more like brutal metal, he used to be in a death metal band, and he is a really good death metal drummer as well, and I’m sort of into… I don’t even know what I’m into, hard rock, pop, rock, as long as its good.
TH: You have recently played Firefest in the UK, I bet that was an amazing festival, What are your thoughts of that festival?
LR: It’s great! I don’t know how big the venue was but we played a full house, together with Reckless Love and H.E.A.T. and I think we all put on great shows and the audience gave us a great reception, it was just over all nice and I had a really good time there, especially with the boys from H.E.A.T. we had a blast, so yeah it was all good, it was a good experience.
TH: Do you think there is a difference between European and UK gigs and audiences?
LR: Yes but not that particular one, we’ve played the UK before and its really hard to get a good crowd, especially if you’re not in London, I think the UK audiences are a bit spoilt with bands, they’ve got so many bands that they don’t really go out of their way to see a gig, that’s my experience anyway.
TH: Any funny stories you can share with us whilst on tour last year? Within moderation [laughs]
LR: [ Laughs] off the top of my head, erm, I fell asleep at the hotel room and I told the guys to wake me up and they didn’t, so I got 5 mins before the gig, two blocks away. [ laughs]
TH: You have released two albums now since the group has formed, how can you compare the two albums?
LR: Ah it’s like day and night, I’m really proud of both of them, after we recorded the first album, our intension was that we were either gonna do a better album or not release a second album at all, and it felt a bit hopeless because we were happy with the first one, we thought there was no way we were gonna top it, and then we did and now we are gonna have to do it again.
TH: Personally, my preference is definitely “New Religion” I absolutely love that album, I mean “Loud Minority” is really good don’t get me wrong…
LR: It’s a bit rough around the edges isn’t it? Its not quite there yet,
TH: Yeah but “New Religion” has just took by storm, its just absolutely fantastic, and Andy coming into the band made a real difference as well.
LR: Yeah, he’s a boost, he really is an amazing guitarist isn’t he?
TH: He certainly is!
TH: What is your favourite song from the “New Religion” Album and why? Please talk about that song and how it was created?
LR: It sort of comes and goes, I really like the “Witching Hour” because its just so energetic and so hard, and I love playing it ‘cuz my fingers cramp at the end, and it depends so much on the audience’s reaction and on that particular song, I think because its so far back on the album, people don’t really get into it when we play it live, you get it more obvious with other songs and that’s what really gets me going on stage, its not what I’m playing its what happens with the audience when I do, so whichever song gets the best reaction from the crowd, that is my favourite song to play.
TH: The album has an excellent hard rock sound with great tones, please say a little about the recording of “New Religion” where was it recorded and how long did it take?
LR: It was recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm by Chris Laney and it took two weeks of recording and two weeks of mix to finish it, but those were full intense weeks and we put in a lot of arse, especially the producer, I feel so sorry for him, but time wise it was fast and four weeks for an album isn’t much really is it?
TH: What records are you listening to now and who influences you?
LR: Who influences me, is mostly… bass wise I listen to a lot of Bon Jovi and Whitesnake, I love their bass players and at the moment I am listening to Jettblack, Bad City and Semi Precious Weapons quite a lot.
TH: If you could have been involved with the creation and recording of any album or piece of music what would it have been and why?
LR: The first thing that pops into my head is Deep Purple ‘Made in Japan’ ‘cuz its such a great album and such a high energy level live as well, all those sounds sound much better on the live album than they are on the studio versions, its ridiculous, yeah I think I’ll stick with that, it‘s a good choice!
TH: If you could create a cocktail to represent Crazy Lixx, what would it contain?
LR: Erm.. I dunno, one part ginger ale, one part gin sin and some smashed up wine, guess I would put quite a bit of Def Leppard in there, a little bit of Judas Priest some Motley Crue and maybe a bit Guns and Roses and some Whitesnake maybe.
TH: It would be one hell of a cocktail wouldn’t it?
LR: It would!.. I wish!
TH: What are Crazy Lixx plans for 2011?
LR: Well by the end of 2011 we hope to have the third album finished and if not released, ready for release, that’s our main strategy and other than that, probably not get as many gigs as we can, but maybe get as many GOOD gigs as we can,. We have got a plan on focussing writing new material now and not just doing gigs because we can, but just actually doing the gigs that we really want to do.
TH: We would love to get to see you guys play live in Perth Australia, How would you feel playing to fans the other side of the world?
LR: Oh that would be awesome! We’ve never been outside Europe so I think we need to widen our horizons and the Pacific is an area we would like to explore, I want to do Japan as well and obviously the West Coast of the United States would be really nice, actually, all of the United States, so yeah we need to get moving.
TH: I would love everyone reading this to run out and buy your albums, what can you say to encourage them?
LR: Do it! Do it now!! If people like the old kind of metal and the old kind of hard rock they should buy our album because that is what they would get, I think Danny has a really good model when he writes music, he says that there’s been so little good music written and released since 1991, so he just ignores everything that’s come after that and starts from there, not necessarily coping it but draws his inspirations from that period and tries to build on from there.
TH: A question we ask everyone, what is the meaning of life?
LR: 42… You have to know the question to know the answer and sadly I don’t know the question, it’s a reference to Douglas Adams [laughs]
TH: Finally there’s just one more question Paul from the Rockpit would like to ask you.
PH: As you are going back in to the studio to record some new material, have you got anything down as demo’s yet?
LR: There’s a couple of internal demos that we don’t even play on, Danny and Andy have recorded some new material and have done everything themselves, so yeah there is a couple of demos for songs, but not much to be honest.
PH: So if you got a big event coming up, would you be aiming to try and get into the Download Festival this year? Is it something you would like to do?
LR: Yeah we would love to do that, but to be honest with you I don’t really know how to approach it, we’ve never been in touch with Download but I got my suspicions that they are in the league with major companies, so I think you would have to be on a major company label.
TH: I would like to wish you guys all the best for the future and look forward to the new album coming out in the near future and hope to see you this side of the world sometime, any last words for us at the Rockpit?
LR: As always, book us and we will come!
TH: Thank you very much for your time Loke, bye
LR: Bye Rockpitters!
