While being mainly known as a blues/rock musician, Lance Lopez has a wide range of musical stylings and experience. He was good enough to answer some questions for me to discuss this point as well as his upcoming albums and tours. Sit back and enjoy the read...
D-Day: You have a range of styles blended into your sound from blues to funk to rock etc. How would you personally describe your style or sound?
L L : Well I would just call it L L hahahahaha I listen to all sorts of music. I mean EVERYTHING, no music is exempt so I take inspiration and influence from everything. I mean I could could be listening to Black Sabbath one minute, then change to Stevie Wonder the next minute, then Hank Williams Jr. the next minute then Rage against the Machine, to Mozart, then B.B.King, then some old school R&B and Funk the next and then some Morroccan Joujouka flute music after that.hahahaha so Im all over the place and I just write and create what I draw from. I think I learned a lot of that from bands like Led Zeppelin who were still a rock band but you could hear all the different music they were listening to and inspired by but it all starts with the Blues really for me at least.
D-Day: Lets get to the business end. You have a new album coming out entitled Higher Ground. From what I've read you will be playing every instrument on the disc. Can you tell us a little about that and when can we expect to see it?
L L : That all started cuz the band didnt show up to the session. hahahahaha no seriously, I was trying to use the same band as Simplify Your Vision (Wes Stevenson on Bass and Jamil Byrom on Drums) but those guys are in such high demand it was hard to lock down a date with them so everything kept getting pushed back, so the Grooveyard was finally like man we need to get this disc done so I said well I"ll just go do it myself then. Its kinda a good thing because I tried to keep everything a lil bit more in the pocket and musical instead of us 3 going in and having a chop fest and shredding all over the place. Simplify had a lot of that, so on this new disc I wanted everything more pocket and straight ahead and I was struggling how I was gonna tell these amazing players in a trio format to stay in the pocket..hahahahaha So I used (the Dallas band who had the big pop hit Breakfast at Tiffanys) Deep Blue Somethings studio Bass Propulsion Labs the same studio I did Simplify and Wes Jeans Forest of the Pineanyway they had tons of backline and vintage Drum kits and what not, and Todd and Toby Pipes from Deep Blue Something were just like man use whatever you need and they were kinda blown away that I was in there doing the whole disc by myself so it helped to have people around me encouraging me to do it and it gave me and Don Moore a chance to work together one on one. It was alotta fun but alotta work at the same time and Kool Iron Bed was also my exploration into using drum loops and stuff so that was kinda cool hahaha
D-Day: I also noticed that your label Grooveyard Records will be re-releasing your first album with bonus material and a Live In Holland disc. What can you tell us about those and is there a date for these now as well?
L L : 1st Things First has been outta print for a coupla years just because we were trying to do some licensing deals with it and nobody was giving me financially what I wanted for it so I just let it lay and kinda draw some underground attention, although the first pressing sold very well overseas do to my exposure with Lucky Peterson right as it came out and me touring there, not to mention it was produced by Buddy Miles, Jay Newland and myself. People have been wanting it and asking about it, so I said when there was a demand for it we would re-release it with bonus trax on the 1st Things tour we recorded a show at a Castle in Germany called Burgstargard, this show was initially going to be an entire live disc, but instead me and Grooveyard decided to release some of the remastered live trax from the Castle as well as some Delta Blues acoustic trax I cut around the same time period as bonus trax, lots of suprizes for the re-release of 1st things First. The Live in Holland disc was recorded on the 1st Things First tour of Europe in a hall in Steyl, the Netherlands called the Vriendenkring, the band consisted of Dave Slaughter and Todd Campbell of the Texas/Southern-Metal band Big Iron its a trip hearing those guys play Blues hahahaha anyway we had a fun time at that gig, the band had only been together like 2 months so theres some rough spots..haha and I was feeling the local Lager Brand Bier some pretty strong stuff among other Dutch treats.so its authentic hahahahaha. As far as a release on both disc Grooveyard has not set a date but it will be some time this year.
D-Day: I've seen a bulletin concerning some touring plans as well. Could you give us a general idea of what you have planned?
L L: its kinda still in the works right now we plan on doing another World Tour due to the fact I've released 3 discs in the last 3 years and not toured behind them yet the only touring I've done lately was around Southern North America as a double bill with Wes Jeans to write his Forest of the Pines disc with him that I produced, so stay tuned we'll let ya know whats up
D-Day: Speaking of touring, I've read that you've toured with the likes of B.B. King, Steve Vai and my personal guitar hero, Jeff Beck. If you had the power to get 3 bands or artists of your choice to hit the road with all in the same tour, who would they be?
L L : awww man I could go on and on with that one. I would really like to tour with ZZ Top, though I don't know thats tuff hahahaha
D-Day: You also had a short run in a band called Cold Distance. It's mentioned that one of the reasons for disbanding was major label antics. What does this mean?
L L : I dont know, I didnt write that. I guess it was because people we were talking that labels were trying to make us be something we weren't, ya know more mainstream or like this person or that person ya know the whole thing of whats marketable and what sells it finally took its toll. We were like fuck this. Prince always told me to be myself and never let anyone try to change my music for money
D-Day: Are you still involved in Band Of Trouble?
L L: Buddys health has been on the downside for about the past year, hes doing a little better nowadays but ya know and Tommy stays pretty busy so we havent done anything in awhile. Hopefully we can do something soon
D-Day: OK, let's try a multiple choice question.
You are invited to play at Hugh Hefner's birthday party. After your set, you take a tour of the mansion and stumble across a hot tub full of naked playmates. They tell you that they will only be there for another 15 minutes and invite you to join them. Just as you strip down and start to get in, someone tells you that Sony is on the phone about a possible deal. There is no phone in that room. What do you do?
a) Say forget the girls and run for the phone
b) Tell the guy to take a message and get in the tub
c) Wonder how Sony knew to call you at the Playboy Mansion in the first place
L L : hahahahahahahaha They have to have portable phones at Hughs house man. hahahaha Naww, I would have to prolly go with A sorry ladies hahahahahaha
D-Day: What are your thoughts on music downloading? Do you feel you lose much profit or is it good advertising?
L L: well for indie guys like myself it can hurt us ya know but the guys with the multi-million dollar estates shouldnt say shit hahahahha
D-Day: Will you always want to be involved in side projects as well as recording as "Lance Lopez"?
L L: oh yeah I love branching out and playing as much as well as all different styles of music
D-Day: Thanks for speaking to D-Day's Revenge! Any final words for the fans?
L L: Thank you yeah. Don't ever let anybody bring you down you can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it. Dont listen to the haters. peace
Learn more about Lance and hear some music here:
