1/How did you think and work the new album « re-program »? Compared to the earliest albums… Lance) Interesting question, well I suppose it’s changed over time, with the tools that are now being used as opposed to when I started writing music in 1980’s. For sure the tools are far superior and so is the recording quality because of the new technology. Back then we would all sit in a room and rehearse and write together, which had some drawbacks, schedules and motivation and creative flow most times. Meaning not everyones is happening at the same time and therefore, it takes longer with more frustration for the others that are in the creative flow. Now, instead of jamming with everyone, I just work on songwriting with one other cowriter at a time with a song, if I feel it needs anothers touch, I ask another person to join us on the song. The song is the most important thing these days, where as when I first started, it was much more learning how to write a song. Now I have that down, it’s more like what I want to say, what kind of feel do I want from it, and does it move me personally. 2/Have you had lyrics written already or you worked a theme specially for that album? Lance ) No, I rarely have words already for an album, however...on this one, I kind of had lyrics for a couple tracks. One was more of a poetic theme than a lyric and that was what became «Reaction Formation»… I’d written a post on my socials at one point, I kept it because It felt like it should be worked into a song, it had meat and felt important to say and it was something I had an intimate relationship with. The other was a track I had demo’d up first with Dean from Teramaze, we had started writing songs together in 2014 for my followup album to “A Moment in Chiros.” But in 2014 my life was hit with a series of big family drama’s that took me almost completely away from music for the next 4 years. During that time, Dean decided he would use the music for the track on one of his Teramaze albums. But I had this really cool melody and a great lyric worked up, so I sent only my vocal recording of this to Kim Olesen to write music behind… and that is how the title track “ReProgram» was written. Kim really enjoys working from a melody, it was completely different that the previous version with Dean, much more moody and half time of the original. P2
Interview with EverMetal What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band? My name is Piotr Luczyk. I founded the KAT band at the turn of 1979/80, and I play guitars in the band. I am also a music producer and composer of most of KAT’s music. At the beginning of KAT, we played Hard Rock. Later it evolved by stages into Thrash Metal. We released 11 original albums, several concerts, DVDs and compilations. There are several dozen pirate releases of our records on the market. We played tours with Metallica, Helloween, Six Feet Under and many more. We have also played with Iron Maiden, Motörhead & Pretty Maids. In addition I am the originator of the Metalmania Festival and Cover Festival. I say, perhaps immodestly, that in Eastern Europe they call us a legendary band! That’s for starters. How did you come up with your band name? I came up with the name in primary school when I was 12 years old. The literal translation is simply Executioner. It was about someone who seeks justice. Ah, such children’s visions. At the time, I could not yet play. Subsequently it turned out that KAT became, in addition to my family, the most important thing in my life. What country are you from and what is the metal scene like there? I come from Poland but currently I live in Manchester GB. In Poland, the metal scene is mainly extreme. Vader and Behemoth are the best known Polish bands around the world. Both of these bands recorded the album “W homage to KAT” which I think shows our position. Of course, there are also hard and heavy bands in Poland, but not many. It’s difficult to find good singers who can sing in English. Also, in Poland, the Catholic Church predominates in society and condemns metal music as satanic. But crowds come to concerts of foreign stars. What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single or Video) In 2014 we released the album “Acoustic 8 Filmow” with acoustic versions of our most famous ballads. Earlier, we released the metal album “Mind Cannibals”. On Jun 14th 2019 we will release our latest KAT album “Without Looking P3
1/When did you start the drums? -I have always been playing since i can remember, but when I was 15 I began playing drums seriously with bands.
What led you to play that instrument?
-Actually I was very inspired of the drummer on the talk show bands, like the David Letterman show etc. Then watching MTV was also a huge source of inspiration - last but not least - and my parents had always Latino Music turned on, day in and day out. I always liked playing with my hands on the table and following the rhythm, and i still do some times hahaha. 2/Who is your mentor? -Well my «mentors» have been every good musicians, I’ve always played with better musicians than myself and kept my mind open for new ideas an approaches. My main goal have always been to have fun, progress and learn more.
Have you learnt in musical school?
Yes I studied on the local music school 1 hour a week when i was a kid, and did my drum homework. But in the same time I always looked for the more advance technics and different methods to learn as well, by myself. 3/A drum takes place and is loud, have you got a studio where you can play anytime? -I have a rehearsal room in my town where I practice with almost all my bands. But mostly I practice a few hours alone everyday. 4/Sweden has lots of musicians, yet you are featuring in albums of big names Metal bands, How did you get that facility to play for those bands? P4
1/Did you start writing when you were still in Vixen? Was it a side project at first? Yes. Justin and I started writing together accidentally! We didn’t plan on it...it just happened and it started as a side project. 2/Have you searched a band’s name or you straight away thought about your name to separate you from Vixen? Justin and I decided to just go with my name as I sort of had a fan base. 3/You used « Planet Janet » for the fans ,where this comes from? Are you still using that description… Planet Janet is a nickname that we used in a Facebook post and it just sort of caught on so we kept using it. 4/While singing on your last tour with vixen you had a problem with your head, to reassure us, are you ok and is your health great? We were actually playing a solo show at the Whisky the night before I was hospitalized for removal if a subdural hematoma. Yes, I am fully recovered and so grateful for the outpouring of love and support I received during that time. 5/When you made a video to support your first album « janet »you had a line up, but it has changed quite quickly, do you have a stable one now or you will change musicians depending on live shows and tour? We have pretty much had the same band since we first starting touring in support of this. We obviously have myself and Justin but we also have Richie Rivera on drums and Anthony Gemignani on bass. Both are incredible musicians and absolutely great to be around. 6/Have you made up your logo or you asked someone? On your second album it has changed, does that mean it will on each release? We have a very talented friend named Eric Steinhardt who designed the logos for us. We have had and used both of them for both albums and will continue to use both of them. P5
1. When did you start the drums? I started the drums at early on. Around 5 years old. What led you to play that instrument? My Grandfather… Always played music around me, wherever and whenever it was. He started off first playing Big Band Jazz music like… 2. Who is your mentor? I am mainly self taught but in my later teens I become friends with Mark Zonder (Warlord, ex- Fates Warning, Slavior, and many more). Then my good friend “JMac” John Macaluso… It was more a passion and love for an all time album for me, “Burn The Sun” by ARK with Jorn Lande. And for years we have remained friends. Have you learnt in musical school? Not much actually. I tried twice in junior high school and high school. I got board playing the same old standard stuff, no offense but I needed to be pushed and stretch my creative mind. So I had one private instructor… Jack Russell who was a touring drummer for the famous tv show and legendary “Champagne Big Band Conductor” Lawrence Welk and The Lawrence Welk Band. 3. Drum takes place and is loud, have you got a studio where you can play anytime? Haha, yes it is… I had a state art of the home drum recording studio called ‘Sammy’s Hideaway’ and I was self sufficient I could play behind the drum kit and across the room was I able to control the recording remotely with an App on my phone. So I didn’t need an engineer. But I would send those files completed to a one or two mixing engineers that I had in my network. Now living in Texas I mainly work out of different studios so all I need to bring is my sticks, seat, and cymbals… the essentials. But it has taken a backseat since I have launched my music management company. 4. How do you create on each albums, do you have the similar riffs you use often? tell us how you work for those bands… Great question! I actually do a lot of my writing with the same approach but not with the same similar riffs and drum parts. I start off most of writing away from the drums. I will listen to the music for several hours, and days while in between coming up with ideas and logging those parts down on my phone and then into the recording process. I have never really been a jam session drummer. Always bringing ideas well prepared and maybe several ideas I love the same for a certain part / idea but I never force a good riff or lick into a song if it doesn’t fit. I will put that idea on the shelf for perhaps something else later. And this is why “reading music” helps as an extra tool to have in your musical toolbox! 5. How do you work your schedule for rehearsals and live dates? I currently don’t as I have other music interests… C-II-M Productions (a full service music management company that spans globally, Europe, USA, Latin America, Greece, U.K. and beyond)! But when the time comes it will be worked in. There’s a lot I can do from the road while playing out live if need be. Plus I have amazing partners and the best network centered around me. They are all the best at what they do!
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6. Have you got tons of demands to play in other bands? Yes over the years I have at times, but whether I was in another band or it was just timing I have turned down more stuff then not. Unfortunately I am still learning how to clone myself (HAHA!!) How do you choose? When I have, it
«DIO Returns to Orlando Florida 6/1/19» By Ryan Witting It’s not often that people get the feeling that they’re reliving the best experiences of years gone by. It is even rarer to be reliving the past while simultaneously looking at the future. However, on Saturday, June 1, 2019 that is exactly what the heavy metal music fans who were in attendance at The Plaza Live in Orlando did while they were watching the DIO Returns concert. Heavy metal music pioneer Ronnie James Dio, affectionately known by his fans as “The Man on the Silver Mountain” (which is a reference to a song of the same name that Dio co-wrote in 1975), passed away in 2010 at the age of 67. Ronnie James Dio’s music in the 1970s was one of the catalysts for the heavy metal music genre that we see today. His live concert tours with elaborate, interactive, and visually stunning stage props (including a 20+ foot mechanical dragon) in the 1980s pioneered the live concert “experience” that fans still compare their current concert experiences to. Now, 9 years after his death, Ronnie James Dio is a musical pioneer once again by performing in the world’s first rock hologram tour. In the years following the legendary singer’s death, several of Dio’s former band mates and closest colleagues, have been touring as DIO Disciples. DIO Disciples, along with Ronnie James Dio’s widow and manager: Wendy Dio, have teamed with Jeff Pezzuti’s hologram production company: Eyellusion to bring the Dio hologram to concert stages across the world. Nearly four years in the making, with updated imagery from previous performances, the Dio hologram has embarked on its first extensive tour of the United States. June 1, 2019 marked the 2nd performance of the Dio hologram on the DIO Returns 2019 tour. The near-capacity crowd at The Plaza Live experienced rock music history in the making as Ronnie James Dio’s hologram transcended virtual reality to a new dimension. The show opened with a great, rowdy and energetic 45 minute set from Jizzy Pearl’s band Love/Hate. Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate was no stranger to many in the crowd who were head-banging, fist-pumping, and singing along P7
1. What started the theme for you calling the new album ‘Human’? We honestly hadn’t decided what the lyrics should be about when we started writing them, so when all the lyrics where written we noticed that we all had written about a common theme and that theme was us. Us as people and the struggles we deal with in life and in the society. So calling the album «Human» came quite natural. 2. Did Markus Sigfridsson who released the cover artwork, did you give him ideas about the concept for it? Actually not more than the album title, and that the cover needed to fit the lyrical content and the emotion of the music. He came up with this idea pretty fast and then we all gave our inputs on small changes and stuff like that. 3. How would you describe this new album compared to the first ones? Have you tried to get something different or keeping the link? We have always felt like it’s a blend between our previous two, it’s song oriented like «WSE» but contains more progressive parts and have longer songs like «CTETW». I can’t say that we have thought about how we should write it, we never do that. We write the kind of music we like so we don’t try to do something different just because perhaps we should. So we don’t think about what we think the audience want to hear, I don’t believe that is a good idea. It’s difficult to keep the honesty in the music if we don’t write for ourselves. 4. You made two songs that are called part 1 and 2... What is the reason for that? Was it difficult to end the song or you wanted to get more of a lead into buildup between them stronger than the other songs for a flow to captivate the audience in suspense? The reason I guess is just that they are quite different music wise though they are connected lyric wise. We wrote most of part 2 first and I just came up with those guitar chords and we felt that worked great as an intro to the song. And then I came up with some vocal melodies and we felt like perhaps it should be its own song. We didn’t take the decision to break it up in to two parts until later from what I can recall. P8
1/Your first album always made me think of the first Dark Angel album; is there any link or it is pure coincidence? Definitely coincidental. While they may have been an influence at the time, we certainly did not set out to sound like anyone on purpose. 2/Your second album saw a slight change that could get you into the line of bands such as Overkill.. what made you move forward and get a different sound? Credit for that goes to Ronnie Montrose who produced the album. He pushed Gary (Golwitzer) to go higher and higher with is vocals until he got the sound you hear today. 3/Each of the albums have had different structures and sound, what is the reason for? Is it due to line up changes ? can you explain… Lineup changes definitely had a role in the way we have sounded over the years. Also as times changes, bands you listen to can change which can also have an effect on your playing. It also keeps things interesting for not settling in one specific sound, but rather get a little experimental and try something a little different each time. 4/It’s been a long time between your last album and the new one that you have recently made, do you feel like you have to restart from the start? So many bands appear now…After reuniting with Golwitzer and the recruitment of our current drummer, Jake Fromkin, we definitely feel stronger than ever before. I would not say we have started over because we have retained so many fans over the years - just started anew. 5/How did you compose that new album? was there a line you wanted to follow or try not to..? The songs you hear were originally written as a follow up to Insane Society so the songs themselves were written in the early 1990’s. When we were approached by Combat records in early 2017, we knew we wanted to put these songs out and do it right. So we made a few tweaks to them, polished them up and that is why you hear this killer record with a more old school sound. 6/Who is still in the band from the start? What difficulties you encountered to keep the band going after so many years? P9
Interview led with Chloe 1/Who started the band? Niall started the band after holding a house party full of musicians he knew, A mutual friend brought Niall and another guitarist together they discussed covering rock/metal hits but shortly scrapped this after they had introduced Chloe as their new lead singer and slipped into writing original music.
What was the idea?
After finding Chloe the band sat down in a rock/biker pub in Kidderminster and set out the rules, Low tuned, Huge riffs, catchy stadium sounding choruses and melodic solos and to do our own thing to not copy another band. Chloe names the band Sister Shotgun a name she had for a while we agreed to take this guise it was memorable and catchy whereas some bands used mythical beasts you can’t pronounce the name of so we likes the simplicity. 2/Have you played together in other formation? Do you play in other bands? We’ve played together in a few different formats the band retains Niall and Chloe being the core members of the group, drummers bassists and other guitarists have introduced new members over the course of time this line up having the most chemistry it feels like a family which it hasn’t always felt. 3/How did you get the deal with Pavement? Tim King of Soil and deputy president of pavement approached us and found us online and began discussing an offer with us, we then travelled to Amplified festival where Soil would be headlining and discussed plans for an album over a few shots a jagermeister. 4/You have an album after only few years of life, do you have a studio and tech skills to record? Yes we do Niall studies music technology and studio engineering in college who has passed on his knowledge on to Tim, Dave owns a studio with his business partner being the producer and engineer of Chaos studios, it’s often we P10
1.Have you studied music in a school or conservatory? I studied electric guitar and violin at a conservatory for two years in Greece. Before that I was accepted into the only musical high school in Athens, but only stayed there for a while. The first year, students are taught Byzantine music, starting with the toumperleki (toubeleki) – a Greek traditional drum and the Greek tambouras (a Byzantine string instrument) and later piano. What I liked most though was the Byzantine music and being part of a Byzantine choir. 2. You are a full artist, dancing, playing, singing, recording, video editing… how do you find the time to do all that? What brought you to be the only artist on every project you have? It’s a lot of hours work. More than a full-time job. I probably put in 12 hours a day. Part of it for the music promotion and video editing. I didn’t intend to do everything myself. Even though I was surrounded by so many great musicians over the years, and you’d think I had more of a chance to find a group of people to collaborate with. It didn’t work out that way. It wasn’t easy to find people to work with, especially for original music, and even harder to find people to work for free. I didn’t have a budget to afford going to a studio with sound-engineers or hire musicians. So, it came down to having to doing everything myself. So, I started recording each instrument one by one. Learning each passage and instrument separately. I did get some training in sound engineering while I was in New York and worked for a studio there as an intern. So, for mixing and mastering, I did have a great mentor, Pucker Brown in NYC who gave me my first computer with Cubase. Before that I was working only on a mixing board. Also, the great musician and conductor Dimitris Lambrianos, who bought Logic for me and gave me a tour of the use of certain plugins to create original sounds. Dimitris was very into experimental sounds. Being on my own was something a very lonely and bumpy ride. Many challenges both physically and mentally. Playing all these instruments. Becoming my own producer, sound-engineer, lyricist, recording artist, composer, orchestrator, director, videographer, cinematographer, editor, photographer and so forth - that is, if you think about it only a part of the work needed. What comes after is even harder. Releasing and promoting your work. Fortunately, I have one person who helps me there. If I had to do it again, would I do it alone? Well, yes, it is a different kind of magic and P11
1/Why choosing this name? You wanted to keep the ‘kill’ word…Have you all participated to find the right name? As we started the band with the name „Roadkill“ we were looking for a name that would fit our music best. We wanted something dirty and dangerous. It needed to be something wasted and provoking. We knew that some other bands might got the same name but we didn’t care cause it fitted the band the way it was! After finding RADD as our new singer back then we had to rethink our name a little. Meanwhile there were so many other bands carrying that name. But it came to „Red Dead Roadkill“ because of Bob almost ran over a huge snake in australia which he thought it was dead. It wasn’t. 2/How did you get the whole line up? What made you create this alchemy that makes it so good? We got together after concerts that we played together in other bands basically. We kept contact and when we had to rearrange the line-up we called Chrash and later on Dean if they were interested to join. To find a new singer though was much harder. 3/Australia got loads of great bands, what is your view on the scene? The scene got a lot better connected these days thanks to the internet. But often it still concentrates on the bigger cities like Sydney, Adelaide or Melbourne. Nowadays there are fantastic bands comming from australia which is great. In general it seems that it doesn’t matter that much anymore which country a band comes from. And people often look for exotic new styles of music to discover too. 4/How did you compose those songs? In trying them over and over again. The first steps often came easily like it is still to date. But putting the ideas together and making them feel good sometimes is a long way. Some of the ideas were actually from our first beginnings. We had to rearrange some keys as we started with a male singer at first. We look forward to create new songs with everyone’s joining the process. The result therefore will have a more bandlike sound which it will make more colorful. And yeah we already started creating new material. P12
1/Can you tell us how did you find that band’s name? Why the Hashtag? When we were kids, we often visited live concerts. But we were pretty small and couldn´t mosh in front of the stage – so we lined up in the back (ROW) and stared at outstanding shows (SPY). The Hashtag comes from a time, when nobody knows it as a „Hashtag“ in context with Social Media: Do you know the game Tic Tac Toe? The goal is to have 3 signs in a row – and it doesn´t matter in which direction you go, you got maximum 3. Metaphorically that means, that we are only strong as one unit. 2/Are your parents into the music business? Yes, they are! One father plays the guitar and the other father hits the drums – in the same band. That was the basis of founding SPY # ROW. 3/Was it hard to get two brothers playing in the same band? Lots of arguments… Never did and never will. Tim and Arian always did the soundcheck for our fathers‘ band back then. At this point Sam was just too small to hold any instrument but already wanted to make music with his brothers. 4/Was your friend always played the drums? How did you all get together? Have you had line up issues? Like we said, we were impressed of our fathers, creating great melodies with their own hands. So our decision to do it as well came pretty fast. We asked our fathers to show us how to play our instruments. But first nobody wanted to sing – fortunately Sam took over this task… 5/You’re pretty young yet you play 80’s tunes like the great bands, have you learnt from those bands? What do you think of the new generation ’s music? We would say the great bands of this period – whose albums standing in the CD collections of our dads – were our first influence. Of course we analysed their style, their way to perform and their way to fascinate the audience. Nevertheless we never just focused on one or two artists or locked our minds from modern influences. In this process we always stay hungry to experience more „music“ – doesn´t matter which genre – and let it impress us for transcribing it into our music. The point is: No other style of music touches us like Rock & Metal. It conveys emotions like no other genre, and it also shows how much power there is in music. New generations music also have a right for existance, the only thing that make us some kind of sad is music without feeling, emotions, meaning and so on. If you sing a whole song about having more money than others, so that you can buy yourself a bigger Mercedes or rapping without understanding any word (even when the song is in your own language!) – that´s just cringe and a little inappropriate for today. 6/How did you compose those great songs?
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1/You just released an album in a Classical music style, what was the idea? Aina: It’s an experiment of ours. To present the old tracks in their new classical chamber form. Imagine like you’re in some gloomy chambers. Surrounded by shadows and silence. All of a sudden, the silence is broken by thundering grand piano, trembling strings and haunting soprano parts. That is the atmosphere we wanted to show to our listeners. 2/Are you the main member of the band? Aina: I don’t really like this word. Being a frontwoman plus a person who founded this band and doing a lot of various work I of course have some rights. I am not the only one, our composer and guitarist Elvira also does tons of everything and she is very important as well. 3/You are two singers, was this intended or you wanted to have several voices? Aina: We started as a band with just one singer. Later we realized that two voices would make our sound more interesting. This is it. If you can enhance your music somehow, just do it! 4/You mostly sing in Russian, why not having an english album? You must have fans around the globe… Aina: This is not correct. We mostly sing in English. There are three full length albums in our discography, let alone a few EPs and singles, almost all of them have English lyrics. 5/You are a band with many female musicians and many instruments, has the line up had changes? How do you get this chemistry in the band? Aina: Sure, we had some line-up changes in the past. As for the chemistry, it’s really hard to describe that. It’s like we share the same passion and have a special connection between us. I don’t think it can be found deliberately, such things always come naturally. P14
1/What made you change singer, was it a direction change wanted? We just figured that it was time to try something different; after three albums with Fredrik on vocals we wanted to widen our sonic palette and horizons a bit and for that to happen a new vocalist was needed. 2/Does the line up stable now after so many years? Considering we’ve only made one line-up change for the last eleven years I would say that the line-up is fairly stable. 3/Your album came out in May with a black and white cover like just drawn, who did it? What was the wish for that cover? Looks like a Black Metal one… Altar Of Sorrow did the artwork for us. It’s a three part concept cover, so we have two more releases coming up with the same cover artist. I stumbled across Aldo on Instagram a few years back and I totally love the style of art he creates. The style of the covers totally match the concept that will be unveiling on the next couple of releases. 4/You have a good heavy metal sound, why calling it Doom n Roll? Probably because none of us really listen to heavy metal, so it would feel kinda wrong to label ourselves to a sound that we can’t really relate. For me I feel the sound relates more towards the Leif Edling school of Doom, with some other retro-rock and black/death metal influences blended in. 5/How do you compose your songs? Is it a band creation or only one person brings the idea.. Usually it starts with a riff or two and then one of us moulds those riffs into a rough demo that we finalise together in the rehearsal room. We all write but Fredrik has been the main song writer since day one. 6/Are you involved in other bands? Not at the moment. 7/You have that keyboard sound reminding the first Deep Purple albums, is it a touch you want to get your music sound like it is inspired by those years? Well John Lord pretty much wrote the book on rock-organ playing so of course there is a lot of his tone in our music. P15
MATHIAS HOLM KLARIN - Pictures of a Dream Mathias first album released on CD in 1996 and long ago sold out now reissued in digital formats. 1. Please describe your debut album musically and conceptually: - It’s a neoclassical instrumental album with 16 songs. This was my first album release, released 1996 in Japan and 1997 in Europe. It has songs written through the years 1988 – 1996. The first song I wrote for the album was “Tickle a Mosquito” and the last song was “Day Of Silence”. The album is recorded in my home studio using a 8 channel ¼” Fostex Model A-80 recorder. 2. If you had to choose one artist who would that be? - Vinnie Moore, his early years. 3. How does this one differ from your later recordings? - I think the biggest different are the sound of the drums and guitar. 4. What was the goal with making this album? - I remember when I decided to release the album. I had 16 songs and thought about the meaning of writing and recording music when nobody could listen to the songs. My thought was, release an album and continuing write new songs or stop writing. You know the answer. 5. Any specific influences towards the music ? - I got lots of influences, but my biggest influences at that time and what you probably can hear in the music is, Vinnie Moore, Tony Macalpine, Joe Satriani, Mike Oldfield, Yngwie Malmsteen and Al Di Meola. 6. How long did it take to make this album? - The songs are written between the years 1988-1996 but it took only about a year to record the songs for the album. 7. What has the different musicians contributed to the result? - Without Mats Eriksson-Wigg there wouldn’t have been an album. Mats inspired me a lot when we were rehearsing. I remember I was in a flow and wrote one new song every week until each rehears. It was so fun listen to the song with P16
1/How old you when you picked up the drums? I have been playing Drums for 18 years. I own a Pearl Pro Studio Kit, DW Hardware & A Custom Zildjian Cymbals & Remo Ebony pinstripe Drum Heads 5000 DW Pedal . I currently use 5B Zildjian sticks. 2Any influences you have? I am Proudly Endorsed by Kicklidz Pro Player Art Custom Drum Head based in Chicago. Owner Creator & Designed by Angela Gambino. She is amazing & Angela has designed 3 Amazing Velcro Drumheads for me. I absolutely love Kicklidz!
Colleen Mastrocovo
3/Did you always want to be a drummer? There are many Drummers that I am Influenced by, but two Amazing Drummers stand out & that is Carmine Appice & Vinny Appice.
My fiancé Jim Crean is the singer for Appice Drum Wars & when he is on Tour with The Appice Brothers I am lucky & fortunate enough to be around 2 legends! I watch them play & it is truly Incredible to see them first hand & learn so many techniques & styles! To me they are Both the two most Incredible Drummers I have ever seen! 4/What dream band would you like to play ,tour or open for? I never really thought about or wanted to be a Drummer. My passion has always been Dancing, 22 years of Dance & 4 years as a NFL Buffalo Jills Cheerleader for the Buffalo Bills, 2 Super Bowls & an American Bowl In London & Germany. My rhythm & coordination I believe comes from my Dance back round. I am currently a Flight Attendant for Jetblue. 5/Who are you endorsed by? I was in an All girl band in 2004 Mystic Jayyd & have been in Hair Nation an 80’s cover band for 9 years. We open for all the Nationals & Playing with my Fiancé in the band Jim Crean is a Blast!! I also play in The Jim Crean Band & we are headlining in LA at the Whiskey in August! In 2017 I won Best Rock Drummer from the Buffalo Nightlife Music Awards, also Hair Nation won an Achievement Award for Buffalo Night-Life Music & was Inducted! I am also featured in an upcoming Documentary on Female Drummers, Beat Keepers Women with Rhythm by Cindy Goldberg. It’s going to be Awesome! Also recorded 2 songs on Jim Crean’s upcoming Album in July 2019! I give 100% every time I hit the stage, being a Female Drummer it is always a challenge to be accepted. I have fun, I play hard & I play with passion. I am truly blessed to play in a band with such Amazing Musicians!!
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004530884761 www.Hairnationband.net www.Jimcrean.net P17
1/What was the idea of creating this band? Raff: putting together the right people and making some great music. Steve: I moved from Halifax Nova Scotia to Toronto Ontario, I had to find a band to play in out here. After bouncing around for a bit with a couple other bands I ran in to Raff and we created Haunted Heart. 2/You have a song « Haunted Heart » did it help to find the band’s name? Raff: No. I cofounded this band with Steve Macleod July 2017. We were throwing name ideas around , and Steve came out with what do you think of Haunted Heart? I knew in that immediate second that was the bands name, it related with me my and life instantly I was fuck yeah. Steve: I had Haunted Heart set up as a band name idea almost since I moved here. I tried earlier getting it going but it went nowhere. When I met Raff and mentioned the name as he mentioned, he loved it so I finally kept it for the band. Haunted Heart is actually a song name from the South African band The SoapGirls. I had done a bunch of work, web and social media stuff for The Soapgirls and have known them for many years now. They continue to be some of the best friends I never met lol. 3/Was it hard to get a full line up set? How did you find Roxane? Did you try other singers? Raff: oh fuck yeah. We auditioned so many different people, guitarists, bassists and never finding the right fit. We both wanted a female fronted singer, and was working with one for a little while , let’s not get into that bad flashbacks. in the fall of 2017 We were frustrated we couldn’t find the right people. That’s Steve actually left the project, and said it’s all yours bro. But as I said loving the name and the vision I had I wasn’t giving up on this band. LOL even though I was the only one in it at the time. Slowly I was starting to add piece by piece and talking with Steve he came back in to the project early 2018. Roxanne I met at a local Open weekly Jam they had for musicians in a bar called the Birchmount tavern in Toronto. The second I seen this lady sing, I said there’s my front woman. The first time I asked her to join the band she actually turned it down , it wasn’t the right time for her. but I’m a persistent fuck who didn’t take no for an answer LOL and asked again later early summer 2018 and she was in. Steve: Raff pretty much covered it. We are still to this day going through bass players lol. We’re so happy to Roxy and watch how she develops in to a kick ass front person. This was the first real rock band for her, and she just keeps proving to be natural born Rockstar! 4/Who made the logo design? Raff: The logo design I can proudly say was designed by my awesome talented wife Lisa Randazzo. Steve: Yes, Raff ’s wife Lisa helps us out with a ton of stuff, as does his daughter. 5/You seem to play lots of gigs , have you got a complete album ready to be recorded? Do you play covers? Raff: We are still working on our first album. We do have an EP that is ready to be recorded at this time. And yes we play covers at this point it’s necessary, but the crowd loves it and we love playing them. P18
The Finnish guitar legend returns with a new solo album following «Sand and Blood» (2017) and the non-album single «Vicky’s Eyes» (2018). The 15 track «Into the Unknown» album is the natural successor of his previous album made up of well structured and well arranged timeless classic hard rock songs with a few unusual twists thrown in for measure. Lars is also handling all the vocals and on this release he also focused on keeping the songs short and precise. Of the fifteen tracks on the album five are shorter than 1:22 and should be seen as small interludes glueing the whole album together in order to enhance the listener experience. Lars says he tried to create an enjoyable album with nothing to prove, just good songs. 1.Please describie the new album musically and lyrically? I would like to think of «Into the Unknown» as a work of passion, I took a break from making music completely for almost a half year and then came back with hunger and passion and my inspiration was flowing so everything came together (for me) extremely fast. It is not normal for me to finish an album this quickly. Lyrically the songs are about life, love and death and everything between. 2.if you had to choose one artist who would that be? Wow, that is gonna be very hard, because I think my music does not really sound very much like anything else out there but I think if you like the 80-ies releases by Gary Moore, Michael Schenker and perhaps Uli Jon Roth, then this might be what you like, but I was actually listening to Queen’s A Night at the Opera in the early stages of recording this album. 3.How does it differ from previous recordings? I think as a singer I have improved quite a bit and as a guitarist I feel I am developing constantly and I guess my style keeps changing a bit, on this album I am probably more melodic than ever. I am trying to make the songs a nice listening experience, often by keeping them from becoming too long. Also on this album there is quite a bit of interesting P19
1/Who chose the bands name? what’s the idea behind? - It’s because of Anlos last name «Front» 2/Is the line up stable or you have to find musicians for the live dates? - It’s stable as a rock. Anlo is the leadsinger and rhythmguitarist, Axel is the leadguitarist, Jonas is the bassplayer and Koffe is the drummer! 3/Have you learnt how to sing , did you sing / play in other bands? - We all been playing in different bands before we met in Frontback! 4/What is the meaning with the logo? Who did it? - It’s a powerful logo that Anlo came up with the idea and we had a guy called Martin Bergman who designed it. 5/How do you compose your songs? What inspires your lyrics? - Often it starts when we jam together in our rehersalroom. Everything that happens around us inspires us alot! When life happens you know;) 6/The band got pretty high in a fast time, What is the secret to that fast fame? - We’ve been working hard to play as much as possible and we have a unique sound with Anlos voice. 7/You released an album two years ago, was it easy to do? Were old songs you worked for years to get them stronger for the album? - we worked on that record for about one year but it was all new songs! 8/How did you get the deal with Dead End Exit Record? Is it yours? - we won a competition to play on a liveshow and they got interested to sign a deal with us! P20
1/You play guitar in a band and sound engineer, which one have you started first? Would you give up one for good? I started playing guitar in 1991 and, following the first album I played on (1995), I started working in that same studio. 2/When did you start « Death Island » and why this name? tell us a bit about the logo… I started the studio after I moved to Denmark, in 2008. I started in my garage at first! :) Then moved to a bigger place, not so far from where I live. The name comes from the name of the island where I live on: Mors. In Latin, Mors means ‘death’, hence the name: Death Island! The logo was made by my wife’s brother, we looked at something that could have an old school vibe... I think he pretty much nailed it! The logo is probably more popular than the studio itself! Hahaha 3/You earned many award since 2013, what those are giving you? How do you get an award in this job? All the awards I got are from magazines and webzines around the world... they came following a good review of my works 4/Is your time in Conservatory helped to get easier deals? What have you learnt during those time? Conservatory time didn’t get me easier deals, but it gave me the tools to get my job done, both in the production, in the songwriting, and in how to deal with a musician in an environment, the studio, that can get stressy sometimes. 5/You’ve been to Abbey road , you spent some time in the Uk? Would you say it’s the best way to get into that craft? I lived in UK for one year and did a 3’ level Master with Alan Parsons at Abbey Road. There is no secret in audio engineering... you just need to follow what the musician wants and print it on tape. You are the lens of a camera, so to speak :) 6/How did you get the opportunity to release a music for a movie? Unfortunalty I didn’t... Wish I could get a hold of the right people in the business! Those you heard are compositions I made for portfolio. 7/Are you playing in many bands? Do you help guitarists for the best sound? Have you got a special gear you love? P21