On The Inside

RICKY WARWICK Talks THE ALMIGHTY’s Forthcoming Box Set, Reveals His Favourite Album From The Band’s Catalogue

By Carl Begai

During a soon-to-be-published BraveWords interview in support of his new solo album, When Life Was Hard & Fast, vocalist / guitarist Ricky Warwick discussed the forthcoming box set from The Almighty. Warwick launched the band in with drummer Stump Monroe and bassist Floyd London in 1988; original guitarist Tantrum was replaced by Peter Friesen in 1991. The Almighty went on indefinite hiatus in 2008 when London announced he was leaving the band.

Warwick revealed the box set has been a long time in coming and only became a reality in 2020.

“It was a nightmare purely for that reason, just getting clearance from all the various labels and everything,” he says. “It took a while. Some labels were very cooperative and were very fast, others dragged their heels and took forever: It was definitely a labour of love, so big kudos to my management for pursuing it. I wanted to put the house in order because it was so messy; so much stuff was unavailable, so much stuff was all over the place. It bugged me for so long and I needed help to do that. I didn’t even know where to begin, so to have management helping me… they were fantastic. We’ve been working along with Stump for the last five or six years trying to put this together, so to finally get it all in one place is just wonderful. It’ll definitely come out this year. We’re just waiting on a release date.”

COLDBOUND – Winter Is Coming

By Carl Begai

Launched in 2012 by Finnish multi-instrumentalist Pauli Souka, Coldbound is a symphonic / progressive doom metal project that has taken on new life with the addition of former Theatre of Tragedy vocalist Liv Kristine Espenæs and former Ensiferum keyboardist Meiju Enho to the creative team. Coldbound has released a new single, “Slumber Of Decay”, offering a taste of what’s to come on the forthcoming full length album. Following is a brief interview outlining Coldbound’s vision as they gear up to finish and release the record.

Carl Begai: Coldbound was launched as a project solely under your control. What do Liv and Meiju bring to the creative process that you couldn’t achieve on his own?

Pauli Souka: “That’s a very interesting question. For this album recordings I’ve had the priviledge and honour to work with almost 43 people; 43 wonderful musicians and fantastic personalities. Some of these people had a huge impact on the way I see music. Two of them were definitely Liv Kristine and Meiju. The main reason I brought them into this is that I knew I could trust the project in their hands 100%. The results I received left me speechless, as the sounds they created were unique and definitely beyond any expectations I had. To be able to co-exist in the same project with these two fantastic ladies is a huge honour. They’re both unique and exceptional in their fields.”

BraveWords Exclusive: NIGHTWISH – A Look Inside Human. :II: Nature.: The Listening Session

By Carl Begai

On February 19th, Nightwish kicked off the Germany leg of the promo junket for their new album, Human. :II: Nature. in Munich. Unlike the usual alcohol-fueled affairs that listening sessions inevitably turn out to be, it was a sedate early morning affair consisting of coffee, headphones and an iGadget, each journalist in attendance invited to grab a seat in the hotel’s comfortable lobby to feast on and ultimately devour 80 minutes of music. Band members Tuomas Holopainen, Troy Donockley and Floor Jansen flew into town while the session was underway, taking a mere 10 minutes to get settled before the interviews began. BraveWords has a long history with the Nightwish camp and was welcomed quite literally with open arms, first up in what was to be a long day of media prodding before the band jetted off that night to Hamburg for Round 2 the next day.

For the record, there is a huge BraveWords feature with Holopainen and Donockley due to be published in a few weeks. This is an overview of Human. :II: Nature. meant to offer some idea of what to expect, hopefully without spoiling the experience when the record is released on April 10th via Nuclear Blast.

Known for their bombastic sound, Nightwish throw the first of many curveballs on Human. :II: Nature. with the very first song, “Music”, which is perhaps best described as a “soft open.” It is certainly not soft in terms of metal or subject matter, but the track eases the listener into the album rather than bashing you over the head with an orchestral anvil (take note of this). In fact, it is a hint that something is very different this time out as compared to previous album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, even though first single “Noise” sounds like a slower version of “Shudder Before The Beautiful” from said record. Admittedly, “Noise” is a much stronger track when heard with a quality sound system rather than via some crap-ass streaming platform, and it is certainly not representative of Human. :II: Nature. as a whole. Not at all.

DANKO JONES – In The Pages Of An IRON MAGAZINE

By Carl Begai

During a recent BraveWords interview with Danko Jones for the band’s new album, Wild Cat, frontman and namesake Danko was met with a question he didn’t expect, which led to the revelation of a new project coming down the pipe. An inquiring mind (mine) wanted to know why the band has never covered a full-on metal song even though Danko is a diehard nail-spitting metalhead who is loud and proud when it comes to the bands and albums he holds in high regard. Sure, he’s performed on stage with Motörhead and Sacrifice, the band has covered The Ramones, but Danko Jones have never gone into the studio to lay down their best versions of their favourite metal cuts, which seems odd somehow.

“There are a few reasons for that,” he begins. “First of all, we could never agree on a song. JC (bass) will suggest something and I’ll go ‘meh.’ I’ll suggest something and he’ll go ‘meh’ and on and on it will go (laughs). We recently did agree on some covers, though, but I don’t know if we’ll ever get to that point. The second reason we haven’t done any metal covers is because I don’t feel I could pull them off without sounding like a joke. And the third reason is I just want to be a metal fan, and depending on what band you’re talking about I couldn’t even begin to try and pull off an Obituary song or an Annihilator tune. How do you even start writing a song from one of those bands? It’s intimidating to me.” Continue reading DANKO JONES – In The Pages Of An IRON MAGAZINE

BraveWords Exclusive: AMARANTHE Vocalist JAKE E. Makes Departure Official – “I Can’t Stand On Stage Not Believing In What I’m Doing”

By Carl Begai

Since the October 2016 release of Amaranthe’s fourth album, Maximalism, vocalist and co-founder Jake E. has been conspicuous in his absence from the touring trail and in the press. The band’s triple vocalist attack remained intact for the band’s 2016 European tour, however, thanks to Smash Into Pieces singer Chris Adams, who had stepped in for Jake on previous tours when he was honouring other commitments. In November 2016, Jake issued a statement hinting that he had run out of steam, announcing that he was taking a break from the band for an unknown amount of time. In an exclusive interview with BraveWords, Jake makes his departure from Amaranthe official and final. Read on…

“Me and Olof (Mörck / guitars) started the band seven or eight years ago, and everything took off in a way we couldn’t have imagined,” Jake begins. “Amaranthe became a huge success and we toured the world, and we had a lot of fun doing that. The first two albums (self-titled debut and The Nexus) were exactly what I wanted the band to sound like; a mix between those Soilwork-like guitars and melodic Bon Jovi-type vocals combined with a female voice. Different elements combined, but the main thing in the music was the metal base. On the Massive Addictive album it started to change into something else that I didn’t really control, and you can hear the songs that I was more involved in working on are very metal. When we started working on the Maximalism album I found that it wasn’t the Amaranthe I had helped create at the start. It wasn’t my vision at all and I realized that I had to be true to myself. That was back in March 2016. I love to tour, I love the fans, but I felt that if I wasn’t true to myself.” Continue reading BraveWords Exclusive: AMARANTHE Vocalist JAKE E. Makes Departure Official – “I Can’t Stand On Stage Not Believing In What I’m Doing”

ZOMBIE SAM – A Little Madness Among Friends

By Carl Begai

In 2013, Italian soundtrack composer/orchestra conductor and producer Zombie Sam unleashed his debut album Self Conscious Insanity, a record that blended symphonic and industrial elements to create a unique calling card. The outing yielded two official videos – “A Hallowed Tale” and “Woman In White” – that gave Zombie Sam a Tim Burton-esue identity to go along with the music and earned him a cult following. A lot has changed since then including his musical vision, meaning the fans clamouring for a sequel to Self Conscious Insanity should be prepared for a distinctive new take on an esablished theme.

“I don’t try to imitate anybody, I just try to compose what I feel,” Sam says. “A few years ago I had some health problems with my heart, and after that my life changed somehow and I started seeing things in a different way. It also affected the way I compose music, so that definitely had an influence on the songs for the new album. I also wanted to change my sound. People told me the first album was leaning more in an industrial direction like Rob Zombie or Marilyn Manson, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to create something unique, be more myself; not too serious, maybe even a bit funny.”

More rock than metal this time out, Zombie Sam’s new material is, ironically, reminiscent of two beloved Canadian bands: The Creepshow and Billy Talent. He agrees with the suggestion that if his music is going to wear a stamp it should read “Horror Rock”.

“You mentioned those bands to me and I thought ‘Holy crap, he’s right…’ The new Zombie Sam music doesn’t sound like those bands exactly but it is similar. I like the music from both Billy Talent and The Creepshow, I like the way they perform live, so I could learn somethings from artists like that. They have an amazing energy. My new music is going more in the direction of something like The Creepshow. I don’t want to be heavy metal and I think this new stuff is more rock. Some of the vocal lines even sound a bit like pop music even though it’s not. It’s definitely more horror rock.” Continue reading ZOMBIE SAM – A Little Madness Among Friends

FLOOR JANSEN – In Orbit With EVERGREY

By Carl Begai

Dutch singer Floor Jansen is best known these days as the voice of Nightwish, a post she’s held since 2012 following the controversial firing of Anette Olzon, but her music career began long before Tuomas Holopainen had the presence of mind to ask Jansen to help pilot his ship of dreams. Jansen made name for herself fronting After Forever from the band’s inception in 1997 until 2009. In that time she also worked with Ayreon, Star One, Devin Townsend Project and MaYan on an assortment of albums and launched her own band, ReVamp, which has since been put to rest due to her Nightwish commitments. Although Nightwish spent most of 2016 on the road in support of their latest album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Jansen found time to record vocals for two tracks on the new Evergrey album, The Storm Within, collaborate once again with Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen… and make a baby with fiancé and Sabaton drummer Hannes Van Dahl.

Jansen is featured on two tracks for The Storm Within, ‘In Orbit’ and ‘Disconnect’, the former having been released as a single and video. I spoke with Evergrey frontman Tom Englund for the official bio released for The Storm Within earlier this year and he offered his thoughts on bringing Jansen in for the album.

“That was actually my wife (Carina Englund) thinking for me. Floor is a personal friend and major Evergrey fan, so it was over a glass of wine between her and my wife, who asked her if she wanted to do the song. ‘In Orbit’ is a powerhouse of a song and it would be easy to make it the first single, but it’s not the first impression we want to make. That said, it would be stupid not to release it as a single, and if we could get Floor to do the video, that would be a home run.” Continue reading FLOOR JANSEN – In Orbit With EVERGREY

JEFF LOOMIS – Life After NEVERMORE: “ARCH ENEMY Is My Main Priority”

By Carl Begai

In early 2011, Seattle’s conquering sons Nevermore unexpectedly slammed the brakes on their career after almost 20 years in the trenches. The quartet – Warrel Dane (vocals), Jeff Loomis (guitars), Jim Sheppard (bass) and Van Williams (drums) – cited creative and personal differences as the cause for the parting of ways, shocking their loyal fanbase. Dane went on to re-launch Sanctuary in 2014 and Loomis was tagged to join Arch Enemy, replacing Nick Cordle. The former was expected, the latter was a complete surprise, but most Nevermore fans seem to have made peace with the changes even though there seemingly has never been a concrete explanation as to what brought about Nevermore’s (supposed) demise. Given the opportunity to sit down with Loomis during a stop on Arch Enemy’s late summer European tour, I asked him to shed some light on the matter.

“Nevermore was together for 18 years, and it was one of those things where everybody in the band at that time – five years ago now – was drinking heavily” Loomis reveals. “We all had a problem; it’s not fair to put the blame on one person for any of that. We wanted some changes in the band, we wanted everyone to quit drinking, but we were all too stubborn. Then the ultimatum came that if we didn’t quit drinking we’re not going to tour anymore, and that’s basically what ended the whole thing. I also think that after being together for so long and going through so many ups and downs, nobody could take it anymore. All I can say is that I’m very proud of what we did in Nevermore, we still have a huge following to this day, but as with anything in life there are other chapters and the page had to be turned to something else.”

“For me personally it was a big breather to be able to live a normal life for a while,” he adds. “I still talk to Van and Warrel, I don’t really speak to Jim too much anymore, and I hear he’s out of the business now. Everybody is doing something musically, it’s just not Nevermore. Warrel’s got Sanctuary, of course, and he’s doing a Nevermore touring cover band kinda thing. Van has Ghost Ship Octavius, which is really cool.” Continue reading JEFF LOOMIS – Life After NEVERMORE: “ARCH ENEMY Is My Main Priority”

THE SWEET Frontman PETE LINCOLN Talks ROCK MEETS CLASSIC 2016, FRONTM3N, And Going Solo (Again)

By Carl Begai

“Without The Sweet there would not have been a KISS.”

So says music legend, entrepreneur and mouthpiece Gene Simmons, which is a fine reason to give a damn about what The Sweet and all its moving parts are up to these days. In the case Pete Lincoln, who has been fronting the 45+ year institution since 2006, and guitarist Andy Scott (on board since 1970), they recently wrapped up a three week road trip through Germany and Switzerland with the annual Rock Meets Classic tour, now boasting seven years of success. Lincoln and Scott shared the stage with Joey Tempest (Europe), Scott Gorham and Ricky Warwick (Thin Lizzy), Dan McCafferty (Nazareth), Midge Ure (Ultravox), Doro (Warlock) and Steve Walsh (Kansas), performing some of The Sweet’s classic tunes to raucous rounds of approval night after night. On top of that, they helped to break in the new Rock Meets Classic format when it was decided the six year old formula needed to be changed.

“I saw Rock Meet Classic last year when I was in Germany and it blew me way, and I said we’ve got to get on it,” Lincoln says of how he and Scott found themselves on the tour. “Obviously we couldn’t take the whole band so it’s just me and Andy, but it’s just great. It’s a new concept for us so we had to get our heads around it because there’s the orchestra, the Mat Sinner Band band members, the set changes, other elements. It’s not the same as playing with a regular band so it took a few days, but I think we all agree that we don’t want to stop. We want to go home for a week’s rest, then come back and do another month of this. I’ve heard all these songs before, of course, but it’s great to hear them in this context. Midge’s songs, for example, take on a new life; ‘Vienna’ with an orchestra sounds killer. It’s really interesting to see how the format works on all these different types of music.” Continue reading THE SWEET Frontman PETE LINCOLN Talks ROCK MEETS CLASSIC 2016, FRONTM3N, And Going Solo (Again)

NONEXIST – Not Dead Yet

By Carl Begai

Better late than never, as the saying goes. Initially this interview with Nonexist vocalist Johan Liiva was intended to be released in October 2015 in tandem with the release of the band’s third album, Throne Of Scars. Unfortunately, he decided to leave the band shortly after the record was unleashed, leaving the band’s existence – no pun intended – in doubt. Liiva’s hectic personal and professional schedule made a timely follow-up chat impossible, leaving me no choice by to shelve the interview due to some painfully large holes in the story. As the months passed, however, it became clear thanks to the magic of social media that Nonexist was still very much alive with guitarist Johan Reinholdz – also of Andromeda fame – up front, and that it had been an amicable split with Liiva. Reinholdz elected to fill in the glaring blanks of the original article, dismissing any misconceptions of the band being dead and buried.

“We recorded the first album and released it through Century Media in 2002, but it was actually signed to New Hawen,” Liiva begins, explaining how he ended up back in Nonexist following the 10 year gap between debut album, Deus Deceptor, and its follow-up From My Cold Dead Hands. “The label went under and the band kind of dissolved after that. I continued on with Hearse, recorded some abums and did some shows and short tours with them, and in 2011 I was feeling bored (laughs). I had the itch to do something and spoke to Reinholdz and he told me he had a lot of music that went back as far as the first Nonexist record. I was so surprised to hear that (laughs). So, we decided to give it a try and it was a really exciting time. The songs that we did three years ago for From My Cold Dead Hands had been written over the previous 10 years.”

“The recording process for Throne Of Scars started almost immediately after we finished From My Cold Dead Hands. The writing basically went on for the last three years or so. It’s been a long process but that’s the way we like to do it. We had lots of time to cram everything into it and experiment. A lot (laughs).” Continue reading NONEXIST – Not Dead Yet