Jeff Paulick - Lazarus A.D.
Lazarus A.D. have trekked that long metal trail to the middle and they are about to break through to the top. Black Rivers Flow has been unleashed upon the public and it is a monster. Jeff Paulick, the groove heavy bassist, took the time to give Exiles readers the inside of what made this record and band what it is.
An interview with Jeff Paulick of Lazarus A.D.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: I thought Thrash was dead in the water at one point. What do you think has brought it back?
Jeff Paulick: There are a bunch of great bands coming out right now and if you want to call it thrash that’s cool, we are just trying to write some cool songs.
Metal Exiles: There is an element in your music that takes me back and to me it reminds me of thrash, people can call it what they want but I grew up with Slayer and Megadeth etc and that’s what your music reminds me of..
Jeff: Its cool to meet people who grew up around that music where as we didn’t. We grew up in the early 2000’s with Killswitch, Shadows Fall and Lamb Of God. I like that stuff but it is the metal from Metallica, Pantera so if what we write takes someone back, awesome, but we want to move forward and hopefully we can gets some of the young kids into it as well.
Metal Exiles: For those who are not yet familiar with Lazarus AD, give us an insight to the formation.
Jeff: Dan Gapen and I were in a band before but that broke up as we were playing a European style of Death Metal and we were just sick of what we were playing. Also there was a lot of hardcore bands playing and the kids having just that to listen to so we wanted to show them what we liked. That is how Lazarus formed, because we just wanted to play fast, heavy songs which is how we came up with The Onslaught. Following up The Onslaught we wanted to diversify it a lot to show people we can play more than just 350 beats per minute, that we can inject melody into our songs, play creative solos, change the tempo and still play heavy music. It has been a great evolution, a real chemistry and we also have the goal to be the biggest band in heavy music.
Metal Exiles: I have been in this business for a long time and sometimes it is if bands appear out of nowhere. Lazarus I know has been slogging it out for awhile. Give us some insight on paying your dues.
Jeff: We are still paying our dues even though we are signed and since we were signed it seems harder now. We had a real focus in the beginning, we knew we had a real talent under our belt and also we had a corner of Wisconsin to ourselves. We knew we had a goal and we worked very hard to get there and we had the support from our families. Now that we are signed we are doing the same thing all over again just in a bigger arena. Now we are swimming with the bigger fish in a giant ocean now trying to become one of the bigger fish.
Metal Exiles: You guys have to be standing out on the tours that you are doing.
Jeff: We are but that does not always turn into record sales and ultimately that is what this business is based on unfortunately. There are a lot of promoters and agents, a lot of stuff on the political side of things and because we do not sell enough records yet they will not touch us. I do believe we have the pieces in place to become one of the biggest bands in metal, we just have to keep hammering it out and growing our fan base. I know on this Death Angel tour alone we are seeing our fan base come out and it has grown since we toured with Testament. We are hoping we can hook up with some other bands, some other genres so maybe we can delve into the rock world so we can show some people who might not be into this stuff what we are like. We can cross over into that world, we just want to play to as many people as possible, we can go out in front of anybody because we are confident in what we do.
Metal Exiles: It sounds like the early 80’s all over again when glam was hot and bands like Metallica, Anthrax and Overkill were coming out and trying to steal the attention to their brand of metal.
Jeff: It’s like today when you have fans that just pay attention like Five Finger, Hinder: that whole scene an you have the Hot topic type scene but there is a Whole other world with great music that has yet to be discovered by the fans and it’s not really their fault. We are on lower profile tours and it’s not getting out to the masses, it is just going to take a lot of hard work to get our name out there.
Metal Exiles: The Onslaught was a great piece of metal and even though you wrote it in High School do you think it still stands up in your opinion?
Jeff: I love playing those songs live. That record was a moment in time and only could be written in that moment in time. I could not write that record again if I tried. We were 17; we were pissed off, still worrying about our homework over the weekend. Now we tour, we have seen the world and we have a totally different mentality we as we are in the big picture now. I still love that record, I am glad it got to be remixed to give it the proper sound that we had in mind.
Metal Exiles: When you wrote the new record, Black Rivers Flow, did you know the direction that you wanted to go in?
Jeff: The only thing that I know that we knew is that we wanted to try something different in the vocal department. We did not know where it was going to go or how the songs were going to turn out. Obviously we wanted to diversify the drums somewhat, we wanted it to have more groove because we are huge Pantera heads. We knew we wanted the solos to be better, to do more than just shredding, we wanted to have more tasteful licks, just give the song more character. Some songs were written on the spot, some were worked out. See, we have a very interesting song writing process. I am not sure how other bands do it but we are very tedious, very hard on ourselves. We are not afraid to tell the other that that is a terrible song, get it out of here. Go join a third rate cover band if you are going to write shit like that. We have been together so long we are not afraid of each other, we say what we feel but we can still get back to the table with each other.
Metal Exiles: That attitude is needed because once you lose it you start writing shitty records.
Jeff: Once you are not starving, everything goes down the shitter. Once you have millions of dollars then you just go through the motions to go out on tour. You are not writing records with the same passion, you just go back out on tour and just play the good shit. It happens after you make the big money and since we are not making any money so I think we will continue write great records.
Metal Exiles: When you write your records do you feel you should have a message or do you want the fans to be lost in the Lazarus reality for awhile?
Jeff: It is a little bit of both, when I write my lyrics I do not like to come right out and say everything out front unlike Pantera who just said exactly what they felt at the time. I like the fan to focus more on the music than what I am saying, I do not think I am a great lyricist by any means and I know that lyrics are a very important part of songs but I like the fan to focus more on the other side. The lyrics are written last and the vocal lines are done after all of the music is completed. If you want to get into the message we are sending cool but it is going to be a bunch of pissed off attitudes which is pretty much where we are at. We are starving, we are angry and trying to make it to the top and we are trying to write aggressive music. Usually when you do that it is coupled with aggressive lyrics.
Metal Exiles: That is fine because it seems as if a lot of bands are preaching the same thing so it is good to have something pile drive your eardrums. You made the comment about vocals lines and I know you wanted to make the vocal lines between Dan and yourself more seamless. How did you make two distinct singers work together?
Jeff: That is just Dan and I being ourselves. He is a great vocalist and even though he only had a few parts on the last record. I wanted to step up my vocals on this record, I wanted to show the world I could do more than scream in a monotonous tone. When it came down to it Dan and I had such a great chemistry that it worked seamlessly. There was a sold out show where the kids were going crazy and someone knocked my mic stand off the stage and Dan, without missing a beat, jumped in and started singing my parts. You cannot teach someone that, it just comes from being together for so long.
Metal Exiles: You guys have worked with James Murphy on your records. What has he brought to them that would not have been there otherwise?
Jeff: At the end of the day the guy is a mastermind behind the board and I think that production is an important part of what we are about. Had we not had that incredible production the record would not be the same. Take the production of Far Beyond Driven, the production made it that much heavier. We use the term hammer smashing face, like the hammers are just crushing you. James remixed the first record and made it sound great but what he did with Black Rivers Flow was amazing. He nailed our guitar tones, the drums sounded great and the production was crisp, we are modern guys when it comes to that.
Metal Exiles: Your record is heavy but it has tone, there is no sludge. How do you avoid that in the production side?
Jeff: That has to do with the classic rock influence. We can just jam on a groove and it all pops through and even though we want the Devildriver/Lamb Of God heaviness but we want the melody that gets stuck in their head. Some heavy bands try to inject melody into their music and it just does not work for them. It is something that we are still learning how to do and as the years go on we will get better at it.
Lazarus A.D. are one of the top up and coming bands and Black Rivers Flow is all the proof you need.
Official Lazarus A.D. SITE
BUY BLACK RIVERS FLOW!!
An interview with Jeff Paulick of Lazarus A.D.
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: I thought Thrash was dead in the water at one point. What do you think has brought it back?
Jeff Paulick: There are a bunch of great bands coming out right now and if you want to call it thrash that’s cool, we are just trying to write some cool songs.
Metal Exiles: There is an element in your music that takes me back and to me it reminds me of thrash, people can call it what they want but I grew up with Slayer and Megadeth etc and that’s what your music reminds me of..
Jeff: Its cool to meet people who grew up around that music where as we didn’t. We grew up in the early 2000’s with Killswitch, Shadows Fall and Lamb Of God. I like that stuff but it is the metal from Metallica, Pantera so if what we write takes someone back, awesome, but we want to move forward and hopefully we can gets some of the young kids into it as well.
Metal Exiles: For those who are not yet familiar with Lazarus AD, give us an insight to the formation.
Jeff: Dan Gapen and I were in a band before but that broke up as we were playing a European style of Death Metal and we were just sick of what we were playing. Also there was a lot of hardcore bands playing and the kids having just that to listen to so we wanted to show them what we liked. That is how Lazarus formed, because we just wanted to play fast, heavy songs which is how we came up with The Onslaught. Following up The Onslaught we wanted to diversify it a lot to show people we can play more than just 350 beats per minute, that we can inject melody into our songs, play creative solos, change the tempo and still play heavy music. It has been a great evolution, a real chemistry and we also have the goal to be the biggest band in heavy music.
Metal Exiles: I have been in this business for a long time and sometimes it is if bands appear out of nowhere. Lazarus I know has been slogging it out for awhile. Give us some insight on paying your dues.
Jeff: We are still paying our dues even though we are signed and since we were signed it seems harder now. We had a real focus in the beginning, we knew we had a real talent under our belt and also we had a corner of Wisconsin to ourselves. We knew we had a goal and we worked very hard to get there and we had the support from our families. Now that we are signed we are doing the same thing all over again just in a bigger arena. Now we are swimming with the bigger fish in a giant ocean now trying to become one of the bigger fish.
Metal Exiles: You guys have to be standing out on the tours that you are doing.
Jeff: We are but that does not always turn into record sales and ultimately that is what this business is based on unfortunately. There are a lot of promoters and agents, a lot of stuff on the political side of things and because we do not sell enough records yet they will not touch us. I do believe we have the pieces in place to become one of the biggest bands in metal, we just have to keep hammering it out and growing our fan base. I know on this Death Angel tour alone we are seeing our fan base come out and it has grown since we toured with Testament. We are hoping we can hook up with some other bands, some other genres so maybe we can delve into the rock world so we can show some people who might not be into this stuff what we are like. We can cross over into that world, we just want to play to as many people as possible, we can go out in front of anybody because we are confident in what we do.
Metal Exiles: It sounds like the early 80’s all over again when glam was hot and bands like Metallica, Anthrax and Overkill were coming out and trying to steal the attention to their brand of metal.
Jeff: It’s like today when you have fans that just pay attention like Five Finger, Hinder: that whole scene an you have the Hot topic type scene but there is a Whole other world with great music that has yet to be discovered by the fans and it’s not really their fault. We are on lower profile tours and it’s not getting out to the masses, it is just going to take a lot of hard work to get our name out there.
Metal Exiles: The Onslaught was a great piece of metal and even though you wrote it in High School do you think it still stands up in your opinion?
Jeff: I love playing those songs live. That record was a moment in time and only could be written in that moment in time. I could not write that record again if I tried. We were 17; we were pissed off, still worrying about our homework over the weekend. Now we tour, we have seen the world and we have a totally different mentality we as we are in the big picture now. I still love that record, I am glad it got to be remixed to give it the proper sound that we had in mind.
Metal Exiles: When you wrote the new record, Black Rivers Flow, did you know the direction that you wanted to go in?
Jeff: The only thing that I know that we knew is that we wanted to try something different in the vocal department. We did not know where it was going to go or how the songs were going to turn out. Obviously we wanted to diversify the drums somewhat, we wanted it to have more groove because we are huge Pantera heads. We knew we wanted the solos to be better, to do more than just shredding, we wanted to have more tasteful licks, just give the song more character. Some songs were written on the spot, some were worked out. See, we have a very interesting song writing process. I am not sure how other bands do it but we are very tedious, very hard on ourselves. We are not afraid to tell the other that that is a terrible song, get it out of here. Go join a third rate cover band if you are going to write shit like that. We have been together so long we are not afraid of each other, we say what we feel but we can still get back to the table with each other.
Metal Exiles: That attitude is needed because once you lose it you start writing shitty records.
Jeff: Once you are not starving, everything goes down the shitter. Once you have millions of dollars then you just go through the motions to go out on tour. You are not writing records with the same passion, you just go back out on tour and just play the good shit. It happens after you make the big money and since we are not making any money so I think we will continue write great records.
Metal Exiles: When you write your records do you feel you should have a message or do you want the fans to be lost in the Lazarus reality for awhile?
Jeff: It is a little bit of both, when I write my lyrics I do not like to come right out and say everything out front unlike Pantera who just said exactly what they felt at the time. I like the fan to focus more on the music than what I am saying, I do not think I am a great lyricist by any means and I know that lyrics are a very important part of songs but I like the fan to focus more on the other side. The lyrics are written last and the vocal lines are done after all of the music is completed. If you want to get into the message we are sending cool but it is going to be a bunch of pissed off attitudes which is pretty much where we are at. We are starving, we are angry and trying to make it to the top and we are trying to write aggressive music. Usually when you do that it is coupled with aggressive lyrics.
Metal Exiles: That is fine because it seems as if a lot of bands are preaching the same thing so it is good to have something pile drive your eardrums. You made the comment about vocals lines and I know you wanted to make the vocal lines between Dan and yourself more seamless. How did you make two distinct singers work together?
Jeff: That is just Dan and I being ourselves. He is a great vocalist and even though he only had a few parts on the last record. I wanted to step up my vocals on this record, I wanted to show the world I could do more than scream in a monotonous tone. When it came down to it Dan and I had such a great chemistry that it worked seamlessly. There was a sold out show where the kids were going crazy and someone knocked my mic stand off the stage and Dan, without missing a beat, jumped in and started singing my parts. You cannot teach someone that, it just comes from being together for so long.
Metal Exiles: You guys have worked with James Murphy on your records. What has he brought to them that would not have been there otherwise?
Jeff: At the end of the day the guy is a mastermind behind the board and I think that production is an important part of what we are about. Had we not had that incredible production the record would not be the same. Take the production of Far Beyond Driven, the production made it that much heavier. We use the term hammer smashing face, like the hammers are just crushing you. James remixed the first record and made it sound great but what he did with Black Rivers Flow was amazing. He nailed our guitar tones, the drums sounded great and the production was crisp, we are modern guys when it comes to that.
Metal Exiles: Your record is heavy but it has tone, there is no sludge. How do you avoid that in the production side?
Jeff: That has to do with the classic rock influence. We can just jam on a groove and it all pops through and even though we want the Devildriver/Lamb Of God heaviness but we want the melody that gets stuck in their head. Some heavy bands try to inject melody into their music and it just does not work for them. It is something that we are still learning how to do and as the years go on we will get better at it.
Lazarus A.D. are one of the top up and coming bands and Black Rivers Flow is all the proof you need.
Official Lazarus A.D. SITE
BUY BLACK RIVERS FLOW!!
