Italian singer/musician, vocal coach, record producer, songwriter MR.JACK released his first solo album “Long Road” on March 20, 2019, produced by Wanikiya Record and recorded at Mountain Rock Studio, in collaboration with Metal Shock Finland, Metal in Italy and Italia di Metallo. “Long Road” features great special guests of the rock and metal scenario all made in Italy.
We had a pleasure to interview MR.JACK, via the video interview, which can be seen below. Among the topics, of course, his latest solo album, the details around it + his ‘Da Jack Live Club’ and future plans.
Watch the interview below + questions listed under the video:
The questions we made to MR.JACK are:
1. Hi MR.JACK, our readers already know you via our articles about your music and latest effort and debut solo album “Long Road”, which was released on March 20, 2019 via Wanikiya Record, and in which also Metal Shock Finland was involved, as one of the sponsors. What drove you, in the first place, to start working on “Long Road”?
2. What can you tell us about the song topics and what inspired you in the songwriting process?
3. “Long Road” mixes genres, from Metal, to rock, ballad, hard rock, why this choice?
4. “Long Road” features a long list of special guests, great names, all made in Italy! could you please tell us, shortly, about each of them and their input in the album?
-Freddy Delirio (Death SS)
-Maestro Mistheria (Vivaldi metal project , Keyboard of Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden)
-Tomas Valentini (Animae Silentes – Skanners)
-Valerio Edward De Rosa (Soul of Steel)
-Steve Volta (Pepetual Fire)
-Raffaele Albanese (From the Depth – 5th Element Project)
-Mario Zeoli (Red Sofà Lab, The Angelis, Thirdston3)
-Marco Angelo
-Alessandro De Fusco
5. The album came out last March, how the album has been received by your fans and music scene?
6. Let’s go back to past, you started to sing and play with various bands at age of 14. But what was the moment when your knew that Music will accompany your entire Life in various ways?
7. You’ve done several collaborations with great artists along your long road, what are your highlights so far?
8. Not long ago you made one of your long time dreams come true, opening ‘Da Jack Live Club’, giving a great platform to many bands to play their music live. While telling us more about your club, please tell us also from where you take your endless passion and energy?
9. What are your next plans for the future?
10. What is your message to young people of today, when too many times the future doesn’t look bright to fullfil their dreams?
Thanks a million for your time and for this chat, Jack, may your future bring along satisfactions you can’t even dream of yet…
Jimmy Schulman’s fluid bass work was the perfect complement to and anchor of Dan Lorenzo’s monster riffs in HADES in the mid-80s and again pm the band’s 2001 reunion-era album. Now, Schulman is at it again, adding his bass prowess to Lorenzo’s latest band, VESSEL OF LIGHT.
The group’s stellar new release, “Thy Serpent Rise”, is the first to feature Schulman and fellow former Hades drummer Ron Lipnicki, joining founding members Lorenzo and singer Nathan Opposition. It’s Vessel of Light’s second full-length disc (in addition to a debut EP). The disc is out now on CDbaby.com and and will be available on all platforms Nov. 1. U.S. distributors are All That Is Heavy and Cobraside. The album can also be ordered at DanLorenzo.net
Schulman shines on tracks such as “Meet and Bone” and “Rush of Blood”. On the latter he takes the spotlight during the solo section. Even a short clip of the band performing new song “Abandon Light” at a recent show in Brooklyn (watch here) is evidence that Vessel of Light is a live force not to be missed.
We recently spoke to Schulman about Vessel of Light and reflected on the Hades days.
How did you come to join Vessel of Light?
They were happy being a studio project originally and then the next thing you know a gig popped up and Dan asked me and (drummer Ron Lipnicki) to play the show. It seems Ron and Dan and I are like family. I’ve been playing on and off with Dan for 35 years and he’s a riff monster. I love the challenge of playing bass to his riffs. We started rehearsing some of the tunes. When Dan gave me the EP, I thought it was genius. It was especially cool listening to him with a different singer. I really like the tone of Nathan’s voice and I loved his vocals. They wrote some really good songs together. They were catchy but still heavy. We played and it was unbelievable, a lot of fun. Talks of Ron and I joining the band started really happening then.
What are your responsibilities as the bass player in Vessel of Light?
I’m the same player no matter what. You give me a riff, you give me a song and I can work around that either by playing along or adding something to the song. I can do a lot. It depends on what is needed but it’s always based on the riff.
Tell us about “Meet and Bone”, the first single from “Thy Serpent Rise”
“Meet and Bone” is Lorenzo riffing at its finest. It’s an exciting song to play. The riffs don’t stop. His riffs just roll over one into the next into the next and the fact that Nathan can find space in there to sing and have a hook just amazes me. Nathan is such a talent. I think they were meant to write music together.
On “Rush of Blood” you get some spotlight in the middle solo section which only features lead guitar and bass, with no rhythm guitar track.
I came in thinking less is more and Dan was mentioning Non-Fiction was the only project where there was never a rhythm guitar track. I heard the rhythm track behind the solo on “Rush of Blood” and then I asked Dan to consider pulling the rhythm track and leaving in the lead guitar and bass. I thought it would sound like a groovy, bluesy sort of thing.
In late September the band played a weekend of shows. How has Vessel of Light progressed as a live act over the past year?
It really clicked from the start. For the first show last year we had never rehearsed with Nathan and he flew in that morning before the show. We got onstage and it was as if we’d been playing together for a long time. That goes to prove that Dan, Ron and myself really know each other and are a tight trio and then with Nathan coming in, it was like, ‘wow, this is amazing.’ We’ve done weekends worth of shows and as we do more of them the more addicting they become. Its’ all great, whether we’re paying before 15 people or 600. We’ll never turn down an opportunity to play before a headliner. We’d love to play before a large audience before a national act.
What lies ahead for Vessel of Light?
Dan is already writing the next album. In 2020 we’ll continue to play and see what happens. We’re all already very excited about that.
Let’s talk about your history with Dan Lorenzo starting back with Hades. Dark Symphonies just rereleased the band’s first two albums, “Resisting Success” and “If At First You Don’t Succeed,” each with a second disc of rarities. What do you remember about joining the band?
I remember listening to all the older songs. “The Cross” was great. Then Dan played me demos of “The Leaders” and “Nightstalker” and I was like, I’m all in. This is it. The music was ahead of its time, a sign of things to come, and I wanted to be a part of it. It was interesting to be in the studio back then. “Resisting Success” was a raw album that was indicative of the time.
The band made a huge leap musically with sophomore effort “If At First You Don’t Succeed”
The band was coming together as a live act and we had all new songs and they were all tremendous songs. Everybody was bringing their talent and ambitions to the table.
Any favorite rarities on the bonus discs?
“Bete Noir.” I pushed for that to be included. It was exciting to have a song of mine that was never heard see the light of day. Everybody gave a great performance. I’m definitely proud of.
Check out the band’s new single “Meet & Bone”, taken from the upcoming album “Thy Serpent Rise”. Stream and buy ‘Meet and Bone’ at this location.
We had the honor to talk with Megadeth’s legendary bassist David Ellefson before the next leg of his “Basstory Tour”. We discussed his latest book “More Life with Deth” and the structure of the tour that will take him to Europe and Latin America, including a special date in Wolverhampton, where he will be joined by K.K. Downing, Ripper Owens and Les Binks to play a set of Judas Priest classics.
David also told us about the story behind his eclectic compilation album “Sleeping Giants” featuring previously unreleased tracks, including collaborations with John Bush, Chris Poland and David Glen Eisley. Of course, we also talked about the present and future of Megadeth, including the upcoming Megacruise, the recording of the new album and the recovery process of Dave Mustaine.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David (MSF): You’re currently promoting your latest book “More Life with Deth” through a series of bass clinics, signing sessions and shows. The next dates are in the UK, mainland Europe and Latin America. Can you describe a little bit the concept behind these different variations of the “Basstory Tour”?
David Ellefson:
Yeah, everyone is gonna be a little different, you know. The first show, that I’m kicking off with, started originally just as a kind of book signing at KK’s Steel Mill (K.K. Downing’s club) up in Wolverhampton. And K.K. (Downing) being a dear friend, obviously we like to play music, and we’ve never played music together. So, we’re gonna get on stage and fire up a big thing with Tim “Ripper” Owens, Lis Binks, my partner Thom (Hazaert) and A.J. Mill. We’re gonna fire off one show, so that’s kind of a standalone show on November 3rd. And then, November 4th we’ll be down to London in the Underworld. That’s going to be a bit more similar to what I’ve been doing here in America with the Sleeping Giants band, being a full band set, playing some of the classic songs people know me for, as well as material off my own Sleeping Giants album, and book signing afterwards. And I’ll do that same type of thing across Europe, across Italy and one date in Switzerland. And then, when I wrap up in Rome, a couple days later I will be starting the Latin America Basstory. That’s going to be slightly different, I’m going to actually use some local musicians in every city, and part of that is just because I want to involve local musicians as well as fans. There’s a lot of cover bands, tribute bands of various musicians who … I just thought it would be fun for them to get up and to basically play some songs together. So, that’ll be a little bit more like my Basstories were in 2018 and even earlier this year in 2019, when I was doing Basstory across Europe. So, everyone is going to be a little bit different, which I think sets the stage for a unique experience for the fans and everybody who comes to these shows.
David (MSF): Yeah, definitely. This is your second book after 2013’s “My Life with Deth”. Have you found something therapeutic about writing that you couldn’t express through music or what was your motivation to write this second part?
David Ellefson:
You know, I like to write. I found over the years, you know, that probably if there was a word for me, it would be “communicator”. And sometimes, I do that with a bass, sometimes I do it with a guitar, sometimes I do it just like you and me are doing right now talking over the phone, other times it’s writing a book, maybe it’s doing a Basstory masterclass clinic performance, etc. So, it’s all about just communicating, you know. Communicating thoughts, ideas, creative things. Creating it out to your audience. The books are just one of those ways to do that. You can do things in a book you can’t do in a song, and vice versa. I think with “More Life with Deth”, the thing is … I kind of hit a sweet spot on it, because a lot of this stuff with social media, it’s like everything is so immediate. And people kind of know I’ve got a record label, I’ve got a coffee company. So, I talked about those things in the book, some of the backstory to them, got a little deeper into some of the underpinnings and workings of those processes. But I think the one thing that was kind of an unexpected sweet spot in the story for me was, as I started talking about acquiring the rights to Combat Records, and relaunching that record label, it took me way back to the origin of Megadeth, to 1983. When, and how the band started. And I had some of my childhood friends from Minnesota who moved out to California, when we met Dave and got the band started. And I had them weigh in and give some personal testimonies about that. I think those, to me … I had as much fun reading their personal testimonies in my book as I did reading what I wrote about it. So, the Combat events really took me back to the earliest days of Megadeth, and that’s largely been an untold part of the Megadeth history. Kind of “Rust in Peace” onwards it has largely been told and pretty well known. A lot of those artifacts live online, on YouTube and whatnot. But the early days in the 80s, it was really fun to go back and open that chapter up, and really dig deep in and again, get these personal testimonies from other band members and friends who were with me on the journey back then.
David (MSF): Yeah, that’s very interesting. You mentioned the compilation album “Sleeping Giants” and there’s a lot of metal stuff in it, with different musicians. But I was very surprised by your collaboration with David Glen Eisley. What’s the story behind his partnership?
David Ellefson:
With the Sleeping Giants songs you mean?
David (MSF): The one’s with David Glen Eisley, this kind of soft rock tracks …
David Ellefson:
You know, in the “Countdown to Extinction Tour” in 1993 we had a tour break, and I met up with a friend of Nick Menza’s. His name was Pat Schunk, and we used to mountain bike, riding in the hills there in Los Angeles and hang out. Pat and I became fast friends, and we started doing some writing, because he’s also a songwriter, so we began doing some writing together. I put some of those songs on “Sleeping Giants” because there were some demos that we’d written, and I really just loved the songs. One of them “If You Were God”, which features John Bush on vocals, was something I actually did bring in as a consideration to the “Youthanasia” record, and it didn’t really fit the scope of where we were in that record, so it didn’t make the cut. But it’s a great song, and I have always loved it. I wrote the music, Pat wrote the lyrics and John Bush sang it. So, you know, to include that it’s been really fun because John Bush and I, we do stuff with Metal Allegiance and we’ve been friends for many years. So, it’s been fun to really collaborate with him again, even on stage, singing that song when I do Basstory shows. And then some other stuff, some stuff that I did with F5 during the 2000s, you know. That David Glen Eisley stuff, you know he was a friend of Pat Schunk’s, they were in a group together called Dirty White Boy, which featured David Glen Isley, some members of the group called Autograph, who were a pretty popular radio rock band here in America during the 80s. And, you know (we wanted) to write, and have different singers come in. These were really just demos and I thought, these things have been sitting in the vault, literally sleeping in the vault, yet I felt they were pretty cool songs. I mean, I think the title “Sleeping Giants” is not only a good title for the lead off track on the record, but it’s also a good description of the songs that are embodied on the album.
David (MSF): Yeah, exactly. Since we’re slowly running out of time, I don’t know if you’re okay with a couple of Megadeth related questions (David agrees). How’s the process of the new album going on, do we have any potential release date for it?
David Ellefson:
You know, we don’t. I mean, with Dave’s throat cancer treatments, that he has now completed, he’s just going through the recovery now and we’re hopeful and optimistic about a full recovery for him with that. But yeah, once he’s through with that process, and we’re gonna just let that take as much time as it needs, then we will resume with the album. I’d like to hope maybe in 2020 we’ll be able to get a new album out.
David (MSF): Hopefully it works out. Considering Dave’s health situation, the upcoming Megacruise and the dates you have confirmed for the beginning of next year in Europe. How do you see Dave’s recovery in order to perform live?
David Ellefson:
I think with the cruise, we’re really just taking that a day at a time. Me, Dirk and Kiko are gonna be on the boat, holding down the fort and doing some musical stuff ourselves on there, to just kind of keep a celebration of all things Megadeth. But, you know, we’re definitely giving Dave the time and space to heal and recover, that’s first and foremost for this week. And then, moving into the new year with the Five Finger Death Punch + Bad Wolves tour, you know, hopefully Dave will be ready to go. Sometimes, life throws you a card you didn’t expect and you just try to, you know … Megadeth we’ve always been a resilient band, we’ve always just worked around obstacles. Dave is a fighter, as we know, I was just talking to him and he sounds very optimistic about the future for Megadeth.
David (MSF): Yeah, that sounds great, hopefully he recovers soon. Well, thank you David for your time, it was a pleasure to talk with you. Take care, have a great Megacruise and send my best wishes to Dave!
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, while I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping.” As of some one hardly rocking, rocking at my smart phone. WOLF to reveal some surprise, raven has never told me any lies. Ah, distinctly I remember it was a night in September. Picked up my phone called Nik, Let’s talk, it will be quick….
Swedish heavy metallers, WOLF have recently shocked their fans with their new line up, featuring Johan Koleberg and Pontus Egberg and that was not all. They revealed that they working on their eighth studio album, entitles “Feeding The Machine”. To find out more I conducted an interview with Niklas Stålvind, an excerpt can be read below.
Asked him about the days that Richard and Andy left the band, what was the story, Nik seemed to be not very happy to talk about that era but he answered:
“We still haven’t finished recording. We have date set for mixing, dead line and we have a release date but it’s been very long process this one… Couple of weeks before [UK] tour, Andy called me, we are good friends but he’s not the guy who call you or at least he never called me. So I was really happy when he called me but then he said there’s nothing to be happy about because I’m quitting the band, but I’ll do the tour but the last thing I’ll do because I don’t feel it’s fun for me to be in the band anymore. Also I should say that Andy is playing totally a different kind of music in his other band and he seems really happy there…. I phoned up Richard to discuss the situation with Andi and everything and he told me that he’s also leaving the band…. I felt like let’s just let it go, because it seems to me neither of the guys are happy with the band and in my head I only had to finish the album and then we can sort it out.”
So what’s story of finding new members, now he sounded more excited and he replied:
“I felt a bit chaotic and I had no idea how we’re gonna to release this album with just half of the band…. Then a friend of us Mike Wead from King Diamond, he’s a close friend of Simon. He knew that we’re looking for people, so he asked Pontus the bass player of King Diamond if he knows anyone around Stockholm area for drummer. He said, yes I know a really good guy, my childhood friend, Johan, who I’ve been playing with for a long time. So I checked out Johan and he was really good drummer and seems to be a nice person as well. Mike Weed also told the bass player of King Diamond the they [WOLF] are looking for a bass player as well but I don’t think you’d be interested. But actually he was …. I did a bit of research on the guys of course, I thought they sound great and they seem to be normal nice guys! So we had a meeting with the guys and they are in the band now.”
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster the last couple of months because it’s not a good way of, I mean people quitting and new members getting in, it’s been really very exhausting to say the least. But I am very happy to have the [new] guys in the band and they wanted to be not just like hired musicians, they really wanted to be in the band for real.”
I asked him what took them so long for a new album, as “Devil Seed” was released in 2014. Nik answered:
“When we were making the “Devil Seed” album I didn’t have a job, I had to quit my job because I was burned out and I took my sick leave and invested on writing music… After the release of the album, I got a new job and start to work full time and that’s what I was doing. I have a family with two kids and also we did more touring on “Devil Seed” than we done with other albums so we were playing more lives… But mostly because I’ve been working, all the WOLF members have been working full time with day jobs but I wrote the first song for this album in 2015…. For this album, I wanted to go deeper into myself, I couldn’t really force it, to me it is just not like any songs….”
What’s the concept and idea behind the title of “Feeding The Machine” album, Nik answered me thoughtfully:
“The idea, I got, I think it was in 2016, I started to noticing that social media has become something very manipulating. When I was unemployed, I used social media to sell my artworks and I was fortunate that people saw them and buy them so I can buy foods for my children, I was very thankful. But around 2016, I started to noticed, what the f*ck is this, it’s not me using Facebook anymore, it’s Facebook using me. It’s so manipulative and it just make people gather in small groups hating each other and I felt something is really wrong there. Whatever. I take Facebook as an example but it’s the same with Google and everything, if you don’t buy service then you are the merchandise! Not only that, they are really manipulating opinions, elections, these companies are not neutral… Some people recognize it and some people don’t…. We are all feeding this machine!”
Nik and I spoke many other things like how the upcoming album would sound like and its production, so you can listen to the whole of this interview on the Audio Player below:
We recently had the chance to talk with the talented singer and songwriter Anna Murphy from CELLAR DARLING. We discussed the creative process of their latest studio record “The Spell”, such as the ideas behind the story and artwork of this concept album. She also shared her experiences in the last Progressive Music Awards, where they won the “Best Video of the Year” award for “Insomnia”.
The Swiss multi-instrumentalist and producer also told us some of the highlights and stories from “The Spell Tour”, which will bring them to Finland In November for two headlining shows in Helsinki and Tampere. Anna commented the experience of meeting their fans all over the world and told us some details about the future plans of the band.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David: You released your second album “The Spell” last March, and I have to say that it’s one of my candidates for the album of the year. What inspired you to create the story for the album?
Anna: Thank you very much, that’s really nice to hear! It’s kind of hard to say because with many things, like melodies, things just kind of pop into my head and I don’t really know where they come from, I think it all happens subconsciously somehow. But the motif that the concept album is based on, that is by no means my invention. It’s actually based on a very old motif, that has been depicted in the Renaissance art for a very long time, in poetry and in art, and that is Death and the Maiden. I wanted to create my own story with this motif, and I pretty much immediately came up with the story of a girl that falls in love with Death and cannot reach him because Death casts a spell of eternal life upon her. And that’s kind of how the whole thing came about, we had the story and the tracklist before we wrote the music, and this is something we’ve never done before. So yeah, it was a pretty intense process.
David: I think the audiobook was very enjoyable and helped me to understand better what’s going on behind the lyrics. Where did the idea of recording those introductions come from?
Anna: The thing is like when a band is recording an album in the studio, this kind of terrifying notion comes up from the label asking you “what are you going to do as bonus material”; and it’s something that you never actively think about, because you’re so engrossed in the whole process of creating the album and not with, you know, what are we going to do as bonus material. What I didn’t want to do is just to include some instrumental versions, covers or whatever, because it wouldn’t really fit. And then we thought it might be nice to just have an audiobook, because I wanted to write down the story from A to Z anyways, and this just seemed like a really fitting idea. I think that the people appreciate it for what it is…
David: In addition to the audiobook, you released animated videos for most of the songs on the album. You recently won the “Best Video of the Year” in the Progressive Music Awards. Can you tell us about that experience?
Anna: I think it was the most exciting day of the year, I’m still kind of recovering from it. I mean honestly, we couldn’t really believe that we won, considering people like Devin Townsend were nominated. It was so amazing, and it kind of proved what a supportive fanbase we have. And at the event itself, I was so nervous to go on a stage and have a speech on the same stage as people like John Petrucci or Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. I met the singer from Yes, and it was all so surreal. I still can’t really believe that we were there, and it was an amazing evening. But we drank too much, so I had a two-day hangover after it… (laughs)
David: In addition to creating the animated videos, Costin Chioreanu did the artwork for each of the album’s songs. How closely did you work with Costin for him to get the concept right?
Anna: That was actually a very interesting process, because what I didn’t want to do is to tell him what to do. Because I have no visual talents in that regard, you know. I take care of the music and the lyrics, and that’s already so much work, I wouldn’t really want to decide on anything else. Costin is such an amazing artist, and it would be really a pity to restrain him in any way. I just wanted him to have his vision and do what he feels is right. So, the only thing I actually provided him with was a basic outline of the story, the lyrics and the music. And he just went and did his own thing. Amazingly, it just fits perfectly to the vision that I had, so that was a really amazing collaboration.
David: Compared to your previous band, Cellar Darling showcases more progressive elements. Concept albums are usually linked to prog rock and metal. Do you have any favorite concept albums or prog heroes or something like that?
Anna: I think there’s a lot. I mean, the thing is we never categorized ourselves as progressive, it just somehow happened naturally. I think it’s so hard to pinpoint what is progressive because there’s so many different artists in that genre. I mean, in the end it just means that you don’t really restrain yourself to certain boundaries or keep yourself within the limits of conventional songwriting. And I’ve always really enjoyed that type of music, and I think there’s way too many artists that I could mention. But what I could maybe do is tell you about the first artist that I ever listened to that was a big prog hero, and that is Mike Oldfield. He released the song called “Tubular Bells”, and as a child I just listened to that on repeat, like the whole day. I think in total it lasts like twenty minutes or something, and that influenced me a great deal …
David: Continuing on that same path, you recorded a cover version of “The Prophet’s Song” by Queen. I think you did a great job, and I wanted to ask you about the decision to cover such a complex song that is also not so very well-known song to the casual listeners…
Anna: Actually Merlin, our drummer, he chose that song. We wanted to each pick a song and make a cover of it. Ivo chose “Mad World”, I chose a classical piece “The Cold Song” and Merlin chose “The Prophet’s Song”. We were listening to it and we thought “Wow, this is like the perfect song for us to cover”, because we just kind of see ourselves within that song. It’s very weird, but it also has these dramatic elements, and I think we have that in our music as well. We could just really imagine playing it ourselves, and we could hear how it would sound, and I think that’s the most important thing when making a cover. We also didn’t want to copy it in any way, we wanted to make it our own. And we realized it’s really brave to cover Queen, because you know it can go really wrong, and it’s such an amazing band. But I think so far people really enjoyed what we did.
David: Given the dark topics that “The Spell” deals with, it is quite a different album compared to “This is the Sound”, which had some brighter moments. Have you already discussed within the band what’s going be the next step in your career, what kind of direction you would like to take?
Anna: We haven’t really talked about it yet, because “The Spell” was a really long and very intense journey for us, and it took a lot of energy. I think it’s going to be hard for us to decide what we’re going to do next. Because, honestly, now that we’ve done a concept album, it’s really hard to imagine doing something that is not a concept album. Because it makes so much sense: every song is connected, it’s not just random eclectic songwriting like we did before. But what we might actually do is, because we had one song that didn’t make it on the album, just because it was too different and it didn’t … well it was in the realm of the story but kind of set loose from the others. So, we actually might release that one at some point next year.
David: Do you have any timeframe or any deal with the record company on when you have to put out a new record, or do you have freedom to work on that?
Anna: We’re actually really free with the timeframe. I mean, I don’t think that we can wait for like five years, and we also wouldn’t want to do that. But there’s no deadline or anything. We can just take our time and work on new music. And I think that’s also really important because music shouldn’t be like factory work, if you know what I mean …
David: Let’s talk about the current tour, which has included so far UK, Ireland, Central Europe, some European summer festivals and Latin America. What have been the highlights of the tour until now?
Anna: I think everything we did so far has been a small highlight in itself, and really positive ones too. We actually went to the UK first because we were received very well over there, and we didn’t really know about this until we went there with “This is the Sound”. We had such amazing crowds there, that we thought it would actually make sense to celebrate the album release there, as opposed to our home country, which is something pretty weird. The summer festivals were a huge surprise for me, personally, because I don’t really like festivals. I always feel kind of uncomfortable and I have a hard time connecting with the audience because it’s not intimate, you know. But the festivals that we did turned out to be really great, and we just did our own thing and it kind of worked. Latin America was just a huge trip, it was a real adventure. It went from pure chaos, like building our own backline out of chairs and suitcases, to not sleeping and having power outages. It was crazy but it was also really great, because we have a very supportive fanbase over there, and we got to see so many countries in such a short time, which was pretty surreal.
David: I noticed one of your posts in Facebook where you said that something went wrong in Peru, if I remember correctly. Everyone was wondering if you were safe, or if it was something very serious …
Anna: In Colombia we had a power outage, the power on the entire street went out for about an hour before our show, and they had to get a generator. But then we could play without a problem, and it actually turned out really great. In Peru the problem was that at the venue they had nothing, we didn’t have a keyboard stand, we didn’t have a drum stool, they didn’t have enough cables. So, our show got postponed for like four hours and we built a lot of the stuff ourselves, to manage to play some kind of show. So, it was very chaotic, but I also enjoy these kinds of shows because they just have something, some weird energy that I like.
David: Based on what you post on social media you seem to be a band that is very approachable to the fans. You have done theses meet and greets without charging money for it, unlike many other bands. What kind of things have you discovered from meeting your fans, any surprises, pleasant or unpleasant?
Anna: We tend to get a lot of presents, which is always very nice. You know, I’m actually not a very approachable person usually. I’m pretty shy, and if I go out in my hometown I don’t really like to party or meet tons of people. So, at first it was weird to present yourself in a different way and meet and hug all people. But in the end, I think it adds to our show, you know. And we would never charge for something like that, because I think it’s great that people go out and they pay for concert tickets. Especially nowadays, you really have to appreciate that as a musician and give an effort, that’s why we do it in the end.
David: Maybe on the same note, since you have probably talked with many of your fans during the tour. Do you think that most of Cellar Darling’s fanbase are people who used to follow you since your days in Eluveitie, or do you think that this new band appeals to a different group of listeners?
Anna: I think it’s both. I think we still have some fans that came with us from Eluveitie, I think there’s also a lot of people who just enjoy both bands, but we’re starting to slowly gather fans from a completely different scene. And me, personally, I’m always excited when I meet people who have never heard of us before, because that kind of proves that they just listened to our new music and they were a fan of that. But I think we still have to work hard on finding our fanbase, because I think there’s a lot of people who don’t know us but would probably enjoy our music. And that’s why what we need to do is just tour and tour …
David: Your first concert in Finland was at the John Smith Rock Festival last summer. How did you perceive the Finnish audience seeing Cellar Darling for the first time, maybe not knowing what they were about to see…?
Anna: I actually loved it there. I thought the festival itself was just amazing, the hospitality was incredible, we jumped in the lake after the show. The show itself I absolutely loved it, there were some fans that were singing along the lyrics which I thought was amazing, because I honestly didn’t know how many people would know us there. And I think for the time of the day there were quite a few people already, so it was absolutely a great journey.
David: What kind of surprises can we expect for the upcoming gigs in November both in Tampere and Helsinki?
Anna: It’s going to be quite a mixed show as far as feelings go, because we’re going to play probably an equal amount of songs from both our albums. There’s a lot of people who haven’t seen us yet, and I think it would be a shame to kind of ignore “This is the Sound”. Our show is going to be divided into two parts, one of them is going to be darker and the other one is going to be a bit lighter and more energetic. So, you can expect that. We’re actually rehearsing some new songs now, I’m not sure if we’ll actually play them, because that will be determined on whether they suck or not (laughs). I’m really looking forward to it, we’re definitely a band where you just have to listen and take it in, you know. We’re not a party band or anything like that, with us it’s all atmosphere …
David: To finish the interview, would you like to send a message to your Finnish fans, maybe invite them to listen to “The Spell” and come to your shows with Forever Still and Oceans?
Anna: Definitely. I absolutely can’t wait to play in Finland, I really love it there, it’s such a beautiful country. We actually know a lot of people from there, because we’ve toured with so many bands from Finland, and I love the humor and the people there. So, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be amazing!
We had the pleasure to talk with Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek, frontman and founding member of death metal legends VADER during their stopover in Helsinki in the context of their “Message to the North tour”, which started last week in Lithuania. The intense evening program included, in addition to Vader, Polish acts Hate and Thy Disease, plus Grimaze from Bulgaria and The Noctambulant from USA.
Being one of the seminal figures in Polish metal, we asked him about his memories from the early years but also his views on the current Polish extreme metal scene and his dedication to pay tribute to the Metal Gods. Peter also discussed about the future plans of the band, which include a brand-new studio album scheduled for early 2020. Last but not least, he shared his opinion on the Star Wars franchise.
We leave you the full transcript (slightly modified to improve readability) of the interview below as well as the original audio version on YouTube:
David: Hi Peter, how are you doing?
Peter: I’m doing good, thank you. Tour just started three days ago. Everything’s all right, good team, good people, good tour, good shows …
David: It’s a killer line up. Three top-notch Polish bands (Vader, Hate and Thy Disease) plus some guests from Bulgaria and USA. Also, Lilla Veneda from Poland joined you in the beginning. What kind of reception have you gathered from the fans so far?
Peter: It’s good, you know. We’re not for the first time in those cities, including Helsinki today. We already have many friends here and they’re definitely going to show up tonight. We have some new songs from the last record included in the setlist, plus we changed some things, so it might be a pretty interesting show, for Vader and all those bands who play with us. It’s going to be definitely an interesting evening for everybody.
David: I saw you guys playing with Annihilator and Testament last year here in Helsinki. Your set was mind-blowing, very brutal yet so technical. How would you compare the experience of performing now as a main act, in contrast to opening for other bands or playing a big festival?
Peter: That tour with Testament and Annihilator was, first of all, a big one. Big tour, so you may expect many fans showing up every day. But honestly, if you want to see Vader with a full-throttle then it’s better to visit us when we are headlining, because then we get more chances, the set list is bigger, so we can just give 120% of the power. When you play as a supporting act, you never get a hundred percent abilities, because that is how it goes. But anyway, that tour was pretty good, so actually last week I was talking to Jeff (Waters, from Annihilator) about making something together in Canada next year. They are working on a new record, we already have a new record coming up, so 2020 would be definitely a busy year for both bands.
David: Sounds cool! You’re currently promoting your latest EP “Thy Messenger” which was released via Nuclear Blast, just like most of your albums during the last decade. I noticed that you have also released some albums through Witching Hour Productions, which is a Polish independent record label. How does that work, how do you choose how to release these different albums?
Peter: Those are, first of all, historical albums. It’s re-releases or something from the old days. Nuclear Blast is not interested in releasing everything, you know. We started re-releasing the very first works, our demo tapes on vinyl, and some nice boxsets. We were following with the first album, so actually we tried to cooperate with Earache Records, which was our original record company. They released “The Ultimate Incantation” album in 1993 but, unfortunately, we couldn’t do it because Earache didn’t let us release even a limited license version. So, the only way to re-release the first album for its 25th anniversary was to record it again. We named the album a little bit different, but we still had the original painting from Dan Seagrave, who made the original cover. We wanted to do something, Earache didn’t want to cooperate with us, so what could we do? The album “Dark Age” was released two years ago, and we also made some special events where we played the album as a whole, fans like this kind of stuff. We have a new album that’s coming up next year, plus our second album “De Profundis”, which is one of the favorite Vader albums for the fans, is going to be 25 years since it was released. It’s going to be 20 years since “Litany” was released, and that’s another favorite album. So, probably we’re going to re-release both of those albums next year, plus a new album. It’s going to be a very good year for Vader.
David: Sounds quite intense, lots of releases coming up. Vader are pioneers when it comes to Polish metal. You started in the early 80s, but released your first album only in 1992. What kind of memories do you hold from those early years before you released your first album?
Peter: It’s a long story, just to say it in a few lines, you know. You just can’t do that. We have this book called “Total War”, which was already released in Polish language, but we’re working in an English edition as well, also Russian. It’s a pretty thick book about the whole story, specially focused in the early days, because that was the most interesting age for everybody from a new generation. Those were absolutely different times for bands playing extreme metal in Eastern countries in the 80s. The band started in the middle of the 80s, we were absolutely parallel to the music business, I mean, metal business was not existing in those days. Actually, we were one of those who started the underground scene in Poland. One of the bands, not the only one, but probably we were one of the few who survived the time. You know, we’re happy to exist for so many years, and we still have fans from new, younger generations, still having fun and enjoying Vader. That’s, I think, the biggest fortune, that makes me the most happy now. We’re still an active band, we still have fans, you know. We’re not just like a dinosaur band who plays for old pricks only (laughs).
David: And talking about Poland, I wanted to ask you about the current state of the Polish extreme metal scene. In addition to the four bands taking part of this tour, acts like Behemoth, Batushka and Mgła have achieved a lot of recognition internationally. What do you think is the key to this success?
Peter: I have no idea. I don’t really have so much time, compared to the past. I’m not following everything, so what I know is from my friends. Most of those bands you mentioned, they are friends of mine, and I’ve known those guys for years. I can say something about Behemoth, because they were going through this thing for years, for decades. Now they have gained a huge success in the world with their performances. I think they deserve it, you know. They get this mix of black metal and death metal, with this spectacle on the stage, so people like that. But you know, Batushka or Mgła it’s something different, it’s a new, modern kind of success. They gained something they didn’t even expect, that they could be so huge after just a few albums released. And, what can I say, I can wish them luck in the future (laughs).
David: My first contact with Vader was in high school. A friend of mine lend me a copy of “Future of the Past”, and I was immediately surprised by your ability to make kick-ass covers of metal classics. How important it is for you to keep paying tribute to the gods at this point in your career, the last example being “Steeler” by Judas Priest?
Peter: I’m a fan, you know. I’ve been a metal fan for years, and every time if I can give some respect, the best respect is just to play covers, you know. Just to remind the new generation what is a classic in metal. If we have the time and if we have a studio ready for that. We did “Future of the Past” with the milestones of death metal, for me and for Vader, including bands like Kreator, Possessed, Celtic Frost, Black Sabbath. People were asking for maybe something more, like part two. It took me years until I decided to release it, but I totally changed my mind, because I focused on the beginnings of the Polish metal scene. I focused on my friends from the past, you know, for the bands who were so much important in Poland, but they were just absolutely forgotten. I tried to bring back those bands who never released something important, they just disappeared in the meantime, but they were very popular and very important in the metal scene in Poland in the 80s. So, we did “Future of the Past – Part II” which we called “Hell in the East”. Sometimes, I add as a bonus when we release EP’s or something, another legend which is important, some song which I like and that we can perform live. It’s in the same vein, just to keep tradition going on, just to keep some songs. Actually, Judas Priest came back with an absolutely great album. Everybody just though that Judas Priest was going to be ended, they even got a tour called The Epitaph. It made me really happy that they released an absolutely great album, and they’re still going on, they’re still active. I love this band, you know. Actually, I think Judas Priest made me a metalhead. I started with Black Sabbath but Judas Priest is the band who made me a metalhead. I started to listen more extreme metal later on, like Slayer, Morbid Angel, Deicide, etc. So that was like, my own, our own respects for this band, you know. I had the chance to meet them personally, we supported Judas Priest twice in Poland on a festival. Very nice guys, like these metal gods from the past. These guys are different, they are not rock stars, they play such great music, and they are huge icons, but they act like normal people, like metalheads, you know. Even if they are like 60 or 70 years-old, they’re just good guys and still enjoying what they’re doing. That’s very important to me, that’s a motivating thing.
David: Definitely! One last question: Based on the name of the band, I assume you’re a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy. What do you think about the prequels, sequels, spin-offs and how Disney has handled the franchise?
Peter: Yeah, Disney is a good explanation for everything, I think. Seriously, when we took the name from Star Wars, that was a different movie. We were younger and this cult movie Star Wars was different, you know. Vader was this kind of iconic dark person, on those days nobody had an idea that something like and Anakin Skywalker it’s going to show up in the future. But all in all, I really like the three episodes which we know as the first ones, and then the three following ones. Maybe, I was a little bit disappointed with the first episode “The Phantom Menace”, it was a little bit more made for a younger generation, for kids, so that the whole family can watch it. It’s not as dark as those first three parts, Episodes IV, V and XI, as we know. Only now later this story was smartly made as a whole. So, I liked that. But what was next, after Vader died, that’s different to me. After so many years, Lucas and Disney they’re trying to make absolutely the same that we saw on “A New Hope”, just more Hollywood-style, more effects, you know, bigger. This Death Star thing, just bigger, but I think it’s just too stupid, you know. But we live in different world, and I think the new generations they get something we never had. They get Internet, everybody has mobile phones, the technology gets so high. So, probably the younger generations couldn’t understand what was for us so spectacular about the first Star Wars movies we watched back in the 80s or 70s. Maybe that’s an idea. However, I feel that this is just the same but in Hollywood style, bigger. This is “Star Wars – A New Hope” but made in the 21st century (laughs). That’s just my feelings, of course. But I’m still waiting for the next ones. I really like those little episodes that they’ve made in the meantime. That’s a really good idea, I really like that, I think more than the sequel things.
David: To conclude our interview, would you like to send a message to your fans and invite them to listen to your latest record, or come to see your tour?
Peter: You know I always say we would not exist without our fans. Vader exists for so many years because we have fans, and because fans support us. So, I can’t just say enough good words about how much we love our fans. Actually, what we do, we do for our fans. It’s of course our job, we live from music. But we do it not just for us, when we do music, we do it for the fans. It works both sides, together. What can I promise? We have the EP “Thy Messenger”, but we recorded that just because we knew that the fool album was going to be delayed. At first, we wanted to release the album in December this year, but after a pitch with Nuclear Blast, we thought it’s a little bit better for everybody to release it in the beginning of 2020. The album will be probably released late January or beginning of February. I can’t say the title yet because I’m still thinking, I can’t decide about that. I’m still waiting for the main cover art by Wes Benscoter. But the album was recorded, all the songs and the title of the songs are already done, so probably we’re going to make it public. And what can I say, I’m sure the fans will like it. It’s different than the last album “The Empire”, I think it’s a little more … it’s not the same, because … maybe I shouldn’t say that. Let’s just wait and let the fans decide if they like it or not. It’s going be a very brutal album, it’s probably the most brutal in the whole history of Vader. But that’s Vader, so what can I say?
David: Thank you very much for your time, Peter! Looking forward to seeing your show tonight!
Peter: Thank you!
Here are the tour dates with HATE and THY DISEASE.
05.09.2019 – Vilnus / LEGENDOS 06.09.2019 – Riga / REPUBLIKA 07.09.2019 – Tallinn / TAPPER 08.09.2019 – Helsinki / ON THE ROCKS 09.09.2019 – Tampere / YO-TALO
10.09.2019 – Jyvaskyla / ILOKIVI
11.09.2019 – Oulu / 45 SPECIAL
12.09.2019 – Umea / DROSKAN
13.09.2019 – Trondheim / HJORTEN SCENE
14.09.2019 – Sundsvall / DESTROYER
15.09.2019 – Stockholm / SLAKTKYRKAN
17.09.2019 – Copenhagen / HOTEL CECIL
18.09.2019 – Goteborg / STICKY FINGERS
19.09.2019 – Oslo / RØVERSTADEN
20.09.2019 – Malmo / PLAN B
21.09.2019 – Erfurt / CLUB FROM HELL
22.09.2019 – Cottbus / MUGGEFUG
