The Metal Mag N°24 July - August 2018

The Metal Mag

N°24

Dear friends and followers, it’s becoming surreal! Having so many people asking for a printed issue is far from what I expected since this magazine brought so much financial troubles at the beginning ending up to be the first online mag ever made back in 1998 ! I thankfully greet all the people wishing to own a piece of my work for their memories.

First band is Hexed who was supposed to appear in the last number N°23 but due to live schedule and recently changed member it is now available in this issue.

Alison Masson is bringing us an interview, as Franco Giovannini . I really appreciate people who participate to the mag. A big shout out to Kimble Ouerbacker for ordering a bunch of printed copies : you totally rock!

I’d like to thank the few people who paid to have an ad, interview or a review to appear in the mag. Please consider it if you want me to keep supporting you. Thank you to Jeanna Williams for sharing her interview , to Marc Fazio for sharing Doro and UDO interviews.

If you have the passion and feel to join the team like Teri Stahl, Matt Drummond, Brett Kihlmire ... hit me up!

Happy anniversary to the mag : 20 years !!!

#1 Hexed (Svenska / English ) #2 Stone Mob #3 Rik Fox & Jim Crean #4 Genus Ordinis Dei #5 Alison Masson : - Johnny Gieoli #6 Metal Babe Mayhem #7 Franco Giovannini : - Beneath The Fallen (Italiano / English) #8 No Return (Français / English) #9 Jenna williams : - Jason Charles Miller #10 Satan Jokers - Renaud Hantson (Français / English) #11 Weapon Uk #12 The End of Melancholy #13 Java #14 United Rock Nation : - Doro Pesh #15 KrashKarma #16 Siren Call #17 United Rock Nation : - UDO #18 Kaili Rose photos #19 Greystone Canyon #20 Cortney Debow #21 Syracuse photos #22 Diemonds #23 Tomorrow’s Eve #24 Serial Vice (English/ Italiano) #25 Remember the Light (Français / English) #25 Acid Rain (Français / English)

Editor, writer, reviewer, designer...

Franck Michaud

WWW.THEMETALMAG.COM P3

1 / Vem startade bandet och vad var idén?

HEXED bildades 2015 av mig, sångerskan Tina Gunnarsson och gitarristen/backing-vokalist Stellan Gunnarsson. Vi hade spelat i flera band tidigare och hade en tidig historia i metalscenen och år av musikskrivande. Vi ville börja skapa och skriva musik tillsammans med min sångröst och melodiska gitarrer som grund. När låtskrivandet började visste vi vilken sorts musik vi ville göra och vilket sound vi ville ha.

Vi har båda inspiration och influenser från band som Queensrÿche, Crimson Glory och Pagans Mind som alla har grymma sångare och bra låtskrivande.

Så vi visste att vi ville skapa metal med fokus på stark och kraftfull sång kombinerat med melodiska gitarrer.

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

HEXED was formed in 2015 by me, Lead-Vocalist Tina Gunnarsson and Guitarist/backing-vocalist Stellan Gunnarsson. We had been playing in several bands before and had an early history in the metal scene and of writing music. We wanted to create and write music together based on my vocals and melodic guitars.

When the songwriting started we knew what kind of sound we were aiming for.

We both have inspiration and influences from bands like Queensrÿche, Crimson Glory and Pagans Mind who all have powerful vocalists and great songwriting.

So we knew that we wanted to create metal music with focus on strong and powerful vocals combined with melodic guitars.

2 / Vad fick dig att välja det här bandnamnet?

HEXED är ett namn som passar vår image, musiken och texterna, eftersom jag själv är intresserad av det mänskliga sinnet, ockultismen och livets okända mysterierna.

Vi tänkte på olika namn och olika logotypes. Vi kom fram till att detta var ett namn som vi var okej att vara förknippade med.

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2/What made you choose this band’s name?

HEXED is a name that suits our image, music and lyrics since I myself are very interested of the human mind, occultism and the unknown mysteries of life.

We thought of various names and different logotypes.

We came to the conclusion that this was a name that we were ok to be associated with.

3 / Är du i andra band eller är det här det första du är inblandad i?

Jag har varit i andra band tidigare, kvarhållen, Mellow Poetry för att nämna ett par. HEXED är nu mitt huvudband och varje minut i min fritid jobbar jag för det här bandet. Stellan har också ett annat band som heter Fuel For Nightmares där han spelar bas, Teddy har sitt band Loch Vostok etc.

3/Are you in other bands or this is the first one you are involved in?

I have been in other bands earlier, Detained, Mellow Poetry to name a couple. HEXED are now my main band and every single minute of my freetime I work for this band. Stellan also has another band called Fuel for Nightmares in which he is the bassplayer, Teddy got his band Loch Vostok etc.

4 / De första låtarna låter som om du ville ha en kvinnlig sångare men i slutet är det uppenbart att du vill ha en grov manlig röst, är det relaterat till att du hade problem med att hitta en sångare? Försöker man samla fler metallfans?

Alla låtar är baserade på och gjorda med min sångröst som grund, men i kombination med lite grövre manlig sång var det bara en perfekt kombination och en annan del av vår idé med låtarna och stilen. Vi strävar alltid efter att få ut maximalt av varje låt och ibland passar det bara bra för att lägga till manliga och kvinnliga röster till det. Och om fler tycker om det, att vi också har manliga sångare på vissa låtar så gör det oss bara glada och det är en stor bonus för oss.

4/The first songs sound like you wanted a female singer but towards the end it’s obvious you want a growling male voice, is it related to the fact you had trouble to find a singer? Trying to gather more metal fans?

All songs are based on my vocals but combined with some growling and other male vocals was just the perfect combo and another part of our idea with the songs and style. We always aim to get the maximum of every tune and sometimes it just fits very well to add male and female vocals to it. And if more people like it because we also have male vocals on some songs, it just makes us happy and a big bonus for us.

5 / Vem utformade omslaget och logotypen? Har du gett idéer?

Stellan och jag kom med namnet Hexed, logotyp och symbol. Stellan gav idéerna och önskningarna han hade till Mattias Norén. Mattias kom med några fantastiska idéer som refererar och innehåller allt som låtarna handlar om.

Det var en process som tog lite tid, mycket för att vi ville ha så många bilder för vårt häfte. Dessutom är Mattias super professionell och korrekt och han släpper inte något han inte är nöjd med. Den dialog och idéer han har är av högsta kvalitet och vi skulle gärna vilja jobba med honom igen.

5/Who designed the cover and the logo artwork? Have you given ideas?

Stellan and I came up with the name Hexed, logo and symbol. But Stellan Along with Mattias Norén brought the ideas and wishes for the album art and Mattias came up with some awesome ideas which referesh and includes all content of the songs. It was a process that took some time, much because we wanted so many pictures for our booklet. In addition, Mattias is super professional and accurate and he does not let go of something he is not happy with. The dialogue and ideas he has are of the highest grade and we would love to work with him again.

6 / Finns det ett tema för alla låtarna eller för albumet? Vad inspirerade dina texter?

Temat och inspirationen i detta album är Livet med allt vad det innebär.

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Några av texterna handlar om döden och hur vi kan reflektera över den på olika sätt.

Döden är en naturlig del av livet som många försummar eller förnekar eller till och med undviker att prata om. Det blir tabu på några sätt att diskutera döden eftersom det upprör människor. Jag är av motsatt sort, jag vill kunna diskutera sådana saker med mina vänner, även om det gör ont eller upprör. Några av de andra texterna handlar om att aldrig ge upp och att sträva efter det liv du vill ha.

6/Is there a theme for all the songs or for the album? What inspired your lyrics?

The theme and inspiration in this album are Life with all that comes with it.

Some of the lyrics are about the death and how we can reflect on it in different ways.

Death is a natural part of life which many neglect or deny or even try not to talk about. It becomes taboo in some ways to discuss the death because it upsets people. I´m opposite, I want to able to discuss such things with my friends, even if it hurts or upsets. Some of the other lyrics are about never giving up and to aim for the life you want to have.

7 / Sången «Ocean» låter som ett musikljudspår, vad är historien bakom den?

Historien i Oceans handlar om kroppen vid dödsögonblicket, i fred med tystnad och omgiven av det vackra havet. Jag anser personligen att vi är tidlösa själar under förutbestämd ålder i människokroppen och att det finns en ny början i någon form, dock utan att vara religiös. Älska livet, gör det bästa av det, försök alltid att vara en bättre version av dig själv.

7/The song « Ocean » sounds like a music soundtrack, what ’s the story behind it?

The story of Oceans are about the body at the stage of death, at peace with silence and surrounded by the beautiful sea. I personally have the opinion that we are timeless souls in a limited amount of years in the human body and that there is a new beginning in some form, without being religious.

Love life, do the best of it, always try to be the better version of yourself.

8 / Även om det är uppenbart att höra dina influenser, kan du berätta vilka band som verkligen inspirerade din musik?

Queensrÿche har alltid varit och är fortfarande en sann inspirationskälla, även Fates Warning och Pagans Mind har riktigt grymma produktioner med både sångarrangemang och låtskrivande.

8/While it’s obvious to hear your influences can you tell us which bands really inspired your creations?

Queensrÿche has always been and still are a true inspiration, also Fates Warning and Pagans Mind surely have inspired both vocal arrangements and the composing of songs.

9 / Hur skriver du? Finns det en person som ger idéer eller det är ett skapande av bandet?

Stellan är låtskrivaren medans jag är den som skriver texterna efter att jag fått göra sångslingor och harmonierna i låten, några av låtarna på albumet fick till och med den sista bearbetningen under inspelningen av sången. Sångproducenten Diztord var en underbar man att arbeta med under mina inspelningar, eftersom han exakt kan känna av och lyssna till mitt tonläge och får på så sätt ut maximalt av det. Stellan skriver musik ofta och tycker om att lägga till olika typer av instrument för att få den där extra lite känslan för det skrivna spåret.

9/How do you compose? is there one person who brings ideas or it’s a band’s creation?

Stellan is the music composer while I am the one writing the lyrics after I get to do the vocal harmonies for the song, some of the songs on the album even got the final touch in the recording of the vocals. The vocal producer Diztord was a wonderful man to be working with during my recordings as he exactly know my vocal range and get the best out of it. Stellan writes music most of the time and like to arrange with different kind of instruments to add some vibe or feelings to the composed track.

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10 / Med alla band från sverige är det lätt att få plats på scenen?

Tja, som du säger, det finns många riktigt bra band från Sverige och jag tror att vi bara måste bevisa att vi tar plats på scenen på riktigt. Vi är ett relativt "nytt" band eftersom vi nyligen släppte vårt album Netherworld och vi måste ut och spela så mycket som möjligt för att nå fler fans och nya lyssnare.

10/With all the bands from sweden, is it easy to have a place in the scene?

Well as you say, there are many really great bands from Sweden and I think we just have to prove that we are taking our place at the scenes for real. We are a relatively “new” band since we just did release our album Netherworld to the listeners and we have to get out and play live as much as we can to reach more fans and new listeners.

11 / Melodierna i sången med musiken påminner ibland om popartister, är det därför att du tog med den musiken?

Jag tycker det är en utmaning att sjunga alla typer av musik och stilar. Med det sagt så har jag provat mig fram med många olika sångstilar och jag upptäckte att allt är så jävligt roligt och fantastiskt utvecklande att försöka sig på. Jag föredrar den härliga experimentella sången som Kate Bush inspirerar mig med. Även Lisa Miskovsky, Louise Hoffsten och självklart Geoff Tate, Midnight, Ray Alder, Nils K Rue och den otroliga sångaren Todd La Torre är riktigt starka inspirerande röster som jag aldrig tröttnar på att lyssna på eller tröttnar på att sjunga deras låtar.

11/The melodies in the voice with the music sometimes reminds some pop artists, is it cause you were brought with that music?

I find it a challenge to sing all kinds of music and styles. With that said I have been trying out a lot of different vocal styles and I found out that everything is so damn fun and fantastic to try on. I prefer the sweet experimental singing that Kate Bush inspired me in. Also Lisa Miskovsky, Louise Hoffsten and of course Geoff Tate, Midnight, Ray Alder, Nils K Rue and the incredible Todd La Torre are really big, strong inspiring voices that I never get tired of listening or singing to their songs.

12 / Har du tagit sånglektioner? Har du gäster på vissa låtar?

Nej, tyvärr har jag aldrig gjort det. Det skulle säkert ge mig lite råd men det har bara inte blivit av. Gästsången på Netherworld är Ronny Hemlin från det svenska bandet Tad Morose. Han var den rätta för att göra "Remake My Soul" på ett sätt som vi ville ha den och även tillsammans med mig på sång. Han har en bra ton och hans röst är kraftfull och stark. Han kan verkligen ta de högre tonerna perfekt! Det var en ära att få honom att samarbeta med Hexed. Vi hade också turen att ha Thomas Vikström till att göra körer och han la även de änglalika körerna som den sista kryddan till låten "Exhaling Life" och han deltog också i just den musikvideon med en riktig professionell touch, han är en fantastisk kille, jordnära och riktigt roligt att jobba med.

12/Have you taken singing lessons? Do you have guests on some vocal lines?

No unfortunately I have never been doing that. It might give me some advising but it just didn´t happen. The guest vocals on Netherworld are Ronny Hemlin from the Swedish band Tad Morose. He was the right vocalist to do “Remake My Soul” with me. He has a great tone and his voice has such a powerful strength and can really do the higher notes perfectly! It was an honour to have him cooperate with Hexed. We also was fortuned to have Thomas Vikström to do the backing vocals and he arranged some angelic choirs to add the last spice to the song “Exhaling Life” and he also participated in that music video with a real professional touch, he is one awesome guy, down to earth and really funny to be around.

13 / På din video använder du den keltiska symbolen, betyder det att du har olika nationalitet eller rötter?

Vi är ett band med nordiska gener så långt vi vet om. Symbolen är mer en wiccan symbol som understödjer namnet Hexed. Den här symbolen är en Triskele och representerar de tre världarna av jord, hav och himmel. Vissa säger att det också representerar de markbundna, andliga och gudomliga energierna. De eviga cyklerna av liv, död och födelse.

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13/On your video you use the celtic symbol, does that mean you have different nationality or roots?

No not that I know of . We are a band with Nordic genes as far as we know. The symbol is more of a wiccan symbol that had a meaning to attach to the name Hexed. This symbol are a Triskele and represents the three realms of Earth, Sea and Sky. Some says it also represents Terrestrial, Spiritual and Divine energies. The eternal cycles of Life, Death and Birth.

14 / Sedan du började har bandets musik förändrats eller utvecklats?

Ja det har utvecklats. Det kommer som en naturlig progression av låtskrivandet. Vi har alltid i åtanke vad vi verkligen tycker är bra musik och bygger sedan något av det.

14/Since you started the band has your music changed or evolved ?

Yes it has evolved. It comes as a natural progression of the songwriting. We always have in mind what we really enjoy in good music and build something from that.

15 / Hur hittar du livespelningar? Spelar du med vänner?

Vi kontaktar spelställen själva och vi har också ett management för att göra den delen åt oss. Vissa av våra vänner är också musiker och vi har lite musikaliskt samarbete med några av dem och det är så berikande för inspirationen och för att få ny energi som vi alla behöver då och då.

15/How do you find live shows? do you play with friends ?

We contact the venues ourselves and we also have a management for doing that part for us. Some of our friends are also musicians and we have some musically cooperation with them and that’s so enriching for the inspiration and for the new energy that we sometimes need.

16 / Din första singel är från 2017, var det svårt att få det släppt? Ditt nya album är från 2018 komponerar du så mycket kommer du att släppa ett album varje år? Vill du se hur människor ska reagera och acceptera dina kompositioner?

Singeln "Dreams" släpptes via SpinnUp av oss själva. Vi gjorde det för få ut lite musik och ge lyssnarna en ledtråd av vilket sound de kunde förvänta sig av Hexed. Albumet Netherworld innehåller 10 låtar som vi noggrant valde för albumet. Vi har fler låtar som också kan passa till albumet och som var starka kandidater tillsammans med de utvalda.

Så jo, vi skulle kunna släppa ett nytt album nästa år, men det är inte vårt mål. Nästa mål för oss nu är att få åka ut och spela så mycket som möjligt. Vi skapar och fortsätter vårt låtskrivande oavsett om folk gillar det eller inte, vi fortsätter att skriva musik som vi själva känner för, musik som får oss att må bra. Men självklart måste vi säga att det också känns bra att människor som hört oss hittills verkar ha fattat viben och de frågar verkligen efter Hexed´s musik.

16/Your first single is from 2017, was it hard to get it released? Your new album is from 2018 are you composing so much you will release an album every year? Did you want to see how people will react and accept your compositions?

The single “Dreams” was released through SpinnUp by ourselves. We did that to get it out and to give the listeners an hint of the sound they could be expecting from Hexed. The album Netherworld contains 10 songs which we carefully chose for the album. We do have more songs that also could have fit to the album and were strong candidates along with the chosen ones. So yes, we could release another album next year, but that is not our goal. The next thing for us now is to get out and play live as much as possible. The thing is with our music writing is that regardless of what people like it or not we will continue to write music that we like and that makes us feel great. But of course I have to say that it also feels great that people so far seem to have got the vibe and really ask for Hexed music.

17 / Hur fick du dealen med ViciSolum Productions? har du kontaktat skivbolag?

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Vi kontaktade och letade efter ett bolag som hade de egenskaper och den personliga kontakten som vi önskade. Affären vi fick med Thomas hos ViciSolum Productions matchade våra önskemål och vi kom till beslutet att denna etikett var bäst för Hexed.

17/How did you get the deal with ViciSolum Productions? have you have contacted labels?

We were contacting and searching for a label that had the qualities and the personal contact that we wished for. The deal we got with Thomas at ViciSolum Productions matched our wishes and we came to the decision that this label was the best for Hexed.

18 / Spelar du live utomlands eller har du faciliteter i ditt eget land?

Vi strävar efter att komma utomlands mycket snart. Vi har redan kontakt med managementet om det. Just nu har vi några kommande spelningar i Sverige. Så om du letar efter en konsert med Hexed så följ bara oss på sociala medier och få de senaste nyheterna. Om du är en bokare och vill ha Hexed att spela på din plats, vänligen kontakta vår ledning Intromental Worlwide eller skriv till oss med ett direktmeddelande mailto: contact@hexed.se.

Vi vill tacka Marcel och The Metal Mag för denna intervju, hoppas att träffa dig någon gång på en konsert någonstans !!

18/Are you playing live abroad or have facilities in your own country?

We aim to get abroad very soon. We already are in contact with the management about that. Right now we have some upcoming gigs in Sweden. So if you are looking for a concert with Hexed just follow us on social media and get the latest news. If you are a booker and want Hexed to play at your venue, please contact our management Intromental Worlwide or to us with a direct message mailto:contact@hexed.se .

We want to thank you Marcel and The Metal Mag for this interview, hope to meet you sometime at a gig somewhere!!

www.hexed.se

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Blaine (Shred Master General) Kaltman 1/Who started the band? How did you guys meet?

I hadn't played in bands in several years but knew I wanted to get back into the game. I started writing rock songs and developing a strategy around Christmas time in 2016. I really put a lot of thought into it: how the music would sound, who I would need to make that music, how to promote it with videos and social media, what kind of website we would need. Believe me I didn't go into this thing without some serious thought and preparation because I knew I didn't want it to be amateur night. After the new year I called Doug Masterson, Stone Mob's original singer, and asked him if he wanted to put something together. I had known him a long time and liked his voice and thought we'd be a good fit. Two weeks later we were in the studio. At the same time I had already written a script and started pre-production on what was going to be our first video, the cowboy shootout Murder Town. The rest is history.

2/have you tried to have a second guitarist?

No. I think it would make the music too busy since I do a lot of fills in between licks. I don't even add rhythm on the studio tracks. I like keeping it simple and raw and being able to reproduce exactly what you hear on a Stone Mob Mp3 on stage.

3/Who decided to name the band like that? why not having a logo? What is the meaning of the skull with gun n guitar?

Doug named the band. He suggested Stone Mob and I liked it. Our logo is the skull with the crossed machine-gun and guitar beneath it. I designed the logo- there really wasn't any meaning behind it. I just thought it looked cool and had a good mafioso/rock and roll thing going for it.

4/You sound like you want to be the new van halen, is this the idea?

Yes and no. Obviously I'm heavily influenced by Van Halen and I love that they were a fun rock band. Their music was melodic and poppy but still hard as nails, difficult to reproduce, and they had no political agenda. I wanted Stone Mob to be similar but it was not my goal to imitate Van Halen or anyone for that matter. But when we get compared to Van Halen I can't complain. It's very flattering to be compared to one of my idols.

5/You seem to have changed line up, how is the band doing ? must be frustrating to find the right pals.

Yes, sadly Doug and I have chosen to part ways. He is a fantastic singer and I'm sure he will have a bright future in music.

6/You released an album, yet only shirts appear on your website, have you sent it to labels to get it released?

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Who deals with the site and social medias?

The album is not yet available for purchase. One of the reasons for this was we started recording new materialenough that it became clear we could debut with a double album, which would've been a cool way to distinguish ourselves from the mainstream. Of course that has not yet come to pass . We did, however, release the first CD to press and some record labels, radio, and booking agencies. I designed and manage Stone Mob's website and Facebook page.

Wil David, a long time friend and Stone Mob's original bass player handles our Instagram.

7/How long have you been playing and gigging with the band?

Stone Mob formed in January of 2017 and has been playing and gigging since last August.

8/Are you playing in other bands? Can you tell us a bit about all the formations you have been into?

Yes! I have recently started a new band called CHAIN BRIDGE which I am very excited about. It is hip-hop based but defies all idioms and still has plenty of hard hitting energy and shred guitar. There are some very talented musicians involved in the project and I think good things are on the horizon for us. Based on one rough cut from our first studio session we have already been offered a contract with Red Dragon Booking Agency. Stone Mob is also signed with Red Dragon and we were slotted for a small East Coast tour in August, but I had to cancel it when Doug and I decided to part ways. But when the agency president heard the Chain Bridge rough he called me- first time we'd ever spoken by phone- and said "Now THAT can make money." Currently my partner on this project Mr. Wil (Wilfred David) and I are story-boarding a video to promote our first single. Look out for Chain Bridge because this is going to big!

9/Do you compose all the music and lyrics?

Yes. I write all of Stone Mob's music and lyrics. Even the beats and bass lines. Which isn't to say that the other musicians involved don't make suggestions or slight modifications to make their part their own. But I always go in the studio with a very clear vision of exactly how the song should go from start to finish including things like how the drums need to go - like using just kick and muted crash on the big ending on Murder Town etc.

10/You have plenty of guitars are you endorsed or working in a guitar shop?

It's funny, you say I have plenty of guitars but I always feel like I need more. Right now I have four electrics and two acoustics. But no I'm not endorsed or working in a guitar shop. I probably should- the discount would save me money but then there might not be any room left in my house!

11/Do you live by giving lessons?

No I make my money elsewhere. To tell the truth I don't really enjoy giving lessons. Writing lessons for Guitar World Magazine is an honor and a great way to promote my music so of course I do that. And I don't mind making the YouTube lesson videos because I do it on my own. But I've taught guitar lessons before and having to sit with someone and struggle with their timing and coordination is a test of patience and one that I've never particularly enjoyed.

12/You seem to have all the necessary knowledge to make great songs as videos, isn’t this too much for a band? Does it make easier for you or you just want to do everything and get the less biz involved?

Videos are a great way to promote music. In this day and age YouTube is one of the biggest platforms. Plus I love telling stories and adding the visual to the music. It is tiring and time consuming writing scripts, casting, finding locations, sourcing props, filming, and then editing. But I live to make art and have never shied away from challenging work.

13/Was this band started as a solo shredder one?

No. In fact I don't think of the band as a forum for my shredding- even though admittedly it has gotten us a fair amount of notoriety. But to me the most important thing has always been writing catchy songs that people can jam to. The crazy guitar parts are only there to make the song more fun or memorable. That's one of the reasons I keep P11

my leads so short. Unless you're a guitarist most people don't really enjoy the guitar solo- they think of it as filler while waiting to get back to the hook. I don't want Stone Mob's music- or any of the music I write- to have filler. It should all be memorable and exciting to listen to. So, odd as this may seem considering I seem to have gained a bit of a reputation for shredding, I'm much more concerned with the melody and rhythm of the songs I write than the showy guitar stuff.

14/How did you learn the guitar? You seem to like Ibanez but have other trades in your guitar lessons what are your favorites and why?

I'm self taught. I learned by watching the fingers of cats on MTV and picking the brains of other kids in the neighborhood who played. I do like Ibanez but I'm also a big fan of Ernie Ball and Gibson Les Paul guitars. For me the main thing is I want Humbucker pick-ups in my ax because without them it's hard to get that super fat sound I like.

15/Apart from Eddie Van halen who are your favoritie guitarists?

God, there are so many. Angus Young- not technically the best player but he comes up with great sounding stuff.

Steve Vai who is so original and dexterous. Jimmy Page- especially that he could do a solo as simple yet interesting in Whole Lotta Love and then come back and perfectly layer multiple guitar parts in songs like Ten Years Gone- just genius. And then I love some of the blues guys- particularly John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Robert Johnson.

They could say more with one note than most shredders say with ten. The rage and power they put into their playing was pure soul.

16/Can you tell us a bit about your gears, what amp do you use, effects…and why?

I play through a 4 tube 50 watt Bedrock. It's a great amp- sounds kinda like a 1970's Marshall. The only effect I ever used in Stone Mob was a Phaser- dialed almost all the way back- that I stomp on some of my solos. Like I said, my concept for Stone Mob was pure, really raw rock and roll. Just one guitar- unaffected- screaming at the top its metaphorical lungs.

17/Are you related to the site « guitar9 » ? what’s the difference or link with the band’s one?

I have no affiliation with Guitar 9. I once wrote a lesson article for them and recently I saw another lesson article teaching one of my Stone Mob solos on their site, but that was written by another contributor. I have to say, it's incredibly flattering to think there are people out there teaching and learning my licks. In an ideal world I would be able to sit down with all of them, knock back some cold ones, and jam.

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http://stonemobrising.com

1/First thing , why after so many years you are still proving you were into Wasp on the internet on the radio station?

Because it's not so much about "proving" that I was an original co founding member of WASP. I really don't "need", to prove anything to anyone. However, as a responsible performer in show business, it is my obligation to respond to questions from the fans and hosts of radio stations to respond truthfully when I am asked about it. As long as the question remains unclear to anyone, then it is my responsibility to answer the question. Many people already know what is the truth, but still, there many who do not know. So I explain it, that is all.

2/You got endorsement, new gear… playing in cover bands, why haven’t you got your own band? (the rik fox band…)

Right now, having a Tribute band project is more popular and lucrative than having an original band. Tribute band projects are all the rage at the moment. I was playing in a original band project, but there was a question about the direction of the band's music, so I left. I would love a Rik Fox band project, but everyone else is very busy, playing in so many other bands. I will at some point.

3/Would you say other band members got same issue as you? We hear so much about you and so many band got their members fired but we never heard anything…

I'm not sure I understand your context about band members getting fired. Personally, I quit or leave a band rather than be getting fired. When a band member leaves a band, usually the surviving members usually create a false reason to protect themselves and save face. If you dig deep enough, you can find the reason.

4/Have you got songs you have composed? any project working in your studio?

Yes I have songs I've composed...did you go and look at my reverb nation page???

I personally don't have a studio, but I am preparing to record on the upcoming Jim Crean album. Two songs, one would be to the drum tracks of Vinny and the other is to guitar tracks of Chris Holmes.

5/With all the basses you have, are there any you won’t play anymore or you just sell?

NO. 6/Are you playing other instrument? most bass player play guitar…

I play some guitar, but mostly bass.

7/Your wife Tamara is coping with animals, are you too getting into this field or you let her do her things?

I don't see how this is relevant, but I help with the animals. Everything I learned about horses, I learned from my wife.

But we have cats and other animals too.

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8/Have you had other proposals for movie appearances or tv series? not in many years. I did years ago.

9/In which tuning are you tuned? Are you changing depending in which band you play?

Both. Depending on the ability of the singer.

10/Let’s talk about your Montrose Tribute band, how did it happen? is it something important for you?

Well obviously, yes it's important to me. My introduction to all kinds of great music happened in the 1960s and 1970s.

I've always liked Montrose and recently began jamming to their music at home. It reminded me of how much I really liked playing it, and nobody doesn't like Montrose, so I created a Montrose Tribute Project called Badd Motor Scooter.

We play the entire first Montrose album, three songs from Paper Money, Voyager by Gamma, and three Sammy Hagar songs.

11/You seem to get on with many musicians, is it due to your career or just people you met and hang out with?

By "get on", I believe you mean get along with like friends. Probably a little of both, but networking really helps. I'm good at what I do. So that helps a lot. People tend judge you based on who you played with, rather than your abilities, it's so very superficial really, but that's usually just how it goes. Good or bad, people will talk. Enemies will gossip bullshit lies, and , friends will promote you well. In my experience, there's both in Los Angeles.

12/You will play on the Jim Crean album, how did it happen?

Answer: I'm really sure, Jim just contacted me one day unexpectedly and said he wanted me to record on his next album. I was shocked and surprised, because I spent four years in hell on Facebook, because enemies and haters caused my original Facebook page account to be shut down. Enemies were everywhere and I didn't do anything to deserve it.

But now, it's like I walked thru the fire, and like a Phoenix, I'm rising from the ashes. Now, I'm finding myself receiving all kinds of blessings. Like getting signed to an endorsement deal with TTM Guitars. Getting a new talent and promotional person Christina Avila, and at Pro Player Art, doing my customized amplifier screens is Angela Gambino. I dropped GHS strings and currently shopping for a new strings endorsement deal.

Then, suddenly, Jim Crean contacts me and says he wants me to record on his next album. I asked why, and he said the exact same thing that everyone else is saying: "because you deserve it."

Do you know him for a long time?

No. He's been working with both Carmine are Vinny Appice for many years. So he gets a lot of big stars recording on his albums. So Jim said "it's time for you to join them and get your street cred (credibility), back. People owe you that much.

Are you gonna go on tour with his band?

Well, we've just started to talk about it. Obviously all the stars on his albums have their own projects and don't have the time to commit to that kind of scheduling. So, for live dates, Jim is going to need a great team of players to back him. We both liked the idea of having me come out and play with him, especially since I'm playing on the album, and I have a good name at the box office, having been with both Steeler and WASP (even if the relationship with WASP was relatively short, doesn't matter, I created the name of WASP and recorded with them), that's good enough. Steeler obviously brings the affiliation with Yngwie Malmsteen and Ron Keel. So Steeler fans will bring their albums to be signed. I recommended a monster drummer from the band Kidd Nasty, because we've played together and it would be perfect. That leaves the lead guitar slot to be filled. In any case it's going to be awesome. The live dates will support the album, and hopefully we'll get some US and European dates.

13/Is it better for you to appear as a "guest" on an album ? What do you like from it?

Guest or not, it's always great to appear on an album. Album credits are always welcome.

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Those become your calling card. You get to increase your recording skills exponentially.

14/Let’s talk about your gear, which effects do you use?

At the moment, I don't have many effects, but I'm looking. I had an endorsement deal with Randall Amps for years, but the company has been bought and sold many times over, and no longer support bass gear, so I still play them, but I need to find a new endorsement deal for bass amps.

As I said earlier, at the time of this interview. I'm shopping for a new strings endorsement deal. The gear in my amps rack is currently a bit dated, but when possible, I'll upgrade it.

www.facebook.com/RikFoxMusician

WWW.JIMCREAN.NET

1/what made you want RIk to perform on your album?

Rik is a great Bassist and deserves to known amongst the great players that I have on my new Record 2/Did you followed his career? How did you hear about him?

Yes of course. I was first introduced to him in the Steeler days and really liked his playing.

3/With all the famous musicians you have the chance to play , do you see yourself as a talent «helper» ? Do you like to have those awesome people? What do you gain from this?

Well It is great to surround myself with so many talented musicians that really know how to get the best performance out of each song!

4/Will Rik be on tour with you and on other records?

Yes that is the plan! We want to tour in support of the new record and yes Rik will be on more of my records for sure 5/What do you like from him? Is he on the same musical level / style as you ? can you explain..

Yes we both come from the same mold! We have a lot of the same ideas & taste in music.

6/Is the fact he knew Dio helped the connection? Would you say you are like Dio or Ozzy to play with many musicians…

We both have the Dio connections in many ways.Ronnie was in my opinion the BEST ever and it is great that I get to perform,tour & record with so many members from his camp!

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1/How did you come up with a band name like that?

Genus Ordinis Dei means “Origin/Ancestry of the divine order”.

We decided it because we wanted to use latin language and remark our Italian origins. Also, it forms the acronym G.O.D. and it is related to our main story told in our albums.

2/What means your logos and who designed them?

The Logo has been designed by Andrea Spoto, and it is a representation of the main character of our albums: The Fallen.

3/your video « cold water » is amazing, who directed it? are you showing your own sport? What led you do covering that issue?

Thank you so much! It’s been directed by Mr. Steve Saints who basically directed all of our videos! He’s great in his job!!

For that video we wanted to represent the theme of the song, which is an expedition gone wrong.

We decided also to show the beautiful landscape of the Dolomites. It’s been so hard because we were climbing for 3 days in a row, and obviously freezing. But the result is amazing!

4/How did you get the deal with the label? Have you searched for it?

After our tour with Lacuna Coil we got contacted by some labels, and Eclipse Records was the perfect choice for us.

They’re from USA, and we wanted to put ourselves on the American market, which was pretty new for us. They are working great!!

5/Do you know personally Cristina Scabbia? How did she come to sing in the album?

Yes, we used to know her before actually write and record the song, because we’ve been working with Maki (Bass Player/Composer) as producer for our EP, and we met all the guys of Lacuna Coil…plus: we toured around Europe with them.

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Basically we had this song and it was perfect for a featuring with a female voice…the first who came up in our mind was Cristina…we just asked her and she said “OK!”…we’ve been damn lucky!

6/How long the band has been alive for? Are you best friends or you struggled for the best musicians? It might be difficult in Italy?

We all born and raised in the same city (Crema, Italy) and we used to play in different bands before…sometimes we shared the stage too.

Basically we decided to form the band because we wanted something fresh and new, representative of everyone’s influences…and here we are!

In Italy it is quite difficult because metal music is not popular at all. But in general, it is difficult to be a musician nowadays…

7/What made you want to have that sound? any influence? Pretty unusual in Europe..

We wanted something that sounds modern and heavy, but also very melodic due to the huge orchestral part we have.

We’ve been influenced by Lamb Of God, Dark Tranquillity, Gojira, Dimmu Borgir and also Periphery, lately…and yes, it is pretty unusual here in Europe, that’s why we signed to an American label ;) 8/Have you played in other bands before in different music style? Are you in other bands right now?

Yes, we used to play in different bands before forming G.O.D. but now this band is everyone’s priority, so there’s no time and “heart” for other projects!

9/What led you to have that theme for the album can you explain ? will you have different ones for each album?

Every album is bond to the others. We have a main theme which is a reinterpretation of the Bible, from the Genesis to the Apocalypse. Our main story is told in our first album “The Middle” which is the central chapter of a trilogy. The other ones are like a “Spin-off ” and they tell stories related to the main one. For example “Great Olden Dynasty” is about some important historical characters and how they are all bond together in the eras.

10/This is hard to find musicians for your music, how did you get all around those stories? Are you good friends?

Do you have made a deal to write a certain number of albums?

Yes, we are good friends and we use to hang out together pretty much everyday! It is beautiful to work together not only as colleagues but also as friends! And no, we don’t have a deal for a minimum number of album…we actually have a lot of ideas for maybe the next six or seven ones!

11/Who deals with the website and social media?

Nick (Singer) and Richard (Drummer) are the ones who works on socials and stuff like that. Plus, we are working well with a press office (Press This Music - PR) and Serena, who’s the boss, she’s a real pro in doing her job!

12/You seem to play lots of gigs, do you gig a lot in Italy or it’s much more abroad? You quite have a Metal scene, do you share stage with all the bands?

Yes, luckily we found out that our music is appreciated in Italy too, so we are working well here too…obviously around Europe (mainly Germany, UK and Belgium) we are more appreciated.

In Italy there’s a super cool metal scene if you want to discover it! And yes, we share the stage with every band that match our genre…

13/Which bands have inspired your compositions?

Lamb Of God, Gojira, Dark Tranquillity, Dimmu Borgir and Periphery.

14/How do you compose ? is there a band ritual or one of you brings ideas?

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Richard and Tommy are the main composers in the band. They basically create every song and arrangement…later on Richard writes the lyrics together with Nick and they create the vocal line of the songs.

We are not the kind of band who just rehearse randomly to create new songs, because we have all the orchestral parts that must be arranged first.

15/You are using samples even on stage, who creates them? what do them mean for you? are you trying to give on stage the same as the album sounds like?

Yes, because bring a full orchestra on stage would be too difficult and expensive..pretty much every band does it nowadays…

The samples are created by Tommy who owns a recording studio and is a great sound engineer!

16/Have you taken music lessons or you are self taught?

We all studied and graduated in musical academies here in Italy, and we are also music teachers!

17/What gears do you use? what made you want to use them?

Nick uses Gibson guitars, Tommy and Steven uses ESP guitars and bass and all of them uses D’Addario strings.

Richard is endorser of Evans drumheads and Promark drumsticks. He uses Mapex drums and Meinl cymbals.

We use those instruments basically because we like them and they sounds great both on stage and studio!

18/Do you have tech knowledge or the sound engineer is helping you out?

Yes we have tech knowledge but we also have our sound engineer who follow us during live shows.

He’s Mr. Dario “23” Valentini and he’s been with us since 2015. He knows perfectly our sound and he can make our show work damn well! He’s part of the family, like the 5th member of G.O.D. and we can’t thank him enough for believing in us since the very first show we did together!

www.genusordinisdei.com

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Johnny Gioeli (Hardline/Crush 40) and Deen Castronovo (Journey/Bad English/Revolution Saint/The Dead Daisies) first played together on the debut Hardline album, ‘Double Eclipse,’ which was released in 1992.

‘Double Eclipse’ is one of my top favorite albums of all time, so I was really happy to find out that Johnny and Deen reunited while they were in Italy (25 years later) to work on the debut Gioeli-Castronovo album, “Set The World On Fire.”

Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen

In addition to the Gioeli-Castronova album, Johnny has been busy working on his solo album, scheduled for a December release, and has put out quite a few albums with Crush 40 over the past 20 years. Keep a lookout for the Gioeli-Castronovo album ‘Set The World On Fire’ July 13th and for 2019 tour dates.

Johnny Gioeli

Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen: Hello Johnny! I have to admit I am super excited to be doing this interview with you. I have been a fan since ‘Double Eclipse’ came out. I saw you perform live quite a bit back then, met you a few times, and even sat in on an interview a friend did with you! I am glad to be back in contact!

Johnny Gioeli: Hi Alison! Thanks for having me!

Metal Babe: Let’s start out by talking about Gioeli-Castronovo and your brand new album ‘Set The World On Fire.’ In the video for the first single “Through” you called Deen after 19 years. Is that really what happened?

Johnny Gioeli: Yes….Kinda. (LAUGHS) It was the rudeness of a journalist (I wont mention names.) that triggered this whole thing! This person said some smack about Deen and I threw an uppercut, six jabs, and a kick in the balls. Deen heard the interview and called me immediately. Then, a few weeks later he called again and said “bro, will you do a record with me?” My answer: F*ck yeah! (LAUGHS) (Pardon my Italian.)

Metal Babe: Glad that brought you two together! What can you tell me about “Through?” It’s definitely getting a great response!

Johnny Gioeli: Yes! It’s off the freakin’ charts even before the release! I love this song….It just sums that we ALL go THROUGH sh*t in our lives. Peaks and Valleys….Trials and Tribs. Just life….But this song recognizes that we still pull THROUGH no matter what we’ve been THROUGH. Ok, I think I used the word enough! (LAUGHS) It’s a great tune…Love singing it. So happy that people love it as we do.

Metal Babe: Definitely. ‘Set The World On Fire’ comes out July 13th. What can you tell me about the album?

Johnny Gioeli: It’s not a new wheel or iPad. It’s a great AoR (Album Orientated Rock) record that has you feeling great when listening to it.

Metal Babe: What was the songwriting/recording process like? You used outside songwriters?

Johnny Gioeli: We used outside writers to handle the tunes. We wanted this. It’s cool to have other musicians envision your voice on their song. Of course we modified and made them our own. Then it was old school baby! Set up the microphones and freakin play! Like that! If we didn’t like what we sang, we would sing it again! We did not use Siri to help. (LAUGHS) F*ck Siri that bitch.. (LAUGHS) Metal Babe: (LAUGHS) I have been really enjoying listening the album. What can you tell me about the lyrical content to the title track, “Set The World On Fire?”

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Johnny Gioeli: “Set the World on Fire” is just us saying “F it.” Let’s come out with this and kick some people’s asses.

That’s it.

Metal Babe: Awesome. I have to ask a couple Hardline questions too… I am glad to see you’ve been playing some European dates. Do you have anything in the works for the U.S.? Specifically L.A.?

Johnny Gioeli: The US market sucks so badly. I would LOVE to play my own country…but the offers are so few and far between.

Metal Babe: Will you be playing any of the upcoming ‘80’s festivals’ in the U.S.?

Johnny Gioeli: If asked, and if F’n Trump lets my guys into the country, yes.

Metal Babe: I totally understand. It would be great if something worked out though! I saw the update video you did regarding your solo album ‘One Voice,’ and that you’ve pushed the release date back to December. What can you tell me about the album? You said you haven’t been this excited since 1992, so I am definitely excited about this as well!

Johnny Gioeli: Honestly, I can’t freakin wait. December baby! It’s truly the happiest I’ve been as an artist since 92’. I wrote the entire album, every word, every melody. I work with a tremendous guitarist Eric Gadrix. Awesome talent and together we made an album that you will crank so loud in your car it will wake the neighbor’s cat. I dedicated the album to a kid in my hometown who became paralyzed in a diving accident. So, fans all around the world donated to the cause. Amazing outpouring of love, hence the album title “One Voice.” Go to: www.pledgemusic.com/johnnygioeli and make a donation you cheap asses! (LAUGHS) Metal Babe: Very cool on the dedication. I’m excited too! How does it compare to your previously released material?

Johnny Gioeli: It’s different for sure. To me its Bryan Adams meets Foo Fighters. I absolutely love it.

Metal Babe: Awesome. What do you have going on with Crush 40? You have released a TON of material with them!

Johnny Gioeli: Yes! Crush 40 is now 20 years old! We just finished up another Sega game. I love making the kids happy with this music! Not enough feel good music in the world!

Metal Babe: I agree! What final words would you like to say to your fans?

Johnny Gioeli: I say the same thing to my fans all the time. Without you, I am nothing. I have no voice without your air. Thank you endlessly for giving me the honor to make music for you. XO Metal Babe: Thank you Johnny. It’s been an honor to do this interview, and I hope to see you play live in L.A. at some point, one way or another!

Johnny Gioeli: Thanks MB! Hope to see you soon!

Peace –Johnny Order the new Album on Frontiers here:

www.frontiers.shop/gioeli-castronovo/

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1. You seem to know quite a few musicians. How did it all start for you?

Alison : I first started going to concerts when I was 11, and the first band I met was Enuff Z’Nuff when I was 15 (on a dare). I’ve been going to live shows and meeting bands ever since! Now, living in Los Angeles, and running both Metal Babe Mayhem and MBM Music, I’ve been fortunate to work with many of the bands I grew up listening to. Things have come full circle.

2. You are a journalist, selling clothes… How do you get all these things done?

Alison : Don’t forget promoting musicians! (LAUGHS) For me it’s all about prioritizing. I definitely try and stay organized and get things done in order of priority. My partner, Chris Mulford, has been a great help as the VP of Operations for MBM Music. I am fortunate to have friends/family/supporters who help when I need them to.

3. You have websites both for Metal Babe Mayhem as MBM Music, and you write for Sin City Presents Magazine.

How are you doing it all? Tell us your secret.

Alison : I don’t sleep! (LAUGHS). Honestly, I don’t sleep MUCH, and I have lots of energy. I don’t even drink coffee.

I jump out of bed in the morning ready to take on the day, and to be as productive as possible. I run the Metal Babe Mayhem website, and Chris and I run the MBM Music website together. I’m glad to be writing for Sin City, and happy to have another outlet for my Interviews/Reviews, but thank God Genie and Duane Falconer run that site. I think three would be a bit too much! (LAUGHS) 4. How did you end up being the CEO for MBM Music LLC? Alison : After running Metal Babe Mayhem for over ten years I decided I needed to make a change. I wasn’t exactly sure what that change was, but I knew it was time. I placed an ad online where I basically wrote out where I was and where I wanted to be. Chris Mulford (my current MBM Music business partner) reached out to me and we instantly connected. One thing I’ll never forget that he said to me was, “even if you were running the biggest t-shirt company in the world, you wouldn’t be happy. You need to be out and about where the people are, surrounding yourself with music.” He was right. We spent six months developing MBM Music by building from the current promotional elements I was already doing for Metal Babe Mayhem to create this music/vendor promotion business.

5. Tell me more about what you do with MBM Music. It looks like you are supporting and promoting bands.

Alison : Yes, that is exactly right. MBM Music is a brand new division of Metal Babe Mayhem. The main focus of MBM Music LLC is to offer independent artists services that help them be seen and heard in places that they are not currently reaching. It’s is a monthly subscription service that offers a variety of promotional services to artists including their own customized web page (with a distinct URL), Featured Band Spotlight, Band Bios, Interviews, Merchandise, Press Releases, MBM Merchandise Discount, Online Music Play, Sponsored Shows, Logos/Graphics, and Website Development. I really love to support and promote bands and am happy to be working with so many amazing bands through MBM Music.

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6. What is your relationship with HighVol Music?

Alison : Bill Chavis and HighVol are amazing! MBM Music officially partnered with HighVol Music on November 2017. Both companies support one another and the bands we each work with. I am really happy we are working together.

7. How did you begin working with Leah Burlington? What do you like about working with her?

Alison : Although Leah and I had known each other for quite a few years, Al Bane (Al Bane for Leather) was the one who initiated Leah and I working together through MBM Music. Leah’s heart is 110% in everything she does and she is such an amazing photographer. She really knows how to capture ‘the moment’ live on stage. We have very similar backgrounds and connected immediately because of music. I am really thrilled to have Leah onboard as the official MBM Music Las Vegas photographer.

8. Do you work with bands throughout the States, or only bands based in the Los Angeles area? What’s so special about that place anyway?

Alison : MBM Music works with bands throughout the entire world actually. With the Internet, there are no limitations. Personally, I have always loved L.A. and knew I wanted to live here since I was 11. I still love living here.

9. Where did the name ‘Metal Babe Mayhem’ come from?

Alison : Anyone who likes to rock can be considered a Metal Babe! Even guys! (LAUGHS) 10. Tell me more about your t-shirt business Metal Babe Mayhem. What are your latest designs/ventures?

Alison : I established Metal Babe Mayhem in 2007 and currently have almost 30 designs available on tank tops, t-shirts, and hoodies. Here’s a direct link to the Merch: https://metalbabemayhem.com/product-category/clothing/ Alison : I have a few new ventures I would love to share with you.

First of all, my clothing partner Brooke Lewis and I have JUST expanded our Bridal Rock Your Hot Mess clothing line to plus sizes, and now have sizes up to 5X available in all of our designs. We are really happy to have the additional variety. Please check it out here: https://metalbabemayhem.com/?s=bridal Alison : Also, I just released the ‘Take A Bite’ design that Steven Talbott created for me. The feedback has been amazing, and I honestly think this is one of the best designs we have had to date!

Here’s the link: https://metalbabemayhem.com/?s=take+a+bite Alison : In addition, I am now carrying licensed jewelry from quite a few bands including David Bowie, Slayer, Motorhead, Five Finger Death Punch, Pink Floyd, and more. Here’s the link for the necklaces, cuffs, and earrings: https://metalbabemayhem.com/product-category/brands/alchemy-gothic-jewelry/ Alison : And last (but not least), thanks to Brooke Lewis, I am now carrying make-up for the first time ever! I am really excited to be carrying Sheree Cosmetics. Their products are amazing, vegan, and animal cruelty free. Here’s the link: https://metalbabemayhem.com/product-category/sheree-cosmetics/ P22

11. Do you play any instruments or sing?

Alison : I loved playing clarinet and guitar in middle school, which gave me the added benefit of learning to read music. I learned how to play a bunch of riffs on guitar, but never a full song. (LAUGHS). I still have my Richie Sambora Stratocaster knockoff that my mom bought me. I don’t really consider myself a singer, but I do love singing at karaoke.

Alison : Someday I will learn to play keyboards, but presently I am too busy to sit down and start learning!

12. What final words would you like to say to our readers?

Alison : Thank you so much for supporting me, Metal Babe Mayhem, and MBM Music. I really appreciate all of you.

Please visit my websites (below). Special thanks to Franck and The Metal Mag for all that you do and for taking the time to do this interview.

Metal Babe Mayhem:

https://metalbabemayhem.com/ MBM Music LLC:

https://www.mbmmusicllc.com/

Alison

Franco Giovannini : Cominciamo subito parlando del vostro nuovo album, uscito il 22 Giugno 2018?

Frank Williams : «No Pity for Self Infliction» è un piccolo assaggio di ciò che i musicisti appassionati possono fare in proprio quando ci mettono testa e cuore. Tutti i testi sono basati su esperienze di vita di uno o più membri, il che è facilmente riconoscibile dal pubblico. L’EP è in realtà una versione remixata e prodotta in qualità broadcast di ciò che avevamo realizzato nei primi anni di attività. Abbiamo pensato che le nostre precedenti registrazioni demo non rendessero giustizia alla nostra musica, sentendo il bisogno di puntare in alto e di produrle secondo i migliori standard ottenibili. Dal momento che le canzoni sono state datate tra il 2005 e il 2010, siamo felici di dire che per il nuovo EP abbiamo scelto il meglio del nostro repertorio originale, e non vediamo l’ora di presentare al mondo ciò che verrà nel nuovo capitolo di BTF. 1. Can you describe the album released on June 22, 2018?

Frank Williams : "No Pity For Self Infliction" is a small glimpse at what passionate musicians can do on their own when they put their minds and hearts to it. There are no gimmicks. All of the lyrics are based on true events, experienced by one or more of the band members, subject matter that is very relatable to the public.

The EP is actually a re-mixed, broadcast quality produced version of what we originally had when we first formed.

We felt our earlier demo recordings didn't do the music justice. We needed to aim high and produce them to the best standards we could achieve. Since the songs were dated from between 2005 to 2010, we are happy to say we picked the best of our original setlist to be on the EP and are looking forward to present to the world, what's to come in the new chapter of BTF. Franco Giovannini : Frank e Justin, siete i fondatori della band. Dopo esservi presentati, diteci come ci si sente di nuovo sulla scena metal, con la nuova cantante, nuovi suoni, nuove persone attorno alla band?

Frank Williams : Suono la chitarra solista e faccio voci di sottofondo in BTF. Sono anche freelance come ingegnere di registrazione, produttore musicale e compositore di film con la mia impresa Willguard Productions. Seguitemi su P25

Instagram @willguardproductions. In estasi! Justin ed io siamo fiamme gemelle quando si tratta di scrivere musica.

Possiamo letteralmente armonizzare le chitarre con gli occhi bendati, e si percepisce una grande, magica armonia tra di noi quando iniziamo a essere creativi. I poteri di sirena di Kraevin sono come un’arma segreta che aumenta tutte le aspettative e le possibilità di ciò che possiamo realizzare. Essere sul palco o in studio o in viaggio è esattamente, ciò per cui ci siamo ritrovati, e onestamente ciò per cui sentiamo di essere stati messi su questa Terra.

Justin Williams : Sono il principale compositore, canto e suono chitarra, basso, batteria e molti altri strumenti. Seguitemi su Instagram @justin_williams35. È fantastico. Il produttore di Hollywood, Keith Armstrong, ha davvero contribuito a far emergere il sound potente che desideravamo ottenere da tempo. Il sostegno che riceviamo dai nuovi amici che abbiamo incontrato in tutto il mondo ci fa davvero sentire che stiamo facendo la cosa giusta.

2. Frank, Justin, you are the founders of the band. After introducing yourselves, please tell us what it feels like being back on the metal scene, with a new female singer, new sound and new people surrounding the band?

Frank Williams : I play lead guitar and scream vocals in BTF. I also freelance as a recording engineer, music producer and film composer with my company Willguard Productions. Follow me on Instagram @willguardproductions.

Ecstatic! Justin and I are twin flames when it gets down to writing music. We can literally harmonize on guitars blindfolded at random. There is just a mystique and magic, which exists between us, when we start getting creative.

Having Kraevin's siren powers as a secret weapon just boosts all expectations and possibilities of what we can accomplish. Being on stage, in the studio or on the road, is exactly what we’ve bred ourselves for.

Honestly, what we feel we were put on this Earth to do.

Justin Williams: I am the primary songwriter for BTF. I sing, play guitar, drums, bass, and a number of other instruments. Follow me on Instagram @justin_williams35. It feels great! Keith Armstrong's production in Hollywood really helped to bring out the huge sound we’ve wanted for a while and the help we get from new friends we’ve met all around the world, really makes it feel like we’re doing it right this time around 3. Come ti sei trovato a dover dare spazio a Kraevin alla voce?

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Justin Williams : Il suono della mia voce non mi è mai piaciuto. Ho sempre pensato che anche se ho scritto i testi, sentirli cantare da una voce femminile, avrebbe portato un’energia diversa e l’emozione che stavamo cercando di catturare in tutti questi anni con la nostra musica.

3. How did you find yourself having to make room for Kraevin on vocals?

Justin Williams : I’ve never liked the sound of my voice. I’ve always felt that although I wrote the lyrics, having a female sing them would bring a different energy and emotion that we’ve been trying to capture all these years with our music.

4. Kraevin, sei la grande novità della band. Dicci qualcosa di te e come stai vivendo questa esperienza?

Kraevin Caedo : Sono la cantante principale per BTF, in passato cantante e compositrice in gruppi metal locali e cantante solista sulla scena pop/metal. Vado matta per la pizza! Seguitemi su Instagram @kraev1n.

Un giorno emozionante dopo l’altro! Non mi sento davvero come una «grande novità». Justin, Frank ed io siamo come una famiglia. Dal momento in cui li ho conosciuti, abbiamo avuto questa connessione istantanea e siamo davvero una squadra. Anche se non ero presente quando sono state scritte alcune delle canzoni del nuovo EP, mi sento come se fossero parte di me. Posso relazionarmi con esse in maniera profonda, come sono certa facciano i nostri fans. Ogni giorno sono grata, perché è un altro giorno in cui mi si offre di cantare della grande musica.

4. Kraevin, you are the big news of the band. Tell us about yourself and, how are you living this experience?

Kraevin Caedo : I am the lead singer for BTF, formerly singer/songwriter for other local metal bands, solo singer in the pop and metal scene. Follow me on Instagram @kraev1n. One exciting day at a time. I don’t really feel like I am “big news”. Justin, Frank and I are like family. From the minute I met both of them, we had this instant connection.

We are very much a team. Even though I wasn’t around when some of the first songs we’ve recorded were written, I feel like they are very much a part of me. I can relate to them personally, as I am sure many of our fans can.

Each day I am grateful, because it is another day I get to sing great music.

5. Cosa significa per te comporre musica?

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Justin Williams : Ho iniziato a scrivere canzoni per mostrare alla gente che non è sola. Per mostrare loro che c’è sempre qualcuno sotto di loro che ha vissuto la stessa esperienza e sarà sempre lì per rimetterli in piedi e contribuire a dare loro la forza di andare avanti. Da qui il nome «Beneath the Fallen». Ispirare le persone ad essere grandi e superare qualsiasi ostacolo è il sangue della nostra vita.

5. What does song writing mean to you? What message are you hoping to convey in your lyrics?

Justin Williams : I started songwriting to show people they are not alone in their life’s experiences. To show them that there is always someone beneath them, that has gone through the same or similar situation they have. That there will always be someone there to lift them back up on their feet. To help give them the strength to push on, no matter what life throws their way. That is what the name "Beneath the Fallen" means to me. Inspiring people to be great and empowering them to overcome any obstacle, is our life’s blood.

6. Cosa rappresenta il video musicale del singolo «Swollen» per la band?

Justin Williams : «Swollen» rappresenta la necessità di sensibilizzare verso la violenza domestica. È un vero e drammatico problema di cui ogni membro di questa band è caduto vittima in un modo o nell’altro. Il messaggio è semplice Se conosci qualcuno che sta vivendo questa terribile esperienza, aiutalo. Se sta capitando a te, accetta l’aiuto che ti viene offerto. C’è sempre una via d’uscita e c’è sempre qualcuno pronto ad aiutarti a trovarla. Tutto quello che devi fare è parlarne.

6. Describe what the music video for the single “Swollen” means to the band.

Justin Williams : “Swollen” represents a need to raise awareness surrounding domestic violence. It remains a real issue to this day. One that every band member has experienced or fallen victim to, in one way or another. The message is simple. If you yourself are going through a situation you feel hopeless to break free of, or if you know someone who is experiencing this in their lives, it is important to never lose hope. Reach out to someone for help.

Let them know that they are never alone. Together they can find the strength to walk away, before it’s too late. The music video ends on a jarring note, in which the victim’s life ends in tragedy. A solemn reminder and perhaps last boost to remind you, your life is worth more than being another statistic of domestic violence.

7. Cosa significa per te riprendere la tua carriera in una band metal?

Kraevin Caedo : È come tornare da un lungo viaggio o come resuscitare. La musica è il sangue della mia vita, nel mio DNA. E la musica metal è sempre stata la mia passione, nonostante quelli che hanno sempre affermato che avrei avuto più successo cantando pop o country. La musica e la composizione sono sempre stati uno sbocco per me, come scrivere un diario. Sento che il metal consente una maggiore libertà di espressione personale. Passioni ed emozioni, crude e selvagge. La vita non è sempre semplice ed ordinata. A volte la bellezza si trova nel caos. Tornando in una band metal, mi sento finalmente libera di essere me stessa con persone che capiscono e mi accettano. E stando sul palco con Frank e Justin, cantando in un luogo pieno di gente, la musica che ci circonda e ci tiene uniti, non c’è niente di paragonabile. Mi sento finalmente a casa!

7. How does it feel to restart your musical career in a metal band?

Kraevin Caedo : It feels like returning from a long journey, or coming back from the dead. Music is my life’s blood.

It’s in my DNA. Metal music has always been my passion, in spite of those who have always said I would have been more successful singing pop or country. Music and songwriting has always been an outlet for me. Like a diary of sorts. I feel metal allows more freedom for personal expression. Passion and emotion. Raw and untamed. Life isn’t always pretty and neat. Sometimes beauty is found in chaos. Being back in a metal band, I feel like I am finally free to be myself with people who understand and accept me. Being on stage with Frank and Justin, singing to a venue full of people, the music surrounding us and connecting us, there is no feeling like it.

Feels like I am finally home.

8. Con una sola parola, cosa avete in comune nel vostro viaggio musicale?

Frank: PASSIONE Justin: MOTIVAZIONE Kraevin: DETERMINAZIONE

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8. With one word, what best describes the activity in your musical journey, together?

Frank: PASSION Justin: MOTIVATION Kraevin: FORTITUDE

www.beneaththefallen.com

1/Avec tous les changements de musiciens pourquoi garder le nom du groupe?

Alain: Etant membre fondateur et compositeur principal depuis le début du groupe, je ne vois pas pourquoi je changerais le nom du groupe.

1/With all the musicians changes why keeping the band’s name?

Alain: Being the main former as composer of the band since the beginning , I don’t see why I would change the band’s name.

2/A partir du troisième album le style a changé,puis vous êtes revenu au Death Metal, comment expliquer tous ces changements? La majorité des groupes ont une ligne propre à leur style…

Alain: Je pense qu'un groupe à besoin d'évoluer artistiquement parlant ,à l'intérieur de son propre style de manière à essayer des choses nouvelles avant de trouver sa propre voie. Nous évoluons maintenant depuis 10 ans environ dans le thrash death mélodique et cela me convient très bien.

2/From the third album your musical style has changed, then you came back to Death Metal, how do you explain those changes? Most bands have a style that is on the same path...

Alain: I think a band needs to evolve in a artistic way, in its own style to try new things before finding the right path. We evolve from ten years , at least in the Thrash Melodic Death Metal style and it’s ok for me.

3/Qui compose ? il y’a t’il un partage des idées?

Alain: Geoffroy et moi nous sommes chargés de la composition musicale de cet album. Concernant les textes ils ont été élaborés par Mick. D'autre part on a beaucoup insisté sur le travail des arrangements et des structures lors de la pré-production, afin d'optimiser les morceaux et de fournir ainsi un gros travail sur les guitares. Les arrangements définitifs se font ensuite en répète et chacun peut alors apporter des idées et des modifications.

3/Who compose the music? Are you sharing ideas?

Alain: Geoffroy and I are the ones to compose the music on this album. About the lyrics they have been written by Mick. We also worked a lot on arrrangements as the structure during pre-production, to optimize every songs and to have a strong impact on the guitars. What will appear on the album is finalized at the rehearsal where everyone can brings ideas and changes as they wish.

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4/comment avez vous pensé ce nouvel album?

Alain: On ne se pose pas trop de questions quand on compose un nouvel album. C'est plutôt l'inspiration du moment qui prime.

4/How did you prepare this album?

Alain: We don’t really think about how to compose this new album.

It’s mostly the inspiration of the moment that is important.

5/Comment vous êtes vous retrouvé chez Mighty Music? Que pensez vous des labels aujourd’hui?

Alain: Depuis le début, NO RETURN a toujours eu la volonté de développer le groupe à l'étranger. On voulait une distribution mondiale pour nos albums afin que leurs expositions soient les meilleures possibles et nous donne ainsi la possibilité d'en effectuer la promotion partout. Nous avons donc envoyé l'album précédent (" Fearless walk to rise") à plusieurs labels étrangers et parmi les propositions que nous avons reçues il s'est avéré que Mighty Music soit le meilleur choix pour le groupe. C'est un label ayant de l'expérience et qui a été rapidement intéressé et motivé par le groupe.

5/How did you get the deal with Mighty Music? What do you think of todays labels?

Alain: Since the begining, NO RETURN always had the wish to get the band abroad. We wanted a worldwide distribution for our albums to be exposed as much as possible and to promote everywhere.We sent the previous album « Fearless walk to rise» to several labels and from what we received Mighty Music was the best choice for the band.

This label has experience and was very interested as motivated by the band.

6/Vous avez une chouette pochette qui l’a faite? participez vous à la création où vous laissez l’artiste créer en écoutant votre album?

Alain: Nous avons travaillé avec Pierre-Alain de chez 3MMI Design. Nous sommes tombés sur son travail par hasard et l’avons contacté directement après avoir vu ses superbes illustrations. On a donné quelques idées mais de manière générale on laisse l'artiste s'exprimer pleinement.

6/You have a nice cover album who did it? Do you participate of the creation or you leave the artist designing while listening to the album?

Alain: We are working with Pierre-Alain from 3MMI Design.We found his work by chance and we contacted him after seeing all his amazing illustrations. We gave him few ideas but for the most we leave the artist expressing hiself fully.

7/Est ce le label qui s’occupe des dates de concert? Avez vous des tournées à l’étranger?

Alain: Le label ne s’occupe pas des dates de concert , c'est davantage le rôle du tourneur. Pour l'album précédent on a fait 2 tournées européennes: une avec Dew Scented et Angelus Apatrida et la seconde avec Onslaught et Mors Principium Est. Pour "the curse within " on a fait en février 2018 une tournée européenne avec Cannibal Corpse et The black dahliah murder.

7/Is it the label that deal with live dates? Have you got tour abroad planed?

Alain: The label doesn’t deal with live dates, it is more the tour manager role.

For the precedent album we made two European tours with Dew Scented and Angelus Apatrida for one, another one was with Onslaught and Mors Principium Est. For «the curse within» we did a tour in February 2018 with Cannibal Corpse et The black dahliah murder.

8/Que pensez vous de le scène Metal en France? Beaucoup de groupes sont de retour ou encore là tout comme vous… pas forcement le line up original..

Alain: La scène métal française est de très bonne qualité tout style confondu ,mais malheureusement il y a tellement de groupes qu'il est très difficile d'émerger! Peu importe le line-up, du moment que l'esprit du groupe est toujours là.

8/What do you think of the French Metal scene? Many bands are back or still here like you..

Not always the original line up.

Alain: The French Metal scene is really good whatever the music style. Unfortunetely they are so many bands that it is hard to get the head out of the water! No matter the line up as long as the spirit of the band is still here.

9/Qui écrit les chansons ? y’a t’il un thème pour chaque album?

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Alain: C'est Mick qui écrit les textes. Il n'y a pas forcément de thème pour chaque album mais il est vrai que les problèmes psychologiques de l'homme et ses travers sont une bonne source d'inspiration.

9/Who is writting the lyrics? Is there a theme for each album?

Alain: It’s Mick who writes the lyrics. There not a specific theme for each album but it is true that most human psycholocical troubles as everything around are good inspiration.

10/Qui est derrière la création de vos vidéos? est ce fait avec des pros ou vous faites tout vous même?

Alain: On essaie de bosser avec des pros notamment pour les clips promotionnels de l'album. Le dernier "Despise your heroes " a été réalisé par Benjamin Dauwe qui a utilisé des drones dans certains passages.

10/Who is behind the creation of your videos? Do you use professionals or you do it yourself?

Alain: We are trying to work with professionals mostly for the promotional videos of the album.

The last «Despise your heroes» has been realised by Benjamin Dauwe who used drones for few parts.

11/Comment composez vous? il y a t’il une trame que vous suivez ou des groupes dont vous vous inspirez?

Alain: Lorsque je compose la musique de NO RETURN je joue avant tout ce qui me passe par la tête en essayant de trouver les riffs les plus efficaces possibles sans me poser de questions. On s'envoie les fichiers des nouveaux morceaux par le net ce qui est très pratique. Les structures finales émergent en répète par la suite ou chacun peut amener ses idées en vue d'optimiser les nouveaux titres, et l'expérience de chaque musicien est alors très bénéfique .

11/How do you compose? Is there a line you are following or getting inspired by other bands?

Alain: When I compose the music for NO RETURN I mostly play what goes in my head searching for the right riffs that will be kicking without thinking.

12/Avez vous des Die Hard fans qui vous suivent depuis le début et avec qui vous êtes en contact?

Alain: Nous avons toujours un peu partout des fans qui nous suivent depuis le début et c'est toujours un réel plaisir de les revoir ou d'échanger avec eux à chaque fois.

12/Do you have Die Hard fans who are following you since the beginning and are you in touch with them?

Alain: We still do have few fans around who are following us since the beginning and it is always a pleasure to see them again and exchange each time we meet.

13/Il y a t’il un pays ou vous êtes le plus aimé à part la France?

Alain: L'Allemagne est un pays qui nous a souvent soutenu et ce depuis les débuts du groupe.

13/Is there a country where you the most loved except France?

Alain: Germany is a country that has always supported us and it has been since the band started.

14/Quel groupe est comme des amis ? Des gens avec qui vous aimez partager la scène?

Alain: Des groupes comme Mercyless , Loudblast , Execution, Deficiency et plein d'autres encore sont des amis et c'est à chaque fois un plaisir de partager la scène avec eux.

14/Which band is like a friend to you? People who you like to share the stage with?

Alain: Bands like Mercyless , Loudblast , Execution, Deficiency and many more are friends and it’s each time a pleasure to meet and share the stage with those guys.

www.noreturnofficial.com

am Willi a n n Je

s

The Scream Queen Interviews Jason Charles Miller!

You just released your new album In The Wasteland which is such an incredible album. It's also your first solo release in about 6 years. How do you feel you were able to connect with In The Wasteland compared to your 2012 album, Natural Born Killer?

Well, they’ve been songs that I’ve been working on the entire time, so as far as– if I had my way it would not have been 6 years. [laughs] You know what I mean? It’s just that you know I was always looking for the right partner and having the right behind the scenes team is so important and the right label and everything like that. They have been working on [it] even longer than 6 years.

So, for me, I ended up writing 45 songs and narrowed it down to 14 and then ultimately 11. But I went through a lot of different creative paths with it. And at a certain point, you get songs you’re really excited about, but then maybe they might not fit into the collection.

So, there are a lot of those songs that are still out there that may end up on video games, or TV shows or movies or maybe they’ll end up on the next record. But for me, this collection of songs is it the most accurate representation I think of me as an artist. from what I understand it’s getting attention on the Rock chart, the Metal chart, and the Country chart all at the same time, which is me exactly, you know what I mean? [laughs] It’s an amalgamation of those certain styles and somewhere in the middle, so that’s super exciting.

You are truly such a diverse artist, you really bridge the gap Rock and metal and Country... You touched on it in your previous answer, but I just want to get your opinion your feelings about how you feel you bridge the gap between those genres? And how do you feel that represents you as an artist?

Well, I mean I think when you are true to yourself and you are a fan of all those genres and I study them but out of love, you know, I was just out of…Like, when I get into something I really get into it and there are certain styles of music that I was exposed to when I was growing up. And then others that I gravitated towards and of course like when I was growing up, not every style of music was easily as accessible as it is today.

We kind of had to pick our lane because whether a friend makes you a mixtape or you have to go to the store and buy CDs, obviously you had a limited budget. And so you had to decide [laughs] what kind of music you were going to be into to based on who you were growing up around.

Then as I was exposed to more and more and more and more music, I just felt like it was hard to just pick one, you know? I’m inspired by music that moves you. Some people say there’s there are two kinds of music, good and bad. [laughs] Those are the things that inspire me.

Then growing up in the south and being exposed to Country at an early age and sort of rebelling against it at first, really being into Rock and Metal, then ultimately going back to realizing value of Country Music at least, or is that it tells like so eloquently; that sort of brings everything full circle for me and hopefully it’s something that other people can relate to and sort of see the angles that I’m coming from.

If there are people that are only into one style of music that hear my album hopefully they can hear the style that they like the most within the tapestry of the album.

Well I love the album! You were just talking about artists that you were drawn to while you were growing up, who were some of the artists who initially sparked your passion for Rock, Metal, and Country?

Well, I think that band while I was growing up was Fleetwood Mac, I think they did things like that. They crossed genres of Folk, Rock, and Country; a lot of harmonies. My first records were Beatles records and John Denver records. [laughs] Ones that my parents gave me, you know? [laughs] P32

Then I got into Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Ozzy. Then Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. What’s interesting is that a lot of British bands that took American Blues turned it on its head and then fed it back to us in America, like Free and Bad Company, obviously Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers.

On the heavier side, I guess Black Sabbath, but once again Led Zeppelin to me will always be Led Zeppelin I and Led Zeppelin IV because those were the two albums that I owned. [laughs] I have these weird gaps in my influences because I was really into Led Zeppelin for a long time, but for only those two albums. [laughs] And then, I am obsessed with Deep Purple Mark III, which was when David Coverdale sang and Glen Hughes sang with him. Burn and Stormbringer are like my absolute favorite rock albums of all time. In fact, I think Deep Purple’s Burn is one of my favorite albums of all time, for sure.

How do you feel Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin have made an impact on your new album?

So, a lot of that stuff is really riffed based, right? I have a lot of riff-base stuff on this album. Like, No Bridge Left Unburned and Riverbank, those two in particular have that kind of standard, “Here’s the riff and then here’s the song!” you know? But always the riff first.

Same with Trunk Full of Bibles. Other songs I have that just start off right with vocals on count-one aren’t necessarily influenced by that, but I think there’s enough riff-based Rock on the album that people are going to be able to hear that.

I love to ask this question to everyone I interview because every artist I ask, I get a different response. To me, music is alive.

There's just an energy - many different energies to it. How would you say that you bring your music to life?

I would say with, I want to make sure that the vocal performance has– I really like to sing the song from beginning to end, like I’m performing it live.

There’s always a magic performing live at a show, the sort of unpredictability of it, but the magic that happens. So, I try to do as little overdose of possible, or punch ins, so that you got one complete performance from me from the beginning of the song to the end of the song.

There’s going to be some, but I really try to spend the time singing a song over and over again so I’m really happy with the entire thing. That way it has a much more continuous feel and maybe the listener can feel like they’re there with me in the room, rather than have overly produced something.

I was going to ask this question later on in the interview, but since you just brought it up... There is a live energy aspect, like on your studio album and when you're recording, it can be very isolated. How do you feel that you translate your live energy into the studio?

I think it all starts with the drums and having Kenny Aronoff [John Mellencamp, John Forgerty] play on the album was a huge thing because he’s so in tune with that and he obviously is a live drummer, he tours with John Fogerty every weekend and then he does sessions during the week and he’s somebody that’s constantly playing shows literally every day.

So, to bring that energy in, is to me, the cornerstone; that’s where it all starts. Then, being able to push and pull off of those performances is hopefully what gives the album a live feel.

I’ve done other albums where we’ve actually all recorded together at the same time, not in the same room but in different isolated rooms. So, I try to do that as much as I can too. we did not do that on this record, but I think having Kenny gives the feel that we did.

You also mentioned there's a magic with playing live. What are some of your most magical moments that you have had whether it be while performing live or even in the studio? Have you had any moments when you've been creating music too?

Well, I think any time that you– there’s a certain energy that you can get from an audience where you’re kind of in sync with each other; that to me, can be a small audience or a really big audience. Like, you feel the energy coming back to you and I’ve been lucky enough to have this experience many times and it’s hard to pinpoint which one…

A few years ago, I got to open for Alan Jackson at the Greek Theatre. You know, to go on right before him and to feel the acceptance of the audience, of the Alan Jackson audience, was really welcoming and warm. There was a vibe there from them that I’ll never forget because coming from what I did before and then being sort of thrust on to literally on this giant stage. For his crowd to accept me was extremely humbling, but also, it felt like, “If they’re going to accept me, P33

then I’m doing the right thing, I’m going down the right path.”

In more recent time, I guess, in this time of being a solo artist, as opposed to be in a band situation, of course I have a band with me, but you know what I mean? Like, bringing myself out there and have my– “This is me.” That was sort of a pivotal moment for me and something I’ll never forget.

You have your work with Godhead, which is Rock and then you went Country with your solo work, would you say that energy or that magic maybe differs between the two genres or is it kind of the same?

It’s different, but the same. If you’re having a good time on stage and the audience can see that and the audience can see that you’re authentically representing the music that you’re performing, I think that the energy is going to be pure.

The energy is going to be honest. and I’m not up there performing anything that I didn’t want to perform and that I thought it should perform, I’m just playing songs that I want to play and come out of me and therefore, I think the audience picks up on that, that it’s always going to be a symbiotic relationship between the audience of you.

What are some your most honest and raw moments on your new album; the most profound ones?

There’s a song on the new album called No More Reasons, where it really is somebody kind of at the end of their rope and feeling a little– feeling a little depressed about everything and then being able to put it down on paper, write about it, sing about it, actually becomes cathartic and helps me work through it. You know, because I’m saying in the song, “I’ve got no more reasons to try.” I felt like that just came from a frustrating moment in my life.

Also, Finding My Way In The Dark, was very gospel inspired. There are a lot of songs on this record actually that have Heaven and Hell themes. Riverbank is about a baptism in the river. Running is about an angel that chose Lucifer’s side and then changes his mind. Get Thee Behind Me is about Jesus, but from Satan’s perspective.

I went pretty deep into some sort of theology inspired stories, but then Hundred Pound Hammer is something that probably everyone at one point or another can relate to. So, everything comes from the heart, as much as it possibly can.

I've had artists tell me that as they're writing and creating music, that the music speaks to them and kind of tells them what to write. How did your songs, as you were writing In The Wasteland, speak to you?

Well, I think a lot of times, it’s one of two ways… You might have an idea somewhere walking along in life, like a lyric will jump in your head, maybe you’ll write that down. Or nowadays, put it in the notes section of your phone, right? [laughs] So, that might be the inspiration or something. Or, you have this piece of music or riff or chord progression or something and then that will certainly dictate where the lyrics go. When I first started writing music, I did it that way. I sort of let the music speak to me on what I thought the song should be about and then later when I started collaborating in writing with a ton of different people, where they would say, “Hey, I got this song title. Hey, I’ve got this one line- let’s write this song.” I always thought that was an interesting way to approach it too. I think it made me a much better songwriter, kind of a approaching it from both ways. I would say that the music is always going to speak to you if you start that way. It really just depends on your intent on where you want to go. If you’re coming up with something really aggressive and then want to write a love song around it, it just might not jive with you. It might feel forced. So, that’s the last thing I want to do, is force something. I think for me, especially on this record. Like, there’s a good combination of both honestly, but they all came from a place of not really being forced, just sort of letting it happen.

How would you say everything began to materialize for you while you were writing In The Wasteland?

Well, you know it became– I think I said before, I wrote about 45 songs for the album; wrote and co-wrote. And then came down to kind of pairing up songs and figuring out what all fit together. There’s some introspective stuff on the album and then there’s, like I was saying earlier, some Heaven and Hell themes. So, I think like just finding the ones that flowed and the ones that fit together. There’s a song on the album Uncountry called The River. I do a full band version of that song live and on Uncountry, an acoustic version. that was one of the ones that almost made the record; we did a full band version of it and it sounds AWESOME, but it just didn’t make the final round of choosing. But, that might end up somewhere– certainly, people that see me live and hear me do that song the way we do it now would appreciate that recorded version. It Was really about making the album a journey from beginning to end and making it all flow together, not feeling like we’re repeating anything, any subject matters or chord progressions or having too P34

many songs in the same tuning. It’s kind of maddening figuring out the final decision and luckily my producer, Matt [Hyde] was helping me and of course our A&R guy at the label was helping, just to get several different perspectives on how to make it flow. I couldn’t have been happier with the final result. [I’m] super happy that it ended up being exactly the way it is right now.

As everything is materializing, you have a vision of what the song/album is going to be - how do you even begin to take those visions and turn them into riffs, melodies, and lyrics too?

It just kind of it happens. I think you draw on your experiences from before. I would think about an overall structure of a song, but then you just have to let it happen and you can’t put too much pressure on a song when you’re writing.

The best thing to do is to just write the song for the song’s sake and when it’s done, you can stop back, then you’ll really know if you have a good song, if you have a great song, if you have a song that just doesn’t work, if you have a song of that is great but it doesn’t work for the album. One of the things that I learned going to Nashville, there’s a great songwriter by the name of Kris Bergsnes; people would say, “Well, what advice do you have for new songwriters?” And he would say, “well, Just know that your first 500 songs are not going to be as good as your next 500 songs.” [laughs] Coming from someone that, from what I was in a band, and every song is precious, and every song you are married to, so to speak, and every song is a collaboration of all these different people with the fact that I could write hundreds of songs that might not even see the light of day. At first it seems wrong, it seems sort of like you’re wasting time or something. But then when you realize that every time that you write a song, you learn more about songwriting and you learn more about what you can do to make a song about better.

I think writing is just another part of the process that you just have to let the songs be what they’re going to be and not try to force anything. The key to that it’s just writing a ton and having a ton of [inaudible].

Which song or songs have some of the most meaning for you on In The Wasteland?

They’re all sort of inspired by different– I would say, the songs that tell a story, not that they have less meaning, but the songs that are telling stories probably don’t touch me as deeply as the ones where I’m conveying my pure emotion.

Like I was saying earlier, No More Reasons might have the most meaning for me. Also, The Line. For that one, The Line is a song about mob mentality and how it can go too far and it was really inspired by my observations of how a digital mob can turn into a physical mob and how mass hysteria can then shape real events. To me, that one might be the most [meaningful] because it was something that I was observing and [it] was disturbing me.

At the same time, Hundred Pound Hammer was really personal because it was about getting cheated on, but it’s also about how you react to getting cheated on. Like, do you become a cheater? Do you take pain that’s happened to you and then subconsciously apply that to your life? Every song has special meaning for me, even the gospel inspired Finding My Way In The Dark, is sort of about my religious journey in my life, my spiritual journey– more spiritual vibe and quest that I’m constantly on. Never-ever ending quest for spirituality.

You were talking about how a lot of your songs are inspired by Heaven and Hell and also, as you were just saying, the digital mobs & mobs...What exactly was it that sparked your inspiration for those themes, especially the Heaven and Hell one?

I think that it sort of surrounds our society, you know? Morality is everywhere. And Heaven and Hell is everywhere.

Decisions that you make on a daily basis have an impact for the rest of your life.

The themes that snuck into a lot of these songs, really made me– I think as I’m living my life and seeing how people…

How two people could look at a situation and based on their lives say, “Oh, that’s an evil act.” And someone else could be looking at the exact same thing and say it’s a good act. I find that kind of fascinating and also disturbing at the same time. And I find that the definition of good and evil, so radically different to people that live side-by-side and what is holding us together? Like, what are the things that are keeping us from tearing each other apart? It’s also something that a lot of people can relate to and a lot of people think about everyday; [what] is Heaven and Hell? And what’s going to happen later? And what’s already happened? And what are the things that have happened that brought us to where we are now?

This is, I have to say, one of the most interesting interviews I've had in a long, long time. Thank you for being so open and raw and honest. It's very fascinating. You also keep mentioning things that touch on my questions I have for further on in the interview. Like you were saying that writing In The Wasteland was a journey for you; music always is a journey-throughout your entire career, whether it be your solo work, Godhead, or just as being an artist/musician in general-what have been some experiences that have impacted you the most throughout your journey?

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Every time I perform in front of an [inaudible] audience is the most amazing thing for me. I get into a zone and I equate it to, there’s a Star Trek movie, Star Trek Generations, and Whoopi Goldberg’s character, [her] name is Guinan, and she’s talking about this place called “The Nexus“. The Nexus is pure joy. And if you’re ever ripped away from The Nexus, all you think about is a way to get back to The Nexus. And that’s what I equate performing to. I mean, performing at a show, I’m at my most pure moment and nothing else matters and I have absolute focus on that. I think that a lot of performers are that way, it’s something that we share as fellow performers and it’s almost undefinable as to how great we can be and so I’m always hoping to do that again and again and again and again. That’s, for me, the ultimate [sic], is performing live and being able to hopefully entertain people with what I’m doing.

[Before the interview, Jason joined forces with Guitars For Vets and became an ambassador for us!] Guitars For Vets is a non-profit organization that gives guitars and guitar lessons to our Veterans and helps those, especially, who are dealing with PTSD. What do you feel the importance is of having a program like this?

I think that it’s extremely important because if you’re dealing with PTSD, you need to have other things to concentrate on. Like, your brain doesn’t want to go back to that place. If you can take the energy and fuse it into something else and fuse it into something positive and fuse it into making music, how amazing is that? If we can help by getting more guitars in people’s hands that need them– here are these soldiers, these service men and women that have given the ultimate sacrifice for us and are out there making sure that we can still have the freedom to make music when we want, that we have the ability and the [inaudible] to be able to enjoy these freedoms. If getting a guitar, giving guitar lessons, songwriting lessons, like you can take that energy and put it in a positive direction. I can’t think of anything better. So, I’m honored to be asked to do that.

Thank you so much. We're honored to have you a part of it. This brings me to my next question... What does it mean to you to be involved in Guitars For Vets?

It means to me… First of all, I don’t feel worthy. [laughs] But, it’s very humbling.

Would you like to share any experiences you've had where you've been in that dark mindset and playing guitar has helped get you through it or even with your songwriting has helped be a part of your healing?

Music heals me all the time. Being able to to take any negative experience that I’ve had and then writing about it, whether I’m writing a song about it, writing lyrics about it; it gets it out of me. It makes me feel better. It helps me cope and one of the amazing things that I get back is when people send me messages and tell me that something I’ve written or performed is helping them cope. That is the best feeling ever. I try to be as honest as I can with my lyrics and how I certainly feel, so that other people can at least feel [inaudible] and heal… I listen to songs when I’m feeling down or when I feel like I need somebody else to feel that feeling with me and it helps me feel better. I love that.

www.jasoncharlesmiller.com

http://damnationvault.com/interviews/the-scream-queen-interviews-jason-charles-miller/

1/Quel a été le déclic, le truc qui a fait que le groupe se reforme après tant d’années ?

Renaud Hantson : On me demandait souvent de remonter Satan Jokers et je ne cessais de répéter avec humour que « tant que Laurent Bernat serait mort, je ne le reformerai pas ». Un soir, en 2009, après une discussion arrosée avec un organisateur de festival (qui désirait avoir le groupe à une de ses concerts) et le bassiste Pascal Mulot, grand ami de Laurent Bernat, nous avons évoqué la possibilité d’une reformation. Ce soir-là, j’avais rendez-vous en studio pour enregistrer de nouveaux titres. J’ai écrit le texte de la chanson « Voodoo » et Satan Jokers nouvelle version était née.

1/What was the thing that made you reform the band after so many years?

Renaud Hantson : People often asked me to reform Satan Jokers and I cease to repeat with humour that as long as «Laurent Bernat would be dead I wouldn’t reform the band».One night back in 2009 after a drinking evening well served with a festival’s organizer friend (who really wanted to see the band at one of his shows) and the bass player Pascal Mulot, long time friend of Laurent Bernat, we talked about the possibility to reform the band. That night I had a meeting in the studio to record new songs. I wrote the lyrics for the song « Voodoo » and the new version of Satan Jokers was born.

2/Vous avez eu des parcours différents et la fin de Satan Jokers a eu une raison comme pour beaucoup, comment vous êtes-vous retrouvés ? Etes-vous restés en contact?

Renaud Hantson : Nous ne nous sommes pas retrouvés puisque j’ai reformé Satan Jokers avec d’autres musiciens que ceux des années 80. Le bassiste originel est malheureusement décédé, comme je l’ai dit. Pascal Mulot étant un de ses amis et à l’origine de cette reformation, il était donc une évidence. Je me suis également entouré de mon fidèle guitariste Mike Zurita, qui participe à tous mes projets, Aurel Ouzoulias, qui est un véritable tueur à la batterie et prend donc ma suite avec brio, Je vois régulièrement le guitariste Stéphane Bonneau, « l’ange blanc », avec qui j’ai une relation assez fraternelle. Nous nous surnommons « cousins ». En revanche, je ne suis plus en contact avec Pierre Guiraud.

2/You all have different path and the end of Satan Jokers has a reason like most bands have, how did you get back to gether?Did you stay in touch all these years?

Renaud Hantson : We didn’t get back together as I reformed Satan Jokers with other musicians than the 80’s.The original bass player is unfortunately dead, as I said earlier. Pascal Mulot being one of his friend and one of the reason of the reformation, it was obvious. I also added one of my best friend Mike Zurita the guitarist who is also participating to all my projects. Aurel Ouzoulias who is a killer drummer and take my place with success. I also see regularly Stéphane Bonneau «the White Angel» guitarist with whom I have a really deep relationship. We call ourselves « cousins ». As for Pierre Guiraud. I am not in touch with him anylonger.

3/Est-ce que la batterie te manque ? En as-tu pratiqué pour le plaisir chez toi ou il y a des albums dans lesquels tu as participé ?

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Renaud Hantson : Même si je n’en joue plus que rarement sur scène, je continue de jouer de la batterie sur mes albums, tout style confondu. Il m’est arrivé de taper les fûts pour les albums de quelques amis. Je donne également des cours de batterie et de chant dans mon école.

3/Do you miss playing the drums? Have you practiced at home or played on others albums as guest?

Renaud Hantson : Even though I rarely play on stage. I still play the drums on my albums , whatever the music style. It happened I played the drums on few friends albums. I also give drums and singing courses in my school .

4/Comment on passe du Hard Rock à la musique populaire ? Musicalement deux univers bien distincts ?

Renaud Hantson : J’ai toujours dit que j’aimais toutes sortes de musiques et que je ne me contenterai pas de frites tous les jours si je peux avoir d’autres légumes. En France, il est mal vu de ne pas avoir envie de choisir dans le domaine musical. Ce qui compte pour moi est de défendre la musique que j’aime, quelle que soit sa forme. Tant pis pour ceux qui ne le comprennent pas. Je suis musicien et j’aime LES musiques.

4/How do you go from Hard Rock to popular music? Totally two different univers?

Renaud Hantson : I always said I love every kind of music and I won’t eat only potatoes everyday if I can eat other vegetables. In France it is not well seen to not wish to choose only one type of music. What matters to me is to support the music I love whatever the way to do it. Too bad for those who don’t understand. I’m a musician and I LOVE music.

5/Devenir chanteur t’a-t-il aidé ? Est-ce plus facile ou tu éprouvais le besoin de t ‘exprimer différemment ? As-tu ton propre matériel de son ?

Renaud Hantson : Je suis devenu chanteur par accident, simplement parce que je ne trouvais personne pour interpréter mes chansons. Aujourd’hui, le chant est devenu ce qui me définit et ce qui touche visiblement les gens. Je ne vais pas m’en priver.

Non, je ne possède pas mon matériel de son. J’enregistre mes titres dans un studio en banlieue parisienne où j’ai mes habitudes et j’ai un vieux Korg M1 pour composer.

5/Becoming a singer did it help you? Is it easier or you wished to express yourself differently?

Do you have your own singing gear?

Renaud Hantson : I became a singer by accident. Simply because I couldn’t find the people to play my songs. Today singing is what defines me and it what’s touching people. I won’t stop me from enjoying it.

No I don’t have singing gears. I record my songs in the studio in the Paris suburb where I get used to and I own an old Korg M1 to compose.

6/Comment as-tu réussi à faire cet album « Sex Opéra » avec un DVD « La grande illusion » ? Le classique (symphonique) étant à la mode, était-ce une meilleure façon de revenir pour toi?

Renaud Hantson : Il me semble que tu parles de deux projets différents. Le CD « Sex Opéra » était un concept-album sur les addictions sexuelles écrit en collaboration avec le psychiatre addictologue Laurent Karila. Il n’a le titre « d’opéra » que parce qu’il raconte une histoire à travers de chansons. A l’intérieur, on pouvait découvrir un DVD intitulé « La grande illusion ». Il s’agit d’un rockumentaire réalisé par Crok Brandalac et Rémy Bousquet de Monolithe Films qui retrace l'histoire du groupe à travers le Hard Rock français de 1980 à aujourd'hui... De nombreuses personnalités de l’époque y interviennent. (Zouille, Francis Zegut, Stéphane Bonneau…)

Cette année, Satan Jokers a sorti un album intitulé « Symphönik Kömmandöh » où le groupe est entouré de 50 musiciens classiques. Ce n’était pas pour « être à la mode » que nous l’avons sorti mais pour répondre à l’idée géniale de Florent Gauthier, musicien et professeur au Conservatoire, ayant la double culture du Rock et du Classique. Sans lui, je ne me serais jamais lancé dans cette aventure surtout que justement j’avais parlé de mon désir d’arrêter Satan Jokers, à moins d’une idée brillante. Satan Jokers est donc devenu le premier groupe français à sortir ce type d’album et ce n’est pas pour me déplaire.

6/How did you manage to release the album « Sex Opéra » with a DVD « La grande illusion » ? Symphonic is the new trend in music, was it the best way to come back for you?

Renaud Hantson : I think you are talking about two different projects. The CD « Sex Opéra » was a concept about sex addictions written with the therapist Laurent Karila. There is only the title with the word « Opéra » because it tells a story through the song. Inside we could find a DVD titled « La grande illusion » («The big illusion») which is a rockumentary released by Crok Brandalac and Rémy Bousquet from Monolithe Films which tells the story of P39

the band through the 80’s French Hard Rock style until today...Many personalities have participated Zouille, Francis Zegut, Stéphane Bonneau…) . That same year Satan Jokers released an album called « Symphönik Kömmandöh » in which the band is surrounded by 50 classical musicians. It wasn’t to be «in the trend» but to answer the brilliant idea from Florent Gauthier. He’s a musician, teacherat the conservatory having both culture from Classic to Rock. Without him I would never go into that adventure mostly when I was at that time talking about stopping Satan Jokers, unless a strong idea would come along. Satan Jokers has been the first band in France to make that kind of album and I love it.

7/Tu es apparu dans des petits concerts Heavy comme invité chanteur, écoutes-tu toujours du Hard Rock?

Renaud Hantson : Oui car c’est tout simplement ma culture et il n’y a que des gens étroits d’esprit qui pensent aujourd’hui que je ne suis pas vraiment un « fils du metal ».

7/We have seen you in small Heavy gig as a guest, do you still listen to Hard Rock music?

Renaud Hantson : yes cos it’s my culture and only small minded people still think I am not a «Son of Metal».

8/La première répet au complet a dû être difficile, non? Combien de temps vous a-t-il fallu pour vous remettre dans le bain?

Renaud Hantson : Je ne comprends pas vraiment ta question puisque la reformation de Satan Jokers date de près de 10 ans maintenant. Nous ne répétons que très peu car je n’aime pas ça et que, lorsque l’on a des musiciens de la trempe de Pascal Mulot, Aurel Ouzoulias et Mike Zurita, tout va très vite… C’est cela qui m’intéresse dans la musique.

8/The first rehearsal with the band might have been tough? How long it took you to get back into the work?

Renaud Hantson : I don’t really understand your question since Satan Jokers restarted 10 years ago. We rehearse not much and I don’t like that. When you have musicians such as Pascal Mulot, Aurel Ouzoulias et Mike Zurita, it goes very fast...That what’s pleasing me in the music.

9/Peut-on dire que Satan Jokers est de retour?

Renaud Hantson : Je dirai plutôt qu’avec sept albums Satan Jokers ne s’est pas arrêté depuis sa reformation en 2009, même si nous ne donnons que de rares concerts !

9/Can we say Satan Jokers is back?

Renaud Hantson : I would say that with seven albums Satan Jokers never stopped since it came back in 2009, even if we rarely play live shows!

10/Comme je demande souvent mais pour toi c’est un peu différent, tu vieillis et la musique a changé aussi, quel est ton ressenti ?

Renaud Hantson : Je me sens un peu comme un “Parrain du Metal”, façon Don Corléone immortalisé par Marlon Brando ! (rires) Lorsque j’organise le Satan’s Fest, les groupes qui y participent viennent souvent me demander un avis sur leur musique et c’est toujours un plaisir de pouvoir les aider et les conseiller. Je trouve bien que certains se battent pour que le metal français ne meure pas même si j’ai parfois la sensation que tout a été fait en matière de musique rock depuis les années 70.

10/As I often ask but in your case it’s a bit different, you are getting older as the music has changed, what is your feeling about it?

Renaud Hantson : I feel a bit like the «Godfather of Metal» in the way of Don Corléone immortalised by Marlon Brando ! (laughs) When I organise the Satan’s Fest, bands who play there often ask me what I think about their music and it’s always a pleasure to help and give advice. I think it is great that some are fighting to make sure the French Metal doesn’t die even if I sometimes have the feeling everything has been done with Rock since the early 70’s.

11/Tu es plus connu en France pour tes apparitions sur scène avec des artistes de la chanson française, c’est ton histoire mais est-ce que cela ne t’a pas écarté un peu des fans de Hard Rock ? Etait-ce un choix? Cela t’a-t-il permis de chanter à l’étranger avec beaucoup d’artistes ?

Renaud Hantson : Je me suis un peu coupé du circuit du Hard Rock pendant quelques années car ma compagne de l’époque n’appréciait pas cette musique. Seuls certains « bas du front » croient que j’ai « trahi la cause » mais la vérité est que j’ai toujours joué et chanté du Rock. En 1992, j’ai sorti avec Thibault Abrial (ex Hallyday) un album intitulé « Furioso » qui m’a remis le pied à l’étrier. Depuis 2005, je chante régulièrement avec mon projet Furious Zoo qui reP40

prend des standards du Rock en plus de nos compositions personnelles. Cela m’a permis de renouer avec un public plus Rock.

Chanter m’a permis de voyager à travers le monde, oui. Avec « Starmania », je suis allé en Russie. J’ai fait la promotion de « La Légende de Jimmy » au Québec. Dernièrement, avec mon concert hommage à Michel Berger ou mon concert « Opéra Rock », j’ai pu chanter en Israël. Un vrai bonheur pour moi.

11/You are more known in France for your stage share with French artists, this is your story but didn’t it move you slowly out of the Hard Rock fan base? Was it a choice? Did it help you to sing with other artists abroad?

Renaud Hantson : I kind of got myself away for few years from the Hard Rock scene due to my girlfriend at that time who didn’t like that music style. Only few slow minded people think I have betrayed the scene but the truth is I always played and sing Rock music. In 1992 I released an album called « Furioso » with a friend Thibault Abrial (ex Hallyday)that got me back to the scene. Since 2005 I often sing in my project called Furious Zoo that plays all the Rock hits among our compositions. It has helped me to get back to the Rock public.

Singing helped me travel around the world. With « Starmania » I went to Russia, I did the promotion for « La Légende de Jimmy » («Jimmy Legend») in Quebec. Recently I gave credits to Michel Berger or even with my « Opéra Rock » I played in I Israël. A Real pleasure for me.

12/Furious Zoo est né de quelle manière? Est-ce juste du fun entre amis ?

Renaud Hantson : Furious Zoo est né en 2005 parce que j’avais justement envie de faire ce qu’ont fait avant moi tous mes héros musicaux : écumer les clubs et cafés concerts pour jouer du Rock et faire taper du pied au public. Le line up a changé depuis. Nous sortons un nouvel album en octobre qui sera assez proche de mes envies musicales du moment. Je suis très fier de ce projet et j’ai hâte de le défendre sur scène avec mes musiciens, Mike Zurita, Joe Steinmann et Dimitri Obolensky.

12/How was born Furious Zoo? Is it just a fun between friends?

Renaud Hantson : Furious Zoo was born in 2005 because I wanted to do what all the heroes did before me : playing in clubs , pubs to play Rock ‘n Roll and get the public pounding the floor with their feet. The line up has changed since. We are releasing an album in October which will be close to my musical likes right now. I am really proud of this project and I am in a hurry to spread and support it live on stage with the musicians Mike Zurita, Joe Steinmann et Dimitri Obolensky.

13/Avec toutes les chansons que tu as interprétées, en as-tu oublié ? Quelles sont tes préférées?

Renaud Hantson : Quand on a un parcours comme le mien, on en oublie forcément un peu, d’autant que j’ai du mal aujourd’hui à fixer les choses à cause de nombreuses années d’addiction. Je n’ai pas véritablement de chansons préférées, disons qu’il y en a quelques unes dans chaque album. La liste serait trop longue !

13/With all the songs you have sung, are they you have forgotten? Which are your favorite ones?

Renaud Hantson : When you have a career like mine, you of course forget a little bit. Today I have few troubles to remember things mostly because of my years of addictions. I don’t really have favorites songs let’s just say there is at least one on each ablum. The list would be too long!

14/Tu continues de faire vivre la mémoire de ces chanteurs qui ont marqué notre pays tel que France Gall, Michel Berger, etc… es-tu étonné de voir autant de gens à tes concerts ? Quelle pensée cela te donne-t-il, est ce que pour toi c’était la meilleure musique française ? Que la musique était bonne (meilleure) comme le chantait Jean Jacques Goldman?

Renaud Hantson : Je me rends compte qu’aujourd’hui la plupart des héros de mon adolescence ou les personnes qui ont tout fait pour m’aider dans ma vie musicale ont disparu. C’est très compliqué à vivre et à accepter. Cela rappelle que plus on avance en âge plus l’expérience est grande, plus on tient à la vie mais aussi que le temps passe très vite...

Michel Berger reste un mentor et un père spirituel pour moi. Avec la disparition de France Gall, j’ai de plus en plus envie de défendre ce qu’il appelait « la bonne musique ». Il est le premier à avoir cru en moi. Je n’oublie pas cela et lui rendrai toujours hommage, comme je l’ai fait ponctuellement depuis 25 ans et de façon plus précise depuis 2 ans.

Je pense aujourd’hui que, si le public vient en nombre à mes concerts hommages à Michel Berger, c’est parce qu’il manque réellement à la musique et ce que je peux faire de mieux est d’essayer d’en être l’ambassadeur le plus sincèrement possible.

14/You keep alive the memory of those singers who made a trace in our country (France) such as France Gall, Michel Berger, etc... Are you surprised to see so many people at your shows? What feeling does it give you,was it for P41

your the best years from the French musique? ‘the music is good’ (better) as sung Jean Jacques Goldman?

Renaud Hantson : I today realise most heroes of my childhood or the ones who helped me during my career are gone. It is difficult to accept and live.It means the more you ‘re getting older the biggest the expericence is. The more you hold onto life but time flies fast... Michel Berger stays my mentor and a spiritual father for me. After Fance Gall disappeared I have more and more the wish to support what he called «the good music» . He was the first to believe in me. I will never forget this and that’s why I will always give him credits, as I have done for the last 25 years and mostly during the last two years. I think today , if the public comes to my shows for my tribute to him it’s because he is a big loss in the music and that’s the best I can do and be the ambassador of it.

15/Quels sont tes artistes préférés anglophone confondus ?

Renaud Hantson : Ma culture vient de Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, la trilogie anglaise. Ensuite chez les Américains, il y a Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad. J’apprécie également Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates, Peter Gabriel, Judas Priest, Judie Tzuke, Rickie Lee Jones… et bien d’autres encore.

15/Which are your favorite artist abroad ?

Renaud Hantson : My music culture comes from Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, la trilogie anglaise.

Ensuite chez les Américains, il y a Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad. I also love Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates, Peter Gabriel, Judas Priest, Judie Tzuke, Rickie Lee Jones… and so many more.

16/Comment vois-tu l’avenir avec tout ce numérique qui nous envahit et détruit ce que l’on construit, quelle est ta pensée sur le sujet? En parles-tu avec les autres musiciens?

Renaud Hantson : On vit malheureusement une époque de la culture kleenex. Les gamins ne savent pas qu’une chanson, un album ou un film ne sont pas gratuits et que ça coûte très cher en terme de production. Il faut être très vigilants et j’ai souvent la sensation que je ne suis plus de cette époque… C’est quelque chose dont je parle régulièrement.

16/How do you see the future with all this digital age that destroys everything and overwhelming us, what is your thought? Do you talk about it with other musicians?

Renaud Hantson : We unfortunately live a tissu culture. Kids don’t even know nor realise a song, an album or even a movie aren’t free and cost a lot of money to produce. You have to be careful an I often have the sensation I don’t belong to this century...it is something I speak about regularly.

www.facebook.com/satanjokersfanpage

www.hantson.com P42

1/You just signed to Pure Steel Records how did it happen? why choosing this label?

Actually Pure Steel choose us. The label manager is Weapon fan so they were the obvious choice for us.

2/Your album is called « Rising from the ashes » , is it a way to say you are back? Did you try to have the original line up?

Yes it was our way of saying “we’re back” We did want to work with original line up but bassist, Baz Downes is too ill to commit. And drummer, Bruce Bisland, plays full with The Sweet.

3/How did you compose those songs? have you used old unreleased tunes or you started from scratch?

Jeff had most of the songs written and we composed a couple together. So, apart from the bonus track Killer Instinct, it’s all new material.

4/What are the difficulties you encountered during the creation of this new album?

No difficulties at all. It went very smoothly!

5/Who designed the cover? Have you had input in it?

The cover idea was mine but got a professional graphic artist, Marcus Galley to do the art work. Marcus is the son of my friend, the late Mel Galley (Whitesnake guitarist) 6/You are like few English band to state Metallica stole riffs from you, is this something you have discussed with them? Is it just a little help for people who don’t know you to help you getting heard? (Everybody get inspired , have same riffs..)

Metallica ‘borrowed’ the intro from our song ‘Set The Stage Alight’ and used it on ‘Hit The Lights’ That’s a fact so, no, we don’t use it to get heard, but it does help! We’ve never discussed it with them, yet!

Check out this video and listen to the similarities in both songs: https://m.youtube.com/watch?sns=fb&v=ljSUHNfjMWE 7/How hard was it to rename the band? Did you think it would happen to you? why not changing it completely?

It was a pain having to add UK to our name but ‘legally’ there’s not much we could do. There was no reason to change it completely. We’ve had it since 1980.

8/That album is from 2014… from what I read you had serious line up problems? Have you recorded other songs since? Can you explain why is it so hard to keep up with musicians?

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The line up problems stem from trying to find the ‘right’ musicians to replace Baz & Bruce who were the perfect rhythm section for Weapon.. We’ve finished recording a new album, Ghosts Of War, our first for Pure Steel, a release date has yet to be set.

9/You have played lots of live shows, who is finding them for you? Are they friends you play live with?

We book the shows ourselves and some through booking agencies.

10/Music has changed so do you, what is different from the first album to those days? Any regrets, things you would have done differently?

Our music has changed because we’ve matured as people and musicians. It would be quite sad if we still played the same in 2018 as we did in 1980!

Regrets: Yes, one. We should have picked better management back in in 1980 11/Have you upgrade your gears or you still using the old ones? Can you tell us which one..

You’ll find information on our current gear here:

http://press-kit.weapon-uk.com/technical-rider/

12/Have you been or still play in other bands?

I’ve had a fun covers band since 1985 and still play occasionally. www.paddygoestoholyhead.com And Jeff has a band called The Loudshirts with his brother Gary.

13/Are you following the new breed?

I listen to lots of new bands but no particular “breed” 14/Are you still in touch with the bands you knew back then? How are it is to keep in touch?

We meet lots of the old bands out on the road and 3 members of Praying Mantis are in the line up of my fun band.

15/What’s the futur for the band? Any LP, tour…?

The release of ‘Rising From The Ashes’ on vinyl in September. Followed by the release of ‘Set The Stage Alight - The Early Years’, also on vinyl, in October. And Ghosts Of War, as I said earlier, no release date set yet. We plan to do a European tour to tie in with the release the new album.

Danny Hynes

www.weapon-uk.com

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

When I met Peter (composer&guitarist of “TEOM”) I offered him to create a band which will be an expression of our previous experience in music and smth that I always wanted to do, but with other people we can’t do it. It was in 2013. It was like: “Let's just do it and see where it goes”. And the “Dolphins” appeared - our first song and clip. And here we go!

2/Why calling the band « The End of Melancholy »? Sounds gothic…

Because it captures the essence of the things. I liked the meaning when I’ve seen it. This choice was like you know… epiphany. The funny thing, I was at the shop and just see the bright pink title on the t-shirt – The End Of Melancholy.

And I even screamed: - That is the name of my band! Epiphany!

3/How did you all meet? Have you played together before?

I met Peter at the concert and we just started to talk and then decided to make a song together. We liked it and go on.

Other members I searched right for the band.

4/Are you playing any instrument?

Yeah. I play the piano and the guitar. But my main instrument is my voice and lyrics, very important for me. I’m telling the story in every song.

5/ How do you compose your songs? Is there a chemistry between members?

We compose our songs with Peter. Of course, It’s chemistry, and HARDworking…haaard loooong working.

6/Did you learn to sing or it came naturally?

Yes, It came naturally, but of course I’m working on my voice constantly.

7/How is the scene in Russia? You have plenty of bands but don’t seem to be all connected…

I don’t what to say, really. We have some great bands, but it’s all complicated with music industry.

8/Which band inspired your music?

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Nirvana, MM, Hole and NIN. The main bands in my life.

9/What is the theme of your album?

The title I keep in a secret, of course, but I can say that each song is the description of emotions, experience which I describe in poetry. Sometimes I create a song like a spell. When I’m writing, I realize how these words can resonate with somebody. Cause we’re all passing through this things like a torch, hatred, intolerance and lack of acceptance of society, humiliation, hard relationships and etc. All this things are our life. And I want that when you’re listening our songs…you feel yourself better, cause you are not alone. In this album, it will be the growing up, even arising from the child to the strong, precocious human. To a warrior.

10/What are your lyrics about? Are you using old texts you wrote or you write them right for the songs?

Look in the previous answer and yeah, I use new lyrics cause I need fresh emotions and relevancy. And of course I pick up the lyrics right for the song cause the mood of lyrics and music must be connected.

11/The video you made has a special meaning for you and has also a message like a movie, can you tell us about it?

The thing is that you shouldn’t run away from your Demons… you need to accept them. Finally accept yourself. I showed you mine in this video. You need to understand that it’s not an evil, he is just different. Thanks to his strong qualities, I can get what I want. Everybody has the same and it’s ok.

12/Are you acting, dance or do any artistic art besides the music?

No, only my band.

13/How do you find gigs, have you got a label or manager? are you playing live with any type of music? Tell us how it works for you..

Well, now all in the big process. We played several shows in SPB just to feel the stage together on it. Cause we haven’t had experience to play together before. And as for me, I had a lot of performances with my previous band all over Russia cause I moved from Siberia. There I played in many clubs and festivals.

Well, last year we had an invitation to play on Halloween in Moscow with theatres des vampires, Hanzul and Gretyl and many great bands. It was awesome journey! Now we’re focused on the recording our first debut album. And then we’re planning a tour. Just can’t wait for it.

14/You have great music, pro photos have your done this with your friends? it seems you have it all to be on top of the charts…

Thank you very much!

Yes, I make it with my friends-photographers. Always want to try something new in it cause I adore the photo session and did it a lot from my childhood.

15/Do you have a way to describe your music or you prefer letting people decide of a genre to fit in?

We play in alternative metal genre plus gothic aesthetics. Something like that.

Olly Lex

www.facebook.com/theendofmelancholy

1/Let ’s get back to the beginning, how did you end up with that name?

We couldn’t find a name and at the time geographical names were trendy i.e. Asia, Europe etc. Rob was looking through an atlas at a map of South East Asia when he saw the island of Java. he suggested it, Roselle liked it and Martin didn’t. We out voted him and hence we became Java.

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

In early 1985, Rosella auditioned for a local rock band which had an outstanding lead guitarist (Martin Latham). She eventually persuaded Martin to join her and Rob to help form a new melodic hard rock outfit, the result of which was ‘Java 3/Is the line up that ended in the album been active for a while or you had many changes before that point?

A couple of drummers came and went before Rosella poached myself Darran Bridge from another local band. With the lineup now complete 4/Why this has taken so long to get the CD out? Some bands don’t do this…

In June of 1987 Java started work on their first and only album to date,Following extensive airplay on local radio and despite attracting interest from several major record companies, the ‘inevitable deal’ never materialised, which sadly led to the breakup of Java later that same year. However, 30 years on the songs finally saw the light of day when Escape Music released Java’s album ‘Change of Heart’ on the 25th August 2017 5/How the song evolved to the process of being recorded? Have you modified songs or simple never used old ones?

Rob & Rosella would come up with the basic song idea, music, melody and lyrics and then bring it to rehearsals for me and martin to add our touch, Martin also had similar ideas he shared with the band, we rehearsed and gigged until the songs were just how we wanted to record them.The songs on the album have not changed from the original recording back in 1987 only been remastered 6/Who is the main composer? Rosella seems to be quite implicated in the band, is she the reason the band got so big?

I would say Rob & Rosella were the two main song writers but we all added to the final end result. Rosella was very good at opening doors to see agents record companies and Magazine editors, she had a way of making them interested.

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7/You seemed to have a lot of fame with magazines such as Kerrang (which helped bands getting heard) and have videos (which also help bands to get a fan base) , you were on the way of stardom, what happened to suddenly stop climbing ?

The final nail in the coffin was not releasing the album, I think we all started to get a bit too big for our own boots, we started to argue and finally called it a day.

8/1987 was a good year and you could have been on the same way than Def Leppard, Vixen etc…, did you play live with those bands?

We played live with Girlschool.

9/Who is responsible for that album getting out of the shelves to reach the masses in 2017?

I suppose myself,this was never intended, i just wanted a copy of the album as my own copy was lost 20 years previously 10/Does that mean the band is back ? Have you got old materials or will release new songs?

After great reviews from Rock Magazines and radio airplay across Europe Rob,Rosella and myself decided to reform with the Escape music wanting to release another album if we had the material to do this, we had some old material but wanted to write new songs.

11/Are you all still in touch after those years or have to get a full line up again?

Rob ,Rosella and myself have all been in touch but unfortunately Martin never reformed with us, we have had three guitarists in the last year and our current lead guitarist Lee is by far the best in writing and playing and unfortunately Rosella did not want to write and record a second album so we have a new lead singer Elaine.

12/When the band split, have you tried to join other bands or became a normal person and quit the music?

I was in several bands in the late 80’s and early 90’s with big album deal offered to me but circumstances changed and music was more of a hobby.

13/Did you make this album on your own? How did it go sold by « The Music Shop »?

We recorded it way back with Producer Guy Bid mead in 1987 , i contacted the BBC TV and Radio and pushed for months to get airplay all over Europe and tried all over the world to get a management company to back us and escape music packaged it and promoted online worldwide in 2017.

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14/Have you contacted labels to help you out or you promoting yourself as it is the best way to do it?

Hopefully when the album is ready to be released Escape Music will promote and we will be able to find that Manager we need.

15/Is one of you into the music business or have technical skills for recording etc..?

I have my own small recording studio so most of the recording will be done there.

16/Are you following the new scene or you still listening to the old tunes you love?

I think I’ve always love the scene back in the 80’s and to see so many bands old and new still playing that classic Rock sound is fantastic, i do listen to new music to keep my foot in.

17/Music has changed so do you, what is the feeling you have when looking at the past of JAVA? Would you do the same things? Any regrets..

I think looking back i was very young and accepted most things just to get along and not upset the band, now being older wiser and a parent i am more outgoing and would have pushed myself in 87 to help out, not to say Rosella & Rob were not doing that but a third person would have helped. Maybe we would not have split up, who knows But to get a second chance after all these years you have to take another crack at the whip back i was very young and accepted most things just to get along and not upset the band, now being older wiser and a parent i am more outgoing and would have pushed myself in 87 to help out, not to say Rosella & Rob were not doing that but a third person would have helped.

Maybe we would not have split up, who knows..

But to get a second chance after all these years you have to take another crack at the whip I forgot to say i designed the album cover and the JAVA change of heart video advert you have on your page.

Thanks Darran

www.facebook.com/javaband1987/

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We are with Doro for her latest album «Forever Wariors Forever United» coming out on August the seventeenth.

So Doro I’ve seen you live at the Metal Days festival last Summer in Slovenia, once again you amazed me. So much energy in your songs and on stage you just rock the stage. How do you feel about the fact you are still playing live shows and recording albums and touring live shows thirty years after?

Doro : Oh man I love it so much and the more I do and the more I appreciate it. When you are doing so many tours you meet a lot of cool people, the metal heads are the best and it always inspires me so much. Sometimes I have so many ideas after the tour but I can’t wait to go back in the studio. This time when we started the new record it was so many songs I thought «Maybe I should do a double album» then I talked to the record company about it is unusual those days and a couple months ago they said «Yeah do it». All the songs are so different from each others, from super Fast, Agressive, Heavy, to super Sensitive, Emotional...I love the whole spectrum of the human nature of all the feelings, but it’s the long idea , the more I love it yeah.

Is this that the human spectrum of emotions that inspire you actually for your songs? Do you get inspired by what you feel during everyday life or what you see in people?

Doro : Yes yes all the kind actually everyday and in I’m ..how can you say.. very empathic I always feel what the other person feels sometimes it’s like when somebody tells me something said you know I immediately like tears rolling down my cheeks I said «oh man» but it grabs me and I feel very connected ..and when people tells me something and some have done if for so long ,you see and hear so much you know...sometimes great sometimes very sad and that inspires me immediately .. and the first song we actually wrote for this album was a song for Lemmy called «Living life to the fully» , we had some ideas before and some songs before but when Lemmy died I went to his funerals, I was in the airplane and this melody and the lyrics came to me and I thought yeah I definitively want to write this song which I would hope Lemmy would love it cos I know he always liked this Army king of feelings with marching drums so this is the one that really made it starting and on one hand I was really so sad. It was the initiative of the idea of this album.

And this album is dedicated to Lemmy Kilmister of course.

Yeah I think last year you played it in Slovenia and you were overwhelmed by emotions, is it always like this when playing this particular song?

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Doro : Yeah sometimes it is like that , specially when you love somebody so much..yeah..yeah sometimes I guess I feel too much , you have to perform and go on stage and be powerful in good mood and when I hear something before the gig and I have to dig it off and sometimes it is impossible. But I think that what music is all about! Deep feelings , deep emotions...music can really do good and connect with feelings whatever human being goes through and music can heal.

Let’s talk about «Forever Wariors Forever United», why you have chosen to have so many songs and have a double album?

Why it has been so long since your last release «Raise your Fist» in 2012?

Doro : Yeah actually we toured non stop, and there was this DVD.. «Strong and Proud» and it was for our thirty years anniversary and it took like two and a half years to do it. I really wanted to take care of it and you know sometimes it takes time to work the sound..you know getting the nice pictures, cutting at night..so the DVD alone took two and a half years. Doing all the festivals and touring so it seems like a long time but to me it’s like everyday with full power and full action so yeah a double album, I had so many songs and thoughts and I don’t want to wait for another album.

They said why not releasing another album next year..but I thought no it’s fresh and noone can know what will happen next year so..let’s do it right now a double album. The songs deserve it they are so many guests on it. So many cool lyrics and melodies it has to be out now you know..

Yeah talking about the guest we have Doug Aldrich, former Warlock Tommy Bolan and who are the others? For example who sings on « If I can’ t have you noone will’ or «Turn it up»?

Doro : Yeah actually if I can help you..there ’s a great duet and it ‘s with Johan Hegg from Amon Amarth and I was there guest on their last record «Young Viking» they asked me if I wanted to do it and I love that band.I am a huge fan of Johan and I was playing live with Tommy in Norway and at 5 in the morning we were jaming in the hotel room.. and that song «If I can have u...» came out and Johan he wrote like half of the lyrics and we were like «man we have a song» it would be perfect for a follow up duet. I was so happy and I think he did a great job we are in the making of a video for this song. With Tommy we are friends since the eigthies and I called him one day I told him «it will be thirty years..» and he said yes do it and whenever you need me I’m here. Then we got quite a lot shows and get along so great.

I said hey we are doing a new album would you like to play..doing great solos and he said yes , he played on «All for Metal»..many guests are playing on the album and Tommy is like playing with his wild style.. for metal heads I think it is brilliant and we will play many festivals , you have many guest singing you have Mille from Kreator.. Sabaton..all are my friends. It’s a lot of fun yeah..

Is it the meaning of friendship and brotherhood for the title «Forever Wariors Forever United»?

Doro : Yeah Yeah, good connection and good deep friends...I think the world is pretty dark right now and times are really though so world fans to metalheads they have great hearts and everybody knows what ‘s right or wrong, and I think friendship will be celebrated on this album (Laughs) and you have to stand your ground you have to fight for what’s right and you know sometimes you just have not to let other people take other. These times are crucial so I think all the good ones will stick together yeah..

Which is your favorite song on it?

Doro : Oh I think my favorite song is «Soldier of Metal» , I love that song so much and it was the first song which I chose for the graphic artist who’s called Geoffrey Gillespie is friend and done older album so I asked him if he wanted to do the new cover again. He is a great artist a great painter, he said «do you have some music?» so I said yes it might be the album title or the cover idea so I sent him the demo then this cover came and I was «oh this is great» but I didn’t know it would be a double album at this stage. Yeah this is my favorite song (weeping) and of course the song for Lemmy.. «All for Metal» I love also so much...I love ‘em all but certainly «Soldier of Metal» cos it means so much to me.

Could you please tell us a bit about «Don’t break my heart again»? Which is a Whitesnake cover...

Yeah actually Whitesnake was the first band I’ve seen ever and it was in 1980 and my first band was called Snakebite we had big Whitesnake pants and then I saw David Coverdale in concert and god he was so amazing and so unbelievable and I always loved that song. Then I thought if It’s a double album I would love cover a song which I love , we tried it out and it immediately sounded great so we thought «yeah let’s do it».

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You made it yours actually in a much heavier side..

Doro : Yeah a little bit different arrangement but..I had so much fun and so much energy singing it so..it naturally came out the way it came out it was not fiddling around or like to arrange ..not look for a sound ... just came out naturally it is a very good sign when you don’t have to work too much nor too hard nor slowly.. I like it when it just work out easilly and something flows ..what I like the most when it comes quick and you feel yeah it meets the point.

What about «Blood Sweat and Rock’n Roll» ?

Doro : Really good , fun song we were on tour last year and Bas Mass he was like sweating and then he was hanging his Metal jacket and then he cut his hand because of a roughty nail blood was coming out he said «shit» and I said «it’s definitevely ‘Blood Sweat and Rock’n Roll’» he said ‘yeah it’s a very good song title’ so I said ‘let’s do it’ so we wrote a song together.It’s a fun song..it’s about Rock and how much we love it sometimes it’s hard , sometimes you have to bleed a lot ..that’s what it means to us.

If there is one thing that you would remember for your thirthy year career what would it be?

Doro : yeah no it’s thirthy five ! what would be the greatest moments I had was recording with people I love, recording with Lemmy ..we did so many songs together that was awesome in the studio. My very first live show with Judas Priest, and with Ronie James Dio , with W.A.S.P...you know it’s like unforgetable..doing this record with Gene Simmons he produced one record in 1990. I would also see him and go in July in Germany he would give away the demos , the songs ..and he invited me so I would enjoy.. it’s my thing you know making friends , touring together.. making records together it’s a dream come true...you know unforgetable memories.

And from a woman’s perspective how would you look back on your career, what it is like for a woman to thrive in the music industry and more in the Metal music?

Doro : Oh I was always treated so good with respect, I always had the chance to work with great bands and great musicians so..there was never any problems..never thought I was like blessed or one of the ..I’m just a musician you know.

I think music is above that all! I’m a human being I love Metal and I’m totally dedicated to the fans , to music and everybody could feel that so...never a doubt or questions..it’s pretty good to be a woman I enjoy it, I love it and it is very hard to be a musician to fight for your music..to stay in the music business it’s sometimes hard and sometimes time is on your side you know in the eighties that was great. And in the nineties when grunge came up it was very tough to keep it going to stay alive. And in 2000 or something like that there was a big coming back and ever since I think Metal is growing and getting bigger and bigger but you know sometimes when time is not on your side you have to hang in there stick it hard maybe play smaller clubs it’s just as much fun when you see the people in the first raw, I love that moment you know when I see people sweating, singing..when I pick my mic and see their face with their smile. www.unitedrocknations.com/interviews-doro-linterview-promo-de-forever-warriors-forever-united-595

www.doro.de

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

We both, Niki and Ralf, started the band together. The idea was to bring the duality that forms our everyday reality onto stages around the world. There is no good without evil, no fire without water and no KRASH without KARMA. 2/What ’s the meaning of the band’s name?

It means that what you give is what you receive...and in this case immediately.

3/You are two musicians on the videos but you have a full band on photos, does that mean the rest is changing a lot? If so why?

We used to be 4 people in the beginning and there are still pictures floating around. The main core was always Niki and Ralf. Since Ralf built his special Frankenstein Bass/Guitar there was no more need for any of that, and KRASHKARMA as we know it was born.

4/Are you working in the music business? Your music is so well done…

Thanks. Music is all we do... so yes it is our business and to get better at what we do is our goal.

5/Have you played in other bands before or still in other formations?

We started as a 4 piece....then 3 piece...then duo. Travelling the world forced us to trim the fat and get to the point quick. We played in all kinds of Metal, Punk, Funk, Rock bands before this.

6/Have you followed courses in LA music school?

School not so much. Life is our school and we learn every day. Being exposed to people when you enter a stage and play your heart out is the best school.

7/You both members, sing and play instruments you must have many years of experience?

There is some experience, but that comes with time. You just have to do it and see what happens....but as long as you stay true to yourself as a singer and believe what you say, nothing can be wrong.

8/What inspires your creations? How do you write ? Do you have a studio where you can spend time…

Wherever we stay we set up our studio and get to work... our recording studio is called «Your mom’s house» because in the early days of touring we stayed a lot with friends at their parent’s houses where we would record our music. We are inspired by books and movies for lyric ideas, life experience for content and all the bands we grew up with.

9/Which bands influenced you for your style that has many ?

We love IN FLAMES and also MASSIVE ATTACK, MIDDLE CLASS RUT and SLAYER. IGGY POP and SEX PISTOLS....and so many more.

10/Who directed your videos? have you got input?

Ralf is directing the videos. The input comes from Niki and whoever holds the camera to film it.

11/Who made you want to play the instruments you chose?

KISS made Ralf want to play the drums....but his parents got him a flute instead. After years of blowing away he worked his way up and got a guitar. Niki always wanted to play something that doesn’t break when you hit it hard and found the drums to be the most durable (after breaking many flutes).

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12/Do you have endorsement?

Yes, we are proud to be endorsed by ESP guitars, DDRUM, PAISTE Cymbals, PRESONUS, D’ADDARIO, MAGNATRACK and AHEAD. Those companies really support what we are doing and we couldn’t be happier to work with them!

13/How did you get the deal with Eternal Sound in Germany?

We kick some serious ass and that’s how they found us.

14/Who’s dealing with the website? It ’s more like a music store than a real site…

We are dealing with the website...apparently we are also web salesmen...do you need any guitar strings or viagra?

15/Are you connected with fans other the social medias?

Of course, our number one contact is hanging out with fans at our shows.

16/How long have you been together? Is the musical direction evolved from the beginning?

We have been together 10 years. The direction is always evolving...it is going from bad to good and from good to be the best. Right now we are somewhere between the last two.

17/They are at least a video for each song, do you think the new age is totally digital? Your album is only available online?

The new age is indeed all digital. But we are old school and encourage everybody to come out and see us play live.

Digital is only a «clone» of reality and will never convey the blood, sweat and tears that a real rock show can deliver.

Our album is only available online since most record stores closed down. You can always buy it at our shows along with a free sweaty hug and a sticker.

PS: Our new album «MORPH» is coming out September 2018!

www.krashkarma.com

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1.When looking at your bio, it sounds like you are all spread around the globe. How is the band got together and do you record through the internet?

Yes, Siren Call is very international indeed. I'm from Bulgaria, Jason, the guitar player, is from Los Angeles, and Gabor, the drummer, is Hungarian. Luckily we all live in Vienna, Austria, where the band is based.

2/Who started the band? You have all centered on you… are you the main founder?

It all started with a 60s-themed party I met Jason at when he was DJ-ing and also playing guitar solos. I was very impressed with how he played Jimi Hendrix, while thought I was a fellow Californian, because apparently I was singing Sublime songs like I was Gwen Stefani!

3/You seem to play lots of live shows , are you living in the states? Have you played in your own countries?

We are based in Europe, but we have played in the States too, we've done tours on the West Coast from LA all the way up to Seattle! And yes, we've been fortunate enough to have had shows in all of our home countries!

4/What’s the story behind the band’s name?

I'm obsessed with mythology, especially Greek mythology, and I also feel very connected to the sea. The siren myth fits perfectly, because they are mysterious, deadly creatures who lure victims to their doom using their enchanting voices. Not to mention Siren Call's guitar player is called Jason - it was meant to be!

5/Have you sung in other bands?

I used to have a punk band with my high school buddy, called Lucid Interval!

6/What made you choose the bass? Have you learnt on your own or had a teacher?

In Siren Call I ended up playing bass out of necessity - we couldn't find a bass player who fit our style and vision, so I took matters into my own hands.

I've learned both on my own and with different teachers. I am proud to call Chris Wyse from The Hollywood Vampires and Ace Frehley my teacher! Not to mention he has an amazing band of his own - Owl. 7/Do you play guitar or another instrument?

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I learned guitar as a teenager with the main goal to be able to write songs like Kurt Cobain! Bass came later.

8/Who is creating the songs ? How do you compose?

I am the lyricist of the band and sometimes I would also come up with the bas melody and structure of the song. Jason and Gabor would then arrange it and make the sound unique. Other times they would send me a riff and I would build a song around it.

9/What are the lyrics about? Do you have lots of written text and adapt them to the music?

All my lyrics are very personal, so they are an exploration of my mind and life experiences. I consider myself a poet first, so yes, I am constantly writing and then adapting my poetry to songs.

10/ You seem to have lots of videos, who direct them? Are you editing them or it is made by pros?

On "Just a Man" we worked with student filmmakers from the "Deutsche Pop" school. The other three vidoes, "Rose Ashes", "Harness" and "LA Crash" are a collaboration with our filmmaker friend Niki Schmidt from Rock videos : www.rockvideos.at Some of the footage of "Harness" and "LA Crash" are filmed in LA! 11/Who did the cover album? Do you have a label?

Niki Schmidt, again, took the photos and him and Jason both collaborated on the artwork. The photos you are seeing here are the work of the talented photographer Christopher Hromek, who shot us live at Coco Bar - a local Vienna venue. No, we do not have a label, but I am thinking of starting one. DIY! 12/You had an award and many compliments from diverse mags etc, how did you manage to do that? Have you sent lots of materials like the old days?

It's a combination of factors - submitting ourselves, people discovering us online, meeting someone and then establishing a contact...music works in mysterious ways!

13/It seems you had started years ago, what is happening now? how do you see all those years going for the band?

Have you achieved what you were looking for?

Music is a journey and although there is a lot we have accomplished together, there is still so much more to do! We all have a lot of creative energy that needs to be expressed, lots of plans to make come true. I guess you have to wait and see!

14/Who is responsible for the website design? Are you in touch with fans all other social medias?

Jason, Siren Call's guitar player! He is not only great at guitar solos, but a talented IT guy too. Talk about multi-talent.

15/Have you got a manager to find live dates?

I am the manager!

16/You have a tented seventies pop style mixed with eighties tunes, pretty different from the influences you are referring to, have you grown up in a musical family? Or you just listening to a lot of music?

Oh yes! My dad has always been a huge rock fan, so I grew up with classic records and MTV back when it was still a music TV. I started singing before I could talk and music has always been a huge part of my life, my passion!

17/Are they bands you are supporting and following? Are they ones you’d like to share the stage with?

As I said: Chris Wyse's Owl! And although we did share a stage once, and mid you, it was the legendary Whisky a go go stage, I want to play with them again. Check them out at : www.owltheband.net !

Yvonne Lace

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How are you? We are here to talk about «Steel Factory», we think this is a fantastic Heavy Metal album UDO : I’m fine, thank you for the compliment.

Do you think the tour in which you played the Accept songs influenced the creations of the songs you wrote for the new album?

UDO : I would say ..let’s be honest, yeah. I mean if you are on tour during for at least three years , playing Accept song yeah it influences for song writting. But I don’t have a problem with this (Laughs)...

«Steel Factory» is the first album you record with your son, how it was?

UDO : Yeah! What can I say I mean he did a great job.. He was very quick... he recorded in four days, he was reharsing a lot before we start recording , arranging..he made it in Four and half days I think...to record the whole album. I’m very proud of him.

The father and the son is incredible, it’s a great feeling ...

UDO : Yes it is , yes indeed.

I heard that last summer Stefan Kauffman joined the band during the tour but apparently won’t be on the album can you tell us a bit more?

UDO : Yeah we had a problem with a guitar player for the second time..our last guitarist wasn’t into it you know... not a team player and not interested.. so after the US tour we told him.. well then it’s over and you know we’re not like taking a guitarist like that .. so I have called Stefan and we never had any better relationship and it went well but then he postponed all the festivals .. not to tell the whole story... he said «I don’t have a problem, but I don’t want to join the band anymore»... (Laughs) Then now we have time to look for a new guitar player and I think the end of August we will tell you who his the new guitar player. We are still auditionning guitar players and we have three left so we’ll make our decision who will be the next guitar player.

Ok we will wait to hear about the name of the new guitarist, on this new album «Steel Factory» the songs are really heavy, P57

did you write the lyrics before the songs or the opposite?

UDO : let’s say I have lots of ideas about the lyrics..like the song «One Heart one Soul» the music came and you know it’s not easy to tell. I have lots of ideas but when the music is done I know which things is going together with this and so on...not easy thing to do...

So you don’t write the lyrics before the music?

UDO : Well I have ideas of the title and few things on leaflets, but when the music is done I can really write with the melodies and then I start writing the song with the lyrics.

Is there a meaning of the title of the album and the lyrics?

UDO : No we usually do this but this time we only wanted to have a title on itself for the album.We are steel factory and we are in a way creating steel music you know..and people always talked about this and there is in Germany a steel factory and we thought it was a good thing to call the album «steel factory».

We liked the album cover artwork, who designed it ?

UDO : Oh it wasn’t easy you know «what to do with steel factory» (Laugh) we had lots of ideas with steel etc.. but then the label found a guy in Argentina and he came with this whole idea with a factory making steel so yeah I think the guy did a good job with the title.

Let’s talk about the songs on the album, there is one called «Raise the Game». There is like oriental stuff on the guitar part, tell us more about that song..

UDO : Oh that song, yeah like playing the game..you can see it the polical way or you can see it in a more personal way, the oriental guitar I mean we have russian guitar player (Laugh) he put sometimes some mongolian stuff you know...and arabic stuff.. yeah I think it was interesting that he wasn’t just doing normal Metal solos ...sort of melodies and everything fits together in this song.

The second song «Make the Move» is a different song from the album, the guitar riffs are different...tell us a bit more about that song..

UDO : Yeah the lyrics are about myself you know, I think I make the right move in my life so far..some people compare to «Living for Tonight» ..but a little bit maybe don’t know..it’s a straight forward song and it will definitively be great for live song.

Let’s talk about «Rock kitchen» in September will be the first show broadcasting , how did you get involved?

UDO : I will be the host on this show, the idea was born ....in the 70’s ... what happened with rock bands in Germany.

Something that will coming on TV.. band will come but not for an interview there will be cooking and during I will be talking to them but not like an interview.. there will be challenges ...I mean it’s better to talk to bands normally than doing interviews you know asking for the next tour...the good thing is they can’t lie to me (laugh).

We have a special show on our radio and we are asking about your musical background, The first album you bought?

UDO : The first album I bought was called «The Monks»...I don’t think anybody knows this band but I saw them in a small club and the album came out , I can’ t really explain.. it was really Hard Rock music.

Which album made you want to make music?

UDO : Oh!!! it’s hard to say..Jimi Hendrix years but I can’t give you any albums .. those Hendrix years something like that...something like that...

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Is there an album you listened to the most in your life?

UDO : Oh yeah it’s from Rainbow from 1979 in Munich. The live album with Ronnie James Dio...the album can listen to anytime.

What is the best artwork?

UDO : Oh that is a difficult questions... what is is called already Deep Purple with head in stone...

Machine Head..

UDO : Yeah Machine Head one cover album I really like.

Is there an album you would have dreamt of singing into it?

UDO : ACDC Highway to Hell (Laugh)

www.unitedrocknations.com/interviews-udo-linterview-promo-de-steel-factory-602

www.udo-online.de

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1/When and who started the band?

I started the band with in 2016... initially I just wanted to work with these guys to record some songs.. it’s just built from there.

2/How hard it has been to find the right musicians?

Prior to Greystone Canyon I was playing in a Mercyful Fate / King Diamond tribute band and we toured Australia many times. We always played with original bands and that how I came across Luke, Dave and Rich.. they all played in deferent bands and I really admired their skills. There are a lot of really great musicians here so i guess I was just lucky that these guys were interested and liked the songs.

3/Have you released other albums before ? Or play in other formation?

We have all recorded and released material in other bands but for Greystone Canyon this is our debut, there were no release demos or EP’s prior to «While the Wheels still Turn» release.

4/How did you find the label? have you had many possibilities?

As soon as we were in the mixing stage of the album I started sending «rough mixes» to labels. It didn’t hurt that Grammy nominated producer Glen Robinson was mixing the album. I think that helped us to get labels to take a good listen. We signed a licensing deal with Rockshots Records for USA / Canada and Europe and a seperate deal with Hellfire Records for Australia. We did get interest from other labels also but are very happy with the current set up.

5/It seems there is only one composer, how did you create those amazing songs?

Wow... thank you! I have always written songs since I was maybe 13 years old. For Greystone Canyon I wanted to pay homage to all the great bands I’ve grown up with and that’s why there elements of classic rock, metal, a touch of thrash and even AOR and southern vibes. I wanted the album to cover a lot of musical ground but still tie it all together. The P64

song themes and lyrics I came up with but Luke, Dave and Rich really added SO much spice, flare and flavour.. what you hear is a real band effort. Rich wrote the beautiful Spanish guitar piece «Sombrero Serenade» and Dave wrote the haunting western bass guitar piece « Cinco Cureda Bandito» 6/What made you choose this band ’s name?

I’m a big fan of Western films and also wanted a name that wasn’t a stereo typical heavy metal name..

7/Your way of playing and creating the riffs are unusual from Rock/Metal bands, how did you learn how to play your instrument?

Thanks... all four of us have been playing in bands a long time and we like a lot of different styles so we try and play «for the song». If a song requires double kick drumming and razor sharp riffing and crazy solos then that’s what we do but another song might requires bluesy guitar and vocal harmonies.. it’s all about the song.. really bringing each song to life and hoping that it connects with the listener.

8/You have powerful and emotional lyrics, what inspired you ?

I’m somewhat spiritual.. I believe our lives are what we leave behind, not just with my music but making a positive impact on others, helping and inspiring and being inspired. There’s a great saying that goes « It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice». Ha ha.. I’m like a Bill & Ted film.. «be excellent to each other».

9/Did you take vocal lessons? Who is your favorite singer?

No I haven’t had any vocal lessons I just grew up like most singing along to my favourite albums. I’m a big fan of David Coverdale’s voice but there are SO many great voices in rock.

10/What made you call the album « While The Wheels Still Turn » and can you explain the meaning of it?

It means «do what you love for as long as you can». Everybody should remind themselves of this. Life is a gift and we all need to make the very most of it.

11/do you have your own studio?

I don’t but Rich Vella (guitars) has a good set up, we recorded all the guitars at his house. A good friend of mine Sham Hughes who plays drums for Nothing Sacred, he co produced the album and is a great engineer also. He engineered my vocals and also tracked my acoustic guitar parts.

12/Who is your favorite band , guitarist..?

My top 5 influences for this album would be. Ozzy Osbourne, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Megadeth and Deep Purple.

My favourite guitarists... this is tough. Randy Rhodes, Eddie Van Halen, Jake E Lee, Angus Young 13/You have many influences from Rock to Hard Rock, do you mix your influences or you just naturally play and listen to all kind of music?

Yes I really try and mix all my influences.. I mean the intro to the album «keeping company with the dead» was me tipping my hat to Crosby Stills Nash and Young and The Eagles and then goes straight into Astral Plane which is me channeling my inner Dave Mustaine and Jeff Waters.

14/Do you find live dates easily?

The album came out in March and prior to this we were completely unknown.. we are trying to build a fanbase through the album and videos before we play live.

Are they friends you play with often?

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We play in other bands also, bands very different to Greystone Canyon but we catch up and hang out. We are starting to demo songs for the second album and we are also working on a video for «Take us All» 15/What do you think of the scene in Australia? you have lots of bands coming out…

We have a good scene here for all types of rock and metal.. it’s not huge but it’s healthy and there are many great bands here.

16/Tell us about your gears, you have an old strat or you have spent your nerves onto it ahah, what are the other things you use and why?

Yes I have a Frankenstein stratocaster that I built myself, it’s got a left handed neck and Billy Gibbons «pearly gates» humbucker. I use a Peavey 6505+ with a tube screamer and some basic pedals, reverb, noisegate, solo boost. To record the album we did all the guitars with The Kemper profiler..

We used a number of classic amp profiles from Marshall JMP to Fender Tweeds.

www.facebook.com/GreystoneCanyon

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1/Let’s talk about your festival, how did you started and what was the difficulties you encountered?

1.

In 1999 my best friend Brad Youngblood and myself were obsessed with finding and collecting every metal album we could. The ultimate goal for us was to start a metal museum, to showcase everything the media and the Rock N Roll hall of fame would never display. There is so many people that need to be recognized, the bands, the producer, the engineer's, the artist that draw the covers, so many people. For a year we tried to figure out how to go about it. We got a college professor to get his economic class do a report for us to see where are how much it would cost, if it would be ever economically possible. We found out it would cost us well over a million dollars to start it and would be very hard to make it work out. Let down we were not going to stop. Our love for the music and the underground is so intense, we figure out that we could put on a huge metal festival, and if we do enough and get the word out about our museum, we were sure we could not fail. In 2000 we started to figure out what we need to do to get the music festival started, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We thought it would be simple, hire some bands find a place make lots of money, boy were we wrong. We finally came up with the name The Classic Metal Festival.

We wanted to showcase the classic metal bands that started the underground. Then we had to start up a foundation to start accepting donation for the festival and for the museum. We started up the Metal Music Foundation.

2/What was your role? Did you contact all the bands?

2.

Our role was everything, we did it all ourselves, we had to figure out how to contact the bands, try to figure out pricing with them, find the right venue to do it at, get sound men, lighting, stage manager, how to feed the bands, had to contact vendors to sell music and merchandise,so many thing we were getting overwhelmed.

3/How much does it cost to do such an event?

3.

It's hard to give a exact price, ever show was a lot different. After we started to know more people in the business we got better deals. Our first show did not go over very well, we did not know what we were doing, we didn't advertise very well. We lost $20,000 that first year. We should have stopped, but our drive would not let us.

4/You made t-shirts for the event, who bought them? how many you printed?

4.

The shirt we had to pay for ourselves. We made 3000 shirts for the first show. Only sold half of them.

Every year after that we changed up how many we would have printed up.

5/Did you do this with friends and family?

5.

Yes Brad's my best friend and like my brother, my wife at the time she helped out immensely, she was the third partner.

6/Are you still in touch with those bands?

6.

Yes we still are friends with a lot of the bands. I still talk to them on the phone, internet, go to concerts to hang out with them. Met my friend in Attacker in Chicago for a festival, we drove there picked him up at the airport and had a great two day weekend. We went to Florida, to visit family, Mike from Iron Cross asked us to come up to P68

his house to stay with him a couple days. Great time. Mike has now passed I miss him, we talked a lot. Meeting your hero's and becoming their friend is and incredible feeling.

7/Do you have a band yourself? What led you to want to do that?

7.

Never been in a band, neither was brad. I could never play anything, but love music so much I just became the biggest fan. Starting the Festival and wanting to start the museum was our way to show our respect to the bands, our hero's.

8/Have you had to deal with the labels? tell us how hard it was to get the bands you wanted?

8.

Most labels we talked with we all the small underground labels, and they all loved what we were doing.

We never got a major headliner, that's one reason we never got a bigger name. My favorite band is OVERKILL and we wanted them so bad, but they were always over seas during the summer months as is most the bigger name bands, so that made it really hard, and they wanted so much money we could not afford them and the 30 to 40 other bands we had to figure out how to pay for ourselves. A lot of the bands that played for us loved what we did so much they played for free some even paid their own way to get there. Some were not to happy when we couldn't pay them after the show was over, we eventually paid the bands, just took sometime, and they were really impressed that we actually did that, they started to come back to more of our festivals wanting to play.

9/How did you get a stage and a field to have this festival running?

9.

The first place we did it in our small city of Kalamazoo Michigan at the state theater beautiful place, lots of big name people have played there. The night before our festival BB King played there. Cost was way to much money, so after that we got people to find us different clubs in different states, for a lot less money. None of the clubs were ever as good as the state theater but they were all nice fun venues, in Ohio and Chicago.

10/Is there a chance it will be launched again?

10.

Hate to say but No there will probably never be another one. We had our time, now there is a festival every month, when we started this there was nothing like it. There were a couple show like the prog power festival that just started like a year before us, There was Wacken that had been going on over seas, but even they were just using the big name headliners, we wanted the smaller bands that were just as good but, got pushed aside. We also the Milwaukee Metal Fest but they weren't getting the bands we wanted anymore. We basically did this to see the bands we wanted.

To meet my hero's.

Friday July 27 marked the inaugural show at the S.I. Hall at the New York State Fairgrounds. The newly developed concert venue kicked things off with heavy hitters Black Label Society with Corrosion of Conformity and EYEHATEGOD.

www.syracusemusiccollective.com P70

1/So what happened since the last album? any line up changes…

A lot has happened since the last album. It’s been three jampacked years for the band as well as personally for each of us. After Never Wanna Die came out we did our usual runs of touring that kept us super busy until the fall of 2017 when we headed into the studio. By then our core lineup remained the same, of C.C. Diemond, me and Daniel Dekay but we had some new members in the rhythm section. Kyle Lecourt on drums and Tyrone Buccione on bass. It’s been a trip, honestly.

2/How did you think this new album? Have you wanted special things to be different? what was the approach?

This new album came together in a strange, disjointed way to be honest. C.C. was listening to a lot of music I guess, a lot of modern music. Pop music too. So when he was coming up for the initial ideas and riffs for the new record, it influenced his songwriting a lot. And right off the bat, I remember hearing some of the songs and thinking there’s no way in hell I’m singing on that, it just wasn’t my thing. I know Dekay felt the same way. I guess when you’ve been a band long enough you can say that to someone. But I think in the end it affected his desire to share his new songs with us. We kind of ignored it on the road but knew we had a record to make that we could all agree on. And that wasn’t happening. We ended up not using most of the material we worked on over that period on the record.

When we came back from our American and European runs in 2017 I invited a songwriter I respect immensely, Michael Woods to come to Toronto from Boston to write with us for the new Diemonds album. I knew his style was a bit different than the typical Diemonds. I wanted to showcase a whole range of our influences on the record and I think with Michael’s guidance on four tracks on the album helped me explore some interesting techniques in style and sound. It was really cool. But because of all this we were definitely still tweaking songs and melodies and riffs even while we were in the studio.

3/Do you still have the fun attitude from the beginning?

Hell yeah. I mean, I do. I literally live for playing music live. I don’t care about much else. Other than saving Mother Nature.

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4/Priya you kinda have been a top model for years now, do you work on other projects than the music?

I don’t know about THAT. Haha. I think photos and images and all that are hyper necessary in the social media age but I definitely know that it’s not the focus of anything and I’m not a model. For me, it all comes down to the music...

I already can’t wait to make a record of my own.

My day job is pretty kick ass and I get to work with vinyl and records as a host for Record Store Day Canada. I’m also a writer and dabble in some acting.

5/Tell us about the new cover, who designed it, have you had input ? The pentagram in the Diamond sign is just to be in the trend or it has a signification in the album theme?

The album was designed by Kenneth J. Maxx from Ottawa, Canada and he’s a wicked artist. C.C. normally works on our graphics alongside other visual artists so he had input here. The pentagram is genius and C.C. created it years ago - it’s sort of our secondary logo. I think the biggest change for me is seeing the change in font our name Diemonds.

We’ve had the same logo for ages so it’s difficult for me. I don’t deal well with change haha.

6/Have you left the Horror movie fun and concentrated more into a specific subject?

No. We’ll always love campy horror movies and fun. It’s in our blood.

7/Your videos are always like movies, reminding the 80’s fame ones. Do you like doing them? Have you played in movies or would love to?

Thank you! They’re so fun! They’re usually crazy long days and someone gets injured (no joke) and often it’s SOOOO cold outside when we are filming them. But they’re always worth it. Every single one of our videos were done with Bleedingheart Productions until the most recent one I did with Skye Sweetnam from the band Sumo Cyco. That’ll be out soon. This one was a lot of fun. Another movie-like plot and fantasy sequence.

I do dabble in some very mild acting here and I enjoy it. I never aspired towards it but I would love to do more acting for sure.

8/Since you started the Canadian scene has grown widely, have you made more friends? How do you get on with over musicians? tell us how it’s like other there…

Touring bands become easy friends in Canada. It’s seriously like a club because we all know how crazy it is to do what we do. Our country is huge and it’s a lot of driving, all kinds of weather, such vast differences in population and socio economic backgrounds from town to town. It’s a lot. So it’s always nice to know a network of human beings who simply get it.

9/What are your lyrics about? Do you write lots of stories or you just concentrate on a subject for the album?

My lyrics are about life for sure. Maybe my life, maybe yours. But we have never done a you know, concept album or themed album intentionally. Most of our songs tend to have a dark undercurrent or tone to them but i guess that’s just how I see the world. Or how I interpret and spit out the world in my lyrics.

10/Are you still on Naplam Records? How did you get the Lp done? Are you collecting them?

No Diemonds is an independent band and it feels so good. We got the LP done ourselves with some help from our manager Dan Hand. I collect records, yes. I have way, way too many. But it never gets old when people add our records to their collections.

11/Who is dealing with the website? Are you in touch with your fans through the social medias?

C.C. usually deals with the website and I do more of our social media posts. We keep in touch with and try to respond to each and every message we receive! Come say hi.

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12/How do you compose the songs? Have you got one composer or you all sit down and bring ideas?

I feel like I answered this already. But C.C. brings the initial ideas to the table and I usually work on lyrics and melodies.

13/Are you trying to keep a sound to identify your band compared to millions out there? if so how do you do?

I think we’ve grown out of emulating our favorite bands and really came into our own on this new album. I don’t think we’re gonna change the genre or anything but rock n’ roll is perfect. Why change it? I just wanna add to its amazing legacy and leave my mark in some small way.

14/What’s your view on the digital age? are you mad at it? Do you sell more albums at your gigs?

We definitely sell a lot of records in person at shows but there is no question we’ve embraced the digital medias.

People can stream our album on Spotify and Apple Music and Google Play. In fact because our record sold out so quickly it’s the only way to hear it!

15/Have you got endorsement? Any facilities due to your fame?

We used to work with Jagermeister and Dr Martens and still work with Pabst Blue Ribbon here in Canada. But I mean... the best part of playing music is getting to check out a lot of our fellow musicians when they’re on tour in Toronto. I’ve gotten to go to a lot of wicked shows this summer. I think that’s my favourite part.

16/Are they bands you are following or you don’t really care? What would be your advice to new bands?

My advice to new bands is to tour as soon as you record and learn your ropes so you can’t get taken advantage of in the trenches of the music biz.

There’s a lot of wicked bands out there. Personally, I like Vigil of War from LA. Wicked band!

www.Diemonds.net

Questions answered by Rainer Grund (RG) 1/This is your fifth album , did you think you would go that far or this was just a project for fun?

TE never was a project just for fun. Since the beginning in 1998 it was our goal to make our music and bring it to the people. Sometimes it was a hard way because of the big changes in the music business (digitally, streaming ...). After our long break now we prepared for the situation and .. we are back. Actually "Mirror of creation III - Project Ikaros" are our sixth release. But you're right, our fifth full album "The unexpected World" in 1999 "Mirror of Creation I" in 2003 "Mirror of Creation II - Genesis II" in 2006 "The Tower" (EP) in 2007 "Tales from Serpentia" in 2008 "Mirror of Creation III - Project Ikaros" in 2018 2/The cover reminds the movie « minority report » is the story in the same vein? can you tell us the theme of that album?

Not really. The story behind all Mirror albums is to reflect the evolution of our society and the fears and problems we have to face every day. But we also tell a Sci-Fi dystopian story. This time it is a small part of that universe, that evolves in a dream of our main protagonist. It’s all about the idea that WE are forging our society, our now and our future. But honestly I am afraid most people don’t give a f*** about it. We could do so many good things. But instead we are wasting our time with distractions and with each day I have the feeling that the world is going a bit more mad Mirror Of Creation has a science fiction story with one for the at that time (2003 MOC I) dystopian vision of the future. Genetic engineering and over-breeding started. In 2006, we added another note to MOC II, and with it at the same time shifting the point of view and moral of the story.

We raised the question of what would be if the protagonist, at the end of MOC I, Hollywood-like destroy everything, but he is totally is on the wrong way.

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What if, despite all evidence, exist a deeper reason for all the events of the first part?

So we already have a complete story with MOC I and II a significant twist.

The third part is more likely a little mind-f ****. Here everything starts as a Theater, stage play, leads us by hand through dreams and dystopian nightmares, to philosophical ones approaches on the subject of dream itself, while at the same time we have a few current themes of "creation", to a happy ending, which then ends on stage from the beginning of the story. At the end the "outing" to a complete dream.

Dreamed of our protagonist of the Mirror Line "Adam". That may sound confusing at first, but.... IV 3/Why calling it « III »? is there something not finished in your theme?

Yes, we work already on part IV. Detailed information’s at the right time 4/Seems like you are changing labels for each album, what is the reason for?

It was not planned! Our first Label closed the doors before we released the "Mirror I" Album. So we had to find a new one for the release. We found it, but only with a contract for one release. After that we signed for "MOC II" the "TOWER EP" and "Tales from Serpentia" an new deal with the third Label. Now 10 years later we decided to make all the work by ourselves and our own label BAZE Records in cooperation with Dr. Music Records / Dr. Music Promotions. Distribution was taken over by Soulfood Music and Amped / Alliance. With this strong partners we are back in the game.

5/What has changed since the first album?

We had a lot of lineup changes. Only Oliver and my selves as founding members are still there. Martin LeMar joined in 2003/04 right after the "MOC I" release.

Since 2004 we had some changes on Bass and Drums. And finally during the MOC III sessions we found John and Mike, they are crazy enough to work with us together in the future. :-) 6/You have great musicians who are into other bands, does that make it complicated for schedules? Are you playing live gigs or you are just a studio band?

For my selves and Oliver is there not a problem, because Martin are not to much involved in other projects for the future. John has given us "green light" for touring, also Mike. With the right planning this will be to manage.

So we are not a studio band, we definitely play live shows 7/Who compose the songs? how do you practice the tunes? Are you all sit and jam or everyone brings an idea?

Oliver an me compose and arrange all the music in my small studio at my home.

Also we do the preproduction for the following studio work (for John und Mike we do this with plugins) . Martin is responsible for the lyrics and vocal melodies.

The preproduction is the base for John and Mike, they replace or fill up the plugin lines with her own ideas for the final recordings in the BAZEMENT Studios.

That’s like we work.

8/When you first chose the band’s name there was a reason, does it still stand?

One of the reasons was the novel "Tomorrow's eve" by Villiers de L'isle Adam. A wonderful view in the future. The other Reason was this untypical "voicing" of the name.

9/How do you find the inspiration? Are you listening to many bands that inspire you?

Exactly the other way. I didn't hear so much other music during writing time, i need the distance. My inspiration is an metamorphosis of my thinking. I convert visual real impressions and pics or scenes during my inner eye into a guitar riff or line in dependency the story and Martins song concept. (I hope it is not too complicated for my humble English) P75

10/Do you have plenty of text or you write them only for the album?

I have to answer for Martin, he writes for several Projects. I know he writes the lyrics and concepts for TE exact in a quantity we need. So it gives no out takes or unused material for TE. For his another projects, i don’t know.

11/Have you got unfinished songs that stay on the shelves? How do you set up the order of the tracks?

For the music we have the same "rules". We finished only songs that will be good enough to find a place on the album.

The rest was not good enough and will be not used for writing sessions in the future. The order of the tracks is exclusive Martins job, ....what the story need.

12/Who did the design of the album , have you participated to it?

No, we give all into Andy Pilkingtons hands. Andy with his company "Very Metal Art" have all the "artistic freedom” .

13/Who did the video « Dream within a dream »? What does this song has special , can you explain the deep of the meaning?

By Andy Pilkington, he creates for us all our videos. For the videos we give to him only some small wishes and impressions about the song. That’s it "Dream within a Dream" is close to the poem "Dream within a Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe. Some Lines are in the lyrics. But the whole song is a main part in the MOC III concept.

14/Do you use specific equipment to have those technical sound or it just comes from your talent?

No, nothing special equipment. I use normal Tube Amps without any modified stuff. Only my guitars, this ones are custom made guitars by Siggi Braun "Fine young Guitars". Oliver use a standard Keyboard. A main point for the sound is maybe our search for "not like this solutions". I means I’m not looking to others and his results. I go my own way to the point i can say "yes that’s what i expected. For this reason i have recorded the guitars because of the sound result three times with different settings! I think that’s is our way to get the goal.

15/Have you used a special sound engineer or you leave that to the label? have you got recording skills?

Yes we have, Markus Teske owner and Mastermind from the BAZEMENT Studios in Wiesbaden, Germany. Our first two records were recorded by Markus in Wiesbaden. He is the one for us. Crazy in the same way, you know?

The recording place is no longer a label decision! Is bad to say that we had because of Budget reasons no chance to record "MOC II" the "Tower EP" and "Tales from Serpentia" by Markus.

But now we are our own boss, and Markus will record all following TE Records.

16/Is there a country where you have the most fanbase?

Yes, we have! First of all the United States together with Canada then UK and Germany. The whole Europe are really good. What i have to say, the prog-metal fans are the most loyal fans in the world. Thanks for your support and stay tuned for our Live activities

www.tomorrows-eve.com

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

ENG The idea to establish a band was born in 2011 from Alessandro Scorrano (drums) and Andrea Donaera (guitar). After some line-up changes, in 2013 another guitarist, Matteo Cirfeda, joins the project, and finally we started to compose our own songs. In the middle of 2014 bassist Stefano Bianchini and singer Giacomo Albanese join Serial Vice and between January and February 2015 we recorded our first album "Nightmares Come True", finally out in 2017 via Sliptrick Records.

ITA L'idea di fondare una band è nata nel 2011 da Alessandro Scorrano (batteria) e Andrea Donaera (chitarra). Dopo alcuni cambi di line-up, nel 2013 un altro chitarrista, Matteo Cirfeda, si unisce al progetto, e col suo ingresso abbiamo avuto la spinta decisiva per iniziare a comporre i nostri brani inediti. A metà del 2014 il bassista Stefano Bianchini e il cantante Giacomo ”James” Albanese si sono uniti a noi, e tra gennaio e maggio 2016 abbiamo registrato il nostro primo album "Nightmares Come True", finalmente uscito nel 2017 tramite Sliptrick Records.

2/Why choosing this name? Who did the design? Have you had input?

ENG The name was proposed by Andrea from a Cesare Pavese’s poem (the alternative choice was a pure classic name as "Atomic Wranglers"!), while the current logo graphic is by Matteo, that is an amatorial illustrator. The band name is strictly correlated to our lyrics, that are about the way mankind continuously lose against its vices – thinking about any kind of “vice”, not just drugs, alcool, sex: even the desire to kill, the desire to die, the desperation for a lost one we cannot stop, and so on.

ITA Il nome venne proposto da Andrea ispirato da una poesia di Cesare Pavese (la scelta alternativa era un nome puramente classico come "Atomic Wranglers"!), mentre la grafica del logo attuale è stata ideata da Matteo, che è un illustratore amatoriale. Il nome della band è strettamente correlato ai nostri testi, che riguardano il modo in cui l'umanità perde continuamente la battaglia contro i suoi vizi – e intendiamo qualsiasi tipo di "vizio", non solo droghe, alcool, sesso: il profondo e malvagio desiderio di uccidere, il desiderio di morire, la continua disperazione per una persona persa o che non c’è più, e così via.

3/Your logo is among the beast graphic which is huge compared to normal bands one, is it something you wanted?

Do you consider it like a ‘mascot’…

ENG Absolutely yes. He does not have a name, is simply the "demon of vices", and is an integral part of our logo since the first version (where it was much more stylized and only taken by face). More than a mascot, as used by some bands much more famous than us, we consider it as the main graphic element of our logo and our artworks, because with its obscure presence it constantly and fully summarizes the concept behind the name of the band.

ITA Assolutamente si. Lui in realtà non ha un nome, è semplicemente il "demone dei vizi", ed è parte integrante del nostro logo sin dalla prima versione (dove risultava essere molto più stilizzato e ripreso solo in volto). Più che una mascotte, tipo quelle di alcune band molto più celebri di noi, noi lo consideriamo come l'elemento grafico principale del nostro logo e dei nostri artwork, perché con la sua oscura presenza sintetizza costantemente e pienamente il concept che sta dietro al nome della band.

4/Can you explain how it took so long to get that album « Nightmares come true » done, must be frustrating to work so many years just for one album?

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ENG The album contains most of the songs composed in 2013 with the first line-up and three other tracks composed with the current line-up, so from mid-2014 onwards. We went very slowly first in the process of composition and review of old songs with the new line-up, then in deciding which producer to entrust us (and the choice of Angelo Emanuele Buccolieri was the best we could do, given his great professionalism and the quality of his contribution) and subsequently in starting the work. The first seven tracks were recorded between January and February 2015, then we returned to the studio in 2016 to record the closing track "Can’t Erase my Scars", and from autumn 2016, with the album practically ready, we started negotiations with Sliptrick Records. Surely it was a long and exhausting process, with many hitches, but we never thought about giving up. The publication of the album was an emotion that we will never forget. Listening the final master all togheter, writening the credits and get in hands the first physical copy of a work that is the result of years and years of unconditional passion for our music was a real orgasm!

ITA L'album contiene per la maggior parte brani composti nel 2013 con la prima line-up, e altre tre tracce composte con l'attuale formazione, quindi da metà 2014 in poi. Siamo andati molto a rilento, dapprima nel processo di composizione e revisione delle vecchie canzoni con la nuova line-up, poi nel decidere a quale produttore affidarci (e la scelta di Angelo Emanuele Buccolieri è stata la migliore che potessimo fare, data la sua grande professionalità e la qualità del suo contributo) e successivamente nell'avvio dei lavori. Le prime sette tracce sono state registrate tra gennaio e febbraio 2015, poi siamo tornati in studio nel 2016 per registrare il brano di chiusura "Can’t Erase my Scars", e dall'autunno 2016, con l'album praticamente pronto, abbiamo iniziato le trattative per la pubblicazione con la Sliptrick Records. Sicuramente è stato un processo lungo ed estenuante, con molti intoppi, ma non abbiamo mai pensato di gettare la spugna e arrenderci. La pubblicazione dell'album è stata un'emozione che non dimenticheremo mai.

Ascoltare il master finale tutti insieme, scrivere i ringraziamenti e avere in mano la prima copia fisica di un lavoro che è il risultato di anni e anni di passione incondizionata per la nostra musica è stato veramente eccitante!

5/You have lots of influences from Heavy to Thrash, are they from each individuals or you changed your compositions to melt the style and make a great album?

ENG We listen to a lot of music and we love to use different and individual influences in our songs: classic big names such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath; many underground NWOBHM bands such as Grim Reaper and Angel Witch; Hard Rock and Street Metal such as Skid Row and W.A.S.P.; modern bands such as Enforcer, something from other classic band such as Metallica, Gamma Ray, Motorhead and by the way, the “italian pride“ Death SS and Strana Officina! The absolutely natural result is that with the actual line-up the band's sound was emerged up to consolidate into a Heavy Metal between classic and modern, gritty and melodic, with various and extensive influences - from Hard Rock to Thrash, from Doom to Power. We want to play some True Heavy Metal trying to always remember we are in 2018 and not in 1985!

ITA Ascoltiamo tantissima musica e nei nostri brani confluiscono inevitabilmente le nostre influenze individuali: tra le principali, classici grandi nomi come Iron Maiden, Judas Priest e Black Sabbath; molte band NWOBHM underground come Grim Reaper e Angel Witch; Hard Rock e Street Metal come Skid Row e W.A.S.P .; band moderne come Enforcer, qualcosa di altri gruppi classici come Metallica, Gamma Ray, Motorhead e, ovviamente, Death SS e Strana Officina, orgoglio italiano! Il risultato assolutamente naturale è che con l'attuale line-up il sound della band si è consolidato in un Heavy Metal tra classico e moderno, grintoso e melodico, con influenze varie ed estese – dall’Hard Rock al Thrash, dal Doom al Power. Vogliamo fare del vero Heavy Metal, cercando però di ricordare sempre che siamo nel 2018 e non più nel 1985!

6/During all these years have you had line up changes? What are the difficulties you encountered?

ENG After a couple sporadic rehearsals in 2011 with the founders Andrea and Alessandro, our friend Danilo Napoli at the bass and another guitarist with whom we tried to start a project based on Hair Metal genre (!), we seriously resumed playing only in the 2013, with a four-element combo (adding Matteo on the guitar and with him, Alessandro and mainly Danilo on vocals). In the same year, the singer and musician Alessandro Solidoro joined the band but only for a short time, during which we recorded with him as producer our first single "Heroin". In mid 2014 and after the first live experiences, also Danilo left the band so, after a not very difficult choice, Stefano and the singer James who we already knew well and who at the time played together in another band - joined us. By the way, we take this opportunity to greet and thank all the former members of the band!

ITA Dopo un paio di prove sporadiche nel 2011 con i fondatori Andrea e Alessandro, il nostro amico Danilo Napoli al basso e un altro chitarrista col quale tentammo di avviare un progetto basato sull’Hair Metal (!), ci siamo rimessi seriamente a suonare solo nel 2013, con una formazione a quattro elementi (aggiungendo Matteo alla chitarra e con lui, Alessandro e principalmente Danilo alla voce). Nello stesso anno il cantante e musicista Alessandro Solidoro si unì alla band ma solo per un breve periodo, durante il quale registrammo con lui come produttore il nostro primo singolo "Heroin". A metà del 2014 e dopo le prime esperienze live, anche Danilo ha lasciato il gruppo, e quindi, dopo P78

una scelta non molto difficile, Stefano e il cantante James, che già conoscevamo bene e che all’epoca suonavano insieme in un'altra band, si sono uniti a noi. A tal proposito, cogliamo l’occasione per salutare e ringraziare tutti gli ex membri della band!

7/How did you get the label Sliptrick Records? Were they others interested? Have they re-released the CD or it’s the first press?

ENG With the album complete and ready to be published, in 2016 we sent our demos to many labels and some responded with a contract proposal. Well, the Sliptrick Records’ project seemed to us the most complete and so we signed for the first press of the album.

ITA Con l'album completo e pronto per essere pubblicato, nel 2016 abbiamo inviato i nostri demo a numerose etichette, alcune delle quali hanno risposto proponendoci il loro contratto. Il progetto della Sliptrick Records ci è sembrato il più completo e vicino alle nostre esigenze, così ad inizio 2017 abbiamo firmato con loro l’accordo per la prima stampa dell'album.

8/Is there one composer or the whole band gets involved in the compositions of each song?

ENG Obviously, the second you said. Andrea and Matteo, the two guitarists, are the main composers of the band, but usually we compose songs dividing the tasks, as it was historically done in most of metal bands: guitarists compose melody and lyrics with the singer that compose vocal harmony, while drummer and bassist takes care of the rhythmics parts. We divides tasks equally, but most of the work is done by our guitarists.

ITA Ovviamente, la seconda che hai detto. Andrea e Matteo, i due chitarristi, sono i principali compositori della band, ma di solito durante il processo di composizione dei brani ci dividiamo i compiti, come storicamente si è sempre fatto nella maggior parte delle band metal: i chitarristi scrivono partiture e testi con il cantante che ci compone su la linea vocale, mentre il batterista e il bassista curano le parti ritmiche. Insomma dividiamo i compiti allo stesso modo, ma diciamo che la maggior parte del lavoro è svolto dai nostri chitarristi.

9/You must be real good friends? Have you got a studio?

ENG We are a group of five old friends, all part of the historical underground metal movement in our area, and we've known each other for many years: we’re friends, and this is why we care a lot about the band. We lost our favourite studio few years ago: a public rehearsal room a few kilometers from our city, run by Maurizio, one of our dearest friend, where we played for almost a decade since we were teen and where we're musically growed up. We loved that place, that unfortunately now doesn't exist anymore. Now we rehearsal in another place, very well organised, in another city near us.

ITA Siamo un gruppo di cinque vecchi amici, tutti parte del movimento underground metal nella nostra zona, e ci conosciamo da molti anni: siamo amici prima che colleghi di band, ed è per questo che ci teniamo tantissimo al gruppo e al progetto. Abbiamo perso il nostro studio preferito alcuni anni fa: una sala prove pubblica a pochi chilometri dalla nostra città, gestita da Maurizio, uno dei nostri più cari amici, dove abbiamo suonato per quasi un decennio sin da quando eravamo adolescenti e dove siamo cresciuti musicalmente. Amavamo quel posto, che sfortunatamente ora non esiste più. Ora proviamo in un'altra struttura, molto ben organizzata, in un'altra città vicino a noi.

10/Are you playing in other bands?

ENG Each of us has had several musical projects or, in some cases, collaborations with other bands before joining in this group, which remain the most important musical experience for each of us. Currently, our singer James is involved in two others local bands, Leta and Macaria, while Andrea is carrying on his one-man band project Hekate. Also Stefano, that played bass as turnist in famous italian cemetery rock band L’Impero delle Ombre, now is playing bass in northern italian band Hatemeant.

ITA Ognuno di noi ha avuto diversi progetti musicali o, in alcuni casi, collaborazioni con altre band prima di entrare in questo gruppo, che resta l'esperienza musicale più importante per ognuno di noi. Attualmente, il nostro cantante James è coinvolto in altre due band locali, Leta e Macaria, mentre Andrea sta portando avanti il suo progetto solista Hekate. Anche Stefano, che ha suonato il basso come turnista nel famoso gruppo cemetery rock italiano L'Impero delle Ombre, ora suona nella band nord italiana Hatemeant.

11/This album is like a concept, how did you think to release it? Are you gonna have theme for each one coming?

ENG The basic concept of the album, that is of these worst nightmares that become drammatically reality, is closely related to the lyrics of the songs and the events told in them, which in turn are related to the main concept of "serial and continuous vices" of which we talked above. The artwork itself depicts different characters or graphic elements, each of which recalls a song contained in the album and surrounds our dear demon, cumbersome and decisive dark P79

presence in the lives of these elements. Yes, we would really like to continue along this stylistic line, and we will certainly do it.

ITA Il concetto di base dell'album, cioè di questi incubi peggiori che diventano drammaticamente realtà, è strettamente correlato ai testi dei brani e alle vicende raccontate in essi, che a loro volta sono correlati al main concept dei "vizi seriali, assoluti e continui" di cui abbiamo parlato prima. La stessa copertina raffigura diversi personaggi o elementi grafici, ognuno dei quali richiama un brano contenuto nell'album, e che circondano il nostro caro demone, ingombrante e decisiva presenza oscura nelle vite di questi elementi. Sì, ci piacerebbe molto continuare lungo questa linea stilistica, e lo faremo senz'altro.

12/Have you got new material for another album?

ENG We have three tracks never recorded but which we have been playing live many times. In 2019 we will start composing new stuff, too much time has passed since the last time!

ITA Abbiamo tre tracce mai registrate ma che suoniamo dal vivo molte volte. Nel 2019 inizieremo a comporre roba nuova, ormai è passato troppo tempo dall'ultima volta!

13/Have you played lots of live shows? What was the response so far with the album always delayed? Have you got support from the Italian Scene?

ENG From 2014 to today we have played in about thirty concerts, all in Italy, dividing the stage with wonderful groups and some big names in Italian metal. The continuous postponement of the album has done nothing but create a little wait in our "followers", and the answer was honestly excellent because the album was received very well, with numerous positive feedback from both experts and those who are neophytes or simple rock music lovers, and this is just amazing! We come from Southern Italy and it is really hard for us to be appreciated right here, because people like to listen to other music than Metal. Generally, Italy isn’t a good place for metal music: there’s a good underground scene but this is relegated at few bad-ass metalheads. Most rock fans here follow only mainstream bands and artists (last summer in Italy we registered two “oceanic” big sold-out gigs: Guns ’n’ Roses with a 110k attendance and the fuckin’ Vasco Rossi, that unfortunately is considered the most iconic Italian rockstar, with a g.w.r. of 220k…fuckers).

ITA Dal 2014 ad oggi abbiamo suonato in circa una trentina di concerti, tutti in Italia, dividendo lo stage con gruppi meravigliosi e con alcuni grandi nomi del metal nostrano. Il continuo rinvio della pubblicazione dell'album non ha fatto altro che creare un po' di attesa nei nostri "followers", e la risposta è stata sinceramente ottima perché l'album è stato accolto benissimo. Finora abbiamo ricevuto numerosi feedback positivi sia da parte di ascoltatori appassionati al metal ma anche da parte di coloro che sono neofiti o semplici amanti della musica rock. Veniamo dal Sud Italia ed è davvero difficile per noi essere apprezzati qui, perché alla gente piace ascoltare altra musica rispetto al Metal.

Sinceramente, temiamo che l'Italia non sia un buon posto per la musica metal: c'è una buona scena underground, ma è relegata ad uno "zoccolo duro" di affezionati metalheads. La maggior parte dei fan del rock qui segue solo band e artisti mainstream (nell'estate del 2017 in Italia abbiamo registrato due concerti "oceanici": i Guns 'n' Roses con 110.000 presenti, e quel cazzone di Vasco Rossi, che purtroppo è considerato la più iconica rockstar italiana, che ha fatto un record mondiale con circa 220.000 fottuti spettatori).

14/Any advice to bands who loose patience?

ENG Oh look, we constantly lose patience and very often we send ourselves to fuck! The only thing we can say is: play with passion, attitude and love for music. Not for money, not for fame, only for fun! Do not let it go to your head, do not feel superior to bandmates, fight among yourself on composing the songs, on how to present yourselves live, on everything related to the band. Confronting is very important: keeping everything inside and then exploding makes things difficult to recover. Better to argue over and over on many little things, instead of sending yourselves to fuck off once and for all and throw the entire music project in the trash. For us it worked like this.

ITA Oh guarda, noi perdiamo costantemente la pazienza e molto spesso ci mandiamo a fanculo! L'unica cosa che possiamo consigliare è: suonate con passione, attitudine e amore per la musica. Non per soldi, non per fama, solo per divertimento! Mai montarsi la testa, mai sentirsi superiori ai compagni di band, litigate durante la composizione delle canzoni, su come presentarsi dal vivo, su tutto ciò che riguarda la band. Il confronto è molto importante: tenere tutto dentro e poi esplodere rende le cose difficili da recuperare. Meglio discutere continuamente su molte piccole cose, invece di mandarsi a fanculo una volta per tutte e mandare l'intero progetto musicale a puttane. A noi per ora è andata bene ragionando in questo modo.

15/What gears do you use? Why have you chosen them? Any endorsement..

ENG Our guitarists use fundamentally Gibson and Epiphone guitars with Stinger and Fender amplifications. Our bassist use ESP bass and Peavey amplification, while our drummer use Sonor drums, Pearl hardwares and UFIP P80

cymbals. No official endorsement for now, all the equipment was purchased with our money, with our blood and with many sacrifices!

ITA I nostri chitarristi usano rispettivamente chitarre Gibson ed Epiphone con amplificazioni Stinger e Fender. Il nostro bassista utilizza ESP con amplificazione Peavey, mentre il nostro batterista utilizza Sonor, con hardware Pearl e piatti UFIP. Nessun endorsement ufficiale per ora, tutta la strumentazione è stata acquistata con i nostri soldi, col nostro sangue e con tanti sacrifici!

www.serialvice.tk

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1/Qui a démarré le groupe ? Comment le line-up a évolué ?

Cecile Delpoio : Ce sont Olivier (compositeur et pianiste) et Léo (batterie) qui ont démarré le groupe ensemble. Ils se sont rencontrés à l'American School, école de Jazz à Paris et, après avoir partagé ce qu'ils composaient chacun de leur côté, ils ont décidé de se lancer dans la création d'un groupe de metal symphonique.

Je suis arrivée début 2014 dans ce projet via une annonce, puis une audition. Très vite nous avons été au complet sur les postes qu'Olivier recherchait, et la « première équipe » si je puis dire est celle qui a enregistré notre démo « Exilés » sortie en 2016. Toutefois certains ont décidé de prendre leur envol vers d'autres horizons, d'autres groupes, d'autres styles de musique... Julien (basse & growl) et Stayn (guitare) sont donc les derniers à être arrivés dans le groupe, après de nombreuses recherches pour trouver les musiciens idéaux avec qui nous voulions poursuivre l'aventure. Ils sont là depuis maintenant 2 ans et le line-up n'a plus bougé depuis.

1/Who started the band? How did the line up evolved?

Cecile Delpoio : Olivier (Pianist / compositor) and Léo (Drummer) started the band together.They met at the American Jazz school in Paris, and after sharing what they composed each on their own, they decided to start a Symphonic Metal band. I arrived in the early 2014 in this project by an advert then an audition. Quickly we had a full line up on every positions Oliver was looking for. The first «team» if I may say, is the one that released the first demo «Exilé» that came out in 2016. Although few have decided to take their flight in other horizons, other bands , other music styles... Julien (Bass and growl) and Stayn (Guitar) are the last one arrived in the band, after many searches to find the ideal musicians we wanted to follow that adventure with. They are here for two years now and the line up hasn’t changed so far.

2/As-tu pris des cours de chant lyrique ?

Cecile Delpoio : Je prends des cours de chant avec Chaos Heidi depuis 4 ans, mais ce ne sont pas des cours de chant lyrique, bien qu'elle soit aussi habilitée à m'aiguiller dans ce domaine. Avec elle, je travaille donc ma voix pleine et ma voix mixte. J'espère bientôt pouvoir démarrer également des cours de chant saturé !

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2/Have you taken lyric singing courses?

Cecile Delpoio : I ‘ve been taking singing courses with Chaos Heidi for four years, but they aren’t lyric ones, although she can help me in that way. With her I mostly work my voice at full rage and middle one.

I hope I can soon start singing saturated vocals.

3/Qu’est-ce qui t’as motivée à chanter dans un groupe qui mélange growls et classique ?

Cecile Delpoio : C'est exactement le genre de groupe que je recherchais, du metal symphonique ou bien du doom à la manière de Theatre of Tragedy. Je suis passionnée par ces styles de musique depuis de nombreuses années et mes premiers amours musicaux – Nightwish, Within Temptation, The Sins of Thy Beloved, After Forever, Draconian... mélangent souvent ces deux types de chant (c'est surtout vrai pour les derniers groupes cités). C'est toujours quelque chose qui m'a énormément plu. J'aime les voix éthérées mais pour ce qui est du growl, je préfère quand il est mélangé à du chant clair, par exemple dans d'autres styles, à la manière de Septicflesh, de The Agonist... Alors quand il est mélangé avec des voix féminines lyriques ou éthérées.. J'apprécie énormément !

3/What motivated you to sing in a band that is mixing Classic vocals and growls?

Cecile Delpoio : This is exactly what I was looking for. Symphonic Metal or Doom like Theatre of Tragedy. I am passionate by those styles for years and my first musical love – Nightwish, Within Temptation, The Sins of Thy Beloved, After Forever, Draconian... - often mix those singing styles (mostly the last band I have mentioned). It’s something that I always loved. Etheral voices but for the growl, I prefer when it is mixed with clean sound, for example in other style like Septicflesh, The Agonist...

So when it is mixed with etheral or lyric female vocals I appreciate more!

4/Votre premier album est musicalement très proche de Within Temptation à certains passages est-ce un hasard ? la fin est plus Mylène Farmer..

Cecile Delpoio : Il ne s'agit pas d'un album mais d'une démo, que nous avons sorti en 2016. Je ne pense pas que ce soit un hasard si on y retrouve dedans des influences de Within Temptation puisqu'Olivier, qui a composé les morceaux de cette démo, apprécie beaucoup ce groupe. En revanche, je suis assez amusée de la comparaison avec Mylène Farmer. [rires] Pour ma part je ne connais pas bien cette artiste, en dehors bien sûr de ses tubes les plus populaires, et Olivier ne s'est pas non plus spécialement penché sur son œuvre à ma connaissance.

4/Your first album is musically close to Within Temptation is it a hasard? the ending sounds closer to Mylène Farmer...

Cecile Delpoio : It is not an album but a demo, we made in 2016. I don’t think it can be a hasard if we hear influences from Within Temptation, as Oliver who has composed the songs on that demo, really loves this band. But I’m not amused by the comparison with Mylène Farmer. [laugh] I don’t really know this artist, apart from the most popular hit singles, and Oliver is not even interested by her as far as I know.

5/Tu as fait la pochette du premier album, es-tu aussi la créatrice du logo ?

Cecile Delpoio : Oui effectivement, c'est moi qui ai créé le logo du groupe :) 5/You have made the first album design, have you also created the band logo?

Cecile Delpoio : Yeah it’s me who designed the band’s logo :) 6/Qui a trouvé le nom du groupe et quel est le lien avec l’histoire ? Peux tu nous en dire plus sur sa conception ?

Cecile Delpoio : C'est moi qui ai trouvé le nom du groupe. J'ai été plusieurs fois confrontée à la mort de proches...

Chaque fois que j'en avais gros sur le cœur, je me confiais à un ami qui a une façon incroyable de trouver les mots justes pour vous consoler en toutes circonstances. Il m'a donc parlé régulièrement du fait que ces gens étaient très probablement, de son avis, retournés vers cette fameuse lumière. Celle dont on entend parler dans les témoignages de personnes ayant vécu des expériences de mort imminente (EMI), et que ça devait être au final plutôt agréable pour eux. C'est une chose à laquelle j'ai beaucoup réfléchi par la suite... Cette fameuse lumière, mais aussi l'idée de la réincarnation qui n'est pas une idée que je trouve totalement saugrenue... Donc « Remember the Light » est à la base venu de cette lumière réconfortante que nous aurions, suivant cette théorie, connue avant d'arriver sur Terre, et que nous devons retrouver à la fin... Mais si le nom me plaisait c'est aussi parce qu'il peut avoir plusieurs interprétations.

Remember the Light c'est aussi se souvenir qu'il y a toujours de l'espoir quand tout semble noir, c'est de l'optimisme...

6/Who found the name of the band and what is the link with the story? Can you explain us a bit about its conception?

Cecile Delpoio : It’s me who found the band’s name. I have been confronted several times to my closest familly’s death...Each time I had heavy feeling, I was entrusting to a friend who really knows how to confort you and to find the right words whatever the circumstances. He spoke to me regularly about the fact those people , as he may think, were getting back to that white light. The one that everyone talked about during those sudden death experiences.

(SDE) and that coud be good at the end for them...It’s something I thought about a lot then...That amasing light, but also the idea or reincarnation which is not an idea I personnaly think it absurd...So «Remember The Light» is based P83

first from that idea of the white light we find in confort , for what they say is a theory, we have first when we come to life before emerging on earth and we have to find when we leave it...But if I love the name it’s also because it can have many meanings. Remember The Light it’s also a memory that there is always hope even in the dark, a kind of optimism.

7/Tu semble avoir pleins de talents artistique, le chant, le dessin, la photo… es-tu la pièce indispensable ? As-tu suivi des études dans ce sens ?

Cecile Delpoio : Non, je ne pense pas être LA pièce indispensable ! Chacun a son rôle dans le groupe. J'aurais l'air maligne si je devais me retrouver à jouer de la basse par exemple ^^ J'ai designé/dessiné les pochettes de nos CD certes, mais en technique audio je suis une quiche et ce sont par exemple Stayn ou Olivier qui font part de leurs connaissances dans ce domaine... Bref, on apporte tous notre pierre à l'édifice d'une façon ou d'une autre sur tous les plans, en plus de notre propre rôle de musicien. Sinon oui, j'ai fait des études plutôt artistiques puisque j'ai étudié l'audiovisuel et plus particulièrement le montage.

7/You seem to be blessed in the artistic fields - singing, drawing, photography...are you the irreplaceable piece?

Have you studied in those ?

Cecile Delpoio : No I don’t think I am THE irreplaceable piece ! Each person has its role in the band. I would look silly if I had to play bass for example ^^ I designed and drew the covers of our CD yes, but as for the studio skills I’m more like a quiche and it is for example Stayn or Oliver who share their knowledge in this field..Anyway we all bring something to built the best way we can, as our musician role. Yeah I have done studies in arts in which I learnt Audio Visual and particularly Video Editing.

8/Tu chantes et travailles dans le milieu artistique, n’est-ce pas trop ? Comment arrives-tu a gérer tout cela ?

Cecile Delpoio : Ça ne peut pas être trop, je suis passionnée ! Je suis réalisatrice, cadreuse et monteuse en freelance et je l'étais d'ailleurs avant même d'entrer dans le groupe (même si à l'époque je n'étais pas freelance). Je suis obligée de gérer les deux puisque – pour le moment du moins – la musique ne me fais pas vivre. Donc, comme malheureusement beaucoup de musiciens, je suis obligée d'avoir un travail à côté. Il se trouve que mon travail à côté est aussi artistique, tout simplement parce qu'il ne pourrait en être autrement... Je trouve qu'il est important d'avoir un travail qui nous plaise, étant donné qu'on y consacre une très grande partie de notre vie, et je n'ai pas trouvé autre chose qui pourrait me plaire que ce domaine. Ayant eu des jobs alimentaires avant d'arriver à vivre de mon métier, je sais que je ne suis juste pas faite pour avoir un travail dans lequel je ne peux pas créer, m'amuser et nourrir mon esprit. Le problème que je rencontre en revanche c'est qu'en France, il y a une mentalité qui fait que c'est assez commun de trouver ça honteux de vouloir vivre d'une passion. Que ce n'est juste pas normal et qu'il faut avoir « un travail normal » comme tout le monde et que la passion ne doit rester qu'une passion... Du coup je me heurte encore trop souvent à des gens qui veulent que je travaille gratuitement pour eux ou à des prix dérisoires et ce quelque soit le milieu... Donc oui, c'est parfois fatiguant de gérer les deux, mais au moins mon esprit n'a vraiment pas le temps de s'ennuyer ^^ 8/You sing, you work in the artistic field, isn’t this too much? How do you manage to deal with all of this?

Cecile Delpoio : It can’t be too much, I am passionate ! I’m a Freelance Cinema Director, Camerawoman, Editor and I was before joining the band (but I wasn’t freelance). I have to deal with both since I don’t live with music.

Unfortunately like many musicians, I need a job . I’m lucky my job is in the artistic field , simply cos It can’t be something else...I think it is important to have a job that you like and enjoy, since we spend a lot of time in our lives, I didn’t find anything else that can please me as much . I had other elementary jobs before starting in this field, I know I can’t work in a job where I can’t create , have fun and feed my spirit. The problem I encounter in France mostly, is the mentatlity that says living from your passion is a shame and a passion should stay a passion...It is not normal and you should have a «real» job like everybody and the passion should stay one...So I often get people who wants me to work for free whatever the field...So yeah it’s sometimes tiring to deal with both, but at least my spirit hasn’t got time to get bored ^^ 9/Qui est ta chanteuse préférée ? Es-tu fan d’un groupe en particulier ?

Cecile Delpoio : Je pense que ma chanteuse préférée est Maria Brinks du groupe In This Moment. J'admire vraiment la femme qu'elle est, son talent et la maîtrise qu'elle a de sa voix dans plusieurs styles de chant... Je ne me lasse pas P84

d'écouter tous les albums de son groupe, surtout les derniers à partir de « A Star-Crossed Wasteland ». Elle réalise les clips de son groupe aussi, et ça, forcément ça me parle ! J'aimerais pouvoir faire de même :) Tarja fait aussi parti des chanteuses que j'ai longuement écoutées, pleine d'admiration. Les groupes que j'adore, il y en a pas mal... Mais je pourrais citer avant tout, en plus de ceux dont je viens de parler, Epica, Within Temptation, 30 Seconds to Mars, Faun, Xandria, Draconian, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Saez, Linkin Park... Des groupes de styles assez différents les uns des autres ! En metal Français, parce que c'est bien aussi de soutenir les collègues de chez nous, je citerais Adrana, Penumbra, Markize, Liturgy of Decay, Kells (qui n'existe malheureusement plus), le duo de chanteurs d'Igorrr et tous leurs projets, Igorrr compris : Öxxö Xööx, Corpo Mente, Rïcïnn...

9/Who is your favorite singer? Are you fan of one band?

Cecile Delpoio : I think my favorite singer is Maria Brinks from In This Moment. I really admire the woman, her talent , the way she deals with several vocal styles...I never get bored listening to there albums, mostly from « A Star-Crossed Wasteland ». She also direct her own videos as well so it speaks to me! I’d love to do the same :) Tarja is also one of my fav singer I listened to a lot, full of admiration.The bands I like..they are plenty. I could give Epica, Within Temptation, 30 Seconds to Mars, Faun, Xandria, Draconian, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Saez, Linkin Park...

Bands with different music styles! In the French world cos it is good to support others , I would say Adrana, Penumbra, Markize, Liturgy of Decay, Kells (that is no longer alive unfortunately), the duet singers from Igorrr and all the projets, Igorrr compris : Öxxö Xööx, Corpo Mente, Rïcïnn...

10/Comment avez vous composé votre album ? Il y a un nouveau à venir, en quoi est il différent du premier ?

Cecile Delpoio : Notre démo a été entièrement composée par Olivier et j'en ai écrit les paroles. Il s'agissait en fait des trois premiers morceaux du groupe, qui existaient avant-même que le groupe soit au complet (et pour deux d'entre eux, avant-même que je rencontre Olivier !) L'EP qui est à venir est différent sur plusieurs points. Déjà, il y a plus de collaborations dans la composition (Léo, moi...), même si Olivier en reste le compositeur principal. Ensuite, notre style a évolué depuis la démo. Je pense que l'EP est plus « moderne ». Ca reste du metal symphonique, mais mélangé avec pleins d'univers différents. Certains morceaux se rapprochent plus du death symphonique par exemple. Olivier n'a parfois pas hésité à intégrer des sons electros aussi... Je trouve que le tout est assez nouveau pour nous au final, même si on reste fidèles au metal symphonique.

10/How did you composed your album? Is there a new one coming ? What is different from the first one?

Cecile Delpoio : Our demo has been composed entirely by Oliver and I have written the lyrics. It was in fact the first three tracks from the band, that were done before the band was even formed (and for two of them before I met Oliver!) The EP which is coming is slightly different. They are more people involved (Leo and me), even if Oliver stays the main composer. Then our music style has evolved since the demo. I think the EP is more «modern». That stays a metal symphonic music but that mixes with diverse univers. Few songs are closer to the symphonic Death Metal for example.Oliver has even added some electro samples..I find the whole pretty new at the end, even if we keep our symphonic metal style .

11/Combien de temps vous a t’il fallut pour concevoir le premier opus ? Le deuxième a-t-il été plus facile ?

Cecile Delpoio : Pour la démo cela a été assez rapide, puisqu'Olivier a tout élaboré en quelques mois et l'enregistrement s'est fait assez vite dans la foulée. Le deuxième a été plus long parce qu'il est plus grand, parce qu'il est plus riche et parce qu'on y a mis des moyens techniques plus poussés.

11/How long it took you to release the first Ep? Was the second one easier?

Cecile Delpoio : For the demo it has been fast, since Oliver did it all in few months and the recording has been done just afterwards. For the second one it has been longer because it is longer, it has a richer touch and because we gave it more technical elements and worked harder .

12/Quelle sont tes inspirations pour les paroles de tes chansons ? Comment places-tu tes mélodies ?

Cecile Delpoio : Mes inspirations viennent surtout du monde qui m'entoure. Que ce soit l'actualité, ce que l'humain fait subir à son prochain, aux animaux, à la planète... ou des choses plus personnelles de mon ressenti sur la vie, parfois je fais naître des fictions par rapport à quelque chose que j'ai vécu, donc romancé, amplifié afin que l'histoire soit plus intéressante à raconter en paroles. ;) Parfois juste un besoin d'une catharsis. Pour les mélodies, cela dépend des morceaux. Parfois, Olivier les avait déjà écrites. Sinon, je préfère partir de mes paroles et créer la mélodie autour de celles-ci, ce qui me semble être une mélodie évidente par rapport au texte.

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12/What inspires you for your lyrics? How do you set up your melodies?

Cecile Delpoio : my inspirations are from the world that surrounds me. Whatever the news , what the human being is behaving to it’s own, the animals , the planet...Or somethings more personal on life itself, I sometimes imagine fictions from what I lived , I fictionalize , amplify the story to get it more interesting to tell to people. ;) Sometimes I just need a catharsis. For the melodies it depends on each songs. Sometimes Oliver already has writen them. Otherwise I prefer starting from the lyrics and create them around, what makes sense to the text.

13/Avec quels genres de groupes vous jouez en concert ? Y-a-t’il un choix dans le style musical où vous jouez avec tout type ?

Cecile Delpoio : Nous jouons exclusivement avec des groupes de metal. En revanche, nous ne nous arrêtons pas à des groupes de metal symphonique ou dérivés... Nous avons tous dans le groupe des goûts très éclectiques et aimons donc tous les styles de metal. C'est pourquoi on trouve cela tout aussi intéressant de proposer une soirée entièrement symphonique que de proposer une soirée avec des groupes de styles variés, à l'image de nos goûts variés.

13/With which kind of bands are you playing live shows? Is there a musical choice or you play with any type?

Cecile Delpoio : We are playing only with Metal bands. We don’t choose only Symphonic Metal bands or kind of...

We all have different likes in the Metal style. That’s why I find it as interesting to create one night with only symphonic Metal bands than playing with every Metal bands, that reflects our music taste.

14/As tu ton propre équipement de son ?

Cecile Delpoio : J'ai mon micro de scène, un Sennheiser e935, qui succède à un Shure SM58 ainsi que des ears intra-auriculaire. J'ai quelques guitares, un piano numérique, mais n'ai pas de matériel pour l'enregistrement. Ce qui, n'est pas un souci puisqu'à nous tous dans le groupe nous sommes très bien équipés dans ce domaine.

14/ Do you have your own sound gears?

Cecile Delpoio : I have my stage mic, a Sennheiser e935, which succeeds to a SM58 Shure one and I also have my auricular earings. I have few guitars, a digital piano, but no recording device.

Which is not a problem to me as we are all geared up pretty good in the band for this field.

15/Sur la photo de votre prochain concert vous êtes six membres, est-ce que c’est le cas depuis le début ?

Cecile Delpoio : Depuis presque le début, nous avons été six oui. Ensuite il y a eu des départs comme je le disais plus tôt, on a été un moment quatre ou cinq, mais toujours en recherche du sixième membre.

15/On the photo of your next concert you are six musicians, was it the case in the beginning?

Cecile Delpoio : Since the beginning we have been six individuals yes. Then few have left as I said earlier, we were four or five at one point, but always in the search for the sixth member.

16/Avez-vous joué à l’étranger ? êtes-vous en contact avec vos fans ? Y-a-t’il un pays où vous en avez plus ?

Cecile Delpoio : Nous n'avons pour l'instant pas eu la chance de jouer à l'étranger, mais nous espérons bien sûr que cela arrivera ! Je pense que le pays où on a le plus de fans est pour le moment la France, même si nous avons vendu des démos un peu partout dans le monde : Etats-Unis, Canada, Japon, Corée, Australie, reste de l'Europe... Bien sûr, nous répondons à tous les messages que nous recevons, c'est un minimum je trouve et nous sommes ouverts à la discussion avec tous ceux qui le veulent.

16/Have you played abroad? Are you in touch with your fans?

What is the country where you have the most?

Cecile Delpoio :Right now we haven’t had the chance to play abroad, but we hope it will come! I think the country where we have the most fans is in France, even if we sold our demo everywhere in the world :United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia and most of Europe...Of course we are in touch with our fans and answer all the messages we receive. That’s the minimum to do I think and we are opened to any discussion with whom wants to.

17/Vous n’avez pas de label, vous faites tout vous même ?

Cecile Delpoio : Pour l'instant oui, nous faisons tout nous-même et nous produisons tout nous même. Nous espérons toutefois un jour pouvoir trouver un label qui pourrait croire en notre travail !

17/You have got a label, are you doing it all yourselves?

Cecile Delpoio : For the moment yes, we are doing all ourselves and we produce it all.

We hope one day, finding a label who will put trust in our music!

18/Vous avez une vidéo, a-t-elle été faite avec des amis ? Où peut-on la trouver ?

Cecile Delpoio : Il s'agit d'une vidéo de 50 secondes environ, il n'y a pas de suite ! Même si après sa sortie, nombreuses sont les personnes nous ayant demandé à voir la suite. Il s'agissait en fait juste d'un teaser lorsque le groupe est sorti de l'ombre pour exposer sa musique afin de donner envie aux gens de nous écouter. A l'image, il y avait Emeline Hucher et Clémence Lemaître respectivement cadreuse pour une chaîne de TV sur l'info pour l'une et étudiante en audiovisuel pour la seconde. C'est moi qui me suis occupée de la mise en scène et la post-production... Déformation professionnelle oblige. ;) Nous avons regretté de ne pas pouvoir offrir de suite à tous ceux qui l'avaient demandé, mais actuellement nous parlons très sérieusement de réaliser un clip pour le nouvel EP. 18/You have a video, did you release it with your friends? Where can we find it?

Cecile Delpoio : In fact it’s a video that last at least 50 seconds, there is no following! Even if people when it came out asked to see the whole video after they saw that little video. It is just a teaser when the band came out to get exposed and kown to people so they would want to hear the music. For the image there was Emeline Hucher and Clémence Lemaître video director for a TV news channel with one being a student. I directed the story line and the post-production...Professional mistake :) We have regretted not to give a following one to those who asked for it, but we are seriously in the process of releasing a video for our new EP.

www.facebook.com/Rememberthelightmusic/

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1/ Qui a choisi le nom du groupe ? Un nom qui rappelle un autre...

Pauline : C’est Edgar, notre batteur, qui l’a trouvé. Il fallait un nom, au moment où les garçons ont commencé à jouer, pour différentes petites occasions, ils n’en avaient pas. Ca a été choisi un peu par hasard !

1/Who chose the name of the band? A name that reminds another...

Pauline : It’s Edgar, our drummer who found it. We needed a name so when the boys started to play in diverse occasions, they haven’t had one. It has been chosen by hasard!

2/Comment vous êtes-vous rencontrés ?

Pauline : J’ai rejoint la formation l’année dernière en 2017, un peu avant l’été. C’est tout simplement Alexis qui a répondu à une annonce que j’avais posté sur internet. À vrai dire, j’avais même consulté la leur bien avant, mais je n’avais pas pensé à y répondre, tout simplement parce qu’à ce moment-là, Acid Rain se définissait comme un groupe de stoner, et je n’aurais jamais pensé y trouver ma place avec un chant saturé ! Heureusement, je me suis trompée !

Alexis : Jérôme, notre guitariste lead, et Maxime, notre bassiste, jouaient déjà ensemble depuis quelques temps. Ils ont contacté Edgar, là aussi, via une annonce sur internet, pour avoir quelqu’un derrière la batterie. Moi, j’ai intégré la formation deux mois après lui. J’ai suivi Edgar pour une répétition...et on m’a filé une guitare !

2/How did you meet?

Pauline : I joined the band last year in 2017, just before the summer. It’s simply Alexis who answered to an ad I have posted on the net.To be honest I even checked them earlier , but I never thought of answering it, simply cos Acid Rain was calling themselves as a stoner band. I never thought I would feel good in it with a saturated voice!

Fortunately I was wrong!

Alexis : Jérôme, our lead guitarist and Maxime our bass player, were playing together for some time. They contacted Edgar, once again via an ad on the net, to get someone behind the kit. I joined two month later , I followed Edgar at a rehearshal.. and they gave me a guitar!

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3/Vu que vous avez un batteur qui joue de la guitare dans un autre groupe, cela veut-il dire que vous avez du mal à avoir un line up complet ?

Pauline : Edgar tient un projet parallèle, Funeral Child, avec Maxime et Jérôme. Nous n’avons jamais eu de problème, pour l’instant, quant à l’intégrité du line-up au moment d’organiser une date. Je pense qu’en s’organisant assez à l’avance chacun peut se rendre disponible, qu’on fasse parti d’un, deux ou trois groupes.

3/Since you have a drummer that plays guitar in another band, does that mean you have a line up issue?

Pauline : Edgar has another project, Funeral Child with Maxime and Jérôme. We never had a problem for the moment, as for the line up to be complete during live dates. I think about dealing with your schedule in advance anyone can get available, whatever you are in one, two or three bands.

4/Depuis quand vous existez ? Et qui est le membre fondateur ?

Alexis : Depuis fin été 2015, je dirais. On considère Maxime et Jérôme comme membres fondateurs.

4/When the band really started? Who is the main founder?

Alexis : I would say the end of summer of 2015. We say Maxime and Jérôme are the main founders.

5/ Comment es-tu arrivée à chanter de la sorte?As-tu pris des cours ? Prends-tu quelque chose avant de chanter ? Cela doit être fatiguant ? Une façon de sortir ta colère...

Pauline : J’ai commencé à pratiquer le chant saturé concrètement il y a 6 ans, avec mon ancien groupe. Au départ, ce sont quelques copains chanteurs qui m’ont appris les bases, puis internet a fait le reste ! On trouve beaucoup de tutoriels bien expliqués (notamment ceux de Biiclope, le chanteur de Red Dawn). Je me suis aussi pas mal intéressée à ce qu’il se passait physiquement, au niveau des cordes vocales, du larynx, du diaphragme pour m’aider. Ayant une expérience de comédienne, j’étais déjà habituée à travailler mon souffle et à pratiquer des exercices quotidiennement. J’ai poussé un truc, et le reste vient avec l’expérience, à force de pratiquer et pratiquer. J’ai participé récemment à une master class spécialisée dans le chant extrême avec Julien, le chanteur de Gorod. C’était super ! Je pense qu’il ne faut jamais se reposer sur ses acquis et toujours chercher plus loin, saisir les opportunités de découvrir de nouvelles pratiques, et garder à l’esprit qu’on peut toujours faire mieux. Je ne prends rien de particulier avant de chanter, juste de l’eau (mais genre, BEAUCOUP d’eau) et m’assure juste d’être bien reposée pour que ça se déroule bien. Bien sûr, un concert ça fatigue, et puis on bouge pas mal aussi. Je sais que j’ai bien géré un concert quand j’ai mal au ventre et pas à la gorge ! Ça défoule pas mal, même si je n’ai pas nécessairement besoin d’être énervée pour prendre mon pied en répétition ou en concert !

5/How did you end up singing like that? Have you taken courses? Do you take something before singing?

This must be tiring? A way to get your anger out..

Pauline : I really sung saturated vocals about six years ago, with my previous band. At the beginning few singer friends taught me the basis, then internet made the rest! We find lots of tutorials with many explation (mostly ones from Red Dawn ‘s singer Biiclope). I also got interested about what happens in the vocal chords , the larynx, diaphragm to help me out. Having an experience as acting , I was used to get my breath and practice exercices daily. I pushed something and the rest comes with the experience, practice and practice it will come. I recently participated to a master class specialised in the extreme singing with Gorod’s singer Julien. It was great! I think you should never stay on what you know and always search to go further and get better. Taking the opportunities that help you discover new methods. Keep in mind you always can do better. I don’t take anything to sing , just water a LOT of water!

Get sure I have rest enough to get it all done good. Of course a live show is tiring, and we move a lot.I know when I did it right when I have stomach ache and not voice one! It shakes a lot, even if I don’t necessarily need to be angry to enjoy a rehearshal or a gig!

6/Vous vous mettez dans le genre « sludge », qui n’est pas vraiment un genre. La voix est plutôt death/grind (Napalm Death...), les riffs sont longs et pesants...peux-tu nous éclairer ?

Pauline : Le sludge est assez méconnu, c’est dommage ! Mais je pense que tu as dû en écouter sans même t’en rendre compte. Il faut savoir que c’est un style qui date des années 80, et qui puise ses origines dans le vieux doom, le stoner, voire le noise. C’est un genre caractérisé par des riffs gras (semblables au stoner, c’est d’ailleurs pour cela qu’Acid Rain se considérait comme tel avant mon arrivée) mais aussi par un chant saturé, et c’est ce qui fait la différence avec le stoner. Le sludge pose une atmosphère lourde avant tout. c’est vrai que j’ai un chant qui rappelle un peu le death, mais personnellement, je n’irais pas jusqu’au grind (d’ailleurs je ne maîtrise pas du tout le pig squeal, par exemple).

6/You put yourself into the «sludge» kind, which is not a real one. The voice is much more Death/Grind (Naplam Death..) Riffs are long and heavy..can you light us up?

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Pauline : sludge is not much known, which is a shame ! I think you have listened to it without knowing. You have to know that this style was made in the 80’s, that takes its roots from the old Doom, Stoner even noise. It’s genre categorised by fat riffs (same as Stoner, it’s the reason why Acid Rain put itself into that style before I came in) but also with saturated vocals, and that what makes the difference with the stoner style. Sludge sets a heavy atmostphere first. It’s true that my vocals reminds a bit of Death Metal, but personnaly I won’t go into the Grind style (which I really don’t handle the pig squeal for example).

7/ Quels sont les thèmes de tes chansons ? Comment les écrits-tu ?

Pauline : J’écris un texte quand la partie instrumentale d’une compo est calée .Je commence par chercher des lignes de chant, et après, c’est parti pour le texte ! J’aborde les sujets qui me passent par la tête la plupart du temps, ou qui résument mon état d’esprit. On est pas vraiment dans le texte « engagé », ça prend souvent la forme de métaphores et ça peut aborder la colère, la violence, le sexe, la folie, la drogue même, ou tout simplement mes rêves bizarres !

7/What are the themes of your songs? How do you write them?

Pauline : I write the lyrics when the instrumental music is done. I start by searching the vocal lines, then I write and the text comes ! I talk about all subjects that cross my mind most of the time, or just resume my mood of the moment.We aren’t really in the «serious» texts, it often turns into metaphor and can talk about anger, violence, sex, crazyness, drugs or even some strange dreams !

8/ Comment composez-vous les compos ? Est-ce un hasard d’avoir des longues compos ?

Alexis : On a une moyenne de 4 à 5 minutes par morceau. Personnellement, je trouve que ce n’est pas forcément long, mais le style veut que l’aspect répétitif alourdisse l’ambiance, et un morceau peut paraître plus long qu’il ne l’est réellement. Pour la composition, en général Jérôme ou Maxime nous ramène un riff sympa à travailler, puis on le travaille en répétition, on vient broder dessus. Dans le temps aussi, pas mal de choses viennent s’ajouter, changer ou disparaître.

8/How do you compose? Is it a hasard you have long compositions?

Alexis : We have an average of 4 to 5 minutes songs. Honestly , I don’t think that is long, but the music style with the same riffs coming back give this heavy ambiance, and so a song can give the impression it is longer than it is. For the compostions, usually Jérôme or Maxime bring a nice riff to work on and then we play it at the rehearsal, then we embroid over it. In the time also things are coming or we change or completely disappear.

9/Avez-vous un album ou des démos que les gens peuvent se procurer ?

Pauline : On est actuellement en train de réaliser une maquette de quatre titres qui viendront rejoindre les petits enregistrements déjà disponibles sur SoundCloud. Dans tous les cas on vous tient informés de tout cela via notre page Facebook ! Et prochainement depuis un site internet.

9/Do you have an album or demos people can get?

Pauline : We are acutally working on a demo with four tracks that will join the sounds already available on SoundCloud. In every way we keep you informed on our Facebook page! And soon on our website.

10/ Qui a créé le logo ?

Alexis : C’est Cyril, qui gère CLLK Artwork, qui réalise pas mal d’affiches, de visuels, et de t-shirts sympas !

10/Who created the logo?

Alexis : it’s Cyril who owns CLLK Artwork, he realise lots of flyers , visuals and nice T-shirts!

11/Quel est ton chanteur préféré ?

Pauline : C’est difficile comme question ! Il y a tellement de bons chanteurs!Je crois que tous genres confondus, ma chanteuse préférée c’est Ella Fitzgerald. En restant dans le metal, si je ne devais en choisir qu’un, c’est Randy Blythe, le chanteur de Lamb Of God. 11/Who is your favorite singer?

Pauline : It is a tough question ! They are good singers! I think in every genres my

favorite singer is Ella Fitzgerald. In the Metal, if I had to choose only one, I would say Randy Blythe, Lamb Of God ‘s singer.

12/ Que penses-tu de la scène metal en France ? Et dans ta région ?

Pauline : Il y aura jamais assez de metal en France à mon goût, je crois ! Je pense que c’est tout de même un genre qui devient assez « à la mode » en ce moment, et qu’il faut s’attendre à voir naître bientôt de très bons groupes. Pour la scène locale, en revanche, c’est pas encore ça. On galère parfois à trouver des établissements pour nous accueillir et même de l’autre côté de la scène, pour aller assister à un concert, il faut parfois fouiner. Heureusement, on a quelques endroits chouchous où on s’amuse bien et où on est toujours les bienvenus !

12/What do you think of the French Metal scene? In your area?

Pauline : Their won’t be enough Metal bands in France for me ! I think that it is still a style that get pretty much a «fashion» those days, so we must expect to see more great bands to grow. For the scene in our area, I’m afraid it is not yet the case. We have tough times to find places that want to accept us for live shows, even on the other side of the stage, going to a show you must search most of the time. Fortunately we have few places we love and where we are always welcome!

13/ Vous semblez être une bande de potes avec d’autres groupes du coin. Est-ce difficile de faire autrement ?

Alexis : Non, on a vite été amenés à jouer avec les groupes pas loin de nous, alors on reste très solidaires, on se voit assez souvent entre musiciens, du fait de la proximité des concerts.

13/You seem to be a group of friends with other bands around. Is it difficult otherwise?

Alexis : No we have been quickly playing with the bands in the area , so we stick together and we see ouselves often as musicians due to the close places for the gigs.

14/Comment faites-vous des concerts ? Qui les trouve ? Avez-vous déjà joué à l’étranger ?

Alexis : On trouve tous un peu des dates, que ça soit Pauline, ou Edgar, ou moi. On suit Facebook de près, et parfois on entend parler d’une occasion à saisir ! On n’a jamais vraiment joué à l’étranger, enfin sauf deux fois, dans les DeuxSèvres (rires) ! On reste principalement sur une scène locale.

14/How do you get live dates? Who finds them? Have you played abroad?

Alexis : we all find dates, from Pauline to Edgar or myself. We are checking facebook closer, and sometimes we hear about something to catch! We never played abroad , except two times in Deux-Sèvres (laughs) !

We principally stick to the local scene.

15/ As-tu ton propre matériel de son ?

Pauline : Oui, bien sûr. On partage un matériel de sonorisation pour être plus à même de jouer un peu partout. Parfois les établissements ne sont pas équipés.

15/Do you have your own soung gear?

Pauline : Of course. We share the sound gear to be able to play everywhere. Sometimes places don’t have them.

16/Avez-vous un studio ? Avez-vous des compétences techniques ?

Alexis : Oui, on a aménagé un studio avec des copains en campagne pour les répétitions. Pour ce qui est des compétences techniques, non, pas vraiment. On s’improvise ingéson quand on n’a pas le choix, évidemment (rires) ! On est surtout des musiciens amateurs, mais passionnés. Pour le moment, on n’a pas encore les outils nécessaires pour pouvoir s’engager sur un terrain plus professionnel.

16/Do you have a studio? Have you got technical skills?

Alexis : Yeah we have made a studio in a friend’s place on the county side for rehearsals. As for technical skills, not really. We just improvise sound engineering when we don’t have the choice (Laugh) ! We are mostly amteurs musicians but passionate. For the moment we don’t have the gears to get more professional.

www.facebook.com/AcidRainMetalBand Les photos sont de / All photos from Vincent menard

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