By Christopher David<\/p>\n
As legendary metal artists go, you\u2019d be hard pressed to find a more immediately recognizable figure than shock-rocker Lizzy Borden.\u00a0 A pivotal artist throughout the 1980s and into the present, Borden\u2019s brand of horror-laced rock anthems have evolved over the course of seven studio albums from crunchy, speed-metal tinged rockers about murder and mayhem to artfully constructed, fist-pumping anthems while still staying true to his roots.\u00a0 A tough feat, for even an accomplished artist, but last year saw Lizzy Borden return with My Midnight Things<\/em>, which is arguably his best album yet.\u00a0 Currently on a \u2018comeback\u2019 tour of sorts opening for the acclaimed Demons & Wizards, we caught up with Borden after their set at Chicago\u2019s Concord Music Hall.<\/p>\n In the Loop Magazine (Christopher David): <\/strong>Great to have you back on the road!\u00a0 Let\u2019s talk about My Midnight Things<\/em> – track for track, maybe your best record, and it was a long time coming after Appointment With Death<\/em>.\u00a0 With eleven years in between those two records, what all went into making this record?<\/p>\n Lizzy Borden: <\/strong>Thank you!\u00a0 After we did Appointment With Death<\/em>, the album didn\u2019t do that well, and we thought we made a great record.\u00a0 And I got kinda soured on the whole thing after that, and thought, well, what\u2019s the point if no one\u2019s going to notice?\u00a0 So we ended up just staying on the road, touring and touring.\u00a0 And finally, I reached a point where I just\u00a0 thought, I have to make another record, and I don\u2019t even care if no one notices.\u00a0 So, I decided to just sit and make a record that I liked, and that hopefully, everyone else would like.\u00a0 I isolated myself, and just worked on those songs until l had what I wanted.\u00a0 Now, My Midnight Things<\/em> has the most positive reviews of any record in my career, and it\u2019s our first album to chart since Master of Disguise<\/em> (1989).<\/p>\n A lot of it was timing, and that\u2019s the reason I did another record.\u00a0 Brian Slagel from Metal Blade Records came to me and said, \u2018look, it\u2019s a different time, and while the music industry essentially collapsed, we\u2019ve figured out how to do this, so trust me, if you make another record, it will not only chart, but it\u2019ll do what you want it to do.\u2019\u00a0 And he was right.\u00a0 It came out of the box screaming.\u00a0 We just put out a new lyric video, and after this tour, we\u2019re doing two more videos.<\/p>\n ITL:<\/strong> It is really ironic how the music industry did essentially collapse, but the metal genre in particular has seen this massive resurgence in terms of sales and interest. \u00a0Everyone is coming out of the woodwork with phenomenal new records.<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> That\u2019s a big part of it, too\u2014\u2014it seems like everyone\u2019s coming out with great records.\u00a0 And I think this record is one of my best records, if not the best I\u2019ve made, and people are taking notice, which is great.\u00a0 It\u2019s happened with a lot of my favorite bands.<\/p>\n ITL:<\/strong> It feels like a very cohesive record, much in the same way that Master of Disguise<\/em> was.\u00a0 It feels conceptual, in that same way, even though it\u2019s not a concept album, per se.<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> Yeah, all of my records are conceptual, they\u2019re just not \u2018concept albums.\u2019\u00a0 I don\u2019t like to be tied to a story, because I want my lyrics to be open to interpretation.\u00a0 If you\u2019re telling a specific story, you\u2019re locked into one interpretation.\u00a0 A lot of people do seem to be relating My Midnight Things<\/em> to Master of Disguise<\/em>, which is really cool, because I wasn\u2019t really thinking about that when I was making it.<\/p>\n ITL:<\/strong> I think the tone of the record and the sweeping, epic nature of the songs is what really connected those for me.<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> I do have a certain style, that sort of approach.\u00a0 I think you could relate Deal With the Devil<\/em> (2000) to that, as well.<\/p>\n ITL:<\/strong> So how long did My Midnight Things<\/em> actually take to put together once you had it in mind that you were working toward an album?<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> The start process was long.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a record deal, and I was just kinda messing around and experimenting with things.\u00a0 The first six months, just about everything I did during that time, I didn\u2019t end up using any of it.\u00a0 I just played around with things, but then once I re-upped my deal with Metal Blade, then I really went in there and seriously put things together.\u00a0 But it was just me in a room, getting it all figured out, and toward the end, it all started coming together very fast.\u00a0 At the beginning of the process, I knew I didn\u2019t want to do the same old things with the guitars, the chuga-chuga rhythm guitars, I didn\u2019t want to do the obvious.\u00a0 The only thing I did know is that I wanted to go in a different direction.\u00a0 I let the melodies rule.<\/p>\n ITL: <\/strong>It\u2019s a very melodic record.\u00a0 It has some of the most memorable and immediate hooks you\u2019ve ever written.<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> I think so, too.\u00a0 We play \u201cMy Midnight Things\u201d and \u201cLong May They Haunt Us\u201d in the show this tour, and everyone says they can\u2019t get those songs out of their heads.<\/p>\n ITL:<\/strong> What does putting together a setlist at this point look like for you?<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> This one changed a lot from the start of the tour and what I had in mind.\u00a0 The majority of the setlist was going to be from My Midnight Things<\/em>, a full \u201cMidnight Things show.\u201d\u00a0 And then, I realized that it\u2019s been quite a while since we\u2019ve played North America, so I thought I should at least play one song from each record.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what we did, and I\u2019m hoping that I\u2019m at least making everyone happy in some way!<\/p>\n ITL:<\/strong> And you\u2019re already talking about coming back next year with the full Midnight Things<\/em> show you originally envisioned?<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> Yeah, we really want to take it around the world.\u00a0 We\u2019re getting offers from South America, we have an offer from South Korea, Japanese markets, some in Europe.\u00a0 Right now, we\u2019re just figuring out what we want to do first.\u00a0 We want to add more new songs, and when we do a headlining show, we\u2019re going to be doing some more dramatic stuff in the middle.\u00a0 This tour is a little more bombastic since we\u2019re just doing 45 minute sets.\u00a0 We have a lot of options.\u00a0 The first order of business was just getting back out there in North America!<\/p>\n ITL:<\/strong> It\u2019ll be amazing to see what you have in store for the full production of the new record, as your theatrics have always been a key part of the live show.\u00a0 And your set at Concord was a killer\u2014the masks and costumes on this tour are really cool, and the \u2018three faces\u2019 monster-head is really creepy!<\/p>\n LB:<\/strong> It freaks people out!\u00a0 I\u2019ve had people come up and tell me they were going to have nightmares, and they were totally serious.\u00a0 It does make a statement.\u00a0 Apparently, shock rock is alive and well!<\/p>\n