Dimitris Antonopoulos speaked with Lana Loveland, current member of Fuzztones! Lana speaks for her solo album and of course the great garage rock band, Fuzztones!
DA: Tell me some details about your solo album
LL: My new album is called "Order To Love," it's my first solo album. I've been working on it for 2 years now! On this album you will hear mostly originals I wrote with Lenny Svilar (Fuzztones guitarist) and Marcin Zastrozny (our lyricist) for our band Cox Orange, in 1995. Unfortunately 2 years later the band split up after playing only 7 gigs. Most of the time we spent in our rehearsal room - that was all we really cared about! Thanks God, one day we had the brilliant idea to record our rehearsals on a 4 track, which we converted later on CD for nostalgic reasons.
In 2005, when Rudi moved to Berlin, he found the CD in my basement, stuffed away with all the other things from my past. At first he suspected it was a porn movie because "Cox Orange" was written on it! That's him! But after he heard the songs he urged me to put this on vinyl as soon as I can, and even offered to be my bass player (btw he is the best one I've ever played with!). Lenny loved the idea of finally recording our material 15 years later and brought along drummer Alex Tenas from his Boogaloo Band, El Cartel. Lenny used to be the singer, belting out some serious Garage Punk teen angst, but he refused to do it again. So, now I'm the singer, and we've changed the name to LOVELAND, as it fits better to our old lyrics anyhow.
Here we are, the album is finished and we're now getting offers from labels, but I need to find the right one, as I don't want to be tied down with a publishing deal by some money-hungry music industry sharks. Since we didn't want the fans to wait any longer, we decided to release two songs from the upcoming album on a single (Butterfly Records, Barcelona). It's out now and is being distributed by Get Hip, Detour, Larsen Records, Soundflat, and Clear Spot.
DA: How do u feel Lana being a member of a legendary band like the Fuzztones?
LL: It was a long journey 'til' destiny brought me to my dream band!
I have been an organ player since I was 8. At the age of 17 I started playing in bands. After Cox Orange broke up, I played here and there in the Berlin scene 'til' I decided that it would be best to just immigrate to California, the land where all my favorite music came from! Almost immidiately I was offered to play for the Bonniwell Music Machine at a festival in L.A. That's when Rudi and I met the first time. A year later I played with my band from San Diego in L.A. again. He was there and asked me to join the Fuzztones. WOW! I thought all I had to do was to move away from my stagnating situation in Berlin. This move changed my career as an organ player altogether! Here I was joining two legendary Garage bands at once!
In 2005 I was officially the Fuzztones organ player for their 6 week Tour thru Europe, and I loved it! You know, to me an organ is like a Ford Mustang, I like to drive it, with the gas pedal all the way up. Band mates would usually say: "Woah, you're too loud, turn down!" or "Can you play with just one hand? You're too much!"
Well, not too much for the thundering Fuzztones! Here I'm just right. The Fuzztones have a special sound. They love to play strong, full, kick ass, energy-loaded, tough. Nobody can immitate them. I am really happy and honored to have finally found my kind of band. I didn't wanna just strut into the band, but instead learned what they were really all about, both look and music-wise. There is so much to know about the Cult of Fuzz, it's unbelievable! They have a unique story. A 30 year old story, that you will soon read about in Rudi's autobiography.
DA: Is there a story,a rock n roll one, after so many gigs with the Fuzztones?
LL: There are always stories, maybe every 5 minutes a new one. We have a lot of good laughs when finding ourselves in a typical Spinal Tap situation. Sometimes I'm the only European in the band. The rest are from the US, and let me tell you, US Garage Punkers can be really, really funny when travelling thru Europe. I can't remember all of the stories, but maybe here's one that's carved itself into my brain. One day our driver had a race on the highway with this fanatic weirdo following him (The Fuzztones seem to be a magnet for this kind, btw!). He even chased us to the gas station, where we stopped for a break.
The band got all beefed up, ready to confront this dude in Sergio Leone Western Movie Style. But before they opened the door to step out, our driver rolled down the window and asked him: "Hey, you want a blowjob?" You should've seen the expression on his face! Somehow it made him go away really quick! Needless to say that inside the bus we were almost dieing from laughter. We will be back with the same driver for the October tour! Of course, we also get in uncomfortable situations sometimes, like the one time somewhere in East Germany, where Skinheads started to beat up Rockabillies...oh boy...
DA: Black Glove (Your single) sounds amazing - How do u feel about this one really?
LL: Black Glove was our tribute song to The Music Machine. We loved and still love this band beyond belief. The music and the look impressed us very much. You can only imagine how thrilled I was to organzie and play the first and so far only Bonniwell Music Machine European Tour in 2004 ! Back in 1995 we tried to describe them, and the feeling you get when listening to them, with our music and lyrics..."Black, as the night darkness all time, Black, as the deepest thought of a crime, as the future nowhere a light, Black is the hand moving the soo-oou-oou-oou-uund!"... We were young and had fun, which you can definitely hear. Black Glove was always our dark party song.
DA: Is there a project or something for a solo gig of yours in Athens?
LL: So far not, but when the album comes out, there will be a record release tour, which should lead us to Greece as well! It will be very exciting, as I have never sung as a lead singer before, what a thrill lies ahead of me! Btw, my second album is almost done! Who knows? Maybe I can include some songs from it in my touring set!
DA: Your favourite garage bands ever - Can u mention 5 of them maybe Lana?
LL: Definitely The Seeds, The Music Machine, 13 Floor Elevator, Beacon Street Union, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, and last but not least the Doors, although they are not really a Garage Band. The records of those bands were always in heavy rotation on my turntable! But I also dig very much all the compilations like NUGGETS, PEBBLES, HIGHS IN THE MID-SIXTIES, BACK FROM THE GRAVE, SHUTDOWN 66, SCUM OF THE EARTH, and SIXTIES REBELLION. There are more and more unknown sixties garage/psychedelic bands being discovered every day...I've honestly lost track!
I do love Chuck Berry for the way he writes lyrics, and especially for giving us all these great anthems.
DA: How do u describe Rudi really?
LL: ha ha...you'd like to know from the source, but all I can say is that his feet are shaped like his Beatle boots. Is there more I need to say?
DA: And something for the Greek fans here. Any comment?
LL: I played a few times with The Fuzztones in Greece. I saw Athen, Patras, Larissa, and Thessaloniki, and everywhere we went, we were overwhelmed by the warmness of the people. The fans are some of the craziest in Europe, and that's the way we like them! Greece is just like A-OKAY!
DA: Tell me some details about your solo album
LL: My new album is called "Order To Love," it's my first solo album. I've been working on it for 2 years now! On this album you will hear mostly originals I wrote with Lenny Svilar (Fuzztones guitarist) and Marcin Zastrozny (our lyricist) for our band Cox Orange, in 1995. Unfortunately 2 years later the band split up after playing only 7 gigs. Most of the time we spent in our rehearsal room - that was all we really cared about! Thanks God, one day we had the brilliant idea to record our rehearsals on a 4 track, which we converted later on CD for nostalgic reasons.
In 2005, when Rudi moved to Berlin, he found the CD in my basement, stuffed away with all the other things from my past. At first he suspected it was a porn movie because "Cox Orange" was written on it! That's him! But after he heard the songs he urged me to put this on vinyl as soon as I can, and even offered to be my bass player (btw he is the best one I've ever played with!). Lenny loved the idea of finally recording our material 15 years later and brought along drummer Alex Tenas from his Boogaloo Band, El Cartel. Lenny used to be the singer, belting out some serious Garage Punk teen angst, but he refused to do it again. So, now I'm the singer, and we've changed the name to LOVELAND, as it fits better to our old lyrics anyhow. Here we are, the album is finished and we're now getting offers from labels, but I need to find the right one, as I don't want to be tied down with a publishing deal by some money-hungry music industry sharks. Since we didn't want the fans to wait any longer, we decided to release two songs from the upcoming album on a single (Butterfly Records, Barcelona). It's out now and is being distributed by Get Hip, Detour, Larsen Records, Soundflat, and Clear Spot.
DA: How do u feel Lana being a member of a legendary band like the Fuzztones?
LL: It was a long journey 'til' destiny brought me to my dream band!
I have been an organ player since I was 8. At the age of 17 I started playing in bands. After Cox Orange broke up, I played here and there in the Berlin scene 'til' I decided that it would be best to just immigrate to California, the land where all my favorite music came from! Almost immidiately I was offered to play for the Bonniwell Music Machine at a festival in L.A. That's when Rudi and I met the first time. A year later I played with my band from San Diego in L.A. again. He was there and asked me to join the Fuzztones. WOW! I thought all I had to do was to move away from my stagnating situation in Berlin. This move changed my career as an organ player altogether! Here I was joining two legendary Garage bands at once!
In 2005 I was officially the Fuzztones organ player for their 6 week Tour thru Europe, and I loved it! You know, to me an organ is like a Ford Mustang, I like to drive it, with the gas pedal all the way up. Band mates would usually say: "Woah, you're too loud, turn down!" or "Can you play with just one hand? You're too much!" Well, not too much for the thundering Fuzztones! Here I'm just right. The Fuzztones have a special sound. They love to play strong, full, kick ass, energy-loaded, tough. Nobody can immitate them. I am really happy and honored to have finally found my kind of band. I didn't wanna just strut into the band, but instead learned what they were really all about, both look and music-wise. There is so much to know about the Cult of Fuzz, it's unbelievable! They have a unique story. A 30 year old story, that you will soon read about in Rudi's autobiography.
DA: Is there a story,a rock n roll one, after so many gigs with the Fuzztones?
LL: There are always stories, maybe every 5 minutes a new one. We have a lot of good laughs when finding ourselves in a typical Spinal Tap situation. Sometimes I'm the only European in the band. The rest are from the US, and let me tell you, US Garage Punkers can be really, really funny when travelling thru Europe. I can't remember all of the stories, but maybe here's one that's carved itself into my brain. One day our driver had a race on the highway with this fanatic weirdo following him (The Fuzztones seem to be a magnet for this kind, btw!). He even chased us to the gas station, where we stopped for a break.
The band got all beefed up, ready to confront this dude in Sergio Leone Western Movie Style. But before they opened the door to step out, our driver rolled down the window and asked him: "Hey, you want a blowjob?" You should've seen the expression on his face! Somehow it made him go away really quick! Needless to say that inside the bus we were almost dieing from laughter. We will be back with the same driver for the October tour! Of course, we also get in uncomfortable situations sometimes, like the one time somewhere in East Germany, where Skinheads started to beat up Rockabillies...oh boy...DA: Black Glove (Your single) sounds amazing - How do u feel about this one really?
LL: Black Glove was our tribute song to The Music Machine. We loved and still love this band beyond belief. The music and the look impressed us very much. You can only imagine how thrilled I was to organzie and play the first and so far only Bonniwell Music Machine European Tour in 2004 ! Back in 1995 we tried to describe them, and the feeling you get when listening to them, with our music and lyrics..."Black, as the night darkness all time, Black, as the deepest thought of a crime, as the future nowhere a light, Black is the hand moving the soo-oou-oou-oou-uund!"... We were young and had fun, which you can definitely hear. Black Glove was always our dark party song.
DA: Is there a project or something for a solo gig of yours in Athens?
LL: So far not, but when the album comes out, there will be a record release tour, which should lead us to Greece as well! It will be very exciting, as I have never sung as a lead singer before, what a thrill lies ahead of me! Btw, my second album is almost done! Who knows? Maybe I can include some songs from it in my touring set!
DA: Your favourite garage bands ever - Can u mention 5 of them maybe Lana?
LL: Definitely The Seeds, The Music Machine, 13 Floor Elevator, Beacon Street Union, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, and last but not least the Doors, although they are not really a Garage Band. The records of those bands were always in heavy rotation on my turntable! But I also dig very much all the compilations like NUGGETS, PEBBLES, HIGHS IN THE MID-SIXTIES, BACK FROM THE GRAVE, SHUTDOWN 66, SCUM OF THE EARTH, and SIXTIES REBELLION. There are more and more unknown sixties garage/psychedelic bands being discovered every day...I've honestly lost track! I do love Chuck Berry for the way he writes lyrics, and especially for giving us all these great anthems.
DA: How do u describe Rudi really?
LL: ha ha...you'd like to know from the source, but all I can say is that his feet are shaped like his Beatle boots. Is there more I need to say?
DA: And something for the Greek fans here. Any comment?
LL: I played a few times with The Fuzztones in Greece. I saw Athen, Patras, Larissa, and Thessaloniki, and everywhere we went, we were overwhelmed by the warmness of the people. The fans are some of the craziest in Europe, and that's the way we like them! Greece is just like A-OKAY!
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