Lazlo Bane

Lazlo Bane is an alternative rock band hailing from Santa Monica, California, United States. They are well known for collaborating with former Men at Work member Colin Hay, and providing the song "Superman" as the theme for the television show Scrubs.

Background

Formation and early years

The band's origin can be traced back to the efforts of Chad Fischer touring with School of Fish in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a drummer. After a disagreement and falling out with a producer, Fischer went solo and began writing his own material.^[1] Without the benefit of professional mixing or mastering, he was forced to improvise and use an acoustic guitar and a dictaphone to achieve a sound resembling playback through a transistor radio.

To share the effort and workload, Fischer recruited bass player Chris Link, guitarist Tim Bright (reputed to play a Telecaster), and a drummer nicknamed Chicken to form a band. Taking the name Lazlo Bane, they embarked on several circuits to small clubs and venues, all the while formulating a debut album. In August 1996, they produced an EP, Short Style, composed of five tracks, including a cover of Men at Work's 1983 hit "Overkill." The song was recorded in conjunction with Men at Work's Colin Hay,^[2] who also appeared in the music video, which was directed by Mark Miremont^[3] and reached MTV2's Top 10 of the Year list for 1997.^[4] The band's relationship with Colin Hay continues to this day. Fischer has co-written and produced several tracks for Hay and sometimes played drums during his live shows. On January 28, 1997, Lazlo Bane released their first full-length album, 11 Transistor,^[5] featuring Fischer originals like "Wax Down Wings" as well as their popular cover of "Overkill". After the release of the album the band went on tour in the US particularly participating in the WAXY-FM radio's music festival Buzz Bake Sale in November 1997.^[6]

All the Time in the World and Back Sides

In 2002, Lazlo Bane released their second studio album, All the Time in the World. While it featured additional instruments and effects — such as violin, saxophone, and piano — it still was produced without assistance from a major recording label. This album is host to the band's most recognizable song, "Superman", because of its use in the hit TV comedy series Scrubs. Series star Zach Braff (who has selective input on songs chosen for the show's soundtrack^[7]) was immediately struck by the song, and wanted to use it as the recurring theme song. The band initially was reluctant and declined Braff's request. After a short while, they changed their minds, and Braff and Fischer worked out an arrangement.

In 2005 Chad Fischer composed the score for the film Little Manhattan. It featured a new song by Lazlo Bane, "Sleepless In Brooklyn", as well as several songs by Chad Fischer himself.^[8] However, the soundtrack for the film haven't been released and the song "Sleepless In Brooklyn" remains unavailable. Another song from the film, "Map Of My Heart", written and performed solely by Chad Fischer, would be later played live by the band.

Back Sides followed in 2006 and featured tracks that were considered for inclusion in All the Time In the World, but had been dropped and later refined. The two albums represent the paradigm shift in music marketing as they are both "virtual albums", available primarily through online sales outlets instead of traditional, physical retailers.

Guilty Pleasures, work outside Lazlo Bane and Guilty Pleasures the 80's

In 2007 two new albums were planned to be released but only one came out: a selection of 1970s covers (named Guilty Pleasures) which was released on July 10, 2007. In the summer of 2007, Lazlo Bane began touring, opening for Colin Hay in support of Guilty Pleasures. This was the band's first official tour in ten years.

The additional album that should consist of original material was shifted to the end of 2009 due to some work of the members of the band outside Lazlo Bane. According to the band's blog, Chad Fischer and Tim Bright were scoring the ABC series Private Practice. Chad Fischer also produced the soundtrack and scored the film The Rocker, released in 2008. Chicken worked on music for the 2008 film Paris, directed by Cédric Klapisch^[9] and later formed the band The Duke & The King with Simone Felice of The Felice Brothers. Since the formation the band released two albums, Nothing Gold Can Stay (2009)^[10] and Long Live The Duke & The King (2010). By the end of 2009, the only new Lazlo Bane song, called "MySpace Page", was put on the band's MySpace page. It was also played live as early as in 2007.^[11]

Since 2009 the band did a few appearances with new covers. Lazlo Bane covered Spandau Ballet's song "True" from their album of the same name for the 2009 film I Love You, Beth Cooper, but it was left off the film's official soundtrack.^[12][13]

Another 80's cover, A-ha's "Take on Me", has been featured in ABC's TV show Private Practice, in the episode "Short Cuts", which originally aired on September 30, 2010.^[14]

On October 16, 2012 the band released a follow up EP to their album Guilty Pleasures titled Guilty Pleasures the 80's Volume 1.^[15] However, it only featured "Take on Me" among other tracks. Lazlo Bane's cover of "True" was left off again.

Name

Lazlo Bane is named after the main character of Rachel Andrews' experimental novel Theme Park Roadkill.

The (Silent) Rage

The (Silent) Rage (T(S)R) is Lazlo Bane's alter ego side project which is stylistically similar to AC/DC. For the project the members of Lazlo Bane switched instruments and took pseudonyms: Dino (Chicken) - vocals, Fuzzy (Tim Bright) - bass, Licks (Chad Fischer) - drums, and Stixx (Chris Link) - guitar.

The band's Myspace page was added in 2006 with four songs available to listen: "Dirty Old Man", "Switch Hitter", "Big Spill" and "Take No Prisoners". Another song titled "Black Fly" was made available as a music video on YouTube in 2007.^[16] This song is, actually, a dance influenced track, which is a departure from hard rock and not typical for T(S)R.

In 2008 The (Silent) Rage was featured in the film The Rocker, starring Rainn Wilson and Teddy Geiger. The songs "Promised Land" and "Pompeii Nights" attributed to the fictional band Vesuvius were written and performed by all the members of The (Silent) Rage, with lead vocals sung by Keith England.^[17] Another song featured in the film called "Tailgate" was solely performed by T(S)R.^[18] "Pompeii Nights" is a re-recording of a song "Dirty Old Man" with different lyrics. The songs "Promised Land" and "Pompeii Nights" were released on the film's official soundtrack.

The year 2013 finally saw the release of the band's first studio album, Big Spill.^[19] However, the word "Silent" was omitted from the band's name making it simply The Rage.

Discography

Studio albums

• 11 Transistor (1997)
• All the Time in the World (2002)
• Back Sides (2006)
• Guilty Pleasures (2007)
• Big Spill (2013)

Extended Plays

• Short Style (1996)
• Guilty Pleasures the 80's Volume 1 (2012)

Music videos

• "Big Spill", "Dirty Old Man" and "Black Fly" are songs by Lazlo Bane's alter ego The (Silent) Rage.
• There are also several videos made by Clay Cow Productions for Lazlo Bane songs. They include (in order of release): "Superman", "Lonely Boy", "Alone Again" and "Scene Of The Crime".^[21]

References

External links

• Official Site
• T(S)R Official Site
• Lazlo Bane at the Internet Movie Database