About the band
Who is Lazlo Bane? (from the band’s Myspace Profile)
Lazlo Bane- Their Myspace Profile- Why, we are! We’re Chad, Chris, Tim, and Chicken; four old friends united by music and a love of Cheetos. We grew up together back on the east coast, where the dreams were fat and the wallets were skinny. The Bane started out in a garage (literally!). And like a lot of garage bands who survive more than a month or two, we quickly set our sights on the Holy Grail of pop music: THE PERFECT SONG (cue angels singing). Now we’re on a mission. Whenever we get together we sit down with pencils and paper to write the greatest, world-saving, relationship-reuniting, despair-preventing, put-a-smile-on-your-face-and-a-bounce-in-your-boots song ever! Sure, it usually doesn’t work out that way. But we like to think of our CDs as proof of the journey, which is always better than the final destination anyway, right? And, yes, if you want to be particular, we’re not on some big bogus record label. But that doesn’t mean we can’t rock out in your car stereo. Just think how cool you’ll be when your buddies hear the Bane for the first time and say, “Woah, dude. Who is THAT?” And you say, “THAT, dude, is Lazlo, and I DISCOVERED THEM!” So enjoy the tunes, spread the word, and drop us a line. We love hearing from you! LB
The Rage Biography (from the band’s CDbaby page)
Hewn from the mystical stone of Mt. Olympus, four Gods descended among mortals to preach the gospel of bone-crushing rock. Four studs, ready to mount and chase glory into Lucifer’s last ditch. Dino, Fuzzy, Licks, and Stixxx. Zeus alone gave them their awesome power and Zeus alone could take it away. But did he? Nay! And thus the foursome slayed fans and critics alike, shaming poseurs and shining a blazing light on the future of mankind. Let there be light. Let there be rock. Let there be rage.
The band’s history from Myspace blog
THE HISTORY OF LAZLO BANE
In the beginning, there was nothing (and it sucked!). Then, after billions of years, the dinosaurs, early civilizations, wars, Woodstock and the Jeffersons, there was Lazlo Bane.
But before the glory and the fury, and long before world domination, Lazlo was merely a splinter Chad Fischer’s drumstick. «I had been touring as a drummer with a band called School of Fish,» says Fischer. «And after a couple years we kind of stalled in Los Angeles. We had made this difficult record with this mean producer guy who wouldn’t let us play on our own record. Instead he hired so-called professionals. I never really got over that, so when we went our separate ways a few months later, I decided to stay in L.A. and build a recording studio. That way, I could record my own songs in my own studio and no mean producer could fire me.
11 TRANSISTOR
The result is 11 Transistor. Says Chad of his maiden voyage, «I had one bass, a cheap guitar, and a couple of old tube amplifiers. Most of the record was done on 16 tracks with very few effects. The idea was to work with as little as possible and make it sound the best it could, just like those old transistor radios. All the songwriting was done on an acoustic guitar into a little dictaphone. The melodies had to work, and every song had to pass the dictaphone test before I’d record it. I’m proud of it. It’s my first baby.
THE BAND
But with his baby now all swaddled up and looking good, Chad realized he didn’t want to be a single parent. In fact, he needed a team of parents to love and nurture the little tyke. That team was Lazlo Bane. Chris Link was immediately recruited to play the low bits, Chicken (AKA Dino) mapped out the beats, Tim Bright strummed his Strat-O-Caster, and Chad traded his sticks for a microphone and some velvet swatches. The Bane was born and soon took to the road like a touring tornado. From rodeos to rock clubs, from Topas bars to topless shanties, from pool parties to panty raids, Lazlo dished out their own brand of fun. «People tried to resist it,» says Chris. «They’d give you that look, like ‘No, I’m not going to like it.’ But by the middle of the set they were back at you with a look that said ‘Hey! Remember me? I do like it after all! I do like it!»
Then came the video for their first single, Overkill, featuring Men at Work’s very own Colin Hay. The darn thing got so much play on MTV2 it made 1997’s top ten of the year! The Bane’s relationship with the man from down under continues to this day. Chad has co-written and produced several tracks for Colin and can sometimes even been seen thrashing on the drums during his live show.
ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
Now firmly established as a band, Chris, Tim, Chad, and Chicken (AKA Dino) returned to Los Angeles to make the record that would eventually become the benchmark for all musical endeavors going forward. Says Chad, «All the Time in the World is the product of more than two years of constant song writing. From the start, we wanted to make a great record. Something you would listen to over and over, from beginning to end, and then you’d use the shuffle feature on your CD player.» «We probably recorded more than 30 songs over the course of those two years,» adds Chris. «Each time we wrote a song we thought was going to make the record, the bar was raised higher. So the next song would have to be even better. By the end, we’d trash 10 ideas before we found one we liked.»
Stylistically, All the Time in the World runs the gamut, from polished pop ditties to raging rockers and mournful dirges. «We don’t want to be the kind of band that makes the same statement twice,» says Tim through an interpreter, and adds, «We don’t want to be the kind of band that makes the same statement twice.» In contrast to 11 Transistor’s guitar-heavy stylings, the songs on All the Time in the World feature pianos, violins, and saxophones as well as the tried and true guitar, bass and drum rhythm section. And there’s plenty of chirping,» says Chad. «It’s the focal point of the record.»
BACK SIDES
After recording All the Time in the World, the fellers wondered what to do with all the songs that didn’t make it on to the record but that ruled just the same. The answer: Backsides (originally titled, Lazlo: the Glory and the Fury, Parts I and II). «Every song on Backsides was at one time or another in the running for inclusion in All the Time in the World,» says Chris. «We have a real soft spot in our hearts for these songs because they’re so pure.» Adds Chicken (AKA Dino), «These are the kind of songs the record people would shake their heads at; songs that don’t follow the commercial format exactly. But they rule!»
Scrubs! (on NBC)
In 2001, the band was paid its highest compliment when Zach Braff from the cast of Scrubs asked if the show could use Superman (from All the Time in the World) as its theme song. As Chad remembers it, «At first I said, ‘Over my dead body, bitch! The Bane will never, ever sell out to those corporate whores! We would rather die in cold dirty ditches than pimp our masterpiece to the corporate machine!’ But Zach had been a Lazlo fan for a while, and he had all the cool Lazlo Bane T-shirts and hats. So then I said, ‘You bet!’ Zach pushed to get the song on the show, and we were thrilled.» Says Chris, «The song is our way of saying there are certain things in life that are more important that the fast-paced job and the race for achievement that everybody gets caught up in from time to time things like a bag of crunchy Cheetos on the ride home from seeing your buds. Or, cranking your favorite song in the car and wondering how loud it is for the people outside. And that seems to be what the show is all about.»
LAZLO BANE’s ALTER EGO: THE (SILENT) RAGE
When Lazlo Bane get’s tired of writing pop tunes to change the world, they switch instruments, thrown on some wigs and throw down the gauntlet of ROCK with what has been described as AC/DC meets…AC/DC.