Ron Taylor | Lillian Axe | April 2002 |

 

Well it's been forever since I've done an interview 

But this month I have a great one!

Ron Taylor form Lillian Axe..

I've been a fan of his.. and the band since the first album.. 

Amazing voice!

Enjoy.......

 

J-First off.. lets rewind back to the old days... how did you hook up with the band...?

R-I was playing in a regional band called Stiff, with Rob Stratton 

and Jon Ster. Lillian got offered a record deal but had to find a new singer for the project so Steve called me and asked if I would be interested. I said sure, if I can bring my buddies along! The three of us moved down to Jackson, Mississippi where Steve was living and we started the new version of Lillian Axe.

 

J-How long were you guys together before you got signed? 

R-Lillian Axe had been 

together since '83 but we had been in the band a matter of 

months before we actually signed on the dotted line.

 

J-How did you hook up with Robbin Crosby (RATT) to produce the first cd? 

R-Lillian had played some shows with Ratt down in Louisiana and did so well 

that Robbin and Ratt's manager Marshall Berle "Milton's nephew" decided to 

start working with the band. That's what got us the deal.

 

J-What brought on the change of lineup on the 3rd album? 

R-Danny King and Rob Stratton had just had enough and decided to move on. Rock n roll is not as easy as it looks.

 

J-How did everyone get along in the band? 

R-A band is like a marriage between 5 people, we were like brothers and just like brothers, we were very close but sometimes we had our disagreements. We never really had many knockdown dragouts though.

 

 J-How important was the look back in the "hair days"? 

 R-Whatta you think? It was the 80's and we all wanted to look good!!

 

 J-Do you ever look back at the pictures and say "what the hell was Ithinking"?

 R-Oh, of course I do!! We were like damn cartoons!

 

 J-What is the biggest crowd you have ever played for..and where? 

 R-We played out on Miami Beach in front of about 26,000 people, I think that was the biggest show.

 

 J-What was your favorite tour you have done..? and why? 

 R-I loved 'em all but don't remember a whole lot about them. They all kinda run together after so 

 many years. The second trip to Europe was great and the trip to Japan was absolutely wonderful.

 

 J-What was your favorite song to sing live? 

 R-"Dying to Live" and "Fools Paradise". I really love singing just about all of them though.

 

 J-Least favorite? 

 R-"No Matter What"

                                                                                                                                                                

J-Whats the craziest thing a fan has done to meet you? we want juicy stories!

R-Hmmmm, I'd better not say.

 

J-What led to the break up of the band? 

R-In my mind, we never really broke up. 

We were just tired and went out separate ways to do our own things for 

awhile. Our intention was to get back together after a nice long break. That break ended being 4 years. 

 

 J-Do you still talk to Tommy now that he's in Godsmack? 

 R-Sure, we still talk and get together whenever he's in town.    

                                               

 J-How about Gene?

 R-No, Gene never was very close to the rest of us.

 

 J-Now when the band did break up... you went on to do the band Bridge..   tell us about that..

R-Drew Smith was in an early version of Stiff with us. We were both living in 

Phoenix after the band took the break so Drew and I started writing together. Tommy even moved to Phoenix for awhile and jammed with us.

 

 J-Any recordings in that band? 

 R-Yes, The Bridge put out one self release cd.

 

 J-What led to the end of that? 

 R-I moved back to Dallas to be closer to my family.

 

J-Did you do any other side projects or recordings? 

R-Darrin and I are in a band called the Velvet Poker Dogs.

 

J-Then there was a reunion of Lillian Axe.. how did that come about? 

R-Z Records out of Europe wanted to release a cd of old unreleased songs so we did it and decided to do some shows. It was nice to the get the old girl back together again.

 

 J-Any recording plans...? 

R-We're talking about it.

 

J-Any tours planned? 

R-We have our feet planted pretty firmly at home right now but in the right situation, I'm sure we could be persuaded.

 

 J-Now onto your current band...Velvet Poker Dogs.... along with Darrin from Lillan Axe.. how did this band start? 

 R-We put the band together as a cover band and ended up writing a bunch of songs so now we're out playing around  Dallas and are working on some new recordings

 

 J-Any recordings yet....? 

 R-Very soon!

 

 J-How would you describe the music to someone who hasn't heard it yet? 

 R-Hard Rock.

 

 J-How do you feel the internet has changed the way bands can promote

 themselves...?

 R-Wow! You gotta love what the internet has done for bands.

 

 J-How do you feel about the Napster problem? 

 R-I don't really see it as a problem. I've been turned on to so many more bands because of the internet swapping services and I will now be a fan for life.

 

 J-What kind of new bands are you into? 

 R-Incubus, Hoobastank, Verve Pipe, Doyle Bramhall II, Stereomud, Fuel

 

 Do you have a website people can keep up with what your doing?

http://hometown.aol.com/rtsgrl1/index.html   -Lillian Axe

http://hometown.aol.com/bertski747/VELVETPOKERDOGS.html -Velvet Poker Dogs

 

 J-Anything you want to say to your fans reading this! 

R-Live every day like it's the last day of your life, and make sure your family 

and friends always know how much you love them.

 

 J-Thanks again Ron.. cant wait for anything and everything you release in the

 future!

R-Thank you!