In a show of diva-esque conceit, I can lay claim to having locked on Lacuna Coil long before they were a big deal in Europe and less than a footnote on the North American metal scene. We go back to 1998 and the release of their self-titled EP, a venture that attracted the attention of anyone in tune with the likes of The Gathering and Theatre Of Tragedy, both of whom were in their heyday. The band did their Italian heritage proud, displaying the characteristic energy of a traditionally passionate people, excited at the prospect of being able to chase their dreams at a professional level. The band is older and wiser now, but there’s no lack of enthusiasm when discussing their newest work, Dark Adrenaline. Sure, it may be tempered somewhat by a sense of responsibility for the career they’ve created, but there’s still a sense of “I can’t believe this is my life…” in the air as vocalist Cristina Scabbia delves into the new record.

“That’s very true,” she says. “That was true especially in the very beginning, when things are happening and you don’t really know how it works. That’s when every little thing gets you excited. The things that get us excited now are different. We’ve grown up, we have a lot more experience; we’re not virgins in the music business anymore (laughs).”

Up until recently, Cristina was known as the face of Lacuna Coil as well as one of the voices. Understandable given her striking good looks, but in the years following the band’s 2002 breakthrough that focus grew to a potentially unhealthy level. Essentially, Lacuna Coil were on their way to being another Hottest Chick In Metal band. Cristina agrees with the suggestion that the image had started to overshadow the music, which is why there’s been a significant move away from putting her in the spotlight.

“We did that on purpose because we always try to experiment with things, and we were probably one of the very few real metal bands to play the sexy card and the fashion card in pictures. I have a lot of fun at photo sessions playing with different images, but at a certain point we said ‘You know what? People need to realize that Lacuna Coil is about teamwork.” It might be easier for a label to work with solo pictures because the female singer appeals more to people, but we needed to promote the fact and make it clear that this is a band. It’s not Cristina and some session people. We agreed to do a lot more band photos, and there were times when I refused to take any solo shots. It was like, ‘What’s the point in doing that?’”

“It’s not bad in the sense that it’s still promotion, like it or not. It really depends on the band. Some bands like to have all the attention put on the woman, and that’s good for them. Every band has a different career and a different point of view.”

Go to this location for the complete story.

For information on Lacuna Coil go to this location. Click here to check out ‘Trip The Darkness’, the first single from Dark Adrenaline.

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This interview never would have come to pass if it wasn’t for a tip from ex-Megadeth guitarist Jeff Young, who suggested checking out an indie band called Six Hour Sundown on YouTube during a weekly round of “Look what I found…” They came across as a better than average ‘80s-flavoured hair band for the modern day (minus the poofy hair), and the singer was a familiar face. Quick online investigation confirmed that it was indeed Lauren Harris front and center, but Six Hour Sundown’s appearance in the ring has been so low key that most of the initial attention received is the result of genuine curiosity rather than Iron Maiden family tree hype.

“It has been rather low key,” Harris agrees, “because we were doing the Maiden thing through 2008 and 2009, and there was a lot of hype around it at the time. I haven’t really been in the spotlight for the last couple years, and I’ve started up a new band using a new name rather than using my own name again. I’ve started from scratch, really.”

Most people would agree that dropping her own name in favour of Six Hour Sundown can only benefit Harris in the end. The move was made, she says, when her touring band fell apart.

“The first album was a solo thing, but when I was on the road with the guys it turned into more of a band. It was only natural for that to happen since we spent so much time together, and we really were like a family. You hear about some bands that just don’t get on, they’re not like real friends, but we were friends. But, because of other circumstances, it couldn’t continue. Randy (Gregg/bass) was in New York and we couldn’t keep flying him over to the UK because money was an issue. And with Richie (Faulkner/guitars), well, he went off and joined Judas Priest (laughs). Tommy (McWilliams/drums) left a while back because he was never going to do the drumming originally; he was part of the producing side of things, and he became our drummer because we needed one. It just became a long term thing. When Olly (Smith/drums) got involved he became part of the family, so Six Hour Sundown is me and Olly continuing on with a new band (also featuring Tom Gentry, James Bennett and Mitch Witham) which we started when Richie left in February 2011.”

Some people might consider Harris’ debut a case of taking the easy way through the front door. Now, however, she can be held accountable – for better or worse – for everything that goes down from here on out.

“I’m happy for it to be my fault now, to be honest (laughs). I guess with the first album, because we were put out with Maiden and Within Temptation and bands like that, I kind of felt because of the type of music I was doing that I probably would have done better if I’d gone out with someone more mainstream. That’s why it was a bit of a battle. I’m a bit uncomfortable with playing some of the songs on Calm Before The Storm to those audiences anyway, really. With Six Hour Sundown, it’s completely me, where I co-wrote every track on the album and it’s the direction I want to be going in.”

“When I think about it now, I can’t believe how much we actually got away with,” she adds. “I really can’t. Richie and I and our label were talking about it before he left the band; we were listening to the album and said we couldn’t believe it. And some of it we didn’t get away with because people did give us a lot of stick for it, which was fair enough.”

At this point, a release date for Six Hour Sundown’s debut has yet to be finalized, but they’re hoping to have something out before summer in order to take advantage of the festival circuit. Smart money has the band issuing a second single in early 2012 to keep the buzz going; momentum that will likely grow thanks to Faulkner’s presence on the new album. Like it or not, he’s a selling point for anyone who considers him a worthy replacement for Judas Priest’s K.K. Downing.

“Yeah, it will be a selling point, which is great. We obviously didn’t know what was going to happen when we recorded the album, because we recorded it last January and Richie left the band in February to join Priest. We were saying ‘Oh my God…’ because we’d just paid for the recording and thought we might have to do it all over again. We decided no, we can’t go back and re-record everything because it would destroy us financially. But, we’re very happy for Richie because Priest is a great opportunity for him.”

As opportunities go, supporting Iron Maiden in any capacity ranks near the top of the heap, and Harris doesn’t downplay the significance of that achievement. For a young artist presenting music better suited at the time to an Avril Lavigne-oriented crowd, it sometimes amounted to a hazing at the School Of Rock, and Harris learned a great deal from the experience.

“Something like that does teach you a lot. Over that two or three year period I grew so much as a performer. I learned how to deal with things like people giving me the finger and spitting at me… I learned to deal with any situation. When I first started to read comments on YouTube or on forums where people were completely slagging me off, it really upset me like it would with anybody. But towards the end of that period and now, I don’t give a shit what anybody thinks. I’ve done it all. I’ve been in a total male environment as well, which was really difficult to start off with because I had to prove myself, and some men don’t want to give you, as a woman on stage, the time of day.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

- Photos by John McMurtrie

Check out Six Hour Sundown here.

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“Take these words home and think them through,
‘Cuz the next song I write might be about you.”
Project Wyze – ‘Only Time Will Tell’

Nobody in their right mind wants the publicity Tiefdruck Musik label boss Daniel Heerdmann is getting these days. Granted, it’s small scale recognition that likely won’t make it to a CNN news reel, but his so-called business practices have been yanked out into the open by My Ruin. A tale of band vs label conflict turning ugly is hardly unique, but My Ruin’s recent test of will is one for the books; or in this case, an album. Their new outing, A Southern Revelation, is a response to a record deal gone painfully awry, which saw the band’s 2010 album Ghosts And Good Stories die a premature death at the hands of Tiefdruck Musik. Not ones to go meekly into the night, vocalist/founder Tairrie B. Murphy and guitarist-turned-multi-intrumentalist/husband Mick Murphy chose to call Heerdmann out directly in response, first in a press release, and then in the lyrics on the new album. The attack is direct and leaves no question as to who’s leaving the ring with a bloody nose, metaphors be damned, and Tairrie is quite content being the one doing the damage.

Tairrie: “At this point I really don’t give a fuck. This man conned us; he snowed us big time. Calling him ‘The Soulless Beast’… it’s really true. He led us to believe that he was going to do all these things for us. When he approached us about the record deal – and we had a lot of conversations with him on Skype – he was cool. He told us that the reason we weren’t bigger is because nobody had ever promoted us properly because they didn’t know what to do with the band, but he could do the job. We were thinking ‘Wow, this guy really gets it.’ He told me that he’d been a fan since my Manhole days, that he saw me on tour supporting Fear Factory on the Demanufacture tour in 1996. I felt that we had a connection with this guy, which was amazing.”

“We got the deal going, and it was almost like a friend thing with this guy. We announced the signing while we were in the studio recording Ghosts And Good Stories, and soon after we got this really weird email from an old friend, Shaun Glass from Soil, who is now with Dirge Within. He told us we had to be really fucking careful because Daniel Heerdmann is a lying sack of shit. We wanted to know where that was coming from, and we told Shaun we were going to confront Daniel about it. I’m very open and forward when I want to know something.”

“So, I went to Daniel right after that and told him what Shaun had said, and Daniel had a comeback for everything, which was fine. At this point we’d signed the deal; what were we going to do? Daniel tried to really explain himself, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt because God knows people have had run-ins with My Ruin. There have been altercations, and I know some people out there talk shit about me and my husband. It did worry me a little in the back of my mind, but we decided to walk our own path, and as we got deeper into the record Daniel became even more supportive. He wanted to hear what we were doing and how the songs were coming along, and we’d never had that experience before. It was great. But, as soon as we got done with the record and we delivered it – and it was something we were so proud of – this guy did the Jeckyll and Hyde thing overnight.”

Unfortunately, with My Ruin located in California and Tiefdruck in Germany, the Murphys were severely limited with regards to action that could be taken to somehow save Ghosts And Good Stories. The label had essentially stolen the band’s music and nothing could be done face-to-face to rectify the situation, which could and likely would have made a difference.

Tairrie: “It was so bizarre. We didn’t know what to make of it. Our lawyer had to get involved, and it got to the point where Daniel started saying derogatory, misogynistic, horrific things about me to my attorney. And my attorney was copying us in on these emails. All the promises… we were working up to having this European tour booked, Daniel and his company said they wanted to book it for us, do the logistics for us, and they didn’t do any of it. It was all a lie, and they basically told our attorney it was never going to happen, that they had never planned on doing it. We had something like 300 tickets pre-sale for London at that point, and they were never going to go through with it.”

“It started spinning out of control with this man, to the point that my old self really would have gone at him, telling him to fuck off. I didn’t do that, I let my attorney handle it, and I cut off all contact with him. And this clown says to my attorney, ‘They deleted me on Facebook…’ It was like, ‘Really?! You asshole, you deleted our tour!”

Mick: “We were three or four weeks away from a European tour and a show at the Whiskey (in Los Angeles), we were flying in our drummer Matt LeChevalier from France, we were waiting for all this stuff, and we were basically in limbo.”

Tairrie: “Money transfers… Daniel bold faced lied to us saying that he did it, and then later ‘I never did it, I was never gonna do it.’”

Mick: “It was truly insane. So, we had to cancel Matt’s trip from France, cancel the tour, cancel on the Whiskey, and it was horrible. We were so let down and angry and betrayed that we eventually said ‘We’ve gotta write a record about this.’”

Keeping the nightmare scenario in mind, it’s surprising to find that A Southern Revelation isn’t a screaming, skin-flaying shitstorm of violence. On the contrary, it’s a step away from the grit metal approach of Ghosts And Good Stories, instead featuring a foundation rooted in hard-edge Southern rock. My Ruin hasn’t toned down their trademark attitude by any means, and there’s nothing soft or sellout about A Southern Revelation, but it’s definitely a different animal from its predecessor.

Mick: “I think this one stomps a little bit harder than Ghosts And Good Stories. I joke around with Tairrie about this – and in no way and I putting My Ruin in the same league as KISS – but I think Ghosts is like our Destroyer and A Southern Revelation is our Rock N’ Roll Over (laughs). All the music was written in LA because we had downtime, but I wrote differently this time. I just started playing guitar like the old days. I plugged into a practice amp and just started playing riffs and made little changes that way, instead of doing it in front of a big recording rig with guitar, bass and drums, trying to get a song done in a few hours. I took more time and wrote like a guitar player first. I think that changed the vibe a little, too. I’m really proud of the guitar on this record.”

Tairrie: “We weren’t really prepared to write another record. This thing sort of came to us naturally. We were sitting at home with a cancelled tour, pissed off and angry, unable to vent our frustration, and Mick started writing music. Me, not really paying attention to what he was doing, I was kind of writing my own letters to Daniel in a way that I may send some day. I was working out my thoughts on what I wanted to say to this guy, and I suddenly realized that I was writing lyrics. Next thing you know I had the song ‘Reckoning’. Mick told me he’d been working on new music, and things started to come together and fall into place as if they were meant to be.”

“For me ‘The Soulless Beast’, ‘Middle Finger’ and ‘Tennessee Elegy’ are the meat of the album for me lyrically. They encompass the theme of the album. ‘Soulless Beast’ was a song I worked on when we were in LA, and I wrote it several times because I couldn’t get it where I wanted it. In the beginning I wanted to write it like a biblical parable, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it. It wasn’t until we got to Tennessee, and it’s the funniest thing because we were staying with Mick’s family, and his mother pulled out her bible and some religious books for inspiration. I started to read the Book Of Revelation, and I hadn’t read it in a really long time. It was like I was having my own revelation. This is our seventh album, and the number seven figures very prominently in there. The Book Of Daniel is part of it, and it was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!” It started unfolding itself and I started thinking about how the Beast is the abomination that causes desolation, which is what we were dealing with. So, the Book Of Revelation took center stage for me.”

Mick: “It’s like we’re starting our second decade reborn and even more focused, with our own definitive style.”

Tairrie: “The other thing I really love about this album is that it’s got a very heavy spoken vibe. I’ve been doing spoken work for many, many years and I’ve incorporated it on a lot of our albums, but I wanted to get a bit heavier with that on this record. I didn’t want to make it a full-on screaming record. I think ‘Soulless Beast’ really comes through with that style in there, breathing the vibe and energy of The Lvrs project we do in there, which I really like.”

“I think that Ghosts And Good Stories and A Southern Revelation is our best work as artists to date. If anyone is discovering us right now, this is the time to do it because you can really get to know who we are.”

A Southern Revelation was recorded over Christmas 2010 during the Murphy’s holiday visit to Mick’s family in Knoxville, Tennessee. With no plans to record and no budget, they were invited by Mick’s friend of 20+ years and co-producer, Joel Stooksbury, to use his home studio to lay down the tracks. It was a gift they couldn’t refuse, just as A Southern Revelation is a gift to the My Ruin fans as a free download. Another surprising and risky move by Mr. and Mrs. Murphy.

Tairrie: “Basically – and I hate to say that this is the sad fact of it – a lot of people think that because we’re in magazines that Mick and Tairrie are rolling in dough. Fans don’t understand a lot of the business behind the scenes. They see you in a magazine or on tour, and they think you’re doing so well. We’re a do-it-yourself band and we always have been, so no matter what labels we’ve been on or what management we’ve had, in the end we’ve done it ourselves because no one seems to do their jobs when it comes to us. With Ghosts And Good Stories, that thing got out there and had so many downloads via torrent sites, and I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking that if that many people bought our record we’d be really successful. It blew my mind. So, when this whole thing with Daniel came about, we decided that we weren’t giving this man another record. No way in hell.”

“As we were making the new album we came to the conclusion that the biggest ‘Fuck you’ would be if we gave this record away for free. It didn’t cost us anything to make except time, and we wanted everyone to hear it. We wanted everyone to know what he did to us. And maybe this album will open the door for us, because we’re able to say ‘You’ve never heard of us, but here’s our new record. Download it, check us out and you’ll see we’re not a goth band (laughs), maybe you’ll like us.’”

Mick: “The way the industry has been going, the physical CD format is dying out in many ways. Most people download their music now. Physical record sales for a band our size, there isn’t much of a profit for the band. Why not give it away, and that might lead to more shows. We’d like to gig more.”

My Ruin have been in the trenches long enough to have earned a loyal fanbase, however, so although A Southern Revelation is free to all comers, they’ve received donations from those that believe the band deserves to profit (for a change) for their efforts.

Tairrie: “After we announced that the record was going to be free, we were bombarded with emails from people saying ‘I’ll pay for the record. Is there a place where I can donate money to you, because you’ve been through so much.’ We didn’t really think of that before they mentioned it, so we talked to some people about it, and now it’s possible for the fans to donate money for the record on the My Ruin website. We’re very appreciative of it, because we do everything ourselves.”

And that do-it-yourself drive is what keeps My Ruin kicking and screaming for more. At the very least, A Southern Revelation proves that so long as My Ruin have their pride, their friends, and the fans, the leeches within the music industry can’t bring them down.

Tairrie: “Some people say ‘When are My Ruin gonna give it up?’ Why do we have to give it up? I’ve been in this business for a long time and I’ve seen a lot of bands come and go. In the Manhole days there weren’t a lot of women around doing what I did. I’ve definitely watched the change. I feel like a veteran in this, and in many ways I feel like a woman that opened the door and kicked down some barriers for other women to come in, grab a microphone, and scream on it this way. I didn’t even know what I was doing when I started out. I was a fucking rapper, for God’s sake (laughs).”

“I remember sitting backstage at a Pantera show once, and I was watching a lot of the girls walking around back there. They’re all dressed sleazy and I’m listening to the talk about who in the band they were going to have sex with. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I don’t wanna fuck Phil, I wanna be Phil.’ I didn’t want that, I wanted to be that. That’s when I knew I wanted to be out there screaming and bloodletting and having those emotions. It wasn’t about that other shit and it never has been. It’s never been about money or those other rock n’ roll things for me or Mick.”

Ultimately, it’s about the love of music, which explains why Tairrie and Mick chose to put the nail gun away and end things on a positive note. Namely, a cover of the Van Halen classic, ‘Mean Street’.

Tairrie: “I love the fact that we have the ’70s Southern roots with Mick, and with me, in the early days I was going to Black Flag shows, NWA shows, I went to see the Go-Gos, so we have this melting pot of ideas. I did listen to KISS back in the day, and that classic rock is where we come together. We decided to cover Van Halen on the new album because we really loved doing the AC/DC thing (‘Have A Drink On Me’) and got a great response.”

Mick: “Fair Warning is one of the biggest records in my life. It’s almost underrated in Van Halen’s catalogue, but it’s a thick, chunky, mean record.”

Tairrie: “I think it definitely encompassed our feelings when we were making this record. We also felt at home, in a way, doing up the song like that.”

Mick: “Yeah, My Ruin lives on Mean Street (laughs).”

- A Southern Revelation is available for free download here.

Live photos and Blasphemous Girl pic by Maggie Young. Used with kind permission.

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Ten years ago, if you’d told Obsession vocalist Michael Vescera he’d be in a band with Impellitteri guitarist Chris Impellitteri, ex-Whitesnake / ex-Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rudy Sarzo, and Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis, he likely wouldn’t have ruled out the possibility. With a career spanning 25 years that includes albums and tours with Loudness, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Helloween guitarist Roland Grapow, working with a line-up of all-star musicians would probably be viewed by Vescera as par for the course provided the planets aligned in his favour. Had you told him that he’d do so looking like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon, he would have laughed in your face. And yet, these days Vescera finds himself fronting just such a band and having a truckload of fun doing so.

“When I was younger I wanted to be a member of KISS,” he laughs, “and now I’m at least getting to play dress-up for the stage.”

Animetal USA owes its existence to a concept established in Japan well over a decade ago. The original Animetal – fronted by Anthem vocalist Eizo Sakamoto and ex-Volcano guitarist She-ja – was launched in 1996, taking famous Japanese anime theme songs dating back to the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and turning them into metal anthems. Their debut album, Animetal Marathon, went on to sell 300,000 units in Japan. Animetal released seven albums along with several compilations before going on indefinite hiatus in 2006, and according to Japan-based Area51 guitarist Yoichiro Ishino the band received more attention from the anime scene than metal fans. As a result, Animetal charted several times, even hitting the Top 10.

“We appreciate the legacy of the original Animetal and what they accomplished,” says Vescera, well aware of the origin story. “We’re really just looking forward to the future with Animetal USA and hoping to bring it to the rest of the world, not just Japan. In most of the press we did in Japan, they truly appreciate us bringing Japanese culture and music to rest of the world. We’re all hoping for a long run with this.”

From what Vescera says of Animetal USA’s appearance on the Japanese scene, fans of the original Animetal have fully embraced the new incarnation of the band.

“We were over in Japan doing promo and the album came out two days before we played the Loud Park festival, and itwas insane. We were the first band to go on, and I was told we had something like 11,000 people there at 10:30 in the morning, which is some kind of record. The crowd went crazy, they sang all the choruses… we were shocked by the response. I think we sold something like 500 CDs that day at the festival. It was nuts.”

“It’s great,” Vescera adds. “I mean, I’ll be honest, it beats playing to a club of 200 or 300 people. Being able to play live at all is cool, but to have the opportunity to do something at this level again is amazing.”

As for how Vescera was singled out for the job, a previous project made him an obvious choice for the people in charge of the Animetal franchise.

“The label contacted me over a year-and-a-half ago to do a guest vocal on a tribute album to a band called Siam Shade. Sebastian Bach was on it, so was Eric Martin from Mr. Big, John Corabi, Mark Slaughter… guys that are popular in Japan. I sang on one song (‘Get A Life’) and Sony Japan loved it. I guess that was the song that took off and helped the record sell a shitload of copies, and as a result they wanted to do something with me. They had a bunch of ideas for a project, and after getting me on board they went to Rudy, then they approached Chris and Scott.”

“The way they originally approached me with it and what it actually became are a little different (laughs). The extent they went to with it was crazy. I was blown away when they brought in the full costumes; they spent a fortune on these things. It’s all really top notch. And the thing about it is we’re not trying to be KISS, we’re doing the anime superhero thing. Everybody in the band really loves the whole idea of Animetal USA. It makes us look good (laughs).”

It also takes balls the size of a house to risk being stamped as sellouts thanks to the band’s cartoon image, especially given the respective and respected histories of each Animetal USA band member.

“Exactly. The way we look at it now is that if we’re going to look somewhat ridiculous, let’s go out there and be completely ridiculous (laughs). And for better or worse people are talking about us. The music delivers, though, so we’ve never been worried about that aspect of it. We think of Animetal USA as more of a Broadway show, with the theatrics and all that. It is what it is, and we’re going to make it as ridiculous as we can, but also as cool as possible.”

“Ridiculous” is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Vescera’s experience fronting Loudness from ’89 – ’91 gave him valuable insight into Japanese culture.

“It helps a bit,” he says of his Loudness-acquired viewpoint. “The Japanese have the whole Manga culture, the cartoons and the comic books, and it’s not like in North America or Europe. A lot of that stuff in Japan is tailored to adults, so they never really outgrow it. I understood that going in to do this because I was so exposed to the Japanese culture, and that was a big help, actually. It’s shocking how huge anime is in Japan. There are comic stores that have three or four floors of Manga books, and they’re usually mobbed with people.”

Scott Travis’ involvement in the project is particularly surprising given his day job with Judas Priest…

“I’d never heard of him before this,” Vescera laughs, deadpanning. “Scott was interested in the project because he wasn’t doing anything with Priest at that time. When we approached him, he was looking to do something in the future because there was no telling what their schedule was going to be like. He’s out with Priest now, of course, so Jon Dette (Killing Machine / ex-Slayer) has been sitting in for him, but this really wasn’t a hard sell on any of us. As I said, we were all shocked by the extent of the costumes and the make-up, but the Japanese research this stuff and they know if it’s going to work or not in that market.”

Whether or not Travis will continue with Animetal USA is up in the air given his commitments to Judas Priest, who show no sign of slowing down despite the ongoing talk of a final album and tour.

“We’re not sure about Scott because of his commitments to Priest. We may have to have Jon Dette do this next record with us. Scott is still involved and he still wants to be involved; it’s just impossible for him right now. He’s a big part of Animetal USA, but the Priest thing has just taken off. I’m really happy for him. It’s funny because my kids were watching American Idol and I was in kitchen or something, and I heard ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’’ I was thinking ‘Is that Priest on TV?!’ I thought it was a commercial or something. I go in the other room and it was ‘Holy shit! There’s our drummer!’ (laughs). It was awesome.”

Unlike all-star projects assembled by well-meaning label people, Animetal USA wasn’t pieced together via the internet and made to look like a band. According to Vescera there was plenty of personal interaction with Impellitteri, Sarzo and Travis during the making of the album.

“We did it both ways. With me living in Nashville we had to do some things over the phone and the internet, but we did get together and tried to make the album as a band. I’m waiting for the details, but I’m due to fly out to L.A. to work with Chris on pre-production for the next one. We’ve picked the songs we’re going to do; it’s just a matter of arranging them. We want this to be a real band. We like each other and we get along, and we kill live, so it’s all good.”

Keeping in mind that Animetal USA is based on an existing model with a huge catalogue, the songs featured on the debut were metalized years before Vescera and his bandmates came into the picture. It was a question choosing which tracks to record, giving the band a signature sound, and rewriting the lyrics in English.

“We went back and forth with the label on that,” Vescera says of choosing the songs to be recorded. “They delivered a bunch of songs that they liked and we decided which ones we were going to do. Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) actually arranged a lot of the songs on the album. He lives in Japan, he understands the culture, he’s into the anime, so he was involved quite a bit in arranging the original demos. When Chris got the tracks we made our own arrangements from Marty’s original work.”

“I wrote the lyrics. When they first gave me the demos I worked from the translations of the original Japanese text and came up with some cool rock lyrics that kept the meaning of the song. The label wasn’t convinced and told me the lyrics had to be even closer to the originals. I had to go back and rewrite everything. So, they told me which Japanese words had specific meanings and therefore had to stay in the English version of the song. Then we had to go through publishing to get approval because the original songs are huge in Japan.”

Meaning that Vescera was resigned to penning lyrics that he normally wouldn’t sing. All in the name of cartoon culture.

“It’s a little funny. People have asked me about that before and I tell them it’s the first time I’ve ever written lyrics about a high school baseball player (laughs). It is a little odd, especially because I come from doing darker stuff like the new Obsession record. But, even as I’m getting that done I’m singing about a rocket punch, a battleship, black castles…”

Animetal USA also keeps alive the original Animetal tradition of inserting snippets of classic metal anthems into their song arrangements. The debut album offers up several of these surprises in the form of tidbits of Rush, Accept and Iron Maiden thrown into the mix.

“That was the label’s idea,” says Vescera. “They thought it would be a great idea and they were right; the kids go apeshit when we play that stuff. There were other bits and pieces that we wanted to put on the album, but we couldn’t get clearance on them. We actually had ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ at the front of one song, but it just wouldn’t work so we had to pull it out. We also had a piece of ‘Paranoid’ in there but we had to pull it. There was a lot more than that, so maybe they’ll make the second record.”

A second record that, if all goes well, will see Animetal USA hit the touring circuit outside Japan. The success of the debut pretty much guarantees the follow-up will go over a storm.

“They definitely want to build this up and into the rest of the world. There’s been some talk about us doing some international anime conventions in the States, France, South America, all over the place. We wouldn’t mind touring as long as it makes sense. We were thinking about doing some of the European metal festivals next year, but we decided to hold off and let this build a little bit more. We’re actually going in to start another record. The record company wants us to do headlining shows, so we really need the material to cover it.”

Check out Part 2 of the interview with Vescera here.

All photos used with excluisve permission of Masumi Kojima and Sony Music Japan.

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An excerpt from my recent interview with Piet Sielck, frontman and founder of Iron Savior, a band that should probably be dead and buried. In spite of some brutal odds, Sielck has succeeded in keeping things together and putting out a new album worthy of attention from the power metal legions. And from what he says, he’s getting it…

“The will to do this came back when I finally managed to solve the major issues with Dockyard 1. I sold the remains to AFM Records and (distributor) Soulfood Music in October 2010, and that was the point where I finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel. From that point on I definitely felt better, so I went in and cleaned out the studio, made it comfortable again. It was a good thing because it also cleared my mind. I was able to sit down and write music again. At the beginning I wrote the first complete song for The Landing, which was ‘Heavy Metal Never Dies’, and if you take a look at the lyrics and relate them to what I just told you about Dockyard you can say it was musical therapy for me (laughs).”

As Iron Savior albums go – seven in all – The Landing ranks as one of the strongest since the 1997 speed-happy self-titled debut. More metal-oriented than Megatropolis, the vibe and energy level is very reminiscent of Condition Red from 2002. Sielck agrees.

“It’s funny that you mention Condition Red because it was written under similar circumstances. I had a personal crisis to deal with before I started that album, but when it was over I went into writing Condition Red with a great attitude. It was the same thing when I wrote ‘Heavy Metal Never Dies’ for The Landing; it kicked my ass so bad that I was on fire (laughs). It felt like I could go on writing songs forever, to the point I was actually kind of sad when the writing sessions were over.”

Sielck managed to make The Landing a compact and immediate record, coughing up a listenable 45 minutes of music rather than blowing his wad on over an hour of sonic masturbation.

“I didn’t actually do that on purpose,” he admits, “but after writing ‘No Guts, No Glory’ I decided that was it, I’d said everything I had to say. I couldn’t really think of what I could add to it, and if I’d done that I think I would have been repeating myself. This is a collection of, for my taste, great songs. They blend well together, and I think they leave you feeling entertained. That’s the reaction I’ve been getting from people, and it’s a very nice feeling. Iron Savior has always been a bit underrated. We’re not Gamma Ray, so I’m surprised that we still have such a strong fanbase. I’ve received a lot of great comments from the fans on Facebook and YouTube and it cheers me up a lot, I must say.”

He also reveals that, despite the title and cover art of the new album, it isn’t a complete return to the band’s original science fiction concept revolving around sentient space ships and lost civilizations. Something of a disappointment for any Trekkies/Lucasfilm addicts still lurking in the wings.

“It’s not a concept album. There are only two songs that are related to the original Iron Savior story, and the other songs are just… not science fiction related. I really like the artwork, and I think the title is also related to my personal situation. Calling it The Landing was appropriate because Iron Savior has been away for four years, but somehow we’re back again (laughs).”

Go to this location for the complete story.

Follow @CarlBegai

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Call it a case of “You say tomato and I say tomahto.” Ottawa-based Doll, who officially grabbed the public eye in 2009 with their debut album Inside The Dollhouse, remain steadfast in stamping themselves as a modern day grunge-flavoured act, but my finely-honed musical sensibilities protest. It must be a generational thing, because going into the band’s new album, The Ragdoll Diaries, there’s very little that conjures up visions of the unkempt angst-clenched Vedder / Staley / Cobain-worshipping legions of the ‘90s. Maybe it’s the street-level grit under the band’s proverbial fingernails, but Doll exhibit a healthy aggression delivered with a refreshing punk attitude built for a live audience. For those that have been following the band since their debut, The Ragdoll Diaries has been a long time in coming, and it was a wait that wasn’t made easier with the early 2011 release of three songs – online and for free – as a tease. Vocalist/guitarist Christina Abraham Kasper makes no apologies, calling the move to do so a necessary one.

Christina: “We started recording this album over a year ago, in August 2010. We did the first album in two weeks, but for this one we really took our time. We went into the studio a few times a week and worked on songs here and there. We made them perfect; if there was something bugging us about one song we had the time to fix it. The three songs that we put out, we just wanted to get a buzz going and let people know that we were still around and working hard on a new album. I think some people were a bit surprised that we were working on new songs, so they were excited to hear it. We were playing a lot of new material at our live shows, too, so that’s helped get the buzz going as well.”

In spite of the arguable grunge tag, both Christina and guitarist/husband Pete Kasper agree there’s a punk attitude on the album. Turns out it wasn’t intentional…

Pete: “We didn’t do that on purpose. It just kind of manifested itself. We’ve always tried to kind of keep that grunge element in our music, but even last night at a show we did there was a guys that told us we’ve created a sort of modern grunge sound. I think that makes the most sense to us, because we didn’t want to copy the ‘90s sound even though we’ve always listened to that kind of stuff. We wanted to have those raw elements, but give it a 2011 sound. From what we’ve been hearing I think we did a pretty good job of that on the new album.”

Christina: “The first album has punk songs, metal songs, rock songs… this new one is a little more concise. It’s us saying ‘This is what we want to sound like.’”

Doll quite naturally took their first album into account when writing for The Ragdoll Diaries, but Pete and Christina didn’t draw up a laundry list of do’s and don’ts based on Inside The Dollhouse’s strengths and weaknesses.

Pete: “Every time you do an album you want to better the previous one. There was definitely that goal in mind, but I guess one of the things that we did reference from the first album was the fact it was so jumpy with all the various styles. On this one we consciously focused on what the Doll sound should be. We asked ourselves what it was that we were trying to portray with our music. We picked a specific path with the idea of ‘Let’s see where it takes us.’”

Christina: “We do like the sound on the first album, but this time we really wanted to have that studio band sound. I think you can tell that we spent a lot more time and effort on the new album. A lot of the songs are catchier than the ones on Inside The Dollhouse… we’re better songwriters. At least I like to think so (laughs).”

They were equally as laid back when it came to choosing the first single from the album; a little punk love song called ‘FMO’.

Christina: “It’s funny, because we had already released three songs, and our drummer Nick ‘Chopz’ Richer wanted to do the video editing for the songs we decided to use as the first single. We had ideas for pretty much every song when it came to doing a video, but it just fell on ‘FMO’ as the single. It was just a random choice, not a deliberate thing. We knew it wasn’t going to get radio play (laughs).”

Pete: “When we play ‘FMO’ live we get a huge reaction because it’s easy to sing along with, so it’s almost like a Doll anthem at this point. And the video, even though it was very low budget because we did it ourselves, it was actually nominated at the Ottawa International Film Festival in the music video category. It was incredible being a part of that, with all these other bands that have released these amazingly huge production videos, and us with our $10.00 budget clip (laughs). We were actually in the Top 6 and being reviewed by industry people and MuchMusic. It was awesome. It just proves that it’s all about the music. If you’ve got a good song it doesn’t matter how graphically awesome it looks.”

It’s worth noting that The Ragdoll Diaries features the return of Sally, an integral part of the band’s songwriting at this point.

Christina: “Definitely. We have some songs on The Ragdoll Diaries that are about Sally, and it’s the same concept as on the first album, the same mind frame. We use her to talk about female experiences at a young age, stuff like that, so it’s a part of Doll that we definitely want to keep.”

The band will also be keeping their independent artist status for the time being, although they did seek out a label deal prior to releasing The Ragdoll Diaries.

Christina: “We did send a few things around, but we just knew that with the musical climate we have now it wasn’t going to happen. We have friends here in Ottawa that are in very mainstream bands that labels and radio would kill for, but labels can’t sign them because they don’t have the money. The industry is in shambles right now, so why wait for that opportunity when you can do it yourself, put it out the way you want it, and on your timeline? If a label is interested in us, cool. If not, we’re going to do it on our own.”

In closing, Christina and Pete address their relationship. One would think the old adage about familiarity breeding contempt would be even more applicable as a couple daring to work together in a band, but in this case it’s way off the mark.

Pete: “It actually works out pretty good. We’re in the same house, so if one of us is working on a riff we can just get together and jam on it any time, 24 hours a day (laughs). For the creative process, it’s awesome. And for touring and playing shows, we share in that success. When we’re playing with a bigger band like Spinnerette or Die Mannequin, it’s not one of watching the other thinking ‘Wow, that’s cool, I wish I was on stage…’ We get to share that high together, which is really cool. I think we got lucky.”

Christina: “It’s funny, because we never sit down and say ‘Okay honey, let’s sit down and write a song.’ It’s more like Pete will be working on a riff downstairs and I’ll hear it, and come up with some ideas for putting my guitar over what he’s doing. And boom, we’ve got a song (laughs). The good thing is that we’re not too sensitive. If something doesn’t work we don’t get all pissed off with each other, we just work on something else.”

Pete: “We’ve spoken to other bands, and they’re like ‘You two are married?! I don’t know how you do it…’ (laughs). They act like it’s the worst move in the world, but so far it’s worked for us.”

All photos by Jon Davies

Check out Doll’s official Facebook page here. Watch the ‘F.M.O.’ video here.

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That said, following is an excerpt from ye olde CEO Tim Henderson’s exclusive chat with a living legend…

By Metal Tim Henderson

With one listen to Seeking Major Tom, you either get it or you don’t. And Shatner gets it.

“Let me tell you about hard rock,” he begins on the phone from somewhere in outer-space. “Everyone is asking me the same question – what the fuck are you doing? I had no idea about the energy, the purity and the excitement of heavy metal until I worked with Zakk Wylde. I laid down my tracks to (Black Sabbath’s) ‘Iron Man’ first and then I went to Zakk Wylde’s house a couple of weeks later and the sound of Zakk Wylde’s guitar and voice taught me the meaning of heavy metal. And I have nothing but deep respect for it.”

You’ve got some heavy-weights of the scene. To actually get Ritchie Blackmore (Blackmore’s Night, ex-Deep Purple) out of his tights and Renaissance garb is quite the feat!

“Yes, it’s incredible. There’s some 20 of the greatest musicians alive today are on this record, it’s phenomenal! And how it happened is a little bit beyond me. Most of the people we asked jumped on board.”

Which artist had you awestruck or even starstruck?

“All of them. I know that’s a cop-out, but I mean, how do you choose between Brad Paisely playing that guitar, or Ritchie Blackmore, or Peter Frampton. And Sheryl Crow? Singing that song (‘Mrs. Major Tom’) a capella with bell-like tones. What an incredible voice. So how do you choose? I’m awestruck by the generosity of these people that gave me their time and their talent. And I’m filled with that tentative sort of offering like when a kitten comes in with a bundle from outside and offers it. I’m offering this record and as I see the reaction I’m braver about it. I didn’t know how it was going to be taken. I mean, the people who were in on the making of it were saying ‘awesome’ and ‘great’, but I’ve been in a lot of productions where you think you’re great. Or in the horse business it’s called being barn-blind. And I didn’t know we were being barn-blind or not. I felt great about it, but I didn’t know if it was going to be accepted or not. And it’s becoming quite popular.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

While you’re here, check out two cuts from Seeking Major Tom…

– ‘Space Oddity’
– ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

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Way back in November 2004, I had the opportunity to interview Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen. By that point I’d pretty much dismissed the band as a lost cause with their best years behind them, but as a diehard fan of their first three albums and one of the millions willingly sucked in by Hysteria – featuring Collen on the latter two – I accepted without a second thought. It was a fantastic conversation, with Collen being unexpectedly receptive to what I figure were some unexpected questions given the amount of ass-kissing that usually goes on between journos and rock stars during press junkets.

Read on, stay tuned for a Manraze review, sample a few bits and pieces from PunkFunkRootsRock at the end of the story, try to tell me I’m wrong And remember, this interview took place in November 2004…

I used to be a Def Leppard fan. I admit to owning a copy of the band’s Hysteria opus from 1987 – an album fellow Knucklehead Martin Popoff so accurately describes as “tasteless and devoid of all life” in his Collector’s Guide To Heavy Metal. It was the beginning of the end of my fanboyship, although their first three albums kicked my ass and continue to do so to this day. Gritty, raw, bare bones hard ass rock-to-metal packages, On Through The Night (’80), High ‘N’ Dry (’81) and Pyromania (’83) were laid down by a band with stars in its eyes, grateful for every pancake they sold because it meant an extra round of pints at the pub. The gazillion-selling hit that was Hysteria changed all that, of course, with each album that followed offering up more and more ultra-layered processed cheese based on producer Mutt Lange’s original blueprint of How To Make A Better Sellout, which incidentally, actually began to take shape during Pyromania. Present day feedback and sales suggest that I’m not alone in my thinking, as Def Leppard hasn’t had a major blow-the-doors-off hit since Adrenalize (’92). Their last album, X, sewered out worse than Ashlee Simpson on SNL, yet the band’s label recently saw fit to release a Best Of compilation featuring, lo and behold, lots of older pre-hysterical material.

Needless to say I was surprised. I mean, the schmalz-loving Top 40 cuddle-rock contingent that keeps Def Leppard afloat today either doesn’t know, or more likely doesn’t care about the old classic songs. Given the chance to speak to guitarist Phil Collen and ask him what gives – could this perhaps be a sign that times and sound are changing? – I jumped at the opportunity.

“The Best Of was the label’s idea,” Collen reveals. “The reason being that Vault (the band’s Greatest Hits compilation from ’95) sells fantastic even now – it just went triple or quadruple platinum, actually – and every Christmas throughout the world it sells like crazy. The thing is, Vault doesn’t have that classic vibe, those classic songs, so I think that’s why they wanted to release another one.”

Uh-huh. So what’s it like dealing with one of the old guard like me, a fan of the High ‘N’ Dry era who wouldn’t touch a free ‘Let’s Get Rocked’ or ‘When Love And Hate Collide’ mp3 if it came with free swag? Makes a present day Best Of package loaded down with both pre and post-Hysteria material seem kind of pointless.

“There’s this whole thing that we were a metal band, and we never were, not even on the old albums,” says Collen, something we’ve all heard before and I disagree with. “I think the first couple albums – the ones before I joined – Def Leppard was trying to find itself. I don’t want to say the sound was misdirected or anything, but the band found its identity on Pyromania and it really kicked in on Hysteria. The big problem with Hysteria, and even with Adrenalize, we created a definitive sound that ended up being copied by a lot of other people, which really made that kind of sound become very lame. If we had put Slang (’96) out when we released Adrenalize I think things would have been much different in the end. Hysteria made Def Leppard because it had a lot of pop elements and was able to cross over. There are people that say they want to hear the older stuff when we play live, and that’s all fine and dandy until we actually do it. We’ve done older songs in concert and there are 8,000 people sitting there going ‘Where’s ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’?’ So, that’s the problem we made for ourselves with Hysteria.”

“It’s really weird, though,” Collen continues. “When we went to Japan on the X tour we decided to throw some weird songs into the set like ‘Ring Of Fire’, which was a b-side, and ‘Stagefright’, and the fans loved it. They went nuts so we thought ‘Hey, this is the way to go.’ We took it to the States, did the same set, and you could have heard a pin drop. Throughout the tour we ended up having to do more and more hit-based stuff. So, despite all the complaints we get, when the fans come to see us live it’s the hits they want to hear. Unfortunately, we could play ‘Mirror Mirror’ and stuff like that until we’re blue in face but it’s only a small minority that’s actually going to enjoy it. Either that or a Japanese audience (laughs).”

It was this minority (and likely the Japanese fanbase) that chose the classic cuts that appear on the new Best Of package. Collen explains:

“The track list of the Best Of is actually based on requests, downloads and stuff like that, so it’s made up of the stuff people really want to hear. Personally, I wouldn’t have put ‘Billy’s Got A Gun’ on there – I would have put ‘White Lightning’ or ‘Gods Of War’ on instead – but whoever they are, there you go (laughs).”

It also sounds like Collen, personally, would very much like to see Def Leppard alter the way it writes and records. Take, for example, his preference for the Slang album.

“That’s kind of the band’s favourite album because of the way we approached it. It was a very free album and we did a lot of the backing tracks live, which is how we really sound as opposed to all this studio bullshit we normally do with layering the vocals and using a click track for the drums. It was like, ‘This is how the song goes; let’s do it,’ and we had great fun because we weren’t working in a particular format. Slang was very uncommercial in that sense and it was a lot of fun to do. I think people dismissed that album because we were really uncool at that point.”

And some would say that Def Leppard is still uncool. As previously mentioned, the band’s last album, X, is probably their least successful offering to date. I’m trying to imagine what Popoff would give it in light of having rated Hysteria a big fat “0″.

“It didn’t do well,” Collen agrees. “We like the fact there’s a very different mix of songs and ideas on the album. It isn’t too hard-rocking an album but I think the writing is good. Every time you do an album you have a concept and it’s usually different from the one before it. With Euphoria we were thinking, ‘Let’s make an album that sounds like every song on Vault, a real greatest hits package.’ On X we were looking at what was current at that moment, which is what we’ve always done, and things that were very contemporary at the time we were writing for it.”

With that in mind, given the current day preference for more aggressive forms of MTV fodder, it seems to me there’s a call for Def Leppard to become a metal band (again).

“Okay, but metal how?” laughs Collen.

Pre-1984, pre-Hysteria hysteria.

“Right. Well, I don’t know if a bunch of 40 year old guys could pull off a ‘Rock, Rock (‘Til You Drop)’ or ‘Let It Go’ kind of thing (laughs). There’s a point where you can’t sing some of those lyrics, you just can’t stand behind them. Like ‘Wasted’; I haven’t had a drink in 18 years so it would be kind of weird singing about getting hammered. On every level you have to think about that sort of thing. Of course we can play anything, but you have to draw the line. But yeah, I’d love to do an album that didn’t have ballads and shit on it.”

Okay, so I guess what I’m saying is that Def Leppard should go into the studio and make an analog rock record.

“That’s a different thing,” says Collen, “and I think you just summed it up. An analog rock record would be great. I would love that, and in fact I’m going to quote you on that because that would be a really good thing for Def Leppard. It would be neat to hear us doing things that way because of what we’ve gotten into with the whole studio thing; it’s time for us not to do that, to do something different.”

Something Collen has already been experimenting with, as it turns out.

“I’ve actually been recording with a couple buddies of mine,” Collen reveals. “I was over in England this summer and I met up with Simon Laffy, who used to be the bass player in my old band, Girl, and Paul Cook, who was the drummer in The Sex Pistols. We’ve got this new band called Man-Raze. I’m singing and playing guitar, and it’s kind of like The Police, real edgy stuff. When we’ve been recording it’s been one take stuff and I’ve been having a blast. Obviously if we made a glaring mistake we’d go back and fix it, but otherwise we left things the way they were laid down, and I think that’s how Def Leppard should be. When we record an album there’s a tendency to lose the original vibe of the song because we’re recording things over and over again. The songs become shadows of their former selves. I’d like to do a one take Def Leppard album, sure, but I don’t even know if we’re actually capable of it. I do think it’s essential that whatever we do next, it’s not the same old business-as-usual approach.”

… and with that in mind, some faves from PunkFunkRootsRock:

- ‘Over My Dead Body’
- ‘I C U In Everything
- ‘I Superbiker’
- ‘All I Wanna Do’

Go to this location for all things officially Def Leppard. Check out the official Manraze website here.

Photos taken from DefLeppard.com

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Back in July, vocalist Amanda Somerville spilled the beans on her first official metal solo project, Trillium (interview available here). With the release of the debut album, Alloy, only weeks away she shot a video for the song ‘Coward’, and we got together the following morning over tea to delve a little deeper into the new album.

It’s safe to say Somerville efforts will surprise a lot of fans – in a good way – and earn her some new ones along the way as Trillium plays out. And while it’s a no-nonsense metal album, anyone that’s followed Somerville’s decade-long non-metal career will wonder if some of the songs were consciously tweaked from a singer / songwriter / acoustic state to the tough-as-nails tracks we’re hearing now. Take away the distortion and the tracks in question would easily fit on her 2009 solo album, Windows.

“It was very conscious, actually,” Somerville reveals. “Songs like ‘Path Of Least Resistance’, ‘Purge’ and ‘Mistaken’ were pretty dark, and I’d planned to put them on my next solo album, which was going to be darker and heavier than anything I’d done before anyway. I had all this material that was building up, and since I’m a piano player and not a guitar player, it was clear to me I’d have to work with someone who played guitar as their main instrument like Sascha (Paeth / producer) or Sander (Gommans / HDK) so they could metal it up. That was the idea from the start, and the way things progressed led to those songs being on this album.”

“The songs that I wrote with Sander – and he’s a prolific songwriter, cranking them out like crazy – we already them had in mind for this project. Sander was totally into it, and every time he sits down with his guitar a song comes out of it. The way we typically work, he writes the instrumental parts and then I come in and suggest whatever changes I think should be made. Then I take the song and write a vocal line and lyrics to it. Sander likes a good challenge as well, though, and when he heard the piano / vocal demo I had for ‘Machine Gun’ he asked if he could work on it. He came up with the big main riff, which really supplements the running theme through the whole song.”

Somerville officially stepped out from behind the background vocalist curtain with the HDK debut in 2008, System Overload, a full-on metal experiment with Gommans. With that in mind, were there any left over ideas that were transformed into Trillium songs since Gommans was also involved in the songwriting for Alloy?

“No, because the stuff that Sander does for HDK is so extreme that… I don’t know if it would have worked. There were no leftovers anyway, and the things that he’s written since then, they wouldn’t have fit. I definitely have a vision of where I want my metal stuff to go.”

Folks that are expecting Somerville to follow a similar path to the work she’s done for Epica and Avantasia on Alloy are in for a shock. Some tracks are attitude-laden cousins to melodic rock, others are heavy-edged and bordering-on-Black Sabbath dark. The album is almost completely devoid of orchestral arrangements and features no neo-classical bombast whatsoever, carried through numerous twists and turns instead by the vocals and some almighty riffs. Bottom line: Alloy is loaded with plenty WTF moments.

“Which is a good thing (laughs). Nothing about what I do is contrived; it all comes out the way that it comes out, and sometimes it needs to be a little more conformed, I guess. Literally, as cheesy as it sounds, the music pours out of me the way that I feel it. I don’t like following formulas. My songs have a typical song structure – verse / pre-chorus / chorus – and that’s just in me, but in terms of trying to fit a certain formula, that’s not a conscious thing for me. It’s not something I want to do, either. That’s why there are no Latin choirs on the album (laughs).”

“I’ve actually gotten comparisons to Epica and After Forever. In fact, one guy made the After Forever comparison before he knew that Sander was one of the songwriters on Alloy. That kind of surprised me, but Sander does have a signature sound, but I don’t hear the similarities.”

Working with Sascha Paeth on Alloy was a no-brainer for Somerville thanks to a strong working relationship that’s now over a decade old. An ideal situation on one hand, but there’s always a danger of a producer’s signature sound turning what was meant to be something diverse into music easily compared to unrelated previous productions.

“Maybe that’s the case,” Somerville agrees, “but Sascha is one of those people that constantly has awesome ideas. So much of what I’ve learned about working behind-the-scenes and in the studio, he’s been my mentor. He’s taught me so many things about music theory, sound engineering… I can thank him for everything I know about working the studio, and he’s a great teacher because he’s patient and I’m not (laughs). Sascha always has these fresh ideas, and I don’t know where they come from. He’s a well of ideas; definitely one of those bottomless glasses. Working with Sascha has also cemented my belief that it’s good to be diverse, that it’s good to have various musical backgrounds and to be into different types of music. That’s why he doesn’t always do the same thing.”

Having heard some of the early Alloy demos thanks to Somerville, it’s a relief to hear that the final product has retained the dark atmosphere and aggression of the original compositions. Just as working with the same producer can smooth out too many necessary rough edges, tweaking and reworking songs so that they fit the “final album” standard can result in bleeding the music dry of intensity. Asked if she ever hit that point on Alloy, Somerville admits it did happen.

“Definitely, and there have been several instances where we’ve had to dial it back. Sascha’s awesome, and what I love about working with him is that for the most part we have the same taste in music. He also doesn’t like this over-the-top bombastic orchestral stuff. He and Miro (keyboardist / producer) even though they’re close colleagues and best friends, they’re at war with each other most of the time, which is hilarious. Sascha will get a bazillion keyboard tracks for a song from Miro that he has to mix and be like ‘Dude, why do you always do this to me?’ Sascha can play any instrument, and he does a lot of the keys on Alloy, but he’s always saying ‘Those fucking keyboards, and I always get this shit back from Miro..!’ (laughs).”

“When I told him that I wanted Miro to do the keyboards on the album there was dead silence on the other end of the phone. Sascha loves Miro, but I’ll get the key and orchestra tracks back from Miro and he’s done something exactly the way Sascha didn’t want it (laughs). It’s like, ‘Come on! Stop using my time for a pissing match!’ (laughs). I love those guys, but there are times when I have to say “Well, I actually like the way things sounded on the demo better.’”

Somerville offers her reaction to hearing the final version of the album…

“I was totally stoked. It’s funny because Sascha sent me the basic final produced version of Alloy, and he was saying ‘You’re not going to believe it. Just listen… you’ll know what I mean in the first ten seconds…’ I turned on ‘Coward’ and there’s this harpsichord line. And I was like.. ‘Wow’. Sascha said ‘I can’t believe I did it! After years of Rhapsody, I’m damaged because of the damn harpsichord, but somehow it fit…’ (laughs).”

Alloy is a career high for Somerville, particularly since it was crafted in the aftermath of huge personal upheaval. There were plenty of positives that came with the making of the album – not the least of which was venting pent up rage in song – but she considers having Avantasia bandmate / Masterplan vocalist Jorn Lande come in to sing on ‘Scream It’ with her Alloy’s crowning glory.

“When I wrote the song with Sander, I totally had Jorn’s voice in mind. Totally. I kept thinking, ‘Oh my God, he would be so perfect for it.’ I was afraid of asking him because I didn’t want him to say no (laughs). I fell in love with him when we first went on tour with Avantasia in 2008. He’s a beautiful person, he’s hilarious, we get along so well, and he’s got The Voice; honey with a little whiskey (laughs). It’s just awesome. I can’t find the words. So, I finally asked Jorn, telling him that I knew it was a far-fetched idea, but would he sing a duet with me? He wrote back, ‘Of course,’ like it was the most natural thing in the world. I was blown away he said yes, and he did an awesome job. It was exactly what I wanted.”

“The thing is, Sascha has worked with Jorn for years, and he told me that the song was going to come back completely different to what I’d laid out. I didn’t know this, but Jorn usually takes vocal lines that are given to him and throws them out, then does whatever he wants. That was fine with me, because what he does on his own stuff and with Masterplan is fantastic. He kind of stuck to the basic idea for ‘Scream It’, but in the meat of it he was just all over the place (laughs). I think what he came back with was so damn cool.”

Check out Somerville’s behind-the-scenes look at the making of Alloy here.

Follow @CarlBegai

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Following is an excerpt from my latest BW&BK interview with Edguy / Avantasia frontman Tobias Sammet for the new Edguy album, Age Of The Joker….

“I think Edguy has always maintained the integrity and the key elements of our sound,” says Sammet, “but we’ve always dared – and it’s really stupid to use that terminology – to do what we feel (laughs). It really sounds odd because it’s something you take for granted when you speak to an artist. An artist should always be doing what he or she wants to do.”

Which is the very reason for Edguy’s continued success, as Sammet has no problem dropkicking the box marked “Fan Expectations.”

“I’ve said this before, but we don’t work for a pizza delivery service. Just because the fans ask us for something, it doesn’t mean they’re going to get it from us (laughs). It doesn’t work like that when you’re creating art, and we’ve always done what we wanted. I’m really happy with the album, and it’s a heartfelt happiness. I don’t know what to think about the musical direction of it, if we’ve gone back to the roots or whatever. That was never our goal, we didn’t really strive for that.”

“The thing is, if we were to do 10 songs like ‘Babylon’ for example, it wouldn’t work. Sometimes I really feel the need to do a song like that, and you can hear that in songs like ‘The Arcane Guild’ and ‘Breathe’ on Age Of The Joker. When we did the Theater Of Salvation album, although we loved that kind of music, I think we really wanted to make sure that we came up with a statement. I don’t think it was a conscious thing, but I think we really wanted to make sure we had a label put on us.”

The album continues Sammet’s journey as a lyricist, keeping things simple yet creative whether he’s spinning a yarn about Robin Hood, matters of the heart, or taking the piss out of the music press. All in a day’s work in spite of the fact a large portion of Edguy’s fanbase often don’t get the joke(s).

“Whenever I’m asked about how important I think lyrics are to or for the people, I can honestly say that nobody really cares,” Sammet admits. “When there are people that are smart enough to care about the lyrics, there’s a great sense of satisfaction in there for me. I think the biggest difference between Edguy now and Edguy 12 or 13 years ago is not the musical quality, but the lyrics. They were really, really bad on some of the early records because I didn’t speak English properly. I’m not embarrassed, but now I want to write lyrics that make sense, that I can be proud of and live with. Even if it’s only 2% of the fans that take something from the lyrics, it’s mission accomplished.”

“I don’t want people like Amanda Somerville, for example, standing next to me on stage singing ‘Farewell’ and laughing about how ridiculous those lyrics are. When we performed ‘Farewell’ on stage with Avantasia, everybody on stage who spoke proper English couldn’t be serious. They were all thinking ‘What the fuck were you thinking when you committed those lyrics to tape?’ because they’re hilarious. I think they’re bad, and I don’t want to be embarrassed when someone like Eric Singer (KISS, Avantasia / drums) reads my lyrics and goes ‘Wow, that’s horrible…’ (laughs).”

That hasn’t stopped Sammet from inventing new words such as “bewareth” when the need arises…

“It doesn’t exist, but it sounds very Shakespearian (laughs). That was funny, because the song was finished and I heard the part in the middle section that was clearly stolen from ‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’ or ‘Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’ (laughs). I knew that Iron Maiden would go over-the-top and put a spoken word part in there, but with someone like Christopher Lee doing it. Well, I’m not going to get someone else to be epic on an album when I can do it myself (laughs), I decided I would do it for ‘Robin Hood’. I wrote some things for it but they were too obvious, too Steel Panther (laughs). That’s why ‘bewareth’ works so well, at least for me. It’s a great thing reading reviews that say ‘Sammet should have had someone else do the spoken word part; it doesn’t sound epic enough, and it doesn’t really make sense.’ Those are the people that actually got the point (laughs).”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Follow @CarlBegai

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