The last place anyone expected two former members of Megadeth to resurface is with a band hailing from Ashland, Kentucky. Sounds like the set-up for a redneck joke, but in actual fact it’s a very serious buzz now that guitarist Jeff Young – from Megadeth’s 1988 record So Far, So, Good… So What! – and recently departed bassist James Lomenzo have officially joined Hydrogyn. An extensive overview covering the how and why of Young and Lomenzo coming aboard can be found on the BW&BK site here. Below is an inside look at Young’s relationship with guitarist Jeff Westlake and vocalist Julie Westlake, which amounts to a trial-by-fire gone right.

Westlake: “After Deadly Passions we had problems with our label, Demolition, and it left such a bad taste in our mouth that Julie and I were about ready to completely shelve Hydrogyn. We were thinking about doing some solo projects and see where that would take us, but then Jeff entered the picture. I feel like I’ve known the guy my entire life. We get along great. He brought in some songs, I brought in some stuff, we’re teaching each other the parts that we have to learn, we’re writing stuff together, and that’s really brought Hydrogyn back.”

Young, who has more or less steered clear of the metal world since leaving Megadeth in favour of a career working in world music and classical guitar, reveals his return to the realms of distortion was all a matter of finding the right people to work with.

Young: “I distanced myself from rock because I got sick of the personalities and characters that come around in that arena. That’s exactly what sparked my return. It’s not that I didn’t want to play that kind of music, I’ve just been waiting to find the right chemistry. I didn’t want to go out, just put a band together and blow my wad with something that might not be right. I’ve been able to study musical styles from all over the world and bring that into Hydrogyn.”

“The strange thing is that I asked Michael (Wagener / producer) about Hydrogyn when I first heard (debut album) Bombshell. I was intrigued because I was working with Badi Assad at the time. It was a no-brainer when Jeff contacted me. Michael Wagener did my first demo after GIT – that’s how he became involved with mixing So Far, So Good… So What! – and of all the people that he’s worked with in the 30+ years that I’ve known him Jeff and Julie are the only ones he’s let spend the night at his house. That told me everything. He has them come in when he’s giving workshops to his engineering students, so I could tell by the relationship that they had that me, Jeff and Julie were going to vibe. And although Jeff and my guitar playing styles are different our songwriting styles gel. The stuff that I brought in, it sounds like Hydrogyn.”

Westlake: “Jeff brings a lot to the table. He brings years of experience, he brings an attitude that we always wanted in the band. I’ll be really honest with you, we’ve had some good people in the band but we’ve never had the players that we wanted to have around us. Finally I just decided it was time to step it up a bit to go the places we need to go, and put Julie on the plateau she needs to be on. We needed better musicians than what we were dealing with because Julie and I want to take Hydrogyn to the ultimate level. We made a few calls, sent out a couple emails, and back came Joe Migz (kHz / drums) and James Lomenzo.”

It turns out that Young’s first recorded work with the Westlakes is in fact not for Hydrogyn. Following a test-the-water acoustic show in Cleveland in February 2010, Young was asked to help out on Julie Westlake’s new solo album, If Ever A Day, and record parts for a song neither he nor Jeff Westlake care for,

Young: “After we did that gig in Cleveland, we came right back and Jeff told me that Julie had an acoustic version of Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ going on her solo album. He asked me if I’d interested in throwing some guitar down on it because he didn’t like what Slash does at the beginning of the song. Could I come up with a variation of that, something that wasn’t so annoying? I kind of arpeggiated that type of progression and made it more of a mantra and less carnival-sounding like Slash plays it. So, it’s like I got here and I was thrown right in the fire (laughs).”

“Julie’s solo album, it’s a whole different style for her. There’s a bit of country, a bit of pop, it’s a very universal album. And to watch this girl record… I’ve seen her sit in a chair in front of the computer with a microphone in her hand, not even trying, and she sings like nothing I’ve ever heard before. This was the thing about me getting back into doing rock and metal, that any band I was going into had to have an amazing singer.”

Westlake: “Julie did an album that the fans pretty much requested of her. She wanted to do ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and I personally hate the song. I haven’t liked it since Day 1. I never liked the riff, I thought it was hokey, and that’s where Jeff came in. That song was sitting there for almost a week while I tried to figure out what I was going to do with a song that I hate. Jeff took it, and three hours later he was like ‘Are you ready to record?’ (laughs). It came out great.”

Young: “I’ve heard other chicks try to do Guns N’ Roses – Sheryl Crow botched up Sweet Child O’ Mine’ pretty bad – we’ve heard them try to do AC/DC, like that debacle with Celine Dion, but the thing is Julie can sing a track like ‘Hanging On’ from her solo album that would appeal to Mariah Carey fans, then turn around and sing Brian Johnson in one take.”

Further dispelling any thoughts that Julie is mere eye candy with no substance, Westlake reveals she is more metal that people give her credit for.

Westlake: “With Jeff coming in I decided we had to do a Best Of from the early years of Hydrogyn (entitled Phase 1) to show people that the first chapter is over and there’s something new coming. Julie suggested we put another song on the album, so I asked her which song she had in mind and she said ‘Assault Attack’ from the Michael Schenker Group. I was like, ‘What?!’ (laughs).”

Young: “Michael Schenker is God for me. Jeff’s guitar tracks on the cover of ‘Assault Attack’, the tones are better than Schenker’s (laughs). He used a little Fender frontman reverb, which is about 15 watts, no bigger than a breadbox.”

Westlake: “The vocals on ‘Assault Attack’ are literally just a scratch vocal. Julie sat with a live hand-held mic in front of the speakers and demoed the thing right there in front of the computer. All I wanted was to get the vibe from her for when we recorded it, but it came out so well that we kept it.”

Young: “She was doing a vocal on one of our new songs the other night. If you can imagine walking into a room – any office in any town – and seeing a girl sitting in a chain in front of her computer, that’s what it looked like. The only difference is that instead of typing and doing secretarial work she’s got a Shure microphone in her hand and she’s headbanging. Most singers want to stand up to get more power out of their voice, but this girl’s sitting down and not even trying and blowing things out, I’m so stoked. That was the key thing for me. Whatever band I was going to be in, unless Chris Cornell or Paul Rodgers or Brandon Boyd from Incubus was available I wasn’t thinking of a singer I wanted to work with. When I heard Julie’s voice for th efirst time I thought ‘This is it.’”

Continuing to move forward based on the release of Phase 1 and the ongoing work on the new studio record, Westlake and Young reveal the band has already received tour offers. If things go their way Hydrogyn will be on the road starting this summer for the next year-and-a-half. Asked if he believes the Megadeth connection has pushed potential promoters to book Hydrogyn, Young believes it has come into play but refuses to believe it’s the only factor.

Young: “It’s the Megadeth connection but it also has to do with what James Lomenzo has accomplished over his entire career – from Pride & Glory to White Lion to Ozzy to Megadeth – and the stuff that I’ve done in metal and in the world music and classical guitar world. And what Hydrogyn accomplished before us. We have a wide fanbase, so when booking this act that’s going to qualify us for some serious consideration.”

For updates watch BW&BK and go to Hydrogyn’s official website here.

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Big surprise (not!) that I’d be thrilled to announce that two of the four lovely ladies from the Carl Begai In Hell house band, Scarlet Sins, have returned with a new project called When Forever Dies. Vocalist Sylvya NuVynska and bassist Tanya Nicklaus have been writing and recording demo tracks since Scarlet Sins called it quits in November 2009, and the music I’ve heard thus far is great. Very promising indeed. It’s a no-brainer that Sylvya and Tanya would take care of unfinished business with When Forever Dies, particularly given Syl’s unique vocal style. Scarlet Sins fans won’t be disappointed, One of the tracks I’ve heard, ‘What Have You Become?’, takes the lessons learned from the Sins experience and kicks things up a notch or three with grittier vocals, big harmonies, a guitar solo (!), with a piano (!!) thrown in for good measure. Things have become decidedly more metal since the break-up; so much the better. Add to this the return of Rush producer / engineer Rich Chycki for the debut album and it’s safe to say this is going to end up sounding huge.

Check out their official website at this location. The page is currently under construction but there are direct links to the band’s MySpace, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Folks that remember Toronto rockers Harem Scarem – the band featuring insanely talented and moronically underrated guitarist Pete Lesperance – may be interested to know that drummer Creighton Doane has released a new solo EP. It’s easy to dismiss any project headed up by a drummer as a case of Frontman Dicksize Envy, but the simple fact is Doane is 10 times the musician / songwriter than most major league million-selling artists. Just my opinion of course, but his new outing Pilot Error sounds like a lost Paul Gilbert album with a Beatles vibe and quirky Barenaked Ladies humour tucked in cheek. Not even close to heavy, but a shitload of fun if you’ve half a mind to enjoy the music for the sake of enjoying music. Come to think of it, though, the track ‘I Know’ could only have been written by a drummer; a prog-jazz No Doubt-esque shuffle at its whackiest. Don’t take my word for it; go to this location for audio clips and a reason to buy some new music.

At the fire and brimstoned other end of the bar is a quaint little act out of Montreal called Worignition. They were brought my attention by a buddy who has a decent track record as the frontman of a loud and obnoxious Quebecois band called Blackguard, and I have to say my initial misgivings that Worignition was just another paint-by-numbers wannabe exercise in Finnish Metal Rip-Off Roulette were off the mark. Having turned my brains to mush by mp3-ing them straight into my skull, the band issold on me as a dynamic death-thrash act with ridiculous potential for being something more than a good idea. Check them out here for a glance at what’s up. They remind me of Arch Enemy crossed with a pre-fame Children Of Bodom, only a hell of a lot heavier and more innovative than either. Due to enter the studio with Cryptopsy guitarist Chris Donaldson as producer for their debut album, which is a very good thing. Fingers crossed someone with a brain picks them up, even if the name Worignition sounds like some kind of sexual deviant act committed with an SUV. Must be a Montreal thing…

Finally, watch for the return of Toronto metal icon just around the corner. Wait and see…

Two words combined that are enough to make my brain itch uncomfortably, like poison ivy on one’s naughty bits. It feels like there’s a bug walking around between the inside of my scalp and my skull; it shouldn’t be in there but I can’t get it the fuck out.

Folks old enough to remember cassette tapes as a form of audio entertainment will recall the Jive Bunny phenomenon. The actual name was Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers, a moniker worn by a glorified mash-up project in 1989 spearheaded by a medley entitled ‘Swing The Mood’. It featured instantly recognizable ’60s tunes smooshed up against and mated with Glenn Miller’s classic ‘In The Mood’, all remixed, spliced and remixed again into dance-able tracks of varying length. Not quite techno; just classic melodies poked and fluffed into swing-ish updatedness so as to draw anyone with too much booze in their system onto the dancefloor.

Perhaps you see where this is going…

Jive Bunny was a mind-boggling (at least from where I stand) international success, selling gazillions of copies in spite of the fact it was really only one long-ass cover song barfed back up into various lengths and / or track sequences. Eight tracks, but only one sicko ad-nausea vibe. See Wikipedia for a brief overview here if you must, but take my word for it, it was painful back then and it remains an agonizing exercise. There’s even a frickin’ official website some place, and people actually review the damn thing on Amazon.com to this very day.

At the time of the Jive Bunny Smackdown, I was going out with a girl who has since been filed away to memory as Glue In The Eye (if you want the why of the name let me know; it’s an adventure unto itself). She liked to party, as did the entire clique consisting of the two of us, her best friend, and the assorted hangers-on that came with said friendship. Best Friend’s father hailed from Gander, Newfoundland and had a decent gig outside his day job fronting a country / folk band that would play various country bars around Toronto on weekends. Although I took great joy back in those days in taking the piss out of anything that wasn’t metal – I wasn’t nearly as open-minded or as well behaved as I am now – I found his shows to be quite entertaining. He was a talented singer and guitarist, played the squeezebox (an accordion for us non-Newfie types), and had a killer band that could seemingly play anything. His sets of done-to-death traditional Scottish / Irish / Newfoundlander folk were killer, and his country selections were better than tolerable because he sang without the damn country twang and didn’t punctuate his sentences with “Y’all” and “Y’hear.” The gentleman knew how to throw a party, thus I didn’t bitch when Glue suggested we check out Cyril’s show. Live music and beer… no way you could go wrong with that.

Until he played the Country Nugget.

There was nothing wrong with the club itself, or the people that frequented it. Far from it. It was a fun place to hang out, particularly since Best Friend’s boyfriend was also a metalhead. I witnessed line dancing for the first time in my life at the Nugget – and laughed hysterically… repeatedly – and I saw grown men wearing 10 gallon hats, cowboy boots and string ties. As an ensemble, in public. Willingly. In the burbs of Scarborough. Yes indeed, I had discovered where Alice’s rabbit hole really went…

The between-set music was somewhat less impressive given my personal taste for everything from Mötley Crüe to Helloween to Slayer. But, in the interest of Glue’s continued interest in my fumbling hands and assorted dirty behaviour I gritted my teeth and endured Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, Reba McEntyre, Dolly Parton. Basically anything the Country Chorus Line dancers could throw down a Thunderfoot or a dosey-doe at within the confines of their stiff-as-a-corpse “dance” routine. I’m fairly certain I heard just about every country hit put to tape in the ’80s. The pitchers of beer made it easier, as did the welcome infusions of Johnny Cash.

The problems began when Cyril finished his set, usually about an hour before last call, for that was when The Bunny was unleashed. The in-house DJ would invariably dig into his waning collection of music and reach for the Jive Bunny CD; a surefire way to get the half-smashed hotties still sitting upright bouncing and flouncing on the dancefloor for the next 50-some-odd minutes. Several of the doods would be out there as well, of course, as the shots of Jim Beam and B52s had migrated to their feet. It was like being inside a redneck rave, only someone forgot the Ecstasy to help me take the edge off…

The worst part was, every time the invitation to go to the Country Nugget to see the show would come I’d be on board. Yes indeed, the suggestion of kinda possibly maybe getting some tail at the end of the night was enough to convince me I could handle The Bunny. For the record, it wasn’t worth the punishment.

There were times, of course, when in the midst of one of her Bunny Dance-A-Thons with Best Friend, Glue would get it in her head that I should dance with them. I refused as any real man would (and should), insisting my beer was best consumed cold and, oh look, the waitress with the ass that won’t quit just brought another round. Glue would then dismiss me with an exasperated “What-everrr…” look and race back to the dancefloor to Bunnify herself some more, returning 10 minutes later to ask me again, about the time track 2 or 3 or 4 kicked in. It was a laughable routine, one that I swore each time I would never go through again, only to be back at it a month later.

Alas, following the 50 Minute Hare-Brained Workout the DJ would cool things down with his Go The Fuck Home set of slow songs. Glue would demand that I dance with her. I conceded defeat, obedient boyfriend that I was, not realizing that very first time she was rhythm deaf. The girl bopped and bounced to a medley of crap for an hour at a time but slow-dancing with her was like trying to hold onto a bag of freshly caught eels. I didn’t get it. So, from that point I watched her every time she hit the floor for The Bunny and discovered, Christ in Hell, my girlfriend was a spaz. She was a go-go dancer nightmare. It was hard not to comment on it to the people in my vicinity when I was in my cups, and there were plenty of cups on these particular nights…

Suffice to say, I shouldn’t have been surprised when things didn’t go my way at the end of the night. Pity, because those were the only times she had rhythm.

The relationship ended badly, and although I can’t recall the details I’m sure that final blowout included a reference to her quasimodo dance moves. Cheap shot, but truthful. I’m absolutely sure, however, that I equated her love of Jive Bunny with being clinically insane.

Looking at Amazon.com’s review section, I see she wasn’t alone.

Bassist Taiji Sawada can lay claim to having belonged to two of the most popular metal bands in Japanese history. From 1985–1992 he was an integral part of X – better known as X Japan after ’92 – recording three albums before musical differences led to him getting the boot. To date the band has sold well over 20 million records, all without record label support outside Japan. Following his dismissal he was snapped up by Loudness, long known the world over as Japan’s premiere metal act, recording one studio album and a live record before calling it quits in 1994 for personal reasons. Since then Sawada has made his mark with Dirty Trashroad (affectionately known as D.T.R.), Cloud Nine and assorted smaller projects, but his latest outing Taiji With Heaven’s stands to gain a serious large-scale following if it receives the proper push.

Taiji With Heaven’s has been Sawada’s pet project for the last several years, finally come to life with a five-and-a-half song self-titled EP. His focus on the band has raised some questions as to whether he will continue with Cloud Nine, a band he launched with guitarist Shu in 1999, left for personal reasons, and returned to in 2007.

“Me and Shu are as good friends as ever,” says Sawada. “We are definitely still together and I am planning a new project with him as well. It’s way too early to talk about making an album since TS Project started very recently. The project with Shu will also have Heaven’s singer Dai and a female drummer, Hina from Crazy Quarter Mile. It will be something my fans will find interesting. I never thought a girl can play drums this hard; she’s a very solid rock drummer. As far as Taiji With Heaven’s goes, it took us four years to get to where we are right now. It’s not something just popped up. And during that period Cloud Nine had a superb bassist called Maru so I had the luxury of spending time to form and work on my own band. It’s all new, I created the songs together with the guys in this band. Their passion for music struck me like a lightning bolt. They’re not interested in frivolous crap; how you look or what you wear. Very determined musicians.”

The EP is a guaranteed surprise for the vast majority of X fans. There are definite leanings towards Cloud Nine’s modern-edged metal sound as expected, but the songs are also strikingly reminiscent of X’s third album, Jealousy. Heaven’s vocalist Dai is dead ringer for singer Toshi and the music has a similar vibe to Jealousy’s heavier tracks ‘Miscast’, ‘Desperate Angel’ and ‘Stab Me In The Back’. The lone ballad on the EP, ‘Wish’, is done in trademark epic X fashion, complete with piano and strings and clocking in at over seven minutes. Asked if the record was a calculated attempt to recapture the traditional X sound – particularly in the wake of the reunited X Japan’s darker direction – Sawada maintains it’s nothing of the sort. The claim suggests he had more of an influence on X’s music than people gave him credit for.

“All I can say is that there is no X in me right now,” he states. “Everyone wants to ask me those kind of questions but my musical inspirations comes up in very natural manner. It wasn’t intentional. I’ve always been a fan of music and not by which era it’s from. I never really cared about which band is from when and whatnot. No intention whatsoever. It all just came naturally and intuitively.”

Sawada’s opinion of the ongoing X Japan comeback is even more dismissive.

“I’m not interested at all and I haven’t had any contact with them.”

In spite of his continued involvement with Cloud Nine and the new project with Shu, Sawada says fans can expect a full length album from Taiji With Heaven’s in the near future.

“I don’t plan this to be a one time thing. We still have a lot of material that we didn’t use this time. ‘Freeze’ (which appears as a snippet on the EP), for example, is a song written by me and the title represents my emotional state. I believe this song has room for further growth and because of that we came up with dozens of different patterns for this song. This EP is only an introduction for people to get to know what we are about.”

“Supposedly, reactions have been very positive,” he says of the feedback. “Whatever the result may be I’ve gotta keep flying. And the Heaven’s is the band that lets me fly as high as I can get. I can’t really say whether people like our CD or not because it’s only been out for a little while. We can only present each songs with emotion that goes with it in a live situation. And I think the reaction follows accordingly.”

At press time Taiji With Heaven’s had two shows booked, with their live debut due to take place in Tokyo in March. The assumption is that the band will dig into Sawada’s past, selecting material from D.T.R., Cloud Nine, possibly even Loudness and X to fill out the set. He hasn’t ruled anything out.

“Ryutaro (guitars) has copied (X ballad) ‘Voiceless Screaming’ note for note,” he reveals. “As for old songs, we’ll wait and see. I don’t feel any pressure at all. I just go out and do whatever I feel is right at the moment. I don’t even think it’s for my fans. Just working hard to accomplish my musical goal.”

Looking back on the past, Sawada offers some insight into his joining Loudness in 1992, a move that caught everyone including him off guard. He still looks back on the experience fondly.

“Akira Takasaki asked me to join when I was fired from X. It truly blew me away since Loudness was my favorite band of all time. If I would have to give you reasons for leaving I’d have to write a book about it. The time and experiences I spent with Loudness were just incredible. I cannot express my gratitude in words. I still benefit from what I’ve learned from them in all aspects of my life. I thank them from bottom of my heart.”

As for X’s early year glam image, featuring some of the biggest hair known to man and metalhead, Sawada sheds a bit of light on the secret behind their gravity-defying hairstyles.

“Due to my environmental concerns I stopped using hairsprays with CFCs, but those days it took us from dusk to dawn to have our hair looking like that (laughs).”

To check out audio samples and purchase the EP go to this location. Check out the official Taiji With Heaven’s MySpace page here.

Just for fun, check out my review of X’s second album, Blue Blood, written 20 years after its official 1989 release.

– Special thanks to Tomomi for setting up the interview, to Taiji Sawada for his time, and to Takashi Kanazawa for playing interpreter and for his continued support.

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Foreword: I first became aware of Van Canto when a fellow journalist made an offhand remark at some point last year about going to see if an a capella metal band could deliver the goods live. Initially I figured she was being a smart-ass, but a few days later while at a record store I recalled having heard about a German band called Van Canto that did in fact do up metal songs a capella. A quick headcheck led me to their second album, Hero, and I was appalled to learn that they did cover versions of Iron Maiden’s ‘Fear Of The Dark’ and Nightwish’s ‘Wishmaster’. Surely it had to be a gag. Two minutes into the Maiden track and I was sold on Van Canto as a real band.

In gearing up for the release of their third album, Tribe Of Force, Van Canto’s new label Napalm Records wisely decided to re-issue Hero and the debut, A Storm To Come. Following is an interview with founder Stefan Schmidt, who took the time to discuss the band’s humble beginnings, offer some insight into what makes a capella metal work, and illustrate the proper use of the word “rakkatakka.”

“It’s too bad I’m not able to tell a significant story about how Van Canto got started,” says Schmidt. “It wasn’t like we were all sitting around one night and somebody stood up and said ‘Hey! Let’s start an a capella metal band!’ We started this as a project because I wanted to do something vocal-oriented after the split of my regular metal band, but I didn’t know it would turn out to be an a capella metal band. It was meant to be like a choir project with regular instruments, but as we moved on we noticed that it sounded interesting having all these voices together. It was something new, so we decided to give it a try. We never expected it to grow this fast, though.”

Asked if there was a specific point when he knew Van Canto was going to be a full-on vocal band, Schmidt does indeed recall the moment.:

“That was the day Ross (Thompson) did his first recordings. We recorded the first album, A Storm To Come, bit by bit. We had the drums ready, I played the chord layout on piano, and then we recorded the lead singers. That’s when we tried the rakkatakka singing, we could have easily switched to a regular metal band just by recording some guitars, but when Ross came in and did some harmonies on these rakkatakka voices, that’s when I decided it sounded great and it sounded metal. All we needed was the bass, and that’s where Ike (Sterzinger) came in.”

All in the ear of the beholder, but the magic of Van Canto lies in the fact they are able step beyond the cover songs and pull off original compositions and still sound like a barbershop quintet yanked off a street corner in hell. With a drummer in tow.

“I don’t think metal is only about instrumentation,” Schmidt offers. “It’s also about arrangement and attitude. I think the same way as you because I’m a guitar player. I’ve been playing since the age of 13 but I never imagined I’d be in a band without guitars because it’s my favourite instrument and metal is my favourite music (laughs). It’s double the fun in Van Canto, though, because I think like a guitar player but I perform like a singer.”

Adding to Van Canto’s charm is the fact that none of the band members are classically trained vocalists. Everything you hear is based on raw talent, gut instinct and truckloads of ambition. A new breed of garage band…

“There’s no one out there teaching people how to sound like a guitar so we had to figure it out on our own,” laughs Schmidt. “Lead singers Inga (Scharf) and Sly (Dennis Schunke) had some singing lessons but not in the interest of becoming or seeing themselves as professional singers. They both wanted to develop their own sound. We’re self taught in this, and we improve the more gigs we play and the more albums we make. I think it’s good we’re self taught because there’s no one around saying ‘Oh, you have to sing like this and not like that…’”

Van Canto’s first album was the grand experiment, with a cover of Metallica’s ‘Battery’ breaking the ice by proving that a capella metal was a reality. The follow-up album, Hero, featured an even split between covers of well known metal songs and original material. According to Schmidt, a calculated shot at attracting even more attention.

“We’ve always had the cover songs in out live shows because they’re a good way to attract new people. They have to get used to the sound of Van Canto, so it’s a good thing if they already know the songs. We noticed that quite quickly when started doing shows so we mixed the sets with our own songs and covers. We figured it would be best to do some of the most famous metal songs, and of course the record company for Hero (GUN Records) got into the idea very quickly because they thought they’d sell more albums (laughs). We also noticed that you can’t keep having so many cover songs on an album, because once you’ve covered ‘Fear Of The Dark’, ‘Kings Of Metal’ and ‘Bard’s Song’ there’s not much left to do.”

It’s also bloody dangerous screwing around with a classic like ‘Fear Of The Dark’, a sing-along staple in Iron Maiden’s live set to this day.

“That’s exactly my opinion, and when we started working on it we realized that we couldn’t make it any better. ‘Fear Of The Dark’ is the perfect song and you can’t try to imitate Bruce Dickinson. It doesn’t work. So, we decided to give our version a different attitude, make it a bit more doom-y, and give the lead vocals to Inga so everybody notices that we’re not trying to copy Iron Maiden. We wanted to take the approach of the song, the mood and the atmosphere of the song, so you feel like you’re alone in the dark. There are a lot of people who don’t like the idea of van canto covering that song, and I can understand that because Iron Maiden is one of my favourite bands and I don’t know what I would have said if somebody made a flute arrangement of ‘Fear Of The Dark’ (laughs). But, as long as it’s still metal and as long as you can hear what the original song was like, you can’t ruin a great song.”

One source of confusion and amusement for people getting to know Van Canto are the “guitar” solos. Like everything else on the first two albums, other than the drums the solos are executed vocally. Schmidt’s inner guitarist is allowed to run wild, limited only by how ridiculous he might feel singing widdly guitar passages into a microphone.

“The only special gear is my Engl amp,” Schmidt says of the solo work. “I just plug the microphone into the amp, put another mic in front of the 4×12 box and record the box while singing. To avoid feedback the box stands in another recording room. When mixing we add a bit delay to the guitar sound, just like a regular guitarist would do. That’s it, I swear (laughs).”

“I remember the first solo I ever sang. It was ‘Battery’. I didn’t feel ridiculous; I was so excited. But as soon as I heard the sound coming out of my Engl amp I thought ‘Wow! This is it!’ Composing is very easy. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 13, and though I’ve never been that fast playing solos I was quite good in composing them. The easy thing now is that I don’t have to practice to realize the idea. I just plug in and sing.”

With five distinct vocal parts in each song – six if you include contributions from drummer / backing vocalist Bastian Emig – the popular view is that studio magic is used to fill in the blanks left by the lack of guitars and bass. Schmidt counters this suggestion.

“We have a good argument against that because people can come and see us perform at our live shows. Of course we’re overdubbing some tracks and doing second voices with the solo like any band would do, but we don’t need technical support to create our sound. Everybody who comes to our shows can see that we’re the real thing.”

“Doing this live in the harder part of it,” he adds. “When you’re recording an album you can take breaks, you can re-record parts again and again, but live it’s a lot different. The most difficult thing is to be able to breathe in the right place because to create the rhythm guitar sounds, for example, you can’t take long breaks. Otherwise the song falls apart and all you hear is drums. If you see us live you’ll notice that Ross and me don’t do a lot moving around on stage. Performing these songs is like a sport, and it’s hard to do a 70 minute set, so we leave the show up to Sly and Inga while stay in our places and do all the rakkatakka and dandan vocals (laughs).”

Perhaps the strongest evidence that Van Canto are more than just a novelty flash in the pan is the way their compositions – covers and not – sink in and stick around. It’s not unusual to end up singing one or more Van Canto vocal parts under your breath as you go about your business.

“Everybody does that,” laughs Schmidt. “I mean, that’s how you sing along to certain parts of a metal song, don’t you? The difference is we recorded ourselves doing that (laughs).”

– Watch for my interview with Van Canto about their new album, Tribe Of Force, at BW&BK’s happy yet hellish playground here. For information on Van Canto go to this location or check out their MySpace page here.

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Unfortunately, in a move that amounts to a boss-inflicted bullet wound, the label chose to issue Streets Of Rock N’ Roll and re-release The Right To Rock simultaneously as a celebration of Keel’s return. It would have made a hell of a lot more sense to let the new record breathe a little, as anyone listening to RTR first / again that’s expecting the band to blow the doors off in similar fashion on Streets will invariably be left disappointed. The new album is a grower and deserves better. Here’s hoping the fans have matured to the same extent as the band.

Fave tracks: ‘Gimme That’, ‘Come Hell Or High Water’, ‘Hit The Ground Running’, ‘The Devil May Care’.

I have to admit, however, that my inner ’80s rocker finds worth in lighter fare like ‘No More Lonely Nights’, solid closing track ‘Brothers In Blood’ (which, in retrospect, isn’t that tame after all) and ‘Live’.

Go to this location for information and links to purchase Streets Of Rock N’ Roll and The Right To Rock.

It was two or three paragraphs shovelling the required industry bullshit about how much the band rawked and smoked and was the best thing since ketchup-flavoured Crispers. The piece was loaded down with so many descriptives and flowery turns of phrase that it read like a car salesman’s Scrabble tournament. I couldn’t get through it without laughing. A few days later I found out from the gentleman running the band – after I told him in an email what I thought of the bio – that it had been assembled by a “professional” writer. Uh huh. I can just picture him / her sitting there tippitytapping away on his / her computer trying to figure out what’s stronger than “dynamic”, “unleash” and “charismatic”, then realizing “megasplendiferous” sounds pretty fucking edgy.

I was reminded of the three hours of my life that I wasted back in 1991. At the time I was working as a landscaper in Toronto. It was by far one of the best jobs I’ve ever had, with the exception of the winter months when I was on-call for snow removal at the townhouse complexes the company maintained. Anyone who knows anything about lake effect weather in Toronto in January will understand when I say it would have been far more enjoyable driving blunt nails into my feet with my bare hands. Thus, after three years of winter mayhem I opted to look for an indoor job to tide me over until the spring thaw.

My search led me to an ad by a big name publishing firm looking for people to fill out their marketing department. I made a Monday morning appointment, and upon my arrival I quickly discovered I’d been shafted by a cattle call for telemarketers. There was no interview, just a slimy “C’mon and be a part of our team!” smile from the dood in charge followed by some speech about how cool it was to harass people on the phone and try to scam them out of their hard earned money. I could and should have walked out the moment I realized all was not kosher. The below freezing temperatures outside and my little white buddies falling out of the sky for the umpteenth time that winter convinced me it might not be so bad trying to sell people on buying subscriptions to Acrylic Paint Weekly or Masturbator’s Digest.

As I recall I didn’t manage to get even a nibble in my first few and only hours as telecommunication scum. Just a lot of hang-ups and dial tones in my right ear. Thank god. The guy seated the front of the room at his own desk facing the company’s newest recruits – planted as an example of how the job should be done – was good. Sickeningly good. I’d never heard so much smarmy ass-kissing crap come out of one person before; my teeth ache just thinking about how he sweet-talked at least five people in three hours into buying from him. There’s no doubt in my mind he could have sold yellow snow to an Eskimo. For a 24 month subscription.

I went for lunch at noon and never went back. Too much for me, it was.

This is how the marketing / promo / ad game is played, of course. Hype your wares to the rafters to make people believe that they’ll DIE if they don’t get theirs RIGHT NOW NOW NOW! And the operative words is “hype” because the more you beat people over the head with whatever you’re pushing the more likely they are to buy into it.

Uh huh. Do people really fall for this shit? I suppose they must, because if they didn’t company promo pools wouldn’t waste their time and energy screaming from the proverbial rooftops how their latest flavour of the month is the flavour that you’ve GOTTA have. When it comes to music, however, from where I sit this is the height of stupidity with regards to approach.

Fact of the matter is, whether you’re a solo artist or in a band, the music should be doing your ad work for you. No wall of adjectives or proclamations of how “so-and-so is the thunder to who-dat’s lightning” (give me a fucking break; I used that in Grade 3) are going to help you turn down the suck if the songs aren’t there. The fans – existing and potential followers – aren’t stupid. Hell, half of them don’t read the bio information, and the ones that do are more interested in finding out who you’ve toured with recently, how many cases of beer you consumed on said tour, and if that chick with the boobs who did backing vocals on your last three albums is back for another round.

There’s also this neat thing called the internet. Potential worldwide exposure for the aforementioned music at your fingertips. No $500 words required.

As for label people who write these steaming piles of adjectivized moose turds, think about who you’re writing for. Press people DON’T CARE about how the singer went through 40 excruciating days of discombobulating recording sessions in overwhelming netherworldly conditions and that the new album is intensiver, introspectiver, invertebrated, inflamesish, intercontinental and interdimensionally superior to the band’s stupefractobooshus previous record. Just gimme the band line-up, and tracklist and the frickin’ music. I’ll decide for myself whether it’s worth another spin and the effort of emailing you with an interview request.

Note: a label person saying “best album to date” in a bio? Duh. Of course it is. I’m sure he or she is going to promote it as “Almost on par with the last record but no real hit potential. Not sure why we haven’t dropped them, but I think the singer’s doing my boss.”

Don’t get me wrong. Band bio information is important, it’s necessary, but you don’t need to take the “hammer-meet-skull” approach to getting the point across.

My concert band / music teacher in high school, the late and great Charles Benson, always told us to keep something in mind when we were playing: Keep It Simple Stupid. Basically, don’t try to be a frickin’ hero by baffling people with bullshit, because you’ll just look like a moron in the end.

Breaking it down further, shut up and play.

Words to live by.

The name Sarah Jezebel Deva will forever be associated with Cradle Of Filth, but that hasn’t prevented her from striking out on her own. The first shot came in 2006 with the unfairly overlooked Angtoria debut, God Has A Plan For Us All, and following an extended silence that included her official – if downplayed – departure from the Filthdom she has returned with a full- fledged solo release, A Sign Of Sublime. It’s a move that caused a certain amount of confusion amongst her diehard fans when word first came down in early 2009 given Angtoria had really only just gotten off the ground, and convincingly so. Sarah remains unapologetic in the her decision, however, making it clear that it had nothing to do with wanting more of the spotlight. A Sign Of Sublime was created to fulfill her need to make music on her own terms. Angtoria, meanwhile, is alive and well, to be revisited when the time is right.

“A Sign Of Sublime has nothing to do with Angtoria, not a follow-up,” she says. “It’s just music. Just an album, be it good, bad or just OK, I love music and I love singing. Angtoria is still together, people are just busy building a life for themselves and family. When you’re struggling to pay your bills and support your family you must put everything else above music and that’s what people have had to do. So one day it will happen and we’ll get Angtoria back and push it further. As for ‘unfairly overlooked,’ well, you have to remember everything is about money. People won’t do things for free and it’s all about what’s in and what’s popular and will make them (the record labels) money. In the ‘80s it used to be about the music, about the metal. Now it’s about numbers and dollar signs. Listenable Records did a lot for us but if we weren’t ready to tour there was only so much they were gonna put into us, and that’s totally fair. At the time Cradle Of Filth was my priority, something I kick myself for really ‘cos all the years I put into it, what do I have to show? Fuck all! It’s all swings and roundabouts, and life is full of lessons and chances.”

Sarah’s split with Cradle Of Filth was remarkably low key, her 14 year tour of duty ending in late 2008 without drama, kind words, or even a whimper.

“That’s probably because Dani (Filth / vocals) and Paul (Allender / guitars) didn’t feel it was worth mentioning and I didn’t feel it was worth announcing,” Sarah explains. “I’m just the backing singer, right? And yet another line-up change never looks good. It’s funny ‘cos I was just about to send the email saying I wasn’t gonna do it anymore, and just as I was about to write it an email came my end saying there’s not a spare bunk so I’ll have to sit out this tour, but then it escalated. No hard feelings, business is business. I feel it was my fate. Fourteen years of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’… I’m almost 33! It was time to move on. So good luck to them, Paul especially with his art. He needs to focus on that. He’s brilliant.”

Choosing to go solo, although she considers A Sign Of Sublime a band effort, boils down to Sarah’s “Why the hell not?” mindset. Joining her on this little adventure are Cradle Of Filth / Angtoria bassist Dave Pybus, ex-Cradle guitarist / keyboardist Martin Powell, Angtoria / Abyssos guitarist Chris Rehn, and ex-Trigger The Bloodshed drummer Max Blunos.

“I hadn’t done anything in a while and I wanted to. Not everything has to have a reason behind it. Everyone added their own character to it, everyone made sacrifices, but it was written in a way that everyone had their freedom. No dictator, everyone was as equal as can be. I mean, you have a vision and it never ever turns out the way you plan. Mistakes happen and it sure happened with this, but y’know, again, it’s not about perfection. It’s about passion and energy, it’s not showing off or trying to score points with metal mags. We’re musicians and just trying to do something with our lives.”

In comparison to Angtoria, A Sign Of Sublime makes much broader strokes musically. It’s considerably darker, heavier, and big on making and taking forks in the road. ‘They Called Her Lady Tyranny’ sounds like a Cradle Of Filth tune minus the shrieking dwarf, for example, while ‘The Devil’s Opera’ is worthy of a Disney In Hell soundtrack and ‘Daddy’s Not Coming Home’ could easily be pushed as a Top 40 radio single. Sarah chalks up the album’s diversity to a combination of not concerning herself with people’s expectations and fate dictating how things would play out in the end.

“I had a vision and it didn’t turn out as I wanted, but that’s not negative either. Things don’t go as planned and some go even better than you thought. When I do music or ‘add’ to others I don’t go in with a cloak and a bottle of red wine to get me in the mood (laughs). I’m a very positive person. I hate this goth label that I’m still getting; there’s nothing goth about me (laughs). I’m a black metal girl. But, I have many many musical tastes, ranging from Bjork to Burzum, from Mysticum to Mariah Carey. I’m not narrowminded in any way, like when I was a kid, and as a musician you can’t be narrowminded. You just hold yourself back if you are. Whatever path this album took I would like to say it was a different one. No set style and no set pace. I think and I hope I accomplished that at least.”

“It’s funny because I did an interview last night and the interviewer thought ‘Daddy’s Not Coming Home’ sounded like Cyndi Lauper. My boyfriend said it reminded him of ‘Janie’s Got A Gun’ by Aerosmith, others have said Toir Amos and Madonna. We all have a way of connecting to music and everything is compared. I think it’s every musician’s dream to do something unique. You told me it really grows on you and I think for some it will take a lot of playing for it to grow on them simply because it’s a mixture of genres. And that’s good enough for me.”

One major sticking point for some people on A Sign Of Sublime will no doubt be the length of the album. Nine tracks total – eight songs and an intro – clocking in at a mere 38 minutes. To Sarah’s credit, keeping the things short allows the songs to make an impact both individually and as a complete package. There’s no slogging through ball-scratching filler to get to the end, making repeat listens welcome rather than a chore.

“An old discussion with someone a while back on a band that released 14 or 15 tracks on one of their albums, brings up a good debate really,” Sarah agrees. “On the negative, you shoot yourself in the foot because all that is expected from an album these days is ‘X’ amount of minutes on an album, so putting two albums’ worth on one album, well, I personally don’t see the point. Plus it can become very boring for the listener. The positive is it’s value for money for the listener. For me, in this case, the album is short and sweet. Nine songs is the prefect amount but remember, there is a cover (‘Bitch’ by Meredith Brooks) which I love and no doubt I will get slagged off for (laughs). But hey, my life! Music should have no limitations. We could have done more songs but again, I didn’t want people to get bored. The album is very different as it is.”

Much to Sarah’s chagrin the album will almost definitely be lumped in with the symphonic metal crowd thanks to her singing style(s) and the classic orchestration used to fill out the songs. The fact she’s female and fronting her own band further guarantees she’ll be propped up against the likes of Epica and Nightwish.

“I couldn’t give a toss about being popular or fitting in or being part of any scene,” she states. “I’m me. I’m not into these female fronted bands, sorry. Black metal really is my thing but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t listen to it and don’t appreciate what they’re doing. Good luck to them. It’s not a competition. It’s not about being sexy, it’s about the music. If I wanted to be sexy I would have joined Weight Watchers, had a boob job and surgery. This is music, not the catwalk! Since when did metal become about being sexy? It annoys me. People throwing shit at people because they have the balls to get off their computer and make something of themselves? I have amazing friends, I love my boyfriend, and their support and point of view is more important to me than any category I could be part of. I may rap my next album, that will really piss people off (laughs).”

As for the future, Sarah isn’t big on writing things in stone…

“Life is for living. There may be another solo album, who knows? I have the Kovenant show coming up; if it happens, great! I’m really looking forward to it. We’re all adults now, not the same people we were 12 years ago for sure. Also, a few years ago, I let Necro down (the death metal rapper). We’ve been chatting, so if that comes my way again that will be cool. But as I said, solo or session, no limits ‘cos singing is my world.”

– intro pic by Diana Racila
– punk pic by Lauren Such

For information on how to order A Sign Of Sublime and to hear audio samples go to this location. Check out two causes supported by the very real and down-to-earth Ms. Deva below.

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Yes, it’s true. Like any healthy heterosexual male or a woman that loves women, I have a great respect for chesticles of the female variety. I consider Anvil’s anthem ‘Show Me Your Tits’ a classic and I’m always ready to sing along with and add to ‘99 Words For Boobs’, drunk or sober. I am also in total agreement with 3rd Rock From The Sun star Kristen Johnston’s assessment that they do in fact have more power when they collide.

This little tribute was brought on by something of a serious nature, however. A friend recently drew my attention to a couple clips on YouTube featuring Bif Naked performing a short live acoustic set (with Machine from Death Match Union and ex-Neurosonic frontman Jason Darr) at a breast cancer charity event in September 2008. It’s significant because Bif was undergoing treatment for breast cancer herself at the time. Watching those clips (see below) I was reminded of the interview I did with her back in May 2009 – after she’d been given a clean bill of health, knock on wood – and how forthcoming she was with the reality of going through chemotherapy and everything that went with it. She didn’t paint a pretty picture, and in the end my jaw was somewhere on the floor. I wouldn’t wish what she went through on my worst enemy.

Check out the interview here for Bif’s recap of enduring breast cancer, all while recording an album (!). Point being, the treatment that Bif went through sounds like something out of a genetic engineering horror flick. There was no under-45-minutes Hollywood script save. No Hugh Laurie seeing one of those Anna Kournikova “Only The Balls Should Bounce” sport top commercials, having an epiphany and prescribing 500 cc’s of Boobaflex, two liters of soy milk and a walk around the block to make things all plush and pliable. Nope. It was strength of character and, I believe, sheer force of will that allowed Bif to beat the disease

Somehow calling her “inspirational” doesn’t quite cut it.

There are countless ways our numbers can be punched, but being diagnosed with breast cancer is one of those things I can only imagine as being completely devastating mentally as well as physically. The one – make that two – things that define femininity at a glance and there’s a higher power somewhere sitting on his / her / its throne saying “Well, you’re a sweet young thing, whole life ahead of you, I’m glad you’re enjoying it. By the way, I’ll take those…”

Fucking hell. I can’t imagine that.

I guess my point is that in spite of the fact I think men and women co-existing on the same planet is a cosmic joke, even though I will never understand the female mind – sorry, there IS something wrong with having 85 pairs of the same shoe in varying shades of off-white, and if you don’t want a guy to tell you the truth about that ugly-ass dress don’t demand an honest opinion – I’m floored by the strength women have in dealing with something so life-altering and brutally unfair.

Respect.

That’s it. No ulterior motives behind this post, no delusions of getting laid thanks to a few nicely played words, and no smart-ass remarks. Just… respect.

And now that I’ve outed myself as a sap, I’m sorry to say that I’ll ultimately continue to take the Neanderthal view of the female human body. Just know that the wandering eyes and occasional drool are borne of admiration rather than brain damage or lack of manners.

It’s worth noting that in spite of the too-numerous-to-count line-up changes since the Blaze debut Bayley has managed to develop and refine a signature sound. A mark of his new band’s (as of The Man Who Would Not Die from 2008) talents and understanding of what’s required, and proof that we severely underestimated Blaze Bayley the singer / songwriter way back when.

Go to this location to purchase Promise And Terror. Click here for my BW&BK interview with Bayley.