The Metal Mag n°18 July / August 2018

Hello Friends and supporters,

This new issue comes during the summer. Having received interviews programmed for the issue 17 too late I incorporated them here; I want to thank you bands who take the time to answer my questions I know albums and live schedules are sometimes hard to shake. I still don’t get why I have to shase people who reply “yes I will”. Thanks to Trish Hardin for bringing her band and spreading the mag !

Teri Stahl still having interviews on her section, a big warm thank you for your dedication and sharing the drummers life. Huge kisses to Kim Nielsen, Share Ross for the long friendship, Lion music for sharing Joe Stump interview, and all of you who supports in anyway my work. If you like extreme music and wish to share your passion in the mag get in touch. Last but least Heather Williams for sharing her interview .

Once again a great thank you to Marie ©www.les-lutins-de-lart.fr for her amazing painting she’s selling so fast I can only use the pic, as we say ‘Sharing is loving’ !!! my point has always been spreading arts. I added my drawing of Kitty Saric I did few months ago.

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

United we stand ,

Interviews : The Editor Franck Michaud # Jim Crean # Koralyst # Anthriel sure # Age of Disclo # Arapacis # Zarthas # Wraith # Tower of Babel # Sibus in Drummers: # Teri Stahl Rock - Cody Antill

- Craig Martin

- Dan Buch

- Jeff Blackburn

- Kenn Youngar

- Steve Wittig

# Skinflint # St Madness ide # National Suic # Maxx12 LLC # Nightbreak h) (Francais, Englis # Lorraine Cross erg # Marc Vanderb tain # David T Chas s # Rock Goddes h) (Espanol, Englis # Astrey Valley cais, English) # Samsaya (Fran ams: # Heather Willi - Dark Ministry

# Millennium ©The Metal Mag #OverKhaos # Rottentown www.themetalmag.com # Twin Flames

1/How did you get all these artists to play and sing on that album?

-All the guest musicians are friends of mine that I made throughout the years.

2/How long did it take to get the album done? Must take time to get each musician to be free...

-It took about 6 months to complete the whole album due to everyone’s busy touring schedule.

3/Obviously they are songs you wrote the lyrics for and others are just ‘covered’, are they songs that count for you or you simply wanted to make them your own?

-Yes the original songs I wrote and the covers that are on the record, I wanted to make sound like my own. Good observation!

4/How do you get those cover songs modified with other artists; is there cost for the royalties?

-All the cover’s songs have the publishing covered.

5/you have both Appice brothers, are you great friends? Why having them both?

-I am the lead vocalist for the Appice Brothers Band. We are great friends and we have a new album coming out in October that is going to be amazing!

6/When we read the song titles it seems like you want to express something, what is the message for this album?

-The album really delivers hard rock AOR music, that I feel is missing in the music Industry these days.

7/Are some of the musicians on that album who plays on most of your albums? Or you’d rather ask and Share with any?

-Yes I have a lot of the same musicians as my last album “Velvet Crush” like Steve Major, Phil Naro, but also had a lot of my friend’s guest.

8/How it’s like to share the vocals with other great singers? Do you have to rearrange the songs?

-It’s an honor to sing with these great singers Mike Tramp, Frank Dimino, Phil Naro & Phil Lewis. Everything just came together great!

9/Why did you ask Don Jamieson to make that intro? How did it come to your mind and what does it mean apart from getting the first track airing on radios?

-Don is a good friend of mine and very supportive of my career, so I thought it would be cool for Him to introduce the Record.

10/’caught in the middle’ has original musicians from Dio, what was the first reason to play and record That song? Was it a challenge?

-We wanted to do a Dio song on the record so “Caught In The Middle” was the perfect choice.Vinny (Appice) and myself asked Jimmy (Bain) to play on it and He was excited to be a part of it.Then while Me & Vinny were out on Tour, The great Frank Dimino (Angel) came to one of our shows & actually sat in and sang with us. After the show I asked Him if he would be interested in singing on that song! We did it as a duet style and it came out Amazing! Ironically this would prove to be the last recording That Jimmy Bain did before his untimely passing.

11/what difficulties did you encountered releasing this album?

-None whatesoever.It is released on Carmine Appice’s major Label Rocker Records and have been distributed around the whole world internationally.

12/’Insatiable’ is the first track, does it describe you totally? What led you to write this song?

-I actually wrote that song on a plane flying while out on Tour & transposed it to guitar, etc when I landed. I write a lot of songs while out on the road actually.

13/did you release the cover? Who made the logo? Can you explain the meaning (lions, earth...)

-The cover, logo & all artwork was made the Great Famous Russian artist Ed Unitsky.He did my last 2 Records and really captures a magical experience.

14/What made you choose the artists like Mike Tramp and others?

-Again Mike and the other guests are all great friends of mine and they really came together to help me make a great Record!

15/Are you writing lyrics for other bands? Do you produce young bands?

-Yes I will be on the new Hollywood Monsters Record that features the multi-talented Steph Honde (Paul D’ianno) & I am producing a few new bands as well. Steph & I are currently working on my new Record & will have a lot of well-known guest musicians on it as well.

16/your last album are 5 years old, what happened? Have you sung on others albums?

-Yes I have been Touring Nationally with the Appice Brothers .In 2014 we (The Appice Brothers) Recorded a Live Album .The album was recorded at the world Famous Iridium (Les Paul’s venue) in New York City! We played two sold out shows that were recorded with a mobile unit. We quickly landed a major Record deal with Cleopatra/Deadline Records and released it internationally. I also sang on the highly respected “A World with Heroes” Kiss Tribute album that featured many famously known artists.

17/Are you dealing with the website and social medias?

-Yes I have an official website www.jimcrean.net along with Facebook, Twitter 18/This album is a studio one with all the artists, are you going to tour? If so which artists will be your band members?

-Yes I will be Touring This Summer. Jim Crean Band is going out on Dates with LA Guns & Then dates with Diamond Head (Europe). I am also in the process of making another Record!

www.jimcrean.net

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

Myself, my wife Christa, and her brother originally started the band in 2008. It wasn’t planned, we were kids and just decided to get together and jam.

2/You have a mini album available on CD baby from 2013, is it the best site to sell your music? why only four songs? what has been the response so far?

CD baby works well for selling music. When we added it there it added to many other digital sites such as iTunes and rhapsody. The reason for 4 songs is some to do with budget but also we were revamping the band and looking for members so we used it as kind of a teaser.

3/Have you started as a cover band?

after.

At one time we attempted the cover band scene but it didn’t take us long to realize it just wasn’t what we were

4/Have you suffered like every bands about line up changes?

Since our start almost 9 years ago we have been through several guitar and bass players. It’s so hard to find people with the same passion that want to work at it.

5/How did you record that mini ep? have you got engineering skills?

The EP was recorded at a local guys studio that really worked with us and what we were trying to accomplish with our budget at the time.

6/Have you got a physical CD or you really have concentred on the digital format to get heard?

The EP is available as a physical cd.

7/You released a video with a new song in 2016 that pretty getting much attention, why it took so long? who released it?

The release of the video for Catch Your Breath was a coning out teaser. For a few months prior we had been writing all new songs with two new members.

8/Have you got enough material for a complete album?

We do have enough material to record a full length album. We hope it’s something we can do in the near future.

9/The logo on the mini ep is different from the one on your facebook page, is it evolving or you haven’t found it yet?

The logo has evolved over a few years although nothing is set in stone and could be changed. We are just trying to stay creative.

10/you have different influences, how do you write your songs? Is it a band’s creation?

We all have a wide range of different influences. We try to not sound too much like any one band. As for writing we usually start with guitar and drums laying a down a basic platform for vocals.

11/you seem to play live show a lot, have you got friends you share the stage with?

We used to play a lot of local shows with bands we knew, but most of the bands we shared the stage with a lot have split and went separate ways. We mostly play out of town or out of state with bands we do not know.

www.facebook.com/koralyst/

1/It’s been six years since your first album, what happened?

-Simo: Well basically life happened. We lost our rehearsal studio in which most of the Anthriel history was written and that was really a huge set back for us..

Then there was some frustration and a couple of lineup changes and time just kept on moving.. A couple of kids were born also so one might say that life happened..

-Timo: It took some time to replace the rhythm section of the band but taking that time to find musicians like Mr.Markkula and Mr.Horttana for a drums & bass guitar, sure was a gold mine for us.

2/who started the band and got the name?

- Simo: Founder of the band is Timo Niemistö and he was also the one who came up with the name Anthriel..

- Timo: Anthriel is the Archangel of balance and harmony and these are features we like to concentrate in our music. Balance and harmony are also key points we all aim in our everyday lifes at many different levels, so ideologically it is easy to relate and it describes our music perfectly.

3/have you had recorded few songs back then that feature on that new album or you started from scratch? is so have you modified them or rearanged?

- Simo: I believe there was one song titled Siren’s Song, that was originally written for The Pathway but was left out at the last stages of recording that album. We didn’t quite start from a scratch cause we also had some songs written to some extent and it was quite easy to come up with the basic track listing of the new album.. a little bit of rearranging and composing new stuff was required but slowly it became whole musically and lyrically.

4/The cover is amazing, you are still using the same artist? have you asked for the design or you just took one was proposed to you? what does it mean?

- Simo: Yeah it’s really a cool looking album cover and so was also our first album cover from the Pathway, both made by the same man Mr. Jan Yrlund at Darkgrove. We kinda had some ideas about what elements and other lyric related stuff we wanted to be there and Jan listened to our ideas and made the album cover based on those ideas and really it became so perfect for this album. You can just stare at the album cover while listening to the album and kinda dive in to that mood and world that the cover art presents together with the music.

5/who wrote the lyrics? is there a story or each song has a special theme?

- Simo: Mainly I did but Timo also contributed in some songs by writing lines when I didn’t get the right lyrical idea out from my head.. we also spent a lot of time discussing the themes and about the storyline that goes through the whole album.. Lyrically Transcendence presents a different kind of phase in life than what the Pathway was about.. every song has a meaning of its own for me but I believe that everyone should make their own reflection about the lyrics so I’m not gonna dig any deeper into the meaning of the lyrics Timo and I wrote.

6/which bands inspire you ? are you listening lots of different music style to get the ideas?

-Timo: Unfortunately I am not interested much about new bands or artists and I don't follow what is new and hot in a music world. I try to keep focus on what kind of music I want to write and play, more that what kind of

music I "should" do at this moment. I listen a lot of classical music and older 70's progrock bands. I also listen a lot of instrumental, fusion, ambient and soundtrack stuff for example. As long the music is beautiful, melodic, rhythmically interesting or if the music evokes somekind of feeling, it inspires me. When writing new material, of course it's important to keep in mind the music you've written on the past records so the ship doesn't sail too far from it's homeport, you know;) 7/What do you like of Lion Music Records? is there another label interested - Timo: We have got some offers and suggestions but we have been more than happy with Lion Music Records.

8/Have you got a live tour already ready to promote the album?

- Timo: The band is full of energy to show it's strength at the stage and soon as we get our every pieces together, we start to manage live shows.

9/What was the difficulty to record that album? did you work years to get it done?

- Timo: As we started to record our debut "The Pathway", it was very time consuming to build up a studio environment and buy a decent gear for the each recording stage to record an album. When it came time to begin to record "Transcendence", the rehearsal studio, gear and knowledge was there but after a drums, guitars and keys was recorded, we had to let go of our rehearsal studio. It was a huge set back for the band as we had to tear down our facilities and start looking for a environment to finish the album. But afterall, it took plenty of more time as planned but it was worth it, good don't have to be easy;) 10/Do you play in other bands?

- Timo: Me, Antti (Hakulinen) and Henrikki (Markkula) are part time musicians along our dayjobs, Antti (Horttana) is a full time musician. I am personally grateful of being able to play with so many great musicians and artists along the years. It has given a lot of perspective to my own playing, music business and what it needs to be touring musician. And first of all, who am I as a musician and what is my musical goal.

11/Is the band a project for fun or a real way for you to express yourself and getting has many albums as possible?

- Timo: I think the whole point of practicing an music instrument is to make your own music. Anthriel's music is my way to express emotions and for me, making music is not something i “need” to do, it is more like "inner must", you know...There is a LOT of material to work and publish in a future. What it comes to the future albums; quality over quantity. I don't see Anthriel publishing an album every year even there is already material written and chosen for the third album. But I can assure you still don't have to wait for another six years for the next Anthriel album;);) 12/Are you like a familly? do you get along together or meet just in the studio?

- Simo: We’re really like a family.. We’ve known each other for so many years now and some of us had been even childhood friends so it’s natural to think that we’re a band of 5 brothers..

13/How do you create the songs, do you start with the keyboard or a guitar riff?

- Timo: There is a three ways for me; drum beat/ rhythm, guitar riff or keyboard melody. Actually I rarely use guitar as a tool to composing. Usually I catch some piano melody or orchestral theme and arrange band instruments around a theme. In Anthriel songs, keys are the main instrument and in our songs there is a lot of keys and chord progression on the background and with a guitars and drums I just try to add some rhythmic pattern on the top of the cake. If you cut off the band instruments, the arrangement works as an ambiental soundtrack. Who knows, maybe in a future we publish a Spa-editions of some songs;););) 14/have you got a studio? do you have recording knowlege?

- Timo: I have been building a home studio to my house for a while now and can't wait to finish it. I'm pretty exited to get my hands on the new material;) I'm always interested in testing new mixing techniques and studio gear etc.

15/Are the vocals laid at the end ?

- Simo: Well basically yes.. We kinda like to do the vocal recording and composing at the same time when everything else has been written and recorded. It’s always quite a challenge to do long recording sessions where you basically compose the lead vocal lines whilst singing them and rearrange some vocal parts to that certain point where the original idea becomes a completely new one.. it’s fun that way and the only way we like to do it.. it kinda keeps everything fresh and inspiring that can also be heard on the vocals while listening to the album..

16/What ‘s different from the first album?

- Simo: The main difference between The Pathway and Transcendence is that Transcendence is much heavier both lyrically and musically when compared to The Pathway..

http://www.anthriel.net

All questions answered by Ben Sollberger 1/You say you have songs pretty old, have you played them with other musicians ? Have they evolved with time?

We jammed some of the songs with my former band Under my Skin to check whether they fit with the voice of the singer. But most of the songs were never played with a band. Some have evolved in the studio when a singer sung parts differently than what I had sung on the demos. Also, in some songs I spontaneously added some guitar parts in my studio when I recorded them for the album.

2/Two years to get that album done must be tough? have you lost faith sometimes?

There was a time when I had some personal issues and this delayed the finishing of the album about three months.

But apart from this, I wanted to take my time for the project to finish – for example, the process of choosing the 13 songs on the album out of the demos of roughly 18 songs took about three months, in which some friends of mine listened to the demos and gave me feedback about which songs they would choose for recording.

3/What made someone to get interested about your project? what did you do to convince people?

I was very lucky in the sense that all the musicians I asked to play or sing (some) songs liked the demos and therefore agreed to do it for free.

4/are you working in a music studio? have you got any engineering skills?

I work in my small home studio in which I recorded all the demos by playing the guitar, the bass, singing, and using a drum computer. But I haven’t got any real engineering skills. I was therefore very happy that my good friends bass player Adriano and singer Syn Schütz helped me record the songs professionally, and Syn did a great job mixing them in his Roar Recording Studio.

5/Reading your bio seems like you are well known in your country, have you got other bands you play with that got notority?

As mentioned earlier, I played in a band called Under my Skin – but I decided to leave this band about one year age so I could concentrate on Age of Disclosure. Currently, I play in a band called Skrylls in which we play music inspired by bands such as Paradise Lost, Black Sabbath, or Alice in Chains. The leader of this band Orlando Skrylls did a great job in singing six songs on To the Universe!

6/Why having so many singers? what is the reason for? did you have schedule troubles or just wanted different tunes on your songs you imagined in your head?

Right from the start, I had the vision to have different singers on the album, since this gives the music more diversity, and in this way, the singers could choose which songs they wanted to perform. I personally like all the singers that can be heard on the album, although they sound very different.

7/The album is a classic with many Heavy Metal riffs and some Thrashy guitar riffs, does it reflects all the music you like? Don’t you think the project will lead to a real band?

More or less, the music on the album reflect the music I like most. In other words, I listen mainly to heavy metal, so this is the music I know well and can therefore write such music way better than if I for example tried to write a country or a jazz tune. I particularly like the combination of the minor mode and fast / powerful music, which is rather typical for heavy metal. Well, time will tell if Age of Disclosure will turn from a mere project into a real band.

At least at the moment I like the idea of it being just a project, since in this way, there are no stressful band discussions (laughs).

8/ Have you written all the lyrics? do you see this like a book? What ’s the story behind?

The lyrics of the song I am Forever were written by Mary Elizabeth Frye in 1932. I find this poem very beautiful and therefore decided to make a song out of it. Apart from that, I wrote all the lyrics on the album. Lyrically and thematically, To the Universe contains many references to postmodernism and postmodernist thinking. Although there are a few songs related to interpersonal (i.e., love) themes, the lyrics mainly revisit questions such as for example: Who are we humans really and where do we come from, or what – if anything – happens after we die? Is there a 'big plan' for us? How is the world we live in functioning and who (really) runs the show?

9/ Who chose the band’s name and did the cover artwork?

Pondering on my lyrics which as mentioned before often address themes and questions about human existence in the postmodern era, I had the idea of the project name Age of Disclosure. The cover artwork including the lettering of Age of Disclosure as well as the nice logo were done by my friend and graphic designer Manuel Castellote. The front cover photography was shot also by a friend of mine, Daenu Kunz. He took this awesome picture on his holiday in the Grand Canyon two years ago – when I first saw it, I just knew it had to be on the front cover of To the Universe!

https://www.facebook.com/ageofdisclosure/

1/You once again have guests for your new album, haven’t you found the right people for your band? What do you like in having different musicians?

1. No the band is just fine like this for the studio. Having different musicians defines some different styles and we are very open to that.

2/your first songs are from 2016 and the rest from 2017, what made you delay the release of the album?

2. We had a break-in where some equipment was stolen in our studio and also the laptop with the entire album except Translucidity and its backup drive so I had to rerecord all the songs.

3/you have song with Carmine Appice, how did you convinced him to play on one of your songs?

3. It’s Vinny Appice actually not Carmine (although we have met and corresponded too,) we have some mutual friends like Steph Honde (guitar player for Di’Anno and Hollywood Monsters) who recommended us to him, so he agreed to play on a song, he liked it too and said he wouldn’t mind playing on more.

4/While having different musicians do you change the songs you have created? how does that work when recording?

4. I usually lay down all the backing tracks first so the guests add their own bits to what is already done. A couple of exceptions are John Gallagher of Raven who played bass on most of the songs on System Deceive and Rachael Beaver from Roger Fisher’s band who wonderfully transformed every song they played on that album, I gave them arranging credits. Also Don Airey and his phenomenal solos on Tearing the Mist from A Disturbing Awakening.

5/That album has a special universe, do you see your albums as book/movie stories? Is there a line you decide on how the album will turn?

5. Not really, each album takes on different story lines but I do tend to go on about politics, the human race, the problems with religion, etc.

6/What is the reason of the album title?

6. My wife came out with the title and I wrote a song around it. I see it as the ending of a phase/universe (continuum) of humanity and possibly the beginning of a new one.

7/I see your wife doesn’t write all the lyrics, why she isn’t as she’s the singer?

7. She writes some really good stuff (and she is working on some solo stuff too right now) but she doesn’t write often. I’m very prolific, it can take me 5 minutes to write a song lyric if the mood takes me.

8/you can write some cool solos; why asking others to on few songs? don’ t you have inspiration? or you just have an idea and need help…

8. Well if you are talking about Steph Honde, we met through Don Airey who we both worked with and I asked him if he wanted to guest on a song (Streets of Anger from System Deceive) and he laid down such a great solo I asked him back for this album. On that solo on Translucidity he was so awesome that he inspired me to step up my game by a notch too!

9/Have you done all the artwork?

9. My friend Emilio Arostegui from Judasfx.com did the wonderful artwork, I just did the layout of the album. He has done some art for us since Netherworld!

10/ What’s your relation with Note Musik?

10. Note Musik are our Canadian label and great people to work with!

11/How long did it take you to get that album done? have you got songs you didn’t use? if so why?

11. This was the fastest album I ever did even with the rerecording, it took just over a year. Usually I take 2-3 years between albums. We had no leftover songs, actually I was a bit short so I wrote and recorded the instrumental Watcher to close off the album.

12/When looking back what things come to your mind? is it easier or you have done things differently than you used to? any regrets…

12. No, every album was a learning process so no regrets! And I still like songs off all of them.

13/How do you play live gigs? do you search for musicians and rehearse?

13. We usually have old friends play with us live like Mathieu Roy on drums who played on Netherworld, Déjà-vu and A Disturbing Awakening (and also one song on Obsolete Continuum: Deceptionist) and Sylvain Grondin who has been our live bass player for a couple of years now. And one performance I really enjoyed was our last show opening for Uli Jon Roth with Gopal D on drums!

14/Having your band with your wife must be like a dream, are you playing or singing in other bands?

14. It’s fantastic! We can just go and record in our studio whenever we like as she is right there alongside me.

For now, I only play with AraPacis and am happy that way as I’m so busy with raising our 6-year-old boy Gillan, working full-time and also doing karate a few times a week. I have been invited recently to maybe do a musical with an old jazz pianist friend, so who knows?

Thanks to you interviewer, readers and all our fans and friends, you are amazing!

http://www.arapacis.rocks

1/What was the difficulty to make this album?

- First difficulty was financial. Some of the funds for updating our studio gear had gone mysteriously missing. When we finally got to a point where we could record, our studio computer crashed. In fact total amount of seven computers broke during the recording and mixing process, and we had to record some parts again, since we didn´t take safety copies often enough.

2/What changes in the creation of the songs from oldest albums?

- We recorded lot of demo versions this time, which we haven't done so much earlier. It was a good thing to do, so we can actually hear the songs with thought and think what changes to do.

3/How did you get the deal with WormholeDeath? Did you send out promos to labels?

- We contacted WormholeDeath and some other european labels with our music video "Bad Wannabe", and WHD sent us a quick reply stating that they were interested to publish our album. We got a good feeling from WHD right from the beginning. They seem to be very independent, and still a worldwide dealer of good music in various styles of rock and metal.

4/you have many influences from Pop/Rock/Metal is it due to the change of musicians? or your likes in music ?

- It is all about music. All of us like very wide range of different music styles. From electronic to hard rock. From country to death metal. We also take influences from various genres, and sometimes we get feedback that we don´t have our own sound and style at all, that we keep on jumping across musical borders aimlessly and with no point at all.

But I think that musical laws and borders are built to be broken, and that is what we do, more or less.

5/Who did the cover album? what is supposed to express?

-Our synth player Sanni Luttinen is in charge of our visual things. The booklet represents images of different emotions, and the songs are reflections of what we listen to, so that is why the album is called Reflections.

6/Are the lyrics linked? what drove you to write those songs?

-Yes they are. One big lyrical theme is loneliness, and the feeling of not fitting in society. Like in song "Outside", that feeling is presented as a good thing, you are free and don´t have to care for anything else but yourself. Then again in song "Isolate", the loneliness is becoming too much to bear, and you feel like loneliness is a lump devouring all there is.

This time the lyrics are more personal than before, and i tried to keep the writing as simple as possible, so that even I could understand what I write. Then again, some of the songs are just about partying and having a good time. :D 7/Is there a country where you have the most fans?

- Maybe in Finland, though our tour in China was quite a success too.

8/Are you all playing in different bands or you just stick to Zarthas?

- Yes, we have different bands, but they are mostly cover bands just to get more gigs and stay in tune.

9/Can you explain the meaning of the bands name?

- Lot of people ask the meaning of Zarthas, and I think there is no right or wrong answer to that. To me it means some kind of energy, that constantly moves and changes.

10/Who are the oldest members from the start? are they the main composer?

- Myself and Sanni have been in the band since the beginning. Main composers would be me and Pekka, I guess. Jarmo also does lot of good riffs and ideas.

11/Do you have friends you always play live shows with?

-We play some gigs with HMS Keelhaul this year, and we also hang out with them offstage. They are from same town as we.

12/What is the scene like in Finland? is it easy to play gigs ? Finding musicians..

- I think it is quite hard to get gigs, unless you have a cover band. In Oulu, scene is very warm and friendly, and bands are helping each other. They actively try to organize concerts and contests for unsigned talents. There are lot of bands in Oulu, and the quality of northern metal is extremely high. Finding musicians is easy, specially guitarists.

13/have you got a tour coming due to this release?

- We try to get as much gigs as possible, of course. And I hope we can also tour in Europe at some point.

14/Which bands you are listening to? are you following new acts or stuck in the 90’s…

- Definitely not stuck in the 90´s. That era was quite depressing time in music. I have listened recently bands like Asking Alexandria, A Skylit Drive, Bullet for My Valentine, Nothing More and Blessthefall. I really like the modern sound of metal, but I also have lost my heart to electronic stuff, like Deadmau5, Avicii, Knife Party, and Infected Mushroom. I quite often try to find music, bands and sounds that I haven´t heard yet. That´s how I at least try to expand the understanding of music.

http://www.zarthas.com

1/You have once again recorded on Wraith ’s album, are you part of the band?

Kim : Well, when they first approached me about doing the album I was doing it as a guest musician, but then they wanted me to be a part of the band, at least in the photo on the album cover. So, now I guess I am. Gregg Russell and I have a history together. It’s still early days and we are focused on getting the album out so we haven’t thought too far ahead about the future.

2/Do you record in your home in the states with the music they send you ? are you creating riffs and participate to the creation of the songs?

Kim : Yes, I do remote recording through the internet in my home studio. This is the first album I have done this way, and it’s been an interesting experience because rather than just show up and play for a producer in a studio, I have had to produce my own parts and do all the sounds and editing myself, which has been great. I had complete control over everything instead of the producer making the choices, like they did in the old days. I was able to use all the things I learned in the studio working with guys like Max Norman, John Payne, and a few others, in the process of recording these tracks. It has been really fun. And I have had more control over my sound as well. Neil Kernon, the producer said he loved my bass sound, which is a huge complement coming from a guy like him. It’s good to have that feedback and know I am on the right track. As for the songs, I didn’t participate in any of the writing on this album because all the songs were already written and recorded before they were sent to me. I think the bass was the last instrument recorded, which is the opposite way it used to be done back in the Phantom Blue days.

3/Are you rehearsing through skype of special online studio?

Kim : No, we haven’t rehearsed yet. We have only made the album together. Rehearsal will come later.

4/Are you touring with them ?

Kim : I don’t know yet. It’s still early and we haven’t really discussed any of that yet. I think Gregg is waiting to see how the album sells first, and how much interest there is.

5/What’s your relationship? are you friends? how did you meet in the first place?

Kim : I am friends with Gregg. We met through a journalist named Garry Sharpe Young. Wraith were looking for a bass player to finish the Schizophrenia album they were working on, back in 1996. I had just moved to England a few months before that. Gregg and I hang out together when he comes to L.A. to visit. I haven’t actually met the other guys yet but have spoken to them online.

6/Are you guest on other bands albums?

Kim : Only the Asia Silent Nation album I did back in 2004. Hopefully that will change in the future now that I have the ability to record remotely in my own studio.

7/Would you call yourself a studio musician?

Kim : Not really, I don’t consider myself one. I prefer to be more involved in the creative process. I prefer to be part of a band unit, but sometimes it’s fun to do a one-off project as well. But I am sure there will be projects in the future where I am not that involved and I just contribute musically, and am not involved in the business side unless they want me to be. I tend to pick and choose which projects I want to work on as well.

8/Have you ever thought of releasing a solo album?

Kim : Not really, to be honest. Maybe someday, but right now I prefer to collaborate with others. I like being involved with a group of people and all the dynamics and musical influences from the different personalities that are part of that.

9/You have lots of musicians friends are you still in touch with them? anyway to get back playing with Linda …

Kim : Most of them I am still in touch with. Linda and I have talked about jamming over the years for fun, but she is very busy with Iron Maidens so it never happened. I got more into focusing on recording and learning about production, and setting up my studio, so I have kind of forgotten about it.

10/Do you have your say on the bands image like the design?

Kim : Gregg and Dieter handle everything so there isn’t much for me to do. But, I do have a say in things like final mixes, and small things like liner notes on the album cover, and photos, press, and things like that, normal band stuff.

I have worked with Gregg before and I have confidence in his ability so I don’t worry about it too much.

1/What happened since your last album? playing in other bands?

Gregg : After the last album I realised that I wanted to do other things/projects involving my artwork/tattoo business and put Wraith ‘on hold’; I still played in other bands, mainly for fun - lots of fun ;-).....It was a question of having the ‘right’ talent in the band - good songwriters/players are very hard to come by in the UK but the answer was staring me in the face for many years - Dieter, who I’ve been close to for over 35 years, he came back from a stint living abroad and after all the ‘fun’ we both had playing in a metal version of ACDC called OCDC (we did down-tuned versions of all ACDCs hits) we began to talk about Wraith..I also have a taxidermy/badger-stuffing business and collect/sell stuffed badgers - do you know what a badger is?

2/Your band is out of the usual with musicians spread out in the world map, how do you deal with this?

Dieter : A lot of travel and Skype-ing!! We fly all the time and the band has its hub in Nashville Tennessee - its like LA in the 80s - lots of rock/metal guys live n work there....so we all meet up in Nashville where we have access to a state of the art studio and rehearsal room....Yeah, its a bit tricky when your bass player (Kim Nielsen ex Asia/Phantom Blue) lives in LA, Ryan (Coggin - vocals) live in Texas, Gregg Jay and I live in Nottingham.

3/ Your logo had a slight change, who designed it ? have you asked for the cover artwork?

Gregg : Yeah the original design was by Tommy Horton in 1987 - a lunatic genius artist friend of mine from childhood...its had some tweaks to ‘update’ it but its kind of a trademark of the band.

Dieter : The album artwork for ‘Revelation’ was done by Tristan Greatrex who has done an amazing job - he’s done

album art for UFO, Schenker etc...nice guy, very talented and loves his rock/metal! He’s on Facebook if anyone wants designs doing - he’s great.

4/Do you have old songs or you created them all from scratch? if so who is composing and what’s the process ?

Gregg : When Dieter and I discussed this album we really wanted to go right back to the glorious 80s - which was an amazing time for us and our music...so we picked a couple of 80s Wraith tunes that were kind of overlooked for example ‘Under the Hammer» which we originally wrote with Pete Way (UFO) and Dieter rewrote the mid-section and solo...another would be Into the Fire, again an 80s Wraith tune which we revamped....We write everything ourselves.

The rest of the songs are all brand new and kick ass!

Dieter : Yeah all songs are very very carefully hand-crafted by Gregg and I and then we get Ryan to write some lyrics/melodies but Gregg and I also contribute to the lyrics melodies heavily - both Gregg and I are meticulous about the songs being structured as best as we can...I’m a perfectionist which can cause problems (!) but the end product sounds great. So in answer to your question about the process of composing - Gregg and I sit in my studio at home every now and then and show each other riffs we have both written and from those say 100 riffs we pick 30 and knit maybe 3 or 4 songs together. We then demo them up at our drummers studio and they go off to Ryan who records scratch vocals in the US so songs kinda get kicked into shape like that. Then we meet up in Nashville and crank up the amps and play em/knock em into shape.

5/How your music has evolved? Do you listen to different stuff? search another sound...

Gregg : Its gone full circle but with more ferocity/louder guitars and more catchy choruses, we really wanted to go back to that 2 guitar sound. I listen to all types of music - I appreciate well-made music and have something on all day in the background Dieter : I only joined the band a few years ago so as to how its evolved...hmmm...more emphasis on crafting the songs, getting the guitars to sound ‘right’ heavy but clear was an issue but we solved that...so yeah Id say heavier guitars and better constructed songs. I listen to UFO, Jorn Lande, old Scorpions stuff - I’m pretty stuck in the 70s and 80s hahah! I don’t listen to any newer bands, I should do but,...

6) When looking back are they things you would have made different? you haven’t released as many albums as most bands of this age, you must have tons of compositions on a shelf?

Gregg : With this album? Yeah definitely the next album will be done under different conditions, old school style recording. As far as doing things differently with Wraith in the past...nah, whatever happened in the past we did for a reason. As to old tunes, apart from picking a few as i mentioned above we only have new compositions ‘on the shelf ’... we have lots of new material - very heavy/melodic.

Dieter : Gregg and I have tonnes of songs/riffs and we will soon get together to start writing new tunes for the album that follows ‘Revelation»...100% new songs - think Metallica meets Dokken/Ratt/GnR/Priest with a bit of Crüe and a bit of Leppard...it will sound like that...heavy but melodic. It will be a much heavier album I imagine.

7/seems like the new album is bringing lots of attention, do you have an agent or do it all yourself?

Gregg) We have a great PR guy Axel at Rock n Growl PR in Germany 8/Would you call yourself a studio musician? Any gigs coming? who will be the band’s line up?

Gregg : Im more at home on stage but I do my bit in the studio and Dieter and I are always around keeping an eye on the production. We worked with the legendary producer Neil Kernon (Ozzy, Dokken, Queensryche) on ‘Revelation’ - he’s a very influential guy in the business and was a joy to work with. The band line up is as per the album. We are talking to promoter in Japan actually who want us to play 6 gigs, so lots happening!

Dieter : I love being in the studio - I enjoy the whole process of recording. I really liked working with Neil Kernon - I learned a LOT from him, cool guy and very well-regarded in the business. Being a perfectionist yes I would say Im

more of a studio guitarist whereas Gregg is the showman so we compliment each other in that regard....Im like a German Professor with his head down when I play live making sure everything is being played 100% while Gregg goes crazy! We have interest from Japan, South America and Europe, particularly Germany/France/Spain and from Scandinavia so we are working with booking agents now - most likely we will tour South America then Japan early 2018 with some prior shows in the UK and Europe.

9/Why choosing those musicians to record the album? Kim is in the states.

Gregg : Kim has a long association with Wraith following her time with Phantom Blue and Asia, plus she’s at the top of her league when it comes to playing bass - we wanted the best basically so we reached out to Kim to be part of Wraith again. She plays really really well - stunning bass player. Lovely person too.

Dieter : We chose/found Ryan because he was the best vocalist out there - he was just about to join Ratt actually but Gregg and I got in touch and while the Ratt thing got even more and more drawn out Ryan basically jumped onboard with Wraith. He writes too - damned good lyricist and his voice is fantastic - powerful/gritty, perfect for Wraith. Again Jay (Graham) the drummer was chosen because of his superior drumming - he was Tony Iommi’s drummer for a while so that says it all, he’s also the most ‘musical’ of all band members - classically trained on the piano/trumpet he plays guitar and bass along with keyboards as well as reading music and having his own commercial studio. Plus he can explain to Gregg and I what all the chords are because neither of us read music or have a clue about ‘notes/theory’!

10/On your facebook page there is a photo with four members but not Kim, isn’t she part of the band? Who are the main members?

G&D : Kims now a full time member and part of the band - the main members are as per the album - Ryan Coggin vocals, Gregg Russell Gtr, Dieter Schänzer Gtr, Kim Nielsen Bass, Jay Graham Drums/keys. We have a new press foto which we can send to you.

11/You probably had many musicians to play on Wraith albums , are you still in touch with them? following their career...

G&D : Yes we are all still in touch, good friends!

www.facebook.com/UKWraith/

JOE STUMP discusses his new band and their first album: How would you describe the new album musically/lyrically: The music walks the line between old school hard rock and classic European power metal with healthy doses of each heard throughout. As with everything I do it`s a product of the combination of all my influences in this case the main and most obvious one being Ritchie Blackmore and his work with Rainbow and Deep Purple. Anybody familiar with my stuff know`s both Blackmore and Yngwie Malmsteen are my 2 biggest influences and you can of course Yngwie `s influence in there as well, as there`s some tracks on the record reminiscent of the early Rising Force stuff. I`m also a huge fan of the early Michael Schenker group stuff as well as the first batch of Scorpions records with Uli Jon Roth so that can heard in there as well. I also love Rata Blanca from Argentina and Walter Giardino`s songwriting and guitar work ,we come from the same school of playing and share alot of the same influences.

What was the goal with making this album?

After my last solo /all instrumental record I wanted to make a more band/song oriented record with vocals , don`t get me wrong it`s still very guitar driven . But overall a nice mix of killer guitar work showcased inside melodic classic hard rock and metal tunes. Also with this record I was leaning more so in the classic hard rock direction and less in the metal vein.

Any specific influences towards music or lyric subject?

Myself and vocalist Csaba Zvekan work and write well together and we`re both massive fans of the classic Dio era Rainbow period. So kind of our modern take on that and the type of partnership that both Dio and Blackmore had in relation to their approach to composing together. it's not o too deep conceptually going just channelling my influences and combining my guitar work inside very musical and listenable classic hard rock and metal tunes . I wanted it to appeal to my core fanbase who of course buy my records to hear me play guitar but also to fans of classic hard rock and European power metal as well.

How does this differ from previous releases?

Well my last several records were solo all instrumental releases so as I mentioned previously I felt it was time to do a more band oriented type of thing and I wanted to do something brand new not just a rehash of my previous band Joe Stump`s Reign Of Terror.

How have band member changes affected the bands sound and dynamics i.e. what have the new members brought to the band?

All excellent players and they all did a killer job on the record . Their approach to the music and execution of their parts on the tracks was spot on . Drummer Mark Cross is a powerhouse and really drives the band , Maestro Mistheria added a great old school touch with his playing and keyboard orchestrations and textures that really enhances the tracks. Nicola Angileri is a monster bass played and he does some very cool unison lines with me throughout the record he also has a nice sense of time and provides a strong foundation . Csaba Zvekan really brought to tunes up to another level both melodically and lyrically . His voice is extremely powerful and suits the music perfectly .

Tower of Babel is: Joe Stump- all guitars Csaba Zvekan- all lead and backing vocals Mark Cross - drums Maestro Mistheria -keyboards Nicola Angileri- bass Production credits: Joe Stump Csaba Zvekan Official website and social network site:

https://www.facebook.com/JoeShredlordStump https://www.facebook.com/tobbandt/ http://joestump.com/

1/Who started Sibus? Did you know each other before?what was the idea?

Jon Brandt : The band was started by Lisa Williams, our current singer. She was the Manager of the original version of the band. I knew who a couple of the members were, here in West Michigan you kind of run into each other regularly, lol.

2/why this name? what’s the meaning?

The name SiBuS (sigh-bus) is actually Latin and means «starting over», so the Phoenix being a symbol of rebirth or renewal was chosen to represent us as a band. Most of the current members have been in previous bands that failed or disbanded for various reasons...

3/who did that amazing logo with the fire ? is it the cover of your album?

Again I believe the logo was Lisa, yes it will be our album cover when we get it ready, although it will remain the Phoenix, it may change as we progress.

4/you have uploaded cover songs, do you play your own songs live or you evolved getting bored of playing others songs?

Again staying with the whole «starting over» vibe, we had planned to do covers to fund the original music, so we have done shows with covers, but no we want to focus solely on original music. We will throw in a couple cover songs to fill in time until we get enough original music going, and then drop them off the list. Original music here usually doesn’t pay, so it is a serious commitment from all members to put in the time and effort to get the chance to play, and we are all eager for the opportunity. As I was told by a former band member, «there is no better feeling than a crowd cheering for YOUR music rather than a cover song»!

5/you are in several bands, are u the only one? what is the reason for? doesn’t make it harder to focus on the songs.

As of right now, yes I’m the only when in multiple bands. It started a few years ago when I joined Fallen, all original songs, we recorded an album and started playing out. We added covers to increase our chances to play out. All money earned went right back into the band fund for PA equipment and lighting even a trailer. For various reasons we went on a hiatus. I still wanted to play out, but none of the bands really went anywhere. SiBuS had been looking for new members when I contacted them. I have an actual contract with them and it is all very professional which I am very happy with. Then Fallen decided to resume and see about getting some shows. As both bands are doing originals, the shows will be few and far between so shouldn’t be any scheduling issues. I love the music in both bands and as there is a total of around 25 songs, compared to the 50-60 in a cover band, it isn’t too hard to stay up on the music.

6/What are your influences? are you all listening to the same thing?

Influences...I’m varied (except for hard core rap, lol) my MP3 had ABBA to Slayer. In my younger days I went to a lot of Metal concerts, Pantera, Slayer, Type O Negative etc. Now I lean more toward songwriters...Coheed and Cambria, Nickelback, Raven Black, In This Moment etc. As a band we are varied as well, everyone brings songs that come from personal taste as well. Kevin, our drummer and co-manager does a great job of changing up the songs, speed it up,

slow it down and see what stands out. Several of our songs were brought in as «slower» songs, but after recording a basic track and then speeding it up, they gained a whole new life.

7/Being a bass player is sought after like drummers, do your friends ask a lot for you to play in their band?

Bassist. Actually, not too much. It does help get into bands being a Bassist, but also gives me the opportunity to pick what I want to do, with committed musicians with the same drive and motivation.

8/tell us about your gears and why you chose them?

Gear. I am a HUGE fan of Jackson guitars from when I was a a kid in the 80’s! Switching to bass my only complaint is that most basses shapes aren’t very «cool». Guitars come in all shapes, basses more basic. Currently I’m using 2 Jackson 5 string basses, both with Urban Camo vinyl wraps, my main being the Kellybird ( Thunderbid mixed with a Kelly) I also have a Spector Legend 5 string which is amazing to play, but again visually kind of plain. The Kellybird plays just like the Spector and looks cool. Amps, currently using a mid-70’s Ampeg V-4 cabinet with 2- 15» speakers at 450 watt each, looking for a matching head, but they are quite pricey. Using a GK Backline 600 300 watt head, running through our PA as well. I am looking at purchasing a Halo custom designed bass in the near future. www.Haloguitars.com 9/are you playing guitar? do you compose songs if so how do you work?

Guitar- no, I haven’t really picked up a guitar since I switched to bass 8 years ago, except for an acoustic now and then, lol. I played guitar since I was 12 years old, but there are so many amazing guitarists, even on our local level that I was outclassed. I switched to bass upon answering an add and completely fell in love with it!

Writing- usually I just some up with a bass line or riff and bring it to the band to add to. Or, if they bring in a song, I take the basic chords and write a bass line, the try it in different keys to change up the tone and see if it fits.

10/ Who is dealing with the website?

Website, mostly Lisa on that as well. Kevin also handles the Twitter and SnapChat accounts. We all have input as to what we would like in the sites and such.

11/ WHo is your fav bass player? the one that gave you the wish to play…

Favorite Bassist. A tough one...I gravitate toward straight up rock bass, like Ian Hill from Judas Priest and Dusty Hill from ZZ Top. But ones who really got me into bass? Rex Brown from Panthers definitely!!! Underrated dude right there!!! As amazing as Dimebag was, you got Rex back there hitting note-for-note on the bass!!! Incredible dude!!!

www.sibusrocks.com

Name : Cody Antill Where you live : San Francisco Bay Area When did you 1st pick up set of drumstix :7th grade Drumstix you use & why :Vic Firth Metal Nylons Fav Song to play drums to : Superpower by Swamphammer Fav style of Music to Rock with : Southern slide guitar swampy blues metal Drummer who Inspires You & why : Vinnie Paul because of his heavy groove and business savvy mindset.

Bands You Have Rocked with over the years : I started out back in highschool in southeast Missouri with my band Carp. We sounded like a Korn rip off band but had some pretty creative originals. From there I went thru many small projects. After moving to Los Angeles for music school I played in an industrial metal project called Krell that sounded like Rob Zombie, NIN & Ministry had a baby. Moved back to the Bay Area and joined a brutal metal band called Release the Kraken up in Sonoma county. Ended up moving down to South San Fran Peninsula and forming Swamphammer with a friend of my family Mr. Steve Lynch. Swamphammer ended up being the most mature band to date that I've been involved with.

Advice to Upcoming Drummers : Don't give up. Your worst enemy is yourself. It's not so much a competition between you and others than a test upon yourself and your own motivation. Laziness is all around but it can also be used to your advantage because all you need to do to rise above the rest is not become lazy like everyone else and let nature take its course.

What your up to now : I'm currently planning for the next big project to further my playing career. I've been doing a lot of soul searching and working on myself. I've cut out alcohol and replaced it with taking myself out to healthy dinners. It's amazing the amount of money time and effort that you save when you cut out bad things from your life and focus on the positives.

www.facebook.com/codyantill

Name : Craig Martin Where you live : San Martin California Drumstix you use & why : I picked up my first set of wooden spoons as a toddler, but officially began playing at age 14 .I use PRO-Mark 5B Pro Wood Round Tips to get the sound and power that I need for the bands that I perform and record with. I also use SD2 sticks by Vic Firth for practice pad work and smaller shows.

Drummer who Inspires You & why : At this moment , the drummer who most inspires me is Todd Sucherman. Amazing player in all styles of music and a true gentleman willing to share his ideas and techniques with the rest of us.

Fav Song to play drums to : My favorite song to play right now is a new Gundacker tune we just finished recording.

Bands You Have Rocked with over the years :Bands and musicians I have been blessed to perform/record with include, GUNDACKER, Dave Adams, Polo Jones, Israel Houghton, Ronnie Montrose, Robert Berry, Amanda Dieck, MaryEllen Duell, Thom Duell, Galley Molina, House drummer for Tool Shed Studios, Paul

Keller, Mirage, Pete Lamberty, George Black, Jim Guyette Maxx12 and so many more.

Advice to Upcoming Drummers : On advice for young upcoming players, learn your trade, practice every day like it is your last time, listen to everything, steal licks/phrasing from everyone and most of all…PLAY BECAUSE YOU LOVE IT. Passion is such a big part of being a professional. Stay humble yet confident…never arrogant. Try to learn something new every day and enjoy the gift you have been given.

What your up to now : These days I perform and record with Gundacker, Zoe Tree and my cover band OTR I am currently the staff drummer for Tool Shed Studios in Morgan Hill and I am the staff drummer for EVC Church and The San Jose Diocese. I teach from my Barn Studios in San Martin and I love what I do.

I would like to thank Teri Stahl for asking me to do this, she is a true Rocker and fan of music!!!!

LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL

www.facebook.com/craig.martin.39904

Name : Dan Buch (pron. Butch. An Ellis Island thing) Where you live : Born in Alamo, CA. Now on Mare Island, Vallejo, CA Drumstix you use & why : I first started drum lessons in 2nd grade. My mom was instrumental in seeing I got to lessons and somehow, she scraped up money to pay for them! She was and is amazing!

I have been playing Regal Tip sticks for the last 35-40 years now and I have been endorsing them for the past 12 years.

I like the consistency of their wood and their unique lacquer finish which makes them less slippery but not tacky to the touch. I currently use wood tips with Gamma because they give lighter attack on the ride and hats. When I record something that calls for a brighter attack I use nylon tipped sticks.

Drummer who Inspires You & why : My primary inspirations of drums are: Aynsley Dunbar , Bill Bruford, Terry Bozzio, Barrimore Barlow, Don Brewer, Mark Craney, Rayford Griffin. On the more current scene, Marco Minnemman is a pure joy!

Fav Song to play drums to : What I listen to and enjoy playing are often different. Sometimes the things that are fun to play aren’t necessarily the things I like to listen to. I’m primarily a prog rocker and I have both heavy rock and jazz roots. I don’t really have a niche that I can call my home. For me I guess it’s about whether I enjoy the people I’m playing with and for, and whether I feel I can add anything special to the music. If all of those things are happening, I am good to go!

Bands You Have Rocked with over the years : I’ve played in a variety of genres and have been fortunate to have played with some great players and singers. My first band was with my brother Lou who is a bass player. That started when I was in 4th grade. I played in jazz bands while at Cal State Northridge and started doing session work at that time.

I also maintain www.drummershealth.com A health resource for drummers.

I have recorded and/or performed with: Joel Jaffe , Mark Cooper, City, Jane His Wife, Greg Lamboy, Everything Nothing, Castles in Spain, HyNGE, Davey Pattison, Gamma Advice to Upcoming Drummers : My advice for younger players is pretty varied. Listen to and learn from other inspiring players, but don’t directly copy them. This is pretty easy to fall into in this era where videos of players are so easy to find. Don’t copy, but be inspired! Figure out the feel and groove of the music, then figure out how YOU can make that groove happen. Don’t copy sticking patterns. Learn the rudiments and then learn to apply them all over the kit so you never have to think about what you are doing. Technique is variable. No two people are built the same. We have very unique physiology and biomechanics. Learn good technique but find the techniques and positions which work with your body. Find other things in life. The world is a big place with many things to experience. Bring what you see and feel to your drumming! A more practical piece of advice; don’t expect to get “breaks”. There are many, many great players out there who never got a break. It is a tough reality. Be as prepared as you can for if and when a break happens.

Meet people. Try to be respectful and pleasant… and be ready!

www.facebook.com/dan.buch.5 Name : Jeff Blackburn Where you live : San Jose, CA When did you 1st pick up set of drumstix : 5 year's old Drumstix you use & why: Vater drumsticks, power 5B because of the weight , balance, and the strength of the product Drummer who Inspires You & why: The drummers that Inspire me are, Neil Peart for the progressive rock, John Bonham for rock and blues and grove, Buddy Rich for jazz,and Matt Cameron for a solid all around artist.

Fav Song to play drums to : YYZ Fav style of Music to Rock with Hard rock with groove bands You Have Rocked with over the years : Talyon, Sleaze, Mothers Messiah, JAB, Angel Heart, Madman's Lullaby, The SJ Sindicate.

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=815338897

Advice to Upcoming Drummers : Be true to yourself, and follow your dreams.

Currently : I’m currently in The SJ Sindicate, we are writing new music and our next show is to support Stephen Percy’s RATT June 23rd at the Whiskey A GO GO. Also, we will be touring the UK this October.

Thank you for your interest!

Jeff

Name : Kenn Youngar Band : Messer Where are you based out of : Dallas, TX When did you 1st pick up set of drumsticks : it was a really cheap o Muppet Show kit with paper heads I think. I destroyed it in minutes and lost interest till middle school. I took a few lessons in Paris, France after school but never practiced so I lost interest till I got to high school in Kemptville, Ontario, Canada.

Drumsticks you use & why: I have been with Los Cabos Drumsticks out of Handwell, New Brunswick, Canada for almost 10 years. I switched to Red Hickory 5A wood tipped from white hickory nylon tipped and am so impressed with their durability and strength. They whittle down before I can even break em. I play pretty hard to get what I need out of my Evan Hybrid Kevlar/Carbon Fiber heads. Check them and my signature line.

Drummer who Inspires You & why : I grew up listening to Eric Carr, Frankie

Banali, Tico Torres, Troy Luccketta and Tommy Lee. All of them were characters that played a huge role in my life and musical direction. They all played tasty licks and never over thought the parts. I've always been a 4 on the floor type drummer and the simplicity of the drums from AC/DC to Creedance Clearwater Revival always spoke to me and said "sometimes less is more" Fav Song to play drums to: of Messer : I would say Make This Life. As for anyone else... I don't really jam covers at the moment lol Fav style of Music to Rock to : always love classic rock and can jam out some 90 grunge with the best of em.

Bands You Have Rocked with over the years : some highlights of my career is opening for Hinder, Black Stone Cherry, Candlebox, STYX, Faster Pussycat, LA Guns, too many to name. Haha Who would you like to play with? Motley Crue if they ever get back together. Definitely Sixx AM, Shinedown, Seether, Three Days, Paparoach so many current bands we'll cross paths with I hope.

Advice to Upcoming Drummers: Practice, practice practice. I didn't do that enough and was a real late bloomer as far as fundamentals go. Learn the basics...master the basics and get professional lessons. You can skip a lot of blood sweat and tears when you learn things right the first time.

What are you up to now? well after almost 4 years working on our debut album it's finally ready to shop to labels.

Who recorded you? We worked long and hard with Chad Gendason who produced it. It was engineered partially by James Barton, mixed by Ben Grosse and mastered by Tom Baker. Plus we are stoked to have Craig Howell on our stage and album artwork. Currently we are on a east coast tour with Nonpoint Nine Shrines and A Killers Confession. We plan on supporting this album right into 2019 I'm sure. Whatever, wherever and however long it takes to get the music to you. See you out in the road!

www.facebook.com/kennyoungar

Name : Steve Wittig Where you live : Sacramento,CA area When did you 1st pick up set of drumstix : Age 7

Drumstix you use & why : usually 5B, and whatever generic is cheapest! Used to use much heavier, but don’t play as hard now.

Drummer who Inspires You & why : John Bonham for feel and quick right foot, Neil Peart, Billy Cobham, and Mike Portnoy for speed and technicality, Scott Travis for metal.

Fav Song to play drums to : Bargain by the Who, Party on the patio ZZ Top, For those about to rock AC DC. And of course any Omen!

Fav style of Music to Rock with : Metal, or something with a little swing or funk, and love playing Blues.

Bands You Have Rocked with over the years : Flyte and Rapid Fire in Tulsa, OK. in the late 70’s, then Omen, Hammer Damage in early 80’s, Tribute bands Riff Raff, Tres Hombres, and Another Brick in the early 2000’s.

Advice to Upcoming Drummers : Listen to and play different types of music to create a unique style. Don’t be afraid to play covers unless you really can’t stand it. It may come in handy to help pay bills while you’re trying to be a rock

star, or later on if that doesn’t happen. And don’t do it if it isn’t fun-unless you just need the exercise!

What your up to now : Back in Omen from 2008, then a break and back for the last 4 years enjoying several European tours and S. America, and Mexico. Backing up legends like Dream Theater, Accept, and Queensryche at festivals. recently had to retire because touring excessively, and didn’t want to quit my job but should have 1 more tour in the fall 2017. Settled down playing in local cover bands, the Band at Hand, Walkin’ the Dawg, and The Rukus band because I enjoy playing and it helps pay the bills.

www.facebook.com/steve.wittig

www.facebook.com/teri.stahl.5

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

Skinflint is a three piece Heavy Metal band from Gaborone, Botswana founded by Guitarist/Vocalist Giuseppe Sbrana in 2006. Recruiting Kebonye Nkoloso on Bass and Alessandra Sbrana on Drums. With the idea of have incorporating elements from African culture with Heavy Metal music 2/How did you all meet?

Alessandra Sbrana is my cousin, I met Kebonye Nkoloso at a Rock festival in Botswana in 2006.

3/you are a three piece, have you always been?

We have always been a three piece 4/How do you create your songs?

We do not have a formula to creating songs. We just get together, and allow each band member to express themselves.

I think the parts feel more natural this way, rather than forced.

5/Which bands inspired you?

Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and African music 6/How is the African Metal scene? some bands cross the continents to get exposure, what is your view? we don’t hear much..

The scene here in Botswana consists of a small, but dedicated following of leather clad Metal Heads. I think there is a strong future for Metal in Africa. Over the years we have seen more bands forming, and the scene keeps getting bigger. I think it is important for bands to have a strong fan base in their country, before crossing continents.

7/On your Facebook page it’s written Metal-Records but you recently got a deal with pure steel Records , how did you get to know that german label?

Pure Steel Records contacted us, and we have been with them for over 4 years now.

8/it seems you have evolved in your music from the first album, what have you changed? IS there something you regret or would do differently if you could?

I think the music has more African influences now, including traditional rhythms, and clapping. We started using Mathoas on stage and in studio, which is an instrument you tie on your ankles in Borankana, a traditional music of Botswana. We do not have any regrets, and will continue to explore new possibilities of playing Heavy Metal.

9/You have great videos and photos, do you have an agent or great gifted friends?

We recently signed this year to Metal Music Bookings. The OKOVE and Ram of Fire video was shot by a friend of ours Charlie. As for the editing, and scripting, we did it all ourselves.

10/Who designed your logo and does your cover albums?

Our new logo, with the snake and spear was designed by Pete Alander in Finland. All cover artwork is designed by our drummer Alessandra.

11/Who are the bands you play live with? Are they known outside Africa? Good friends?

We have shared the stage with many acts from Africa, and recently finished a tour with Tarja Turunen in Europe.

12/Have you played live abroad?

We have had successful tours in Southern Africa, Kenya and Europe.

13/Do you have a studio or a place where every musicians play?

We have a studio, on our farm where we record and compose all material.

14/What inspires your lyrics? Have you got a story line or just write things you wanna express?

I write the bands lyrics which are inspired by African mythology.

15/ Who has created the website? Do you take time with social medias etc..do you keep in touch with your fans?

I did the original band website. It is currently being re-done by Metal Music Bookings, and should be up again soon.

We keep in touch with fans, and it makes us happy to receive feedback from them.

www.skinflintmetal.com

1. What is your secret to get those fans over the years?

PROPHET: We really don't have a secret but what we do is we give every single record and every single concert our all. We never take being in music it lightly and we always give the fans absolute our best. To me the stage is sacred ground and I still feel very honored in my heart to be on the stage. Another thing is we listen to our fans and work hard to give them what they want from ST. MADNESS. 2. You have the make up and pentagram, has it ever got you troubles? you’re not an extreme Metal band..

PROPHET: It's funny cause back in 1995 when we first started wearing face paint and adding more theatrics to our shows everyone thought we were a satanic band. Of course we played this up quite a bit also as I used to drink blood from a chalice onstage and we added many dark and scary images back then to our stage show.etc.

Then in the later 1990's we started getting hate mail from mostly eastern European bands saying that since we weren't "Black Metal" or "Death Metal" we had no right to wear the "Corpse Paint"!!! We laughed them off and told them that we will wear whatever the fuck we want and we didn't care what they thought.

ST. MADNESS makes music for our fans plain and simple so we aren't worried about the people who don't like what we do. ST. MADNESS is purely about entertainment and we strive with our music and concerts to give people an emotional break from the problems and troubles in their lives. We never wanted to be "Rock Stars" we would rather be "Entertainers" (which our job is to make people happy and to serve the fans not be served by them).

3. Is Nasty Prick Records your own?

PROPHET: Yes we created the label back in 1994 when we released our first record that was entitled, "LONELINESS IS BLACK". Back then not many bands were creating their own labels (most were waiting to get a contract with a major label).

We didn't want to wait for some A & R guy from a major to discover us so we just created our own label and started putting the records out ourselves. It's a good thing that we did and the whole thing has been a huge learning experience.

We chose the name, "NASTY PRICK RECORDS" for the label because originally our band was called, "CROWN OF THORNS" (from 1993 to 1997) and a "Thorn" will give you a "Nasty Prick". Ha Ha Ha Ha We knew of course that everyone would take the name the other way. Everything to do with our band and the label (sings and images) have to do with GOOD AND EVIL - DARKNESS AND LIGHT. In August of 1997 we found out that there was a, "Christian" rock band who had trade marked the name, "Crown of Thorns" back in 1991 (which was 2 years before we even started using it). We knew we didn't have a leg to stand on in court so we decided to change our bands name which was kinda scary at that time.

The album we had out in 1997 was entitled, "The Spiritual Visions of St. Madness", which had just been released not long before we realized that we had to change our name. I figured our fans were already used to seeing "ST. MADNESS" since it was in the title of our then current CD. We, (Margie Johnson our manager and I) did a search with our attorney and found that no one owned the name ST. MADNESS anywhere in the world so we immediately trade marked it.

In September 1997 we officially changed our bands name to "ST. MADNESS".

It's funny cause now everyone has started their own labels so in some ways we were ahead of the game. I kinda took the idea from LED ZEPPLIN who started their own label, SWAN SONG.

4. Has the line up changed over the years?

PROPHET: Yes it has, since 1993 we have probably had 20 different members in the band. I am the founder and recently we just got our original drummer, "Randal MadDrums" back on the skins. He played on our first CD, "LONELINESS IS BLACK" that was released back in 1994. So at this time we have 2 original members in the band.

Every single time we have added a new member I don't see it as a bad thing because it always gets the creative juices flowing. I have always seen it as a good way to infuse fresh new blood into the band.

It always brings new ideas musically and stage wise. I am still friends and in touch with almost every former member and it feels good to still be friends and brothers after all of these years. We had arguments like all bands do from time to time but we have always kept things civil and treated each other with respect.

5. Since you started have you got different view on the music scene? What has evolved in your music style?

PROPHET: I think our music has gotten heavier and faster at times but for the most part we have stayed true to the no frills straight forward METAL that we have always played. We still add in some classic style power ballads and long epics songs as well.

Each record has at least one of these but we also believe in putting variety on our albums. If we had to write in just one style I would be bored as hell. Music like life has many emotions and I like to explore them all. I write the lyrics for the band and have since day one. I can get inspired by most anything, and I can learn something good from anyone.

It's great because no matter who is in the band, the music always sounds like ST. MADNESS which we call or musical brand, or style of playing, "CARNIMETAL".

Since we started as a band back in 1993 a lot has changed in the music world with the advent of the internet, free file sharing and social media etc Like with all things there is a good and bad side to these for instance, I love the fact that anyone can go online to places like YouTube etc and get our music. The problem is that they don't have to pay for it so yes even though we are becoming more well known around the world, we can't seem to make much money that way.

Back in the day if a band signed with a label it was called a "RECORD DEAL" because the "Record or CD" was the bread and butter of the reason to sign for the band and the label. Nowadays since it's so hard to sell albums / records / cd's, they the musical product has become sort of an after thought. In the future I think bands will be signing merchandise deals not record deals. Merchandise for underground bands especially is their bread and butter.

6. How do you get inspiration on lyrics after writing so many? have you got old papers you take and revamp when you’re out of thoughts?

PROPHET: This is a great question, we write songs in many different ways - sometimes I walk in with lyrics and a melody line already written - sometimes we are jamming and write a song right on the spot. Other times our guitarist, "Sid Ripster" or our bassist, "Scarlet Rivers" might have riffs and we will write to that.

We are getting ready to release our 10th full length album in 2018 and it's called, "BLOODLUSTCAPADES" and the writing and recording process went incredibly well. We all have had an amazing time putting this one together and I have to say that I love this new record very much!!! Yes I have listened to a new piece of music written on the spot and grabbed my older lyric books and put lyrics to it that I might have written 10 or 15 years ago. I have no problem doing that if I believe that the lyrics are well suited to the music.

7. Have you played live in the whole country? would you say Arizona has a special music scene?

PROPHET: We have performed in many parts of America over the years but haven't done any concerts outside of the USA. We would love to travel anywhere that people love METAL. It has always been my dream to come and play shows in Europe and Brazil where the fans of metal are very tried and true. What I mean by this is that metal music wasn't weakened in Europe and Brazil in the 1990's like it was here in

America when Alternative music became so popular.

I lived in Holland as a boy (my step father was Dutch) and I love it there and consider it a second home. I was in the Netherlands on holiday in the summers of 2012 and 2016 and I visited a few towns in Germany and Belgium at that time as well. I am a huge futbal or soccer fan and played for 9 years myself as a kid and young man. My favorite World Cup national Teams are Holland and Brazil.

To answer the second part of your question, Arizona has always been a melting pot for great metal bands and artists alike. We have a strong scene here and it's been that way for as long as I have lived here and I moved here in the spring of 1986.

I was born in California but to me it doesn't compare to the beauty and the majesty of the desert. I have the state of Arizona tattoo'd on my right calf. I love living here and Arizona will always be my home.

8. Are you behind the logo and covers albums?

PROPHET: Yes I designed our logo back in the 1990's and I co-produce our records musically with a man named Larry Elyea. Larry also owns the studio where we have been making records since 1996 called, "Minds Eye Digital" in Phoenix, Arizona.

As far as the art and booklets for our albums - I have worked on them with a few different artists over the years.

9. Does the band still got its roots? What was the first idea when starting the band?

PROPHET: We wanted to make powerful / epic music that people would feel in their hearts and souls when they listened to our CD's or came to our shows.

From day one we always took this seriously and treated it like a business not a hobby. I would say we have stuck pretty close to our roots but that doesn't mean that we don't go way off sometimes.

We try to write songs that aren't just surface material but something with a little deeper meaning. We want to write music that says something and we always bury stuff in the music and the artwork as well to make it all more 3D for our fans.

10. Are there any bands you’d like to share the stage with and you haven’t had the chance to?

PROPHET: GHOST <~~~ 11. How do you compose your albums?

PROPHET: It's one of those things that comes from being inspired and sometimes that happens instantly while we are jamming. We never struggle to write songs cause the songs sometimes seem to just write themselves.

With St. Madness, some songs are true stories and other songs are fiction. While other songs are predictions about the future and still others have a spiritual nature to them.

Our music is designed to take the listener away from their problems in their lives (even if it's only for just one song).

Being able to entertain our fans is a gift that we cherish and we love to feed them special messages and information that is meant just for them in our songs.

I will speak only for myself here: My music and our CD's / Videos / Writings and artwork etc are what I leave behind for my family and fans and it's how I will communicate with them after I have graduated from this world.

So we put a lot of thought into our albums and what the music says. We also always mix in some humor in our songs and in our stage show. Making people laugh and happy is a gift and a job that as an entertainer I feel very honored to have.

Our new album, "BLOODLUSTCAPADES" is extremely special to me for a few reasons: 1. The last song is called, "RIDING A HARLEY IN HEAVEN" and it's in memory of my step son John who passed away on July 3rd, 2016 - He was just about to turn 38.

2. Track number 7 is entitled, "WALK YOUR OWN PATH" and I wrote the lyrics for my youngest son, Dylan Neuman. My son, Dylan is also the vocalist for the amazing Arizona band, "EMERALD ISLE". <~~~ LOOK THEM UP!!!

Dylan wasn't raised by me so there was so much that I wanted to say and share with him during the years that I didn't see him very much. I decided to just put it in the songs lyrics and to call it "WALK YOUR OWN PATH". The song is from a father to his son who he loves very much.

I wrote the lyrics to the song, "EVER AFTER" for my eldest son, Josh Flannery and it's came out on the "VAMPIRES IN THE CHURCH" CD that was released back in 2006. I have written several songs that are on our records for my family members and friends.

Every song on this record "BLOODLUSTCAPADES" has tons of heart and soul in the writing and execution in the performance. We all gave every song our all and had a great time in the studio and I think it shows in the recording.

The record tells a story of the present and the future but it might be a story that the world isn't ready for just yet.

12. You had a compilation in 2013, but it’s been five years without a new album.What’s happening with the band ?

PROPHET: "BLOODLUSTCAPADES" is set to come out in early 2018. It is over 1 hour long and has 13 tracks and we are really excited about it!!!

13. Are you a family? do you hang out together…

PROPHET: Yes we are and yes we do!!! We haven't even had an argument since "Sid" joined the band back in October of 2012.

The members of ST. MADNESS are "SID RIPSTER" on Guitar - "SCARLET RIVERS" on Bass, "RANDAL MADDRUMS" on the skins and "PROPHET vocals / lyrics.

I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to share with your readers about ST. MADNESS - I have really enjoyed this interview!!!

LONG LIVE THE FANS OF METAL MUSIC!!! \m/

NASTY PRICK RECORDS has just released digital reissues of their entire catalog, including albums from: St. Madness: https://stmadness.bandcamp.com/ Crown of Thorns: https://crownofthorns1.bandcamp.com/ Prophet & The Cowboys of Apocalypse: https://prophetcowboys.bandcamp.com/ All in one place...digital downloads and CDs available NOW https://nastyprickrecords.bandcamp.com/

ST. MADNESS has been around as a band since 1993 and throughout the years, we have opened for or been on the same bill as Van Halen, The Misfits, Monster Magnet, Lynch Mob, Fates Warning, King Diamond, Destruction, Death, Sacred Reich, Flotsam & Jetsam and DRI, Deathriders" and GWAR and "Green Jelly" just to name a few.

St. Madness performed at the 1998 and 1999 Milwaukee Metal Festivals, featuring, among others, Merciful Fate, Death, Sodom, Emperor, Iced Earth, Dying Fetus, Hatebreed, Lamb Of God, Six Feet Under and many more.

ST. MADNESS current video: "DROWNING ON AIR" was nominated for, "BEST VIDEO" by the "Los Angeles Music Awards" for 2014. We went to the "Nominations and Voting Party" at the "WHISKY A GO GO" in Hollywood, California on September 25th where they showed the video.

On November 14th 2014, "THE TEMPE HISTORY MUSEUM" opened an exhibit called, "THE TEMPE SOUND" and ST. MADNESS was the only Metal band to be included in the exhibit. Prophet and the rest of ST. MADNESS performed 2 acoustic songs from "Prophet's" 2010 solo CD, "THE EDGE" at the museums exhibit opening that night.

In 2013 we released our 9th full length and 20th Anniversary, "Best Of part 2" CD entitled, "CARNIMETAL". This is a 2 disc package with 3 brand new tracks - 3 unreleased tracks from the 1999 "SCARE THE WORLD" recording sessions - 6 LIVE "Bootleg" tracks from a concert we did back on March 1st 1996 at "The Electric Ballroom" in Tempe, Arizona USA - As well as tracks from the last 3 albums, "VAMPIRES IN THE CHURCH released in 2006 - SAINTANIC released in 2009 - CANONIZING CARNAGE released in 2012 - also there is 1 re-mastered track from our first album, "LONELINESS IS BLACK" released in 1994 and it is the very first song our band ever wrote called, "CROWN OF THORNS".

November 2014 - ST. MADNESS received the "Producers Choice Award" as "Best Metal Band" from the "Phoenix Music Awards".

Last November 14th 2013 - ST. MADNESS received the "Producers Choice Award for Metal Album of the Year" for our current release, "CARNIMETAL" by the "Los Angeles Music Awards".

ST. MADNESS was again awarded "Rock Artist of the Year" by the "Phoenix Music Awards" for 2011. That awards show occurred Saturday, April 30th 2011 at The Saltmine Studios in Mesa, AZ. On November 18, 2010, ST. MADNESS received the 2010 "Rock Artist of The Year" award from The Phoenix/L.A. Music Awards". The awards ceremony took place at the Paramount Theater (located on the Paramount Studios movie lot) in Los Angeles. (I also released my first solo album, "The Edge," in Feb of 2010 as "Prophet & The Cowboys of Apocalypse." It was awarded "Record of the Year" for 2010 by the Phoenix/L.A. Music Awards as well.)

On November 20, 2010, ST. MADNESS performed in concert at the world famous, "Whisky A Go Go" in Los Angeles. This show was hosted by METAL SANAZ and headlined by The Deathriders (featuring Neil Turbin, formerly of Anthrax).

ST. MADNESS had the honor of being the only Heavy Metal band both mentioned and receiving a full page interview in the September, 2008 Phoenix New Times "Best of Phoenix" issue.

In June of 2005, ST. MADNESS was hired as the musical guest to perform during "Rage in the Cage" (ultimate fighting) at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale Arizona. We performed for over 8000 people at that event. St. Madness has been interviewed and reviewed in many metal magazines, andnmany song tracks also air on Rock/Metal radio stations world-wide. Google "St. Madness" for links to press, music sites, podcasts, etc.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!!!

Sincerely, Prophet/St. Madness

Contacts Manager: Marge Johnson AmendmentOne Management Phone: 480-577-8674 Email: mjohnson@amendmentone.com http://www.stmadness.com http://www.reverbnation.com/stmadness http://www.facebook.com/stmadness667 http://www.airplaydirect.com/STMADNESS DISCOGRAPHY: Loneliness is Black (as “Crown of Thorns”) (1994) The Spiritual Visions of St. Madness (1997) God Bless America (1998) Scare the World (2000) We Make Evil Fun! (2003) Vampires in the Church (2006) Saintanic (2009) Canonizing Carnage (2012) Carnimetal (2013)

1/ You’re having a new album on scarlet records, what do you like with this label?

Scarlet has done a very good job for “Anotheround” and we’re sure they will do the same with the new Album.

2/ The new cover still has a gore image, do you like horror movies? who designed it?

We like horror comics, you know … The designer is Ivan Fu, a good friend of ours.

3/What has changed from the first album?

Well, “The Old Family is Still Alive” (2009) was a declaration of intent: we wanted to play some Old School Thrash Metal, in that fuckin’ “New Metal era”. Everything, from the Cover to the Logo, from the Style to the Attitude, is nothing but a 1987 quotation. And that was GREAT, I mean. But now we’re going to show something more … “Massacre Elite” will surprise you.

4/Have you had line up troubles?

From 2006 up to 2017 we had A LOT of “line up troubles” (ahahah), but in the end … Here we are, I mean: four original members out of five, performing the third official NS Album! And Valle is giving a big contribution to our enterprise, you know … He’s a fuckin’ genius.

5/Who compose the most in the band? how do you create songs?

Tiz composes the most of the Music, and I write the lyrics. Tiz says: “Ehi Mini, listen to this!” and something deep inside of me starts moving, ‘cause it wants to come out and hit the stage. But I think it’s not a Zombie anymore … It’s turning into a man.

6/is there a Thrash scene in Italy? with which band you often play?

We’ve got a lot of very good Thrash and Speed Metal Bands in Italy: Violentor, Baphomet’s Blood, Injury, Ultra-Violence, Game Over, Bulldozer, Adversor … We plaied a couple of gigs with Game Over recently.

7/where did you record your album? is there a studio in town or you do it yourselves?

“Massacre Elite” has been recorded at “Domination Studios”, in the Republic of San Marino 8/Which bands you are following? are you stuck in the 80’s Thrash?

We like the 80’s Spirit, you know … And we follow the Bands that show to have the same Spirit nowadays.

9/Have you toured abroad or staying in Italy?

We turned in Italy, Spain, and Germany …

10/Are you gonna release an album every year?

Ahahahah … Well, I don’t think so, but NEVER SAY NEVER! It depends on Tiz (ahahah) 11/What gears are you using? do you change often to the new tech etc..

Nothing but two LTD KH guitars, a Warwick bass, and Pearl drums. We like the Old Sound and we won’t take another road.

12/Is there a band you worship and would love to tour with?

Not in particular.

www.facebook.com/Nationalsuicideofficial/

1/ What made you choose this name? what does it mean?

The name MAXX12 means that when all 12 of the earths tectonic plates shift simultaneously this would be referred to as a MAXX12.

2/You are a three piece band, have you got other musicians for live shows?

No other musicians (maybe the occasional guest star).

3/Who is creating the songs? is it a band process?

All songs start with T Michael Riddle doing the writing.

4/Have you got an album coming?

We currently have a new album out now.

5/Don't you have a website? it seems facebook and reverbnation are the most used but don't have the same photos....

Do you really use them differently? who deals with the promo ect...

Facebook & Reverbnation seems to be the best way to connect with our fans. We do all of our own promotion but our new record company will take over those chores soon.

6/You have many songs on reverbnation to get the idea of your music, are they all recent or it's a mix with old and new songs?

Just read the F/B sites as well as the Reverbnation info, and they tell all.

7/What is your view on music today? do you have hard times getting live shows or crowd?

The venues are way too greedy, and do not want to pay the artist;s. This in turn causes a hardship on the artist’s who cannot afford to put out a quality show (Sound/Stage Set/Light’s/Roadie’s/Promotion etc. etc.)

8/Have you got fans everywhere or there is a country most into your music?

Fans come from all over the globe but our highest concentration seems to be from the West Coast of the U.S. 9/Viewing your video, are you an actor or it is just for fun?

Not a professional actor just many years of experience from performing onstage. My Dad was also a musical artist who was signed to R.C.A. many years ago so that has set the stage for me to follow in his footsteps.

10/What ‘s your relationship with Montrose? you seem close..

I learned so very much over the years spent with Ronnie Montrose. In the studio recording as well as out on the road being his guitar tech. Ronnie is the one who introduced me to Reinhold Bogner of Bogner Amplification, and he also introduced me to Brock &Lisa Johnston of Brock Acoustics. He knew, and introduced me to so many good people over the years.

11/Are they any questions people keep asking you and you are kinda pissed to answer?

Ya’ know...I always get asked this question from young band’s that we perform with so much that I felt the need to reply with something concrete. They ask: “How did you guy’s get so many fan’s worldwide ?” Then they will immediately follow up with a statement such as “You guy’s have been around a long time that’s why huh ?” Well....Yes we have but No.. that is not the sole reason for our popularity. The Music doe’s the talkin’ for us! Yes...there are mounds of self promotion, and tireless networking but ultimately it should always be about the music. I have honed my art of writing over the years to a very precise, and simple equation....”I write one song per day every day” Doesn’t have to be a good song....in fact...if you write a single mediocre song each, and every day by week’s end you just may be able to cherry pick a little part from each of those song’s and come up with your next hit song! I learned that little gem from my mentor, and adopted big brother Mr. Ronnie Montrose and have not veered from that philosophy for over 30 years now. Exercise your songwriting muscle daily & Let The Music Do The Talkin’!

www.facebook.com/MAXX12LLC

www.reverbnation.com/maxx12

1/You have made three albums with one being only covers, did you have creation problems or you just realised people love covers and it will help you gain more fans?

1. At the time we did "Under Cover" we already had most of the songs written for the third record, but it seemed like a good time to just relax and jam on some covers that we'd been playing in clubs a lot over the years. That and because, yes, it does bring more attention to our name without a doubt. They were all pretty much done in one or two takes in the studio. We weren't going for a big production.

2/is the line up still the same from the begining?

2. The line up has changed a lot from the beginning. But to this day most of the original members will still contribute to the song writing process or fill in live if need be. Most of our original and current line up are either family or friends I've known forever.

3/You are singing and playing guitar does it get hard live or youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been dealing with for a long time?

3. I try not to play guitar on too many songs in our live set because I'm a big believer in the front man putting on a good visual show. Also because my vocals can be too demanding in some of the higher registers to be able to concentrate on doin both. I intend on playing on about half the set in the future.

4/Have you taken singing courses or youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re self taught?

4. Never any formal lessons. Just a strong will and determination to be able to sing along to all my favorite records.

A lot of practice and picking up on subtle tricks and tips I'd read about or other singers tell me about. (Proper warm ups,breathing techniques). I started playing guitar at 8 years old but didn't even attempt singing until around 18.

5/Your band logo hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t changed who made it? any particular reason for choosing it?

5. No change. That's exactly the way I prefer it. I believe a band logo should be an identifiable stamp that shouldn't be altered much or at all. I love the look of a lot of death metal bands logos but being in a straight forward hard rock band I wanted something bold and to the point that had a traditional rock look to it with slight flare. I feel our logo represents our sound well. I'm pretty sure our original bassist designed it in the early - mid 2000s and I had it tweaked slightly. That being said, we do have an alternate logo that's more for shirts but I can't imagine using any other logo besides our main for an album cover.

6/You have a cool video on utube dating from 2016, who directed it? it has a movie kinda feeling did you want it that way?

6. We had done a video a few months earlier for our title track so I knew the "dangerous" video had to have a different element altogether. We had contacted Annemarie Bain who is a daytime TV Emmy award winner and she graciously took on the task and we just gave her free will on the whole concept after she told us her ideas. I'm really pleased with how it came out and feel it complimented the song. I also got to hold her Emmy because we shot the whole video right in her basement!

7/What is the story behind the lyrics of ÂŤ dangerous Âť? what inspires your lyrics and will there be other videos?

7. The song originally was written as a joke lyrically that was really dirty and funny but when I started putting together the melodies and chorus I thought it's better to clean it up a bit because it was turning out to be a really good song.

Before the video was even made it grabbed a few 1000 downloads. It's basically just about having some loveless fun with a bad girl but if she sucks you in too far into her crazy world , watch out, you in trouble..

8/Have you got enough songs to get a new album coming?

8. We'd like to release the full 9 song wicked angel record in a decent label asap, if not we"ll put it out ourselves. I also have a bunch of songs written for the following record but just taking things slow and cautiously for the moment to make sure anything we put out is going to get out as widespread as possible.

9/You seem to have all it takes to be a good band, what do you think makes it hard for a band to get noticed?

9. These days it's almost impossible to get noticed with an internet of a million bands coming and going every year.

It leaves the good bands in a needle in haystack syndrome and causing people to only listen to what they've known forever, which is played out bands of 30 years ago. Back in the day of no internet you had record stores and MTV pushing a certain amount of bands and that's it. Now , with no MTV, no mainstream FM radio exposure, the internet is like walking into a store of a million bands. How do you choose? How do you focus on that? All a band can do now to grab any decent attention besides if you're lucky enough to grab a decent labels attention, is to have a good team of people spreading and sharing you websites, songs,videos as swiftly as possible.

10/Are you playing in other bands?

10. I have gigged and recorded records in the past 10 years with other bands of a slightly heavier nature than Nightbreak. Those are up on my YouTube channel "official Todd Verni music".

11/Which bands have you toured with? Do you get easy live shows? DO you play in the whole country or abroad?

11. We haven't gotten too far out of the northern USA yet due to funding and in the past year we've turned down opening for some notable bands from the 80s because basically promoters wanted us to play for nothing. I've been gigging for a quarter century now so there's got to be a bit more in it for me now to agree to play. But we have gigged with some great bands of our genre in the past few years as well as opened for Traci Guns last summer.

12/Have you got an idea of which country you have the most fan base?

12. I'd say it's fairly evenly spread as of right now with the majority of our downloads and streaming coming from Europe and the southern USA. It's a pretty surreal feeling seeing multiple people around the world that have Nightbreak tattoos now. Must be doing something right, ha!

13/Music is changing a lot from technology to style, are you trying to blend in or keep your own style?

13. There are certain aspects I try to keep up with that are necessary for exposure like SoundCloud. I think there's a lot of sites that are basically useless for bands too. It's trial and error and keeping your eyes open to what works best for a bands growth. As far as musical direction it will always be straight forward, big choruses and loud guitars.

If you wanna call it old school that's fine. To me it's just one genre of many out there. What's considered "new" ,to me , just sounds like 8 million bands that have the same exact style as the late 90s as far as commercial rock/metal is concerned.

14/Do you have tech skills or you got friends to help you out in the recording etcâ&#x20AC;Ś ?

14. I have zero tech skills with recording. We have the same producer for many years and he's done a great job with what I aim for on each song. I don't know the first thing about how to use pro tools, etc, I just know what sounds good or not at the end of the day.

www.facebook.com/NIGHTBREAKINC/

FRANCAIS

ENGLISH

1/Vous venez de changer de line up. Avez-vous des morceaux déjà écrits ou vous préparez le nouvel album ? Quel impact cela va t'il amener?

Kelly : Pas mal de morceaux sont déjà écrits oui, par Guillaume le bassiste. Deux ou trois seront écrits par le tout le nouveau Line-Up. Guillaume : Comme le dit Kelly une bonne partie des morceaux sont déjà écrits. A l’heure actuelle 7 titres sont déjà entièrement composés. Ce sont des morceaux que j’avais déjà écrits avant que l’album 2 ne soit lancé avec le nouveau line up. On ne sait pas encore combien de titres seront sur cet album 2, peut-être 9 ou 10. Il reste donc quelques titres à écrire, chose que nous allons faire en commun. Comme cela, il y aura à la fois la continuité du premier album, puisque j’en serais là encore le principal compositeur, tout en ayant aussi un vent de fraîcheur et de nouveauté avec l’arrivée de nouveaux musiciens et d’un nouveau chanteur qui, eux aussi, vont apporter leur patte.

1/You just changed the line up. Have you got already written songs or you are preparing the new album?

What impact will it bring?

Kelly : Most songs are already written yes, from the Bass player Guillaume. Two or three will be written with the new line up.

Guillaume : As just wrote Kelly most are already written. Right now 7 tracks are entirely composed. Those tracks were written before the new line up occured to prepare the album 2. We don’t know yet how many tracks will be on the new album, maybe 9 or 10. So there is still room to compose and write, we will do together. So there will be a following from the first album, as I’m once again the main composer, and adding the fresh new blood who joined recently. They will bring their own touch and feel.

2/Comment s'est fait le changement ? Etes-vous amis ou avez-vous déjà joué ensemble?

Kelly : Pour ma part, d'après ce que j'ai compris, ça a été du bouches à oreilles. J'avais un ancien groupe dont je ne citerais pas le nom, (car ça n'en vaut pas la peine) qui m'a quand même permis de faire parler de moi ailleurs que là d'où je viens. Pour l'instant le feeling passe , haha ! Donc on devrait être potes assez rapidement. Par contre nous n’avons jamais joués ensemble auparavant.

Guillaume : En ce qui concerne Jonathan, Jo, et Romain, on a eu un recrutement massif ! C’est Katia notre manageuse, comme d’’habitude j’ai envie de dire, qui a d’abord sympathisé avec Jonathan notre batteur sur Facebook . Ensuite Jonathan a parlé du projet à ses compères guitaristes de Evil-Minded, Jo et Romain, qui ont eu envie d’intégrer Lorraine Cross également, en plus de leur projet qui continue son chemin ! Du coup Lorraine Cross et Evil-Minded deviennent des « Associated Acts » comme disent les anglo-saxons. Quant à Kelly c’est également via Katia qu’on a fait sa connaissance (merci à Chris Chambers pour la mise en relation) et que cela a fini en recrutement. Décidemment, ce réseau social devient incontournable pour tout ! Pour l’instant nous n’avons pas encore tous joué ensemble. Kelly répète les morceaux de son côté dans son département des Landes et nous en Haute Garonne. Nous allons profiter de l’été pour faire de premières répètes tous ensemble. Quant à être amis, le courant passe déjà très bien comme le dit Kelly donc ça va forcément finir comme ça oui ! D’ailleurs j’ai déjà joué avec Jo, Jonathan, et Romain mais pas pour Lorraine Cross.

J’ai remplacé le bassiste d’Evil-Minded sur un concert et ils m’ont donné 30 morceaux à apprendre en un mois les chameaux ! Reprises plus compos ! Ca s’est super bien passé et l’ambiance pour l’instant est au top !

2/How the change happened? Are you friends or you already played together?

Kelly : As far as I know or understood, it has been done from relations. I had a band I won’t tell the name (it’s not worthy) helped me get my name out of where I come from. At the moment it’s going pretty well ahaha, so we will be friends shortly. We never played together.

Guillaume : About Jonathan, Jo, et Romain, we had a big recruiting time. It’s our manger Katia I wanna say as usual, who first been in touch with our drummer Jonathan on facebook. Then he talked about the fact we were searching for other members to his band’s mate from Evil-Minded. Jo and Romain had the will to join Lorraine Cross as to continue with their own projet. So Lorraine Cross and Evil-Minded become « Associated Acts » as English people say. As for Kelly it’s once again through Katia (thx Chris Chambers for the link) and it ended by having him in the band. Obviously this social media site is usual for everything. Right now we haven’t played together as a band yet. Kelly rehearse on his own where he lives in the Landes and we are in Haute Garonne’s state. We will use the summer to rehearse together for the first time.. As being friends , we get on very well and as said Kelly it will end this way for sure! I have already played before with Jo, Jonathan and Romain but not for Lorraine Cross. I once replaced their bass player in Evil-Minded for one live date and they gave me 30 songs to learn in a month! Covers and compositions! It really went well and the feeling right now is at the top.

3/Avez-vous déjà des concerts prévus?

Guillaume : Oui et non. On a reçu des propositions, y compris pour l’étranger mais rien n’est confirmé donc on ne peut pas en dire plus…Ce serait à priori dans un pays de l’Est. On confirmera si ça se fait bel et bien. Pour le reste, disons que comme on est reparti justement avec un nouveau line up, on ne cherche pas très activement de dates. Néanmoins si on nous en propose on ne dira pas non et on les honorera, quitte à faire également des reprises le temps de pouvoir de nouveau faire un show uniquement avec des titres de Lorraine Cross.

3/Do you have live dates booked?

Guillaume : Yes and No. We received lots of propositions even to play abroad but nothing is confirmed yet so we can say more..it should be in the East side of Europe. We will confirm if this is booked. For the rest then as we just started with a new line up, we donc necessarly looking for dates. Netherless if we have proposals we won’t refuse and will gig, even if we have to play covers from time to time just to get the whole band ready to play shows with only Lorraine Cross songs.

4/Votre nouvel album sera t'il proche du premier ou vous essayez de modifier certains paramètres ?

Kelly : Disons, que c'est pas la même équipe, donc c'est sûr que ça sera assez éloigné dans le jeu. Après, on aime ou on n’aime pas, c'est toujours pareil.

Guillaume : Dans la mesure où je vais être le principal compositeur des titres et que c’était déjà le cas du premier album, il y a forcément une certaine continuité artistique. Néanmoins nous allons essayer d’explorer à chaque album un univers un peu différent tout en restant cohérents. Il y aura une « couleur » propre à chaque album. Le deuxième sera proche du premier, mais peut être avec un côté speed metal un peu moins marqué – bien qu’il y ait au moins un ou deux titres qui seront bien rapides – et un côté hard rock un peu plus présent. C’est donc plutôt un album hard’n’heavy à ambiance bien rock’n’roll.

4/Will your new album be as similar to the first one or you are trying to change a bit?

Kelly :Let’s say it’s not the same team, it surely will be different in the play. Then you love or you don’t it’s not always the same.

Guillaume : Since I’m mostly the composer on most of the tracks it will have a similarity to the first album. The creativity is a following. Netherless we will try to explore different univers for each album slightly different while staying on the main line. There will be a ‘color’ for each album. The second one will be close to the first one, maybe with less Speed Metal touch - even though there are at least two songs a bit speed - an approach to Hard Rock stronger. It’s more like a Hard ‘s Heavy Metal with a Rock n Roll touch.

5/Quels sont les sujets des textes de vos chansons? Y a-t-il une histoire?

Guillaume : Oui car pour aller de pair avec ce que j’ai dit sur le fait qu’il y aura une couleur propre à chaque album, il y a aussi des thèmes de prédilection sur chaque album. Sur ce 2ème opus y’a pas mal de morceaux avec ambiance « on the road » qui parlent de motards fantômes et de bandits de la route…un road movie musical si vous voulez. On va également évoquer les thèmes de résurrection, de renaissance, de l’importance de se relever après un coup dur ce qui fait sens quand on connait l’actualité du groupe ces temps-ci. Et aussi de l’importance d’être soi-même avant tout, et de suivre son propre chemin même si c’est seul contre tous.

5/What are the topics of your lyrics? Are there any stories?

Guillaume : Yeah like I said about the color for each album, they are also stories on each of them. The second album have many songs with an atmosphere ‘on the road’ which speaks about the ghosts riders and hells angels of the road...a kind of Road Movie in a musical way. We also will speak about resurrection, reborn, how to get back from a hard time in life as we live actually with the band. It’s really important to be yourself first of all, as following your path although you are on your own against the others.

6/Avez-vous un studio où vous pouvez enregistrer et répéter quand bon vous semble?

Guillaume : Oui, c’est le cas. Nous pouvons bénéficier du studio de répètes situé chez notre gratteux Romain. Y’a tout d’installé, y’a qu’à brancher et jouer. Alors que demander de plus ?

6/Do you have a music studio where you can record and rehearse whenever you want?

Guillaume : Yes this is the case. We can use our guitarist Romain’s studio , everything is installed and we just have to plug in to play. So why asking for more?

7/Avec l'avancée d'internet il devient difficile pour les groupes d'avoir un suivi. Comment faites-vous pour protéger votre musique ou annoncer des concerts?

Guillaume : Pour protéger sa musique il existe de très nombreux moyens. Un moyen très simple c’est de s’envoyer à soi-même un courrier recommandé avec les titres présents sur une clé USB et un courrier attestant qu’on a la paternité. C’est imparable. Chose que j’ai fait sur tous les morceaux que j’ai pu écrire à ce jour. Pour ce qui est d’annoncer des concerts, c’est Katia notre manageuse qui non seulement trouve les concerts, mais les annonce également. Certaines personnes dans le circuit se sont mis en tête que communiquer sur le groupe n’était pas le travail du manager, mais il n’y a que ces personnes-là qui ne se rendent pas compte que c’est aussi ridicule que de dire qu’un poisson ne devrait pas nager. Enfin, bref…

7/With the internet growth it’s becoming harder for bands to have followers. How do you protect your music and announce your live shows?

To protect your music they are many ways. One simple is to send yourself a recommanded letter with a USB key with the tracks included that proves you are the owner. I always worked that way until now. As for annoucing the live dates, Katia our manager is finding the live daes and spread them too. Certain persons think that a manager is useless and think they can talk on their own about the band without any conscent. It’s ridiculous and it’s like saying a fish can’t swim in the water...whatever..

8/Qui compose le plus dans le groupe? Y a t'il des discutions sur tel ou tel riff à utiliser ?

Guillaume : Comme je l’ai déjà évoqué précédemment, on est tout de suite parti sur un set de 7 compos que j’avais écrit au préalable donc je suis le principal compositeur. Mais je sais que les autres membres composent aussi et font des très bons morceaux. Kelly écrit de très bons textes et il aime bien aussi retoucher un peu la musique en elle-même d’ailleurs on a commencé à voir un morceau ensemble. Donc même si je suis pour l’heure le principal compositeur, il y aura également du travail en collaboration, et donc c’est vraiment cool. D’ailleurs Katia notre manageuse va également s’impliquer désormais sur de l’écriture de textes.

8/Who is composing the most in the band? Are you talking on which riff to use..etc.?

Guillaume : As I evoked earlier we started with 7 tracks already composed by myself the main composer of the band.I know other members are composing and create great tracks too. Kelly likes to write and arranging the music and we worked on a track together. So even though I’m the main composer there will be touches made by other members which is pretty cool. Katia will also write lyrics.

9/Comment vivez-vous la scène metal actuellement?

Guillaume : Personnellement je trouve qu’on vit une période intéressante car en dehors du fait qu’il y a des styles nouveaux et modernes de metal qui se forment chaque année, prouvant que c’est une musique vivante et évolutive, il y a également des groupes qui jouent du bon vieux metal old school et que ce genre là ne s’éteint pas et connait même un certain « revival ». Y’en a pour tous les goûts et le metal n’a jamais été aussi populaire, malgré l’ostracisme des médias.

C’est né dans les années 70, c’est encore là en 2017. Nous sommes éternels et indestructibles ! Long live metal, heavy metal is the law et vive tout ceux qui ont la « Metal Health ! » 9/How do you live the Metal scene at the moment?

Guillaume : Personnaly I think we are living an interesting period even if they are many new modern styles that emerges every year. That proves the music is alive and evolving, they are also great bands playing the old school Metal meaning this style will never die. It’s even getting a ‘revival’ time. You have for every taste and Metal has never been so popular, although the medias ostracism. It was born in the 70’s and still here in 2017 . We are eternal and unbreakable!

Long live metal, heavy metal is the law and hail to the people who live the « Metal Health ! ».

10/Y a t'il des erreurs commises que vous allez changer pour ce nouvel album?

Guillaume : Pour certaines erreurs je dis « Joker ». Sinon je dirais que je suis très content de ce premier album, mais par contre nous avons peut être un peu trop fait le grand écart stylistiquement entre des morceaux limite thrash comme ‘Target Locked’, d’autre plus hard ‘n’heavy comme ‘Don’t waste your Energy ‘ou d’autre purement Heavy comme ‘Lorraine Cross’. Le groupe embrassera tous ces genres là, mais il vaut mieux ne pas mettre tout sur un seul album et concentrer un peu plus les morceaux de tel style sur tel album et de tel style sur tel autre album pour être plus cohérent.

C’était notre premier album, normal qu’on tâtonne encore un peu. Désormais nous serons plus vigilants sur ce point.

10/Are they mistake you will change for the next album?

Guillaume :For some mistake I say Forget it. I would say I’m pretty happy about this first album, but we have certainly made too many styles in one with tracks close to Thrash like ‘Target Locked’, some closer to Heavy like ‘Don’t waste your Energy ‘and real Heavy Metal songs like ‘Lorraine Cross’. The band will play all those styles but it’s better not to mix them all in one album. It’s a common sense to have an album that gets all songs linked in a music style with a story line. It was the first album so we were just starting and we will do it better next time.

11/Quels sont les groupes avec lesquels vous avez le plus d'affinités? Avez-vous des groupes avec lesquels vous faites des concerts régulièrement?

Guillaume : Bien sûr. En dehors des groupes avec lesquels on a une histoire particulière, comme Manigance chez qui on a enregistré le premier album et avec qui on a gardé de très bonnes relations (je profite du message pour faire un petit coucou à Christian, leur manager, un mec avec un cœur gros comme ça !) et bien évidemment Evil-Minded pour des raisons évidentes, il y a aussi d’autres groupes avec lesquels on entretient des relations amicales. Nous évoquons par exemple souvent l’idée de refaire une scène ensemble, avec les pirates de Barbar’O’Rhum qui ont partagé la scène avec nous à Albi pour le Rock 21. Egalement j’ai une histoire particulière avec le groupe Atrociraptor, qui s’est formé avec beaucoup de musiciens avec lesquels j’ai joué par le passé et qui ont formé un groupe ensemble. Ils ont été super cools avec moi lors de circonstances particulières alors que rien ne les y forçait. Alors partager une scène avec eux sera un véritable honneur. Croix de Lorraine et Préhistorique du Jurassique tout un programme !

11/Which bands you get on with better than others? Are they bands you play live often?

Guillaume : Of course, except bands we have a special history like Manigance were we recorded our first album in their studio we still have a good friendship (I use this opportuity to thanks Christian, their manager, a guy with a big heart !) and also Evil-Minded for obvious reasons, they are other bands we get on pretty well and are still friends with.

We often speak about the idea of playing together a live date with the pirates from Barbar’O’Rhum with whom we already played in Albi for the Rock 21. I also have a special story with the band Atrociraptor, that has been formed with many musicians I played with in the pas and got all together in this band.They are really cool people in certain circonstances and they didn’t have to be. So it would be an honor to share the stage with them again. The Lorraine Cross and the Jurassic a whole of a program..

12/Avez-vous des labels intéressés pour vous signer?

Guillaume : Eh bien justement nous avons eu la bonne surprise de voir, fin avril, que notre label Mighty Music s’est de lui-même rapproché de nous pour nous proposer de signer un deuxième album. La date de 2018 a été évoquée, on va tout faire pour s’y tenir !

12/Do you have label interest to sign you?

Guillaume : Well we just had the good surprise end of April, our label Mighty Music came to sign us for the second album. The date is for 2018 and we are getting prepared to keep it that way.

13/ Parlez-nous de vos instruments, ce que vous utilisez? Testez-vous les nouveaux outils digitaux?

Guillaume : Alors niveau matos notre batteur Jonathan utilise sa « batterie de bourrin » comme il aime l’appeler : une pearl de 92 en acajou fait main, avec ses baguettes ahead et sa pédale Iron Cobra. Il utilise des cymbales Zildjian et 3 toms 14, 15 et 17 pouces. Romain joue sur une Lag Arkane et un Marshall JVM 210 H, et Jo sur une guitare Gibson SG et un ampli Marshall JCM 2000 ts. J’ai deux basses, une Yamaha toute simple mais que j’aime bien pour le confort de jeu ou ma BC Rich Warlock et un ampli combo Behringer 3000 A. Niveau outils digitaux on a pas encore trop touché à tout ça bien qu’on utilise la plupart des outils que les musiciens modernes utilisent, vous savez, l’échange de fichiers Guitar Pro ou les retouches de hauteurs via Audacity, le quotidien de beaucoup qui se reconnaîtrons en lisant ceci j’en suis sûr ! Néanmoins il est vrai que le premier album, au studio Manigance, a été enregistré sur un simulateur d’ampli, un Fractal, et ça m’a permis de voir les possibilités de ce genre de matériel. Une idée à retenir pour plus tard, si les finances le permettent !

13/Let’s talk about your gear, what do you use? Are you trying digital tech?

Guillaume : So about the gears our drummer Jonathan uses his ‘destroying drums’ as he like to call it : a hand made pearl de 92 , ahead sticks and his Iron Cobra pedal. He uses Zildjian cymbals and 3 toms 14, 15 et 17 inches. Romain plays an Arkane Lag on a Marshall JVM 210 H amp, Jo on a Gibson SG guitar pluged into a Marshall JCM 2000 ts amp.

I have two bass guitars, a simple Yamaha I love for the confort to play and my Warlock BC Rich pluged in a Behringer 3000 A combo amp. As for digital devices we haven’t touched them yet although we are using most of the equipment modern musicians use today. You know the data file exchange from Guitar Pro and the changes through Audacity most will know what I’m talking about here. Netherless it’t true taht for the first album in the Manigance studio, we used an amp stimulator ‘Fractal’ which helped me to see the capabilities those devices can get. An idea for later if we can afford it.

14/Avez-vous un regard sur le pays où il y a plus de fans de votre groupe?

Kelly : Moi j'aimerais beaucoup jouer au Japon. Je ne sais pas s’il y'a des fans de Lorraine Cross là bas, mais je pense que musicalement ça pourrait matcher avec eux !

Guillaume : Oui, on a une petite idée. L’état des ventes à ce jour ne comporte pas de détails pays par pays. Par contre si on se base sur certains éléments, on a un début de réponse. En dehors de notre pays la France, je citerais la Belgique, seul pays où on a un petit fan club à ce jour (un petit coucou à Yves au passage !). Sinon les U.S.A, pays où nous avons le plus de followers ; Il faut dire que j’ai là bas un bon ami, Brian Rogers du groupe Army of Darkness, qui nous fait de la pub ! Ensuite il y a tout simplement l’Espagne et le Portugal, car ce sont les deux seuls pays étrangers dans lesquels nous avons joué à ce jour, lors de la tournée en première partie du groupe californien Cage. Vu que le public a dans

l’ensemble bien réagi et aimé les compos, on y a gagné quelques fans. Concernant le Japon évoqué par Kelly, ça tombe bien car notre label Mighty Music nous a permis d’accéder au pays via le distributeur Bickee Music. Il y a donc une édition spéciale Japonaise de notre album Army of Shadows .Je pense qu’avec un très bon deuxième album il sera possible d’augmenter notre visibilité sur le marché nippon et ma foi ce serait effectivement un véritable rêve de gosse pour moi aussi si j’avais l’occasion de visiter le pays du soleil levant un jour, surtout si c’est pour y donner des concerts !

Samurai spirit !

14/ Do you have an idea in which country you have the most fans of your band?

Kelly : Me I’d love to play Japan. I don’t know if they are Lorraine Cross fans other there, but I’m sure it would work well.

Guillaume : Yes we have a little idea. The sells don’t show much about it but if we look on certain things we have an answer. At first I would say Belgium where we have a small fan club (a little ‘hello’ to Yves by the way !). And the states where we have the most followers and I have a friend there Brian Rogers from the band Army of Darkness who spread a lot about us. Then there are Spain and Portugal, the only countries we have played abroas in, when we played on tour with the band Cage. Since the public have reacted really good to our music we probably won few fans. As for Japan like wish Kelly, our label Mighty Music proposed us to get our album there on Bickee Music distributor. So there is a special edition of our album Army of Shadows over there. I think with a good second album it will be possible to get us a wider audience in the japanese continent. It would be also a kid dream to visit this country during a live tour!

Samurai spirit !

www.facebook.com/LorraineXCross

1/What have you tried to do with this new album? What changes from the previous album?

On my first album, the whole thing was more like a projct. Different styles of music from classical 80s rock (Infinite Love), to Dark Wave (Smoking Kills). I also worked with different singers like Paulo Cuevas, Göran Edman, Chris Divine Boban Vasileski and Tave Wanning. On the second album, it is classic hard rock, with one singer that leads you through the whole album and I we spent lot more on mix and mastering. The second album is a classic rock album, with influences of Malmsteen and Europe.

2/You have made a single ‘Highway Demons’ , what is the purpose of the song? who is singing on this song?

Highway Demon - as well as the whole album is sung by Raphael Gazal. Which is a very very good rock singer in my eyes. The song is about driving car and feeling the power of your car. It is a men thing I guess. But in my eyes the song really refelects the power of the lyrics.

3/ Are you using different singers and musicians for that album?

For the album highway demon it is one singer: Raphael Gazal

4/Is Dark Sign records your own ? is it complicated for a guitarist to find a label?

DarkSIGN owner is Thorsten Eligehausen. A german producer with his own label. He covers different music styles. I also work with Thorsten on ELI VAN PIKE. We released an album in April 2017. It is Gothic Industrial Rock. It is not hard to find a label these days. There are lots of indipendent labels out there. But it really depends on what u want from the label. Is it just the release on all the stores or is it help in mix & mastering, Public Relations etc. So darkSIGN covers all of these service areas, so for me it is the best choice so far.

5/You asked on facebook to have a guitarist to play on your album, is it a challenge or you want to spread people’s talent?

I like to work with ppl. as guests on my album. Besides the very young but really talented Dustin Tomsen (he play the main solo on the song BASD PARADISE), there will also be another guest musician from sweden on the album.

6/Are you writting lyrics or just the music?

I write lyrics and music. For the "HIGHWAY DEMON" album I wrote all lyrics and all of the songs except HIGHWAY DEMON and THE LAST BATTLE. These songs were co-written by Oliver Deleker. WIth Oliver, I also wrote the Ballad "INFINITE LOVE" from my first album 7/Do you try to get universe into your creations or just let your fingers and imagination to create?

Normally, song ideas come to me while I play and practise. That´s all. THey I listen to it in my car and try to find lyrics and the melody for the verses and chorus.

8/Have you got tons of riffs written?How do you know which one you will use?

There are lots of riffs in my head. some riffs are up to 2 or 3 years and out of nothing comes a chorus in my head that fits this riff for example. it is funny how things turn out sometimes. for example: Oliver came up with the acoustic guitar of INFINITE LOVE and asked me to do the song together. I tried it slow, fast, rock style, blues and put it back in the drawer. a couple of months later, i took it out of the drawer and got melody and chorus very fast. it really depends on the mood u r in to begin and finsih a song ... sometimes it is harder.

9/Who is your favorite guitarist, the one that gave you the wish to play?

I love this question. It is Kee Marcello, former guitarist of EUROPE. I saw him on TV back in ´87 / ´88 playing flight of the bumble bee. I was fascinated by his playing. I am still a big fan of Kee. He is an accurate player with always great melodies. Mid of september, his new album KEE OF HEARTS will be published. Can´t await. Other Influences are Yngwie Malmsteen and John Norum.

10/You don’t seem to have a ‘label’ musically, are you listening to any music style and don’t want to have an album in this or that category...?

I like Hard ROck / Metal, Gothic Dark Wave like SIsters of Mercy ... I also like rock acts like Rammstein ... but I can´t handle with death metal and stuff like that ... I miss melody there ...

www.facebook.com/Marc-Vanderberg-685435971533884/

1/You are releasing the album 'we bleed metal 17' , what's different from the album released two years ago? why calling it 17?

David T. Chastain: 17 has 100% different music but with the same drums and vocals. Different Mix and Mastering. It is quite a different sound. It was made to sound like a live band. 1 guitar, 1 bass, drums and lead vocalist with minimal background vocals. Very raw! As far as the name goes I let Leather choose the title. We could actually release numerous albums with a different year if we wanted. It is a pretty good metal album title.

2/Is this coming out on Pure Steel Records? on cd and LP? David T. Chastain: Yes Pure Steel Records is releasing the Cd and Vinyl and Leviathan Records is handling the worldwide digital distribution.

3/Why not having a different cover artwork?

David T. Chastain: I thought different covers would be a good idea but Pure Steel wanted to keep the same cover but just a different color. That way people will know it is similar... but understand it is different.

4/ Would you say it is a compilation with old songs and old singers?

David T. Chastain: CHASTAINIUM which was released a few months back is a compilation album of tracks from all but 2 of the CHASTAIN albums. And it covers every musician but one that has ever been in Chastain. It is basically a CHASTAIN history course. We Bleed Metal 17 is the same band as the last 4 years. Myself on guitar. Leather on vocals.

Stian Kristoffersen on drums and Mike Skimmerhorn on Bass.

5/Do you think it's necessary to make a record every two years to keep people following your work?

David T. Chastain: Not necessarily. Of course if you are out touring that helps. This release is just something I wanted to do personally to get a "Live Sounding" CHASTAIN album. Usually there are numerous guitars on each track. On this album there is only one. So this is basically a live recording. One reason I don't like to tour is that I feel it is impossible to replicate a normal Chastain album because in the studio there could be 4 to 26 guitar tracks on a song.. kind of hard for 1 guitarist to cover that sound in concert!

6/What has changed on this album? Have you chosen a different approach or just played with sounds?

David T. Chastain: The music is 100% new. There is absolutely no music the same as on the original WBM. So on We Bleed Metal 17 I set out to make a "Live" sounding Chastain album with only 1 guitar track. So I came up with 100% new music to go over the original drums and vocals that would be powered by only 1 guitar. THIS is the only CHASTAIN album that could ever be replicated live and sound like the studio recording. There were also some mixing tricks I did to make the record sound a little more like a live recording. So I guess this is as close as anyone is ever going to get to an authorized live Chastain recording.

7/Are you gonna tour again or you are more studio musician?

David T. Chastain: I can't envision ever touring again myself. Maybe a special one off concert here and there. Now Leather wants to tour as much as possible so she is doing solo dates mainly playing Chastain music.. so Chastain music is touring but I am not in the band.

8/What is your view on the music scene?

David T. Chastain: I have to admit I don't really keep up with other stuff much. I go on youtube every once in awhile and I hear lots of cool new music but I don't specifically follow any bands at this point. If I listen to a band a lot I am afraid it will influence my songwriting and I want to keep that as original as possible.

9/Are they any bands you follow or help?

David T. Chastain: Not so much these days. I still have my record label Leviathan Records but at this point we only release music that I am personally involved. Running a label is too much work for too little reward. So if I am going to go to all of that trouble I am going to be releasing my own music. In the past we have released Firewind, Candlemass, Manilla Road and many others.

10/When looking back do you think it was easier as a musician than today?

David T. Chastain: I like the old school music business model much better than today's world. The vast majority of people today don't value music and expect it for free or cheap. Streaming has totally killed royalties for metal/rock musicians generally. As I tell people in the old days when we sold Cds we made dollars. When we sold downloads we made pennies. When someone streams our music we make fractions of a cent. It is really a bad situation. I would hate to be a new musician starting out today. It is a different world.

11/With those many guitarist shredders now, do think some should be in a band rather than alone? is there one you think is on top ? except you of course...ahha David T. Chastain: Yes they should get in bands. There is little chance to reach a wide audience just playing instrumentals. In the old days there was a big audience for instrumental albums but Nirvana/Grunge pretty much killed that. Now even the famous guitarists such as Vai and Satriani only sell a small percentage of Cds that they did in the late 80s and very early 90s. With that said, it isn't always easy to form a band, especially if there is no money to be made... so it is much easier to sit in a room by yourself and make home studio recordings... there is just a limited fan base for that type of music. I have guitarists contacting me all the time and I tell them the same thing.

12/Do still learn new scales ? how do you keep the fresh love to play your instrument?

David T. Chastain: I am pretty sure I learned all of the scales many years ago. Most are not really "metal oriented" but I do think I use some scales most guitarists don't to any extent. I have lots of weird influences compared to most.

I actually started playing around with the whole tone scale again in the last few months. Didn't use that much in the past. To me it sounds very Zappa-like. I doubt I will use it much on a Chastain album but it is something different to jam on.

13/Are you the main person to deal with the albums? with your experience what is the best for a band?

David T. Chastain: I guess so. I write most of the music, play guitar, engineer, produce, mix and master the most recent albums. Not that I necessarily want to do all of that. I would love to be able to afford a big name producer/ engineer and a great studio. However in today's musical world there isn't tons of money floating around. In any case, most fans wouldn't hear a great deal of difference between a 10K or 100K recording. It is the songs that matter. I really can't say "What is best for a band" in 2017... it is a strange world to me. Check out www.webleedmetal.com for info on the releases and links to all the videos.

Thanks!!!

www.webleedmetal.com

1/In an interview I heard Jody saying you were the reason why the band didn't come back, except your children did you have the wish to leave the band behind or afraid of how the crowd would accept you?

I never had a wish to leave the band behind, I was and still am incredibly proud of my involvement in RG and my mind was always open to playing again. The fact is when the band broke up in the 80’s, I got married and had a family and they were my priority. Over the years my circumstances changed and my kids grew up, so when my dad sent me an email asking if I would consider re-joining the band I said ‘yes, off course!’ Also the response to us reforming has been overwhelming and did take me by surprise.

2/you have a three tracks CD , have you got enough for a new album or you will keep it that way just to get more fans coming to your shows?

We have enough for a full album plus more! Jody has written some killer songs!

3/You play few live shows here and there, who is finding you those gigs? Have you got tour to come? Do you have friends bands who want to share the stage with you?

Our agent Martin Jarvis [Fresh Start Agency] organises our gigs. As for a tour that will be when our album comes out which will be as soon as possible! And we do share the stage with our friends all the time; at festivals and also at our own gigs.

4/ On those new tracks did you write the music and lyrics or you just follow the guitar riffs?

Jody is the songwriter. When we receive any new song, myself and Tracey will listen to it and introduce our own ideas, then we play it in the rehearsal room as a band and everything then is finalised.

5/Have you played in other bands during those years or you left the drums in the garage...?

No, I didn’t play in another band, I did start playing again on my son’s drum kit about a year or so before the band got back together, and yes I still have virtually all of my gear. Some of it is very old and not useable!

6/What made you decide to start the band again?

It was my dad. He approached Jody first about re-starting the band, then he sent an email to myself and Tracey…I accepted right away.

7/Tracey is involved in many bands , does it make it hard to rehearse and play together?

Tracey isn’t in any other band - just this one!

8/Have you been always in touch during those years?

I know Jody stayed in touch with Tracey but I didn’t, which I regret now.

9/It seems Jody doesn't have a facebook page, tracey was the only one for years to have one. What made you start a page and are you more involved in the relationship with fans? What's your approach to the internet/new tech?

I am really new to Facebook, and it is taking me a long time to get my head around it. But I think there can be many positives that hugely outweigh the negatives! It is lovely talking to people that are new to the band, but also people who were there in the 80’s and they share their memories of RG with me, which is so lovely.

10/You started long time ago, band like Vixen who made only two albums in the late 80s n one in the 90's , like you got an awesome feedback and following. What do you think gets people still in love with your music?

Jody’s songs for one, she is an incredible songwriter and she doesn’t get enough credit. We associate music with memories, so many of our songs take people back to their youth.

11/Let' get back to the beginning , what made you first start the drums and have you tried other instrument? are you self taught?Do you visit instrument shops?

My dad taught me to play, he also taught Jody and Tracey to play their instruments. I know 2 chords on a guitar and can play about on a piano a bit, so basically I can only play drums. Haha!

12/Do your children are into music? what advice do you give them?

My kids know their music, yes, and they know more about the current music scene than I do!

13/Music has changed a lot since the early 80's , are you following new bands or still stuck in your fav lps? what is your favorite band?

I play music mostly from the older catalogues, unless my son or Jody introduce me to something new. But AC/ DC it for me, we saw them play at the Hammersmith Odeon with Bon Scott. Wow, what a memory that was.

14/Do you still got the same drum kit or you got a brand new trade? tell us about your gear...

yet.

As I mentioned before, I still have the old gear, but I’m looking to get a new kit soon, not sure what make of kit

15/Have you got endorsments?

Looking at that too!

16/How do you deal with the pressure of interviews and so on as a rockstar? is it easier now than back then? Do people stop you in the streets?

I was very young when the band started and incredibly shy, so interviews were quite difficult for me back then, but now it is a lot easier. And no, I don’t get stopped in the street, but it is nice when people stop us at gigs and festivals to share their memories and love for RG. Their memories are our memories too and we love our fans very much!

dessrocks/ d o g ck o /R m o .c k o o www.faceb

Intrevista con Clau Violette

Interview with Clau Violette

1/Who started the band? What was the idea?

Astray was born without his original name as an idea and personal ambition. We wanted to create a different project, with a lot of personality, that could represent all the people who feel identified with what we say or do. We started in 2015.

Joan Aneris and Clau Violette started the band. We had a lot of common philosophy to start a project, so we started what finally became Astray Valley, to defend our opinions about the world and to welcome all people with similar opinions or needs.

1/ ¿Quién empezó la banda?¿Cuál era la idea?

Astray nació sin su nombre original como una idea y ambición personal. Queríamos crear un proyecto diferente, con mucha personalidad, que pudiera representar a toda la gente que se siente identificada con lo que decimos o hacemos. Empezamos a darle caña en 2015.

Joan Aneris y Clau Violette empezamos la banda. Teníamos mucha filosofía en común para empezar un proyecto, así que formamos lo que hoy en día es Astray Valley para defender nuestras opiniones sobre el mundo y poder acoger a toda la gente con opiniones o necesidades parecidas.

2/Spain is most known for Heavy Metal, how did you get accepted in your country/city?

We can not really complain, even with some gender discrimination (as in almost all places), Spain is a place that bets on certain festivals promoting Metal music, not only bringing great legends but also making room for the most contemporary part like Modern Metal. Some of these festivals are the Rock Fest of Barcelona (where we had the immense honor to play), the Resurrection Fest, or the Legends of Rock.

2/¿España es más conocida por Heavy Metal, ¿cómo te han aceptado en tu país / ciudad?

Realmente no nos podemos quejar, aún con cierta discriminación al género (como en casi todos los lugares), España es un lugar que apuesta en ciertos festivales la promoción del Metal, no solo trayendo grandes leyendas sino haciendo hueco también a toda la parte más contemporánea como el Metal moderno. Algunos de estos festivales son el Rock Fest de Barcelona ( donde tuvimos el inmenso honor de tocar), el Resurrection Fest, o el Leyendas del Rock.

3/Why choosing this name, what does it mean for you?

Our name defends perfectly what we wanted to be in this world, a fantastic place that welcomes anyone who wants to go inside and discover everything that is hidden. Wandering music and messages that can travel everywhere, giving the opportunity to be part of what we do and feel.

3/¿Por qué elegir este nombre, qué significa para usted?

Nuestro nombre defiende perfectamente lo que queríamos ser en este mundillo, un lugar fantástico que da la bienvenida a todo el que quiera adentrarse y descubrir todo lo que esconde. Una música ambulante y unos mensajes que puedan ir recorriendo cada rincón dando la oportunidad a ser parte de lo que hacemos y sentimos.

4/Is it easy to get live shows?

It depends on how much you move and look for them. Many people usually complain about the price of the venues, and it is true that it is another economic difficulty sometimes, but in the end we all have the means and a large community that can support each other to make any show possible.

4/¿Es fácil conseguir espectáculos en vivo?

Depende de lo que uno se mueva, y de la cara que se le ponga al ir a buscarlos. Mucha gente suele quejarse del precio de las salas, y es cierto que supone una dificultad económica más algunas veces, pero finalmente todos disponemos de medios y una gran comunidad que puede apoyarse para hacer cualquier concierto posible.

5/How is the Metal scene in Barcelona? Have you played in the whole country or abroad?

It is a very separated scene, we talk about classic metalheads and a new generation with more modern tastes. In the end, we think the situation is better than in other countries, but it is true, there is little cohesion between subgenres and they are not usually mixed, and the truth is that it is a pity, because we are all playing Metal and we could learn from each other!

We have had the opportunity to play in several major cities in Spain, as well as in some festivals across different places.

Soon we will increase the number of places visited. We hope to have the opportunity to go outside and see what the people of other places is like!

5/¿Cómo es la escena Metal en Barcelona? ¿Ha jugado en todo el país o en el extranjero?

Es una escena bastante repartida, hablamos de metaleros de toda la vida y de una nueva generación con gustos más modernos. La verdad es que creo que está mejor que en otros países, pero es cierto, que hay poca cohesión entre subgéneros y que no se suelen mezclar, y la verdad es que es una lástima, es el mismo género al fin y al cabo, y todo nos puede enseñar cosas nuevas! Hemos tenido la oportunidad de tocar en diversas ciudades importantes de España, así como en varios festivales repartidos por diferentes lugares. Pronto aumentaremos el número de lugares visitados.Esperamos tener pronto la oportunidad de salir fuera y sobretodo de ver como es la gente de otros lugares!

6/Did you have different line up? Are you friends?

Yes, of course, people grow and change. Wonderful people have passed by this project to which we wish the best, and with which we learned. Friendship in a band is very important, perhaps more than the musical level in the members.

If the members do not like each other and do not take care of each other, pressure becomes an obstacle for the band. It is very difficult to make people believe in a project that is not united. At least from our experience.

6/¿Tuvo línea diferente? ¿Son amigos?

Si, por supuesto, las personas crecemos y cambiamos, la vida es así. Ha pasado gente maravillosa por este proyecto a la que le deseamos lo mejor, y con la que aprendimos. Es muy importante la amistad en una banda, quizás más que el nivel musical en los miembros. Si los miembros no se quieren y no se cuidan entre sí, las presiones acaban siendo obstáculos para el grupo. Es muy difícil hacer que la gente crea en un proyecto que no está unido. Al menos, desde nuestra experiencia.

7/Your music has technic, melodies, blasting riffs… How do you create your songs? Is there a particular line?

As far as this album is concerned, we composed everything from a story we wrote previously to music. From there, usually Joan has an idea and writes a song. Afterwards, we record a demo that we work together to give it the desired shape. We have worked hard to get a consistent sound between songs and to follow the atmosphere and lyric content of the album's story.

7/Su música tiene técnicas, melodías, riffs explosivos ... ¿Cómo crear sus canciones? ¿Hay una línea en particular?

En lo que a este álbum se refiere, compusimos todo a partir de una historia que escribimos anteriormente a la música.

A partir de ésta, normalmente Joan tiene una idea y compone una canción. Después, grabamos una demo que vamos trabajando entre todos hasta darle la forma deseada. Hemos trabajado mucho para conseguir un sonido coherente entre canciones y que siguiese la atmósfera y el contenido lírico de la historia del álbum.

8/What inspires your lyrics?

The deepest feelings, day to day. Our stories talk about fantastic situations, but they perfectly represent the deepest thoughts of each of us. When we believe in something that people should take into account and we see how it is forgotten, it makes us want to make it reach as far as possible with a message. We believe in happiness, but we also believe that people are slowly putting it aside, taking into consideration things that are not so important, so we end up in a gray world. Obviously each one of us is different, but we would like to change things, we want to give voice and above all to help people find their happiness.

8/¿Qué inspira sus letras?

Los sentimientos más profundos, el día a día. Nuestras historias hablan sobre situaciones fantásticas, pero que representan perfectamente los pensamientos más profundos de cada uno de nosotros. Cuando creemos en algo que la gente debería tener en cuenta y vemos cómo es olvidado, dan ganas de hacerlo llegar tan lejos como se pueda con un mensaje. Creemos en la felicidad, pero también creemos que la gente poco a poco la va dejando de lado, anteponiendo cosas que no son tan importantes, y así acabamos, en un mundo gris. Evidentemente cada persona es un mundo, pero nos gustaría cambiar las cosas, queremos dar voz y sobre todo ayudar a que la gente encuentre su felicidad.

9/What made you sign to Wormholedeath Records?

We signed for many reasons: to learn, grow, get a way out to new people, to have the opportunity to work with the great professionals who are supporting us and helping to make our project come true...

We want to go as far as possible, and do everything in our power to communicate our message to the world, and the Wormholedeath people have given us confidence and an opportunity to do it.

9/¿Qué te hizo firmar a Wormholedeath Records?

Firmamos por muchas razones: para aprender, crecer, obtener una vía de salida hacia gente nueva, para tener la oportunidad de trabajar con los grandes profesionales que nos están apoyando y ayudando a hacer nuestro proyecto realidad…

Queremos llegar lo más lejos posible, y hacer todo lo que esté en nuestra mano para transmitir nuestro mensaje al mundo, y los compañeros de Wormholedeath nos han dado confianza y una oportunidad para ello.

10/Have you got an album coming? there is only one song on your site to buy..Do you play covers at your shows or you have all creations?

No, we do not play any covers. We did when we started, and it is very fun to do, but for now we do not plan to play more versions. We have an album that will see the light soon, and we really want to play all of their new songs live.

10/¿Tienes un álbum? Sólo hay una canción en su sitio para comprar .. ¿Usted juega cubre en sus demostraciones o usted tiene todas las creaciones?

No, no tocamos ninguna cover. Al principio sí, y reconozco que es muy divertido de hacer, pero por ahora no tenemos planeado tocar más versiones. Tenemos un álbum que verá la luz pronto, y tenemos muchas ganas de tocar todas sus canciones nuevas en directo.

11/Who is dealing with your website, social media?

We manage the personal and social networks of the band. Specifically, our guitarist Joan is great with marketing, promotion and web design, so we take advantage of it!

11/¿Quién está lidiando con su sitio web, los medios sociales?

Nosotros, nos gestionamos las redes personales y sociales de la banda. Concretamente, nuestro guitarrista Joan es toda una máquina con el marketing, la promoción y el diseño web, así que aprovechamos!

12/Have you got a manager who deals with the live show and medias promo?

We usually cover that part, although we now have Wormholedeath Records to help us with the promotion to the media, of course!

12 / ¿Tiene un gerente que se ocupe del show en vivo y de la promo de medios?

Nosotros solemos cubrir esa parte, aunque ahora contamos con Wormholedath Records para ayudarnos con la promoción a los medios de comunicación, por supuesto!

13/Have you got friends in the music you play live shows often with?

Of course, it is the best to have friends in this sea of sharks. It is a pleasure when we have the chance to play with friends. It’s not always possible, but when we have the opportunity, we feel like at a party.

13/ ¿Tiene un gerente que se ocupa del show en vivo y de la promo de medios?

Por supuesto, es de lo mejor tener amigos en este mar de tiburones. Es un gustazo cuando tocamos con amigos.

No siempre se puede, pero cuando tenemos la oportunidad, nos sentimos como en una fiesta.

14/How do you rehearse, record? Have you got a home studio or a place where many bands can play?

We rehearse in a local in Barcelona. When we need to record, we do our songwriting, demos and pre-production in Joan’s home studio. Although at the time of obtaining final productions, we do not hesitate to go where it is necessary to have better results (and to have an excuse to travel!) The last one was recording this new album in Italy. It was a great experience.

14/¿Cómo ensayar, grabar? ¿Tienes un estudio en casa o un lugar donde muchas bandas pueden jugar?

Ensayamos en un local en Barcelona. A la hora de grabar, nos encargamos de realizar la composición, demos y preproducción en el home studio de Joan Aneris. Aunque a la hora de obtener producciones finales, no dudamos en ir a donde sea necesario para tener mejores resultados (y tener una excusa para viajar!) La última fue grabando este nuevo álbum en Italia. Fue una gran experiencia.

15/Which bands influenced you? Is there one in particular you’d like to play with?

Our influences have been changing with time, and we wanted to integrate into our sound what has marked us most of each stage.

From bands like Periphery, Monuments, Blessthefall, In This Moment, Architects, Veil of Maya, August Burns Red, to bands like Bring Me The Horizon or Northlane. Many of them are really different from each other.

We would love to play with so many bands, that it is impossible to pick one. We are a very open band to meet new bands and discover new influences every day!

15/¿Qué bandas te influyeron? ¿Hay alguna en particular con la que te gustaría jugar?

Nuestras influencias han ido cambiando con el tiempo, así se explica que hayamos querido integrar lo que más nos ha marcado de cada etapa.

Des de grupos como Blessthefall, In This Moment, Architects, Veil of Maya, August Burns Red, a grupos como el Bring Me The Horizon o Northlane. Muchos de ellos son realmente diferentes entre sí. Nos encantaría tocar con tantos grupos, que es imposible decidir uno solo. Somos una banda muy abierta a conocer nuevas bandas y descubrir nuevas influencias cada día!

Vale Gracias Franck

www.astrayvalley.com

Français English

1/Vous avez commencé en 1993, qu’est ce qui a changé dans le groupe? est ce que le concept est toujours autenthic?

Quand j ai formé samsaya en 1993 c était pour créer une musique que je rêvé d ‘entendre et qui n existait pas!!un mélange de métal goth et d ‘electro dance voir atmosphérique ,en fait un concept bien défini et aujourd’hui notre musique a evolué dans un style que l’ on pourrait appeler puisqu ‘il faut une étiquette "thriller rock"; a la base nous étions 3 moi chant guitares ; un bassiste et un batteur electro et à partir de 1995 charly b nous a rejoint en tant que claviers 1/You started in 1993, what has changed in the band? Is the concept still authentic?

When I started Samsaya in 1993 it was to create the music I dreamt to hear and didn’t exist!! A mix between Metal Goth Dance Electro even atmospheric, something pretty determined and today our music has evolved in a style we could call , as you need a sticker today «thriller rock», at the begining we were a three piece. Me on the guitars and singing, a bass player and an electro drummer and from 1995 Charly b joined us as a keyboardist.

2/Il semble que vous ne soyez que deux dans le groupe, malgrès cette longévité , avez vous eu besoin de changer regulièrement de musiciens?

Jusqu à présent pour la scéne nous avons pris des bassistes voir un batteur pour des concerts particuliers car nous utilisons des batteries en studio aussi mais en ce qui concerne l ‘avenir il est possible que nous soyons que 2 sur scène car vu les répetitions que nous avons commencé pour le nouveau setlist ça sonne plutôt pas mal a deux ! et de toute façon la base solide du groupe c ‘est moi et charly b et aujourd hui à deux on remplace 5 musiciens! lol 2/It seems you are only two membesr in the band, whatever the longivity, do you need to change musicians regularly?

Until now for the live shows we had several bass player and one drummer for gigs as we are using drums in the studio but as far as it goes in the futur it’s possible we will be only two members on stage; due to all rehearsals we have started for the new setlist it sound pretty good just both of us! Anyway I’m the rock of the band and with Charly b today we replace 5 musicians ! Lol 3/Vous n’avez plus rien fait depuis 2013 est ce qu’un album est en préparation?

Faux ; depuis 2013 nous avons sortis 2 compilations qui s appellent "étrange étrange" (raretés remix et lives) vol 1 et 2 et un live de 2014 "soirée étrange» même si cela n est pas vraiment officiels mais ils sont disponible quand même; quand au nouvel album il est prévu pour décembre 2017 et s appellera "kronology" et sera tout en anglais 3/You haven’t released anything since 2013 is there an album coming?

Wrong since 2013 we made two compilations named «etrange etrange» (rare remix and live) Vol1 &2 and a live album in 2014 «soirée étrange» even though it ‘s not really official releases but you can still get them. As for a new album it should come out on the beginning of December 2017 and will be called «kronology» completly in English.

4/Votre musique n’a pas vraiment de style précis et certaines fois sonne plutot électronic, n’avez vous pas souffert de ce changement ?

Depuis le début nous mélangeons le métal et l ‘electro plus ou moins c ‘ est à dire depuis 1993 ;nous avons notre propre style et effectivement nous en avons payer le prix surtout depuis les années 2000 ou ce qui prime est de rentrer dans des styles caricaturaux et fermés d esprits! et je le reconnais qu aujourd’hui ce n est pas facile de nous coller un étiquette même si cela est obligatoire pour le marketing! mais pour nous l’ art et l ‘authenticité doivent primer et il y a le prix à payer qui va avec ! ce sont les temps modernes...

4/Your music hasn’t got a typical music style and sometimes sounds like electronic music , haven’t you suffered from those changes?

From the beginning we are mixing Metal and Electro music , let’s say since 1993 at least. We have our own style and yes we paid the price mostly in the year 2000, where what matters the most is getting into a box with closed minded music styles, I admit today it’s not easy to give us a sticker although it’s necessary now for the business! But we have the authenticity and artistic way which should count but you have to pay the price! these are the modern times...

5/On vous voit sans tshirt sur scène; est ce pour montrer votre tatoouage? que veut il dire?

Si je suis sur scéne sans tee shirt comme tu dis c’est que je suis plus à l ‘aise comme cela sachant que je chante et que je joues toutes les grattes seul sur scène en même temps ! et biensur cela fait parti de l image du groupe :mes bras ; mon tattou qui date de 30 ans! donc bien avant la mode!!lol 5/We see you without Tshirt on stage; is it just to show off your tattoo? What does it mean?

If I don’t wear a tshirt on stage as u say it’s cos I feel better this way,knowing I play all the guitars and sing at the same time live! It also is the image of the band, my arms, my tatoo which dates from 30 years! so it was before the fashion lol 6/Comment créez vous vos chansons?

Je m occupe des textes et des musiques donc des compositions et Charly b des sons electro samples et certaines batteries; en général je compose mes chansons avec ma guitare acoustique ; électrique ou avec un petit piano mais ça m arrive de trouver des mélodies juste avec ma voix; cela peut prendre 5 minutes comme 2 mois 6/How do you write your songs?

I write all the lyrics and music, Charly b writes the Electro samples sounds and sometimes the drums, I usually compose on my accoustic guitar, electric or with a piano but it happens to find melodies just with my voice. It can take to 5mins to 2 months.

7/Avez vous un label ou vous faites tout vous même?

Notre label Sofia production est juste un label associatif qui sert qu ‘a samsaya et a des projets musicaux "minimes" que nous avons à coté; sinon je produis tout moi même et l ‘enregistrement se fait avec mon collègue charly b puis au final nous signons des contrats de distributions qui malheureusement en général n ont pas énormément de moyens 7/Do you have a label or you do it yourself?

Our label Sofia production is just an assiciative label that serve only Samsay and few musical projects we have on the side. I product everything myself and we record with my collegue Charly b then for the final mix we sign distribution contracts which unfortunetly don’t have much money.

8/Est ce que le surnom Kronos a un rapport avec Venom où cela a une autre signification?

Heureusement que cela n ‘a rien a voir avec le chanteur de vénom car cela serait du plagia!! lol c est un prénom que je porte depuis 45 ans et cela corresponds aussi à mon coté visionnaire ! comme quoi parfois la vie est bien faite! lol 8/Is the surname Kronos has anything to do with Venom or it has another signification?

Thankfully it has nothing to do with cos it would means Plagia. lol I have had this nick name for 45 years and it corresponds to my visionary side! Life is well done lol 9/Pourquoi avoir evolué musicallement du Black Metal au goth…?

Quand j ai formé chainsaw groupe de black métal en 1986 je me suis vite aperçu au bout de 3 années que tu es condamné a ne pas trop sortir du style même si déjà j ‘utilisai à l ‘époque des claviers etc pour remplacer des violons flûtes...a partir de ce moment là j ai voulu former samsaya pour pouvoir m’ exprimer pleinement ; donc samsaya serait plus un mélange de "crossover métal goth" et "d’ electro dance" que du gothique pure et dur; chez nous il y a le ying et le yang ! le noir et le blanc ; la vie la mort!la douceur et la puissance! est la musique de samsaya 9/Why have you evolved musically from Black to Goth..?

When I formed the Black Metal band Chainsaw back in 1986 I realised pretty fast in three years you are condamned not to get out of this music style and i already used keyboards at that time to replace violin, flute etc... then I wanted to start Samsaya to be able to express myself fully. So Samsaya would be a cross over between Metal ,

Goth and Electo Dance. Rather than pure Gothic; In us there is the Ying and Yang! Black and white! Life and Death, power and softness...this is the music of Samsaya!

10/ Comment vous êtes vous rencontré avec Charly ? êtes vous sur la même longueur d’ondes.

Charly b est arrivé dans le groupe en 1995 après nous avoir vu en concert ; il a appris que je cherchais un clavier et il a tout de suite adhérer à l idée et surtout il s est montré très vite a la hauteur de nos ambitions; aujourd’hui charly et moi sommes très complémentaires et avons la même façon de concevoir la musique et le même feeling! cela fait 22 ans qu il est à mes cotés maintenant et ce n ‘est pas rien! il est comme un frère 10/How did you meet with Charly? Are you on the same line..

Charly bhas aririved in the band in 1995 after he saw us live.He knew I was searching for a keyboardist and knew exactly how to get into the idea, he got the feel we wanted, today Charly is complimentary to me. We have the same vision to create music and the feeling! It’s been 22years we’re together now he’s like my brother!

11/ Vous avez pratiquement un album tous les ans; vous ne vous arrêtez jamais? vous jetez quand même des compositions rassurez moi…

Faux !si tu enlèves l’ album live de 2008 et l ‘album remix de 2003 nous mettons 4 ans environ pour concevoir un album sachant que nous faisons "murir" les chansons pour être sur de notre choix! je compose 70 chansons j ‘en garde 10 pour samsaya et j ‘en jette beaucoup car je suis très exigeant avec moi même et les autres et charly b qui valide aussi mes compos me ressemble à ce niveau ; composer est facile mais pour samsaya c est beaucoup plus complexe si tu rentres dans notre univers tu t ‘en apercevras après plusieurs écoutes! aujourd’hui nous sommes sur le prochain album prévu pour décembre 2017 et nous avons l’ intention de continuer encore un bout de temps car nous avons encore une petite poignée de fans et dans le pire des cas pour la postérité car nous savons que nos albums vieillissent plutôt bien en raison de 3 choses. La première : le coté avant garde .La deuxième : le coté très affinés des compos (qu ‘on les aiment ou pas!) la 3 ème : vu le niveau musical à la mode en ce moment, je n a’i rien à craindre du futur au niveau reconnaissance artistique en tout cas , chez ceux qui garderons leurs oreilles intactes! lol merci a toi pour ton interview kronos 11/You have released an album every year , you never stop? You ‘re throughing away some creations sometimes no?

Wrong! If you take the live album from 2008 and the remix one from 2003 we are releasing an album every four years. That what it takes to conceive and album knowing we grow the songs to be sure we like them! I compose 70 songs and I keep only 10 for Samsaya, I’m a perfectionistand hard about myself and to the othersand Charly seems to feel the same as he also give his say. To compose it’s easy but for Samsaya it’s more complex if you get into our universe you will understand after several several spins.Today we are on the next album normally for early December 2017 and we have the intention to keep going for a while. We still have a hand of fans outhere and in the worst scenario just for the sake of it. We know that our albums are living with timeand they are three reasons. First : we were the first, Secondly : the fact compositions are very worked (whatever people love or not) Thirstly : seeing the musical movement of today there is nothing to be scared about for the futur at least for the artistic way, for those keeping their ears opened! lol Thank you, Kronos

http://www.samsaya.net

Heather Williams : I had the opportunity to conduct an in-depth, close-up interview with Dark Ministry, a five piece Canadian metal outfit started by drummer Rik Charron. Rik spent 18 years playing drums for Exciter and appeared on five of their albums. We delved into their musical lives and backgrounds, tastes in music, hobbies, their careers with Dark Ministry, their instruments of choice. In short, we were given a glimpse and great insight into a truly amazing, unique band. ** Rik, you started Dark Ministry in Aug of 2015, so it's still a relatively new band but the band has made a lot of strides since it started. For instance, you guys have already played with Razor, Cauldron, and Blaze Bayley. You recently signed to a great label out of the Ukraine, called Metal Scrap Records, and you released your first ep The Sermon Begins off of that label. What made you want to start up your own band?

Rik: Since I left Exciter, I just wanted to do my own thing. I had my own vision of what I wanted to play music wise. I felt my hands were a little bit tied in Exciter and I wanted to get my own music out there, and I found the right guys to do that. The only way this band actually made it really good is because of the way all of us really got along and started playing together. The songs came out really fast. It’s hard to say! When you’re in band, and you just want to keep playing even though something else falls apart, you always want to try to put something back together. So, it’s not that I want to be famous and all that stuff, to me I just like to go out there and play. If people like it, excellent, if they don’t, well that’s their opinion. The music is more for us in the first place, in front of people that really want to dig it. ** I LOVE the name Dark Ministry. How did you come up with that name? What is the idea behind it?

Rik: That name just popped into my head. I was trying to figure out something that sounded evil and sinister at the same time, but not really death metal or flashy either. So I was just coming up with all kinds of things. I had Iron Cross.

All these names were all taken. It’s hard to find a good name, so when I came up with Dark Ministry, I looked it up and nobody had that name. I had a really great name before that called Ninth Gate, and there was another band in the UK, that was already signed and they had that name. So when I told the guys Dark Ministry, they all kind of went “yea, that’s a cool name” so, that’s what stuck. ** The artwork on the ep is amazing! Rik, you came up with the concept for the artwork right? Or did you guys put your heads together and come up with it?

Rik: I came up with the concept and I brought it up with the rest of the guys. They put their input in, so everybody had a say in what it actually looked like, but I had the vision of what it should look like and when we talked to Rafael, the artist, he came and drew exactly what was in my head. When I showed it to the rest of the guys , they said yep that’s it, that’s cool! ** Tell me how you came up with the concept for the Dark Minister? Do you see the Dark Minister as a reflection of yourself in some way or could it be a just a representation of some evil force in nature that is there? Is it a reflection of man himself? I mean, what thoughts were you thinking when you came up with this concept?

Tyler: I don’t think we actually thought that far ahead. We never thought of a deeper meaning. I think it’s just a cool image, almost like a mascot or something for Dark Ministry. Like a cool figure, you know, like Iron Maiden with Eddie, Vic Rattlehead with Megadeth, it’s just a character.

Rik: We weren’t really looking for a mascot. All I wanted was a decrepit church and the name Dark Ministry in front of the church and we needed somebody up there doing the sermon and that’s what came out.

** Who is the artist?

Rik: Rafael Tavarez. He’s from Brazil , he’s a really great artist! It was almost like he was in my head when I talked to him about it. He sent me a drawing concept and I was like “that’s it!” and then he put colors to it and that’s when it basically came alive. ** Where does the band draw its influences from?

Tyler: That’s actually a pretty tough question because there’s a lot of different elements. The foundation of our sound is very much thrash with elements of modern metal, death metal, black metal, maybe a little hint of metalcore and groove metal. I think we’re kind of all over the place, I wouldn’t say because of our age range, but because we all have a different background/ Rik: Dave will come up with a riff, Brian will come up with a riff, and we work with that to make the band sound like us. We just work at it until the sound comes out and if we’re happy with it we keep it, and if not we keep working at it until we are happy with it. ** Let's talk about Dark Ministry's first musical work, The Sermon Begins, which was just released on Metal Scrap Records March 30. Listening to the ep, it’s so good. So much energy just thrown at you, amazing musicianship all the way around. This ep features former guitarist Max Neckshredder, who was there when the band first started. What is the story behind his departure?

Dave: It’s a bit of a touchy subject because we were all such good friends, but the longer things went on it became apparent that we were kind of on different pages musically. It just got to the point where we had to part ways for everybodys sake.

Rik: The problem with being in a band, its great to be friends but when youre really good friends that’s the hardest part of being in a band. Sometimes its not good to be really great and close friends in a band.

Brian: You have to be professional. That means you have to have a certain amount of detachment, so you want to be having a good time but you don’t want to be having a good time at the expense of getting anything done either.

Tyler: We were all at a level that we were ready to expand, we were ready to go to the next level. This band is all about progressing. When people hear the new album, they’re going to hear a very different sound compared to The Sermon Begins. Its going to be the same style, but more aggressive and with a lot of different elements in it. ** Yes, we’re very excited about that. This ep has been played on lots of radio stations, internet and FM around the planet already! How does that feel knowing your music has been played and talked about in different countries all over the world? It's also had some reviews in different webzines around the world.

Rik: It’s a really good feeling for myself. I’m just glad people remember who I am, and I’m glad people are really liking the music we come out with. I couldn’t have done it without these guys whatsoever.

All I am is the drummer. I play the drums, I lead the band, but ultimately most of the songwriting comes from the band. We all put our two cents in and what came out was The Sermon Begins. We’re really ecstatic at how much people really like it out there. From what I’m hearing, a lot of places in the States really like it. When I was in Exciter, we weren’t really being talked about that much in the States, so I’m just hoping when this album comes out, it makes an even deeper impact and it helps us explode and do some tours. I’m just happy that everything is working out. Like I said I couldn’t have done it without these guys.

Dave: Just to expand on that. Rik’s a veteran and he’s been doing this for years. Me and Tyler are in our early mid-twenties , and it wasn’t too long ago we were just amateurs practicing away, trying to get into the business, honing our craft in our basements. I’ve only been playing for like seven or eight years. For people to like The Sermon Begins the way they do, a lot of that material I wrote when I was young, I’m thrilled people like it and that people are listening to it all over the world. It makes me so excited to be able put this newer stuff out because its going to be so much better.

Tyler: You could say we’re blood driven haha! It’s cool to know that people in New Zealand and stuff have heard it you know? It just makes me want to do it more, to improve, and get better.

Rik: Australia too. ** You guys have signed on to Metal Scrap Records for a digital release of the ep, which will provide distribution in over 200 different countries around the world through over 600 outlets such as Itunes, Amazon music, Google Play, Spotify etc. Why have you not released any physical copies with a label yet?

Rik: We’re looking for the right deal on that. We got a really good deal with the digital distribution but we’re also looking for something that’s lucrative and will pay us for the actual album as well. Nowadays, a lot of record companies don’t pay for the recordings, they don’t pay the band at all for the album, they pay for what they get in distribution, and if they do pay for the album, its pennies on the album. That’s not what we want. Right now, we got a really great digital distribution deal which is lucrative for both us and Metal Scrap Records. If they wanted to do the same deal for the album but for the physical copies and do the same kind of deal, we would not balk at that at all. We’re looking to possibly keep Metal Scrap for the digital distribution of the album but for the physical ones we’re going to maybe shop around a little and see what deal we can get for the physical album to be sold and made for us.

You have to wait for the right deal. There’s a lot of bands out there that sign anything that comes their way and they never see any money whatsoever, the record companies make all the money. We’re trying to do this a different and smarter way, and the smartest way right now for the ep was what we did in the form of digital distribution.

Tyler: We want to make a living doing this, a career.

Dave: I want to jam with these guys for the forseeable future even beyond that. If Rik lives to be a hundred, I’ll jam with him even then. I’ll be in a walker haha! ** That’s great! That’s a good attitude. You have a great website darkministry-official.com. Fans can buy copies of The Sermon Begins on the site. Where else can fans find you guys on social media?

All: Facebook, Bandmix, Bandcamp. Brian , Dave and Tyler have Instagram Rik: I have Linkedin so you can find us on there as well. ** Breaking News! You have brought in two new players to the band. Guitarist Brian Farnsworth and bassist Karl Kalli.

They both make their debut on Dark Ministry's first full-length album. How has the transition been for all of you?

All: It’s been horrible lol Brian: Rik hits me a stick haha Rik: Yea, he never shuts up either so we always have to beat him down haha. He always has some kind of philosophy going on. (Everyone laughs) Dave: He’s too smart for the rest of us lol Tyler: He makes me think outside the box more, I dissect music a little more. He’s given me a lot of advice and suggestions, and just all around good advice.

Dave: Brian is a pretty “learn-ed guy” (everyone laughs) He’s been a session player, he studied at the University for music, he’s done everything. He has a wealth of experience, he’s good to have on our team.

Rik: It’s great to have somebody that’s dedicated and professional which has actually helped the whole band as well.

Also, he helped us out in noticing that there was some timing issues on a few things. Even myself, being a timekeeper, I hadn’t noticed the time issues. They’ve all been fixed and now the band sounds tighter than it ever was. ** Brian, how’s it been for you?

Brian: For me, its been seamless. I knew Rik before, a couple of times we played together. He asked me if I wanted to come out and do this thing, and I was like alright, I’ll give it a shot. After that everything fell into place. They’re a good bunch of guys, they want to do this pretty badly, they’ve worked very hard, and they’ve got a professional attitude. ** I’m REALLY looking forward to hearing some new music. You guys are really gearing up to record your FIRST full length album which fans are anxiously waiting for. When do you expect to be done recording the album? Have you guys thought of a name for the album yet? Artwork concept?

Rik: Artwork concept not quite yet. We’re going through a few ideas. The name of the album? No, we haven’t actually chosen an actual name yet. We’re thinking of Unleashed or something with Unleashed in it, but it’s still up in the air.

As for the recordings, we’re hoping to get in there next month at the latest, and go in there and just belt out the songs hopefully in a weekend, because I’m pretty sure we can do that, shouldn’t be any more than three, four days tops. Then we’re going to do the pre-production, the solos and everything else. The album should be out by July if everything goes well.

Dave: We’re not a hundred percent on the artwork but what I can tell you right now is that we have a lot of themes based on our songs. In metal, there is a lot of mythical stuff, fantastical stories, or history. What we’ve been touching on lately is a lot of real life themes, apocalyptic things like murder, anger, and real life gritty circumstances. The darkest side of life basically.

Tyler: Sanity Rik: Things that you can read in the newspaper. ** Rik, you played drums for Exciter for a very long time, 18 yrs to be exact, 1996-2014 to be even more exact and played on five of their albums: Thrash Speed Burn, Death Machine, Blood of Tyrants, The Dark Command, and New Testament. That's just cool in itself! What was your experience like in Exciter? You've played some big festivals like Wacken, Bang Your Head, Sweden Rock, True Thrash Fest, any I've missed?

Rik: Keep It True, Rock Hard Fest ** What was that like playing in front of huge crowds like that? You know, like thousands. That is probably what you envision for Dark Ministry, one day playing big festivals in different parts of the world, just getting out there, making music, playing for all the metalheads out there. I'm sure everyone in Dark Ministry wants that.

Rik: It's hard to explain. You're in a surreal mode, you're all psyched out to go up and start playing the show. You get up on stage and that's what I focus on most is getting up there. I psych myself up to play drums for these songs on stage so I try not to look at the crowd as much as possible. I'm a kind of shy person, so looking at the crowd, it kind of made me nervous. I’m just glad I had the drums in front of me so I could hide in a way sometimes (laughs). Sometimes if you saw me play on videos, you'll notice that my head is down a lot because I'm trying not to look at the crowd. I'm just focusing on the drums. So when I'm playing in front of a big crowd, it's great, but sometimes the more smaller clubs and more intimate places are even more exciting because then you see how much the crowd is right into your music. It's great to play on the big stages, it's great to play in front of thousands of people but youre only appealing to say a five thousand to twenty thousand person crowd no matter what because there's only a certain amount of people that like your music in the first place. If you play in a smaller area like say a three hundred seat place, every person that bought that ticket is there to see you. So sometimes it’s a little more nerve racking to play on a huge stage because now you know you have to perform, and you have to give out your best for this crowd. Anybody can make a big impact at big festivals, but it's really fun to play it. ** Rik, what's the typical crowd at Wacken?

Rik: Now it's over a hundred thousand. When I played there with Exciter, I think it was peaking at seventy or eighty thousand. We played right after Iced Earth and I think there was like thirty or forty thousand people watching the bands. There's several stages there. Our stage basically stays in one spot and all they have to do is basically turn and theyre looking at the next stage. It is a little bit nerve racking playing in front of thousands, but exciting. I don’t know how well the crowds really hear the bands when theyre way out in the back of the field. They cant see anything that’s

for sure. If you've never been on a big stage and you look out into the crowds, you can only discern faces up to about the fourth or fifth row out. After that, you cant really tell what their faces are like or if they’re really into it, except that they’re doing the fist pump into the air or anything else, but otherwise you cant see their expressions. If you're playing at night its even worse because all you see is maybe the first two rows. ** You're also skilled in other instruments like guitar.

Rik: Yes, I’m not what you could say skilled, but I do play guitar. I played bass, xylophone, saxophone, clarinet. I can play the piano as well. ** That would be fun to see you play saxophone Rik: No, I sound like a dying goose (laughs) ** Tell me a little on your musical background. How long you've been playing drums? Did you take lessons or did it just come naturally?

Rik: I started drum lessons at age seven. I started out on the bass guitar at age six, but the bass was too big for me. So the teacher said not now but later on in his life he can start learning how to play bass. Then I saw Peter Criss when I was seven, and I said that’s what I want to play and I started taking drum lessons. I’m going to be fifty this year so I’ve been playing for forty-two years. I’ve played in many types of bands. I’ve played in school bands playing early classical rock then I started playing in heavy metal bands. I was in a band called Distemper, and we were very close to being signed to MCA Records, but then something happened and the band blew up and I ended up leaving the band.

Then I was in quite a few other bands but nothing ever really took off. Then all of a sudden I got called by Exciter. I thought it was just a joke at first. I went in there and there was John Ricci and so I played. I thought he didn’t really make that much of a reaction so I thought I didn’t get the gig. So I left and about a week later he called me back for a second audition to see if I could play good with the next bass player that they had and that was the bass player that they chose. He just came over and shook my hand and said youre part of Exciter. I was like ok cool and then he said get ready heres all the songs, we’re going to be making the album in about a year. I’d say it took us six months to a year to write all the songs properly. Then we did our first album The Dark Command. I played in Exciter 18 years, all over the world, on many stages. Then out of the blue it basically came to a halt I took a little bit of a hiatus. Then I started up with a band called Ninth Gate and that fell apart. I had Jaques Belanger on the vocals. He was one of the singers from Exciter. There was some musical differences here and there and I had a vision for something a little heavier than what they had, so the band basically fell apart from there. Jaques is actually a little progressive. He’s a great singer into all kinds of different styles. So anything from Frank Zappa all the way to Nightwish, he can do it all, Judas Priest, everything. Great singer. I think he wanted something a little bit more progressive and I wasn’t into the progressive part. I moped around for a little bit then I decided I was going to put my own band together. I got my manger to come out and start helping me look for players and right there we started getting everything going. This is what happened.

We got The Sermon Begins together, recorded it, put it out. There was a little bit difference on certain paths on certain players so this is the way the band is right now. ** You’ve been drumming for 42 years. When did you decide you were going to play drums the rest of your life, make it your career?

Rik: Ive always been an angry , violent kind of kid when I was younger so this was one way to let my anger and violence out. If I was really in a bad mood I’d just start playing the drums. It was better than going out there picking fights like I used to. So playing the drums lets out all the energy and frustration. Even today if there’s something going on with the daily work or at home, I get to the warehouse and I take it out on the drums, not the guys. I just play as hard as possible and it lets all my anger and frustrations out and by the time I leave I’m calm. ** Brian, you play guitar. First of all, how were you approached to join Dark Ministry?

Brian: Well, funny story. I was actually playing with another Exciter alumni at the time, who shall remain nameless.

Rik’s unscrupulous manager (everyone laughing) approached me through the backdoor by calling him and asking whether or not they could get guitar lessons which I teach, and that really went over like a lead balloon at the next rehearsal. I was kind of by the wayside because I didn’t know what was happening because there was a still a possibility

that something with this other band would go on, and then he of course self-destructed. After that, I worked with Rik a little bit off and on with some of my own material and he contacted me just after Christmas 2016 and said they might have an opening, would I like to come out. So I said sure why not. That’s pretty much the end of that story. ** How long have you been playing guitar?

Brian: For a while now. Im not going to date myself like Rik, I’m smarter than that, always thinking haha. Since the first year of high school I’d say.

Rik: He’s a hundred years old now lol ** Did you play anything else before you started the guitar?

Brian: That’s another sad story of the power struggle between my parents. I wasn’t actually allowed to learn music, so it wasn’t until I had done successive years of whining and griping that they finally broke down and let me play guitar by my first year of high school and that was on the condition that I join the football team as well so there’s a back story there too. ** So did you take lessons or did it come naturally?

Brian: I did, absolutely I did. Im the nerdy kid, I don’t like guesswork so I took lessons almost immediately once I picked up the instrument. Because my mother was a concert pianist and a music teacher, that included me learning by myself, I was going to take lessons and that was the end of it. ** Why did you want to play guitar?

Brian: Because its cooler than piano. Drums kind of came up but that was absolutely killed in the early stages, my parents said no we’re not going to listen to drums, that’s not going to happen in our house. I was like so what about the guitar and they said ok, so that’s pretty much how that conversation played out. This is going to sound really sad, but I didn’t know there was such a thing as bass. When people said well why don’t you play bass, I said what’s a bass? I was thinking it was an upright piece with a bow, so playing an electric bass never occurred to me. So I ended up with guitar and that’s kind of where it stuck. ** You’ve played with some professional musicians in your time, you have a background in music theory. Can you give us a little on your musical background?

Brian: I went to University where I studied music theory. That was an interesting thing. I played with some of the Montreal jazz guys so that was an eye opener because I was a death metal kid and all of a sudden you’re going through all of these elaborate jazz progressions, and all these knuckle busting chords and it was really a rude awakening albeit my fifty percent average In music that year lol. I finished up with that and then came back and did some classical training at the Royal Conservatory up here. There’s not really an equivalent for it in the U.S. None of that classical training shows up in my playing but that was another great learning experience. ** You've had to learn all the songs from the ep, plus make new ones with the band so its been a great thing. You and Rik know each other too so that has helped.

Brian: It was actually a pretty smooth process. I came in and Dave was really, really helpful. He ran me through the parts note by note and made sure everything was correct. It was just a question of getting together tight with the rest of the guys in the group. It went a lot better than I actually thought, these guys are actually much better players than you hear on the ep so it was really good, it was a lot of fun. ** Dave, what made you want to join Dark Ministry?

Dave: Going back to my background in music, my dad has always been a guitar player growing up but he always listened to a lot of seventies psychedelic rock, stuff in the eighties and nineties and stuff, so I was exposed to a lot of that growing up. When I was twelve I started playing drums with them on guitar. He had a lot of his own songs and stuff.

He’s a good singer. We had a friend that left a drum kit at our house for storage. I started playing. I got a bit of an ear for my own taste in music. I was about twelve. I eventually moved on to metal. It really grabbed me, the force behind all the music, the energy, it’s something I haven’t experienced personally with any other genre. I know everyone has their own taste for like electronic music, some people like rap or whatever. My taste is for metal, that’s just the way I am, it fits my personality. Eventually when I moved on to playing guitar at 15, it became apparent right away that it was something that fit my personality perfectly. Everything about it, the image, the techniques, the pride and the creativity. I was self- taught and I would always kind of wow people that didn’t know much about rock or metal.

Simple techniques that are simple to me now like finger tapping, they’d reinforce me and be like wow , Dave, that’s so cool. I started thinking if everyone thinks I’m good why can’t I keep this going. If I’m just getting better why change?

If I’m doing good stuff, why not keep the wave going. Eventually I moved when I was twenty and went to St. Lawrence college in Kingston for the music program there. Like Brian, I was the death metal kid in a world of jazz, acoustic, and blues players from all over the world. I attended for a semester at the U. I learned a lot especially under Dr. Adrienne Shannon, the program coordinator. She was a pianist. She spent decades as a professional concert pianist. I’m not sure how far back but I’m sure many decades. She was impressed with my playing. Eventually I dropped out of the course. A funny thing happened. I had an injury where I had dislocated my arms. I couldn’t spread them out or raise my arms over my head. All I could do was play guitar. So for a few months, in the middle of winter, I was stuck in my house playing a lot of riffs and some of those riffs are going to be on the new album, a lot of things I use for Dark Ministry now. I moved back from Kingston, and somehow connected with Rik and Dark Ministry and not long after here we are today. ** Tyler, I understand you’ve done some acting in your time. Tell us about that!

Tyler: It started when I was quite young. My brother had bought some film and a camera and we just started making home made movies. Then we later branched off into the Ottawa filmmaking scene and we started doing movies for their festivals. I got my big break when I did background work for Trailer Park Boys III called Legalize It. That was my introduction into the professional world of filmmaking. I still do a little bit of acting on the side. I continue to do some filming with my brother doing short films that end up going to Vancouver film festival. I got a few gigs doing stunt work like getting shot off of a horse for a civil war movie. So I was really trying to pursue acting, but I really wanted to be in music because I loved metal and hard rock, it was the world that I wanted to get into. So I started staying away from the world of acting and started focusing more on music. I auditioned for a lot of bands. I’d go all over the region and fell into a few bands. There was one band where I was playing bass and doing back- up vocals and then I was in another band where I was focusing more on vocals. It was always very disorganized and hard to get together all the time, and I was at a level in my life where I was ready to take it to the next level and be a professional and jam two or three times a week. I was at that point. I ended up meeting Rik. His manager wrote me and asked me if I’d like to audition for the vocal position. Back then it was a different incarnation of Dark Ministry. I tried out and I guess there were issues with some band members, and that version folded. So I chalked it up to a good experience and went back to my own thing. Then later on I got another message from Rik and his manager about auditions and thought ok I’ll try out again. So I went to three auditions total and then was told I was going to be the next vocalist for Dark Ministry. ** Did you get to meet any of the actors or actresses from Trailer Park Boys?

Tyler: I got to meet Bubbles , Ricky, Ray who is Rickys father, Mr. Layhe, Randy and Sarah. Going back to my background in music. I started out as a guitarist. I got an acoustic guitar when I was about ten years old. My dad got an acoustic and developed problems with his hand like a carpal tunnel sort of thing so he couldn’t play it anymore. So I snuck around and started playing it. He encouraged me to play acoustic. I had it in my head I was going to be a rhythm guitarist. I got into electric guitar. Then I met up with some buddies of mine that were a lot better at guitar than I was. I was still a beginner and they’d been playing for seven or eight years. So I thought maybe I should switch to bass or something and then they said why don’t you try singing. I always liked listening to music, and thought it would be cool to be a vocalist. So I decided to try it and thought this could be my calling. It gave me a rush like adrenaline. I got to be loud and obnoxious. I got to be aggressive. It really fit my character of just being in your face and being a crazy guy. ** Karl, how about you. Had you worked with Rik in the past?

Karl: Yes, a couple of years ago I met Rik. He was looking for some players for a new band. It was actually the begin

nings of Dark Ministry and through a mutual aquaintance I came for an audition. It was our first meeting and it went pretty well. ** How were you approached to join Dark Ministry?

Karl: I actually came through the said aquaintance. I had worked with him on some projects in the past, played with him in a couple of other bands. At the time he was portraying himself as the guitar player for Dark Ministry and he and I had had some previous contact as well. It kind of went to me and that’s how it came about. ** What made you decide to join Dark Ministry?

Karl: I kept tabs on what was going on. I had initially put out the word on my facebook page and everybody was talking to me about Dark Ministry. Things kind of fell apart on my end of it, but I kept telling all my friends on facebook to keep supporting Dark Ministry because they were doing great things. So I myself kept tabs on the band and what was going on and what Rik was doing or saying. I liked what I saw and heard, and I just kept keeping tabs and then I heard they were looking for a bass player through the network of friends knowing friends etc. and next thing I know things were better after that, things went smoothly. ** Can you give me a little on your musical background?

Karl: I've been playing since I've been about twelve, started out with classical guitar. In my teens I went through the electric guitar, then went back to classical guitar for a long time and then I bought a bass but kept playing guitar in a few bands as a lead guitar player and a rhythm guitar player. I started transitioning myself to bass because I've always thought of myself as more of a rhythm guy, always looking at the groove, always looking at the beats. It was just a natural progression and I've been playing the bass for about four or five years now. I still play the guitar but I really started gravitating towards the bass about three years ago really heavily. ** What did you find so comforting about the bass? Had you ever thought about playing bass as a career?

Karl: I've always been a rhythm guy. Sometimes I feel that if I ever had the inclination, I probably would have gone to the drums. But the bass is a natural fit for me being as I'm a rhythm player. I'm always listening to the drums anyway.

I didn’t start seriously thinking about it until about two years ago. Actually, when the first dark ministry audition happened, that’s when it entered my mind that this could be a real thing for me. ** Are you self-taught or did you have lessons? Do you play any other instruments besides bass?

Karl: I've never taken any lessons in any instruments at all. I'm all self taught. I spent a lot of time playing the guitar especially within the last ten years when I first had a resurgence of practicing, studying scales and theory. All those things I didn’t do when I was in my teens and twenties. I went back to that with the guitar so those many many hours and sessions have definitely payed dividends in terms of playing the bass. I dabble with keyboards. I like to tell people I play four , five or seven string, I play mandolin, twelve string. I don’t spend a lot of time on any other instruments just stringed ones but I do dabble because it makes me more well rounded as a musician. If you have strings on your instrument I can play it. I don’t dabble with percussion ones either. ** What kind of vision do you have of yourself for your role in Dark Ministry? Now that youre a part of the band what would you like to see happen, what would be your vision for the band.

Karl: All those things that you dream of a band that’s up and coming. The band has got really great musicians and excellent song craft, great creative process going on. I’m ecstatic about the shows overseas. I’m looking for more of that where the big metal markets are maybe South America. The sky is the limit, the world is our oyster. ** I think it’s interesting that some of the guys in Dark Ministry are so young playing with a seasoned Pro like you Rik. You must have seen something in these guys to say you know what? Let's go with this.

Rik: What I saw in their eyes was drive which a lot of people in the Ottawa area don’t seem to have anymore. I’ve had guys my age or a little bit younger try out in the band that are great guitarists but for some reason they just didn’t have

the drive to continue. Everyone in the Ottawa area either wants to be in a cover band or in an original but never really go anywhere but the Ottawa area and just play the Ottawa circuit. That was not my goal when I told these guys what I wanted to do. Their eyes lit up and they got more serious and this is exactly what I wanted. At first I was leery about having younger players with me because I have my views of what I want to hear in music and they have their own views. We have our own tastes in metal but for some reasons our differences in styles actually works really well in this band, making us sound really original and I just decided this was the way to go. When Max left the band we chose Brian because he’s more my age but he has that drive as well. He has more experience.

Brian: I’m not that close to his age lol Rik: We all have the same drive now. For a little while it just became stagnant when Max was in the band. We would come to the warehouse and it seemed like party central. We just came in and played our setlist, did a few things and they were gone to party. I wasn’t into that whatsoever. I just wanted to work. Now everyone seems eager to be at the rehearsal. It’s more of a serious band because now, were taking this more seriously. We’re not just there to hang out with the boys. I think the band is going to turn out to be a lot better than it ever was. Before there was no if ’s and’s or but’s about it , it was more party central. Now we can sit there for an hour and just chat about music, business, merchandise, what we’re going to be doing, or just anything else. We talk about how we wish the vocals to be on certain areas, what the guitar parts should sound like or what I should be doing on drums. Everyone has an opinion and we’re working together now. We’re not working against each other anymore. We don’t call it practice anymore we call it rehearsal now. We even lose track of time now at rehearsals because we so much more serious and into it.

Dave: We were definitely like five individuals before. We were inefficient , less results, everything was time consuming.

Now were definitely more of a unit for sure. Everything is always results, all progress and growth. It’s very stimulating! ** You guys have played some shows with some big name artists such as Razor, Cauldron, and Blaze Bayley. What was it like for you guys playing with them? Rik, I know you've already met a bunch of great artists like Dio, Mickey Dee, Lemmy, Tommy Lee, etc so speaking to the younger ones what has it been like playing shows with these guys like Razor from the eighties? And Rik I know it was cool for you too, to meet some fellow musicians.

Tyler: In a sense it almost felt like a priviledge. I never thought I’d get to play with someone like that. For me it gave me that drive to want to go out there and make our stand, especially because we were the first band on and I wanted to get out there and set the bar. That was my intention, I wanted to impress.

Dave: I wasn’t a big Canadian eighties metal fan. I’m into the big four thrash of that era. A lot of modern metal. But it was very humbling to play with them. You see whose professional, how they act, its good just to look at them and observe. If they think positively of us, and me, then that’s great. I’m proud of that. I’m proud of myself and everyone here. I thank them for giving us that opportunity. I did want to impress them. I don’t want to say there was competition between them and me but I did want to make my mark. We’re here too. We respect them but here we also are.

Rik: What’s really cool is watching the big names sit down watching us. It was an eye opener for both Tyler and Dave. ** So, what's it been like working with Rik? He’s a heavyweight too! Have you been able to learn anything from him?

Do you feel pressure to perform on a higher level than what you're used to? Or did you have an easy time blending in?

And what about vise versa, Rik, what's it been like working with these guys.

Dave: I showed up to the warehouse with just a practice amp and a baby blue Stratocaster. I didn’t even know what I was getting myself into. I thought it was just a meet up with Rik where we’d talk and I’d show him a couple of things I can do. But he had this monster drum set and he said you need to get a cabinet and a real stage amp. And I said that’s fine, if you see real potential in me I will go make an investment. I was ready to move anywhere to make this work.

I was ready to go out west to California, to New York or Toronto. I was talking to people in Texas. I really wanted to make this work. I somehow connected with Rik. It was a great opportunity. I had Rik and our manager in my corner backing me up, supporting me.

Tyler: I felt the exact same way. Being a vocalist I felt a little pressure because vocalists always get the most criticism. I was nervous and I wasn’t sure I’d fit or be the right one for the job. Now I’m a hell of a lot more confidant and constantly trying to get better all the time. When I’m singing at the rehearsal I pretend I’m either in front of a hundred thou

sand people or I’m in a recording studio. I’m just trying to be a perfectionist almost.

Rik: I think these guys actually benefit from the fact that I don’t really have an ego and I’m not really bossy. I let them come up with what they have and we work together. It’s a unit now that Brian and Karl are in the band. We’re not here to show off. A lot of times Brian will even say we need more Dave in this part. It always felt like Dave was in the background but not anymore.

Dave: We were definitely accommodating a lot before but now the right guys are here and theres nothing holding us back from anything. We talk about everything. There’s no tiptoeing around touchy subjects and we all coach each other.

Karl: Most definitely, as much time as I spent in the past practicing and trying to up my game, I spend even more now. That drive and ambition has leaked into the regular aspects of my life, even to where I’ve scaled back on some of my "sins and vices" that I used to indulge in. I’ve really backed off on a lot of those things. I consider that as being an important thing towards being a pro in this industry. I really started to put in the work within the last ten years and that was the driving force behind it. I wanted to turn this "hobby" into being a pro. ** So, any shows or tours coming up to tell us about?

Brian: I believe there is a show coming up for the album debut in September in Kingston, Canada.

Rik: The album debut show is going to be for Kingston and Oshawa, Canada. We will also be doing a five date European tour supporting Vendetta in October. We’ll be going through the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia. ** That’s cool that you guys are going on this tour considering you’re still a new band. You’ve only been around as a band for two years now and to be going on a tour overseas is really amazing!

Rik: Yes, we are really looking forward to that! ** Describe a Dark Ministry show visually and musically. I’ve seen some videos of some of your shows. There is so much energy. You project a lot of energy, you can feel it.

Dave: Tylers alter ego comes out and scares the hell out of everybody. When Tyler is on he has a voice like the devil himself, he doesn’t hold anything back, that’s for damn sure ** So, whats the standard equipment each of you use?

Tyler: For me I always use a Sennheiser mike. A lot of people use Shure but there’s something about Sennheiser. I just feel more comfortable with it.

Rik: I use Pearl drums. I’ve been using them for a long time. The drums I’m playing right now have been played on every Exciter album. I was endorsed by a cymbal company called TRX. I still have those cymbals. In the rehearsal hall I have Sabians and a couple of my TRX cymbals. My sticks are Ahead sticks or sometimes just Vic Firths or ProMark.

My drums heads are all Evans drum heads.

Dave: I haven't really found my guitar of choice yet. Ive played a Fender Stratocaster, an Epiphone Les Paul, a Schecter custom and a Dean Razorback but I'm still looking for the perfect fit. I’ve been using a custom signature Schecter model and I have a Dean because I was influenced a lot by Pantera. So was Max and we had a really good thing going for awhile. We both had Deans. I don’t want to knock the guitar, but It was an Asian made model. As with most Asian technology it wasn’t exactly built to last so I was having some trouble with it but now that we’ve been doing all our songs in thesame tuning, I’ve just been exclusively using the Schecter. It’s a signature model that I don’t want to use forever but it is a great piece of machinery. It’s been through hell and even looks like it too. It has some marks and rust on it but it sounds so awesome. I’m still looking.

Karl: I like a more eccentric type instrument…it extends to everything I buy, drive, wear. I don’t necessarily go for what is trendy or popular. It's about what appeals to me so I couldn’t quote you on anything specific. With an instru

ment I'll pick it up, play it. Many times I'll play it unplugged especially with electric instruments. I'm looking for feeling and tone when the instrument is not plugged in because my feeling is that if it has those qualities then, its going sound really good when you plug it in. ** Isn’t Schecter sort of an underground or obscure brand of guitar. You always hear about Jackson or Dean, Fender, there’s ESP , but you don’t really hear Schecter.

Dave: That is true. In the metal community, Schecter is a big name. Lately in the past five or ten years a lot of famous guitarists have been getting signature models and endorsement deals from Schecter. I just find they’re really growing.

I find they do put out quality equipment but I am still trying things out ** What strings are you using?

Dave: I go through the regular Ernie Ball ** Brian, whats your preferred axe/guitar?

Brian: The best guitar I own is my Carvin seven string, a DC-747. Because like Dave says we’re using the standardized tuning at this point so really what I’m using most of the time now is an Ibanez SZ with EMG pickups in it. It’s been a faithful workhorse. Like Daves Schecter it’s been through war and back and it looks like it, but its served me faithfully for many years now. I used it when I was a session player in Toronto so it’s really done the work. I have the usual battery of stuff at home, like the Fender Stratocaster, the Jackson Performers and all that kind of nonsense but, that I can’t kill it with fire so I use it all the time. ** What about strings?

Brian: Usually just the D’Addario standards ** Tell me how this journey has been for you guys up to this point Brian: It’s been incredible, it’s dreamlike. Because like Dave said you kind of start out hoping you’re going to make a break in this business. For these guys they got lucky . they started young. But Rik and I, we’ve been around the block a few times. You appreciate that you don’t get many chances to do this thing. So it’s been really good. For anyone interested, I will offer this up. When I heard the ep I thought this was a good band. But when I got in the room with these guys they are much better than even the ep would lead you to believe. ** The album debut show is going to be a great show because it’s the first time you guys will play together as this new lineup and also the first time you’ll be playing songs off of the new album which consists of this new lineup. So it’s just going to be a really cool show Rik: We were really thinking of shelving some of these songs we were doing before and we are actually writing more songs with some of Brians riffs and some of Daves riffs.

Dave: In addition to everything that’s been going on were going through an extensive editing process. We’ve definitely sharpened things up. We’ve enhanced our strengths, cut out our weaknesses while we still have time. Nothing has been recorded obviously. We definitely just want to put all our cards down on the table so to speak when we record.

Rik: We work on certain parts to make them fit better. The way the lineup is now, which is actually really cool, is we’re reworking some parts of the songs. We’re fixing things. It’s really great to have your bandmate say “do you really like the way we’re playing in this spot” or “should I change it” Now there’s no walking on eggshells. We can tell each other honestly what we like and don’t like about certain things. There’s no griping, everyone just puts their head together to change the part. ** How about some fun stuff: What band would you love to be on tour with, past or present, and why? Each of you can answer:

Dave: I hear Pantera shows used to be pretty crazy. I would have loved to have been there in the mid nineties at their peak but right now it’s more difficult to decide who I’d want to play with because it would be something that would have to fit for all parties involved. I really love Lamb of God. To share the stage with them would be like you’ve made it right there.

Rik: For me it would be sharing the stage with my old colleagues like Destruction , Exodus, Testament or Judas Priest.

That would be the ultimate dream for me.

Brian: Back in the day I would have loved to have been on stage with the old Sepultura when the Cavalera brothers were still in the band. That would have been an amazing good time. Today, I would love to be on stage or on tour with Arch Enemy. I was always a fan of Mike Amott. Even way back in the days with Carcass. Daniel Erlandsson is a fantastic drummer. Jeff Loomis is a brilliant guitarist so that would be amazing to see.

Tyler: Its pretty tough because they just named all the bands I really like too. For the past, I’d have to say Death. I’d love to open for them. For the present, I’d probably go with Lamb of God and Sylosis.

Karl: I don’t really have any from the past, I just leave the past in the past, but with the present I'm enamored with a lot of bands I've been keeping up with that are unsigned, you know leading the charge of new metal brigades like Twelve Foot Ninja or Gemini Syndrome. There's a host of bands I could rattle off but those are the two that stick out for me.

Bands that are really bringing metal back to the forefront. Bringing it back to its glory. Also, Gojira would be cool to play with. ** Any hobbies, favorite books, food or tv shows for each of you?

Rik: I fix cars, watch tv lol. I play a little bit of guitar. I do some model making as well.

Tyler: Spending time with my family. I like to work out and swim. I find it’s a pretty good stress reliever for me.

Brian: Back in the day I used to do modeling like Rik, miniatures and stuff. I used to do jujitsu. It takes it’s toll on the body.

Dave: Well we’re from Canada and it gets pretty cold up here for many months of the year so I grew up playing a lot of hockey. If metal could be compared to a sport it would probably be hockey or mixed martial arts. Blood and fighting on the ice. It was the best times of my life I ever had, basking in the glory of winning or punching someone in the face! I played hockey as a kid, long before I played a guitar, long before I knew what heavy metal was really. I still kind of do play. The concept of aging and slowing down bothers me because I love to be intensely active. The power and energy that drives our music comes from that sense of strength and determination. I still play hockey recreationally whenever I can.

Karl: I'm big on hands on pursuits. I like to fix things and tear things apart which my parents were really upset about when I was growing up. But I still like to do a lot of those things. I like to repair furniture, frisbee, sking, hitting the beach, big on the outdoors. Not outdoorsy in a forestry way but outdoorsy in that I like to enjoy drinks on patios in the sun. I like going to concerts and festivals. ** Any favorite books or food?

Rik: For me its Warhammer 40,000. I love those series. Also, Horus Heresy. As far as tv shows I’m stuck on Netflix. I’m binge watching X files right now haha I binged watched Enterprise. Other than that, I like watching movies.

Brian: I read the Lord of the Rings series until the covers fell off of the books. I was a big fan of that when I was young.

I watched the crap out of the Iron Fist series on Netflix, also binge watched the Luke Cage series. They’re kind of two halves of the same story, but that was my latest indulgence on Netflix until 3 am lol!

Dave: I like biographies a lot. I read a lot of biographies of people, show business, actors etc. I recently finished reading two books. The biography of Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones and Jenna Jamison the porn star. It’s not because she was a porn star it was just a life story. She’s married with a new baby now but obviously she’s retired from that life

now. It is an interesting story. As for food, I experiment with a lot of different types of food. I make some recipies at home. I definitely hone my skills during the day cooking.

Tyler: I enjoy a lot of autobiographies of actors and musicians. One of my favorites was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography. I just found it very inspiring about how he started out and got to where he is now. It’s just something really relatable. One of my all time favorite tv shows is Sons of Anarchy. I really got glued to that and Breaking Bad. Im also a hardcore Simpson fan. My favorite food is seafood. I love vegetables and chicken. I’m old fashioned, steak and potatoes!

Karl: I guess you could lump me in with those Netflix people that binge watch something but a lot of times I'll watch informational type shows, BBC type stuff. I used to read a lot of fiction and Scifi stuff but now if you look on my dresser you'd find a physics textbook or something. ** Do any of you have personal influences, musical or non musicial?

Rik: My influence was Buddy Rich, Peter Criss and Clive Burr. My influences have always been musical.

Tyler: For me musically I really got into Meatloaf. He was an inspiration with his operatic vocals. Ronnie James Dio. Ian Gillian from Deep Purple has been a huge one as well.

Dave: As for musical influences , I grew up in a different generation where you looked at the song instead of the artist.

Some guys that also had a big impact on me are Jim Root (Slipknot), Willie Adler/Mark Morton (Lamb of God), and Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold). It’s know Avenged Sevenfold isn’t everybodys cup of tea when it comes to metal but the guitar work is really amazing at times. I've been told that there some similarities between Chuck Schuldiner and myself.

Brian: Dave beat me to it. I was a big fan of Chuck Schuldiner. He blew my mind. I ‘ll take it one step further, I also like James Murphy. He played with Death and he also played with Testament for awhile, and he played for Disincarnate.

He’s a fantastic guitar player. He’s kind of under the radar but he’s also a great player. Also, the G3 guitar hero guys Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Yngvie. They’re big influences because they show you what’s possible with the instrument.

Karl: Exciter was a big influence for me from my teens and to my twenties and thirties. I always kind of looked up to them. A legendary Canadian metal band from Ottawa, how can you not look up to bands like that. A lot of my reading material is about people who think, people who had things to say, people that had a stand to make, people who have scruples and morals, hold their ground and plant their feet. Plating your feet is a bass thing lol Thank you!

1/What made you want to restart this band?

Will and Mark made contact through an advertisement. Both had been involved in the original NWOBHM scene in the 80's and still have a passion for all things Heavy Metal. It seemed logical to resurrect Millennium and write some new songs.

2/With the movie, books and other bands using this name did you have issues?

No issues regarding the name.

3/Were you responsible for the rerelease by Remorse Records? Do you get royalties?

No Remorse records released 'Millennium' and 'Caught in a Warzone' on our behalf for a one off fee on both albums.

4/Why the band disbanded in the first place? was there an album that never saw the light?

The usual reasons....musical differences, pressure, other commitments. There are songs that have been recorded that have yet to see the light of day. The rights for the first album have come back to us so we may rerelease it with different bonus tracks.

5/When you played the live shows did you use another name? How did you get those gigs?

The Millennium name has been used for all gigs. We have been asked by various festivals to play live. There is definitely a strong interest in NWOBHM/Heavy Metal at the moment.

6/Did the original members were involved before the new album songs were created?

Two original members (Steve Mennell - Drums and Dave Hardy - Guitar) were involved in the live shows but have since left. Will (Guitar) and Mark (Vocals) wrote all the songs for the new album.

7/how did you find the replacement musicians? did you teach them the old tunes? Are they songs you will never play again?

We auditioned lots of musicians until we found the right ones. We rehearse and play songs from all the albums.

8/How did you end up going to france to record the album? Why mixing in the uk? What’s the catch must be …

We had an offer to record at Coach House Studio in France so we had two recording sessions over there. We mixed the album at Ritual Studio in Darlington mainly because they have a great mixing engineer who is experienced in the genre and it is much easier for us to get to.

9/How did you write the 11 songs on that album? Are they old ones reworked or they are brand new?

All the songs are new. Will and Mark demo the material and then present it to the rest of the band.

10/Are you getting a label for it or do it yourself to see how the futur will be?

We are in negotiations at the moment so it looks like we may release it on a label.

11/Does that mean Toranaga is on hold? It seems the lyrics are linked, can you explain the story?

You are right on both counts. Toranaga is on hold at the moment. The lyrical link pertains to Mark being the lyricist for both Toranaga and Millennium.

12/ Who did the cover? did you ask for a special design or you chose one amongst many?

We chose the cover from a design site on the internet 13/Does the logo has changed from the original?

The logo has been tweaked a little bit to make it stand out more.

14/Which bands influenced you?

Priest, Sabbath, Budgie, BOC, Maiden, Magnum, Accept, Savatage, Mercyful Fate, Death, Holy Terror, Agent Steel.........

15/You have a Thrashy side on most songs, is the experience in a Thrash band helped or you just always been into from the beginning?

Darren (Drums) was in the 80's thrash band Catharsis, Mark was the vocalist in Toranaga and I have been into Thrash/ Speed/Death/Black Metal since it first began so it's probably inevitable that some of this would have an influence on Millennium's sound.

www.millenniumofficial.com

1/Who started the band? What was the main idea?

The band was born in 2013 with Giuliano,Davide and Anna. Andrea and Mimmo joined later.

Initially we played as a heavy/thrash band. After the lineup changes, we started to play in a more progressive style, due to influences brought by our new members.

2/How did you ended up with that name? who design the awesome logo?

Our first name was Imperium, but we wanted something more representative. It also had to sound cool so OverKhaos seemed to be the best choice. According to the ancient Greek culture, Khaos was the very first thing to ever exist, a shapeless mass with everything in it. In the same way we decided to put everything we know together to create some – we hope – decent heavy metal. Andrea did the logo, we think he nailed it!

3/The cover has a 95 touch, have you asked for it or just chose amongst other design?

The cover of the album and all of the booklet's graphics are made by Claudio Grilli of Coolgraphics, an excellent graphic designer and a friend of Andrea. We really wanted something special for our first album, so we decided to create a brand new artwork instead of picking up something already ready. Claudio did an awesome work and we’re really happy of the final result!

The cover pictures almost the entire plot of the album, featuring many details such as the tv that shows lyrics from Solar Starvation “breaking news...” and other very “interesting” things you could find.

4/You are mixing many Metal style although being strongly unchained in the progressive style, do you bring each a part of your favorite music? is the music has evolved due to line up changes?

Everyone has their own influences. Ours can go from classical music to death metal and each one of us has a personal vision about progressive music as well. Our sound has evolved and continues to evolve and we think that our diversity is one of the keys to keep an original and personal sound.

5/How do you compose your songs? it sounds like you are searching for perfection, do you spend months on one song ?.

Basically, we just follow our “stream of consciousness”.

In fact, we don't have nor follow a specific method to compose. Sometimes we just jam on a specific tempo/rythm and see what happens , sometimes someone wakes up with an entire song in the head and writes it down. It happened for real!

6/How did you all meet, were you friends or you did it the old way through adverts?

Davide, Giuliano and Anna started playing together as friends. Andrea and Mimmo were contacted via Facebook after seeing them in action. They have great creativity so it was easy to write and play music with them.

7/Italy is becoming a strong Metal scene, do you have lots of friends? are you playing easilly with every bands? what is the scene like?

Unfortunately Italy is not the best place to play metal music. There are only few places where you can play and be PAID in our area. Opportunities come from some festivals in the summer, that's all for southern italy. The northern country is a little bit more active on the metal scene.

However we have lots of friends who are in local bands and we are always pleasured by playing with them. We all have the same goal, to emerge and be known by the largest possible audience. In this sense, some Italian bands are doing

a great job at the moment. We'd like to say some names such as DGM and Destrage. Check them out if you didn't.

8/The album mix sounds like swedish bands, did you know the engineer before ? what was your choice on choosing him?

Mixing and Mastering are made by Giuseppe Dentamaro of Golem Dungeon Studios in Bari, which is one of the most important studios here.

He was the first name when it came time to record the album.

It wasn't easy to put all the tracks together, including orchestral backing tracks, but Giuseppe found the way to let it sound great. We trusted his experience and the results are great.

9/How did you get in touch with Derek Sherinian to play on your album?

This collaboration came unexpected. He was searching for new bands to produce so we contacted him and we sent Anna's Song. The rest of the story are his beautiful keyboards on our song and the hope of playing side by side one day. Who knows.

10/You released the album and got signed by Rockshot records, you did it all yourself? why signing with them?

We signed with Rockshots after we entirely produced the album.

They believed in us from the very first day!

We were fascinated by their professionality since the first time we got in contact , with their support in fact , we are now distributed all over the world. That's the best way to get new fans and to grow our audience! Nice things will come for sure.

11/Do you have a studio to record, rehearse...?

At the moment we record at home new stuffs and rehearse at our "Batcave" ( Andrea’s garage ).

12/Have you got engineering skills?

Giuliano is studying as electronic engineer, while Andrea and Davide are graduates in ICT. In terms of music, we studied and we're still learning how to record music by ourselves always better, that's how we did our first demo EP. «We would like to thank You for this interview , it was a pleasure to answer Your questions!

Remember to follow us on social networks to be always up-to-date on what we do! Enjoy our music and STAY OVERKHAOS!!!!»

www.facebook.com/OverkhaosBand/

1/Why have you chosen this name?

We chose this name as a fictitious name of a similar city as the one where we live, in an apocalyptic future, but we can think that the future ir now…

2/You have an ep in youtube from 2015, do you sell it as CD? Have you got new music coming?

Yes, we sell it as a CD all over the world. Soon, our second Ep Victims of Nothing will be released, also with 4 songs.

3/How did you all meet? seems Spain is full of Metal heads…

Well, the city where we live is not full of Metal Heads at all, so it was a little bit difficult. Jack Steel and I were friends already, and Sebas and Pita were friends of another friends.

4/Who did the logo artwork?

The logo artwork of Blood’s Not Enough was made by César Valladares Illustration. The artwork of our second Ep was made by Federica Di Tizio.

5/Are you involved in NBQ Records, Non Nobis Productions and Secret Port Records.? What are those for a simple small ep a bit lots no?

Is better for everyone because that’s the way we can get to more people.

6/Do you find live gigs easily? are there bands you gig a lot with? do you play in the whole country or abroad?

We find gigs but not as easy as we would like. Until now we play with Kowloon several times. We play only in Galicia but we are currently searching for gigs all over Spain and abroad.

7/You have a pretty good singer, how she learnt singing?

Well, she’s self taught. She learned to sing in the shower and the car hahaha. Although she went to lessons two months and that helped her to improve.

8/Do you all play in other bands?

Sebas plays in Pro-fugu and Alex Pita plays in a cover band. Jack Steel and Audrey Lutwidge only play in Rottentown at this moment.

9/What are your influences?

On the compositions level our influence is the NWOBHM and 70s precursors of the Heavy Metal, such as Black

Sabbath, Deep Purple, Motorhead or Thin Lizzy. On the sound level we are more forceful, without putting off the mentioned style.

10/How do you write songs?

Jack Steel is the composer of the melodies, and then the other members include their instrument. We write the lyrics after the melodies and music are done.

11/What are your lyrics about, what gets your inspiration?

Our lyrics are inspired in misanthropy and self-criticism, sometimes in a direct way and sometimes in an ironic way.

12/Do you have a recording studio? Any engineering skills?

No. Our first EP Bloodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Not Enough was recorded at The Ocean Studios, and with our second EP Victims of Nothing we used the same studio, but we recorded the drums at La Cortina Roja.

www.facebook.com/RottentownBand/

1/Since you and your husband are the main musicians, is there a chance to see and hear new bubble songs?

Share Ross : Well, let me clear up the confusion. This isn’t a Bubble record! This is something new and it’s about 99% just Bam and me. So no gigs as of yet as that would be tricky as there is no band per se! haha! But we’re excited as it’s a bunch of songs that have sat around for over a decade and eventually it became evident that the songs that didn’t fit anywhere else simply belonged on an album. We have named ourselves Twin Flames as we both sing lead and the musical direction pulls from our various influences ranging strongly from Mott the Hoople to Burt Bacharach and ELO. Lots of harmonies. Lots of piano and keys and lots of string parts.

2/will you rerelease the earliest albums? for those who wants to own…

Share Ross : Our previous Bubble albums are all available as downloads on iTunes!

Our first album - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/how-bout-this/id18381903 This is the record with Sparkle Star that won Song of the Year in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

Our second album - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/total-harmonic-distortion/id18235717

Our third album - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rock-n-roll-hell/id46785971 This one has Deadender which was in a ton of TV commercials.

3/Have you got a label or do it yourself?

Share Ross : We do everything ourselves. Engineer. Mix. Master. Artwork. But this time around, we’re planning to do a Pledge and take it to the fans! So there will be lots of cool rewards up there!!!

4/You are singing and playing guitar pretty different from what you are known for, how that changes your way of creating tunes?

Share Ross : Twin Flames is even more different to what I’m known for. Thing is… if you had known me since I was 15, this album would not the slightest bit of surprise. This record is a combination of the influences that have remained quite hidden. Now they’re out in full view.

5/What are the bands who influenced Bubble?

Share Ross : Bubble - Definitely was influenced by bands like The Sex Pistols, the Pixies, and an Irish band called Ash. Twin Flames - Influences live mostly in 70’s album rock and 70’s radio. Everything from ELO to Elton John to the Stones to Paul McCartney and Wings and of course, the aforementioned Burt Bacharach.

6/You have a new guitarist in vixen, how is it going ? she's the third guitarist so far, what does that mean?

Share Ross : It’s going great. Britt Lightning is a fantastic addition and enhances the classic sound.

Yes, the first guitarist was our founding member, Jan Kuehnemund, RIP. Our second guitarist was Gina Stile who played with us for the last few years when we reunited. And now we have Britt, our third guitarist.

7/Will it be a new Vixen album? Aren't you tired of playing the same songs over the years? Are you playing songs from the third album too? Why do you think the band is so popular?

Share Ross : Yes, we’re recording a live album in August and we’ve added some old songs that have never been recorded. One of them in honor of Jan because her and Janet wrote it. And we’re working on more songs to record a studio album as well.

We mostly play songs from the first two albums as those are steeped in the sound that the fans mostly request.

8/How do you get time with bands, videos etc..do you relax sometimes?

Share Ross : I love to swim at the beach and go for walks with my husband and dog. I always make time for that!

9/What are the lyrics about you write? Do you compose everything ?

Share Ross : For Twin Flames, we write a lot about love and relationships. We do compose and play everything as well. With some help from special guests, Jo Dog from The Dogs D’Amour is on a couple of songs and Janet Gardner is singing backing vocals on one song, too.

10/ You know quite a lot of people in the biz, have you participated to other bands album? do you get opportunities to play in other bands ?

Share Ross : Yes, it’s always on an honor! I’m a member of the Down n Outz with Joe Elliott from Def Leppard and he’s looking to make a third studio album which I’ll be a part of. (There’s also a double cd/dvd release of a live gig with me as well. ) I am friends with lots of people in bands and if someone needs a hand with something, I’ll do what I can.

11/Did Janet asked you to play on her album?

Share Ross : Nope but she didn’t need my playing!!! She’s got it covered!!!! Fantastic solo album. I’m super happy and excited for her.

12/Do you listen to new bands? Are they ones you’d like to tour with?

Share Ross : I do check out lots of new bands. I love The Biters. They have a very cool sound. Also dig Blackberry Smoke out of Atlanta. Killer tunes and big chunky guitars.

Since we’re planning to do a Pledge, I’ve been checking out what’s on there and discovering all sorts of great music. CJ from the Wildhearts has another solo album out and Ginger (Wildheart) has a country album out.

13/Tell us about your gears…how many guitars and bass do you own? Do you have lots of effects or use the digital?

Share Ross : I don’t own too many of either. I have 3 basses and about 6 guitars. Each one has a very specific use and sound and they are ALL getting used on the Twin Flames album. LOL My basses are all Fenders. Two P basses, one vintage and one newer. The vintage one has flat wound strings for more of that Motown/Stax sound and the third bass is the #3 Jaco Pastorius fretless bass from the Fender custom shop.

I don’t use many effects. For bass, I record mostly with a DI and live, I don’t use any pedals.

For guitar, I play mostly a Les Paul or a Jr and use a stomp box here and there and a wah wah pedal with a Fender Supersonic amp. We use a lot of varied tunings. Sometimes using an open G tuning and on an acoustic we’ll use a Nashville tuning to give it a certain sound.

14/You are doing lots of things in front of the camera, have you got tech skills? DO you film videos or edit…?

Share Ross : I used to do a lot of video editing and ended up as a video producer for a ton of record labels in LA. So I did learn a ton at that time. I no longer do any video work these days but the skill set sure comes in handy!

If you want to support what we’re up to.. you’ll be able to find Twin Flames on Pledge soon at:

http://pledgemusic.com/bamandshare http://www.shareross.com http://www.VideoRockstarUniversity.com http://VixenOfficial.com http://DownNOutz.net