I SSUE1 32
SE P|OCT2020
F E EWAY BI L LOF PL US-
OF
Pos t erbyJ ac kL ue
B. J .T HOMAS,GRACESL I CK,MI KESKI L LOFT HEROMANT I CS,AMPAGE , AL IT HOMSON,BRI AN RA Y DI SCUSSE SE T T AJ AME S,DI ANE& T HE DE DUCT I BL E S,T HEHARDWA Y ,HE L I X,J OKE R’ SHAND,L E ESMAL LOF L I ONHE ART , ST E E L CI TY , WEARET HEBL ACKT HI NGSANDMORE …
HIGHWIRE DAZE Sponsored by THE SANDGAARD FOUNDATION
Publisher Highwire Daze Magazine A General Partnership Editor Ken Morton Managing Editor Danny S. Pasley Senior Photographer Jack Lue East Coast Editor Jupiter Lee Contributors Ken Morton Jack Lue Jupiter Lee Joe Schaeffer James Grover Kim Crain Erica Vincent Tammy Greene Cover Art by Yannick d’Assignes of Smart Works Intl Cover Photos by Jack Lue HIGHWIRE DAZE 827 N. Hollywood Way PMB419 Burbank, CA 91505-2814 www.highwiredaze.com email: ken@highwiredaze.com Copyright 2020 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.
Supporting Noise Pollution Since 1990!
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERVIEWS with...
B.J. Thomas..........................................................12 Fee Waybill of The Tubes ....................................16 Mike Skill of The Romantic..................................20 Grace Slick.... .......................................................24 Amaranthe..............................................................28 Priya Panda of Diemonds .....................................34 Vicious Rumors.....................................................36 Lee Small of Lionheart..........................................40 Ali Thomson..........................................................44 Helix......................................................................46 Brian Ray Discuss Etta James...............................48 Ampage..................................................................50 Joker’s Hand..........................................................52 We Are The Black Things pt 1..............................54
PRIYA PANDA of DIEMONDS POSTER by JACK LUE.......28 CONCERT REVIEWS SteelCity............................................................... 56 ALBUMS REVIEWS Air-Ik, Koffin Underground, Mentalist, Noises....58 SKETCHES BY THE EDITOR Discover New Music...............................................6 PRODUCT REVIEW BY JAMES GROVER Mojotone Broadcast Guitar Pickups.......................8 IN MUSICAL ORBIT BY JUPITER Simon Collins,Terra Atlantica, Wildness..............10
SaveOurStages.com
HIGHWIRE DAZE
July/August 2020
5
Sketches by the Editor Welcome to Highwire Daze Magazine Issue #132 - our 4th edition since the beginning of these pandemic days.
This particular edition has been a lot of fun to do, featuring interviews with iconic musicians such as Fee Waybill of The Tubes, Mike Skill of The Romantics, and Ali Thomson of Take A Little Rhythm fame (who has a brand new album out called Songs From The Playroom). I have also included my Grace Slick interview from 2013 since a lot of the readers have been asking about it. It’s one of my all time favorite interviews and I’m glad to finally share it in one of our print issues.
National Recovery Awareness Month
TRIBUTE CONCERT
Instead of lamenting about how awful the pandemic is and how sad is it that we can’t all see each other at live shows (and it is sad but a reality for now), I want to issue a challenge to everyone reading this who may now have more time on their
Register here:
hands than usual.
Go in Spotify, Instagram, ITunes, Facebook, Bandcamp, or whatever your favorite source of music is and discover a few brand new bands or artists! And then go out and buy their songs or albums and show your support! As we know, many of these artists cannot tour and may not have much of an income these days. And for the very start, check out the song Lockdown by Joker’s Hand on Spotify and Instagram. Definitely the most timely and super infectious single of 2020! And where did I find this band - through a random Instagram post. Be sure to read their interview here in Highwire Daze! As we approach our upcoming Highwire Daze Magazine 30th Anniversary Issue, I just would like to thank everyone who has been on this strange and amazing journey with me. Whether we met at the dawning of the Daze in 1990 or beyond, our adventure together in music is one I hope to maintain for many years ahead. Please enjoy the current issue and see you in November! And remember to keep supporting The Sandgaard Foundation and Save Our Stages!
www.sandgaardfoundation.org www.saveourstages.com
La Vista
Wednesday
September
30
1:00-1:30pm
http://evite.me/7PVwQfXGuN 6
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Product Review by
James Grover
Mojotone Broadcaster guitar pickups When I set forth to build a custom Telecaster I did my research on what kind of pickups I would like to have in this guitar. After doing my research I went with the Mojotone Broadcaster pickups since they are quiet and they require a 500K pot for volume and tone.
These pickups don’t only sound great, they give you a high, medium and low response with control that you can dial in at any level. The combination of the neck and bridge pickups in the middle position is great for rhythm guitar. When you select the bridge pickup it is great for lead guitar in the styles of rock, blues, country, and country rock the pickup has “Growl”. Most guitarist would agree that Telecasters are very hard to dial in since the pickups can generate feedback and 60 cycle hum as a common issue. I did not have this problem with the Mojotone Broadcaster’s. The 500k pots make the humbucker pickups open up. They are very quiet and I am very impressed with the performance of these guitar pickups
Likes and Dislikes Likes:
I like that these pickups are American made, I like the fact that it opens up new doors for the Telecaster. These pickups just don’t sound awesome they are awesome, I recommend these to all guitarist who have Telecasters.
Dislikes:
Schematic sheet not included in the packaging. For more info visit www.mojotone.com 8
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
In Musical Orbit by Jupiter Jupiter at Highwire Daze Online Crew East Coast Editor
Hey everyone, 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...
Age Of Steam Terra Atlantica Pride and Joy Music
and are throughout the recording. Would be curious to look through his CD collection. I could see track six, THOUGHTS BECOME MATTER being a radio hit! Hardly the GENESIS sound I was expecting though. Track eleven, SO REAL I found had the most conventional song formula. Collaborating with him are keyboardist, programmer ROBBIE BRONNIMANN, bass guitarist GAZ WILLIAMS, guitarist KELLY AVRIL NORDSTROM and FISH guitarist ROBIN BOULT. The final tune, track twelve, DEAD ENDS is ominous and alien sounding and even slightly industrial. With strange pictures beginning to enter in my mind, I’m thinking, where is this going... subtle piano and clear smooth vocals from COLLINS moves into a big synth filled sounding climactic chorus and then returning to the way it began. Released September 4, 2020, BECOMING HUMAN is pure art without a care to what other musicians around him are doing. www.simoncollins.com www.facebook.com/simoncollinspage www.frontiers.it
Sounding more like a movie sound-track than a rock and roll record is the first track REBIRTH from the new album by German band, TERRA ATLANTICA. Featuring elaborate classical keyboard instrumentation, outstanding vocal harmonies, killer guitar work and impressive rock and roll drumming, I’m placing it in the Power Metal category. Glorious, highflying riffs with terrific hooks and complex string and orchestral arrangements puts this in a very unique style of music. The drumming is a very important aspect. For me it’s a fresh approach to songwriting; very cool! All of the tunes seem consistent and just when you think you’ve heard it all, enters a break in this sea of music. Romantic piano, cellos and vocals prevails then building into a full-blown rock song on track eight, BELIEVE IN THE DAWN. With a time signature of 6/8 it is much different from the rest. AGE OF STEAM contains many classical overtones. Track ten, RAGE OF THE ATLANTIC WAR is one of my favorites. I tell you at just under one hour, I could listen to the whole album again. Not sure which predecessors could be linked to this kind of music. Very unusual and welcoming. A true hybrid of classical and rock.
From Stockholm, Sweden comes the brand new album ULTIMATE DEMISE by WILDNESS. This 5-piece melodic hard rock band was formed by ERIK MODIN in 2014. I feel it has a touch of DOKKEN and a spice of STRATOVARIUS influences. A natural choice for FM ROCK radio listeners. The album features excellent vocal and musical hooks, blistering guitar solos along with fabulous studio production. Some of my favorite tunes are COLD WORDS, FALLING INTO PIECES and MY HIDEAWAY. Eleven tracks in all. The last track, THE ULTIMATE DEMISE starting out with piano was extremely unique. Nice!
www.terra-atlantica.de www.facebook.com/terraatlantica www.facebook.com/prideandjoymusic
WILDNESS has shared the stage with such acts as ARCH ENEMY, DRAGONFORCE, DEE SNIDER, VIXEN and WARRANT.
Becoming Human Simon Collins Frontiers Music Modern, synthy computer generated tracks combined with a warm yet sparse ambient soundscape create this new release from SIMON COLLINS. Simon is the first born son of musical genius, PHIL COLLINS. Cool electronic beats as you would expect begin the title track ‘BECOMING HUMAN’ are most prevalent 10
Ultimate Demise Wildness AOR Heaven
Current band members include lead vocalist ERIK FORSBERG, guitarist / vocalist ADAM HOLMSTROM, guitarist / vocalist PONTUS SKOLD, bassist / vocalist MARCUS SJOSUND, and drummer / vocalist ERIK MODIN. Hope to see them on tour in 2021. www.facebook.com/wildnessofficial www.aorheaven.com
Visit JUPITER on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/Jupiter-Lee-173082899386911 September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
B. J. THOMAS:
CELEBRATING 50 EPIC YEARS OF RAINDROPS Interview by Ken Morton B.J. Thomas is a legendary singer who has experienced a brilliant career recording hit records and performing live for several generations of fans. And now in this absolutely crazy and unpredicable year of 2020, one of his biggest hits Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head celebrates a 50 year anniversary since going straight up to Number One. Written by the esteemed songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head was the theme song from the movie Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. B.J. Thomas would even find himself performing Raindrops at the Academy Awards that year in a full Broadway style production, right before they all won the Oscar for Best Original Song! Highwire Daze recently had the honor to interview B.J. Thomas to discuss this very special anniversary of Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head. We also spoke about Hooked On A Feeling and what he really thought about the Blue Swede version of the song that was recorded a few years later. Read on… Before we talk about Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head, you had a hit song a year before called Hooked On A Feeling written by Mark James, who also wrote songs for Elvis. How did that song come about and what do you think of the Blue Swede version? Well, I had a few hit records from ‘66 and I had my first million seller then – and I was just not doing too much in ’67. Mark James, the writer, called me from Memphis and said, “Hey, what are you doing?” I said, “Man, I am just hanging.” He said, “Man, you need to come up to Memphis. We have got a bunch of writers up here. They’re making hit records on everybody.” So, my brother and I, we drove up, and I started hanging out at the studio. And I got in there singing with the American Studio Band, and we just fit together so perfectly. That’s when Mark started writing songs for me. I had a song called The Eyes of a New York Woman, and then the next one I cut was Hooked On A Feeling with the sitar performer by Reggie Young. 12
Mark was trying to write me a kind of an up-tempo kind of a lively song. That’s where Hooked came from. Just one of those really simple, but really effective songs and probably one of the favorites that I’ve done. It’s like people who are coming to see me, they really respond to Hooked on a Feeling. “Hey, I love the song!” Now, Blue Swede. I don’t know man. I think that the Blue Swede record is a great production. I think it’s a very well done record. And of course, it went Number One when my September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
record only went to Number Five. So I cannot say anything negative about it. Although, I thought they kind of covered my song a little quick, but they did a great record and it is done quite well. So, it is appreciated. Now, on to Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, which is 50 years old. What was it like working with the legendary Burt Bacharach and Hal David team? And how did you wind up becoming the singer for that song? I was with Scepter Records in those days. Their mainstay artist was Dionne Warwick. Mr. Burt Bacharach and Hal David produced and wrote most of Dionne’s music. When they had the song they wrote for Butch Cassidy, it needed a male singer. It was not anything they could do with Dionne and they were kind of looking around for somebody to do it. I had moved up to New York in ’68 and I had been working a little bit with Mr. Bacharach and we have been going over songs and trying to find the right song to record. So when Raindrops came up, it was just a great fit and they gave me the shot. So I flew out to California, I did the song. And by the way, it was awesome to work with them. I was always in awe of Mr. Bacharach and Hal David. They are some of the best people I have ever known. They would great to me. I flew out and did the bicycle scene in California. And a few weeks later, we recorded it again for the version that became the Number One record. It is just awesome to work with them. They were fantastic. Is it true you had laryngitis when you first recorded that song? Yeah. I did. I had just finished three weeks of one-nighters through the Midwest. When I got to California, Gloria and I got in and man, I cannot hardly talk. My throat was killing me. I went to a private doctor that would see me on a Saturday. I had rehearsal with Mr. Bacharach on that day, too, and I was really worried. I went and saw the doctor and he said he did not want me to even speak for two weeks and that I had to wait. He said I had the worst throat he had ever seen. I said, “Man, I’ve got a rehearsal and then a session tomorrow.” It wasn’t like I was not going to show up. But I was really afraid that he would not say, “Hey, man.” That he would think it wasn’t going to work. But I showed up and he liked it. My voice was kind of rough and kind of hoarse sounding, and he liked it. He thought it was really effective for what he was going to put it in the bicycle scene. As it turns out, I sang it five times for the bicycle scene. I’m HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
glad I didn’t have to do it anymore because I am not sure I could have done more than I did. But he loved it, and obviously, it worked out really well. We re-recorded Raindrops about six weeks later for the version that became Number One. But it worked out. You know, just about everything connected with Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head – it worked out perfectly. The experience, the movie was a great movie. The song sold over ten million copies. Everything with that song is a great memory. You performed Raindrops at the Academy Awards with those bicycles riding all around you. Tell me what that experience was like, and were you scared? Oh, yeah. I was absolutely scared to death. But you know what, in rehearsal when the song was such a big production about 12-13 minutes long, and I thought, “Hey, man. We may win this thing because they’re really doing have big number on it.” As it turns out, they did win the Academy Award. I love doing it. I love wearing the Sundancer’s costume to do the song. The whole experience was really wonderful. It was great. Did you get to meet Bob Hope who introduce you guys? Yeah. Subsequently, I didn’t know him then, but I did get to know Bob. Bob did certain personal appearances and did his comedy, and I did about six or eight of those shows with him over the years. I would go and sing before he came on and everything. He was a wonderful guy. His wife, Dolores, she was a great lady and he was just great guy. You know, a legend... 13
Your latest recording to date is The Living Room Sessions. What was it like working Lyle Lovett on that version of Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head? Lyle Lovett was really good. Lyle was appreciated and respected across the business. We were picking out people that we wanted to join us and add something to the record, and he did his vocal performance in New York. I wasn’t there for that. It’s the one thing I regret. I was not there when he sang, but he did a great job and that particular album was a lot of fun. Just going back for a minute, did Jim Morrison or The Doors ever hear or comment on your version of Light My Fire? No. Cuz actually, my version was more connected to Jose Feliciano’s version. We were doing an album and it was going to be one of the songs— we picked it would be one of the songs on the album and that version we did was Jose Feliciano’s version. I have never heard from Jose either. (Laughs) But no, I have never heard from Jim Morrison. That would have been very cool! Do you have any new recordings or projects on the horizon? Well, you know we’re obviously in a kind of a bad period and everything has been shut down for the most part, and especially the music industry. I had a session that was scheduled for the middle of this month of July that we’ve had to set back. I’m going to record in Muscle Shoals with Dan Penn and Billy Lawson. We’re really excited about doing it, but as
14
to when, we don’t know right now. We don’t know exactly how this thing is going to run out and when we can get the vaccine. If we can get the vaccine and we’re not in any danger of becoming ill, then we will go right in and do it. But we’re really so excited about doing it and kind of stressing through and getting through this period of time. We’ve got some great songs and we’re really looking forward to doing them. Complete this sentence, if I have to sing Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head again live, I’ll…? I’ll thank God and feel honored that I have the chance to do it. I’m not one of those guys where a lot of my peers say, “I am tired of this song. I am tired of that song.” I have such a good memories and emotions tied to most of my music. I really don’t ever get tired of doing them, especially Raindrops. I love to do Raindrops. Do you have any messages for your fans who are reading this right now? Well, I want to be sure and say thank you. I appreciate the fans for keeping me around all of these years and still wanting to hear my music, and helping me be successful with my appearances. I never imagined that things would work out so well for me in my career. So I thank the people, and I thank you for thinking about me. It has been wonderful and I hope to see everybody soon.
bjthomas.com/
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Fee Waybill of The Tubes Photo by Jack Lue
Fee Waybill Rides Again: from The Tubes and Beyond!
Interview by Ken Morton
Fee Waybill Rides Again! is the name of the brand new solo album from the legendary frontman of The Tubes, and it’s jam-packed with supremely imaginative rock and roll! Produced and co-written by the multi-talented Richard Marx, Fee Waybill Rides Again is sure to enrapture all types of music fans looking for a brief yet wondrous escape from these Covid-19 days. In this interview with Highwire Daze, Fee discusses the making of his latest solo endeavor, releasing new music in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, his thoughts on who really does the best cover of White Punks On Dope, new Tubes music on the horizon, and more!!! Read on... First of all, for fans of The Tubes, what could they expect to find when encountering Fee Waybill Rides Again? I think it’s a lot more personal because it’s me. I wrote about the stuff that is personal to me. And it is similar in style, I think, to a Tubes record. It’s that guitar-driven kind of classic rock type stuff. It’s actually kind of all over the place. There is a ballad on there, there is a country kind of song, and there is a Foo Fighters kind of song. So, it is different than The Tubes. It is me though. Richard Marx is on this album. He also worked with you on at least one previous album. What was it like working with Richard Marx? And how did he become involved with your solo albums? Richard has been a very close friend of mine for years and years and years. And we’ve written hundreds of songs together over the years. We had a number of hits together. I have written songs for him, written songs for other people, written songs with him for The Tubes, written songs for my previous solo record which was actually 24 years ago. We have been friends forever. We started this solo album in 2013. We wrote the first song when he lived back in Chicago. He had a little studio at his house and we wrote the Faker song together - the first song on the record. And he said, “Gosh, this came out great. Let us do a solo album!” And I went, “Okay, great.” And then, you know, seven years later, we finally finished it. What has it been like to release new music right in the middle of a pandemic and so much social unrest in the world? I know, it is weird. It is really weird. Well, I mean, we finished off the record earlier in the year like in February or January. We finished the record and then, after seven years of making the record, it was not like I had it all planned out or had a release date or anything. And a lot of people said, “You know this is probably not a good time to release it because the HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
music business is shut down and the radio. It is just everything is in such flux and everyone is upset and there are no gigs and there is no agent, there is no record company, and there is no nothing.” And we thought about it. And I thought, “You know, maybe this is a good time. I mean, people are stuck at home, you know? Arent they? They are not going to work, you know?” Would it not be nice to give some new music to people to play? Wouldn’t it be nice to just try to create a little bit of joy in this depressing time? A little relief, a little break-- a 35 minute break. So, we said, “Okay, fine. Let us do it. Let’s not worry about record companies. We will go through social media!” And I even went printed up a bunch of CDs, to put on the website. Just something new; something to bring a little joy. I love this record. I really put my whole heart and soul in it. And if I could share a little bit of the joy that I had making it with people, that would be enough. And so, we did it. and I am thrilled. I am so thrilled that it’s gotten such a great response. I am so glad I did it. I am proud I did it. I am not glad that this whole thing came down, but I am glad I did it and I am trying to stay positive and hope that we will figure 17
it out and we will come up with a vaccine. I think they will. I mean, there are too many brilliant people working on this in the world. They will all come up with a vaccine. They will figure this out. They figured out smallpox. And they figured out measles. I think it will happen. I think once we get some vaccine happening and some antibodies built up, I think people are going to be desperate to hear live music again. Would you like to tour in support of the Fee Waybill Rides Again album? I would, actually. I would. I’d like to get back on the road with The Tubes. We had huge plans for this year. We had big plans. We had a whole bunch of dates booked. We were doing The Completion Backward Principle. Well, we did it last year and we were going to continue with doing that to a bunch of other dates and go to Europe and do it. And we had a great show happening. We played the whole record top to bottom to start the show. I’d like to do both. I’d love to get back out with the band. We had plans to do some solo shows with Richard’s band. He was going to take the month of May off. He was going to go to Europe in March and April, and do about 30 shows in Europe. And then come back, take off the month of May, and then go on out in the summer and do summer shows. We had the weekend planned where I was going to get together with him and Matt Scannell from Vertical Horizon. We were going to learn the set. We were going to get together a lot, you know 70-80 minutes, play a bunch of these songs. I even talked to a friend of mine who owns a little club here in LA, The Coronet Theatre over on La Cienega. I go to see comedy shows there, I said, “What do you think about booking me to do a solo show?” And he said, “Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah. Let us see you on this date.” I said, “Okay.” And then, that’s not happening either.
parties. Social distance. Wear your mask. Try to stay positive. It is so difficult, you know, with the situation with our president and the situation with the pandemic. I read a story the other day by Michelle Obama and she said it is kind of like a never-ending low-grade depression, and that’s wearing on you. And I understand that. It is really wearing. It’s hard to just continue to see the numbers rise, and the death toll rise and the rest of the world has shut us out. I think you have to take it personally. Everybody has to take it personally. You have to wear your mask, social distance, and do your protocol, and take it seriously. And try to stay healthy. And try to stay safe. It is really getting harder and harder. The more months that go by, the more people are starting to stray and not pay attention, and kind of let it slide. I know it is so difficult. It is so difficult but we have to do it. We have to all stay positive. And you know, that is why I released this record. Just trying to help and give somebody something to do at home. Listen to some new music. And read a book. Go buy Cormac McCarthy. You want to read a brilliant writer, Cormac McCarthy, okay? That guy is amazing. Truly amazing...
feewaybill.com/ www.thetubes.com/
What do you think of Nina Hagen’s version of White Punks on Dope? (Laughs) Well, I wasn’t crazy about it. I mean. I like her but it was not really White Punks on Dope, was it? She changed the lyrics. I Watch The TV - TV-Glotzer. So, it was not really White Punks on Dope. But Nina is cool. I didn’t like call her up and berate her for doing it. There have been a couple of other versions. Mötley Crüe did a version of White Punks on Dope. And they cut out the bridge, so I was not crazy about that version. But then recently, Joe Elliott, the singer from Def Leppard, has a solo band and it is called the Down ‘n’ Outz. And they did a version of White Punks on Dope. And it is really, really great. He’s a great singer and his version is really cool. And they really kind of held to the form of the song. You know, it’s all correct. The lyrics are correct. The bridge and everything, it’s all correct. And so, I think of the three versions that have been done, that is by far the best one. Is there any new music on the horizon for The Tubes? There is actually. We have lately been writing together and once again, it’s been years in the making. I think we have three songs in the can. And then, another couple basic tracks done and another couple that have everything but the vocals on them that I already wrote. So yeah, who knows? Another 15, 20 years maybe? We’ll get it done. Do you have any messages for your fans who are reading this right now? Stay safe. I know it is crazy and you know, don’t go to 18
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
YEARS OLD
METAL AS
EP Available NOW! “A five song testament to hard raging rock and the sounds of perseverance, SUZY is ready to captivate the masses with her melodic metal anthems for the ages. SUZY is a thrilling, expressive vocalist, bringing you into the pulsating metal heart of the matter.” - Ken Morton, Highwire Daze
For more info, check out: suzymusicofficial.com
Catching up with Mike Skill of
The Romantics
Interview by Ken Morton
Mike Skill is best known for his participation in the iconic rock and roll band The Romantics - whose hit singles such as What I Like About You and Talking In Your Sleep remain much revered radio rock classics. With the onset of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, Mike Skill has been working on his solo material, and is now presenting a new single entitled ‘67 Riot. Featuring the trademark songwriting of Mike Skill as well as an amazing guest appearance from Wayne Kramer of the legendary MC5, ‘67 Riot is a selection that is both inspiring and timeless. Highwire Daze recently caught up with Mike Skill to discuss his solo endeavors as well as the past, present and future of The Romantics. Read on... First of all, tell me about the inspiration behind the new single ‘67 Riot. ‘67 Riot is the new single with Wayne Kramer to be released on Digital Record Store Day on Vinyl. The idea for the song has been in my mind for a while. I had the idea for just a title. And I did not have anything musically. In the ensuing years, I came up with a verse and groove and started throwing around lyrics and just writing stuff down. Not too long ago, I finished it up. I was off the road for The Romantics; So, I finished up the whole arrangement, the lyrics, and laid it down in a few days in my little studio and held onto it. And then, I had these other songs that were accumulating. So I brought them to my friend, Chuck Alkazian and his Pearl Sounds in Detroit. He has produced a lot of people such as Chris Cornell, and Madonna. He has done a lot of remixes. And he took my material to the next level. We released on a low-level a couple things just to feel it out. This year, we started really pushing stuff. Now, it has come to a time to release ‘67 Riot again. And I have Wayne Kramer on it. from the MC5. My son convinced me to call him. I’m a big fan so I was nervous about calling. I called him and ask him if he would like to play on it. He said to send him the track. I sent it and he liked it. So, he was going to lay something down. I told him “Just do what you do. And take it to the next level.” And so,we have ‘67 Riot with Wayne Kramer. A guy that I have idolized guitar-wise for years. Tell me about ‘67 Riot’s and the lyrics and how it compares to what’s going on in the world today? Well, it is still the same. The subject is the same thing. In the mid-60s, there was racial strife and a Civil Rights bill was passed. There were race riots after Dr. King was killed. And some other events that happened about a few weeks before in 20
July of 1967. I was about 12, 13 years old. It was a hot weekend. I think soldiers from Vietnam were having a party for coming home. It was in Detroit at a club late at night. You can go to 4:00 in the morning and all that. Police went in and it went bad. 40 people were killed I think it was. And the whole event, the way it played out, the news jumped on it. I was four or five miles away from it. I was just learning guitar. There was a National Guard in the streets. And there was a curfew at 6:30 in the evening. The news was really pushing it and it made a lot of fear. A lot of fear, of course, like today’s news. At that time, there was not much like that happening. Racial riots were not really happening since the 1930s. It woke up the calm all across the country. I held onto this whole thing, helicopters, smoke, the news, and all that. And I held on to that until I had the title for the song. And then, I just started writing lyrics for it. Eventually, the lyrics really came together and the groove was right. I’ve always liked Funkadelic and George Clinton. I’ve worked with George a little bit. And The Romantics recorded a few independent singles of George Clinton songs. So, that’s it and that’s how it came together. I called Wayne Kramer and he played on it. Now, it September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
is getting an acclaim to it. People are liking it. So, yeah... Another one of your new singles is Carrie Got Married. Is that the sequel to Tell It To Carrie? Tell me about that song. Yeah, it is. Tell It To Carrie was a song The Romantics released on their first album. I think it was the second song released. Tell It To Carrie was like a pop thing hailing back to The Hollies, The Kings, and The Beatles. I wrote it with Wally. I did the music while he had some parts of the music. And he wrote some lyrics. About Carrie Got Married: We did a show in Detroit. Our drummer Brad Elvis from Chicago - he was driving back and forth to the show in Detroit on the Michigan International Speedway. I think it was his wife Chloe who was driving. And on their way back home, she came up with Carrie Got Married, the lyrics and some of the music. They brought it to me later on down the road. I have worked with Brad and Chloe in the studio for some other project. I decided to use it and I put my color to it, my kind of attack on the guitar, and my sound to her song. So, it is a collaboration. But it turned out really good. It’s got a Romantics / Who / Mike Skill-like feel to it. This summer The Romantics were supposed to do a show at the Greek Theater, and a tour. How has this pandemic affected everything? It has affected everything, I mean, this is the first time I’m off for a more than a month, since 1981. Every year from May to August, September maybe. The holidays we’re off and then we come back around January, February a few things will happen, maybe New Year’s. And then, we start again in May, June with The Romantics music playing. Did you have any idea when recording What I Like About You that it would become this big iconic song? No way. No. First of all, the way I wrote songs and the way the band came about. We are fans of The Yardbirds and early Led Zeppelin and all that. But, the radio was just playing the same stuff over and over in the late 70s. And there is this new stuff coming out of New York in the early 70s. And then, the punk thing happened. But, there wasn’t any airplay. We always were on the same level as those groups. We wanted simple, straight ahead songs - three minutes - good hooks and choruses. So, if someone came to a show, they walk out singing the songs. Because the hooks were that good. What I Like About You is a simple song, three chords, which is always my thing. I always liked the Gloria, Louie Louie, You Really Got Me, and anything from The Kinks, . What I Like About You was one of the earliest songs we recorded. We released two songs before it. Then, What I Like About You came out and it was like in the middle half of the Top 100 of Billboard charts. It started falling off. It got picked up by Bud Light. Our manager secured the commerHIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
cial for that. It kind of dropped off the charts. It wasn’t a big hit. The label did not push it. The label starting to tell us to record a new record not much after that. We got a call. We are about ready to go to Europe, I think. And we got a call that it was hot in Holland and France and Germany. It was climbing up in the Top 10. So, we did a video. They were doing this new thing called MTV. So, the video went to MTV. It was never pushed. There was never any hype behind it. No magazines. It was all a Groundswell of us on the road. The video, the commercial, and that was it. It just built on its own. It had its own life. It was a cool way to get it to become known. What do you think of the 5 Seconds of Summer cover of What I Like About You? Oh, yeah. It’s a great version. Yeah, kids from Australia. They did their own independent single. I got a call. It was maybe eight years ago. And I got a call from my niece. She goes, “5 Seconds Summer is playing your song.” I checked it out and they’re filling stadiums around the world. So, that’s how I found out about it. What was the state of the band like when recording National Breakout - the second Romantics album? What I Like About You is going off the charts and the label wanted a new album by the end of the year. We still had not played the first album for anyone in Europe, which we should have gone to Europe - it was management’s bad decision. I had to come up with a whole record. The guys had to come up with some too. We went to New York and recorded in A&R Studios, Billy Joel’s studio, and released it. It was coming out, we went to Australia. And then I was thrown out of the band. I was kicked out, Fired. I was always on the manage21
ment about royalties after the first album and other things. I was always contesting, always trying to be forced to have to wear the same thing all the time in the band. Being a creative person, I always wanted to retain that punk attitude, not be so mainstream, and as far as the look too. Anyway, I was a rebel. I always causing the spark, so I was complaining about that with the management. So I was out coming back from Australia. They got another guy, put out the record and it flopped. I was at home. I was putting a new band together. They called and wanted me back in the group The label told them to get me back or get someone to write some hits. And I went back with the band with some conditions and had some tunes and did the next record. So, that’s how that happened. I came back on bass. And I came up with a bass line for Talking in Your Sleep. That third album Strictly Personal that you did not appear on, what did you think of that album? Have you ever heard the album? I have heard of it. Jimmy had taken over the range of writing. I showed him how to play an open tuning on a guitar. He was working out things on guitar. I think it got a little heavier metal than The Romantics were. I think it was thrown towards a Cheap Trick / Ramones kind of thing. It really wasn’t like early Romantics. I think the spark of Mike Skill wasn’t there. That is the way it was and they called me back. Let’s talk about the album that followed: In Heat. You had some of your biggest hits on there - Talking In Your Sleep and One In Million. It was your most successful commercial
22
record to date. When you look back on that and those songs, what do you think of them now? I think we got a little bit away from the Detroit Rock Edge sound on In Heat. It was a little more produced. But, I cannot argue with the success of it. It fit the times in a way; musically, radio, video. But then, we started repeating ourselves again with the next album after that. We kind of fell away from our raw roots. But the pop song thing was still there. So, it is nice for me to get back into like a really raw rock Mike Skill thing that I am doing now. It’s got energy and an attitude. I like what I am doing right now. I think we got a little away from it and I am back in it. I am on the street and I am writing every day and I have a ton of songs. With your solo material, how soon do you think you will be releasing an EP or even a full-length album? Is that something you would like to do? I think I’ll do a vinyl EP this Fall. Maybe on October Record Store Day or something. Six or seven songs on an EP. Do you have any messages for The Romantics fans who are reading this right now? Well, we are all on a hiatus. We had shows in the last few months and they were canceled everywhere. Pretty much, we are just waiting it out. Probably get back together next year maybe, who knows? We will see what happens and how healthy it is out there. But I am doing this and this is it right now.
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
www.perrisrecords.com
The album is a compilation of the bands favorite songs recorded since leaving Capitol/E.M.I. in 1990. The title track "Eat Sleep Rock" is previously unreleased. Also on this album is "The Story Of Helix", a rap with music behind it Brian wrote a couple of years ago to kick off the acoustic show.
Please pick up your HELIX “Eat Sleep Rock” CD at the following locations: Amoeba Music - Hollywood, Bionic Records - Buena Park, CD Trader - Tarzana, Freakbeat Records - Sherman Oaks, Fingerprintz Music - Long Beach, Toxic Toast Records - Long Beach, Glass House Records - Pomona, Black Hole Records - Fullerton ALSO AVAILABLE:
LastWorld
“Over The Edge”
For fans of Journey, Bon Jovi & Night Ranger Catalogue #: PER5812 Barcode #: 670573058120
CDS DISTRIBUTED BY SELECT-O-HITS
Artist/Band: HELIX
Title: Eat Sleep Rock Release date: 9/4/2020 Catalogue No. CD: PER5832 Barcode #: 670573058328
AOR
“Next Stop L.A” (Official Reissue) Catalogue #: PER5772 Barcode #: 670573057727 & ALLIANCE
GRACE SLICK: WELCOME TO WONDERLAND
Interview and Photos by Ken Morton Originally posted at Highwire Daze Online: August 23, 2013 LEGEND. Although one tends to throw around the word a lot in this day and age, one thing is for certain: Grace Slick IS a rock and roll “legend” – an icon whose work in Jefferson Airplane / Starship will be forever remembered and revered by music enthusiasts for generations to come. At 73, Grace Slick has been retired from the music industry, but is still very much a creative force to be reckoned with. Instead of a microphone, the paintbrush and canvas has been Ms. Slick’s instrument for creating visual art. 24
Welcome To Wonderland is her latest exhibit now on display at Gallery 319 in Woodland Hills, CA., and its a collection of paintings sure to set your imagination in flight. Based on the work of Alice In Wonderland as seen through the knowing eyes of Grace Slick, Alice and The White Rabbit inhabit the imaginative tapestries like you’ve never seen them before. In this interview with Grace Slick, we discuss the fine art exhibit now in progress, her unique visions on the classic Lewis Carrol story, the Woodstock Generation, as well as her take on Starship hits such as We Built This City and Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now. And now into the enchanted and mystical rabbit hole we shall go… September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Editor’s Note in 2020: I could not even believe I was offered this interview – and what an honor it was! And I did the research and watched the iconic Grace Slick rip journalists apart on YouTube for not being prepared and asking dumb fluffy questions. Even at the art gallery, seasoned journalists scheduled to interview her were in awe and quite nervous. We were all reminded to only ask Ms. Slick about her artwork and not her music career. I was the very last one to interview Grace Slick and told her I was going to focus just on the art and do a quick interview so she could head home. And instead of being tired of talking and the terrifying interview subject I thought a legend could be, she said almost at once “Ask me anything you want.” After taking a tour of the paintings provided by Grace Slick herself, we sat down and had this amazing conversation… How did you feel about your very first art show? Oh geez, I don’t even remember which one it was. Oh, I wasn’t there! I think it was in the Napa Valley, and it was just at one of those fairs they had. I think my agent maybe put three pictures up on little stands and hope they sold. I don’t even remember if any of them sold. I wasn’t there I don’t think for the actual first show. But the first “shows” – it was very interesting for people to buy stuff – cuz I’d do it anyway. I have to! I get kind of nuts if I don’t create something. And I don’t even care what it is. if you told me “I’m sorry, you can’t paint anymore,” I’d say “okay I’d be a set designer.” “I’m sorry you can’t be a set designer” – “okay, I’d be a writer!” I’ll go through all of the arts, except dancing, because I’m a klutz! But apart from that, I’ll do any of the arts – and I’m not a genius – but I don’t suck either! So I can do any of those things – and will, because I have to! I get crazy if I don’t. Welcome To Wonderland is the name of the exhibit. What is it about the story Alice In Wonderland that you find fascinating? It’s era for one thing – it was very interesting that he chose to have a little girl – this is Victorian England, which is very straight. There’s no Prince Charming – it’s the only one. Everybody else has a Prince Charming. She does it all herself and that’s a real good message for women! Figure it out yourself first, and then maybe there’s some guy that will come along that you appreciate. But you’ve gotta find yourself out first, otherwise you’re gonna get stuck. Because after about three children, guys get interested in somebody else with a younger, smaller, better looking body. That happens a lot! And you don’t have a job – you don’t have any skills – honey you’re screwed! You’ve got three children and no skills. I’ve been through various groups where the women are complaining about not being able to leave a drunken husband – because they can’t! They have no skills. So the business of Alice In Wonderland is this girl alone – going through all this weird stuff – some of it’s interesting – some of it’s hellish! I experienced more less the same thing, because I came out of, like Victorian, the 50’s – United States – very straight – and into the 60’s, which is just nuts – like going into Wonderland. And you do it yourself. Some of it’s hellish – we’ve got the president and vice president, Martin Luther King – everybody shot and race riots and Vietnam and all this kind of stuff. But then again, we also had a great deal of hope – which is very naïve – but hey! Some of it came true. We have a black president! We would have been so happy about HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
that – to know that that was going to happen. We were young and antsy, so we would like it to have happened faster – but it happened! You can watch people talk regular now on most of the channels – not NBC, ABC and CBS or Hallmark. But for the most part, you can see people acting like people really do. There isn’t censorship on a lot of those channels. And that’s good! So there’s a lot of stuff that has come about. Unfortunately we don’t know how to take the desire for war out of people. And I find it in myself in that I read – there’s a character called Mitch Rapp and it’s a series of novels about basically a killer who is hired by the government – counter terrorism – and I love it! Why? Why do I like that? I don’t promote war. Intellectually I’d like to say no – always talk yourself blue in the face before you shoot people – but at the same time, why am I reading those books? So there’s something in us that wants to go and kill stuff – blow stuff up. I love explosions! Why? So there’s a lot of stuff that seems to be inherent. I thought when I was in my 20’s that if intellectually – if people read more – if they knew more, you could talk them out of it. (Shakes her head no) Talking helps – education helps, but education doesn’t change genetics. And I think there’s something in us – that we’re still hanging onto a caveman type arrangement where you always think there’s a lion at the cave door. Okay folks, there’s no caves anymore! There’s no lions! Get over it! The body hasn’t gotten over it yet. The body still reacts – and even likes it. And that’s just really weird. If the Grace Slick of 1969 were to time travel and meet the Grace Slick of 2013, what do you think 1969 would think of 2013? Partially good! We’ve got Obama, we’ve got freedom of speech that’s way more than it was back then. We have certain things that worked and certain things that still have to be addressed. But like I said, I believe it might be genetic – and how do you address that? Maybe it’s the medical community who needs to work on this. Why do we like to pound each other to death? I don’t know – the only thing I can think of is Grace Slick in the 60’s would look at Grace Slick now and say, “Wow! You’re still alive? Jesus!” I’ll be 74 in a couple of minutes, so that’s amazing to me! I’ve never done exercise – the only exercise I did was in bed. That was my idea of exercise period. The rest of it makes me sick. I had to play water polo when I was 15 in school –we had to in first period. 7:30 you’re jumping in a pool and playing. I thought I was going to die! All my friends would leap out of the pool and go, “Oh, that’s refreshing!” and I thought “I think that was just awful!” So I’ve never exercised – I didn’t eat right – I’ve smoked all my life since I was 15. So you do the math – 15 to 74 – and drugs and alcohol and buying fast cars and driving 150 miles an hour. Being chased by cops and being in jail a bunch of times. Why am I still here? I don’t know! That’s another genetic thing. Who knows what that is – because I certainly didn’t take care of myself. When someone mentions the Woodstock generation and says how wonderful and mystical it must have been, what do you tell them? That was true for a couple of years, because there was so 25
much hope and so much belief in change. We hoisted on our own petards so to speak. But a couple of years there were magic – so yes it was! Within those years though, we also got the other end – which was our leaders and people we believed in were getting shot – and Vietnam is happening. That’s not the Second World War folks. That’s some really weird stuff. And instead of coming back as heroes the way they did in the Second and First World War, they came back and we all looked at them – everybody and went “Ugh!” If you didn’t go to Canada, we thought you were a jerk. So I feel sorry for those guys, because they were young! They were like 18 years old – what do they know? They think they’re serving their country. No, they’re serving a political agenda. That’s not saving people like they were in the Second World War. The Second World War was the last war that had a reason for it. If you didn’t go in with Japan and Hitler, we’d be speaking German right now. That had to be done. But Vietnam? They weren’t coming over here! We thought they were tied up with Russia. But if Russia wanted to come at us, they could do it. They don’t need to use Vietnam. It was a mistake – and we make mistakes – but if people die for your mistakes, it’s a little iffy. Do you miss singing? No, cuz I do it anyway. My mother was a singer, so we sang around the house anyway. I don’t have to be on a stage to sing. I’ll sing around the house. There’s a station on TV that plays all kinds of different music. One of them – 832 will be a soft rock, 833 is hard rock, 834 is classic rock – and it goes all the way through jazz. So I turned on classic rock and I could sing along with all of it, because I know all the songs from all those bands. Which is like the same thing my parents did. My mother would sing (and Grace sings) “I’ll be with you in apple blossom times” – that 40’s stuff. And Stardust (Grace sings again) “Sometime I wonder I spent…” so on and so forth. And she would sing that around the house. I do the same thing. I’m just a lot louder that my mother. (Much laughter.) We Built This City was a huge song for Starship… …yeah, and it was one of the dumbest songs ever written! You just answered the question. I was wondering what you thought about that song today… It was dumb! But during the 80’s, I was trying to be a good girl. “I’ll do what you tell me. I’m not going to do any drugs.” But it’s the stupidest all time song, because there is no city built on rock and roll. Rock and roll is too new. It’s written by a British guy and he’s very good actually – usually – Bernie Taupin. He’s a British guy writing about the clubs closing in L.A. sung by a group from San Francisco. London was founded by the Romans, so basically that’s not rock and roll. L.A. was built on oranges, oil, and the movie industry. San Francisco is built on trade and gold. What do you mean “We Built This City On Rock And Roll?” What city? There is no city built on Rock and Roll! And it sounds like we’re brag26
ging! We Built This City! It sounds like we’re talking about San Francisco and we’re bragging about ourselves! I always thought that! I was horrified by that song! And it went to Number One, so what do I know? And there’s another one – Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now. Oh really? 55 or some percent of the people who get married get divorced. Yes, there’s plenty of things that are going to stop us! I don’t like singing songs that I don’t believe. I did it and I can do it – but I don’t like it! It doesn’t come from the heart. It comes from “I’ve been in this business for a long time so I can sing this rock and roll song.” But I didn’t like that. The other one that went Number One – I think it was Jane – I forget what it was. But they were really dumb songs. And I love Dianne Warren! Dianne Warren wrote Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now. But it ought to be sung by somebody who believes it! I don’t believe it. So I don’t like it. I like really screwy songs that were written by the band – not by somebody outside the band. So I know what they’re talking about – I know how they feel – I know the sensibility of it. That’s why I prefer Airplane to Starship. Because Starship used other people and Airplane we all wrote our own stuff. Somebody To Love has been an iconic song. What do you think about the various covers of it, like The Ramones and W.A.S.P. has covered it. Have you heard those covers? I don’t care and no. Anybody can do it. I heard some punk versions from Germany of White Rabbit and stuff. That’s fine. Speaking of White Rabbit, there’s a lot of paintings in here of white rabbits… I was born in the Year Of The Rabbit, so this rabbit thing has always been with me. So I figure okay, I’ve been hammered by White Rabbit things! Good! I’ll go with that. I have an artistic mind, so I’m going to go there. It’s stupid for me to go over here and say, “Geez, I’d like to be a nuclear physicist.” I got an “A” in geometry. In algebra, I told the teacher “I’m September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
not having anything to do with this!” I will never add letters! I add numbers – I can do arithmetic – and I can do geometry, but this is stupid! I will never need algebra. And it’s the only “B” I ever got. I just looked out the window and said, “This is stupid” – for me. It’s not for somebody who operates in that area. But I’m not going to operate in that area. It’s ridiculous. But I don’t know. Where did we start with this? (Much laughter) I just wanted to know how you relate to the rabbit. I saw one of your paintings of the rabbit smoking, which was pretty cool! Yeah! The rabbit – I think – and this is only an opinion – represents Alice’s curiosity. And your curiosity is always slightly ahead of you. Sometimes you will ignore it because you’re afraid. Don’t! Go for it! Life is very short. What you did you don’t regret – it’s what you didn’t do. I didn’t do Jimi Hendrix – I didn’t do Peter O’Toole – I haven’t been to the Middle East – and I never learned how to ride a horse. And I can remember those four things. But I’ve been around the block a couple of times, so I’ve done a whole hell of a lot of other stuff! And I’m glad, because I got a chance to see a lot of stuff. So if I drop dead tomorrow, I’m still good. I would have liked to have seen the Middle East. I would have liked to have screwed Peter O’Toole when he was 30, and Jimi Hendrix when he was 27. And I would have liked to learn how to ride a horse, because that synchronicity with an animal – that flowing thing with an animal. I saw a movie called Black Stallion where the kid is riding bareback on this beautiful black Arab stallion along the beach. It’s a completely deserted island – and he’s riding this horse, and it’s just beautiful – just the movement of him with this horse – and just hanging onto the mane. And I thought, “God damn, that looks like a good deal.”
rabbit and canary a lot – and that’s basically my daughter and her husband. And then last question. There’s a painting with a rabbit on it and the words “I know you.” Tell me about that painting. “I know you…” He’s more my daughter than me. She’s able to see – even from a distance – that somebody is going to be a shit! Somebody is going to advantage. Since she was little – both of her parents are rock and roll- right? So she has watched what happened with us. She can see the expression on people’s faces – she watched the process of people who are going to be coming up for one reason or another – what their faces look like. So she’s able to see when people are going to jerk you around for one reason or another. I don’t. I’m like this dumb, “Hi! Heyhey! Uh!” I’ll talk to anybody, anytime – and she’ll come up to me and say “Mom, see the guy in the red coat over there? Let’s move out of the way.” She knows and I don’t. So she has a perception which that bunny has. “I know you! I know what you’re gonna do!” And it may not be even bad. He’s just “I know you – and you are better than you think you are.” “I know you. You have wonderful hair!” “I know you. You’re a brilliant mind, but you’re kinda ugly.” Whatever it is, he’s kind of got the eyeballs for it… To learn more about Grace Slick and her artwork, go to: WWW.AREAARTS.COM Gallery 319 Official Home Page: GALLERY-319.COM
What prevents you from doing that now – learning to ride a horse? Because when you get older, your bones get all weak. So you don’t want to be crashing around on them. There’s a lot of things that I can’t do now. But like this painting right here of the old woman – she’s crippled… And there’s a rabbit looking out the window… Well he’s kind of my guy. There’s no point in him – he’s my guy, so I put him in there. Artistic freedom. But she is crippled, but she finds beauty still – even though she’s crippled – by looking at the tree with the little bird in it. I realize that about myself – even though my feet are all screwed up – and I can’t stand for more than about eight minutes. There’s still so much beauty – so much to look at! The human mind is just this massive receptacle processor. You don’t necessarily need your feet – but it would be good! But if Pistorius wasn’t such an asshole and shot his girlfriend – there’s a good example of how you don’t need feet anymore. Particularly now in the medical community, you can make some feet! We’re getting better at that all the time. That’s just an example of how “don’t worry about what’s wrong with you. Look out the window and look at what’s right!” And the rabbit represents China’s (my daughter’s) husband – and the bird in the tree – the canary – represents China. Because that’s what they call each other – because she’s small and blonde and she calls him the rabbit. She thinks he looks like a rabbit. I don’t – but she does – they call each other “rabbit” and “canary.” So I use the HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
27
Elize Ryd of
AMARANTHE Photo by Jack Lue
The Amaranthe Manifest
Interview by Ken Morton - Band Photo by Johan Carlen Amaranthe has spent the last decade establishing themselves as a formidable melodic force for metallic good. From their explosive Self-Titled debut in 2011 and beyond, the band has thrilled fans all over the world with their massive soundscapes and exhilarating live perfornances. Led by the endlessly ingenious songwriting of guitarist Olof Mörck and powerhouse vocalist Elize Ryd, Amaranthe is unleashing Manifest, their next glorious auditory epic through Nuclear Blast Records. Highwire Daze recently interviewed Elize Ryd to discuss the mighty Manifest, their amazing guest star appearances on the album, and a recent reunion with former Kamelot bandmate Roy Khan. Read on... Is there any overall story behind the title Manifest? Yes, I would say that this is our way of manifesting the band, the music, and of course the topics that we touch upon when it come to the stories and the lyrics. The plan to manifest Amaranthe as a phenomena – and that was the whole inspiration. We actually did try to write a song called Manifest but we didn’t get there and then we realized that it’s still a Manifest even though there is not a song. All of the songs are a Manifest. Let’s talk about a few of the songs on Manifest. First of all Strong – what inspired that particular song? Well, like most of the time, it’s based on a real life experience - when you start questioning your development as a human being and what “strength” means to you. It’s always hard to HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
open your heart and soul when it comes to songs, because I want the listener to have their own feelings about the songs – but it is based on a thought that I came up with in the middle of the night – and based on a real life experience. And then Viral – let’s talk about that one. Viral as a song – when it comes to arrangement – it’s based on the riff which Olof came up with in the middle of the night – because obviously we write songs only in the middle of the night – which is actually daytime in America – so if I had lived there, that would be a different story. (Laughter) But it’s based on the riff. And also the title Viral – it is a song that is very much Amaranthe. It wasn’t supposed to be about social media, but of course it became such a big part of our life – and it actually didn’t used to be when we were growing up. So that was an interesting topic – but in the end when we finished the lyrics up in the studio, it came to be about the current situation and how people handle the crisis on social media about this pandemic. It was too tempting to not write about something that was current – and still is. It’s more like a statement – we celebrate and criticize at the same time so to speak – people living their lives through social media and also being stuck in quarantine like everybody else. In the end it’s a positive message that we are looking forward to go out and play live again – and looking forward to better times. How did Nils Molin from Dynazty become involved with Amaranthe and how did he have the time? Well first of all, he and Olof were in contact, because the 29
metal scene in Sweden is like family so to speak. Most bands know each other or we have some kind of connection. We’re a very small country and there’s a lot of bands coming from here – and we always want to support and inspire each other. We ourselves were very inspired by Soilwork and In Flames back in the day musically. But he was talking to Olof online about songwriting, vocal melodies and things like this. And Nils himself said he could always picture himself being a part of this band. So it was the two of them staying in touch. And when it comes to him having time – because I thought the same – how could he have time? But actually I was referring to myself, back in the day when I was working with Kamelot at the same time I was doing Amaranthe. I knew in the back of my head that it was possible to have two bands actually. It just depends on where the bands are at and how much you are able to tour - and your own goals basically. But I know he was doing Amaranthe tours and he was lining up the Dynazty show all around our dates. So when we went home, he went straight to another tour with his own band – so he was working kind of hard. Nils is a very great vocalist – famous all over Sweden for having amazing vocals. To us, to have him as part of our band is the best thing we could ever wish for. You have Noora of Battle Beast on the song Strong. How did that collaboration come about? Well actually, we wanted to have Noora on the album, because I was very much looking forward to the tour in the United States where we were supposed to play together. Since we were going to release an album – and you always tour on an album – that’s how we’ve been doing it for the last 10 years. It was a very nice idea to have her as a guest vocalist (on the album) and then we could also perform the song together live being on tour. And also, because we love her voice! She has a strong voice! And we like her attitude – she’s a very unique woman. The idea came about so we could have something to look forward to while being on tour together. But that, of course, didn’t happen, but it doesn’t matter, because it will happen sooner or later – I hope. Someday. Even if we are 45 or 50 years old, we can still sing the song! And it would be rocking! (Much laughter) So another legend you have on the album is Angela Gossow formerly of Arch Enemy. How did that come about and what has it been to like to work with her? Actually, we started to work together two years ago when she became our manager. For people who don’t know, Angela has been the manager of Arch Enemy ever since she quit the band. So we started to talk, and there was no specific plan for the band – we were still changing up the management situation. We had Nils as a new member and we didn’t have a record deal anymore – so we were kind of discussing that. So we were thinking, why not do something fun together in the meantime? And actually she had this really nice idea – she asked us if we were willing to touch on topics regarding the environment. And we had already written a lot of songs that touched on those subjects- Theory Of Everything and Stardust for example. She had an idea about a video and she basically asked us to write a song about the concept – if we were willing to do that. And in our world, it was the most crazy offer ever, because first of all she hadn’t been this involved in 9 years – and to be the band that she was appearing with, for us, would be a big privilege and an honor. She’s obviously a very big inspiration and she’s been doing very well for wom30
en in this genre – being badass and amazing in every way. So we thought it was a great opportunity. It was extremely fun to work with her and the video recording went great – except for the weather – it was the most cold days in Spain ever! We were like “Oh, let’s go to Spain where it’s warm and nice!” And then it was like a storm. It was kind of rough but it was fun. But we’re very proud of that and it’s going to be very fun to look back on that in the future. But yeah, she’s a legend! Maybe you could drag Angela on stage to sing that song? That’s what I thought as well. Sooner or later we should do that. It has to happen… There’s one more collaboration I’d like to talk about – Heidi from Butcher Babies – how did that come about? That came about because we did a tour together in the past in the US. That was amazing – we had so much fun – I love those girls – the boys love them too – like the whole band actually are great people. And it came about – in addition to being a really great growler, she’s very theatrical and she has a great singing voice too! She doesn’t sing on the album but she does speak in her amazing American accent. It was Henrik who reached out to her and asked her “Please? Could you be part of this song? Could you just say this very short line and record it at home?” Everyone was in quarantine anyway and we knew that nobody was on tour – which also maybe made all these collaborations possible. If it wasn’t for the Corona crisis, we wouldn’t have been able to have all these guests actually. I know how it is myself if somebody asks me to collaborate and I’m super busy with tours, then it’s impossible to make it happen – there always a deadline etc. But it happened and it was very fun. It’s a very nice element to have your friends on an album. It’s something we really appreciate. Let’s talk about a collaboration you recently did. You worked on the new Conception album State Of Deception with Roy Khan formerly of Kamelot. Kind of like a reunion of sorts really. What was that experience like? Well he asked me and I was in shock, because I hadn’t spoken to Roy since we toured together back in 2010 – which is kind of a long time ago. And it’s in his old band even before Kamelot, and Olof is a huge fan! Olof had me record my vocal parts – usually when you’re a guest you don’t have to sing a lot - but being there and helping friends doing something creative together from afar. He lives in Norway and I live in Sweden. I recorded my vocals here in Gothenburg. For me, it was a super, super nice thing to reconnect with my old colleague. We did a lot of great things together with all of that touring. So yeah, the experience was great and I was very honored and happy that he contacted me again – after all these years! Do you have any messages for Amaranthe fans here in the States who are reading this now? Of course! We miss you guys a lot. We’ve always had an amazing time over in the States. It had been so long since we came back touring, and we were so happy about the tour that was about to happen. But we will be back. If it doesn’t happen next year for various reasons – we’re waiting for your government to give us information about what’s possible and not. But as soon as it is possible, we will come over. We are looking forward to it now more than ever to see all our fans over there. And we love them a lot! September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Meet Priya Panda of Diemonds Interview by Ken Morton Photo by Jack Lue
Meet Priya Panda, vocalist for the hard rocking Diemonds on Napalm Records as well as a dynamic solo artist whose recent singles Freaky Girl and Shook U Off are well worth seeking out. She’s toured with the legendary Slash and has recorded a Michael Jackson cover with none other than Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal of Guns N’ Roses infamy. Highwire Daze caught up with Priya Panda after a photo shoot with Jack Lue to find out more about her solo career, the current happenings of Diemonds, working with Bob and Bruce Kulick, and a whole lot more! Read on... Where are you based out of and what is your local music scene like there? I’m originally from Toronto, Canada, which is where I was born and raised. I spent a lot of time in and out of the city touring with my hard rock band Diemonds. We had some of the best bands ever coming up around us, at the very same time. We were very, very lucky that around 2007 or so when we started playing a lot of bands like Cauldron and Skull Fist were also playing out. All across the country we had amazing bands like Striker and The Wild! and we all learned and grew up together. Tell me about your new song Freaky Girl and what was the inspiration for that song? I channeled the song in my own way and the inspiration is definitely about a person I used to consider a friend. But she didn’t know herself, she certainly didn’t love herself and got lost in a sea of permanently altering her image and having experiences that burned every bridge in her life over and over, and ultimately destroying our friendship in the process. It was a disaster to watch. And so, I had to sing about it, it’s a cautionary tale. Freaky Girl was a collaboration between my friend Doviak, who is Johnny Marr’s guitar player and record producer, and Beats for Beginners who used to be in Badly Drawn Boy’s band. It was an interesting partnership that would never have come together if not for Diemonds, but that’s a story for another time. Shook U Off is another recent single. What is the story behind the song? This song is an anthem about letting go - literally shaking off a person who’s just not right for you no matter how hard you try. It’s about cleaning up a mess. It’s about finding yourself again after intertwining your life with someone else’s for so long. So many people have been there before and in this song, I’m reaching out to all of them. And way at the beginning of the year before the rise of COVID, you released a song called Take Me Back. Tell me a little about that song. 34
Take me Back is pretty personal to me. It’s about a situation I experienced in a toxic relationship where the person I was with wouldn’t treat me respectfully but just couldn’t seem to leave me alone either. He would quite literally be knocking on my door, as mentioned in the lyrics, and would be contacting me over and over for years. The chorus is sung from his perspective. We were in a vicious cycle and it would start over again. It was really painful. Writing this song and eventually making the video was cathartic, they helped me get through a rough time. I found a cover of Beat It by Michael Jackson that you did with Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal. How did that collaboration come about and what was it like working with Bumblefoot? I was asked to do this collab through Cleopatra Records. I’ve never actually met Bumblefoot, we both submitted our parts remotely, but he kicked ass on the track for sure! The thing that made me really want to do it initially was knowing that the Bruce and Bob Kulick were the producers!!! I am a KISS freak and anything related to KISS, I love and will do. September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Bob hand-picked all of the artists on that compilation and that means the world to me. The recording is so much more special now, knowing that Bob is no longer with us. How close are you writing and recording an EP or even a full length album? My EP “Snacks” is totally done. I just need to figure out how to release it. Definitely vinyl. I really want to share it with the world. But it’s a change in direction from everything I’ve ever done in the past, so I’m navigating as I go. I’m always kind of working on new music! What is currently going on with Diemonds? How you been recording any new music with them? Right before the virus, Diemonds played on the Monsters of Rock Cruise for the second year in a row, and damn, that was fun. Gig of a lifetime. Otherwise, we haven’t super busy right now, but neither are most bands, sadly. I’m always writing and if the opportunity comes up for us to work or play, I’m super down. What was it like opening for Slash and did you get to meet or hang out with him or his band at all? Slash is exactly as cool as he looks. He’s a really good dude and his band is amazing. I’m biased because two of them are Canadian, so I’ve got a soft spot for them. Haha. The only one I’ve never really ran into is Myles but is an absolutely insane vocalist! Love those guys, great shows and memories with them!
HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
Speaking of G N’R, how did your photo session with their photographer Jack Lue go? It was so much fun. I loved shooting with Jack. He’s a legend and he’s a pro. Next time, I definitely need to pick his brain more about G N’R though! Are you involved with any other bands or projects outside of Diemonds and your solo work? Before the virus, I had just started singing in the role of Frida in an ABBA tribute band called ABBARAMA based out of LA. It was a freakin blast and I’m really looking forward to that picking back up again! It was a big challenge for me, and I’m always up for a challenge. What do you hope 2021 brings for you and Diemonds and just the world of music in general? I hope that shows come back and we can enjoy music the way we always have! 2020 has been a long, long road for us music fans, hasn’t it? Wow. I want to see all my friends get back on stage, on the road and be able to do what we do best – which in the end is put out good vibes! Personally, I hope I get a chance to perform my new music with a solo band and that there’s a badass Diemonds show or two in there somewhere!
www.facebook.com/partypriyapanda www.facebook.com/Diemonds www.abbarama.com
35
Vicious Rumors Photo by Jack Lue
Vicious Rumors unleash Celebration Decay
Interview by Ken Morton
The long running Vicious Rumors have been on the Digital Dictator Tour, presenting songs from a vast and epic catolog - as well as planning their next glorious heavy metal magnum opus. And with the arrival of the very timely Celebration Decay on SPV Records, Vicious Rumors has launched a massive assault to the senses that is truly exciting to behold. With a mixture of tried-and-true veterans and new comrades completing the ranks, Celebration Decay presents a band at the very height of their creative artistry. Highwire Daze recently caught up with founding member Geoff Thorpe to find out more about this next compelling chapter in the Vicious Rumors legacy... Is there any overall story or concept behind the Celebration Decay title? Well, absolutely. Celebration Decay is a term that we came up with to reflect the decay of humanity. It really has nothing to do with the pandemic though. That was something when we were making the record that was happening far away and it wasn’t even called the pandemic yet. We live in such a dark world that just seems to get darker and darker with every five year span, and so we just thought that was kind of like a little clever observation that humanity tends to just Celebrate the Decay and not do anything about it. How did the 30th anniversary tour of Digital Dictator influence the making and writing of Celebration Decay? I would say that it had an incredibly positive effect because Larry (Howe) and I are just so honored to be part of the record that meant so much to people. And playing that album in its entirety over 100 times together in the new lineup - it really made us put the idea of what a whole album could be like. Not that we patterned Celebration Decay after Digital Dictator because when you listen to them, they are very different records - but at the same time we wanted to make an album that was as powerful as Digital Dictator. I think it’s also just the chemistry of the band as we were able to really solidify doing so many shows before making an album. So it had a really positive impact. It got the new guys in touch with our sound. It is an exciting good time in Vicious Rumors right now. What do you think is made you and Larry Howe works so well together after all these years. I think he’s been on every album. Yeah. He only missed one album. You know, Larry and I grew up in the same era. We are the same age. We have a HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
lot of the same musical influences. We took our classic rock - 60s and 70s - all the influences we had early as kids and wanted to take it a step forward. We were one of the pioneers of this sound of mixing this classic heavy metal with elements of thrash and gothic even classic rock, so we came from the same place and it is funny… I will tell you a story about the way I found Larry was when I first moved here from Hawaii. I just started going out to clubs and I printed up 1,000 business cards with “Vicious Rumors” on it with my name and number, and I did not even have a band together. I just went out to like three clubs a night and spent an hour in each club passing out these cards and meeting people. I stopped by the Mabuhay Gardens one night, and this punk band was playing. And it was probably one the worst bands I ever heard. I was just 37
like “Man I got to get out of here! I cannot take this music!” And all of a sudden the drummer goes into a drum solo and I was like “What the hell!?!” and I stopped in my tracks and I turned around and I went back in and I watched this drummer play this incredible drum solo. And I was just completely blown away! And then of course the rest of the band came back out and they started playing this awful music! But that drummer was Larry Howe, playing in this punk band and I remember he just blew me away. I wanted to stay and meet him that night but the band was so awful. I just left and a friend of mine introduced me to him later and I instantly remembered him from that night with the punk band. And so yeah, that is how I met Larry. And we’ve been at it a long time. Let’s talk about some of the other members of the band. Gunnar DüGrey your guitarist started in Vicious Rumors when he was 18 and now he is 21. How did he become involved with the band and what is it like touring with a guitarist from a whole different generation? Gunnar is a very serious musician type. He and I get along great. We did right off the bat. He’s got like an old soul. When his friends were out partying or fishing or drinking beer, he was at home learning how to play stuff like Yngwie. He picked up a guitar at eight years old and never looked back. His dad Daryl is the dad every metal guy wishes they had for a father. He played in a band too and was just totally supportive of it. He is such a talented guy. I normally hire young, but I usually don’t hire that young - but in his case it was just a no-brainer. The guy’s just a virtuoso! At 21 he is a world-class guitarist and on the level of the legendary Mark McGee who used to play for Vicious Rumors. We have a great chemistry together. I think I could be biased, but when you see us live, I don’t think that the first thing you feel is like a 40-year gap between us. We just play well together and we work well together. Of course, Larry and I - you can see in our faces that we’re much older than the other guys if you look closely - but you know with all that head banging and stuff going on. We are just a well-oiled machine and it is really not about age - it is about a bunch of guys who love heavy metal and love being musicians. You have another album approaching 30 years - the Self-Titled Vicious Rumors album. What do you think of that album when you look back in retrospect? I am very, very proud of that record - the first album we did on Atlantic Records. It is 30 years old this year! We had huge plans for now - we were going to tour Europe, USA and Japan (and play the album in its entirety), and all that got canceled because of this crazy situation we are in now. But that album I look back on with extremely fond memories. We had just signed to Atlantic Records. We had visions of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC and it was an incredibly exciting time. Who knows man, if we would have gotten signed maybe two years earlier, we might’ve had a whole different level of reaction in sales. We did get signed right at the beginning of the grunge era to Atlantic. so I am super proud of that, because we put out five heavy metal albums in the 90s and held our flag high and we still do we still do to this day! Larry and I get a little older but as long as we can deliver albums and live performances on a very high level like we are doing right 38
now, then we will keep doing it. Nick Courtney your new vocalist. How did he become involved with the band and what is his background? His background is he started off as a guitar player, which means that like he was a perfect guy to become a lead singer because he does not start right with the diva singer attitude. He’s actually like a really cool guy guitar player and he’s got a great voice. He was actually a contestant on American Idol. He made it like two rounds before they cut him, but he had the balls to just truly be himself and sang like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I guess Katy Perry was one of the judges and she gave him a thumbs up to keep him going but the other two said “No, that’s a little too heavy for our show.” I love the fact that he just was true to himself. A lot of people probably would have went in and sang a Foreigner or Journey song, but he was just true to himself and did the metal and I love that. We found him up in the Northwest and he just had all the qualities I was looking for. It really is a tall order to be the lead singer in this band. We require someone who can do low guttural intense stuff. We need somebody who can sing high and clean and melodic. We need someone that can be bluesy and aggressive, so it is just a tall order. And Nick has a great stage presence and he is a real natural. Fans loved him on the Digital Dictator Tour and it was great that we had the benefit of doing 108 shows together before we went in and did the Celebration Decay record. It took a lot of the guesswork out of what we were trying to do and the way to go about it. So yeah, Nick and Gunnar have been great additions to Vicious Rumors. We are excited to have this new album out. So man, let the games begin and I hope people enjoy the album!
www.viciousrumors.com/ September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Lee Small of Lionheart and The Reality of Miracles
Interview by Ken Morton Lionheart is an all-star hard rocking AOR extravaganza conceived by Dennis Stratton formerly of Iron Maiden. Within the notable membership of Lionheart are Steve Mann and Rocky Newton of Michael Schenker Group, Clive Edwards formerly of UFO, and Lee Small of SHY. The latest magnum opus from Lionheart is entitled The Reality of Miracles, an absolutely inspirational endeavor destined to be included on a good amount of Top Ten lists when 2020 spins to it’s chaotic conclusion. In the previous issue of Highwire Daze, we interviewed guitarist Steve Mann. And now we turn our attention to Lionheart’s impassioned vocalist Lee Small, where we discuss the creation of The Reality of Miracles, his time spent within the ranks of the legendary SHY, as well as Lee’s solo material and other upcoming projects. Read on... What does that title The Reality of Miracles mean to you? The Reality of Miracles, what it means to me, basically, it all 40
came from the song title really, which was a song I wrote for my partner. So, obviously it has a different meaning to me. But I think it goes out to anybody really. It’s whatever they make of it themselves. To me, The Reality of Miracles was my other half; basically my soulmate really, so that is what the song was about when I wrote it. How does The Reality of Miracles compared to the previous Lionheart releases? There is three other ones including, I think one or two that you were on. The Hot Tonight album I was not on, which to me, was just a great piece of work. I love that album and when we play it live, I love performing the songs on there. There were some great songs when the band were signed to CBS. The previous one, Second Nature. That was great., I thought the Second Nature album was a fantastic piece of work. This new album, I feel like we’ve surpassed the last one. We all had a bit more input into this album than the previous one. I think it has really been a nice natural progression commercially, as well. I think the songs are a lot stronger. September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
How did you eventually become involved with Lionheart? The band remained in contact with each other. In 1986, I think they kind of shelved the band really and they went on doing different things, Steve (Mann) and Rocky (Newton) went with Michael Schenker, which Steve still is involved with now. Dennis (Stratton) went on to do Praying Mantis and other stuff, Clive (Edwards) went on to the UFO and basically they all stayed friends. They did not really record anything until 1999 and put out an album of demos and lost tracks and things like that. But in the meantime, there was people asking for the band to get back together for a festival in England, in Nottingham in in 2016. So they just said to the guys, “You think you could get everybody back together?” Everybody wanted to get back involved, but Chad (Brown), the singer, didn’t want to - he he has left the business so they needed a new singer. So one of them suggested me and I remember Clive calling me up saying, “Would you be interested?” Obviously I knew the legacy of the band before and I said “Well yeah. Let’s get together and see what we could do.” Thinking it was just one-off show, which it was only meant to be. And basically, it went down so well, the response was just so well, the next thing we know, they wanted us to do an album and so we stayed together, did the album, did some great shows in Sweden and went to Japan. It was fantastic and it just went from there really, I think we just gelled. The chemistry was there. Select two songs from the new album and what inspired the lyrics for you? The First Man is a song that I wrote. I love movies and films. There was sci- fi novel written by H. G. Wells and they did a film called The First Man on the Moon and it was a fictional story about a Victorian scientist. He goes to the moon before anybody else, and sets foot on the moon in a rocket ship that he created himself in his conservatory. If anybody has not read the book, it is really a great book and the film is just epic. And I kind of used that as a theme really, because I have always liked the story and just wrote with that in mind. I really enjoy writing meaningful lyrics with a deep storyline -- so that one is definitely a highlight for me. Another one would be Still It Rains on Planet Earth. I wrote that song through the eyes of a painter. Somebody who would just go into his loft at night, and shut the world out and just express himself painting. It’s inspired by the world really. The issues, the race issues and stuff like that - and being up in the woods painting the world in a better light. What has it been like to release new music in the middle of a pandemic and worldwide social unrest? It has been unbelievable. I mean, these surreal times we’re in at the moment - it kind of gave us time to finish the album because everybody was just so busy with other projects. This record has taken just over two years to complete really and because everybody has been so busy with touring in their other gigs. The coronavirus has shut everything down and gave us time to finish the record. So out of a dark time, - an awful time - that is the only shining light for us really. One of the very last ones to make the record was called, Outlaws of the Western World.” That was all about what was going on HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
with the early Covid in England, where all the shops were just getting raided and there was nothing left. All the supermarket aisles were absolutely empty, you could not even get soap and things like that. So that actually inspired that song as well. Let us go back to SHY. When you lose track on your work in the band SHY what do you think of it now in retrospect? I am so proud of my work in SHY, to be honest, I miss Steve Harris. I miss Steve Harris so much because he was such a good friend and we had so much in common. And we hit it off when I joined the band just like that. We had the same interests. But again, more importantly, we had such a great connection in song writing. And the album I did in 2011 with him was his final album. That was the labor of love for him. I’m so grateful of it because I think, without that album, I do not think I would have ever received ninety percent of the work I have gotten really. Everybody looks at that album that I did with SHY as a benchmark. I am extremely proud of it. Did you ever meet Tony Mills the original vocalist for Shy? And if so, what was you impression of him? Tony Mills, I did meet him and we’ve sang on stage together. I have always got on well with Tony Mills, when I saw him. Bless him. He is no longer with us. I used to be a SHY fan back in the day and I remember going to see SHY in the 80s when they were in town. . I liked the songs and especially Tony on stage, how good he was. He made it look effortless - he was such a great professional. And I used to think to myself, “Wow, I would love to be in that band!” He was just great. So, Tony obviously, I got to chat with him a couple of times back in the old days, but I did not know him until I joined the band and he used to come over and I met him a couple of times. We did the Steve Harris memorial together. We got up and sang a couple of songs at the end and he was a really nice guy. He was great, great singer. He is missed by many, many people. (Please turn the page...) 41
One of the discoveries I have had about doing this interview with you is the three solo albums that you have The latest one is entitled Southern Wind. Is there any story behind that title? Yeah, to be honest, When I was fourteen I remember watching Woodstock late at night and it kind of changed my life really. And Alice’s Restaurant with Arlo Guthrie and that whole late 60s, early 70s lifestyle, the classic rock, it all goes hand in hand. I was influenced by all that. So I have always been into the old classic bands. Southern Wind, really is my homage to all the guys from that style really. When I wrote solo, it is more natural for me to write more soulful stuff on the Doobie Brother’s vein. So it’s kind of where I am now, it is more mellow. The first solo album I did was a just an introduction to writing again because I probably had not wrote for nearly ten years. I hadn’t been writing any songs, so I just got in and wrote s classic rock album in my vein of what I was doing. When I did the second album, Jamaica Inn, that was a very blues/classic rock/vintage sounding album and that was where I am really in my heart. And then Southern Wind was like seven years later. It was a natural progression. I was more mellowed. So it is a more Doobie’s sort of vibe really. So, it is just paying homage to all those guys. Is there any chance you will be doing any more solo work? Hopefully, but I never intended to do that third album to be honest. It’s bizarre when writing hits you. I was not looking to do a solo album and then that one day, I just had a song in my head that was bugging me and I went upstairs to the studio and wrote this song, which turned out to be a song called Soulsville on the album. And as soon as I put that song there, within a month or so, I had a full album. I just got in there and I had this bug again and started writing. So with myself, I never know when it is gonna hit me to do anything. So, I would never say never. I know that there is probably going to be something else I’ll end up doing eventually.
www.lionheart-music.com www.lee-small.com/home
Are you involved with any other bands or projects outside of Lionheart currently? Yes, I am. I am a member of The Sweet with Andy Scott. I play the bass. And I have just completed a second Signal Red album with a Midland-based guitar player Steve Grocott that is going out on a Escape Records. And then I have just completed an album with some guys in Sweden, based in Gothenberg called Crown. So I’ve been doing all the lead vocals on that one as well, so it has been quite busy time really. So now, all I’m doing is I am just twiddling my thumbs waiting to get back out there on the road. Do you have any messages for Lionheart fans who are reading this right now? All the Lionheart fans, what can I say? I mean thank you so, so much for the support over the years and especially over the last couple of years with the comeback album. I just hope you all enjoy this new album as much as we do because we think it is probably the best that we have done this with this unit today and there is a lot of love and hard work that got in there. So, I am just hoping you guys enjoy this like we do. And thanks so much for the support. 42
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
MENTALIST – FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Finest German Power Metal – feat. ex members of Blind Guardian & Starchild! Cover designed by Andreas Marschall (Blind Guardian, Running Wild…)
OUT: NOW!
WINTER’S VERGE – THE BALLAD OF JAMES TIG
Cyprus‘ best Power Metal band returns with its 5th studio album! Concept and lyrics by renowned local author and playwright Frixos Masouras!
OUT: NOW!
HELLSMOKE – 2020
Swedish Rock N’ Roll influenced Hard Rock at it’s best! Feat. members of Bai Bang, Syron Vanes, Bai Bang, Alyson Avenue & Cloudscape!
OUT: OCTOBER 13TH
TERRA ATLANTICA – AGE OF STEAM
German Power Metal with influences from Edguy, Avantasia, Rhapsody & Helloween! Cover artwork by Dusan Marcovic (Dragony, Symphonity)
OUT: NOW!
SEASON OF DREAMS – MY SHELTER French/ Swedish Power Metal feat. ex members of Zonata & Freternia! Cover artwork by Stan W. Decker (Rage, Blue Öyster Cult, Masterplan).
OUT: NOW!
All Pr i d e & J o y Mu sic releases are available via www.prideandjoy.de/shop (ships world-wide!) #prideandjoymusic #prideandjoymusic
www.prideandjoy.de
Ali Thomson: Return Of The Rhythm
Interview by Ken Morton In the summer of 1980, Ali Thomson had a hit single on his hands called Take A Little Rhythm being played all over the radio airwaves. An album of the same name was released as well as it’s critically acclaimed follow-up Deception Is An Art in 1981 - both via A&M Records. With the exception of a one-off single and a compilation release, Ali would all but disappear from the spotlight, spending his time writing hit songs for other artists such as A1, Brian Kennedy, Steps, and Lisa Stansfield. And now, 40 years after the initial release of Take A Little Rhythm, Ali Thomson has returned with Songs From The Playroom, his very long awaited third full length recording. In this interview with Highwire Daze, Ali discusses the making of Songs From The Playroom, his thoughts about Take A Little Rhythm and his music from the 80’s, being a teenager and hanging out with his brother Dougie Thomson of Supertramp, recording at the famed Caribou Studios, and other topics of intrigue. Read on...
What made you decide to release a brand new studio album? Your first since 1981, not counting the singles and the compilation album. I guess it was a combination of things. I’ve had a fairly good career as a songwriter / producer for other artists. But I think you never really lose your individuality in terms of the way you like to make music. And I was finding in the last few years, I was beginning to get a little bit frustrated with the process of making records with young artists. I guess it is the same in the States but certainly in Europe, where record companies would sign people but not really know what to do with them, and they put them out with writers / producers and everybody has an opinion. And weeks, months, and sometimes years go by and nobody ever makes a record. I was just beginning to get a little bit tired of that process having been doing it for quite a long time. People just said to me, “You know, you should just make your own record again.” So that was going on but also at the same time, the technologies were changing which were allowing people to make records, distribute records, and promote records without needing the infrastructure of a big record company. It just felt like I should start trying to see if there was something happening musically that I enjoyed. Once I started the process, I realized that I just was having such fun making more music again. The new album is called Songs from the Playroom.Where did that title come from? I assume that is your recording studio? Exactly, right. My room is called The Playroom. So in my previous property, that room that I turned into the studio was what used to be my daughter’s playroom. Then when we moved into a new house five years ago, there was a room at the far end of the house which the previous people had as a playroom for their kids. So that’s the room I sound proofed and made into my studio. So it is a literal translation. Songs from the Playroom. 44
Let’s talk about Aqua Blue. First of all, tell me about the story behind that song. So that song was actually one of the latter. Just sort of to explain, I’ve now just put out a CD version of the nine tracks. I released it November. So I have added two new songs to that. But in terms of the online album, Aqua Blue was pretty much the last song that we did for the record. That was actually co-written with a fantastic musician called Peter-John Vettese. So I had the title, Aqua Blue. I kind of keep a list of titles or lyric ideas. When we worked on that idea, I was just singing Aqua Blue. My idea at the time was to write a kind of love song. So the person in it was called Aqua Blue. But as I started to dig into the melodies and worked up the idea, I realized that I wanted to write a song that was a sort of love song to our planet and what we are going through right now, rather than a song about an individual. But in a subtle way - not in too preachy of a way - but more a love song to the planet. That’s not normally the kind of thing I would write, but I just felt inspired to do that and it seemed to work. It seemed to have a slight contradiction where the song is an up-summery kind of song but underneath it has got this quite specific message. How supportive was your brother, Dougie Thompson of Supertramp, when you first decided that you wanted to go into music? Incredibly supportive. He joined Supertramp when I was, I think 12 or 13 perhaps. And literally the very first summer when he joined the band - he joined the band almost at the end of one Supertramp and at the beginning of another Supertramp because they had actually made two albums before September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Dougie joined. That band was kind of falling apart and Dougie joined and they brought in John Helliwell as the sax player. Then they got Bob Siebenberg as the drummer So when that group had come together and were rehearsing, Dougie said, “Come and spend a few weeks in the summer with me.” So I came down and I can remember almost like it must have been close to their first rehearsals as a band. You know, me at 12 or 13, sitting in the corner listening to them. That went on whilst I was in Scotland and school every summer or winter break. He’d encourage me to come down and and just hang out with him. So by the time I was I guess 17, I had probably spent three years hanging out with Supertramp. In that respect, it was hugely influential. But then they moved to the States and I stayed living in London and kind of did my own thing for a bit; joined a band that didn’t work out. And then I went to L.A. to spend a summer again with Dougie. Supertramp, by that time, had their own little studio in Burbank. I was allowed a weekend to go in and record, I think, six of my songs. From that session came songs like Take A Little Rhythm and so from there it just went on. At that point, I stopped kind of having anything to do with Dougie because I was kind of doing my own thing. A lot of people when my first album came out, they sort of said, “Is that Supertramp playing on your albums?” I was like, “Well, no.” I did it in London with a whole load of different musicians. So it had really nothing to do with Supertramp. So up to the point of me sort of making my own records, Dougie was just the classic big brother and was encouraging and helpful as much as he could, really. The song Take A Little Rhythm got a lot of airplay and basically changed your life in 1980. When you look back at that one particular song, what do you think of it now in retrospect? I have great affection for that song. It is a very simple song musically but at its core, it is a song about the love of music. It is a song about the ability for music to take you out of a situation emotionally and make you feel better. And that was the spirit that the song was written in. And actually I think in a strange way, that that feeling is as valid today as it was when I wrote it when I was 18 or 19. There are things about the song that I feel a bit squeamish about, because it was quite naive in a lot of ways. But I’m not embarrassed by the song, I think it is a lovely little song. Deception Is An Art - your second album from 1981 - was recorded at Caribou Studios. What was that experience like recording at such a legendary studio? As amazing as you might imagine it to be. When I look back on my early career, let’s say the first version of Ali Thomson, that was without a doubt one of the highlights for me. So when I was in the States during that summer promoting Take A Little Rhythm, my management had said to me, “Maybe you should start thinking about writing for the next record. Why don’t you go and hang out at Caribou Studios for a couple of weeks?” And so we went up there and Jimmy Guercio, who owned Caribou at the time, just took a shine to me and he said, “Okay. Well, why don’t you come for the whole summer?” And so I would go off and do promotion on TV and then I would go back to hang out at Caribou. I just completely fell in love with the place. So when it came the time to start my next album, I didn’t want HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
to do it anywhere else but Caribou. So I think I came back to Caribou either in September or October and I spent six weeks there. I flew out my band from London that I had started to put together for touring. I flew out to Caribou for six weeks and did that album there and then mixed it back in London at Air Studios. If you could go back in time, what would Ali Thomson from 2020 tell Ali Thomson in 1980? Well, it would have been 1981 and I would have told him not to basically - we use this expression, “To throw your toys out of the pram.” And that’s what I did. I fell out with my record company because I wanted to tour. I put a band together. I wanted to be taken more seriously as a recording act and they were going, “Yeah. Yeah, that’s cool but not right now. Let’s focus on getting another song on the radio,” and they were already talking about a third album. I just wrote a letter to my manager and I said, “I am not happy with this. I want off A&M Records.” By that time I was 22, so I would say to that 22 year old, “Slow down. Things will happen in the future. You don’t have to worry about that right now. Just concentrate on making another record for A&M, doing your work, and not get too stressed about it all.” Because then I would have almost certainly made a third album. At the time I had started to write a little with David Foster and we were talking about him producing my third album. So my entire career would have been very, very different had I not written the letter to my manager asking him to get me off A&M Records. So that is what I would have told myself.
Order Ali Thomson’s new album Songs From The Playroom on his website, the CD featuring two additional tracks not on the digital version! Find out more about Ali Thomson here:
alithomson.com
45
Eat Sleep and Rock with HELIX
Interview by Ken Morton
Eat Sleep Rock is the latest release from the legendary Helix on Perris Records - a compilation of the band’s favorite songs recorded since leaving Capitol/E.M.I. in 1990. In addition to rocking selections from a vast and epic catalog, Helix has also included two brand new tracks! The album was mastered by Harry Hess of Harem Scarem and it’s definitely a raging chapter in the Helix legacy well worth seeking out. Highwire Daze recently caught with Helix founding member Brian Vollmer to find out a whole lot more about Eat Sleep Rock, touring with music icons such as KISS and Del Shannon, their Michael J. Fox connection, surviving in these pandemic days, and more! How did the East Sleep Rock album come about, and how easy or difficult was it to choose which songs to include on the album? With vinyl being such a big seller nowadays, it seemed a no brainer to put out a “best of” plus some new tracks. There had never been a “best of” Helix vinyl album until Universal put out the ICON album a couple of years ago. EAT SLEEP ROCK is just a “Best of” album of songs since we left Capitol/E.M.I. There were so many songs we could have picked, but I think we have a nice cross section here plus two new tracks. Let’s talk about the two unreleased songs on the album. What is the story behind The Story Of Helix song? I spend winters with my wife in Florida. While I’m down there I usually spend my time doing things I never get a chance to do at home-like work on our website or on our acoustic show. We just happened to have two of those shows coming up in the spring of 2020. We called them An Intimate Night With Helix: Acoustic Songs & Storytelling. They were both SOLD OUT but both shows were cancelled because of Covid. Anyhoo, I had been listening to our 1981 show at The El Macombo in Toronto (*The Live CHUM Broadcast) and noticed we had several intro “raps” for songs, especially Crazy Women and Nobody Rides for Free. It was a quite effective show “tool” that had really been initiated by our manager at the time, William Seip. When we had first started out on the road he made us all take a turn introducing songs during the set and we were encouraged to embellish a little bit, as long as we didn’t bore anyone. The Crazy Women rap that we used in the early 80’s was a fan favorite (although nowadays it would be politically incorrect times a thousand!) I wanted to take that “idea” and use it to introduce one of the songs in the acoustic set, but the more I worked on it, the 46
longer it got. Eventually we used it to kick off the whole acoustic show. This served to introduce the audience not only to the great history of the band (we’re now going on 50 years old!) but to also set up the show, which is a walk down Helix Metal Memory Lane. LOL. What inspired the lyrics to the title track Eat Sleep Rock and what is the story behind that song? Once again, this is a story of our lives. It sounds like a joke but you really do have to EAT SLEEP ROCK to survive and to be successful in this business. It’s not a life style for everyone, and the chances are that if you’re in it for the wrong reasons it probably won’t work out for you. I tell my vocal students to “do it for the love of it.” I’ve lived by that motto my whole career. Who did the artwork for Eat Sleep Rock and how much input did you have on it? Brent Doerner did the artwork from ideas I gave him. The photo on the back of the CD was done by our longtime photographer Victor Azziz. Brent has an amazing ability to take my ideas and make them larger than life. Ditto for Victor, who is a great photographer. (A little interesting note: Victor’s father was the photographer hired to take pictures when Johnny Cash proposed to June Carter at London Gardens). Victor has been my photographer since GET UP! I believe. Brent took Victor’s photo, which was me laying on the floor of his studio covered with HELIX records & pizza boxes and airbrushed in the bed, night table, etc. Brent also does all our posters and videos. September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
When you look back on your days signed with Capitol/EMI, what do you think of them now? Capitol/E.M.I. were good to us. There were a few blips, but for the most part being with Capitol/E.M.I was a good thing. The biggest thing they gave us was world exposure. If it weren’t for pouring money into the band for promotion, people wouldn’t know of us today. That’s the biggest advantage of being on a major label. And here’s the rub: For most bands as they get older, money is generated not through record sales or airplay, but from playing live dates. How did Danny Stanton who books such acts as Foreigner and Dee Snider become involved with booking Helix? Danny has close ties to Sean Kelly, who played guitar in Dee’s Christmas show when it was running in Toronto. We kept running into each other and finally I just up and asked him if he’d like to represent us. He said “YES!” and then the Coronavirus hit. Damn! But he’ll be there for us when we come out of this shit. How has the pandemic affected Helix? Were any shows or tours cancelled? Financially it’s killing us. Lotsa shows cancelled. On the other hand we’re getting lots of stuff done we wouldn’t have normally ie. improving certain aspects of the website, writing the next studio CD, and scripting another video for THE TEQUILA SONG. (Gene Simmons Says) Rock Is Dead. What do you have to say about the state of rock and roll these days? My comments are exactly the same as when I wrote them for that song. Gene is correct from the perspective that there’s not a lot of money in writing your own songs nowadays. My argument is that most kids don’t get into music for the money. And while we are on the subject, what was it like touring with KISS? Playing the Lick it Up! KISS tour was something I will never forget. Let’s face it: How many people get to do that? What was it like touring with Del Shannon in the very early days of Helix? One of the proudest moments of my career. I’ll never forget the stories he told me about The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Your Wikipedia says Michael J. Fox once auditioned for Helix? How did the audition go and why did you not let him in your band? I’ve tried to verify this story to make sure we were the “HELIX” that Michael J. Fox was talking about when he once said on David Letterman that he had tried out for the band. Fox was from Vancouver, so it might have been the HELIX from British Columbia, which was a blues band I think. What do you think has kept you so passionate about Helix since 1974? Music is the only thing in my life I did half ass well. Any final words of wisdom? Remember when this world drives you f**kin’ crazy that at the end of the day 2+2 still equals 4 and that in the final analysis it’s still the Big Guy Upstairs running things. HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
planethelix.com perrisrecords.com Burning The Candle At Both Ends, from Metal to Goth!!! Check out Music From...
ΛIЯ-IK
(Formerally of Willow Wisp)
‘WARMONGER’
A ripping anthemic Metal headbanger guaranteed to cause whiplash!
Belladonna
A Gothic lullaby about The Night Shade Flower. So beautiful, yet so deadly!
Listen to Air-Ik on
And more!
www.facebook.com/airikbloodmusic 47
Brian Ray: The man behind
Etta James & Paul McCartney Interview by Kim Crain Brian Ray Photo by Austin Nelson Etta James Photos by Christian Eggenberger This past week I got in touch with my good friend Brian Ray. Brian is a renown guitar player who has been active since the 70’s. Brian is known best for being the musical director and guitar player for Etta James and the bass and guitar player for Paul McCartney. With the pandemic going on I was able to catch up with him on a long overdue phone call and interview. Here is Part One of our interview to discuss his time with Etta James. PART ONE - ETTA JAMES Brian thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today. Kim, its great to hear from you, thank you so much for buzzing me. At what age did you start your career in the music industry? My career started with Etta James so many years ago. In about 1973 when I first met her. I met her when I was 18 years old and got my chance to play with her soon thereafter. I started as her musical director and guitar player at the ripe old age of 19. Wow! That’s incredible! What was it like at 19 to play with Etta James? What kind of stuff did you go through on the road with her? To begin with it was such a surreal situation. I had befriended this guy named Phil Kaufman who was very famous for a story that involves Gram Parsons. Phil Kaufman was a tour manager for Etta James, and he simply invited me. He said, “Why don’t you stay here tonight (out in the valley)? Come with me to Etta James’ rehearsal tomorrow because I just heard their guitar player can’t make it.” So I’m just a little greenhorn, I’m 19 years old, I got my gold top Les Paul, I got in his equipment van, and I went and sat in with Etta at a rehearsal, at the end of which she said, “Hey Phil, I like that little white kid.” Then Phil and Etta asked me if I would come and play with her the next night at her show in Long Beach and that began the 15 years with her as her musical director and guitar player.
that were put together by the promoter of each club we went to. So we had a different band every couple of nights! It was terrific, it was scary! It was trial by fire. You had to get out there, I had to rehearse these guys, show them the set, and then we would play two hours later, take a dinner break and go play!
Well that is just wonderful! Now what are the most memorable highlights of when you first started with Etta? When I first started with Etta it was very bare bones. She was trying to re-build her career after kind of going astray. She had a drug problem and that started to be reflected in her professionalism. So she was now trying to rebuild her career now that she was off heroin. So it was very bare bones when I started. I would be in the back seat of her 70’s Cadillac Seville, my amp in the trunk and my guitars as well, while her husband Sam drove, and Etta was in the passenger seat. We would go up north like true vagabonds to rehearse bands
Wow! Unreal! I had seen Etta once live. My friend Julia Johnson turned me on to Etta and surprised me with a ticket! Onstage she seemed like she had a very good sense of humor. And sometimes flirted with people in the audience. Is this true? She more than flirted, she was dirty! (Much laughter) She was very dirty and very confident in her persona. She was Etta James, she was real. When Etta came out onstage the first thing she would do was to kick off her shoes, the next thing she did was stock the stage, as the band was playing the instrumental part of the first song, and would size up her
48
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
audience. She would take notes of the people she would dress & undress through the whole night! Some people, it was a little bit too strong for them because she would play with the mic like it was a phallus, she would stick her ass out and shake it real slow and then she would make these faces and highlight lyrics with with sexual innuendo. Besides the dirty flirty stuff, she was a magnificent performer. Then she would turn around and sing a ballad like Trust In Me or At Last or I’d Rather Go Blind straight up and Tear Your Heart Out and then hold it up for you to see, then put it back in your body and then massage you, then let you go to the next rocker song! She just was a magnificent force of nature.
Montreux Jazz Festival - 1975 - Photos by Christian Eggenberger
I agree a hundred percent. So out of all the time you spent with Etta, what was the most valuable lesson you learned as a musician? All of those early years, as I said, were trial by fire, they were sort of a tempering, like you temper a sword, she tempered me. My talent, whatever she saw in me, she worked with that! She worked with that because I was willing, able and I had the kind of roots that she enjoyed, so she said, “That kid is willing, energetic, fun, and I’m going to turn him into an even better musician.” Which I think she certainly did. The most memorable parts for me, no matter what her day was like, she met it with adversity, if she met with drama. If she had a cold, that was not gonna stop her from coming out there and ripping your face off with her vocals. She said once, “what you gotta do is call up the warriors within, and you got to bring them with you, onto the stage.” And I just thought, “That is so Etta.” She was a fighter, but she was a fighter because she had to fight to survive as a black woman in a man’s business, in the 1950’s. The title of her book was called Rage to Survive. I picked up a little bit of that from her, just being around her. What was your first show in Europe with Etta James? My first big show with Etta James and one of my favorite memories that I will always cherish. Etta’s first performance in Europe, We performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 in Montreux Switzerland, we flew over there with just her and her husband and a folder of charts, we met a band there like we did in the early days, that included John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin on bass. So as a 20 year old kid hanging out with Led Zeppelin at dinner up in the Alps, at the invitation of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. It was kinda like a really great way to start the night before our first show in Europe, I will never forget it. Thats Rock n Roll history right there! It’s all over YouTube as well! Etta James Montreux 1975. You’ll see me up there with hair down to here, bell bottom pants and a cool Moroccan shirt. Well, I’m definitely going to look this up. Brian, I am so grateful to you for giving me your time today for the magazine, you are one of the best bass and guitar players around, not to mention extremely kind and humble.. I just want to thank you so much! HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
Watch for Part Two of our interview with Brian Ray as we discuss his working with the legendary Paul McCartney in Highwire Daze Issue #133 - our 30th Anniversary Issue out November 20th! Check out Brian Rays new single at : www.brianray.com www.facebook.com/brian.ray2 Brian Ray’s new single “Got A New Thing” drops November 13th on Wicked Cool Records with Abe Laboriel Jr. and Scot Shriner from Weezer! It will be played on the Underground Garage at Sirius XM Channel 21! Reach Kim Crain at: https//www.facebook.com/kim.crain.9231 https//www.instagram.com/kimcrainmusic 49
A Season In Hell with Ampage
Interview by Ken Morton - Live Photo by Tammy Greene of The Greene Room Magazine/Sound Lens Photography
Ampage is a long running hard rock band whose epic career is the stuff that motion pictures and Sunset Blvd dreams are made of. With such tremendous highs and lows being presented in the upcoming documentary Falling Higher as well as a brand new album called Season In Hell on the way, the crazy year of 2020 is turning out to be a vast and interesing one for Ampage. In this interview, we discuss with founding member Mark Mason the current happenings of the ongoing Ampage legacy. Read on... Is there any overall story or concept behind the new album title Season In Hell? Did it have anything to do with the pandemic or poet Arthur Rimbaud? Yeah. I think it was having originated with the French poet in the 1850’s. Rimbaud wrote the Season In Hell. We actually had no intentions of making another record – I mean I really didn’t have anything to write about. And then all of a sudden I had four months off. But yeah, the whole album wrote itself – I came up with all ten songs within two weeks. Every morning I would go down to the studio with my coffee, turn it on, see what came out, and I’d knock out another song. It’s a historical time right now – the world is fucking nuts right now. But I didn’t want to use the words pandemic, virus, Covid or corona or anything or that shit – but I wanted to try and capture the feeling of what was going on in this country without using those words. Let’s select two songs from this new album and what inspired the lyrics for you. You know, when I write songs I never know where they come from. They just come out and I go “Oh wow, that’s kinda cool!” I write ‘em but I just don’t know where they come from. It’s just more of a feeling. This is the first album too where, actually as stupid as it sounds, I started using a capo. The riff on Boulevard is a riff that I’ve had for 20 years and it was just too hard to play continuously, and I could never pull it off for any song. I’ve tried writing it into songs before and never could even come close to it. And as soon as I capoed the fourth fret, I could actually do an open tuning and pull the riff off, and it gave it that kind of haunting sound that I was looking for. I think half the album is capoed in second, third or fourth fret – which I’m just not a capo guy – I had never done that. I won’t ask you about song lyrics, but I will ask you about the cover track. You always have such unique covers on your albums. What made you decide to cover Coconut on Season In Hell? You know, I started with Paint It Black and I wanted to see what I could do with it – I love it when a band will take a fast song and they’ll do it super slow and usually when it’s a great female singer who does a real haunting vocal. So I tried that on Paint It Black with all the protest and riots going on – or I thought maybe Revolution would be a good one –it was pretty predictable. And then I was fucking around and tried Coconut for fun – and I started laughing. I’ve never had so much fun recording a song in my life. And my drummer 50
Jason – he was like “No fucking way dude! There’s no way we’re doing that song! That’s a stupid song! We’re not doing that!” He was adamant that we were not doing that song – and I did it anyway. I recorded most of the tracks on it – and then he started liking it. It’s a hard song to do because it’s basically a one chord progression and one line lyric through the whole song. So I had to sing midrange and then sing a low voice and then sing a higher voice – I had to come up with different voices to sing basically the same line for three minutes so it wouldn’t sound boring or trite. It sounds like it’s definitely going to be a fun song right in the middle of a serious album. That was kind of where I was at with it. I’m so fucking sick about hearing about Covid, corona and Trump – I’m sick of all of that. Whatever your view is on any of it, I’m sick of hearing of it on Facebook and everything. I needed a break and a little laughter. It was kind of when Trump was saying this fucking is a cure and this other thing is a cure. Everyone’s got a fucking cure. So I figured “Put The Lime In The Coconut – there’s your cure!” September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
(Laughs) And I heard that in the song too. I hope you keep it in there… Yeah, I hope we do too. It’s not up to me though. Duane Baron is the one who mixes and masters it. Duane did Ozzy’s No More Tears album, all of Hearts’ albums and Cheap Trick and Motely. He’s done all of our albums since ’97, so he’s got it down. So Jason started recording it and he started liking it – and he came back with a wood block and a stick. He was hitting the block with a stick and it makes it sound like a coconut. And oh my god, I was laughing so fucking hard. And then we had to get that high voice, and Mark my guitarist tried singing it and he couldn’t come close – and I sure as fuck can’t hit those notes. So Jason tried it, and Jason just nailed it – and I was laughing so hard with it. It was fucking great! And now it’s Jason’s favorite song on the whole album. so there you go. Let’s talk about the Ampage documentary Falling Higher. How did that come about and is there any release date set for it? Black Pyramid is the film company that’s been doing it. I have 90 videos of the last 30 years of Ampage – we’ve been around since 1987 – when Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell said “Oh, you guys are magic!” and he came out and produced out first album. We’ve gone through different players and stuff. And we lost our drummer Mike Kroeger who was one of our founding members when we first started Ampage in high school back in ’78. He was on the Bridge Of Souls album – the last album – and then he got leukemia and died during the recording of that last album. That was his last album and we were lucky to find Jason. But it’s crazy – I’ve been in the news a lot over the last 40 years for all kinds of crazy shit So anyway, I gave 90 videos to the film guy – Carlin Felger is the film director – and he’s great. He’s got kind of a dark side to him that I like. I was interviewing different filmmakers that wanted to do it and he was the one I got to call. I was telling him about different stories over the years. And when I got to ’97 when we released the Ironhorse album – the week when we started the tour – again I’m on the fucking News again because those people killed themselves in San Diego – and they were in a cult – and the subsidiary company of the cult was called Higher Source – which was the name of our record company – so the next thing I know I’m on the news with Tom Brokaw holding up my album saying “No, we have nothing to do with this cult who killed themselves!’” This was a week before our tour started, and every News Station in the country was airing this shit! This was like a 20 minute story on NBC and worldwide and it was insane! And I was telling Carlin about it and he was like “Oh my god, I saw it on their website! They sent me their stuff. They still have their website up!” And he knew all about it. He has kind of a dark side to him that I thought was really cool. It’s funny – a lot of my songs are very dark, but I’m not like a dark person. It’s kind of like my therapy I guess. I get to write my songs with all of the darkness I want out there and then I don’t have to live it. And what does the title of the video Falling Higher mean to you? I wrote a song called Falling Higher on one of my albums. I always like that song. Loren Molinare from Little Caesar was our guitarist for a few years and he never really liked that song. A lot of people didn’t, but I’ve always liked it. I HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
love Ying and ang stuff – especially when I write – so Falling Higher definitely covers that. But that’s what it felt like. Our band would be getting better - we’d be opening for Def Leppard or Eric Clapton or Billy Idol – and then we’d be playing some club with some bullshit band. We were constantly Falling Higher. We’d get up to here and then crash back down to there. We’d be doing stadium tours and then a record label would fold and then we would be unemployed. It’s been constant for 40 years and luckily I’ve got a lot of it on videotape. I was on the news a lot when I did the Rockers Against Pay To Play (RAPP) back in the late 80’s/early 90’s organizing the pickets on the Sunset Strip against the clubs charging bands to Pay To Play - when they were confiscating band equipment when they didn’t sell enough tickets. It was an interesting time back then on the Strip with Motley and all the bands trying to make it. This film id not your typical rock documentary. Some bands we were bigger than and then we were not as big as others. Sometimes we worked day jobs and sometimes we were playing stadium concerts. Sometime we were on the News for people killing themselves that we had nothing to do with – but there we are holding up our record. Our guitar player, he’s a first responder, so we’ve got footage of him hanging out of a helicopter doing a rescue – so it’s got a lot of different things – from Iron Man races to triathlons to Harley Davidson motorcycle trips. And I usually write about a lot of them. And we’ve got celebs in the video – Jeff Conaway, Rick Allen, Def Leppard – and all of the people that have been in and out of the band and have worked with us over the years. We’re trying to get it done by the end of the year. Check out the Official Ampage website for even more epic stories of this vastly underrated band at:
www.ampage.com 51
In Lockdown with Joker’s Hand
Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Janna Molano Joker’s Hand is a Los Angeles-based band on the rise, ready to break out of the City Of Angels in an epic way. After the release of a Self-Titled EP earlier this year, touring was planned including an appearance at South By Southwest. A pandemic would end live shows all across the country, but Joker’s Hand would remain creative - unleashing a brand new single entitled Lockdown upon the world at large. Highwire Daze caught up with Kevin Kawano, frontman for Joker’s Hand to find out more about this amazing band and their very timely Lockdown tune. Read on... Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Joker’s Hand, and how long the band has been together. Hi! My name is Kevin, I am the frontman of Joker’s Hand. I formed the band with our guitarist Matt Lau in late 2017 while we were roommates in college. Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like there? We’re based out of Torrance, CA. We’ve met some awesome bands and musicians from the South Bay area, but outside of the annual music festivals hosted during the summers, the scene is pretty tight knit. It’s currently even smaller due to the pandemic! Tell me about your new single Lockdown and what inspired 52
the lyrics. Lockdown was our answer to 2020. Back in March we had big plans brewing for the remainder of the year. We had just released our debut EP, we were getting ready to go out on the road to showcase at SXSW, and soon afterward we’d be sharing the stage at the BeachLife Festival with artists like Sublime and Fitz and the Tantrums. Just as all of the stars seemed to be aligning, the country shut down. The pandemic put everything on indefinite hold, so we did what we always do when things get tough; we wrote about it. Lockdown is a reflection of what our world has become. Everyone is scared, people are dying, and our country’s leadership has failed us. Where did you film the video for Lockdown and were you all practicing social distancing? The video was filmed in two different locations. a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles, and at our drummer’s studio in Highland Park. Shooting on that rooftop was a pretty humbling experience. We passed by closed businesses and vandalized buildings, and as we got to the roof, the hustle and bustle fell to a whisper. Everyone in the video, (and involved in its making), practiced social distancing and wore masks off camera. It’s funny...being on the rooftop overlooking the city was peaceful, but once we got back to the street, we were instantly brought back to a harsher reality. Select two songs from your recently released Self-Titled EP and what inspired the lyrics. September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Sometime around 2017, I became fascinated with UFC, particularly with some of the bigger names in the sport like Connor McGregor and Ronda Rousey. I started to learn more about the dedication that comes with fighting for a living and gained a greater appreciation for the sport. The more I watched, the more I saw what made someone a “star”. McGregor is probably the most recognizable name because of his ability to trash talk and really get under his opponent’s skin. This led to me writing Anthem, the first song on our debut EP. Every time I hear that song I envision a fighter walking out to enter the ring. (wink wink still waiting for your call Connor!) Our song Hijacked is a reflection of the state of our country in the last few years and a middle finger to the politicians running it. We have an administration at the helm that denies facts and spins criticisms against themselves as lies or “fake news.” Add in the fear mongering over immigation, the elimination of progress on our energy policies, and the civil unrest we’ve felt in this country (especially lately) and you get a nice little angsty cocktail named Hijacked. Who produced the Self-Titled EP and what was it like working with them? Our Self-Titled EP was produced by Steve Ornest and Wyn Davis at Total Access Recording in Redondo Beach. It’s a super cool studio that’s well acquainted with the SoCal punk scene. They’ve recorded bands like Sublime, Black Flag, Pennywise and Guns N’ Roses to name a few. In fact, one of the first things you see when walking into the studio is a framed picture of Pennywise and an entire room full of people tracking the chorus vocals to their song “Bro Hymm.” It felt surreal to be recording our own stuff in the same room as these bands that I’ve looked up to since we were kids. Working with Steve and Wyn was such a pleasure. Neither of them pull any punches and they tell it like it is, which is something that every band needs: an objective voice in the corner to tell you if what you’re writing is awesome or wack. Steve worked really hard in honing our sound, and making sure that what we brought to the table was our absolute best. What has it been like to release music right in the middle of a pandemic and so much social unrest in the world? It’s definitely harder to reach new audiences. Normally we’d tour to promote our new music, but since that’s no longer an option we’re completely reliant on the power of social media to spread the word. In some ways it evens out the playing field in that if you release something killer, people will likely find it and share it. Everyone is so desperate for new content at the moment. With that said, we much prefer being on stage and engaging with our fans! HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
What could one expect from a live Joker’s Hand show? You can expect some heads to be banging, some toes to be tapping, a possible mosh pit, and some sweet harmonies. And guitar solos; you can’t have a Joker’s Hand show without guitar solos. If Joker’s Hand could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why? The Foo Fighters. They’ve put out so many hits and great records over the years, and they played a big part in us picking up our instruments. Dave Grohl is a legend, and they’re one of the true rock bands out there that continue to inspire us. And how cool would it be to watch them do their thing after our set, up close and personal? If the music of Joker’s Hand was a donut, what kind would it be and why? A maple glazed twist, because our music has some classic rock appeal but with an edgier twist. It feels familiar, but you might find something sweet in there you wouldn’t have expected. It’s chewy, through and through. What’s up next for Joker’s Hand? We’re planning on releasing another batch of songs before the year is over. Since the pandemic has forced us away from performing, we’ve basically been creating non-stop and we can’t wait for you to hear what we have brewing. Any final words of wisdom? Wash your hands, wear a mask and be kind to each other. It’s a crazy world out there, but we’re going to get through this.
Joker’s Hand is:
Kevin Kawano - vocals and guitar, Matthew Lau - guitar, Blake Baldwin - bass, Aviv Cohen - drums.
www.instagram.com/jokershandofficial 53
We Are The Black Things Covid-19 Hollywood Blackout PART ONE Transcribed By JNR Highwire Daze Magazine drops by on a hot hot summer night down to the lockdown Hollywood Hard-Rock studio,Tone Raven Music to talk with the guitar player/singer, Tone Raven of the Hollywood Hard- Rock outfit,We Are The Black Things. Once upon this dreary August night in the land of 2020. Live as the sun is setting into twilight, Ken Morton of Highwire Daze Magazine talks live with Tone Raven at his studio in Hollywood California. Upon this dreary August night hangs the American flag behind Tone Raven.We Are The Black Things banner adorns the hall with bats hangin’and red white and blue all the way. Tone Raven is very proud and honored to be an American,and be in an American band,We Are The Black Things,which was established in 2018 at Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood California. Upon this music Tone Raven claims he stands by,an original guitar player/singer approach against the world interjected into his We Are The Black Things band,brand of sound. Tone Raven transplanted from Colorado to Hollywood California in the 90’s. It was Craig Goldy, guitar player from Dio that gave Tone a chance to move to Hollywood to pursue his music. Craig gave Tone his start allowing him to live at his place,and gave Tone guitar and recording lessons on how to create and record his own original music and release his own albums. Also Tone attributes working as guitar tech for Mr. Scary George Lynch of the hard-rock band Lynch Mob as a real eye opener.”Working with Mr. Scary was and honor to learn about his approaches to live and studio playing.Plus the soul of his playing has always been a reference for me in my bands.I’ve always learned so much from how George Lynch creates,” replies Tone! Once again here we are on this August dreary as the silence sweeps across the beginning of the interview in deep respect with Highwire Daze “Head”Ken Morton,as Tone Raven is excited to let out what’s going on with him As the interviews silence has lifted upon this dreary, as the night sets down. HM: Editor Ken Morton from Highwire Daze Magazine, and we’re here at the headquarters of Tone Raven Music studios of We Are The Black Things at the Covid-19 Hollywood Blackout! Tone Raven: For sure,yea. HM: Tone Raven how are you this evening? Tone Raven:Absolutely fantastic,thank you for having me,and thank you so much Ken for all you do in Highwire Daze Magazine! 54
HM: Ok well you’re welcome Tone Raven: Couldn’t do it without you by the way. You are the only one out there and just wanted to take note, it’s desolate out there HM: Yea definitely ,so are you ready for a few questions here Tone? Tone Raven: Ah absolutely,I can’t wait. HM: Ok sounds good,ok now. Why are musicians as well as Americans rights being overlooked in this day and age? Tone Raven: I think it’s basically because they don’t know their rights are being taken away, because basically just the struggle of making a living,etc,that sorta thing n’ then uhm, a lot of distractions as far as the uhh,the struggle that is going on around them. So it’s really hard to focus on getting out of the ruts. HM: So how are you doing Tone Raven navigating your band We Are The Black Things during these violent and Covid-19 times here in Hollywood? Tone Raven: We’re doing really well, we’re doing better than expected of course there’s no handbook on this. So we don’t have an understanding of what the end date is, but all we know is we’re in the trenches with everybody else, and we’re doing fantastic. What we’re doing is we’re working from within. Where we can because obviously everything on the outside is sort of quote on quote shutdown n in the stages and phases of reopening. So uhh, we’re working where we can,we’re working with you Ken brother,just so we can get stuff out in Highwire Daze! We’re working on the product,which is the music, and it’s reflecting these times. We’ve got a new single coming out real soon, and you’ll know it when it hits, but just letting you know September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
first hand I’m doing that,first to you it’s coming. These lemons n’ these lemon times, and uhh it could be worse, uhm so what we’re doing is strategizing to be our best and very reflective of our band name We Are The Black Things, which is two years old. So we’re very blessed to have the name out n’ going and trademarked this year!
Tone Raven: Ahh,absolutely. Can’t wait to get out this new stuff. It’s critical definitely this single that’s sorta gonna spear head that,couldn’t be more blessed to have a beautiful song reflective of “you might feel this way too,” a “feel that way song too.” Strum n’ Drum with your celebration of life as we Americans know it!
HM: This is truly the lemon times,that’s for sure,that’s for sure
HM: Can you give us an understanding as to your band name, We Are The Black Things. What does it represent?
Tone Raven: Yea Boy. HM: So how has this shutdown of live venues and clubs affected your band. I know you’ve had a few show cancellations? Tone Raven: Ahh well it’s affected the morale uhm, it’s affected, uhm you know the way we advertise. It’s affecting uhm, the sense of progression.S o what we have to do is, live show,get the word out, but because there is no live show, what you do is just get the word out in a different way. It’s kind a like reconstructing the way that we get the word out,and again it’s from working within where we can, and there’s a larger audience on the internet now. So we’re sorta working that way, and we are so blessed that you one of the only publications on the streets for Los Angeles music, Music internationally, we’re in with the mega’s like Scorpions n’ on n’ on the list is just on and on and, so we’re very blessed. So we’re working diligently, and we’re working where we can,and that’s where we’re at. HM: For all of you who don’t know,we are here in the heart of Hollywood. Right down the street from the sunset strip. Tone Raven: Yea between Hollywood and Sunset HM: Yes and this is where the dreams are. Tone Raven: Just a couple of blocks west of Labrea . Hollywood has its own charm, East or West wherever your heart lies, It’s here in Los Angeles. HM: Well it’s truly a historic place for music What is it like living smack dab in the middle of Hollywood during Covid-19. Tone Raven: Uhh, It’s like you know Hollywood is like Holloween 24/7,365. So it’s like amplified, and of course this is a place of,we’re gonna get out the voice, ok and that’s on both sides peaceful and then there’s criminal protest! So this place is boarded up basically. Only thing not boarded up are the Ravens and the Crows, and the birds,and Hollywood Vampires that have survived here with the cockroaches, for a long,long time. It’s going through a purging phase here. So what we’re doing’ is,we’re stayin’ out of their way ok. Tone Raven: Laughs HD: Laughing too! Tone Raven: I’m staying on the guitar here n lyrics. I’m writing an encyclopedia. We’re here together constructive, as opposed to being deconstructive. When you think about being deconstructive, you probably don’t want to be that in these times, where we wanna kind of build up a little sense of what we have. HM: Of course during Covid everyone is really creative, especially musicians. I heard that the music that your band is writing and recording now, is this music that you’re writing, reflections of the times? HIGHWIRE DAZE
September/October 2020
Tone Raven: Well it represents We Are The Black Things. It represents firstly the overlooked, the rejected, the dreamer, the lover. Ok all this is uhm unidentifiable, it’s the rejected that sorta thing. Also the animals you know, uhm, you know the black things, you know the animals within’ the black things, and uhm, that’s basically within out music, and they know who they are, and we know who they are. They follow the Wolf,they follow the Raven, They follow the Owl, They follow the Dog, they follow the Cat of superstition. HM: Cool, now one thing you may not know about Tone Raven here is that here worked with a very legendary guitar player we’re gonna discuss that with him now. What it was like working as a guitar tech with Mr. Scary of Lynch Mob, you know who we’re talkin’ about, Mr. George Lynch,we gotta know Tone. Tone Raven: Ahh,man kickin’ with Scary. It’s sorta like a dream come true. Firstly it was an eye opener to, ahh the way it really is, so it sorta opened my dreams even further,because he’s one of the three. Of course we’ve got Randy Rhoads, Mr. Lynch (George Lynch), Mr. Scary, n’ Ed Van Halen. And of course working with Mr. Scary havin’ the opportunity to get in there, just over all shaped my sense of the way that it really was, beyond whatever I had ever dreamt, it really is, n’so what it was, hands on, how do you set up your amp, get goin’ on your amp, ahh, you know what’s the guitar situation, like you know what’s the back up, there show,the load in, the load out while balancing that with the Mob life. An so at the time I was in a band called Raven’s Cry. And so one day it was great because the band put Cuddles Cry up on the marquee outside one of the clubs. I mean these guys were really great. George Lynch gave me a shot, and I took it as well. And uhh, it extended from when Mr. Goldy gave me my shot to bring me out from Colorado several years before that. So in addition from Graig Goldy of Dio bringin’ uhh given’ me the opportunity to come out, George gave me the opportunity to get out of this sort of minor league Los Angeles, Hollywood Scene. It’s sorta get out in a major field, and you know he’s battling it out in the clubs with Lynch Mob. I mean he’s played Japan. So we’re playin’ little clubs, n’so you know New York n’ stuff like that, it was like,it was one of those things where uhh, you know, uhm, the deal was that uhm, uhh you know I had the desire to come out with my own brand of rock too. And so Mr. Scary, Sacred Groove Music, all that really inspired me to put out my own records, n’ that’s how it got to the point of how the desire of We Are The Black Things came out just because I was working with Lynch Mob n’ had the opportunity to work under him,n’ that I just went on and formed my own band Raven’s Cry, and it morphed into the band We Are The Black Things. Part Two of We Are The Black Things: Covid-19 Hollywood Blackout will be in the next issue of Highwire Daze magazine out November 18th!
Full “Live” Interview. We Are The Black Things 8/4/20 -”Covid-19 Hollywood Blackout http://www.youtube.com/toneraventunes
55
STEELCITY AT Morc Studios
Los Angeles, CA., September 4, 2020
Review by Ken Morton Photo by Joe Schaeffer
On a Friday within the wilds of MORC Studios in Los Angeles, California, the Monsters Of Rock Cruise presented a SteelCity performance live stream – and how wonderful it was to see a rock and roll concert again – even if it was just within the confines of a computer screen. With such an absolutely amazing band and brilliant sound and visuals to back it all up, Monsters Of Rock and SteelCity presented a vibrantly memorable show helping all to forget these very strange times we do indeed live in. Opening their set with the rip-roaring Hearts On Fire – the first track from their recently released Mach II endeavor on Perris Records, SteelCity launched into a 10 song set of absolutely gripping hard rock and roll. One noticed right away the amazing vocals of Roy Cathey from Cold Sweat, delivering each and every word with a solid amount of passion and conviction. SteelCity founding member Mike Floros rages with imagination and flair on lead guitar, filling the stage and your computer speakers with a dynamic wall of shred. Adam Peri presents some rapturous soundscapes on keyboards while Jason Cornwell and Derrick Pontier on drums make for an absolutely thunderous rhythm section. (Editor’s Note: Derrick was filling in for BJ Zampa and Adam for Tony Stahl. Both couldn’t make it due to Covid restrictions in their respective states.) The dynamic set consisted of selections from both SteelCity albums Mach II and Fortress as well as some pretty inspiring covers. Mob Rules by Black Sabbath was one of the covers performed midset, and SteelCity absolutely excelled on that one, with Cathey channeling the late great Ronnie James Dio with a fiery vocal performance. Cathey would later comment about how in these turbulent times, people need to come together and show a little love for one another – and with that SteelCity burst into their power anthem A Little Love – a song that should be all over the radio airwaves! Another highlight of the set was Wasted Time, showing the great artistry SteelCity maintains when performing a power ballad. SteelCity would close out their set with a blistering rendition of She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult, closing out the show on a powerful note! Many thanks to Monsters Of Rock Cruise for bringing inspiring live music into our homes when we need it the most, as well as to SteelCity for delivering the rock and roll set of a lifetime. Here’s hoping we see a whole lot more SteelCity when these pandemic days come to an end.
www.steelcityband.com/ 56
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
MUSIC REVIEWS WARMONGER AIR-IK Visual Mind Kill Entertainment Ltd Review by Ken Morton Air-Ik is best known for being the front man of the legendary L.A. underground sensations Willow Wisp, his brooding charisma and blistering vocals tearing through the songs with an ominous amount of passion and artistry. With a talent this dynamic and persuasive, it was only a matter of time before Air-Ik would return with solo material – and his latest single Warmonger is an explosive heavy metal anthem of epic proportions. Imagine an insane amalgamation of Iron Maiden and The Cure, and you are only just beginning to explore the sonic battlefield Air-Ik’s Warmonger has enlisted upon this crazed and brutal planet. A searing heavy ass guitar wail and shred opens the floodgates of Warmonger, and then the vocals kick in with “Bombs are destroying some lives tonight; You don’t know what it’s like to fight.” And what follows is a scathing heavy metal anthem about the culture of war, and Air-Ik’s poetic observations are absolutely right on target. Whatever your political affiliations might be, there is a whole lot of aggression and intrigue to be found within the grand declaration of Warmonger.
Glenn lee alan Davis (aka GLAD in Willow Wisp), KOFN Underground has just released their latest endeavor upon the world at at large. End To The Night is an epic selection in the grand tradition of Bauhaus and The Cure, featuring a special guest vocal appearance by Air-Ik, the former Willow Wisp front man. End To The Night is six minutes of haunting sonic bliss, featuring the ominous instrumental reprieves of Davis and the thoroughly rapturous vocals of Air-Ik. The mood is infinitely somber yet endearingly unique; a collaborative effort between two former bandmates soaring into the stratosphere. Davis definitely shines within the depths of End To The Night, defying genres and presenting thrilling soundscapes that will tantalize the senses. Just take a listen to the goth hip hop inflections of KOFN Underground’s previous single Best Part Of Death (featuring Ripmoodyboy) and you’ll see we are just beginning to encounter an artist fearlessly challenging music styles and conventions. Judging by these two imaginative singles, it will be exciting to see what sonic adventures Davis and KOFN Underground take the listener on in these future pandemic days and beyond. In the meantime, prepare to be swept away into the world of KOFN Underground and the persuasive reveries of End To The Night as two former bandmates conspire to make your evening into a thoroughly memorable affair. . https://www.kofnunderground.com/
And this is only the beginning of even greater glories ahead, as Air-Ik plans to release an EP entitled Blood Music in the near future. Judging by the creativity and innovation on display throughout his career, it will surely launch a manifesto that’s not to be missed. In addition to Air-Ick performing on all of the instruments and vocals, fellow Willow Wisp comrade in arms Glenn lee alan Davis (now of the KOFN Underground infantry) has produced the song with a combustible style and flair. It will surely be quite a thrill to experience what auditory dynamics Air-Ik commands beyond the pandemic year of 2020 – in the meantime, check into the almighty Warmonger and prepare to bang your head as you contemplate the fabled myths and abysmal horrors of warfare. https://www.facebook.com/airikbloodmusic
END TO THE NIGHT KOFN UNDERGROUND Self- Released Single Review by Ken Morton Willow Wisp was one of the most notorious local bands within the Los Angeles music scene in the early 90’s. Imaginative and intriguing, “Defy The Mundane” was their call to arms, and it brought the band a good deal of attention worldwide. Fast forward to the tumultuous year of 2020, and we find two of the Willow Wisp brigade unveiling a new single under the realm of KOFN Underground. Founded by 58
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE
Where passion meets profession!
Free PR agency that works reliable with countless partners of the world´s music media business. Est. 2001
www.metalmessage.de facebook.com/metalmessage.pr
MUSIC REVIEWS - continued FREEDOM OF SPEECH MENTALIST Pride & Joy Music Review by Ken Morton Fans of Blind Guardian, Helloween, and even Iron Maiden are about to meet fate and destiny when encountering the melodic power metal reveries of the mighty Mentalist from Germany. Freedom Of Speech is the debut magnum opus from Mentalist, released worldwide via Pride & Joy Music, and what an absolute inspiring masterwork! The group consists of Peter Moog (guitars), Thomen Stauch (drums – former longtime member of Blind Guardian and Savage Circus), Kai Stringer (guitars - Starchild), Florian Hertel (bass) and YouTube star Rob Lundgren on vocals. Containing topnotch musicians at the very height of their artistry, Freedom Of Speech by Mentalist is easily one of the most exciting first recordings for any band of 2020 and beyond. The album kicks off with the haunting instrumental Metasphere before exploding into the vibrantly inspirational refrains of the very timely Freedom Of The Press. Featured within the song is a well-placed sample of President Donald Trump in attack mode, saying “we have to fight the media!” An absolutely powerful, absorbing commencement. And the dynamic entreaties continue on with the gloriously empowering Life making the listener want to take on the entire world. Another highlight found within is the stunning Belief, where Rob Lundgren shares vocals with Daniel Heiman formerly of the late great Lost Horizon.
the likes of I Set My Friends On Fire and Annisokay at White Oak Music and Arts – and in recent days has unveiled two debut singles that should garner them a good deal of notice with fans and indie labels alike. The debut single released by Noises is the haunting and intensive Ghost, showing right off the bat just how wildly diverse and creative each and every band member is. The follow-up recording Frozen Over is positively scorching, with Noises displaying a dynamic amount of passion and persuasiveness within the song. In just two recordings, Noises unleashes a ton of imagination and a willingness to go above and beyond genre expectations. Impressive and inspiring performances are delivered from all in the Noises brigade, including Ryan Thomas on vocals, James Veil and Drew Kelvey on guitars, Owen Hix on bass, and Gary Zenko on drums. Judging by the absolutely amazing two selections currently presented on Spotify and many of the other streaming platforms across the World Wide Web, expect to hear a whole lot more from the resourceful Noises above and beyond these dark pandemic days.
www.facebook.com/noisesbandofficial
Containing 13 tracks in all, Freedom Of Speech is a passionate auditory adventure for the metal ages that all types of music fans will want to revisit time and again. In addition to the amazing artistry of all members involved, Oliver Palotai of Kamelot unveils sweeping keyboard interludes on just about all of the songs. All this, and the exquisite cover artwork by the one and only Andreas Marschall, whose work has also graced the classic albums of Blind Guardian and Running Wild. Here’s hoping Mentalist are able to tour when these pandemic days come to an end – but for now, all those seeking an uplifting experience in these dark and perilous times will find admirable company when exploring the vast metal realm of Mentalist!
www.facebook.com/mentalistband
GHOST/FROZEN OVER NOISES Self-released Review by Ken Morton Noises is an up and coming hard rocking/metalcore outfit from Southern California who are just beginning to cause a whole lot of commotion above and beyond the legendary Los Angeles music scene. They played one their first gigs at a Battle Of The Bands for the Vans Warped Tour 2018 and opened for 60
September/October 2020
HIGHWIRE DAZE