Dave Padden

ANNIHILATOR – Ballistic, Sadistic

By Carl Begai

Annihilator frontman / founder Jeff Waters is notoriously critical of his own work. An album that he is 100% pleased with upon release can ultimately end up being dressed down a year or two later as “not my best work” or “a 6 out of 10” in the press. A surefire sign that the man is always trying to improve himself rather than resting and relying on past glories like Annihilator’s first two untouchable classic records, Alice In Hell (1989) and Never, Neverland (1990). This dynamic duo is the benchmark for Annihilator fans everywhere, of course, and as a diehard follower that has found some worth in most (not all) of Waters’ albums it’s gotta be said that with Ballistic, Sadistic he has finally managed to bring Alice home.

Maybe it’s the success Annihilator has had on the live front over the last few years, maybe it’s the positive turns of Waters’ personal life, maybe it was having drummer Fabio Alessandrini in the studio rather than relying on programmed drums – or all of the above – but Ballistic, Sadistic is by far the heaviest, fastest, best written / arranged Annihilator record since Refresh The Demon (1996). And by “heaviest” we’re talking the full-on tasteful and tight guitar shred that made Annihilator famous with classics like “W.T.Y.D”, “Human Insecticide”, “Reduced To Ash” and “Alison Hell”.

TRAILIGHT – “The First Batch Of Songs Sounded Like St. Anger, And The Final Mixes Sound Like The Black Album”

By Carl Begai

Photographer-turned-musician Omer Cordell doesn’t suffer from delusions of grandeur. He does, however, possess an artistic streak that saw him go from tackling the bass as a hobby to a full album of prog-metal tweaked Pink Floydian-esque songs. A full year in the making, Trailight went from being a blip on social media radar as Cordell began assembling the necessary pieces to an intense musical experience unleashed at the end of May 2015. The do-it-himself experience included a 30 minute behind-the-scenes documentary of the production (found on YouTube) and extensive track-by-track breakdowns all prior to the album release (issued via Facebook), far more than most signed band are able or willing to produce… and for a fanbase that had yet to be established. That’s about to change, as Trailight is slowly but surely gaining some well deserved momentum.

“The Trailight album is the result of a conversation I had with a good friend of mine,” Cordell begins. “I originally released what I call a glorified demo with a bunch of instrumental stuff that I performed myself. That was when I was just starting to play music. What inspired me to do it was an interview I read with a bass player I really like – I started playing bass about four-and-a-half years ago – and he said the best way to explore yourself as a musician is to write music. I thought that was a great piece of advice, so I went out and bought some crappy gear, and taught myself how to record.”

Cordell admits that at the time he had no idea what he was doing or how to go about it. His learning-by-doing approach would pay off in spades when it came time to mix and master the official Trailight debut, The Primitive Mountain. But more on that later…

“I played everything myself on my first attempt – there was no singing on the material – and I compiled a bunch of stuff and over the course of about a year that I wanted to share with people. It was an experiment, really; bedroom demos that made it into CD form. Nothing to write home about, but a handful of people really dug it so that gave me the confidence and push to work on the real debut, which is The Primitive Mountain. It was more popular amongst fellow bassist in the Spector community who were liking the tones and effect. They dug it so I released it as my first thing.” Continue reading TRAILIGHT – “The First Batch Of Songs Sounded Like St. Anger, And The Final Mixes Sound Like The Black Album”

BW&BK Interview: ANNIHILATOR – Playing The New Hunger Game

By Carl Begai

How do you write a hit record? Lock a bunch of unattractive over-the-hill songwriters with shattered dreams of being spotlight superstars in a room, add money, buy auto-toon software, and hire a pretty face to sing the songs. Or, if you live in the blood and sweat world of Annihilator guitarist/founder Jeff Waters you go with your gut, hit the studio when the time feels right, and cough up an album like the highly praised rip and tear called Feast.

“This is the first record where we took a big break from getting in the studio and writing,” says Waters. “We were finished with the cycle for the last album by the fall of 2010. It was a little over two years of not going into the studio to write. Dave (Padden/vocals, guitars) and I decided that we could pump out an album every year-and-a-half, and some albums would be better than others but it would be a case of just doing the same thing over and over. We wanted to see what happened if we took some time off from the writing. I did tons of guitar clinics around the world, we did some special festival dates, I did some mixing and mastering in my studio; there just wasn’t any new Annihilator stuff coming out of that. And from what I’ve been told it paid off because everyone seems to feel that Feast has brought things up a level.”

“I think it was good that we took the time off, and if I didn’t have all that stuff to do in those two years I would have gone straight into the studio and started writing. I had lots to do and Dave kept pushing me away from it, so I just decided to go with it until the time was right.”

Waters is in a good place these days both professionally and personally these days, yet the music he cranked out for Feast is (for the most part) full-on aggressive and a great soundtrack for pissed-offedness.. Not exactly a case of the art reflecting the man this time out.

“I don’t get that either. We threw that one song ‘Perfect Angel Eyes’ in the middle of the album, but you’re right, other than that it’s more aggressive and has an ‘F-You’ vibe. It’s weird how that worked out.”

Feast’s punk attitude is equally weird and totally unexpected. Sure, the legendary thrash sound that made Annihilator famous is very much alive and seething, but there are moments where Waters sounds like he’s channelling as much of The Exploited as he is Slayer.

“You know what? That’s the one thing I didn’t realize until very recently. I did a two-and-a-half week European press trip, I did something like 113 interviews – which is way more than I’ve ever done for an album – and I repeatedly heard the question ‘Where’s this punk vibe coming from?’ And my only answer was ‘I don’t know’ (laughs). I usually get questions about my soloing and I tell them it’s blues speeded up, and even though I don’t really know the blues, I just know the stuff passed down by Angus Young and Glenn Tipton who got it from B.B. King and Chuck Berry. At least I know where that blues influence comes from. The punk stuff… no idea where that comes from.” Continue reading BW&BK Interview: ANNIHILATOR – Playing The New Hunger Game

ANNIHILATOR – In Command…

By Carl Begai

I recently caught up with Annihilator guitarist / founder Jeff Waters to discuss the band’s new self-titled album (that interview can be found on the BW&BK site here). Part of that discussion focused on vocalist Dave Padden and his influence on the band since coming on board in 2003.

WatersPaddenlive Officially the longest lasting Annihilator singer with seven years and four records under his belt, Padden is also the band’s second guitarist when they perform. The new DVD, Live At Masters Of Rock, showcases a very different Annihilator compared to years past, with a Waters-Padden duo trading off leads, solos, and vocals over the course of the set. An effective approach that caught the fans off guard when the band hit the road in support of the Metal album from 2007. Asked if this approach was used on the new album, Waters says it was in fact business as usual.

“It’s still the same thing in the studio, with me playing the guitars and Dave singing, but he’s the second guitarist on stage now. He’s a really good rhythm guitar player but his confidence is really low in that, so I’m trying to boost him up. I only sing live because Dave needs a break. That’s all it is. On the DVD for example, we’re standing quite stationary a lot of the time because we knew we were being filmed. If we weren’t being filmed professionally there probably would have been more mistakes and we would have had a bit more fun. Dave had to plant himself at the microphone and then back off to play, but he couldn’t go anywhere because he had to play some Waters riffs (laughs). But, I think he’s gotten used to that by now.” Continue reading ANNIHILATOR – In Command…