Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

I recently caught up with vocalist / guitarist / producer and fellow Canuck, Devin Townsend, to discuss the release of his long-awaited Deconstruction and Ghost albums; parts three and four of his “this was me” tetralogy. During our chat we discussed the online rumblings about new music he’s working on, currently going under the name Epicloud, and he was remarkably open about the tricks up his sleeve. Perhaps not all that surprising, however, given that he’s been living with the Ki / Addicted / Deconstruction / Ghost foursome for close to four years.

“My wife and the people around me tend to question whether or not it’s in my best interest to just keep writing,” Townsend reveals, “but the writing actually happens regardless of what I do. It’s so automatic at this point that it feels like the process has been integrated so completely into my everyday routine. For example, I wrote a full song yesterday while I wasn’t thinking about it (laughs). I went for a bike ride and I came back with this melody in my head, so while I was thinking about what I was going to do for the rest of the day I spent two hours and just wrote the song. I documented it, made the demo, made the session, so when I come back to actually making a record there are all these songs that just happened alongside my daily routine. Not only do I find that it’s very natural, but it’s also very relaxing for me to write.”

During an interview we did for BW&BK back in 1997, Townsend described a similar music-in-control writing process for his Ocean Machine album, although it doesn’t seem as intense these days.

“I think it’s the same idea, but I’ve definitely learned in my mind not to hold on to it as much as I had before. At the time I was doing Ocean Machine the ideas were so precious to me that I falsely made the assumption that if I didn’t actualize it without that level of intensity that I’d lose it. What I’ve found is that if it’s a good idea it’ll be there. The level of intensity that existed during Ocean Machine also didn’t have the benefit of the control over technology that I’ve managed to acquire over the past 20 years. So now, when it comes to putting an idea down I can get it out really quickly.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Being as I’m one of the dinosaurs that got into In Flames when they were “just” some loud little death metal band out of Sweden – it was The Jester Race album in 1996, to be exact – I was as put off as my old school brethren when the band decided to get all polished and modern on Reroute To Remain in 2002. In the long run, however, I discovered things weren’t anywhere near as disastrous as I expected them to be, and over the last nine years I’ve come to regard the post-2002 In Flames catalogue as being something worth taking the time to explore. New album Sounds Of A Playground Fading is their latest effort, standing head and shoulders above anything the band has done over the last decade in my “humble” opinion.

There are plenty of In Flames fans that will gladly disagree, of course, because it still ain’t death metal…

“There will always be people like that,” says guitarist Björn Gelotte. “I mean, I’m one of those people. I’m not a huge fan of the last few Dio albums, I’m still a fan of the older ones. It comes down to the period in my life when I discovered that music, and I totally respect other people’s opinions. The only thing is, I don’t go screaming over the internet about the stuff I don’t like (laughs).”

Like bandmate Anders Friden (vocals), Gelotte doesn’t concern himself with the criticism thrown In Flames’ way. If they had bowed to public opinion at any point during their evolution it’s fair to say the band would have either gotten lost amongst the current glut aggression-happy legions or crashed and burned entirely.

“That’s the only thing that counts, how I and the other guys in the band feel about it. There’s no point or possibility to cater to everybody. We’ve never done that and we’ve been outspoken about that. We’re gonna get shit from a lot of people and we’re going to get love from a lot of people. That’s the nature of this band and it’s always been in our cards. We’re used to that. We’re doing this for us and not for the people that are freaking out.”
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By Carl Begai

In a new interview with BW&BK (found here), Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie discusses the departure of co-founder and drum legend Mike Portnoy and the making of the band’s new album, A Dramatic Turn Of Events. Over the course of the conversation he revealed that Portnoy’s absence allowed the band to work differently in comparison to previous records; this included LaBrie recording his vocals at home instead of New York, as he has in the past. On top of that, he was able to work with close friend, former Winter Rose bandmate, and critically acclaimed producer – known in particular for his work with Rush – Rich Chycki.

“I was only down in Long Island when we were putting the music together,” LaBrie reveals. “I recorded all my vocals here at home in Canada with Rich. We recorded at his house; he has an amazing home studio. We had an absolute blast. I wanted to go about this album a little differently, so I mentioned to the guys – mainly John Petrucci (guitars) because he was wearing the producer hat – that I didn’t want anyone around when I was recording my vocals. It was like, ‘I was singing before I met you guys, and seeing how things have changed lately, I think it’s time to go back to what worked once upon a time.’ And it worked extremely well.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

I recently crossed Black N’ Blue frontman Jaime St. James off my interview bucket list.

No, he doesn’t have the high profile career, matching fame, or “legendary” status of Bruce Dickinson or Rob Halford, but St. James is one of those voices from my formative metalhead years in the ’80s that never disappeared. And while I can’t say that I’ve listened to Black N’ Blue religiously since the days I had a full head of hair, I can lay claim knowing every word, vocal nuance, widdly guitar part, drum fill and additional noise found on the Nasty Nasty record. It was and is one of those things I can’t explain beyond the fact it was music that struck a chord with me and became part of my bloodstream. That they have a new album out all these years later on par with Nasty Nasty is nothing short of fantastic in my world.

St. James recently took time out to discuss the record, Hell Yeah, and the interview will appear on these pages soon. In the meantime an excerpt from the chat is available below, as I address something that’s been bugging me for over two decades…

In 1987 a new band called EZO – rumoured to have been discovered by KISS legend Gene Simmons – started popping up regularly on MuchMusic and MTV through their video for the song ‘Flashback Heart Attack’. This was followed by a second single, ‘Here It Comes’. Hailing from Japan, they played the glam metal part well, fitting into the hair-and-make-up ’80s scene running amok at the time as if they were born to it. Musically, however, they were different from their more-pose-for-your-buck peers, making EZO something definitely worth investigating for a youngling with preferences for Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Helloween. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

It was announced in April that vocalist Roy Khan had officially left Kamelot, citing personal reasons following a major case of burnout. The move came months after the last minute cancellation of the band’s North American fall tour back in 2010, leaving everyone else in and around the Kamelot camp scrambling to honour commitments and make ends meet. The band has managed to forge onward with temporary (for the moment) vocalist Fabio Lione from Rhapsody Of Fire, and although no one is talking about it, there’s a question mark stamped on a successful future without Khan.

During my recent interview with keyboardist Oliver Palotai covering his new and unexpectedly stellar Sons Of Seasons album, Magnisphyricon, he opened up regarding the tour cancellation and the far reaching effects of having the rug yanked out from beneath Kamelot’s collective feet.

“It affected me a lot, but not musically. The hard thing is, when a tour like that is cancelled there’s no insurance or anything like that. I was moving at the time, and I was relying heavily on my income from that tour, and it was at a time when the new Sons Of Seasons album was still in the making, which is something I invest a lot of my own money in. That money was missing, so it made the last steps quite hard.”

“Musically, well, I guess it did affect me after all because there’s only one other incident in my career that shocked me just as much, and that was Blaze Bayley’s criminal management, which caused the band to split up. That and the Kamelot tour cancellation are probably the two worst things that have happened in my life.”
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By Carl Begai

It’s been almost a decade since In Flames twisted their once-trademark melodic death metal sound into something less volatile and more mainstream. The aptly titled Reroute To Remain album signaled the change, but the band didn’t crash and burn as so many disgruntled fans had expected. On the contrary, In Flames earned themselves a legion of new fans even as some veteran followers hung on to hope, secretly admitting the band’s new musical direction wasn’t, in fact, that much of a disaster. The band’s new album, Sounds Of A Playground Fading, is by no means a return to old form, but it ranks as one of In Flames’ most diverse outings to date, seemingly hinting at the band’s past as they move forward. Personal observation, for example, has me hearing strains of the Whoracle album from 1997 on new song ‘A New Dawn’. Then there’s the mysterious and dark spoken word piece ‘Jester’s Door’ that preceeds it, which sounds like an obvious tip of the hat – lyrically more than musically – to their 1996 album, The Jester Race.

“Could be,” laughs vocalist and instigator Anders Friden, who debuted as In Flames’ frontman on The Jester Race. “I want to keep it open to interpretation, but it came about because of the lyrics. The track had to be those 10 or 12 lines. I couldn’t make it into a whole song, they were perfect the way they were. As we were recording the album, we had to come up with a song order very early on and keep it that way. Having an album feel was very important to me. It had to have a certain flow, you could almost imagine it as having an A-side and B-side, like an LP.” (continue reading…)

During a recent interview with Area51 guitarist Yoichiro Ishino about the band’s current activities (online shortly), we discussed the tsunami and 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on March 11th, 2011. On record as the strongest earthquake to ever hit Japan, it decimated the northeastern Tōhoku region of the country. Ishino wasn’t directly affected, but it’s still an experience neither he nor anyone else in Japan will forget.

“I was in Tokyo at the time,” says Ishino. “Although things fell all over the place, were thrown out of cupboards, fluorescent lights cracked and fell, there was no major damage to buildings in the Tokyo area. Up north is where there was the big earthquake, and much damage due to the tsunami. Japan in general is well prepared for earthquakes, but this time things were really way beyond our imagination. It was just too big.”

The present lack of the 24/7 “Sensationalize This!” media coverage that polluted the airwaves immediately following the disaster would suggest that Japan is coping with the situation. A full recovery – call it the power of positive thinking – will take years, and according to Ishino many people are rallying together and doing what they can to help their countrymen.

“Life in Tokyo is returning to normal,” Ishino reveals, “but the real problem remains where the damage was greatest. Close to 300,000 people lost their houses, and are living in temporary facilities. The nuclear power plant nearby (in Fukushima) is causing a lot of anxiety and instability. As a result, although there is an electricity shortage in Tokyo, everyone is thinking about what can be done for those in real need up north. People are really taking action to help.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Primal Fear guitarist Alex Beyrodt isn’t shy about his classic rock roots. One only needs to check out his new Voodoo Circle album, Broken Heart Syndrome, for a time machine return to the era when Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Rainbow were kings. As Beyrodt was gearing up for the release of the album, however, he had the unique opportunity back in January 2011 to play on the Rock Meets Classic tour through Europe and share the stage with Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan. During our interview for Broken Heart Syndrome (coming soon via BW&BK) he reflected on what was an unforgettable road trip.

“Man… what can I say? On the day of the first show we had a quick soundcheck that afternoon, and that was the first time I saw Ian Gillan. I think we did something like one verse, a bridge, and a chorus for one Deep Purple song. After that he disappeared, and the next time I saw him was at the show. He came on stage and we started with ‘Highway Star’. There’s this great guitar solo in the song, so of course I’d practiced it like crazy (laughs). I played it and, believe it or not, he comes right up to me on stage, looks me in the eye and gives me a thumbs-up. And he’s smiling (laughs). After the song, in front of 3,500 people, he looks at me and says ‘Well done, Alex.’ I was like’….Wow!’ (laughs). That doesn’t happen to very many guitar players.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

“I can’t believe they had the audacity to try it, much less nail it!”

The above statement is par for the course for any artist that dares to cover a Rush song. In this particular instance it’s a YouTube reaction to US-based metal band Benedictum’s rendition of ‘Overture’ / ‘The Temples of Syrinx’, taken off the front end of the Rush epic ‘2112’. And while there are purists out there that refuse to accept so-called upstarts messing with the Rush legacy, the Benedictum cover has generally gone down a storm. Supersized in terms of production, fireworked by blazing drum / guitar interplay, and blasted into the stratosphere by singer Veronica Freeman’s full-on Dio-esque vocals, this updated version of the Canuck homegrown classic has added credibility to Benedictum’s growing no-bull reputation and opened more than few minds in the aftermath.

What makes Benedictum’s homage to Rush that much sweeter is the fact it was Freeman who brought the idea to the table rather than a prog-happy instrumentalist. Not what you expect of someone who cut her teeth on traditional ’80s metal and has been known to blow up Dio and Accept covers in fine form.

“I’m a huge Rush fan,” says Freeman I love ‘em. “I just don’t talk about it much because everybody wants to talk to me about the Dio stuff. Rush has always resonated with me, but I knew so many people that didn’t like them back in the day because they didn’t sound evil enough (laughs), so I became a closet Rush fan. I had always wanted to sing ‘Temples’. I remember back in the times before CDs, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I had my wannabe souped-up Firebird blasting Rush on the cassette deck. The stereo was worth more than the car (laughs). I had the windows rolled up so nobody else could hear while I tried to hit those notes (laughs).”

Hearing that a metal band has dared to cover Rush, particularly one with a female singer, gives rise to thoughts of songs such as ‘Closer To The Heart’ or ‘Time Stand Still’ being put on the block. Tracks that are hook-laden and radio friendly rather than musically challenging. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Children Of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho is equally recognizable as a vocalist and a guitarist. With that in mind, during our recent interview for BW&BK (found here) about the band’s new album, Relentless Reckless Forever, we sidestepped from the standard Q&A about how much he and the band shred and kill to discuss a few guitar related odds and bits…

For starters, Laiho’s gives axe-slinging partner in crime Roope Latvala his due. He makes it clear Latvala is an integral part of Children Of Bodom even though he’s often overshadowed – in the press, at any rate – by Laiho and keyboardist Janne Wirman. Nobody should underestimate Latvala’s contributions to the Bodom soundtrack, because even though Laiho plays musical director, he isn’t about to start ordering around the former guitarist of the legendary Stone, a band he idolized.

“(Laughs) Exactly. Roope’s the kind of guy that obviously knows how to play, so he brings his own twisted ideas of letting music out to the table. He’s always coming up with crazy ideas and half the time it’s like, ‘Dude, what’s going on in that head of yours?’ (laughs). The other half of the time he has these crazy and ingenious ideas.”

In recent years Laiho used some of his rare downtime to film instructional DVD material for Rock House. Basically, a Shred-Like-Laiho video handbook for the serious musician.

“I’ve done two of those Rock House DVDs,” he says. “I’ve done guitar clinics before, so it’s not like it was a new situation for me to do things from a guitar teacher’s point of view, but the first DVD was kind of awkward because I had a script to follow. Sometimes I had to make them stop shooting and do another take because they were making me say stuff that just didn’t sound like me. Stuff I’d never say (laughs). There’s a lot of cool stuff in there and it’s worth checking out, but I pretty much had to play along with it. I haven’t even seen the damn thing but if felt kinda weird. The second DVD, I think it brings out my real personality more.” (continue reading…)