ROCK LEGEND NEWS
ROCK LEGEND NEWS FIRENZE, ITALY
INTERVIEWS ISSUE 39
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ROCK LEGEND NEWS FIRENZE ITALY
Issue 39 - Interview Hal Patino Published By Alchemist Publishing Firenze, Italy Rock Legend News Founded By Londa R. Marks October 16, 2014 Chief Editor & CEO: Londa R. Marks Concept, Graphics & Design: Londa R. Marks Content & Contributors: Some entries are from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia which may not have been reviewed by professional editors and is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. If content is factually incorrect or highly offensive you can edit articles at Wikipedia use of data and may include other wiki’s, stock photos, private archived photos, stock illustrations, social news aggregators, contributor photos, RSS news feeds, print syndications, submitted news tips & information and similar sources. Magazine, graphics, installments, editing & website designed, developed, coded at Londa R. Marks Studio in Firenze, Italy. * Over a Million World Wide Readership/Viewers Since 2016 * Londa R. Marks Founder/Administrator of: Pete Way Facebook Group Headquarters & General Contact: Rock Legend News L.R. Marks Studio 50123 Firenze, Italy Email: support@rocklegendnews.com Website: www.rocklegendnews.com Facebook: facebook.com/rocklegendnews Twitter: twitter.com/rocklegendnews YouTube: youtube.com/rocklegendnews
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Legendary King Diamond
400,000 YouTube views a reli-
American bass guitar player,
Danish/American shock rock
they had it banned.
the King Diamond and Force
Bassist, Hal Patino, now with band, Maryann Cotton, always
gious group felt so threatened
associated with something
Pretty Wicked.
when the Maryann Cotton
Hal Patino (born Hasso Patino
so unique, so original, that
song, ‘Halo Of Dust’ reached
in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an
who has been a member of
of Evil metal bands. He also played in Blakk Totem, Maltese Falcon, Palladion and Doctor Butcher.
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Interview With Hal Patino September 16, 2016 By Londa R. Marks | Metal Music Interviews Published By Rock Legend News, Firenze, Italy
Maryann Cotton Lineup is Maryann Cotton, Hal Patino, Sebastian Sly, Shawn Kernon. One of the dominate bass players of rock ‘n roll, Hal Patino, took time out of his extremely busy schedule and granted Rock Legend News of Florence, Italy, an interview. I’m sure you will agree that this trend setter in rock ‘n roll is not only a masterful and talented artist but a humble man that truly cares about his fans. What a treasure. Thank You Hal Patino! Rock Legend News: Halo of Dust is a wicked video and song, really driving hard rock. Have you found out why it was banned by a religious group and removed from YouTube? Hal Patino: Hey LONDA, yes we have. MC (Maryann Cotton) was contacted by YouTube.com and they told us that there were some disturbing scenes in the video. I guess that’s the scene with the half naked girl playing with the crucifix, (I don’t know). They also told us that we could have the video up again if we just blurred MC or took him out of the video? hehehe :). So, we kept uploading the video as they removed it and I think it happened 6 times. But now it’s there, so hopefully it will stay there this time :). Rock Legend News: After almost 19 years as an integral player with King PAGE 4 ROCK LEGEND NEWS
Diamond and close to 40 years in rock, you continue to become even better at your art within Maryann Cotton — truly a rock star band. What are the immediate plans for Maryann Cotton through the end of 2016 and going into early 2017? Hal Patino: I don’t know if I become better, but it is the first time in my career I can and be able to do the stuff I always wanted to do. Our plan now is to finish Europe and focus on the U.S. It is just a fact that we will start touring in the end of 2016. I’m very excited because I think there is a great future for this kind of music and this type of band in the U.S. right now. But no matter what, we’ll be there and we will rock the shit out of the Americans and have a good time that’s for sure! Rock Legend News: Having worked with Dick Wagner assuredly added to some of the great Maryann Cotton material. I’ve listened to the samples on MaryannCotton.net with “No Wish Upon No Star,” “Into Eternity,” and every song is a hit song. Though there is a hint of influence from 70s and 80s music, what is the band’s method or formula for creating quality music? And now that Dick Wagner is gone, has that affected what you do or how you do it? Hal Patino: First I have to say that Dick Wagner means a lot to me in many ways. We became very close friends and he was a true rock star and a wonderful person. Beside all the personal stuff he was my all time favorite guitar player and songwriter. Just listen to the stuff he did with Coop (Alice Cooper) back in the days and yes, it is very clear where the inspiration is coming from. Me and MC are doing all our songwriting together and I really don’t think that there is a method or formula for how we do it. Everything that we do is always spontaneous and we only write stuff that fits the Maryann Cotton character. The stuff that we wrote with DW will see the day of light but nobody knows when at this point. But it will be released thats for sure and I can’t wait for people out there to hear it. Rock Legend News: On MaryannCotton.net is a list of people the band has worked with. One of them is Mark Farner, a favorite of mine. What has Maryann Cotton done with Mark? ROCK LEGEND NEWS
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Hal Patino: Well, the ‘’band’’ has not worked with Mark Farner, but Maryann is a good friend of him and did a performance together with him a few years ago at The Fillmore in Detroit. Rock Legend News: Tell us a little about your equipment preferences. What is it you like about Warkwick Bass, what drew you to that brand? Do you have any other bass preferences and what do you play through? Hal Patino: What I like about Warwick basses is that I like the shape on the Streamer Series and it fits my body perfectly. But to be honest I really don’t dig the sound of the MEC pickups. The sound is way too clean for me, so, therefore I’ve changed all my pickups to EMG to get a dirtier sound that I like + I removed all the knobs except for the volume control. What drew me to that brand was that I was asked if I would have an endorsement deal with Warwick. There is a lot of very cool brands like old Gibson EB Series and Rickenbacker 4001 or 4003 Series that I really like. My live setup is 2x Warwick 600 watt heads 2x 8x10 cabs +2x 1 15 pa cabs. Rock Legend News: Even the most unique personality has influences. Who influenced you the most to start playing bass and develop your unique style? Hal Patino: It must have been all the glam bands from the early 70s. Bands like Alice Cooper, Slade, Purple, Heep, ASO. It was a world that I could relate to and with no doubt I wanted to be a rock star hehehe :). But I think my
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main influence has to be Jim Lea from the original Slade. He must be the most underrated rock bass player ever and close to being one of the best ever in the hard rock history I think. Rock Legend News: Having been in the music industry for so long what are some important changes that you feel are occurring now in rock n’ roll, playing shows, concert venues, recording and how music is being sold? Hal Patino: To be honest I don’t see any major changes. I know a lot of bands and people from my time complain about this and that but the main thing is that we just got older and it is so much harder to hang in there. My whole band is in their mid 20s, and the stuff going on in the Band Camp and whether young bands are the same as we were back in the 80s... The only major change is all the downloading and Online stuff. I agree that if you are a band that is use to selling millions of albums and now only sell like 20% of what you use to do, it is not cool. But for an upcoming band today it can be a big + because you can promote yourself Online for free and a do lot of other stuff that we couldn’t do back in the days where we started. So, there are good and bad sides I think. Rock Legend News: Maryann Cotton’s major inspiration is Alice Cooper but, like you, Maryann also seems to have a natural instinct for theatre and entertainment. Does entertainment run in your family? Hal Patino: Oh yes it is no big secret, hehehe, and as I said the Coop is also my big inspiration. Maryann’s natural instinct for theatre and entertainment already started when he was a few years old I think. He would put on that, “Billion Dollar Babies” show or, “Welcome To My Nightmare,” and he was very in to Elvis’s white or blue jumpsuit, hehehe. My dad was a rock ’n roll singer in Las Vegas back in the early 60s and 2 of my 3 kids are writing music. My oldest son is more like a listener but collecting Gibson Les Paul’s :) So, I guess it runs in the family. Rock Legend News: Dick Wagner wrote a full concept album together with Maryann, ”Chester Rose – The Legend Begins,” where he brought in Alice Cooper to write three songs for him. The album wasn’t released because ROCK LEGEND NEWS
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Dick Wagner died in 2014, a few weeks before the final studio recordings. Are there plans to release this album or what is going to happen with it? Hal Patino: Me and MC wrote these 3 songs together and like I said, the stuff that we wrote with DW will see the day of light. Nobody knows when at this point. But it will be released. I really can’t say too much about that subject at this point; sorry about that :) Rock Legend News: You’re a prolific artist. A band you started, Nordic Beast, with rock classics John Norum and drummer Mikkey Dee from Motörhead, vocalist Åge Sten Nilsen from Wig Wam was a hard rockin’ band. Do you think about working with them again or do you feel you are on track with Maryann Cotton? Any other future projects for you aside from Maryann Cotton? Hal Patino: To be correct Mikkey Dee and John Norum started the band. But I don’t see that it is going to happen again. I think that was a great project but it was doomed from day one because no one in the band really had the time to do it. But only time can tell what it is going to happen. At this moment I’m only going to focus on the MC stuff. Rock Legend News: Maryann Cotton debut album “Free Falling Angels,” which was featured and recorded by the original King Diamond band from 1989/1990, sold more than 20,000 copies in Europe and was on the U.S. Top 20 list as #8 in the New York Magazine Herald & Review. How is “Into Eternity” doing? Hal Patino: I wish I knew The “Into Eternity” sales Londa :) but we haven’t received any statements from the record company so far. So this is going to be the big question. Rock Legend News: What King Diamond album are you most proud of and what is the reason? Hal Patino: Well...Every album has its signature and its story. When I think about the King Diamond albums that I have recorded I will always think about the session and how the vibe was doing, the recording, sometimes the PAGE 8 ROCK LEGEND NEWS
weather, hehehe. I know it sounds stupid but that’s the way it is. So there will be two albums that stands out: “Them” and “Conspiracy.” “Them” because it was my first album with King Diamond and “Conspiracy” because of the good times we had in LA together :). Rock Legend News: You are a unique personality, someone who really stands on your own as an artist, bass player, entertainer - true rock star with a driven nature. Do you design, have an image designer or where do acquire your clothes and jewelry? Have you also thought of having your own line of rock clothes? I think you would do exceptionally well. Any thoughts on doing so? Hal Patino: hehehe :) Well..I design all my stuff myself but never thought of having my own line of rock clothes. But you just gave me a very good idea sweet Londa, hehehe :) and if everything goes well you know where you can get your rock clothes for free :). Rock Legend News: Thank you Hal Patino for taking the time to do this interview for Rock Legend News. You are exceptionally talented. Wishing you and Maryann Cotton all the best! Thank You! Londa, and my pleasure :) —Hal Patino
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