Steve Blaze (Lillian Axe guitarist)

Steve Blaze is the guitarist, songwriter & founding member of the band Lillian Axe. The band burst on the scene in 1988 when their debut album was produced by Robbin Crosby of Ratt. Since then they have shared a stage with Poison, Alice Cooper and Motörhead and played huge shows like the Monsters of Rock Cruise & the M3 Rock Festival. They have a new album out soon called From Womb to Tomb that Steve is here to discuss. We also talk Jani Lane almost joining the band, how Steve helped Phil Anselmo join Pantera, missed opportunities with Sebastian Bach & Lita Ford and more! 

0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:38 - From Womb to Tomb 
0:06:29 - Maturing as a Songwriter 
0:12:55 - Making New Albums 
0:17:00 - Playing New Songs Live 
0:19:50 - Band Origin & Lineup Changes 
0:25:25 - Jani Lane of Warrant & Insecurity 
0:32:38 - Edgar Winter & Acclaim 
0:34:15 - Inspiring People Through Music 
0:39:25 - Hindsight & Commercial Success 
0:43:40 - Pantera & Phil Anselmo 
0:46:15 - Shows with Alice Cooper
0:47:30 - Playing with Angel & 
0:49:10 - Other Opportunities 
0:53:10 - Playing with Motorhead 
0:54:40 - Jimmy's Music Club 
0:55:48 - New Orleans & Kyle Thomas 
1:01:03 - Outro 

Lillian Axe website:
http://www.lillianaxe.com

Chuck Shute website:
https://chuckshute.com

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:00

Today on the show we have the guitarist, founding member and main songwriter for the band Lilian acts. The band has a new album out which Steve is going to tell us all about. Plus we talk some old stories like how Janie Lane was almost a singer for Lilian acts, Steve's offer from Sebastian Bach how Steve referred Phil Anselmo as the lead singer of Pantera. A ghost hunting documentary, and so much more. Stick around don't go anywhere Steve boys, how are you?

Steve Blaze: 0:38

Man? I'm doing fine. Man. I apologize. I'm styling. Stylistically late a few minutes when I apologize. I am here

Chuck Shute: 0:47

is how many of my podcasts turned out that way? Like the first thing people say it's hilarious.

Steve Blaze: 0:54

I'm never like that. I swear. I'll always the one usually sitting there waiting for 15 or 20 minutes. But, but I'm here and it's nice to see you. Thank you.

Chuck Shute: 1:03

Yeah. So tell us about that. You got a new album with Lilian X, from womb to tomb. I went crazy. Like, that seems like that somebody else should have thought of that, that you're the first person to at least say is the same.

Steve Blaze: 1:17

You know, I really don't even know. I heard it somewhere. I think that I did. Very well could have been in a dream. Because a lot of things come to me when I'm sleeping. But yeah, you know,

Chuck Shute: 1:30

I mean, it's genius. If you came up with that, I just the title alone is like, how to no one think of it. It rhymes. It's perfect.

Steve Blaze: 1:37

I know. That's what I was thinking too. But um, yeah, I mean, honest to God, I had the title. I actually had a friend of mine reminded me that about 10 years ago, I told him about this title. So that's how long it's been in my head, waiting for me to do something with it. So it's been a while. But yeah, this idea for this record. And the concept behind it probably popped up. As soon as I finished the days before tomorrow, which was about 11 years ago was our last studio record. Yeah, so this one is like a concept album. It really is. From womb to tomb, it starts out with the birth. And if you've got the sound effects of the what do you call it? The? Is it the actual heartbeat of the baby in the womb? Yeah, yeah. From the sauna, not the sonogram. What does that call the thing where you listen to the heart? I don't know. Right. Now, the sonogram when, when you when you go and I can recall the day that we went to listen to my son's, it's like a whooshing kind of? Yeah, yeah. It's not like that, what you would think of boom, boom, boom, it's this. Just real, mesmerizing fluid, back and forth, you know, so I wanted to start it off with it, you know, obviously, with the birth, not just the birth of the child, physically, but the actually advent of the entity of a soul and a child. This is not just, you know, when a baby is born, it's not just a physical thing, in my opinion, it's a soul. It's an eternal spirit, that will exist forever and ever, once it's conceived. So it's, you know, it's one of the reasons why, you know, I wanted it to be powerful, and to represent the beauty of that moment that that child comes into awareness, you know. So that's where we started off with. And the concept of the record is, it's loosely based on my life in that these are each song is about, I would say, lessons, and events that I've been through personally, but they, these are things that permeate all people's lives. I'm not the only person that learned about this, at this age, or had these moments are learned about love at this age, or about, you know, the human condition at this age, we all learn them at different phases of our lives. So we all die, we all either reset, ascend or descend whatever happens, depending on what your your belief system is, but we go somewhere, it doesn't just end at the end of the of this physical being, in my opinion. So I wanted to capture all of those moments. And not only you know, in in the more negative realizations in life, there's always the flip side of how to combat that and how to remain strong and to defeat that element of your life. So a lot of these songs deal with that part of human nature. When we learn about evil, we learn about bad people, we learn about deception, and we learn about greed, etc. But instead of just bringing that up and mentioning it, how do we fight it? How do we get beyond it and still have that meaning in our life, where we are able to deal with it not let it die? completely take us over. So it's kind of kind of what I wanted to do and loosely based on all the things that I've been through in my life, and except for death, which, you know, hopefully I got a few more years left, but

Chuck Shute: 5:12

yeah, we probably known people that have died. So you've experienced that that way. Yeah,

Steve Blaze: 5:16

exactly. And it's not just the physical death that I'm talking about. It's that moment in a person's life, in the song from the mountaintops, kind of, that's what that is that song sings about is that moment of clarity, where you kind of realize, hey, we're not meant to know everything. But this is just part of our journey. And, and I finally have a bit of an idea about kind of makes a little bit of sense of where we are, stop trying to figure everything out all the time, you know, deal with what we have now. And, and just constantly stay on that on that road to better ourselves.

Chuck Shute: 5:57

Well, it's a really, that's really all very deep stuff. Philosophical lyrically. And also musically, I'd say, the album is very, it's mature compared to I mean, I'm listening, you're older, I was listening to the new stuff. And it starts out with this beautiful piano, and then, you know, you go into the rock, and the production is great. And but musically, the songwriting has evolved so much from you know, I listen to old stuff to which I love, I love the stuff that songs about 69 and all this, it's just fun, rock and roll. And this has some fun, too. But also, it's, you've matured a lot as a songwriter.

Steve Blaze: 6:29

It is, I mean, when I was in my teens and 20s. I mean, those were the things that, that influenced us, and that we wrote about, and that I wrote about, you know, I was, you know, in a rock band, traveling and experiencing things for the first time. So there were things about, you know, the opposite sex and things like that. But there were also songs, like ghost of winter, waiting in the dark, the world stop turning those things that delved into that other aspect of my thought, which are the much deeper aspects of humanity. So, you know, in a weird kind of way, some of these songs still do touch on some of those more, I guess, primitive ideals. But now those same ideas, you know, have taken taken different, deeper meaning, musically, I'd like to think that, you know, we have evolved as a band, see, here's the deal. Like, I get people a lot that will say, Well, man, I love those first four records, you know, is it gonna be like those first four? Well, those are the first four that were probably the best known, because at that time, when they came out, the music industry was a lot more weight, you know, that you could really reach a lot more people at that time. We had MTV, we had videos and, and the whole industry and people in society are more prone to be more proactive and supporting bands. So those albums got a lot of attention. But every one of those first four albums is completely uniquely different from the one before it. So when people say to me, Oh, is it gonna be like the first four? I like, that's a really broad spectrum. How can I tell you that it's gonna be like the first four, because none of those first four, were really similar to each other. It was still, Lilian and you still, if you knew the band, well, you could hear those permeating you know, melody lines and the types of guitar sounds and the soloing and the harmonies, etc. That yeah, sounds like literally next week, you know, all bands, take a few albums, but they develop into their own unique sound. I can't, and I don't sit down and think about, Oh, I gotta write the next true believer a show little love. It doesn't work like that. I write what comes to my mind. And then we I put the pieces together and with the band gets together, and we get in the studio, we start listening to these things, and we start thinking about, Okay, God, that would be amazing. We don't limit ourselves. It's a matter of fact, that's why one reason, a lot of the demos asked the band when I send the original demos right after I've written the songs, they're very primitive, because I want to when we get in the studio, and the more that we all listen to the songs, the more things pop up in their head. Let's try this. Let's try that. I don't want to be limited to just being guitar and bass and drums band. We're not like that. Now, it's obviously predominant, and you hear those songs. Those guitars are big and heavy and cutting and they're still it's still hard rock heavy stuff. But there's a new is a different take on a different element. We do have pianos and strings and thunder and lightning and dragons and maggots and flies and Tampines and grand piano and cellos and all all part but that's those are the things that are needed to actually portray that musical idea out there. I can't write a song called Breathe about a baby being born, you know, and it be a death metal song. It just does it for me. musically. That's not how I express with the birth of a child is or the Golden Dragon, which is about, you know, the advent of evil in a child's life when he starts to first realize, you know what, it's not just all playgrounds and unicorns here, that this isn't right, this isn't right, when a child starts to realize that the Golden Dragon, that's a very aggressive song, so I can't write that song by using cellos and, and flutes, you know, it has to musically portray and define what I'm trying to say lyrically. So, the great part about it is the band is is in top form. I mean, I'm so happy, these guys are amazing. We play well together, we think well together. And this album, you know, to me is our Opus, I think it's the best thing that we've ever done that I've ever written. And the best performances, I mean, I'm thrilled with it. But, you know, people have to realize, you're not going to get Lilly and X self titled album from 1988. We are the same guys and the same brands. And we are the same mentality. And but you're always going to evolve. I mean, you and I don't wear the same clothes we wore when we were 12 years old, do we I mean, it doesn't mean we're not the same on the inside, it means we evolve, we change, it doesn't mean we get better, or we get worse. No, we just, we evolve and change that's, that's a part of human existence is evolving to get better and better and be happy with what you're doing. I gotta be happy with what I write, I can't write a song, because I want to excuses. I don't write a song. Because I have to fit what the radio people want me to write with the label says, oh, we need another three minute 32nd song so that we can play this? Well, if I can't get that idea out, like that, and if it doesn't work, I'm not phony, I'm not going to be fake about creating that piece of work.

Chuck Shute: 11:58

Yeah, we have a lot more freedom now to with a with a smaller label. There's, it's like, it's not like it'd be on the major labels where they would have that, you know, tell Jamie letting go right into the cherry pie. Like, you know, how that would the smaller labels? I would assume?

Steve Blaze: 12:12

Yeah, you're right about that. And especially with the way radio is now. I mean, you take some of the largest rock acts in the world. And they put a new song out, and the radio didn't even pick it up. You know, it's just, we rely on internet radio and, and specialty shows. And those radio stations and shows that actually really care and take it and are willing to risk and take the chances on doing it. But the fans, I think they want to hear new stuff. They might say, oh, I want to hear the old stuff. But they want to hear new stuff, too. There's no reason why bands can't do them both. Look, when I take a band, for example. Like Aerosmith, I love Aerosmith from the first album, now, I will buy every one of their records, whether it sounds like rocks, or Toys in the Attic or not, because I love that band. And I get something out of them. And they do change. You know, their albums are different from record to record. And every you know, that's what you want. You want them to give me something new. And this, if I want to go listen to walk this way, I'll put tours in the attic on it's always there for me, you know, give me something new man, I want to hear what you guys are doing now. Because I'm a fan of that band. And I want to have my you know, my allegiance to those guys and support what they're doing. Even if it might not be necessarily something that I like as much as a prior record. I'm still out there supporting it, and listen to it, giving it a good chance.

Chuck Shute: 13:41

Yeah, and I love some of the greatest songs that bands have written had been the new songs that maybe they're not as big a hits, and not as many people hear them. But I enjoy it. I like listening to new I'm with you. I'm I'm a fan. So I like getting new music poison. They haven't made a new album and what like 15 years or something like that. Why not? Like I know the last one wasn't great. But hey, give it a shot go out there and do I know. And also, it doesn't make a lot of money for the band. But just for creative juices flow? Wouldn't you want to create? I mean, I think as a creative person, you get sick of playing the same songs all the time.

Steve Blaze: 14:15

Well, it really isn't that so much, even though people will be like, Oh God, how many times have you played misery loves company about 50,000 times, but I still enjoy playing it. And I liked you know, the fact that people, they they gravitate to that song. It's the first song in the first record, they'd like that, you know, so I'm cool with that. But as your life as a as a creator and as a writer. I'm just like, man, just wait till the next record, wait for the next record. I'm going to create the best stuff every time. Because not only do I need to do it, to be able to express what I want to do. I really want to give it to the people to make them happy, or really want them to just get it and understand it. And that's you know, that's a it's a crapshoot no matter what you do, because no matter what you do And what bands are and look at Iron Maiden, they put out a great new record. I love it. Well, they got just dissed on by everybody. Why? Because it's not the trooper. No, it's Iron Maiden doesn't have to be the trooper or run to the hills, it can be Iron Maiden, that's what it is. And that's how I feel about. So it's kind of a tricky thing when you're on the inside, because you're gonna get people that are like, Oh my God, this, you know, can't wait for new record they get and they love it, and they get it. And you get some people that are like, oh, man, I want I want the next stream of lifetime. Well, that's not gonna happen that was fan, and I'm proud of it, we still play it out live. But I'm gonna give you new stuff. I'm gonna give you new things that are still this band, for you to latch on to man. It's like the variety of life, man. I mean, look, I like pizza. But there's a million other foods I like to eat too, as well. If I just eat pizza every day, for God's sakes, I'm doing everybody an injustice, you know, enjoy, just go out there and have fun. And that's what we did with this record. We spent three years recording this album, we spent a lot of time and heartache and blood, sweat and tears doing this record, man, because it's so such an emotional thing. The last three songs on the album are the most emotional things I've ever written. And I felt like that about myself. And I was like, you know, what, is it just me. And I would play it for like, people that I knew that I could trust her opinion, that would tell me, it's okay, or I don't like it that much, or this or that. And they all look over and they're all have tears coming in their eyes, they got it. And I think the whole record is like that, when you listen to sing from top to bottom, it will emotionally drag you in. So I'm just I hope people love it. I feel the band feels really, really happy with what we came up with.

Chuck Shute: 16:48

Yeah, that's cool. So I mean, obviously, if you're going to do like, probably some of these festivals and these bigger shows that you do, you have a very, you know, slotted amount of time, you know, it's mostly probably greatest hits, maybe thrown a couple new songs. But would you do some regular just headlining shows, maybe a one off where you play the entire album, you know, for for some those diehard fans who probably do want to hear the full album Live.

Steve Blaze: 17:13

While we did that with love and war, we did a couple of shows where we just played Love and War album from top to bottom. And potentially, we could do that. Here's the issue. And I'm serious. It's it's kind of funny, because no matter what you do, somebody is going to be offended that you didn't play some songs off the other record. So when we did love and war, we did that. And then we would do like, you know, a couple of the, like true believer and yeah, it was fine. deepfreeze we'd have to throw like seven or eight, right? Yeah, that one's like yours, but

Chuck Shute: 17:43

not yet the album. But yeah,

Steve Blaze: 17:45

well, we'll see how this because this album is the type of record that we could do from top to bottom, but we'd have to bring an orchestra in. We'd have to bring a keyboard player in. There's so much of that. In there. There's three songs that have choir in it. Two of the ones Brent and I actually created a choir we call it the more on Tabernacle Choir. It's we have 108 voices, we overdub it, eight harmonies. And it sounds like a men's choir. I mean, we we did it in two songs is featured in there for the power behind it. And it really came out well. So that aspect of doing this whole new record like that will take a bit more production because we don't run tracks never have never will. The only thing I would ever say if we ever came down to running tracks would be maybe some keyboard parts because we don't have a live keyboard player. I played some of the keyboards on this album. But there are three songs that we brought in a ringer for you know, things that were beyond my keyboard talents, but I play all the pads and some of the stuff and the intro to breathe and that but from from the mountaintops ascension and migrating north we brought in a guy named TK came in and knocked it out of the park. So we probably have to bring somebody like that on the road to do this whole album in its entirety. And

Chuck Shute: 19:09

then you know, put up some of the keyboards to like the opening pianos are you

Steve Blaze: 19:12

Yeah, that's me on the opening keyboards. Yeah. Okay. And you know, the string pads and the things that are that the the filler stuff, I can do that and I do that but the more technical stuff, the things that really needed to be honed in I wanted somebody that you know, this guy is virtual so so like, let's bring in a ringer for this somebody that really can add all these little nuances and stuff that I'm not technically capable of doing on a piano. Bring him in for that and he did knock it out. It was great.

Chuck Shute: 19:42

Nice. Well, I mean yeah, you have a you have a new lineup in the band now and the band's kind of been through some lineup changes like you pretty much are the band, right? I mean, you're the main songwriter, and you kind of control the whole the whole thing right and always have

Steve Blaze: 19:57

I started the band in 83 with Michael Mack I came up with the name. first show was really our Advent was Halloween of 1983. And we just we beat the path down man for like four years and then MCA Records. Through Marshall burrow, we opened up a bunch of shows for rat and Queens where I can poison. And so Marshall, burl, the manager, got in touch with us because Robin Crosby loved the band and wanted wanted to produce us. So Marshall called me and said, Hey, look, you want a record deal. It's Marshall, Berlin, this at a time and Marsha was managing rat, and they were at their heyday. And so we started working together, Robin producer, first time he got us a deal. We got signed by Irving A's off to MCA. And

Chuck Shute: 20:46

it wasn't just you that got signed, like you didn't ban.

Steve Blaze: 20:50

Right, they signed me. And basically, there were some issues a couple of guys, you know, that were, it was, you know, back then it was to the point where reformed the band, or C later, and a couple of guys were going through some, some just demons, let's put it that way dealing with personal demons and stuff. And it didn't work out. Danny King, the drummer did come on, stay on for the first two records. Michael was one of the guys that didn't stay with me. But he came back into the fold, about seven years ago. So the original bass player was back with me. So and he's amazing on this record, too. He just blew it. But he even told me, he said, you know, what, if I would have stayed on with you, back when you got that first deal with MCA, he said I'd probably be dead by now. So it's just, you

Chuck Shute: 21:39

know, it was a good decision, then?

Steve Blaze: 21:41

Absolutely. It had to be our I mean, I don't I can't tell you what would have happened after that. I don't know if would have gotten picked up by somebody else or whatever. But it was at the point where they were the band might have to keep going at that point. It might have split up soon after that, just because there were some, there are too many things going on that were self destructive within the band. So okay, anyway, yeah, God has a plan. And God takes these things. And you know, when you're around, look, that's how many years ago was that? 17. And 40 years ago, you know, when the first record came out in 88, so we've been around a long time, relationships come and go, we've had, you know, people in most bands, if you're fortunate enough to be like Russia, and have the same three guys for the majority of your career. That's a wonderful thing. We have five guys, and your, you know, nine record deals and, you know, fighting hard just to get any little bit you can in this crazy business, you know, people change your mind, people, some people think, oh, I want to go out and do my own thing. Now, you know, I've got enough for name, I want to go do my own thing. Some people just don't want to talk anymore. Some people just had enough of it. Some people get burnt out on it, you know, and I understand that. But, you know, it's, I birthed it, and I keep it going and we just make the right changes. And right now, Sam, the other guitar player has been with me for 24 years, 23 years. So longest member of the band besides myself, and Michael is back with me, the original bass player. We do have a new singer, as about three years ago. This is first record, Brent Graham, and he's going to make a huge name for himself when the record comes out. He's not only is he he's six, four, he's a menacing, amazing singer, but he's the sweetest guy in the world. It's like, you know, he's a grizzly bear, you know, and, and our drummer is Wayne Stokely, we met Wayne. When we did a tour, back about 10 years ago, we did a two and a half months with faster pussycat Jack Russells, great white bullet boys and Pretty Boy Floyd. He was playing drums for Pretty Boy Floyd. We clicked we got along really, really well. We stayed in touch and then when can our last drummer after 20 years, decided he didn't want to travel anymore and he wanted to stay home. We called Wayne. Wayne came in and and right after Wayne. We asked him to join the band. He had an accident, and retinas became detached from both eyes. Long story short, he's legally blind. He can still a little bit still, you will not be able to

Chuck Shute: 24:18

tell what happened. Was it like a few?

Steve Blaze: 24:21

I don't know. Yeah, I think it was I don't know if he got hit or something. Something happened. I'm not exactly quite sure. Because right when he was going to join that happened, and he said I can't do it right now. So we had a philan Rob Javi for a little while we played on a few of the songs on this. And then when he got back to the point where Wayne said look, it's getting a little bit better. I want to get back in Wayne came and got the gig. And so this is his first record with us but we've been known a long time. And the the camaraderie and and just the old the whole family vibe of the five members of the band right now is unique anything I've ever been a part of right now. It's really good. Like, I love all the guys in the past, they've all been a major part of everything and love them to death. But this is a unique this uh, you know, you get to that one thing is there's just something really, really uniquely special about this moment right now that that I haven't experienced before. So

Chuck Shute: 25:17

yeah. Is it true though, like when you were when you had to reform the band the first time when you got the record deal? Were you going to possibly have Janie Lane joined the band? Or what was the story? Was he in war with that?

Steve Blaze: 25:30

Yeah, I mean, he was with Warren, of course. And they were, I guess they were at that, like the start of their, you know, negotiations with their deal or whatever. But Marshall burl, who was managing rat, and I guess you could say managed us for a little bit, if you want to call it that. He. He said, Look, I want to hook you up with this with this guy. Janee Lena, but I you know, I mean, people out there knew him. But they weren't bad. I mean, they don't have a record or anything out. Just he said, they're really popular band out here. They're kind of negotiating. But I think the two of you two guys together, could be just an amazing fit. And so Janie flew down and hung out for three or four days. And we clicked really well, he was a great guy really nice and all, but he was the same thing. We were a little different, you know, stylistically different. And he wrote all the songs, he was his fan. And I wrote all the songs for Liliana. And you know, I was a leader of my band. So it was kind of like, how could you you couldn't really have an album with misery loves company and, you know, down boys on the same thing, you know, it just wasn't like a, a wouldn't have, it would have been just different. Right? So, but we got to hang out together. And we each went our own paths. And, you know, he had great success, obviously. So he made a great choice and did very well. And I'd see him every now and then we, you know, talk a little bit. And that was it. But that was it. We just, we got along really good. We had a good time. But, you know, as you're writing songs together, no, it was really just, we were actually we did a couple of shows down there with the other singer while he was just coming to kind of hang out with me and see what happened, like on a personal level. And we're like, yeah, it was great. We love hanging out with each other. But I have my band, he has his.

Chuck Shute: 27:23

So gotcha, that would have been interesting, though. It's I mean, I hear what you're saying it would be different. But you know, sometimes like those. It's the combinations that make the magic. I mean, there's like Axl and slash, they're very different a lot of ways and like, to me, I love the user illusions, albums. I love the, the variety. I think that sounds kind of cool. So I would

Steve Blaze: 27:44

have loved to have done something with him. Who knows I you know, it's one of those things that it kind of, I look at it from my belief system, like, God guides me in the right things helps me make the right decisions. And, you know, it's the only thing is maybe hanging around with me, maybe I could have kept them on the straight and narrow man because I just, it was a it was a really good guy. And I just, I hate that he that he had to fight demons like he did, you know, just because we had done some shows with him. i We did a show with him when he was doing solo stuff, and your shows in Florida. And I was like, No, I just I remember that. It was It wasn't he was really off the deep end at that time. And it was a shame because he is a he really was in my opinions. He I think he was just like a you know, like a small town guy that was very talented and got a great break and this and that. And I think the industry just sucked him up. You know? I think unfortunately, you see that happen a lot of time I felt that way with Robin. Robin wasn't like he wasn't all into all that Rockstar stuff and you know a party now that I think it just got older. I'm many times Robin and I would be sitting around and he go man, hey, you know, you like us? You like my band you like Do you think I'm any? I suck I'm no good. I'd be like Robin stop and you're Robin Crosby, you're in rat. You guys are not only you know, a great, very well known band across the planet. I said, I really like you. I'm a fan of yours. As long as well as working with you. On my record. I'm honored man. And beyond all that. You my friend. That's what I tell him. I don't care about all those I care about you being my friend. So but you are so

Chuck Shute: 29:40

fascinating to hear the insecurities. There's so many people that would trade places with him and be in rat in this majorly successful band. But he didn't feel like it was good enough.

Steve Blaze: 29:51

That's It's funny you say that because I say that a lot. I think people don't realize and almost sometimes even fans, the you know, they look good musicians or celebrities or actors, and they look at them and think, oh, they, you know, they've got it made that they're, you know, they've got it inside, they're all confident, man, let me tell you something. There's a lot of insecurity out there. And you might see some of these guys that think that they are on top of the world. And they may be in your eyes as a fan or whatnot. There's insecurity everywhere. And that's, that's kind of sad. Because I think insecurity is something not just an I guess, the more you have, and the more popularity and the more you have at your fingertips, the more you're afraid to lose it. And you start to second guess yourself. And if something starts to go, Oh, my God, this album didn't sell as badly, as well as the last one. Maybe? Oh, maybe I'm not any good anymore. Oh, my God, I gotta go over the top. Now, what am I going to do? What do y'all think? What can I do? What can I change? You know, I'm saying, and so yeah, insecurity. The toughest part, I think is being able to go through these things, and be secure. And look, I'm doing the best I can. I'm trying as hard as I can. It's the most important thing is, Who am I as a person, you know, kind of mine kind of heart do I have? Where am I going? What am I doing? How do I treat other people? How do I take care of these things? Not like, okay, oh, well, we sold 2 million on the last one. This one only sold 1.50 my god the world's coming to an end. And you'd be surprised I see a lot more

Chuck Shute: 31:27

I know, because I do these podcasts. I mean, I had this girl from the bachelor. You look at this courier like this girl's perfect. She's the most beautiful girl ever. She's worried she's loose, she loses some Instagram followers. She's like the her world collapses. I mean, it's fascinating. It's really interesting to take any

Steve Blaze: 31:42

of that with you, man, you only take yourself and your soul, and who you are, wherever it's true. And so, but that was one of the things, you know, that really, I felt so bad about Robin, because he was such a nice guy, man. I mean, you know, and I see that a lot. And then I see a lot of my peers and guys that, you know, in other bands and, and they just seem insecure about stuff and like, don't be insecure, man, you have achieved such great things. And even if it wasn't for the commercial success, you're doing it. Regardless whether you're at a level of being in a band and playing clubs every night, or if you do in stadiums. You've done it. You're successful. Keep doing it, man, you're making a mark, whether you'd make an a mark for 10 million people, are you making a mark? For 10,000? People? You're making a mark change in people's lives? Keep working hard. It will, your path will go where it's gonna go.

Chuck Shute: 32:36

Yeah, it's interesting. That reminds me I had, you know, Edgar Winter, you know, Frankenstein, and like, sure. Yeah, I had him on the show. And I was asking him about his newest album. And I was like, you know, are you worried how many units it's going to move and all that stuff? He goes, No, I don't care about, you know, that stuff. He's like, what I want is like respect from, you know, people in my community and the musical community. And he's like, all the people that I respect their opinions. They've all told me it's a great album. So that's all that matters to me. I was like, Oh, that's such a great, you know, because I do the same thing with podcasts. I'm like, Oh, I don't have as many listens. But you know, if other podcasts are saying, Hey, your your shows great. You know, I liked this episode. I'm like, Okay, I'm doing something. So it's probably the same for you.

Steve Blaze: 33:15

Yeah, the thing that that moves me, of course, we look if I, I'd be lying to you, if I told you different if anybody ever said anything different? Yes, it does affect you, when somebody says something negative, it does affect you, when you don't have, you're not selling it. But I look at it like this the first week, poetic justice came out and saw like 55 or 60,000 units. If I sold that on this record, it would be number one or two and billboard, you know, I, the things that make me have i when I'm listening to that record, and and I have hair on the back of my neck stands up, and I listened. And I look in the mirror and go, that is the best record we possibly ever could have done. I'm so proud of not just me. I'm proud of the band, the engineers, the crew, my manager, the agent, everybody, that's my family. Everybody has a part of this, that just makes me proud makes me really proud is when I hear and get the emails from people. And I have done this my whole career, have songs have changed their lives or gotten them through bad things. I hear that all the time. And that's what is the real. I mean, it's not it doesn't pay bills, but it pays the bills on my soul. You know what I'm saying?

Chuck Shute: 34:28

Yeah, that's that's the reason that's your purpose. Exactly. And

Steve Blaze: 34:32

I have heard I can tell you stories for hours of songs of ours that have reached people and kept people from committing suicide people from you know, it's funny because you hear the stories and it's always something you save somebody from a despair or a bad situation. I'm like, oh, maybe we can have a song that inspired somebody to, you know, buy a lottery ticket and one $50 million, but

Chuck Shute: 34:59

I'm gonna use Do you have hours of those give me one good story of that where somebody reached out and said that your song changed their life.

Steve Blaze: 35:06

I had a guy I remember in Cleveland came up after a show and he had just lost his fiancee, she got killed in a car wreck. And he said that save some day off a poetic justice. And Bob deal I don't remember what song by Bob Dylan, those two songs kept him kept him from taking his own life. And, and I started not only from taking his own life, but the fact of what he went through grief wise, by losing his fiancee is incomprehensible, and incomprehensible. And I just, I mean, I like broke down. I've gotten on phone with people that hey, man, this guy's and he's got cancer, he's in the hospital can't make the show called. And then the next day, he passed away last night, you were like the last guy gets talked to before. And those kinds of things, man, it just that happened to me up in the Midwest somewhere. I remember this guy, and I was on the phone with him like, Hey, man, you gotta come to show he goes, Nah, man, I can't fight this cancer. And I'm gonna beat it. And I'll see y'all next downtown. The guy call me next day, Hey, man, I don't remember the gentleman's name, but he passed away. He died this morning. And those things. And it's like, when you are in a situation where you put things out to the world, that are emotional, that that you people will listen to and, and hopefully get things from, you know, spiritual moments from get a lot of those kinds of things, man, you know, like, just this year, man, five or six fans that have come to all the shows have passed away. And you know, and like a good friend of ours, wife just passed away. And we just saw her like two months ago. And then, you know, they come to all the shows locally. And it was heart wrenching. Because a couple of years ago, I got really, really sick Long story short, I got COVID before anybody knew what it was. And I got it really bad. And I was still out in the road playing. And we did a show that I could barely walk off the stage when we're done. And she came up to me, she came past the barricades. And I said, Yeah, come on, bring up, she came up. She said, I know how bad you've you're feeling how sick you are. Now, I want to pray with you. And she prayed with me. She didn't care about anything other than she knew how badly I felt. And this woman prayed with me. And, you know, God bless her for that. And then, you know, like, she just died like two months ago. And she was like, just somebody you see at shows and meet him again and say, Hey, thanks for coming out. And all of a sudden, like, overnight, they passed away. And so at their funeral, the cards a handout had lyrics to nobody knows that was her favorite song, like one of our songs. And, you know, you think about these things. And, and the gentleman were his favorite band, the husband, and he's telling me, you know, about how the songs are helping get you through these things. And it's like, you start to feel like, you know, I do have a responsibility to move people. Okay? Whether it's a little movement, like, Hey, I'm gonna write a song about how wonderful the sunshine is great. Well, that for that minute, you just inspire somebody, you make them feel good. And on songs, you know, like, lyrically, we're deeper than your average song we do, I do write about what I think are spiritual, important, epic moments in people's lives, and understand that you know, how to get through them, and that we all go through these things. And those types of things, reach people's hearts, you know, and it makes me feel really good. I feel like I have, I feel responsible for helping people a lot with it. And that, that drives me, but those are the moments like, like with your winter. You know, he wants he wants to move people. You know, and I think a lot of artists do, I don't think there's a whole, there's some out there that just think strictly, financially. But I think your true artists that really care and most of the ones that I met, they really do care about moving their fans, you know, and helping them get through things. Because as fans ourselves, there are songs that help us out to help us learn about things.

Chuck Shute: 39:21

Yeah. Well, if you look back, though, on those first four albums, like you said, before you broke up and 95 then you obviously get back together. But when you look back on that initial success, the first 10 years of the band, is there anything you think that you would have done differently? Because just commercially, there was just, I mean, I listen back to the songs and like, I'm like, these are better than a lot of the bands that were a lot bigger at the time or maybe bigger now. But I mean, your band could have been bigger in the 80s and 90s. Yeah, I think, and I'm sure people agree with me.

Steve Blaze: 39:53

If I had a penny for every time that that sentiment was brought to my attention, we would have have been a global phenomenon. But yeah, I hear that all the time. I always have. And it's kind of nice to hear, of course, but then again, I think, you know, I can't really pinpoint I look at okay, well, maybe in the big scheme of thing, if God had had me massively successful back then maybe some people couldn't have handled it, maybe things wouldn't be where they are right now. I don't know. I don't know, I have to just go with, I know that every decision that we made, was one that we felt was the right decision at that time. So, you know, if I went back, and I was in the same thing, it's like, I didn't make a bad decision. Because I knew it was bad. But I had an ulterior motive, I made a decision that might not have been good. Because at that time, everything pointed towards finger, like I wouldn't have entered into certain management deals, I probably would have not trusted many people, the way I did I put ultimate trust in a lot of people. And, you know, other than that, I would have probably fought for, you know, you when you're when you're, you know, in your early 20s, and you're with a major label, and they're telling you, this is going to happen, and this is going to work and this is going to be this and that you figure, hey, I'm just the artist here. They know what's going on. And then you see them not doing what they say. And you see them dropping the ball. So you know, I'm sure VA

Chuck Shute: 41:28

was was a bad I've heard you called the music cemeteries of America

Steve Blaze: 41:32

are the first word that that came from lots of people in the industry. Yeah. I mean, there was a lot of bands. Matter of fact, Alice Cooper was on label as well. And he told me how badly he was treated. By MCA, it was a fiasco. But then again, we did get the first two records out there. So it maybe it was at least, even though it wasn't what they promised us. And we did everything on our end that we could possibly do it still

Chuck Shute: 42:02

get you did they get you on a tour back down like a big Jersey dad would have been coming to the record labels should have put together like, Hey, we're gonna have you open for Alice Cooper back then. Or even like, I mean, because you've played with poison rat rat and queens, right, you jump on one of their tours that would have given you a huge exposure. We were primed for

Steve Blaze: 42:21

a good tour. They didn't do that. Actually, no, they we went out with crocus because they were on the label. So they figured it put us out with them for two months, three months, and then I'll because they were on MCA for an album, and they didn't do anything for them either. But they put us out together and they get you know, two bangs for the buck, you know? Yeah. So, but well then, you know, we just kept we just kept busting him and we just kept on you know, if they're not gonna support we're gonna be out there. We're gonna hit the road we're gonna play we're gonna keep writing and keep putting records out. And but yeah, it was just poor management. Poor labeled at the beginning, the poor label success, bad decisions on, you know, when we finally got on IRS, it was they really started to push it a lot. And right when true believer is like the top 40 they decide to go and do a video for the next single, which was a cover song. And we're like, No, we need a video for true believer. It's in the top 40 right now. It's been on the charts. We're selling records. MTV, probably will will play it now because it's charting. And they didn't they wanted to do a cover song no matter what, which we loved the song. But it was not what we should have done then. But we had no choice we had Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 43:38

I heard you say that. The guys from Pantera had heard true believer. They were telling you it was on the radio. How did

Steve Blaze: 43:44

you Taco Bell? Yeah, yeah. Well, did

Chuck Shute: 43:48

you know them was that were they and

Steve Blaze: 43:50

we knew those guys from before we were signed before they were signed. As a matter of fact, Vinnie and dime and Rex we snuck them in to see us play with rat prior to us getting signed to come to the show. And they were looking for a new singer and Johnny vines, the original singer back in the original Lilian X. He and I, we are the ones that referred Philip over to them because Phil was in a local band that was opening up for us all the time called razor white. He was a singer and he was a good young kid and, and he sang well, and we go hey, man, you check this kid out. Phil Anselmo. You know, he's in Razer white, and they're playing shows with us and they check them out and got him in advance. So Johnny and I were the ones that referred Philip over to to Darryl.

Chuck Shute: 44:39

Wow, I did not know that. That's amazing.

Steve Blaze: 44:42

But at the same circuits, yeah. So

Chuck Shute: 44:44

what do you think about the reunion because me personally, I'm a Panther fan. And so I think original singer original bass player, Zakk Wylde on guitar and Charlie for anthrax on the drums like, it sounds good to me. But some people were saying no, this isn't a true band and all this I

Steve Blaze: 45:01

don't know, honestly, just go out and do it, do it tastefully go out there and do it on, you know, they're gonna do it respectfully, and I'm sure there'll be in the background of the stage will be pictures of those guys everywhere, because it was their band, they started that band, you know. And if it's done, the thing is that when people go out and see it, they're not going out and saying, yeah, these four guys were Panthera, though they're going these four guys are paying homage to that band. And so I think if it's done tastefully, it'd be fine. And, you know, I understand some people are emotional, because those are the guys in the band, and there was some bad blood and all that. But, you know, at a certain point, you gotta let it go. Just, you know, go, if you don't, it's fine. If you don't want to go and you don't respect and you don't, not a fan or whatever, you you were a fan, but you don't want to then just stay home. But yeah, you know, those guys were half of the band as well during their success. And so, you know, they got every right to go out and do it. But you know, it's an emotional thing. As long as it's done with respect to those guys, which I'm sure it will be. It'll probably do. Well.

Chuck Shute: 46:11

Absolutely. Well, you also I was gonna ask you about this, because I saw that you you did some shows with Alice Cooper and like 2007 and 2009. How did that come about? Because that's kind of like you would your band had been gone for a while, then you came back. And now all of a sudden you're opening for Alice Cooper? I mean, that's bigger than what you would have done in the 80s. Right? Well,

Steve Blaze: 46:34

Alice is our tour manager, Toby. His girlfriend was a big fan of the band. She's from Europe, big fan of the band until we said yeah, maybe she's bugging us so much. We've got to get Lillian on this end. And our manager at the time knew Toby and, and they just worked it out. And we did a bunch of shows two separate runs, and worked out getting it was right. When we come back out, we put waters rising out, and we just put outside and Planet Earth as well. So we had two albums out, you know, I never we never I never really broke the band. We just took a break for a little while. And, you know, so many people were wanting us back together back together. And we tried it a little bit and a couple of guys wanted to, you know, they dabbled in it. But then they wanted to go and do their own musical thing. So they did. And that's when I was like, you know, picked it up full steam ahead and and started putting out records ever since

Chuck Shute: 47:26

then. Yeah. So when did you I heard you say that you played in a version of the band Angel. Was that was that during the hiatus of Lilian or when? When did you do that?

Steve Blaze: 47:37

Yeah, that was kind of around that time. It was like, I think it was late 90s 9899. And the guy that was playing keyboards that took your freest place, was writing a book, and he asked me if he could interview me for the book. And I said, Yeah, sure. And we started talking, and he goes, Yeah, man, I'm playing keyboards and Angel, like Angel. Oh, my God, I was a kid. And at first I got on earth as it is in heaven on vinyl and all the albums. I'm a huge Angel fan at the posters in my room. He goes, Yeah, he kills Yeah, the guitar player, the guy. He's just not really working it. And I said, Well, I play guitar, you know that. Right? And he started laughing. He goes, You would do that? So of course I would. I said, I'm, you know, thing. We're kind of in a regroup, so to speak. I said, I've got the time to do it. Now. He goes, Well, let me call them and they flew me up to New York. And I went in there and knocked it out in the rehearsal. And same day, they said, Yeah, you got the gig. So I was thrilled, because I've always been a major fan. So for several years, we did show sporadically. And, you know, it was like, you know, it was a blast, and I loved it. And Frank and Barry were great. And, you know, those were the two original guys that were still in the band. And but it was a you know, it was it was tough for them to get up and running back again. So after three or four years, they kind of put it to rest and now a few years later, here we are, and they got hockey back in and they're doing some stuff now. So

Chuck Shute: 49:07

yeah, were there other opportunities like that other bands you played with or that you audition for that you didn't get? Like obviously we talked about the genie lane when that was pretty cool. Is there other stories like that actually,

Steve Blaze: 49:17

actually warrant called me to play guitar with him when they were doing that Whitesnake warrant thing and it I guess it went south. I don't know if Cheney fell off the wagon or something. That's what they told me. And then Lita Ford had asked me to do and then at the last minute, it didn't work out because I don't think her guitar or husband at the time, didn't want another guitar player in the band wanted her to play all the guitars. And then Sebastian Bach asked me to play guitar. When we played together up in Europe, Lilian did some shows, and like three days later, he fired his whole band and recruited out for three days. He asked me to play guitar for him, and then then you did that one? No, I didn't. I didn't need to and even last more than three days of like Taco ins were in Switzerland and like you wouldn't do it. Okay, you can come to my house we got to write, I just I can. So yeah, I'm interested. And then three days later, he had fired his whole band that was on tour with him there. And then rechange his whole plan. So, and I was dealing with all that through angels management stuff. I'm like, you know, and then do you remember that show that they did with Sebastian and the guy in Ted Nugent? Yeah, yeah, that show? Well, they have the band. Yeah, Jeff probes from survivor, the Creator created that, while I'm in Europe, at the same time, I'm getting letters of intent from him to do the second season of that. So I was going to be the guitar player. And the next day, I don't know, I think me and PRC and maybe Rudy sarzo, the names that were thrown around. So intent, so I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna play, when I get back, probably going to do the Sebastian thing. And then we do this TV show, and then it all just like, like, tons of things happen in this business. It just didn't work out, things change. They didn't do

Chuck Shute: 51:04

a ghost hunting show that was gonna be with Mark Cuban or something.

Steve Blaze: 51:07

A Mark Cuban pass on the show we didn't even look at he just said, it's a ghost hunting show. Not on my net worth. But we've been doing that for like, seven, eight years now. So we've had, we've been to the point where discovery gave us even a time slot for our show, didn't work out, the investors couldn't get the investors that promised to do it. To pan out. We we've been working on forever. So now, I have a ghost hunting team. In a nutshell here, called the veil. We shot a documentary last year, it's being edited now hopefully be out by the end of the year, about this particular investigation that we did. It was really amazing.

Chuck Shute: 51:46

About the Civil War locations. Yeah. Interesting. Stuff.

Steve Blaze: 51:52

Man, it's great. So that is being edited right now, hopefully, by the end of the year, and then we'll, we'll we'll shop with all the streaming networks and see who picks it up. So we went from multiple attempts to get a reality show on TV and promises from, you know, several networks and several people to several producers. And then, you know, one by one, just like everything else, something happens doesn't pan out doesn't you just keep fighting and keep fighting. You know, I've had this nine record deals, and I've been turned down by 200. So you just keep doing it, you know?

Chuck Shute: 52:27

Yeah, there's gonna be amazing success. So I mean, you've had videos on MTV, you've opened for Alice Cooper, you done the Monsters of Rock cruise. Like, you've had all these like, amazing opportunities and played with Angel, like you've done some cool stuff.

Steve Blaze: 52:40

Yeah, it's a it's been a blessing, you know? And an, to me, it's not even started yet. That's how I look at it. Just, you know. I don't lay down on, you know, on my laurels and say, you know, let's go out and be a nostalgia man now and just play the first few records that we're continually creating and growing and trying to get bigger and better than we ever have been.

Chuck Shute: 53:05

So yeah, no, that's super cool. Hey, I was gonna ask you about this one, too. Did you play with Motorhead once it told me the story about open boots or something?

Steve Blaze: 53:14

Yeah, Lillian open from Motorhead in Dallas, right when the first time was coming on Robin Crosby actually flew in and got on stage and played picture perfect with us that night, on stage, and I had these black white and red boots with pointy toe real British looking. Boots I like came up to my knees with eagles on him and stuff. And I remember walking into the dressing room and Lemmy came by and he goes, Oh,

Unknown: 53:39

I love those boots. They're horrible. Look at I love them. Like I was like, Who

Steve Blaze: 53:45

was that dude? Well, you didn't know was Yeah, and I knew it was lemme but it was like, you know, Lenny got like, really, really popular after that, you know, like, Motorhead kind of had this whole big, like, everybody knew who they were, but I didn't know him that much. You know, this was like, 88 or so. But, you know, in the last 20 years, they get their popularity just incrementally grew, you know,

Chuck Shute: 54:12

ya know, that was the first band I ever saw live. They open for Guns and Roses, and Metallica was the first concert I ever saw. Wow, that's cool. Yeah. He was funny. He was it was cool.

Steve Blaze: 54:22

Like, I should have given him my Bucha. Like, amen. I probably just spent 20 bucks and he was you know, I get these things

Chuck Shute: 54:29

or trade it out or something.

Steve Blaze: 54:33

Yeah, or Rickenbacker bass or so. You know. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 54:37

I was gonna ask you about this thing to Jimmy's music club. What is this? You appear in this movie? There's a documentary about the Jimmy's music club.

Steve Blaze: 54:45

Yeah, it was a documentary. It was a club called Jamie's in downtown in really bad area of New Orleans. But everybody played there, man, dude, like, I remember when we first started out there we opened up for John Kay and Steppenwolf there We actually rad actually played held about five or 600 people there's a real like not even chairs in this place like a bar, concrete floor and a small stage. And we played with keel there I remember that before we got signed and everything and, and but um, so many bands played in and out of there and they just tore it down and made a documentary out of it and they asked me and we played there with a bottom John Bonham son, you know, when he was doing the bottom when he was doing bottom with the doing all Led Zeppelin stuff, and got to try to think we did shows with a lot of bands in there, but it was, but everybody played there was like, a really cool place to play. But it was really small and like, you know, dirty and nasty and everything, but everybody loved

Chuck Shute: 55:47

it. Yeah, so are you still in New Orleans now?

Steve Blaze: 55:50

I'm in Mandeville, which is about half hour from New Orleans.

Chuck Shute: 55:54

Okay, cuz I just I've never had never been there until this past was last summer. We went and we were there for like a night but oh my god, I loved it. I was like, this place is so cool. I was trying to find more of the voodoo stuff. Do you ever where do you go to find the voodoo stuff? Do you ever you because I know you're into the into the paranormal stuff. So yeah. Too scary. Is it real?

Steve Blaze: 56:16

Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm not scared of that stuff. No, there's shops and stuff down there. And there are a lot of buildings that if you can get into to investigate, but because it's you know, it's just, I don't want to go down there at night. Let's put it that way. Not until they Clean up, clean up the crime and stuff down there. Go down there during the daytime and whatever. But you got to be really careful going down there now.

Chuck Shute: 56:38

That's what I heard the other day we went on we were there on like a Tuesday. So it was it was okay. Right. And it was during COVID. So like, I think he was supposed to wear a mask outside. Like nobody was doing it. There was cops all over and nobody everyone just walked by the cops. Hey, how you doing? And nobody cared. So yeah, it was a little strange. But my

Steve Blaze: 56:58

city is down there. What's that? We're not really happy with the way the city's being taken care of right now. Yeah. Beautiful city. It's wonderful, beautiful history, a lot of history. But there's too much stuff like that. And you know, it people don't want to go down there and take their families down there at nighttime, you know, get held up or shot or whatnot. Just not doing it. Yeah, see,

Chuck Shute: 57:21

because I saw this really cool live jazz band and they had like, even the outfits and stuff and I was like, Oh, this is like New Orleans. This is really cool.

Steve Blaze: 57:28

Oh, yeah. If you like jazz and Zydeco and all that stuff go down there. It's all over the place.

Chuck Shute: 57:33

Do you know Kyle Thomas from Xander doesn't he? Is he New Orleans?

Steve Blaze: 57:38

Yeah, I haven't talked to Kyle and why I actually he's he was married to my sister for a while they're divorced. But he was married to my sister. I had a Black Sabbath. I had a Black Sabbath tribute man with him. Kyle's brothers called Black Earth. And my brother Craig, who played on Rufino my brother played with Black Label society for a while. Oh, no, I didn't know that. I played I think he played on mafia and played on like three albums or so. From like, late 90s, through like maybe 2009 or 10. He was a drummer Craig. And oh, he was he was on my Sabbath tribute with Kyle. And Kyle's brother played bass.

Chuck Shute: 58:18

Okay, I just wonder because I had Kyle on the show. And I was like, Oh, I think yeah, you guys are both in New York. There's not a lot of rock people in New Orleans is there or is there? Well, you

Steve Blaze: 58:26

got zebra. And then you have crowbar with Kirk Weinstein, who's a good friend of mine. But not a lot of like, really like the hard rock bands. There's there are a few around there. But and a lot of has to do with New Orleans. On the whole, the MIDI doesn't really help and support the rock bands down there. You know, they never have like the hard rock stuff. They like the blues and the Zydeco and the jazz, and that's fine. But there's a huge plethora of talent of rock and roll bands down there too.

Chuck Shute: 59:00

Yeah, cool. Well, yeah, I definitely want to come back. And do you guys do a lot of do you do a lot of local shows around New Orleans?

Steve Blaze: 59:07

A few. There's a place called Southport hall that we play a lot, which is really good. I have an Iron Maiden tribute band called Made in LA that we play there a while but we're playing back. We'd go to the UK in a couple of weeks. We're playing on the mountain then we go to the UK. And then we come back and we'll be back and playing here locally. We're doing a warm up show actually here in Mandeville, right before we leave for the month of the mountain in two weeks. And and that will be going to the UK for seven shows. Come back here and then pick it back up again. In the meantime, the record will just come out. So okay, so there will be a US tour dates as well. We're working on it now trying to figure out

Chuck Shute: 59:49

a BGA package with another band or that's what we're waiting to find out. So oh, you can't say who though?

Steve Blaze: 59:56

I don't know. Yeah, the agent is working on they asked us what we're like what do we want? Want to do? When we come back from the UK? We're like we need to put we need to put something together. I think two or three bad package will be good. Yeah, I

Chuck Shute: 1:00:07

would love to see hopefully you'll come to Phoenix. I'd love to come see you guys. Oh, that was great. Anytime

Steve Blaze: 1:00:11

you come down here, man. We'll take care of you just let me know.

Chuck Shute: 1:00:15

Sure. Okay, sounds good. Thanks so much. Yeah, let's do it. I want to I want to go back. I bought some stuff. I never I never played with it. I didn't know what I was doing. So

Steve Blaze: 1:00:25

let me know man, you got my number. Let me know if I can help you with any of that.

Chuck Shute: 1:00:30

Okay, cool. Well, the new album from womb to tomb. It's great stuff. And like I said, very mature songwriting. I enjoy it. I think people will like it. Like you said, it's the best album that you put out is what you feel right?

Steve Blaze: 1:00:41

I do. I really honestly do. It's our Opus. Yeah, very cool. Well,

Chuck Shute: 1:00:45

I hope to hear some of the songs live, if not the whole thing. That'd be cool. But at least some of them and some of the classics too.

Steve Blaze: 1:00:52

So. Thanks for having me on the show, man. It's been a pleasure talking. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 1:00:56

Thanks for coming on. It's a lot of fun. Now, a lot of good stories. Good man. You take care yourself. We'll talk to you to see you later. Thanks. Bye. Bye. My thanks again to Steve for coming on the show. Check out the new album from womb to tomb. Listen to all of Lillian X his entire catalogue on streaming, or buy a physical copy if you can, or buy some other merch. Go see a show. Or at least follow the band on social media support these bands or they won't be around for much longer. So if you want to support my little show, listening to other episodes, sharing episodes, following on social media, all those things help or give us a rating a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify. That helps to thank you so much for your support. Now, go out there have a great day and shoot for the moon.