Sonic Perspectives

The name of Yngwie Malmsteen has always stood for uncompromising excellence. In a career that now spans more than 40 years he has proven himself to be a unique artist. You can try to categorize him in any way you wish. But the manner in which this supreme Swedish craftsman has continually developed his music makes Malmsteen sublimely transcend any definition you attempt to impose. 

He now has a catalogue of 21 solo studio albums, each of which has much to commend. Moreover, the guitarist played a crucial role in helping to establish Alcatrazz as a significant force in the 1980s. Malmsteen‘s artistry has always clearly incorporated a healthy virtuosity, but his talent goes well beyond a comprehensive control of the guitar. The man is a fine composer and, on recent releases, has also showcased a strong vocal presence.

Malmsteen new studio album titled “Parabellum” comes on July 23. The album will be available on a Ltd. CD Boxset, Red Transparent 2LP, a web-exclusive Splatter 2Lp (Ltd 300) and digital.  He shares, “I always try to push myself on every album I do, and attempt things which are more extreme than previously. But what has helped this time is that I wasn’t able to go on the road because of the pandemic. It meant I could take much longer in the studio, both to write and record. Because I am usually always on tour, which is great, I haven’t had the luxury of spending a lot of time working on new music for more than 20 years.  But I suddenly had no pressure at all on that front. And I feel the album has benefited enormously as a result.”

“The bottom line for me is that the passion I feel for the music I make has to be obvious. I am the sort of person who lives in the moment. I wanted this album to have a joyous, spontaneous atmosphere. This must never sound as if it’s been rehearsed so much that it becomes routine.  I hope people will put on this record at the start and listen right through to the end, from start to finish. I recorded this as a singular piece of art. Not as a collection of 10 tracks you can hear in any order you want.  I was asked by Mascot what song would be the lead track. The one for which I’d do a video. You know what? I’d like to do videos for everything here. I view this album as having a natural flow from start to finish. It’s not to be cut up into little pieces. I want fans to experience the delight I had in making it.”

Restless interviewer Rodrigo Altaf sat down with Malmsteen to discuss about “Parabellum”, from the title significance, through details of the recording process and even touching on his time as a Shrapnel artist and what he listen to at home. Listen or watch their conversation below and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

The post YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Talks Creative Process of Upcoming Album “Parabellum”: ‘I Don’t Follow Trends, I’m Very Clear About My Vision of Where I Want to Go” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Ben Mink has surely cast a wide musical net throughout his career. From the early performances with the rock/country group Mary-Lou Horner, he went on to be the violin player of Canadian prog rockers FM, and collaborated with artists such as k.d. Lang, Rush, Barenaked Ladies and many more. As a producer, his credits are even more extensive: Heart, Anne Murray, Dan Hill, Mendelson Joe, Prairie Oyster, Raffi, Jane Siberry, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Valdy, Bruce Cockburn, Murray McLauchlan, Alison Krauss, Feist, Daniel Lanois, Sarah McLachlan, Roy Orbison, Elton John…the list goes on and on!

Ben has also been very prolific in the soundtrack department, having scored the 2007 biopic “Confessions of an Innocent Man” about British-Canadian engineer William Sampson, which garnered him a Gemini Award, and extensive TV work. To this day he has released one solo album, 1980’s “Foreign Exchange,” and he’s also a member of the Black Sea Station, a North American klezmer supergroup.

Perhaps the collaboration that got Ben the biggest exposures was the violin solo on the Rush song “Losing It”. After his band FM supported the Canadian trio in 1980, they quickly developed a friendship, which led to Ben playing on the famous track on the “Signals” album, and also playing strings on the song “Faithless”, on the album “Snakes and Arrows.” He also co-wrote and played guitar on Geddy Lee’s only solo album to date, 2000’s “My Favourite Headache.”

Sonic Perspectives interviewer Rodrigo Altaf collaborated with Paul Beaulieu, from the website “The Canadian Music Scene” on an extensive chat with Ben Mink, where he explored many aspects of his career, collaborating with Rush, producing Heart albums, touring with k.d. lang and much more. Listen or watch their conversation below and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

The post Legendary Canadian Artist BEN MINK Discusses His Lengthy Musical Career, Reflects on Working with RUSH, HEART, FM and Many More appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

K.K. Downing is a legendary name and figure in the history of metal.  He helped found Judas Priest some 50 years ago and scaled the heights of rock ‘n’ roll as that band developed through the ‘70s and finally achieved its signature sound in 1980 with the groundbreaking album “British Steel.”  Downing’s rough and tough solos (and dual fills with fellow guitarist Glenn Tipton) were a feature of Judas Priest’s presentation. And for years, with many changes in musicians, the Downing and the band maintained a place on the Mount Rushmore of metal.

But in 2011, Downing quit.  He said there were several reasons for the split, especially a breakdown of relations between various band members, management and him. In spite of that, Downing remained open to a possible reunion, but and an invitation never came, not even when Glenn Tipton stepped out from the rigors of touring. During that decade, Downing did some guest gigs with various musicians, but nothing solid or permanent. 

After years of quietly enjoying life away from the rigors of the road and intense studio recording, Downing emerged again on stage in August 2019, and in 2020 he formed a new group, K.K.’s Priest, which featured former Judas Priest members Tim “Ripper” Owens (vocals) and drummer Les Binks – later replaced by DeathRiders/Cage drummer Sean Elg due to a hand wrist injury.  And rather than simply relying on his past successes and going on the road performing classic Judas Priest songs, the renowned guitarist did what he has always done – make new music.

Their new album, “Sermons of the Sinner,” is due out on August 20, and is a record that celebrates Downing classic metal roots and encourages us to cherish those iconic pioneers whom we still have with us. The album cover features a mysterious figure robed in a monk’s habit, whom Downing slyly states may or may not be him, holding a book of sermons. He says the “sinner” in the title refers to his famous solo in that classic song of the same name and also reflects his sense of alienation from the groundbreaking group that he helped create. “The whole concept is the fact that I continue proudly to be who I am and what I am and do what I do,” declares Downing. “It’s been nearly 10 years. I’m back making music.”

With his usually gentle and talkative demeanor K.K. recently spoke with Sonic Perspectives contributor Rodrigo Altaf about his new band and album, as well as life in Judas Priest. Listen or watch their conversation below and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

The post KK DOWNING Talks Upcoming KK’s PRIEST “Sermons of the Sinner” Debut Album: “My Heavy Metal Days Are Far From Over” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

On June 11, Dennis DeYoung released his most recent—and supposedly final—album, “26 East, Vol. 2.” It’s the culmination of more than 50 years in the music business, one that has seen some incredible successes, especially with his former band Styx. At age 74, DeYoung has nothing left to prove.

But he had some more arrows in the quiver and, after some pushing and pulling by friends, family and music honchos, Dennis decided to send out one more musical statement. And “Vol. 2” shows the range and variety of the artists abilities and tastes. 

“26 East” was the address where DeYoung grew up in Roseland, IL on the far south side of Chicago. This is where the band was formed in his basement in 1962. Across the street lived the Panozzo twins, John and Chuck, who along with DeYoung would go on to form the nucleus of Styx.

Correspondents Rodrigo Altaf and Mark Boardman spoke with DeYoung about the writing and recording the new album, what he has done to stay busy during the pandemic, and how he still finds energy and acceptance in live performance. Listen or watch their conversation in the links below, and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

The post DENNIS DEYOUNG Reflects On Recently Release “26 East Vol. II” Final Album: “This is The Last One, I Just Don’t Want to Do It Anymore” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Frost* came onto the scene in 2006 with their acclaimed debut album “Milliontown”. Comprised of a formidable group of musicians, it was primarily led by Jem Godfrey with John Mitchell (Lonely Robot, Kino, It Bites) closely in tow. These two have weathered several changes in the band during the intervening years and, accompanied by longtime bassist Nathan King (Level 42), are the primary drivers of excellent new album “Day and Age”.

Sonic Perspectives spoke with Godfrey and Mitchell shortly before the release of “Day and Age”, discussing at length the material on the new album as well as the circumstances surrounding its recording locations and the various drummers who were chosen to perform. Always keen to engage in dry humor, it should be noted for those reading the transcription that an overarching sense of wit, and at times sarcasm, pervaded the interview. The audio recording culminates with the full 12-minute version of the title track. Be sure not to miss this engaging conversation, or the album which inspired it. Remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis.

Hey, welcome everyone. This is Scott Medina with Sonic Perspectives. We have Jem and John on the line, representing Frost* today. Welcome, gentlemen. We’ve got a new “Day and Age” out. So how you boys feeling about this new one?

John: I’m feeling remarkably good! I’m full of the joys of spring. This album has got a lot of very positive feedback thus far, so that’s very reassuring. When we started doing it, we were quietly confident that we had something on our hands and it looks like quite a vindication. So yes, I’m as happy as Larry!

Jem: It was more of an experiment this time in doing something different with how we wrote it and we were a little bit nervous that perhaps we’d gone off too far in a strange direction. But it turns out that it doesn’t look like we have! So as John is saying, we’re feeling very vindicated and relieved.

No one noticed that there’s no solos as well, so we managed to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and we’ve got away with it…we think!

I noticed, cause at the end of “Kill the Orchestra”, there’s just a little moment of John’s guitar coming in on a little lick and suddenly you realize, wait, hang on for a minute, is that the first guitar kind of solo lick thus far? it only lasts for five seconds or so, but it’s enough to remind you of what you’ve been missing. So, since you brought it up, let’s start there. How was the decision to not have any solos on this album made?

Jem: Every time we write something, we try and set ourselves up with some different parameters to work with because it kind of makes it interesting to have something to push against. So, on the second album we had no toms. I remember the drummer at the time was very unhappy about that. But he had a kit made up of four or five snares in the end, so he kind of got round it in a different way. But I think the older we get, I feel more conspicuous soloing because it sort of feels faintly ridiculous sometimes, playing really fast with a bunch of chords and things like that. So, as songwriters, the challenge for us was more, how do we fill this 32 bars or 16 bars with something that’s interesting without it just being a kind of lazy sense of, you know, John – off you go, Jem – off you go kind of thing. So it was, it was more of a challenge for us to make it a bit more difficult for ourselves. And hopefully as a result, we discover some new things to do, which I think we did.

John, are you happy in retrospect that you guys made the decision not to do any solos on this one?

Absolutely. I mean, none of the music that I listen to on a day-to-day basis…I mean, one of my favorite bands is The Police, and I cannot stand it when Andy plays a lead guitar solo. [laughs] He’s a very, very good rhythm guitar player, but The Police don’t need guitar solos. From an emotional context, you’re trying to relate to people seriously about something, and if suddenly in the middle of a quite poignant song, you suddenly go and start playing 30-second notes, it kind of deconstructs everything that you were building up there in the first place. It’s very unnecessary, really. As Jem says, we’re trying to approach our dotage with dignity here. So, a full-on monitor, channeling Iron Maiden is not the way forward for us!

So do you think going forward from here, even in other projects that you’re involved with, do you think that’s going to have an impact on how much you’re soloing and you might rethink that?

Jem: Ah, well album five is a continuous solo! [laughs] No, you can never tell, really. You can never tell. I mean, there was a track on the album before, the “Falling Satellites” album, where the last six minutes of it was this sort of big elongated keyboard solo. I remember at the time thinking that that was the last one I wanted to do, really. Because “Milliontown” has got a lot of soloing on it, and then “A Nice Day For It” had a long solo in it, and so there’s only so many ways you can frame that particular picture, I think. So unless we can think of something different to do…I might get very good at the thumb piano, for example, in which case – game on!

Well, John, I’ll be interested to hear on the next Lonely Robot album if the amount of soloing has dramatically gone down…

John: Well, I’m not really aligned with the likes of Steve Vai, I’m more sort of Dave Gilmour really, and I don’t think anybody needs to hear that, either. So, like Jem says, maybe I’ll rely more upon…the emotional context.

So, let’s talk about the formation of the songwriting. It sounds like you had some dramatic locations in which to be writing this album, like next to a lighthouse and such.

Jem: Yes. Well, previously we’ve always gone around to each other’s houses to write, to each other’s studios. And the trouble with that is obviously there’s the inevitable distractions you’ll have, like, you know, your kids will go, Oh, what’s for dinner dad, or the phone will ring or there’ll be a delivery at the door. So sometimes it’s very difficult to get into a flow where you can really focus on what you’re supposed to be doing. And so I think we’ve always been kind of quietly mourning the fact that places like The Manor in Oxfordshire, the studio, is gone, and Air Studios in Montserrat. Those places where you’d go for a couple of weeks. I think we always lamented the fact that we were about 10 years too late for that sort of behavior. So I think the closest we could get was to say let’s get out of our comfort zones and go to a place that neither of us really knows and focus on songwriting. So the first place was down in Cornwall, which is in the Southwest of England where most of the UK goes on holiday for summer. And we sort of converted this little cottage into a makeshift recording studio for six days. We wrote five or six songs I think on that first session. And then we had a break for a couple of months, to give our livers a chance to recover. And then we went in January down to Dungeness, which is on the South coast of England, which is a really kind of bleak, strange place where Derek Jarman, the artist used to live and there’s a nuclear power station 200 meters to the right and the lighthouse to the left. And it was absolutely the foulest winter weather, you know? So we were right by the sea, and blowing full force and we’re trying to write this song. Let’s just say it added to the atmosphere of the writing. So I think we’ll do that again! Definitely. Maybe not there, but somewhere else.

John: I did actually find out by the way, Jem, that Dungeness is actually classified as Europe’s only desert. That’s the classification, Dungeness is a desert, bizarrely!

Tell us about the song writing process between the two of you. Are most of the songs written by both of you together, or are you coming in with some ideas ahead of time? Or how does that work?

John: When we went to Cornwall, no, we didn’t have a stitch! And I was quite nervous about it at the time, I seem to recall. Because what if we hit a roadblock early on? And Jem‘s like, Don’t worry about it, there’s lots of pubs around here. So we’ll make the best use of the time elsewhere. But the fact of the matter is, once we’re sort of off the ground – I think we spent the first evening sort of setting up an improvised studio – and then the first actual day we started, we hit the ground running. One day we came up with two sort of songs. There were three songs on the first session that we ended up using for the album, and the second session had two. So yeah, once we’re up and running it was really quite a prolific experience and it was very rewarding in that respect.

How do you determine who’s going to be the lead vocalist on it? Is it the main songwriter of it or do you flip a coin or what?

John: When we were doing the demos, it was simply a case of the fact that I don’t know how to use Pro Tools. So Jem was in charge of Pro Tools and I said, Well, I’ll tell you what, I’ll put down a guide vocal here and we’ll decide who actually sings it later. And so, it was very much a case of most of songs that you’re hearing were actually the original sort of sketch that we put together. A lot of those vocals and guitars were from the actual situation and the environment where we recorded them. But I did keep saying to Jem, This one will be good for you! Your voice will be good on this. I did fully expect to get completely replaced, but that doesn’t seem to be the case! Actually, to be fair, on the album Jem sings three, and we both sing one of them, we can take turns. So there’s a mix of voices across the album.

So when John sent the guide vocals to you, Jem, were you just having a cold that week or a sore throat?

Jem: Well, I did try and re-sing some of them. I mean, “Skywards” was supposed to be me. I recorded a version of it and I listened to them and I thought, this is not as good. So, I just said to John, you’re on this one as well, mate, sorry. [laughs].

And then obviously now that puts the added responsibility of were we to play this live, the ball is very much in my court now, isn’t it? [laughter]

So, you’ve got this interesting juxtaposition of a narrative running throughout the album with phrases, like “Enjoy yourself”, “Relax”, “Everything is okay”. Spoken sometimes in an ominous inflection, and sometimes by a child. Um, and of course then there’s the counter reference of “You scum”. So, what’s your overarching intention with these messages sprinkled throughout the album?

Jem: There’s a sort of sense these days in the UK, where it was all quite patronizing in terms of how we were told to behave and what not to do. And I think up to that point, even before COVID, with the current powers that be, there’s definitely been a sense of sort of being talked down to in some respects. But they’re doing it in that kind of Bill Hicks way. Go back to sleep. I think it’s just that sense of responsibility feels like it’s been more and more taken away from people. So we’re just kind of herded about and told, Do this! But it’s okay, fine, take it easy, relax, have a holiday, buy this, go back to Amazon and get some more things, that sort of thing. I think underneath all that there is a certain aggression from the powers that be. It’s a sense that society is increasingly kind of nannied and made to feel that children, perhaps.

Because underneath it you’re considered scum, but we’re just going to put nice veneer over top of it.

Jem: Exactly. Yeah. Just do as you’re told, will you!

John: Another thing to consider as well is the fact that, like if you’re going to get somebody to perform open heart surgery, you have to be qualified to do that. But there’s no real qualification to run a country, is there? It’s bizarre that one of the most important roles in anybody’s life, you know, with such an active responsibility can be so mismanaged by somebody with so little compassion or ability to do one’s own job, it’s quite remarkable when you think about it. You certainly wouldn’t put Boris Johnson in charge of…well, open heart surgery, for example! [laughs]

Yeah, we can relate to that…

John: Didn’t want to go there! Didn’t want to make that journey, but…

So even though that’s running through various songs on the album, are most of the lyrics of the songs also reflecting that, or was that just a little injection you wanted to put in, regardless of the story that individual songs were telling?

Jem: I think the narrative really is that it’s more observationalist. It’s looking at the world at the moment and – whether it’s because I’m getting older and I’m more aware of these things, or because I’ve got children now, so you kind of suddenly become more hyper-aware of the planet and what effect it might be on them – I think it was a sort of commentary on how incredibly strange the world’s become in the last five years, perhaps. Certain people in power that you’d never thought would have been in power, strange things happening with pandemics, you know, it’s just an extraordinary time to be alive.

The video for the title track Day and Age was recently released. Does the final video portray what you were originally writing the lyrics to be about… A middle-age pig crisis?

[laughs] John: I think the narrative about that whole thing is: Ignorance is bliss, really. I don’t want to give too much away, but he’s not having a crisis, he’s just lost his job and he can’t bare to tell his wife that he’s lost his job and it sends him slightly around the twist…a pig twist. And then of course it goes off in another direction. At the end of it we learned that the little oinky-oink pig there is relieved that he’s not actually a human being and he doesn’t know what fate befalls him, but that’s in a way which keeps him sort of subservient and happy. It’s not the cheeriest of videos, but it’s sort of macabre and I’m very pleased with how it’s turned out.

I noticed that one of the studios that you were writing the album in, you renamed it the Troubled Cow studios. So there seems to be this existential animal angst that’s incorporating its way throughout here.

John: Well, yeah, I mean, actually both studios had very pertinent names. Butter Beak was the second studio. And the reason for that was one of the first things that Jem and I did, we gazed upon the shoreline. We were literally 20 meters from the actual sea. And we spotted this seagull that had caught this fish and he kept picking it up. And then seconds later he would drop it again! And then pick it up and then drop it. It’s like, Just keep hold of the fish! And I said, Butter Beak! Cause we had the film Butterfingers. And that’s how it became Butter Beak studios. And the Troubled Cow was that there was a strange portrait of a cow in Cornwall. And it just seemed to be in some sort of, I don’t know, sort of discontent. And yeah, so Troubled Cow it was.

Jem: Big Gary Larson fans!

What initially inspired the storytelling monologue in “The Boy Who Stood Still”?

Jem: Sometimes I just sit down and write things out. I’ve got lots of Word documents of lyrics and half finished bits and pieces. So it kind of started out as one thing and ended up being this little short story. And I just thought, it’d be nice to put that to music or to do something with it. It’s something we haven’t done before. We probably won’t do it again because again, it was an interesting experiment. But yeah, it is a slight diversion, I suppose, from the overriding theme of the album, but it’s quite nice in a way. It’s sort of like how you’d have “Yellow Submarine” on an album or that kind of thing. It’s a little little sorbet in the middle of it all, just a bit of fun, really. It was just an interesting story, I thought. And getting someone of the caliber of Jason Isaacs to read it, lent it that kind of weight.

I think it’s a wonderful diversion in that respect and unlike some narratives that you might hear on an album, it’s kind of compelling even as you listen to it over and over again. So it doesn’t, it doesn’t lose its effect, I think.

Jem: Yeah, I think so. There’s a slight reference to the album cover in it, which was a secondary thing, about the five characters on the front. The thing that took the most time was the “Hail rage! Hail fear!” bit. Cause that was about 300 vocals…it took quite a while to tape.

John: I was going to ask you about that actually! Is there a plug-in that does that? But then no, you actually did it 300 times!

Jem: Yeah. It was quite boring! [laughter]

But we do have three drummers who appear on this album. Did you initially hope to have one drummer after Craig left or what led you to reach out to these particular musicians?

John: Well, yeah. Craig left, he was a bit busy with Steve Wilson and we just saw that as an opportunity, really. We knew that we wanted Pat Mastelotto on the record. Having grown up throughout the eighties and being massively obsessed with the album “Welcome To the Real World”, we just thought, wouldn’t that be cool? You know, that would be a box ticked. He’s got his own pocket and he actually said to us, “I’m just a tired old rock drummer, man.” And we said, “Come on, Pat, come and do it.” And he agreed to it. His groove on “Skywards” is exactly similar to the sort of thing that he’s famous for, that kind of “Broken Wings” kind of groove. He’s a very hard hitter and of course, “Repeat to Fade” was the perfect track for him. Darby Todd, Jem saw in a jazz context, in a bar in Tunbridge Wells. He sent me some footage of this guy playing and I’m like, “Wow, well, let’s get him in on it!” Strangely enough, he played for The Darkness briefly and Hot Leg with Justin Hawkins. I don’t know if anybody remembers them, but you know, he’s kind of finding his feet in the wide world of drums. And then of course, Kaz Rodriguez is one of the top session drummers in the country and he’s like the drummer’s drummer. So they’ve all got very different styles. Darby‘s got a real groove on and he plays on “Waiting For the Lie” and that end section is absolutely brilliant. Kaz has got a real motoring style he’s on “Day and Age” and he’s got some interesting sort of cross rhythms that he does. So, all in all, they’re just interesting choices for three drummers. Who knows what we’re gonna do next time, we might get three other ones, who knows?

Especially without having new solos, the rhythm really plays a huge role in the album.

John: That’s what people have said. Obviously, it’s down to Jem‘s production, but you know, the drums really are the superstar of the record, really.

Especially on a long track like “Day and Age”, it’s just a crucial element. Did you ever try out Pat for that track and see which you preferred?

John: No, everyone was assigned a role, we kind of knew that from the outset, really.

You guys have alluded a couple of times to a future Frost* projects. I did hear Jem comment in another interview that there might be a finite number of releases for the band’s future. So, is there a life expectancy on Frost* before it melts?

[laughs] Jem: Oh, I see what you did there! I don’t know…as long as we keep having interesting ideas and experiences it’s worth doing. But if we ever felt, and I know John would agree with this, if we ever felt we were starting to rehash old stuff…you’re not going to get “Tubular Bells” II out of us, put it that way. As long as it’s interesting. We can pick up pace a bit now, we’ve already started working on the fifth album. That’s already in the planning stages. So, I think, yeah, for now, we’ll do five and see how we get on.

John: The important thing is, like Jem said earlier, is to make sure that every album is a progression or that there is something different about it from the previous one. It’s very easy to get stuck in that rut. To a certain degree, I kind of experienced that from doing the three Lonely Robot albums. Even though there are differences, like the third one was way more synth-y, but I did find myself towards the end of that cycle going, Yeah, there’s a reason I wanted to do three. And then of course, I tripped myself up and make a fourth one just to confuse myself! And so moving forward, I’m gonna rethink things now. But certainly like Jem says, there are bands out there that rely upon the Holy Trinity of the Mellotron, the Hammond and the Moog and you kind of know what you’re going to get and we don’t want to be that band.

Well, John, how do you differentiate writing for Frost* as opposed to the other projects that you’re in?

John: Well, I mean, that’s an interesting question. It very much depends on who you’re collaborating with, really. I mean, I know that, for example, like with It Bites or Kino, I was collaborating with John Beck. He’s got a very stylized way of playing the keyboards. I mean, I don’t think the Mitchell motor changes that much. To be fair when we did “The Tall Ships”, I have to say with all honesty and I know it’s probably unkind of me to say that it was a real, conscious effort to try and sound like a pastiche of what It Bites might’ve sounded like had they got together again in 2008. As much at the time I was quite fond of it, in hindsight I don’t think it’s aged well and it certainly didn’t have all the integrity that it should have had. So yeah, you’ve got to be mindful of that when you, when you approach anything really.

Do you guys have hopes in 2022 for live gigs before the fifth album might come out?

Jem: Yes we do. In fact, only today I bought two Mac Book Pros for that very reason. We have one problem at the moment, which is the wonderful deal that the government did for touring musicians in Europe, the current Brexit arranJements. John did some calculations and worked out that it was 2000 euros per country just to even arrive in those countries to play. So doing Germany, Italy, France, you’re looking at 10 grand before you even plugged your keyboards in. So, at the moment, we’re not quite sure about our European plans. That said, I hear America is a wonderful place to play and so is Japan and other places like that. So, we are definitely gonna get out and about! But I don’t think this year is the time to do it because I think we’re all still finding our feet with the way the world works. The other thing is that the entire gigging community is going to get back out on the road as soon as it can. So there’s only so many venues left! So, I think we’re going to let the rush die down, then we might step out a bit. So yes, definitely. We’d love to get out and play.

Yeah. Is an option instead of that, since it’s just so cost prohibitive with what you just described, to do festivals or things like that so that you don’t need to worry about taking that on yourself, or is that not as fulfilling for you?

Jem: Possibly. Yeah. We’re not particularly interested in doing streamed gigs. It’s quite a stilted experience for me as an observer because you know, you’re in a room and we’re all two meters apart from each other, it doesn’t feel right to do that. So we definitely want to go out and do it face-to-face with people. We’ll see, I suppose.

John: When we do get out again, what’s going to make this band special really is that we want to step it up a gear and put on real production value. And certainly that’s our sort of mission drive at the moment.

Do you think that Brexit visa hurdle will get overturned somehow because it’s just such a ridiculous set up that you guys are up against now?

John: There was a deal on the table. But our glorious leader sidestepped it and said no to Europe. And so now here we are. I hope it does get revisited. And I certainly, I know that there was a letter written to the governance signed by people like Roger Daltrey – who actually voted for Brexit, it should be pointed out – and now wanting to see it overturned. But, time will tell.

Well we’re going to close up by playing a track from the album, let’s play the full title track. Do you want to set it up for us?

  Well, this is quite a cinematic song. I kind of liken it to walking through quite a large house and you’re going into different rooms as you go through. And there’s different experiences to be had in each of those rooms. And eventually you end up back in the kitchen, the good old kitchen of the chorus!

Right on. Well, gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure talking with you and thanks for filling us in a little bit about the album, it’s a fantastic release. Really excited for what you come up with next, but all the best with this release.

Thanks very much, Scott.

Thanks! Bye bye.

The post JEM GODFREY and JOHN MITCHELL Talk Recent FROST* Album “Day and Age”: ‘We Were a Little Bit Nervous That Perhaps We’d Gone Off Too Far in A Strange Direction. But Now We’re Feeling Very Vindicated and Relieved’ appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

The development of progressive pioneers INTERLOPER has not been an instant nor mundane process to say the least. On the contrary, it has procured particular expertise in creating endless layers of transcendent sound. Initially set as the title of one of the album’s most vibrant tracks, it quickly became obvious that the feel of “Search Party” could speak for the entire record. “In a way, it represents what we went through as a band, finding our sound, our members, finding our place in general,” explains drummer and Co-founder Aaron Stechauner.

A feeling of harsh desolation can be captured from the world embellishing the album cover created by Caelan Stokkermans. A woman sits in solitude on the edge of the world as a violent ocean crashes against her rock. The lyrics of the title track observe a young woman running away from herself and her challenges, destroying her connections with everyone around her. “She’s run as far away from her problems as she can, to the literal ends of the Earth, and she’s still lost. She’s carving a symbol in the rock (which happens to be our emblem), but the artistic purpose of the symbol in the piece is open to interpretation. I like to see it as a distress beacon,” explains Stechauner.

“Search Party” has been a long time coming in terms of INTERLOPER’s existence as a musical project. “For me personally, this LP coming out feels like this is the start of what this band really will become. We needed to have patience, but there’s no reason to wait anymore. This marks the official start of this band,” says Baker.

The deep cohesiveness of INTERLOPER’s writing process for “Search Party” allowed for a creative project with no real boundaries or restrictions. Each member of INTERLOPER comes outfitted with a specialized skill set that is integral to the unique structure of these passionate and imaginative anthems. Pulling inspiration from raw human emotion, nostalgia, and pushing boundaries through the precision of musicianship itself, INTERLOPER continues to develop their identity.

Correspondent Carlos Gomez spoke with guitarist and singer Andrew Virrueta to dig as much information as possible about the creative process for “Search Party”. Find out that and more in the audio below, and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

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“Shai is a lobster.”

This is the regard in which new-ish Subterranean Masquerade front-man Davidavi Dolev holds his bandmate, keyboardist Shai Yallin. Lobsters, you see, have evolved an impressive pair of eyeballs that not only enable them to see just fine several hundred feet below salty sea surfaces, they also have a 180° field of vision.

But that’s not what “Vidi” is talking about. He’s talking about the peac**k mantis shrimp, which is neither a peac**k, nor a mantis, nor a shrimp. Formally known as Odontodactylus scyllarus, this bizarre crustacean has north of a dozen photoreceptors in its eyes (compared to your three), which some believe allows the mantis shrimp to see colors that you and I can’t even comprehend. Though this is disputed (see the NatGeo article at here), Radiolab (here) did a fascinating audio story that illustrates Vidi’s point beautifully.

And his point, to wit, is this: his psychedelic-loving, micro-dosing, analog keyboard-playing bandmate Shai composes music like a guy who sees through dual 4mm f/0 lenses coated in colors you’ve never seen. And he does so with the help of a guy whose musical background is in black metal.

“Tomer and Shaihave a beautiful musical relationship where they work parallel to each other, and they glue that to what the other guys are doing.”  adds Vidi.

This is how bandleader/ guitarist Tomer Pink and his assigns are able create music that sounds like death metal, tastes like klezmer, and feels like progressive rock, all at once. “It’s what happens when you work with one guy who is crazy, and another guy who is lobster-crazy.”

“I think he lives forever too,” he admits between laughs.

The charismatic Haifa-born front-man chatted with Sonic Perspectives Texas Bureau Chief Gonzalo Pozo a few nights into the cease-fire his home country of Israel had just negotiated with Hamas. The pair discuss life, hummus, emerging from a pandemic, The Beatles, Subterranean Masquerade’s ridiculously awesome new record “Mountain Fever,” and what gives Vidi hope during yet another round of conflict in his homeland. Listen to their revealing conversation below, and remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and  subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.

(Lobsters, by the way, are not kosher.)

The post SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE Singer DAVIDAVI DOLEV Talks Just Released “Mountain Fever” Album: “There Was Always Another Idea Waiting Around the Corner While Working on This Record” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.

Tommy Clufetos has already carved his name in the history of rock and metal by working with reputable acts such as Rob Zombie, Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper. The cherry on the cake of such an illustrious touring career was being handpicked by Ozzy to join his band and to replace Bill Ward in Black Sabbath.

More recently, Tommy has been announced as the new member of The Dead Daisies, and kicked off a new band, the supergroup L.A. Rats, with his old buddy Rob Zombie, Nikki Sixx and John 5. In addition to that, he recently put out an album under the moniker of Tommy’s Rock Trip, a celebration of the music that inspired him, with a distinctive 70’s-tinged hard rock sound. The band’s debut is entitled “Beat Up By Rock and Roll”, and showcases Tommy on drums and vocals, alongside Eric Dover on vocals, Eliot Lorengo on bass, Hank Schneekluth and Nao Nakashima on guitar.

Released on May 07th via Frontiers Records, “Beat Up By Rock and Roll” holds no punches, and sounds like a soundtrack to an episode of “That 70’s Show”. Tommy‘s origins and upbringing in Detroit are very much in the forefront, with a distinctive “live in the studio” feel permeating its eleven tracks. In fact, many parts of the album were cut straight from the demos into their final form, which gives it an organic atmosphere.

Sonic Perspectives collaborator Rodrigo Altaf sat down with Tommy Clufetos to discuss the making of “Beat Up by Rock and Roll“, his influences, the tours with Black Sabbath and much more. Find out their spirited chat on the links below. Remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

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The staying power of 80’s hard rock is undeniable. After its rise to fame and being almost completely erased from the airwaves by grunge, there seems to be a resurgence of the genre, and many of the same bands who were part of the “first wave” are still around. Granted, the days of filling stadiums and arenas may be long gone, but many of those acts are still staples of the live circuit, and their albums continue to sell.

One of the key figures of that genre is Jeff Pilson, an original member of Dokken who also played with McAuley Schekner Group, Lynch Mob and Dio. Since 2004 he’s been a member and active writer of Foreigner, another representative of that era. More recently, Jeff has been part of two new groups: Black Swan, with Matt Starr, Robin McAuley and Reb Beach, and The End Machine, which is essentially the original Dokken lineup minus Don Dokken. Here, the vocal duties are handled by Robert Mason, of Lynch Mob and Warrant fame.

The End Machine‘s self titled debut came out in 2019 and sounded very much like a continuation of the Dokken sound, brought into current times. The album made several “best of 2019” lists, which prompted a second offering from the group. Thus, “Phase 2” the band’s sophomore effort was born. Sounding more direct and straightforward than the debut, it has pleased the fan base upon its release on April 9th and is very much an expansion of their initial blueprint.

Sonic Perspectives’ collaborator Rodrigo Altaf sat down with Jeff Pilson to discuss the writing and recording of “Phase 2”, and the pair also touched on Jeff’s many endeavors: tour dates with Foreigner, a potential Dokken reunion, a yoga book and much more. Find out that and more in the audio below, and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.

The post JEFF PILSON Reflects on The Sophomore THE END MACHINE Album: “Having to Work Remotely Helped Us Keep the Material More Direct” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.