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INTERVIEWS
Odin's Court - March 16, 2006
On March 16, 2006, Matt Bankes drove to Odin’s Court guitarist Rick Pierpont’s house in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania to interview the band. They burned through a killer rehearsal and afterwards I had the honor to sit down with guitarist/lead vocalist Matt Brookins, guitarist Rick Pierpont and drummer John Abella for the very first interview Rising Forces USA ever conducted. Despite the late hour, the guys were welcoming, extremely funny, and more than willing to share their story. This is where it all starts! Enjoy! Matt Bankes (MB): I guess we should start from the beginning…when did you all start to get into hard rock and metal music? MB: What made you want to do music for a living? MB: What was your first band you guys were in? John: Yeah. MB: This is mainly for Matt and John…
MB: How did you decide on the name "Odin’s Court"? John: So you came up with Odin’s Court? (John and Rick laugh) MB: Did anything influence your decision to play the type of metal music you do now, I mean did you wake up one day and say, "Let’s do prog metal?" MB: The current lineup seems to be the best one yet. What is it like working with this current group of musicians? Matt: I have to work harder, because they’re all so much better than me. MB: The new album, ReDriven By Fate seems to be the concept of the first two CDs fully realized. How did you decide on that concept? MB: Driven By Fate was self-produced and so is the new album. Did you look for an outside producer or did you want to produce it yourself? MB: What influences your writing style…books, movies, albums that you’ve heard? MB: Name off a few bands that have influenced you the most.
Matt: He’s not allowed to write. MB: The DVD shoot - I know you are excited about that. Why did you decide to do not just a video but a DVD, and why at Jaxx? MB: You guys have opened up for some great bands like Symphony X, Helloween, Sonata Arctica, King’s X, Seven Witches, Funny Money…the list goes on. Did any of the bands share any advice with you which has helped you out? MB: Worst gig? MB: What was the funniest thing to ever happen to you guys on stage? MB: The current state of metal in the United States, can you give us your opinion on that? MB: Can each of you give a closing statement for the people who will be reading this interview?
Matt: Yeah, that’s a good point, especially since I’m the bank for the band. I’d like to thank Nicki for not beating me up for spending lots of money. I’m the bank that gives the band the loans. The Chapter continues… Matt Bankes sent out some follow-up questions to Odin’s Court front man Matt Brookins in May 2006 to get his thoughts on the DVD shoot, the recording of ReDriven By Fate and the band’s future plans. Here is what he had to say. Matt Bankes (MB): Now that the DVD show is all said and done, looking back, how did you feel about it? I mean, it must have been awesome to headline at Jaxx! MB: What has it been like to dive into the aspect of editing a DVD? Has it been difficult? MB: No argument there! OK, about ReDriven By Fate, this was your first experience producing a whole record by yourself. Where did you record the album, how long did it take, and what was it like to get real “hands on” in the whole process? MB: What future plans are in the cards for Odin’s Court? MB: Since you have been working with us and getting to know us, use a few words to describe the Rising Forces USA crew. Well, it’s been a pleasure talking with Odin’s Court. They are a great band with a very big future ahead of them! They are also great guys as well, a pleasure to talk to. So be sure to go to their official website at http://www.odinscourtband.com to check ‘em out, buy a copy or 100 of the new album ReDriven By Fate, or to buy one of their cool t-shirts (or buy both!), or to just hang out on the forum and say hello. Be sure to tell them you heard about them here!
On a hot Sunday afternoon in June, Matt ventured into Astoria (Queens), NY to interview 4/5ths of the Astoria-based metal band Phoenix Reign. Despite two accidents on the George Washington Bridge, bad drivers and double parkers in Astoria, and the oppressive heat, Matt would not be denied and we all convened at vocalist Theresa Gaffney’s apartment to do the interview. Phoenix Reign has the honor of being the first female fronted metal band to be interviewed by RisingForcesUSA. The band is a group of wonderful and talented individuals and we had a blast. Read on and get familiar with who could be the next big metal band to come out of the Big Apple! Cheers! Matt Bankes (MB): When did you all start to get in to rock and metal music?Theresa Gaffney (TG): I started getting into metal by the exposure of my cousins in junior high school. My first bands were Metallica, Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, Pantera, but I’d really say that Iron Maiden pushed me into pursuing more metal in my life. (laughs) And then I just eventually picked up the guitar. Billy Chrissochos (BC): From early music, I don’t remember much. I lived in Greece, I used to hear Elivs and stuff like that. The first metal tune I probably heard was when my brother showed me “Flight Of Icarus” by Iron Maiden and I thought it was great. Afterwards it was basically that, Scorpions and Manowar. Wayne Noon (WN): I got into metal around 1990. I probably started with Metallica stuff, and onto more harder stuff like King Diamond and Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses, stuff like that. Chris Pollatos (CP): I guess it was late-mid 80’s, I was listening to 95.5, back then I didn’t know what it was called, and they were playing the Pyromania album of Def Leppard, and that just got me interested, and of course being friends with Billy and all the influences when I met him when I was 10 years old, Iron Maiden and the rest. MB: What made you all decide to become musicians? TG: Well, I played piano since I was about ten. I’m not like a virtuoso or anything but I always enjoyed playing music. I don’t think I ever really considered performing music until the end of high school when just a lot of friends of mine would just start assigning instruments to people and, you know, when I was 16 I picked up the guitar and I wanted to just play guitar, but then I realized I could sing too and I’d rather pursue that too. I had a band I was jamming with my former roommate in another band and she would play drums and I would play guitar and sing and we had a guitarist, but that didn’t work out. Then I found Phoenix and it worked out from there, that I was just singing, and I play guitar too once in a while, but singing is the destiny! (laughs) BC: Originally I started taking guitar lessons in sixth grade, but I didn’t like the guitar, then eventually I picked up the saxophone from junior high school and in high school I became first alto sax, which I like. My father kept pushing me to play guitar because his father was a like a famous player. I didn’t like until high school, then I started to get more into metal and stuff like that, and I picked up the guitar and that was it from then, I knew that was the way to express myself. I knew that was the instrument for me. WN: Actually, I started out playing guitar at first, and then during one of my sessions I heard somebody playing the drums in the background. I actually thought that sounded really cool, and I figured why am I playing guitar, I’m going to start playing drums because it sounds like there’s a lot more involved with it, and I could annoy more people with it. So, I listened to Def Leppard and Rick Allen. He was one of my favorite drummers and he inspired me to play, especially after he lost his arm, I was like “wow, if he can play, so can I.” CP: When I was five my mom made me play piano and I liked it, it was interesting but I didn’t think I was going to go into it. After I kept playing it and playing it gave me a good background of music and then around high school time Billy and I joined up with the jazz/rock band where we performed at the high school with different people. Right at the end of senior year, Billy’s like “alright, let’s do this.” We played with a bunch of Cuban brothers, our red headed brothers and it was fun! We just went on from there. MB: What was the first band you were all in? TG: The band that I was in first was titled by the other guitarist we had named Billy. Shadowzone, It was pretty retarded, we never ended up playing a show, we just practiced a lot. I didn’t work out, but it was a fun experience…you know, whatever. You learn. BC: I don’t remember what… CP: It had to be called BC… BC: (laughs) BC…Billy Chris.. TG: (giggles) CP: And he said it was Billy and Chris, but it was really Billy Chrissochos! BC: My initials were conveniently put in… CP: Yeah, conveniently! (laughs) BC! BC: and somewhere down the line it just became Phoenix later on, many, many moons later. WN: My first band was actually called Brainwashed after an Iced Earth song. We didn’t really do much, we had a really good singer and all of a sudden he just stopped talking to us and we lost contact with him. Our guitar player tried to sing for a little while. We actually almost sounded kind of like Nirvana-kind of stuff. Then we just all lost contact with each other and basically broke up. CP: Yeah, same thing. It was BC. I remember we were in Billy’s room there, and our first song was called “Cool School” (Theresa, Billy, Wayne and I laugh loudly) for our high school. MB: Billy and Chris, You are the two original members of Phoenix Reign, how and when did you start the band? CP: Greece, right? BC: Yeah, it was the summer of ‘98, we formed Phoenix… CP: You and I were playing… BC: Me and Chris played before… CP: And you met Gus (Psarros, guitar)… BC: in ‘97, I believe… CP: Summer of ‘98... BC: We knew Gus already… CP: We knew him? BC: We met Eugene in ‘98. We made the band with Eugene, the original singer in ‘98. We were all somewhere in Mikonos hanging out and listening to Blind Guardian and Stratovarius in the morning to wake up, you know, before we go to the beach, and this guy starts singing, one of our roommates, We’re like “Oh, you like to sing music” and he’s like “Yeah, I like all this stuff!” and I’m like “We’re looking for a singer”. We’ve been looking for like a few years for a singer, on an off, so he’s like “Oh, I’ll do it!” and that was it. In the summer we came back and we met Wayne from the internet (laughs). Phoenix became in ‘98, the name Phoenix. MB: Theresa, how did you end up joining Phoenix Reign? TG: Well, I had known Eugene the original singer back in ‘99-00 and I continued talking to Wayne. I introduced some of my friends to the band too, like Jose, and he would keep in touch with them, and I still went to their shows. When they ended up parting ways with Eugene, I at first was just encouraging them to find a singer and at the time I was still jamming with my band, but once that broke up in January 2002 Jose had said “Maybe you should sing for Phoenix”. I never even considered it until he said that and so he convinced the guys who weren’t really considering a female singer. He really convinced you, Billy, I think, to try it out. BC: Yeah, we were always looking for male singers. TG: Yeah, They really didn’t care at the time for a female, so I just went in, and I did my thing and they liked it, because I had already been exposed to the music, I guess, so I had a grasp of it and actually gave a damn, so it helped. I wasn’t perfect, but I guess they liked what was going on, and the potential, so it was really cool. MB: You have been working on the debut album for the past year. Where have you been recording the album, and who has been handling the production? BC: We’ve been recording all the rhythm and drum tracks in a professional studio called Spin Studios in Astoria, NY. TG: Trans-Siberian Orchestra recorded there. BC: Yeah, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Chris Caffery… MB: Wow! That’s some big names there! TG: Yeah, they get a lot of good clientele. BC: Our producer’s name is Themi Kyriazis and we also work in his place too…Tractor Studios?, and I guess that’s it. He’s our producer/engineer. MB: Has there been any huge problems recording the album, and if so, how have you dealt with them? TG: Well, I mean, the only problem is when you are doing a self-financed album at this moment, so when you have that you have to pool your resources and that can be difficult. I guess that’s the real obstacle at the moment. Also, since you have to work in order to fund the album you also have to find time for the studio around that. That’s probably the real issue, you know, a lot of bands get done weekends, evenings and you feel physically exhausted when you’re going in the studio but then you wake up and you’re like “You know, man, this is what I want to do” so you go and you persevere. I think that’s two obstacles, just time and money, but I think that’s for everybody. But, we’re really having a great time, and we’re mixing now, so we’re almost there. MB: During the recording of the album have you had access to Pro-Tools? TG: Well that’s what you…Pro-Tools is what you use to record it. We go to the studio and everything’s recorded there and then Themi produces it on Pro-Tools and works with the tracks there. He has whatever…24, 32 tracks…whatever it is at this point, and that’s what he does. If you’re referring to Pro-Tools magic I don’t really think we take too much advantage of that. We just use it, it’s like a glorified tape recorder at this point. We obliviously use it to the best extent to get the best product because it is state-of-the-art material and we do need it, and it helps you out when you are in a bind, if you need to do whatever, um, salvage a good part. BC: We’re not trying to re-create something we can’t play live, but we are trying to make something that’s gonna sound good, it’s going to be listenable, it’s going to be a little bit more than what you get live. TG: Pro-Tools helps because you can dump some really cool effects on it. BC: And you learn, it’s a learning process. We actually became better guitar players and singing from the practice of it. MB: Can you talk about the album and what we can expect from it? CP: Metal, but there’s also the guitars, a nice melodic sound coming out from the guitars. The voice is kind of kick out, punching kind of a sound as far as singing goes. Wayne’s smashing those drums. It’s live and in your face, that’s basically what we are going for, and a nice sound to it too. A nice melodic sound to it, music and voice. WN: It’s got a good mix of metal, hard rock and light. It’s good. It’s actually a good album. I keep listening to it over and over and over again. I haven’t got sick of it yet. TG: It’s got a full range, I think. The only thing I can say at this point is that it’s definitely not pigeonholed into one little song 10 tracks over. It’s got different songs in every way. CP: Yeah, it’s not old. It’s not like “old metal”. I mean, I know a lot of people compare it to Iron Maiden and stuff, but we also introduce some new stuff. Because Billy and I are Greek we also put some Greek influences into that. Gus (Psarros, guitar) put some great Greek bouzouki or classical guitar sounds. It’s nice, well rounded. MB: What influences your songwriting and lyric style? TG: A lot of it’s experience but then sometimes it’s almost storytelling. You kind of put yourself into the shoes of someone you’re thinking about, and you express yourself through that, kind of like “Run Now” I put myself into the shoes of someone else and Billy did too when he was getting the idea of someone just trying to break away from their shackles. Sometimes what you can’t get from your own experiences you take from others, so that’s at least lyrically. BC: Just to touch up a little on that, I guess sometimes when I used to get ideas for writing, it helps if I travel around the world, you know, if we went somewhere with Gus or Chris, and certain places, even here in America, wherever, it will give us ideas. It depends on if you’re angry, you’re happy, the weather is bad, we’ll try to create and paint the picture, especially with some of our epics. CP: Some of the earlier stuff that you wrote was quite poetic. BC: Yeah, earlier on. CP: It was pretty nice. MB: Theresa, you are a female vocalist in a genre which is dominated by men. You have a style which is feminine, yet tough, which is a great style by the way. There seems to be two types of styles for metal female vocalists: the operatic type and the tougher, more in-your-face type which is what you are. What made you decide to take the route you have taken? TG: I’d say just because at the time when we were really getting together as a band, when I joined, there was a lot of drive towards the operatic. You know, I’m not trying to say I could do whatever they (operatic vocalists) are doing, I sang in church but it’s not anything that could work for a band like this. I wanted something a little more aggressive because I think it’s a little more expressive the way I sing than if I try to go in my head voice and sound airy and light. I don’t think it would give the same effect to the music. Especially coming off a singer who was a man, your kind of still trying to bring that air of toughness that he brought and just build upon it and show that women can rock too. You listen to Pat Benatar, she wasn’t singing opera, she was just singing out there and it was the same with Joan Jett…There was a band from Sweden that just broke up that I liked a lot, Amaran, she was a great singer, their lead singer. I feel a lot more energetic when I’m just going out there. I guess the phrase is “balls out” but it doesn’t apply to me. “Boobies out”! (laughter all around) MB; What singers and musicians have been the biggest influence on you? TG: Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford. A lot of my influences are guys. I guess that’s another reason why I sing the way I do. I loved Pat Benatar growing up, too, so she was another great, great influence. Those are the top four I guess. BC: Adrian Smith and Steve Harris, I mean, all the Maiden guys, the Priest guys, Yngwie Malmsteen, Mick Mars, George Lynch, Dokken, Stryper, everything! WN: Obviously the drummer from Def Leppard, Rick Allen. Mikkey Dee back from when he was with King Diamond and then Ingo (Schwictenburg) from Helloween, but he’s gone now. The two most recent Helloween drummers Uli (Kusch) and Dani Loble, he’s actually really good, and Matt Cameron from Soundgarden, but now he’s in Pearl Jam which I really don’t like but, just drummers like that. I like so many different drummers it’s hard to pick a few. CP: When I started with keyboards and then I heard Iron Maiden, Steve Harris’s style was amazing. He actually got me going from a keyboard to a guitar to play bass. Of course, stylistically Duff (Mckagan) from Guns N’ Roses, just love, love it. MB: Theresa, You have great stage presence and a great command of the audience, and a great image. How important is stage presence to you in a live performance? TG: I think it’s extremely important because you can be great musicians, but if you don’t come off performing, you won’t capture the audience’s attention. Those are the people that are gonna say “Hey, I like Phoenix Reign, I think I’m gonna check them out in the future.” Also, it’s fun for you as a performer to go out there and just give your best and go out there and just have fun because you’re not doing this just to be doodling on the stage and showing “Hey, these are my pipes. Listen to me sing lalalala.” Since I am in the front and I’m the front woman, I have to kind of be larger than life for the rest of the guys too. When they’re playing their solos, sometimes they can’t move around, whatever, so I’m moving around, and it’s fun! I love reaching out for that person at the back of the room, in the front of the room, that guy over there drinking his beer, hi fives, come on, fists, metal, whatever! I think it’s great. I love being active on the stage. I was building upon what the last singer was a little weak at, I think, so I always felt like I have to one up that guy, so I did, I hope! (laughs) CP: And she is active. You can tell by my black and blues because I’ve gotten punched multiple times. (laughter all around) Because I’m standing behind her, elbows to the face. But it’s for love! It’s for performance! TG: Yeah, sometimes he’s active a lot, Chris gets really into it… CP: We get cables tripped… TG: Crash into each other sometimes! MB: You’re the most physical band in the world! TG: It’s like “ECW! ECW!” (laughs) MB: What was the best live show you think you’ve done so far? TG: That’s hard to say, to be honest, because sometimes we say a show sucked, people are like “That was the greatest damn show you ever played!” I think one of the better performances we’ve done was at Don Hills with Riot, even though we had sound problems I felt really confident at that show, but… WN: What about The Hook… CP: At The Hook, at that competition, I think we played great. BC: In Brooklyn. TG: Red Hook, in Brooklyn, that’s another good show. BC: I don’t know, for some weird reason I liked Don Hills too. I think, unfortunately the Dimebag (Darrell Abbott, Pantera guitarist) tribute show… TG: Dimebag tribute show! That was great. BC: There was a lot of people. It was in the city, in Lower Manhattan. TG: We played a Dimebag Darrell tribute show. MB: Was that the show where I saw pictures and you wore a Pantera T-shirt? TG: No, that was Tipperary Arms. BC: This was a big place. TG: This was like a month or two after. A bunch of people got together, local bands. BC: It was a great vibe. We played in front of a lot of people. TG: There was a lot of people. WN: Parkside Pub, over on Long Island. BC: Parkside Pub, yeah. CP; We feel good, every show we play. We feel something real and new. TG: I’d say Don Hills, Red Hook, those are my personal faves. CP; Even a couple Continentals ago… TG: Continentals are always good. BC: Or the Tipperary, where we did “The Trooper” that first time. TG: Yes, yes. Always good. MB: Did I tell you that song (their live version of the Maiden classic “The Trooper”) knocked me on my ass when I heard it? TG: (laughs) MB: (pointing to Theresa) Her vocals and the musical execution knocked me on my ass because I never heard a woman sound like a man before. (referring to the ability to sing with grit and power, not masculinity) TG: (laughs) MB: That is a great complement. We need more female vocalists that sing with “cojones“. MB: What was the worst show you’ve done so far? TG: Oh God, um… CP: The one that we had the most problems with was the last show in Jersey. BC: The one you were at. CP: The one you were at. MB: I loved that show! CP: It was fun, we had a great time, but on the first note Billy’s stings popped. BC: Yeah, and my backup guitar, something happened with the humidity, all my tuners got stuck, so it took me a whole song to get the wrench out. CP: On “Transcendent”, yeah. TG: And they didn’t let our guitar tech in. BC: Yes. MB: I remember that. TG: So, that was a problem because he’s 20, but the place is 21 and over, and this guy’s a genius with guitars. He would have had that fixed in no time. And then the electricity went out on one side of the room. That had nothing to do with us. I mean, I felt on top of my game, I felt we were ready to kick some ass. MB: You were awesome, you all were awesome. TG: Thank you. BC: Whenever we played our highlight song “Another Night Alone”, and that was when the electricity went out… MB: And it became “Another Guitar Alone”! BC: And that was when I started the solo, and it was just like an orgasm that didn’t happen. I was just annoyed. (uproarious laughter all around) That was when our “guitar moment” comes out and we just couldn’t do it. MB: Try new strings! WN: That should be the title of the album! TG: An orgasm gone wrong. (laughs) BC: No, that was not me, that was the electricity that went out. The first two songs, just screwed up. Can’t play without electricity! MB: What was the funniest or most embarrassing thing to happen to you guys on stage? CP: Tell him about the wireless. We had a “Spinal Tap” moment. BC: I tried my first wireless, the battery said they last 8 hours, I only used them for an hour at home, and 30 seconds into the song the wireless goes out. CP: “Another Night Alone”! BC: Again! It was “Another Night Alone”! It was just annoying, I was like in the middle of the song and the stupid thing goes off, and then we couldn’t figure out how to unplug it and plug the things and get back into the song, right in time for the solo, (laughs) Which we did, but it was annoying. WN: I usually have cymbal problems, but otherwise, that’s pretty much it. Billy’s leg, that’s a big joke! BC: Oh! (laughs) TG: I mean, there was a time where I lost my voice at the last song at Tipperary Arms. Basically, I couldn’t hit any high notes. It was alright, it wasn’t horrible, I just couldn’t talk after the gig. (laughs) BC: At the Brooklyn place, the mikes went out. TG: Yeah, but I’m talking about physical performance and stuff. MB: So thankfully, none of you have ever had any wardrobe malfunctions? TG: No, thankfully I don’t wear tube tops. BC: I’m gonna bring a fan, though, because I sweat a lot. I can’t stand it. MB: The last show you did at Axxis Lounge in Carlstadt, NJ, was your first show outside of New York state. How do you think it went, and do you have any future plans to venture outside the Big Apple again? TG: We’re definitely going to be playing outside of the Big Apple now that we have an album coming out because it’s necessary. It’s just now that the opportunities are arising to play outside of the state because especially that a lot of New York City venues have been closing down, you know, it forces you to go outside, and besides it’s kind of stupid just to play in this state, you want to play out other places. I think the show (at Axxis Lounge) though, we already said that it kind of malfunctioned a bit in some departments, but I think we were on fire because we had a lot to prove to the people who were there, and I think we did pretty well. BC: We were going against a pirate band, we had to show off! TG: Yeah! We had to show off against a pirate band. (laughing while talking) Swashbuckle. CP: Overall, it was a nice place too, it was a nice place. BC: It was a venue though. CP: It was interesting, how they split it up into two separate rooms. MB: I thought that was weird! TG: It was weird… CP: Interesting. BC: It has potential. TG: They could have done a lot more, but what are you gonna do? BC: The sound we heard was nice. MB: Honestly, you guys sounded good, but I thought the sound was shit. MB: One of your favorite venues, The Continental, is closing it’s doors to live music. What are your feelings about that? Will you miss it? TG: I’m going to miss The Continental because the booker, the guy who we know, Kevin, used to book Castle Heights, and that’s my most missed place. Castle Heights was a great Queens venue that played a lot of bands that actually went on to a lot more notoriety now, like Shadows Fall and whatnot, they played there. And they had a really great crowd. They used to bring their faithful to The Continental. The Continental is smack dab right in the middle of the freakin’ Village which is like, you know, the Mecca of rockers in New York City. So, I’m going to miss that because it was a good place. The sound was great, they record the show for you, and you know, whatever! WN: I won’t miss the smell of the basement, though. TG: (laughs) The smell of the basement. CP: It was a nice stage too, The Continental. You had enough room to walk around. A lot of stages are really long, and you really can’t move. TG: Either long and thin, or short and broad. BC: And it’s famous, too, so it’s great to play there. MB: You played in the Emergenza festival in February. Unfortunately, you did not advance. Was that a good experience for you all to at least get the chance? TG: Well, technically there were some technical issues with that show. I don’t think it was run very well in Brooklyn. We had technically got enough votes to move on but their website miscounted the votes, so we were like second to last, or something. MB: An election controversy! TG: Yeah, well we’re not the type to go make a big deal about it. It wasn’t worth it for us to go and call them and be like “Listen, you didn’t count our votes right”, but they ended up calling us anyway and telling us “Oh, another band dropped out, you’re moving on” but we couldn’t do the date they had prepared, so we just by choice didn’t do it. BC: They forgot to turn on our amps as the set started. TG: Yeah, they didn’t turn on the amps because they forgot. CP: But it was a good experience though. BC: It was fun. TG: They were nice. BC: The sound people were really nice. CP: Just seeing all the different bands play, that’s the best thing about the whole Emergenza. Just watching a variety of bands. MB: The current state of metal music in the United States, can you give us your opinion on that? Is it on the way up, down, the same, or non existent? TG: I think that’s a hard question to answer because different people will give you a different opinion. It depends on what style of metal you’re in to. Someone who likes the popular stuff like Avenged Sevenfold right now will say “Oh, it’s on the rise” but people who like Priest or Maiden will be like “It’s only on the rise when Priest or Maiden come to the States”. But, I think it’s there. It’s never going to go away, because it’s like that cockroach you can’t stomp out, it’s always going to appeal to someone. I think it’s there, I don’t think it’s gone down, I don’t think it’s gone up. I think it’s exactly where it’s meant to be. I wish there was more recognition for it, but the types of power metal and stuff that I really enjoy, that is coming on the rise a bit because now you see Sonata Arctica and bands like that coming to the States. That’s my opinion, I think power metal is starting to go on the rise at least. BC: The heavy metal in America is non-existent, but the power metal scene, the other end of the spectrum I guess is kind of coming in for a little bit, so that’s good. For general speaking, there is no heavy metal in America, it’s hardcore and other forms of it but it’s not the melodic metal that we like. It’s great power metal is sort of coming by, but most of it is in Europe, Latin America and Japan, unfortunately. WN: I think it’s on the rise, actually, especially with all the bands going to play at BB King’s as of late, like Sonata Arctica, Helloween and Iced Earth. And actually going to music stores now you don’t have order too much through imports. You can just go to a regular music store, like FYE or something in the mall and just pick up anything that you like now, so I think it’s starting to pick up a little bit. BC: Not on the radio, though. WN: It never really was on the radio, though. CP: Heavy metal will rise, as soon as our album comes out! (chorus of cheers and a high five) MB: Thanks for everything! You guys were just awesome. Can you give us a closing statement, and maybe a few words about RisingForcesUSA? TG: Well, we really want to thank RisingForcesUSA for all the effort they’ve put into contacting us. I think you’re a great guy, Matt and I really want to keep in touch because you’ve done great justice to independent metal because that’s a group of people that don’t get enough recognition. As for the band, we really thank you, Gus too, who couldn’t be here, he really wanted to express his gratitude. MB: Hi, Gus! TG: Hi, Gus! WN: Thanks for listening to our CD, even though it took you a month or two. (laughs) TG: It takes time. When you get CD’s at shows you sometimes don’t get around to it until a little bit later. WN: Thanks for braving the GW bridge and all the accidents. BC: Thank you for coming down. CP: And you’re enthusiastic, we feel loved and thank you. BC: You are. TG: And appreciated! MB: I hope you don’t mind me saying it, but I love you guys too. TG: Yeah! It’s a big hippie circle! (laughs) And we do love you guys for your hospitality, and giving Matt a great tour of Astoria afterwards. It was truly a time not to be forgotten. Thanks from the bottom of our metal hearts! Be sure to check out Phoenix Reign at http://www.phoenixreign.com and be sure to buy their new album when it is released. We will review it for you here when that happens. Also, be sure to check out our future “Women in Independent Metal” feature with Phoenix Reign front woman Theresa Gaffney! You don’t want to miss either of those! If you do, shame on you!
Phoenix Reign - March 21, 2009 Catching up with Recently, Matt went up to Queens, New York to attend the March Metal Mayhem concert, which was organized by a few of the most exciting bands in the independent metal scene in New York City. Headlining the show was Well, despite the hectic pre-concert atmosphere, we were able to take some time to sit down with vocalist Gaffney, guitarist Billy Chrissochos, bassist Chris Pollatos and drummer Wayne Noon (unfortunately guitarist Kostas Psarros was not available. You can’t hide from RFUSA forever, Gus!). We talk about Destination Unknown, the strong connection between the band’s music and European history, the forthcoming long form video for the epic song “Constantinople 1453 (On the Eve of the Fall)”, and their concert that night. We hope you enjoy it! Matt Bankes (MB): Let’s start off by talking about the March Metal Madness concert. Who all is going to be on the bill tonight? Billy Chrissochos (BC): March Metal Mayhem! (laughter all around) MB: Mayhem! Mayhem! Sorry about that! Chris Pollatos (CP): We got a good show, we got a good show. Rob Balducci…the Rob Balducci band is going to be playing. BC: …on Steve Vai’s record label… (Favored Nations Entertainment http://www.favorednations.com) CP: …On Steve Vai’s record label. We’re going to be having Martyrd…Zandelle… BC: Martyrd’s classic thrash (metal), and Zandelle is prog/power metal… CP: …and Phoenix Reign at the end. MB: How did the show get put together…get organized. Was there a lot of hard work involved? CP: Of course, there was a lot of hard work. Theresa reached out to Martyrd, Billy reached out to Zandelle and the Rob Balducci band. They were all willing to play…of course a lot of hard work to put this together just to get four different bands in a venue in Astoria, Queens, where not a lot of metal happens too much in Astoria, Queens, unfortunately. Theresa Gaffney (TG): Yeah. Not too many clubs for that. BC: Or in CP: Or in BC: ..in the city! MB: It’s been about 2 and a half years since we have gotten to speak to you. Since then you have released the album Destination Unknown. What kind of feedback have you received from fans and press about the album? Wayne Noon (WN): (sarcastically) They all hated it. TG: *laughs* MB: CP: They enjoyed it, they enjoyed it very much. They enjoyed Theresa’s vocals, calling her the little sister of… BC:…Bruce Dickinson…Pat Benatar… CP: …Bruce Dickinson… WN: They liked the production this time. CP: They did like the production. TG: Yeah, they didn’t like (the production of) the demo. *laughs* BC: We were in Metal Maniacs (heavy metal magazine)…Metal Maniacs did an awesome review on it, and then they went out of business. *laughs* The support for the album has been good, you know, as far as the press goes. WN: Very positive. MB: What about record labels? BC: Record labels don’t exist…*laughs* CP: In BC: They have (the album) at the major metal stores in TG: Distributors? Sentinel Steel…The End Records was distributing us, a few other ones…some in CP: They all wrote positively about the bassist. *all laugh* TG: Yes. They loved Chris.*laughs* MB: You are included on the Sonic Cathedral compilation A World of Sirens. How did you get in touch with Sonic Cathedral? BC: You guys referred us to John Wolff at Sonic Cathedral. They represent female fronted metal bands, and obviously we fit that bill. They help us out…they do as much as they can to help us out, and they like the music. MB: The song “ BC: The song is basically about what happens to the Emperor Palaeologos, who was the last emperor of the Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire, it’s about the last few days right before the invasion (by the Ottoman Turkish Empire). It’s about what happens to his guards, what happens at the court, and what happens at the walls right as the enemy lays siege to the city and captures everybody, and he dies heroically…as another medieval Spartan Leonidas. That’s basically the story there. MB: Musically, it had to be quite a challenge to put the song together in the studio. What were the biggest challenges you faced putting the song together? WN: Like, you mean, how long it took to record in studio? A couple of hours! CP: That was just for your drums! Because the song is about twelve minutes long… WN: Remember when we did the click track, and it was all messed up, and we had to do it live! BC: The easiest was actually the ethnic instruments. *laughs* Everything else was very intricate. CP: That, in total, might have taken us a month, even, from beginning to end with the vocals… BC: The layering, the choir parts… TG: Yeah, getting the outside performers… CP: We maxed out all of our tracks on that one. TG: Pro-Tools was crunching away there! MB: (To Theresa) What about vocally, was it a big challenge? TG: Yeah, because it’s so dynamic. You gotta go from a very ethereal style for the beginning. I worked with my friend Melissa Iancono on the backing vocals on some of the operatic parts. So, we did a couple of takes on just that alone and then, obviously, there’s the main track vocals for the more hard rock stuff. So, you have to listen to it…different dynamics, I had to do that a couple of times. That was over a couple of days, at least. BC: We got acoustic guitars in there, we got a lot of different layers of stuff. MB: How did you all become interested in history as musical subject matter? TG: Well, we’re not the first to do it, I mean, a lot of us just gravitated towards music with an open mind to it (history) like Iron Maiden or Grave Digger…bands like that who approached it with taste and style. Also, just the fact that a lot of work in our personal lives is done in history…whether it’s Billy and myself who have degrees in it, or Chris who is interested in it. It just all seemed to come together in a more natural way than anything. It’s not like something we necessarily planned out…we have a lot of songs that aren’t historically based, but the ones that have basis…now we have “Legend of Alexander”, we have a lot of stuff we’ve worked on that for us just seems to flow naturally…an expression of self. CP: Music provides the avenue to tell the story of history to kids, because when they go to history class, they’re bored. They fall asleep. But, when you listen to music, it’s a different medium that they can pick up lessons from. BC: I had my brother, I think, when I was 9, or 8...he came, put these headphones on me…going like “You have to hear this!” it’s “Flight of Icarus” and other one was “Alexander The Great” from Iron Maiden, and I’m like “Oh My God!”, and that was it! MB: Do you see songs that you have written, like “ CP: You got the audio there, if you can add some visual to it…you could cover all the learning modes of these kids, so, absolutely, you can. BC: Music is the way. MB: The song also inspired you to make a long form video/movie. Can you tell us about the making of the video? On the set of the video shoot for the song “ CP: Yes, on http://www.blacktuesday1453.com, you can check out the website. We have the “Making Of” and there’s a trailer on it. We got together with a cast of about 50 to put together this music video… TG: A lot of them are here tonight. CP: Yes…checking out the show. Very hard work, but in the end a very nice product came out of this. BC: It’s living history coming to life through music, basically. Costumes…cool stuff. CP: And it’s all research based…historically based. All those costumes used were the costumes used back in the 1400’s. MB: You’ve built up a relationship with a performance group called The Greek Warriors. How did that come about? BC: Actually, our director and our friend and partner, Peter Giakoumis…he’s a co-founder of the organization, which was in our organization 10 years ago. He’s a costume and an armor expert. We wanted to do a medieval organization out of the Greek Warriors, and “ MB: Has the band been working on any new material that touches on historical subjects? TG: I just mentioned “Legend of Alexander”…so that’s one…but… CP: We have “The Odyssey”… TG: “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad” are based on poems by Homer. So, yeah, we’re still working on them…they’re done, but at the same time we’d still like to get them…because they’re not on albums yet…the final product, on the next album, whenever that is…I’m looking forward to hearing it. MB: Given the hard times we are having right now, I know it is a challenge to keep an independent band running. What inspires you to keep going and what drives you to succeed when times get tough? TG: The fact that we’ve never really been in it for the money helps still, because, you know, if you start off with the right attitude that you’re in this to love the music, it’s not going to change in hard times. It might be a little more difficult to play certain shows, and get people to attend them, but we’re getting a healthy turnout tonight. We’re charging only 10 dollars at the door, so we’re being economically minded. We’re doing it ourselves…it’s always been that way and we’re taking that approach a lot more to heart now. You’ve gotta stand on your own two feet, you can’t depend on others so much. BC: Basically it is very hard to get gigs, to get a lot of stuff in MB: Do you have any idea when we can expect some new Phoenix Reign material? CP: This is the beginning of it, and hopefully we will start laying down some tracks. We have a lot of new material that we are going to play tonight and hopefully we will start laying down some tracks down for that. By fall stuff should be in the works. MB: Thanks a lot guys! I know this has been a challenge with all the goings on tonight. Do you have any closing thoughts? CP: We thank people like you who keep the metal scene alive because it is a struggling field, but you keep it alive and you get us out there and we owe a lot to you. Thank You. TG: Thank you. Thanks a million, After many delays, we are blessed to finally bring you an interview with an exciting young band…WISTERIA! They have an interesting progressive death metal vibe that will excite many fans of bands like Death and Opeth. Wisteria has already released one demo and we recommend it to all of our readers! We asked Wisteria about their musical influences and many other things in this great interview. Sadly, we also learn of a lineup change, as guitarist Matt Rossa has decided to pursue other musical interests. However, Matt was kind enough to answer the questions we sent him and we have decided to include them as he is a crucial part to the Wisteria story. We hope you enjoy the interview!
Wisteria in 2007 (from left to right): Matt Rossa (guitar), Shawnt Gregorian (drums), Alex Weber (bass/lead vocals), Billy Pizarro (guitar). In the last year, Wisteria has had the honor of opening for the legendary band Candlemass and Finnish power metal giants Sonata Arctica. Matthew Bankes (MB): Hello everyone in Wisteria! Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions. I think you are one of the most unique metal acts I have heard since starting this webzine, and I am glad I could finally catch up with you! How has everyone been and have there been any exciting developments with the band lately? Shawnt Gregorian (SG): Hello Matt, everything is fine here. On some news though, our guitarist Matt (Rossa) has decided to leave the band. We support him in his new projects and will always be family to us. We recently opened for Candlemass in May and Sonata Arctica in August. I think we've all been growing musically. That’s always an exciting developing moment if you ask me. I think we're just trying to find our niche/sound still. MB: I want to try and get to know everyone better first before we dive into the music. How did you all get introduced to music and how did you get interested in music? SG: We have all been around music from an early age. Our families would have to be the reason that we all are playing music. All of them have been involved in music one way or another, which has influenced all of us personally. MB: Once you all got interested in music, I'm sure sooner or later the musician bug bit. When did you all first pick up an instrument and seriously decide to pursue being a musician? SG: I was about ten years old when I decided to start playing music seriously. I remember hearing the song “Everlasting Gaze” by The Smashing Pumpkins and remember wanting to learn how the drummer was playing the drums because it sounded so cool to me.
Billy Pizarro (BP): I started playing piano when I was seven years old. Played for about four years I believe. Then, I just kind of lost interest. Not because it was boring though. I think I just wasn't mature enough to fully appreciate what I was learning. Then I tried playing violin for a year. Love the way the instrument sounds but it just wasn't for me. Then I picked up the guitar when I was 13. I started playing because my best friend at the time was taking lessons and we thought it'd be fun to jam together. The first year of my playing I didn't take seriously. I never practiced. Then I was introduced to Black Sabbath. Tony Iommi was a huge influence after that. That’s when I really started to take it seriously. Alex Weber (AW): I picked up the bass in a kind of weird way. Around middle school, I wanted to learn how to play one of the typical band Matt Rossa (MR): I started playing at the age of 11 and developed a habit of practicing several hours a day. Since then I have developed a strong connection to artistic outlet. Music will always be there for me. MB: What bands were the first rock and metal bands that you became interested in? SG: The first rock bands I really got into were Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Deep Purple. When I switched gears into heavier music, (the bands) I had first gotten into were Sepultura, Carcass, Death, Anthrax, and Megadeth. BP: I remember my first CD ever was To the Faithful Departed by The Cranberries... not sure why (laughs). But the first bands I was into were your typical bands... Sabbath, Ozzy, Zeppelin, Cream, Metallica, Rainbow...stuff like that.
AW: When I first got into bass, I was into bands like Green Day and Less Than Jake and all the other mainstream rock bands of the time. But then I started checking out heavier bands like Mudvayne and System of a Down. Those bands left a big influence on me and actually the bass player of Mudvayne is still a big influence on me today. After that, I was introduced to underground metal like Death and Helloween by Billy and all the rest is history. MR: In Flames, Children of Bodom, Behemoth, Sonata Arctica and a few others. The albums I got my hands on back then are sentimental to me, but I hardly listen to them anymore. MB: How did you all meet and how did Wisteria come together? SG: Wisteria had already been formed years ago, with a completely different lineup. At that time we were still younger and played a more thrash/old school death metal kind of style. Throughout time, some changes were made and the final lineup with who we are now was pretty much finalized in early 2005. MB: I have to ask this question: The name Wisteria...I noticed when I was down in your hometown of Germantown, Maryland for a show that there was a street called Wisteria Drive...this may sound strange but did that influence your decision in naming the band? SG: Yes, during our first lineup as Wisteria, we all lived off of the street and thought it would be pretty cool and amusing to give ourselves that name. Later on we also realized it is a good way for us to kind of represent our hometown and where our roots originated from. MB: Wisteria has a very unique sound that not only touches on many forms of melodic but also more extreme metal styles. What different styles do you mix to create your unique sound? SG: We all have different tastes and of music and styles. When we try to write something, we usually pick a kind of background or atmosphere for each song, whether it is mellow like jazz or extreme and chaotic like death metal. It can be a benefit because we are not limited to one style of music, as cliché as that may sound, but it does give us an advantage of picking a direction where to go for the next creation. MB: Another really cool and interesting facet of Wisteria is your diverse ethnic backgrounds. It is always great to hear of bands who add a bit of their heritage to the music because of the flavor it adds. Can you tell me more about your unique and diverse backgrounds, and how have they influenced you musically? SG: We enjoy picking things up from different cultures and their music. More recently we have been using Armenian folk music and modernizing it for songs. Billy is also from MB: Alex, what bassists have influenced your style and what vocalists have influenced you? AW: One of my biggest influences is Jaco Pastorius. That dude could play the bass like no one else ever could and probably ever will. Also bass players like Steve DiGiorgio, Ryan Martinie, Victor Wooten and Jeff Berlin have influenced my playing and my tone. For vocalists, Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth is probably my biggest one because of his versatility, flawless tone, and his in-depth lyrics. Also Chuck Schuldiner from Death and Michael Nicklasson from Dark Tranquility are big influences on me.
MB: Billy and Matt, what guitarists have been inspirations for you? BP: My influences have really changed over the years. Some artists don't even include the guitar or guitar-driven music. I’ve also become pretty influenced by movies and soundtracks. I'll just name some of my recent favorites: David Gilmour - Pink Floyd MR: Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom guitarist/frontman) was a huge influence, along with most of the fast-playing guitarists out there. I would rather listen to a meaningful chord than fast guitar playing now, though. Lately other instruments have been a huge influence on playing guitar. Billy and the guys really started this whole change I’ve had when we started jamming together a few years ago. MB: Shawnt, what drummers have influenced you? SG: Igor Cavalera (ex-Sepultura drummer) has had the most influential style of drumming for me since the early days of the band. I also really look up to Jason Rullo from Symphony X and Trymm from Emperor. MB: I think your first EP is excellent and I look forward to more recordings from you in the future. Tell me about the song writing process for it and how the songs came together and where did you record it? AW: For the first EP I don’t think there was much of a process. At that time I think we were just trying to write songs and find our sound. The songs mostly came together from riffs I had come up with and us just piecing them together. Shawnt had a lot to do with some of the riffs on that EP as well. We recorded it with Keny Ruyter in his home studio. It took a few months if my memory serves right. It was nice working with him on that EP. He was a fun guy. MB: I think the cover of the Death song "The Philosopher" is excellent! How did you decide to cover that song and do you have any other favorite songs that you plan on covering live or in the studio? SG: We actually first kind of starting jamming “The Philosopher” for fun in between songs at practice and decided that we like how we play it. We then thought it would be a real cool song to play live. As far as other covers, we covered “Gothic” by Paradise Lost at the recent show we played with Sonata Arctica. It is probably a new favorite of mine to play now. MB: What has been the most memorable show that you have played so far? SG: The most memorable so far has been with Sonata Arctica in August. A lot of our friends and family were there to see us which just made it a better experience for us. It was also the largest crowd we have ever played for. It was overall a good time. MB: Do you have any future recording plans? SG: We are anxious to record the songs we have been playing for the past year. There are three new originals that we think are something different from our last EP, something we would prefer to be available over our last demo. MB: Now for something a little different for all of you. If you could pick three albums as your all time favorites, what would they be? SG: 1. Amorphis - Elegy 2. Nachtmystium - Instict: Decay 3. Ara Gevorgian - Ani AW: Definitely Heavy Weather by Weather Report, ObZen by Meshuggah, and Symbolic by Death. There are so many other albums that could be in their places, but I think those top them all. MR: 1. Tool - Lateralus 2. King Crimson - Discipline 3. Meshuggah - Nothing BP: That’s a ridiculously hard question but I’ll do my best. I’ll just name my most recent favorites. Alternative 4 by Anathema
Matt Rossa (photo courtesy of Wisteria) MB: There are many great bands in the SG: We love playing with bands that we are close friends with. We always love to play with Debelia! Debelia! and Azrael. They are our favorite bands and friends to play with. We have yet to play with some of the other big names like Odin’s Court and Division; we would love to share the stage any day with them. MB: What does the future hold for Wisteria? What can we expect from you in the coming months and years? SG: There will be new music, new updates and changes within the band. MB: Thank you all for taking the time to answer these questions and we wish you all the best of luck and success. Do you all have anything you would like to add as a closing statement for our readers? SG: We would just like to give a big thank you to the many people who have supported us by coming to our shows, buying our merch, spreading the word about us, and just being good friends to us. There is not much more we could ask for and we are grateful for all of that support.
Thanks so much, Wisteria! We are very grateful that you granted us this interview as it has been a long time coming. We wish you all the best and we also wish Matt Rossa the best in his future endeavors. Hopefully when he has a new project he will get in touch with us. As for the rest of Wisteria, we wish them luck in finding a replacement for Matt and we hope that they continue to press on and continue to refine their unique brand of death metal! |
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