Lee Altus

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer

Championed by the industry as the next big thing some 20 years ago, Heathen was not only the band which at the time embodied the spirit of all things new in metal, but, in fact, one of those acts who have invented the entire genre of thrash alongside with Metallica, Testament, Megadeth, and other innovators hailing from Bay Area. All those who in the beginning of the Eighties transformed the music scene and gave the word “metal” an entirely new meaning it still bears to this day.

Fast-forward to 2010 and Heathen are back with an album which has been two decades in the making, giving all true metalheads a taste of authenticity which bands today are hardly capable of replicating. And here we are talking not only about the new guard, but also Heathen’s pioneering contemporaries who these days have stridden a long way from the original formula.

What really strikes you about “The Evolution of Chaos” is not just the unmistakable taste of the real thing – whiplash riffs that go straight for the kill, semi-operatic vocals, wall-of-fire rhythm section and riotous firework solos. It is also the urgent, driven atmosphere of thrash’s early days which the new album distills into 11 tracks, the spirit of the genre’s initial aspiration before the whole thing got swallowed by big business. The sense of urgency, the conviction, and even, surprisingly, at times the bona fide naïveté of those golden days, and hence sincerity of the message.

With some material on the record in fact dating as far back as mid-Eighties, the album also shows with amazing clarity the common ground from which Bay Area acts drew their inspiration and which marks them as the children of the same environment who started off on the same aspirations. But what Metallica have over the years lost in spirit and conviction, Heathen have managed to retain, and what Alex Skolnick these days has turned into an almost intellectual pursuit, Heathen’s founding member Lee Altus continues to go for with such primordial fire and fury it makes you wonder if he’s found a way to travel back in time to breathe the Bay Area air circa 1985 each time before going into the studio to throw down those show-stopping solos.

While brilliant execution turns the pleasure of listening of this record into a luxury, the material itself could be seen as a panorama of the development of thrash. From the propulsive, tightly wound rage of “Control by Chaos” to magnificent complexity of “No Stone Unturned”, the record is as diverse as the genre allows it to be. But given its wide spectrum of moods and atmospheres, at the same time it gives a unified, coherent rendition of the road walked by thrash since its early days to 2010.

Guitarist Lee Altus and vocalist Dave White being the only original members on board this time around, the band (in part due to the fact that Altus has always been its main songwriter) have still managed to give the album that classic, unmistakable Heathen sound. And while Altus blames grunge for the demise of the band in the early Nineties, the fact that he never gave up on the music he loved shows that a real musician can be as flexible as he is determined.

After two decades spent pursuing other goals – playing in die Krupps in the Nineties (and while doing that living in Germany) and later joining Exodus where Altus continues to play since 2005, he has decides to revive his old band properly by releasing brand-new material and thus showing that music can exist beyond vanity, ambition or remembrance. For the first time since 1986 Heathen are enjoying being involved in a pure creativity without allowing themselves to be pressured by any external considerations.

What makes a musician stick to his guns and to his vision despite the changing fashions, the inspiration behind Heathen’s resurrection and the new record, as well as his creative process and what makes people care about guitar solos were some of the themes Hardrock Haven has touched upon in this interview with Lee Altus just before Christmas.

AO: Lee, thank you for finding time to do this interview with us. We really appreciate your time.

LA: No problem.

AO: And congratulations on the new album!

LA: Thank you.

AO: Are you happy with the way this record has turned out?

LA: Yeah, overall happy, but are you ever really happy? I heard this, I think it was this a guy from that band Boston, or some other band, who said, “You never ever finish an album, you abandon it.”

AO: That’s what Bruce Kulick said to me a few days back, and he said that this originally came from Sting!

LA: Well, here you go then! When somebody said it to me, it sounded perfect, and I thought, “I will use that!” Because you either run out of time, run out of money, or something. You are never totally happy, you just have to be happy enough.

AO: Do you have favourite tracks on this record?

LA: Favourite tracks? Hmm… Yeah, I guess it would be “No Stone Unturned”, that was the most challenging to record. I would have to say that this one probably is my favourite. But it could change all the time when you write. Whatever is the first song you wrote, by the time you have finished the fifth one, that one is already old you are sick of it. Whatever is the newest one you think is the best one because it’s still fresh.

AO: But “No Stone Unturned” had so much clarity, and spirit, and mystery, and beauty to it that it really took me back to the very early days of thrash – mid-Eighties, early Eighties. Was it a conscious decision to look back and to give an overview of the history of the genre, or did it just come to you spontaneously?

LA: No, it really is spontaneous. I can’t even say it’s spontaneous, it developed over the years. Like you said, some of those riffs were probably written in the Eighties, I don’t even remember because that song developed over such a long time. Sure, it kept changing a little bit here and a little bit there. When you have a lot of time to sit around and wait… But overall, yeah, with Heathen we always had that sprit of the Eighties, and the spirit of the Eighties is kind of all we know. It’s not like with the new thrash bands that are trying to sound like the Eighties. We actually grew up and learned in the Eighties, so it’s natural.

AO: But you listen to “No Stone Unturned” and you listen to “Controlled by Chaos” and you realise how much you, and Megadeth, and Metallica actually have in common, in terms of your roots, where you came from, and that is really amazing. But what inspired you to revive this band and to start writing for it again?

LA: We always talked about it after grunge kind of killed us in the Nineties, saying, “We should put out at least one more album. We have all those riffs and songs, might as well release them.” It was me and Dave [White, vocalist] talking about it. But seriously it came together I think in 2002 or 2003 at Chuck Billy’s benefit. And we actually got together and played, and it was fun again. It was like, “Wow, maybe we should seriously start talking about it and start seriously doing it because we are having fun again.” What finalised it is when we got invited to play that year at Wacken, or if it was the following year I don’t remember, but it was within that year that we played. And at that time we definitely decided to do this, to give it another go, at least to release an album, see what happens.

AO: How long did it take you to make this album – to go from the initial snippet of an idea to the finished product?

LA: If you take it from the original snippet, it would be almost 20 years!

AO: Ha, all right!

LA: I was writing some of those riffs for the follow-up to “Victims of Deception” in 88. So it was supposed to be our next album, it was supposed to take a year or two, maybe three in between, but, unfortunately, it took almost twenty years.

AO: In terms of emotional and intellectual effort that it takes to make an album, which one, do you think, was the most difficult to make – “Breaking the Silence”, “Victims of Deception”, or this one?

LA: I think “Victims of Deception” was the hardest because when we released “Breaking the Silence” everyone was hailing us like, “Oh, you guys are going to be like the next Metallica,” so many promises, every label wanted us…

AO: And you were on MTV…

LA: Yes, and every big management wanted us, everybody was all of a sudden… When you’re hot, all of a sudden everybody wants in. So there was so much pressure that all of a sudden we sat back and realised that we had to put out a great album. Before that we were writing the songs and hoping that everybody would like them. Then you realise that everybody does like it, now everybody is looking to see what you can deliver NOW. So “Victims” was the most stressful album, I would say.

With this one, again, it was this feeling, like, “You know what, we are in our 40s now, it’s not like… We’ll try to make an album, but it’s not like we are going to make it big now.” It’s more like, “Ah, now we are making it again for our own pleasure, just like the first one. Now we don’t care: if it sells, it sells, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. As long as we are happy with it, it’s all that really counts.” So it was like going from that stressful “Victims” album to this one where we don’t care. As long as we like it, that’s all that we really care about.

AO: How does your songwriting process work? Do you have to isolate yourself to write or do those things come to you as you go about your daily business?

LA: It could be different. Mostly I have to sit down and isolate myself, lock myself in a room and play a thousand riffs and maybe one will work out, and I’ll go, “OK, that’s one that I can work with. It could work there or I could build a song around it.” Very rarely it would be where I would be sitting just mindlessly playing the guitar and even watching TV at the same time and come up with a riff and go, “Oh!” and run and record it. Mostly you have to kind of force yourself into kind of, “I have to write.” This time, when you have twenty years to write, it’s a lot easier. You can just sit around doing whatever, and riffs will come to you. You just kind of put it in the vault and move on. Every five years you take it out and put another riff in there. If you had to write an album every couple of years, it would be a little bit different.

AO: Would I be correct to assume that sometimes it’s really the instrument that takes you places? It’s not that you first hear an idea in your head, but sometimes your guitar can lead you – the way it’s constructed, the kind of code that there is in this instrument, would that be correct to say?

LA: Yes, sometimes. Anything can influence and take you places. Sometimes even the environment that you are in. And sometimes it doesn’t, it just depends. With some songs you can just sit down and write, and it just flows, and everything comes together so fast. And with other songs you just keep pounding and pounding it into the ground and nothing’s coming out. For this album I had another six or eight songs that were unfinished, and I could not finish them, I wasn’t happy enough. And I already had those riffs for how many years? So I thought that something would probably come up in another ten years that would make me happy with that song, or maybe it will never. You just never know.

AO: But how would you say being a musician in Germany compares to being a musician in the States?

LA: Ha-ha! I guess in Germany they are treated a lot better. My experience that I’ve learnt from die Krupps days, for example, is that you sign with these… I don’t even know how you call it, it’s not a publishing company, but every country has almost like a musicians’ union that protects you and collects your royalties from the record companies. And that is a very powerful thing. Where in the States they don’t have that. From the States, most of the times, unless you make it really big like Metallica when record companies pay attention, they never really pay you those royalties. A lot of musicians are not even aware that they are supposed to get that. And the royalty rate, if you do a research, it’s 725 cents per song in the States. Different countries have different rates, but all over Europe, whatever country you choose, it’s at least double from the States. So a lot more goes into protecting musicians.

And overall, the way they look at us at European festivals. Why doesn’t that work in the States? Even when you do a small club tour, you are treated a lot better in Europe than you are in the States. In the States they just don’t care. “Yeah, we’ve promised you a PA, but here’s your car stereo, deal with it.” Where in Europe people care a lot more about it at the clubs. But that’s what they’ve always said, “You’ve never made it until you’ve made it in the States.” But I always liked Europe. The band that I’ve really liked was Thin Lizzy. They’ve never really made it huge, but everybody knew about them and they were always popular. You’d mention Thin Lizzy and people would go, “Yeah, I know Thin Lizzy,” but they’ve never had that status of a multi-platinum band. I always thought that that would be the coolest thing.

AO: Going back to the album, the solos on it are quite extraordinary. What was the inspiration behind your fire this time around? What inspired you to play these amazing solos and how many were actually improvised?

LA: Ha! How many improvised? I really don’t remember. There are always some parts that are a little bit more worked out and there are some parts that you just work out in the studio. There is nothing there where you just sit there and go, “Wow, I just played it and the first take was it.” I’d be lying if I said that. No, there’s a lot of work that went into that. It’s like constructing another part of the song and it doesn’t come with the very first take. There could be one or two little parts that could be the first take, but mostly it’s sitting down, working it out, and it’s like working on a song within a song.

But overall, with solos, remember when in the Eighties everyone could shred like crazy and everybody wanted to be faster and better, like Yngwie, and then it went up to where people stopped caring and they stopped playing solos altogether. People always like taking it to such extreme… So I wanted to bring back some solo spirit. I don’t care if it’s in or out, but Heathen without solos – I can’t imagine that. That just wouldn’t work for us. I go out there and show people that solos can be cool, you know? Not an enemy of metal or whatever.

AO: What are you making of this new generation of young shredders like Trivium, and Black Tide, and Dragonforce? Do you find any similarities between what was driving you when you were growing up and between them?

LA: Absolutely, I’m just glad that there are youngsters out there all of a sudden who care about playing solos again. Image if I grew up and the generation before me didn’t care about the solos. Who would I learn from? I wouldn’t have my Uli Roth, and my Michael Schenker, and my Gary Moore. Maybe I wouldn’t even ever play a solo because it wouldn’t be out there. I kind of admire these new guys because they have nobody to look up to, unless they skip a whole generation of new metal and grunge, all those guys who really didn’t care about solos. They would have to skip the whole decade to go back, otherwise where do you learn to play solos? It’s pretty amazing and I’m just glad that they are out there and they are embracing it again. It could go over the top again to where everybody is going to overdo it, and people and going to turn around and go somewhere else because they get bored of it. That’s the nature of the music business where something gets popular and then it blows up, and everybody turns and goes somewhere else to look for something new.

AO: How do you maintain your technique these days? Does it still require everyday practice?

LA: I wish I had the time to practice every day. I would probably be better. It’s mostly like cramming in before the exams. You wait until the week before and then you try to do it all at once. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. One of the most dangerous things that I’ve learnt is when you try to cram in with the solos, your fingers get so sore that you are unable to do what you want to do. So you kind of have to ease into it. But overall you basically start practicing harder and harder and get your skill back right before you are going in to record the solos. It’s kind of like riding a bicycle – you really don’t forget. If it’s been years, then you have to kind of practice to the level where you were.

AO: Tell me something – do you ever play for yourself? Not for practice, not for anybody else, but purely for your own enjoyment?

LA: Honestly, not any more. When I was younger, then I was, of course.

AO: OK, I have just one more question. Are there any plans to take this album on the road?

LA: We were talking about going out in March next year for two or three weeks to test the waters, so to speak, and we’ll see what happens. We really don’t know to what extent we can go out and promote this album. It’s not like back in the days where most of us would live with our parents and have no rent to pay, and no kids, whereas now some of us have kids and family, so we can’t just stay out and leave your family out on the curb. People are asking to what extent we are going to support this album, and I say that we’ll see. It itself should demand how much support it needs. We are not able to just go out and grind it from the bottom up and work this album, and shove it in everybody’s face. If the album really takes off and we need to go out on the road, then fine, that’s OK, we’ll be able to do that.

Then with my other thing too, with Exodus, there is another album, so there are already two plans to go out next year, and I really don’t know how it’s gonna be. Sometimes maybe we’ll tour together and I’ll have to play two sets which we played in Japan, and it was pretty tough. I might have been able to do that a lot better in my twenties. But doing a whole tour like that – I don’t know… It would be hard, but it’s doable. So I really don’t know how much we are going to tour. We’ll see and play it by ear as we go.

AO: You know, for a lot London fans you are a bit of a mythical figure really. There legends still going around here how you’ve declined a spot in Megadeth, and there is another thing about how you were actually born in Russia. Is there any truth to that?

LA: Yeah, former Russia, which is now Ukraine.

AO: Do you have any memories of the country at all?

LA: Very little because it’s been so long ago, when I was a kid. I remember standing in bread lines with my mom [Laughs], playing hockey with my friends, just kid memories.

AO: Amazing. Thank you for your time, we really appreciate that.

LA: Thank YOU.

AO: Good luck with the album and we’ll hopefully see you in London sometime soon.

“The Evolution of Chaos” is out on January 25, 2010 in Europe and March 31, 2010 in the U.S. on Mascot Records.

Andy Brooks

by Deb Rao
Staff Writer

There seemed to be a whole new generation of musicians taking over the music industry in 2009. Young bands are taking breathing new life into the early genre of punk and metal with their alternative punk pop sound. One band that is catching the attention of the New Moon generation is Orlando band Transmit Now. The band’s first gig was on the Van Warped Tour in 2008. Pretty impressive for newcomers in the business.

Transmit Now teamed up in early 2009 with Jeff Hanson (Paramore, Creed) and his record label, Silent Majority Group (Warner Music/ILG). With the guidance and along with producer Brett Hestla (Framing Hanley, Brand New Day), the band recorded their first full-length record Downtown Merry-Go-Round which is due out in early 2010.

This summer they released an EP Test Test and Transmit Now was on a summer/fall tour with Framing Hanley that went across the nation that helped garner new fans that the band won over at their live show.

Their song “Let’s Go Out Tonight” has been played on the VMAs, MTV’s Making The Band 4, Paris Hilton Is My New BFF and ESPN Sports Center. The band was also the winner of MTV’s “I Want My Music On MTV2 Contest” and you can check out the video at this link if you want to view it … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3wCeTkoXU.

Andy Brooks (vocals), Kevin Parrow (guitar), Greg Parrow (drums), Tony Aguirre (guitar) and Lee Gianou (bass) have a lot in store for their fans come 2010 with the release of their debut full length.

Hardrock Haven is always looking for fresh talent and Transmit Now caught our attention for up and coming band to be on the look out for in 2010, as singer Andy Brooks discusses their debut upcoming release Downtown Merry-Go-Round on Silent Majority Group. Let’s us be the first to introduce to you an Exclusive interview with Transmit Now singer Andy Brooks.

HRH: Andy, Tell us about Transmit Now.

ANDY: We are just getting out there and doing some bigger touring now on a bigger scale. Our new record is going to come out in February.

HRH: Transmit Now recently toured with Framing Hanley this summer. How did that go?

ANDY: That was great. Those guys are awesome dudes. It’s good to have a band take you out and understand being the opening act. There were really cool to us. We had a really cool experience in front of their crowd.

HRH: I know you have a new EP out. Test Test. I heard five of those songs are going to be on your upcoming full-length release Downtown Merry Go-Round. Is this correct?

ANDY: I think two of three are going to be on the album. A few of them are not going to be on the official album. “Posterboys” and “Issues” will be on the new album for sure.

Andy: Tell us about your vocal style. Who did you grow up listening to?

ANDY: I was a huge Michael Jackson as a kid. From the pop side of the game. I was a really big fan of the band Silver Chair. They haven’t really done much in The States in a long time. But they were a huge influence on me. I have always been a fan of Incubus. I don’t know if I sound like any of those dudes but that is kind of where I was coming from.

HRH: You know who you remind me of? The singer from Papa Roach.

ANDY: He is a great singer. Thank you very much.

HRH: How long did it take to write your upcoming release, Downtown Merry Go-Round? What was it like working with Brett Hestla?

ANDY: A few of the songs over the time that we had been together just kind of started crafting and kind of became a lot bigger when we started working with Brett. A lot of the tunes were written just before we went into the studio. We would write all week and would submit the songs and see where they ended up going to. A lot of the record just popped out literally before we went into record it. It was kind of a back pace / recording environment. It happened really quickly from start to finish. Aside from songs we had prior to getting a record deal. I think our first single is going to be “Issues” or “Let’s Go Out Tonight.”

HRH: What are your upcoming tour plans?

ANDY: We hope to go out on the road when our record comes out. We are lining some stuff up for January or February. We are hoping to be back out there. We definitely will be. It is just a matter of with whom at this point.

HRH: What is the music scene like in Orlando these days?

ANDY: It is great. Florida has produced a lot of great bands. Florida is such a long ridiculous state. There are so many different scenes here. South Florida is not known for its rock scene. It ‘s seems like Central and North Florida has produced bands such as Red Jumpsuit, Underoath, Dash Board Confessional, New Found Glory just tons of band that have come out of the state. It is a good place.

HRH: How did you get the name Transmit Now?

ANDY: This is a super secret story. But I suppose I’ll divulge it. Our guitar player was messing around with is rig one day. Guitar players have these cool thoughts that they can make cool sounds by manipulating household items. So Tony thought one day somehow he would re-wire a blender from the kitchen. It sounds crazy but it is true. He re-wired the blender from the kitchen and tried to hook it into his guitar rig and he starts picking up radio stations from not anywhere near where we were. It is just crazy how the amp just started to transmit those crazy signals. We were all sitting around laughing hysterically as his amped transmitted these radio stations from God knows where? We decided Transmit Now would be the now for the band. It is crazy but that is how we came up with it.

HRH: How would you describe the sound of the band?

ANDY: We are an alternate band with a pop lean toward it. Some of our tunes are pretty pop and some of our tunes on the full record are a lot more alternate than pop. It is somewhere between both of those genres is pretty much where Transmit Now lays.

HRH: Andy, thank you for checking in with Hardrock Haven.

ANDY: I appreciate it, thanks.

Visit Transmit Now on the web:

www.myspace.com/transmitnow

www.facebook.com/transmitnow

Jason “Gong” Jones of AM Conspiracy

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Jason “Gong” Jones (ex-Drowning Pool) of AM Conspiracy checked in with Hardrock Haven to talk about their upcoming self-titled debut; what the band’s music is all about; being the first release on indie label Burnhill Union Records; why he is finally making the kind of music he’s always wanted to make; upcoming tour plans; and a whole lot more.

AM Conspiracy is a gritty, multi-faceted heavy Rock band that can play technically adept mid-tempo rockers and scorching Metal anthems; there is no one out there who sounds like them. Tune in now to get to know your new favorite band, and pick up their release Jan. 12.

Online: www.myspace.com/amconspiracy

(If the embedded player doesn’t populate, click here to stream the interview in a stand alone player.)

Steve Handel of Seventh Calling

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Seventh Calling singer/guitarist Steve Handel checked in with Hardrock Haven to talk about their new EP Prelude to Madness; the recording of their upcoming full-length release Epidemic; how MySpace has helped the band spread the word; why you should glom onto Seventh Calling’s sound; and a whole lot more.

If you dig Metal Church, Testament, Iron Maiden, and all of the above, these Las Vegas boys Seventh Calling deserve a listen. Tune in now to get to know the voice behind the band, and pick up Prelude to Madness today.

Online: www.myspace.com/seventhcalling

(If the embedded player doesn’t populate, click here to stream the interview in a stand alone player.)

Jason Decay of Cauldron

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Cauldron bassist/singer Jason Decay checked in with Hardrock Haven in the midst of their Waste the World tour. Decay discussed the differences between touring the UK, Canada and the US; why they covered Black N Blue’s “Chains Around Heaven;” his notoriety for being evicted for kicking down a neighbor’s door who’d only listen to Metallica’s S&M; what their new album Chained to the Nite is all about; and a whole lot more.

If you haven’t heard Cauldron, they are leading the charge for a new wave of Metal that is part Classic, part NWOBHM, part Thrash, and all awesome. Tune in now to get to know the voice fo Cauldron, and pick up Chained to the Nite today!

On MySpace

(If the embedded player doesn’t populate, click here to stream the audio interview.)

Jon Miller

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer

Talking to Hardrock Haven just a few weeks before the release of DevilDriver’s brand new album Pray for Villains, the band’s bassist Jon Miller does not hesitate to call this release their best record up to now. Apart from featuring singer Dez Fafara expanding his vocal technique, it also sees the band coming up with its best song writing to date – focused, sharp and more convincing than their preceding release The Last Kind Words could ever suggest. Metal press now calls it a true creative leap for a band that’s been working relentlessly on perfecting its chops and sharpening its vision ever since its birth in 2002 from the ashes of Coal Chamber.

Two years spent since the last album have certainly seen DevilDriver grow not only in terms of drawing massive crowds at some of the biggest festivals in the world and getting onto the covers of major rock mags, but also widening their creative outlook and going beyond the straight-ahead groove-meets-thrash formula. Welcoming a chance to chat with Jon just a few hours before the band’s set at Graspop Metal Meeting Festival in Belgium back in June, I start with asking him the first logical question that comes to mind in a backstage area of a summer festival.

Hardrock Haven: Do you prefer to play indoors or outdoors?

Jon Miller: They are both cool. It’s cool to do big open-air festivals. We just did Download, and it was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played for. It was like 70-75 thousand. So that was cool. But last night we played in Germany and it was a small 500-seater which we have sold out, and it was a sweat-box, and the kids were really close to us and that’s cool too. I can’t say I prefer one over the other.

HRH: OK, let me ask you this – do you have a favourite country to play in?

JM: I really like the Netherlands. [Smiles].

HRH: Do you?

JM: I like being in the Netherlands. I like Australia a lot. The UK is very receptive to DevilDriver. We just got the cover of Metal Hammer and that’s out first cover we’ve ever got. They’ve just done a review of our new record, gave us 9 out of 10 and the cover. We got the main stage at Download, so I have to say the UK are treating us the best.

HRH: Are you showcasing much from the new album during this tour?

JM: Today we are just playing one song. The album is not even out yet.

HRH: It leaked, didn’t it?

JM: Yeah, it leaked on YouTube and a couple of other sites, but then it got taken off YouTube. There is this woman in the United States who was sharing something like 24 downloaded files and she just got a 1.9 million dollar fine. So I think that’s why it went up and went down so quickly. I think people are scared right now to be sharing files. The album did leak, but all the responses couldn’t have been better.

HRH: What is your take on what’s happening in the music industry right now?

JM: It’s shitty. I think if this was 10 years ago, I’d have a lot more money in my pocket for what I’m doing.

HRH: And doing less touring probably?

JM: We like to tour, actually. But sometimes bands have to tour to make their money. That’s the only way of getting income. You are not going to see a penny from the records. But things are much different now than they were 10 years ago. That means you have to work harder. Bands just have to adapt to the technology, and the internet, and downloading. I can sit here and cry about it, but the fact of the matter is that the world is changing. But yeah, things are worse for bands.

HRH: What’s your take on the other side of the coin – things like MySpace where fans get to hear about a band through these new media?

JM: It’s great. It’s a great way to expose your band and get your music out there. So it’s kind of a Catch-22.

HRH: Tell me about the imagery on the cover of your new record. This owl with horns – is this native American imagery or something else?

JM: It’s used in a lot of different cultures. The owl is like a watcher. We’ve always used this cross…

HRH: … “of confusion”.

JM: Yeah, “the Cross of Confusion”, and this is our biggest record, so we kind of wanted to have this ominous, simple thing. You know, kind of like a Danzig album where there is a skull with horns? Something just very simple and recognizable. When you see that, you know it’s Danzig, it doesn’t have to say it’s Danzig. We wanted for people to be able to identify DevilDriver with something beyond the Cross of Confusion.

HRH: Musically are you doing anything differently?

JM: Yeah, Dez’s singing! There are clean vocal tracks mixed in with his… It’s still heavy as fuck, but Dez [Fafara, singer] is really branching out and I think his vocals are a little more interesting. It’s not just growling and screaming all the time.

HRH: How does your songwriting work – do you all work on stuff together or would you sometimes work on stuff separately and then bring it to the table?

JM: Everyone in the band plays guitar and writes songs on guitar. And after we write separately, we all meet in Los Angeles at Mike’s house. Mike [Spreitzer, guitarist] has a recording studio. And we jam over the whole album exactly the way we think it’s gonna be. We basically make the album twice. We make it at Mike’s house and then we make a carbon copy of it in the studio with the producer. So that way all the things are already worked out and we can get in and out of the studio as quickly as possible instead of wasting time and money going into the studio with songs that are half-written. So we work hard when we are not touring.

HRH: Does it take you long to go from the initial snippet of an idea to the finished harmony and melody?

JM: Sometimes. Sometimes it’s very quick and things just flow very naturally and beautifully. But sometimes you can be stuck with a song for months, and you are like: “Is this going to make the album? I don’t really like it.” So we’d give it to Dez and sometimes it turns out to be one of the better songs, once we give it to Dez and he puts vocals on it. There is a song on the new record called “Forgiveness is a Six Gun.” I think it’s one of the best songs on the record, but it almost didn’t make it on the record. Or the other song called “It’s in the Cards.” That song we were very unsure about but I think it’s one of the best songs on the record. So you never know. Because ultimately there has to be vocals. A song can be great musically, but if the vocals suck …

HRH: How long does it usually take you to take a step back and start listening to a new album objectively?

JM: I’d say once we get the final mix of your record, we step away from it for a couple of months. Then we’ll come back to it and reflect. I think enough time has elapsed for me to start looking objectively on this record and I think it’s our best record.

HRH: Do you ever listen back to a song you wrote or an instrumental part you contributed to and go: “Wow, I didn’t know there was this aspect to my character!” Does your own music ever surprise you?

JM: Maybe if I smoke a joint or something… I don’t really smoke weed that much, but once in a while I’d smoke with Dez (Dez smokes weed) and we’d listen to an album and go: “Wow, that’s pretty sick!” [Laughs].

HRH: Gives you whole new perspective, doesn’t it? [Laughs].

JM: Yeah, but everyone is so into all the riffs and what’s happening, it really doesn’t surprise us.

HRH: There is also a special edition of the new album which includes a DVD. Is this backstage footage?

JM: The special edition of Pray for Villains is going to have the two B-sides that didn’t make the album, one B-side from The Last Kind Words which was our 3rd album, and then the Iron Maiden cover “Wasted Years.” And it’s also going to have a 45-minute DVD about making of the album in Hollywood.

HRH: Who were your heroes when you were growing up?

JM: Steve Harris, Cliff Burton, Alex Webster.

HRH: I have one last question and it’s a bit goofy, I hope you don’t mind. If you could have an answer to any question in the universe, what would you ask?

JM: Are dolphins really angels sent to earth? [Laughs].

Dennis Develin

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Hardrock Haven: Dennis, thanks for taking the time to chat with Hardrock Haven. To start with, for our readers who aren’t familiar with your music, can you give us a little insight into who you are as a musician, what other bands you’ve been in, and what the music you write and record is all about?

Develin: I’m born and raised in northwest part of Copenhagen, in Denmark (and still live there). I’ve been in a lot of hard rock bands (Pure Sex-Nation XXX-Mane Atraction and Sticky Sweet in the ‘90s. In 1996 Sticky Sweet made a demo and got the opportunity to record a full album in 1997(CAN´T STAY INNOCENT) and we went to the States in 1998 and toured that album on and off for a year.

In 1999 I went home again and recorded my first solo album PURE INNOCENSE on the small label Nordic Metal.
2002 solo album: VEANGEANCE IS MINE (Perris records)
2005 my band CLUB HELL formed and we played a lot of gigs in Europe.
2006 recorded a 7-song EP.
2008 solo album LOVE IS FOR THE OTHER GUYS.

My songwriting has always been about: Girls-fights-Riding bikes-life in the city and all the good things in life. In other words ,live your life the way you want! Politically incorrect? Absolutely! Primitive? You bet! It is what I call “hairy gorilla music” and rock and roll is supposed to be primitive-dirty and tongue in cheek. What do you think Little Richard meant when he sang “Good Golly Miss Molly”?! SEX!! If you wanna “save the world” get an REM album but if you wanna take your girlfriend home and enjoy, get a DENNIS DEVELIN record.

HRH: You have just released a “Best Of” compilation called Ten Years, an album consisting of your favorite tracks from your three prior solo albums. Tell us about how you went about choosing the songs for the release, and where can fans pick this up?

Develin: My new best of album TEN YEARS is simply me celebrating 10 years, 1999-2009 of my favorite solo songs. I’m talking to a couple of labels so I hope it will come out next year. But I sell it on my site WWW.DEVELIN.DK

HRH: The album begins with a brand new song, “Birds of Fire,” one of the heaviest songs I’ve heard you record. I know you will be going to work on a new studio effort soon; is this a newer, harder direction for you? Will the new stuff shred like “Birds of Fire?”

Develin: Right now I’m working hard in Sound Box studio with Jonas Roxx on my next album with the title A BACKSEAT FIGHTER and it will be what I do best: Rock Hard!! All 10 songs written by myself and it will be the most heavy sounding record I have done but still melodic as hell. More in the style of “Birds Of Fire” but with more tongue in cheek lyrics. Jonas Roxx is gonna produce it and Tommy Hansen will mix. So my hope is it will come out summer 2010.

HRH: The songs were remastered by Jonas Roxx, who also plays guitar and co-writes many of the songs on Ten Years. Is he a permanent member of your band now, and are you writing and recording with him on the new album?

Develin: Ten Years has been remarstered by Jonas Roxx and all the old songs has really benefitted for it! More power, more depth and more clear sound. Jonas Roxx and I have played together since the early ‘90s in Sticky Sweet and later in Macho rockers Club Hell and he is a great guitar player and friend.

HRH: “You Can’t Deny” is radio-friendly and melodic as hell, and sounds like a hit song. Of course, the lyrics are something most men are not brave enough to say, with lines like: “So I told her, I wouldn’t hold her, won’t be the one she grows old with.” When you write this kind of songs, like “Love is For the Other Guy,” is this a personal belief, something you live, or just, a story in within the song?

Develin: About your question on my lyrics in songs like YOU CAN´T DENY and LOVE IS FOR THE OTHER GUYS, is it my belief or just a storyline, my answer is: both. I love girls but the idea of “To death do us part” is just not for me. Don´t get me wrong, be honest to women from the start and don’t be an asshole. Still my song lyrics are my “belief” but just 40 times more and tongue in cheek.

HRH: Probably your biggest hit song is one of your happiest songs, “Ladies of the Eighties.” Just an ode to everything carnal and crazy about the 1980s, a great hit song. Your lyrics are hilarious, with lines like “Today we got the internet, but we’re only touching ourselves.” Is this the song that you are best known for, the one that started making a name for you?

Develin: “Ladies Of The Eighties” is probably my signature song; people just love that song and I do to. It is what I’m all about and sometimes I think I never gonna top it! (But just sometimes )

HRH: We get back to this recurring theme on “Love is For the Other Guys,” when you sing, “So if you wanna spend more than one night, then this ain’t your ride.” I gotta ask you … are you eventually going to run out of women?

Develin: No, I´ll never run out of women because they like the “Bad Boys” you know

HRH: The 1999 song “Cynthia” sounds a lot like a ballad, but if anyone pays attention to the lyrics, it’s not a love song by any means. “So you will pay the highest price, if that’s the only way to make you mine.” It’s basically a stalker, ex-boyfriend song. Did you get any grief or backlash from fans or media when this song first came out?

Develin: “Cynthia” is about an ex-girlfriend, a long time ago and she wasn´t happy about the lyrics but it was how I felt at the time. I always try to give my ballads a lyrical twist so it´s not what it seems like at first.

HRH: You started Ten Years to highlight the new song “Birds of Fire.” Why’d you choose to end the CD with “Your Stuff’s Too Good?”

Develin: Why “Your Stuff’s Too Good” is last? Because I wanted to start with a new song from 2009 and finish with a song from 1999.TEN YEARS!!

HRH: Is there anything I left out that you’d like to leave with our Hardrock Haven faithful?

Develin: I’m gonna hit the road with my pals in CLUB HELL next week in Scandinavia and it’s gonna be a blast. At last I would like to say to all the readers on Hardrock Haven: Get your ass off the computer and go out in the real world and raise some hell!

Richie Kotzen

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer

Currently touring England with his brand new album Peace Sign, Richie Kotzen played his first UK show at London’s Underworld club last Thursday. This is where Hardrock Haven caught up with him for comments on the new record as well as some illuminating observations on the nature of his craft and musicianship in general.

Backstage where Kotzen and I sit down for a chat, the atmosphere is austere. The Underworld’s dressing room looks stark and workman-like, for once devoid of its usual clutter of snacks, drinks, make-up and spare wardrobe. This rigour of purpose is perfectly mirrored by the sharply astute stance Kotzen assumes as an interviewee, his conversation style at times resembling the way he approaches guitar playing. Being able to sum up any idea in just a few succinct phrases, he can also expand on any offered theme further, spurred on by both intuition and logic, in the end presenting a unique insight into what being a real musician is all about.

“To me, the difference between being a solo artist and being in a band is like between being at home and staying in a hotel,” Kotzen states before developing the idea some more. “Sometimes the hotel is nice, they have a swimming pool there, but you know what, I have the swimming pool at home too and there is nothing like home. The normal situation for me is what I am doing here. Writing my songs, singing and playing. That’s what I’m happy with. The notion of the band thing has been fun, in my experience, for a period of time. But then it became where I went, ‘OK, I gotta go home now.’ And then I’d go back to making my own records. That’s what I like doing, that’s what I am.”

The new album, of course, supports this view perfectly. A finely wrought, nuanced record, it is all about Kotzen’s well-honed tunecraft, at the same time managing to make space for serious guitar extrapolations as well as to delve deeper for some true emotional depth. It continues in the vein of Kotzen’s trademark melting pot of the late 60s – early 70s styles ranging from blues-rock to funk: on the one hand – deeply routed in the tradition, and on the other – shaping those genres through the prism of his own vision.

This vision, in fact, is responsible for the album’s well-defined distinct atmosphere that only Kotzen is able to create. Peering through the perfectly conceived musical forms and the well-oiled, sleek manipulations of traditional compositional elements, on Peace Sign there is still that distinct sense of longing, at once poetic and disquieting, that deeply emotional undercurrent which has always been responsible for Kotzen’s finest moments – both in his guitar work and his singing.

Kotzen’s trademark combination of virtuosic guitar leads and a voice which can go from trebly quaver to earthy rasp makes tracks like “My Messiah” hit the jackpot, apart, of course, from the fact that they are all hooked to great melodies. After all, how can you have great guitar solos without great songs?

In regards to style and genre, Peace Sign does not trail too off far from the albums Kotzen began making ever since the Mother Heads Family Reunion which he to this day calls his first real record on which he finally found his voice. But in contrast to his previous 2007 studio album, Go Faster, the new album digs deeper. On standouts “Paying Dues” and “Your Entertainer” the effortless floatation of his guitar parts almost touches the ground he covered on Stanley Clarke’s 1999 album Vertu and shows that there has always been way more to Kotzen than perfect chops and polished tunecraft.
Wondering how he himself sees his most recent opus, I start by asking him about the record and the way in which he sees it now when it has finally gone on sale.

Hardrock Haven: Do you think enough time has passed since you have finished working on your new record for you to step back and take an objective view on it, or are you still very much attached to it?

Richie Kotzen: I think that it’s still fresh in my head and unfamiliar in some ways. It’s unfamiliar in that it’s so new. And I’m not the one to listen to stuff over and over. In having to learn the songs – going back and remembering what I did and stuff – it’s still very fresh that way.

HRH: Are you happy with the way the record has turned out?

RK: Yeah, I am. It’s interesting because I’m one of these people who always thinks that the latest thing I did is the most exciting and the best. Which I think is a good sign because it means that I’m current. I don’t really sit back and reminisce on old records. I’m always excited about the latest thing. When I did “Into the Black” I thought, “That’s the best record I’ve ever made,” and now with “Peace Sign” I’m thinking, “It’s the best record I ever did”, so I think as long as I feel excited like that, then I know I’m doing the right thing.

HRH: It seems to me there was also a Woodstock vibe to that record…

RK: Which one?

HRH: The first one, the 1969 one. Seems to me tracks like “Long Way from Home” have that vibe that is seeped in that atmosphere. Is that your way of commemorating the 40th anniversary of the event or is that vibe with you more or less permanently?

RK: I understand the connection you are making and I like that, I agree, it makes sense. But even in 1994 I did a record called “Mother Heads Family Reunion”…

HRH: Your fourth album, yes.

RK: And that was really in a lot of ways, even though, like you say, it was my fourth release, it was my first record in a lot of ways because I finally got comfortable with myself. My first record was an instrumental record, I was 18, on the next one I started singing… By the time I did that, I was 24, I’ve been living on my own for several years, had a lot of different experiences happening, and I think that record was the beginning for me. And there is a common thread between that record and every other record I’ve done which has that sound you are talking about. It comes from the fact that I grew up listening to those kinds of artists, the kind of Woodstock-era artists like Hendrix and Janis Joplin, and the Rolling Stones. My mother had all those records, saw those bands when then all came to America when they were young, when they were fresh and exciting. So growing up, there were all those records playing in the house. And on the flipside, my dad was into soul music, so he had the Ottis Redding and those kinds of records would be played. So in my influences there was a balance between that era of rock’n’roll and also that soul music that I still love to this day.

HRH: And of course you went on the road with the Rolling Stones, didn’t you? Was there any particular musical experience while being on the road with them that stood out, something you perhaps did not expect?

RK: It was very interesting. I didn’t tell anybody I was doing it until after I played the first show. I was so nervous something would happen that I wouldn’t do it. Even when I was flying to Japan I thought that anything could go wrong, so I’d better keep my mouth shut. After I played the first show, then I wrote in my internet blog – I just opened for the Rolling Stones in Japan. I did the whole Japanese tour. We did three weeks, five shows. It was the easiest set of gigs I ever did in the sense that sound-check and everything else was perfect. It was like a machine. I walk in – everything is there, they treated me wonderful, their crew… There were a lot of guys in the crew that I was introduced to years earlier, so I had some familiar faces that immediately made me feel comfortable and at ease. And, of course, when the Stones played, there was nothing like it. And the last show I sat behind the guitar amp of Keith Richards and it was like the sound of the universe for me – hearing his guitar played and literally the amp was right there – I could touch it. Open-back Fender cabinet, sounded incredible. And it was a great experience. I got to meet the guys afterwards and they are all really warm guys, it was a great time.

HRH: Did you challenge yourself technically on this record? Were there any guitar parts that you had to practice several times or perhaps go over again and again before you actually went into the studio to record them?

RK: Well, I’ll tell you what happens to me in my style of playing. Usually the practising comes afterwards. In other words, when I’m in the studio, I go for stuff, right? So I might go for a lick – I know what I’m hearing in my head and play it. If I don’t execute it perfectly, in the studio you have an option to go back and try it again. So I do that, just like everybody else does it. But where I’m a little different is that I don’t work out stuff ahead of time – I create it on the spot. Because I like the idea of spontaneity and reacting on the spot, and being inspired, that’s the part of being inspired. Once I do that, then I gotta go back and listen, and go, “What the hell did I play there?” And oftentimes I find myself sitting back and go, “Wow, how did I do that? Oh, I remember how that is!” Then I have to practise it to get it under my fingers. So it almost comes in a backwards way. Going back and re-learning stuff and practising after I’ve done it.

HRH: How do you maintain your technique? Does it require everyday practice?

RK: No. No, because I don’t think in terms of technique. I’m not one of those players who thinks in terms of that. I think in terms of notes and melodies and musical terms. So what happens is, when I hear something in my head that I can’t make my fingers do, that’s when I sit down and figure it: “I can hear it, so how do I play it?” That’s when that comes into play. What I’ve noticed, because I’ve been playing the guitar since I was 7, and I’m 39 now – I’ve been playing for a long time – it’s not so much about practising as it is about time spent with the instrument in my hands. And what that means is that I can go for 3 days without playing and when I pick up the guitar, if I play it for 2 hours straight, I get into a mode where I can play pretty much what the hell I want. You know, it’s like riding a bike. It’s not like I’m going to sit down and relearn it, I just have to get re-acclimated. I was never much of a practice guy, I was more of a player. I just sit and play stuff and go over things, and if I was in trouble and there was something I couldn’t do, I’d play it repetitively till I could do it. But I never sat down and went, “OK, it’s practice time.” Because I never wanted to do that. It’s boring to me. I don’t wanna practice, I wanna play.

HRH: Do you think the nature of musicianship, as applicable to your instrument, has changed in any fundamental way since the time when you were growing up? Not in terms of technology or distribution, but in terms of pure craft, in terms of being a rock guitarist?

RK: I do. There was the time where musicians, like my generation of guys, we would sit down with a record and listen to it and try to figure out what people where playing. And develop our ears. And the other thing – if you got lucky, you’d buy a new guitar magazine that would have a guitar transcription in there that would be close, so you could see it as well. Maybe later on they started with instruction videos. But the point is – you had to sit and learn the instrument. You had to learn how to play. Nowadays it seems like you don’t have to do that as much and you can still make music. So what you have now is a situation where people who aren’t by nature music-makers are in a position where they can make music. Through technology. Through an the ability to sample something that was played many years ago perfectly and now incorporate that into something else, and they can talk over it, and they can yell over it, or whatever they do, but suddenly it becomes a creative thing. And it’s kind of interesting because you get this other perspective of people who aren’t necessarily musicians by nature, but they are using that as a creative outlet. I think that’s OK. The only downside is that I find there aren’t as many musicians like the kind of people that I play with in my band. There not so many young people around like that around. When I was a kid and I went to school, the guys that were into music where players. Now you get guys that are into music that are DJs and computer guys that are pulling stuff together. Some guys who are making records and making a lot of money – they can’t even play the drums. They are programming them and they are making beats, but they can’t play a beat. It’s kind of interesting, it’s kind of strange. But in a way, like I said, it’s good, it gives a different perspective. Where it will become bad is if we’ll run out of real guys to play the beats. And hopefully that doesn’t happen. I hope that doesn’t happen. I don’t think that’s gonna happen because guys still come up and there are young musicians who still play. But there is not as many.

HRH: Would you say that requirements are more lax these days as applicable to guitar players?

RK: The requirements are more lax?

HRH: Or, on the contrary, the requirements are tougher these days?

RK: What do you mean “lax”?

HRH: When you were growing up, for your generation – what a lot people are calling the post-Van Halen generation, people like Malmsteen and Vai – there was a necessary requirement to…

RK: To be able to play?

HRH: …to be able to play like a virtuoso. Do you think it still stands to this day? Do you think that requirement is still there?

RK: I don’t think that requirement was EVER there. I think there was a TREND. And I don’t think all those guys are virtuosos. The guys you’ve named are. But not all the guys who are thrown together in that basket are really what you call virtuosos. In other words, there was a movement in ROCK guitar to play really wild impossible licks, OK? Just because you can play those licks doesn’t mean you are a virtuoso in music or on your instrument, it means you can do that one thing. To me it’s a much broader scope. Stanley Clarke is a virtuoso. I played with him. And I see why from working with him, I understand the difference. Some of the other guys who excel at a certain thing which is valuable and comes from having put a lot of work in, which is important… But the thing about music, it’s not really relevant. You don’t need to be a virtuoso to touch people. The virtuoso musician could play something that could totally go over someone’s head – at least the guy you are calling a virtuoso – and the guy who only knows 5 or 6 chords can write a song that will move you way more. So I don’t know if any of that really means anything. The only thing that matters is what your objective is and what you are trying to create. So if you want to play a Paganini, you gonna have to have that kind of chops. You’re gonna spend that time to develop some chops. If you wanna play Bruce Springsteen’s songs, it’s a whole different avenue, but it’s a equally valuable development – you gonna have to learn how to take your life’s experiences and translate that into a simple way with lyrics that are heartfelt and still interesting. It’s an equally important talent, just a different focus. And to me music has always been something where there is a connection. It’s not like sports. It’s not like, “I’m gonna beat you at sports.” Music isn’t like that. I’m not gonna beat you at the guitar, I’m not gonna play faster than you. It’s about creating something and people either connect with it or not. And I think in that period of those names of people that vision kind of got lost. And for a minute guitar playing was like sports with all those guys trying to outplay each other and play faster and crazier. It was a fad, and like all fads, it goes away. And there is a couple of guys who are left who are actually making music and they are still around playing. Long-winded answer.

HRH: Yes… But talking about the nature of that fad – lots of young guys trying to be virtuosos – do you think it’s ultimately about domination? Where nothing is left that cannot be absorbed into your technique and that for them that became the nature of artistic fulfilment?

RK: No, because I don’t think a lot of these players were doing that. I think a lot of these players where doing the same thing over and over again. It’s just different guys doing it in a different way. There is not one of those guys that does what you are saying. In other words, each guy has their own style and their won thing which is really great, but there isn’t one guy who can play any type of guitar playing – any type of flamenco guitar playing, and then the blues shit really well, and then play the classical shit really well, and then the classical shit really well, and then the country stuff. It doesn’t exist. And if it does, then that guy can play all that stuff pretty good, but he’s not gonna play the flamenco stuff like the guy who grew up in South America who only ever played flamenco. It’s not gonna happen, it’s a cultural thing. It’s my opinion, but I haven’t seen it. The guy who does the great rock’n’roll guitar playing lives the rock’n’roll lifestyle. He wasn’t studying doing the jazz thing. He was on the streets playing dirty grungy rock’n’roll, living the lifestyle. The same way the guy that plays the jazz is coming up in the jazz circuit playing with horn players. You get guys that kind of play at different stuff, but ultimately people find comfort in a style and a sound and become to identify with it and that’s why you get these kind of artists who say, “This sounds like Jimi Hendrix.” Jimi Hendrix couldn’t play every style of music, he played Jimi Hendrix music, and that’s what he got to identify with. I’m not comparing myself with anybody, but I play my music. I play the guitar the way I play it which is a collection of my influences and then my perspective on it, so I’m at my best when I’m doing what Richie Kotzen does, which is what I’m doing tonight. That’s me at my best. Whatever that is, whatever you call it – rock, whatever it is, blues, metal, I don’t care what you call it. That’s kind of my take on that.

HRH: How do you manage on the one hand your amazing chops and at the same time being a composer and a songwriter?

RK: Well, it’s time, that’s what it is – it’s time. In other words, when I was 15, I wasn’t a very good composer, I wasn’t a very prolific composer, it was new to me, so like with anything, like with riding a bike, you have to do it enough to learn the craft. So during my teenage years I was focusing on playing the guitar and learning to play stuff that I heard other people do, and it was difficult back then. It wasn’t perceived by me as difficult because everyone else was doing it. I mean Greg Howe, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, all those guys were putting their records out post-Van Halen, so I was listening to that, thinking, “OK, those guys are doing it, that’s what guys like me are playing like,” so I started getting into it. So in that early time, I would say at 15, 16, 17, 18 in that period I was focusing on the guitar. I wasn’t singing, I wasn’t really writing songs, just playing the guitar. Constantly. So in those years I think is where I developed all the physicality of moving my hands. And then, I after I made my first record, I suddenly realised, “Well, OK, it’s kind of boring now. I did this, but I don’t want to keep doing the same thing.” And I thought, “What made me want to do this in the first place? It is music. What kind of music that I like? I like the Stones, I like the Beatles, I like Jimi Hendrix, I like Janis Joplin.” I started listening to their records and I started writing songs. I started writing songs that were similar to the artists that inspired me. On my second record I was singing. And then from there it’s a natural evolution, so you are looking at something that started at 18 when I made my first record, now I’m 38. It’s 20 years of consistently making records under my own name. Now I am who I am. I now have my own style, but it took 20 years to get there. Some people get there like that. (Snaps his fingers). I’m a lot slower. (Smiles).

HRH: Are you happier being a solo artist as opposed to being in a band scenario? Do you feel freer, you feel less restricted?

RK: Absolutely. To me, the difference between being a solo artist and being in a band is like between being at home and staying in a hotel. Sometimes the hotel is nice, they have a swimming pool there, and they have all that other stuff, but you know what, I have the swimming pool at home too and there is nothing like home. So I look at it like that. The normal situation for me is what I am doing here. Writing my songs, singing and playing. I don’t like dividing that. I don’t like just playing the guitar and don’t like just singing. I like it together as a circle. That’s what I’m happy with. And I like playing with guys who can bring life to my music and bring it to life on stage, and that’s what I’m doing with these guys here. But the notion of the band thing… It’s been fun, in my experience, for a period of time. In the 3 situations, as I’ve only really been in 3 bands publicly, it became where I went, “OK, I gotta go home now.” Do you know what I mean? And then I’d go back to making my own records. That’s what I like doing, that’s what I am.

HRH: Of all rock trios, the Jimi Hendrix Experience excluding, which one do you think has inspired you the most?

RK: I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I like Eric Clapton, I like Cream. I never really sat around and listened to too many Cream records, but I’m hearing stuff on the radio and it sounds great. I just like the trio format. It’s comfortable for me, there’s a lot of freedom in it. And I did tour with an organ player, but we didn’t tour, we did gigs in LA, but he was part of the group. And now it’s really fun too because we connected. But as a trio format is something that just makes a lot of sense. If I couldn’t sing, we’d be a four-piece, we’d have a lead singer. That’s the thing about trios and not a trio. If you get a band like the Who – he’s singing, or Led Zeppelin – he’s the singer, but if the other guys sang like that, he’d be gone, and they’d be a trio. So a trio format is a kind of like a standard rock thing: guitar, bass, and drums. And somebody singing – whether it’s one of the three or an extra dude. So it’s the same format to me.

HRH: I have one last question and it’s a bit goofy, I hope you don’t mind.

RK: OK, we’ll see.

HRH: If you were granted an answer to any question in the universe, what would you ask?

RK: I don’t have any questions, I think I have all the answers. I have every answer you can possibly imagine. (Smiles).

HRH: Steve Vai said exactly the same thing to me.

RK: Did he?

HRH: The only two musicians who have given me this same answer to this question are you and Steve Vai.

RK: Well, I’m number two. The thing that is funny about it is that I am not a person… I don’t want to go on a philosophical rant, but I get a feeling that I am here in this situation and that’s what my focus is always on. So I guess, in a weird way, there aren’t really any answers. I really think that if people spend a lot of time hung up on, “Why didn’t I make it? Why am I short? Why am I too tall? Why am I this, and why am I that?” and they don’t live their lives, you are what you are, make the best of it and do something functional with it, enjoy your time here. You really don’t know where you’re going. Everybody is going to the same place. When you’re dead, you’re dead. But I don’t really sit around asking questions, “Why this, why that?” I’m happy to live my life and be in the moment and enjoy myself. That’s really the way I look at it.

Charlie Wayne of Platinum Rose

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Charlie Wayne (Bulletboys, Hawk, Keel & Wayne, IronHorse, etc.), lead singer/guitarist for the new band Platinum Rose, checked in with Hardrock Haven to talk about his new band; their upcoming release House of Pain; TV appearances; how his past musical experience influence Platinum Rose; his new book, Enchanted Life; and a whole lot more.

Charlie Wayne, besides being a great singer and guitarist, is first and foremost a stellar songwriter. Whether penning classic Heavy Metal burners or contemporary acoustic ballads, he doesn’t miss. Tune in now to get to know Wayne and Platinum Rose, and get ready to pick up their new CD in October.

(If the embedded player doesn’t populate, click here to stream the interview in a stand alone player.)

www.platinumroseband.com

Trivium’s Travis Smith

by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer

In our age of mass obsession with celebrity, status and fame, it is always rare and uplifting to speak to musicians who place their craft and their art above any current superficial fixations. Trivium’s drummer Travis Smith turns out to be exactly one of those people, as he and I sit down to talk backstage at Graspop Metal Meeting – an annual heavy music festival taking place every year in the Belgian town of Dessel. Smith, more or less ignoring the mayhem and the hoopla that go with being on a world tour and playing one of Europe’s biggest summer festivals, tells me about things that really take priority in his life – his instrument, his craft, his love for making music and for performing live.

If anything goes to backup Smith’s earnest stance, it is Trivium’s space-rocking scorcher of a set on the main stage of GMM which took place just a couple of hours before our chat. The band has proven to be the most energetic of all acts who played that day, poignantly precise and clear in their message – that metal today is more alive than ever, thriving on integrating new influences, now methods, and new genres into its formula.

The amount of sheer physical energy that Trivium put into their shows is staggering, but it all serves a bigger purpose than just brilliant showmanship and visual panache. Live, Trivium are able not only to perfectly reproduce the brilliant chops that shines on their records, but also to add that special magic quality to their material which makes it all stand out so prominently, so, if you like, three-dimensionally – the crystal-clear harmonies, the gripping melodies, and the sheer drama of their songs which are able to go from gigantic riffs set over the wall-of-fire rhythm section to sprawling, instantly memorable melodies. And with so many influences gathered from different eras, sources and styles, all this makes Trivium an incredibly exciting, multi-layered band to explore and to get into.

As it is with any growing and developing band, Trivium are perhaps fun to talk to about rockstar lifestyle and delights that go with it, but it turns out that while being a perfect gentleman and an open, approachable person, Smith is still happiest when talking about his craft and his instrument as opposed to the exterior aspects of fame.

And toward the end of our interview, Travis Smith of Trivium proves once again the fact that he belongs to the rare breed of musicians who make you wish you too could do what they do – not because of the supposed lifestyle that goes with being a rock star, but because of the sheer joy they get out of their instrument. The sheer thrill of a creative act, the joy of making music, of being in love with what you do – all this Smith makes sound so fresh and so genuine that for a split second I envy him, fascinated by this ability to deeply enjoy what he does and being able to do it for a living.

Alissa Ordabai: How are you enjoying Graspop so far?

Travis Smith: I’m having a great time. We had a great set. I got to watch a little bit of Chickenfoot. That’s why, actually, I’m a little late because I wanted to see a little bit of Chickenfoot.

AO: I managed to catch the first two songs. One and a half.

TS: That’s what I saw too, one and a half, yeah!

AO: What did you think?

TS: Chad is a great, great drummer. He’s a heavy hitter and I love heavy hitters. His style is that really cool unique rock style that hard to… There’s something to be said about “less is more” and sometimes it’s hard to do less. I think that’s a talent, a very good talent because sometimes in my world I have a tendency of doing a little too much. But you gotta pull yourself back. He is one of those great, really good rock groove drummers, and I love that kind of style.

AO: I watched your set, which was amazing, and thought that you and Lamb of God were the best acts of the day…

TS: Oh, thank you!

AO: Forgive my ignorance, but I’ve noticed that one cymbal on your drum kit had those round holes in it. Could you tell me a bit more about it?

TS: It’s called an “Ozone”. Sabian makes it. It’s a really unique cymbal. It’s in between the sound of a China, like a really thin China and a really thin Crash. If they had a baby, that’s what they would have. It looks cool, it’s got a unique sound and I like using it on my downbeats, coming down on accents, stuff like that. It’s a cool accent cymbal.

AO: You haven’t invented it, have you?

TS: No-no-no!

AO: I’ve seen you having spikes in your drum shells one time too, is this something that you came up with yourself?

TS: Yeah, that was an idea I had when I was first going with DDrum. They brought me into their factory because they are in Tampa, FL, and we are just an hour and a half in Orlando, FL, so they invited me down to come check out the factory, that kind of stuff. So I was walking through the factory looking at all the drums and all that stuff, and I told them about the idea that I had about a drum kit, that I wanted all those spikes and everything to be crazy and warrior-looking. About a month later I got a phone call saying, “Hey, we have the kit that you were dreaming of”, and I said, “Really?!” and they said, “Yeah, come on down and check it out!” So I went down and I was like, “Holy shit, it came to life, here it is!” It was a really cool kit, that kit is definitely the most talked-about kit I ever played and I still rehearse on it to this day, I still play on it.

AO: What elements, do you think, need to coincide for a good live show to happen?

TS: You know, it’s just being in the right headspace. Getting into the right headspace and just relaxing and having a good time. Because music is about having fun. Before you have a career you just go out and play music to have a good time. And you gotta remember that and keep that, even though you have to get up there and perform, you still personally have to have a good time. It’s keeping that, having fun playing. You play a song five million times but it’s still having fun with that song and not going, “I’ve played it five million times, I really don’t want to play it again.” You just get up there and you see the crowd reaction, and you know that you’re making an impact and you know that your song has affected people, and that makes it all worthwhile, and that alone makes it a good time right there.

AO: When you were growing up, were you ever dreaming of or contemplating ever becoming famous?

TS: It was, basically, my second dream in life as a little kid. I, basically, wanted to play drums since I was five years old. That’s all I wanted to do – play drums. The dream before that was to be a truck driver! And I’m kind of glad I didn’t go down the truck driver route because now we are touring on busses all the time, it’s a hard job! (Laughs). It’s long hours. So I’m glad I went the drummer route. It’s easier. (Laughs).

AO: When you did become a rock star was there anything you never thought went with it all? Any big surprises, any moments when you thought, “Wow, I never thought it would be like this!”

TS: Probably just meeting my heroes is by far the coolest thing about it all. Meeting the guys that I grew up listening to and that I’m a superfan of even today. Like Nicko McBrain, Lars Ulrich, Chad Smith, the list just goes on. People that we have done our share of touring with and befriending… It’s really cool. That part of it, I think, is the most rewarding, to get to hang out with those people.

AO: Are they nice to you when you tour with them?

TS: Oh yeah, yeah! Everyone is being really supportive of our band and everyone’s really cool. It’s the most rewarding part – to get to go out with your heroes. There’s no amount of money that you could pay for that. That’s special to me and you can’t put a price on that kind of stuff.

AO: Especially being on an equal footing with them as opposed of being just a fan.

TS: Well, I don’t know, I’m a really humble guy. I don’t really consider myself a rock star now, so I’m a guy who gets out there and plays drums.

AO: Do you get anything in terms of musical knowledge from touring with big acts like Iron Maiden or Metallica?

TS: Oh yeah, yeah, you pick up things from watching their live shows, the different techniques that they use for playing, you pick up little things like that. You go out and watch them every day, so… Sometimes you get production ideas or whatever. You look at it in its entirety, the whole show. You always learn something from every band you tour with.

AO: Do you write on the road?

TS: Yeah, we all kind of… I have my pads set up in my dressing room and I play on them every day. We come up with different ideas that we can apply to different records and stuff like that.

AO: Are you currently working on material for the next album?

TS: Yeah, we are already thinking about that. We got a tour coming up in the States, we are flying over tomorrow, and then a couple of days later we are starting a tour up in the States, and then after that we have a little bit of time when we are going to get into rehearsals and actually start working on it. But we are really on the road for “Shogun” for another year, so we just gonna work in the little bit of downtime that we have between touring. We are going to work on some new songs and by the time it comes to actually going and really working on the new record, we will probably have a headstart.

AO: Do you guys work on things separately and then bring your stuff to the table?

TS: Yeah, basically, everyone has their own ideas individually and when we show up in the rehearsal room, we all throw ideas around, see what happens. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. (Laughs).

AO: From the time when you were growing up, do you think being a musician has changed in any significant way? Not in terms of technology or distribution, but more in the sense of craft that goes with musicianship, with being a rock drummer? Do you think things have changed? Do you think there are more expectations now?

TS: There are a lot more expectations now. And the reason is that things have advanced so much from the Sixties, the Seventies, the Eighties and the Nineties, and now the Two Thousands… People are getting faster, people are learning new tricks on how to do things… You know, I think from the drummer’s perspective you have to be on the top of your game at all times because everyone’s always looking out to seeing if you can actually do it. Everyone wants to know if you can actually play what’s on that record. Because there are so many tricks you can pull in the studio. But if you can do it live, that’s where it’s at. I think as a drummer… I mean, you have your guitar players to do solos and stuff, and it’s a complete art. I can’t play the guitar worth of shit, so I completely respect it, but there’s always two normally, and they can cover up each other’s mistakes because there are two guitars going on at the same time. With drums you are pretty much there on your own. If you fuck up, the fans are going to know that you’ve fucked up! So you gotta be on top of your game and you gotta stay focussed and stay with it.

AO: How do you maintain your technique? Do you still have to practice every day?

TS: Yeah, I practice every day before a show. Every day I start about an hour before actually going up on the stage. I practice my feet, get my feet warmed up, and my hands, and just get my mind ready for what I’m about to do, and just get focussed. Before a show I ignore everything else around me, tunnel vision, I just want to go and play. That’s my thing, that’s just what I do, I get my little tunnel vision, get ready for the show, get up there and do it.

AO: Did you train yourself to do that? Steve Vai, for example, talks about a specific practice to achieve that, a kind of meditation. Have you used any of that or does it come naturally to you?

TS: I just kind of always have done that from being young up until now. When it’s time to play, I’m in my play mode. I’m just very focussed. When you ask me something I’d probably won’t even hear because I’m in my own little world. And it’s just always kind of been that way, I’ve never really trained myself to do anything, it’s just what I do, it’s part of my click or whatever, the thing that makes me turn. It’s just my routine, I guess. I do it every day before we go on, every time. I do my stretches, and then I get on my pads and that’s it, I tune everything else out.

AO: Let me ask you a silly question. Do you ever play for yourself? Not for practice, not for anybody else, but purely for yourself, for your own enjoyment?

TS: You know, I haven’t got to do it in a really long time, and sometimes I feel bad about it because some of the most rewarding times is the time when I… Say, the intro to “Pull Harder” was just me in the jam room by myself just playing and then I was like, “Wow, that sounds really cool!” and I was, “Hey, guys, what do you think about this?” and then the next thing you know, there’s a song. I kind of miss those times. I miss the times when I could do that. I’m gonna have an opportunity to do that coming up here when we have some downtime. I’m really looking forward to it because those were the innocent times when I could just go into a room and, like you said, play for myself and not really have to feel like I have to prove anything. Those were good old days, I can’t wait to do it again.

AO: Does your own music ever surprise you? Do you ever listen back to a track you’ve done and go, “I didn’t know I’ve had this in me!”

TS: Oh, yeah! I did that a lot on the most recent record “Shogun”.

AO: Really?

TS: Yeah, I’m really, really happy with my drumming on that record. Actually, personally, I think it’s the best stuff I’ve written on drums. For me. I’m really happy with the tones, I’m really happy with my performances. I think some of the coolest fills I’ve come up with yet are on that record. On that record I’d go in and I would do a couple of takes, and then I’d go into the control room and hear them played back, and I would get chills just listening to myself. I was just like, “Wow, man! I can’t believe that came out!” It’s kind of like your mind just lets go and your body takes over. You just start playing to the music. You don’t even realise what you did until you listen to it. You just go, “Oh, wow! I’m keeping that!” You know? It happened quite a few times on that record. I think that’s why it stands out so much to me as some of my best performances because of that.

AO: What do you make of the changes that are happening in the music industry right now – the way the fans are recruited, the way in which the bands communicate with their fans, things like MySpace, and the other side of the coin which is free downloading?

TS: The music industry is changing shit-loads as we speak and the only problem is that a lot of industry people aren’t set up for this change. They are just not. I’m talking about record labels. Record labels are still in the old-school way of doing things and you have to use technology to your advantage. I don’t feel that… I feel that record labels are catching on to it, but I don’t feel that they’ve got it completely down. Not even close yet. You gotta get the grasp of the electronic downloads and all that, and the way to make it benefit the bands. I think that maybe in the next ten years it’s gonna be there, but as for now, the way the technology changes so quickly it’s unfortunate that labels could be a lot more efficient. I think the records labels really need to knock the dust off themselves and get on with the new times and the way things are going.

AO: Do you sometimes wish that labels recruited staff from other areas, for example, from information technology field, as opposed to perpetually attracting the same kind of person who is usually a frustrated musician?

TS: Sometimes. This happened to me recently. I’m not going to name any names or anything like that, I’m not even going to say where it happened, but we walk into a room and I meet a new staff member who tells me straight up, “Hey, man, it’s not what you know in this business, it’s who you know.” He just got out of school and has no idea about what his actual job is supposed to be, and that’s a little disturbing in a way, considering he’s working for a band and he doesn’t know what the hell he is doing. I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to be rude about it or anything, but, you know, it rings to my head. It really makes you second-guess things sometimes, it makes you second-guess people who are working for you. We have some really great people who work for us and we stick by them, and they’ve done really, really great things for us. On all the negatives that have happened with our band and within the industry, there’s been so much positive that has happened that you can forgive the negatives because there’s always been way more positive that has come out of the people that we deal with on a daily basis and people in this field who work for us. You know, it’s a bummer that you have to go through negative things in life, but that’s part of life no matter where you’re at. You just have to concentrate on the positive.

AO: I have one last question. It’s a bit goofy and you’ll probably find it pretentious, but I’ll give it a go. What do you think is the future of metal? You, of course, are one band that has transformed the genre pretty much completely by bringing into it so many new elements, including pop. Where do you think the whole thing goes?

TS: I don’t know. At the moment it seems like there’s been a lot of lost melody in newer bands. And that’s fine. We love melody, I love groove, we all do, and you can hear it in our music. We love to be brutal, but we also love to bring groove and melody into the music as well. And I feel that that’s kind of disappearing at the moment. And I feel that everyone is just concentration on being the most heavy thing out there. And it’s losing the feel of emotion behind it. And, you know, in ten years, twenty-year time I can’t predict where it’s gonna go, but as everything with fashion, music and everything like that, it’s a big circle and everything always comes back around. Everyone’s into really brutal shit and the moment and that’s what they are getting – brutal shit.

AO: But you also get pop-metal, like Black Stone Cherry, don’t you? Bands that use musical forms of metal but in essence are mainstream radio-friendly acts?

TS: To me they are a really great Southern rock band and I’m really into Southern rock. I like Black Stone Cherry a lot. To me they are not in a category of what I would consider the more metal stuff that’s coming out. To me they are a really great Southern rock band. A band like Job For A Cowboy, that’s what I consider the new stuff that’s coming out, the new metal which is really extreme, really fast, really heavy, and it is what it is – it’s really fast, extreme and heavy. But I like some melody. So to each his own. Everyone likes their own thing and there are great musicians coming out, great bands who do well at what they do, and who knows where it’s gonna go from there. It’s at a really extreme point right now and who knows where it’s gonna be in five, ten, fifteen years. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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