All The Time In The World by Lazlo Bane

"And after a

couple years we kind of stalled in Los Angeles. We had made this difficult record with this mean producer guy who wouldn't let us play on our own record. Instead he hired so-called professionals. I never really got over that, so when we went our separate ways a few months later, I decided to stay in L.A. and build a recording studio. That way, I could record my own songs in my own studio and no mean producer could fire me!"

11 Transistor

The result is 11 Transistor. Says Chad of his maiden voyage, "I had one bass, a cheap guitar, and a couple of old tube amplifiers. Most of the record was done on 16 tracks with very few effects. The idea was to work with as little as possible and make it sound the best it could, just like those old transistor radios. All the songwriting was done on an acoustic guitar into a little dictaphone. The melodies had to work, and every song had to pass the dictaphone test before I'd record it. I'm proud of it. It's my first baby."

The Band

But with his baby now all swaddled up and looking good, Chad realized he didn't want to be a single parent. In fact, he needed a team of parents to love and nurture the little tyke. That team was Lazlo Bane. Chris Link was immediately recruited to play the low bits, Chicken (AKA Dino) mapped out the beats, Tim Bright strummed his Strat-O-Caster, and Chad traded his sticks for a microphone and some velvet swatches. The Bane was born and soon took to the road like a touring tornado. From rodeos to rock clubs, from Topas bars to topless shanties, from pool parties to panty raids, Lazlo dished out their own brand of fun. "People tried to resist it," says Chris. "They'd give you that look, like 'No, I'm not going to like it.' But by the middle of the set they were back at you with a look that said 'Hey! Remember me? I do like it after all! I do like it!"

The crowds grew in number and in enjoyment. "It was a feel-good kind of thing," says Tim through an interpreter. "Instead of a mosh pit, it was a mesh pit. Instead of frowns for miles there were towns of smiles." "Don't fight it, invite it" became the band's slogan as they moved from town to town. But soon other slogans were added: "Don't hate it, create it." "You know you want it." And "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig!"

All the Time in the World

Now firmly established as a band, Chris, Tim, Chad, and Chicken (AKA Dino) returned to Los Angeles to make the record that would eventually become the benchmark for all musical endeavors going forward. Says Chad, "All the Time in the World is the product of more than two years of constant song writing. From the start, we wanted to make a great record. Something you would listen to over and over, from beginning to end, and then you'd use the shuffle feature on your CD player." "We probably recorded more than 30 songs over the course of those two years," adds Chris. "Each time we wrote a song we thought was going to make the record, the bar was raised higher. So the next song would have to be even better. By the end, we'd trash 10 ideas before we found one we liked."

Stylistically, All the Time in the World runs the gamut, from polished pop ditties to raging rockers and mournful dirges. "We don't want to be the kind of band that makes the same statement twice," says Tim through an interpreter, and adds, "We don't want to be the kind of band that makes the same statement twice." In contrast to 11 Transistor's guitar-heavy stylings, the songs on All the Time in the World feature pianos, violins, and saxophones as well as the tried and true guitar, bass and drum rhythm section. And there's plenty of chirping," says Chad. "It's the focal point of the record."

Backsides

After recording All the Time in the World, the fellers wondered what to do with all the songs that didn't make it on to the record but that ruled just the same. The answer: Backsides (originally titled, Lazlo: the Glory and the Fury, Parts I and II). "Every song on Backsides was at one time or another in the running for inclusion in All the Time in the World," says Chris. "We have a real soft spot in our hearts for these songs because they're so pure." Adds Chicken (AKA Dino), "These are the kind of songs the record people would shake their heads at; songs that don't follow the commercial format exactly. But they rule!"

Scrubs! (on NBC)

In 2001, the band was paid its highest compliment when Zack Braff from the cast of Scrubs asked if the show could use Superman (from All the Time in the World) as its theme song. As Chad remembers it, "At first I said, 'Over my dead body, b****! The Bane will never, ever sell out to those corporate whores! We would rather die in cold dirty ditches than pimp our masterpiece to the corporate machine!' But Zack had been a Lazlo fan for a while, and he had all the cool Lazlo Bane T-shirts and hats. So then I said, 'You bet!' Zack pushed to get the song on the show, and we were thrilled." Says Chris, "The song is our way of saying there are certain things in life that are more important that the fast-paced job and the race for achievement that everybody gets caught up in from time to time ? things like a bag of crunchy Cheetos on the ride home from seeing your buds. Or, cranking your favorite song in the car and wondering how loud it is for the people outside. And that seems to be what the show is all about."

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