Danny Rexon – Crazy Lixx – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Johnny H
Sunday, 15 February 2015 03:00
In just a few short weeks Swedish melodic rockers Crazy Lixx will be taking to the AOR stage at the inaugural HRH United festival Hafan y Mor Holiday Park in Pwllheli to deliver a blistering set chock full of modern day arena rock anthems. I caught up with frontman Danny Rexon to uncover the story behind the band’s excellent fourth album and what fans can expect to see and hear at their sole UK show.
Hi Danny thanks talking the time to talk with me today. I wanted to start by saying congratulations for the new ‘Crazy Lixx’ album. It’s a cracker.
Thanks, we’re quite happy with it ourselves. I’ve actually had it spinning in my car stereo for quite a while now and I’m still enjoying a lot. My favourite songs keep changing though, but I think that’s a good sign, that the album has lots of good songs, depending on the mood you’re in.
What is the story behind how this record came together, in particular what did you do differently this time around in the writing department compared to say ‘Riot Avenue’?
We did a lot in the same way and a lot differently. First of all, just as with ‘Riot Avenue’, we produced it ourselves, which basically meant we left all the creative, financial and practical decisions to me and Andy, instead of hiring an external producer like we did on our first two albums. However now, unlike with ‘Riot Avenue’, we left the mixing to somebody else, instead of trying to do it ourselves. The mixing was done by Chris Laney and we just sent him all our recorded and edited material to play with and got back the finished result (after a few times back and forth of course). Another thing that was quite different with this album was that we recorded it in small parts during the course of a year instead of locking ourselves up in a studio and working 24/7 for 2-3 weeks, like we’ve done before. We also used lots of different studios for each different instrument and all in all I believe the way we worked with this album suited as all a lot better. The drawback of course being, that it took a whole lot of time to get it done.
Producing the record ourselves, I think is the best way for me to do it. It’s not so much as being in total control as it is to know that the person most intimately connected to the songs (at least the ones I’ve written) is the person responsible for getting his vision on tape. This way, I feel the end result is more like what I’ve envisioned when I wrote the song in the first place. Now, whether that’s good or bad thing is up to the fans to decide.
I last saw you guys live when you played over in the UK supporting the ‘Loud Minority’ album, yet here on album number four you finally have a song called ‘Loud Minority’, what is the story behind this track, and was it a track you had back in those early days?
It was originally supposed to be on the debut album but I got stuck with a great chorus and a not so great verse so it kind of got binned. When it was time to pick out some songs for the new album we looked through a lot of old demos and everybody liked the chorus of “Sound of the Loud Minority” so I decided to give it another try and re-write the rest of the song. So on this album from 2014 there’s actually a song that I started to write 7-8 years earlier.
One track you did have back then was ‘Heroes Are Forever’ which made it to that debut record plus you’ve re-recorded it here on ‘Crazy Lixx’. I actually prefer the new version if I’m totally honest…was it recorded simply because you think you do a better version in 2015?
That, and we wanted to justify playing it live, since it’s a song we really enjoy playing at our shows but since the first album has been out of print for quite a while it’s really difficult to listen to for our newer fans. Re-recording and releasing it means our new fans can hear it both on the album and live in the future.
With my last question in mind – you played support to Hardcore Superstar on that ‘Loud Minority’ tour, and just like their self titled album of 2005 ‘Crazy Lixx’ seems so much more focussed on simply delivering top quality anthems throughout the record. What do you think of that comparison?
I think it’s a fair comparison because just like HCSS I think we’ve finally found our true formula on our fourth album, both when it comes to the song writing, sound and the recording process and I feel this is what people should be thinking of when they hear the name Crazy Lixx.
Of course your original guitarist Vic Zino was still with you at that time (and not in Hardcore Superstar) so apart from band members coming and going (or in Joél Cirera’s case returning too), what do you think the main differences are between the Crazy Lixx of 2007 and the band of today?
The main differences are in the fact that we have years of experience from writing and playing music, touring and recording that we didn’t have back then. All this means we’re more of a band now then we were before and we all know our roles in it. On the other hand we might have lost a bit of youthful spark because back then we still wanted to be the biggest rock band in the world and now we are all kind of happy to have Crazy Lixx as one part in our lives, not as the only thing.
And what would you tell the Crazy Lixx of 2007 not to do knowing what you do about the music industry right now?
Honestly? This might seem a bit cynical but I think I would have told them that they shouldn’t count on music ever being what pays the bills, at least not all of them. With the way the music industry has developed the last 10 years and the genre we chose for ourselves it just isn’t the same as when we were growing up and dreamt of becoming rock stars.
You guys are all set to return to the UK to play HRH United this March, this appears to be a one off…I’m really surprised you guys aren’t playing more shows…why is it just one date?
Why not? We try to pick the cherries from the pie nowadays and pick gigs that we really want to do instead of trying to play as much as possible. It kind of has to do with the difference between Crazy Lixx 2007 and Crazy Lixx 2015 I suppose.
So what can fans expect to see from you guys during your slot on the AOR stage at said festival?
Expect some new songs from the new album but of course also a bunch of our classic fan favourites. We’re really fired up to play our new stuff and see how it’s received by the fans.
You are also just about to play the Sleazefest in Bochum Germany with Steve ‘Sex’ Summers and Sister plus a whole host of other sleazy fuckers, how do you think your more polished arena rock sound fits in with that lot?
Hmmm, well I guess we’re not as sleazy as the rest of the bands but I figure that if they want us there they have that fact in mind. Actually, our preliminary sets for those two shows (HRH and Sleazefest) are very similar so we won’t be changing a lot in order to try to please a certain crowd. We’ll play the best that Crazy Lixx has to offer in the time we’re given and we hope that’s what people at both festivals want to hear.
With that in mind if you could pick your very own definitive four band arena tour that would also have Crazy Lixx on the bill, who else would you have on…and why?
I would go for a full Swedish Hard Rock Assault with:
Hardcore Superstar
H.E.A.T
Crazy Lixx
Laney’s Legion
Why? Because everybody in those bands are really nice guys and we’d all get along perfectly (most know each other already) and its all quality acts. I know I could have said KISS and Mötley Crüe and stuff but truth to be told, they aren’t that good live anymore so I say in with the new talent instead.
I have just a few quick fire ones to finish off, if that is OK?
Sure thing, fire away!
What was the last record you bought where you thought “fuck I wish I’d recorded that”?
Hmm, probably something by H.E.A.T, they’ve got a lot of good stuff on their albums.
The band you first saw live was?
Bad Religion, no actually Green Day, who were the warm-up band for them at the time.
What was the show like?
It was great, I did my first stage-dive and crowd surf at that show.
And the band you last saw live was, and what was that show like?
It was Danger Danger at Frontiers Rock Festival last year. I’ve been a big fan of the band for a long time but never got around to seeing them play live before so it was great to finally do that. I sang along to every word and also got to down a few beers with Rob Marcello and Ted Poley afterwards. Really nice guys.
The album you simply can’t live without is….?
Hmm, maybe KISS, ‘Crazy Nights’?
Who in your eyes is ‘All Looks and No Hooks’?
I won’t be mentioning any specific bands but there’s a lot of them around, sadly.
And the band we should all go and check out…because they deserve to be huge are….
I don’t know a lot about up and coming bands anymore (10 years ago I did my research better), but maybe the Swedish band Confess? They’ve got some good stuff going on.
Thanks again Danny for all your time, we wish you all the best in 2015.
No problem, any time!
