Earlier today (Wednesday, March 12), MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine reflected on his career, musical influences and how the band got started with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock".
On his upcoming performance with the San Diego Symphony:
Mustaine: "Well, the symphony music, with classical music, I believe, shows up a lot in heavy metal music. A lot of the medieval-type music that I was brought up with, and the British Invasion… LED ZEPPELIN, for example, has a lot of the story telling and the classical arrangements do tell a lot of stories. And I also was weaned on THE BEATLES, so a lot of Sir George Martin's arrangements with the strings and stuff really fascinated me. So I've always been a fan of classical music. But the classical industry is dying. There's a generation of people that don't really know about it. I thought it would be really cool to take my guitar in there and play the lead-violin part with a little bit of some snarl, a little bit of some distortion. And, you know, watching all the Disney movies when I was a kid, I liked the songs right before the poison apple gets bit, or the wolf is about to attack or something, where the music gets kind of scary. So we picked some songs that we thought were really emotional, colorful songs — some Vivaldi, some Bach."
On whether he has become less intimidating in terms of his music as he's developed:
Mustaine: "I think as you grow up, things kind of change. It's kind of hard being an anarchist when you have a Mercedes-Benz in your driveway. This morning, I was thinking about growing up, how I was homeless when I started my career. I was a product of a broken family and was, basically, watched during the day by the Boys Club Of America. And, you know, it's one of those things where you go from being a poor kid, having lunch tickets and food stamps, to being a millionaire. It's an American success story."
On some of the biggest challenges that new bands face in today's music world:
Mustaine: "The revenue streams have dried up. The money that you would generate from record sales has all but vanished. So in order to be successful and to keep yourself in business, you have to find other ways to pay your bills, which predominantly are touring and merchandise. A lot of people have endorsements and sponsorship deals and stuff like that too, but because of peer-to-peer file transferring and stuff like that — it's old news now — it's really changed the music industry."
Earlier today (Wednesday, March 12), MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine reflected on his career, musical influences and how the band got started with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock". You can now watch the segment below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On his upcoming performance with the San Diego Symphony:
Mustaine: "Well, the symphony music, with classical music, I believe, shows up a lot in heavy metal music. A lot of the medieval-type music that I was brought up with, and the British Invasion… LED ZEPPELIN, for example, has a lot of the story telling and the classical arrangements do tell a lot of stories. And I also was weaned on THE BEATLES, so a lot of Sir George Martin's arrangements with the strings and stuff really fascinated me. So I've always been a fan of classical music. But the classical industry is dying. There's a generation of people that don't really know about it. I thought it would be really cool to take my guitar in there and play the lead-violin part with a little bit of some snarl, a little bit of some distortion. And, you know, watching all the Disney movies when I was a kid, I liked the songs right before the poison apple gets bit, or the wolf is about to attack or something, where the music gets kind of scary. So we picked some songs that we thought were really emotional, colorful songs — some Vivaldi, some Bach."
On whether he has become less intimidating in terms of his music as he's developed:
Mustaine: "I think as you grow up, things kind of change. It's kind of hard being an anarchist when you have a Mercedes-Benz in your driveway. This morning, I was thinking about growing up, how I was homeless when I started my career. I was a product of a broken family and was, basically, watched during the day by the Boys Club Of America. And, you know, it's one of those things where you go from being a poor kid, having lunch tickets and food stamps, to being a millionaire. It's an American success story."
On some of the biggest challenges that new bands face in today's music world:
Mustaine: "The revenue streams have dried up. The money that you would generate from record sales has all but vanished. So in order to be successful and to keep yourself in business, you have to find other ways to pay your bills, which predominantly are touring and merchandise. A lot of people have endorsements and sponsorship deals and stuff like that too, but because of peer-to-peer file transferring and stuff like that — it's old news now — it'
Niclas Müller-Hansen of Sweden's Metalshrine recently conducted an interview with Tuomas Holopainen, the keyboardist and main songwriter of NIGHTWISH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Metalshrine: What's the plan for the next NIGHTWISH album?
Tuomas: I have given myself some schedules and I should have all the songs ready by the beginning of May. I have nine songs now and Marco [Hietala, bass/vocals] just visited me about a week ago and gave me a CD full of riffs. We're almost there and we're looking at 12 songs all together. We will all get together on July 1st in my hometown and we have rented this beautiful camp site for three months. It's actually where we did the previous album, so it's the same place for three months to rehearse, arrange, fish, water ski, record, get drunk and if everything goes as planned, the album should be ready by the turn of the year.
Metalshrine: Does recording an album in the middle of summer in any way affect the sound, compared to record it in winter time?
Tuomas: It must have something to do with it. I don't know about the recordings because you're inside a room either way, but as a songwriter, I can't do anything in the summer or in the evenings. It's funny, I almost always do all of my songwriting in the morning or in the afternoon, so when the clock strikes five or six, I'm done. [Laughs] And the band is called NIGHTWISH, go figure? [Laughs] I'm a morning person and I love to get up early.
Metalshrine: Those 12 songs you mentioned, how long does it usually take to turn them into finished songs?
Tuomas: It's really hard to measure it, because the songs are in process in my head all the time. Some of these songs for the next album were already born two years ago. Let's say it takes about half a year to a year of 24/7 songwriting for me personally to get everything done.
Metalshrine: What does [new NIGHTWISH singer] Floor Jansen bring to the album?
Tuomas: She brings a lot of interpretations, some arrangements and positive energy for sure, but she's not included in the songwriting process. She told me that the first time around, she has [her side project] REVAMP and Marco and I will do just fine for now.
Metalshrine: What is it about NIGHTWISH and female singers? Is it a chemistry thing?
Tuomas: Yeah, something like that. I don't wanna go too deep into it because it's just a never-ending story, a never-ending carousel. Maybe there's just a little bit of bad luck involved as well.
Metalshrine: Could NIGHTWISH ever have a male singer?
Tuomas: No, I think it has to be a female singer. It's such an essential part of the band and what the band is all about. It's been there from the beginning and the moment I formed the band back in August 1996, I knew that it was gonna be a female singer. That's never gonna change.
Metalshrine: It's almost 20 years ago. Been a fun ride, I guess?
Tuomas: Yeah, lots of ups, lots of downs and everything in between. Sometimes it feels really weird, like, "What the hell's going on?" I just finished reading Rex Brown's [PANTERA, KILL DEVIL HILL] book and other bands have similar problems. We're minor league compared to some of them.
Metalshrine: It really doesn't come as a surprise when you're in a band. You spend a lot of time together, compared to the time you spend with your co-workers on a regular job.
Tuomas: Absolutely. One more thing, and Marco put it really well. We look like we're a bunch of neanderthals against ladies, and I guess it's what it must look like, that we're a bunch of chauvinist pigs or whatever, but the fact is that the band is full of males who have had relationships with females — our girlfriends, wives, sisters, mothers — our whole lives. Full of love and no conflicts and that's all I wanna say. [Laughs]
Metalshrine: 12 years from now when you celebrate your 30th anniversary as a band, could you see all three singers on stage, doing something together?
Tuomas: Why not? Holding grudges and living with hatred is never good for anybody, so I really hope it happens some day. These kinda things take time.
Read the entire interview at Metalshrine.
Following countless years of personal hardships, studio disasters and times of music industry indecision, New Orleans' own EYEHATEGOD, with much relief and excitement, has announced the release of its brand new full-length. Entirely assembled and financed by the band, the self-titled, eleven-track longplayer will be released on May 27 by their partners at Housecore Records in North America, May 26 by Century Media in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and May 21 by Daymare in Japan.
Comments EYEHATEGOD vocalist Mike IX Williams: "I have to say I don't believe we've lost nary a step in the creation of this album and we think these newer songs are a killer combination of classic EYEHATEGOD mixed along with our best production, mixing, engineering and songwriting in thirteen years. The main and total tragic break in the chain, was obviously last year's death of our great friend and drummer, Joey LaCaze. However, his original drum tracks made it onto the final master recordings and we're fucking psyched about that... As for working with Housecore, it was a no-brainer. We've always been a family, and will always remain a family."
Adds Housecore founder Philip H. Anselmo (PANTERA, DOWN): "Being a part of the new EYEHATEGOD record is a dream come true. I've known, supported and loved the guys for almost as long as I've been playing music myself, and it is our pleasure here at the Housecore Records compound to have 'em aboard. And I gotta mention, having heard the new record, this is the EYEHATEGOD record every true fan has been waiting for.... Hail!"
As a precursor to the release, EYEHATEGOD will play a special one-off show with HIGH ON FIRE, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, MAGRUDERGRIND, STRONG INTENTION and ILSA at the Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland on April 27.
As a band that helped create a genre as well as equate a city with a sound, EYEHATEGOD has always remained humble anytime words like "legend" were thrown around to describe them. The thing with legends is that they grow stronger in time and over the years, word of mouth has been kind to the band. EYEHATEGOD is bigger now than they ever have been in their twenty-five plus years as a band. Pretty impressive seeing as they haven't released a full-length album in almost fifteen years. Most people who know the band have a story to tell or they heard a story about the guys. Whether it was them playing nothing but feedback to a bewildered WHITE ZOMBIE crowd during their opening stint for the arena metal band in the mid-Nineties, being banned from a certain venue for attacking a promoter with a barstool or cleaning out entire small towns of their drug supply, these stories spread throughout the metal community over the years, usually through a game of one-up-manship, establishing them as one of the most notorious bands around.
Certainly not the first band to be surrounded by myth and lore, EYEHATEGOD's staying and growing power ultimately comes from the music. No one riffs like Jimmy Bower and Brian Patton. Drummer Joey LaCaze grooved and held it together with numerous bass players throughout the years, doing so impeccably with Gary Mader over the past decade. Singer Mike IX Williams has always been able to encapsulate the ruins of life through his lyrics and vocal delivery. All combined, the music is the most genuine, distressing cacophony of sound around.
"BLACK SABBATH mixed with BLACK FLAG with a little bit of SKYNYRD and the element of blues thrown in there," Bower once said of the band's sound. In 2014 that style might sound somewhat commonplace. In 1988 it most definitely was not. The band's second album, 1993's "Take As Needed For Pain", is the pinnacle album that other bands of this genre to this day try to reach. Today, EYEHATEGOD sounds as fresh and innovative as ever. When the band released its first new track in over a decade, "New Orleans Is The New Vietnam", it was clear that nothing about the band had changed. They were touring more than ever and used that time and energy to work on an album's worth of songs. At the end of 2012 they were ready.
The recording process for "Eyehategod" started with producer Billy Anderson back in the fold (he recorded 1996's "Dopesick"). The session saw both producer and band not quite on the same page and at the end, the album was unfinished. A few months later, the band reconvened at longtime friend Phil Anselmo's home studio with producer Stephen Berrigan (DOWN). Both Anselmo and Berrigan helped draw out the missing pieces to one of underground metal's most anticipated albums in years.
An unexpected tragedy occurred shortly upon returning home from a recent five-week European tour in the fall of 2013: Joey LaCaze passed away due to respiratory failure. An outpouring of condolences and tributes spread online. Enough can't be said of the loss felt by the band, family and friends. Fortunately, LaCaze's drum tracks were captured by Anderson and appear on the album, creating the definitive tribute for the member of the band who encapsulated best just what EYEHATEGOD was all about; seriously not taking yourself too seriously. New Orleans native, Aaron Hill (MOUNTAIN OF WIZARD, MISSING MONUMENTS), took over for LaCaze without missing a beat, both figuratively and literally. The band hit the road after wrapping up the record and plan to embark upon their most exhaustive touring schedule to date.
EYEHATEGOD is:
Mike IX Williams - Vocals
Jimmy Bower - Guitar
Brian Patton - Guitar
Gary Mader - Bass
Aaron Hill - Drums
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