Lazarus A.D. – Jeff Paulick
Posted on July 01, 2009 at 12:00 am by admin

Lazarus A.D.

We’ve come to fear e-mail interviews sometimes. Some bands just hate typing, and some bands never even get back to us, but the bass playing vocalist of Lazarus A.D., Jeff Paulick some really lets his personality come out through in text!

Way Too Loud!: Since most bands love to talk about this, who influenced you?

Jeff Paulick: Metallica, Testament, Slayer, Iron Maiden, and I know I’m going to get shit for this but I really am a fan of Avenged Sevenfold. They’re great musicians who really understand music theory.

WTL: What made you choose to go with both bass and vocals?

Jeff: I tried to play guitar and I just couldn’t do it. I’m just not that talented, so I picked up the bass and it was brilliant. The vocals I just ended up doing out of necessity. We needed a singer and couldn’t find any singers in our area. So I said “fuck it” and well the rest is history!

WTL: You must be pretty excited to be on tour with Testament! Can you tell me how that feels? Do you get to spend a lot of time with them?

Jeff: It’s awesome to be on tour with legends like Testament! If feels like the first day of summer, vacation – sweet as fuck.!We get to spend every day with them and its way cool they’re straight cool guys who like to have a great time on the road.

WTL: What have your touring experiences in Canada been like?

Jeff: We love Canada it’s been a great experience all around not to mention you guys have some killer weed…

WTL: How did you feel about having the legendary James Murphy work on your album? Did you get a chance to talk him at all?

Jeff: Having James mix and master the album was great. He’s a great guy to work with he really understood the sound and feel we wanted this album to have. I can’t say enough good things about James Murphy.

WTL: I’ve heard that some of the subjects on your latest album deal with some political issues. Is there a particular issue dealt with in a song that you like to talk about?

Jeff: No particular issue really. I think we tried to cover a broad spectrum of issues that we believed were fucked up. That’s the beauty of democracy we can say this is fucked and not get thrown in jail for speaking our mind.

WTL: Why did you choose “Thou Shalt not Fear” as the song for your video?

Jeff: We just felt it was a bad ass motherfucking song and every time we play it live the fans go nuts in the pit. So why not make it our first video?

WTL: How do you feel about the resurgence of thrash, and real metal?

Jeff: It’s fucking awesome to see metal making a comeback! It never really went away it just got pushed to the back of the bus and now it’s making its way back to the front seat. I think a lot of it has to do with the way the world is right now. People just want to stick their finger in the air and say fuck you we aren’t going to take your shit anymore

WTL: How did you get hooked up with Metal Blade Records?

Jeff: We had sent in our demo in a few years back and got a not interested keep up the good work reply. Then last breath was chosen to be on an earache compilation. Things really took off at that point. A friend of ours reached out to Metal Blade and suggested they give us a second look and after that it was off to the races. We haven’t looked back since!

WTL: What roles do the band members have beyond the instruments they play?

Jeff: It’s really been a team effort from the start. We only played a handful of local shows in the beginning. Then we ended up hooking up with our management company Red Rocket Entertainment. Between them and Metal Blade we’ve surrounded ourselves with a great team of people with one goal in mind. That goal is making Lazarus A.D. the biggest band in the world. As you can tell we have set the mark high! (Laughs)

WTL: Before you were signed, how often would you play?

Jeff: We played a few shows a month around our region usually we traded with other bands to get exposed to new markets. You have to work together in order to get ahead.

WTL: Before you were signed, did anyone trade in a good job for a crappy job to play in a band? Do you still have day jobs, or has anyone been forced to quit their day job?

Jeff: The only person that quit his job was Dan so he could tour. Ryan and Alex didn’t have any jobs in this shitty economy and the fact they live in Kenosha didn’t help either. I still have a job since we aren’t rich yet. I work at a taco stand slinging the best tacos and burritos you will ever eat!

WTL: How much real life stuff, fun stuff, did you have to give up to play in a band? Like not hanging out with your friends in order to practice.

Jeff: We really didn’t give up any of our real life since music is our real life. All our friends either come to shows or hang out at our practice space drinking beers and smoking weed.

WTL: What kind of stuff do you need to do for the band when you’re not playing, not practicing, and not working?

Jeff: You need to promote your band as much as possible to whoever will listen, then go out to shows to support your local scene. You can’t ask people to come to your shows if you don’t go out theirs.

WTL: How important is merch to a band like yourself?

Jeff: We live off our merch sales. That’s how you make money in the end especially when you’re just starting out. You get paid shit on the road when you are the opening act. So print up a lot of merch at cheap price and sell the fuck out of it!

WTL: Since you’ve been caught sporting a Avenged Sevenfold shirt, can you tell me what it is that you love about that band?

Jeff: They’re great musicians who may get a lot of shit for playing what they do. In the end the sell out shows and sell a lot of merch. They keep doing what they want to do you have to respect that.

WTL: Where in the world would you like to tour?

Jeff: I’d like to tour all over the world but if I had to say any one place maybe China. I really like experience the ancient culture over there and getting a chance to tour the country would be a great opportunity.

WTL: Who would you like to tour with if you had no rules?

Jeff: Britney Spears so I could watch that ass shake like a salt shaker! (Laughs)

WTL: Who would you like to tour with who’s both feasible, but not obvious?

Jeff: I’d like to tour with Megadeth. Dave Mustaine seems like he’d be an interesting guy to talk to, so I’d love to pick his brain for an hour or two. So Dave if your reading this take us out on Gigantour already! (Laughs)

WTL: Most bands get asked about their band name way too often. Since you were forced to change your name due to an Iron Maiden soundalike for legal reasons you added the A.D. to the end. Are you having a field day making up what the A.D. stands for? I’ve read some cool stuff about it already!

Jeff: Of course we love coming up with new meanings for the A.D.! Right now we have alcohol & drugs as our favorite but if any fans have another suggestion please let us know on our myspace page!

Lazarus A.D. at MySpace

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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