Highwire Daze #152

ISSUE 152

JAN | FEB 2024

KISS

PLUS CARNAL SAVAGERY, CHAD KOWAL, ERIC RAGNO, LAST NIGHT OF SOLACE, LASTWORLD, LONDON, MERRIMACK, THE REQUIEM, WE ARE THE BLACK THINGS, AND MORE...

VISIT US AT THE NAMM SHOW - HALL B - BOOTH 8101

Photo by Enrique Sanchez

P U L E V E L BAND PORTRAITS @SOFINCHPHOTOGRAPHY (562) 326-0653 | SOFINCHPHOTOGRAPHY@GMAIL.COM

SO FINCH PHOTOGRAPHY

So Vain (@sovainofficial) at the December 4, 2022 photoshoot for Highwire Daze Magazine

LastWorld “Beautful Illusion” CD Catalog # PER6042 UPC - 670573060420

Please pick up any of these CD’s at the following locations: PAUL LIDEL’S SCREAM THERAPY Amoeba Music - Hollywood, “Self titled” CD Bionic Records - Buena Park, Catalog # PER6032 UPC -670573060321 CD Trader - Tarzana, Featuring Paul Lidel (Dangerous Toys, Freakbeat Records - Sherman Oaks, Fingerprintz Music - Long Beach, Dirty Looks & Broken Teeth) Toxic Toast Records - Long Beach, www.perrisrecords.com Glass House Records - Pomona, CDS DISTRIBUTED BY SELECT-O-HITS & ALLIANCE Black Hole Records - Fullerton

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HIGHWIRE DAZE Sponsored by THE SANDGAARD FOUNDATION

Publisher Highwire Daze Magazine A General Partnership

INTERVIEWS with...

David Ellefson......................................................18 Burning Witches....................................................22 Stain The Canvas...................................................26 LastWorld..............................................................30 Merrimack.............................................................34 London...................................................................38 Eric Ragno.............................................................42 The Requiem..........................................................46 Carnal Savagery.....................................................50 Luciferian Rites.....................................................52 Chad Kowal.......................................................... 54 We Are The Black Things.....................................57

Editor Ken Morton Managing Editor Danny S. Pasley Senior Photographer Jack Lue East Coast Editor Jupiter Lee Contributors Ken Morton, Jack Lue Jupiter Lee Vivian Ortega James Grover Linda Emord Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen Proofreading Editor Jason Harary

BURNING WITCHES POSTER by JACK LUE.................32/33 CONCERT REVIEWS KISS The End Of The Road World Tour...............14 Last Night of Solace at Trees in Dallas.................58

Cover Art by Vivian Ortega of So Finch Photography

EDITOR KEN’S TOP 10 of 2023................................................60

Cover Photos by Jack Lue

ALBUM REVIEWS Conmac, Escape The Hive, Lazarus Dream..........62

HIGHWIRE DAZE www.highwiredaze.com email: ken@highwiredaze.com Copyright 2024 Highwire Daze Magazine Opinions expressed within this publication do not neccessarily reflect those of the publisher.

All rights reserved. Nothing may be produced in whole or in part without the express and written permission of the publisher.

SKETCHES BY THE EDITOR................................................... 8 PRODUCT REVIEW BY JAMES GROVER...........................10 Positive Grid Spark Go Mini Amp IN MUSICAL ORBIT BY JUPITER..........................................12 U.D.O. review

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January/Febraury 2024

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Sketches By The Editor

Editor Ken with Stain The Canvas

Welcome to Highwire Daze Issue #152! A lot has happened since the previous edition. I met Stain The Canvas, an amazing metalcore band from Italy, at the L.A. Rock Collective show in Hollywood. From this surprise meeting (and their first time here in the Southland), we arranged an interview and photo shoot with their lead vocalist Bryan Marte, the results of which are in this very issue! I was also able to go to Dallas for the very first time to see a standout new metalcore act called Last Night of Solace. Check our my review of their show at Trees in Deep Ellum on Page 58, as well as their interview in the upcoming March issue. Then it was back to Los Angeles for an interview and Jack Lue photoshoot with thrash metal sensations Burning Witches, now featuring Courtney Cox from The Iron Maidens on lead guitar. At press time in this New Year, we set up an interview with legendary bassist David Ellefson to discuss the latest happenings of a brilliant career in music - including Metal Allegiance, Dieth, Kings of Thrash, and The NAMM Show. And if you are going to NAMM at The Anaheim Convention Center, be sure to visit us at Hall B, Booth 8101! Have a great 2024!

The Wright Wave Radio at Live 365

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Presented by Jonathan D. Wright

New original 12 song Hollywood Hard-Rock album Down In Wuhan now available worldwide!

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TO END THE OPIOID CRISIS.

The Sandgaard Foundation supports nationwide efforts to decrease the habitual use of prescription pain medication, prevent addiction, and support victims and their families. We do this by actively supporting initiatives that create positive changes to help end the opioid epidemic.

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Product Review by

James Grover

Positive Grid Spark Go Mini Amp When I heard all the hype about Positive Grid “Spark” amp a few years back I was skeptical to try it out since I’m a guitarist who likes to be able to control levels and sounds with guitar stomp boxes and footswitches.

After I was bombarded with positive feedback about these amps I decided to get one so I ordered the “Spark Go” mini amp, after waiting a few days I opened up the box plugged in my guitar and wow was I blown away from such a small amp.

Positive Grid “Spark Go” is a must have for any guitarist, this amp has over 50,000+ tones in its bank and what’s great about it is that you control each effect and setting using your cell phone or tablet with the “Spark” app, the possibilities of tones are endless.

Some of the features of the “Spark Go” are that it uses Bluetooth technology with firmware that lets you upload videos with “Smart Jam” in which the software enables the guitar chords with graphs so you can play along to your favorite tunes with a metronome style count out. This amp can also be used as a Bluetooth speaker. The amp also has various accessories that are sold separately which include a wireless footswitch to use to switch tones and banks, there Is also a 140-watt , extension power amp cabinet that works with all the positive grid amps for live performance.

Likes and Dislikes: Likes: What I Really like about the Positive Grid “Spark Go” is that its easy to use with user friendly features, Its light and compact with built in rechargeable battery in which you can place in your gig bag or guitar case.

Dislikes: After downloading the app it was kind of 10

tricky to have the amp connect to your phone. However, after pairing it with Bluetooth the connection was successful through the App.

https://www.positivegrid.com/

Reach James Grover at: https://www.facebook.com/ james.grover.311

See you at The NAMM Show!

January/February 2024

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In Musical Orbit by Jupiter Jupiter at

Highwire Daze Online Crew

East Coast Editor Happy New Year and welcome to my page. It’s Jupiter Lee - East Coast Editor. Check out my record reviews here and be sure to add me on Facebook! Link is at the end of my column...

Touchdown U.D.O. Atomic Fire Records From Germany it is with great anticipation I’m to review this new record from the one and only UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER. It’s called TOUCHDOWN. Musicians on TOUCHDOWN include lead vocalist / frontman UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER, guitarist ANDREY SMIRNOV, drummer SVEN DIRKSCHNEIDER, guitarist FABIAN DEE DAMMERS, and UDO’s longtime ACCEPT partner in crime, bassist PETER BALTES. Here

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we go. Busting out of the gate with double bass drums from Hell is Isolation Man. Right away you know it’s UDO . Still one of the most notable and recognizable voices in metal . It contains a nice half-time excerpt with double lead guitars then back into a double-time rhythm. The Flood features crunching guitars that instills a groove you can’t ignore and has a great lyrical message. The Double Dealer’s Club: Galloping rhythms prevail while holding onto my seat. It has a cool, long instrumental intro that sets up for a tasteful guitar solo.

Fight For The Right: Another killing introduction into an amazing tight rhythm section from BALTES and SVEN DIRKSCHNEIDER that includes a passage of classical music. This is awesome! What a great band! Bringing us to Punchline: Yet a new strutting,confident groove; different from the rest of the album. This is a rock and roll machine of musicians. No slow songs here so don’t even look for one. Onto the final and title tune Touchdown: If you thought the other tunes were fast wait until you hear this. Breakneck speed will torture the musical side of your brain. Album production (MARTIN PFEIFFER) is unmatched and could be my favorite to date. Containing thirteen tracks and at just under one hour, you may need a sedative to calm you down.

This Touchdown tour is gonna rock!!

JUPITER on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile. php?id=100042121189738

January/February 2024

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available on CD and VINYL

themilitants.com

KISS - The End Of The Road World Tour

The Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA., November 3, 2023

Review by Ken Morton Live Photo by Sofi Margarita Marquee Photo by Michael Eskenazi It was a truly magical night for rock fans at The Hollywood Bowl, where KISS would soon arrive to play their last ever performance in the Los Angeles area. It was a night where a legendary band would play at an iconic venue to a sold out to the rafters audience - and it was an event that would 14

be remebered for a lifetime. The End Of The Road World Tour commenced before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s been a long grand finale that has encompassed an entire world. This would be third time I would cover KISS on this particular tour, and talk about going with a bang!

Nothing on this Earth would make me miss this historic event. There would be a few other gigs, including the last ever show at Madison Square Garde a few weeks later, but for those in HollyJanuary/February 2024

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woodland, KISS unleashed a classic final show for the ages! After an opening from Amber Wild featuring Paul Stanley’s son, KISS took the Hollywood Bowl stage, ready to rock and roll all night long!

Kicking off with a slamming rendition of the mighty Detroit Rock City, KISS proceeded to thrill the crowd with favorites such as Shout It Out Loud, Deuce, and War Machine. One of my personal favorites was Heavens On Fire, played to absolute perfection under the stars on a chilly Los Angeles night! I Love It Loud would feature Gene Simmons breathing fire into the crowd early on.

Each and every member of KISS had their grand moment in the spotlight. Gene Simmons would spit up blood during an wickedly wonderful bass solo, and Tommy Thayer would captivate the audience with some mighty axework in between the songs Cold Gin and Lick It Up. Eric Singer unleashed a stunning drum solo that was an inspiration to watch. And then there was the always amazing Paul Stanley ziplining his way across in the venue, performing performing Love Gun and I HIGHWIRE DAZE

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Was Made For Lovin’ You on a side stage.

KISS would perform selections from nearly every period of their storied career, and this would include songs from their later albums. Say Yeah from Sonic Boom was catchy as hell, and had many in the audience singing along. Psycho Circus was played right before the rapturous drum solo. The set was super heavy on the KISS classics, and that was exactly what the audience had in mind.

And the hits kept on arriving tenfold, with songs such as I Love It Loud, Calling Dr. Love, and God Of Thunder leaving quite an impression on the Hollywood Bowl KISS congregation of fans.

At the very end of the set, KISS performed a mesmerizing rendition of Black Diamond from the band’s eponymous first album, Kiss, released in 1974. Nearly 50 years later, the song remains a powerhouse when performed live. And after that grand and epic performance, KISS would leave the stage - but it wasn’t over yet! The audience was demanding an encore, and KISS was more than happy to oblige with three more massive songs!

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Eric Singer arrived onstage first, taking to the piano, delivering a rousing performance of Beth - leaving his own indelible stamp on one of the most well known songs in KISS’s long and glorious legacy.

Do You Love Me was up next, followed by a towering presentation of Rock And Roll All Night! And that was a wrap for KISS on the West Coast.

A few closing thoughts regarding KISS and my own personal experiences with them. I did not see KISS until much later in their career. The first time I would experience a KISS show was at the one and only Foundations Forum in 1993, taking place at The Hilton in Burbank, California. For this very special show, KISS performed a lot of songs that they rarely ever played live. The set list included deep cuts such as King Of The Night Time World, Goin’ Blind, Rock Bottom, Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’

Roll, and Parasite. KISS would also do a signing, and I took individual pictures of them holding up a copy of then Xeroxed Highwire Daze. It would be years later, but I would eventually interview former member Bruce Kulick at Ultimate Jam Night in 2017 and then founding member Gene Simmons for a cover story in 2021 to discuss an art exhibit he was doing in Las Vegas. Ace Frehley has also been reviewed live many times thoughout the years. It has been an honor to cover KISS here at Highwire Daze magazine!

KISS means the world to music fans all across this great big planet. They rocked us all for 50 years and gave us memories to treasure forever. The End Of The Road has arrived and what an amazing journey it was for us all!

https://www.kissonline.com/

w/

ΛIЯ-IK

Join Air-Ik as he hosts The Metal Block on his YouTube channel @TheMetalBlock380.

The show features MUSIC TALK ,VIDEOS, including topics like TOP 10’s, Best Of’s, Video Showdowns,Special Guests and More!!!

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David Ellefson:

Metal Allegiance, Kings of Thrash, Dieth, KISS, and more...

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue David Ellefson will be returning to The NAMM Show at The Anaheim Convention Center with a massive amount of iconic thrash and delicious coffee. Presenting the Ellefson Coffee Co. booth during the day, the former Megadeth bassist will be performing with Metal Allegiance and his brand new band DIETH on the night of January 25th at House Of Blues in Anaheim. In addition to Ellefson, DIETH also features guitarist/vocalist Guilherme Miranda (ex-Entombed A.D.) and drummer Michał Łysejko (ex-Decapitated) within their ranks. Highwire Daze recently interviewed David Ellefson to discuss the upcoming NAMM Show, his recent Kings Of Thrash performance at the Whisky on the Sunset Strip, the new DIETH album To Hell and Back, the legacy of the mighty KISS, and more!

How did the recent Kings of Thrash show go at the Whisky and Stages, and what were some of the highlights playing those venues?

I thought it went fantastic. We’ve not played Orange County yet, so it was fun to break into a new area of the world. For us, it felt like a triumphant homecoming back to the Whisky because Kings of Thrash ultimately met and formed out of the Ultimate Jam Night at the Whisky back in - maybe it was May of 2022. Then we put together the first run of shows back in, I’m going to say it was October, and the final homecoming night of that little tour was at the Whisky, where we recorded the live album in DVD called Kings of Thrash: Best of the West- Live at The Whisky A Go Go. So, we have a very strong relationship with the Whisky, with the fans of the Whisky, taking it back to a hometown for me, where my thrash career started.

Well, really for me and Jeff Young, I would say in LA back in 1987 and 1988 when we played together in Megadeth. The irony for me, is that, when I met Dave Mustaine, he said, “We’re not playing any clubs in Hollywood,” right? So, to me, my dreams were crushed out of the gate.

We ended up debuting Megadeth up in the Bay Area where it was a whole different feeling about thrash metal. Thrash metal was very much in the sort of the rock culture led clearly, obviously by Metallica and also Exodus, for sure. Exodus gets, sort of hometown cred with that. But in Los Angeles, Thrash metal was always an outlier. When we would play back in the early and mid-80s, we’d go to San Pedro to the Waters Club, and we’d play the Balboa Theater. We’d played these sort of outlier punk rock clubs, Fenders Ballroom down in Long HIGHWIRE DAZE

January/February 2024

Beach, and stuff. We didn’t play The Whisky, you didn’t play Gazzarri’s and The Troubadour, that wasn’t where Thrash metal was. So, I find it just poetically cool that Kings of Thrash - obviously 100% thrash centric - has found its home at The Whisky. To me, that is our hometown venue.

Let’s go from Thrash to Coffee. What could one expect when visiting the Ellefson Coffee Company at the NAMM Show?

Well, first of all, just follow your nose and you’ll know exactly where we are. It’s smelled so good. That’s how you find us. We call it the VIP Rock and Roll Lounge Experience because we want it to be comfortable. Obviously, there’s music there. There are musicians there. There are artists. We want it to be this comfortable artistic hangout area. We have a nice floor. We’ve got a media lounge with couches and chairs, and to make yourself comfortable we’ve got what we’re calling David’s Mega Vaults, which is my vault of some instruments, some interesting clothing items, tour archive items, and things that I’ve just collected over the years. So we’re going to have some of those things.

There just is as just personal interest items there, so we’re not so much like, check out our latest innovation or this kind of things. Obviously, we’ll have plenty of coffee there. We’ll have some things of the past, some things of our current line, and some things that we’re going to be rolling out moving forward. Which keeps in line with the trade show. I feel like we’re innovating even a new concept at NAMM. We don’t just have to be, “Hey, check out our three new patents and our five new widgets!” This is more about creating an environment that’s very fan and artist-friendly.”

Metal Allegiance is going to be celebrating its 10th anniversary at The NAMM Show. What could one expect from the Metal Allegiance Show this year?

Well, it’s interesting. We have these two records that we did. I haven’t listened to them in a while. So now I’ve been going back and revisiting them again just to relearn some of the songs that we’ll be performing. Man, I just realized these records are great. I’m not a guy who usually beats my own chest about how great it is. I’m speaking to us as just a community of how great the performances from everybody who participated with them stepping out of their own big iconic bands to do an all-star collaboration of original music together. Man, it’s so fun to listen to it. So we’re going to definitely be performing songs from those two records. We’d like to also perform some of the songs from bands that each of us is in or has been in. I think it’s going to be a really good night out. We’ve got some good opening groups. Of course, 19

DIETH is going to be playing as the direct support, which was very nice of Metal Allegiance to allow me to do - it was very allegiant of them. I’m very happy about that because it’s a way to bring DIETH over here for a good look, a good first show in America. I think it’s funny. We’ve become the go-to metal show during NAMM. So we’ve established ourselves pretty well there with Metal Allegiance.

What does the Dieth album title To Hell and Back mean to you?

It’s a collective description for the three of us in the band of our journey that led up to the album. When you’re a new band, you’re sort of creating your story, I think when you’re a band like DIETH, it isn’t our first record for any of us. But yet, there’s a lot of gas in the tank for all of us. I think we meet in the middle of life, the middle of our musical trajectory - in the middle of the road is where we meet with this record that we made. We had a collective journey with our previous bands, and our careers up to this point. Sometimes the greatest moments in life are when you meet not at the top, but when you meet either at the bottom or somewhere in the rebuilding process. I think DIETH for the three of us was a musical reset and a musical restart, which was very exciting.

Most people don’t get to have that, especially when you’ve been known for your work in other bands. You don’t get together with a clean slate and start something fresh - and just make up the rules and chart your own path one more time.

I saw a picture of you with KISS on your page. You and KISS are sharing the cover in this issue, so I thought I would ask this. What has KISS meant to you over the years, and what did you think about their final shows?

They are the reason I exist as a rockstar period. I’ve been musically influenced by a lot of people. But when it comes to really taking it to the stage, to the big stage to really learn how to be a rockstar on the biggest level, there is no better teacher than KISS. In fact, I was thinking about it today that people will argue who’s the greatest band. Some people say the Beatles or Led Zeppelin. If you’re of a younger generation, maybe it’s Korn, Metallica, or System of a Down, right? We all have our favorites, right? For various reasons.

But I think as an all-inclusive package in my generation and in my lifetime, KISS checked all the boxes. They had a great image, they had great songs. Their visual and concert presentation was second to none.

In fact, they invented most of it. We looked it up one time on an interview, and I guess technically Pink Floyd may have been the very first band to ever have used a Flash Pot or some type of a pyro technique, but it was KISS who made it mainstream acceptable, and flat out copyable, right? To do pyro and smoke. Led Zeppelin and the Beatles didn’t have a drum riser, KISS did, right? Then eventually the drum riser went 20 feet in the air, right? KISS did everything one more, one bigger, one louder, one better than everyone else. To me that’s what they represent, they took every aspect of it, the music, the visual, the fantasy of rock and roll, right?

With their characters and their makeup. It’s like, they weren’t 20

even real people. They were a character, right? They completely took you on a journey, and to those last final shows, they did the same thing. Their entire career from the very beginning in their rawest form all the way to the very end of their touring career, they made us feel good about ourselves.

They were never negative, they were positive. They were uplifting, they had songs that used the words, “us,” “we,” “together.” They were never exclusive, they were always inclusive. They just made me feel good about my life no matter where I was in my life. For that, that is probably one of the greatest attributes any artist could ever give to their fans, and they gave that to me.

Do you have any messages for your fans out here in Los Angeles and at the NAMM Show, who are going to be reading this?

To the fans. thank you for a wonderful life. You have given me everything I have, and you’ve given me a fantastic journey, one that I always dreamed of having. So thank you for that. I’m forever eternally indebted to you for that. As for NAMM, it’s a reset for NAMM, post-COVID. Sometimes these moments, like we’re heading into the year 2024 at NAMM, is an opportunity to reset some things. The fact that Ellefson Coffee Company is invited back to exhibit a new product, in a new way that plays nice to the music community, of course. To be just part of the fabric, not only of the music community but to be a part of the fabric of NAMM, is, to me, a highly esteemed honor. NAMM is an icon. They’re like the Grammys or the Oscars. They’re of that level in my mind, so to be invited into their culture and to be an exhibitor there is truly a pinch-me moment and something that I’m as highly grateful and very excited about for kicking off this new year.

https://www.davidellefson.com/ https://ellefsonemporium.com/ January/February 2024

HIGHWIRE DAZE

The Spellbinding

Burning Witches

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue Burning Witches made their way to the Southland, unleashing their own spellbinding brand of thrash metal at the world famous Whisky on the Sunset Strip. Touring in support of their recent album The Dark Tower on Napalm Records, Burning Witches now features L.A.’s own Courtney Cox from The Iron Maidens on lead guitar!

Prior the show, Highwire Daze caught up with Burning Witches at a Jack Lue photo shoot for an exclusive interview. Read on...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Burning Witches, and how long the band has been together.

Courtney: Courtney here on lead guitar! New addition to this epic band.

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Romana: Hello, I’m Romana on guitar,and I started this band Burning Witches. The band has been alive since 2015 and I cannot describe the love I have for my fellow bandmates, they are amazing!

Jay: I am Jay the bassist, and the band has been together since the summer of 2015 when Romana decided to form an all-female metal band.

Lala: This is Lala, I’m the drummer. We started this band since 2015. The Dark Tower is already our fifth album and more to go.

Laura: I’m Laura Guldemond. I’m the singer and lyricist.

Where is the band based out of and what is the local metal scene like there?

Romana: We are from Switzerland, and yes the metal January/February 2024

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scene is alive and powerful here. The support we have from fans all over is overwhelming and we are extremely thankful.

Jay: The band is based in Brugg, Switzerland. The scene here in Switzerland may be small, but a lot of great tours/ shows come from all over because of the location in the middle of Europe. Metal thrives in Europe.

Lala: The band is based in Switzerland, Laura is from Holland and of course, Courtney is from the US. The local metal scene here is alive and kicking as always. Also lots of great bands and other foreign bands play here and all over Europe. We have enough concerts and festivals going on here to always keep you busy.

Courtney: Being an American, I can say the scene in Europe is one of the most passionate for the metal scene.

There is no sense of “impress me” with arms folded from fans/fellow musicians alike, which a lot of musicians are accustomed to from some of the ‘scene’ in the states; It is an arms wide open welcoming metal family in Europe.

Metal is like a religion over here.

Laura: We are from Switzerland. I’m from the Netherlands. In Switzerland you have a cool metal scene with a diverse metal styles. The venue Z7 is cool place in Switzerland that really brings metalheads together since a long time.

How did the tour with KK Priest and Paul Di’Anno go and what were some of the highlights?

Romana: It was one of the best tours by far for us and we look forward to the next! Amazing people, amazing crew and we all had alot of fun together. This tour was how it should be, to work and help each other; We have much respect for each other! The crowd was great too and I can say it was like a dream!

Jay: The tour was awesome, and everyday became a new highlight! We were treated like family by KK’s Priest, Paul Di‘anno and all of the crew! We had a lot of fun and we also got a lot of support from the crowd! We are looking forward to the upcoming US tour with KK’s Priest and LA Guns in March.

Lala: Oh, that’s our best tour ever. They treated us very well, especially KK’s Priest including the whole crew. We ended our tour with much love and respect and I think we will do it again.

Courtney: Out of all the tours I’ve been on past and present, this was definitely one of my favorites. The shows were amazing, the fans incredible and all of the bands and their crew made each day special for all involved. On Top of hearing some of my favorite metal tunes each night, I got to sit in with Paul to jam on Maiden’s Running Free, couldn’t pass that down …thankfully I NEVER played that SONG before haha .

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Laura: We loved being on tour with KK’s Priest and Paul. They are metal heroes for us and very nice people.

We made lot’s of new fans. It was great!

What was it like performing at the legendary Wacken Festival?

Romana: We played now two times at Wacken Festival, and it was everytime a blast. I mean it’s a dream for every metal band to play one time at Wacken! It’s one of the best feelings!

Jay: It’s a very big deal to play Wacken. It was our second time, but it felt like a dream come true again! Despite the rain and mud at last year’s festival, many metal fans were there and celebrated with us.

Lala: It’s always a great experience playing at Wacken.

This is the ultimate dream of many bands like us playing with amazing bands and gaining new fans or listeners.

It’s a well organized festival with great sound and great people.

Courtney: No words can really describe the feeling of walking on that stage and playing at Wacken. This was my second time playing Wacken, first with The Iron Maidens, and now Burning Witches. There is a reason it is called the “Metal Holy Grounds”, because that is truly what it is. You have bands and fans from all over the world coming together in one place to enjoy life and to live and breathe METAL. I cannot wait to return whether it is playing or just attending!

Laura: Wacken was really cool. We played there two times now. Everyone is in a holiday mood. It’s one big family from metalheads all over the world gathering there and it’s a dream come true for us to play there.

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What could one expect from a live Burning Witches show?

Romana: We burn on stage! Be prepared to feel the power and fun. We love what we do and it’s nice when people experience that.

Jay: Heavy Metal, fun, and action! 5 Metal girls on fire!

Lala: You can expect one hell of a show with lots of burning adrenaline and great energy.

We always have fun playing no matter what kind of stage we have. We are giving 120% of our best as we want our fans to see and enjoy our live show.

People are paying and supporting you, so you need to give your all during each and every show.

Courtney: Every show our bond as a band grows stronger with every note. We push ourselves every day to be better than we were at the show before and that is what being in a band is all about, family and staying true to ourselves and the fans. We love the music we play and are truly blessed to have this opportunity to share our music with everyone around the world.

Laura: Expect to get your ass kicked at one of our live shows! It’s loud, heavy and I hope you will go home with some positive energy.

How did Courtney Cox from the Los Angeles based The Iron Maiden’s become involved with Burning Witches.

Romana: We have known Courtney for a long time!

Courtney, for me, is one of the best female guitar players on this planet and is also an amazing person. She really fits in with us as a musician and a person… We are like sisters!

Jay: A few years ago we opened for The Iron Maidens in Switzerland, then we did a US tour with them. When Larissa became pregnant, we asked Courtney to step in for her on guitar. She’s a talented guitarist whose personality fits perfectly ours, which is why she is now a permanent member too.

Lala: She is a friend of Romana, our song writer since the start of Burning Witches. Courtney is a great guitarist.

You cannot go wrong with that. For sure she will add more spice in the music of Burning Witches.

Courtney, describe that very first show with Burning Witches, where it took place, and what was going through your mind when you went onstage.

Courtney: Being close friends with the girls for a long time now, on my last tour with the Maidens supporting the 24

band Accept in Europe, I was asked to come sit in with the Witches and it was an immediate yes! I had only a short time to learn the set, write a few solos and have one rehearsal two days before my first shows with them, which was on the Monsters of Rock Cruise. Of course there were a few nerves going on as this was new material not in my usual wheel house at that time being in the Maidens for so long, but playing with the Witches felt natural and I had this sense of familiarity, as if I had been there from the start! We just hit it off musically on top of the friendship we already shared throughout the years. Fast forward a few shows later and I would become a full member and I could not be happier to be lending my guitar to such a great band. I look forward to working on the next record, which has already started, and continuing on touring the world!

Any messages for your fans out here in the Los Angeles area?

Romana:Oh yeah!!! See you hopefully very soon! The Whisky a Go-Go was amazing!! We love ya!!

Jay: Thank you so much for all your love and support! We can’t wait to return to LA again! Stay Metal!!!

Lala: Thank you to our loyal fans, including the rest of the world. You guys are amazing. Stay metal and we will be back for more ….playing heavy metal in front of your hungry ears ha-ha.

Courtney: Thank you to all the fans out there in LA and the world… we cannot do any of this without you. See you out there on the road!

Laura: A message for LA; It was awesome to be there for the first time. It was fun to see all the familiar faces at the Whisky a Go-Go and take in the history surrounding the place. We’ll be back for sure, so see you on the road!

https://www.burningwitches.ch/ January/February 2024

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STAIN THE CANVAS GOES HOLLYWOOD!

Interview by Ken Morton Photos by Vivian Ortega of So Finch Photography In a Stateside visit that was quite a surprise, Stain The Canvas made their way deep into the heart of Hollywood, attending an L.A. Rock Collective show at Lucky Strike Live in November. All Fine - eniF llA: The Deluxe Edition was just released via InVogue Records, and the band was in town for the very first time, visiting their label and doing co-writes for their upcoming album. Highwire Daze had interviewed Lorenzo Accattoli and Bryan Marte from Stain The Canvas a few months earlier via the magic of Zoom. But now with the band in town, we decided to do a photo shoot and update with the band at Dystopian Studios in Downtown L.A. Lorenzo wound up in an intense writing session on the night of the shoot, but Bryan and Ale Bonetti arrived for an interview - and then Bryan did photos with Vivian Ortega of So Finch Photography.

One of the most compelling metalcore bands on the world music scene today, it is an honor to present to you both parts of our Stain The Canvas interviews - from Milan, Italy and then the City of Angels edition. Read on...

Part One: Stain The Canvas in Italy Tell me the story behind the new single friXion?

Lorenzo: friXion is a song against the extremism of the cancel culture. I find it disturbing that someone wakes up in the morning and says, “Alright, let’s ruin someone’s life because I just hate that person” or “that person just got too famous, so let’s just dig into their past, and let’s find something controversial.” It’s something really weird, so I just wanted to write a song about it.

What was it like working with Nicholas Matthews from Get Scared on the song Puppet and how did that come about?

Lorenzo: Well, of course it was an honor for us to work with the singer of Get Scared.

Bryan: It was really a random thing. Our manager wrote to Nicholas, and then after 5 months, he replied to us.

Lorenzo: And the cool thing was he replied to us after the album was finished. Two days before we were ready to give the album over to our label, he said, “Okay, let’s do it!” So, HIGHWIRE DAZE

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we said to the label, “Wait a minute, we have to postpone the deadline for the album.”

Bryan: Yes, let’s wait a minute for Nicholas!

I did an interview with Telle from The Word Alive and he told me how he enjoyed working with you guys. How did Telle become involved with the song Condemned and what was it like working with him?

Lorenzo: It was amazing, because Telle is one of the coolest persons in this world for sure. And also, he’s mega-talented.

We were searching for a guest feature on the site Featured X. And I didn’t expect to find Telle there. But when I found him, it was like, “Okay, we’ve got to ask him!”

Bryan: He’s the man!

Lorenzo: Yeah! And he accepted! Of course, we paid him, and he accepted. He was very collaborative – and he also, as you know, accepted to join our music video too. He’s a pretty good guy! And mega-talented!

What are you looking forward to the most about the imminent release of All Fine the Deluxe Edition?

Lorenzo: We’d like to show people that we didn’t stop to experiment with our sound. The three new singles are going to sound a little bit different than what we’ve made before – but they still have the same Stain The Canvas signature sound in my opinion. So, it will be fun. And it’s also a new way to keep promoting this album.

What does the album title All Fine mean to you?

Bryan: You could read All Fine on the album also backwards – so All Fine – eniF llA. And basically, the meaning is, “Yeah, it’s fine, but it’s not really all fine.”

Lorenzo: We thought of this title when we were locked down in Italy during the Covid-19 emergency. And optimistic people kept saying, “Oh, it’s going to be all fine. It’s all fine! Why are we all worrying in that shitty situation?” So, we were saying let’s use this for the main title of the album – since the album is also about all of that situation.

What was it like starting the band like right before the pandemic?

Lorenzo: It was a shit! (Much laughter) We were like, okay, let’s make this album and then let’s tour and play shows to promote it! And then right after we released our debut, 27

boom! We’re in a pandemic! And I mean, what the hell?

But I guess shit happens. So yeah!

Bryan: We also should have toured in May, but it didn’t happen.

Any chance of Stain The Canvas touring here in the States or is anything planned?

Lorenzo: Actually, it’s not planned yet, but it’s one of our biggest goals for sure. We have to tour the States at some point – and I’m sure we will. We actually have a lot of monthly listeners from Spotify that are from the States, so it would be nice to play there.

Have either of you guys been here – just like on vacation or anything?

Bryan: I’ve never been.

Lorenzo: Neither have I.

Part Two: Stain The Canvas Goes Hollywood What do you think of Los Angeles and Hollywood, and why are you guys so far from home?

Bryan: I think it’s pretty nice. Its’s a bit different from Italy.

Everything is bigger here. We went to some shows.

Ale: We went to some shows in Hollywood, and I would say the most weird thing in L.A. is the distances – they’re really crazy compared to Italy.

Bryan: If we want to reach a point in Italy, it’s more or less a 15-minute drive. Here it’s almost an hour of drive.

Ale: Everything is like one hour from everything! It’s weird!

Bryan: There’s so much traffic in L.A. I will second that! So, the Deluxe Edition of your album is out. How does that feel knowing that day has arrived!

Bryan: We’re happy about the Deluxe Edition.

Ale: It’s doing really great! And it’s always good when an album comes out.

Bryan: We wanted to experiment more on the songs. I mean All Fine – now it’s over, and we’re looking forward to the next album.

Ale: We started working on the next album. And as you can hear on the Deluxe Edition, there are three very different songs.

Bryan: Yeah, friXion is heavier, and it meets with a phonk vibe. And In Reverse is more poppy. And Disposable is intense!

What has been the reaction from American fans regarding your album?

Ale: It’s been great – we’ve had a lot of comments from American fans on social media to come and play in the U.S. – a lot more than before. The comments for us asking to play in the U.S. are becoming bigger and bigger – and we can’t 28

wait to come and play here. It’s going to be sick when it will happen.

Hopefully in 2024!

Bryan: We hope so.

What’s up next for you guys in the New Year?

Bryan: We’re going to tour in Europe with Call Me Karizma and Doobie. And a couple of festivals in Germany in August. We are also working on more tours along with recording some new songs - we’re working on stuff - so stay tuned!

Do you have any messages for your fans here in the States who are reading this right now?

Bryan: First, thank you for listening to our music and keep doing that – it means the world for us.

Ale: And be patient – we’re going to be here – I hope soon – and it will be worth the wait.

https://www.instagram.com/stainthecanvasofficial/ January/February 2024

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Photo by Jack Lue

The Magic of Five with LastWorld

Interview by Ken Morton LastWorld returns once again with their 5th album in just under 5 years. Jim Shepard and David Cagle present Beautiful Illusion, their latest magnum opus via Perris Records.

Jam-packed with songs that will captivate the senses and set the imagination in flight, LastWorld kick off the New Year with a thunderous blast of melodic hard rock. Highwire Daze recently interviewed LastWorld mastermind Jim Shepard to find out more about the magic of five with the stunning reveries of Beautiful Illusion. Read on...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in LastWorld, and how long the band has been together.

Hello I’m Jim, I write the songs play the guitar, bass, keyboards, programming and live drums. All the musicians you are 30

hearing with one exception, on Fractured Mirror my friend Ron Hanchar played the saxophone on a track. We started making music together in 2019 Where are you based out of?

I live in Hobart, Indiana, just outside of Chicago. David lives in Alabama.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Beautiful Illusion album title?

Yes, some people put on a completely false perception of who they really are. Some have an evil side that we will never see.

Select two songs from Beautiful Illusion and what inspired the lyrics.

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Some people will fight, argue and tell you you’re wrong (about anything, what you like, what you don’t like, it’s just absurd) just to start an argument, that seems what the internet is 95% about.

A Step Beyond Death It talks about someone at the end of their rope and contemplates suicide but if you listen closely to the lyrics it’s about anti-suicide.

Who did the cover art for Beautiful Illusion and how much input did you have on it?

Nello Dell’Omo once again did the artwork. It was my concept, I told him what I was seeing and he ran with it and it turned out beautifully. It turned out great.

What has it been like working with JK Northrup on the mastering? And how did he become involved with LastWorld?

Working with JK now is like working with a friend. When I did my solo album JADED I was asked, would you like JK to master it? I was like, WELL, YEAH!!! Lol. And the rest is LastWorld history Five albums in 5 years is such an achievement! Congratulations! How do you keep up the creative process on that level?

I love music and it’s always running thru my head. I keep a guitar next to my couch and I’m always noodling. When I finished recording the music for Beautiful Illusion (we were still recording vocals) I didn’t play much so for about a year I didn’t write anything. But around Thanksgiving I started noodling again and the creative juices started flowing fast, as of today 1-3-24 I now have 9 new songs written and music recorded. No telling when we’ll start vocals. So that’s 9 songs in a month and a half Has LastWorld ever played live or is that something you would like to do in future days?

As of now no, it’s more of a project... but if the right opportunity pops up....

How did you wind up signing with Perris Records?

I sent 3 songs to see if they were interested, they were. Lol. I wish there was a more substantial answer but no. Simple and sweet.

When you look back on your solo album JADED, what do you think of it now in retrospect?

I love it. I worked on it with close friends. I’m thinking about doing another album with close friends again. On Beautiful Illusion there are 2 songs we redid from JADED, the new owners of MR Records took it off the streaming sites so I figured I’d redo some of those songs.

David Cagle just did vocals on the Silent Tiger album Twist of Fate. Have you heard it and what do you think of it?

Yes I’ve heard it, I like it quite a bit. Jean Funes and I know HIGHWIRE DAZE

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each other too. I’ve joked with him about between the two of us, we’re keeping David out of breath, lol.

How did the partnership with David Cagle come about and what do you think has made it last for all these amazing albums?

Obviously I knew OF him listening to his album with JK...

When I released JADED, the previous owner of MR Records Andrew brought his name up about future releases, David and I talked and here we 5 albums later, with a 6th one in the can.

Are you currently involved with any other bands or projects outside of LastWorld?

Every once and awhile I’ll play with a local band, but as far as recording I’ve done: Taxi - Going Back To Nowhere, Crystal Blue, Live, 93296 Jim Shepard solo - The Journey, Crazy Funk’d Up World, JADED And all the LastWorld albums What do you hope 2024 brings for you and LastWorld?

Well like I said I have 9 songs already recorded (just needing vocals) soooo, maybe I can squeeze out TWO albums in 2024... lol Any final words of wisdom?

Whenever I’m asked this I have one answer. Don’t text and drive. Thank you... we appreciate you covering LastWorld.

https://www.facebook.com/LastWorldMusic https://perrisrecords.com/ 31

Of Grace, Gravity,

and Merrimack

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Vagus Nox Legendary black metal collective Merrimack has returned with Of Grace and Gravity via Season Of Mist. Formed in 1994 by founding member Perversifier, Merrimack was one of the first black metal from France. Now celebrating their 30th anniversary creating their dark art, Of Grace and Gravity finds Merrimack at their very height of their creative energies. In addition to the stunning new album, an early work entitled Obsecrations to the Horned has just been re-issued via the mighty Moribund compound.

Highwire Daze recently interviewed Perversifier to discuss the concepts found within Of Grace and Gravity, his 34

thoughts of Los Angeles when Merrimack last played here with Marduk, that nostalgic feeling found within the early entreaties of Obsecrations To The Horned, a message regard music streaming, and a whole lot more!

Let’s immediately talk about the new album. Is there any overall story or concept behind the title of the album Of Grace and Gravity?

We cannot call it a concept album in the sense that every song is about a different topic. But the title may be is a good sum up of the album. It’s always difficult to find a good album title, we had a lot of discussions, and this was one of the song’s names. In fact, Of Grace and Gravity initially was one of the songs. And then, we decided to make January/February 2024

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it the album title and to change the song name. So, there is no concept.

We don’t like to explain too much the meaning of the lyrics. We think that everybody should read the lyrics and make their own interpretation. It’s a bit like poetry.

You don’t want to explain your poetry. You want people to read it and to interpret as they want. But still, gravity relates to our physical envelope and the fact that we are being grounded on earth. While the grace is the elevation.

Whether it be the elevation of the spirit, of the mind, the reach of the fate. Many things. So, we like this opposition, those two opposing forces. So, it was a good sum-up of the album.

I won’t ask about any of the actual song lyrics, but let’s go this way instead. For fans who have been following Merrimack for a while, what could they expect from this brand-new album?

So, this album is quite let’s say, a typical Merrimack album. Merrimack is not a band that is experimenting a lot. We are quite a traditional or orthodox band. So, we don’t explore new stuff like progressive things or like a lot of new ideas, but we do the best, which is black metal as we believe it should be. And in terms of music, it’s quite typical of Merrimack, which means a lot of melody, a lot of aggressivity, and the mixing of very fast riffs with blast beats. And then very moody atmospheres, very slow and depressive and melancholy passage. So, it’s kind of our signature, this mixing of the very aggressive and fast riffs with the very melancholic stuff.

So, this is really what you will experience with the album.

But in terms of projection, it sounds probably a bit different from what we used to do in the meaning that we wanted the album to be more natural, and more organic. First of all, we went to a new studio, and we changed our way of working. We didn’t choose any metronome for recording the drums and the songs. We did it like the old days. We played live the guitars for the drummer to record. So, it was not playing on a metronome with a click. We had to play those guides for like guitars live. In the end, it makes the sound very much more natural, and we didn’t edit the drum at all.

So, what you hear is exactly what was played. No addition, no cheating. For me, it was very important, and I think we can hear this on the album.

And when it comes to the guitar, it’s a bit similar. Usually, we double or triple up the guitar takes for each guitar line.

This time, we didn’t do it. Each guitar is recorded only once with its own sound. And all of this, with the objective to sound a bit more live, a bit more authentic, genuine.

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So, I think we succeeded quite well to do this and that’s refreshing. In those times when all the albums are, let’s say, over-produced, all songs are compressed, all the drums are edited, and everything sounds very mechanical. So, I think this album sounds very natural and that’s really the new thing. It sounds more natural than ever on our previous music.

One of the shows that you did with Marduk in 2009, was out here in Los Angeles at the Royal Hall. What did you think of Los Angeles?

We didn’t have much time to visit, but of course, we went to the city, we went to the Strip, and so on and so on. It was not my first time because I went there already, but we could have a walk on the Strip and visit a little bit in the afternoon before the show. I like the city. I’m a big fan of glam rock from the end of the eighties to the beginning of the nineties. So, seeing all those clubs where Mötley Crüe played, where Guns N’ Roses played, and so on. For me, it’s like, wow, you know, it’s magic.

So, I like the history of this place. I think it has a huge history when it comes to, let’s say, not metal, but let’s say, hard rock music. So yes, I like the city. The venue was in a not-so-good area. You could see those guys, dark cars, like, they look like they’re in gangs and so on. So, it felt a little bit unsafe. But we’ve seen worse in the US, we’ve been in Detroit, and we’ve been in many cities. But I liked it. It was good memories!

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It looks like you’re going to be doing a show in Paris in March with Morte Incandescente. Will you be playing with Morte Incandescente as well? I think you were in the band a long time ago.

Yes. Oh, you made your research very well. I played in the band but at the very, very beginning. So, I just played bass guitar on the demo tape. That was a long time ago. I’m not part of the band anymore, and no, I will not play with them. It’s just that they are very, very close friends. We wanted to choose the bands that we would play with. So, Nocturnus Horrendus, the main guy has been very close friends with me for more than 20 years. For me, it was natural to invite them, and they never played in Paris, so I think it’s interesting. But I will not be playing with them. I will not have time. I will be too busy preparing for my gig and the whole night. But yes, I didn’t even think about it, but now that you say it, I could have done it, but it didn’t cross my mind.

Obsecrations to the Horned is being re-released on Moribund. Looking back, what do you think of that recording now in retrospect?

I don’t listen to it very much honestly because I think it’s a bit outdated. But I composed this music, and when I listen to it, I still like it, and I still feel nostalgia. It’s mainly nostalgia that I feel. When I listen to it, it reminds me of those times at the beginning of the band and the beginning of the black metal scene. In France at least 1994, we were among the very, very first (black metal) bands in France. So, it brings me back to these times. When I listen to it, I have this nostalgic feeling.

But honestly, when it comes to the music, I’m not ashamed.

I’m not ashamed at all. I’m not proud either. I think it was very good at the time - very, very good at the time. But when you listen to it nowadays, it sounds a bit cheesy.

Some songs are with the keyboards, and the melodies, it sounds a bit old. But that’s normal. That was almost 25 years ago. So, this CD is a collection of our demos for people - it’s all our demo tapes on the CD re-edition. So, it’s more like a collectible or for the diehard fans. It’s a very old record!

Do you have any messages for Merrimack fans here in the States?

Yes. What could I say? There are many, many things to say. We are in the time of streaming, and we have those applications like Spotify and so on, with a lot of statistics.

And I can see from the statistics that the US is the biggest market for Merrimack. It’s the country that listens the most to Merrimack. That’s very interesting. So, I want to thank you, thanks to the US for this. Because it looks like 36

they really like our music. But well, it’s a big country, so maybe it’s also normal. But I can see Merrimack is quite appreciated in the US. If I had a message to give, those times, I’ve been often asked this question, do you have a message? So, I’ve decided on the topic that I want to talk about, and it’s precisely what I want to say to people, be careful of the way you listen to music. When you listen to music on Spotify or those kinds of apps, if you believe that the bands that you listen to get some money from it, you are totally wrong. The system of those apps is really not fair for the small and average band. So, if you want to support a band, I really encourage that you buy CDs. If you still buy CDs, buy them from the label, from the distribution network, or from the band directly at the shows. And it’s not only for Merrimack, but I’m also talking for all the music that you listen to.

I’m really, really afraid, this is why I talk about it, that in the future, in five years, bands like Merrimack will not be able to record music anymore because it’s not profitable. I mean, the label cannot even break even on a band like us, because the streaming is really killing the music. So, I want people just to give a thought about this. Do they want to have new records from the bands they like in the future?

And if so, maybe find an alternative to listening to the music on Spotify.

https://www.facebook.com/merrimackofficial January/February 2024

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Rocking Out with the

Legendary London Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Jack Lue London has expressed an epic career over the last 40 years and counting. Best known for their appearance in The Decline Of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years documentary as well as their rock solid albums and dynamic lives shows, 2024 finds London looking ahead to even greater glories. A brand new album Call That Girl has been released, performed by founding member Nadir D’Priest and a lineup of topnotch musicians. The NAMM Show will find London playing the 7th Annual Metal Hall Of Fame Gala as well as making an appearance at the Highwire Daze Booth for a live event and signing. Highwire Daze recently interviewed Nadir D’Priest to discuss the ongoing legacy of the almighty London. Read on...

What was it like returning to the stage with London after a hiatus at the Rainbow Backyard Bash?

It felt great to be able to perform outdoors at our favorite place and in front of a real fun crowd of fans and friends.

There were a lot of familiar faces at the gig and also a lot of new faces all the way from Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, and the list goes on. We want more of it all again! :) Your previous show at the Rainbow with London was due to feature founding guitarist Lizzie Grey in the lineup. What was it like to communicate with Lizzie once again and were you surprised by Lizzie’s sudden passing?

It was really nice to hear from him after our last attempt many years back to do a gig together again as LONDON. Lizzie wanted to be at The Rainbow show even if he could not play guitar at that point. Lizzie wanted to share the stage with me once again. We wanted it to be special since he stopped playing due to Lewy Body disease. A terrible disease but even with that it did not slow him down to be at The Rainbow. He took a bus from Las Vegas to LA to be at the show - instead he got lost for a day and was found in Burbank at a bus stop bench. I did not understand how he was allowed to travel alone in a bus knowing his mental state at that time. He was picked up by his family and made it back to Las Vegas. Soon after he called me and said he wanted to get together with me and record an album under the moniker LONDON Underground. He had a list of songs that we used to do and some that never really got played Live. I still have the cassettes from our rehearsals and ideas. He called me several times we spoke music and planned recording ideas- real pleasant chat things coming together. One day I get a call from Lizzie and said he would not be able get together and record that he was not able to do it…Not much of an explanation but I HIGHWIRE DAZE

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knew it had to be his disease and nothing else. So that’s how that went. I am the only one with those songs imbedded in my head only now… Myself and Brian West former bassist for LONDON visited him at Hospice in Las Vegas and soon after without going into too much detail we got a call that he had passed away. I will always thank him for being my friend and partner for the years together as the bad boys of Hollywood! Good times Lizzie.

Who are the current members of London and their backgrounds?

Eric Ragno - Keyboards. Eric has been with me for over 10 years and has an extensive artist roster. You can hear his musical work on our latest studio album titled LONDON Call That Girl album.

Ronee Peña - Guitars. Ronee a very talented guitar player who has been playing with me for over 8 years now. You can hear Ronee’s guitar work on our latest studio album titled LONDON Call That Girl.

Andy Hewett - Bass. We welcome Andy our new bassist for LONDON and look forward to many shows together. You can catch LONDON Live and see Andy at The Metal Hall Of Fame Gala on January 24th in Anaheim, CA. Ivan Copelli - Drums. We welcoming our latest drummer Ivan who has recently joined LONDON. Straight from Brazil to Hollywood baby! You can catch LONDON Live and see Ivan at The Metal Hall Of Fame Gala on January 24th in Anaheim, CA. Nadir D’Priest - Vocals writer producer for LONDON the band for over 40 years.

What was it like recording a new album entitled Call That Girl after all this time?

The new LONDON Call That Girl album was recorded in Las Vegas, Nevada at Desert Moon Production studios which is owned by Danny “The Count” Koker. A great place to record live drums and anything you want really. All the rest was recorded at my home built studio in Vegas so it was a lot of fun with no rush and no cost for studio time. I had Shrapnel Records own president our friend Mike Varney who rocked the Gibson on two heavy tracks 1) Metal Nations 2) Ayer Te Soñé Aquí which is a Spanglish dark tune with some great guitars and vocals. It was a lot of fun recording in Vegas with everyone. Maybe we will do it again sometime real soon!

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Select two songs from Call That Girl and what inspired the lyrics.

METAL NATIONS: Hard rock and Heavy Metal fans are very loyal and I thank them for all the years. Metal Nations we are here to stay its a metal resurrection come on join the band, Metal Nations. Inspired by Life!

REACH UP TO THE SKIES: is about a man that woke thinking about his life and what the future has planned for him as he gets old.. His true mission was to give to those who needed a helping hand. Faith in God got him thru it all. The lyrics say it all. Checkout the album.

London is infamous for appearing in The Decline Of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years. What was it like working with director Penelope Spheeris and what do you think of the movie looking back now?

1)It was a blast working under the direction of Penelope Spheeris and her production team at the time. We did our segment at Penelope’s home up Laurel Canyon and we could not disappoint. Freshly back from being on the road losing the drummer and getting a new one in Phoenix Az. He basically got to be in movie weeks after joining LONDON. The story is longer.

2) I think I was a very lucky young man who got to be on the greatest rockumentary ever.

London has been a revolving door of famous and not so famous musicians throughout the years, including various members of Guns ‘N Roses. What has it been like to have so many musicians come and go over time?

Exhilarating, exhausting and fun. It was a lot of work if you look at it now, but I would not change it for the world. I live my life on my own terms, and thats just the way I like it.

Fame was not in our minds as some we just loved to party and play with the birds and bees. No regrets from me - just pure joy for being able to write this down.

What connection did you have with the Rolling Stones and their Voodoo Lounge album?

I was fortunate enough to have been hired to work for a company named Second Vision New Media. This company was owned by Bruce Kirkland then vice president of Capitol Records Hollywood. I was working as project director for the critically acclaimed The Rolling Stones VooDoo Lounge CD Rom. Virgin Records had spent around 1.2 million dollars on new technology graphics extras and video shoots worldwide. I was on the cover of MultiMedia Producer magazine and Billboard Magazine and became a music consultant for GTE Interactive media from 1994 to 1996. This was the biggest band in the world at the time and I must say. I was very proud of my hard work. Lots of stories so next time!

Non Stop Rock and Don’t Cry Wolf are soon to celebrate their 40 Year Anniversaries. Looking back on the first two London albums, what do you think of them now in retrospect?

I think in how hard we had to work on recording the 1st 40

LONDON Non Stop Rock album and how it came together.

It was the beginning of the beautiful yet unknown future of this album classic. Lizzie was very happy since he had not recorded an album for LONDON and 1st year I joined the band we got signed to Mike Varney’s Shrapnel Records and the rest is history. Don’t Cry Wolf was a great time working with Kim Fowley at the recording studio sessions. Shooting the front and back cover of LONDON Don’t Cry Wolf album at Hustler Studios with famed staff photographer Clive Mcklein at Larry Flynt studios. A blast!

What do you think has kept you so passionate about London and music for nearly 40 years now?

It’s my love for music and keeping the starship flying high!.

We all want our music to be heard and that is what I want and I believe the world wants to hear it. We love what we do and I will continue to do so til I run out of existence.

What do you hope the New Year brings for you and London? No hope here! Thats a Girls name! :) For me to stay healthy and clear. As far as LONDON promote the latest studio album LONDON Call That Girl, working on a music video for the songs Far Away and Metal Nations. Checkout the video for the song Call That Girl.

Any messages for London fans who are reading this now?

If you want to catch LONDON Live! Come down to The 7th Annual Metal Hall Of Fame Gala which will be starting at 5pm Red Carpet and 8pm Ceremony at The Marriot Delta GardenGrove/Anaheim Hotel.

Please visit us on our LONDON official website:

LONDONtheband.net and

DPriest.com Stop by my official LONDON Ebay merchandise site.

January/February 2024

HIGHWIRE DAZE

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Keyboardist Eric Ragno: Legends Of Classic Rock,

London, Ace Frehley and beyond...

Interview by Ken Morton - Photo by Vivian Ortega of So Finch Photography Keyboardist Eric Ragno has an impressive resume in the melodic rock field, so it’s no surprise to find him joining up in an allstar lineup entitled Legends Of Classic Rock, featuring members of Bad Company, Alice Cooper, White Lion, XYZ and more!. And that was just to cap off 2023! Eric is now celebrating his 10 year anniversary with the legendary London, and appears on their recent Call That Girl endeavor. Throughout the year, Eric found himself working with the likes of Ace Frehley, Jesse Damon, RIAN, Terje Eide, Giancarlo Floridia, and beyond! All this, and he is proudly endorsed by the iconic Hammond brand - the true sound of classic rock. Highwire Daze recently caught up with Eric Ragno for our annual NAMM issue interview to once again discuss an epic career in music!

What has it been like to rejoin London and how did you wind up meeting Nadir D’Priest and becoming involved with that band?

I’ve been with London since 2013, when Nadir found me online and invited me to play Rocklahoma. London remerged from the Covid cloud in 2023 to perform at the Rainbow BBQ Bash with Slaughter, Steelheart, EnuffZnuff and Angel. It was a great way to celebrate my 10 years with the band. In addition to longtime guitarist Ronee Pena, our new rhythm section (Andy Hewett on bass and Ivan Copelli on drums) will be joining us when we perform at the Metal Hall of Fame Induction at NAMM this year.

Sebastian Bach, Tim Ripper Owens, Penelope Spheeris and a slew of great talent are going to be there to be inducted. After that, we’re looking forward to getting back on the road to promote our most recent record, Call That Girl.

What was it like working with Ace Frehley on his upcoming solo album 10,000 Volts and what could his fans expect from this new album?

My pal Steve Brown (Trixter) is friendly with Ace’s people, and produced and co-wrote the 10,000 Volts album.

We’ve collaborated a lot over the last decade – I worked on the Trixter reunion albums and Steve’s Tokyo Motor First project with Ted Poley – so I was thrilled to get the call to record keyboards for Ace. Steve brought Ace “back to the well” as you say, so you are getting that vintage KISS-era HIGHWIRE DAZE

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Ace as seen through Steve’s modern melodic sensibility. It’s everything you would hope it to be. This is my second brush with KISS – I worked in the studio for some stuff with Paul Stanley awhile back. But Ace has a mystique that captured my imagination as a kid! So I’m really excited about this.

Tell me about Legends of Classic Rock and what we could expect from these upcoming shows?

Legends of Classic Rock is an all-star band featuring Terry Ilous (Great White) on vocals, Jason Boyleston (Paul Rodgers/Bad Company) on guitar, Chuck Wright (Alice Cooper/Quiet Riot) on bass and Greg D’Angelo (White Lion) on drums, and myself - who has been with The Babys as well as members of Rainbow. We are featured performers on the Icon of the Seas, the newest and largest cruise ship ever built. The ship is quite amazing, it’s modern and has the best of everything – including entertainment! We are performing a classic rock set that includes the hits from our various careers. We’ll be on the road – that is, on the seas for a third of 2024! Come join us!

What was it like working with RIAN on the Wings album?

I worked with their singer Richard Andermyr a few years back on the Hearts on Fire album, and our sound meshed really well. When Richard started the new RIAN record with Dennis Ward at the helm, they invited me in to “go synth-wild”. They kept 98% of what I sent over. I’m so proud of how this album turned out, and I posted a lot of clips on TikTok as it rolled out. Big harmonies, big choruses – what a joy! I would love to do another one with them soon.

Terje Eide of On The Rise has an amazing new album out entitled Recalibrate. How did you become involved with that project?

Terje and I had worked together 15 years ago on his Dream Zone album for Frontiers Records, and I really enjoyed his vocals and songwriting. We met up a few times over the years in Chicago and again in LA, where we hung out with our pal Steve Lukather all night – what a blast! Terje is a really great guy. When he brought up a new album, I offered to help any way I could. And we cranked out a real winner.

What are you and Jesse Damon of Silent Rage working on?

I love Jesse to bits man. He’s an amazing writer and singer, 43

and an all-around great guy! We demo’d some awesome new tracks this year, but our lives keep getting sidetracked along the way. It’s my hope that we can resume this in 2024. I’m bringing a recording rig on the ship so I can continue working as we go.

You and Giancarlo Floridia will be making an appearance at our NAMM Show booth this year. What project are you both currently working on?

Gian has become a songwriting machine!

Last year he wrote songs for Michael Sweet (Stryper), Lynch Mob and other artists on Frontiers Records. He’s got a real gift man, we are old friends and I am so happy for him. We started getting together over the summer at my studio to finish each other’s songs, and it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had. We’ve placed songs for some pending things with Frontiers, and we’ll see how it turns out.

Who are some of the keyboard players that inspire you the most?

Steve Porcaro (Toto) explained to me last year that we are a breed of “synthesists” players who create musical counterpoints and tapestries of sound to enhance the song. I’m not drawn so much to keyboard soloists or virtuoso pianists – this is rock and roll; let’s leave it to the guitarists to play all those pentatonic scales!

I’m drawn more to keyboardists like Steve, Geoff Downes of Yes and Asia, Jonathan Cain – and some of the newer stuff, like Cee-Lo and The Weeknd. Anyone who uses their tools to create an environment that comes from inside of them. The 80s really created this niche, and I’ve spent a lifetime studying it.

You have been with Hammond for 11 years now. What do you like the most about their products?

The Hammond Organ is the sound of classic rock. Period.

The company has been really great to me. I rely on synthesizers and piano, but I put some of that classic Hammond in everything. That dirty growl returns you to the classic rock of your youth. I’ve been on stage with three guitarists and that sound still cuts through! The Hammond Family (“HamFam”) is an elite club, and I’m honored to be an active part of it.

What’s up next for you in this New Year?

There will be a LOT of music! We’re lining up some new things for London this year, and when I’m not rocking at sea with the Legends I’ll be recording tracks on the ship, and at 44

my home studio. Be sure to follow my adventures at rockkeyboards.com, or @rockkeyboards on all of the socials.

Rock on!

http://rockkeyboards.com/

ERIC RAGNO

THE HIGHWIRE DAZE BOOTH

THE NAMM SHOW 2024 Saturday - January 27th 12:00 Noon - with Giancarlo Floridia of Faithsedge 2:00 PM - with LONDON! Hall B - Booth 8101

The Anaheim Convention Center January/February 2024

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g n i t e k r a m t c e r i d mellady r e t n i r p e h t e b o t d u is pro e n i z a g a m e z a d e r i for highw Your source for printing and mailing excellence since 1986.

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The Requiem:

A Cure To Rock The World

Interview by Ken Morton Photo Credit: Salem Valdez The Requiem present their own theatrical brand of metalcore, emo and hard rock, and are destined to break through like a sonic plague you won’t want to get rid of. Their upcoming album is entitled A Cure To Poison To The World, available February 16th via Fearless Records. The Broward County, FL trio consists of Damien on vocals, Felipe on lead guitar, and Salem on bass, enveloping the music with a dynamic sense of imagination and intrigue. Highwire Daze recently interviewed the three co-conspirators of The Requiem to find out more about this band on the rise...

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?

Damien: We’re based out of Broward County, Florida. The 46

scene is very vibrant at the moment. It’s growing again. It was really strong a couple years ago, but then COVID hit and it just went down, but somehow it survived through the hardships. It’s doing pretty well now.

How did you guys wind up signing with Fearless Records?

Damien: They initially showed interest and we got to talking with them. Our manager was vital to getting to know them as people more than someone that we were just going to work with, and they’ve been lovely.

Let’s talk about the new album, A Cure To Poison The World. Is there any overall story or concept behind that title?

Damien: Yeah, we didn’t want to go for a straight up concept record where every song sounds similar and where all the lyrics are connected. We wanted to more so do it through an January/February 2024

HIGHWIRE DAZE

overall theme. So, I wrote the songs from the perspective of many different characters that are all within this world where there’s this drug being passed around that it kills you, but it makes you feel really good while you’re dying. So it’s like ecstasy combined with cyanide. That’s the idea of A Cure To Poison The World, which I think it’s more so like a metaphor to just say that. Like a lot of the things that we look for and a lot of the things that we desire are ultimately the things that bring us closer to dying or to failing.

Let’s talk about a few of the songs. An Elegy Written on Porcelain Arms, tell me the inspiration behind that one?

Damien: So for Elegy, I guess the objective meaning I wanted to give that song was more so someone getting lost within themselves. And it’s written from the perspective of the people that are around them that feel like they’re little to no help for them. So they just feel like a tourniquet. Like something that’s taking the pain a little bit, but they’re not really helping them out. Personally, it was inspired from a couple losses of family members that I’ve had, friends, stuff like that.

I’ll Be Late For My Own Funeral. Tell me a little about that?

Damien: I’ll Be Late For My Funeral is, basically, a nod to that feeling of like, I don’t want to say laziness, but more so restlessness and carelessness that we have when we’re young.

Well, some of us, I feel like when I was young, I was so always disregarding myself and the things that I knew mattered most to me. And I felt like I was never there for myself. So it’s like, “Oh, I’d be late to even my own funeral.” That’s why I’ll Be Late For My Funeral, is that’s where we got the name for that. Yeah, it’s basically the feeling of not being there for yourself and trying to get out of that place.

One song that I found pretty cool and unusual was Two Lovers Left Alive. Tell me a little about that one?

Damien: Well, that song is a song that Felipe was trying to make happen for the longest time because we originally worked on it a little bit. I had the bare bones of the acoustic and the lyrics and melodies. We started working on it together, made it a little bit more concise and we added violins and stuff like that. But we just left it in the back for, I think, a year and a half of just it being like, “Well, maybe we’ll do that.

Maybe most likely not.” And then when we started working on the record, Steve had the vision that to say that, “No, that song really should be in the record. It’s a wonderful song.”

And I feel like it’s important to show an intimate side of the band as well as all the other crazy shit that we’re trying to do. So we just tried making it even more anthemic in a way.

Salem added a lot of production to it that we never thought we were going to have one in the first place, and it ended up sounding beautiful. The meaning of a song, it’s just like a combination of a lot of love loss feelings I’ve had with past relationships. But it’s also like that very childish yearning HIGHWIRE DAZE

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when you have a crush on someone.

Felipe: Yeah, I think, ultimately, like the older that we get, it’s very easy for us to lose the innocence and certain emotions just, obviously, because we mature as we get older. But that song is very innocent in tone and thematically, so I thought it’d be really great to have it to bring it to life.

Okay, so Abuse Me with Poorstacy has over 1 million streams on Spotify. What does a number like that even mean to you?

Salem: I actually did a lot of stuff with Poorstacy before, so it’s familiar with him. Like streaming wise we did before that, we did 7 songs together. So pretty used to those numbers with him, so it wasn’t that big of a surprise. But, yeah, it was nice.

What could one expect from a live The Requiem Show?

Damien: Well, what we want people to expect, and we haven’t played shows in the longest time, I think is hopefully a lot of new heads, a lot of new people get to see us and get to hear us live. A lot of theatrics. We want to bring back some of the theatrics that bands from our level were doing in the early 2000s that now only really big bands like Ghost do. So a lot of candles and spooky shit on stage.

Felipe: Yeah, but also trying to dish out the energy that a lot of bands from back then used to do. Because I feel like a lot of bands today, they just are so honed in on performing perfectly, which makes sense and you should. But I think there should also be a balance between performing as well as having that sound. So getting a balance of both is probably what we’re aiming for as a band and what you can expect to 47

see at a show.

You mentioned Ghost, I was thinking about that. I was also thinking about Motionless, and believe it or not, I was even thinking about Cradle of Filth and I don’t know why.

Damien: No, Cradle of Filth’s amazing!

If The Requiem could open for any band, either now or from the past, who would it be and why?

Felipe: I feel like any artist I’d say would not be in the realm of the genre in which we’re in. Because I grew up inspired by so many other genres of music, but maybe like a prime Mötley Crüe or something. I feel like those shows were they just looked so fun. It’s like how could you not want to play with that band?

Damien: Oh, man, there’s so many artists. I feel like the obvious ones would be The Used or My Chem, playing with one of those bands would be like fucking the ultimate experience for us. But, personally, I think either opening for Bowie or opening for Queen would be monumental. I wouldn’t want to even play music after that. I’d be like just, “I did it. I’m retired.”

Salem: I think a realistic answer would be the All-American Rejects. I played a show with them in a different band opening for them, and they are just such a fun band. And it was just one of those bands where I saw them and they were so clean and they didn’t rely on backtracks or anything. They were just so fucking good and put on such a good show. So that band in a realistic, hopefully, in a couple years or sooner type thing, and then unrealistic, but somewhat realistic would be The Cure. I would love to play with them anytime, because they still sound amazing now. So I think both of those would be amazing.

What’s up next for you guys in the new year? You have a new album coming out, for one.

Felipe: Right now, we’re working on a couple tours. Getting a few tours lined up, and we’re just focused on honing in and crafting our live performance and our live set to be as best as it possibly can be. But we also want to keep writing music, so that’s another thing is to just continue with what we’ve been doing.

https://www.instagram.com/therequiemband/

Thursday December 21, 2023 7:45 PM w/Bulletboys Thursday January 4, 2024 8:00 PM w/Hookers & Blow Friday April 26, 2024 7:00 PM w/Leatherwolf

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HIGHWIRE DAZE

CLIO CADENCE NEW SINGLE "LOOKING FOR YOU"

PHOTO: JACK LUE

Into The Abysmal Void with

Carnal Savagery

Interview by Ken Morton Formed from the ashes of original 1990’s 1st wave of Swedish Death Metal progenitors Cromlech, Carnal Savagery have released 4 critically acclaimed albums, Grotesque Macabre (2020/2023), Fiendish (2021), Scent of Death (2022) and Worm Eaten (2022) to date.

Carnal Savagery now return like the living dead to eat your brains and take over the world with their career defining and most accomplished album to date, Into The Abysmal Void. Into The Abysmal Void delivers 11 new corpse rousing songs filled with de-fleshing Gothenburg melody, writhing Death Metal groove and enough skull cracking brutality to reanimate the undead!

With Into The Abysmal Void, Carnal Savagery climbs their way up the cadaver pile to the upper echelons of the Death Metal scene!

Highwire Daze recently interview Mikael Lindgren of Carnal Savagery to find out more about this incredible intensively band who has delivered unto the world five super sick albums in five years! Read on...

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Carnal Savagery, and how long the band has been together.

Hi! My name is Mikael Lindgren and I play all instruments in Carnal Savagery. The band was formed in December 2017.

What is the current metal scene like these days in Gothenburg?

There are many bands from Gothenburg but unfortunately there aren’t so many places to play live. Not so many gigs either in Gothenburg when it comes to Death metal in my 50

opinion. So it could be a lot better!

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Into The Abysmal Void album title?

Not really, Just sounded good in my ears! It stands for the very second that you die, then you will fall into the abysmal void!

Who did the cover art for Into The Abysmal Void and how much input did you have on it?

It’s made by an artist called Sidjimbi Art. I just told him what I wanted and he wrote exactly what we said. He had done a lot of other t-shirt designs before this to us, so he knew what we wanted also.

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Which members of Necrophobic and Nifelheim participated on the new album and what was it like working with them?

Sebastian Ramstedt plays on two songs on the Into The Abysmal Void album. He also played on two songs on our last album, Worm Eaten. He is an amazing guitar player and very kind, just really awesome guitar solos!

What was it like working with the legendary Dan Swanö from Edge Of Sanity with the mastering of the new album?

Dan Swanö is an amazing talent when it comes to Death Metal! He knows exactly what to do. He has mastered all our albums and we will continue with that! It’s easy to work with someone that has played the same style of music that we do, the guitar sound is a bit like Bloodbath or at least its HM2 both bands!

Has Carnal Savagery ever played here in the States or is that something you would like to do with the new album?

No we haven’t done that, would be awesome though! At the moment I play all instruments so it’s impossible to play live but we are thinking of getting a full band in 2024 or at least some session musicians so we can start to play live again!

How did you wind up working with Moribund Records?

I think we heard of them because of a band called Nocturnus? I might be wrong but I think they were signed to Moribund! Anyhow we sent our demo to Moribund and asked them if they were interested in working with us! And everything has been really great so far, great choice for us!

Five albums in 5 years is such a massive achievement!

Congratulations! How do you keep up the creative process on that level?

Thanks! I don’t know but every time when we have been in the studio all new ideas just flow in my head so usually I start to write on the new album right away when I come back home from the studio. Also I feel a hunger to play new material after we have recorded an album, I get sick of playing the same old songs over and over again! After we had recorded Into The Abysmal Void, I wrote a new album in two months! I’m really glad over how creative I am, perhaps one day I run out of ideas and that is why I keep on going as long as I can!

When you look back on your work with Cromlech and Divine Souls, what do you think of it now in retrospect?

During the Cromlech years we were really young and we weren’t that good musicians either as we are today, so you HIGHWIRE DAZE

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can hear a lot of mistakes on all the recordings that we made back then, same with Divine actually. But it can still be fun to listen to sometimes, a few good riffs here and there!

Are you currently involved with any other bands or projects outside of Carnal Savagery?

The short answer is, no! But I’m open for it though if I could find the right dudes to play with. In Carnal Savagery I do 100% and that is nothing that I want to do in another band also, it takes too much time and energy.

What do you hope 2024 brings for you and Carnal Savagery?

I hope people like our new album and that we can do some gigs. Perhaps we can solve this lack of members issue in our band. Also we will record a new album, early 2024.

Any messages for Carnal Savagery fans here in the States?

If you like some Putrid Old School Death Metal please check us out! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news!

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!

No problem and thanks a lot // Mikael Lindgren, Carnal Savagery

https://www.instagram.com/carnalsavagery/ https://www.moribundcult.com/ 51

The Dark Oath of

Luciferian Rites

Interview by Ken Morton

From the Mexican black metal underground arrives the mysterious Luciferian Rites, unveiling their unholy dark art unto a great big world. Formed in 2006, Luciferian Rites released their debut album Evangelion of the Black Misanthropy in 2011. Signing with Moribund Records in 2015, Luciferian Rites delivered the most significant Mexican Black Metal album of all time with the highly praised When the Light Dies.

Luciferian Rites now return with one of the most anticipated Black Metal albums of the year with Oath of Midnight Ashes! Highwire Daze recently contacted the band through the mighty Moribund compound to find out more about this ominous collective.

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Luciferian Rites, and how long the band has been together.

Before I start, all the band want to say thanks for the space in this edition of the zine.

Greetings from Mexico, I’m Abomination, guitar player, composer and one of the founder members of Luciferian Rites along with Shadow since 2006, originally, the band was created with the intention of only 3 members to play live shows, but overtime, with our personal evolution, ear, and music matureness, we understood the band needed more than 3 guys, in this 17 years (to be more specific in our existential timeline) the band had some changes in the line-up, now in this 2024, we are a 3 solid member project to create music, and other 3 members for live shows and recording sessions: Official Line-Up Shadow: Vocals Abomination: Lead Guitar Serpentor: Bass Live Shows XIII: Drums Pagan Hate: Drums Thanatos: Rhythm Guitar Where is the band based out of and what is the metal scene like there?

LR born in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, a small city in the border between US and Mexico, almost all members born and live in this city, except for Thanatos, who lives in the 52

Neighboring city of Laredo, Texas; and Pagan Hate lives in Saltillo, Coahuila, another state in our country, 3 and a half hours from here. In this case, Laredo and Nuevo Laredo Metal scene is technically the same, we know each other’s, both places have great bands, it’s not a big scene but is solid and good, there is a lot of good Black and Death Metal bands around here.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Oath of Midnight Ashes album title?

Indeed, we have a reason behind for all our titles, could be a personal issue, close experience to death (we have many of that), a reflection from books we read, to be shorter, we put a mark of our lives and minds, we use this in the creation not only for titles, but for music, in this case, originally the name we had was Under the Devils Cross, but we felt it was too anticipated to use this name, but when we finished composing Oath of Midnight Ashes, we knew this is how the album should be named, it sounded direct and correct for this new chapter, maybe we will use the first title we had in the future, for another release.

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Select two songs from Oath of Midnight Ashes and what inspired the lyrics?

Well, I think it would be the following because I participated in the lyrics: Omnia Oscura: this song is about all the dark desires, bad feelings, all the negativity of the human being, I tried to replicate a history I made in my mind some years ago, all of this with the great creativity and good redaction of “Shadow”, this song is a chant of misery and agony to all the negativity of this existence.

Void Arcane: is a ritual for the next step, the liberation of everything, the awakening of the mind from this earthly plane, become one with the void, with the dark, the mysterious of the everything.

Who did the cover art for Oath of Midnight Ashes and how much input did you have on it?

Both front and back cover art were made by Vhans Artwork, he has amazing draws with full and direct concept, he is a great artist in our opinion, but we didn’t get involved in the creation, concept and elements of this cover, like I said before Oath of Midnight Ashes was not in our minds to be the name of the album, we had a cover art done for the first name, so we just gave a look to another pictures from different artists to be the new cover, and when we entered to his page, we saw this, we liked it, and again, we knew this has to be the album cover art, it’s like he had the name of the album on his mind before we even called it that way.

What could one expect from a live Luciferian Rites show?

A passage of cold, melancholic and ravage feelings, we put all in our lives shows, and we feel it all the time we stay in a stage.

Has Luciferian Rites ever played her in the States and if so, what was the experience like?

Yeah, we had some shows in US back in 2016 and 2018, New York, Maryland, Dallas, Austin, Corpus Christi, New Orleans are some of them, the experience was good, another place, another culture, we had support from a lot of compatriots and Latin Americans that live in the States, we have to thank all of them, we had a little inconvenience with the language, because back then we didn’t practice English too often, but now we got a bit better, promoters and staff guys always helped us, the people there liked our music, the show, the concept, it was all a great experience and travel, we hope this year to play again in the country.

Any chance of touring here in the States in support of the new album?

We are thinking in having other shows, but it’s just a talk for the moment, we need fix some visa issues and get a fair agreement for upcoming shows in the country, we are very interested in returning.

like most of the bands they release, and back then, when we got the preview songs of our past album, we sent an email, introduced ourselves as a band, they replied they were interested, and later we sent the full master and well, here we are now.

When you look back on your previous album When The Light Dies with Moribund, what do you think of it now in retrospect?

For me, is a memory of those days of our lives, a bad time when we created those songs, back in those days the city situation and our lives were bad and getting worst, our only escape from those feelings, were getting drunk, create and jam some music, when we started to record the album we had some circumstances at the moment to pay, because recording studios are a little expensive, fortunately now we have more experience and more matureness in our decisions, it is weird to us look back and remember all those feelings and days, but we are proud of our album, a good thing was born from our bad times.

What do you hope 2024 brings for you and Luciferian Rites?

This 2024 we want to get and make some agreement for futures live shows, we are in the middle of releasing an exclusive single and create new music with this line up.

Any messages for Luciferian Rites fans here in the States?

Thanks for all the support guys, we hope you enjoy this new release and the interview.

https://www.facebook.com/LuciferianMex http://www.moribundcult.com/

How did you wind up signing with Moribund Records?

We signed with Moribund because we know the label, we HIGHWIRE DAZE

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Chad Kowal:

From Farewell, My Love To Solo Artist On The Rise

Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Jack Lue

but I think it’s a higher energy song, it’s fun to do.

Chad Kowal toured all across the United States with his previous band Farewell, My Love, gaining a massive amount of fans and life experience along the way. For the last few years, Chad has started a solo career, working with producers such as Stephen Gomez of The Summer Set and Twin XL, and Dylan Jackson Scott (Halsey, lovelytheband, Dreamers). Recently performing to a packed house at The Whisky on the Sunset Strip, Chad presented standout songs such as Psycho, Heavy Heart, Real Boy, and Anti Social Media. Highwire Daze recently interviewed Chad Kowal at a Jack Lue photo shoot to find out more about this amazing artist on the rise!

Let’s talk about some of the newer songs. Tell me about Lovesick and the inspiration behind it.

I went through a breakup over the last year and it shook me to my core, and it changed a lot about me. And Lovesick was one of the first songs I wrote coming out of dealing with that situation. It’s crazy to think about it because I wrote a bunch of songs coming out of that and one of the first two I wrote, I looked back on my phone, I was looking at the dates. Two of the first songs I wrote were Lovesick and Heavy Heart, so both them ended up getting recorded professionally.

We’re here with Chad Kowal. First of all, how did your recent show at The Whisky go and what were some of the highlights?

It was really great, honestly. It had been almost 10 years since I last played The Whisky, and pretty much everything that you could think of to be different was different. The last time I played was with a band and there’s just a different style of music now. And just how much life I’ve experienced in the past 10 years. It was really cool to come back and be able to play such a historic venue. I moved here in June from Phoenix, so it’s been kind of a bucket list thing for me to start to check off all the legendary LA venues I’ve been blessed enough to do... I did The Troubadour in June and then The Whisky, so I just want to continue that trajectory.

What was it like working with London again, who was in Farewell, My Love, when you played at the Whisky?

Honestly, it was really cool. I don’t know for sure, but I think a lot of fans might assume that we don’t still talk, but I was hanging out with Röbby the other day. We still talk and we’re still friends. It was really cool. I mean, London is one of the best guitar players I’ve ever played with and to be able to be up there in that setting is really special. His parents came out, too, to The Whisky.

What was it like performing on stage with your girlfriend Morissa Pena of Sooletsnim on the song Real Boy? It was really awesome. She’s a fantastic vocalist. When she first started performing with me, that was just a song I saw us doing, for some reason, the energy just fit really well. I think eventually we’ll transition to doing a different song together, HIGHWIRE DAZE

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Isn’t it funny how you write your best songs when you’re the most miserable?

Honestly, I would call it the artist curse, because sometimes I do feel like I write my best stuff when I’m at my worst and it makes you almost, like, want to throw yourself into shitty situations just so you can write better songs. Don’t get too happy, man, because songs aren’t going to be very good, but I don’t know, I feel like that’s just sort of a learning curve to get over as a writer.

Anti Social Media, tell me a little about that song.

I’m really happy with that song. I feel like it brings back a little bit of more of a rock approach with just the energy of the chorus, but it also has the hip-hop elements in there, which has been important for me to fuse together. And then obviously dealing with the message of social media and what a love/hate relationship that we can have with it as a society.

It gives me an anthem to kind of express that side of myself.

What was it like working with producer Stephen Gomez from The Summer Set and Twin XL and how did that come about?

I have known Stephen since I was 16. He was the first producer I ever worked with when he was living at his parents house, recording in his parents living room. He’s just continuously gotten better and better as a producer over the years and I wanted to link up with him again because... I was at the gym and I heard a song come on and I was, like, wondering who it is and I looked up and it was Twin XL. It was, like, on the TV or whatever, and I was like, this song is really good. So there were two producers that worked on their stuff, one of the guys was named Dylan Jackson Scott - he produced my first songs I ever put out. And then 55

Stephen was the other producer on the Twin XL stuff, so I knew when I was going to do some more songs, I should go back to Stephen again. So Outcast, Real Boy, Brainfreeze and Impatient were all with Stephen. And then from that point I did Heavy Heart, Lovesick, Anti Social Media - and then there’s two other songs, Dopamine and Haunted House, those are two newer songs that will be out later next year. But he’s just amazing to work with.

I was looking on your Instragram and it said 547k streams this year on Spotify, what does that number even mean to you? That’s crazy!

I think it means that things are moving in the right direction, I think it can be really easy to get into debates or heavy conversations about streaming or what it pays or what it doesn’t pay or blah, blah blah, shit like that. I find it extremely counterproductive to sit and talk about things that we can’t change like that. It is what it is. I’m obviously not a huge fan of the payment structures of things, but I mean, Spotify, it gives us an opportunity to get our songs in front of people that might not hear it otherwise. And to see that my plays have gone up every year on Spotify, just, to me, means that I’m reaching new people and hopefully getting that much closer to building something amazing with this.

When you look back on your previous band, Farewell, My Love, what do you think of that experience now in retrospect?

I honestly think I’m sitting with it in the best place I’ve ever been, because it’s like that band was my baby. Röbby and I formed that in 2011, and we were the only two constants the whole time through every lineup change we had - and we dealt with a lot of stuff, man. It’s like, just the growing pains of growing up and learning what touring is like and learning what it’s like to have fans and just the whole experience of what it’s like to be in a band. And then on top of all the lineup changes and stuff with a record label - it was a lot to deal with. Then I had left the band in 2017, we didn’t make a public announcement or anything like that - just we quietly dissipated. And then Troubadour in June was the first time we were on stage together in like six or seven years. We got together, we played Crazy on stage and London’s played guitar for me for multiple shows at this point. It’s just really special, like that was like my crash course on the do’s and dont’s of working in the studio with so many people, and a lot of playing live shows. I’ll be forever grateful for all that I got to experience with that band.

You used to tour a lot with for Farewell, My Love. Would you like to do that kind of intensive touring now, going solo?

I would. I think the only thing is I hire all my musicians, so it’s not super cost effective to do a full length tour unless 56

it makes sense monetarily. That on top of gas is extremely expensive right now. I’ve noticed, at least in my experience, it could be different for everything, it seems like the payouts per show for opening bands hasn’t changed, but the gas has gone up, so I’m like, I just would have to find a way to make it make sense. But I would love to, I miss touring so much.

You wouldn’t think that you’d miss eating gas station food and sleeping on the floor of a van. There’s some twisted fucking part of us as musicians that just loves that stuff because I think it represents us living out what we feel like we’re put on this earth to do.

Do you have any messages for your fans who are reading this in the magazine right now?

I would like to say thank you so much for a fantastic year.

To see that things are growing really means a lot to me, I’ve been doing music for a very long time, and just the fact that I feel more passionate about music than ever is really, I think, a true sign that I’m where I should be. Just expect a lot of new music in the New Year and hopefully a lot more shows.

https://www.instagram.com/chadkowal/ January/February 2024

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Welcome To The Party - WE ARE THE BLACK THINGS “Live” at Stages Bar - Santa Ana, California 11/4/23 The outfit recognized as We Are The Black Things have a modern hard rock sound delivering heavy on guitar and stylized rock vocals.

Tone Raven former guitar tech for Mr. Scary of Lynch Mob on the Revolution Tour likes to think of his ensemble We Are The Black Things, Things, as an offshoot of Hollywood bands like Lynch Mob and the gutter street rock reminiscent of Guns and Motley Motley!!

By Highwire Daze Magazine Hard rock Club Stages in Santa Ana opens up it’s arms and wings and brings We Are The Black Things in, they brought them in from West Hollywood to get a taste of their insatiable new rock sound for the people in Orange County!

The band launched into it’s new Wuhan set starting with Drop The Bomb, Down In Wuhan, and songs like The Chinese Virus Song, Song, ending their explosive original set with X-Ray Eyes, Eyes, featuring drummer Carrie Cane..

Cane Live and on the march the band played it’s long set for Santa Ana and it felt great for the band.

“Hollywood hard rock sets can be more of a set up and go, but here we spread our wings playing 10 songs or so,” so,” replies the band. “We came to do one thing in Santa Ana at this two stage club, and that’s to let your people know Hollywood still has a band or two out there that will come to your town and kick ass with our Hollywood style rock, like the original tinsel town sunset strip bands did,and that’s us!”

We Are The Black Things established March 8, 2018 in West Hollywood California at Whisky A Go Go. They’ve been on their Drop The Bomb “Bat On My Back”, B.O.M.B 2023-2024 Tour.

Tour.

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The new school hard rockers We Are The Black Things have a new album out Down In Wuhan, Wuhan, available world wide on all major platforms and on CD! They are currently infiltrating Southern California with their straight up kick ass songwriting and music newness. They are for today’s black things rockers, the overlooked mid 90’s rocker kid who came out to Hollywood and had to survive the falling down of it’s hero bands.

We the new school, at we are the black things are, the overlooked, the left out, the off to the side music children who came out to Hollywood, only for our music not to be welcome at the party. But that’s ok and all these years later you have bands like ours, with a modern rock song and playing style, that’s what We Are The Black Things are, you have bands like ours in the here and now, with songs in the now, and that makes us feel good, which hopefully will make you feel good too. “We “We Are The Black Things Too, Too, replies their friends!”

We Are The Black Things Frank Garrett-Bass Rae Owl Starling-Keyboard Luthario Mitcho-Turntable Carrie Cane-Drums Tone Raven-Guitar/Vocals facebook.com/ravenscrymusic youtube.com/toneraventunes www.wearetheblackthings.com contact booking: www.tonraven@yahoo.com 57

LAST NIGHT OF SOLACE TREES, DALLAS, TX., DECEMBER 2, 2023

Review by Ken Morton Photos by Cheyanne Singleton The Deep Ellum Music scene is where legends have been made throughout the passage of time, with bands of all genres unveiling their musical prowess to packed houses of fans and friends. On this magical night at the iconic Trees Nightclub, Nightclub, a selection of the very best local bands Dallas has to offer shared the stage at an event ambitiously titled Good Vs. Evil.

Evil. Co-headlined by Notions and Colorblind and featuring a total of 8 live performances throughout the night, Good Vs. Evil was a glorious sonic battle where in the very end, everyone won in nothing short of an epic way.

This reviewer has been following Last Night of Solace 58

on Instagram for several months and was definitely impressed by their imaginative take on the metalcore / deathcore genre and their standout music videos. With a soon-to-expire plane ticket to use and the fact that I had never actually been to Dallas – it was time to not only see a thrilling new band on the rise – but to also explore the Deep Ellum music scene.

Last Night of Solace delivered the goods tenfold and were well worth taking the journey out to the Lone Star State. Performing selections for their independently released Too Far Gone full-length album, Last Last Night of Solace exploded into an impassioned set of tunes. Going well above and beyond what has been expected for the traditional metalcore genre, there was a ton of imagination and intrigue to be found within the band’s absoJanuary/February 2024

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lutely captivating performance. This was kind of like when I was seeing bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Motionless In White for the very first time in their early days – and that overpowering feeling of witnessing the humble origins of something truly extraordinary.

From the bombastic opening refrains of Haunting to the torrential auditory soundscapes of Rainfall and beyond, Last Night of Solace took total control of the Trees stage, delivering an absolute rapturous performance to a very packed venue.

Lead vocalist Cameron Foley delivers the vocals with a heightened sense of passion and ferocity, exuding a dynamic stage presence that was stunning to witness.

Drummer Seth Andy was an absolute beast, unleashing a mesmerizing force of pummeling artistry, rendered all the more staggering since he had just delivered another massive percussive assault with his other band Lanticblue just moments before.

Guitarist Jeiden Lovell may have been wearing a back brace due to very recent injury and had a bit of trouble getting around prior to the set, but once onstage, he definitely let loose with killer axe work that reverberated throughout the venue. Equally impressive was the other non-injured guitarist Kennedy Boynton, Boynton, delivering the grand sonic entreaties like a total pro! These two guitarists work very well together! Supplying the thunderous low-end with a tremendous amount of expertise and swagger was bassist Austin Hunt.

Hunt. Together, these guys sent it all into the stratosphere!

Towards the end of the show, Last Night of Solace raged into a new song entitled Fractured – the recorded version which features a guest appearance by none other than Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens.

Sirens. And then the band closed out their set with the devastating Shards,, a powerful story of perseverance that certainly Shards left a lingering impression.

4 April, Nygma, Under Currents, Lanticblue, Penny Bored, Colorblind, and Notions Notions.. If this is the sound of what’s going on in Dallas at the moment, A&R reps best make their way out to Deep Ellum post haste! Presented

by Third String Productions!

Productions!

https://www.instagram.com/lastnightofsolace/

Expect to hear a whole a lot more from Last Night of Solace in 2024 and beyond. Gripping live performances like this one garner bands an ardent following as well as a sought-after recording contact. An interview with all the members from Last Night of Solace will be in the next issue of Highwire Daze!

I would like to give a shoutout to all the other bands who played the Good Vs Evil event including Waiting HIGHWIRE DAZE

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EDITOR KEN’S TOP 10 OF 2023 2023 turned out to be a very exciting year in the music!

While Liv Kristine (formerly of Leaves Eyes and Theatre Of Tragedy) and Codeseven may be worlds apart in regards to genre, they both presented absolutely epic comeback albums to the world. Long running bands such as Tygers of Pang Tang and Eclipse presented the very best albums of their already massive careers. Metalcore is alive and still bursting with imagination and intrigue, thanks to releases from artists such as Creak, Stain The Canvas, and the currently unsigned Last Night of Solace. Scarlett O’Hara made a stunning transformation into hard rock with their surprise end of the year album while artist on the rise Conmac unveiled an indie pop collection of songs with a massive amount of heart and conviction. While a Top 10 List is always subjective, these are the releases that had the most impact on Editor Ken, and are well worth checking out…

GO LET IT IN by CODESEVEN (EQUAL VISION RECORDS) It’s been nearly 20 years since the last Codeseven masterwork, and with the unveiling of Go Let It In, the band has presented their finest recording to date. The magic and mystery are still very much present within the cosmic soundscapes, with selections such as Rough Seas, Hold Tight, and A Hush… Then A Riot tantalizing the senses into an otherworldly state of mind. From the rapturous vocals to the superbly imaginative instrumentations, Go Let It In is sheer artistry in 60

motion, and it’s a journey that will challenge and stimulate all types of music fans.

CHAINS DELUXE by CONMAC (INDEPENDENT RELEASE) Conmac is the creation of Connor Aiken, a recording artist based out of Vermont ready to take on an entire world with his emotionally driven indie pop. With the unveiling of the Chains Deluxe Edition, Conmac presents very catchy songs that will spin in your head for ages. Snakes is a cautious tale of trying to avoid the pitfalls of love and life while remaining a compassionate person while Makeup’s spiraling melodies and the “you only call me when your drunk” lyrical content slams deep into the heart of matter. Conmac exudes a ton of star presence and his personality and passion rages on throughout the 14 brilliant tracks found within. There’s a lot of wisdom and discovery to be found in this memorable recording.

DEPTH PERCEPTION by CREAK (PROSTHETIC RECORDS) Newcastle, UK nu-metal / metalcore band Creak present one of the most stunning debuts of the year – innovative extreme metal at its most explosive and heartfelt. From the earth-shattering refrains of the opening Crossroads into the chaotic encounter of Hare In The Woods and wondrous sensory overload of Restless Dreams, the auditory soundscapes are both gripping and cinematic. Depth Perception is a thrill ride for the senses, and it packs a wallop that extreme music fans will January/February 2024

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want to revisit time and time. Infinitely intriguing and well worth seeking out.

MEGALOMANIUM by ECLIPSE (FRONTIERS MUSIC SRL) Swedish rockers Eclipse recently issued their tenth studio album, Megalomanium on Frontiers Music Srl, definitely presenting a band at the very height of their creative artistry. Over the last 10 years, the band has been reaching an ever-growing audience with each album release thanks to their stellar songwriting and high energy performances. At its core, Eclipse is a heavy rock band with massive hooks, and with an appeal that transcends genres. Imagine meshing the best in AOR and hard rock with the emotional reveries of My Chemical Romance, and you are only beginning to envision the dazzling tapestries found within the sonic world of Megalomanium.

TOO FAR GONE by LAST NIGHT OF SOLACE (INDEPENDENT RELEASE) Based out of the thriving Dallas music scene, Last Night of Solace is the future of metalcore/deathcore. Too Far Gone is their self-released debut, filled with impassioned tunes that will devastate the senses and set the imaginate in flight.

Comparable to the early iconic works of Avenged Sevenfold and Motionless In White, Last Night of Solace present a stunning sense of urgency with songs such as Archetype, Writhing, and Shards. Expect 2024 to be the year Last Night of Solace explodes out on the Lone Star State and into the hearts and minds of metalcore fans everywhere!

RIVER OF DIAMONDS by LIV KRISTINE (METALVILLE RECORDS) River of Diamonds by Liv Kristine is the sixth solo album by the queen of Scandinavian gothic metal, and it’s one from the heart that will remain with the listener for an eternity. From the opening refrains of the brilliant Our Immortal Day to the sweeping title track duet with Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell and beyond, Liv Kristine delivers a massively emotional masterwork that is stunning to behold. Love Me High soars into the stratosphere while If I Am Dreaming presents the artist at her most impassioned. This captivating album should be all over the worldwide radio airwaves.

OVERTHROWN by SCARLETT O’HARA (OXIDE RECORDS) And right at the gate of the final weeks of the year, Scarlett O’Hara launched a surprise album release on everyone with the glorious Overthrown. It’s their third full lengther, featuring 8 absolutely rock-solid songs that should be smashing all over hard rock radio. Lead vocalist Moises Lopez sings with a stunning amount of passion and conviction, and the sonic reveries soar into vibrantly stratospheric heights. Scarlett O’Hara has grown so much since their Rise Records/BroHIGHWIRE DAZE

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deo days, and Overthrown launches a dynamic new era for this epically underrated band. Standouts include Criminal, Midnight In Eden, and 5 A.M. ALL FINE / ENIF LLA (DELUXE EDITION)

by STAIN THE CANVAS (INVOGUE RECORDS) All Fine / eniF llA by Stain The Canvas was originally released late in 2022, when my Top Ten was already completed.

I have no qualms placing this amazing album on this year’s listing, since the recently issued Deluxe Edition contains several powerhouse new songs and remixes while revisiting an album destined to become a crucial metalcore classic for the ages. With the passionate vocals of Bryan Marte and the imaginative guitar work and songwriting of Lorenzo Accàttoli combined with dazzling performances from all involved, Italy’s own Stain The Canvas are positioned to stun an entire world with their epic artistry.

IN RHINO WE TRUST by STEEL RHINO (GMR MUSIC) Fans of hard rock and heavy metal will be over the moon when taking an exploration in the realm of Steel Rhino.

Featuring the thrilling vocals of Firewind frontman Herbie Langhans along with former Bai Bang members Mikael Rosengren on drums and Filip Vilhelmsson on bass and guitars, In Rhino We Trust charges at the listener with a sheer ferocity! Over the top and a glorious amount of fun, Steel Rhino is destined to become a head banging addiction to music fans all around the world. In Rhino We Trust channels icons such as Dio and Priest in their heyday, while stamping their own indelible legacy on a much-revered genre.

BLOODLINES by TYGERS OF PAN TANG (MIGHTY MUSIC) The long running Tygers Of Pan Tang is as hard rocking as ever before! With a thrilling new album entitled Bloodlines being released worldwide via Mighty Music, the Tygers have majestically unleashed one of the very best metal albums of the year! From the triumphant opening refrains of Edge Of The World to the pulsating In My Blood and beyond, Bloodlines by Tygers Of Pan Tang presents a band at the very height of their rocking legacy, unleashing vibrant music with a thrilling sense of urgency that rivals and arguably surpasses what they achieved with their early releases. This Tyger still roars proudly and rapturously!

A sampling from the very best releases of 2023.

Now bring on the music classics of 2024!

(Compiled by Ken Morton for Highwire Daze Magazine)

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ALBUM REVIEWS FEELS THE SAME Conmac (Self-Released) Review by Ken Morton It’s the start of the New Year, and Vermont-based singer/songwriter Conmac has already released an exciting new single! Feels The Same is vibrantly heartfelt, sung with a stunning amount of passion and conviction. “One lonely weekend is all it took to get me hooked on your addiction,” muses Conmac at the song’s commencement, before exploding into a sweet and rapturous contemplation of why “love is always haunting.” Conmac really began to break through with last year’s album Chains Deluxe, following it up with the shattering reprieves of Knife . And now with Feels The Same, there is a longing for the rediscovery of love by an artist who’s heart is on the verge of becoming as icy as the snow in the dead of winter. The serene acoutic guitars and pensive vocals ultimately express a good deal of hope and light. Feels The Same packs quite an emotional punch, and it’s a brilliant next chapter from an artist we’ll be hearing a lot more of in the months to come. The name is Connor Aiken, and 2024 could very well be the year the world at large discovers the universe of Conmac!

IMAGINARY LIFE Lazarus Dream Pride &Joy Music

Review by Ken Morton The German hard rock band Lazarus Dream kicks off the New Year with an absolutely thrilling album entitled Imaginary Life. Featuring the ongoing collaborative talents of multi-instrumentalist/composer Markus Pfeffer of Barnabas Sky and and vocalist Carsten Lizard Schulz formerly of the mighty Domain, Lazarus Dream will tantalize the senses of all types of music aficionados. From the glorious commencement of The Sweetest Chaos to the sweeping reveries found within My Prayer and beyond, Imaginery Life by Lazarus Dream presents the band at the pinnacle of their creativity. All this, and brand new member Markus Herzog (Double Crush Syndrome, Cherie Currie) lends his massive drumming talents and Vanden Plas guitarist Stephan Lill shines with an impressive guest solo on the mesmerizing title track! (Lill was Markus Pfeffer’s guitar teacher in the late ‘80s!) Be sure to check out our interview with Markus Pfeffer at Highwire Daze Online and in our March print edition! And can’t wait to hear Markus Pfeffer’s new project Atlantis Drive featuring the one and only Mark Boals!

https://www.facebook.com/lazarusdream

https://www.instagram.com/itsconmac/

THIS IS GOING TO STING Escape The Hive Weapon Records/Vanity Music

Review by Ken Morton Phoenix, Arizona’s Escape The Hive recently made their way to The Whisky on the Sunset Strip, opening for Burning Witches, making quite an impression on the crowd. Aftyer such a kickass set, it was definitely time to revisit their This Is Going To Sting album, which recently had a vinyl release! The all-star lineup features frontman Michael Thomas Beck (Jake E. Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel, Kings of Dust), guitarist Conrad Varela (Alice Cooper, Geoff Tate), drummer A.D. Adams (Dirty Looks, Crash Street Kids), bassist Paul Williams (DL Marble), and keyboardist Michael Vars. Selections such as Separate Lives, I Can See It, Roll The Dice, and Watching You, Watching Me could be played all over the radio airwaves.

Fans of acts such as Foreigner and Journey will be over the moon when encountering what Escape The Hive has to offer the world at large. With a debut album this exciting, expect the buzz for Escape The Hive to be nothing short of stratospheric! It will be exciting to hear what musical honey this powerhouse collective whips up for us all in future days!

New album in 2024!

NYC Rock N Roll

www.bobdeewithpetro.com

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