by Alexandra Mrozowska
— Senior Columnist —
The general assumption about the ‘80s Hard Rock scene is that it was style over substance and perhaps that’s why the genre is more often thought of in fashion terms rather than in terms of content. Snooty music scholars minded on criticizing everything that was “in” then may for instance argue that almost all songs of the era revolved around parties, love and sex. Well, maybe with certain yet rare exceptions to this perfect soundtrack to reckless youth in the Reagan era, like Poison’s “Something To Believe In” or Warrant’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Still, nine out of ten people remember Poison more for “Talk Dirty To Me” and Warrant for “Cherry Pie” or “Heaven.” It’s a bit more of a variety with contemporary bands though.
Although inspired much both with the ‘80s sound and the aesthetics of the era, they’re not shy of more serious subject matter every once in a while – from political to social issues.
One of them is the Wicked Smile led by mastermind and main songwriter Stevie Janevski. Having already released a bunch of singles and their first EP Delirium in July 2020, now this group from the Land Down Under is preparing now to march into 2021 with a brand new single and also – a full-length debut currently in the works. Hardrock Haven caught up with Stevie to find out more details about Wicked Smile, collaboration with Paul Laine and Bruno Ravel of Danger Danger and The Defiants and playing Melodic Rock in the land of the mighty AC/DC. And, as it’s supposed to be when two fans of the ‘80s scene get together, to talk some influences as well…
Hardrock Haven: More and more bands that are featured on Hardrock Haven and other webzines these days come from Australia. Is this due to how rapidly the musical scene develops right now, or is it simply better promoted worldwide?
Stevie Janevski: That’s a good question. I think that we in Australia do our best to promote [ourselves] – maybe because we’re a bit far away from the other Rock scenes of the world. But we do work very, very hard and I know with Wicked Smile we try our best to get our music out there and spread the word as much as possible. It’s a tricky question. But I don’t know if we are working harder [than others] – I can’t really say, unfortunately. But we do work hard! (laughs)
Hardrock Haven: (laughs) Speaking of the Australian scene, the obvious AC/DC association makes it a bit difficult to see past this “Aussie pub rock” sound… Do you see a lot of variety when it comes to the local scene?
Stevie Janevski: Absolutely. It’s very true what you said… I love AC/DC, but that’s one of the first things that people get in their head when they think about the Australian Rock music. They think of AC/DC. And it’s a fair point in some way I guess, because this band’s so successful, but I know that in terms of my influences and the band’s influences, there are so many different ones apart from AC/DC… It might be anything from Melodic Rock to Glam Rock to Hard Rock/Heavy Metal or Hair Metal… whatever it’d be. We like a bunch of different music and you put it all together and you end up with Wicked Smile music. So anything from Icon, Dokken, Skid Row, through Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Savatage, Queensrÿche to even heavier stuff… And in general, there is a lot of variety when it comes to the Australian scene – we’ve got lots of Rock acts. For instance my daughter, Cassidy Paris, who’s just turned eighteen years old, she’s a Rock singer and a part of a new movement. And all those Glam Rock bands are here, and it goes all the way to Power Metal to even Death Metal…
Hardrock Haven: And is there any influence of yours or your bandmates’ that your listeners might be surprised with, or any act or genre you’d consider your guilty pleasure?
Stevie Janevski: I’ve been very open for many years. If a song is good or an album is good, then it’s good – no matter what genre. So, whether if it’s an acoustic or if it’s a full-blown electric, you can normally tell if something’s a good song just by the voice of the singer and the good melody. So, I like anything from bands like Loverboy all the way through to the really, really heavy stuff. I’ve grown up with a lot of Heavy Metal bands, like Accept… I also played in a Power Metal band Black Majesty for twenty years, so I know the scene very well, and toured around the world playing with some of these bands and has been fortune enough to play some of the biggest stadiums. As is Danny [Cecati], our singer. He actually came from bands like Pegasus and Eyefear – and Pegasus in particular got to tour overseas with HammerFall, Primal Fear and so on… There’s lots of influences. From me, I guess it’s a lot of the Melodic Rock stuff – I love Rick Springfield too, which surprises some people, but then again I love stuff like Dream Evil as well, which is more Heavy/Power Metal…
Hardrock Haven: With all that ‘80s vibe and some modern touch to Wicked Smile, do you follow other newer bands from other parts of the world and are there any you found particularly impressive?
Stevie Janevski: Yeah, I definitely do. I’ve been a big fan of music before becoming a musician. First of all, from America I really liked the band called the Biters and I like Tuk Smith, their former frontman who’s now gone solo. For other bands, I like the Scandinavian [band] H.E.A.T. which has been around for a while now, as well as Avantasia… But if it’s good, it’s good – it is true. There’s a lot of Scandinavian bands that seem to be dominating the music scene right now, but I’d like to think Australia has many bands too which are definitely up and coming.
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. And speaking of impressive – as this difficult year slowly comes to an end, what do you think are the best albums released in 2020 and why?
Stevie Janevski: I’d probably say one of my favorites is H.E.A.T [H.E.A.T II] – it was just a very consistent album. And it’s gonna be interesting now that the vocalist change all over again as I know they’re going back to who they started it with, but I think Erik Grönwall did a great job and he’s a great singer and a fantastic frontman. Some other stuff that I really liked this year was obviously AC/DC that’s come out recently… I also really like the Vandenberg CD. I think it’s good and I really like [Adrian] Vandenberg as a guitar player for quite a while. And there’s another one by Michael Grant and the Assassins; that’s another favorite. He used to play in a band called Endeverafter and his new CD is a bit more modern than that with perhaps some Butch Walker [ex-SouthGang, Marvelous 3] influence as well… I also listened to the old stuff a lot, anything from Ozzy Osbourne solo to Gary Moore to TNT… Shotgun Messiah is still one of my favorite bands and I’m hearing they’re gonna be coming out with something new again, so I’m looking forward to it. Anyway, I can say I’m still a fan of buying CDs – I still like to own the real thing because of the liner notes and credits and stuff.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of releasing music, in spite of all the things going on 2020 was an important year for Wicked Smile. First you started with singles, releasing them one by one, which might not be the usual band policy these days…
Stevie Janevski: Well, Wicked Smile is a band I basically formed last year. And in the beginning, it was just myself and Danny Cecati, the lead vocalist. I’ve been working with Paul Laine [The Defiants, ex-Danger Danger] previously with my other band The Radio Sound, so there was a good connection. For me it was all about having good songs and I wanted to get back to my roots. Years and years ago, one of the first bands that I’ve played in was a band called Cyclone Tracy and that band had more of a Hard Rock sound, kind of along the lines of Skid Row, Sven Gali, I guess Crashdïet these days… that kind of style and sound. And I wanted to get back to my roots a little bit there. We recorded the first single “We Fall” in December – we put a little sample of it on the net and the response to it was just fantastic, so we were like, “Look, the album’s not ready yet, so let’s release the single and let’s see what people think…” We were just blown away by the response when it came out in January. Then we thought, “Well, we’re not there yet. We haven’t got an album’s worth of songs, but we do have many songs – maybe about four or five – so let’s release a single every month or close to it”. That way we’re keeping the quality, but we’re also developing our fanbase which has grown really well and the response has been fantastic. And then we released the EP in July and the response has been absolutely awesome, and that was the Delirium EP/CD. Right now we’re still writing a full-length debut album, so that will be out probably mid-next year roughly. And one thing about Wicked Smile is that we really pride ourselves on our lyrics in terms of we cover things such as [issues] about the government, or about bullying which is a real issue – particularly with teenagers. A real problem for all ages actually, but I’ve watched my daughter going through high school and sometimes she was given a hard time because she wants to play rock’n’roll and it’s not hip these days… So these little things that I just really wanted really to catch on that I think are important and people need to be aware of them to hopefully make the world a better place.
Hardrock Haven: Exactly, you’ve just mentioned “Stronger” which is perhaps the most significant one. So as you’ve said, this kind of idea developed from watching your daughter growing up but isn’t it more and more common? Do you think bullying might be a particular problem for the young Rock and Metal fans, who these days may be bullied for the mere fact of having a different music taste than the rest of their peers? Should the Rock community try to do something about it?
Stevie Janevski: Well, I think it’s been an issue for many years, because Rock and Heavy Metal has always been swept under the carpet. I know in the ‘80s and the ‘90s it got brought to the forefront, but you know, a person who wore a denim or leather jacket with all the patches and stuff or had long hair was always looked upon as someone different and frowned upon for being a little bit different. That’s quite strange to me, because I see it as unique whereas some people say it’s different and being an easy target. I still think it’s harder now because Rock and Heavy Metal is definitely way in the background because it hasn’t got a band like Def Leppard or Bon Jovi that set the forefront. So that makes it a lot more challenging, but at the same time as I said, there’s a uniqueness and coolness about it when the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal people come together. But for the general community – for example, when you’re in high school and you’re one or two of these people – it’s very, very hard and very challenging. But I know when I was in high school, if you were carrying a guitar case and going to school and playing the guitar in a music class, you were considered more of a cool person. These days it’s not because you’re a kind of a weird person – that’s too different. People just don’t understand others who are not into what they’re into, and they don’t even want to. So I’m a big believer in uniqueness and praising people who are unique as opposed to trying to put them down. I’m very, very proud of my daughter because of the way she’s been able to speak to myself and the rest of our family about that. She gets to talk about how some people have given her a hard time, but some people are not as fortunate to have that kind of family, so that makes it hard. Cassidy’s doing great because she has a lot of supporters online as well as she also became a person who indicates for anti-bullying Heavy Metal community called Metalheads Against Bullying. That’s been really positive for her, but has she had comments on YouTube or via Messenger like “This is not good. You can’t do this…”? Absolutely, and that’s really sad. My point is, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it. If you don’t like it, that’s fine, no problem. But why to give somebody a hard time about it?
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely! And as you’ve already mentioned as well, the first single “We Fall” also doesn’t entirely fall into the scheme of ‘80s Hard Rock lyric-wise. Do you think the days when Hard Rock lyrics revolved only around the themes of relationships and parties are long gone now?
Stevie Janevski: Well, I don’t think so… You know, we’re still touching upon that. “We Fall” is initially about being proud of being a rock’n’roller, because we mention a person wearing Heavy Metal patches, tattoos, leather jackets etc. and that actually comes through in the first verse. And only then we kind of drift into talking about the government and stuff. But I think there is a place [for that], but at the same time I think people want to hear a variety and we also have a song called “Love’s Got A Hold On You” which is more tradition lyric-wise. I guess if the things are done well, it works no matter what because we’ve had a lot of response for “Love’s Got A Hold On You” and that’s more traditional one about meeting a partner. So it’s gonna be a balance for my band, I think. We’re more than just writing about the traditional stuff. Having said that, I love bands like Warrant and [songs like] “Cherry Pie” or “Mr Rainmaker”… I mean, in particular, if you listen to their second album Cherry Pie, songs like “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “Mr Rainmaker”… they’re great, they’re one of my favorite songs ever in any genre (laughs). So if it’s done well, I think it’s good, but if it’s bland or the quality’s not there it can be cringeworthy.
Hardrock Haven: You’ve just mentioned Warrant in terms of songwriting being one of their particular strengths from early on and as you’re a main songwriter for Wicked Smile, is Jani Lane one of your role models when it comes to songwriting? And who else is on this list?
Stevie Janevski: Of course. For me, Jani Lane is just one of the best songwriters ever and it’s really a huge loss to the industry. Ronnie James Dio, the same thing – I’m a huge Dio fan, solo, Black Sabbath, Rainbow… I guess Paul Stanley from KISS is a huge influence as well ‘cause I remember just listening to KISS as a kid and just being so inspired… and I started to realize that a lot of KISS songs that I loved were Paul Stanley’s songs. Not always, but predominantly. And I love his 1978 solo album. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time as well as his Live To Win album [2006]. Also Dave “The Snake” Sabo and Rachel Bolan of Skid Row – definite favorites! I actually had the pleasure of meeting Dave in Wales in the United Kingdom when we were billed together and they were headlining and it was just a buzz for me. Actually, I told him, “Look, you’re one of my favorite songwriters and Skid Row has always been one of my favorite bands.” He was lovely. It’s great to meet your heroes and see they’re actually nice people… I’d also add Butch Walker [ex-SouthGang] from his Marvelous 3 era – I really like his stuff… Europe’s Joey Tempest is another one and I think he’s just a fantastic songwriter and a great singer. And Europe played here for the first time quite recently – I think it was last year – as they have never toured Australia previously… They were amazing and he [Tempest] absolutely blew me away… And Iron Maiden’s [Steve] Harris of course.
Hardrock Haven: Too many to speak about them all probably… Previously you’ve mentioned working with Paul Laine when the singles we discussed were in the pipeline yet. I believe the band was in the middle of line-up changes or line-up completion then, especially with Paul supplying bass and backing vocals. With Dave Graham now joining the band as the second guitarist and the rhythm section also in place, do you think you’ve finally reached stability in terms of a line-up?
Stevie Janevski: One hundred percent yes. It was more like forming a band then – wasn’t really like ex-members or anything like that… In the beginning – as I said, in November 2019 – I had the idea of writing some songs and after writing a couple of tunes, I think about three songs in total, I sent them to Paul, who’s my friend, to Canada. I asked him, “What do you think, what’s your opinion on the songs…?” He loved them and he helped me write a couple of them and he’s just a fantastic, brilliant producer, songwriter, musician… And from there, we formed the band pretty quickly. A couple of months later we had Glen Cav who’s an awesome bass player, fantastic musician and a nice person. We also auditioned drummers and we settled on Jason Tyro – again, a fantastic drummer! And recently, as you’ve said, we completed the line-up with Dave Graham on guitar who’s a brilliant guitar player in terms of he plays melodic and can shred as well. So, we’re very happy with things we’re at although we’ve been a band probably now for about six months whereas Dave Graham just joined the band in the last fortnight.
Hardrock Haven: We’ve just mentioned Paul Laine collaboration, and it needs to be added as well that he produced the EP too while Bruno Ravel also of Danger Danger and The Defiants did the mastering part. I know you’ve already worked with Paul on your other band The Radio Sun, but what kind of impact did he and Bruno have on the Wicked Smile recordings?
Stevie Janevski: I’ve known both Paul and Bruno for quite a long time because I have played in Paul Laine’s solo band – his backing band – and it’s been quite a few years. So it’s a friendship as well as a working relationship. Bruno I met when I was in America, playing some shows as well… So, again it’s about working with good and talented people. They have definitely brought the expertise to Wicked Smile. So as I said earlier, I have written quite a few songs with Paul and he’s also helped playing bass when there wasn’t a bass player. Glen Cav has been playing all the bass recently, but we surely appreciate Paul’s stepping in there for sure. And a lot of people don’t know that Paul was actually a bass player before [becoming] a singer, a keyboard player or a guitar player – a fantastic bass player! And Bruno put the icing on the cake in terms of mastering the CD and giving his opinion on things – I think “Daze Of Delirium” is his favorite song. That made me smile, because this was the one that was a little bit different to the rest of the songs.
Hardrock Haven: Was the current pandemic situation we deal with worldwide reflected in the songwriting process for the EP?
Stevie Janevski: Lyrically no, I’d say. Maybe on “Daze Of Delirium,” as that kind of focuses on mental health – but the other songs not so much. Just because I wanted to have a break from what was happening. In particular in Melbourne, Australia, where I live, we were in hard lockdown for about six months and I think in April we were up to eight hundred cases a day almost, and right now we’re on zero. So it took us about five-six months to get things back on track – it was really, really strict where you could only go to the store to buy groceries and you could only go out for an hour-long walk and you still had to wear a mask etc. so it was all very strict and hard for everyone that lives here. But for me it was a time when I could just go into the studio and work on the material – and even now I continue to write songs. We have a new single coming out on the 15th of January, so we’re really, really excited about that because of the hard work that was put in during the lockdown.
Hardrock Haven: Can you actually reveal anything about the new single?
Stevie Janevski: Sure. The new single is gonna be called “Killer At Large”, and the whole idea with this song is that I wanted to get back to more of a Dokken or Icon-kind of riff with maybe some TNT in between as well. I just messed around with that idea for about two months and I’ve just finished all the music. We started working on the melody and again, on this one I asked Paul to help me out and we’ve written this together. Lyrically, the title of “Killer At Large” sounds in some ways one-dimensional, but there’s more to that. You’ll have to hear it to understand, but it’s got a little bit of old school and I think it will work beautifully with the other songs that we’ve released so far. A very catchy song and definitely a riff-driven one, and in some ways maybe a little bit of Lynch Mob influence in the guitar parts… or that’s what I’ve been told by some members of the band (laughs). We’re excited to release that and just keep moving forward, so that single will come out on the 15th of January as a digital release and then, slowly we’ll work towards releasing the album maybe mid-2021.
Hardrock Haven: And is it too early to ask about the details of the upcoming album?
Stevie Janevski: Not at all. We’ve also got some other songs finished and we’re probably going to be finishing off two or three more songs and then the whole album will be done. But then it takes time to reflect, and I’m very keen on making sure the song order works really well, ‘cause we’d love to release the album on LP as well – so we gotta think in terms of Side One and Side Two… So there’s all these extra things to think about, and planning how to launch things. We were very disappointed earlier in the year because we weren’t able to do a launch [party] for the EP and we’ve had so many people in our hometown of Melbourne asking, “When are you playing…? When are you playing…?” So we’ll be launching that early next year and then the album. But we don’t have an album title yet.
Hardrock Haven: Will the songs off the EP be actually reprised on the full-length album, or will it remain a separate entity?
Stevie Janevski: I think we have to, because we have so many people saying that they really love it! So I think we’re definitely going to use most of the songs. If all of them make it on the album, I’m not one hundred percent sure yet, but definitely quite a few of them ‘cause people have really liked it. And it can work two ways ‘cause I remember when I was younger and there were some bands putting out an EP and then putting all the songs on the LP which sometimes made you think “Ahh, I’ve heard those.” But at the same time, we’ve got almost a thousand copies with our EP and once it’s sold, it will be finished. You’re not gonna get it anymore and I hate to think that people can’t get the songs anymore (laughs). I’m very proud of these songs and they’ve taken a lot of work, so it was always the plan to definitely put some – or most – of them on the album. We’ll see how many. But I remember for example when one of my favorite bands as a kid, which was an Australian band called Roxus, didn’t put my favorite song “Body Heat” on the album. I was really disappointed, ‘cause it was only a part of the EP [live EP released by Roxus in 1990, a year prior to the full-length album Nightstreet]. I thought it was a mistake at first because it’s such a strong song… So it’s gonna be interesting.
Hardrock Haven: Although Wicked Smile is a new band, I guess the visuals that you use have already become your trademark of sorts. Obviously, a display of female beauty with a bit of horror doesn’t hurt, but what was the idea actually prompted by?
Stevie Janevski: Great question. I love the idea of having a little bit of a gimmick when people relate to Wicked Smile right away, so I’m glad. That’s working and people really like that. It has a little bit of a vampire-esque vibe to it, but we’re not going too gore or anything with a little bit of blood only… And we’ve even touched lyrically upon it on one of the most recent songs that we released called “Wait For The Night” which has the Nosferatu-background to it. So we’ve worked that into what we’re about and we just think the identification is very, very important, like I know back in the day we had Dio with his motifs and his albums and obviously Iron Maiden who did so well with Eddie. I think it’s a great part of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal personally, so that’s the reason behind that.
Hardrock Haven: As you’ve already mentioned, all of you guys in the band come from different bands. How do you think it translates into Wicked Smile?
Stevie Janevski: I think it has a big influence, ‘cause as I said I played in a band called Black Majesty for almost twenty years which is Power Metal, and I also play in The Radio Sun which is more Melodic Rock and the amount of people that have seen it, they love what I’m doing with Wicked Smile now. It’s absolutely fantastic and I know with Danny who’s worked with bands which are Power Metal and Progressive Metal – for him doing more of a Hard Rock thing it’s been amazing. He’s just such a good singer he could sing anything, but this team of Danny and myself and the guys is being a breath of fresh air for people. So they’re really, really happy with that. Glen Cav has done a lot of things and he’s very appreciated around – he played in the band called Virtue for many years. But again, he’s now happy to be a part of what we’re doing and it’s just amazing that everybody is “all in” in regards to “this is my band and we’re all very, very proud of it.” So even though I’m writing a lot of material, the guys are doing their own things and putting their own spin on things. We can’t wait to play live, so it’s very, very exciting and a great experience.
Hardrock Haven: Having brought up The Radio Sun once more, what’s the current situation of the band?
Stevie Janevski: It’s on hiatus. The main reason is… well, we’re a new band (laughs). Even though it sounds like an old band ‘cause we’ve released five albums and an EP, but the band’s only seven years old… We worked so hard on our music and we released five albums and an EP in five years as well as toured in Europe, Japan and America quite a few times. It’s just we’re having a good break because it was a lot of work. It’s just a hiatus, but I think it’s good ‘cause when we do get together again, it will be fresh. We probably needed a break after such hard work.
Hardrock Haven: Is there anything else you’re up to right now, like any other projects, or are you one hundred percent focused on Wicked Smile right now?
Stevie Janevski: Well, right now it’s pretty much I’m focused on Wicked Smile. ‘Cause as I’ve said before, we’ve got a new single that’s going to be released, it’s called “Killer At Large” out on January the 15th next year. And after that we focus on the EP launch in our hometown of Melbourne and then some more work and then the album. I guess I’m also continuing a lot of work with my daughter. Cassidy is going to play some live electric shows next year, so she’s got some stuff happening in January and throughout so that’s very, very exciting and she’s got a new single that will be out early next year which is just so good! I’m just very, very proud of her and what she’s doing and like I said before, she’s just turned eighteen years old and she’s got a very great, bright future – that’s for sure. I know I’m biased because I’m her dad, but I’m very proud of her and she’s definitely got that special something that’s for sure which will continue to evolve.
Hardrock Haven: We’ll surely keep Cassidy on Hardrock Haven radar, always on the hunt for new talents. Is there anything you’d like to add in the end?
Stevie Janevski: Just thank you for your time – I really appreciate it – and thank you for having me on the website. I’d like to thank all our fans for supporting us and taking a chance on a new band Wicked Smile because we’re just starting. A lot of people have been saying beautiful things about the EP, which is being lovely, but just wait ‘till you hear some of the other songs. We’re all about going forward with the band and we’re a real band in terms of touring when we’re allowed to. We’re definitely gonna travel the world with this ‘cause I’m that confident in the material and in the band chemistry as well. We all get along very well. I’m very, very excited that people wanna support us. They can contact us on our Facebook page and also on Instagram. We’re all very much of a “hands on” band in regards to chatting with the fans – we have a fan forum as well on Facebook with more and more people joining and discussing things. We just love hearing the feedback from people and when they’re writing fantastic reviews – I know Laurie [Micallef] has just written a fantastic review of the Wicked Smile EP. So cheers to everyone, thanks to you as well!
