Debby Rao, KNAC.com's Boston Contributor spoke to LILLIAN AXE guitarist Steve Blaze recently about a number of topics including their new album, Waters Rising, which will be released on July 17th on Metro City Records. A few excerpts follow:

KNAC.com: Waters Rising got pushed back to July 17th. Why?

Blaze: "Actually this is the band's first studio record since, Psycho-Schizophrenia, so it has been a while. We did Fields Of Yesterday, and a live album a few years ago. But this is our first studio album since the '90's. We have been working and recording this for four years. We actually started recording this even before we had a deal. We just decided to take our time and make the best possible record that we could and present it to that label when we were finished. That way there was no rush, no restrictions put on us, and nobody micro- managing us. The reason it got pushed back is because this wasn't an optical time. Sometimes you have to judge whether or not how a specific time frame is in relation to other releases. It depends on the time of season or what not. That is just business. I think it is etched in stone now."

KNAC.com: Lillian Axe has a very important line-up change. You have a new front man in Derrick LeFevre who is replacing Ron Taylor. When did he come on to the scene and how does his vocal style influence the sound of Lillian Axe?

Blaze: "What happened was, a few months ago Ron at that time decided that he didn't want to pursue this anymore. He wanted to go off and do other things. He knew, we were going back out on the road. Eventually with this record, we would be getting back into the full swing of things. He just decided it was not what he wanted to do with his life. At that point, we just started putting the word out a little. It got out pretty quick, and a lot of people contacted us. Derrick is from New Orleans. He has been a fan; I have known him for a long time. He never really realized how good he was. He called me one day, and said this is my gig. You don't need to look any further. So I said, I will send you some copies of the new stuff and some of the old stuff too. So I can hear your spin on it, and see what you got. His voice was unbelievable. He sounds uncannily very similar to Ron. Matter of fact, a lot of people that listen can't even tell the difference. He adds his own unique texture. He has got a thick, rich texture to his voice. The great thing about that is, I found somebody that is not only bringing something new to the band, and keeping it fresh, but he can do the entire old catalog and sound similar to Ron. Because you know when a new voice is singing all the past songs sounding like an entirely different singer, it doesn't work. So when I am telling you, you can't tell the difference, you really can't. It is unbelievable. Eric Morris is the bass player in my other band, Near Life Experience. My engineer Rob Hovey is also the drummer for Near Life Experience now. Eric was the logical choice. He is a great bass player. I feel that the line-up that we have right now, even though there has been changes over the years, is that the essence of the band is always going to be there. I have always written all of the material. That is an important element that the songwriter that has written all of the material that everybody knows of is still in the band. At that point, you start getting concerned, when the emphasis of the band is lost, when the person that has written all of the material would happen to leave the band. The people that have listened to this record have given great reviews on it so far. Everybody is very excited about. I think the fans are going to be very well pleased when they hear it."

KNAC.com: When you went into the studio, were you trying to recapture the old Lillian Axe Sound?

Blaze: "When we first started, I told my engineer Rob Hovey, I said look we are not even going to try and think of any preconceptions of what should this be like. Let's just go in there and do it. Let's just keep it real, keep it natural and it will come out the way it is meant to. Every record that we ever done has been a growing experience. It is a band that has evolved and taken the jump to the next level. No matter how much we evolved, we always sound like Lillian Axe. The same thing thing holds true here. It is a very modern sounding album. It has a lot of songs on it. It is almost 70 minutes long. We just didn't think of any parameters regarding we had to do this many ballads, or this kind of song. The best material made the record. We did it without any preconceptions of what people would want us to do."