Artists Name/Band: LXM – Mick Pucar
Music Genre : Rock

Milan Pucar,
What Musical Genre Do You Feel Best Describes Your Music And How Would You Describe Your Sound?
Rock / Hard Rock / Classic Heavy Metal.
How Did You Get Your Name? Is There A Story?
Answering as “Mick Pucar” – I was the founding member of a performing Sydney Australia cover band. The show was heavily themed on the Metal “Monsters Of Rock” shows from the 1990’s. We named ourselves “The Monsters of Rock”. It was a very demanding exercise resulting in a fairly regular turnover of Band members. The selected tracks we covered were the most difficult we could come up with, quite a few tracks were tracks that no other bands would dare to attempt perform live. The Band eventually reached its most stable run where talk of writing and recording an album of original material surfaced. I joked with the members that they are “Extraordinary Monsters”, so we called ourselves “The League of Extraordinary Monsters” or LXM, this being a play on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
What Are or Have Been Your Musical Influences?
Too many to list, though I would say mostly Classic Rock guitar or guitar based Pop acts. There was a definite turning point when I was a teenage novice Guitarist and loaded a vinyl LP on the old turntable. Not realising how loud I had the volume turned up, the intro. to Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix) crept up and probably blasted through to the neighbour’s house.
What Are You Working On Now? Any Future Collaborations We Can Look Forward To?
Nothing new on the immediate horizon. The Rock scene in general is very much on hold in Australia at the moment as far as live performance is concerned. My whole thing with Guitar and music is about high power / high energy live Guitar sounds which are adrenalin driven by regular live shows.
What Is Your Ultimate Goal In The Music Industry? What Is Your Plan Of Action?
Having had a taste of regular live performing, albeit to not huge crowds, I would say that has been the highlight for me so far. Every show I’ve played has seen at least some of the audience walking or stumbling out at the end fist pumping at the sky. Performing is where I’m at, being able to make a financially viable living on the back of that would be just over the top. No real plan on how to make that happen these days. Obviously making that happen would involve travel and I can’t travel right now.
What Is Your Favorite Track To Perform Live and Why?
I would have to say “Full Moon”. The track just sounds really thick and heavy live, in the vein of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”.
What Has Been The Biggest Challenge In Your Career Thus Far?
I think keeping in form and pushing the boundaries with guitar playing itself has been a fair challenge. The album recording was fairly intense at times. Being in great form at the time of recording definitely boosted my confidence and kept the number of takes required for certain parts of the album very low.
What’s Your Typical Songwriting Process?
Understanding that I’m a music writer rather than vocals / lyrics, I’m very heavily influenced by immediate surroundings, relying quite a bit on spontaneous outcomes. Immediate surroundings could include the team I’m jamming with, the atmosphere, mood or vibe when playing with co musicians, even the feel of the room or studio itself. I have found that different approaches will have different results.
How Has Social Media Influenced Your Career As An Artist?
I wish it was around in its current form many years ago. Australia has been very remote and isolated from the the main artistic capitals of the globe. The only way in the golden years of Hard Rock to get connected was through record companies. When you consider that the only Australian based Hard Rock act to ever achieve global success was AC/DC, the percentages have definitely been stacked against any act attempting to move off Australian shores. Social Media has significantly cut down that distance.
What Are Some Tracks and Artists Currently On Your Playlist?
I’ve already mentioned a few. My tastes are so varied depending on mood, I might go from The Who to acoustic Neil Young or Joni Mitchell to The Church to Iron Maiden, even early techno like Tangerine Dream through to varied synthesizer pop songs from the 80’s. Even some Hip Hop or Rap like “Notorious BIG” has connected with me at times.
What Did You Do Before You Started Making Music?
I started playing guitar as a young teenager, that has been with me ever since. As far as a day job goes, I completed an apprenticeship as a Telecommunications / Electronics Technician, eventually specialising in hands on Optical Fibre Network construction, testing / commissioning, planning and repair work. This has been a long term career which ran parallel to music and had a major crossover with the equipment side of electric guitar. A good number of the sounds I get from electric guitar have come about as a result of custom wired or configured equipment.
Any Advice For Young People (Men or Women) That Want To Succeed In The Music World?
If you feel that you’re getting bogged down, you probably are. Be ready to move on and don’t take it to heart if someone else has moved on from you, all within reason and realistic time frames. Always hold in the back of your mind that success is a long shot at best and be ready with a back up life, but that shouldn’t equate to negativity. If you feel negative, that will show through, if you feel positive, that will show through.
What Would You Change In The Music Industry If You Were A Top Music Executive?
That is a really tough question. The Music Industry is so volatile, fleeting and understandably driven by short term turnover or demand, that it might be one of the most difficult industries to manage. I guess there might be room for more emphasis on identifying and giving “scouted” artists proper support and a red hot go at success.
How Do You Feel About Originality?
As much as I love listening to and even performing covers, the bottom line is that originality is the path forward for any up and coming act. In saying that, there is definitely a place to measure your own ability against being able to accurately play songs that you’ve been influenced by. Many artists have performed or even recorded covers that are arguably better than the original artist recordings.
Is There Anything Else We Should Know About You Or That You Would Like to Add?
Win or lose as far far as industry success is concerned, I’ve really loved playing guitar, in a love hate sort of way. Sometimes it has just felt like a gym style mental and physical grind, but then there are those instances where something musically “next level” happens, even better when there is a live audience present and the connection is there. Rock On!