Joey Daub (of Fountain Of Tears) - July 2007

Fountain Of Tears (pictured left to right): Jeff King - keyboards, Mike DiDonato - guitar, Vonnie King - vocals, Joey Daub - drums, Erik Ney - bass guitar. Fountain Of Tears possesses abundant talent and a one-of-a-kind sound that is sure to delight gothic and progressive metal fans everywhere. (photo courtesy of Joey Daub)

In June 2007, Matt went to nearby Rexmont, PA to interview Joey Daub, the drummer for Lancaster-based Fountain Of Tears, a gothic/progressive metal band who’s unique sound defies conventional labels. Daub is no stranger to the metal world, as he was one of the founding members of the Dove Award nominated Christian metal band Believer, and has done production work with bands like Earth Crisis and Living Sacrifice.

In the interview, we discussed Fountain Of Tears and their new album Fate, as well as his past work and his other side projects (including writing new Believer material). It was a great interview and we here at RFUSA are excited to bring it to you, the fans! Read on…

Matthew Bankes (MB): At what time in your life did you get interested in playing music?

Joey Daub (JD): I have been interested in music since I was a young kid (laughs). My cousin and I used to put the records on, and one would be air-drumming and the other would grab a pool cue or a tennis racket. I just always had a knack for music, it was just something that I always loved. In 4^th grade I started playing the trumpet, so there’s a little gist of things. Played that my whole way though school, high school, everything. As far as getting interested in music it was definitely at a young age.

MB: When did you get interested in rock and metal music?

JD: That probably came a little later. Growing up, I was into Kiss…that was kind of like the heavy stuff at first which is pretty much the same way it is for a lot of people. I also really had an interest in the progressive bands. I loved Yes, Steely Dan…

MB: I love Steely Dan!

JD: Steely Dan is the bomb. Then you get into the…I guess you could call it progressive…it wasn’t so much in the mainstream…like Kansas, Boston, ELO. I really started to get into the metal stuff when I was probably close to an early teenager. I’d always go to the import section…looking in the imports “Oh. What metal’s out there?” and you had Iron Maiden, Saxon, Savatage and stuff like that. Then it just got progressively heavier. I still to this day love death metal, speed, thrash, grind core…all that stuff.

MB: What was the first band you ever joined?

JD: Believer was the first band that I ever played out with, and it wasn’t really a “join”, it was a “form”. It was a band that was formed. Around that time I also, with one of the guys from Believer, we formed a hardcore band called Malevalent Hoax, and we went out and played the hardcore scene for a little bit.

MB: You were one of the founding members of the well-respected Christian metal band Believer. How did that all come together and what was the experience like?

JD: Kurt Bachman, who was the co-founder, and myself had been playing in basement bands for quite a while. We just weren’t finding anybody really cool to jam with so Kurt and I decided to form this band that had a little different take on lyrical content. Kurt and I actually formed Believer and did our very first demo which was more of a power metal…kind of stuff…the early Yngwie Malmsteen kind of jam stuff, and we actually did all the recording ourselves, just the two of us. Obviously it changed as we added members and our direction changed, so we got to the current lineup that was on the first record (Extraction From Mortality) and we did a demo…people got interested…boom! We got picked up by a record company for the second and third albums. Then Roadrunner Records got interested and got in touch with us. That was a run from ‘86 to ‘93 I believe.

MB: Did pretty well, obviously. I see the award up there on the wall…”Congratulations on your 1994 Metal Album of the Year” Dove Award nomination (for their 3^rd album Dimensions). That’s pretty heavy stuff!

JD: Yeah. We were very excited. For those who don’t know, The Dove Award is just like a Christian Grammy award, more or less. Our second album Sanity Obscure and (the third album) Dimensions were both on REX, which was an exclusive Christian label, but they were also on Roadrunner, so we got nominated for a Dove through the REX version of Dimensions, which wasn’t really much different. We didn’t win, but it was still cool to be nominated.

MB: It’s like, people have to bring their earplugs! You’re up there with people like Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant! Might be a little loud for them.

JD: Actually, it’s funny you say that because at the awards ceremony…we drove down to Nashville and at the awards ceremony, Amy Grant was the host. It was an honor to be thought of for it (the Dove award).

MB: After the dissolution of Believer, what musical projects did you involve yourself with?

JD: I had been doing a different variety of recording as far as the actual recording process, more so than a studio player. I recorded some records for different labels. We did Earth Crisis’ renowned album, which I still think is an amazing album…not because we did it, but because it’s just a great record, which was Destroy The Machines. Also did Living Sacrifice’s Inhabit, and some other things. I was just hanging out with a friend of mine and I did, myself, some different studio drum tracks to just try and keep my chops in. I did anything from 70’s smooth sounding rock stuff to a little bit more progressive vibe stuff…just kind of keeping myself going with doing some studio drumming.

MB: When and how did Fountain Of Tears come together?

JD: I believe the inception of Fountain Of Tears was around 1995. Jeff King (keyboards) and Erik Ney (bass guitar) had been together in some bands, and they kind of decided to break off on their own and start writing material. So, they had been writing material, and then they hooked up with Mike DiDonato (guitars) who had played guitar with Erik in a previous band, Sacrament, which was, again, another REX band that Believer had played shows with and stuff so we were good friends. They had come to me shortly after that inception looking for a drummer. At the time I was very consumed…I was racing mountain bikes at that time…I was very consumed by that, and they were asking me if I knew anyone. I guess I was just kind of stupid at that point, and I was just like “Well, I’ll keep an eye open!”. Hence down the road, I guess about a year or so…they were like “Ok, well, How about you? Do you wanna play drums in this?”. So, what initially happened was we got together, the four of us, as an instrumental unit. The plan was to record just an instrumental CD of some songs. Then actually Erik had come across Anna DeRose (original vocalist) and we had tossed around the concept of putting a female vocalist in there. That’s what happened. We recorded the vocals and released the EP which, we were still in a project band state at the time. We released the EP out there as a project band and we got a very good response from it, actually, except for it was too short. It was the 5 songs with vocals, and the same 5 songs the original way, without vocals.

MB: How would you describe the sound of Fountain Of Tears to someone who hasn’t heard you yet? The sound is very unique, it’s very hard to describe.

JD: That is a very difficult question because we have been asked that so many times. We get pigeonholed into the Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Stream Of Passion, kinda Nightwish…I think more so the other strictly female vocal bands. I feel we have our own kind of sound.

MB: You do.

JD: And that’s what makes it difficult to describe exactly. I would say we’re a cross between goth/prog/symphonic. It’s so hard, you know, because you could say metal, but metal is such a term that certain people are like “Oh, they’re not metal!”, but then other people say “Yeah, they’re like female fronted metal!”. So, we’re not the real heavy, dirge-y metal with an operatic singer. It’s very difficult to pinpoint that.

MB: I’m still working on the review actually, it’s a very challenging album to pin down. You do have your own sound, and that is what makes Fountain Of Tears so unique. You can’t really say “this is a Nightwish clone” or a Lacuna Coil clone. It’s actually a Fountain Of Tears original. You do have a very original sound.

JD: Thank you. I’m really glad that you see that. What we have had is certain reviews that people tend to say “Well, the guitars aren’t heavy enough” or “The vocals aren’t strong enough”. My biggest beef with that is we’re not trying to be anyone else. The way the disc (Fate) is pretty much 99.2 percent the way we wanted it to be and the way we wanted it to sound. It’s supposed to be kind of an airy…Actually I have a description card that I can read that describes Fountain Of Tears the best.

MB: You all were able to put together a fantastic group of musicians with really strong credentials for Fountain Of Tears. What is it like to work with them?

JD: Oh, it’s absolutely mind-blowing. Each individual that is within the band has their own style, and that’s what I feel is so unique and so cool about it. Erik (Ney, bass guitar) has just his own way of playing, which a lot of people don’t understand (laughs). It’s very percussive. Mike (DiDonato, guitars) is one of those guitar players who totally plays outside the box, not just within the leads, but also rhythms. Jeff (King, keyboards) is just such a phenomenal keyboard player…classically trained, and I think that’s what really helps add to Fountain Of Tears’ sound, the way he manipulates the piano and the keyboard together. Vonnie (King, vocals) just adds such a soulful tone to the music that’s different from the majority of the stuff. Like I said, one of the closest bands I think we could be compared to would be Stream Of Passion, because Marcela Bovio’s voice is just so different.

MB: Speaking of Vonnie King…I’m going out of order here…How did she end up joining the band?

JD: I’ll back up a little bit here, if you don’t mind. After we put out the five-song EP, time went on and we were doing some promotion for it, trying to sell it. Then we more or less…well, actually I came to the guys and I was like “You know what, let’s turn this from a project into a band.” We all kind of agreed, I’m not saying I was the one that decided that.

MB: Oh, no, not at all.

JD: From there we started searching for vocalists, which was a nightmare! If you have ever seen American Idol, and you see the crazy people that come in there, that’s virtually what we had to deal with at certain times. People were convinced they could sing, and they couldn’t. It actually was a very hard process. Right when we were about ready to settle on someone, we had one more tryout, which was Vonnie, and she came in, and she sang an Alicia Keys song acapella, and we were like “Wow, this girl can sing”. So, we laid it out there for her, and it was up to her to make the choice. We heard back from her, and that was that. Prior to this, she actually sang in an all girl band called R Angels, which was signed to Motown Records. If you have, and she’ll kill me for saying this, if you have the Stuart Little (movie starring Geena Davis and Michael J. Fox) DVD, they have a song that’s on that Stuart Little soundtrack (“I’ll Be There For You”) and the video is actually on there and Vonnie is in there with the other 3 girls, and they have the video for this song. Every time I see it, it just cracks me up.

MB: Do you think the sound of Fountain Of Tears has evolved since the first EP back in 1999?

JD: Yeah, absolutely. When the material for the EP came along, it was more or less already written, and I put drums to it. But, with the inception of Fate, some of the songs and ideas were kind of stuck in storage and we broke ‘em out but then we also wrote together. I think all of us writing together and putting forth our individual input has just totally made us grow as songwriters and as musicians…playing with good guys around you, it makes you just play better and be more creative, I feel.

MB: Can you give us a description of the album Fate?

JD: There’s really not a concept to it per se. Some of the songs were written strictly from a fantasy point of view, some of the songs were written from life experience and just what’s going on. It kind of deals with a lot of emotions, a lot of different emotions I think is probably the best way to relate the album.

MB: What’s your favorite song off the album if you had to pick one?

JD: I’d say it’s probably a cross between “Falling” and “Fate”, and the reason I say “Fate” is because that song…well, lyrically, I wrote that song more or less about a friend of mine so it has a stronger place in my heart. I do like the way it feels as well. Not to sound like a jerk, but, I think all the songs on the album are good. I really enjoy writing them and playing them, and I think they are good songs.

MB: Where did you record the album and what was the experience like for you and the band?

JD: We recorded the majority of the tracks where we are right now, here, at my studio which I call Trauma Studios. Some other tracks were recorded at Jeff King’s studio which he calls The Kauldron (in Lancaster, PA). The vocals were actually tracked at a place called The Studio in Philadelphia, PA, and we also mixed there. We tracked vocals there because we wanted to get an outside person to try and…you always hear about people saying “Oh, we worked with so and so and he was able to pull more out of the vocalist”, so knowing the engineer, Jim Bottari, at The Studio, and knowing he dealt with a lot of female R & B vocalists, we used him to see if he could pull some more from Vonnie and get some more input as far as harmonies or whatever. The experience was good and bad, I won’t lie. It was definitely not the experience I’m used to with recording previous CD’s and stuff I’d been on with Believer and stuff. It was a long process. It probably took us between two and three years to actually do. A lot of that has to do with people being able to come in and cut some tracks and time issues with individuals. When it came down to mixing and cutting vocals we were on someone else’s time, whereas here, it’s my house, I can maneuver my schedule and get you in whenever you’re available. That kind of aspect was a little unnerving, but it’s good. When you hear the end result…when we sat down to listen to it, and also having it mastered in The Netherlands…

MB: I was about to ask you about that. That’s cool that you got it mastered in The Netherlands!

JD: Actually, we did some research, and Peter Van’t Riet…we enjoyed the stuff he did. He mastered some of the After Forever, Stream Of Passion, he did some Symphony X, I think he did some Saga, he did a lot of mastering and we really liked his touch so we had actually got in touch with him and sent it over, asked him if he was willing to do it, and it was good. He was just very gracious and very good to work with.

MB: What has been the critical response to Fate? Has it received good press?

JD: It say for the most part it has been phenomenal. Really, It has been great. There were a couple reviews that were done that said stuff like I touched on earlier, like they’re critiquing it, looking at it like we’re coming in and trying to be Nightwish, or trying to be After Forever or Epica. I just kind of take that with a grain of salt because the bottom line is if people genuinely don’t like it, I don’t have a problem with that. But when people go about it like “Well, the vocals aren’t strong enough” I mean, again, we’re not trying to be someone that’s out there. We’re trying to be who we are and who we feel. But, I think for the most part it has been awesome.

MB: Do you have any touring plans now that Fate is out?

JD: We’re working on that. Summers are always difficult when you have a band that has people that rely on an income (laughs). Not to sound ignorant or stupid there, but we have homes, and it’s one of those things. So, what we are trying to do is we want to strategically put together shows that we can all be comfortable with. There’s some good tours coming out in the fall…Nightwish is going to be out, Epica, Leaves’ Eyes…there’s a lot of stuff that’s out there. If there is a possibility for us to maybe tap on to some shows or something, that would be great. We’re definitely in the works, it just might take a little bit. We’re going to try to throw some local gigs in there. Again, with all original music, most of the venues that used to have it in this area…don’t have it anymore. But there’s some new ones popping up, which is good, so we’re feeling it out and we’ll be getting out there eventually. We just want to make sure when we get out, we take everybody for a ride…like “Wow, this is good. This is better than the disc!”

MB: What has been the most memorable show that you have done in Fountain Of Tears?

JD: We’ve had some decent shows. Playing for the first time at the new Grape Street in Philadelphia was really cool. Actually, playing at the old Grape Street for the very first time was awesome too. It’s just fun to get up there and play, be on your game and play, and have people really stop. One thing I have noticed when we play these clubs is the majority of the people have no idea who we are. So when we get up on stage and we have a female singer they kind of get intrigued. Once we start playing, and you look out in the crowd and you actually see people sitting there not talking, and just kind of paying attention, which is what we want to do. We want to capture people. That’s a good feeling.

MB: In your whole musical career, have you done any really memorable shows that stick out in your mind?

JD: Oh yeah. I’d say, with Believer, we were over in Europe for three weeks or so back in ‘92 and that was great being over there playing for people that are so far away from us and were just so into us. Also, prior to, more or less, the disbanding of Believer, right before Dimensions would be recorded, we went out and did a 4 month run with Bolt Thrower and Sacrifice which was a great U.S. tour for us. We had a very good time with it, picked up new fans, and it was just good.

MB: Living in Central Pennsylvania, have you found it hard to locate venues that will host original acts?

JD: Yeah. It’s difficult because the one thing I’ve never done is that I’ve never been in a cover band. I’ve never played covers. Fountain Of Tears has never played covers. Believer has never played covers. So, back in the Believer days you had a bunch of people that would put on shows…I mean they still do it now, but they put on shows at a VFW or whatever. Yeah, it’s tough. The Croc Rock in Allentown, PA, they book a lot of original bands, I guess the Sterling Hotel in Allentown does that too. The Chameleon in Lancaster, the Champion Ship (in Lemoyne, PA), but there again, Fountain Of Tears is one of those bands…we’re not “emo” and we’re not “metal”…straight up metal. We’re kind of an oddity to get booked in because we’re not emo, but we’re not hardcore or brutal metal. It’s tough for us but hopefully we’ll be able to tap into certain bands that will work with us, that we can get shows within the area.

MB: What drummers have been a big influence on your style?

JD: There’s so many. The one thing I do want to say is I pick up anything from anybody. Everybody out there would influence me one way or another. Probably the biggest influences, well, my earlier drumming with the style of power metal, would be the drummers from Iron Maiden, whether it be Clive Burr or Nicko McBrain. Anders Johannson, who played drums for Yngwie, and then of course Lars Ulrich is in there, he has to be. The Dark Angel days with Gene Hoglan…awesome. The list just goes on as far as the heavy guys. Obviously Neal Peart is an influence to all drummers, I would say. A lot of jazz guys…there is just so many. Alex Holzwarth from Sieges Even is just amazing, and of course Mike Portnoy.

MB: What are your favorite bands and artists to listen to?

JD: You could always pretty much catch me listening to anything from Dream Theater…early or new. Steely Dan, Sieges Even, Fates Warning, Rush, Yes. I love Devin Townsend too, Strapping Young Lad, all of Devin’s solo stuff. There’s just so much stuff. I could go from one extreme to another.

MB: All right! Same here, man!

JD: Portishead, I’ll put in some Portishead. I’ll listen to The Gathering, listen to Bjork, next thing you know I’ll be listening to Into The Moat.

MB: If you could pick 3 albums to take with you to a desert island, what would they be?

JD: Let’s see. The Pet Shop Boys discography. That will soothe all kinds. I will just have to say a Dream Theater album. It might be Train Of Thought, it might be the new one (Systematic Chaos), I don’t know. I’d have to say a real heavy album like Carcass’ Heartwork or something, or a Death album.

MB: I’m the same way. I could listen to Dead Or Alive, the dance group from the 1980’s who did “You Spin Me Right Round” and then I could listen to Slayer or Therion…things like that, then back to Steely Dan, Saga, Rush. I’ve been listening to a lot of Steely Dan lately.

JD: Oh yeah, that would be tough there. I would have to make it four because I would have to take a Steely Dan album along too. I would have to say my favorite Steely Dan album would have to be Aja.

MB: I read on your website that you have an instrumental side project in the works. Could you tell us about that?

JD: Yeah. The keyboardist from Fountain Of Tears, Jeff King, and myself are doing kind of a…here it is again. You try to explain it but it‘s really difficult. I would say it‘s kind of like a “rock fusion” rather than jazz fusion…”rock jazz fusion”. The stuff’s kind of in the vein of Liquid Tension Experiment, Allan Holdsworth, Steely Dan, Derek Sherinian stuff…that’s another one. It’s kind of in that vein. We have a bunch of ideas down which we are moving along, but since I’m involved in writing a new Believer album as well…

MB: Whoa, whoa, whoa! So what I saw on Wikipedia wasn’t a typo! You are writing a new Believer album! Awesome, that’s excellent!

JD: Having said that, the project, which is called Year Of Plenty, is kind of put on a little hiatus now, but we’re definitely going to continue to do it and it will be finished and put out down the road.

MB: You just said you were writing for a new Believer album. How did a Believer reunion come about?

JD: Kurt and I have been toying with the idea for a while, just to get back and see if our chemistry was there, and we were just interested in writing again. So we actually got together a year ago and we just started fiddling around a little bit, and we came up with some ideas, and we decided that “Hey, let’s pursue this” and it just kind of floated around as things were getting solidified with the Fate album. Now that’s all done and out of the way, Kurt and I have been getting together on a regular basis. We have about six tunes…yeah. It’s all good. It’s kind of picked up 14 years later where we left off.

MB: Has Fountain Of Tears written any new material lately, and do you have any idea when a new album will be on the horizon?

JD: No. Actually, our main focus up to this point was to really concentrate on getting the disc done and get it out, and then concentrate on our stage show and our live performance, and then get out there and continue to push Fate. With my involvement in Believer and other side projects, there’s really no need at this point to even start writing new material yet because we really want to get out with a bang with the Fate album.

MB: Thanks a lot for your time, Joey. It’s been a lot of fun talking to you. Can you give us a closing statement for our readers?

JD: One thing I would like to say: We did just recently sign a worldwide distribution deal with Nightmare Records which is very cool. Lance (King, head of Nightmare Records) has been awesome. We are also getting hooked up with Silent Planet Promotions, too, which is good. They seem to be really excited about working with us. That’s really good on that note. My biggest thing I need to say about Fountain Of Tears and to those potential listeners out there is what you had said earlier. I think people need to really give Fate the benefit of the doubt. This is definitely one of those discs that there’s a lot going on, and maybe after the first listen it’s not all sinking in, and by maybe the second or third listen there’s really a lot of stuff in there that really tugs at your ear, and that’s from my own experience, even recording the disc! (laughs) I feel that I should state one other thing, just because this is a question that is brought up to us a lot, and that was the situation between whether Fountain Of Tears is a Christian band or not. Fountain Of Tears is not a Christian band. There are Christians within the band but people have brought up the question because “Well, I’m just curious because of Believer, Sardonyx and Sacrament. Is it a Christian band?”. The band does not promote religion. It’s music. It’s a bunch of talented musicians that got together, and within those talented musicians they asked me to join. (laughs) We’re just playing music and writing about fantasy things and real life experiences and emotions, whatever. I just hope people will enjoy it, and I also just hope they take away from it what they want to take away from it. Hopefully they just enjoy it.

Thanks a lot Joey! It was a pleasure interviewing you and we had a lot of fun talking music and just hanging out in Trauma Studios. We look forward to the rise of Fountain Of Tears, as well as the reformation of Believer and we also wish you the best of luck in all of your other projects. Joey Daub is a great person and a great musician, and Fountain Of Tears has a sound that truly has to be experienced. Open your ears and your mind, and you will truly be amazed.

If you want to check out Fountain Of Tears, visit them on the web at http://www.fountainoftears.com and be sure to purchase the new album Fate, which is also available on iTunes! Stay tuned to RFUSA for a review of Fate, which is coming soon! You can also visit Joey Daub on the web at http://www.joeydaub.com!