It’s been twenty long years since their latest record. Dizzy Mizz Lizzy is finally back with a brand new record “Forward In Reverse”!
It’s been two years since Dizzy Mizz Lizzy’s return. How does it feel?
Martin (bass): It feels great.
Tim Christensen (vocal/guitar): Better than ever I’d say. We have a new album and it’s the first one in twenty years so it’s nice to feel that all make sense once again.
You released a new record. How was it to work on some new stuff knowing that it’s been twenty years since “Rotator” (1996)?
Martin: That was funny to be creative again but it was also bit of nerve breaking at the beginning. We started with one single to feel the audience again.
Tim: We’ve been working on this for two or three years and the first couple of years was in secrecy. We didn’t want to tell to anybody because we wanted to be sure that we were able to this again and once the good songs started to come along, we were then ready to show the world that something was going on. It could have gone the other way but we were creative and the songs were coming out.
You said that it’s more like a “reactivation” than a reunion. Why and how did you guys know/feel that it was the right time to come back again?
Tim: We didn’t probably. (laughs) We did a reunion tour in 2010 but there was no talk about new music at that time. But maybe something turned us on to play again together. A few years after we were talking about it again and it was pretty obvious that if we go on tour again we needed new songs. We met at the studio, rehearsing and just trying out stuff. It took a little while but at the end it made sense.
You first split up while having a lot of success. Do you sometimes regret that or was it inevitable at that time?
Martin: I don’t think we’d change anything apart from the last tour we did, it was too much. We needed a break. I don’t have any regrets.
Tim: Maybe the booking agency could have done it a little bit different because they were wearing us out. We needed a break but they didn’t want to and went on another tour and killed us.
Between those years and today, what’s your feeling about the music industry?
Martin: Yeah it’s another music age now mostly because of the whole streaming thing and the internet. In some way we have to adjust to the new way. When we had ten songs people were saying that it’s an album now. In the 90’s it was like 15 songs.
Tim: A lot of stuff has changed. The last time we were around, the internet wasn’t invented yet. You just went to the shop and bought the CDs.
Martin: When we started, there was the heavy metal wave, then the grunge one and Radiohead and stuff. But today there’s no wave at all. Just a mix of deathcore bands and hard rock/metal, it’s really weird.
Tim: Everybody got its own thing going and it’s not something that collects everybody. You don’t see that anymore.
Martin: It also means that if you play rock music anything is allowed in a way and everybody has some sort of audience.
So there’s 12 new song on “Forward In Reverse”. What make you proud of this record?
Tim: I’m proud that this band has a sound. It represents where the three of us are today and there might be some references to the 90’s of course. Some people might call it old-fashioned but I don’t care. It’s just guitar, bass and drums and this mixture is timeless. It’s up to you as a person and a player to make it sound like you and not just going on a computer and “make” music, that’s very unipersonal.
Martin: We also have three instrumental songs and that’s very rare today.
Which elements link your previous and new work?
Tim: That’s probably only the three-piece band. There’s also a certain sound that is both present today and in the 90’s sound but to me it’s a heavier and darker album. The lyrics are much better and the melodies are stronger.
What was the approach towards this new record?
Martin: Some of the songs just came out of jamming and some were already, mostly done by your side Tim.
Tim: When we started up trying some new material we tried some old stuff, old ideas but it’s wasn’t great and we just skipped all that. We wanted fresh music and started from scratch yes. But as Martin said, we mostly jammed in the room, recorded it and worked on it.
What satisfy you the most with those new tunes?
Tim: The thing I’m the most happy about is that this album represents us now. I’m proud of our old songs as well but it was us at 19. We have wrote new material as adults. (laughs)
Martin: The funny thing about the old songs is that they sound much better now. (laughs) The versions of the songs are more mature.
Tim: What’s also nice is to introduce our new music to new markets like here in France. We never had echo here but we hope that this new album will bring people’s attention to the band. We’re a new band even if we’re around 40 years old. (laughs)
Do you think it’s a good way, with this album, to introduce someone to your band and to your music?
Tim & Martin: Absolutely.
Tim: It’s the best one. People will disagree with me in Denmark but I think it’s the best one because it represent us what we are today and the songs are better, we’re better players too. (laughs)
You recently played at Loud Park Festival in Japan, how was it?
Tim: That was nice!
Martin: Fantastic! Two years in a row actually. It’s a great festival with a very big venue.
Tim: Japanese music fans are really loyal fans even if you go into the hard rock/metal scene, it’s even more loyal. The love and the passion that you feel from the crowd is amazing. They’re so dedicated.
What’s your opinion about the current Danish rock scene? With Volbeat for example.
Martin: I think that’s great that Volbeat has a worldwide success and some other bands should have the same level of success but it never happened. But rock isn’t the biggest thing in Denmark.
Tim: Yes for example at the Danish Music Awards, the rock category is no longer in the show… because they don’t consider rock as an important music genre anymore. Back in the 90’s it was the biggest one… Rock has been declared dead so many times it’ll return someday again and we’ll say “haha told you”. (laughs)
What are you listening nowadays?
Tim: Gojira. It’s new to me, I like them a lot.
Martin: Testament. Billy Idol. Mostly old stuff but I also listen to the new Radiohead record.
Tim: I really like the new Metallica album.
Finally, we are “RockUrLife” so what rock your lives guys?
Tim: Being here in France promoting this album that I’m so proud of really rocks my life.
Martin: It rocks my life than in approximately two hours I’ll be so drunk with red French wine. (laughs) Good French wine!
Tim & Martin: (laughs)
Website: facebook.com/pg/DizzyMizzLizzyMusic
