Sonic Perspectives

Recently released Exumer‘s fifth full-length album entitled Hostile Defiance, is exactly what its title suggests: A 42-minute full on attack, the thrash faction hold nothing back as they unleash hell as only they can, yet with more variety and dynamics than ever before. While the album’s title is overtly belligerent, the lyrical content is far deeper and more involved, informed by singer Mem Von Stein‘s interest and understanding of mental illness, having been working in the field of psychiatry since 2002, and holding the position of licensed master social worker: “Hostile Defiance comes from the term Oppositional Defiant Disorder where a person – mostly teenagers – experience states between contrition and hostile defiance, but at the same time it’s a perfect title because it reflects our stance as a band and where we are in our career, refusing to fade away or bowing to trends within the genre.”

Hostile Defiance marks Exumer‘s third time working with producer Dennis Koehne (Sodom, Melechesh), tracking the album in studios in Dortmund and Frankfurt, and the sessions were marked with “super positive vibes all around with a strong, driven work ethic to create an optimal product.”

Expert interviewer and now contributor to the Sonic Perspectives team Michael “MettleAngel” Francisco sat down with Exumer‘s Mem Von Stein to discuss Hostile Defiance, upcoming tour opportunities, the band’s longevity and much more. Listen to their chat, or subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on daily basis.

The post EXUMER’s Mem Von Stein: “It Doesn’t Matter How Much of a Extreme Metal Fan You Are, You Will Always Like DIO or Early AC/DC” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Queensrÿche is a name that had long been synonymous with innovation and excellence before egos and power struggles derailed them from their once-trailblazing path. Now in their seventh year of the post-Tate era, the Seattle natives are bringing their revitalized sound to fans who, after nearly a quarter-century, at last feel like they can trust the Ryche again. With front-man Todd LaTorre taking over the throne while founding drummer Scott Rockenfield is out on paternity leave, the just-released Queensrÿche album The Verdict is a continuation of their recent output: it features a refocused and re-energized ensemble that’s learned from over twenty-five years of questionable rule and even more questionable decisions. But a return to form this ain’t; calling  The Verdict  that would suggest that Queensrÿche  are merely recycling what worked for them in their youth. The new material is fresh and purposeful, and the gentlemen behind it are finally winning back an audience that gave up on them many years ago.

In tow for the North American leg of the tour is a band widely considered responsible for progressive metal as we know it: Fates Warning. Though Fates have yet to deliver a bad album, many old-school fans felt alienated by the dreamy, spacey direction the band took on A Pleasant Shade of Grey and the two albums that followed. Themselves re-energized by the addition of former Riot and Halford drummer Bobby Jarzombek a decade ago, Fates Warning have cranked the volume and returned to their metal roots on Darkness in a Different Light and Theories of Flight, but not without abandoning the bleak thoughtfulness that permeated their output with longtime collaborator (and former Dream Theater keyboardist) Kevin Moore. Now featuring not one, but two native San Antonians, the Aztec Theater stop of the Queensrÿche  / Fates Warning tour of spring 2019 amounted to a hero’s return when Saytown sons Jarzombek (brother of guitar weirdo Ron) and longtime singer Ray Alder took the stage. The roar coming from that crowd had to be heard to be believed.

Sonic Perspectives wordsmith and camera monkey Gonzalo Pozo attended the show with college buddy Ian Dooley (and about fifty other close friends), and the two had a healthy discussion the next day about the roads to madness from which Queensrÿche has, against all hope, managed to return. Check out their discussion in the audio below.

From the Rooftops / Life in Still Water / One / A Pleasant Shade of Gray, Part III / Seven Stars / Firefly / Pieces of Me / The Light and Shade of Things / The Eleventh Hour / Point of View

Launder the Conscience (Played over PA) / Blood of the Levant / I Am I / NM 156 / Man the Machine / Condition Hüman / Queen of the Reich / Silent Lucidity / Open Road / Propaganda Fashion / Light-years / Screaming in Digital / Take Hold of the Flame / Eyes of a Stranger (with Anarchy-X outro)

Encore:

Jet City Woman / Empire

The post QUEENSRŸCHE and FATES WARNING @ The Aztec Theater – San Antonio, TX (March 22nd, 2019) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

One of the greatest American hard rock band of the last 30 years, LA Guns have always delivered a solid show. Having found a new breath of air with the reunion of Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns after years being apart, they released the widely praised The Mising Peace in 2017, and are now back even stronger. Their new album The Devil You Know is being released today, and has all the elements they became known for: Phil’s stunning and unique vocals and Guns’ mind-bending guitar playing, are on full display here. Sonically, this album covers a lot of ground and incorporates influences from Black Sabbath to Led Zeppelin to Kyuss to The Hellacaopters, all while distinctly sounding like L.A. Guns. The band is rejuvenated and are literally taking no prisoners.

Sonic Perspectives restless and not-so-wild collaborator Rodrigo Altaf spoke with Phil Lewis recently about the new album, and they discussed the different incarnations and versions of the band, his relationship with Tracii and also addressed his collaboration with the recently deceased Bernie Torme. Listen to their chat, or subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on daily basis.

The post L.A. GUNS’s Phil Lewis Talks New Album ‘The Devil You Know’: “I Wanted Get Away from the Typical Musical Vocabulary and Make an Angry, Pissed-Off Record” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

RPWL has long been one of progressive rock’s best kept secrets. Their 8th studio album, Tales From Outer Space, has just been released and it continues their long tradition of soaring guitar, emotional melodies and keyboard-drenched arrangements. With their four-man crew, they have dedicated themselves entirely to science fiction on the new LP. Singer and keyboarder Yogi Lang express: “This time it didn’t turn out to be a concept album in the true sense. But there are seven short stories about science fiction. For us it was not only thematically very interesting, but also musically an unbelievable playground, which literally invited us to experiment with sounds and all imaginable musical stylistic devices”.

In general, the music of RPWL can best be assigned to art and progressive rock, but it is always song oriented. And the soft voice of Yogi Lang, which reminds a little of David Gilmour, holds everything together. While the last two albums Wanted and Beyond Man In Time were concept albums, this time there isn’t a coherent story – but science fiction is the common denominator.

Scott Medina talks to Yogi Lang about everything from extraterrestrials to Pink Floyd to finding deeper meaning through lyrics. For any RPWL fan, there will be a wealth of information about where the band has been and where they are going. Tune in to these Tales and check out the 10-minute piece “Light of the World” at the end of the audio interview. Remember to subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on daily basis.

The post RPWL’s Yogi Lang Talks New Album: “This Album Was a Liberation; We Look at It as an “Intermission” Between Our Other Concept Albums” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

One would he hard pressed to find a guitar player with a more diverse and exciting output than Doug Aldrich. He started his career in the mid 80’s with hard rock bands such as Lion, House of Lords and Bad Moon Rising, and became more prominent after joining Ronnie James Dio’s solo act. Doug later joined Whitesnake, where he stayed for 11 years, until he decided to pursuit other opportunities. Since 2014, he has been involved in a multitude of bands and projects, including tours with Glen Hughes, Revolution Saints and Las Vegas musical Raiding the Rock Vault. Also, he’s now a full time member of The Dead Daisies, with John Corabi (vocals), Deen Castronovo (drums), Marco Mendoza (bass) and David Lowy (rhythm guitars).

One of Doug’s endeavors, the extraordinary band Burning Rain, was established as early as 1998 by himself and vocalist Keith St. John. Now with a renewed lineup featuring the amazing Blas Elias (Slaughter) on drums and bassist Brad Lang (Y&T), Burning Rain are releasing their fourth album, Face the Music. A fresh and heavy release, this effort evokes the sound of the classic 70’s hard rock scene, but also stays true to the Burning Rain sound.

Our senior interviewer Rodrigo Altaf discussed with Doug several aspects of the new album, his work with Dio and David Coverdale, and much more. Read all about it in the interview transcript below:

Doug, it’s great talking to you, man!

How are you, Rodrigo, thanks for having me on!

 I’m very good, man. I’m sitting here in Toronto, where we’re still having negative temperatures in mid March, but other than that, it’s all good! [laughs]

[laughs] Toronto is cold man, but what a beautiful city!

 It is indeed! Well, you have  a new Burning Rain album releasing today, so tell us a bit about the composition and recording process of the album!

It all started last year. Keith [St. John, vocals] and I had a few songs that we had written in the last couple of years, and eventually we got together and listened to all of it – one of them was Face the Music, the title track – and though “wow, this is really cool, we should finish this up and get it out!”. I happened to find out that the Dead Daisies was going to take a little break through this year, so it made sense, it really was the perfect timing to finish it up and get it done. So Keith and I went back to writing in my free time when the Daisies were off the road last year. We’d write a couple of songs, then I’d go on the road for six weeks, then come back and write a couple more songs, and eventually I had a break in the summer time and we finished the record and started recording, with Blas [Elias, drums] and Brad [Lang, bass].

The new album, like you said, is called “Face the Music”, and it’s the second release through Frontiers records, following ‘Epic Obsession” which was released in 2013. Did you use the same process as before? And why did it take you so long between the two albums?

When I did ‘Epic Obsession” I was in Whitesnake and really had to focus on them, we had a live album and a DVD that came out. So we released “Epic Obsession” and really couldn’t do much to promote it at the time because I was busy with Whitesnake. And then eventually I had enough of Whitesnake and started working in Vegas, and that’s when Serafino [Perugino, manager of Frontiers Records] asked me about another Burning Rain album in 2016. At the time I said “I’m not sure when I can get to it”. To be honest with you, Rodrigo, at that time I wanted to spend time with my son. I had been away so much during my time with Whitesnake and had gone through a couple of relationships and marriages, and just missed my boy, I just wanted to be with him. So I told Serafino I didn’t know when I could do it, and he said “don’t worry about it, let’s sign a deal”. So we did, and then I got some fun offers – I did a tour with Glenn Hughes, I worked with a Russian ballet playing guitar for them, and many other different things. I did also the Revolution Saints album at the time, and eventually I joined The Dead Daisies, which has kept me very busy for the last couple of years.

I want to talk about all these endeavors and many others, but let’s take a step back if I can – Burning Rain was born out of the friendship between you and the amazing singer Keith St. Jones, and now you have Blas Elias on drums and Brad Lang on bass. How did Blas and Brad get involved in the band?

I had known Blas through the years when he was in Slaughter. When I left that Las Vegas gig, which was called Raiding the Rock Vault. and started doing The Dead Daisies, I came back every now and then to do special appearances, and eventually met Blas again one of those times and jammed with him. He’s awesome, and had been laying low for a long time, raised a family – he has a beautiful family – and started working in Vegas. He did the Blue Man Group and then was doing the “Rock Vault”. I asked him if he’d like to join Burning Rain, and he knew about the band. So I showed him the new songs I had, and he loved it, so we got him on board. We wanted to find guys who wanted to be in Burning Rain and stick around, and not people who viewed it as a band they could join for a minute and then leave on the next. Keith mentioned Brad Lang, and I knew he had played with Y&T, so we met and I showed him what I had. He wanted to be involved straight away, and he’s like our glue, man…he’s ready to go at any time, and he’s awesome. We jammed, and it felt great from the start, so we got him on board.

Let’s talk about a few songs from the album – the first one that stood out for me was the new single, ‘Midnight Train”. It’s great to see you with a double neck on the video of that song!

[laughs] Yeah, people ask me “why the double neck”, because there’s no double neck guitar on that song. I didn’t record that songs with the guitar on the video, but it sounds killer with it, so I might take it on the road with me. I don’t know what it is about the double neck, but there’s something about that extra wood that makes a huge sound!

I understand that underneath the lyrics of “Midnight Train” there’s a deeper meaning than just sex – it talks about a troubled protagonist, right?

That’s something that Keith would be able to tell you in more detail. For me, “Midnight Train” is a dark sex type of song, but he should be able to expand on that a bit more. This song is kind of similar to some of the stuff I did with Whitesnake like “Love Will Set You Free”, but with Keith’s lyrics it takes a different direction.

Another one that caught my attention is “Lorelei” – I’m always intrigued by songs named after people. Is Lorelei someone you know, and is she the woman on the album cover?

That’s kind of what we’re saying, but Lorelei is an old sailor’s tale about a girl on the side of the rocks, and there’s also a place in Germany that has these huge mountains on the side of this river, and as the fame goes, the ships would come and try to see the girl and end up crashing on the rocks. That kind of ties into “Face the Music”, but I love the story that Keith tells on that.

Yeah, that one is really cool. And one of my favorites is “Nasty Hustle”, which I see as the best song that Aerosmith never recorded – there’s a distinctive Aerosmith vibe on that song, don’t you think?

Yeah, it’s a very pissed off song too, it’s like “you pissed me off, so get out!” [laughs]. That one is pretty edgy, right?

It is, you’re right! And speaking of edgy, let’s talk about “If It’s Love”, which starts with a simple beat and chord progression, and grows into this big number towards the end.

I love this one too, I love these minor chords. I did those with Whitesnake, and I remember hearing those in bands like Slade. That song is based off of minor 7 chord progressions, and it’s something that Dave Coverdale could have sung really well too!

Absolutely! And how would you compare the way things work in Burning Rain versus The Dead Daisies and Revolution Saints?

The Dead Daisies is very organic: the entire band works together all the time, and it’s really the best way to do it. Not every band can do that because for whatever reasons sometimes the band is spread out over large areas of the country, or maybe someone wants to work on the songs by themselves and later show them to the band. I love the process of The Dead Daisies where everyone works together. With Burning Rain, we didn’t actually have a band when this record started, so Keith and I asked Blas and Brad to just take their parts and make their own. Brad did a great job too man, he played some killer bass lines on it. But next time, God willing, we’ll sit down together and we’ll write together. With the Revolution Saints, it’s strictly a project, so songs get written by various people: I’ll write some, Jack [Blades, bass] will write some, and Alessandro [Del Vecchio, keyboards] will write some, and we’ll pick the ones we think are best for the record and that’s it.

Speaking of The Dead Daisies, the band seemed like a revolving door of musicians until you came into the picture, and now it seems more like a stable unit. Was it something intentional – to bring you on board and make it a stable band – and did you discussed this when you joined them?

No, they said it was a revolving door, but when I joined the band it just stopped being that way [laughs]. But we had a great time doing my first record with them, Make Some Noise, and it turned out to be a pretty successful record. We toured and toured and released a live record, and then went straight back in the studio and did Burn It Down. We did make a change on the drums because Brian [Tichy] wanted to do some other things musically and go in different directions, and he didn’t want to be locked in. At the same time Deen [Castronovo] had been off the scene for a while and wanted to get back into playing. It was a perfect timing for Deen because he came in and he killed it. That’s a very solid lineup we have at the moment.

I saw you guys live here in Toronto last year and you guys crushed it!

Thanks, I do remember that show. Did we get to meet at that time?

Not really, I covered that show but didn’t go to the after-party. The one time we met was when you played in Rio with Glenn Hughes in 2015 – it was a small club, but it was packed, and of course you guys brought the house down!

Oh right, I do remember that club as well! That’s cool man. Glenn is insane!

At that time we had a brief interaction, and since there was only one Revolution Saints album released, I asked you about the possibility of a second one. I remember you being skeptical about it, but eventually the second album saw the light of day. So is there a chance of a third Revolution Saints album?

There is actually. We’re going to do a third one, Deen will be tracking the drums in May, and Burning Rain will do a mini tour in Europe in March, and after that we’re going to let the record marinate and put together a tour for the fall. During that down time, we’ll do another Revolution Saints album. Even though there are no plans to tour or anything like that. People just like the music, so we’re going to keep doing it! 

That’s great to hear! And speaking of Glenn Hughes, I kept hoping you would do an album with him, but it never materialized. Sorry for being a bit blunt in this question, but why did you decide to leave his band so soon?

Glenn really wanted to focus on his solo stuff by himself. He had just found out he was getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…I would have loved to have done it and written with him. And you never know, we might do an album together some day and call it Hughes/Aldrich or something [laughs]. When we played together, I used to call us Hughes Force One, because we were like the plane Air Force One flying all over the place. We’d go into all kinds of different directions and it was so cool! But Glenn had a couple of dates, and we did a tour in South America like you said, we did an European run, and we were going to do a run in the U.S. in March. Glenn got his knees done and he cancelled it. I had previously just joined The Dead Daisies and they wanted me free for that period but I told them I was already committed with Glenn for three weeks of U.S. dates. They rearranged the whole schedule because of me and then Glenn said he was going to do the run by himself with somebody else. And that’s cool, no problem, I’m happy to take some time off and relax. I think he was bummed out that I had joined The Dead Daisies a little bit, but there was no plan. Every time I asked him he’d say “I have a record ready to go”, and I’d say “well that one really doesn’t include me”. At the same time The Dead Daisies were saying “we will make a record and we want you to co-write and to tour with it”, so I said “I gotta stay with Glenn and do what I promised”. I would have been happy to stay with him, but I think he wanted to focus on himself. Which is good, because he just got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he didn’t need me anymore. With that said, I’d love to work with Glenn – you never know what’s gonna happen in the future.

Between Glenn, Dio and David Coverdale, you worked with seriously high profile singers. We always hear the stories about the difficult relationships between singers and guitar players. Why do you think that happens?

[laughs] It’s interesting because with John Corabi I never had anything like that. He’s a great guitar player as well, so he kinda plays both sides of it. I don’t know, man…the singer and the guitar player are usually two guys who are both very valuable and want to make the band go in a certain direction and can’t see eye to eye sometimes. And then there’s that search for the spotlight as well. I mean, with Van Halen, I can certainly see how David Lee Roth could be the most important guy in the band because he’s the front-man. But to me, Eddie Van Halen is the most important guy. David [Coverdale] and I never had any kinda problem because it was always Dave’s band. I was his right hand man, and I simply wanted to write music that would inspire him. Same with Ronnie [James Dio] and with Glenn. With The Dead Daisies, there’s none of that, and it is a band. With Burning Rain, I’ll be honest with you Rodrigo, Keith and I, we butt heads many times! [laughs] And it’s a good thing! We both care a lot about each other, I love Keith. But I’m not afraid to tell him “change those lyrics, I’m not feeling that”. Other times he goes “let’s change this I’m not singing that!”. We have these tough situations sometimes, but it’s good, because we both want the best.

If you don’t mind me asking, between Dio and Coverdale, who do you think was the toughest to work for?

Well, I worked with David a lot more…I think it was similar in some senses, because there was always pressure to do great. Ronnie was very focused. He wanted to do a certain thing and that’s it: heavy metal. He didn’t want to do something that was poppy or light. There was a song on the Killing the Dragon record that was a bit of a major [key] sounding song and Ronnie called it “the jolly song”, because it was happy. It wasn’t really happy, but that’s what he called it. With David, it was hard for me, because I’d bring the music and he’d work on it and he’d say “Doug, let’s do this record and you’ll be in charge”. I didn’t think I was ready to be in charge, but I did my best, I worked really hard, and now I’m proud and thankful for the opportunity that he gave me, because I learned so much! He just put me right in the seat and in the center, and asked “how are we going to do this”, and I’d find a way to do it, you know? It was really a great opportunity.

Early on in your career, you were involved in many other bands like Lion, Bad Moon Rising, Hurricane and House of Lords. Is there any particular project or band you were a part of that you wish would have gone further?

Well, I’d have to say Lion, because it was a really good band, we had a strong record, and we were a very Whitesnake-oriented type of band. We had a British singer who even was the one who turned me on to Whitesnake in the first place – the early Whitesnake, before it had been popular in the U.S. That was kind of our sound, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Slade, not the typical L.A. band. We were not a glam band by any means. It’s unfortunate – we did a great record called Dangerous Attraction, and the record company didn’t support us. Our Japanese label supported us and we did really well there. If our American label had supported us, we would have done well in the U.S. too, but that didn’t happen. So that band ended up breaking up, and that’s unfortunate. But these things happen, and in the music business you have to live and learn. If we were a glam band, we probably would have gotten signed to a major, major label and we would have been fine, but we were a different kind of band. Everyone wanted to sign the next Mötley Crüe and the next Ratt, so we didn’t get a good deal. We were sort of in the middle – we weren’t heavy metal like Metallica and we weren’t glam metal like Poison, so it just was difficult for us, but I wish that band could have carried on. 

You also did a few solo albums through the years. Was it your intention to establish yourself as a solo act at some point, like what Joe Bonamassa does now, or not?

Not really. In the 80’s you had Satriani and Steve Vai being really popular, and I had an offer by a Japanese label to do a solo record. I thought this could be really fun and I could do whatever I wanted. I incorporated a little bit of Jeff Beck, which I love. It went really well, and they wanted me to do another one, and I even went further and added a bit of fusion on the second record. It’s called Electrovision, it’s got Chris Frazier on drums, who plays with Foreigner now, and we had a blast making this really crazy guitar oriented music. They don’t sell as much as a band, but with Joe Bonamassa it’s different because he sings – he’ such a great singer. I have this idea to do an album, maybe in the near future – which really is about the guitar speaking – a throwback to the guys in the seventies like Paul Kossoff, Dickie Betts, Duane Allman, David Gilmour. Those guys always made their guitars speak, and had really simple arrangements, just guitars, drums and bass, with the guitars in the forefront. It won’t be this ear, but maybe one day

Do you think you could join the G3 tours at some point in time, with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai?

I would love it, man. I know Joe and Steve. I get along great with Joe. I love Steve, but with him, there’s always a little bit of competition because we both played in Whitesnake [laughs]. Steve is brilliant, and I like what he did with Whitesnake, but we’re different players. I tell you what, I think what I did with Whitesnake was better than what he did. 

Lately there’s been a resurgence of hard rock, and we have bands like The Answer, Rival Sons, Greta Van Fleet alluding to the 70’s sound. What’s your take on so many revival bands – do you think it’s genuine and comes from the heart, are they copycats, or something in-between?

The Answer are certainly not copycats. They definitely were original. I toured with them when I was in Whitesnake – I think it was back in 2006 – and they were really talented Irish guys. They’re the real deal, but at that time they couldn’t get the right songs together. Like I said, the industry is tough, and I think now they broke up. Greta Van Fleet, I have no idea. I’ve heard them, and I like some of the stuff I heard, but of course I’m biased by Led Zeppelin. And even when you look at our new Burning Rain album, there’s some stuff in it that definitely has some Zeppelin flavor, or Aerosmith, or Whitesnake…I’m fine with it, as long as it happens naturally. The song “Lorelei”, for example, has definitely an Aerosmith flavor, it’s just something that happens – we didn’t sit down and plan it. We could have sat down and said “hey, it reminds me too much of Aerosmith, let’s change it”. But I really liked it! It happened naturally: I played these chords, and Keith came up with these melodies, and the harmonies we came up with gave it this Aerosmith flavor that I love. But if a band sits down and studies another band and everything that they do sounds the same, then that’s not as good, of course. But you know what, Rodrigo, I’m really glad that Greta Van Fleet is out there doing their thing, and I hope they do well. There are many new bands coming out that are really cool, like The Underground Thieves, with Nick Perri on guitar, there’s Jared James Nichols who also sings and plays guitar, and of course there’s the king of rock and blues, Joe Bonamassa, who’s unbelievable. So it’s all good! 

I think there’s a renewed interest in the songs from the late 60’s and mid 70’s – to what do you credit that?

Well, people love that music, and they’re starting to lean into that kind of direction again. They loved it the first time, and now they love it again. That’s fine with me, I love it too [laughs].

At the same time, the industry is changing – nowadays, the profit from streaming is actually higher than that of record sales. I guess collecting albums is turning into a thing of the past, right?

Well, it is. I think in terms of numbers, the record sales aren’t what they used to be, but the greatness of it is that people are realizing that vinyl is cool again. Burning Rain has a vinyl edition that’s really cool. It definitely changed with the internet, and bands have to find new ways of staying relevant, and of staying up with social media, and put out good music and find a way to play it live. Even if you record your rehearsal and put it out there – post it on YouTube, you know? Find all things that technology can help you with.

Going back to Burning Rain, what’s the plan after the release? I know there are a couple of acoustic dates with just you and Keith, and then a couple of shows with the full band. What’s the plan after that?

 We wanted to be there in Europe to promote it. When we signed up to the Frontiers Festival, they said they preferred we didn’t do band shows before that, because they wanted is to premier the new lineup there. So Keith and I booked this acoustic promo tour, and we started to get offers to do gigs everywhere. We just wanted to get our name out there and play anywhere – on radios or on the side of the street! [laughs]. We’ll do a record release party as a full band in Vegas on March 29th, then Keith and I will do the acoustic promo tour, and Brad and Blas will join us for rehearsals in Milan and we’ll do the Frontiers Festival there. After that, we’ll do this kind of “weekend warrior” thing and do weekend gigs in the U.S. until The Dead Daisies kick off again. And then when The Dead Daisies take another break, probably during the fall, we’ll take Burning Rain to Europe as a full band.

I hope you guys make it to Toronto, because I want to see Burning Rain playing here!

Me too! This band is made of great guys and great players, and I really hope we make it to Canada, man!

Doug, thank you so much for your time, and all the best with the new Burning Rain album, “Face the Music”, which is released today March 22!

Thanks Rodrigo, and I really appreciate your support, man!

The post DOUG ALDRICH Talks New BURNING RAIN Album, DEAD DAISIES, Working with DIO and WHITESNAKE appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Nick Beggs has come into prominence in the progressive rock world through his constant touring with Steven Wilson and Steve Hackett in the past 10 years, along with his bass playing having graced albums from Lifesigns, Fish on Fridays and many more. He originally made his mark in the 80’s with Kajagoogoo and continues his touchstone with the pop world by touring with Howard Jones this spring.

A master of the Chapman Stick, Beggs has a forthcoming solo Stick album to be released later this summer. Amongst these many activities, Beggs put together a band specifically as a vehicle for his own songwriting and performance: The Mute Gods. Joining him are drumming sensation Marco Minnemann and multi-instrumentalist and producer Roger King. The band is readying to release their third album Atheists and Believers on March 22nd, which is likely to be their most accessible and rewarding album yet – check out our review of the album here.

In this interview, Scott Medina talks with Beggs about many facets of the new album and also delves more deeply into issues such as: are we alone in the universe, and Beggs’ personal philosophy. Alternating between jokester and serious critic of religion and politics, Beggs is always a captivating musician to listen to, whether he is speaking or playing. Enjoy this interview on streaming audio, or in the printed transcript below.

We’re very excited to talk today with Nick Beggs, who is talking to us from London…is that where you are, Nick?

Well, actually I’m about 45 miles north of London in a small medieval market town called Leighton Buzzard.

Well, don’t give too many details out, we don’t want any stalkers showing up on your front doorstep.

Yeah, they won’t get across the moat with the alligators and fire breathing dragons. So it doesn’t really bother me, to be honest.

You’ve got the moat well-stocked then?

Yes, I have. Yes. And with trolls and all kinds of nasties.

Oh, feed the troll, there you go. Yeah, it figures. (both laugh) Well, we’re going to talk a little bit about the new album from The Mute Gods and hopefully some other deep and meaningful subjects as well. The new album is called “Atheists and Believers”, your third album, and this new material is down-right catchy, isn’t it?

Yeah, I think I wanted to carry a theme on really. I started off pissed off and now it’s just getting downright evil.

Downright evil, yes you’ve been hanging out with in the moat too long there, I guess.

Yeah. Feeding the trolls.

But melodically, were you aiming for a hit song here? Because the material is certainly there.

Well, thank you very much, Scott. I appreciate that. I wanted to make a record that was different from the proceeding two. I think each one of them has its own footprint and that’s very important. I didn’t want to duplicate three records. I just wanted to extrapolate something slightly different each time. And so if it’s more melodic and more akin to pop-dom, then that’s just a rather fortunate requisite.

I like the image of you listening to a ton of Tears for Fears albums before writing this material or something along those lines.

Well of course I was in the 80s.

Yes, you were there weren’t you?

I was, I actually used to hang out with those guys. I did a lot of TV with those guys, but I think we’ve all been influenced by what we listen to. I think we’ve all been listening to decades of music. So it wouldn’t surprise me if some of that stuff hasn’t filtered through. You’re not the first person to say it reminds them of Tears for Fears. I don’t hear that myself, I’ve got to be honest. But, it’s not a bad stable to be a part of.

Steven Wilson said his last album “To the Bone” was influenced by some of the great pop art albums of the 80s. Did that focus of his consciously influence you on “Atheist and Believers”?

No, I think that my pop genes and credentials have come out a lot earlier in The Mute Gods material to be influenced by a turn of course at this stage. I just followed a natural path, to be honest with you. I think all three albums have aspects of pop-dom them, as well as other things.

To what extent are Roger King and Marco Minnemann involved in the writing and arranging process?

Well they’re not involved in the writing and not really involved in the arranging either. Roger is sometimes called upon to do orchestrations, but they’re based on orchestrations I’ve already done. So he will kind of extemporize my idea or just facilitate it a lot better because he is a trained classical musician. But I write everything, I record everything, and then I send it to Roger and he plays with it and he’ll redo aspects of it. And then we send it to Marco and Marco will play drums and on occasion add guitar.

In terms of guitar on the album, all three of you are credited. Are you doing the bulk of the guitars yourself, both the rhythm and lead?

Well all the guitars were recorded by me initially and then some of them will have been re-recorded by Roger. Some of them will be added by Marco because he came up with a few initial ideas as well, like little counter melodies here and there, which were very interesting. And he takes a solo on one song, the track called “The House Where Love Once Lived”. He takes a sort of a solo during that section. So it’s a mixed bag.

That’s good to know. “The House Where Love Once Lived” is such a beautiful song, that’s one of my favorites on the album for sure.

Thank you.

The song “Sonic Boom” is a unique instrumental on the album with Craig Blundell on drums. Any reason you gave him the spot instead of having Marco play on the whole thing?

When I wrote that piece, I kind of imagined Craig playing his drum and bass electronica. Obviously, Marco would have been a great person to have on that track. But I kind of felt at that point I just wanted to add a slightly different color. And having been touring with Craig for as long as I have, I wanted to have him on the record in some shape or form.

And where did that title come from, “Sonic Boom”?

I kind of just felt it had an acceleratory kind of aspect to it, a rush of getting faster. And strangely actually it goes to half time in the mid eight, it goes to sort of Ska reggae back-beat. But it keeps the same tempo but goes to half time. It just felt like a a track called Sonic Boom. But I also found out whilst reading a book when I was on tour that Jaco Pastorious had a band called Sonic Boom for a while when he was in Florida. I didn’t know that.

I didn’t know that either. I hadn’t heard that.

No, I, well I kind of liked it. Well, I read it after I had written the track and then I thought, yeah, I like that serendipity. So maybe it’s retrospectively a tip of the cap, to Jaco Pastorious.

You know, here in the States, in Colorado where I live, there’s actually an electronica festival called Sonic Bloom. So when I first saw that title and heard the song, I was actually wondering if it was a play off of that as well. So you have a number of serendipity there for that, right?

There’s a number of possibilities. Yes, that’s right.

Do you enjoy handling most all of the vocals in this band?

Yes. I haven’t really been in a situation like this before because all the other projects I’ve been involved with, I’ve had writing duties with other people. But to be writing the material and singing and performing and arranging the whole thing – being in control of the direction of it – is unique for me. And I’m kind of enjoying it because it’s pushing me in areas which maybe I’ve been a little bit sedentary. So it’s exhilarating.

And you don’t pull many punches in your lyrics! How do you expect your listeners will respond to such an onslaught, particularly being called knuckleheads and all of that?

Well, I think we are all knuckleheads. I don’t hold anyone up for preferential treatment. In fact, I’ll put myself against the wall and pull the trigger, too. We’re all in this boat together. The difference is some of us are drilling bigger holes in the boat than others. We need to call out the dangerous knuckleheads. And we need to act accordingly if we’re to survive as a race.

Let’s talk about some of the subject matter in a song like “Atheists and Believers”. Can you share a little more what’s behind that?

The song “Atheists and Believers” is written from the position that NASA and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) are embarking on the search for intelligent life in the universe when they know it exists already. And the song refers in part to the media and the way the media deal with people who speak out on the subject.

And is that including yourself? Have you spoken out about the subject yourself in the past?

I’m speaking out on the subject by releasing a track called “Atheist and Believers” and by having this subject matter at the heart of it. I’m speaking out now about it. It creates an interesting response, a Pavlovian response, which has been programmed into society by the media and by the powers that be. And usually it is met with incredulity and disdain, and then people just come to the conclusion that you’re insane. But that is the way in which the media has programmed people to respond to the subject. It’s not open for debate. In the UK some years ago, maybe two decades ago, the government embarked on a drink-driving awareness campaign because people were drinking and driving regularly and almost wearing it as a badge of honor. So they put together a media campaign to vilify people who did it. And it was very successful in quite a short period of time. People got the message that it was not cool to drink and drive and that if you did it, you were an idiot. Well, it’s my belief that the media and agencies that have a vested interest have brought about an international attitude to this subject in the same way. If you speak out about it, if you hold an opinion on it or if you make statements that don’t fit in with the recognized status quo, you are made to feel like you’re a lunatic.

So I’m curious to find out a little more about what your beliefs are around it.

Well, I’ve done a lot of research on this subject. It’s one of the subjects I find fascinating, not only from a sociological viewpoint and position, but it’s a very interesting political subject. It’s psychologically very interesting and as where we are as a race, it’s very interesting. But also there is a tremendous amount of very high ranking people from all walks of life and all areas of society, including the military, the CIA, the astronauts for instance, pilots, military people have all come out and made some incredible statements. Members of Parliament. Paul Hellyer, who was the head of the Ministry of Defense for Canada, has come out and said some extraordinary things. I would challenge anybody who has time or is interested to know what’s going on to look into this and do your own research and draw your own conclusions because I think you might find the scales fall from your eyes.

Do you think there will be a full disclosure of the truth in the coming decade?

No, I don’t. I don’t believe it’s in the interest of the people who are in control for us to know anything about this because it would change every aspect of our lives. There is not one person on the planet that would not be affected by it. And it would change industries. It would take a lot of money away from a lot of very pariah-based industries like the petrochemical industries, and it would revolutionize the whole of humanity. It would change our ideas about religion, politics, commerce, everything. They don’t want that.

And by “it”, are you referring just to that we’re not alone in the universe? Or are you talking more about their engagement with the earth, or are you talking more about different modes of free energy and things that could change things on an economic and environmental scale, or all of the above?

All of that and so much more.

Well you’re being nicely vague about that. So I guess you’re encouraging listeners to go out and do their own research, first and foremost.

Yeah, I’m not going to tell people what to believe. It’s up to them. I’ve done my research, I’ve spoken to people, I’ve spent time talking in depth with people and finding the right kind of literature. There’s a lot of people out there that you don’t want on your team, that’s for sure. But, there are many, many very compelling statements and eye-witness testimonies that needs to be looked into.

The followup song to that one is called “One Day” and here we find you singing “life is but a chemical reaction”. So tell us a little about what these lyrics say about how you view your own existence.

Well, I wasn’t brought up in a religious household. It was, I suppose, agnostic. But I spent my adolescence bombarded by Christian doctrine from Christian based schools. And obviously in a Christian based society, one of the things they did during the 70s was to sell the idea of Christianity to the children. And you know what? Moralistically there’s nothing wrong with that. But in later life I actually went through a period of very evangelical conversion, based on some very big traumas that happened to me around the age of 17. I was introduced to people who thought in a certain way and gave me answers to questions that I felt was suitable and sufficient. And so I ran with that philosophy and I was quite militant about it actually for about 20 years. I looked into it very deeply again, studied and was very much a part of the church.

But when I became a father, it revolutionized my thinking process because I felt that no God, as a father, I didn’t feel that any father could justify throwing a percentage of his children in the dustbin because they did not adhere to his beliefs or fall into line philosophically. And I’ve gone through my being a parent adhering to the same idea. I’ve come full circle and I look at the way in which we are discovering things about the universe and the way that life seems to have seeded itself throughout the universe. If you extrapolate simply the way in which our solar system has formed, there is a high propensity that there are other earth-like planets scattered throughout the universe, millions of them. Some of them will have made it, some of them won’t. But it’s all chance. It’s completely random. It’s not some divine plan. We are no more divine than termites. And they get trodden on or burnt up, destroyed in random ways such as which any other organism on earth or in the universe will get destroyed. So I wanted to state that in a song and I believe – hand on heart – life is chemical reaction. Everything we do is governed by balance of chemicals. And then our bodies, our thinking, our consciousness, and I suppose spirituality is a perception, caused by these chemicals. And in perfect balance we flourish in the same way that in perfect balance, goldilocks planets, the right distance from an active star, will create life. And that’s my philosophy.

You had Alex Lifeson playing guitars on that song. Did he comment on the lyrics of the song at all?

No, he said he just really liked the song and he wanted to contribute to that one in particular.

And was bringing him in Marco’s suggestion, since I know he’s been working with Alex lately on other projects?

Well, I’d worked with Alex earlier on a project with Steven Wilson for 2112, the anniversary release of that famous Rush album. And what they did was that the band decided to invite numbers of their favorite artists to rerecord individual tracks from 2112 and then they would be put together as a compendium and released as an anniversary album. Dave Grohl did one. And Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins did one and Steve Wilson did one and we recorded “Twilight Zone” one afternoon while we were sound checking and we sent it to the band and they really liked it. And then Alex came to see us at Massey Hall in Toronto. I got to hang out with him and we drank wine and had our photograph taken together. And he was just so sweet, so I had that sort of connection to him. But when I was recording The Mute Gods album I said to Marco, listen, drop Alex a line. I know you guys are doing some stuff. Just drop him a line and see if he wants to chuck some tracks down on anything. And he was totally up for it. So it was, it was a lovely natural development.

Yeah, it just naturally evolved like the lyrics in “One Day”…it was that perfect meeting it sounds like. And he added so much on that track with all of those guitars, you must have been very pleased with the result of that.

Well, the funny thing is that track was finished when I sent it to him, most of the guitars were recorded. Most of the guitars you can hear on that track, like the lead guitars, the solo in the middle eight, are me and Roger and Marco! So when I sent it to him, he played some mandola, a 12 string acoustic part and some ambient guitar on the second verse. And I liked what he did so much on the outro section of the strumming guitar that I edited it to make it the intro, too. So, the outro created the beginning of the song with Alex’s acoustic guitar strumming. And then the outro became like a reprise of what he’d done in the beginning and it just seemed very natural. And remarkable when you think that all the guitars were in place already and yet he found his way in between all those instruments and really brought the thing alive.

Yeah, that is remarkable because just listening to it, it sounds totally natural for his 12 string guitar to be starting the song there.

Yeah, yeah.

So that was very good editing work!

Yeah. Well, in the beginning it started off with, “bum bum Dadda Dadda Dadda”…it starts off with that downbeat. The 32 bars before that weren’t there.

Well, hopefully he was happy to hear the twists and turns of how it ended up, too.

Yeah. He loved it.

Nice. So given the approach of the lyrics of “One Day” that you just explained to us and your stance in the world based on that, how important is it to you to be working with other musicians who share the same relative views that you do of the universe and everything?

It’s not important. I know that not everybody agrees with what I think. And I have some extreme views in certain areas. I don’t expect people to agree or believe what I believe or accept what I accept. But I have to be honest: most musicians have a very humanistic kind of outlook on the world. I get on and meet musicians all the time and they’re very like-minded people. We get on, we see things eye to eye. They don’t agree with a lot of the bullshit that’s going on in the world. And I think it’s just a dispositional thing with creative people. Maybe painters are the same.

Yeah. I imagine you and Steve Wilson being happy as clams onstage together, you know, atheists in solidarity there.

(laughs) Yes, yes indeed! Ha ha ha! But that’s not a reason for me being in his band.

Right, right. But does it impact your enjoyment of the projects when there is that alignment?

Well, we can talk about things on the same page, but there’s certain things that I don’t necessarily agree with Steve’s viewpoints on. And likewise, he doesn’t agree with me on everything. I think it’s healthy, isn’t it? It’s healthy to be able to discuss things. I mean, he doesn’t necessarily hold my views with the nature of life scattered throughout the universe. I don’t think he finds it as fascinating as I do. Though I think the world would change its attitude if suddenly there were, as you say, disclosures.

So now we’ve got three albums from The Mute Gods in three to four years. Is this mission accomplished or might there be more?

For the time being, I feel like I’m putting a full stop after the third one. I never meant to do any more than three albums with it. I felt like I wanted to make it succinct. But I’m also looking at the possibilities of doing shows with the project. And with that in mind, one can never say never. You know, you don’t know what’s around the corner. I feel that it’s kind of branded itself and I kind of like the way people are reacting to it. So if I had an incentive to continue with it, I would. But at the minute I feel like I’ve done enough, and that all I have to do really is put it out and see what happens.

It seems it would be a shame to not have some live dates for the band, you know, to have a whole audience singing along to the chorus of “twisted world, godless universe!” I mean, how can you resist a chorus like that? Right.

(laughs) Ah, yeah. Thank you very much. I also would like to be in a situation where I could have giant Tardigrades come down over the stage. (laughs)

(laughing) That would rival Stonehenge for sure. Yeah.

Yeah, that would rival Roger Waters! Yeah. (laughing)

And in that situation, if you do get some live dates coming together, are you looking forward to being the front man there and singing lead as you play bass?

I will be incandescent with anticipation.

Any clues who you might pull in as a guitarist in that scenario?

Well, at the minute the blueprint to the band would be somebody like Dave Kilminster.

Ah, perfect.

He would be somebody that I would speak to first about it. I mean, there are other are other great people like, you know, if Dave wasn’t available, people like Randy McStine would be fantastic. It depends on people’s diaries and also visas because, you know, you may have noticed that our country has a bit of a sort of political thing at the moment. And, uh, visas may become a bit of a problem after Brexit and I don’t know how it’s gonna play out.

No one seems to know right now, not at the moment of us recording this interview, at least.

No. It could kill the music industry.

So I could see some live shows happening at festivals, are you thinking or…

I think it depends. It depends what’s available. You know, I can’t really go picking my cloth off the shelf yet. I’ve been talking to promoters and agents. We’ll see what gives. If something happens the way I hope, then I’ll be able to sort of mobilize the army quite quickly. Fortune favors the ready.

Yes, exactly. And right now – as we’re speaking here at the beginning of the month of March – later this month you’ve got a short run of shows with Howard Jones coming over in the States. How did that connection come about? You’ve been friends for a while, right?

Yeah, I played with him in the 90s and toured with him on and off for about five or six years. I was in his band for a long time. Recorded with him, he’s a very dear friend of mine. He brought a lot of great things into my life, not least of all, my wife who I met through him. And to have this opportunity to be playing together again after so long, it’s just great.

How long has it been?

Since I played with Howard? Probably 15 years.

Will you be primarily on Chapman stick for those shows?

Yeah, I’m playing it all on Chapman stick.

Great, living out in Colorado like I do, hopefully I’ll be able to make it up to one of those shows in our neck of the woods here.

Yeah, well great, come and say hi.

Yeah, I definitely will. Do you have anything else in the pipeline for the rest of this year that you can share at the moment?

Well, to be honest, my touring world completely stops after Howard. I’ve got nothing else in the diary. And so at that point you think, “thank God for royalties”! (laughs)

But that must be nice because you’ve had a very intense 14 months out on the road with Wilson.

Well it’s been a very intense 10 years to be honest with you. I’ve been more or less on the road read constantly for 10 years. Maybe I’ve had six months off here or there. But it feels like a strange full circle, but it’s also rather…what’s the word…disarming, unsettling that the work completely stops during the month of Brexit, It’s a little bit unsettling. I like touring, I’m hoping some Mute Gods stuff comes along so I can actually get my teeth into that. But in terms of recording, I’m working on a new solo Chapman Stick album which I shall release in the summer. And I’ve got a couple of other little projects that I will put some time into it as well.

Well, let’s all hold our breath to see what the next several months reveal and hopefully new inspiration will be coming along, and new invitations. Certainly for The Mute Gods later this year would be fantastic.

Yeah, that would be fun.

Well, Nick, thank you so much for speaking with us today. Really nice to catch up and hear what’s behind The Mute Gods.

Yes, and thank you for your interest and your support.

We will see you out there hopefully with Howard Jones later, and all the best with the release of the new album, “Atheist and Believers”.

Thank you, Scott.

The post NICK BEGGS Talks THE MUTE GODS Album: “In Concert I’d Love to Have Giant Tardigrades Come Down Over the Stage, It Would Rival Roger Waters!” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Is constant artistic evolution a virtue? Is it necessary to maintain a group’s integrity? When is it okay for a band rely on the fruits of past labors? Can a teenager recruit members of King’s X and Spock’s Beard to perform on his debut release?

Riding on the heels of Episode 21’s discussion of artists who blend various genres to create their own, Talking Perspectives repeat offender Jordan Blum and prolific multi-instrumentalist Randy McStine join host Gonzalo Pozo to examine the merits and pitfalls of bands who strive to constantly revamp their stylistic identity. Unsurprisingly, the artists they discuss range from household names like David Bowie and AC/DC, to prominent stalwarts such as Fates Warning and King Crimson, right down to underground acts like Big Big Train and Anathema. The trio seize Queensrÿche‘s place in all this to consider their just-released record, “The Verdict,” and opinions both passionate and impartial are wielded as weapons. What our panelists have to say about this new effort just might surprise you.

Jordan and Gonzalo also cede a generous chunk of time to Randy, wherein he tells us about his beginnings as a child prodigy and brings us up to his present place as a respected wingman whose resume includes such luminaries as Stu Hamm, Vinnie Moore, and In Continuum. Crank up your lawn mower, do some spring cleaning, and keep those earbuds firmly attached to your head holes for this monstrous, no-frills, two-hour edition of Talking Perspectives.

The post TALKING PERSPECTIVES: Bands That Constantly Revamp Their Identity / Queensrÿche – The Verdict / Randy McStine’s Career Highlights (Episode No. 22) appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

German metal queen Doro Pesch will release a four-song vinyl EP, Backstage To Heaven, in two days (March 8th) to coincide with the start of the second leg of her world tour. The EP will feature two previously released album tracks as well as two new live recordings.

The title track, “Backstage To Heaven”, is a fan favorite of her recent double album, Forever Warriors, Forever United, and Doro had the famous German comedian and musician Helge Schneider in the studio as an exceptional guest, playing a saxophone solo. The following track “Heartbroken” has another high-profile guest: Doug Aldrich (WHITESNAKE, DIO, THE DEAD DAISIES) contributes an impressive guitar solo and the B-side also offers something exclusive: two brand new live recordings from the first part of the Forever Warriors, Forever United tour, featuring a crunchy version of “Blood, Sweat And Rock ‘N’ Roll” and an exclusive recording of “If I Can’t Have You – No One Will”, along with my duet partner Johan Hegg from AMON AMARTH.

Expert interviewer and now contributor to the Sonic Perspectives team Michael “MettleAngel”Francisco caught up with Doro in a very casual and friendly conversation which you can listen to in the links below. Listen to their chat, or subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on daily basis.

The post Metal Queen DORO PESCH Talks New EP and MOTÖRHEAD’s Cover: “I Love The Aggressiveness of “Ace Of Spades”, But I Also Love The Soulful Side of Lemmy” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Last January 2019 saw The Neal Morse Band perhaps making the boldest artistic statement in all its members’ collective pasts combined: The Great Adventure, another double concept album following their previous lauded magnum opus The Similitude of a Dream. Yet another mammoth release of epic proportions, The Great Adventure was received by rave reviews and the band quickly embarked on a lengthy tour, finding packed shows and delighted audiences everywhere. As of now there are dates scheduled for North America and Europe, and there are probably more to come.

Traditionally, Neal Morse (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals), Randy George (bass), Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals) and Eric Gillette (guitars,vocals) have perfected a bond on stage and with the audience that can only be explained by supernatural factors. Now on its second month of touring for The Great Adventure, the slight rough edges of the first shows of any tour have been honed away, and the band is firing on all cylinders, hitting their stride “like never before” if you believe in the comments of many who have attended the past live performances. While in Toronto for their show at the Opera House on February 21st, they took time to be interviewed by Sonic Perspectives collaborator Rodrigo Altaf, marking the first ever time the five members sat down with a journalist at the same time.  In an relaxed setting the five musicians collectively discussed compositional aspects of The Great Adventure, the present and future touring plans, their endeavours outside of the Neal Morse Band, the meaning of certain lyrics in the album, and much more.

For tickets for the remaining date of The Great AdvenTour, please visit www.radiantrecords.com

Listen to this very candid conversation below, or subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on daily basis.

YouTube slideshow video photographs by François Morisset, Jim LaTurner and Jon Fiala.

The post MIKE PORTNOY Talks THE NEAL MORSE BAND Musical Approach: “This Is a Band that Doesn’t Follow Any Commercial Trends, We Make Music that We Feel is Going to Move People and Their Emotions” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

HAKEN, one of progressive music’s most exciting bands, released their much-anticipated fifth studio album titled Vector at the end of 2018, and the band has been touring actively in support of the record. The album was produced by the band themselves, and recorded & mixed by Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood (Periphery, Devin Townsend Project), with the artwork once again being handled by Blacklake (You can read our review of the album here).

Following the North American tour dates last Autumn, the band embarked in subsequent tours through Europe and Latin American stages at the beginning of 2019, and while warming up the engines to play in Peru, contributor Jorge Pozo had the chance to catch up with the band’s keyboardist Diego Tejeida. In full Latin American fashion we recorded their conversation in Spanish, and it can be listened to below. For those strange to Don Quixote’s tongue we have included the full transcript of their chat as well.

Listen to this interesting conversation below, or subscribe to our Podcast in several platforms to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on daily basis.

Diego, Welcome to Peru, thanks for your time for this interview. I know you´re from Mexico, how do you feel about playing in a Latin American country?

I’ve always played in this Latin American tours and I think there is a special connection when I say something in Spanish on the stage. Besides, I’m Mexican, we are Latinos and I think people identify with that. We have been in countries like Chile, Argentina and now Peru, that makes me very happy because it feels like home. It is the same language, same mentality, there are very similar things among Latin American countries compared with other countries like Spain; which is a totally different world, even if it is the same language, it will always be different there! It is closer to the European “world” than we see it here because we are Hispanic.

You have played Vector’s songs in the North American leg, how was the reception of these new songs?

I was just talking to Ross [Jennings] about that yesterday. When we did the United States and Canada tour two months ago in early winter, the album had just come out, we did our first show five days after the album came out. Although we had a very good vibe, very energetic, especially seeing that kind of reaction in the United States is something very unusual. Suddenly we see more movement of the public a couple of times we saw some mosh-pit and someone doing stage-dive, I think it is very rare to see in a Prog show and obviously it’s fun. With the obvious concerns about health and something else, it is still fun, in a good way! but I still felt that the album was new, you did not see the audience singing the songs so much, because it had just come out “yesterday”, I talked to Ross about that, and now I see the public singing the new songs and identifying with them, that is something that gets me goosebumps. to see the audience reaction, to play Vector live and listening to the people chanting the intro with us is something gratifying. There is no way to explain that or see how you start a song from scratch, it is you or maybe two more people and suddenly it becomes everyone’s, you know that everyone is singing it. It’s what we´re seeing right now and it’s very rewarding.

In the recent Latin American shows, how did you see the response from the audience?

What I expected!! It was excellent and intense!! the good thing about Latin Americans is really that. We started in Chile with the right foot, it was a show of a thousand people, very energetic, people giving the same in Argentina, we came from San Pablo right now, and although the audiences have been smaller than Chile, the energy has been the same and also higher. The Latin American public seems to be very warm and effusive.

Would you consider playing Vector entirely in some of your shows or is it something you have not planned to do until now?

I think it would be nice even though it is not the time right now, because the album is new. I consider the public in these Latin American shows are fans of all kinds, fans who came from the time of Aquarius and Visions, people who came from The Mountain, people from Affinity and also people who has listen only Vector, but I think the most sensible thing is to give a little bit of everything.

Of all the Vector songs, what would you consider the favorite song to play live on stage?

Well, at this point, I have to say that I have a personal connection with “Veil”, that’s one of my babies, the lyrics are mine, it’s a song that for me is personal and I suppose on that side, as a narcissist, it makes me very happy to play it and it has good energy; but I really think that for the reaction of the public, “Nil by Mouth” is a song that I love to play live, it has a lot of energy!!

Will we listen to it tonight?

Maybe! (laughs) Yes, it is in the set list!! It’s a song that I love because of the energy it transmits. I think it is my favorite song to play with Haken.

The band’s popularity keeps growing exponentially. What would you say has been the highlight of the band’s career and what moment has been the most difficult to overcome?

I guess, the first album that we started to be considered as a solid and strong band was The Mountain and I’ve said that in several interviews. I think Aquarius and Visions were two albums that were the best we could give at that time, but now, we can listen to those albums back and we can see many elements of the lack of experience, and I feel that The Mountain, and two more albums in the past, gave us the experience of doing many things, and we were able to level up and be a band that is playing well and that makes good music. You can see a few failures on the arrangements, there are still elements that were not so solid, we did not have such a defined musical personality. I think that with The Mountain, we could define our sound. Although, The Mountain, Affinity, Restoration and Vector are different animals, genetically they have the same center. The Mountain was a very important album that started to open the doors for us as a consolidated creative unit, it has been a very long way of constant evolution and growth.  Regarding what was the most difficult thing to overcome, I think there’s not a specific one, everything has been a process of learning, I think there are many things far from the music that should know how to handle when you are in this business and it is something that we did not consider from the beginning. The finance and marketing aspects; legal advice and the industry, the contracts, all those aspects have been difficult to us and I think, nobody wants to deal with that, but in the end we have to do it!!

There has been a significant change in the keyboards sound over the course of the last three album, is that something that you went for or is it something that was decided in the production stages?

There are some aspects, the first one is that we didn’t have a producer in the albums, we have made the production of the records since the beginning.  All the albums have been self-produced, we have had a post producer, who is in charge of the mixing details like the guitar tones and all those aspects. In my experience, there are several things, the first thing in Vector, I decided from the beginning to have a different sound…  Also, in many aspects, Vector is the album that I have composed the most of all the previous ones, many of those songs were composed with an idea of very main keyboards and guitars.  I started little by little to find enthusiasm as a sound engineer, not as a keyboardist, but as the kind of sound I want, the kind of personality I want to have and little by little I get involved in that. In spite of the sounds of keyboards in Visions, Restoration, Affinity have different concepts, they have had many similarities, they have been very digital, they have had many orchestral things and it is something that, at this point with Vector I told myself: “I already know this, I already know this language, I can do an orchestra, I can do this, but I want to do something totally different because at this moment, it’s boring me!!” I wanted something that challenged me, something that went more with my musical personality, I wanted to focus a lot on that particular sound.

Talking about other projects, have you ever considered the possibility of making a solo album? If so, what direction would it be musically?

I have considered to do other projects. In fact, Erick Gillette and I have been talking about doing something together since The Shattered Fortress, but we have not been able to match our schedules, but in the prog-rock world, he is a person whom I identify the most. When we did the shows with Mike (Portnoy) we had very good chemistry, not only musically but personally, we shared mentalities and I would like to work with him. It’s something I’ve been thinking about; the problem is that Haken takes most of my time, but I would like to do something that was totally different from the Prog world. I think the kind of music I hear today has almost nothing to do with Prog. There are more experimental aspects, from minimalist composers such as Phillip Glass has many elements of experimental electronics and right now, that’s what I like to listen to. I was on the plane listening to a Spotify playlist of Techno Analogue. When people see me it’s like you “play Prog”!, Yes, I like analogue music, it’s something where I’d like to move in, something out of Prog. I’d like to open up a space outside the Prog world that is the discipline of practicing eight hours a day and having everything very well to something that is more focused on the sonic experience.

If you follow that vision, whom would you like to play with?

If I follow the vision totally outside? I haven’t thought about it, but I have thought about people for a project within the Prog world, but I have never thought about people outside for the moment, that’s what I thought as a soloist.

Now, if you assemble that Prog related project you just mentioned, who would be in that band with you?

Ideally, Eric Gillette (The Neal Morse Band / The Shattered Fortress) would be on the guitar, Baard Kolstad (Leprous) on drums, we always talk about working together and it has never happened; and I don’t know the singer, maybe, I do not remember his last name, but there’s this guy from Serbia called Vladimir Lalic. The only person I’ve talked about the project is Eric and it’s something that we still have in mind and I hope that will happen. Hopefully, no more than two years. We would love it!!

It would be wonderful to have you both in a project, I would buy the album for sure!!

Perfect, at least we have one sale!! I’m going to tell the record label that! (laughs)

From watching your live performances I’d say you are like the Mike Portnoy of the keyboards (laughs), you are always engaging with the audience, interacting with your band-mates on stage and so on . Is this something that comes out  from you naturally or you consciously make an effort to be more involved with the fans while performing?

It’s something that is natural for me. I’ve been on stage since I was 15 years old, I had a band in Mexico and we played in big festivals of 3,000 people. I mean, it’s a world where I’ve been for a long time, and performing reveals another part of my personality. I think it is something that I have to let go because it is something that I have always had as a human being, the stage is my alter-ego. Recently, some friends of mine went to see me in a show for the first time and they said: we could see the dichotomy of who you are when you’re on and off stage! But I’m the same person and it’s not a fake stance, I think that’s something that people would notice if it was fake. It’s just the way I live, I do not imitate, I do not think about it, I do not meditate, it just happens. If it does not happen, it does not happen at all!! There are shows where I do not feel comfortable letting my stage-persona go. For example, if I have some problem with monitors or I have problems with my keyboards, I do not interact so much, when everything works well, when the vibes are good, when the audience is giving it, it turns into this brutal synergy of what becomes the show.

We’re almost finishing… so there it comes a classic question: what were your musical influences be as a keyboardist?

I think my biggest influence would be Bill Evans. He was a jazz pianist who died in the 80s. He influenced me very late, I grew up studying classical music and I was not very classic, but when I went to London to study Jazz, there were three professors of Jazz. They were Herbie Hanc**k, Oscar Peterson and Chick Corea, but Bill Evans was who really caught my attention by his way of thinking about harmony. I could tell you that he is one of my biggest influences, I could also name some composers such as Phillip Glass, and also Richard Barbieri is a player who has influenced me a lot, I identify myself with his mentality. Once I listened to an interview with Richard Barbieri when he was saying that in his youth, he wanted to play like Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman but he didn’t have the chops to play that way, so he focused on making interesting sounds, and that is a mentality with I identify myself a lot. I have to play Prog, and I must have the chops and much more, but at the same time you have someone like Rick Wright of Pink Floyd that was exactly the same mentality, having the adequate sound, the right vibe to fill a room.

A few months ago, you were playing Dream Theater music with Mike Portnoy during the Shattered Fortress tour, and I know Jordan Rudess is also a fan of Haken, did you heard from him regarding that tour and your performance of his parts?

I talked to Jordan before the Shattered Fortress shows, and sort of asked him for his blessing to perform his music, he kindly told me to go ahead. In fact, he offered me a couple of scores and he was very nice about it. After that, we haven’t talked again, he’s a busy person and it was necessary to leave it that way, but he was very polite, he told me: “Go forward if you want to do it, welcome! I wish you the best”

Now a very hypothetical question: If for some reason, Jordan (Rudess) retires from Dream Theater and you get the call to take his place, would you accept?

I don’t know (laughs), it would be a world of considerations. I think that the 15 years old Diego immediately would say YES! but the Diego from today would have to organize a lot of things. It would be a great honor and it is something that would happen, obviously it would be like enormous and being more realistic about it. I think there are better keyboard players in the technical aspect than me. I think they would go for another kind of player profile than the profile I have.

Diego, you are in the South American tour right now. Then, shows in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. What is the plan after all this?

Now, we have several things to be confirmed, it is not time to talk about it yet, but just this week, we just are checking all the details for something important at the end of this year and maybe do more shows, more festivals, a couple of places that we have not visited before as Haken, but the idea is, even between tours, going to work on the new material, because we left a long space between Affinity and Vector, if you realize, Aquarius came out in 2010, Visions in 2011 and almost a year and a half later, at the beginning of 2013, The Mountain, with Restoration in 2014. We have always tried to keep that kind of rhythm and that is what we hope to make again. What delayed us a little bit in 2018 was Haken and The Shattered Fortress all in the same year. Finally, we did 80 shows in a year between both things and it is something we are starting to think about in the near future, we have to write for the next album!

I am excited and grateful because you are here for the show you are giving us tonight!! Thank you for your time!

Thanks, it was a pleasure!!

The post HAKEN Keyboardist DIEGO TEJEIDA: “I’d Love to Put Together a Band with ERIC GILLETTE on Guitars and BAARD KOLSTAD on Drums” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.