Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

Audrey Dujardin’s rise as an in-demand photographer is proof that taking baby steps towards a career pays off. It helps, of course, when each step taken lands like a steel-soled Doc Marten rather than a tap shoe.

Dujardin’s work speaks for itself, but trying to slow her down long enough to pick her brain was a welcome challenge. Following is a revealing look through her lens and behind her eyes… (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Earlier this year Stratovarius issued what has been viewed as a cash grab. Dubbed a Special Live Edition of the band’s 2009 comeback album, Polaris, it features new packaging and a 14 song live “bootleg” bonus disc featuring recordings from their recent world tour, but it isn’t the half-hearted hackjob so many of these productions tend to be. Along with some of Stratovarius’ most popular songs – ‘Hunting High And Low’, ‘Kiss Of Judas’ ‘Father Time’ and ‘Speed Of Light’ – the package includes four tracks from Polaris and some unexpected gems from their catalogue, clocking in at a high quality press-repeat 75 minutes. Take it as you will, but for the fanatic diehards a live Stratovarius album was long overdue, with the one and only official on-stage showcase, Visions Live, having been released in 1997. Polaris Live is a surprisingly solid outing that doesn’t disappoint in spite of the fact original guitarist and visionary Timo Tolkki isn’t involved in any way.

“It’s been a while,” laughs frontman Timo Kotipelto. “As you know, though, this isn’t a ‘proper’ live album. We had to leave out a lot of songs, but this was always meant as something special for the fans rather than an official release. I think maybe in a few years we’ll do an actual proper live album.”

That said, the bonus album was never meant as a way to line the band’s pockets. Chance are good it’s drumming up some business after all… (continue reading…)

Following is an excerpt from my recent interview with guitarist Michael Amott about his new Spiritual Beggars album, Return To Zero. An exclusive interview with Amott about his recent island-hopping escapades with Arch Enemy will be available exclusively on this site soon:

Return To Zero is trademark ‘70s-flavoured Spiritual Beggars, but the announcement prior to the recording sessions that vocalist Janne “JB” Christofferson had been replaced by Firewind frontman Apollo Papathanasio suggested this wouldn’t be the case. Up to this point Papathanasio has been known as a power metal singer, all bombast and polish, making his performance on Return To Zero a pleasant surprise. Amott says bringing him on board was indeed a case of getting past preconceived notions and hearing Papathanasio in a completely different environment.

“Apollo is a local guy, which is weird because everyone thinks he’s from Greece. His parents are Greek, but he was raised in Sweden. I’ve been aware of him forever, long before Firewind. When it became clear that JB couldn’t sing on the new record I was really disappointed and I seriously began thinking maybe that was it. Ludwig called me and suggested Apollo because the two of them play in a bar band doing cover songs. Apollo had in fact offered his help to get the ball rolling, get the songs done, rather than stepping in as a full time vocalist. I thought no, he’s too metal, but I thought ‘What the hell…’ and asked him to learn a few songs, then come down and jam.” (continue reading…)

Blind Guardian have always been hit and miss with me. I’ve often found them to be too ambitious for their own good, creating epic orchestral-metal productions that beat the listener into submission with their supposed greatness. Nothing wrong with that so long as a band is still capable of writing a “typical” full-on metal song minus the smoke and mirrors, which in Blind Guardian’s case I’ve doubted for years. It seems the band has returned to their early day balls-and-brawn sound on new record, At The Edge Of Time, which is welcome change from their outings over the last decade. Following is a portion of my interview with frontman Hansi Kürsch conducted for Metallus Maximus:

“We had the impression that there would be a wide variation of songs on the album, so we just had to fill in the gaps,” says Kürsch. “But again, there was no pattern, so we could have gone onto the wrong track at some points. Luckily, we had very open discussions about how the songs were progressing and where they should go, and we followed that line all the way through the production. I’d say that in 90% of all cases we were very successful. Once we came to a decision we went for it. That wasn’t necessarily the case with albums like Night At The Opera or A Twist In The Myth.” (continue reading…)

Folks that visit this corner of the blogosphere are aware that I recently did an exclusive interview with new Crimson Glory vocalist Todd La Torre (found here). On the same day I interviewed the band’s founding guitarist, Jon Drenning, to discuss the events leading up to La Torre’s induction into the band. We also talked about Crimson Glory’s forthcoming studio album, which is due to be conceptual piece in tribute to former vocalist Midnight.

“I was shocked, yeah,” Drenning says of the similarities between La Torre’s and Midnight’s vocals. “It came as a complete surprise because we were preparing for the ProgPower X tribute show to Midnight, organizing these metal singers from around the world who had graciously offered their time and talent, so we really didn’t need another singer. Matt Laporte from Jon Oliva’s Pain dedicated his time as well to play guitar and dulcimer on the night because he and Midnight had been good friends, and he mentioned to me that he knew a drummer who was an aspiring singer. He said ‘I think he might be your guy.’ I told Matt there was no way. There were people from all over the world interested in auditioning, there was no way I was going to find a singer for Crimson Glory in my own backyard. Finding one Midnight was special enough. Finding another singer with those qualities in my own backyard again… what are the chances of that?” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Thirty years ago Sarcofagus guitarist Kimmo Kuusniemi would have died laughing in the face of predictions that Finland would become a focal point for the international metal community. This year he released documentary offering a look into why this is indeed the case, and nobody is laughing at a job well done.

When exactly this small Northern nation began spitting out high quality metal is up for debate. Suffice to say that when Kuusniemi left his native Finland almost 20 years ago for the UK it was because his band Sarcofagus and the music he loves were viewed as nothing more than a joke by the people around him. His documentary Promised Land Of Heavy Metal – put together with partner in crime and life Tanja Katinka Karttunen – showcases Kuusniemi’s journey home to a musical climate far different from the one he left behind. It explores how and why the “new” Finland ticks as loudly as it does, and allows him to say “I told you so” to the people that dismissed metal as a joke.

Kuusniemi: “In the Sarcofagus days a lot of the press people treated me well because I was a reasonable person, so they didn’t want to put me down, but the people that had classical training in music saw the whole metal thing as absolutely ridiculous and stupid. They didn’t even consider it music, saying it was just a phase. We were up against a small country mentality: ‘If you don’t do things the way we do them, we’re all against you.’ That’s why I left Finland, because it was so negative. When we returned to make the film I found the people were much different because of the European union. The borders were open. In the old days all the bands were sort of like enemies; there was competition. That’s changed a lot, and all the bands and artists we met were really nice. There were no ‘stars’, unlike the ‘80s where a lot of these musicians were full of themselves even though nobody knew them. These Finnish bands now are so down to earth that I feel Finland is a much better place than it used to be.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

It’s hard to believe, but Loudness is pushing the ripe old age of 30. Quite an achievement considering the band has had three singers, the grunge direction adopted by guitarist / founder Akira Takasaki in the ‘90s all but destroyed their credibility, the original line-up’s reunion in 2001 featured a heavier and darker sound compared to ‘80s Loudness, and the passing of drummer Munetaka Higuchi in November 2008. The band’s new album King Of Pain sends a strong message, however, that Loudness are alive and well in 2010 and nowhere close to pulling the plug. The old school edge that has been largely absent from their sound since the Spiritual Canoe reunion album is back, as is the energy that made Loudness an international success story three decades ago.

On November 25th, 2006 Loudness played their 25th Anniversary show in Tokyo, Japan., It was 25 years to the day they officially became a band. Frontman Minoru Niihara reflects on the evening and what it meant.

“I’m astonished by the fact that this band is still around after 25 years,” he says. “It’s almost 30 years now. It’s just so amazing when a metal band continues for over 25 years. We could never imagine that when we started. It was impossible without the loyal fans and we thank every one of them from bottom of our hearts. As for the concert, the atmosphere was very at-home throughout the show. We played a lot of classics and that brought back a lot of memories. It was very emotional for me when we (band and audience) all sang along together.”

Less than two years later, however, word came down that Higuchi was battling liver cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma). He was hospitalized for treatment on April 7th, 2008 but passed away on November 30th. It was a devastating blow for everyone in and around the band. On February 14th , 2009 the band performed a tribute show dubbed Munetaka Higuchi – Forever Our Hero. (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

I recently caught up with Crimson Glory guitarist Jon Drenning for BW&BK to discuss the band’s surprising decision to carry on with a new singer (click here). “Surprising” because original vocalist Midnight, who passed away in July 2009 due to liver and kidney failure, was a defining element of the Crimson Glory sound. As far as the metal universe was concerned it could never be duplicated faithfully, with Drenning and his bandmates at the top of that list. New voice Todd La Torre has proven everyone wrong, even though he had no designs on doing so when he was asked to step up.

“Matt Laporte from Jon Oliva’s Pain and I are friends, and he told me he was doing some rehearsing with them, but it really didn’t mean anything to me,” La Torre admits. “I’d heard the name Crimson Glory before but that was about all I knew about them. Matt told me that if the guys were to hear me sing they’d shit themselves, so that night I checked out some of their stuff on YouTube. The ‘Lonely’ video was the first thing to come and I thought it was cool that the guys had been on MTV before (laughs). When I heard the first verse I though the vocals were beautiful, and I loved it. It had everything I liked in a song.”

“Long story short; when I got to the rehearsal there was a part of me that was nervous. I’d done some research on them probably two days before the rehearsal, so I was able to pick out the guys in the band from the videos (laughs). It was cool but I wasn’t really starstruck or anything like that. Sadly, and blasphemy for the true Crimson fans, I didn’t know their stuff (laughs).” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

Tell a metalhead who cut his or her teeth in the ‘70s and ‘80s that a new grunge-influenced band is making some serious noise and watch them reach for the earplugs. A hair-trigger reaction for anyone that watched helplessly as metal took a pounding with the scene-altering rise of Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam in the early ‘90s. Thus, news of an Ottawa-based alternative rock / grunge act by the name of Doll gaining momentum in the press and on the touring circuit was met by yours truly with a “So what?” reaction. Curiosity killed the preconceived notions, however, as a surprisingly painless listen to songs available online revealed grunge is only a very small part of the Doll sound. If anything its a disservice to use the term. Doll’s sound is in fact a gritty mix of indie rock, punk and metal, with only a twist of grunge here and there. Call it mayhem played at street level guaranteed to appeal to the flannel-wearing angst-happy holdovers and beer swilling rivet-heads alike. A pleasant surprise in spite of what some folks are calling it.

“It’s funny because it started off that way,” says vocalist / guitarist Christina Kasper of the self-inflicted grunge tag, “but everyone in the band likes heavier stuff and we have a lot of different influences. Over time Doll became more of a harder alternative rock band. We’re not a metal band, we’re not a punk band, and we’re not a straight up rock band, so it’s kind of good for us because we can be opening up for Genitorturers one week, the Spinerettes the next week, and Lacuna Coil the week after that. We’re able to touch a lot of these different genres at the same time, which is pretty cool.” (continue reading…)

By Carl Begai

When Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson takes it upon himself to inform people that your music kicks ass, it’s a safe bet you’re on the right track.

Guitarist / vocalist Dave Reffett received just such an endorsement for his solo project Shredding The Envelope in February 2010 during a broadcast of Dickinson’s BBC 6 Friday Rock Show, who referred to the debut, The Call Of The Flames, as “a must have album for guitar fans.” A former student at Berklee College Of Music with a resumé boasting time spent working for Sanctuary Records and EMI, Reffett was and is still blown away by Dickinson’s accolades. Being able to bring in noteworthy guest performers like George Lynch, Joe Stump, Glen Drover, Michael Angelo Batio and Chris Poland was a triumph in itself, but receiving praise from the legendary frontman gave Shredding The Envelope an added boost of credibility in the eyes of metal fans that had no idea who Reffett was.

He remembers the jolt.

“Dude… wow. I emailed Bruce Dickinson’s producer and asked if I could send some stuff, and he went for it. I got an email later on saying I should check out the playback of the previous night’s show, but I had no idea Bruce had commented on the album. When I listened to the broadcast I was blown away. I was grinning for three days (laughs).” (continue reading…)