The Metal Mag N°19 - August / September 2017

Hello Friends and supporters, For the new issue I wondered which art I could choose , then it came out clearly what uses the most musicians are flight cases! So why not using this so much used and important device to cover the mag?! . I tried to get the ‘sticker’ illusions.

I want to say thank you for the bands knocking on my door it’s much appreciated and you deserve exposure so keep the good work. I apology if I can’t get everyone interviewed. Thanks to Eric Claro for his friendship and total musicianship. All the people who reply quickly it’s much appreciated.

Teri Stahl ‘s Rockin Drummer section, Heather Williams interviews. Lion music interviews. Anne-Laure Deylaud for her live phootage for the Motocultor festival. I want you to know I’m doing it all myself, websites, design, interviews,reviews...Thanks a lot to Lita’s team Dena ,Martin..

If you like extreme music or just wish to share your passion in the mag get in touch.

Thanks to the labels and all the organisations spreading the disease of Metal.

“Rock and Roll maybe what I am today”

Interviews : # Lita Ford # Thrust # Axe Master # Troyen new # Weapons of A # Shadowside n # Space Vacatio # Absolva # Sevi nçais/English) # Alch3my (Fra # Gundaker in Drummers: # Teri Stahl Rock Anvil - Robb Reiner YYNOT - Chris Moore - Michael Gray Silent Rage - Rodney Pino - Deano Ferrari - Clive Edwards # Ice Age # Toxik # Dementia # Pokerface # Mason # Silk9 ams: # Heather Willi - Sodom - Girlschool photos ud Motocultor la ey D re au L e# Ann # Scott Gailor # Mind Of Fury # Xtasy

The Editor Franck Michaud

# Speed Limit # Chrysilia # Wildecliffe # Dale Sholler Klarin # Mathias Holm ion # Opposing Mot çais / English) # Scarlean (Fran nçais / English) # Chaos AB (Fra # Ripio # Satarial anol / English) # Yggdrassil (Esp # Hesperion ish) (Français / Engl # Misanthrope h) rançais / Englis # Born Again (F

Facebook : Marcel Fabio / the metal Mag

©The Metal Mag www.themetalmag.com

1/ you have a steady line up , would you say it’s the best you had since you started?

The lineup I have now is the best lineup I've had in a long time. With Patrick Kennison, Bobby Rock, and Marty O Brien together we are rolling thunder on stage.......

2/Would they record a new album with you or they just stick to the tours?

Yes they would be doing the new album with me. They are family and band members.

3/You have fans from 16 to 50 years old , are you playing tunes from The Runaways to the first Lita’s albums? We all love Out for blood...

We tried to play a little bit off of each album live. There are so many good songs to choose from that we swap them out sometimes.

4/How do you choose the songs to play live?

Depending on the crowd and what they want to hear.

5/ ’Close my eyes’ is a hit single you are playing a lot even sharing with many guitarist girls as singers, are they songs you ‘d love not to play live and bury in the old garage?

There are no songs that we want to bury But play for the fans. Each song has its own individual attitude that we love sharing with the audience in the fans.

6/You have a book and lots of merchandise now, was it something you wanted to do long time ago but was on hold for many reasons?

Yes I believe we should have lots of merchandise to choose from. If that's what you're talking about is T-shirts and such.

We've hired a company who can supply us with hoodies for the women and children, of course men. People are loving it!

7/You still use your three BC rich guitars , Red and Black Warlock as Yellow mocking bird. Are they your favorites if so why?

I use the yellow mocking bird, or use the black and red warlocks, and my white double neck BC Rich. They are the most powerful sound and guitars and they are perfect for live performances , although I do have other guitars I am using in the studio electric and acoustic that are just kick ass bad to the bone guitars. In this day and age they do not make guitars like they used to, just like an old car.

8/Are they the old ones or you made new copies?

No they are not copies, because no one could copy them.

9/You had lots of guitars, even some made for you we saw mainly in shops during interviews etc... do you still own those guitars or you had to give them away?

I have no idea what you're talking about, I have never given away a true BC Rich guitar. They may have been duplicated you saw made by a different company, but would never get rid of a BC Rich ,they are too valuable.

10/You are very busy woman , live tours signing sections.......do you still see your kids and spend time with them? are they visiting you on stage sometimes? Are they gonna be musicians?

My children are the loves of my life, their father knows this and so to hurt me as much as possible in our divorce he took my children away from me and moved to a Caribbean country where the law is not protected under the United States.

Basically he kidnapped them from me and I have not seen them in eight years. I have a page called Lita Ford's Parential Alienation Page on Facebook! If you go to this page you will get more of an idea of what kind of father they have and what he has done, it is called the ultimate hate crime and it happens to people every day. My boys are half me, when they figure out what he's done to them and brainwash them into turning against me as a mother they will hate him even more. My sons and I were best friends until he got inside their head, so I don't see them my pain comes out in my guitar playing.

11/All the 80’s are back, Rock Goddess, Lee AAron,Vixen...would you like to play live with them?

I never had any competition with Vixen, I never heard of Rock Goddess, and the only reason I ever heard of Lee Aaron is because she is copying me especially in my kiss me deadly era. As far as their music goes the only music I know is Vixen.

12/Is there a competition today like back then?

I don't pay attention to competitions like that. Music is music and the girls should be able to play what they want, and not have to compete. This is not an Olympic race to see who gets to the finish line 1st. This is pure rock 'n' roll and the girls will play whatever they want .

13/Why do you think they are all here today?

I don't know. Maybe I woke them up. Ha ha ha. which I am happy to see!

14/What is your view on the Metal scene? Are you following new bands ?

I do follow new bands, I have my favorites, they change so quickly though, the older bands are too many bits and pieces left over from other bands that don't seem to fit. This is what makes me happy to be a solo artist, even though I would never ever want to lose one of my band members, I am still a solo artist.

15/You are still listening to your classics?

Of course I am yes! Old and new!

16/You have played Sammy Hagar song we can hear on a live CD, are they any other songs you cover live , does it help you to get a fresh moment away from your songs or it’s just cos you love playing something else?

I have done a version of Only Women bleed by Alice Cooper, one of my favorite covers, the last cover I did was the Bitch

Is Back by Elton John, another appropriate title and song. .....

17/Tell us about your gears, are you still using your old pedals or you moved to modern digital stuff?

I am not interested in modern technology and all their digital pedals. Although I love my Jerry Cantrell Wah Wah pedal.

A good delay, and a power booster if that's built into my BC riches. My favorite amplifiers I have are the Marshall amplifier my Code 25, I have the Marshall DSL 100 HD. The balls on this thing cannot be beat. The early 80s JCM 800s were the best year for those amplifiers. I have a stack of them. And my old real and true BC Rich guitars. The newest guitars I have are : my Taylor acoustics my G8 Grand symphony, I have an electric acoustic called a G5. And another acoustic guitar that I used in the mother video that sounds so gorgeous in the studio. But as far as amplifiers go I try to stick to the true early 80s JCM 800s which are basically today's DSL's. They are heavy ballsy ,tube amps!!.

18/What do you listen to before creating a song?

Before creating a song I don't listen to anything I have to listen to the sound of my own heartbeat. I don't copy other peoples music. And the way I feel in my heart and my gut , my loves and my pain, my fantasies in my dreams.

19/Have you got old riffs you use and work on or you start from scratch and then propose to the musicians to adapt for the album?

No I do not, the songs I write I have one partner I like to work them out with, Gary Hoey, also a lyricist named Michael Dan Ehmig. Michael is one of the most brilliant lyricists I have ever known in my life. He knows me like family and we've been through a lot together. As Gary Hoey and I have as well.

20/Can you tell us what made you release ‘time capsule’? since you know lots of musicians it could have been done many times, so why now?

It was the last remaining album done on SPV records and it was something I felt the fans should hear because of all the different musicians on this record and their performance on this record , they were in their prime. I wanted to share this cd with my fans. Even though I didn't get the push I'd hoped, I can blame that on my old manager for dropping the ball, if you get a chance to listen to time capsule it is some of the best guitar playing and some of the best musicians around in the late 80s.

21/you did the song for ‘Robocop’ tv serie once and appeared in a movie...have you got other proposal for this?

No I did not get another proposal for this, but we sure had a lot of fun filming the original RoboCop. And I adore Joe Walsh.

22/Your last album ‘ living like a runaway‘ is closer to ‘black’ than any older albums, is there a chance you get heavy songs like ‘dangerous curves’ again or you want to keep the same tunes?

They are not the same tunes , and if you listen to the lyrics they are very different, the next album is dark because that's what's in my heart, darkness. I write what I feel and I feel what I write. This is where I'm at in my life right now. Lots of guitar riffs and killer lyrics. I think a lot of people can relate to darkness in their lives, pain and happiness. I am very proud of the new album we are working on now.it's going to hit home with a lot of people !

23/Are you endorsed?

No, I am not endorsed ,maybe when the record comes out!! My closest endorsement would be using Marshall amplifications. Bernie Rico Senior passed away in the late 80s, and since his death he took with him the recipe for BC Rich guitars .....

24/Do you know what theme of the new album would be like? yes I do ......

25/Have you made your albums on a story line or you just get your mood going and choose which song to record?

Some song titles hit you all of a sudden out of the blue, will be something you here during conversation, unexpected..

26/Do you record stuff on the road or you just wait to get in the studio?

No I do not record on the road. It's not a good place to record for me. Too many people, too much stuff. If you have your own bus then maybe.......

27/Are they bands you’d love to play live with like Alice Cooper or someone else? ....

I am a huge Alice Cooper Fan, and the bands we like to play with live are family. Because it's not just playing with each other, it's really about how you feel about each other and the energy you get off of each other's music. Today there's not very many of them left .......

28/You are an icon in the music, get your own style, jewels, outfits... how do you see this image ? how do you see your music life and what is your view on the changes?

I've just got to be myself, create my own image, musical style and who I am. I am the first lady of rock guitar . At one point, one of a kind and I wear my jewels proudly.

29/ Are they moments you still want to be away like you did before or you are enjoying more the music life today?

I was away before because I was a great mother for my children which meant more to me than playing guitar and being a rocker star. I love my children more. .....our family legal system does nothing about saving these children, because they get more money. The longer they make it take the more money they get and the more the children suffer along with the parent who does not have the children. Family legal system is disgusting worldwide. I do not support them.....

30/What would be your advice to the new fans who ’d like to be like you?

Thats very kind, but you need to be yourself. Play your own style of music. Original develop a style all of your own.

31/Funny question: are you a cook? have you got a receipt you like to make?

I used to be..... Coffee.

32/Are you still riding horses?

Love my horses. How many pets do you have? I only have two right now. Planning on getting more. My love for animals are greater than my love for people.except for the fans !!! They are truly amazing people. God bless, Lita xoxo

www.litafordonline.com

1/How did you end up singing in this band? Have you already in the past or you just know the musicians?

Eric - They actually contacted me through one of the musician sights. Angel (Thrust Guitarist) wrote me and asked if I’d like to come and audition for the band. I’ve heard of Thrust in the past but never really knew their songs. I’ve never met any of the band members, nor have seen them live. I went down for an audition, they liked me but they had issues with an up coming festival being too close. So I learned the entire set in about a month and the festival went off great.

2/The band is releasing a new album after so many years, have you written any lyrics or they are old songs reworked?

Eric - I have written lyrics for all the songs except three that were in collaboration. All material on the album are all new songs from the band. There aren’t any rehashed material on the new album, the band wanted to start fresh without any snags.

3/You played in Greece, what led the band going there? Is there a chance to get a deal with a label over there?

Eric - We had prior understanding with the festival promoter. We met some amazing people along the way and made lots of new friends including people in the industry, with that said, yes we did get quite a few offers while we were there.

4/How do you get the live dates? Is there a manager behind ?

Eric - We are our own agents at this time.

5/ With all the bands you’ve been singing in, would you say this one is the one you will stick in?

Eric - I’ve never worked with a more hard working and consistent group of musicians. I ’m very excited and looking forward the future with Thrust.

6/What are the difficulties you encountered as a singer?

Eric - blowing my vocal chords and writer’s block.

7/Do you have your own gear or you just use the one in place?

Eric - I am endorsed by House Mics everywhere.

8/How did you work the old songs? Have you made you own touch or you are trying to stick to the way the old singer used to sing?

Eric - I enjoy singing some of the classics like Fist Held High and Posers Will Die. I did add a little of my spin in the songs but didn’t stray far from the root.

9/Without getting into details can you tell what happened with your last band Scarred?

Eric - Who? The only thing I’m going to say about them is, they were all insignificant characters in my life. Next question.

10/Why not reforming a band? Haven’t you got tons of written songs you’d like to share?

Eric - I have worked with many projects in the past, and that’s what it’s called the past. There are why I left and dropped certain projects, they’re just like bad relationships. You live, you learn, you move on to better yourself and your life.

11/What do you think makes 80’s bands back? Is there for you a pride to sing in one of them?

Eric - Not so much for pride but growth. I’m very happy to be singing in one of the first bands that was ever signed

with Metal Blade Records along with Fates Warning, Slayer, Metallica, just to name a few, at the same time I have to give myself credit for having just as much experience and talent as the musicians I play with, I’ve worked very hard in perfecting my craft.

12/You must know lots of musicians , could you say it’s hard to get friends? Is there a place where there is a Metal scene you love more than other?

Eric - I have been in music since the early 80's and have met many. I think with musicians it’s all about luck and getting with the right people at the right time. In all honesty, musicians aren’t the easiest people to work with, but at the same time there are a few strays who are the easiest and most down to earth people I have ever met. Metal is everywhere and growing rapidly, yes, more so in some areas than others.

13/Would you say your experience over the years helps you to get the right deal, right people...?

Eric - I think I just answered this question ^ haha.

14/Are there bands you’d love to share the stage with?

Eric - I would have loved to have shared the same stage with Ronnie James Dio. 15/Are you singing in other formations ? What do you think of musicians playing in several bands?

Eric - Before I joined Thrust I was doing a lot of session work and before that I had a few projects I worked with. It’s fine to be playing for several bands if you get paid doing it. I myself wouldn’t do it or recommend it, being in one band is tough enough.

16/ How your vocals have evolved? Do you take lessons or give ones? How do you warm up your voice and keep it in good shape?

Eric - Experience and knowing your limits. I’ve never taken any lessons, I was in choir once and sang to The Number Of The Beast album and The Holy Diver Album? I really don’t do any warm ups, just as long as I have a full belly an hour or two before showtime, I’m good to go.

17/Do you play any instruments?

Eric - drums and a little guitar 18/Can you tell a bit about ‘Metal For Tots’? What gets you involved in associations events?

Eric - That is something dear and close to my heart. I will be starting it back up again sometime this year. There are so many that are less fortunate, and I just wanted to give a little something back by raising money, toys and awareness.

Those who have, take so much for granted.

19/Are there bands you are following? What are the bands you listen to mostly?

Eric - I listen to a lot of classical music and if I do listen to Rock or Metal it would be bands like Yes, Boston, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Sabbath.. Bands that have influenced me. I’m not too much into anything new.

1/what made u restart the band after so many years?

Angel Rodriguez :Well you can thank Facebook for getting the band back together.

Someone had put up one of those throwback pictures of one of our band pictures from the early days. So another guy suggested that we get together and jam for fun and maybe do a show or two. Right about that time Ron was getting asked by Metal Blade about doing a re-issue of Fist Held High and if he had any other material that had not been released. We had the Reincarnation album that had never been released so we gave them that and that is what came out on the reissue. After that we got the offers to do some festivals, keep it true and frost and fire so we have just kept it going and decided to put out some new material and just keep things going, we are all having a great time doing it again.

2/was it hard to get the full line up?

Angel Rodriguez : No it was not hard we were all friends on Facebook and talked occasionally so when the picture was put up we all kind of decided at the same time to do a jam session and maybe a couple of shows and everybody was on board from the beginning.

3/are you all in other bands?

Angel Rodriguez : We have been at various times but right now we are all fully committed to Thrust and aren’t doing any other projects at the moment.

4/why did you choose Eric as a singer? How did you hear about him?

Angel Rodriguez : I actually found Eric on a website that connects bands and musicians looking for bands. Our other singer, Andy who is on Reincarnation was having some personal issues to deal with and wasn’t fully into being in the band and we needed someone who was going to be as committed and enthusiastic about doing it as the rest of us. Eric was a perfect fit! We loved his voice from the first time we heard it on the demos that he had on the website and then when he came down he is such a cool guy and got along with everybody so well we knew that he was the guy we needed. He has elevated the band to a whole other level!

5/have you searched a label or you have your own?

Angel Rodriguez : Actually we are in the process of finding a label right now. We are talking to a few different labels and will decide who we are going to put the album out with.

6/you have a new album coming, does it sound like the first one?

Angel Rodriguez : There may be some elements that sound like the first one but it is definitely a different album. It’s been a long time since Fist Held High and we have all had a lot different influences over the years so we think it is the best of both worlds, an album that can be played today and be relevant but has the great elements of classic metal that people still love!

7/music has evolved, you have changed. How do you writes songs today?

Angel Rodriguez : Well I know a lot of bands today have different ways of writing where guys record stuff and then send files to each other and everybody adds their parts in but we are old school. Once we got in the room together after deciding to jam, the old chemistry was still there from 20 years ago and we found it pretty easy to fall back into writing music again. So we still do it the way we always have, someone will come in with a riff or an idea for a whole song, musically and then the rest of us put our part to make it better until we’re happy with what we have. Most of the time it has been the vocalist that comes up with the lyrics although we have had some songs were some of the other guys in the band have also come up with lyrics.

8/Do you still have the same gears or you have changed and moved to the new tech?

Angel Rodriguez : No we have definitely embraced the new technology where that is concerned. When we got the offer to go do Keep It True Festival in Germany we knew we would have to figure out what kind of equipment we were going to take, at least us guitar players. I had a friend that told me about some of the equipment that a lot of session players are using nowadays that have to travel a lot so we looked into that. There are these little power amps nowadays that are basically the size of a book that you can just put in your suitcase then just use whatever 4x12 cabinet they give you with the backline and then of course all of the modeling pedal boards that have amp tones and effects built into them and are the size of a laptop which you can easily take as a carry-on on the plane. Ron and I were already using line 6 combo amps at the time so it was a no-brainer to just go with the Line 6 pedal boards. Originally it was just going to be a travel set up but they sound so good that we have just kept using them for recording, practicing and when we play somewhere local also.

9/what has changed in the scene since you started? Are gigs the same?

Angel Rodriguez : The main thing that has changed in the scene is just how hard it is to make money playing music.

It was always a longshot and a hard thing to do but at least if you got to a certain point you did pretty good. It seems like nowadays even bands that would be considered pretty big are having a hard time making a living playing music.

The social media thing is awesome for connecting with fans and promoting what you are doing but that’s also the same way that it has become hard to make any money with the music because no one is buying the product it is just being shared on the Internet for free. Also there seems to be a lot of instances where bands are expected to pay money for things that they didn’t have to in the past. From playing shows with bigger name bands to just getting management and booking agents the bands are being expected to pay upfront and that makes it even harder to do. The thing that hasn’t changed is the fans because metal fans are the best fans there are, they are just so into it and we have been lucky that most of the shows we have done up to now have been festivals and the fans at the festivals are really into everything about it. That’s why we can’t wait to share the new album with all the new and old fans that we have met at the recent festivals and keep on doing more of those!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-sorceress/id1234718731?i=1234718869

1/You’re having a new guitarist, does that mean you dealt with all the guitars alone since ‘Overture to madness’? What does that change to the music? Are you playing leads together?

JOE: Before Damin Bennett joined the band a year and a half ago, I was always the only guitarist in Axemaster; I did all the guitar on "Overture" and every release from the 80's-90's. The first Axemaster release with Damin will be the new upcoming album "Crawling Chaos". Our music didn't actually CHANGE much because of Damin, but he definitely improved what we were doing! All the songs that will be on the album were already basically written before he joined, but he added some killer guitar parts that really put the songs over the top. He will DEFINITELY be doing some writing for our next album, so he will be doing more than adding parts to what is already there. I can't say enough about his playing ability; he can shred when he wants to, but is great at playing with feel and does what sounds best with the songs. I play a few more leads on the album than he does because I had written a lot of leads that I think are pretty kick ass for the new songs before he joined, so I didn't want to stop doing them. He was TOTALLY cool about that, which really shows a lot about the kind of person he is, not only a killer player but also a great bandmate and friend! People who know Axemaster will probably be able to tell when it's him or me doing a lead because our styles are a little different, but they totally fit together, which is EXACTLY what you hope for when adding a 2nd lead player.

-Yes, we are now doing quite a few dual and harmony lead parts, and I am sure that we will be doing a lot more of them in the future.

2/Have you had another guitarist in the past for Axe Master? How did you find Damin?

JOE: The only guitar besides me in the history of Axemaster is that our singer Geoff has played a little bit of rhythm guitar live, but the only time he ever recorded any guitar is he did some acoustic for the intro of a song on the upcoming album. I have played in bands that had another lead guitarist before, but it has been a different experience having another lead player in Axemaster. Has really given the songs a different and very cool dynamic. Plus Damin has really improved our live sound.

-Our drummer, Denny Archer, recommended Damin when we decided to add another guitarist. They had known eachother for a while playing in local cover/tribute bands, and had talked about doing a project together for a while.

Damin fit perfectly from the first time Denny brought him in, both in playing style and personality.

3/When reading your bio it sounds like you are a European band due to the releases made by eastern countries, how do you explain this history? Haven’t u had a US label interested in signing you?

JOE: As far as in the past goes, the first label that signed us was actually a US label, Azra International out of Los Angeles. Our first album with them, "Blessing in the Skies" in 1987, was our first introduction to the international scene.

Ever since then, our main fanbase has been in Europe. The 2 European labels that did re-releases of Axemaster material

came to me while the band was not active wanting to do the CDs, I didn't search for them. As far as where we are now, the fact is that there are not many indie metal labels in the US (not counting major indies) that work with bands like us, and the ones I know of are quite small and could not do as much for us as Pure Steel does. I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that our style is bigger overall in Europe and, for the most part, Axemaster is better known in Europe than we are here. The US is coming around as far as our kind of metal goes, but it's still a lot bigger in Europe.

4/You are releasing another album ‘Crawling Chaos’, through Pure Steel Records which appears to release your old tunes also. What makes you proud to be on that awesome label? Did you gave them your old demos ? How did it happen?

JOE: Yeah, I am REALLY excited about both releases. I think "Chaos" could be the album that gets Axemaster to the next level of success. To me, the combination of major label quality sound with material that I'm VERY proud of, could do a whole lot for us. And the re-release is going to be so kick ass! Pure Steel had a whole lot of the band's old stuff mastered and it now sounds A LOT better than it ever has. Plus it will be awesome to be on a vinyl record again, the first time since the 80's!

-When we started shopping "Overture", we had a few labels that were interested, Pure Steel was among them. I heard really good things about the company from several people I trust, so we focused in on them. The people at PS knew Axemaster from our old releases and really liked that material, but since "Overture" was the first release by the "new" Axemaster, I think they were not 100% sure at first. Hell, as far as they knew, we could have been a bunch of old asses who had lost the ability to write kick ass stuff. So we talked for a while and I sent them early demos of some of the songs. They became more and more interested, but what I think sealed it was that a great friend of mine from Austria who occasionally acted as an unofficial band representative know the people from PS personally and talked us up to them; told them something along the lines of that if they did not sign us, they would end up being sorry. We were offered a contract not too long after.

5/Have you created the news songs as a band or you still are the main composer?

JOE: On "Overture", I wrote ALL the music totally on my own. I even wrote a bunch of the drum parts (changed entire beats in my studio while I was mixing the album). The only thing I didn't write was the lyrics, our singer Geoff McGraw wrote those, but everything else was me. But for the songs on "Chaos", the other guys in the band were totally involved in the songwriting process. The way we did it mostly was that I recorded my ideas in my studio, made them into sample song demos, then played them for everyone. If the other guys generally liked the ideas, we then all worked together to fully write the song. We would sometimes make changes in how things were played, put together an arrangement, and added drum and bass lines. It's really a MUCH better way to write and is why the new songs are a little different and sound more well-rounded than what's on "Overture". They musically reflect the tastes and influences of 5 people rather than just me. I would still probably be considered the main songwriter of "Chaos" because I originally created most of the riffs and guitar parts, but the songs would definitely not be what they are and as good as they are without the contributions by the rest of the band!

6/How it’s like to be the only former member of the band? why not creating a new band? What made the old mates you played with back in 2007 going in other directions?

JOE: Back in the earlier days of Axemaster, the band had basically 3 different lineups between like 86 and 91. I ran into problems with musicians either not being dedicated enough, had drinking problems, wanted to play in cover bands to make more money, etc. By 89 or 90 I was the only original member left, so it doesn't feel odd or anything to be the only original guy now, I'm used to it! And since I always wrote 99% of the music and even a lot of the lyrics back in the day, the band's overall sound and feel always stayed somewhat consistent. The kick ass thing about it is that all the guys in the band now give me respect for all the things I accomplished with Axemaster in the past, no one shows any jealousy or ego problems that I'm the main guy a lot of people look at with the band.

-As far as the idea of starting a new band rather than bring Axemaster back, it really didn't make a lot of sense. Number 1, I have always been associated with Axemaster. Hell, when I was in other bands and did interviews, I was often asked questions about Axemaster even though that band had not been active for 10-15 years! Number 2, I am actually still a little amazed at how well known the Axemaster name was even before "Overture" came out, and how in demand the band's old material still is after 30 years! Name recognition is a huge thing in the music business, most companies/ people in the business would MUCH rather work with a band that has a known name rather than a brand new band

that no one has ever heard of, no matter how good the music is. Number 3 and BY FAR most importantly to me, the Axe was always my favorite out of all the bands I have ever been in. I always wrote and played the kind of stuff that I love the most in this band. Basically, during my days with Axemaster, I always said screw it and wrote stuff that I really liked and just hoped that fans would like it too, instead of what I did in other bands which was to try and write stuff that radio would play and what the band thought would be popular, which was sometimes a style that I didn't totally care for. Put all that together and it seemed kind of stupid to NOT bring Axemaster back!!!!

-We did try to do a reunion of the original members of the band, but for personal reasons that would not be right to talk about here, it obviously didn't work out. Actually, the band's original drummer played with Axemaster from 2010 to 2014 and did the drums on "Overture". But for reasons I don't want to get into (I don't want to trash anybody), him and the band as a whole had a falling out and he was replaced before the album even came out. I have no idea what he's doing now. The original singer/bass player and I are still friends, he has actually come to see 1 or 2 of our shows. It's all part of the music business, unfortunately musicians often come and go. It's odd to see a band that has been around quite a while and still has all its original members.

7/You restarted the band in 2010 but had an album only in 2014, what difficulties you uncountered? it’s been three years since your last album what took you so long?

JOE: There are several reasons why the first album seemed to take a long time, so I will just mention the most important ones. When I started the band back up in 2010, it was just me and the band's original drummer. We had to find other musicians to fill out the band which was not easy when it came to a singer. It took quite a while to find a vocalist we wanted to work with. Once we found one, he had to write lyrics to the music I had written. The singer we found wrote a lot of the lyrics and even recorded a couple songs; but after that, he basically dropped out of sight for a short time. When I was finally able to talk to him, I found out that he had some major personal problems and had to take some time away from the band, said that he might never come back. I'm loyal to other band members, so I gave him a few months. But eventually I had to start looking for someone else, we could not wait around forever!!!! It took me a while again, but I was eventually lucky enough to find Geoff. Then he had to write all new lyrics and record his parts. Couple this with the fact that I produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered the album in my personal studio, something I had never done before, and I don't have totally professional recording gear/software. So the recording process took a lot longer than it normally would while I was trying to figure out how I would be able to get label quality sound out of what I had while having very little experience. I knew how important the "Overture" album was, so I took the time to get the best sound I could. I'm really proud of how it turned out under those circumstances, but everything took a long time to finish. Actually, "Overture" came out in 2015, so it will only be a little more than 2 years between that album and "Crawling Chaos", and 9 or 10 months of that were spent in the studio!!!!!

8/Do you still sell ‘overture to madness’ albums? I saw it’s available as digital download, what’s your view on this?

JOE: We DEFINITELY still sell "Overture", we also still sell the re-release CDs of the band's old material. Check out our webstore at : http://www.axemasterofficial.com/webstore/ There is a WHOLE LOT of stuff there. And yes, Pure Steel has all the songs are available on I-Tunes and on their website at : http://www.puresteel-shop.com/AXEMASTER-Overture-To-Madness_2.

-Of course, as a musician and songwriter, I have a MAJOR problem with illegal downloading. But as far as LEGAL downloading of songs/albums goes, I don't have a problem with that. As long as the people who deserve to be paid are getting paid, I don't see anything wrong with it. Basically, like it or not, it's part of today's landscape and it's not going anywhere! Personally though, I would not want to buy an album as a download; I always buy CDs. To me, when I buy an album, I want the whole package, and an important part of that is the physical graphics and printing. Maybe I'm more old school, and I know that digital downloads can be quicker and easier at times, but if I got an album as a download, I would feel like something was missing, that I was missing out on an important part of the album.

9/Are you participating in the lyrics writting or you just compose the music? Is there a story behind the whole album?

JOE: Back in the early days I wrote a lot of lyrics, but since I brought the band back, I have left that to Geoff. I'm proud of a lot of the lyrics I wrote in the past, but I don't like writing words anywhere near as much as I enjoy writing

music, so I wanted to stick to writing music if I could. As it turned out, Geoff is GREAT at both lyric writing and vocal phrasing, so it all works out perfect.

-There is not a true "story" behind the whole "Overture" album, but several of the songs are about a certain life event from the past. It's very personal so it's not in my place to talk about it, I will just say that there is a lot of anger behind the lyrics to several of the songs 10/Since you started music has changed as your own playing, how would you explain your evolution as a guitarist? Do you learn or play news things?

JOE: My main basic "style" has not changed a whole lot, but the content of a lot of the rhythms I write and the leads I construct are a lot different from what I used do as I have learned more about music in general over the years. Two main ways my rhythm content has evolved are: 1) now I write a lot more parts where 2 guitars are playing different things at once and I include a lot more harmony parts, which is a big reason why we decided to add another guitarist: most of the newer songs just don't sound right live with just one guitar; and 2) I use a lot more complex timings and unusual note combinations than I used to. Some of what I write is still straight-forward metal, but I LOVE writing things that are unusual and unique, especially when I use combinations of notes and chords that you would not think would fit together, but do. As far as leads go, back in the early days I tried to "show off " a lot more and I probably played too many super fast leads and tried to include too many guitar tricks. I have learned that it's far more important to play what sounds the most kick ass with a particular rhythm/song. If a little slower and a little simplier lead is what works best and makes the song sound the coolest overall, it's stupid not to go in that direction. But when you are not looking at that possibility, you might miss out on a chance to write a killer lead! And yes, whenever I get the opportunity to learn something new or a different variation of a guitar technique that I think I can really use, I always take the time to try to make it a part of my playing aresonal.

11/Do you have a studio for the band where you can rehearse and record?

JOE: We have both, but they are separate. We have a cool practice spot where we can make as much noise as we want.

Then I have a studio at my house where I do a lot of recording and production. It's not a major pro studio, but I get what I have to sound pretty damned good!!!!

12/Many 80’s bands are back , do you still got your old friends or it’s just the same competition? Some musicians are even playing in different bands to keep the old flame alive, do you play in other bands?

JOE: One of the main differences I have experienced since bringing the band back is that I have seen far less bullshit competition between bands than I did in the 80's. Back then, I would see bands get their friends to heckle bands they were playing with, or even go as far as to try to sabatage another band's show. I had both happen to me back then. Now 99% of the bands we have played with have been all about cooperation to make the whole night better as a whole for the fans who paid to see the show. It's totally fucking awesome to feel like you can pretty much trust other bands and can work together with them instead of wondering if they are gonna try and stab you in the back!

-I have NO NEED to do anything to keep the old flame alive! I'm into what I do as much or more than I have ever been.

Actually, I am enjoying the hell out of this ride a lot more than I ever have. I got my shit together and have a lot better attitude than I used to have and love what I'm doing more than I ever have!!!!! So no, I don't play in any other bands, I put all my time and effort into just Axemaster!

13/What is the scene like ? how can you describe the difference between the 80’s and today? are they things you would have made differently?

JOE: Well, MAYBE there is a little more interest in original bands here than there was in the 80's, but mostly the scene here is not THAT much different than it was then. There may be a little more opportunities to play, but they are mostly crap shows at small places that don't really draw and don't pay. Getting a good quality gig where an original band either gets paid halfway decent or there's a really good crowd that will get promo for the band are few and far between. Our main interest is to play with nationals and/or at festivals, and maybe jump on a tour. We are thinking that "Crawling Chaos" is gonna get a lot more interest and make us more known than any releases Axemaster has done since "Blessing in the Skies", and those things should allow us to more easily get those kinds of shows.

14/Can you tell if the new album will have a great painting cover or it will stay in the way of ‘overture..’?

Who is in charge of the design process?

JOE: "Crawling Chaos" is gonna have a totally kick ass cover. Geoff got a killer artist from Spain named NoĂŤl Puente who did the cover art for the new one and it's AWESOME. The person who does all the graphics and inserts is Markus at Pure Steel. He has done the graphics on all the things we have done with PS and has always done a hell of a job. He's damned good at what he does!!!!

15/Pure Steel Records press Lps , are you a fan and do you have a big collection?

JOE: I honestly prefer CDs, just easier to play and do not wear out as quickly. But when I was younger, I had a pretty big collection of records. I gave a bunch of them away to a metal fan who collects them, but I saved the ones I like the best and are harder to find and stored them. I actually have a really nice turntable, which is great since PS is doing that Axemaster re-release on vinyl. I will definitely be pulling that turntable out and hooking it up before the record's release date!!!!!

16/Have you met your idols ? Are they bands you like to play live with and some you’d like to?

JOE: I actually have met a couple of my faves, one in particular was Leather Leone of Chastain. Man, there are quite a few bands that I would kill to play with! The top 2 would definitely be Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. https://www.facebook.com/axemasterofficial/ https://twitter.com/Axemastermetal https://www.youtube.com/user/axemasterofficial?sub_confirmation=1 PURE STEEL RECORDS http://www.puresteel-records.com/

www.axemasterofficial.com

Interview with : Jeff Baddley 1/it seems the band is doing good since you’re back, what is your view about it? is the response huge?

We initially just reformed in late 2014 to play Brofest#3 in Newcastle in March 2015. We decided to record and release a CD Finish What You Started to go with the gig. This consisted of the four tracks we released on our original DEMO in 1981 “Dreams Never Lie”, “Don’t Send Me To War”, “Futures Friend” and “Crazy Lady” which were digitally remastered, two tracks we played in the early 80’s but didn’t record “Syrian Lady” and “First Blood” and two new tracks “Finish What You Started” and “Backlash”. The response to the Brofest#3 gig was amazing and the sales of the CD Finish What You Started convinced us to carry on 2/Is the line up stable?

Yes, The original bass player Dave Strathearn was not available when we reformed, Karl Altdorfer who replaced him left us in April 2016 due to pressure of work and he was replaced by current bassist Andy Stephenson and old school friend of mine.

3/How do you write new songs after so many years? musically you have changed taste or the way you play?

Songs are generally written by Steve, Nick and I who bring their ideas to the band and are developed collectively as a group. We still retain the NWOBHM feel from the early 80’s but we have developed musically and matured over the years and this is reflected in our new material 4/Most 80’s bands are back, does it make it easier for bands to play gigs and sell albums?

The resurgence of 80’s bands is great for music, we all feed off each other and a lot of the time are playing the same gigs and festivals 5/You’ve played live show in France, are they any other countries you played or would love to? how do you find the live dates? what do you think of the public abroad?

In 1982 we toured all over Europe supporting Nightwing and we loved it. When we were invited play Heavy Metal Maniacs in Holland last year we added a date in Belgium and went down amazingly well. We love the European audiences so appreciative and so knowledgeable. We’d love to continue playing in Europe. If we could play in Scandinavia, Russia and America that would be awesome 6/Do you do it yourself? haven’t you got a label or an agent?

I do most of the booking but we are looking for a booking agent. We released Finish What You Stared and our new EP Storm Child on our own label VULCAN RECORDS which is our label we created for our own material 7/Do you have your own studio?

No we currently rehearse and record at Elusive Recording Studios in St Helens Nr Liverpool

8/When looking back, how do you the band’s life? does it feel better now? are they things you regret or would change if you could?

Obviously times have changed and we are all older now with families but we have two main regrets not signing with Neat Records when we had the opportunity and returning to Europe when we had the chance.

9/Have you changed gears of you are still using the same ones ?

Back in the 80’s I used a custom built Premier kit but these days I use REMO drums 10/ Have you learnt new tech skills?

Over the year’s time, practice and technology have helped develop new tech skills 11/Who is your favorite drummer? what’s your view on modern ones?

John Bonham is my absolute hero but I also admire Neil Peart, UFO’s Andy Parker and Sweet drummer Mick Tucker, Modern drummers are great tending to use less drums than we did back in the old days. The guy I most admire currently is The Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins 12/Have you got endorsment?

No I don’t have any current endorsements

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Intervie w with Ray Wes t

1/Who stared the band and what was the idea?

Here's what I know to be WOA recent history .. Chris and freddy started the idea of putting a band together . Next came Reno , then I entered the picture after that .... Simply put, WOA was started when the 4 of us jammed at Freddy's house .... The idea was to write whatever came natural then try to capture its energy , by recording while it was still fresh .

2/How did you all meet, have you had many line up changes ?

I think the timeline goes -- Chris was in a band that needed a guitarist . He'd reached out to Freddy . They found that they clicked well together and wanted to start their own band. Freddy had known Reno thru his previous band, so he brought him in . The 3 started jamming together about 2 years ago . I came in about a half year after they started . I was told someone close to them had suggested my name so Chris reached out to me via Facebook . I answered , then the next thing I know Freddy called me , and we conversed for what must have been 3 to 4 hours ..He asked me to come out to the house , we jammed and WOA was born .. BOOM...The only line up change has been the second guitar player .

Playing with a second guitarist is a new concept for me . We've had a few guys come through the door , but Kriss Norris is the guy we locked in the room . Lol 3/Are you playing in other bands or have had many ones before that made you get experience?

As far as getting experience ,I've been in bands as long as I can remember. . I was signed to MCA records with Spread Eagle , of which I am still an acting member. Obviously "Weapons of Anew" is my main focus, because of all the work that's going into it . " this is not a hobby" .... I also teach voice , and do session work when and where I can . It's all about time management . I can do it all , as long as I'm organized ...

4/Who chose the name and what does it mean?

I feel we all chose the name . I threw the guys what ideas I had ,they all threw our theirs, and we all chose the same phrase . The name is all about making new music that represents our taste at this moment .

5/You are on OkGood Records, how did you get in touch with them? Have you had other proposals?

The contact we made at Ok Records is someone With lots of experience in how things operate in the current music climate . We have a lot of faith in " OG Rec.....Nowadays it's all about who can really give you their undivided attention.

6/WHo had the idea for the logo?

I believe Chris came up with it , then a friend of Freddy's modified it . Chris is our resident artist .

7/Who made that awesome cover? did you get involved in the making or you just sent out your music?.

The guys in the band wanted something very descriptive , so I believe it was sourced out to some one who heard the music, and title idea . It does look cool .

8/Your website doesn’t have a bio , it’s more like a testimony? Do you want to make things differently than anyone?

We all have strong philosophies of how we'd like things to be . I don't personally set out to make anything different , I simply set out to make things as honest as I can . I put out the best representation of the idea I have at that moment . It has to feel genuine . I think we all kind of work that way .

9/You have many influences on the album , does that represent all of your musical range? are they any bands you really love or you just listen to anything?

I think with this album I've just scratched the surface of what I'm capable of stylistically . I think subconsciously all my musical influences always play a part in how I sing. As far as bands I listen to. I listen to everything, but I do tend to listen obsessively to one thing till I burn it out . For example I've been listening to nothing but Iron Maiden & Sade for 12 days straight . I get crazed like that sometimes .

10/How did you record and create such a powerful album? have you got already ideas in mind? Do you have tech skills?

First of all , thank you for the kind words . They are greatly appreciated. ... I think everyone during the recording process asked themselves " how much of myself am I willing to give, to create the true WOA sound . You have to be ready to bleed for it this shit !, you have to be willing to put yourself under a microscope... it's very easy to just " call it in" , but with this band you can't do that .... every body Did a "gut check" to perform at a high level . It was hard intense work , but it was worth it . " I hope that answer makes sense .

11/Obviously you are giging a lot which makes your success, do you think today it is the key to survive in the music business? You are going on tour with Tesla, do you know them ? what’s your favorite album from the band and would you say they have inspired you?

In today's climate , You have to gig as much as possible to be able to perform at a high level , and be ready for the big moments that come your way . Hey, If your prepared , and lucky , when the good gigs come , you can make the most of them. What's that ole saying "Hard work and luck go hand in hand in this business" .. I don't know the members of Tesla personally, but far as being a fan, I have been a Tesla fan since the "mechanical renaissance "album... I dig that they made the acoustic set a cool thing at a time when other bands were busy posing . AlsO, I am a Jeff Keith fan . That rasp of his is vicious . I look forward to meeting him, and the entire band .

12/Do you cope with the website and social medias or you leave that to someone else and concentrate on the music?.

We are all assigned web duties . As the album roles out , we all do what needs to be done . I'm not as tech savvy as I should be , but I am trying .

13/Tell us how do you write the lyrics? have you got themes you wanna talk or just get stories coming?.

For me, lyrics don't come as easy as I'd like sometimes . I'm one of those people who wait for inspiration to strike .... though sometimes I will jot down an idea , and keep that at the back of my mind . My themes are always based on my reality , my personal belief system .( I believe in myself , and I trust no one. ) I'm too ADD to keep a journal Lol . The lyrics I write usually amplify whatever life is dealing me at that moment . Inspiration can spring at any moment , I just try to be patient . I also find that writing from a personal viewpoint is emotionally liberating ...

14/How did you get James Murphy to produce the album? he’s known for Death Metal music did you have a sceptical approach? Did he helped modifying some parts or played on a song?

James was brought in by Freddy .... and to be honest After listening to the types of vocals he'd produced before , I did have my doubts , but I guess that was really because I didn't know him as a person .... In all honesty James and I were like the mongoose, and the snake thrown into a cage together. Lol .....He came in with a very authoritative presence, and I came in with a very anti-authoritative presence ... so we both had to adjust to the way we both operated as creative individuals. Once James and I found common ground, we worked exceptionally well together.. I now have him on my speed dial. He's 9.

15/Have you already played live abroad? Is there a show you really loved on top all all you made?

I have never played a gig with WOA abroad , After I do though , I'll give you an honest answer . So we'll have leave this question , open ended . I do have a lot of places on my bucket list . Freddy is always telling me about how amazing this country is to play or that from his past experiences . So I'm excited about the possibilities...

16/Which bands you love to gig with? is it tough to have friends in the music? they are so many bands today…

I'd like to gig with the bands that command the biggest stages , because I live to perform on the biggest stages as well .

But just give me a chance to play with like minded bands , and I'm happy ...It's easy to make friends on the road once you find like minded people. People that aren't afraid to leave their egos in check , and come out of their bubble , and just be cool . I have a pretty good BS monitor , so I can tell If some one is being genuine or not . Yes, Staying in real touch is harder , but I guess that's where you learn who your real friends are . I dig the art of conversation, so If I like ya , I will pick up my phone. If I don't , I'll text ya . lol "Its a smaller world than you'd think thanks to social media " 17/What are your gears? do you try new stuff or stick to your old equipment?

I like to stay in high gear . Lol I believe in evolution. If you can't change , your fucked . I don't care for people who are afraid of change .

18/Who has inspired your way of singing? did you take lessons? how do you practice and choose which line /melodies for your songs?

I have many voices that inspire my singing . Too many to mention .. Some times it'll be Freddy Mercury , other times it'll be the great blues singer Etta James . There are just so many in my vocal Rolodex .. From Ozzie Osborne to Englebert Humperdinck , it's endless ...... I did take some lessons during my Early years as a signed artist ... It helped me to build strength, and to learn How my instrument actually worked .. .

www.weaponsofanew.com

1/Why it took so long to bring another album? Did you lost your creation or the last album was so good you wanted to make another one as good?

Dani: There were several reasons for it, but some of them was indeed that we wanted to make it as good as it could be, and the previous album was so successful that the tour lasted much longer than we thought it would. So we didn’t want to rush it the songwriting process on this one. But we also faced several personal issues while we were creating “Shades of Humanity”. I, for example, started facing depression a long time ago, but it wasn’t until 2014 that I realized what was going on. I was depressed and I had no idea. I already knew something was off for a while, but I only realized something was definitely wrong when we played a show with Angra in Brazil in 2014. The show was absolutely awesome, everything was perfect, but I just felt numb. I couldn’t feel a thing. I felt no happiness, no sadness, nothing.

I lost interest in everything, including music… so I decided to seek help. The boys kept working on the songs during that time. They gave me several nearly finished songs, with no melodies and no lyrics… and we still needed a few more songs. So I wrote a few songs from scratch on my own when I started to feel better, that we finished later together as a band, as we usually do, and basically wrote all the melodies and lyrics in two weeks. My grandmother had a surgery, her recovery was slow, so she had to stay in the hospital for 19 days… and someone had to be with her at all times.

The “night shifts” were mine (laughs). Since she would sleep most of the time, I would sit there all by myself, in the silence, with nothing except my computer… so I started writing lyrics and humming melodies. I wrote down all my thoughts… lots of stuff that were blocked inside me due to depression.

2/you got a great bass player, how did it happen?

Dani: We asked him, and he said yes! (Laughs) The original idea was to just have him record the new album, but we got along so well that we decided to ask him to join us as a full time band member. Magnus Rosén, in my opinion, is one of the best Heavy Metal bass players in the world, so it’s an honor to have him in the band.

3/What has changed in the new album?

Dani: I believe we managed to make it more mature. Nothing changed in the songwriting process, but we focused more on melodies and on making it more intense. So it’s a mix of intensity and heavy riffs with beautiful melodies, and I did everything I could with my voice. I did soft and melancholic vocals, but also did lots of rough and angry singing.

It’s our best album to date, in my opinion!

4/you have a video 'alive' really looking like a movie, who directed this video? why choosing this song to land up the album? was it hard to explain the story line in your head you wrote?

Dani: “Alive” was directed by Daniel Stilling and he is actually the one who chose the song and wrote the entire script for the video. The song is about depression and about fighting to stay alive, about seeking reasons to live… and Daniel went even further than that, and wrote four stories about survival, that aren’t literally about depression but can very

much describe how it feels like to be in that situation. Daniel is simply a genius, the story is awesome and the photography is beautiful. He worked on movies such as “The Martian” and on TV series like “Criminal Minds”. He’s an amazing professional and a great friend! People can watch the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF9Tv5USAYg 5/What is the story of that album, what are the lyrics about?

Dani: The story behind it is human morals and values, and the fact that there’s no such thing as pure black and white when it comes to that. We’re all made of several shades of grey, and that is why the album is called “Shades of Humanity”. There are lyrics about feelings of revenge, abortion, the Mariana dam disaster in Brazil and several thoughts of how we are capable of the kindest and selfless acts, but at the same time we are a destructive kind that ruins the very planet we live in.

6/Is there a pressure from the fans to get another album from you? does it motivates you to work harder?

Dani: There was pressure, yes, but what motivates us to work hard isn’t the pressure, it’s just what that pressure means.

When there is pressure, that means people are interested, so pressure is good. So we try our best every time because even though several years passed between our previous album “Inner Monster Out” and our new one, “Shades of Humanity”, people never lost faith and interest in us, so we wanted to give them the best album we could come up with. Everything we do is spontaneous and we please our own musical taste first, because it wouldn’t be honest to the fans if we didn’t do exactly what we love, but we do it with a lot of care as a way to thank them for their support. None of this would be possible without them!

7/Do you have a label or you did it yourself?

Dani: We’re signed to EMP Label Group, label that belongs to Megadeth bass player Dave Ellefson in the US and Europe, Spiritual Beast in Asia and Furia Music Records in Brazil.

8/Is there a tour going around the globe?

Dani: We’re working on it! We want to play live as much as we can!

9/You have made an « S » logo, why and who did it?

Dani: It’s just another way to represent ourselves. The artist who did it is Douglas Jen, and he also created the “Shades of Humanity” album cover.

10/What made you choose this album title? what’s the story behind the cover artwork?

Dani: Those lyrics about all the shades of grey that makes mankind is what the album title is about. The story behind the cover is about portraying that we are all imperfect, flawed beings, yet our chaotic nature is beautiful in a way.

So we have four people on the album cover, all represented by unfinished drawings, because we are always “unfinished”… imperfect. And we decided that those people would be ourselves, because we are also part of that, and we are just as imperfect as everyone else.

11/How did you record the album this time?

Dani: We recorded the album in Gothenburg, Sweden, with the production of Fredrik Nordström and Henrik Udd. We spent a month in Sweden and focused only on the album. We were completely immersed in the recording process!

12/Your album is available everywhere, how do you manage to get that deal? not many bands do…

Dani: It wasn’t overnight. I think many bands don’t realize it’s not about luck, and it’s not about sending out demos hoping someone will listen to it and love your band. Many amazing bands never manage to reach success because they keep thinking that “only” being amazing will be enough, that someone will notice their talent and do everything else. It doesn’t work that way. Being amazing is just the first step. After that, there’s a lot of career planning and building that many people just don’t pay attention to. I actually do career consulting for bands and I work as the A&R at

Furia Music Records, and most bands think the label is going to do all the work for them. The way I see it, the label is fuel. If there is a spark, the label is going to set it on fire. If there’s no spark, nothing is going to happen. So labels are looking for that spark, and after you create awesome songs, it’s time to being building that spark.

13/How do you keep your voice in shape?

Dani: I just respect my body, basically. I don’t avoid cold drinks, I love coffee, but I do avoid cold drinks on stage, and I never drink caffeine or alcohol on the day of the show. It’s not necessary to protect your throat from the cold or be overly cautious, you just have to get a lot of rest, avoid talking a lot when you’re going to sing and have generally healthy habits. Some singers are able to drink alcohol, to get little rest, but I’m not… and that’s what it’s all about, to respect your own body and know your own limits. For a singer, the body is the instrument, so it’s important to know how far you can push it, and what is necessary for you as a singer to be able to sing every day when you are on tour.

For me, it requires never partying unfortunately, not even on days off. All my free time during tours goes to sleeping and quiet time. I know it sounds very boring (laughs), but when you choose to be a singer, you have to know touring won’t be easy on you.

14/Are you playing in other bands or participating as guests?

Dani: We are always involved in lots of musical activities… we are all focused on Shadowside, but I sang with Soulspell on their latest album as a guest, singing two songs, one of them in a duet with Ralph Scheepers from Primal Fear, Magnus Rosén has his solo career as well as Avalanch from Spain, our drummer Fabio Buitvidas has a side project called BulletBack and our guitarist Raphael Mattos plays a lot live with his 80’s band and other stuff he enjoys playing.

15/have you got your own studio?

Dani: I don’t, but our drummer Fabio does. It’s called Estudio 82 and we always rehearse and do pre-production there, and he recently started recording bands there also.

www.shadowside.net

1/tell us what happened after the awesome album you kinda disappeared…?

Scott Shapiro : We didn't really disappear, but we were only able to support the record in the US. We played with great bands like Satan, Orchid, Thor, Natur, Hell Fire and Ruthless across the US. 2/Did you change line up?

Scott Shapiro : After the last record was released, our bass player - My brother Mark, had to move out of state. That took some of our momentum away right out of the gate. We were lucky to find Kai Sun to replace him. Kai is a great player, but he ultimately decided o move on as well. So we had some stability issues that made it difficult to move forward and write new music. After my mom past away in 2016 I just wanted to make a change. We disbanded the lineup and went on indefinite hiatus. In 2017 Kiyo and I went into the studio with a couple of his buddies, Steve Hays on Bass and Warren Ryan on Drums, with Zack Ohren producing to just record the songs Kiyo and I had been writing. It turned into "Lost In The Black Divide." It came out so much better than expected and reinvigorated us to get the band back together! The current lineup features me, Scott Shapiro, on Guitar and Lead Vocals, Kiyosho Morgan (ex-Vicious Rumors) on Lead Guitar, Steve Hays on Bass and Eli Lucas (ex-Hatchet) on Drums.

3/You are once again on Puresteel records, do you have a record deal with them or you just love the way theya treat heavy metal bands?

Scott Shapiro : We have a deal with Pure Steel Records. They released our last 2 records ("Heart Attack" and "Cosmic Vanguard") and we have been pretty happy working with them. We're grateful that they gave us the opportunity to get our music out to metal heads all over the world.

4/Tell us a bit about that new album, what has changed musically? are they old songs unfinished or brand new creations?

Scott Shapiro : All the songs are new. As far as what has changed, "Lost In The Black Divide" is a lot more dynamic than the last record. "Cosmic Vanguard" was like a 45 fight. Every song hit really hard. "Lost In The Black Divide" is a bit darker thematically and the songs are more nuanced than what we have done in the past. We also have a piano based song on the record called "Reason Or Rhyme" which is definitely something new for us. We really tried to get our "Bohemian Rhapsody" on with a little "November Rain" sprinkled in.

5/What’s the story behind the lyrics?

Scott Shapiro : Every song on this record deals with death in its own way...except for "Through The Door" which is about a threesome.

6/You have changed the band’s logo what for?

Scott Shapiro : We actually went back to our original logo. The logo we used on Cosmic Vanguard was designed by my brother Mark when he was in the band, but with him gone and the music sounding more like the first records, we decided to go back to the band's roots.

7/Who designed the cover? what’s the meaning of it? Have you asked directions or paticipated in any way?

Scott Shapiro : Sean Walusko designed the cover. I created the initial sketch of what I wanted and Sean really came through for us and made it awesome.

8/Is the following of the first or completely different? if so in which way?

Scott Shapiro : This is a new record with the same neck-snapping riffage you would expect form a traditional heavy metal band! Kiyo laid down some sick shreds in this one. We definitely stretched our wings a bit more in the songwriting on this one and took some chances - so we hope people dig it.

9/Have you still got your gears of you have upgraded and used digital?

Scott Shapiro : Our sound in made from Gibson guitars played through vintage Marshall amps! Old school gear for old school metal!

10/Will you get a tour for that album?

Scott Shapiro : We are already lining up shows to support "Lost In The Black Divide." We will be headed to Europe in 2018 for a short tour that we are just in the process of booking now.

11/Which cover do you play?

Scott Shapiro : We don't really play any covers right now, although I've been trying to talk the guys into playing the old Holocaust classic, "Heavy Metal Mania."

12/Are you playing in other bands?

Scott Shapiro : I don't play in any other bands, but Kiyo and Steve play in a NWOBHM tribute band called Union Jack and the Rippers.

13/What do you think of the scene?

Scott Shapiro : The scene is pretty vibrant right now. We just played a show with Hell Fire and Blackwulf here in San Francisco that was super rad. We have one coming up in October with Cauldron, Amulet and Skelator that we’re also really looking forward to. The heavy metal scene isn’t just in one city,- it’s a sick global family of psychopaths and I love it! Tons of friends, headbanging and beers!

http://spacevacationrocks.com

1/ You took the same cover as 2012 «Flames of justice» but with white background, what ‘s the reason for that choice? why not asking for an artist to get a cover?

We wanted to celebrate the 5th anniversary of our 1st album so used similar artwork, also something our fans are familiar with.

2/What this logo represents for you? Are you afraid of loosing your identity?

The logo represents Absolva, that’s it really.

3/The title on the album «Defiance» is the second song on the set list, why not having it in the middle of the album? why choosing this song in particular?

We choose our song order very carefully. 2nd song is where this song fits best & its’ message sums up the album.

4/You have lots of songs for that album and only few for the live part, do you keep creating songs or those are old ones you kept in a closet?

None of the songs were from the closet, we’re continually writing & coming up with riffs or melodies.

5/How did you choose which songs to get as live ones? Did you ask your fans?

Yes we asked & the entire album is a reflection of what many fans told us. That’s what we set out to do.

6/You are giving free songs on your website for everyone who signs to the newsletter, does it help sells?

We did that a few years ago, not now, although it can be a help, yes. Maybe you are looking at historic pages.

7/Who is doing the website? not responsive more old school...

We’re independent & like most things the website is done by our own team. It’s not flashy but it does the job.

8/Chris how your vocals has evolved since you started to sing for the band? does it come easier now while playing?

For Chris, guitar came naturally, vocals he worked at over the years. He gets more praise for his vocals now than before so it seems to be working & most people agree he is unique & recognizable which is a gift.

9/Do you get fight as brothers or you just match for the compositions?

We argue sometimes but normally not regarding songwriting.

10/ You have many influences from Thrash to Heavy, are you listening specific albums before composing or you just have lots of inspiration by playing a lot?

We are lucky because I work & write songs with Jon Schaffer & Chris works & writes songs with Blaze Bayley who of course previously worked with Steve Harris & Iron Maiden. We’ve soaked up these influences & skills & use them in our own approach, as well as creating our own sound.

11/ You are very active in three bands, how do you concentrate on each bands songs? have you got the impression to turn in circle sometimes? How do you deal with commitements, rehearsals, live shows...etc?

We’re very organised & most of what we do is arranged many months or even years in advance. This helps!

12/What is the message of «Defiance»?

The song Defiance is inspired by the values of the French Revolution but is widened to cover all movements against oppression. The album, despite having some sad parts, is mainly upbeat & positive.

13/You must have busy schedules, are there times you wanna rest? get away from music?

We don’t rest often but we’re coming towards the end of the 2017 touring cycle now so that side of our work is winding down, & Chris will concentrate on the next Blaze Bayle album for a while. I will help too but also prepare for the Iced Earth tour of Europe in January 2018.

14/Luke is playing bass in famous bands, doesn’t that make it tough sometimes?

Yes, it can be difficult but we plan ahead & normally it works out.

15/Are you playing all different instruments? or just Luke...

I play bass in Iced Earth & Rhythm guitar in Absolva, that’s the only real variation. Chris sticks to lead guitar, although we both like to play acoustic.

16/Have you got a studio? Any engineering skills?

Chris has engineering skills in the live arena & studio, he co-produces Blaze Bayley albums these days. I have studio skills for demo/pre-production too.

17/Who is your favorite guitar player? the one that you get those melodies...

Jon Schaffer is my favorite guitar player, & Steve Harris on bass.

18/ what inspire your lyrics? have you got a line or you keep writing?

Our lyrics are often upbeat & defiant, sometimes sad. Some songs are open to interpretation for the listener.

19/Is the fact you are signed to Rocksector Records helps you to get albums coming, live tour etc...?

Although Rocksector in the past worked & released various other bands, it mainly now concentrates on our own music. We co-own the label with our management.

20/Is there one song you really love the most on this album? So many hit singles...

Fistful of Hate is perhaps my favourite. But it’s tough to choose.

21/What’s different from the other albums? any difficulties in particular?

Scheduling the recording was hard but we did it. The songs are in general shorter, punchier, great structure we think.

We aimed to bring out the best in what makes a great Absolva song.

22/Are you gonna release an album every year?

The band is 5 years old & we have 5 albums so far, including the live album. However, there won’t be another new one until 2019 most probably.

www.absolva.com

1/ What made you start the band? What was the idea? Did you have bands before?

Well, I wanted to share my music with the world. I was a solo artist before and I had worked on some songs with the bass player Rally. One day we have decided that we wanted to hear our music live on stage with a real band and soon after we created SEVI. 2/ Was it hard to get a full line up? what was the difficulties you encountered?

Well, it’s not easy to find the right people and as most of the bands in the world we also made some changes in the initial crew. Music world is a hard place to live in and one has to be very confident and determined to succeed so the hard thing is to find 4 people that believe in our music and in our future as a band.

3/ Do you have lots of musicians in you country? Is it easy to find the right people?

There are many talented musicians in Bulgaria and many good bands and artists. But to be successful is a mission that needs more than talent. You need to have numbers of qualities to be able to survive in the music world and to be able to follow your own path. So no matter how many talented musicians exists, they are few people that are ready to put their career in the first place and work hard for their dreams.

4/ Have you taken singing lessons? How do you practice your voice?

I sing since I can remember. I have tried folk music and opera and one day I have decided that rock music was my destiny. I have taken many singing lessons through the years and I keep on practicing my voice.

5/Are you working in the music business or know people who has musical skills?

As an unsigned band we all have to know more about sound engineering, video editing etc.. We all work with music programs and video editing programs. Our bass player for example is very good at photo and video. He made the video editing of one of or latest video « One Time Thing » .Of course we work with professionals when it comes to final product 6/ Why calling the band ‘sevi’? was there a discussion around the name to use?

Well, it all started with my nickname as a solo artist and it somehow naturally became the name of the band.

7/ Reading your bio it seems like you are in a very cool country, how did you get all those facilities? cinema, radio...

Well, I think that it’s all about hard work and passion. When you want something very much, no matter where you live , it’s all possible.

As for Bulgaria I think that our music business is on quite good level for such a small country. There are always possibilities anyway, but you have to search and know how to use them.

8/ Your power is today’s media tech the videos, you are making a lot and this is probablly your success. How do you get those made? are they any directors, labels or people behind those? Do you participate in the creation or the making? video editing etc...

We are unsigned band and we manage and produce our projects ourselves. Of course we work with good studios here and directors for the videos and the albums. For example our last 4 videos were made by Emil Tsonchev who is a real genius to me. He made the script, the shooting , the directing and the post production. He is really talented.

As for us, for some videos we leave all to the director, in others we take part in the script and give ideas. We also took part in the editing of some of our videos.

9/ Your songs seem to be really close to reality, how do you write the lyrics? is it one person or you all get involved like the music writting? Do you have friends helping or you use personal stories?

Well, I write all the lyrics and I am glad you find them close to reality. I always get inspiration from all that surrounds me. I am telling stories from real life. Lately my brother also wrote some lyrics for our new album which makes me really happy.

10/ You made an acoustic album with a DVD, what means this part of your band? is it an old project became reality?

Ha, no it was an experiment that we made for a radio interview. It was so well accepted that we decided to make a whole album with new arrangements of the songs of our debut album. We called it “The Other Side of SEVI” because it was completely different direction and it helped us to discover other sides in our composing and sound.

We never put limits to our musical ideas and we are always ready to experiment.

11/ What are the bands that inspired you? is there a musical line you wanna reach or try to keep?

We try to listen as much music as we can in all styles, we are trying to be aware of the music world today. I don’t think that we have idols or bands that inspire us. We are trying to be true to our own style and ideas , to be honest with our fans.

The only line we are trying to follow is our own 12/How did you make the festival «rock it» in 2012? Are you dealing with supporting bands or have an organisation besides your band?

We did it by ourselves and with the help of bar Rock it, many friends and fans. It was a dream come true. We had the support of all the bands, too. WE wanted to make a festival that will give popularity to the unsigned bands in Bulgaria. We have made 2 editions of the festival with more than 50 bands on the stage. I will be happy to be able to do it again sometime.

It was really hard organizing such an event, but it was totally worth it.

13/ Since 2015 you seem to have gained popularity and played with top bands, would you say it is because of the net? Or you dedication to music pushed you to get in touch with lots of people?

I think it’s a combination of hard work, good music and professionalism.

Good chance, and yes, internet helps a lot and opens many doors to new fans and possibilities all over the world 14/ What is the reason of the flag with your band’s name? you have that pirate thing going with your late video «siren» what is behind this idea? do you think it has a funny style to the band?

Oh, this is a flag we used in our last video «The Call» and we put the picture to our facebook profile just for fun. Our original logo has not a flag behind 15/ Who made the logo? is there a designer you are dealing with?

The original design is mine, then we redesigned it with a professional designer.

16/ Are you 100% working for the band? social medias, radios .. DIY kinda stuff?

We are trying to do our best It’s a lot of work every day but when you don’t have a big company behind your back you have to work hard. We manage our PR, promotion and all the media work ourselves. As they say no one knows better than us what’s best for us 17/ Do you have an impact on which country is the most into the band?

We are quite popular in Bulgaria, we have many fans in USA, Italy, UK, Germany and South America. Lately we had some orders of our new album from Japan 18/ So you had a small tour around your country , what would help you getting live around the globe?

Well, its all relative nowadays. I don’t think there is a formula. We have couple of national tours here in Bulgaria and 3 European tours that I organized myself. We made concerts in Romania, Serbia, Italy, Greece etc .We opened shows for Europe with Tom Keifer and were on one stage with bands like Evanescence, Epica, Doro, Nightwish and many others.

We hope we will have the chance for bigger stages and bigger tours but the ways to achieve that are so many that I can’t give you the formula to do that. Every band has it’s own way.

19/With the digital age, are you getting lots of sales? What’s your view on this?

Yes, we have lots of sales through CDbaby and all the online stores for music There are still many people, though who want physical copy which makes me really happy. With our new album we had orders from all over the globe.

20/ Is there a secret you would like to tell bands who want to grow like you do?

Be yourself, don’t listen to anyone, just do what you believe is right for you! And most of all make songs!!

http://seviband.com

Francais

English

1/ Comment vous est venue l’idée de participer à une émission TV ? Pas habituel pour un groupe de musique surtout connaissant la télé française.

Alch3my : Bonjour aux lecteurs ainsi qu’à toute l’équipe du magazine ! Nous avons été sollicités pour nous produire à l’émission «La France a un Incroyable Talent» en 2010. Nous avons accepté d’y participer car pour nous c’était comme une sorte de test. Nous nous voyions un peu comme des outsiders plongé dans le grain bain médiatique trop souvent frileux de mettre en lumière les découvertes rock et métal. L’opportunité de pouvoir nous exprimer en prime time sans faire de concession était je dois l’avouer réjouissante !

Chris Henderson, guitariste du groupe 3 Doors Down, a vu notre passage et a saisi notre démarche audacieuse de passer outre les clichés de la TV réalité dans le but de faire entendre notre voix. Nous souhaitons de tout coeur avoir ouvert une brèche, même étroite, pour que les formations rock et métal françaises puissent à leur tour s’y engouffrer.

1/How came the idea to participate in a TV show? Not usual for a band mostly when you know the French TV. Alch3my : Hello to the readers as the magazine team! We have been asked to participate to the TV show «France ‘s got incredible talent» in 2010.We agreed to participate as it was like a test for us. We looked at ourselves as outsiders in the medias bath too shy to get the light on new Rock and Metal acts. The opportunity to express ourselves during big audiences without any obligation was I must admit joyable!

Chris Henderson , guitarist from 3 Doors Down saw us and appreciated our dedication and guts to play that TV show which was the only reason to get our music heard aside from the normal «reality show cliches». We first hope we have opened a door even slightly, for French Rock and Metal bands to slide into this way.

2/ Qui a décidé du nom du groupe? Pourquoi le chiffre 3 dans le nom ? Comment le logo a t’il été créé ?

Alch3my : C’est Ryan notre chanteur qui a proposé ce nom quelques semaines après la création du groupe. Après notre première scène ensemble, nous avons compris que la valeur essentielle qui mène au succès réside dans l’alchimie qui doit s’opérer entre le public, les chansons et les musiciens comme une communion entre nous tous. C’est d’autant plus vrai dans le rock qui est une musique faite pour rassembler. Nous nous voyons un peu comme des alchimistes de la musique en quête de la note de musique philosophale qui transforme une mélodie en tube (rires). Le E inversé en 3 dans notre nom rappelle cette idée d’élément chimique et permet par ailleurs une meilleure identification visuelle de notre nom.

2/Who decided of the name? Why the number 3 in it? How the logo has been created?

Alch3my : It’s Ryan our singer who propposed this name he had few weeks before we started the band. After our first live show, we understood that the essential value which leads to success is depending on the alchemy which has to flow with the public, the songs and the musicians like a one piece with us all. It’s most real in Rock which is a music that brings everyone together.We are like Alchemists of music in the aim to get a philosiphy that transforms melodies in hits (laugh). The inverted E as 3 just reminds this idea of chemical element that allows us by far a better visual identity of our name.

3/ Depuis votre création combien de changement de musiciens ont eu lieu ? Cela a t’il modifié la façon dont vous composez ou le style ?

Alch3my : Le line-up du groupe a effectivement changé à plusieurs reprises, probablement pour obtenir l’alchimie parfaite (rires). Nos compositions ont néanmoins conservé la même structure musicale puisque la ligne artistique venait en majeure partie des idées de Ryan.

3/ Since you started how many line up changes have you had? Has it changed the way you create?

Alch3my : The line-up has changed many times , probably to get the perfect alchemy (lol).Our compositions have kept their roots since the artistic line comes mostly from Ryan’s ideas.

4/ Comment s’est fait le voyage aux states ? Est ce quelque chose que vous conseillerez a tous les groupes pour élargir leur horizon ?

Alch3my : L’aventure américaine est selon nous une étape primordiale vers la consécration de toute formation rock.

Nous aimons agir et aller de l’avant alors nous n’avons demandé à personne pour partir là-bas. Et nous n’avons pas eu à le regretter : nos rencontres avec des pointures du rock US et canadien tels que Synyster Gates (guitariste du groupe Avenged Sevenfold), Brad Arnold (chanteur de 3 Doors Down), Mark Tremonti (du groupe Alter Bridge) et John Fred (batteur du groupe Black Stone Cherry) nous ont profondément fait évoluer professionnellement et musicalement. Ils nous ont appris que l’industrie rock US est certes rude mais qu’elle offre d’un autre côté de nombreuses opportunités aux nouvelles formations qui travaillent pour se faire une place. Là-bas la complicité prédomine devant le chacun pour soi.

A contrario la France a tendance à materner les groupes à coup de subventions ou d’aides de l’état, un confort à double tranchant qui n’a pas d’équivalent outre-atlantique. Chaque groupe doit se forger son opinion en fonction de sa stratégie. Il faut avoir conscience que partir dans un autre pays pour une durée indéterminée afin de réaliser un objectif n’est pas partir en vacances. Cela demande une forte dose de motivation pour toute l’équipe et des nerfs très solides car nul ne peut prévoir tout ce qui pourrait arriver sur place. Nous avons eu notre lot d’émotions et d’anecdotes comme cette fois où, tombés en panne dans le désert des plaines arides de l’Arizona alors que nous nous rendions vers notre prochain lieu de concert, nous avons été secouru par... Leatherface le tueur de massacre à la tronçonneuse !!! Si je t’assure ou plutôt par Andrew Bryniarski l’acteur. Quand il nous a annoncé qu’il avait joué ce rôle, je dois avouer que nous avons tous éprouvé un soulagement d’être encore en vie après l’avoir quitté (rires).

Tu vois, d’après mon expérience j’ai pu constaté que peu nombreux sont les musiciens français qui acceptent de tenir cette cadence. La décision leur appartient, «It’s up to you !» comme ils disent aux states. Ce genre d’expérience te permet de tester ton ambition et les limites de chacun. Dans tous les cas même les groupes les plus casaniers savent qu’une tournée française est déjà quelque chose d’éprouvant.

4/How did the trip to the states went on? Is this something you would advice every bands who wants to spread their name and sight?

Alch3my : The america adventure is to me primary to consecrate your rock formation.We love to act to go forward so we didn’t ask anybody to move there.And we didn’t regret it : our meeting with US and Canadian Rock legends such as Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold guitarist), Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down ‘s singer), Mark Tremonti (Alter Bridge) and John Fred (Black Stone Cherry’s drummer), they have really helped us to evolve professionnaly and musically. They taught us that US Rock scene is tough but offers many good opportunities to the new bands who works hard to get its place. Other there the complexity is dominanting compared to the each for itself.

On the opposite way France seems to keep bands in a coffin with state money and subvention help , which is a sharky situation that doesn’t exist in the states. Each band must get it’s own opinion on it’s strategie. You must know that going into another country for an unlimited time to pursue your project is not going on holidays.That demands a lot of motivation for the whole team and have strong nerves cos noone can tell what will happen there. We had our own emotional time and stories such as the one on our way to a gig when we went out of gaz in the whole desert of Arizona, we have been saved by ...Leatherface the killer from Chainsaw Massacra!!! Yes I swear or at least from the acteur Andrew Bryniarski .When he told us he played that role I must admit I was scared and were happy to be alive afterwards when he left us (lol).

You see what I have noticed from my experience is few French musicans accept the hard work its needed.That’s their own desicion, it’s up to you as they say in English. This kind of experience helps you to test yourself, your limits and ambitions. In anyway every bands knows a French tour is already a tough and tiring experience.

5/ Vous êtes chez M&O comment vous êtes vous retrouvés chez eux et quelle relation avez-vous ? Avez vous eu beaucoup de propositions de labels ?

Alch3my : À peine arrivé en France, nous avons reçu de nombreuses offres de collaboration, certaines très impliquées d’autres plus fantaisistes. Nous recherchions une distribution solide tout en désirant conserver une certaine indépendance. Il y a un an et demi environ, nous avons finalement considéré que l’accord avec le label M&O était le plus ambitieux et le plus respectueux de notre stratégie de développement.

5/You are in M&O record label, how did you end up with them, what’s your relation?

Did you have lots of label propositions?

Alch3my : Straight when we arrived in France we received a lot of propositions.Some really interesting some pretty funny.We were looking for a serious label that keep us our own freedom of act at the same time, a year ago we decided to join M&O which seemed to be the best deal and the most serious in our way.

6/ Quelles sont les inspirations des chansons ? Comment vous écrivez vos textes? Y a-t’il plusieurs personnes derrière?

Alch3my : Ryan aime exprimer son humeur du moment lorsqu’il chante. Lorsqu’il écrit ses paroles, il s’isole pour se recentrer au plus profond de lui-même et puiser dans ses expériences passées la matière première de ses thèmes.

6/What are your inspiration for the songs? How do you write your lyrics, are there many people behind?

Alch3my : Ryan likes to express his mood at the moment he sings. When he writes his lyrics , he just get alone to concentrate in his innerself and getting all of his experiences to elaborate the themes of the songs.

7/ Comment vous composez les chansons ? Il y a t’il une personne en particulier où c’est vraiment un travail de groupe ?

Alch3my : Ryan ainsi que Mat notre guitariste composent l’ossature des morceaux. Vient ensuite le travail en studio avec le groupe au complet, chacun venant apporter sa touche personnelle à l’ensemble. L’alchimie parfaite on vous dit !

7/ How do you create? Is there some in particular who brings the compositions or the the whole band participate?

Alch3my : Ryan as our guitarist Mat composed the most of the songs. Then the studio work comes with the whole band and everyone of us bring their own touch to the whole. The perfect alchemy as we told you!

8/ Quels sont vos influences musicales ? Y’a t’il un groupe en particulier qui vous a inspiré où à qui vous vouliez ressembler ?

Alch3my : Nous puisons nos sources dans le rock américain des années 90 et 2000, parfois parmi les groupes actuels et dans certains groupes japonais. En effet, la mélodie prime toujours dans ces deux écoles. Au delà des influences, nous nous efforçons de coller d’abord à notre propre identité .

8/What are your musical influences? Is there a band that inspired you or someone you’ d like to be compared to?

Alch3my : Our roots are in the US rock from the 90’s and 2000’s, sometimes from the new bands and some japanese bands. In fact the melody is the first element that always had our love and interest. By far from influences we are trying to be closed to our identity.

9/ Comment se passe les concerts, vous avez participé a de nombreux festivals, quel est le retour vu la différence musicale certaines fois ?

Alch3my : Depuis quelques années nous ne comptons plus le nombre de concerts et de festivals dans lesquels nous avons joués. Nous rencontrons notre public en restant fidèle à nos valeurs et en donnant le meilleur de nous. Le public apprécie l’authenticité, tous les groupes qui tournent le savent. Un concert de Alch3my doit être un spectacle total dans lequel nous nous efforçons de ressortir lessivés devant un auditoire comblé. Quel que soit les goûts et les attentes du public, nous ferons en sorte de créer une alchimie en s’adressant à l’amateur de musique en eux qui ne demande qu’à s’éclater dans l’instant présent.

- Vous êtes-vous fait des amis ?

Oui, particulièrement Outre-Atlantique.

9/How do the concerts go, you have participated to numerous festivals, what is the musical difference is felt from certains gigs?

Alch3my : We don’t count anymore how many shows and festivals we’ve played for years. We are meeting our public staying true to our values and giving the best of us all. Public love authenticity and every bands who play live knows that. Alch3my’s show must be a show in which we are doing the best to get exausted in front of the big audience.

Whatever the musical taste and the wish of the public , we are making sure there is an alchemy with the people who are liking music that just need to burst at that right moment.

-Have you made friends?

Yes, mostly in the states.

10/ Y’a t’il des groupes avec lesquels vous aimez tourner ?

Certains groupes décèlent notre potentiel ce qui les amènent à vouloir sympathiser avec nous. Nous sommes très ouverts du moment que l’on peux s’aider à se hisser les uns les autres.

Merci à toute l’équipe pour cette interview. Nous invitons les lecteurs à suivre notre actu sur notre site officiel : 10/Are there bands you like to tour with?

Some bands get our potential and wish to get friends with us, we are opened as long as we can each help each others out . Thanks to the team for the interview. We invites the readers to check our news on the official site:

www.wearealch3my.com

1/Who started the band and what was the idea?

I started the band about 5 years ago as I was writing a lot songs and I want a real band to record them verse just me doing everything.

2/How did you all meet? was it hard to get a stable line up?

Well it started with Craig the drummer and I met and played in a cover band together and I asked him to record a CD with me. Then I found Win the bass and my then a singer and went through some people on the other players.

We have a stable line up now with the edition of Paul Keller on guitar.

3/Are you the main composer?

Yes I write the main parts of the song at home then I bring it to Amanda and we start working on the lyrics and melodies and then I bring it to practice and Craig helps with the feel and arrangement and then Paul and Win add their parts. So at then it becomes a band song.

4/How did you get the band’s name? who made the logo?

Well some people said my name was a cool name so we stuck with it. I have an artist in Europe to help me with it.

It’s very new and kind of a vampire feel. I like it lol 5/What inspires your music and lyrics?

Well I like to write stories or themes like Jekyll and Hyde, If the Wolf Cries, and Scene of the Crime to name a few and other times it is just a love song or love goes wrong song. It depends on the vibe of the song.

6/Who are your mentors, the best guitarists you learnt from?

For me its guys like Neal Schon, George Lynch, Yngiwe , Randy Rhoads and many more guys like that. They have the ability to shred but still can play a great melody. I work hard on making sure the solos have good feel and melody.

7/How do you Çnd gigs? Do you play all the states and abroad?

Well we play locally mostly but we are looking to make a trip or trips across the water at some point and play some larger venues.

8/Are they bands you like to play live with? Or it’s just the ones available at the moment...

We have some favorites but any gigs we can get onto that get us into a new venue

9/Are you all playing in diÇerent bands you are commited to Gundacker?

Well a few of us are in cover bands as well but we are very committed to this band.

10/Are you self releasing your albums or you have a label behind your back?

We have done the first 2 but we hope to find a label to helps with the next one.

11/Is one of you has a studio and engineering skills?

No one in the band really is a studio cat pre say but I use to make demos on a Logic set up at my house. I have produced the first 2 CD’s I was very involved in the mixing and overall production. I would love to have a real producer to help us make it even better.

Jerry Osokie also help in the mixing and Producing at his J31 Studios. Johnny Lima help Produced and Mix “Penny for a Wishing Well” on the second CD. 12/What gear do you use? are you trying the new digital stuÇ?

Yes for my guitar amp I was introduced to a Kemper Amp by Johnny Lima in his studo and I had to buy one right after that. Those amps are really great and only weigh 8 lbs and you can profile some many great amp sounds. I had a EVH amp that weighed 70 lbs and I was able to get the same kind of sound out of the Kemper and I did not have to break my back lol.

www.facebook.com/gundackerproject

Name : Robb Reiner Where you live : Toronto, ONT - Canada When did you 1st pick up set of drumstix : Age 11 (At best recollection) Drumstix you use & why : Robb Reiner Signature Model Vic Firth 3A Drummer who Inspires You & why : Buddy Rich, Ian Paice, Ginger Baker Fav Song to play drums to : Don't have a favorite.

Fav style of Music to Rock with : 60's ,, 70's era rock Bands You Have Rocked with over the years : Shared the stage with Metallica, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, UDO Dirkschneider, Saxon, Motorhead, Aerosmith..... Etc. Advice to Upcoming Drummers : Never give up & do it for the right reasons !!

Make sure you learn the skills to properly play a snare drum.

What your up to now : touring, supporting Anvil Is Anvil You can purchase sticks here:

http://www.anvil-metal-pounders-union.com/merch http://www.rockstarpix.rocks

http://www.chrismooredrums.com

Name: Chris Moore Where you live: Los Angeles, CA When did you 1st pick up set of drumstix: Age 4 Drumstix you use & why: I use Ahead Drumsticks. Started using them for their durability, but now they are part of my sound. They feel great at any velocity.

Drummer who Inspires You & why: Shane Gaalaas because he can play anything and is truly innovative as a musician on the drums.

Fav Song to play drums to: Etheria by YYNOT Fav style of Music to Rock with: Progressive Rock.

Bands You Have Rocked with over the years: YYNOT, Project NfidelikAh, Endangered Species Advice to Upcoming Drummers: Play what you feel, no matter what.

What your up to now: I just finished a record with George Lynch and Corey Glover to be released in January, 2018.

Name: Dean Clarkson A.K.A. Deano Ferrari . My cousin always called me Ferrari so I used it for a stage name Where I live: I currently live in Lakeside, California. It’s a suburb of East San Diego County. Its way out in the sticks and, home of the “world famous” Lakeside Rodeo.

When did i first pick up a pair of drum sticks? I was about 7 years old. I was learning clarinet at the time in a school music program.

That’s when I realized there was no place in a metal band for an electric clarinet player and decided to play the drums. I got to take out a lot of aggression and they looked a lot more fun to play as well.

Drumsticks I use and why: The sticks I use are manufactured by Excel Drumsticks. (excel2021ad.jpg) I use them exclusively for 2 reasons. They’re the ONLY stick that has EVER held up through a solid two hour set. The second reason is the company itself. Excel Drumsticks has made me feel like part of their family for over 10 years. Everyone there, Tory and Roxanne Butler.. All the people they support (including myself) the endorsees..It’s one big family there.

Drummers who inspire me: Glad you asked «Drummers» If I had to narrow it down to one I couldn’t answer the question. There have been a lot of drummers that have influenced me, From John Bonham to Neil Peart. Scott Travis, Nigel Glockler, Cozy Powell, any of the heavy metal pioneers also, I see a lot of these new bands on YouTube, kids I’ve never heard of that ass! Good to see that a new generation of drummers has secured the future of music.

Fav song to play drums to: Ironically, I like playing to my band’s first album, «Dead to me» by Trailerpark Rockstar.

It’s some of the best stuff we recorded and a kick in the ass to play too.

Fav style to rock to: Through the years I have played many styles of music. Rock, Metal, Reggae, Country, Mainstream, etc... I liked them all but my fav would have to be.. Anything hard and fast with a lot of double bass in it. I didn’t play in bands that played styles I wasn’t into because being a drummer; you gotta feel it to sell it. That doesn’t mean I won’t try something new, in fact I’ve always felt that if you didn’t try new shit you’ll never grow as a musician. I’ve seen drummers that play in bands that totally despise the style of music they’re playing but do it for the money. You can tell seeing them play and it takes away from the music because the «heart-beat» isn’t there.

Bands I have played with over the years: Im sure Im leaving out a few, I’ve done a shit ton of studio work with a lot of musicians as well but for bands here are what I can remember off the top of my head Trailerpark Rockstar Orphaned to Hatred Pantera’D (Pantera Tribute) Bucket of Hate Shotgun Chaperone Copperhead iDS Bangalore Choir The Dreadnaughts Motley Crue’D (Motley Crue Tribute) Straight Jacket Jesus Izzy Ozbourne Plastic Jane Razormaid Advise for upcoming drummers: Learn to play with a «click» and you will always have work. Don’t be afraid to try new things or do things no one else is doing. Constantly look for something new to learn. Don’t limit yourself and BE HUMBLE, no matter how good you think you are. People don’t like big headed drummers.

Video: Trailerpark Rockstar Heavy Drinkin Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-5bH4IwG7c Fav song to play to :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqaqbWdaA5Y

Excel Drumsticks link : https://xceldrumsticks.com/xcel-artists/ Live links : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87h4saJouXQ

Hello Teri, Here you go Let me know if this works for you. Thanks again Michael, started playing the drums in his early childhood at the age of 6 years old playing went on to playing in junior high and high school marching band, jazz band and also attended Pasadena city college where I took two years of essential musical subjects.

Private lessons have also been apart of my drumming experiences, I have been privileged to have studied with some of the best such as Tracy Bores, Jimmy Volpe, who has played with Smile, Eddie Money, Warrior, David Lee Roth.

Gonzo Sandoval, Armored Saint. Ray Hernandez, BB Chung King, Vinnie Appice, Black Sabbath, and Dio. Joey Heredia Independent artist.

Some of my early influences are such drummers as John Bonham, Jeff Pocaro, Clive Burr, Les Binks, Steve Smith, Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson.

Michael, has played and toured with many different artist such as Revolution Child, Bad Seed, Affliction, Body Count, Chris Holmes, Jimmy Bain. Ray Bailey, Tiffany, Nancy Sinatra, Sabrina Price, StoneBreed, and Sea Of Black, Same Vein, Wyldsky, Highway Ryders. Bands and styles vary from heavy metal, rock, blues, country, and even Latin salsa.

Michael is currently putting together a new blues rock band with Tommy Gunn from Laidlaw and former members of Highway Ryders Johnny Travers, and Scott Taylor Michael currently plays on a Tama Star Classic drum kit, also a uses Zildjian cymbalMyms and 5b Vater drum sticks. my advise for young drummers is practice everyday learn all styles of drumming always keep and open mind and oh yea! have a job because being a drummer is expensive but worth it. Michael Gray

www.facebook.com/tribe2rhyme

Name : Rodney Pino

Where you live: Torrance, CA… born and raised in the South Bay.

When did you 1st pick up set of drumsticks: I started playing when I was 10 years old. My childhood friends and I started a band and we would play Kiss songs… or at least try to.

Drumsticks (and drums) you use & why: I don’t really have a favorite. I just started using Vic Firth. It’s the only stick I have found, so far, that has the specific size & weight that I need for the style and speed that I play. They have a pretty good variety, but I’m always looking. As for drums, I’m endorsed by a small drum company called Riverside Drum (from Riverside, CA) which makes custom sizes. Also Axis Percussion designs all my hardware and I get my heads from Aquarian.

Drummer who inspires you & why: Terry Bozzio and Bill Bruford are a couple that I really like. I grew up listening to a lot more fusion music than rock or metal. But there are some young speed metal drummers out there whose footwork and techniques are just amazing.

Favorite style of Music to play: My favorite genres are progressive rock and fusion. I always tried to play music that was difficult to play… the more unusual & tricky the better.

Bands You Have Rocked with over the years: I was in Joshua in the mid-80’s. Then I became keyboard player for Data Clan, which was Love/Hate before they changed the name. After Data Clan I put the drums away for about 10 years and fronted my own band, Hollywood Hot Rod, which was produced by Tony Papa (Weird Al Yankovic). My drummer for Hollywood Hot Rod was Steve Felix, from the BusBoys. In 2001 I pulled the drums out again when I was asked to audition for Silent Rage, a band that was signed by Gene Simmons in the 80’s. We toured Europe together and released “Four Letter Word,” their 4th studio album, in 2008 on Frontier Records. I’m still with Silent Rage… and because of EJ Curse (SR’s bassist), I also began drumming for No Duh, a Tribute to No Doubt, in 2009. I had the opportunity to tour Iraq and Kuwait with No Duh and entertain & meet our troops… a incredible and humbling experience. To this day will still play all over... from the Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood, to Trinidad and Tobago.

Advice to Upcoming Drummers: Don’t quit. Don’t quit no matter what anyone tells you or how difficult it seems. If you really love drums, all the years of practice and determination will pay off. It's also great therapy.

What you’re up to now: When I’m not on the road, I own & operate a rehearsal/recording studio in L.A.'s South Bay. For the past year and a half I’ve been working on a new part for drummers with my business partner, Bill McFadden.

We just got a patent. It’s an extra-long, self-threading cymbal sleeve that I came up while touring and having to set up and tear down so many times. I was tired of untwisting all those wingnuts and losing locking devices while in a hurry.

We’re hoping these sleeves make things easier for drummers on-the-go!

Rodney Pino Studio Owner www.GrooveworksStudios.com www.NoNutsCymbalSleeves.com

Hi Teri,

Many thanks for asking me, please find the below answers, let me know if you need anything else.

Name : Clive Edwards Live : Surrey, England

When did you 1st pick up set of drumstix : About age 11

Drumstix : Dynavox Signature stick in Cornus, they are made to my specifications and are so strong and durable, love them.

Drummer who Inspires : Too many to name, All the great rock drummers, many of whom are no longer with us, from Buddy Rich to John Blackwell all the great players have inspired me in some way.

Fav Song to play drums to Fav style of Music to Rock with : That’s a hard one too, so many… But Lights Out is pretty fantastic fun to play… and Rock is my thing, so much to get ya teeth into and enjoy… and you can play hard!!!

Bands You Have Rocked with : Wild Horses, Pat Travers, Uli Jon Roth, UFO, Bronz & Lionheart are a few of the bands I have had the great pleasure in being a part of.

Advice to Upcoming Drummers : Work hard, listen well (to advice & the other musicians on stage) and play with feel.

I have been busy this year with Lionheart, Kossoff… the Band plays on, Frankie Millers Full House and Bucket & Co.

All the best,

Clive xxx

1/You’re back with a new album after decades, have you tried to get the orignal line up together? what difficulties have you encountered?

Yes, we got the band together in 2015 for just one reunion gig at Gothenburg sound festival. It was the second time around they did ask us and at this point both me and Vicki was up for the task. We asked Pia but she did not want to participate. Tina on the other hand really wanted to do it. Unfortunately she is now living in another part of Sweden and the distance geographically between us made it impossible. So me and Vicki started to look for other musicians.

2/You actually restarted the band two years ago, mostly known from the fans who follow you, was it just for fun or to catch how the people will accept you’re coming back ?

Like i said. The band was restarted to do one gig only in 2015. After a few month of rehearsing and after playing the gig, we all felt how fun it was doing this. So we decided to continue to play. Keep the band alive. As for me...I did not realize how much I missed playing until I started again. ( 25 years later) 3/ You had Frantic Amber guitarist playing for the band live, was she supposed to stay or it was just intended for the live shows? How did you get her to play with you?

We just called Mio and asked her to join and she agreed to play.......Again, we were set up to play one gig. Mio was kind enough to do a few more gigs with us. Then she had to move on and focus on her own band.

4/You have a male drummer, does that changing from the past and have you tried to get a woman? what’s your view on female bands?

Yes....we do have a «male» drummer. Simply because he is a great drummer. I believe it is damn hard to find a great drummer anywhere (including Gothenburg) Be it for man or woman. I have no specific view on «female bands» what so ever. Today there are loads of fantastic girls playing in various bands all over.

I feel the difinition «boy/girl» band a bit dated.

5/Who designed the new logos? wanted you to get a change from the past?

The new logo wich you can see on the album cover is made by Erik Rovanpera. We simply kept the feeling from the old original logo and made it better.

6/Would you say you are the only member who really kept the flame from the start? haven’t you had questions about getting a band again or joigning?

I Think Vicki is the only one who kept the flame during the years. I had a few offers to join other bands but «the flame» was gone and I did not have any interest to join any band what so ever.

7/You are signed to GMR records, how did it happen? have you tried to get other labels? is having all in sweden makes it easier?

Signing with GMR Music Group just came very naturally since we known each other from back in the days. GMR really is a great label to work with and I thank them dearly for making Ice Age debut album possible.

8/Your album has the old logo and reminds a demo like cover, have you had input in the creation?

The album has in fact got a brand new logo. A pimped version from the old one. And yes.....we wanted the album cover to look simular to the old demos. We all had inputs in the process of making the album cover. We are very happy with the result and think it looks amazing.

9/Your first video is the album’s title «breaking the ice» what’s the lyrics about and have you tried to keep oriented from the band’s name? Are all the lyrics on the same theme or you have different stories?

The song «Breaking the ice» is sort of a statement for me start playing music again.. All the other lyrics have different themes and a story of it´s own.

10/How did you get that video done? was it fun? will you make more?

The video is made by the mighty Patric Ullaeus. We are all very happy with how it turned out and it was great fun doing it. Yes....we will make more videos in the future.

11/You have Linnea on the solo guitars, how did you get her to play is she an old friend? Have you composed the album with her? She has her band Tyranex, isn’t this making it harder ?

We met Linnéa at a gig where both Tyranex and Ice Age played. We became friends. With her in the band everything feels complete. She is a fantastic guitar player and a really lovely person as well. She is not writing music in Ice Age.......

I´m sure she´s got her hands full writing for Tyranex. Ha ha.. So far it has not been any problem for Linnèa or André to play in more than one band.

12/Is the band will go on tour? what are the futur projects?

A small tour in Sweden is planned in the beginning of 2018. The future plans also includes a new album in 2018.

13/With time many bands are called IceAge, do you have to deal with legal issues ?

No problems yet.

14/Will you reissue your old songs on a LP? No.....only those 5 old songs we recorded along with 5 new songs on our upcoming Cd/vinyl album. Released 20 th October 2017.

15/ As you say Linnéa didn’t compose on the album so who wrote those great solos? how long she learned them for?

You asked if Linnéa and I composed the album together NO we did not. But of course she had written her own solos..... why shouldn´t she. Dont really know how long time it took her to nail her solos....but it sure sounds fantastic.

16/You had an ESP flying V on few photos, did you try to get an endorsement? you are back with a Gibson type V, is it for the image or you just love that guitar and you don’t have your old one anymore?

I do not have endorsement of any kind. Got 5 v guitars and 2 of them are Gibson. I mostly play on them because they are nice and easy to play on. Not an image or something.

17/Do we have to order your album on the label ‘s site to get it?

It´s a world wide release so you should be able to find it almost everywhere.

Thanx Franck and keep up the passion.

www.ice-age.se

1/You are back with a three track CD available on band camp, is it just to taste how many people will follow after that long absence?

No, I've written a lot of material over the last 2 years and we wanted to get something out for 2017. The thing is we have an album plus but releases have a specific time frame, that the industry follows pretty strictly. And being that we were running towards the end of the year a self released EP made sense. It also shows a bit of a new direction for the band while showcasing this lineup.

2/How difficult it has been to work on those songs? Have you written more?

Just answered above, Toxik is never short on new music.

3/There is a mini ep on youtube, “Crooked Crosses� was it a real Toxik release or just you have fun? Is it available... somewhere?

That song and "Too Late" are part of the "In Humanity" recordings. That was the name we were working under for the planned album with Mike Sanders on vocals Jason Bittner on Drums and Bill Bodily on Bass. Unfortunately that lineup had too many conflicts of schedule and life and the recordings got interrupted. It just wasn't getting finished.

Maybe one day we will release the 5 or 6 songs we nearly finished as an EP or something. For now, what's on YouTube is all there is.

4/You seem to have lots of live shows while no music was released, how did you get all those gigs and how was the response?

Toxik is lucky to have a seat at the roundtable of metal. We've played larger shows since we returned than we ever did back in the day. Overall the reception has been very positive. We are only just coming back out of hibernation now.

It's taken us a while to solidify. That's the other reason I held off on releasing In Humanity. We hadn't landed on our identity yet. Its weird being a "come back" band. I know there are people that get frustrated with the old bands coming back playing their 30 year old material while young bands struggle. And I get that. So for us the objective is not to coast but to write and play new music that compliments our old catalog while moving us forward. And not by over simplifying, but by writing what is genuinely coming out of heads. We love playing the old shit and it will always be a part of the live show. But I see us reemerging with a meaner and heavier sound now which I think will get bigger and better as we grow over the next year or two.

5/You are playing on many underground bands as known ones, can we say you became a studio musician?

Yes and no. For me personally I do spend a lot of time working on music for other people and projects but Toxik remains a live project intentionally. You can't have one guy at home pushing buttons and call it a band.

6/What do you get from this?

Having Toxik is the greatest thing on earth. Its a second family and you travel around the world together making music and friends. Its an amazing experience and the metal family has grown to include children of all ages, we are right at home with all the other big kids.

7/Do you get royalties from previous materials?

NO

8/Toxik is and always been loved by thrash fans, how do you describe yourself now? Have you changed your musical love or play?

We are still thrash but we are writing ourselves into some new territory on this upcoming album. You can hear the transition on the EP like I mentioned earlier. Its heavier but its also very focused. James DeMaria and Shane Boulez are killer players. And with the new songs there is a definite intensity that wasn't there before. At least that's how it feels to me.

9/The band seems to have been shaken by line up changes, how it has been to keep in touch with old members?

I'm on good terms with everyone. Time moves on and peoples lives and priorities change. Finding the right players at the right time is more important than maintaining some hierarchy of members. Toxik is a lot of work and it doesn't make any money to speak of so dedication is stretched to the limits. But all in all I say with no prejudice that Toxik has had some of the best IMHO musicians in the thrash genre and everything that we've recorded has maintained our unique sound and style. I mean this humbly but I'm also too old to bullshit and feign humility. We are all proud of what Toxik means to the fans and friends who get what we are doing musically and have stood by us for a very long time.

10/Did you have struggles like some bands do?

Of course, this industry sucks. But then all industry sucks.

11/Have you got other projects running?

Always. Charlie and I are going to write an album of totally different material once this disc is out. Jim has an album coming out (Gunfire and Sodomy) and is playing gigs with bands like Demolition Hammer, Shane is in other projects as well as creating non computer based electronic music. I have a prog record recorded in the can and other solo stuff.

Charlie has his band Attention Deficit Society among other things. We are an eclectic group!

12/You had guitar made for you, are you still using them?

I was designing and building guitars with a builder here in New Jersey, I do still use them but in the future it looks likely I will get an endorsement deal.

13/Have you tried new gears, what has changed from your earlier equipments? Do you use digital devices?

We are a mix of old and new when it comes to gear. But the Toxik sound is more in the riffing and the tempo than the gear. I think we sound pretty damn close to how we used to on the older material. If you are talking guitar specifically I use a Peavey 5150 and Guitar Rig 5 to record with. Live I've been using an RP1000 which had a pretty close clone of my GK ML250 from the first record. By Think This I was using preamps and such so that sound is pretty easily duplicated. I am moving back to pedals though. I've had enough of the RP. Seems like every fucking show it has a glitch.

Maybe Kemper will work for the road. We will see.

14/Have you learnt new scales or ways to play differently?

Not scales as much as neck knowledge and theory making its way into my solos and riffs. Scales are just extensions of chords. I try to arpeggiate more now as opposed to just blasting harmonic minor 16th notes @ 215 bpm. I mean there is still that element to my playing but I've matured and can play a lot more guitar than I used to.

15/What band have you listened recently? Do you follow new bands?

Too many to list. I think bands like Revocation have changed the game and set a higher bar for tech Thrash bands. Back when we were doing this there was no real category for it and now it seems to be one of many established forms within the metal idiom, again we were just doing what came naturally Thanks for the opportunity to talk about Toxik and our plans and also for supporting the bands and scene by taking time to write these interviews.. good questions

www.toxikmetal.com

1/ Your album «Recuperate from reality» is beeing reissued by Heathen & Hell records, tell us how this happened , are you involved in this? What means this album for you?

Mike: Jeremy Golden from Heaven Hell records had picked up” Recuperate” from a shop somewhere in his travels and was interested in a reissue. He tried to reach the band and finally connected with me through Facebook. It was surprising yet cool and Jeremy was great to work with, I called Brian and Skylar and we put things together.

2/ You obvisouly made other songs, are they other albums or demos we will get repress one day?

Mike: Yes, we originally were planning a boxset release, including our last material and first with “Cursed from the First”. When I contacted our original bass player Kurt to help with the release he was not in favor as he was planning a re-issue on vinyl of the material. The plan is to still re-issue that in the next few years with some bonus material so look for that release!

3/ Can you explain why you disbanded and why none of you kept the band going? many have only one original member keeping the flame.

Brian: way I remember it we all thought we had taken the band as far as it would go and decided to move in different directions musically Mike: Yes, we did keep going, but the music changed, Brian and Matt formed “Sick” and Skylar and helped form “Vault” and then Misery’s Co. and it still keeps going, sounds like we are all still writing!

4/Although you have released albums on LPs and spread around the globe, they are many bands called «dementia» in the world doing generally extreme music, does that mean the name hasn’t been protected?

Brian: Name is ours and is protected. Sadly it takes effort and money to «cease and desist» and if they don’t even more to takes them to court.

Sky: Trademarks are a country to country thing. Unless you are a major band there’s nothing really you can do. I never cared for the name myself because it was constantly misspelled and pronounced wrong. I had a solo record in 2002 called «Rattlecage». A punk band from canada emailed they were rattlecage. I replied, sure, let me know when you move to America! Never heard back!

5/I must say ‘recuperate..’ is one of my fav album I always talked about and help people discover, when you see the hard work you put in this album don’t you have regrets sometimes he didn’t go further?

Brian: Absolutely. We were so proud to see it go #1 in Poland only to see the label bankrupted 6 months later. We were the only band in the green selling

Sky: Recuperate never got formally released in the U.S. It would have been great to do a second LP because we really honed our sound and became faster and aggressive after moving to chicago. Hopefully a recording of those songs can be a future re release. «Right to remain violent» is a personal fave I’d love on CD. 6/Do you think that the fact the album came out in 1991 when the business changed as the Metal music with Death and Black Metal has made it harder for you to keep going?

Brian: No, we were fine. The scene was changing though Mike: We were different, but we were all about proving it, and we delivered live, big time!

7/You seem to be in touch since you know each of you in which band you play, are you getting together as friends sometimes or just following in the corner of your eyes what others do?

Brian: Yes of course. We see each other when we can but are all spread across the US 8/Is one of you more into the music tech or recording work?

Brian: I never stopped and have always wrote and recorded metal 9/Are you all involved in bands or some have quit the music?

Brian: Obviously my focus is TWO TON ANVIL now Mike: Skylar and I had 2 self releases with “Misery’s Company” after Dementia split were I started to write more and play more guitar and even keyboard as it was more industrial. I then moved on to an original rock project called the The Feel. Today I enjoy playing recording and writing but it is mostly just for fun.

10/Music has changed since you started, are you still listening to the old legends or you are following new bands and moved to different likes?What’s your view on the music today?

Brian: There’s any over flooding of mediocre bands and the scene has lost originality but music runs through our veins Mike: I still listen to a tons of different bands, I’m quit to crank up some Motorhead or Slayer, or still enjoy many other genres, blues, industrial… I really don’t listen to many new bands though, I do like Ghost.

11/With all the bands and musicians you met and hang out with other the years , are they ones you ‘re still friend with ?

Brian: All of them. So many to name. I try to stay in touch work all my metal brothers and sisters Sky: I’m friends with all my bandmates. The ones I still have contact for. The famous ones are more just a meet up but all cool people.

12/Do you still write songs and lyrics? what does would sound like and about?Are you in a band?

Brian: I write songs for other artists, myself, my projects, mostly heavy metal like TWO TON ANVIL and a new project coming out Hollow Point. Two Ton Anvil is all over social media and web. Check us out!

Sky: I live in Los Angeles and have been drumming here for 18 years. Currently I am recordinga a solo record. Pop acoustic rock and a couple of country songs. I can’t write metal or I would. I have my own studio. Sky Coast Studios and a t shirt line.

Mike: I am always writing lyrics I haven’t put anything out in awhile. Its soulful, melodic rock, even bluesy at times.

I play guitar and sing in a cover band called the Bsides for fun. I enjoy playing old covers from my youth, Thin Lizzy, Stones, Priest we try to play the less popular songs.

13/Would you like to reform Dementia? or make a one time small tour?

Mike: No I think we have all moved on in a number of ways. I would love to play together again though, it would be a blast to play some of those songs again with Brian, Sky and Matt… It would be way cool, unfortunately it would be costly to even get us all together. Maybe we could remotely put together a new song, haha, many great times, would be great to jam again!

Brian: I don’t see how it’s possible but it would be fun

1/When reading your biography it seems you have lots of musicians playing in this band, how do you find musicians to replace so easilly? it takes time to learn the songs and get along as a band?

mrGeneSimmons (bass): Actually at the early ages of Pokerface it was not easy to find new musicians for replacement. But when we started touring a lot and sharing the stage with big bands we've got some ppl that were interested to be a part of the band. And yes, soon we will announce new lineup changes. It's sad, but it's life.

2/It seems that only one former member is still in the band? Must be hard to get the main idea going?

Doctor (Drums): A little bit. But there were a lot of focused members around. And on the other side I have huge experience of managing team and building process now.

3/With all line up changes it must affect the music’s direction, how do you find the way to keep on the same line?

mrGeneSimmons: Since I joined the band we've made two albums - "Divide and Rule" and "Game On". Yes, riffs for songs were written by different guitarists, but the concept was always checked by me. Moreover, the last album, "Game On", was produced by me. So, while I'm in the band, we will keep the thrash line.

4/ You have played with many big names in the scene, how do you get those gigs? have you got an agent or you are working in the music biz?

mrGeneSimmons: We had a manager which worked for us. It was hard to make a first tour with Sepultura, but after that things went a little bit easy. Then I started to manage the band, found many contacts in Europe and all over the world. We started to make tours abroad and now I'm the only manager for the band. Of course, we have agents, but all decisions about incoming offers go to me.

5/Who is behind the main compositions since you have changed a lot of guitarists..is there a studio musician who creates the music and others play it live?

Ritter (Guitar): There is no single mystical studio composer, each album was made by current band forces. That's why Pokerface has such different songs and sound from album to album. But the main conception is unified: speed, wild, crazy thrash metal.

6/You recently changed a guitarist and the singer, was it before the making of the album ‘Game on’ or after the album was released?

mrGeneSimmons: Yes, it was before making the album. Most of riffs were written by Ritter and lyrics was made by our friend, Nana Traum Mond.

7/When playing live are they songs you always play on the list to make sure everyone gets along?

LadyOwl (Vocal): I noticed that people know well the song "The Chessboard Killer", everybody are singing the

chorus on live shows, and "Under the Pentagram Sign" is well known also. For now, of course, this is all songs from previous album.

8/Who sings the growling voices?

LadyOwl: There is no one singer except me on the record heheh 9/The last album sounds like a musical change towards the end, is it related to the lyrical idea of the story or you might get cooler songs in the futur?

LadyOwl: None of that, but mostly first. But of course you can see some new-styled songs like "Bow! Run! Scream!", "Creepy Guests" and of course "Game On", they are more melodic and more for singing not really growling. It doesn't mean that all songs then will be like "Game On", no, but we must do something new, because we must grow as band and as musicians, we need to expand our auditory.

When guys brought the music of "Game On" song to the table, I found that music is only for almost clean singing. But it's just because the music was made me do that, not because this is our main direction now. But I was fighting for this song a lot and I know not every member of the band likes it, but I was sure that it's gonna work on live shows perfectly.

So that it is, it works amazing and all people age jumping as crazy :) But our main direction will be always bound to thrash metal with brutal vocals.

10/How did you get the deal with M&O label? What made you sign the deal?

mrGeneSimmons: The management on the label found me in FB and we started to discuss the offer before we had an album recorded. For the moment it was completed and mixed, the offer was the best that I had. So, I accepted it.

11/You had lots of photo sessions and a cover different on the demo than the album, are you doing it all yourself and didn’t think you would get signed?

LadyOwl: All photo sessions were happened for the reason, and yes, of course only because we wanted to do that.

Well, we made demo record for some labels and put a common band pic on the cover for introducing ourselves. The cover of the Demo was made by our friend Artyom Demidov, the photo by Andrey Lukovnikov, but all final records of the album were done long before we got signed. Then we made a decision to release the demo CD, 'cause why not?

It sounds very good I guess. We can release whatever we want by ourselves, this is not label who kinda takes all your rules. This is more partnership now.

12/Who designed the cover album? Have you given ideas or just chose amongst many?

Ritter: We hired a designer Jobert Mello (Sledgehammer Graphix) and he did an amazing job, I think. The idea was our common, based on the album concept.

13/How do you create a song? Do you listen to bands before or just keep on creating riffs and keep them somewhere?

mrGeneSimmons: On this album we used the following process. Guitarists compose riffs or something like melody or chords sequense and give me to listen. Then I build construction of the song, add drums and bass, and we are trying to play it on rehearsal. Make some changes again and again before the music become cool for us. After that we make the lyrics and our Lady Owl make vocal line. That's it - the song is ready!

14/Who had the idea of the concept of the Gambler?

mrGeneSimmons: It comes to me after I watched "Sword Art Online". Actually, two first songs from the album are about the two bosses of that game. Then we just developed the idea.

15/Russia seems to have lots of Metal bands coming those days, how is the scene other there ? Is it easy to play live abroad?

Ritter: We have some metal bands with big names - Arkona, Katalepsy, Korrozia Metalla, Pokerface ;) Almost all of them are trying to make business outside - mostly in EU and USA, because russian fans are not used to see good and

professional band from Russia and they are sure that any russian band is a piece of sh*t in advance. It's not their fault - our scene was formed after Slayer and Metallica have come here. So now there are also many perfect local bands with no chance to be famous due to different reasons and tons of metal fans that will never come to a local band show.

So, it's easier to play abroad due to loyal metalheads, you can feel their selfless support anyway. We must drive around 1000 km to reach a first club in Europe, but it's worth it.

Doctor: Definitely it's more interesting but not so easy. You spend a lot of time, money and energy but gain more feedback. In Russia you don't have such oportunities. You are not Kreator, so f*ck off!

16/Is there a country where you sell more albums? Do you have a fanbase?

mrGeneSimmons: Hm, it's not easy to name a specific country, but a lot of our merch is purchased by fans from United Kingdom, France and Germany. Also while we were on tour in EU, in all countries we had visited, the merch was selling pretty good on shows.

17/Do you keep in touch with the bands you play live with? will this open opportunities for the band to play live in the world?

mrGeneSimmons: Yes, with some bands. But it doesn't make a lot of opportunities, 'cause all decisions are making by the band management, and it's not about fun or smth, it's all about money, you know.

BR, Dmitry

www.pokerfacegroup.com

Answered by MASON vocalist / guitarist Jimmy Benson 1/How come guys don’t have a label with the quality of your album?

The quality of the album is great and we’re just happy people are enjoying the songs and production. Maybe that will come next haha.

2/How long did it take you to create those awesome songs?

It took us a solid three months to fully write the album and another two months for the recording.

3/Which band gave you the wish to have two shredders in the band?

Iron Maiden is definitely a very big influence for us to keep leads and duel guitars a thing.

4/How did you learn those playing? Have you attended music schools or just trained to be like your heroes?

Nope, we’re all self taught and have had no formal training, we just practice / jam our asses off!

5/You are so tight and precise, how do you compose songs?

We usually meet up and jam out ideas that we come into the studio with and spit ball backwards and forwards until it feels like we have something solid and then that usually forms into something killer!

6/Your album “Impervious” seems like a story, can you explain that feeling and what you wanted to express?

I felt angry about the way people are in the world. I also wanted to express my own aggressions in a way people could understand using the world as a metaphor.

7/How did you get that cover painting? Did you ask someone or just pick it up? What does it represent?

Eliran Kantor is the one responsible for the artwork. He is great guy and is really easy to work with. This is second album that he’s done artwork for us.

8/Usually bands have their name big on a cover, yours is small what did you want to show?

While we were in the final stages finishing the art, we tried multiple angles/sizes and the final one obviously looked the best.

9/Do you have a studio? How many times do you rehearse and work those songs?

We have small studio setups in our homes that we use to write and trade ideas between each other and we rehearse once a week or more depending on what we have coming up.

10/What is the scene in Australia? is it easy to get Thrash Metal gigs?

The scene is great in Australia at the moment. We have a ton of great bands and a ton of promoters who always give new and upcoming bands shows.

11/Did you get an agent or someone who deals with gigs, advert etc? How do you spread your music?

I personally organize all the touring/gigs for the band. We spread through lots of touring, playing live lots, and our social media platforms, facebook, twitter, youtube, etc.

www.MasonOfficialMetal.com

Intervi ew

Anthon with y Leon e

1/What prompted you to write/release the new EP? Prior to writing the songs for this Ep I had a good solid band in place. It had been several years since “Exit the Pain” was released and I felt it was time to follow up. Unfortunately, straight away I had issues in the studio with one of the members. I don’t want to get into specifics, however, it was agreed that the tracks were not useable. We lost a huge chunk of our budget and really set things back. On a positive note, in part it inspired the first track on the EP, Knife in My Back. Things spiraled downhill from that point and shortly after the singer left the band. I made the decision to go my own way, it was not a well-received decision. I felt at that point that if I was going to be able to produce and exceed my expectations I was going to have to come up with an alternate plan.

2/Have you created everything in the band (lyrics, guitars etc.)?

I have always accepted input from each musician in which I have worked with in the studio. Our process, although may seem odd, works for us. I come up with the idea. I track a rough guitar and also a melody. I send my idea via email to our singer, Scotty Boyd, and he works out the lyrics and will bring his ideas to the table during pre-production. Sometimes I will have solid lyrics and Scott will tweak them. We track in my home and do final tracks in the studio. Also during this time, our drummer, Justin Walker is creating the dynamic. Justin and I hit the studio and we capture his final drum tracks. Many things change at that point. I take his tracks back home and track final guitars and bring bassist, Charlie “Dawg” Hughes in to complete his work.

3/How did you find the right musicians?

Wow! Is that a loaded question? LOL! When I decided to take this band in a different direction it took me some time to figure out who I wanted to fill the spots and then I had to wonder if they would want to be involved. I’m not sure if we can ever say that we are playing with the right musicians. I like to look at the moment. At the moment the right musicians are in place. We are all very proud of the new EP “RETRIBUTION” and I think that for this EP I had the right musicians.

4/You have a mix of influences in your music, was everyone involved in the creations?

YES! Everyone has had input, played their parts and has done their part to make this a successful release. Recording is a tough process and patience is a must. For the most part it is a very enjoyable process. Just like a painter with a white canvas, when the picture begins to be painted the excitement begins!

5/Are those 5 tracks written before you reformed the band?

Yes and No… What I mean by that is that I did have the ideas in place. It was one dimension of the process.

From the conception to the actual final tracking was much different. With all the input I explained in the previous question, the idea changes quite a bit through the process.

6/Are you working on new songs? Will they be in the same blood or slightly changed?

Yes, I am always working on new songs. As we speak we have pre-production finished on a new song that will be in line with RETRIBUTION. Consider it as an extension of the EP.

7/Due to your success with your first album, did it make it easier to find a label?

I think that with an award winning product it can bring more notoriety and with that I would have to say it could be perceived that way. I think with RFL it was what fit best. What I expect and what they can provide. Sometimes it’s not always money 8/Have you had many label opportunities? why choose this one?

To be honest, it wasn’t something I thought about during the time I worked on EXIT THE PAIN. As I started to get a better understanding of things I had an idea and a direction that I thought could be beneficial. I went with my gut and when I met Jon I believed in what he wanted to do. I am very happy with the efforts RFL has put into this EP and I don’t see any reason we cannot meet our goals. Things take time, we are just planting the seed. We just have to put it in the right soil and hope for the best.

9/What does the name mean?

I get asked this all the time and I typically don’t answer. I feel you guys are pretty special so I’ll give you my best explanation. The name derived from the concept of an oxymoron. I knew going into this that I may need to have musicians in the band that didn’t fit in style, image, etc. Silk9 is about taking things that don’t go together and making it work.

10/Did you work on the cover design?

Yes. The artist at RFL provided a few concepts that I didn’t feel represented the band so I came up with something on photo shop and sent it to Jon. He turned that over to his design team and they created a design, that design went to local artist David Fair for final logo and layout preparation.

11/ Is there a band you would like to sound like or inspired you the most?

I don’t think there is any one band or one influence in the making of this EP. I think we all have different influences that we “borrow” from and incorporate into our music. I saw an interview with George Lynch once. He explained that’s how we keep the circle of music growing. “ We aren’t stealing, we are borrowing, and if I have influenced someone enough to borrow, then I am very happy to have done so” 12/ Are you trying to make a new musical genre? Do you want to be out of the box type?

I do believe most of the current music is starting to sound very similar. I like a lot of the new music. However, in my writing, I try to be different. I base most of my time on melody rather than musicianship. I think the song will grow on its own. My job is to get the meat and potatoes down first. It could be a guitar riff, a chorus, a verse, or a lyric.

I find that one little thing to begin building around and let things create itself from there.

Thanks so much for having me answer your questions.

From myself, Scotty Boyd, Justin Walker and Charlie Hughes, we appreciate your time and effort and hope that we can do this again soon!

Heather Williams : Hi Tom, it's awesome to be able to do this interview with you.

It was great learning about you and your work.

** Tell us how Sodom formed. It's said that you started Sodom as a means to get out of the coal mines you were working in. Why did you turn to music as a way out instead of say going to college or getting some training of some sort in another profession?

Yes, getting out of the coalmine was always my aim. But I took the decision to quit my job there in 89, when Agent orange came out. In the beginning of Sodom in 81-82 we never thought about to get professional musicians. Making music was just our hobby and kind of revolution against the parents, teachers and establishment. But I never regret my decision to quit and I was so lucky that our music was so successful all over the years.

** When you first formed the band you were inspired by bands such as Venom, Motorhead, AC DC, Tank, Rainbow and Accept. I do hear those influences in your music but honestly your music is much heavier, thrashier, and speedier than those bands. What about these bands influenced you so much back in those early days?

But the band venom was the reason to form a band. When their first album came out, my world has changed. But also raven and tank and for sure, motörhead were our great heroes. So we took the decision, to form an own band, that should sound heavier than venom and faster than metallica. That was our slogan ,)) but we created a brand-new and own style, called “witching metal” so we want get separated from all the other bands around us in that times

** Frank Testagen started out singing vocals back in 1981 but you took over singing duties by 1984 and have been singing for the band ever since. Why? What made you decide to become Sodom's full time singer?

I also sang some lines on the first demos. But when frank left the band I took the vocal part. Witchhunter liked the way I sing and there was no reason to find a new singer

** Sodom has not had a very stable lineup over the years. You've been the most stable member being there since its inception. The longest staying members are drummer Bobby Shottkowski (13 yrs) and current member guitarist Bernd "Bernemann" Kost (21 yrs). What made it click with these guys but not the others?

Oh yes. Maybe the same age helps. Now after all the years we are able to talk about problems and always try to help each other. These guys fits perfect to me. I am proud of them. Awesome musicians and good pals. In my opinion, Makka is the best german drummer. His drumming is accurate, superfast and always dependable. He had so many good ideas and came up with awesome drums to get these songs realized.

Each member has the same right to be heard. What would i do without a creative band? Berni came up with the guitar-riffs and gave me the initial sparks for the basslines, vocals and the lyrics. I just love his hard riffing combined with melodic solos. So there is no reason to change something. I always want to keep a line up as long as possible….

** Are you the main lyric writer for Sodom? How do the lyric ideas come into your head? Do you have to sit down and think them through. Do they just sometimes pop into your head In the most unusual circumstances such as standing in the grocery store line?

My biggest inspiration is the life itself. Specially for the latest release I got so many ideas for lyrics. It`s the current state of our world. The disturbed relation between Russia and the United states, the foreseeable end of the European

union, and other conflict. Bad news every day. And it never stops and it is running out of control. Especially when you consider how much the world has changed since the latest albums. Sectarian killing, cold war, nuclear armament, abolition of democracy in many countries’, starvation and all the destructive frenzy …that inspired my lyrical mindset and fits so perfect to our music. That is sad but true. I am not politically active, but this music gives me the chance to enter the stage and to scream my rage out. That is like a therapy for me.

** You also have a band called Onkel Tom Angelripper. When did you start that and why is it a band where you sing metal versions of Christmas carols and pop songs? What is the idea behind that?

We started out in 95. In the beginning we came up with the idea to produce an rock album with german traditional drinking and student songs. In the end, the first album was so successful that we got an option from our label for a second and a third one. That was amazing. The band is still performing and at the time we write songs for the next album. 10 songs are already arranged but we think about to release a double album, one side with covered drinking songs and one with own material…..

Its so funny to do but you have to realize, that Sodom is my main band.

** Tell me what its like playing in front of thousands of people at festivals such as Wacken? How do you prepare for a major gig like that? Any pre show rituals? When do you guys start rehearsing for stuff like that?

Oh yes, that is amazing. But we also love to play in small clubs…very close to fans. I like to get in contact to them for signing sessions or just getting some beers with them. We rehears every week, it does not matter if there is an upcoming show or studio jobs. We do more sessions when we changed the setlist or writing new songs. We have no rituals before the show, just shaking hands and drinking a beer…cause god will always be by our side ,)

** Bassinvaders sounds like an interesting project. Started by Helloween's Markus Grosskopf, it a project using nothing but bass guitars for the lead solo playing , rhythm bass playing with accompanying drums and vocals. You guys put out an album Hellbassbeaters in 2008. How were you approached for this project? Are there any more albums?

Where can fans pick up their copies?

It was just a “one time” project, to show the people, how important bass players are for the songwriting process in a band and what bass players are able to create with their instruments. We never thought about a second release…and we never did any live shows. Many people don’t understand the meaning of this project and still miss the guitars….

But I love it…

** Tell us about Die Knappen.

This band was established by myself and some good friends. The idea behind was to create music dealing with the soccer team schalke 04 and coalmining songs. But I am not more active in this band. Playing in 3 bands seems to much for me. So the the bass player “schiri” took the vocal part.

** Dezperadoz (formerly Desperados) is a band you played in with Sodom guitarist Alex Kreft. What albums were you on? Are there any out there to buy?

I was the singer of the first album. They released a couple of albums after the debut and they are still around. But i am not more in this band. But i am still proud to be a part of their history. The first album was very strong but underrated.

I love it. Alex kraft produced a new album, which tells the story of the famous gunfighter billy the kid. I took some guest vocals on it.

** You've been putting out albums with Sodom every two-four years since 1984! Where does all of this material come from? Your brain must be constantly in music making mode which is awesome. Are you going to keep putting albums out for us until the very end? The thought of you as an old metal guy is just cool haha

As long as I stay healthy and creative I will do it. I always have so many ideas for new songs, lyrics and concepts. But the secret is very simple. Do what you want and create your music without any dictation from outside. We also try to keep the spirit of all the older records and to separate us from other bands.

** Where exactly did you get the name Sodom and what does it mean?

The idea came, when I saw the movie “120 day of Sodom” and also venom’s “thousand day in Sodom” helps a little bit ,)

** Bass talk

A. What is your favorite brand of bass, amps, bass pickups , pedals and strings? Do you have a favorite bass guitar you own?

It`s a sansamp (preamp), Marshall amplifier EL34, EMG pick ups, rotosound swing bass strings. At the time my favourite bass guitars are Fernandes Tremor and warwick Stryker.

B. Have you ever bought a bass and modded it up, then regretted it later and couldn’t reverse it?

NO!!!!

C. Do you use a processor?

No, but I think about to use a modern and digital Kemper amp, cause it sound fantastic and is easy to handle on touring by plane cause of the less weight D. Have you ever broken strings in the middle of a show?

I think one two or three times in my carreer, but I could handle it to keep the show go on. But I was always shocked and helpless, when it happened..

E. Tell us your tour setup I use a sansamp (preamp) and a local ampeg amplifier with 8x10 ampeg cabinets.

F. Please explain the following: Natural harmonics, artificial harmonics, tapping and sliding harmonics.

What is that? Never heard about…Hahahahah!!!!

G. How many pics do you go through in a show?

need 6 or 8 pics…cause I throw them in, but just need one to perform

** When did you first pick up the bass and what attracted you to the bass guitar out of all other instruments? Are you a self-taught bass player or did you take lessons?

I bought my first bass guitar in 1980 in a small music store in my hometown. I did not know the manufacturer, but I loved the shape, that looked similar the the Ibanez destroyer. The saleswoman told me, that it is a Japanese guitar called hondo. I still own this ,)) I never had lessons, but we practiced 3 times a week. It was important to play own songs, and that was very easy back in these days…

** Do you give bass lessons or have bass clinics?

No

** Who has influenced your music and life musically or non-musically?

I think, growing up in a coalminer family, living in a worker milieu. That shapes the way I thought about life. That’s

also the reason, why german thrash sounds different to US bands. We had a really hard life and my parents worked so hard to survive and they did anything to bring up the kiddies well protected. That real life was the biggest influence and also my success is the result of a hard working man.

** What do you do in your downtime? Any hobbies, favorite foods, tv shows , books etc?

Spending time with my family and friends, driving motorcycle. But my biggest passion is hunting and I try to spent so much time as possible in my own hunting district…that helps to relax ,)

https://www.facebook.com/sodomized/

Heather Williams : First, please tell us who the members of Girlschool are, and their roles in the band. There are three original members right? And when did you come into the band?

Jax : Myself Jackie 'Jax' Chambers on lead Guitar and Backing vocals. I joined in 1999 still the new girl after 14 years*:) happy. The other members are all the original members Kim McAuliffe Lead vocal and rhythm guitar, Denise Dufort Drummer and Enid Williams Bass guitar and lead vocals, although an original left for 18 years and came back into the band in 2000.

Heather Williams : How did Girlschool start out?

Jax : Kim and Enid lived in the same street, they put a band together when none of the boys would let them play in their bands, first of all it was a covers band called 'Painted Lady' then later Denise and Kelly joined and they became Girlschool in 1978.

Heather Williams : Can you explain the bands ties to Motorhead? It's my understanding that Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister had heard your first single "Take it All Away" on the radio, and the rest is history!

Jax : Yes that's exactly right when Girlschool released their 1st single 'Take it all away' Lemmy heard it and liked it, he went along to see the girls rehearse and invited them on tour with Motorhead, the rest is history as you say *:) happy.

Heather Williams : Tell us about the NWOBHM years of the band.

Jax : Well I wasn't in the band back then but I know it was a special time for all involved and most of those bands are still around today still recording and playing gigs. They influenced a great deal of bands today with that style.

Heather Williams : When is Girlschool's next tour?

Jax : Well, next year is our 40th Anniversary so we will be hoping to tour at some point to celebrate that.

Heather Williams : Girlschool has toured with so many great bands, and played so many shows, festivals, and many awesome tours. What are the bands Girlschool has toured with?

Jax : Pretty much every rock band from the 80's. I know the girls always mention the best tours being with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden in the 80's, my own personal Favourite would be when we played with Alice Cooper in Spain and of course the Motorhead tours we've done.

Heather Williams : Have you guys done any American tours?

Jax : Yes a few over the years, the last one we did was 2005 when we played a few gigs on the west coast, great fun but a lot of travelling.

Heather Williams : How many albums have Girlschool put out, and what is the latest album?

Jax : I think it's 13 now? The last album we released was Guilty As Sin in 2015.

Heather Williams : When will Girlschool be going back into the studio?

Jax : We don't have any plans to go back in the studio just yet but we may do some thing for the 40th, though there is a DVD coming next year..

Heather Williams : Who writes the songs in Girlschool? Is there a general theme to the lyrics?

Jax : Me, Kim and Enid all write. I used to have a studio so I tended to write the music then give the Cd to Kim and Enid to write lyrics to and that worked. Sometimes we jammed songs and sometimes we'd have a song completed that we'd all written individually and brought along. The lyrics are whatever seems to be going on in our lives or what we're thinking about, no specific themes, just what we're passionate about.

Heather Williams : What should the fans look forward to for the rest of 2017 and beyond?

Jax : We have a few festivals booked including a couple in the Uk which is quite rare these days. Then we will be putting the DVD together with the record company ready for next years release.

Heather Williams : I think it would be really cool to talk about former guitarist Kelly Johnson. Could you please tell the fans about her?

Jax : Kelly was a lovely woman and we all miss her a lot. She left the band in 1999 and unfortunately felt ill with cancer and died in 2007. She was an amazing talent and will always be remembered for that.

Heather Williams : What has it been like being a female in the metal/rock music industry? Have you guys encountered any forms of discrimination?

Jax : There has always been a lot of that in the industry but I think Girlschool have managed to avoid that as there has been a respect for the fact that we could play our instruments and have stuck at this for so long.

Heather Williams : I think the fans would love to hear what each members favuorite hobbies are? What was the first ever cd each of you bought? What was the first concert of each member? And if each member could jam or tour with any musician past or present who would it be?

Jax : I love sports of all kinds, I play badminton every week, go to boot camp and sometimes Karate so try to keep fit.

Kim loves her garden and loves to read as does Enid and Den loves her computer and her soaps *:) happy . Hmm not sure about the others they would probably have bought a rock band of some sorts. I can't remember my 1st album at all but it will have been a punk one being around the 1977 era.

www.girlschool.co.uk

https://aldeylaud.com

1/You have a guitar you modified yourself, why not having it made from a custom shop?

SG/ it's just easier and cheaper that way. I'm pretty tough on my guitars so I don't want to spend a ton on getting something too crazy. Plus I like to be able to change things on the fly. I have had a few Guitar Companies wanting to build thins for me, but I don't think I want to be tied to one company.

2/Is the telecaster your own guitar or you have others?

SG/ I have about 30 guitars right now. I have a few Les Pauls A Fender Strat a few Charvels and a Jackson. I'll play just about any body shape as long as it sounds good.

3/In the land of guitar shredder, where do you set yourself? How did you get your own style?

SG/ That's a good question. I lean more towards the melodic, big groove type shred. Plus I tap more then most I guess.

I have spent so much time playing live and really working on my chops. That it just develop naturally.

4/You writes your own tunes, do you have a complete album?

SG/ Yes. I released Technicolor/monochrome in 2015 and I just at least two new singles Scarlet a noir and a Clean Bar Of Soap.

5/Are you playing in other bands to get a different experience than your own music?

SG/ I have in the past and I'm still open to do that. But right now I really have been focused on my own music.

6/How did you get the musicians for your band?

SG/ All people I have known for awhile. I like having a great chemistry as opposed to just having great players.

7/Why not having a special name rather than your own name?

SG/ It was really to honor my fathers name.

8/How did you learn the guitar?

SG/ I started playing at 10 years old. I studied with many people. I also have about 300 books and instructional DVDs. Plus I ask people all the time how do you play this etc. Guitar players love to share info!

9/Who is / was your mentor that gave you the wish to play?

SG/ Man that list is long. Music was always playing in my house. My older brother played guitar and I just loved the sound of it. I have so many great people in my life who are very supportive of my playing. But seeing Joe Perry live

when I was about 11 was what made me say I want to do this for a living.

10/What do you think of the music scene? is it easy to keep up as a solo guitarist?

SG/ The scene is what you make of it. It is very very tough right now. But staying positive and making sure people know you are available to work makes it easier.

11/You are teaching music, is it a good income to live?

SG/ It is for me. But I also try really hard not to live above my means. Being happy is way more important to me then money.

https://www.scottgailor.com

1/Who started the band?

Gheeyeh : I did!

2/ Why this name?

Gheeyeh : Well me and Henry Moreno (drums) where texting each other names for bands back and forth and after a while we came up with the name of Mind Of Fury. It was like a revelation of something very cool lol.

3/It seems you are more into shreds , how do you manage to sing while playing all guitars?

Gheeyeh : At the beginning the idea of the band was to have a singer , then we couldn’t find one so after months of looking around with any luck we didn’t have any chance so I decided to do it myself. Anyway it wasn’t very difficult because in the past I have been back up singer for my whole career so it was a matter of rehearshing and that was it!

4/Do you have a second guitarist for the live shows?

Gheeyeh : NO. 5/Have you attended guitar school? or just learnt the Malsmteen style on your own?

Gheeyeh : NO I have not attended to any guitar school, all I know is because I teach myself how to do it.

6/Do you compose all the songs or the other members get involved?

Gheeyeh : For our debut album I wrote 6 out of 10 songs and co-wrote a couple with Mike.

7/Are you playing in other bands or had played in other formations and wanted to be on you own?

Gheeyeh : My only band is Mind Of Fury, in the past I played with Nzm (Nick Marino keys/vocals for Yngwie Malmsteen) here in the United States and in Chile I formed Human Factor (2002-2008) and my own solo band Ghee-yeh (2008-2012). So right now my focus is Mind Of Fury.

8/What are the themes of you lyrics?

Gheeyeh : In general I like to talk about my experiences in life. Stuff I have to deal in a daily basis, it’s just a matter of believing in what you are singing to your listeners. If you believe in the message the fans will translate into their own experiences. So far we had a very positivie feedback about our songs.

9/You have lots of marshalls are you endorsed?

Gheeyeh : I wish I was endorsed but no I’m not endorsed but I can’t help it I love Marchall so the more the better.

10/What gear do you use? are you playing with digital effects on studio?

Gheeyeh : Well I play fender stratocaster guitars with dimarzio pick ups and a warmoth guitar that I designed myself and ordered online. When it came in the mail I built it and I call that one Gheeyeh-caster. I use Monster cables, boss pedals and three marshall stacks . One with reverb , the one in the middle dry and the other one with delay. For singing I use a SM58 mic.

If you mean virtual amp by digital effect I don’t. I plug the amp directly in the interface an then I’m mixig with delay or reverb effects.

11/Do you have a label ?

Gheeyeh : NO we are an indepentdent band.

12/Have you got an album recorded or coming?

Gheeyeh : well we have our debut album Mind Of Fury «Do or Die» available on Itunes , Googleplay, Spotify, Pandora,youtube....and other platforms I can’t remember but the CD is available on our website . We are recording a new album to be released next year!

13/How do you find gigs? are they bands you play live with often?

Gheeyeh : Well before we started looking for gig we just sent promotional CDs to different promoters around in town and that was it. We started to receive emails requests for our band and after the first one then another promoter .. and you know is like a snowball once you started it gains momentum.

Thank you very much and don’t forget to like and share our facebook and youtube channel.

www.mindoffury.com

1/Who inspired you to sing?

Silvia: singing is a thing that I have always loved to do. I guess no one particularly has inspired me to do it. Since I can remember I've always loved to listen to music and sing.

2/How do you work your voice?

Silvia: I usually take classes with my vocal couch. Although I try to practice frequently sometimes it seems that's not enough.

3/Have you sing in other bands before?

Silvia: Some years ago I sang in a minor band called Big Mistake but we never released an album and took it seriously.

4/How do you write your lyrics? are they personnal?

Silvia: Xtasy lyrics aren't directly personnal. Some of them are just inspired by the current social circumstances, other ones are the reflect of experiences we all have lived once in our lives.

5/Who is your favorite singer?

Silvia: It's hard to pick just one singer but I think that : Robin Beck, Johnny Gioeli and Noora Louhimo could be among my favorites.

6/Do you play any instrument?

Silvia: I play acoustic guitar in a very amateur level, just as an accompagnement when I sing or compose for my own amusement.

7/How do you compose the melodies, do you listen to a song and work on them, or you have already something in your mind?

Silvia: Vocal melodies are always based on a guitar rythm or riff. Sometimes I have tried to start a new song from a vocal melody but that formula doesn't work for me.

1/Who inspired you to play guitar?

Jorge: Since I was a kid, I loved Hard Rock music and loud guitars, so it was easy to take the decision of starting to play electric guitar.

2/How do you work your instrument?

Jorge: For me, it´s much more important to write good songs as to be a guitar hero that can play 10.000 notes pro second. So, I always try to think in the songs and give them what they need.

3/Have you played in other bands before?

Jorge: I played in a local band called Big Mistake where Silvia was the lead singer. We never recorded an album and we did noting relevant.

4/How do you write your lyrics?

Jorge: Silvia writes almost all the lyrics in Xtasy. I also bring her some ideas and lyrics, and then she changes them to adapt to her vocal melodies.

5/Who is your favorite guitar player?

Jorge: It´s difficult to choose only one, but Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden is one of my favorite ones.

6/Do you play any other instrument?

Jorge: In both albums of Xtasy I also recorded the keyboards. I´m not the best player in the world, but I love to arrange the songs, so I love to play the keys with so many different sounds. I can play bass as well.

7/How do you compose the melodies, do you listen to a song and work on them, or you have already something in your mind?

Jorge: I sing my ideas to Silvia and then she works on the main idea. She uses to do some changes, but we work really good as one team. For the riffs, I just start to play the guitar and try what comes, when something is good, I record it and then start to work on the song.

www.xtasyband.com

1/You have a brand new album, how did you work the songs ? did you try to sound like the older releases?

Joe Eder : We have three main songwriters: guitarist Chris Angerer, bassplayer Chris Pawlak and myself. So we come with a basic idea and songstructure, then the whole band works out the final arrangement. This can turn out in a longer process, but now and then we get things sorted out quickly. We work as a band, which we love (and hate sometimes)!

Drummer Hannes Vordermayer is a very musical talented guy, he arranges awesome song-supportive drum parts.

Singer Manu Brettl is unbelievely genius in creating harmonic lines and dramatc phrasing. Backing vocals are sung by Chris Pawlak, Hannes Vordermayer and myself, like we do live. The lyrics come mostly from the songwriter, sometimes I contribute lyrics to more songs than I write. For the music we credit the whole band. You can read all this in our cd booklet!

We did not try to sound like any of our earlier recordings, but we try to sound like the band sounds live. No drumsamples, no digital harmonising etc. In the studio we do quite some guitar and vocal overdubbing, different voicings to make it sound bigger, but I think this album gives you a good impression of how the band really sounds like. In my humble opinion, you do not get this kind of authenticity delivered in many metal productions these days. There is a lot of let´s say ‘instant’ metal and rock producing around. For some ears we may sound kind of ‘old school’, and this is why.

And for sure we can´t deny that we started out in the 1980s.

2/This is once again released under Pure Steel Records, seven years since your last one; what do you like about this label?

Joe Eder : This label is one big family and they did a great job the last time wtih ‘Moneyshot’ and we are gratefull for the their support for the ‘Anywhere we Dare’ album.

3/Who released the cover artwork and did you ask for it ?

Joe Eder : We had a talk with the label about the cover artwork before and came to the conclusion to do it kind of ‘fantasy’ style this time. But the final selection of which artwork to choose was absolutely our decision and it was done by an old schoolmate of mine Arno ‘Moose’ Moosleitner from Salzburg.

4/What are the lyrics about? have you got a theme just for that album?

Joe Eder : ‘Anywhere We Dare’ is not a concept album. We have different topics, which can also be explained by the fact, that there are three main songwriters. But to be honest – we are not Neil Young or Bob Dylan – so we make hard rocking music in the first place – then we think about words. We do tell stories of our lifes, tricky situations such as ‘Dealing With Danger’ or ‘Bridges’ or describe darker chapters in ‘Sweet Morphine’ or ‘No More Ace To Play’ but even tough we touched more serious or shady issues this time, there is often a positive aspect on life and a lot of hope, adventure, adrenaline and love.

5/What has changed since you started ? music has evolved so do you.

Joe Eder : We grew older! Fortunately for us as a working band of friends not so much changed. Maybe we´ve had some new faces now and then, but in the end it´s still the five of us rocking our hearts out the best we can. Maybe our skills improved, but what makes us a band is still of big importance and our style has not changed a lot.

What changed dramaticaly is the business side, the ways of recording and the media. When we started early 1980s there was just heavy metal/hardrock – no thrash, black, death, pagan, speed whatever. The good bands got signed to record companies. The labels could earn money by selling records and invested money in developement of bands.

Recording studios were unafordably expensive. And in a country like Austria – definitely nearly no live gigs of famous metal bands took place. We had to travel to Munich or further to see Maiden, Priest, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Ozzy or Purple. But that was also a chance for bands to gain audiences in regions with no international live scene. Speed Limit took this chance!

The internet and distribution or lets say thievery of music via mp3 was death to this working system. But the wordwide web and social media brought chances in promoting your band and getting connected to the rest world.

6/ Are you all playing in different bands?

Joe Eder : I have some friends to do classic rock cover shows now and then, but no, this is the only original band we are in. I know we are probably the last of a dying species.

7/Who is behind the music compositions of the band’s music? Is there one man keeping the band alive?

Joe Eder : Sorry, guess I did answer that question before!

8/Does this album has old songs reworked due to singer changes?

Joe Eder : No, this is all new material. And probably you have noticed that with Manuel singing, we have much more possibilities to go ‘anywhere we dare’.

9/Why it is hard to get a good singer? How does that change the band’s music history?

Joe Eder : Speed Limit had a bunch of good singers over the years. Probably because we´re capable of writing thrilling good songs. And it´s always a challenge to write songs that fit the singers´s voice best. So there might be slightly stylistic changes with every new singer. And yes, it is hard to find a good singer, especally in a band like ours because it has to fall into place personally as well – remember, we are a band of friends and no short time project.

10/Your logo has slight changes, what made you update it?

Joe Eder : Has it? You are talking to a guitarist in a band existing over 30 years now. Do I care about that? But seriously: No reason at all – layout issue!

11/Have you got a studio? how did you get this album recorded?

Joe Eder : Yes, I have a studio in the basement of my house – but only for Speed Limit. You know these days with the fortune you can make by selling CDs it can be a good idea to invest in own equipment rather than booking time in a record studio. We like to experiment in the studio a lot and therefore need a lot of time recording and producing.

This time we decided to record a real drumset properly. Hannes got ‘live guide tracks’ and did a great job. The rest was the odd overdub thing. First we do arrange and record the basic guitars, then bass, after that lead vocals and in the end guitar leads and additional overdubs. The last step is backing vocals. The acoustic track ‘Affinity of Souls’ was the exception to the rule. We did this in a day – basically live with only lead vocals overdubbed.

12/Tell us about your gears , do you still use the old ones or you have evolved ? Any endorsement.

Joe Eder : Best of both worlds! We still do have and use the old Marshall JCM 800 heads, but mostly I used the Engl Blackmore (E 650) and some tracks the Engl Fireball 60 Wats (E 625). Chris preferred his Marshall JVM 410H this time. Cabinets we used a selection of old 70s and 80s Marshall 1960 and sometimes 1960 TV. My main guitar in the studio is a 1977 Les Paul Standard with old Gibson ‘Dirty Fingers’ PUs, Chris used his Les Paul Traditional with some hotter PUs. All miked with Shure SM 57 and KSM32 ‘sweet spotted’ on different speakers. The bass amp (Gallien Krüger) was recorded line and with sub kick micro like we also used for the bass drum. Vocals we recorded mainly with a AKG solid tube – fits perfect to Manu`s voice.

We have no endorsements but the Engl factory (Tittmoning) is close to my home – some 20 minutes with the car – part of local scene.

www.speedlimitweb.com

ith : w w nger rvie Inte o the si ys Chr

1/ Who first started the band and what was the idea?

From the very beginning, it was a music dream that Elias Pero and I had. Elias was the keyboardist and composer of epic power metal band Sovereign in the late ‘90s and some material came from there (“By the Gates of Ypsus” and “Desperate wings” for example). Together we composed all the songs that now complete the album. The idea was very early centered on Arcadia, which is a part of Greece that we both originate from and feel very proud of its history. Realizing that for the rest of the world it is considered a kind of Utopia, we built a story around Arcadia and dressed the story with the music we felt appropriate for a modern rock fairytale. So, we combined our influences and created a music tale that we feel very proud of.

2/Have you sung in other bands before? How did you get that voice?

Thank you very much for the comment! I am a professional singer and I’ve been singing as a solo artist many years in Greece, with my own discography here. I have also acted in musical theatre productions (“The King and I” and “The sound of music” for example). I started singing when I was still a toddler and when I was at the right age, along with my music studies, I was taught the difficult technique of contemporary singing, which I am teaching now to new students.

3/How did you write your lyrics? What is the story about?

The lyrics came when our music inspired us and our imagination flew to write the story. Being inspired by Arcadia, which was known in the Renaissance as a kind of Utopia, in the beginning we refer to the birth of ancient Greek Gods, their relationship with humans, love, illusions… But following this mythical story, talking about nymphs, Zeus, Pan and the ancient glory, the careful listener will notice that it is all a metaphor: a tale that exists in the imagination of a little girl growing up (her name is “Chrysilia” by the way!). Soon, as she reaches adulthood, she realizes that the real world is not as dreamy as she thought and as we see in the cover artwork, she passes from childhood dreaming to the difficult reality of life. But through love, she finds her peace and freedom of soul. She had been too in Arcadia though and she may be again through personal enlightenment, passing through the hard times in life: “Et in Arcadia ego” means in Latin “I too was in Arcadia”.

4/Who designed the cover? Did you participate to its creation?

Our cover was designed by Dee, a very talented graphic designer, and Martin Dim, a wonderful and gifted concept artist.

It was a team work; after all, we had a specific concept in mind for the cover that would describe the whole album in one picture.

5/How did you get the members? Was it hard to get a stable line up?

It was not easy at first, because we wanted to find musicians that would take in their hearts our music, feel it as their own and of course, very skilled because we wanted the songs to be able to be performed exactly as in the album. So the main purpose was love for the music and talented players. And we are very happy that we have a great line up!

6/Your album sounds like an Opera, do you have already stage outfit and artifacts for the live sets?

Thank you very much! I cannot even imagine being compared to Verdi and all the classics! But yes, the concept is to create with our albums, starting with this one, a new Rock/metal Opera that will speak to a larger audience than the typical metal one. Our dream is that open minded people who listen to metal, rock, jazz, classical and folk music, even

pop, become one and embrace our songs. As for the stage, I leave it as a surprise, you just have to come and see!

7/Did you get inspiration from children tales or books?

Books based on the “Et in Arcadia ego” concept were of course an inspiration. Our main influences came though from our love to soundtracks, metal, mythology, classical music and our dream for music expression of emotions.

8/Which bands inspire you? What music do you listen to?

There are so many different influences in our songs, not just bands; from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Frantz Liszt to Helloween and Angra. From Ayreon and Kamelot to Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald , Hans Zimmer and Michael Nyman .

So my personal favorites are melodic metal, soundtracks, jazz, musicals, classical music and classic rock.

9/How did you create those amazing songs? Do you all sit and create together to get the perfect track you want to hear?

Apart from the tunes that were based on Elias’ Sovereign, all other songs were first created on piano. There was actually no planning! There were times that a melody came to me as I was driving, sometimes just looking at the sea. When Elias Pero and I completed the songwriting, we trusted it to our dear friend and extremely talented musician/producer Bob Katsionis to give them shape and form! We were honored that he contributed to the album with a beautiful song of his as well. “The Fifth Season” is a minimalistic masterpiece that everyone has to hear!

10/How did you get Bob Katsionis to work with you?

We knew Bob from his very early years of music creation- he was always considered one of the most talented Greek multi-instrumentalists in rock and metal. He is also a gifted director, having directed more than 100 video clips, and we trusted him with “Desperate Wings” which he directed. He was actually the one who inspired us to put our ideas on paper and notes and come up with a full album. We soon became good friends (apart from a music genius, the guy is so much fun, you’ve GOT to love him!) and together we created our album. Bob directed our second video clip as well, “The Menalon trail”!

11/How did you get the deal with Lion Music? What led you to sign with them?

We always knew Lion for their quality releases and support of new bands. The industry has become so difficult for new bands, you know! Most of the times, big labels don’t even care to listen to your work, they just want you to be a touring band and have money. Sad story, but true. So Lion…We sent them our album and they instantly offered us a contract for worldwide release. We feel very honored that a label with such tradition in good music took us into their family. By the way, Lion Music was Bob Katsionis’ label for his first personal albums and he strongly recommended it to us when he heard about our negotiations.

12/Greece has lots of musicians and talent, how is the music scene there?

There is so much talent in Greece and a very faithful audience in Rock-metal. However, the financial crisis has brought down nearly all labels and most Greek bands with serious intentions make their efforts abroad.

13/Have you already played abroad?

Announcements coming very soon! Check out our website and our Facebook page, very nice things to be announced soon, both in Greece and abroad!

www.chrysilia.com

1/Who started the band and what was the idea?

Matthew : “Amber and I started the band initially. We had several songs we had written together over the span of a few years. We wanted to form a rock band that was true to the original ideals of rock music but also was not like everything else on terrestrial radio. We have always believed in thoughtful lyrics that told a story or conveyed a message and music that painted a picture.”

2/How did you all meet?

Matthew : “Amber and I were living in the state of New York and we played in a band there. The band had split up and we were not finding the right people to put the band back together. We came up with a plan to move to Austin, Texas and try to get the band going again down there. After a year living there we still had not found the right people to work with. So instead of spending anymore time in that city we moved again to the coast of Virginia. It was the right move. In just a month we found Rob, our lead guitar player and just a few months later found Eric our bassist. The chemistry we these guys was like something from a dream. We fit perfectly together. The personalities, taste in music, and playing styles blended so well together, we could not have asked for a better match. The perfect drummer would come about a year later. Derek, a fellow New Yorker, moved to Virginia to pursue his dream of music and ended up joining Wildcliffe within the first couple weeks of living here.”

3/Why choosing this name?

Matthew : “The name Wildcliffe came from a business that my grandparents owned in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. It was a place that was very special and important for my family. It brought people together and gave everyone so many great memories. For those who had the chance to visit that wonderful place, they will never forget it. Naming the band after my grandparents business and second home is a way for me to pay tribute to them but I also hope that some of the magic and positivity that surrounds that name is also blessed onto us.”

4/What is your inspiration for the music as for the lyrics?

Amber : A lot of things inspire the lyrics: Observations about the Human experience, my own experience and spiritual journey. I have the perspective that discovery of the Self leads to the evolution of ones consciousness. The struggle to overcome ones own ego and integrate my own spiritual experiences is throughout my work. The work of Carl Jung, Mysticism, Philosophy and Thomas Campbell (Physicist, Author of My Big TOE and consciousness researcher) are just some of my influences. I also have songs that are simply about experiences I see others go through mixed with my own experiences with the same themes.

5/Have you got a complete album ready or you still creating?

Matthew : “We have enough songs for a full album. We are not ready at this point to record it though. We are starting to plan a 5 song EP. I think for us right now that is the smart move. Depending on how well it is received by the fans and how our tours go will determine the next move as far as recording is concerned. Our first two singles have been getting good attention so far.”

6/You don’t have a band logo is it on purpose or it might change in the future?

Amber : We are in the process of changing our logo. We did have a logo but it was created by someone who we don’t work with anymore and we don’t want his logo a part of this project.

7/You already have nice photos, do you have a manager or you have friends with skills? The ideas are pretty well conceived like the photo with each members separated like a window…

Amber : Thank you for the compliment on the photos! My twin sister is a professional photographer who has shown her work in galleries locally in our hometown -since we have worked creatively together before she allowed me to edit the photos, something she usually does, and I put together the collage like picture with the window like set up. Right now each band member has enough experience, education and skill to manage the project together at this point. A lot of the time you see people posing as a label or promoters but all they really want is their hands in your pockets –money talks in this business and we need our money to make things happen 8/Are you all playing in different bands?

Matthew : “At the moment, Wildcliffe is the only band any of us play in.”

9/When playing live are you playing cover songs if so which ones?

Matthew : “No, we have been focusing on writing and performing our own original songs. Maybe some day we will do a cover but it is not a high priority for us.”

10/Do you play live shows with your friends? How do you cope with those?

Matthew : “We have some rock bands around here that we enjoy playing with. There are some great people and then you get some people who think they are the greatest band there is. We want rock music as a whole to thrive and to grow. If we don’t help and support each other than it hurts the rock genre. Rock music is too important to stifle it by having egos or trying to gain success by pushing others out of the way. Playing live is what is most important for us.

We will play just about anywhere or anytime. That is why we do this.”

11/Have you got a studio or rehearsal place?

Matthew : “We rehearse at Rob’s house. His neighbors never complain about the noise. In fact, sometimes they come over to listen.”

12/What is the scene like where you live?

Matthew : “We live in an area with a lot of rock music fans. Unfortunately though, there are not a lot of venues that will host shows for the upcoming bands. We end up playing the same venues over and over. That is why bands must tour. There are some great bands here too. But sadly, without putting in a lot of hard work, many of these bands will never be noticed by anyone outside of the city they live in. Other styles of music seem to be more popular here. Hip Hop and R&B are very popular.”

13/What are your influences or the bands that got you the wish to be in a band?

Matthew : “Well, all five members of Wildcliffe have different favorite bands and influences. We all love rock, metal, and punk. For myself, Kurt Cobain was a huge influence for me wanting to play in a band. Eric, our bass player, is a huge The Who fan. Amber loves Janis Joplin. Rob loves Periphery and Derek has been heard listening to Wu Tang!”

14/How did you get the two tracks we hear on utube the recording and mixing deal?

Matthew : “We recorded both of those songs at Cue Recording Studios in Falls Church, Virginia. We were very fortunate to be able to work with producer Jim Ebert(Marvelous 3, Cowboy Mouth, All Time Low) and engineer Sean Russell(Bruno Mars). It was the first time in the studio for Wildcliffe. It was a great experience and helped bring the newly formed band closer together.”

15/The video on utube have some kind of cover with different logo and a design .. what does it mean? is it the cover of your futur album?

Matthew :“That was a logo our first drummer Nathan Keiffer designed. It doesn’t have any meaning. We just liked the way it looked. We won’t be using that for anything moving forward as a courtesy to Nathan. We will however have a new logo to show the fans soon.”

www.wildcliffe.com

1/How long have you played the drums for?

Dale Sholler : 35 yrs 2/You are singing also, are you in many bands?

Dale Sholler : Been singing 27 years in 3 bands Original.. AFTERBURN , DIO TRIB , AND COVER BAND 13 percussion instruments including a bit of piano 3/What made you start the drums? have you played another instrument?

Dale Sholler : 9 yrs old ... Bought a rummage sale drumset.. mom said go get training.. played in school symphony and orchestra.. 1st chair .. all schools I went to.. held 1st chair 4/Can you give us the name of the bands you play or played the drums in? are you still playing?

Dale Sholler : Last time was high school.. I'm currently getting current with a Michigan punk / rock act.. CYBIL AND THE BEAST . Never lost my chops 5/ What made you want to sing?

Dale Sholler : Wasn't really ever happy with my singers.. took the mic for myself...

6/Have you sing and play the drums at the same time?

Dale Sholler : Yes.. haha.. although I don't like to sing during a gallop Too much going on.. ha 7/Who are the players that inspired you?

Dale Sholler : John Bohnam , Alex VanHalen , Phil Rudd , Terry Bozio , Cozy Powell find?

8/Have you got old friends playing with you or you’re on your own sharing the stage with musicians you have to

Dale Sholler : Both... I've held onto MANY music players over the years.. my Dio Tribute includes out of town players as well as my original lineup.. I can't say I put anyone off my list.. it's LONG.. HAHA 9/You are obviously covering Dio, is he the one who made you want to sing? Have you met him or play with him?

Dale Sholler : Never had that opportunity.. but I've seen 8 shows of Ronnie's and I've studdied countless hours of footage... Living the ROCK STAR MOVIE.. hahaha.. you could say he got me started...

10/You must have lots of compositions, any bands running right now? any albums you’ d like to get sold?

Dale Sholler : Yes.. never really promoted STAND FIRM.. Afterburns debut CD.. mark lost his leg... Been five years since.. rehab has been tuff..

My current band situation is getting attention from producers out of the East coast.. I've been talking to ANDREW CHERVAK a 6 time Grammy voting member, he owns midnight studios in PA. He 's going to be working with Randy Nelson of Colorado (drummer) on a band Called NAHDEMA ‘s Record. Also I'm opening a new Indy label , looking to produce and market my first single.. by Summer 2018.. Tryin for Nashville rock radio and satellite..

That's the current situation for me..Dale

www.facebook.com/dale.sholler

MATHIAS HOLM KLARIN is the guitar player of the Swedish prog metal band MindSplit and this is his new solo album.

Please describie the new album musically and lyrically?

- It's an instrumental album with songs I've written since my first release in 1996/1997. I would describe it as a melodic shredding guitar album with superb drum playing by Jon Skäre and tasty bass playing by Conny Payne.

If you had to choose one artist (I know this is hard) but if we had to say "recommended for fans of XXXX" who would that be?

- Hmm as you said, very hard... but maybe fans of Tony Macalpine? The album has man different styles so you will for sure hear many more influences I’ve had over the years. how does it differ from your previous recordings ?

- Only the development of myself I guess.

What was the goal with making this album?

- I just wanted to release the songs to move forward.

Any specific influences towards music or lyric subject?

- Feelings, passion, nature, heart and mind.

How long did it take to make this album?: - Faaaar too long because of many different things.

What has the different musicians contributed to the result?

- Jon and Conny are great musicians so their playing has made the album better. I always let Jon hear my ideas first and then do whatever he want with the drums, he always makes me happy! Conny and I work very good together so we arrange the bass in the studio when we record it. He has great ideas and I love his tone and vibrato. Both Conny and Jon has been playing with me since I started to record the songs for this album, I love them!

Musicians on the release: - Mathias Holm Klarin: guitars, and keyboard programming and all other noice or voice.

- Conny Payne: bass - Jon Skäre: drums Production and recording credits: Mathias Holm Klarin

Production and recording credits: - The music on the album is written, produced, mixed and mastered by Mathias Holm Klarin - Drum recording by Jon Skäre - Words on ”In tears” by Hans Birger Andersson - Photos by Mikael Svedman - Cover arts by Mathias Holm Klarin

www.mathiasholm.se

Please describe the new album musically and lyrically?

We knew we wanted a step up in every department from Laws of Motion, our debut album released on Lion a few years ago, so a lot of work went into making sure the tracks met every requirement whilst trying to keep our signature sound. Building from the reviews and comments we received with from Laws, we wanted to keep the strong riffs and big choruses but focusing a lot more on vocal melodies, adding depth and vocal layers, while keeping technical elements that prog fans always love. We also knew we had to get better production and cleaner more powerful sound….and we got exactly that thanks to DGM’s mastermind Simone Mularoni and the team at Domination Studios. The artwork helped inspire the main lyrical themes of the album which step away from the darkness of the debut and tend to focus on the future of civilisation, culture and society repeating the mistakes of the past. We drew inspiration from the work of some of our favourite authors like McCarthy and China Miéville to create an album with a common theme but it is not a concept album. if you had to choose one artist (I know this is hard) but if we had to say "recommended for fans of XXXX" who would that be?

We believe this album will be perfect for fans of Seventh Wonder, DGM, Circus Maximus, Aspera, Spheric Universe Experience, Pagan’s Mind, Pyramaze or Anubis Gate. We are also huge fans of the 90s prog metal scene, bands like Vanden Plas, Symphony X, Ivory tower, Avalon etc so I am sure fans of these bands will enjoy listening to INERTIA. Inertia is definitely a huge step up with regards to production and song maturity but yet it also seems like a natural step in the right direction and a seamless transition from the debut, which received such a multitude of plaudits from the reviews and press it inspired us to push ourselves further. I think for the debut we were still finding our identity whereas INERTIA has found it for us. We have tried with this album to really work on each song structure and core melodies to embed our signature orchestral and technical interludes into the songs themselves. The album feels more melodic and powerful as whole than Laws of Motion.

What was the goal with making this album?

With INERTIA, our goal was to really improve in every aspect and hopefully create a product that people will really enjoy not only listening to but on the artwork side as well. We are all from the predigital music era when buying an album was much more than the music itself, it was about discovering a band and its universe and although we knew we would go for a digital release with Lion Music (who supported us from the beginning), we wanted to include in the package a full colour booklet with lyrics, additional pictures, recording credits etc. We worked with Alex at Mayhem Project Design who worked with many artists we love like Pyramaze to design a very bright and colourful artwork that really complement the music. Of course, we also wanted to create an album that we would want to listen to ourselves Any specific influences towards music or lyric subject?

We did not want to create a concept album but we wanted rather to introduce a common theme through the lyrics, which is summarised by the album title. Inertia has a very dual meaning: in everyday life, it implies rigidity (of a system for example) or inaction…while in physics it is more described as an unstoppable force that requires external force to be stopped. We took this duality of meaning and played with it during these 11 tracks, looking at how characters (real or inspired by authors) dealt with this. The track Nothing Stays the Same is based on the City and the City

by Miéville and looks into the duality in the main character actions – on one side he is blocked by the rigidity of the police system, on the other side events he is trying to stop leads to an unstoppable conclusion. We love to write lyrics with a few levels of interpretation but that’s our little bonus, our job is to focus on the music first and foremost!

Musicians on the release: Vocals - Ludo Desa Guitars - Joe McGurk Drums - Kevin Deplanche Bass - David Deplanche Production and recording credits: Album produced and recorded by Opposing Motion

www.opposingmotionband.co.uk

ENGLISH FRANCAIS 1/What means the band’s name?

SCARLEAN is the association of the words SCAR and LEAN. Fine scar somehow. A way to express and talk about the worries of life, things that mark.

1/Que veut dire le nom du groupe?

SCARLEAN c’est l’association de deux mots SCAR et LEAN. Un genre de belle cicatrice.

Un façon d’exprimer et parler des problèmes de la vie, les choses qui marquent.

2/What has changed since the band started? Have you modified the music style?

We have changed a lot of things. The current line-up includes only 2 original members, me and Geo. We were very Prog Rock at the time. Today we have a more Metal / Alternative Rock style to which we integrate electro symphonic atmospheres. We like to create different universes on each song.

2/Qu’est ce qui a changé depuis le debut du groupe?Avez vous modifié le style de la musique?

Nous avons changé beaucoup de choses.Le line up actuel n’a plus que deux membres orignels moi et Geo.Nous étions très Prog Rock. Aujourd’hui nous avons plus de Metal /Rock Alternatif auquel nous ajoutons de l’Electro et des atmosphères symphoniques.Nous aimons créer des univers différents pour chaque chanson.

3/How did you write the lyrics ? what’s the theme if any?

I write all the lyrics. In general we begin by writing music, and the inspiration it releases allows me to write. The themes are broad, but they all focus on the human. I try to transcribe by means of images, the different feelings that compose it. Hatred, love, fear, violence ... Man is an infinite source of inspiration.

3/Comment écrivez vous les paroles? Quel est le thèmes si il y’en a?

J’écris les paroles . En général après que le musique soit écrite, et l’inspiration me vient ce qui me permet d’écrire.Les thèmes sont vagues, mais on focusse sur l’être human.J’essaye de décrire le sens des images, les sensations qui les composes. La haine, l’amoour, la violence...L’ ’être humain est une source infine d’inspiration.

4/Why calling the album Ghost?

We called the album Ghost, because that’s the position I put myself in to write it. I took a lot of time back, and I watched people a lot and how they were behaving. Like a ghost therefore: D. When you are making yourself small and that no one notice you, you get access to particular scenes of lives. The languages are loosened and the real faces appear. It’s soul-stirring sometimes, often disturbing ...

4/Pourquoi appeller l’album Fantôme?

Nous l’avons appellé Fantôme, parce que c’est la position dans laquelle je me mets pour écrire. Je prends beaucoup de recul, j’observe les gens et comment ils réagissent. Comme un Fantôme :D. Lorque tu te mest tout petit et que

personne ne t’aperçois, tu as accès a des scènes de vies particulières. Le language est perdu et les visages réels apparaissent.Ca fait tourner l’esprit et un peu déroutant quelques fois.

5/You have a really strange video, have you participated to the creation? who directed it?How did you get all the people acting? What we are supposed to capture from it?

Michel and I conceptualized and wrote the whole video. The song is called Forsaken by Love. Somehow we wanted to show love and hate in a different way. The idea was to link all these creatures by a throne. As if to say: all your differences are loved, and they deserve this throne.

Overall, people feel offended by what they do not know and are fighting against what they find taboo. The reality is that they would like to be able to say that they like it. 2 millennia of Christian education have had time to format man.

This applies also to the Atheist too, as without knowing it they are shaped by this society created under the dogma of Christendom. I like the difference, I like what is dark too, I see more beauty in it than elsewhere.

All the participants in the video were volunteers, they saw the script and came to play their parts, so it was a smooth process 5/Vous avez vraiment une vidéo étrange, avez vous participé à sa création? Qui l’a dirigé?Comment avez vous eu tous les participants?Qu’est ce qu’on est scencé en retenir?

Michel et moi l’avons conçue et écrit la vidéo. La chanson s’appelle ‘Forsaken by Love’ (L’amour abandonné). Nous voulions en quelque sorte montrer l’amour et la haine de différentes façons. L’idée était de lier toutes ces créatures sur un trône. Comme si tu disais : toutes les différences sont aimées et elles méritent le trône.

6/It’s really hard to get the musical direction you want, although it’s sometimes good to get out of the box sometimes it ’s too much, what are you trying to do?

We try to express things in natural ways. We do not really have a limit on the composition. If we want an edgy sound we do it, if we want something hovering we do it too. It reflects what we are. Again the boxes do not please us, and we prefer to elicit this feeling than having to carry a label. It’s the personality of our band, and that’s what makes it unique!

The next album will surely be totally different, we do not want to be bored and to look like this or that band.

6/C’est dur d’avoir une direction musicale que vous voulez, même si quelques fois c’est bien de sortir des boîtes et dès fois un peu trop, qu’essayez vous de faire?

Nous essayons d’exprimer les choses de façon naturelles. Nous n’avons pas vraiment de limitations pour les compositions. Si nous voulons un son tranchant nous le faisons, si nous voulons quelque chose de plus légé nous le faisons aussi. cela reflète ce que nous sommes. Encore les boîtes ne nous conviennent pas, nous préféront être provocant que d’avoir une étiquette à porter. C’est la personnalité de notre marque, et c’est qui nous rends unique.Le prochain album sera certainement très différent, nous ne voulont pas être ennuyant et de sonner comme tel ou tel groupe.

7/There is a strong Grunge influence but the whole is more Goth in the dark side, aren’t you sure of the music you want to make or you are searching which fans will follow you the most?

We have very broad influences. I listen to all kind of music, electro, a lot of TripHop, alternative rock, a lot of acoustic things and of course metal! All members of the band have different styles. We integrate what we love in our music. We are not looking for a particular audience. Our public is made as our concerts and broadcasts. We are called alternative-rock, it is the style that surely allows to get a maximum of influence inside! For my part I say that we play Music.

After I let the big ones in this world give us the labels they want.

7/Il y a une influence très Grunge mais le reste est très Gothic du coté obscure, étes vous sûr de la musique que vous voulez créer où vous cherchez quels fans vous suivront le plus?

Nous avons des influences larges. J’écoutes toutes sortes de musique, électro, un peu de TripHop, du Rock Alternatif, beaucoup d’accoustic et biensûr du Métal. Les autres membres du groupes ont de influences différentes. Nous intégronts tout ce que nous aimons dans la musique. Nous ne cherchons pas une audience particulière. Notre public se fait durant les concerts et la radio. Nous sommes appellés Rock Alternatif, c’est un style qui permet d’intégrer un maximum d’influences. Pour ma part je dis que je fais de la musique. Après je laisse les grands de ce monde de nous donner le label qu’ils veulent.

8/How do you compose the songs? is there someone bringing ideas or everyone puts a bit and you mix the whole thing?

We often work in groups of 2. Then we meet to finalize the title and make the arrangements. Sometimes only one composes a title as a whole. On Ghost I entirely composed the title LIFETIME, which is the UFO title of the album. Very triphop and dark. For the next album we have mixed our styles even more.

8/Comment vous composez vos chansons? Il y a t’il une personne qui apporte les idées où tout le monde mets un morceaux et vous mixez le tout?

Nous travaillons générallement en groupe de deux. Après on se rencontre pour finaliser le tout et faire les arrangements. Quelque fois une personne compose un titre à lui tout seul. Sur Ghost (le fantôme) j’ai composé le titre «Lifetime» en entier, qui parles des Ovnis. Très TripHop et sombre. Pour le prochain album nous avons mixés nos styles beaucoup plus.

9/Do you have a stage outfit to go with the image of the album like this man half black?

We play in black on stage, quite soberly. However, we are working on a complete set with projections and we are going to have our man in black on stage with us and on the throne!

9/Avez vous une image spéciale pour la scène qui va avec l’album comme cet homme à moitié noir et blanc?

Nous jouons en noir sur scène, assez sobre. Cela dit nous travaillons pour avoir un set complet avec des projections et nous allons avoir le personnage en noir sur la scène avec le trône!

10/You already played live with different bands , what is the reaction of the people? Are they bands you go on well and like to play on stage with?

Often when we play people are contemplative. They observe in a blocked way. When we reach half of the set they start to enter into our universe and it always happens in a great way! We always have a lot of people who come to see us at the end of the show to tell us that they appreciated very much. The bands with whom we played are always amazed, especially when they listened to our album at first. We are very much in place, we are working very hard on this aspect to have something massive. Live we also have much more power and energy.

10/Vous avez déjà joué avec des groupes musicaux différents sur scène, quel à été leur réaction? Y’a t’il dez groupes avec qui vous vous entendez bien et aimez jouer en concert avec eux?

Souvent les gens sont contemplatifs. ILs observent d’un block. Lorsqu’on arrive au milieu du set ils commencent à rentrer dans notre monde et cela se passe dans un bon sens! Nous avons beaucoup de gens qui viennent après le concertpour nous dire qu’ils ont beaucoup appreciés notre musique.Les groupes avec qui nous jouons sont toujours étonnés, spéciallement lorsqu’ils ont écoutés l’album avant.Nous avons vraiment notre place, nous travaillons dur pour avoir une réaction massive. En concert nous avons surtout plus d’énergie et de puissance.

11/You have several logos on your facebook page, is there one that will be definitively used? Why it doesn’t appear on the cover?

We only have one logo the one on our facebook profile picture. We also use a symbol with a triangle, a circle, and a square. We chose not to put it on the front of the cd liflet (it is on the back) because we wanted to go to the end of the ghostly concept.

11/Vous avez plusieurs logos sur votre page facebook, il y’a t’il un que vous allez utiliser? Pourquoi il n’apparaît pas sur la pochette?

Nous avons un logo celui sur notre page facebook.Nous avons aussi un symbole avec un triangle, un cercle et un carré. Nous avons choisi de ne pas le mettre sur le devant de la pochette (il est dérrière) parce que nous voulions allez jusqu’au concept du fantôme.

12/What is the best concert you have done so far?

The last one with MASS HYSTERIA. A beautiful show with a warm audience and a beautiful stage to welcome us. It was a real moment of sharing and we all have a great memory of it.

12/Quel est le meilleur concert que vous avez joué depuis?

Le dernier avec MASS HYSTERIA. Un super moment avec un accueil chaleureux du public et une belle scène qui nous a bien accueillit. C’était un vrai moment de partage et nous en avons une bonne mémoire.

13/Are you playing in other bands or as guest in people’s album?

I have a triphop music project and an acoustic project that I work on my side. Michel also plays with 3 other bands, our drummer also has several projects. But the main project for all of us is SCARLEAN. The rest is more to open up ourselves to different style and keep a constant practice of our instruments.

13/Est ce que vous jouez dans d’autres groupes ou en tant qu’invités sur l’album d’autres groupes?

J’ai un projet de TripHop et un en accoustic que je mets en place de mon coté. Michel joue aussi dans trois groupes différents, notre batteur a plusieurs projects. Mais le projet principal pour nous c’est SCARLEAN. Le reste c’est surtout pour nous ouvrir l’esprit avec des styles différents et pour continuer à jouer de nos instruments.

www.scarlean.com

FRANCAIS

ENGLISH

1/Comment t’es venu l’idéé du titre du groupe et de l’album?

Bonjour. Les noms sont liés , tant celui de l’album que celui du groupe.

Il y a un peu plus de trois ans, j’étais parti sur l’idée d’un roman de SF qui aurait eu le chaos comme sujet principal, en traitant ce sujet sous différentes formes, approches, en parlant de figures mythologiques liée à ce concept dans le temps et l’espace. Mais j’avais également le désir d’accompagner cette histoire d’une bande-son imaginaire, pour accompagner la lecture, amener le lecteur dans une expérience sonore et imaginaire.

Après choix, la décision de commencer par la musique m’est venue et j’ai, en définitive, ôté une partie de l’histoire originale pour l’adapter sous un format plus dense. Après de nombreuses heures de travail et compositions remaniées, le résultat a finalement émergé. Au départ j’étais partis sur l’idée d’un EP, mais...Certains morceaux se sont présentés très rapidement comme des tracks essentiels, car je les rêvais, au sens propre, et les figeait dès le réveil le plus vite possible. D’autres sont, par contre, le fruit de nombreuses versions intermédiaires partagés avec de nombreux auditeurs dans les réseaux sociaux, qui m’ont énormément aidé par leurs retours. Je pourrais dire que cet album est, en quelque sorte, le fruit de collaborations sociales sur Internet et d’obstination personnelle d’aller parfois à contre-courant. Le nom du groupe provient donc d’un des sujet du Roman et « Chao(s) ab…ordo » en latin renvoie à la phrase « Ordo ab chao » (L’ordre découle du Chaos) attribué aux illuminatis. J’ai eu envie, par dérision, de renverser la valeur de cette mythologie moderne que nombres de conspirationnistes considèrent pour vraie et partagent sur Internet et donc « Le chaos découle de l’ordre » dans mon approche romanesque. C’est aussi mon côté « discordien », (religion-canular autoproclamée ennemie des illuminatis). De l’ironie pour contrer des hoaxs, en quelque sorte. Haha . La phrase a finalement été écourtée en « CHAOs ab » a un moment donné.

Et le nom c’est imposé de lui même. « Close Encounter of Another Kind » est donc un album conceptuel qui raconte une histoire, actuellement complétée d’une nouvelle en cours d’écriture. Et En fait, tout découle de la trame du Roman initial.

1/How did you get the idea of the band’s name and the album title?

Hello, the names are linked, both the band and the title. Three years ago, I was on the idea of a SyFy book which led to the chaos as the main theme. Speaking different approches about mythologic characters linked in this idea with space.

But I also had the intention of having a musical track to lead the reader into this spacial experience.

After all the idea of starting the music came to me naturaly , in fact taking away a part of the story to get it more intense.

After hours of work and reworked compositions, the result arose. At the beginning I was going to make an EP but...Few tracks came very fast as essential, I dreamt about them so I had to write them straight away. Others are just ones modified after I shared them with social people who helped me from their feedback. I could say that this album is a creations from many from the net and lots of work personnaly to go against my will. The band’s name comes from a book subject, « Chao(s) ab…ordo » is latin coming from « Ordo ab chao » (Order comes from Chaos) given to the illuninatis. I just wanted to inverse that worth of this modern mythologie so many share on the net thinking is true and so «the chaos leads to the order» in my fanciest story. Some kind of Irony to beat the fake news in a way ahah , the sentence to got shortened to «Charos b» at some point. The name came by itself «close encounter of another kind» is a concept album that tells a story.

Completed from a newsletter being writen. In fact everything comes from the main book story Roman.

2/Tu fais tous les instruments?

Oui, toutes les guitares et les claviers, par quoi furent joués les basses, la batterie, et toutes les parts synthétiques sont fait par mes soins. Ainsi que le mixage et le mastering également…

2/Do you play all instruments?

Yes I play all the guitars and keyboards. All the bass and drums being played on the keyboards by myself. As the mix and the master...

3/Combien de temps il t’a fallu pour composer tous ces titres?

Avec le recul, c’est difficile de le dire...Mais deux années, et plus, sont pas loin du compte.

3/How long did it take you to write all thoses tracks?

Looking back it’s hard to say...But tow years and a bit we are not far from it.

4/Quelles ont été les difficultés que tu as dû surmonter?

Avancer dans un premier album sans savoir ni par où, ni comment… quelques musiciens m’ont donnés des conseils, bien sûr, et souvent judicieux...mais j’ai du apprendre beaucoup en MAO, à gérer l’informatique musicale….mais c’est très enrichissant, et en définitive, cela m’a beaucoup appris.

4/What difficulties have you encountered?

Starting a first album without knowing where to go nor where to start...few musicians gave me advices, of course very helpful... I had to learn a lot on MAO, using musically the digital world. But you’re learning a lot and it’s rewarding.

5/Chaque chanson est différente, certaines fois s’arretent completment faisant une sorte de cassure avec la suivante, as tu eu du mal à les mettre dans un ordre particulier? Y’a t’il certains morceaux que tu n’arrivais pas à terminer?

Sur le CD, il y a une suite « narrative » sous forme de musique qui englobe les 10 morceaux. Chaque track évoque une partie (chant) de l’histoire (lisible en version courte sur le Blog de CHAOS ab (http://chaos-ab.webnode.be/)) et donc, non, leur agencement est rapidement devenu naturel...j’avais çà en tête en permanence...certain morceaux ont nécessité un réagencement afin de donner l ‘atmosphère que je désirais, çà oui. Et d’être retravaillé sans relâche jusqu’à un résultat que j’estimais être satisfaisant et plus…

5/Each songs are different , sometimes stops suddenly brining a kind of break with the next one, was it hard for you to list them in a special order? Are they songs you didn’t manage to finish?

On the Cd there is a narrative following in the music that is a whole with the ten tracks.

Each track evokes a part (singing) of the story (you can read on the blog CHAOS ab = http://chaos-ab.webnode.be/) so no the way they are just came naturally ... I had this in my head all over each day...few traks needed to rework the atmosphere I wanted. Working until it was enough for me..

6/Qui a fait la pochette ? As tu demandé un truc particulier? Étant en totale autoproduction et avec des moyens réduits, j’ai essayé de trouver des illustrateurs/trices qui auraient pu donner un résultat sur cet univers SF que j’amenais ; j’ai donc pris contact avec quelques personnes sur DevianArt, où il y a de très bon dessinateurs et autres approches graphiques. Mais je n’ai pas exactement trouvé ce que je cherchait, jusqu’à ce que je suis tombé sur l’illustration de base qui sert de pochette. Le gars qui l’avait faite (Pete Linfort ) l’a laissée libres de droit sur Pixabay, même pour usage commercial. Je l’ai donc employée en rajoutant les logos et titres.

6/Who did the cover ? Did you ask someone?

Being in complete total autoproduction with light equipment, I tried to find designers who could give a result in my special need of SyFy I needed, I took few people on DevianArt site where you can find really good artists and grafics approches. I didn’t find what I was looking for until I found an illustration I could use. The guy who did it (Pete Linfort) left it to be used freely on Pixabay. I used it by adding logos and title.

7/L’album a des bonus, qu’est ce que ca veut dire? il y a t’il un album sans?

Dans le sens que la première sortie fut totalement numérique sur Bandcamp, 6 mois antérieures au CD, l’album disponible là ne possède pas les deux morceaux supplémentaire de la version CD. 7/The album has bonuses, what does that mean? is there an album without?

In the way that the first press was on Bancamp, six months before the releases of the CD, The bonuses don’t appear in digital version.

8/Comment as tu fais pour presser cet album as tu eu recours au site genre ‘pledge’ et autre? que penses tu de ce systeme ou les gens participent à la création des artistes?

J’ai effectué un crowdfunding sur Ulule pour obtenir la moitié de la somme, afin de faire faire ces CD dans une boite connue en France, qui me fut conseillée par d’autres musiciens Belges passant par eux aussi ( Hurricane). Je suis pour le crowfunding afin de pouvoir aider les artistes à effectuer une release, par exemple, quand tu te lance sur le marché, ou reste à une assez petite échelle indépendante et underground. Je suis beaucoup moins pour quand des grosses machines signées sur des grosses boites se font payer leur matos via Kickstarter en offrant quasi rien en dédommagement. Toutes les personnes qui ont participés au Crowfunding de « Close Encounter... » l’ont eut à un prix correct et ont, en définitive, effectuée une « précommande » en quelque sorte... Mais j’en vois d’autres parfois, qui, à mon sens, abusent de ce système.

8/How did you press this album? Did you use the Pledge or else?What ‘s your point of view on the fact people are using such sites to get an album done?

I used a crowfunding on Ulule to obtain half of the money needed to press the CD in a French company (Hurricane) It has been given by Belgium musicians who use their services. I agree of using crowfunding to help artiststo release an album, for example when you start in this business or is closed to the underground level. I don’t agree when big bands signed onto labels use Kickstarter giving nothing to the people. Everyone who participated into the creation of «close Encounter» had it in a descent price and somehow preordered it. I see few who abuse of this service.

9/Tu semble énervé d’avoir des critiques concernant l’inspiration que les gens ressentent, est ce que tu semble frustré d’être enfermé dans une case ou juste le fait que tu ne comprends pas le système des médias dans la musique aujourd’hui?

Je suis sanguin par nature, haha, et donc, réagit parfois au quart de tour sur certains sujets. Je ne pense pas être dans une case, bien au contraire. j’ai tendance à penser que CHAOs ab travaille « out of the Box » à plus d’un niveau, que cela soit sur l’autoproduction, la manière d’interpréter musicalement des choses ou même les pistes qui sont suivies pour partager cette musique, en créant des rencontres aléatoires, par exemple via le Geocaching, et d’autres choses encore qui s’amèneront. Et cela me convient très bien. La grande presse professionnelle se consacre à ce qu’elle a toujours fait, le mainstream ou « commercial », je ne fait pas partie de cet ensemble et ne le désire pas réellement. Pour le reste, je préfère me consacrer à ma « vision » artistique.

9/You seem to be angry against the reviews concerning the inspiration people feel while listening to your album, do you find yourself frustrated people put you in a box or it’s just the fact you don’t understand the media system in today’s music?

I’m bloody by nature ahah , I act sometimes very fast on some subjects. I don’t think I’ m in a box, actually it’s the opposite. I think Chaos ab is «out of the box» for many levels. Whatever is the production, the way I interpret musicaly the tracks.The medias is stuck in what it used to do the mainstream of the commercial, I don’t belong to those and don’t wish to. For the rest I prefer staying on the artistic vision.

10/Ce qui m’étonnes toujours ce sont les titres donnés à des musique instrumentales, comment decides tu d’appeller tel ou tel titre?

Les titres évoquent systématiquement un des « chants » de l’album dans la continuité de l’histoire. Certains noms arrivent très vite, puisque dans ce cas-ci ils sont d’autant plus lié à une écriture romanesque. Non, ils se sont assez rapidement installés, à un ou deux cas près où le nom original n’était pas assez marquant.

10/What always surprise me are the names given to instrumental songs, how do you decide of the title you give?

Titles are related to ‘vocals’ from the story, most come very fast since they are linked to the book’s writting. No they took their place pretty fast, some didn’t have the title strong enough I had to change.

11/Quels instruments tu utilises? joues tu dans un studio ou tu produits tout sur ton ordi?

Guitares et Claviers. J’ai un Home-studio et donc, en effet, tout est réalisé et finalisé sur ordinateur.

11/Which gear do you use? are you playing in a studio or you creat everything on your computer?

Guitars and keyboards, it’s a home studio so yeah everything is made on computer 12/Cherches tu as avoir plusieurs albums ou c’est juste un projet qui te tenais à coeur depuis longtemps?

C’était en effet un projet qui me tenait certainement à coeur, mais ce n’est que le début des histoires racontées par Chaos ab... et donc, oui, il y en aura d’autres et je suis déjà en train d’y travailler d’arrache-pied depuis pas mal de temps...Le Chaos est un sujet vaste. Je te dirais que le prochain voyage est nettement plus dans un Chaos liè à l’horreur, avec des ambiances plus sombres, des personnages plus gothiques, même, et assez proches de l’univers de Lovecraft….mais çà sera clairement du Chaos ab musicalement.

12/ Are you trying to get many albums or this is just a project you wanted to get for a long time?

It was certainly a project I wanted to release, but it’s the start of the Chaos ab ‘s story... so yeah they will be more to come.

I ‘m already working on the next chapter... Chaos is a wide subject. I can tell you the next chaos is more into the horror way. Darken feel with Gothic characters more into the Lovecraft univers but that will stay a musical Chaos.

13/Que penses tu de la scène musicale actuelle?

Il y a énormément de choses à découvrir hors des sentiers connus, principalement par Internet.. Je suis un « enfant du rock » et des seventies, j’aime évidemment le Classic-rock car il a accompagné ma vie, mais je ne passe pas pour autant mon temps à écouter en boucle les mêmes anciens morceaux à la radio, car je suis curieux. Dans les approches plus récentes, le post-Metal ainsi que d’autres bands lourds, expérimentaux, venant parfois de scènes Black, ou autres « spacers », (Avatar, Ghost, Drudkh, Caspian, Amplifier, Quantum Fantay, au hasard.) me plaisent bien. Je ne pense donc pas que « c’était mieux avant », même si beaucoup fut fait et défriché dans la fin des 60’s, début 70’s et qu’on égale cela avec difficulté. Le rock, sous tous ses aspects, beaucoup l’enterrent à chaque décennies finalement... mais on ne tue pas si facilement une attitude et une volonté de liberté. Et de fait, régulièrement, des groupes émergent en se rappropriant le passé, en l’adaptant, et c’est très bien. Il manque juste, pour moi, parfois d’un peu plus de « grains de folie » comme Zappa ou les Floyds étaient capables d’amener...des choses inattendues, ne pas rester dans le cadre. D’où le fait que les artistes qui m’attirent sont souvent hors des sentiers musicaux habituels…

13/What do you think of the scene?

They are many things to discover apart from the actual scene, mostly on the internet. I’m a Rock kid from the 70’s so I love the Classic Rock that has been part of my life, but I don’t think of listening to it all the time nor listening the radio stations that play the same old songs. I’m curious and recently I found myself in the Post-Metal and other heavy bands,sometimes coming from the Black scene or ‘spacer (Avatar, Ghost, Drudkh, Caspian, Amplifier, Quantum Fantay..) I like ‘em much.I don’t think it was better before even though most have came out from the late 60’s or early 90’s and we have hard time to be as good.Many kill Rock every decades but you don’t kill a style that easy, many bands are coming sounding like those great years it just misses a bit of crazyness like Zappa or the Floyds could bring. not stying in the ‘box’ So I prefer artist that are mostly different from what we know.

www.facebook.com/ChaosAB/

1/You started in 1998 and have many albums, have you got a complete line up or you had different musicans?

I was alone in my albums, except in -Marcado por la locura- i had a guest bass player.

2/Who designed the band logo? What does it represent?

I did it, a friend of mine gave a touch to the letters and it was ready. Ripio in spanish is a stone, this represent something hard.

3/You are singing in your own language, have you sung in english to expand your fans worldwide?

No, when i was a child, I translated the letters of my favorite bands for understand them, spanish language is beatifull to sing, fans that want to know can translate the letters. I only recorded a song in english in the second cd, it called -Across the sky4/Have you got your own studio or you do it yourself on your computer?

I don´t have studio or computer, i record in a professional studio with sound techincals.

5/What inspires your lyrics?

Lyrics are very personal, lonely, fears, feelings, also write about society.

6/Who is your favorite guitarist? how did you learn to play?

6/Ritchie Blackmore. A guitar player in my city gave me classes of guitar a few months, i used to be to practice too many hours, and years later i started to get interested about drum, bass, voices, and i went to all open classes that i read in the newspaper.

7/Do you have a label ?

No 8/Are you playing live shows? how do you find gigs?

With this project i never played alive, with anothers bands yes I did. I changed my career, in the past i playeded in many shows but right now i am playing in studios.

9/How the music scene is in argentina?

Is very strong, all days begin a new band, in this country there are too many musicians, when I walk for my city I always listen to a drum, a guitar in the air.

10/Which countries are buying your albums the most?

Germany and japan.

11/Are you playing in other bands or working in music organisation?

In this moment i am not playing in another band.

12/Have you got a favorite band you are following?

I listen the same bands that i listened in my chilhood, but i always discover and listen to new bands.

13/What gave you the wish to sing? have you taken courses? like it.

Sing yours songs is wonderfull, yes, I had taken courses, my voice is rare to hard rock and heavy metal but I

SKYPE - RIPIO HEAVY METAL http://www.twitter.com/_RIPIO https://soundcloud.com/ripio http://ripio.bandcamp.com/album/marcado-por-la-locura

www.facebook.com/ripio

1/ Who started the band?

The story of a band Satariаl starts with a band "A.M.S.G." in 1989. When 3 fans of bands Bathory, Hellhammer and Venom decided to make music in the same direction.

The first composition: Seth - vocals, guitar, lyrics, music; Usurper - bass; Leprosy - drums.

Concerts AMSG took place in absolutely underground atmosphere: abandoned churches, warehouses, basements etc The court USSR recognized the activity of a band how anti-Soviet and fascistic. The name of the band and her music were prohibited. Seth was sent to the psychiatric clinic. And the rest members of the band - into the army.

The band recorded a demo in 1989. And after 1990 to 1992 the band was not active.

In 1992 Seth decided to resume musical activities.Seth decides to change name of the band on Satarial. And make the sound of black metal with medieval influence, because in childhood, in music school, he studied on a class of medieval guitar.

And in 1993, in the band comes on keyboards Angel Bust. She brings in the sound and philosophy band witchcraft, harmony of nature and balance. To 1995 a new program and composition of the band was formed. And by this time at the concert for the first time were used rituals with female Nude body and jousting tournaments.

In 1995 the first in Russia the festival devoted to the unholy music Black Mass, The christian terrorists was shoot in members of band Satarial.. After that the composition of the band was changes and in band comes a new drummer Demogorgon. In 1996 the band released the album "And the flame will take the temples of christ", that by the name immediately falls in the category of restricted for sale in Russia.

In 1998 was released album "the Queen of the Elves Land". The presentation of this album at the stadium Wings of the Soviets was cancelled by the government of Russia due to the use in advertising of satanic symbols, insulting the feelings of believers.

In 1999 the band Satarial was accused of involvement in a terrorist organization. arson of churches and desecration of cemeteries. In 2000 the members of the band Satarial were acquitted.

In 2001 Satarial released the album "Heidenlarm". This album was poorly perceived by the Russian audience, which at that time were not ready for the strong influence of folklore in the metal music.

In 2002 was released the demo which was recorded during the prohibition in 2000 under the name " Larm". Also this year Satarial has been banned on the Russian TV channel MTV with video clip of " Beloved of the Night".

In 2005 Satarial makes a small slope to the industrial music. Liric of band become less aggressive.

In 2005 Satarial released the album "Tanz mit...Tod". In 2006 Angel Bust was as an accused of committing ritual murder.( It was false,unfounded prosecution by the government. ) Russian court relieves the charges for lack of evidence.

After this Satarial parted with the drummer and bassist. Seth produced a solo experimental album under the name " Latexxx". In 2011 Seth again forms the team and Angelika to the keyboard adds drums. Satarial returned to the old sound and entirely to the subject of witchcraft and mysticism.

In 2014 Satarial released album " Lunar cross", which was recorded in tradition of old school, fully live, without computer technology.

In 2016 band released album called “ Blessed Brigit” and new official video clip “ Manifest of paganism”.

The entire history of the band Satarial is a struggle for freedom of thought, expression and for religious freedom.

2/You made a great video in which many musical styles are played and in which you play many roles in it, tell us about the concept and who directed it?

This video was filmed for the release of the album 2016 "Blessed Brigit" for the song "Manifest of Paganism".

This song contains a pagan and witchly attitude to сhristianity, and an opposition of ancient paganism to a new religion, which is a necromantic religion, a religion of evil and the worship of the corpse of сhrist. This imposed faith is opposed to freedom, love to nature and life. The slogan of the song is the refrain, which says: "All we need is air, earth, fire and water." Also, the second text through the entire song is "Our Father", read the other way around, which was used in the Middle Ages by witches and sorcerers in rituals of breaking up and initiation into the Coven. The video was shot in various places, on pagan temples, as well as in the ruins of the Temple of Hecate. Through the entire storyline is a witch's ritual of renunciation of christ. In addition, we showed in the video the torture of the Inquisition and the revival of man, who got rid from christian evil, in the world of ancient gods.. The idea of the video belongs to Seth.

3/Who designed the band logo?

During the existence of the group we had 3 different logos. Seth did all of them.

4/You have girls dancing and giving blood to people in live shows, do you miss the 80’s or it’s something special to your band?

Music - it's already magic. This primeval language of nature and the universe. We make music, which is a guide to the worlds beyond consciousness. And we accompany music magical visual imagery and shamanistic dancing. Almost each of our concert - a ritual, aimed at harmony with nature and the invocation of the God and Goddess. In addition to the visual and musical part we use incense and magical spells. We want to give people a sense of freedom from dogmas and principles, which hinder be in harmony with nature.

5/How do you write the songs?

It's hard to explain, songs are born by themselves. Text and music themselves merge into a single concept and are born almost simultaneously. Then we work for arranging and sounding.

We have always been inspired by nature, mysticism. This is a rod that runs through all our creativity. Our new songs are probably tougher, since the pressure from the Church in our country has become much more. From us took away the opportunity to freely express their thoughts. And all this, of course, is reflected in our lyrics and music.

6/What are the lyrics about?

In our lyric we try to explain to people that nature can not be divided into black and white, in nature there are wolves and sheep and wolves can not be considered evil only because of the fact that they eat sheep. For Nature is only important harmony and balance. For her, there is no concept of good and evil, because such notions lead to degeneration and death. We want to explain that the day is not possible without the night. Also in the lyrics we use magical spells and various magic formulas to harmonize our work with the environment.

Yes, we have a lot of anticlerical lyric. We do not accept demiurgic religion. And as history has shown all the bad things that happened and is happening now (terrorism, war), all it comes from religious fanaticism which religion imposes.

She causes a hatred for all living things and hatred of life itself , which he considers by sin. Religion - is the sword of the destruction in the hands of death.

7/Are you playing other instruments or you just play the drums?

I've been playing drums since 2012, and before that I played in band Satarial on keyboards and sang backing vocals.

Now I combine all these functions together. On the first place are the drums and vocals. And where the drums are less dense, I still play keyboards.

8/How long have you been playing and who is your favorite player?

I've been doing music since I was 4 years old, because my father is a conductor of a military orchestra. I play the drums for 6 years.

As for the favorite player - I can not single out anyone either, because there are many talented musicians which for me are interesting in listening and seeing their live work.

9/Are you playing in other bands?

On this moment – not.

10/What is the scene like in Russia?

At the moment, the state of heavy music in Russia is: For Satarial in Russia during the existence of band were different numerous obstacles from the authorities. Were the courts, the confiscation of our products from shops, banned of concerts. But the last 3 years, the situation in Russia has become unbearable at all. Christian structures have become very strong in recent years. The state from democracy turning into a theocratic. Accepted more and more new laws restricting freedom. All similar to like it was in the Soviet Union. But now the ideology of religion instead of the ideology of communism. Instead of the bright future they promise paradise. Television appearances of the Government and the Church constantly say for people, that Russia is surrounded by enemies , and Russia - it is God's chosen nation, which rid the world from satanism, homosexuality and from all the bad influence of the decaying western democracy. Do you think it possible in such conditions to exist a band such as Satarial? The last 3 years we didn’t have concerts practically in Russia. We dont support any modern policy of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. Accordingly, the bands that do not kiss the priests and government officials in the ass, in Russia do not play concerts. Now almost on all metal festivals there are priests and priest fuck in brain of metalheads different shit. The Internet also is a policy of denigrating all the bands that do not support anti-human policies of the Russian state. (Murder, persecution, attacks on other countries, the destruction of freedom of thought and speech.) Half of the people in Russia have become zombies and they believe in what TV told them.

They hate us like that is sometimes even dangerous in some places. Metalheads are subject to the same trends. We do not understand the bands that goes to a deal with the church in order to play some shitty concerts in Russia. I do not understand Western bands who come to play on Russian festivals, which supervised church and officials. Such for example as a Maloyaroslavets, the money from which to transfer on killing people and for war in the Donbass. Now in Russia there are no independent metal open airs. And I would like to ask all metal musicians: Is it possible to sell the idea of metal music for the sake of false performances? And then, in an interview to say what they are true metallers?

Okay, Russian bands, many of them already have the brains of zombie....

11/Have you played abroad?

Yes, we almost played twice a year and have big concert tours around Europe, where we play a lot of concerts. Now we go on a tour in Turkey.

12/Do you have a label or you do it yourself?

Yes, we cooperate with some labels. Before we used to work with major labels, but now we work more with independent labels.

13/What has changed in the band since you started?

Since we started it appeared more all-different shit around‌.

14/What are the bands that influenced your music?

At the initial stage the band was influenced by such bands as Hellhammer, Bathory and Venom,as well as folklore and classical music.

www.satarial.ru

Espanol

English

1 / ¿Quién empezó la banda? la banda la empezamos todos los miembros actuales de la banda a excepcion del bajista, el cual hemos cambiado ya en un par de ocasiones.

1/Who started the band?

The band was started with all the current members of the band except of the bass player, which has already changed a couple of times.

2 / ¿Qué te hizo elegir el traje de guerra?

La propia tematica que tenemos. Si quieres conectar con el publico hablando de temas "medievales", el entrar por los ojos a la gente hace que conecte más con la música que les ofrecemos.

2/What made you choose the war outfit?

Our own thematic. If you want to connect with the public talking about "medieval" stuff, if the people like what they see ,they have a deeper connection with the music that we offer them.

3 / ¿Vives cerca de las montañas o sólo para la sesión de fotos?

Eso depende de la percepción cerca/lejos que se tenga. Vivimos todos en Zaragoza y tenemos a un par de horas los Pirineos. Por la zona Francesa Pirenaica fue donde nos tomamos las fotos.

3/Do you live closed to the mountains or it was just for the photoshoot?

That depends on the near / far perception that you have. We all live in Zaragoza which is a couple of hours afar from the Pyrenees. Was around the French-Pyrenees area where we took the photos.

4 / ¿Fue difícil disparar con el frío? ¿Quién decidió hacer esas fotos?

No para nuestro cantante ya que va tapado hasta arriba, pero fue una experiencia dura. Mucho frio, la nieve muy inestable pero la experiencia fue genial. Las fotos las tomó Skuld, junto a un colega de la banda que nos acompañó para ayudarnos a tomarlas.

4/Was it hard to shoot with the cold? Who decided to make those photos?

Not for our singer cause he has a huge leather and plated armor, but it was a tough experience. Very cold, very unstable snow to walk but the global experience was great. The photos were taken by Skuld, along with a colleague of the band who joined us to help us.

5 / ¿Tienes un álbum impresionante que lo diseñó? ¿Lo has pedido o ha venido del artista?

Todo el tema artistico es obra de Skuld, nuestra guitarra. Le dejamos que se soltase para hacer lo que quisiera, nos lo iba enseñando segun avanzaba el proceso del dibujo y nos gustó a todos.

5/You have an awesome cover album who designed it?Have you asked for it or it came from the artist?

The entire artistic work is made by Skuld, our guitarist. We let her to do what she wanted, she shown us all drawing process progression and we all loved it

6 / ¿Quién ha elegido el nombre de la banda? ¿Qué significa?

El nombre es una referencia al abrol Yggdrasil de la mitología nordica. Es una referencia que hacemos ya que nuestra temática es de dicha mitología, pero no escogimos el mismo nombre por que no queriamos que nos representase dicho arbol.

6/Who has chosen the band’s name ?what does it mean?

The name is a reference to the Yggdrasil tree from the nordic mythology. It is a reference to that mythology, but we did not choose the same name because we did not want to be represented by that tree.

7 / ¿Quién hizo los logotipos?

Como ya hemos comentado anteriormente, todo el tema artistico corre a cuenta de Skuld, nuesta guitarra.

7/Who made the logos?

As we have already commented previously, the whole artistic stuff is made by Skuld, our guitar 8 / Ya tienes dos álbumes, ¿tienes un estudio?

Ambos albums los hemos grabado en los estudios inguz sin conpasiones de Zaragoza, pero no es nuestro propio estudio. Preferimos que nos grabase un profesional antes de realizar un churro casero.

8/You have already two albums, have you got a studio?

Both albums have been recorded in the Inguz studies SinConpasiones of Zaragoza, but it is not our own study. We prefer to work with a professional before making a homemade CD. 9 / ¿Quién es el creador principal? estas componiendo como banda?

Skuld es la que crea las melodias "demo", luego con el resto de la banda se van modificando hasta llegar al resultado final. Por otra parte las letras son compuestas por nuestro cantante Growlmund.

9/Who is the main creator? are you composing as a band?

Skuld is the one who creates the "demo" melodies, after that with the rest of the band we modified the song until reaching the final result. On the other hand the lyrics are composed by our singer Growlmund.

10 / ¿Es más fácil hacerlo tú mismo? ¿qué hace que la demanda como músico para conseguir la banda va?

La verdad es que no es facil, somos una banda underground y cuesta moverse y darse a conocer debido a la falta de interés de medios de comunicacion "grandes", aun asi agradecemos a todas las revistas o webs digitales que nos echan una mano. Y para poder estar en una banda lo que necesitas principalmente son ganas, tiempo y dedicación. Ir poco a poco que todo esfuerzo da su fruto.

10/Is it easier to do it yourself? what does that demand as musician to get the band going?

The truth is that it is not easy, we are an underground band and it is hard to play and make yourself known because of the lack of interest of the "big" media, even so we thank all magazines or digital websites that help us in our promotions. And to keep the band what you need mainly are desire, time and dedication. Gradually every effort gives you a nice reward .

11 / ¿Estás jugando en toda España? ¿Jugaste en el extranjero?

A finales de Octubre daremos nuestra primera gira española junto a los rusos Kalevala, pero ya llevamos unos años de recorrido por salas por toda España. Y que sean muchos más.

11/Are you playing all around spain? Did you play abroad?

In October we will do our first Spanish tour with the Russians Kalevala, but we have been traveling for a few years all over Spain making great gigs in different cities.

12 / ¿Con qué bandas juegas en vivo con, españa es más en Heavy Metal?

Hemos tocado con muchas bandas de gran nivel tanto nacionales(Incursed, Drakum,Northland...) como internacionales(TYR, thyrfring,lagerstein,...) y no nos importaría repetir.

12/With which bands do you play live with, spain is most into Heavy Metal?

We played with many national bands with great talent such as(Incursed, Drakum, Northland ...) and international bands (TYR, thyrfring, lagerstein, ...) and we want to repeat the experience as many times as we can.

13 / ¿Ha cambiado la alineación desde que empezaste? ¿están todos en la misma dirección musical?

Como ya hemos mencionado anteriormente, los miembros a excepcion del bajista somos los originales. Han pasado hasta 3 bajistas por la banda desde nuestro comienzo.

En cuanto a la musica, cada uno de la banda escucha estilos de metal completamente distintos, y tambien musica que no es metal. Cada uno pone de su parte para que en conunto saquemos el estilo de musica que tocamos.

13/Is the line up has changed since you started? are you all into the same musical direction?

As we have already said, the members with the exception of the bass are the originals. There have been up to 3 bass players in tge band since the beginning.

As for the music, each member of the band hears completely different styles of metal, and also music that is not metal. The mix of our musical tastes is the sound you can find in our music 14 / ¿Estás tocando en diferentes bandas?

De momento no, estamos todos enfocados en Yggdrassil 14/Are you playing in different bands?

Not at the moment, we are all focused on Yggdrassil 15 / ¿Tienes un interés en la etiqueta hasta ahora?

Ahora mismo estamos con Art Gates Records, y de momento estan haciedo buen trabajo distribuyendo nuestra musica por todo el mundo y por diversas plataformas por todo internet.

15/Have you got label interest so far?

Right now we are with Art Gates Records, and right now they are doing a great job distributing our music all over the world and across platforms on the internet.

www.verkami.com/projects/14668-primer-lp-de-yggdrassil

1/Who and when did you start the band? - 2/Did you have line up changes and is the music changed over the years?

Our native town is Irpin` in Kyiv region Ukraine. Prototype of Hesperion band was created by me, Vitalii Kashenko (guitar and vocals) and Georgii Aryshtevych (drums) in 2008 and was named Morning Star (Utrenniaya Zvezda in Russian). In that times we played music that was more like classical heavy metal as Accept, Manowar, Iron Maiden etc.. Since then only Oleg Gerasko (bass and vocals) and I have remained in band. The band was reborn in 2014 as Hesperion. We decided to play more complicated compositions. Gulnara Asanova (keyboards) and Denis Buslenko (guitar) joined up to us in that time. Alexii Kharitonov (vocals) and Vitalii Petrenko (drums) recorded the album Who Alive with us. Unfortunately, Alexii left the band right after the recording was completed in the summer of 2016, and Vitalii left us in May 2017. Vitalii Kozubov (vocals) and Yurii Petryshche (drums) now playing in band. All we are no professional musicians. There were no significant changes in the line up or in the music during the period from 2014.

Gradually compositions become more complicated. Although we don’t notice much changes. Maybe this will be noticeable in the next album.

3/Which bands inspired you?

People in our band were inspired by such bands as Blind Guardian, Death, Iron Maiden, Labyrinth, Rhapsody of Fire, Symphony X, Gamma Ray, Dream Theater, King Diamond, Judas Priest. Musical preferences of the members of our group are quite similar.

4/Your album is in Russian, does that limit the fan base?

The tracks in the album are sung in Russian and Ukrainian. In our opinion, the presence of Slavic languages and the lack of English does limit the fan base, even in our country. We wanted to record this album in English, however there was some kind of rush once we got all the records on hands and also a financial part of the question took place. Technically we could not afford recording english version of songs and re-record them again.

5/What are your lyrics about?

The lyric of the album does not have anything that could combine it into a common theme. Angelica is a translation of the French folk song. Thousands Sleepless Nights is a love lyrics. Dance over Abyss and Who Alive are philosophic thoughts about human life. Lenore is a translation of the poem by the American author Edgar Allan Poe. Ghost of War has battle lyrics about some nonspecific war. Guardian of Homeland is a song about battles but with some patriotic context.

6/Have you played abroad? how do you find the gigs? do you play with the same bands?

We have been playing abroad once. It happened in May 2017, in Bucharest at SoundArt festival. Our band manager found this festival and we were invited. In Ukraine we played on some huge festivals and periodically play with the same bands.

7/What means the name? who designed the logo?

Actually, the name of band does not mean anything, just a name. It is not worth looking for a meaning where is no meaning, in our opinion. The logo was designed by Georgii Aryshtevych (ex-drums). It has sharp edges like if it comes from 80’s when heavy and power metal genres were very popular.

8/You are signed to scrap metal records, how did it happen? have you had over labels interests?

Once we have recorded everything and got the complete mastered versions and sources we started thinking about publishing the material. As nobody of us had experience with self-publishing, the band members decide to find a music label. We started searching for it in September 2016 and found Metal Scrap Records by a recommendation from another band, who successfully published on this label. During the search period we were close enough to sign on another label,

but finally we have chosen Metal Scrap.

9/Do you have great instrument, records shops ?

Yes, there are some big, brandy shops with music-related stuff. However almost everything is sold and bought in Internet. Physical shops are the previous century :) 10/Tell us about your gears, do you use the digital tech?

Andrik (lead guitar) has LTD M-1000 Delux by ESP and Jackson JS-32T Warrior. As main drive he uses AMT LA E1 + Boss DD-3 Digital Delay and handmade delay pedal. At main rehearsal base as guitar stack Andrik uses Randall RX120RH with 4x12 cabinet. Gulnara (keyboards) use KORG Kronos. Along with Andrik’s DD-3 it is all the "digital tech". Denys (guitar) has Gibson Les Paul Studio. Oleg (bass) play on Cort.

11/How is the Metal scene other there, the country is wide..?

Metal scene is quite large and diverse in Ukraine. There are some famous metal bands known ouside of our country, like Nokturnal Mortum, HellOn, Khors, Fleshgore, Balfor, Holy Blood, Datura, Morton, Sunrise etc. We have big, international festivals and lots of smaller, UA-headlined festivals as well. And small gigs with less-known local bands are performed almost every day There is a possibility to play every 3-4 month on thematic (Heavy or Power or Prog) festivals for us and we try to play on all of them.

12/How many albums have you recorded? is it easy to find music studios?

Its our first album which contains best of all our compositions from 2009 to 2016. Currently we are working on the second album and have some songs for another, conceptual album. Regarding the studios - in our opinion it is quite difficult to find a good studio with adequate prices where we can record our composition in good quality.

13/Is there one composer or the whole band gets involved?

Usually somebody from the band comes on rehearsal saying “check this!” and starts playing a new piece. Then the rest helps to combine these pieces into a final composition. That’s a way how, probably, 80% our songs were made.

Sometimes lyrics comes first and then somebody thinks about music. New themes come the long way from an idea to completed song, and can be thrown away even they’re almost done, but guys can’t find the bridge or it sounds not how they wanted.

http://vk.com/hesperion_band

FRANCAIS

ENGLISH

1/Comment avez-vous imaginé la conception de cet album comparé aux autres?

-Bonjour, nous n’avons rien imaginé, c’était « le moment » de faire notre dixième album, sans pression, sans obligations juste dans la plus pure des envies… par totale abnégation. Nous avons attendu d’être au sommet de la tournée « Ænigma Mystica » pour écrire les premiers titres… et puis tout a coulé de source. Cet album représente quand même 4 années de travail.

1/How did you imagine the conception of this new album compared to the previous ones?

-Hello, we haven’t imagined anything , it was the ‘time’ to make our tenth album, without pressure, no obligation just pure wish...with total abnegation. We waited to be at the top of the tour « Ænigma Mystica » to start writing the first tracks...then it came simply.This album represents four years of work.

2/Vous êtes un des rares groupes français à vendre à l’étranger depuis un bon moment, est ce que cela vient de vos efforts, une promotion..?

-Alcest et Gojira vendent aussi beaucoup à l’étranger, nous n’avons hélas pas ce monopole. Durant les douze premières années, nous avons vraiment accentué notre promotion sur l’export. Malgré cela, la France nous a rapidement rattrapé et les ventes ont explosé dès 1998 avec la sortie de « Libertine Humiliations ». Je pense que c’est un tout, pour les "étrangers" nous sommes tellement bizarres et différents dans notre approche artistique que ceux qui s’intéressent à un Metal Underground et élitiste ont rapidement jeté leur dévolu sur Misanthrope.

2/You are one of the few French bands to sell abroad for a long time now, does that come from your promotion or your own efforts?

-Alcest and Gojira sell a lot too abroad, we haven’t got the monopoly. During the first twelve years, we didn’t really pushed on selling abroad. Although France got back rapidly and sells exploded from 1998 with the « Libertine Humiliations »’s album. I think it’s a whole as for foreigners we are so strange and different with our artistic approach,the Metalheads in the Underground got interested by us and just loved Misanthrope.

3/Avez-vous eu des changements de line-up ? Êtes-vous comme une famille?

De 1988 à 2002, les musiciens ont défilé dans Misanthrope. Puis cette pagaille s’est arrêtée avec le recrutement de Gaël Féret à la batterie et d’Anthony Scemama aux guitares. Depuis plus de 15 ans ils sont devenus nos frères, donc oui, nous sommes maintenant une grande famille « Misanthrope ». Et nous nous aimons mutuellement.

3/Did you have line up changes? Are you like a family?

From 1988 to 2002 many musicians played in Misanthrope. Then this mess stopped and we recruted Gaël Féret on the drums and d’Anthony Scemama on the guitars. We’ve been brother for fifteen years, so yes we are now a big Misanthrope family. We just love each others.

4/Pouvez-vous dire que votre évolution musicale a dévié depuis le début ou vous gardez une ligne?

Les deux à la fois, Misanthrope a énormément évolué en 29 années et dix albums studio, c’est indéniable. Mais avec le bassiste/directeur artistique, Jean-Jacques Moréac, nous essayons de garder l’«esprit » Misanthrope dans la musique. Et Gaël et Anthony sont aussi de fantastiques gardiens du temple. Même chose au niveau des textes…le récit se développe depuis les prémices.

4/Can you tell that your evolution as changed your way or you are keeping the same line?

Both really, Misanthrope evolved a lot during those Twenty nine years and ten studio albums, for sure you can’t deny.

But with the artistic director/bass player , Jean-Jacques Moréac, we are trying to keep the spirit of Misanthrope music.

Gaël et Anthony are the fantastic keepers of the temple.Same for the lyrics...the theme develops from the deep.

5/Votre public a l’air de vous suivre, avez-vous conquis d’autres fanatics ? Et sont-ils éparpillés dans le monde ou vous connaissez un pays plus fan?

La France est notre pays, mais nous avons de nombreux intérêts au Japon, Canada, Belgique, Suisse, Allemagne, Espagne, République Tchèque, Pologne, Russie, Slovaquie, Hollande, Argentine, UK et USA. Nous devons nous développer en Italie, en Irlande et au Portugal ! Il reste beaucoup de territoire à conquérir… c’est un immense challenge pour nous.

5/Your public seems to follow you have you gained more fanatics? Are they spread around the globe or their is one country with most fans than the others?

France is our country, but with have lots of fans in Japan, Canada, Belgium, Suitzerland, Germany, Spain, Tchèk Républic, Pologne, Russia, Slovaquie, Holland, Argentina, UK et USA. We still have to develop our fan base in Italy, en Irlande et au Portugal ! They are many territories to conquer... this is a huge challenge for us.

6/Si je me souviens en 1991 tu chantais et jouais de la guitare, que s’est-il passé?

Oui j’étais le guitariste-chanteur-auteur-compositeur jusqu’en 1998. Il m’a fallu du temps pour comprendre que Misanthrope serait plus fort si nous montions un véritable groupe plutôt qu’un projet. J’ai ouvert ma porte à d’autres musiciens pour nous épauler, Jean-Jacques Moréac et moi… De toute façon jouer dans un groupe est mon désir depuis que j’ai 15 ans. Nous avons commencé à réellement écrire la musique en groupe à partir de « Misanthrope Immortel » et cela ne s’est jamais arrêté depuis. Il y a une anecdote incroyable sur le pourquoi du comment je ne suis plus guitariste sur scène… mais elle doit rester dans le domaine du privé. Aujourd’hui, être chanteur c’est déjà bien assez je te l’assure.

6/If I recall back in 1991 you were singing and playing guitar, what happened?

Yeah I was the singer/guitarist /main composer until 1998.It took me a while to admit Misanthrope will be stronger if we really had a band rather than just a project. I opened my door to other musicians to help us Jean-Jacques Moréac and myself. .. Anyway my main wish since I was fifteen was to play in a band. We really created music for Misanthrope from the « Misanthrope Immortel » album and it never stopped.There is an incredible anecdote on why I stopped playing guitar on stage..but this must stay private. Today being a singer is really enough believe me.

7/Comment composez-vous les titres? Y a-t-il une création de groupe?

Nous sommes quatre compositeurs dans le groupe, donc dans un premier temps, chacun apporte ses morceaux, ses riffs, pour nous maquettons et arrangeons les titres ensemble. J’y apporte ensuite mes textes que nous plaçons ensemble sur la musique. C’est un véritable travail de groupe… mais le plus compliqué pour Misanthrope ce n’est pas la création, c’est le mixage, car cela peut prendre plusieurs années pour nous mettre tous les quatre d’accord.

7/How do you compose your songs? Is the band creates together?

We are four composer in the band, so firstly each member brings his compositions, his riffs, to arrange and demoing the tracks together. I bring then my lyrics we all place on the music . It’s a real band’s creation..but the most complicated for Misanthrope it’s not the creation, it’s the mixing. This can take many years to allow the four or us to agree.

8/Jouez-vous dans d’autres groupes?

Gaël Féret et Jean-Jacques jouent dans un second groupe. Anthony Scemama et moi-même restons 100% concentrés sur Misanthrope. Tous les jours, il y a une immensité de choses à faire pour sortir un album comme : ''ΑXΩ (Alpha X Omega : Le Magistère de l'Abnégation)". Nous avons aussi Argile, mais cette entité n'est pas un groupe.

8/Are you playing in other bands?

Gaël Féret and Jean-Jacques play in another band. Anthony Scemama and myself are 100% in Misanthrope. Every day is complete with tons of things to do on the album such as ‘’ΑXΩ (Alpha X Omega : Le Magistère de l’Abnégation)». We also have Argile, but it’s not a band .

9/Qui est derrière la création des pochettes d’albums?

C’est une création artistique de Yohann SilereOmnia d’après des photos que j’ai réalisé sur des momies d’araignées.

Nous avons transformé leurs toiles, les débris de leurs structures, leurs fragments et autres sarcophages pour en faire une texture malsaine et maladive. Comme le développement d’une image de scanner "imaginaire" du cerveau d’une malade, c’est le morceau « Ardente Psychopathophobie » qui nous a inspiré la création de cette œuvre graphique. Nous avons travaillé 9 mois sur l’Artwork de l’album. C’est très kafkaïen et volontairement NOIR avec une multitude de détails. L’Ω est le symbole de la chute de leur Dieu. Nous ne pouvions pas nous risquer à faire une pochette lumineuse.

9/Who is behind the creation of the album covers?

This is an artistic creation from Yohann SilereOmnia from photos I made from momified Spiders.We transformed their webs, the structures remains, fragments and else to get a kind of disturbing illness. Such as the image from a scanner that shows an imaginary picture of the sick brain , it’s the song called « Ardente Psychopathophobie » which inspired us for the artistic creation of the album. It’s voluntary deep and dark with lots of details. The Ω is the symbol of the fall of their god.We couldn’t dare making a lightning cover.

10/Avez-vous eu envie de changer le logo à certains moments?

Nous avons fait 3 tentatives différentes de logo. Le premier sur les démos et notre split CD "Hater of Mankind", puis le logo actuel dès notre premier album "Variation on Inductive Theories" et une tentative de logo alternatif sur "Sadistic Sex Daemon"... mais nous sommes retournés à notre logo d'origine immédiatement après... l'actuel qui se trouve sur " ΑXΩ" est vraiment celui de Misanthrope.

10/Did you wish to modify the logo at some point?

We tried three different logos. The first on our demo and the CD «Hater of Mankind», then the actual logo on our first album «Variation on Inductive Theories» and a try with an alternate logo on «Sadistic Sex Daemon»...but we came back to the orignal one straight away..the one one the cover of « ΑXΩ» is really our own one.

11/Que pensez-vous de la scène française? Tous les vieux groupes de Death Metal toujours là, avez-vous une complicité avec certains?

Notre scène est très riche, mais le grand public et les médias ne se focalisent que sur Mass Hysteria, Gojira et Ultra Vomit. Il faut donner aux fans de Metal la chance d'écouter et de voir autre chose en live. Sinon effectivement, il y a une énorme connivence avec les musiciens des groupes avec qui nous partageons la route depuis 29 années. Nous sommes vraiment potes avec Mercyless, ADX, Agressor, Loudblast, Killers, Supuration, Vulcain, Nightmare, Witches et des centaines d'autres... c'est très confraternel... nous aimons pratiquement tous l'alcool, sauf Gaël.

11/What do you think of the French scene? All the old Death Metal bands are still here, do you have a special complicity with some of them?

Our scene is rich, but the public is based on the medias that only support and show Mass Hysteria, Gojira et Ultra Vomit. You have to give the Metal fans a chance to listen and see other bands live. Yes there is a good complicity with the musicians from other bands which whom we are sharing the stage for twenty nine years. We really are friends with Mercyless, ADX, Agressor, Loudblast, Killers, Supuration, Vulcain, Nightmare, Witches and many more..very friendly... we mosltly love alcohol , apart from Gaël.

12/Vous avez joué au Hellfest, pleins de styles différents, est-ce que cela vous plait?

J'ai joué 3 fois au Hellfest, 2 fois avec Misanthrope et 1 fois avec Argile... le Hellfest est l'endroit le plus extraordinaire qui soit pour un groupe de Metal. Nous avons un éternel respect pour les salariés et les bénévoles de cette association.

C'est le paradis du Headbanger.

12/You have played at the Hellfest, with different music style, do you like it?

I played three times at the Hellfest, twice with Misanthrope and once with Argile..The Hellfest is an extraordinary place for a Metal band. We have a deeply respect for the people who work their as the people of the association. It’s the paradise for headbangers.

13/Comment trouvez-vous les dates de concerts?

Par le bouche à oreille, nos "amis" facebook et le lobbying... j'ai lâché le mot qui fâche mais c'est la stricte vérité. Aujourd'hui en France, même si tu as du talent tu ne peux pas jouer Live. Nous sommes dans l'Abnégation totale et le déni culturel.

13/How do you find live dates?

Our friends on facebook, gossips, word of mouth...Lobbying place. I told the word that gets anger but it’s the truth. Today in France, although you may have talent you can’t play live gigs. we are in the total abnegation and cultural denial.

14/Quand vous regardez votre histoire depuis le début qu’est-ce qui a changé? est-ce que la vie d’un groupe est meilleure ou pire?

Tout a changé. Au départ nous n'avions rien, pas d'argent, pas d'instruments, pas d'amplis, pas de salle de répétition (on devait répéter sur la terrasse chez mes parents), pas de structure de promotion, pas de concerts, pas de contacts, aucun moyen de faire découvrir notre musique... pire encore, pas de moyen d'apprendre à jouer de ton instrument de musique autrement qu’en allant voir des concerts et regarder jouer les guitaristes. En 1988, quand nous avons commencé, nous n'avions qu'un stylo, des feuilles blanches et quelques timbres. Aujourd'hui, avec le web les nouveaux artistes ont accès à tout, tout de suite... ils peuvent même s'acheter des fans avec l'argent de papa et maman. Mais personnellement, je les plains. Ils n'auront jamais la rage et l'envie absolue de découvrir autre chose... la curiosité est l'atout ultime pour progresser.

14/When you’re looking back what has changed since you started? Is the life better for a band or worst now?

Everthing has changed. At the begining we had nothing, no money, no instruments, no amplifiers, no rehearsal rooms (we played on the roofs of my parents), no promotion structure, no gigs, no contacts, no way to get our music known.. and yet worst noway to learn how to play our instrument except by going to gigs and watch the guitarists play. In 1988 when we started, we had only a pen and a white paper and few stamps. Today with the web new artists ariseand have acces to everything right in a second... they even can buy fans with the money of their parents. But honestly I blame them. They will never have the rage nor the wish to discover something else... curiosity is the absolute to progress.

15/Vous êtes toujours chez Holy Records, quelle affinité avez-vous avec ce label? seriez-vous prêts à changer?

Holy Records c'est notre vie depuis 1993... pourquoi changer ? C'est notre maison nous y sommes bien et nous les remercions.

15/You are still in Holy Records label, which relation do you have with them? would you change?

Holy records it’s our life since 1993...why changing? it’s our house we are feeling good and we are thanking them.

www.misanthrope-metal.com

intervie

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FRANCAIS

ENGLISH

1/Qui a formé le groupe?

Vu qu’on est tous dans la même région, on s’est dit que c’était le moment de monter un groupe ensemble, se faire plaisir et rendre hommage avec BORN AGAIN à tous ces groupes avec lesquels on agrandit en apportant notre touche personnelle. Nos influence sont Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Judas Priest et bien d’autres !

Pour infos,le line-up se compose de : Thierry (vocals) , Chris (guitars) , Christopher (bass) ,Pich (drums) 1/Who started the band?

Since we are all in the same area, we thought would be the moment to start a band.To have fun with Born Again and give tribute to all the bands we listened as children bringing our own touch. Our influences are Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Judas Priest and many more!

The line up is as follow: Thierry (vocals) , Chris (guitars) , Christopher (bass) ,Pich (drums) 2/Quelle est la raison du nom? qui a fait le logo?

C’est un clin d’œil à Black Sabbath, avec l’album Born again, Ian Gillan et Tony Iommi !une affiche au top !et par la même occasion, un nouveau départ musical avec BORN AGAIN, d’ou le nom et sa signification.

Pour le logo, Stan W Decker a retouché un coups le logo que nous avions créés, afin qu’il colle bien avec la cover du CD .

2/What’s the main reason for the band’s name? Who designed the logo?

It’s just a hint to Black Sabbath, with the album Born Again, Ian Gillan and Tony Lommi! A top team! and for the occasion a new start with Born Again reason for the meaning. As for the logo Stan W Decker did a slight touch on the logo we designed to fit the CD cover .

3/Qui a conçu la pochette? avez vous participé à sa conception?

Stan W Decker s'est occupé de la pochette et de l'artwork,un superbe boulot, et une cover qui claque bien avec son aspect comics! Ce mec est doué et il bosse avec de nombreux groupes talentueux .on lui a donné juste quelques indications , son talent a fait le reste.

3/Who designed the cover? Did you participate to his creation?

Stan W Decker dealt with the album cover as the artwork, he did a perfect job. A cover album that kicks as in a way of comic books! This is guy is gifted and works with many talented band. We just gave him the idea of what we wanted and he did it .

4/Comment avez vous été signés chez Massacre Records? était ce un choix de votre part? avez vous eu d’autres propositions?

On voulait que notre 1er album sorte dans de bonnes conditions afin d’exposer BORN AGAIN au maximum dans les médias, sur internet et les réseaux sociaux. Massacre Records est le 1er a nous avoir répondu, on voulait que le nom de Born Again soit diffusé 1 max en Europe pour la sortie de notre 1er CD, d’où le choix de ce label réputé et bien

implanté dans le milieu. Pour l’instant, les chroniques en France et à l’étranger sont très positive et c’est encourageant pour la suite !

4/How did you get the deal with Massacre Records? was it your choice? Did you get other proposals?

We wanted to get the album spread out the best way to expose Born Again to the maximum of the medias on the planet, as the social ones. Massacre Records is the first that replied to us, we wanted to get the name Born Again wild extent mostly in Europe for the first album sells, due to the choice of this reputated label pretty much known in the field. For the moment reviews in France and abroad have been very positive so it gives us hope for the futur.

5/Comment vous composez les chansons? y’a t’il un composeur?

Chris notre guitariste compose de son côté, amène les compos, on en discute et on arrange le tout ensuite mes textes et chant, classique mais efficace comme méthode de travail. Les 10 compos de l’album en sont la preuve, et surtout notre cover de Motorhead qui claque bien en live.

5/How do you compose your songs? is there one composer?

Chris our guitarist compose on his side,bring his compositions we talk and arrange the whole, thenmy lyrics and vocals. Basic but good method. The ten tracks on the album are the proof, and most of all our Motorhead cover song kicks straight in the butt live.

6/Avez vous un thème particulier pour les textes et l’album?

Plutôt un condensé du quotidien que chacun peut connaître un jour, à travers les peurs, les angoisses , l’ espoirs, le courage, les guerre ,et la religion .Bref, un résumé des émotions de la vie en tant qu’humain.

6/Do you have a special theme for the album lyrics?

Mostly condensed today’s topics, everyone can rely to, own fears, worries, hopes, courage, war, religion.

To shorten ,it ‘s just the actual life emotions that human beings feel.

7/ Comment c’est d’être chanteur dans plusieurs groupes?

Ma priorité ,c'est BORN AGAIN,d’ailleurs on retourne bientôt en studio pour donner une suite à « Strike with Power » !je prends mon pieds autant en studio qu’en live, et c’est un signe qui ne trompe pas !l’important ,c’est de rester fan de zik, avoir de la rigueur envers son travail, et toujours aller de l’avant.

7/What is like to be a singer in several bands?

My priority is Born Again, we soon get back to the studio to release the follower ‘Strike with Power’! I enjoy as much the studio as the live events, it ‘s something that can’t lie.

The most important is to stay in the music, be commited to your work, and keep going forward.

8/Vous avez des influences Heavy, qu’est ce qui a amené à une voix plus agressive ? avez vous des influences Thrash ou autre?

Les compos sont Hard/Heavy 80’s, avec des fois une touche stoner, et un chant flirtant avec le Heavy/Thrash,et le tout nous donne une approche différent dans le son,les mélodies et les vocaux. C’est ce mélange qui plaît bien chez de nombreuses personnes et qui sur scène prends toute sa puissance avec la mélodie et l’agressivité.

8/You have Heavy Metal influences , what brought you to get a more agressive voice?

Do you have Thrash Metal influences? or others Compositions are 80’s Hard / Heavy, sometimes it’s closer to the Stoner style, and vocals on the edge of Heavy / Thrash Metal. The whole gives a different approach to the sound and the melodies with the vocals. It ‘s what please many people and which gives a power on stage between melody and agressivity.

9/Comment ce passe les concerts? y’a t’il des groupes avec lesquels vous jouez souvent? Est ce facile de trouver des concerts?

On a commencé le live il y a 6 mois, pour l’instant , show case promo, des live en suisse et en France ,avec les Sticky boys, Hellectrokuters…et en Octobre le Rising Fest avec en tête d’affiche cette année Ross The Boss ,l’ancien guitariste de Manowar.

9/How are the gigs? Are they bands you play often with? Is it easy to find gigs?

We started live gigs six months ago. For the moment promos shows, live in switzerland and France. with Sticky Boys, Hellectrokuters...in October we play the Rising Fest with the headliner Ross the Boss, the ex-Manowar guitar player.

10/Comment les vidéos ont étés conçues? est ce du pro ou vous vous y étes collés?

Pour notre 1er clip New Generation, on a bossé avec un mec qu'on connait depuis longtemps pour son travail et montage vidéo, sinon pour les 2 autres , c'est do it yourself!! Avec extrait live sur notre cover de Motorhead « No Class ».

10/How did you make the videos? Did you use Pros or you made them yourself?

For our first video «New Generation» we worked with a guy we know for long time for his work on video editing , for the other ones we did it ourselves! With excerts from our live cover of Motorhead «No Class».

11/Avez vous des connaissances dans la technique musicales ?

C’est Pich,notre batteur qui s’occupe des prises studios pour l’enregistrement, et de toute la partie informatique dans son home studio,on bosse quand on veut ,et c’est une liberté bien pratique pour composer et enregistrer nos compos sans le stress ,et avec du recul .

11/Do you have knowledge in the music field?

Pitch our drummer copes with the soundchecks, and mics set ups for the recording in the studio. The computer thing is done in my home studio we can work whenever we want to. It’s the freedom to compose and record our compositons without stress and step back.

12/Cela fait un an que le groupe existe?! qu’est ce qui a changé et est ce facile aujourd’hui d’avoir un groupe?

En 1 an, tout s'est enchainé rapidement pour Born Again , création compos ,signature avec Massacre Records, et sortie du CD, le live dans la foulée, mais on s'était fixé de pas perdre de temps, on prends toujours du plaisir et on veut passer un cap avec BORN AGAIN. Mais faut toujours se donner les moyens ,ne pas baisser les bras, et gardez la foi dans cette zik Metallik .

Merci pour l’interview et ton soutien !

12/The band exist for one year?! What has changed and is it easy today for a new band?

In one year everything went fast for Born Again, compositions , the deal with Massacre Records, the CD coming out, followed by live shows. We fixed us not the waste our time, we always take pleasure in what we do and go far with Born Again. You always have to commit yourself , never give up nor stop, keep the faith in the Metalic Music.

Thanks for the interview and the support!

www.bornagainmetalband.com