Into The Fractured Mirror
with LastWorld
Interview by Ken Morton LASTWORLD returns with their 3rd album (second for Perris Records) Fractured Mirror - another gloriuous collection of inspiring melodic rock and roll. Multi-Instrumentalist Jim Shepard and vocalist David Cagle are a winning combination, delivering a record jam-packed with songs that should be all over the worldwide radio airwaves. Highwire Daze recently checked in with Jim Shepard to discuss the making of Fractured World, his past experience working with country acts, his previous band Taxi, and other topics of intrigue... Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in LastWorld and how long the band has been together. Hello, I’m Jim Shepard I play all the instruments and write the songs, and of course David Cagle brings them to life with his vocals. Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there? I’m based just outside the Chicago area and David is in Alabama. Chicago still has a good live music scene but nowadays tribute bands seem to be the bigger draw and work consistently... I’m not interested in being in a tribute band... but I have played in cover bands which is fun.... but right now I’m just focusing on LastWorld music. How did you wind up signing with Perris Records? I did a solo album (JADED) with some friends and It ended up getting released on Melodicrock Records... it seemed to do well enough for them and they wanted to keep working with me, I used 3 singers and they suggested I use 1 singer and make it a project/band... Cagles name came up who I knew thru some of the things he’s done....MRR released LW’s first album TIME and the reviews were great, but it never got released in the digital world... I asked and asked about the digital release but I wasn’t getting response.... so I contacted Perris Records, sent 3 songs from the second album, the reviews we received for the first and well, they liked what heard and read.... and here we are... Is there any overall story or concept behind the album title Fractured Mirror? Yes there is, two reasons, Self reflection, we all little cracks in our mirrors/World.... mistakes, good and bad times..... and.... It’s a slight tip of the hat to Ace Frehley. He has a song called Fractured Mirror... and in my pic for the album I’m holding my Cherry Sunburst Les Paul like the one he played... So I had two specific reasons. 46
Select a song from Fractured Mirror and what inspired the lyrics? Save Yourself, it’ll be the first single/ video..... Inspired by if you’re down battling depression. You might have people helping you but ultimately it’s you who has to help yourself. It only gets better after denying. What do you think has made the teaming of Jim Shepard and David Cagle work so well together? Love of music, mutual respect.... And hopefully good/great songs. What has it been like to work with JK Northrup once again on the mastering of the new album? Well it’s always a pleasure, I listened to him and bands he’s played with over the years so when his name came up for mastering it was a quick yes. October/November 2021
HIGHWIRE DAZE
