Lazlo Bane - Background

Background

The band's origin can be traced back to the efforts of Chad Fischer touring with School of Fish in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a drummer. After a disagreement and falling out with a producer, Fischer went solo and began writing his own material. Without the benefit of professional mixing or mastering, he was forced to improvise and use an acoustic guitar and a dictaphone to achieve a sound resembling playback through a transistor radio.

To share the effort and workload, Fischer recruited bass player Chris Link, guitarist Tim Bright (reputed to play a Telecaster), and a drummer named Chicken to form a band. Now named Lazlo Bane, they embarked on several circuits to small clubs and venues, all the while formulating a debut album. In August 1996, they produced an EP, Short Style, composed of five tracks, including a cover of Men at Work's 1983 hit "Overkill." The song was recorded in conjunction with Men at Work's Colin Hay, who also appeared in the music video, which was directed by Mark Miremont and reached MTV2's Top Ten of the Year list for 1997. The band's relationship with Colin Hay continues to this day. Fischer has co-written and produced several tracks for Hay and sometimes played drums during his live shows. On January 28, 1997, Lazlo Bane released their first full-length album, 11 Transistor, featuring Fischer originals like "Wax Down Wings" as well as their popular cover of "Overkill."

In 2002, Lazlo Bane released All the Time in the World. While it featured additional instruments and effects — such as violin, saxophone, and piano — it still was produced without assistance from a major recording label. This album is host to the band's most recognizable song, "Superman", because of its use in the hit TV comedy series Scrubs. Series star Zach Braff (who has selective input on songs chosen for the show's soundtrack) was immediately struck by the song, and wanted to use it as the recurring theme song. The band initially was reluctant and declined Braff's request. After a short while, they changed their minds, and Braff and Fischer worked out an arrangement.

In 2005 Chad Fischer composed the score for the film Little Manhattan. It featured a song "Sleepless In Brooklyn" by Lazlo Bane, as well as several songs by Chad Fischer himself. However, the soundtrack for the film haven't been released and the song "Sleepless In Brooklyn" remains unavailable.

Back Sides followed in 2006 and featured tracks that were considered for inclusion in All the Time In the World, but had been dropped and later refined. The two albums represent the paradigm shift in music marketing as they are both "virtual albums", available primarily through online sales outlets instead of traditional, physical retailers.

In 2007 two new albums were planned to be released but only one came out: a selection of 1970s covers (named Guilty Pleasures) which was released on July 10, 2007. In the summer of 2007, Lazlo Bane began touring, opening for Colin Hay in support of Guilty Pleasures. This was the band's first official tour in ten years.

The additional album that should consist of original material was shifted to the end of 2009 due to some work of the members of the band outside Lazlo Bane. According to the band's blog, Chad Fischer and Tim Bright were scoring the ABC series Private Practice. Chad Fischer also produced the soundtrack and scored the film The Rocker, released in 2008. By the end of 2009, the only new song, called "Myspace Page", was put on the band's MySpace page.

Lazlo Bane covered Spandau Ballet's song "True" from their album of the same name for the 2009 film I Love You, Beth Cooper, but it was left off the film's official soundtrack.

In 2012, after several years of silence, the band released a follow up EP to their album Guilty Pleasures titled Guilty Pleasures the 80's Volume 1.