Lizzy Borden: ‘Even my mom calls me Lizzy!’

Hello and thank you for your time. How’s the tour going?
Lizzy: ‘Well, we had mixed nights, Spain and Greece were amazing. Belgium was great you know, every night was different. We had the same support acts except for Spain and Greece.’

It has come to an end almost, what are your plans for the holidays and near future?
‘We’ll be doing the Keep It True festival in Germany on 24th of April which is already sold out. We’re headlining one night and Armored Saint will do the next night. We are thinking of building a tour out of that show in April, so we’ll be doing all this again ha, ha, ha! So far every promoter wants us back. Plus we wanted to play in Russia and the UK but we had to push it back ‘cause we ended up doing a tour with Lordi in the US.’

When you’re on tour, what do you do to pass your spare time?
‘There is no spare time really, you just travel to the next gig and that’s it. Last night we partied at the venue and went back to the hotel at 3 o’clock in the morning, you sleep for a couple of hours, get back in and drive again.’

Can you tell us an anecdote that happened on this tour?
‘Well, doing the ‘thing’ with Lordi was such a cool thing because the bands really jelled. Our bands have a lot in common. We both take a lot of preparation before we go on stage, but Lordi takes 4 hours to get dressed and an hour to get all that stuff off! So I thought, wow that’s even a band that is more dedicated than us and I hadn’t found that, you know! The audience loved both bands too, we did a similar tour with W.A.S.P. and the audience liked both bands as well, you don’t see that much.’

What are your hobbies back home?
‘I’m into film, I’m a real film buff. I’m getting more and more into it and eventually I’m going to do my own film. I’m already doing the short stuff right now, working with videos and stuff like that.’

Do you collect anything?
‘I’m not really collecting movies but I’ve seen them all and I’m definitely a film buff. That’s one of the things we do when we’re driving, we’re asking each other about scenes in movies and about the technical aspects of films, the lightning and stuff. I used to collect records but I don’t really collect stuff nowadays anymore. I would have collected DVD’s if I wasn’t convinced that they were going to go very soon…. you know with computers and all that. When I go to Japan I collect bootlegs videos.

Of your own band?
‘Well yeah, I’ve seen a few of those but mostly of Kiss and Cheap Trick and bands like that.’

I’ve got a question about Kiss, please choose: Kiss or Alice Cooper? And why?
‘It’ll have to be Kiss, because Kiss was the first band that did it for me. That the first concert I went to on the Kiss Alive tour 1975. A young kid, I walked in there and my whole life changed. Oh my God, that’s the job I want! I had discovered them by just looking and I saw a picture of them from the first album cover and I was like: “What is this?”. It was the image that got me. But Cooper was a lot of inspiration too. He was before Kiss doing all that stuff!’

Another choice has got to be made, choose between: W.A.S.P. or Marilyn Manson? Why?
‘Probably W.A.S.P., because they are closer to what I do. I’m really song oriented and Blackie is too. Not one thing is dominating, it’s about the melody of the song and not about the solo or the shock lyrics… and with Manson he’s out to do a lot more than that you know. But I do like some of the Marilyn Manson stuff, Mechanical Animals, for me, was his best record because it was more song oriented.’

To stick with Kiss and Cooper, do you also have a ritual when you put on your gear and make up? Do you transform into Lizzy like Vincent (Furnier) does into Alice Cooper?
‘When Kiss put on their make up and stuff they are gearing up for it and I do the same thing. I‘ve got so may procedures especially on this tour to think of. When I do one thing wrong I have to take everything off and redo it. But the same time when you look at the mirror and you’re getting made up and everything, it becomes the whole thing, I become Lizzy. I usually don’t talk before a show and that irritates people sometimes. I usually pace around and prepare myself mentally for the show and get really quit. It takes me an hour to get ready.’

How do you select a set list? What are the criteria?
‘I want to mix the songs up to the rhythm of the show and so they go with the audience, because the audience is a big part of our show. You have to consider all of those things. For the most part I know what is working live on stage for doing this for so long, but some songs surprise me. Like on this tour we threw in Under Your Skin, in the rehearsals it wasn’t really working. I didn’t think it was going to get any response, but it’s getting one of the biggest responses and it’s not an anthem or anything like that. For some reason it’s just exploding every night.’

When you create a show, which people do you let involve?
‘I’ve always put the whole show together. Once it’s together I e-mail it to everyone and they will learn the songs and then we come in and work on the transitions. And then everyone comes up with little bits and pieces to help the show.’

Did the cover designer Ralis Kahn help you?
‘He did. He created all my masks, he created the look of the band for this album and I talked with him about the stage show. Especially since we’re travelling with bags and not with trunks over here. We can’t even use near what we brought! The clubs are too small. We’re using only one backdrop. Those are hard shows for us, because the show of it is such an important part of being able to perform. That’s our back stage on stage. We need that.’

On your last album Appointment With Death you had a lot of guest musicians, how did you get in contact with them?
‘Each guy came in a different way. I knew Corey Beaulieu (Trivium) is a huge Lizzy Borden fan. I was introduced to him a few years ago. When he came through town I just invited him to be part of the record. George Lynch (Dokken/Lynch mob) came through Marten Andersson, he was playing with him. Dave Meniketti (Y&T) came through our ex-manager who was working with them at the time. Joey and I are such huge hardcore Y & T fans, you know…. Dave Meniketti is one of the greatest guitar players ever. We just said let’s give it a shot you know and he loved the idea. We really wanted to have guest musicians on the record, like we had on Master Of Disguise as well. I’m so happy because each person brought such a cool thing to each song that wouldn’t have been there without them.’

Your real name is impossible to find on the internet, why is that? To keep the mystique? Like Kiss did in the early days hiding their faces? Or is that for privacy reasons?
‘You know, people ask me about it all the time, but I never really said it. To this day I never said it! It’s gone so far now, there’s no reason for it. I’ve been Lizzy for 25 years now, so that’s what it is.’

So the guys in the band call you Lizzy?
‘Oh yeah, everyone calls me Lizzy, even my mom calls me Lizzy! If for 25 years your name is Lizzy… your name is Lizzy!’

I found out that your last name is Harges?
‘It could be…. ha, ha, ha!’

And your drummer is your brother?
‘It could be… ha, ha, ha!’

Is the PMRC still active in the US? Back in the 80’s there was a constant fuzz about them, nowadays you don’t hear too much of them anymore?
‘No, that was a stupid thing that actually hurt us more than helped us. Bands like Twisted Sister and Iron Maiden were picked by it, that kinda helped them to create a buzz for their shows. Bands like us got rated by the vice squad and they closed our shows down! So we didn’t get the publicity because the show never went on. But there is no PMRC anymore, it was just a stupid attempt to regulate what people’s children were exposed to. It really comes down to the parents. If you put “Don’t buy this record” on it, a fifteen year old kid is going to want it even more! I guess they finally figured that out.’

There’s also a porn star named Lizzy Borden (real name Janet Romano)… did you trademark your name? Did you know and do you care at all?
‘Yeah, I’ve heard about that, and yes I did trademark the name. She’s not hurting me and as long as she’s not doing music I don’t care. There are a few people out there that call themselves Lizzy Borden.’

What do you think of the music business nowadays compared to the 80’s? Has it changed for the better?
‘Some good and some bad, I mean, it’s hard for a band like us because sales are everything. Almost all of our records charged in the top 200. No one is doing that now, a lot of bands that were selling millions before are not getting in the top 200 anymore. So it’s very difficult to sell records now. People come to me every day and say: “I can’t find your records anywhere…” Well, you can find them online! Buying it online is not as easy as going into a record shop and that’s a big problem for the whole industry. And there is no way out of it.’

And the “downloading thing”?
‘I don’t think a fifteen year old kid has a credit card… at least I hadn’t! It just doesn’t look like it’s getting any better any time soon. On the other hand the record company wants us to do singles now, so it’s like The Beatles and Elvis Presley did it. You put out a single, 6 weeks later you put out another single, on and on and on… until you have ten or eleven songs and then put out the album. To me that sounds interesting. To concentrate on one song at the time is great. ‘

How’s the metal scene in L.A. compared to the one over here in Europe?
‘Well for our show it’s designed for where ever we go, so, but we get the same response that we got in the US here. But here they do a lot of singing, it’s a little more fun. But as far as the metal scene, it’s better now than it has been probably since 1993. A lot of young kids are into the whole atmosphere of the eighties, with their Mötley Crüe shirts and sunglasses.’

What unknown band should we keep an eye out for?
‘You know, I’m one of those people who don’t listen to a lot of the other bands, I see the bands here and there or I see a video or whatever, but I couldn’t even begin to tell you…. When we started out in the Hollywood scene, we would go check out every night of the week what the competition was, but because there is no more ‘scene’ scene, it’s all different now. But I listen to everything on the radio, from pop to country to metal to everything you know. It’s more from a songwriting point of view, I’m always inspired to be a better songwriter. So you have to see where the movement has taken the world right now, ‘cause songs today sound different from what they did even ten years ago.’

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