tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46727135457533159662024-03-13T08:28:25.053-07:00Music and Art Interviews by Dan RothOccasional Interviews from the world of Rock.Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-46984474718301063382023-12-06T17:10:00.000-08:002023-12-07T20:29:09.597-08:00A Conversation with Circle of Sanity<p><span style="color: #ea9999;"><b>Circle of Sanity</b> is a hard rock/metal band that has been performing and recording for fifteen years, developing a loyal following in the Northeast USA amongst a series of personnel changes. 2023 marks yet one more evolution for this band, and one that is poised to make waves in both its sound and band configuration. For the first time in their history, founding members <b>Josh Sapna</b> (Guitar/Bass/Vocals) and <b>Kevin Horner</b> (Drums) have added keyboards into their group in a major way. </span><span style="color: #ea9999; font-family: inherit;">Classical/Prog Metal keyboard legend <b>Vitalij
Kuprij </b>of<b> Trans-Siberian Orchestra</b>, who has spent the last couple of years releasing his latest solo album, Progression, as well as releases with prog-metal outfits <b>Majustice</b> and <b>Ring of
Fire</b>, has come aboard and has officially joined Circle of Sanity. </span></p><p><span style="color: #ea9999;">I had the honor and pleasure recently to sit in on their rehearsals as they played much of their forthcoming new EP live and chatted with the guys on the history of the group, their latest lineup with Kuprij now involved, and upcoming plans. They talked candidly about their music and band, and I came away from this experience quite impressed with their unique combo of hard rock, prog metal all with a strong melodic ingredient. We also floated the new song past a few musicians and got their thoughts, shared at the end of this interview.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnESH-ruCpltLkneVRuJmlfxJ1OzY6S25uFgzbb1CxHknbEf3vDOmnehX6Hi_GM-qKSIXBHhqLHXzUKNmQvd5SKEHZmmPvDpR8-Oo6awZVUjQZd-nCLBF30oIe99J_dxhB6jVTozOQ__h-jBO-KOpvYE_jG_Y0S976StHpyC0695cbzodaOJhbO67K38_/s1920/CoS%20logo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1916" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnESH-ruCpltLkneVRuJmlfxJ1OzY6S25uFgzbb1CxHknbEf3vDOmnehX6Hi_GM-qKSIXBHhqLHXzUKNmQvd5SKEHZmmPvDpR8-Oo6awZVUjQZd-nCLBF30oIe99J_dxhB6jVTozOQ__h-jBO-KOpvYE_jG_Y0S976StHpyC0695cbzodaOJhbO67K38_/w638-h640/CoS%20logo.jpg" width="638" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #ea9999;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span><b>Dan Roth</b>: Can you tell me a little about how the band originally formed and when?<br /><br /><b>Josh Sapna</b>: We formed this band in 2008. Prior to that I had a band called Mad Souls that put out a 14-song record, and for a while I was in a cover band called The Bugs. The Bugs was booked by Media Five and we did the shore scene, big crowds, good money, but no outlet for my art. I put an ad out and Kevin Horner hit me up and we found a bass player and a second guitarist. I started bringing my songs to the table and we wound up recording an EP at Barber Shop Studios with the late, great Jason Corsaro, the Grammy winning engineer. It was our first release and overall were not as happy with it as we would've liked. We wound up being a little rushed getting it done.</span><span> In 2014, we released a full-length album, </span><i>Twisted Into Shape, </i><span>which had some new songs and a few from that original EP that we wanted to re-record and put out there in a more final shape. It was co-produced and mixed by Grammy award winner John Seymour (Alice in Chains, Dave Matthews, Santana).</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: Tell me about the name "Circle of Sanity". </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span><b>Sapna</b>:
At the time I was really into the band A Perfect Circle. Also years before that,
I wrote a song called “in circles”, which was produced, but only released
locally through a few hundred CDs. It’s a song I would love to redo and release
in the future. I knew that the next band name would have “circle”
in it and whatever I came up with would be the last one I would ever have
to create. I released all the songs I’ve
written from that point on under that name, regardless of whoever was playing them with me. Thinking about
all the craziness that works its way into peoples lives got me thinking that
when we were there in our circle playing music, none of those things could
exist there, and the name was born “Circle Of Sanity”. That night I called
Kevin and ran it by him and explained my thoughts of how I came up with it and
he agreed it was a good name and so we went with it.</span></span></p><p><span><b>Kevin Horner</b>: You never know what's going to happen when you walk out the door each day, but in here, with these guys here in our circle, this was our circle of sanity from outside worries.</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: Once we had that settled, I started thinking about our logo and we were the first band to put the letters of their band name in an emblem like that. I designed the logo and that will be on our albums and banners.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: The band lineup seems like it has evolved over the years.</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: Well, Kevin had taken a sabbatical at one point.</span></p><p><span><b>Horner</b>: Yeah, I had stepped away from drums and was really done for a long time. Spent time with the family. But then over the last year or so, I filled in at a few Circle of Sanity shows and then one day Josh called me and tells me about his new writing partner and invited me back to check things out. With the talent level in this room, which was all it took for me to be back in. </span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: Has the band always been a trio?</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: No, it started out as a four-piece, but when Dan Molkenthin left to join Back in Black, the AC/DC tribute band, we stayed as a trio from that point on. We have been through a couple different bass players over the years. I have led a trio for most of my years on my musical journey. For this new lineup, we are currently writing and recording as a trio. </span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: Josh, through all the years of this band, you have been the one mainstay the entire time. Are you sort of the keeper of the flame, as it were?</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: Yeah. For the last two records, I wrote everything on them except for "The Oath"; Kevin wrote the lyrics and Dan </span><span>Molkenthin had written the music </span><span> </span><span>on that one</span><span>. I do all the vocals and guitars, and on our last record, Celestial Mechanics, I also wrote all of the bass lines too. We'll see how that goes for this new album.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYVxbZS6UJLdtS_hg5Kjzcul8IioC4jYbasKMuDNE7WrA8Lmi8B4XQki_nwe5T50MOisKwn3uJoB6AIaTV_b229RKmmi0gR0-kPkt_6jmYlkBPLNcM4KB-8FkXu6Y65gy2Fep-Tw3AwDHudJiGVkXFc25qOrugiWzI8gDUWU2aNTMR5oGUXb6vuzOYW_o/s225/CoS%20Celestial.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="224" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYVxbZS6UJLdtS_hg5Kjzcul8IioC4jYbasKMuDNE7WrA8Lmi8B4XQki_nwe5T50MOisKwn3uJoB6AIaTV_b229RKmmi0gR0-kPkt_6jmYlkBPLNcM4KB-8FkXu6Y65gy2Fep-Tw3AwDHudJiGVkXFc25qOrugiWzI8gDUWU2aNTMR5oGUXb6vuzOYW_o/s1600/CoS%20Celestial.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><p></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: On the Celestial Mechanics album, you guys did a Crowded House cover, which was somewhat unexpected, but it worked. You definitely made it your own. Where did the inspiration come to cover that, and is doing a cover something you would do again?</span></p><p><span></span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: I've always loved "Don't Dream It's Over" and I like to throw in a cover and see what we can do with it. I want to do a cover of The Doors' "Strange Days" on our next album. You might not think a band like us would listen to eighties music like that, but I love some of it and it was fun to record.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: I know bands don't always like to label themselves, but do you consider yourselves a metal band?</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: Not by today's standards. There is metal in there of course, we are all metalheads. But today "metal" means something different than it did thirty years ago.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: Josh, who are your inspirations? </span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: In the early days, it was Led Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, Traffic, and on up to Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Chris Cornell. I am a huge fan of Rush, Tool and Karnivool. My well of influences is really deep.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: How about you Kevin? Any significant influences?<br /><br /><b>Horner</b>: I love Vinnie Paul, Dave Lombardo, Neal Peart. Lars Ulrich of course too after listening to him for the last forty years. But Vinnie Paul is probably the style that I bring to this band. I'm probably more of the "heavy" guy in the group, even though the band is more melodic. I bring the brawn to the melodic.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvvFnUl0YicrqIM91X2uRJqTIkZwxZ9CIJBYOF0clVVF6WNRbeEtF5VY96kEwfGm19gFcDeL4kEXNBKU1KIXaubfD2bejUT-pLjt-EehHVcI0L0XnhDoWPdrL8cVjbK6sovJ1EiJxLldIHAoVpmPvZZn2vHbOb6lMe5P8QA7txtBZCgkSLbpme_Y9kfQE6/s1920/Nested-COS.00_01_55_27.Still010.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvvFnUl0YicrqIM91X2uRJqTIkZwxZ9CIJBYOF0clVVF6WNRbeEtF5VY96kEwfGm19gFcDeL4kEXNBKU1KIXaubfD2bejUT-pLjt-EehHVcI0L0XnhDoWPdrL8cVjbK6sovJ1EiJxLldIHAoVpmPvZZn2vHbOb6lMe5P8QA7txtBZCgkSLbpme_Y9kfQE6/w400-h225/Nested-COS.00_01_55_27.Still010.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: Exactly, we do have a way of staying out of each other's way, while bringing a lot to the music. It just happens naturally. When you listen to the three of us performing, there is a lot going on but nothing steps on anything else.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: You have referenced the current lineup a couple of times here. Let's talk about your newest member, and the first time the band has had a keyboardist, Vitalij Kuprij.</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: I started playing out again once things started opening back up after the pandemic, I had a different bassist and drummer, but we were out there playing songs from Celestial Mechanics and the prior record. And over the course of the last year, I met Vitalij just socially. We were playing darts and talking music.</span></p><p><span><b>Vitalij Kuprij</b>: We met at a social club not far from where I live. We would be playing pool or darts, but always talking music. Over time, he would share with me his songs and then Josh invited me to jam. For me, I never really wanted to do anything locally unless it showed true potential.</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: Just as I wouldn't expect to find a world-class piano player at the local fire company, he wouldn't expect to find a songwriter who does what I do at my level. It is just by grace of God that this came together like this.</span></p><p><span><b>Kuprij</b>: As I got to know Josh, I realized that this made sense on a personal level. We have the same passion, the same kind of point of view, the same attitude toward '<i>no shortcuts, no winging it, make a statement on the highest possible level</i>', which led us to getting together and the rest is history. I came here and we just started playing and it led me to join them on a full-terms commitment basis.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: Is this the first time you have had a keyboardist in the band?</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: Yeah. It was never anything I thought I needed to seek out for the band. . The piano is the most beautiful instrument in the world. To hear how that can go with TOOL-ish kind of music, you don't always get that. When you listen to my heavy riffs and hear what Vitalij does to complement them and drive the song to higher levels!</span></p><p><span><b>Kuprij</b>: And we work really well together. You know, I have had my own bands where I did the writing for them, but Josh does all of that. To me, I want to look for incentive, not to just be a keyboard player. He starts creating something, a split musical creation where I can be part of it compositionally which is a big incentive for me to commit to anything. My golden times are gone where I just show up and play keyboards for someone. I'm not that type. I want to be part of this on a deeper level than just performing keys. </span></p><p><span>If the musical idea one of us brings is good, we combine our forces and develop it. To me, this was something that was important to me before I would commit to the band. We never argue, and we all value each other.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: You have such a deep classical and prog-metal background. Do you find it easy to add your element to this band?<br /><br /><b>Kuprij</b>: I just try to fit them in into the puzzle, and this is a good puzzle and it works. It is just natural and you have to grab that.</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: "<i>The Great Escape</i>" is our first single and I had that written and arranged, then Vitalij added his musicality to it. Then we got into this other song where I had the riff and a verse and chorus, but then he came up with this whole other part that took it to another level.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/67wSjI6psCI" width="560" youtube-src-id="67wSjI6psCI"></iframe></div><p><br /></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: <span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you tell m</span>e a little about the lyrical content of the song? The lyric "<i>You can feel how the tension builds, no regard for the dreams it kills. Now we all have to fight this machine, or our dreams could expire</i>." stood out to me. </span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: <span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">My thought on that was for
people to escape all the media propaganda that is directed at setting people
against each other and for humanity to escape that and come together for the
good of all. That’s the message of that song.</span></p><p><span><b>Kuprij</b>: Another reason that I really value my commitment to this is that I've always been a European-oriented individual for most of my life. When I got to the USA, it was classical and TSO. I've done some damage in Japan, as you know, but I never wanted to do something in the U.S. market because TSO took that over for me. Those two months playing in arenas were good enough for me. We still play some cool rock songs after the rock opera story. To me, that was enough. But with these guys, we have a multi-genre type of sound that we are crafting. That's what it feels to me.</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: We could go out with a Breaking Benjamins or even a Shinedown.</span></p><p><span><b>Horner:</b> It's classical, a bit of grunge and metal.</span></p><p><span><b>Kuprij</b>: Yes! I can sneak in with the classical and my own rock stuff that I do. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbcH1fO9PiDAFX2UpeIsrITkgdXECqBpI4MXvx3kG7M1OVuFELZbu2uS0iksK9LDX22YyGaAjUG0TisGLZED0OIW3y35wmhCIDd8F15bP5Hdy0oKx1A-nW2r6NKPjdt8lMBdPbtSUn4Kk9cPBcrh03ZomVFxlbyDD3quOyniHGgzx4QQqC-snV7dri8o8/s1920/Nested-COS.00_00_23_11.Still003.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbcH1fO9PiDAFX2UpeIsrITkgdXECqBpI4MXvx3kG7M1OVuFELZbu2uS0iksK9LDX22YyGaAjUG0TisGLZED0OIW3y35wmhCIDd8F15bP5Hdy0oKx1A-nW2r6NKPjdt8lMBdPbtSUn4Kk9cPBcrh03ZomVFxlbyDD3quOyniHGgzx4QQqC-snV7dri8o8/w400-h225/Nested-COS.00_00_23_11.Still003.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span><br /></span><p></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: So many records these days are made remotely, with musicians in various parts of the world sharing files. Vitalij, you did that most recently with the releases from Majustice and Ring of Fire. And that is almost the standard these days. With you guys writing and recording here in this studio, do you have a preference?<br /><br /><b>Sapna</b>: It is way better all being here in the same room. Working with files, you have to work with what is given. With us all working it out here in person, I'll come up with something that I think a song will go, and Vitalij or Kevin will come in with something that I hadn't even planned and we change the song. That's the kind of stuff that doesn't happen when working remotely.</span></p><p><span><b>Kuprij</b>: It is like talking to Voyager. You come up with an idea and you have to wait seven f**king days to get a reply. <i>[Laughs] </i>Let's jam and get it done! I started with Roger [Staffelbach] the same way. There's three of us and we are writing and recording five feet away from one another!</span></p><p><span><b>Horner</b>: There is an energy that this band has that is undeniable. It's the energy you feel when you see certain bands. The biggest thing for me is this is fun. I'm not even looking to be a rock star. I love coming here weekly and writing with these guys because I know they're going to challenge the shit out of me and it's a blast. These guys are just really amazing musicians and you don't get this with every other band.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: So, tell me about this new record you're working on with this exciting new lineup. An EP or a full album?</span></p><p><span><b>Sapna</b>: It's an EP at this point, but if we keep writing, it may be a full-length album. But we'll see. Releasing records these days is different than it used to be. It may make more sense to release a shorter EP and then follow it up with another. What we are thinking is it may be five songs and a cover. I'd also like to do an acoustic version of a song from one of our previous albums, just a new take.</span></p><p><span><b>Horner</b>: Acoustically, our songs sound just as heavy, but served up differently.</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: Once the album is released, do you have plans to tour?<br /><br /><b>Kuprij</b>: Absolutely! I get the TSO tour done, come back and get some things scheduled. We want to bring our music to the people and they are going to love it!</span></p><p><span><b>Roth</b>: Any label lined up yet? </span></p><p><span><b>Kuprij</b>: Not yet. We have some interest already, but we will be considering offers. You know, we have a bit of everything. The riffs. the heaviness, the melodies, the power, the wide-open choruses.</span></p><p><span><b>Horner</b>: The choruses are sing-a-along choruses, but still heavy.</span></p><p><span><b>Kuprij</b>: We play it humanly with balls, none of that sampled bullshit. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gFZl320T8mAAEJvXr8C5EhQ2k4gG0UHMj-RGt8bdQMnoOu-A1tYEJUBMQTdDkIAJxDMpOVynpvCI6xWf157jq18nYvv-gBYbK9_Rlo6FHJA1HGhj2vTQXPKBMQN1fkMrsrdWzkauwR55KdceETlTGxruc5Pegnf5MkmAVILmsv4FJ_GiC1E3UvdNww-R/s3840/Pulling%20stills.00_00_03_03.Still001.heic" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gFZl320T8mAAEJvXr8C5EhQ2k4gG0UHMj-RGt8bdQMnoOu-A1tYEJUBMQTdDkIAJxDMpOVynpvCI6xWf157jq18nYvv-gBYbK9_Rlo6FHJA1HGhj2vTQXPKBMQN1fkMrsrdWzkauwR55KdceETlTGxruc5Pegnf5MkmAVILmsv4FJ_GiC1E3UvdNww-R/w640-h360/Pulling%20stills.00_00_03_03.Still001.heic" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><i style="color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></i></div><div><i style="font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: white;">"The great escape” is just that…a great escape from the norm that takes you on a wonderful rollercoaster ride of music and melody’s. It travels through a progressive metal time warp that is full of superior musicianship. A perfect match of grooves, riffs and intensity that is just as I said…”A great escape” - Chris Caffery (Savatage/Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Spirits of Fire)</span></i></div><div><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><div><span face="-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol" style="color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i>“The Great Escape: Heavy and has a nice grinding groove. The melody is catchy and I really like the vocals as well.” - </i><i>Rosa Laricchiuta (Headpins/Trans-Siberian Orchestra)</i></span></span></div></div><div><span face="-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Helvetica Neue, Segoe UI, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol" style="color: white;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><div><span style="color: white;"><i>"Badass !!!!" -Al Pitrelli (</i><i>Alice Cooper, Savatage, Megadeth, TSO)</i></span></div></div><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Get the music and follow Circle of Sanity</b></div><br /><span style="color: #ea9999;"><br /></span><p></p>
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<iframe class="hearnow" src="https://circleofsanity.hearnow.com"></iframe>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-13977689669796630022019-11-09T09:59:00.000-08:002019-11-10T05:20:19.911-08:00A Conversation with The Wizards of Winter<span style="color: #ea9999;">Over the course of the last ten years, Yuletide rockers The Wizards of Winter have been spreading their brand of Christmas cheer with three Christmas albums and annual nationwide tours. What started out as a tribute band to raise money for a local New Jersey food pantry quickly evolved and grew into an all-original Christmas act with fans worldwide. The group consists of a host of first class musicians and vocalists whose backgrounds include Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Def Leppard, The Irish Tenors, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult and more. The band recently released their third album, <i>The Christmas Dream,</i> to rave reviews. I sat down with the founders of the band, Keyboardist/Musical Director Scott Kelly and Flutist/Vocalist Sharon Kelly to talk in-depth about the new album and tour.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo courtesy Jeff Smith of ReflectionsNYC</span></td></tr>
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<b>Dan Roth:</b> On social media, you had been talking about making a new album for a couple years now. What was it that finally got everyone into the studio?<br />
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<b>Scott Kelly:</b> It was having enough material ready and having everyone available at the same time.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> A few of the songs on the new album made their debut in concert before you recorded them. Does playing these songs out first help when it comes to recording them?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> Absolutely. The songs get refined. We come up with a rough idea of the chords and melody structure and Fred will work up the guitar leads. By playing them live, we find out what worked and what didn't and come up with the final format. The arrangements really get tweaked, as we experiment with them.</div>
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For example, if you just listen to Fred's solo on "Secrets of the Snow Globe", his solo is amazing. When we first started playing that song live, that wasn't the solo that he played on it, but now it will be. <br />
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<b>Dan:</b> What was the first song written for the album?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> The first song conceived for this album is one that we call "The Happy Song". This was a song that we started working on in 2016 with just me, Sharon and Fred. We banged it out with the drummer that we had at the time. In the two years this song has been around, we could not come up with a name for it. Any time that we would play it for someone, they would always remark what a "happy song" it was. It just stuck. It is sort of a running joke within the band that our songs have four or five names internally here. We tried to come up with a name for it, but "The Happy Song" just stuck. <br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Describe the creative process that went into this. Do you write all of the songs beforehand? Or is any of it done in the studio?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> Both. The way it works most of the time is that I will develop the melodies, the chord structures and most of the lyrics. Sharon will then work me over with the lyrics.<br />
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<b>Sharon Kelly:</b> He puts too many words in each line. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>Scott:</b> I'm not a singer, Sharon sings a lot of these and she will tell me where I need to rearrange and edit the lyrics without losing the spirit or the story. I'll record all of it on my keyboards and Sharon works on the vocals with me and then the next person in the process is always Fred. My writing style is more prog rock/Broadway and a lot of our songs need that metal edge. Fred puts all that on top of what I come up with.<br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> He and Fred have a very unique writing ability that they share together. They are just a really great writing team.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> I've tried writing with other people, and it doesn't work the same as it does with Fred. Together we make a great team. He'll hear things in what I bring him, and ideas immediately come into his head. Fred lays down all of the guitar work on the melodies that I gave him. Then it goes to John O.Reilly and Greg Smith and we determine what the final arrangement is going to look like. <br />
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Sometimes, we finish way in advance before we get to the studio. Other times, some songs don't get finished until we are actually in the studio to record. Like the song "Midnight Noel" on the new album. That was around in my head for a couple years without me bringing it to anyone. We wrote it in one day, rehearsed it that evening and recorded it the next day. And even that - while we were recording it, Greg remarked how he would love to hear some organ on it. Our engineer chimed in about Deep Purple and I immediately thought of "Highway Star". With that in mind, I worked in an organ solo that fit in with the song, recorded it in one take and it came out great.<br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> When we were originally putting that song together, we envisioned the flute carrying the "First Noel" lead. When we did it that way, it just didn't sound right and didn't sound heavy enough. We flipped it and Fred played the lead on guitar. Allowing us the freedom to make moves like that in the studio is critical to how our songs come out.<br />
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<b>Scott: </b>"Midnight Noel" is a great example of that. We recorded the whole thing with flute carrying the lead and without the organ part and it came out a bit too "pop" for our tastes. We do try and keep our songs commercial enough to get airplay, but this one felt too far that way. So, we re-worked it until it came out how you hear it.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Even though Greg Smith has been the bass player in the band for several years now, this is the first Wizards album that he has recorded on. Additionally, this is the first album with drummer John O.Reilly on board. These two have played and recorded together before with Rainbow and Joe Lynn Turner. What was the recording experience like with these two in the band?</div>
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<b>Sharon:</b> Too much fun! <i>[Laugh]</i><br />
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<b>Scott:</b><i><b> </b>[Laughs]</i> Very true. They know each other so well musically. They are so tight together; our engineer was loving it because they would be done in a take or two.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> We've already talked about "The Happy Song" and "Midnight Noel". Let's take a look at the rest of the music on <i>The Christmas Dream</i>. “Secrets of the Snow Globe”, the album opener, though five minutes in length, feels like a mini-epic with a few different movements that make up the song. It kicks off with sort of a haunting intro with keys and Sharon’s wordless vocal lines before it moves into the vocal portion, and then into this prog-metal instrumental section led by Fred’s fiery guitar work, before moving back to the vocal portion to wrap the song up. There is no real chorus to the song either. Can you talk about how that song was constructed and came about? It feels like something that could have become a 12-minute song a la Dream Theater or Yes.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> <i>[Laughs]</i> It easily could've been. And it almost did.<i> [Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> The vocal intro to "Secrets of the Snow Globe" was actually something we were going to use in "Spirit of Christmas" at one point. We eventually took it out, but always had that in the back of our heads.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> "Secrets of the Snow Globe" went through many different iterations over time, and for a while was known as a song called "Avalanche". At the time that I was writing it, I wanted to showcase Sharon's phenomenal range. I also had the band Nightwish, who we love, in mind as we composed the song. Because this is the opener to the show and it is taking you inside the snow globe, we needed that eeriness of the intro. Once inside the globe, she tells the story of what the snow globe is about and that it keeps these secrets inside about Christmas. Then the prog metal piece is the journey as you are flying from place to place inside the snow globe. That was what I was thinking of as I wrote it. It could have gone into many additional directions, which it did for a while<i> [Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> “Handel’s Torch”, the instrumental rocker that comes up next has some elements of Hallelujah Chorus mixed in there, as well as some bits of other classical melodies mixed in. It also features some prominent flute and guitar interplay. How fun is this one to play?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> We haven't played it live yet, but I suspect that this will be a blast to play in concert. We had so much fun playing it as we learned and recorded it.</div>
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<b>Sharon:</b> I envision a lot of things for that song.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> I got the initial lick of this song from "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella", but no one else besides me hears it when we play it. <i>[Laughs]</i> I then melded it to the Hallelujah Chorus, and it came out great. When I brought it to the band the first time, everyone was all over it. I told the band that I really envisioned it with a groove like Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" and the band really took to it and it is one that we are really proud of.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> “Gonna Snow” is one of your more playful songs, getting away from the heaviness and complexity a bit. This one seemed to get a pretty fun reaction when you played this live.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> It really got in there as a place-fitter in the storyline of the show. We set things up with that "Special Feeling" and you're in a snow globe, so it's gonna snow! And it also set up for the first time it snows on us in the show.<br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> It's just a fun, radio-friendly song. <br />
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<b>Dan: </b>“Polar Eve” is one of my favorite songs from the album. It is a bit different and the longest piece on the album. It brings to mind a <i>Nightmare before Christmas</i>-feel when I hear it, with its angular melodies and halting pace. What is this song about and where did this come from?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> The melody and some of the lyrics just came to me in the middle of the night. I came down to the piano and started putting it together. That <i>Nightmare Before Christmas</i> vibe is there mainly because of the great record producer, Johnny Z, who we worked with for some time. I had never seen the movie and Johnny just loves it. At his urging, we sat down and watched it, so "<i>Thank you, Johnny Z</i>". I don't totally get the movie, but I was looking for a song about Santa and the North Pole and I gained some inspiration from the movie. As I was working on the melody, what was going through my head was "<i>Dasher, Dancer, Donner...</i>", all the reindeer. I changed the melody just enough to fit them in.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Karl Scully of the Irish Tenors sings this. Sounds like he really embraced this, with his nuances and phrasing. This had to be some new territory for him?<br />
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<b>Sharon: </b>Yes, it is. But he is such a professional and really did an amazing job.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(L-R): Fred Gorhau and Karl Scully<br />Photo courtesy Jeff Smith of ReflectionsNYC</span></td></tr>
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<b>Scott:</b> Karl does just a great job on delivering on that song. One minute he is singing operas in New York City and then we bring him here and he does something completely different. He loves it though and he says that it has expanded his ability.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> On your self-titled album, the band tackled the original Christmas story of Christ’s birth with “Once Long Ago”. Now you revisit that time period but with a little twist with “Four Kings”. Who knew that there was a fourth king and that they were a band? <br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> Only in Scott's world.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> That's true. The story has been told a million times, and there are always the unsung heroes that are in the background. Did the shepherds get credit in there? Do the kings get much credit? I started thinking about the band, and you have the road crew who are the unsung heroes. If it wasn't for the road crew, the show wouldn't happen. I wanted to put the Fourth King up as the roadie. Ted, the fourth king, is the sound man. He's what is making it happen. If you listen to the lyrics, "<i>Ted mixed the sound to spicen the taste</i>" and he's rolling up the cables and setting up the amps. He is helping to put on the show for the stars of the show, the Three Kings, but none of it would've happened without him. I was just trying to be playful.<br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Obviously you are having some fun with this, but any trepidation injecting some humor into the holiest of stories? <br />
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<b>Sharon: </b> No, I think because in our set, we do have some somber moments and some very serious songs. I think it balances it out. Our first set is quite serious. "Gonna Snow" and "Four Kings" are a nice break with some fun, as is "Nutrocker" when we throw that in there.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Did you write this with vocalist Vinny Jiovino in mind? Like 'Once Long Ago", this is a real tour-de-force for his vocals.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> I did, actually. I wrote it specifically for Vinny to sing.<br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Some of the lines between the verses, like “<i>Hey Ted, Don’t forget those microphone cables, you know we got to tell a story, don’t you?</i>” are real fun – did they come later?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> Vinny created those with Tony Gaynor. During the show, it becomes this whole shtick and they thought there should be some rap in between the verses. Vinny played with them a bit and we decided to leave them in when we did the recording.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(L-R): Vinny Jiovino and Tony Gaynor<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> In concert, you pair this song with “Once Long Ago” as narrator Tony Gaynor urges lead vocalist Vinny Jiovino to tell the audience the “whole story” in what is one of the more comical exchanges on stage. Is any of that scripted?<br />
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<b>Sharon: </b> They came up with that on the fly and it just worked. But it's never the same every night, whatever they are feeling during the show, they go with.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> It is a lot of fun. The band is just basically riffing while those two go at it. Some nights, it's gotten to like three minutes of them joking around with that and we have to signal, like "<i>Hey guys, let's go</i>". But it is a real fun exchange.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> “In Plain Sight” tackles the tough subject of homelessness and encourages us to see life through their eyes. Why is that important? And why on a Christmas-themed album? <br />
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<b>Scott:</b> It ties it back to the first Christmas. If you listen to the beginning melody, its "Silent Night" but in a minor key. As I was writing this, I started thinking about how the Holy Family were homeless. They were supposed to be included in the census. They get there and they don't have any money, there's no room at the inn. Someone out of kindness took them in, even though it was a stable, it was someplace to be. I took "Silent Night" and put it in a minor key to make it more somber. It's not in the saddest of all keys, D minor, <i>[Laughs] </i>but rather A minor. It also hearkens back to how we started this band, which was to help the food pantry.<br />
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<b>Dan: </b>This song of course features Vinny once again, but also marks the debut of Alexis Smith on backing vocals. Tell me about Alexis, as she is new to the band.<br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> She does the chorus with me to make it stronger. She is a wonderful singer and I really enjoyed working with her in the studio. During the tour, she will be singing the lead on the "<i>How did they get to this place?</i>" part of the song as well as "Gonna Snow" and a few others.</div>
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<b>Dan: </b> "A Christmas Dream (Salzburg Carol)" – I understand this is an arrangement of My Favorite Things that you have personally been playing for quite some time?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> I've been playing it for at least 20 years. It is just an arrangement that I have been playing personally, mixing "My Favorite Things" with "Carol of the Bells". We decided to flesh it out and add the other instrumentation. We also beefed it up with probably sixty tracks of horns and bells, etc.</div>
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<b>Sharon:</b> Scott and I spent a lot of time in the studio after he and Fred came together on that song. We added horns, bells, that violin riff, the flute part. There are so many layers to it, but we think it came out so beautiful.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Why do you think "My Favorite Things" has become a piece of music so associated with Christmas? It certainly didn't start out that way.</div>
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<b>Scott: </b> It didn't, but <i>The Sound of Music </i>used to be shown on TV around Christmas time for many years, so for us personally, it is a song that we just wound up singing and playing around Christmas. Of course, it also has lyrical references to sleigh bells and snowflakes and The Reader's Digest book of the best Christmas songs always included it. We call it "The Salzburg Carol" because that is where the story takes place.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> “A Toast to Time (Farewell)” is a very reflective song. Looking back one one’s life and wondering if they would do it all again. Since you write these lyrics, what provoked this one? <br />
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<b>Scott:</b> The older that you get, the more retrospective you get. You've been through so much in your life, whatever your life experiences have been, good, bad or indifferent. Personally, I do it throughout the year, but specifically at Christmas time it becomes something that many of us do. A tradition that Sharon and I had was that once the Christmas tree was all decorated and we had all of the presents under the tree and the kids were asleep, we would sit and think about what the last year delivered to us? What will the new year bring us? And then we tied it into "Auld Lang Syne".<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> It is a really pretty song, but a very stark arrangement; just piano and vocals. Was there any thought to bringing the full band in?</div>
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<b>Sharon:</b> No, I feel the song would lose its intense emotional impact if it was performed by the full band.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> In our show, it gets included in the encore. You come out of "Spirit of Christmas" with everybody singing, the band is roaring, people are on their feet. For us to go right into "A Toast to Time" is almost a complete shutdown of that and an emotional moment that the audience really enjoys. We see so many in the crowds with tears running down their cheeks. We also tie it into remembrances with famous people that were lost over the year and also family members that passed. We make it personal for the band. </div>
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<b>Dan:</b> I know songwriters are often hesitant to pick a favorite, but is there a song on here that you feel especially strongly about? Maybe it was the most fun? Or happiest on how it came out?</div>
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<b>Scott:</b> "Handel's Torch" is the most fun to play, for sure. I'm proud of "Secrets of the Snowglobe", just from what we delivered as a band in that song. Sharon's vocals and Fred's guitar playing over top of that, the prog madness that is happening in there as a band. That is probably the most musically intensive song, while "The Christmas Dream (Salzburg Carol)" is the most complex.<br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> I think as a band, everyone just delivered on this album. I can't say enough about Fred and his writing and playing. And of course, John and Greg have added so much. Greg writes such tasty bass lines to our songs. This is probably the strongest that we have ever been. <br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Now that the band has its third album out, how do you look back on the others? </div>
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<b>Scott:</b> Looking back to the self-titled album, I sometimes cringe knowing how we have progressed as a band. The songs are good, but we didn't have the money or experience yet to deliver the way we do now. If we take into account the band's musicianship, tightness and maturity, if we were to go in and re-record that album, it would sound so much better. </div>
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<b>Sharon:</b> I think every artist goes through that though, the growing pains. I am proud of all the albums, but if we were to record some of those older songs, they would reflect how we play today.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> I feel with songs like “Polar Eve” and “The Four Kings”, the band is taking musical chances and stretching beyond its comfort zone. Would you agree?<br />
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<b>Sharon: </b> I think that since <i>The Magic of Winter</i>, our albums portray a wide variety of musical styles. That is definitely felt on the new one for sure. Contemporary, progressive rock, a little bit of rockabilly with "Four Kings", some metal. <br />
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<b>Scott:</b> I think that's what makes The Wizards, The Wizards. We do take chances on things and are not afraid to go into those different directions.</div>
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<b>Dan: </b> Will the 2019 tour include many of the new songs?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> All of the songs except for one will be part of the setlist this year. Along with many songs from our two previous albums of course. That is always the challenge as you record more - what fits into the show and story and how does it work out timing-wise?</div>
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<b>Dan:</b> Over the last couple of years, the band has added a few new members. Last year, John O.Reilly came on board for the tour and then went into the studio to record the new album. What does John bring to the band?<br />
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<b>Scott: </b> He is one of the nicest guys we have ever met. And as a drummer, he brings a level of precision that we had never consistently had before.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> The word is that your band has had its share of musicians inquiring on openings. Steve Brown, guitarist known for his work in Trixter and Def Leppard, came on board this year. How did you know that he would be right for the Wizards?<br />
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<b>Sharon: </b> He was recommended to us and we went to one of his gigs to see and meet him. There was definitely a connection right away.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> Steve had come to see us when he first got the Def Leppard gig, I think in 2014, and told us how much he loved the music and the show. I never forgot that. Now we went to see him, and we listened to his playing style that will fit in with what we do. Plus, he came highly recommended by several people. <br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Let's talk about a Wizards of Winter show. How has the show evolved over the years? What can a fan expect?</div>
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<b>Scott:</b> This year will be the biggest production that we have had on any of our tours, though nothing compared to our friends in TSO. Production is not the main focus of our shows, but we have introduced some video elements and new lights and some other fun stuff that complements our music.</div>
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<b>Sharon:</b> This will be our third year with Abner Torres of Out of Darkness Designs. He and Scott have mapped things out to a greater extent than years passed.<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> Our story is always the same, in terms of going in search of the true meaning of Christmas, but it has evolved and matured to the point that I think how the story transitions and the emotional feel comes across will be the best this year.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> The Wizards’ concerts often get compared favorably to early TSO performances, before they added their big production elements. Would you say that is accurate?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> We do and that is a compliment. The early TSO tours are much different than today's and we are much different from what they do today. We're not as "staged" as their shows. In many ways, particularly as they incorporated their giant video screens and play to a click, they became a soundtrack to a movie. There is no room for any flexibility or improvisation at all. And that's fine for them. That's just not us. We play more as a band.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Scott Kelly, in a moment of levity<br />Photo courtesy Jeff Smith of ReflectionsNYC</span></td></tr>
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<b>Dan:</b> One thing that The Wizards also do is poke fun at itself, which TSO would never do, whether it’s Tony’s fun interactions on stage or a certain keyboardist going into grinch-mode. Do you enjoy keeping it light?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> Oh yes. Christmas is all about fun. If people are spending money to see us play, they should leave with a smile on their face and their heart lifted. Plus, we're not trying to be rock stars, we're trying to have fun and put on a great show.<br />
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<b>Sharon:</b> We have serious songs and serious moments, but when we have a chance, we like to take advantage of it and have some fun and be spontaneous. <br />
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<b>Dan: </b>One of the noticeable differences is that while your show has a narrative arc, your albums do not. You fit your songs into the live story.<br />
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<b>Scott: </b>We intentionally write like that because I didn't want to be trapped in a story. I wanted our overall story theme to be the same each year, but where do we go and how do we get there and what do we see is always different.<br />
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<b>Dan: </b>What are some of the challenges of touring nationwide in a 7 or 8-week time frame?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> Long hours on the bus. We try to cover the geography with one band that acts like Mannheim Steamroller and TSO do with two. <br />
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<b>Sharon: </b>We so appreciate our fans and we do feel bad when we cannot get to their town. We see their comments and messages and emails asking why we aren't playing in their area. <br />
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<b>Scott: </b>What fans don't always understand is that we go where the promoters and agents send us. We would love to go back to some of the cities that have embraced us, but if there is not an invitation or if it doesn't route well, then it just doesn't happen. It is the same for all bands, I suppose, but we are locked in to playing in a certain time frame around the holidays.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> You’re operating in the independent universe, with no major labels and A&R people. Is there a certain freedom in that? And is there a hindrance to that?</div>
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<b>Scott: </b> Both. The hindrance is that it is hard to rise above the noise level to get noticed. With Sharon and I, this is our tenth year into the band, and we have put countless hours, all of our heart and soul to make it what it is today. There is no financial investment coming from outside the band, there is no management. We have the flexibility of decision-making, but you have the responsibility and financial burden that comes along with that.<br />
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<b>Dan: </b>Scott, you wear a lot of hats in the band. Songwriter, keyboardist, musical director. In the ten years of The Wizards, how have you evolved in those roles? Have you learned to share yet?<br />
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<b>Scott:</b> When we first started this, I didn't understand the music business as a business. I have become really educated in the business side of things and what it takes for a band and a tour of this magnitude to get on the road. I like to control things, but I have learned to share. In the beginning, I did it all, but I eventually shared more with Sharon because the load became too much to handle. On the songwriting side of things, I have gotten a lot better. I had never really written songs before until we set out to create an album; I didn't know I had it in me. Though the earlier songs are good in their way, I feel the material I am writing now is stronger.<br />
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We do get offers from high level management companies that want to come in and manage the band. We also get offers from people that want to invest financially in the band. It becomes tough for us to loosen up enough to let things like that happen. Not so much giving up some control but being forced out of something that you spent the last ten years building. This has been a family project, with our daughters being involved in many aspects as well. It has grown and matured to the point that we probably can't handle it all ourselves anymore. What does the next step look like? I'm not sure. We're in the good problems to have/serious growing pains stage. <br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Have you looked past the 2019 tour yet? Any plans for what might be next musically?<br />
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<b>Scott: </b> Over the years, we have talked a lot about doing a project outside of the Christmas season. It's been tough to get people that want or are able to do it. Every year that we talk about it, everyone winds up with other commitments. This is the first time that I have a group that seriously want to do something in the off-season. I have some ideas, but I don't fully know what it is going to be yet. So, we'll explore that after the tour is over. Beyond that, there is always the talk of splitting into two bands for Christmas since we get enough offers and just can't accept them all. That is not something that we have seriously considered yet, but the conversation happens.<br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Well thank you for taking the time to chat about the new album and tour.<br />
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<b>Scott: </b> Anytime. Thanks for making the trip.<br />
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For more information:<br />
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<span style="color: white;">Official website: <a href="https://thewizardsofwinter.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://thewizardsofwinter.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Stream the new album: <a href="https://thewizardsofwinter.hearnow.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://thewizardsofwinter.hearnow.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Official Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter/</span></a></span><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-68858091682828301012019-08-31T12:39:00.001-07:002019-12-28T15:22:10.584-08:00A Conversation with Tony Dickinson<span style="color: #ea9999;">Tony Dickinson, the multi-instrumentalist from the great state of Colorado, just may be in the running for "hardest working musician" in the business. While this talented musician and production whiz can often be found recording and performing in his home state with his funk/rock band Sylva, fans around the world have also gotten to know Tony over the last few years from some of his other compositions, production and performances. In this career-spanning interview, we chat about his involvement in the forefront of the video game music scene, both solo and with his current band, The Tiberian Sons. We also touch on his deep musical involvement with Jeff Scott Soto and his hard rock/metal outfit, SOTO, as well as his role with the yearly Trans-Siberian Orchestra touring production.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Brenda Bowman</td></tr>
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<b>Dan Roth: </b>Considering the various bands that you are involved with, you seem to have wide-ranging musical interests. What first got you into music? <br />
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<b>Tony Dickinson: </b>My mom is a piano teacher and I started taking piano lessons from her when I was six or seven years old. Then, my K-8 school put everyone in a music program, and you chose between orchestra, band or choir. When I was in Fifth Grade, my older brother, Adam had a garage band and he could not keep a bass player in his band. With that as inspiration, I chose the bass and started playing upright bass in orchestra. When I hit Sixth Grade, I chose Jazz Band and got one of those school bass guitars that you could take home. I fell in love with it as soon as I started playing it. I liked the upright but with this, I could start playing the music that I really enjoyed at the time. My parents got me my own bass - a Squier bass - and I played that non-stop.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> What bands were you in to as you were learning to play?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> At the time, the bands that I liked were Smash Mouth, No Doubt, Weird Al <i>[Laughs]</i>. It was a funny smorgasbord of music that I was learning to play. Eventually my older brothers started feeding me bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Primus and Megadeth. Megadeth was probably the first band that I really fell in love with. Around the same time, my mom was playing in a Gospel band and she invited me to play my bass with them. That was super fun and I got my taste for more of a soul, funk, r&b style in that church music.<br />
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When I was in high school, I joined the Drumline and played bass with that. That is where I was exposed to Dream Theater, Symphony X, and progressive bands of that caliber. I stayed in Jazz Band all through high school and had exposure to many different ensembles. At my core, the progressive metal thing and Red Hot Chili Pepper's bass lines are probably where I can give credit to most of my development as a bass player. Flea's bass lines are pretty much how I learned how to play bass. From there I moved on to Les Claypool and learned a ton through listening to him.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Safe to say that Flea was your biggest inspiration?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> He was the first one. And then John Myung from Dream Theater too. I was always amazed how he was keeping up with that insane guitar playing. Stu Hamm is another that I got exposed to in high school and I learned a lot of his solo stuff. His bass solos were pretty influential on my playing. I played a lot of Symphony X in high school and it is crazy that I am now playing in a band with their singer. It is still surreal to me that I started there and ended up here. I did take some lessons, and my 7th grade bass teacher exposed me to Jamiroquai, who became a huge influence on me not just bass-wise, but also from a songwriting standpoint, especially with my band Sylva.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Were you in any bands throughout school?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> My buddy Travis Moberg and I had a heavy metal band throughout high school but never really did anything with it. Most of the music that I wrote for it was really pretty terrible and most of it was plagiarism. <i>[Laughs] </i>When you start off, you often wind up mimicking the music that you know. I am never going to show the world anything that I wrote back then.<i> [Laughs] </i><br />
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Once in college, I got into more funk and r&b groups. Earth, Wind and Fire easily became one of my favorite bands, along with other artists like Stevie Wonder, Prince, Michael Jackson, and Chaka Khan. I also had been playing in a classic rock cover band for years and we played a lot of great funk stuff from the '60s and '70s.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Very nice. As a bass player who has such an appreciation for funk, how much love do you have for Larry Graham?<br />
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<b>TD: </b> Oh yes! I love Larry Graham. On one of my early YouTube covers, I did "Pow" from Graham Central Station. It's kind of a goofy song but such a great bass line.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> A big part of your musical story is the remaking and remixing of video game themes. How did you enter that world?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> I just have to rewind a bit for that. I was a member of the Megadeth forum, circa 2006. They had a music sub-forum where someone had posted an amazing cover of Super Metroid music. They made it into this big, long progressive rock epic! I found the guy that had made it, which led me to the remix websites, one of them being Dwelling of Duels and the other OC Remix. Both of these were monthly remix competitions and I was really surprised at the high production level and playing caliber that I was hearing on these remixes. I just started trying remixing and playing some of the video game music from games that I had played when I was a kid. A lot of that music is surprisingly well written. I eventually started submitting my remixes to these sites and really having some fun with it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Were you a one-man band on these?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>Most of them were all me. If they were credited to "PuD", then everything you heard was me. I was playing guitar, playing bass, playing keys, and programming drums. All of the songs were my arrangements. Sometimes I had guests on my tracks to add a solo or something. I still do these to this day, but my production skills have improved a lot, so I don't really direct anyone to listen to those older tracks.<br />
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The video game remixing thing for me was really important. People will look at it and say, "<i>that's really nerdy</i>", and it is. I am a shameless nerd. Doing that stuff was really important for my development as I cut my teeth on that learning production skills. I learned a lot how to do arrangements and write for different instruments. With every Dwelling of Duels track, I would try something a little different each time. The first track I did was a metal medley of MegaMan music. By the time I did my fourth track, "Command and Conquer Red Alert", I was doing heavy metal with orchestra. I had an orchestra library that I wanted to learn, and I arranged this Command and Conquer music. That track is the one that led me to the whole Tiberian Sons thing and working with Frank Klepacki later on down the road. Frank is great with interacting with his fans and I had emailed him to talk about the tracks that I was doing. After that, we just kept in touch. I had originally made this one, "Hell March to the Apocalypse" in 2008. And that was a such a great moment - <i>"Heavy metal music and orchestra!" [Laughs], </i>which is funny because of where I eventually would wind up. That heavy metal/orchestra thing became one of my wheelhouses and sparked the idea for The Tiberian Sons.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>Somewhere in there, you did release a solo album -<i> PuD's DuDs</i>. Was that an extension of what you had been doing on the Dwelling of Duels competitions?<br />
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<b>TD: </b><i>PuD's DuDs </i>had everything that I had released on DoD up to that point. For the album, I decided to go back, re-record, remix, and redo a lot of it because my production skills had gotten better over the years that these were originally recorded. These were a big improvement over the DoD versions. I want to emphasize for anyone that is reading this, that this album came out in 2010 and really sounds like shit compared to today's standard. <i>[Laughs] </i> I am always going back and playing with those songs; the arrangements are always the same, but it is the production level that is increasing. I will listen to them and think how they could be improved with my current guitar tone settings or the drum library or orchestra samples that I am working on.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> "PuD" stands for "Prince uf Darkness"? </div>
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<b>TD: </b> <i>[Laughs]</i> Yeah. "Prince of Darkness" was a Megadeth song and was the name I used on the Megadeth forum. It doesn't mean anything to me, but I carried it over and used it as my nickname. I made it even more ridiculous by changing "of" to "uf", which makes the initialism "PuD", which you may know is a phallus nickname. I just wanted to make people giggle with my 12-year old humor. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> <i>[Laughs]</i> OK, got it.<b> </b>At what point did you form your band, The Tiberian Sons?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>I kept on going back to the tracks that were heavy metal with orchestra and re-working those. By 2015, I had started The Tiberian Sons because I needed another excuse to re-do these songs. <i>[Laughs]</i> For this band, I decide that I would play guitar instead of bass. Travis Moberg, who sings in my band Sylva, plays drums in The Tiberian Sons. I got Connor Engstrom, who I met through Trans-Siberian Orchestra, to be the second guitar player and got my buddy Max Noel to play bass. The first show that we played was MAGFest (<i>short for "Music And Gaming Festival"</i>) in 2015. </div>
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<b>DR:</b> MAGFest seems to be the mecca for this scene.</div>
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<b>TD:</b> Yes! I started going to the MAGFests because a lot of the guys who I met online doing the video game remixing were going. I wanted to put a band together to play there. We released a 4-song EP (<i>Conquering MAGFest</i>) that has some of those remixes. A year and a half later, we recorded the full album, <i>Collateral Jammage</i>. That has the heavy metal orchestral tracks that I had done for DoD, but versions 3 or 4 at this point. It also had some new stuff, like the cover of "Mighty Wings" from the <i>Top Gun</i> soundtrack. </div>
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<b>DR: </b> <i>Collateral Jammage </i>sounds like a real group effort.</div>
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<b>TD: </b>Thanks! Travis is playing the drums throughout; I do most of the rhythm guitars, though Connor did all of the rhythms on the Mighty Wings cover. Connor and I split the guitar solos. Max did half the tracks on bass and I did the other half. I played the bass on the more complex tracks, like "A Coelo Usque Ad Centrum" and "Prancing Dad".</div>
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<b>DR: </b>Where did the name come from?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>When we first started the band, we didn't have a name for it. That "Hell March" remix was our signature sound. We had all played the <i>Command and Conquer</i> games and all loved them. We were thinking of naming the band related to those games, because the games’ intense warfare themes matched the music. We went back and forth until Max came up with The Tiberian Sons. "Tiberian Sun" was the third <i>Command and Conquer</i> game and this was just a play on words.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You have played MAGFest a few times now?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Yeah, we played MAGFest 2015 and 2017. Last year we played there with the composer of the <i>Command and Conquer</i> music, Frank Klepacki. There is video posted of the entire concert (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ArbE0bEQQ"><span style="color: white;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ArbE0bEQQ</span></a>) that I edited together and Frank talks about how the whole thing came together after the second song. Over the last few years, Frank had composer friends that have gone there and also urged him to go MAGFest. Frank and I had stayed in touch ever since I had reached out to him when I was remixing "Hell March" and now he was asking me about MAGFest. We exchanged a few emails and at one point he sent me an email saying that he wants to play MAGFest and wanted The Tiberian Sons to play with him! I had been playing <i>Command and Conquer </i>games since I was nine years old, so now I get to play with one of my childhood heroes! Frank and I talked about this for several months, but I couldn't confirm that I could do it until I heard from TSO management. MAGFest happens in early January and sometimes the TSO tour has gone into January. It hasn't happened in a while, but you never know because tour scheduling takes a long time to finalize. Finally I got word from the management and I knew that I was free for that weekend! Frank and I set it up and made a big production out of it. I got my buddy Nate Horsfall who does a lot of the artwork and visuals for MAGFest and he helped make this the biggest production that MAGFest has ever had. Our show with Frank has gotten a really great reaction. We filled the room which holds upwards of 6,000 people! And now Frank is looking at having us play at other gaming festivals around the world due to the huge response.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> That's awesome. You mentioned having to check in with TSO management about scheduling. I understand that you came on board with the TSO production a while ago?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Paul O'Neill really liked to work with young musicians. One of the things that Paul believed was that because the music industry had changed so much and so quickly, he felt there was a vacuum in artist development now. Because he had the resources that he had, he took it upon himself to give the chance to young musicians like me, like Connor and many other young musicians and singers.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> He was basically grooming you guys and giving you some valuable real-world experience.<br />
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<b>TD: </b> Exactly. There have been other young musicians working in their studio that were never part of the back-up band even. So that is how myself and many others got involved. Connor and I started the same year, in 2011.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Were you familiar with TSO before getting involved?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Oh yeah. I had the <i>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</i> album and I listened to it a lot. I also was always a fan of Al Pitrelli because he was in Megadeth. He played on <i>The World Needs a Hero </i>album and the <i>Rude Awakening</i> DVD and I really enjoyed those. I was very familiar with him from listening and watching those. It was a real trip to now be playing with Al.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> How did TSO find you?<br />
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<b>TD: </b> In my high school and early college days, I did a lot of YouTube covers. The first cover I did was "Domination" from Symphony X. That video was discovered by Adam Seidel, TSO's accountant. He sent that along to the rest of the office and recommended that they work with me.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Did you have an audition?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Yeah, when I did my audition for TSO, I had the entire 2010 setlist prepared. We only played "This Christmas Day" and "Mozart Figaro" and then I hung out with Paul, Al, Dave Wittman and Jon Oliva while they were also working with Kayla Reeves at the same time.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Did you get to spend much time with the bassists, Johnny Lee Middleton and Dave Z, over the years?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TSO L-R: Joel Hoekstra, Roddy Chong, Tony Dickinson, Chris Caffery<br />
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Myszynski</td></tr>
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<b>TD: </b> I got to work with them at the rehearsals that I attended. I learned a lot from both John Lee and Dave. They are both very different schools of bass. Naturally, I think that I am more of a 'Dave Z' on bass but I learned a lot of stuff from John Lee. John taught me a lot about playing more conservatively - tighter and shorter - and more appropriately in an arena. I definitely would not have been able to play this Show without spending the time that I did with them for the six years before I got the opportunity.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> When I interviewed Dave back in 2013, I asked him about the backup role, and he said this: <i>“The whole idea of them coming to the rehearsals is because sometimes we do things differently from coast to coast. The East Coast and West Coast might have a different ending or a different tempo on a particular song sometimes. The backup guys actually have a very difficult job because they have to learn both sides and both players and what they do and be ready to fill in for either one without a hitch. That's a tough task.”</i> Can you speak to that?<br />
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<b>TD: </b> I had to do that, and it is tough. I had to learn each of their fills. I really wanted to prove myself, so I studied very intently and made sure that I knew exactly how each of them played everything. It was also very educational for me to see how each show varied a bit. Over time, each show has gotten more similar because of the production, with the screens and more songs being synced to tempo. Now that I am the sole bass player on the East, I can do a little bit more of what I want to do, within reason. Now I get to talk to the newer bass players, and I tell them that if they ever do get the opportunity, they need to play like the other musicians will be expecting them to play.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Besides being a great bass player, Dave Z was such an outgoing and lovable personality on stage and was a real fan favorite.<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Dave and I were only ever in the same room together at the rehearsals, but he and I emailed back and forth a lot as we nerded out about bass stuff. <i>[Laughs] </i> Even though I had physically only been around him for a total of six weeks over the years, Dave always made you feel like you knew him really well. He was so friendly and welcoming, so I felt like I knew him probably better than I realistically did. Dave was a music nerd too. He and I would have music theory and ear training contests. Personality-wise, Dave and I are pretty different. I am not nearly as outgoing as Dave was, but then again very few people are. <i>[Laughs]</i> Musically, Dave and I were really pretty similar. We were both into Dream Theater, Dirty Loops, Michael Jackson, and the like. Our playing styles ended up being pretty similar. It was a natural fit for both TSO and SOTO because he played a lot of fills the same way that I would've approached them. So, with both bands, I play Dave's fills and that is my way of keeping him going.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Any apprehension stepping into that role after what happened?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>That is the really the hardest thing when I stepped into the role in 2017. I knew the legacy that he had left and the affect that he had on people. Nobody wants to follow someone like that, but the show has to go on. It really is about finding the balance of what came before you and trying to still remain your own person. I was really worried about how the band and the fans would feel. The band was really welcoming and were happy to have me, and the fans were amazing. I am so happy that the fans accepted me so warmly.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> The TSO show calls for a lot of energy, movement, and interactions with your stage partners. Does that come naturally to you or did that take some time to develop?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>I had to develop a little of it. It is a delicate balance. For one thing, I am not dancer. I know Dave was a dancer. If I tried to do dance moves, it would come across really contrived; it is not who I am. My movements are a little bit more "rockin' out". I did develop a few certain things because I know the expectation is more of a visual involvement from the bass player position in the East band. I just figured it out and do it in my own way. As far as interacting with the other band members, there are a few things that are programmed in, but some of that ends up happening naturally. If you watched last year during "Wish Liszt ", Dustin Brayley and I started doing this little fun bit of turning around faster and faster. If you're having fun on stage, and we are, that stuff just happens.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You are often seen playing high above the crowd in cranes or lifts or catwalks, any trepidation about that?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Caffery, Tony Dickinson<br />
Photo courtesy of Pamela Lovell</td></tr>
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<b>TD: </b> Surprisingly, I was really cool with it. <i>[Laughs]</i> They strap us in really good before going up. It can be a little weird when the platform moves in a way that you're not expecting; that's when the jelly legs kick in. <i>[Laughs] </i>As long as the platform is moving with you, it is not that big of a deal.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Now that you have done two tours with them, have you had some time to reflect? Anything stand out? Favorite crowd, city, tunes to play?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Grand Rapids, Michigan is always great! Green Bay last year was incredible. TSO hadn't been there in a couple years and the response was so good, that TSO's manager Adam Lind booked the next year's show there on the spot. One unforgettable moment was when we played the matinee Show in Washington, DC - the show before Christmas Eve. Two dudes in the front row - one dressed as Santa and one dressed as an elf with inflatable guitars. They basically air-guitared and mimicked the lyrics to the entire show! We were eight shows in on that stretch, we're tired and loopy, it's almost Christmas and then the curtain comes up and you see these two guys in the front row. <i>[Laughs] </i>Oh my God! For the entire first act, I could not look at them or I would burst out laughing. I know the singers had a much harder time with it; the first song of that show was "Night Enchanted" and these guys were right in front of them. <i>[Laughs] </i> I know Russell and Dustin had a hard time keeping a straight face with these two ridiculous-looking guys right before Christmas Eve having the time of their lives. And you know what? Bless them for that. It was great having them there because it was something out of the ordinary and it was so much fun. Those are the moments that you live for; it was awesome!<br />
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<b>DR: </b>Have you had a chance to record anything with TSO in the studio yet?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>Not yet, but when they are ready to have me, I will be ready!<br />
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<b>DR: </b> For this year, TSO is bringing back their original storyline, <i>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</i>. You mentioned earlier that you had prepared that entire 2010 set, so are you excited to finally play it?<br />
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<b>TD: </b> Yeah! My first year, 2011, was the last time that they had done this show. So, I know the show already. Plus, many of the songs were also in the show from the last four years. It is a great story and I am really happy that we are doing it again. And I am really happy that the fans are excited about it. I am really stoked for the fans to see this show with so many more of the bells and whistles that we didn't have back in 2011; I think they are going to be thrilled with how it comes out.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Let's talk a bit about SOTO. I assume you met Jeff Scott Soto through working with TSO?<br />
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<b>TD: </b> Yeah, I would interact with him at rehearsals and then see him when the tour would come through Denver. In 2013, Jeff was working on what would become the <i>Inside the Vertigo </i>album. At the time, Connor had already worked with Jeff and gotten to write and record two of his tracks. At rehearsals, I really pushed Jeff, "<i>Hey man, let me just write you a song</i>". <i>[Laughs]</i> At the time, he was already at 14 songs and he had to whittle it down. He finally let me write him one and that ended up being "The Fall", which also ended up being the lead single! I played all the guitars, bass, keys and did the drum programming on that one. And then for their second album, <i>Divak</i>, I wrote "Freak Show". For that one, Jeff had his drummer, Edu Cominato, play live drums on it. I played bass, keys and rhythm guitar, but I brought in this friend of mine, Chris Feener, who is an amazing guitar player, to solo on it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Do you and Jeff mesh musically pretty well?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Jeff really likes the early songs that I wrote for him. He felt that musically I was hitting the spots that he wanted to sing. Jeff is great to work with. For the most part, I let Jeff do his thing on the vocals. He is great at it; he has great ideas and is really easy to work with.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> On the new album, <i>Origami</i>, you are now an official member of the band. You also co-produced the album. Can you talk about that role?<br />
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<b>TD: </b> I do the production work that needs to be done, like much of the keyboards. I also reamped all of the guitars. There are two "invisible" members of SOTO that deserve a shout out: Leo Mancini and Luiz Portinari are guitar players who collaborate with our drummer, Edu. When Edu is working on songs, he often writes and record with them. So, on the album there are guitar parts from me, Jorge Salan, BJ, Leo and Luiz. With five guitar players on the album, they all needed to be reamped, so I did all the reamping. I did the horn arrangements and some additional guitars as well. I end up doing a lot of the nerdy, technical stuff because that is one of my specialties. I also wrote three songs for the album, including the title track.<br />
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There is one song that we included that was really special to us - "Detonate", a song that Dave Z had written with Edu. It was the last song that Dave recorded with SOTO, but it wasn't completed before he died. Dave had recorded most of the bass for the song, except for the middle section. He had recorded that middle section in demo quality while they were on the tour bus. We felt it was really important to preserve all of the basslines from Dave on this song, so it was my job to work some studio magic and try to get his bass to sound the same throughout the song. It took a lot of EQing and reamping and nerdy studio work, but we finally did get there and ensured that you could hear Dave playing bass on the whole song.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> You mentioned Sylva earlier - this is your ongoing band that recently released its first album?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>Yes.<b> </b>The idea of my band Sylva kind of morphed a couple different ways. Even though the album just came out recently, a lot of that music was written as far back as 2008. We just never ended up doing anything with it over the years because of me going to college and Travis going through firefighting and paramedic school which ate up almost eight years of our lives. It finally started moving forward recently because I finally found people who want to play the music and I don't have to pay for them to come to rehearsals. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> The band’s music reminds me in places of Tower of Power, Umphrey's McGee and Jamiroquai Are these influences on the music that you write for Sylva?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Absolutely. All of those bands that you named and also early Maroon 5, Muse and Snarky Puppy. Sylva is really a big conglomeration of all of my influences. There is a little bit of prog rock, a little bit of jazz, a lot of dance, funk, soul...pretty much everything except for metal and classical, which is reserved for SOTO and Tiberian Sons.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Is Sylva your main gig when not touring with SOTO and TSO?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> Yes. I write and arrange most of the music. With the rock thing, I have so many different avenues. Sylva is the other stuff that I really want to do. It is music that I have a lot of creative involvement in and love playing. I'm hoping that it is a band that I will be in for a very long time.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Do you have a favorite brand of bass? One that you gravitate to the most?<br />
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<b>TD:</b> I have two favorite basses. The 6-string that I play with Sylva and SOTO is a Muckelroy bass. Brady Muckelroy is a luthier from Texas and once I tried one of his instruments, I said, <i>"I cannot believe that a bass can feel this good and be this playable!"</i> I had to have one and it is amazing. It is a 6-string and does everything I need it to. The other bass that I really connected with is the Sunburst Music Man Sterling that I take on tour with TSO. I am a big fan of the Music Man sound and I love having the double-humbucker set-up for flexibility.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Tell me about your gig with Warner/Chappell. Is that commissioned work for media?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Nikolai Puc Photography</td></tr>
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<b>TD: </b> I write library music and trailer music as one of my primary gigs. I started as a session guitar and bass player with them in 2013. Later on, I started writing for them as well. Most recently they have had me doing the big orchestral trailer music, like anything you would see on a Marvel trailer. I had started working with Lisle Moore, who had been doing the NBA and ESPN music for ten years. In 2016 ESPN contacted him to update the theme and he asked me to help out updating the music package. I ended up arranging and creating some of the primary themes and title sequences, so the current NBA music you hear on ESPN are my arrangements and performances.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>I know you are about to tour Europe with SOTO and then a couple months on the TSO tour. What is 2020 looking like for you? Any big plans yet?<br />
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<b>TD: </b>Definitely some shows with Sylva and Tiberian Sons. I will be producing an album for a singer/songwriter from here in Colorado. And some more Warner/Chappell stuff. I am also going to put more energy into my social media, hoping to get the YouTube thing going again.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Tony, thank you for taking the time.<br />
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<b>TD:</b> No problem, my pleasure.<br />
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For more information:<br />
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Tony Dickinson:<br />
<a href="http://www.tonydickinson.net/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.tonydickinson.net</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/tonydickinsonmusic/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/tonydickinsonmusic/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TonyDickinsonBG"><span style="color: white;">https://www.youtube.com/user/TonyDickinsonBG</span></a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/TonyDickinsonBG"><span style="color: white;">https://twitter.com/TonyDickinsonBG</span></a><br />
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Sylva:<br />
<a href="https://www.sylvamusic.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.sylvamusic.com/</span></a><br />
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Tiberian Sons:<br />
<a href="http://www.tiberiansons.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.tiberiansons.com/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheTiberianSons/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/TheTiberianSons/</span></a><br />
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SOTO:<br />
<a href="http://sotoworld.net/"><span style="color: white;">http://sotoworld.net/</span></a><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-61035741691722988202019-07-01T17:10:00.000-07:002019-07-02T08:40:39.468-07:00A Conversation with Chloe Lowery<span style="color: #e06666;">Vocalist Chloe Lowery has a </span><span style="color: #e06666;">commanding, exquisitely powerful</span> <span style="color: #e06666;">soprano voice. The kind of voice that you don't easily forget after hearing her sing a song or two. She signed her first major record contract when she was twelve years old, sang lead for Big Brother and the Holding Company, but first hit the public eye in a big way when she teamed up with Yanni in 1989 for his Voices album and tour. Since then, she has been a fixture in the touring productions of both Rocktopia and Trans-Siberian Orchestra and can often be found as a guest soloist with symphonies around the USA. She has been equally at home performing classics and covers along side Classical Crossover Vocalist Chris Pinella or rocking out with Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra. For the last several years, she also fronted the rock band Chameleon, releasing several EPs and becoming a fixture in the New York City music scene. But it took a tumultuous relationship change with a long-time musical partner that finally propelled her into creating an album that she can call her own, one that is "Just Chloe". We got together in Manhattan to discuss her new solo album, "The In-Between".</span><br />
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<b>Dan Roth:</b> You describe it in the liner notes of your new CD, but for anyone that has not yet gotten this album, what is “The In-Between”?<br />
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<b>Chloe Lowery: </b> For a long time, this was a nameless record. I was even contemplating calling it "Chloe" or "Just Chloe". There really wasn't a lyric that really embodied the whole thing, until I wrote "The Words You Wanted. I took the phrase from part of the chorus, "<i>And I’ll always love you, But somehow I lost me while I was busy holding onto you, And somewhere in this in-between...</i>". For me, "The In-Between" is where I wrote this record. I was not at a peak high in my life, I was somewhere in this in-between where all of this change that was happening, personally, professionally, life and everything. It just made sense that that is what the record was.</div>
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<b>DR:</b> Were there any particular musicians or voices that influenced you in making this record?</div>
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<b>CL: </b> I actually did myself a favor because, like my old band Chameleon, I am a little bit of a chameleon myself. Because I have sung in so many different types of Shows, I have had to put on my "rock" hat, my "pop" hat, etc. I can emulate different genres. But for this record, I really shut out music for a minute. Without judgment or criticism, I wrote things from a place where maybe no one would ever hear these and they would be purely for myself to find out what my organic voice and authentic voice was saying without any outside influences.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You have been very up front with letting listeners know that this album was the result of you going through a major breakup. When did you know that you wanted to express what you were going through in song?</div>
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<b>CL:</b> It was more or less an accident. When I split with my ex, it was a huge life change. I felt that life was just going to carry on and be fine, but the ramifications of all of the decisions I was making - it was just a lot all at once. I didn't know how to process it. Also, professionally, I was going through a lot of changes and not knowing what the next step was. I started writing as a form of venting and what came out was a "word vomit" of everything that I was going through. It was really an organic thing, as I was going through all of these emotions which were almost like the stages of grief. It wasn't planned, it didn't happen until it was sitting right in front of me. </div>
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<b>DR: </b> You have toured or recorded with some substantial acts, but always singing songs someone else wrote. You had your own band, but even those releases were more collaborative in nature. You only get one debut album. How scary was this? Did you feel ready<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">?</span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>CL:</b> It is still scary because we're in the beginning stages of getting people to connect with the record. It is such a different market now. The record business has changed so much from when I started at twelve years old. I have made several solo records over the years that never saw the light of day for a million and one reasons. I felt very proud that I was able to do this record by myself and write it with no judgment. It was really a personal self-accomplishment and I got to the point where I was feeling like, "<i>OK, I am ready to share this with the world</i>" and ready to share my story. It was scary but easy at the same time. I am really excited to see the impression of it, to see what's next.</span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>DR:</b> Your ex is someone that you did work with very closely in two of your musical worlds, but his name never comes up in interviews. Is that by design?<br /><br /><b>CL:</b> Outside of our TSO and Chameleon family, listeners don't know and don't need to know. I wanted to leave his name out of it. For those that know, they know. For those that don't, albums are meant to be related to your life. If I bring up name and details, it takes away from the listener's point of view. The record is specific to me, but generic enough where it can relate to you.</span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>DR: </b> Both lyrically and visually, can I ask how specific you got with what you went through?</span></div>
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<b>CL: </b> I've taken some liberties with the record and with the videos. It is a story and it's dramatized for sure. The honesty behind the intention is 100%. No mistaking the accuracy there but like all story-tellers, you take liberties to connect the dots. There are certainly situations that are hinted at that might be true, but they might not. Listeners can decide what they want there.</div>
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<b>DR:</b> In early 2018, you released a stunning rendition of the Roy Orbison classic “Crying” which segued into “How Could You”. “How Could You” kicks off the album, but what happened to “Crying”?</div>
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<b>CL:</b> We left that specifically for Pledge supporters. Everyone that pledged had access to the song and it was an enticement for those supporters. We did leave it on YouTube though if you still want to check it out.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> The album is set up in a unique fashion, with complete songs, but interspersed with a series of musical interludes: Betrayal, Denial, Letting Go, Reflection, Acceptance, and Forgiveness. Just looking at those Interlude titles can give someone a quick idea of the album's theme, but what made you set it up this way?<br />
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<b>CL: </b> I have always loved records that had interludes or had a constant stream of music that never ended and told a story. It's funny that we're listening to Janet Jackson right now <i>[Ed. Note - a Janet Jackson song happened to be playing in the background at this time] </i>because I listened to her records when I was growing up and she was known for having these interludes between her songs. I always really liked that. I also wanted the listener to engage more with the storyline of the record with my versions of the stages of grief. I felt that they helped further the story as the interludes helped set up the emotion for the song.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>Were any of these interludes conceived as entire songs?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> No, I sat down one week and wrote all of these 20-30 second little songs. "Reflection Interlude" is a little piece of "Something in the Water", which is a Chameleon song, and that is on purpose. One that seems to be getting a lot of notice and listeners seem to like is "Acceptance Interlude". That one is more of a verse/chorus set-up and I have heard from some of who wanted me to "finish" that song. Maybe my next record will be of all of my Interludes completed.<i> [Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR: </b>What was the first song written for this album?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> The first work I did for this album was "Don't Let Yourself Down". In the very beginning of my split, my move to Brooklyn and all of this change, I was just in a daze and crying a lot. I went on a family vacation and I think my mom got sick and tired of all of my crying. One day she said to me, "<i>Honey, don't let yourself down</i>". Besides being great advice, that really hit me because I had never heard that before. I sat down at my Aunt and Uncle's piano in North Carolina and wrote the chorus to that song. I then put it away for a long time because I didn't know how to finish it. The first complete full song that I wrote for this album was "Shiny Toy". I wrote that while I was in Prague for a gig. I walked around Prague and it all came together for me there.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>I would like to touch on the songs on the album, so let's start with "Shiny Toy". You’ve mentioned that this song is about seeing your ex with the new “shiny toy” in his life. It’s a very powerful song to really kick off the album – asking in the chorus “<i>Did I mean nothing at all, Did We mean nothing at all?</i>” How hard was it to write that song?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> That one was actually really easy to write because it was very circumstantial to me and what just happened to me. It is not just about seeing my ex with his new "shiny toy", but more about the feeling of being replaced so quickly and so easily. That was more of the underlying layer of the song. Ex's are supposed to move on and move forward, so there was nothing that he did wrong, but the quickness and swiftness of the situation is what really got to me. I created the track and just vented; here are the words.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> One of my favorite lyrics from this album comes from this song: "<i>If happiness is just a smile, but you never walk a mile, then love means nothing to you</i>". Very poetic, but it says so much.<br />
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<b>CL:</b> I have to actually give some credit to my ex for that. That is one of his favorite lines that he used to say, and we even used it in a Chameleon song, "Everybody's Going Down". I sing "<i>Happiness takes a while</i>" on that one, but he originally wanted me to sing <i>[Chloe sings "Happiness is just a smile"]</i>. He and I debated that line though, because happiness is not just a smile; you have to work for happiness, happiness is a choice. So that lyric in "Shiny Toy", while it is mine, I twisted it a bit.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> “Renegade”, musically is a song that is very upbeat – a good “sing-along” chorus – but it’s really all about your ex and his renegade-type lifestyle?<br />
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<b>CL: </b>My ex is a very free spirit, which is one the things that I really loved about him. Down the line, it just didn't fit with my life anymore. It's not about control, but more about making sense of someone's choices. It just wasn't working for me. It was like, "<i>OK, there ya go again!</i>"<br />
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<b>DR:</b> There is a line in the song “<i>Something in the water we thought brought us together now undone</i>”. Is that a nod towards your previous band that had a song with that title?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> <i>[Laughs] </i> Everything that you can probably think, just go with it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> "Giving up on You" is a duet between you and vocalist Nathan James. Did you write this with a duet in mind?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> No. I wrote this by myself on the piano - just the melody and bass line. I knew I wanted to do a duet on the record and Nathan was always in the back of my brain. When I got the first draft back from my producer, Travis Laws, it just felt like this might be a good opportunity for a duet. I restructured it and changed some of lyrics, so it made sense for a second voice to sing.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> “Crazy” kicks off what feels like the second half of the album. This song feels like it is about dealing with things and moving on.<br />
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<b>CL: </b> You are totally correct. Some have said that this record feels heavy or really sad. You have to listen to the whole thing, and it is a fun party at the end of it.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> The video for this is particularly clever, with you and your significant other backstage at a venue, reliving the same scene every couple of years, showing how the relationship was at each point. Having seen you perform at so many clubs around the city over the years, was this based on a particular venue in your mind?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> We struggled with what was the best thing to convey with that video. The Digital Sparks team and I were in Charlotte at the time and we had come up with a few different ideas and this is the one that really stuck. They found a venue in Charlotte to use for the shoot, but it is very much like an Arlene's Grocery or Rockwood Music Hall.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> This song features a guitar solo near the end of it by Al Pitrelli. It is one of two songs that he contributed guitar to on the record. He has also been involved in most of your live solo performances thus far. How did you get Al involved?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> I'm really lucky. I have a special relationship with Al. We've been great friends since we met in 2010 and have always checked in with each other over the years. There is a mutual admiration for talent there, but we also have this great working relationship and we're friends. With TSO, I am the Dance Captain for the West tour, so I handle the dancing and some of the singing. He calls on me a lot in that capacity. He has always said to me, "<i>If you ever do anything, let me know</i>." so I took him up on it. I have a lot of great guitarist friends, so don't get me wrong, but Al plays with soul and heart and so much artistry behind his playing. He came in and played on two songs and I have been lucky that he has been there for me at my live performances so far.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You did a unique cover of Roxette’s "It Must Have Been Love". What made you want to cover this?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> I knew I wanted to do a cover but hadn't found one yet that made sense. I was halfway done the record while I was on a TSO tour and I was listening to songs with [vocalist] Ashley Hollister and we were listening to some of the 80s and 90s songs and "It Must Have Been Love" came on. We started talking about why no one has covered it before. Vocally, it is really high, but you can forget about that because of the poppiness of the track. I knew I didn't want to do it the way that Roxette did it; I wanted my own interpretation.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> I want to call out the production of Aurelien Budynek here. Not only did he contribute some tasty slide guitar passages, he really created such a subdued atmosphere that really changes the feel of the original song.<br />
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<b>CL:</b> Aurelien killed it on this one. He really did. Aurelien has a really great ear and is one of my other favorite guitarists. He also knows how to create a mood or atmosphere in a song. He is also the one who played on "Crying". For this one, he came back with this amazing guitar arrangement and added a string track. Asha Mevlana came over and recorded the violin and viola and it was done in a day.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>"Dirty Disco" is a fun, upbeat song that has a bit of feel to your previous band.<br />
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<b>CL:</b> We actually wrote this when we were in South Carolina and writing songs for Chameleon. This was one of the fun tracks that we came up with and I have always loved it. With all of the band members in Chameleon, we just couldn't get it right. It just never felt right for that band. I told Travis that I wanted to do it and we collaborated with Georgios Pesios, who mixed part of the album. I love this song and it is a bit of a departure from the heaviness of the early part of the album.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> “Don’t Let Yourself Down” is a song we touched on earlier. It has that big epic-feeling song of the album, puts me in the mind of Chameleon songs like "Up There" and "Stay/Wait". I find your voice to really be suited to songs like that, where there is a quiet, tender introduction to the song that builds into something really loud and powerful. Do you feel the same way?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> My whole platform is that I am a big singer and I sing emotionally about emotional topics. I am one of those artists where you are supposed to feel things. I think that is just my gift and is something that I do even with TSO and Rocktopia. I totally gravitate to the more intimate songs where there is a conversation happening and by the end I am soaring and showing my range.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> The closing song on the album, "The Words you Wanted", feels like you have come out the other side, moved past all of the heartbreak feelings and come to terms with the where things are now. You refer to "<i>All these damn songs I had to write</i>". Were these the words you wanted to say to him but couldn’t? "<i>We both got what we need to breathe, I found myself and set you free</i>" – looks at things differently than earlier in the album.<br />
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<b>CL:</b> My ex had sent me the guitar track to when I was on tour with Rocktopia a couple years ago and we were still writing back and forth. I actually wrote a completely different song on top of that guitar riff. I then put it away and didn't think about it again. When I was creating this album, I was going through some of my older songs for some ideas for the album's closer and came across this track. I completely re-wrote the lyrics for it but left the guitar parts intact. The subject matter came from a conversation that I had with my ex. When he heard that I was making a record about him, he said instead of being mad, why not say the things that you always wanted to say? This was much later after I had come to terms with things and there was some closure. It is inspired by him and that conversation. The guitar parts are still his and left just as he recorded them in The Red Room, probably two years before I finished it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Over the years, you have sung so many songs written by others in various touring productions and shows, all of which come with a certain amount of direction. You do work with a producer on this record, but was it hard to find your own voice? To say, “this is me”?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> It is both a blessing and a curse that I can sing in so many styles. Going through this forced me to stand on my own and speak honestly and what came out is very authentically me without someone telling me, "<i>you should do this, you should do that</i>". Travis was the greatest producer and collaborator for that. I would hand him the basic tracks and his production just really complemented what I was creating.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> You have made a music video for each song and interlude for the album. Where did that idea come from?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> The industry is so weird. It is so challenging to find ways to get people to sit down and listen to music these days. I thought it was a good way of getting people to sit down and listen to the album if there was a visual element to it. I'm one of those people who will tend to stick with a song or album longer if there is a video to it. It was a marketing plan that would help get people to listen to the album and listen to the story. It is a concept record and you really need to listen to it from top to bottom to understand it all.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Some of these videos puts you alone in these big empty scenes – a forest, an empty parking garage, a spacious empty meadow – is that done intentionally to help convey how you were feeling?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> I never even realized that until you just said that. There may have been a subconscious reason for that. For this record, I was alone. I wrote 90% of it alone in my apartment and was on my own for the first time, which is why my hashtag is 'justchloe'. It was always Chloe with Yanni, Chloe with TSO, Chloe with Rocktopia, Chloe with Chameleon. Now it was "just Chloe". I think the team at Digital Sparks studios understood that and shows the struggle to find answers, clarity and the struggle of being alone.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> I want to ask about the musicians on the album. You certainly seemed to surround yourself with players not only from your previous band Chameleon, but also from the productions that you tour with, Rocktopia and TSO. Was this a matter of just calling someone up if they were available to fill a need on the album? Was there anyone you wanted on the record that wasn’t available?<br />
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<b>CL: </b> I'm really lucky to have really great friends and have developed really great relationships, especially with my TSO family. I do like collaborating and I wanted my friend's input on what I had written for this album. From Chameleon, I had Aurelien Budynek, Georgios Pesios, and Andrew Ross contribute. Everyone was shocked that Andrew was on the record, but he came in and added some percussion and backing vocals on "The Words You Wanted". From TSO, I had Asha, Jodi Katz, Al and Nathan of course. I actually had another interlude where Ashley Hollister and Natalya Piette sang, but unfortunately it didn't make sense with the record, so it got scrapped. And of course, Travis Laws who I got to know from Rocktopia was just amazing as a producer. I even got involved playing some synths and keys, which I was very excited about.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> As part of your crowdfunding campaign, you offered up the opportunity to record a cover song for fans. Did you get many takers on this? And what sort of covers did you wind up singing? Any that were a favorite or fun?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> Yes! I forget about how many we did, but that was a popular item! Georgios Pesios and I sat down for a couple days and did acoustic versions of all the songs. He played guitar and mixed them. It was a wide range from Pat Benatar to some classic rock songs. I did "Painkiller" from Judas Priest! <i>[Laughs] </i> It was fun, it was great to put my spin on some of these.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Thus far, you have done release concerts in Florida and NYC, opened up for Myles Kennedy, and done some of these songs at a music festival in upstate PA. How much fun is it to sing these creations to fans in person? It seems like there would be a difference between writing a song in your apartment and recording it in a studio and then singing how you were feeling to a crowd full of people.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(L-R): Al Pitrelli, Chloe Lowery, Travis Laws<br />
Rockwood Music Hall, April 2019<br />
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<b>CL: </b> It's exciting. As an artist, our job is to touch people and relate to people and help people. When people respond well or sing back words that you wrote, that is so rewarding. We are building our whole live thing.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Back in the 70’s, you would have a record label behind you which pushed an artist's music to the stores and radio. In the 80’s, there was MTV which helped put artists on the map. How difficult is it in today’s industry to establish yourself as a name or a brand? Is it more social media and networking?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> It's really all about connecting. Whether it is getting a song into a movie or TV show, or building your social media following. Social media is obviously a big part of things now. There are artists that are launching careers just off of Instagram. I find that cool and strange at the same time because it is hard for real talent to shine through. The market is just completely flooded. You just have to find your way of connecting that works for you. With me, people seem to like to see what I can do when I perform live. That is a priority for me to get on the road, which is all in the works.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Good to hear that there may be some touring coming up. Anything else in the works?<br />
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<b>CL: </b> We still have several videos to release. The "Must Have Been Love" video is next and you guys will like it for a specific reason, but I won't say what it is yet. The "Dirty Disco" video is also very exciting with everything going on with Pride Month. Something else that is in the works is a virtual live show for everyone that can't get out to the live shows.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> For the fans of your previous band, is there any chance of hearing any of those songs again? Maybe in a live setting?<br />
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<b>CL:</b> Those songs are all still mean so much to me. My producer was a really big fan of "Up There" and we tried to revisit it production-wise and make it more something catering to me, but it fell by the wayside. Maybe I will revisit one of those songs live? My ex and I were a good writing team and I would like to work with him in that capacity again, so you never know.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You have been involved in two touring productions over the last decade – Rocktopia and TSO. Do you still enjoy doing those Shows and do you plan on continue fitting them into your schedule as long as they still want you?<br />
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<b>CL: </b> TSO is such a blessing. I didn't quite understand what I was getting into when I did my first tour. I thought it might just be one tour and done. They have really become my family and I think that was Paul's gift. As long as TSO will have me, I want to be there. We are always complaining towards the end of those tours about how exhausted we are, and we want to go home, but we always look forward to it starting up each year.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Chloe, thanks for getting together today and finding the time.<br />
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<b>CL:</b> Thank you! It's always a pleasure.<br />
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For more information:<br />
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<span style="color: white;"><a href="https://www.chloelowery.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.chlo</span></a><a href="https://www.chloelowery.com/"><span style="color: white;">elowery.com</span></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/chloelowery/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.instagram.com/chloelowery/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialChloeLowery/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/OfficialChloeLowery/</span></a><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-66901040308739400832019-05-04T07:47:00.002-07:002019-06-02T09:34:11.659-07:00A Conversation with Jennifer Cella<span style="color: #ea9999;">Jennifer Cella has been gracing us with her expressive and powerful voice for close to twenty years now through the music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and her work with dance-music producers Anton Bass, Jason Nevins, and Anthony Fonseca (aka Monikkr). Though out of the public spotlight for several years while she began raising a family, Cella has recently come roaring back with two new bands that she not only sings lead on, but also is involved with creatively. I recently caught up with Jennifer to discuss her time with TSO as well as her own bands Beauty in the Machine and Cover Girl.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy Marianne P. Stone</td></tr>
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<b>Dan Roth:</b> By way of some background, I'd like to ask about your first recordings. In 2001, you were high on the Billboard dance charts with "Begin2Rise" and then later that year, a featured vocalist on the Karmadelic full-length album, <i>Flip Your Mind</i>.</div>
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<b>Jennifer Cella:</b> That was when I had started working with Anton Bass. He had a deal with Jellybean Records at the time and those were my first real recording sessions.</div>
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<b>DR: </b> This is when you were known professionally as <i>Jayella</i>?</div>
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<b>JC:</b> <i> [Laughs] </i>The dance world had a lot of artists using one-word names and I needed to find a way to shorten mine. Cella is still a shortened version of my given name. My real last name was too long and too Italian to use. The record was coming out, so we threw a couple names in the air and we went with <i>Jayella</i>. It's one of those things that I shake my head and roll my eyes at when it's brought up.<i> [Laughs] </i></div>
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<b>DR:</b> You sang and co-wrote two songs on that Karmadelic record, one of which led off the album and was co-written with Anton and keyboardist Carmine Giglio, "Things I See". Was this the first time you had a hand in writing a song?</div>
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<b>JC:</b> I had dabbled in song writing but this was the first time I had any success with it.</div>
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<b>DR:</b> With you seeing some success in the dance world and having a couple records out there, how did you get involved with Trans-Siberian Orchestra?</div>
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<b>JC:</b> I had an agent at the time who was submitting me for Broadway auditions. That was where I thought I wanted to go with my career. I had gone to the Tisch School for the Arts and a couple other schools and studied acting and musical theater; that was always my focus. I was getting really burnt out on the rejection. In that business, you get a hundred "no's" before you get a "yes". I had started to shift my focus more to music and I was in a cover band on Long Island. What I loved about that was the instant gratification. You rehearse for the gig and then you go do the gig - you don't audition for the gig; you go and perform. I was really falling in love with that. I was done with auditioning and really didn't want to do that anymore.</div>
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My agent got me this audition with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They were using a Broadway casting agent back then. I really did not want to go; I was really done with auditions and had no interest. My agent pushed me to do it, explaining to me that it was more of a "rock thing" and they were asking for a Pat Benatar song for the audition. I was like, "<i>Alright, I'll do it</i>." Paul O'Neill wasn't in the room when I auditioned, only David Krebs and Taro Meyer. I sang "Love is a Battlefield" and Paul came into the room about halfway through the audition. When I was done, he looked at their clipboard and they had put an 'x' through my name; they were going to completely dismiss me. Paul wrote "yes" next to my name and asked me to sing a Janis Joplin song.<br />
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I got what I thought was a callback, but it was basically Paul and I sitting in this rehearsal room and he was telling me about this awesome gig. I didn't know that I got it, but that was Paul's way of telling me that I got the gig. I was really excited, but I still didn't know what I was getting myself into. At that point, the Show wasn't what it is today and nobody knew what it was going to turn into.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Did you know going in that this was for a lead vocalist position in the cast?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Actually, this was an audition to be a background singer. That quickly changed once we got to rehearsals and Paul started changing some things around. He took "Promises to Keep", which on record was done by a children's choir, and reworked it for me to sing live. He really shook things up for me and I am grateful for that.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Promises to Keep" followed by singer introductions - TSO with Jennifer Cella from Jennifer's first tour (2001). </span></div>
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<b>DR:</b> "Promises to Keep" certainly was a staple of the set for many years. Were you the first to sing that?<br />
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<b>JC: </b> Yes. It was written for a choir and Paul was looking for material to give me in the show. </div>
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<b>DR:</b> When you went on the 2001 TSO East tour, was that your first real tour?<br />
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<b>JC: </b> Yes. I had done some regional theater in Tennessee, but this was my first real tour.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> The cast was such a melting pot of performers, with musicians and singers with metal, theater, R&B and club experiences.<br />
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<b>JC: </b> And we all really bonded as a family back then. I first got to know many of them when we drove down to QVC to film an appearance before the 2001 rehearsals even began. That's when I met Mee Eun Kim, Chris Caffery, Bob Kinkel, Mark Wood and Alex Skolnick. We all piled into a van and drove to QVC and I was the new kid on the block. I believe I sang "Dreams of Candlelight".</div>
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<b>DR:</b> For your seven years on the tour, you were always on the East production. Did you ever have the opportunity or desire to sing with the West cast?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> I never had a choice, but I was happy that I was on East because that meant my family and friends got to see me perform. It would have been nice to work with the people on the other tour, but honestly, we quickly become a family on the East, especially back then. There was such a complete bond because everything was still so new, and we were building this all together.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> I understand that back then, Paul O'Neill spent more of his time on the East tour rather than the West dates. Did you get a lot of direction from Paul?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jennifer Cella with TSO - Toledo, Ohio, November 29th 2007<br />Photo Courtesy James Marvin Phelps </span></td></tr>
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<b>JC:</b> Yes, Paul was around our tour a lot. Paul's vision was always that it was one band and one show.</div>
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<b>DR: </b> On the TSO records, you sang lead on five of their songs over the years. Often Paul dialed in on a particular way he saw or heard a singer and it seems like he used you for songs that needed that tender, emotional touch.<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Yes, Paul saw me as the female vocalist with maternal instincts and as the one who could sing the rock ballads. He always got me to express emotions in the songs that I sang. The songs that he would write for a female had a depth to them and he would often model them after that 80's rock sound. He found that I could deliver those and that was area of my voice that he loved. I was classically trained, did musical theater for years and was also in rock cover bands so I could do it all. Paul really didn't want to explore the more legit side of my voice at all. He found that little section of my voice that he loved the most and took it from there.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> "Christmas Canon Rock" is certainly the song that you are most identified with, sort of your "signature song". Do you like that it is what has become your legacy from your work with them?<br />
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<b>JC: </b> Oh, definitely!<br />
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<b>DR:</b> I want to ask about that note you hold at the end of the song.<br />
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<b>JC:</b> When we recorded that in the studio, I just went for it. Paul didn't tell me to do that, but I went for it and it turned out to be amazing and we kept it. After I did it, I sat back and thought, <i>"Oh shit. I'm going to have to do this every night on tour." [Laughs]</i> Doing it in the studio is one thing, but doing it live every night on tour...some nights you might just not feel the greatest, or have a tickle in your throat, you might be tired, you have adrenaline flowing - all that stuff that plays a part in the physiology of your voice. It was something that I was very conscious of when we recorded it. If I'm going to do this in the studio, I must do it live every night. It was so rewarding to hear the applause at the end of that note.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> The performance that you did for QVC has now been viewed almost nine million times on YouTube. We know the band are playing to the recording, but are the vocals live?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Yes, the vocals were done live, and the music was the recording, but the guys were still playing over it. It was the same way we did it on Regis & Kelly.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> "Christmas Canon Rock" featured - besides your stunning vocals, very prominent "hair flips" which have become a bit of a thing that TSO is known for. Was this song sort of a ground zero for that?<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Christmas Canon Rock" - TSO with Jennifer Cella (lead) and Danielle Landherr, Heather Gunn (background) (2007)</span></div>
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<b>JC: </b> No. The hair flips came from when us girls were singing backgrounds off to the side and we were just there without choreography. I started flipping my hair as sort of a "rock move" and that became our thing. When we were doing Canon, we had to do something while standing there during that canon melody and turning our heads on the beat is what we came up with. <i>[Laughs]</i> It's funny, I still do that in all of my performances. It was who I was before I was in TSO and it sort of exploded in TSO.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You sang two songs that were very quiet ballads, "Different Wings" and "Remnants of a Lullaby".<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Sometimes Paul would take what I thought were my worst vocal takes and he would use them because he heard a vulnerability in them. For me as a vocalist looking back, I sometimes think, "<i>I could have sung that line better</i>" or "<i>Why did he use that take?</i>". Paul liked to capture the rawness and the emotion that he heard and felt. Both songs were just Al Pitrelli and I in the studio. "Different Wings" in particular is such a pretty song and I remember singing that to my son when he was born and thinking how lucky I was to have a lullaby like this to sing to him.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> You finally got to stretch out a bit more with a song from the Nightcastle album, "Father Son & Holy Ghost". There is this intense 90-second section in the middle of the song where we get to hear that rock growl that you have and you rapid-fire that section of lyrics, starting with “The night it keeps burning While twisting and turning”. How hard was that to sing?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> It was really difficult, actually. It is a hard song to sing because of that. Paul knew my capabilities with breath control from Canon and he went with it. I am breathing in there of course, but it is challenging.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> The most recent song you had released with TSO was "Past Tomorrow" which is a somewhat stark, minimal piece of music, with just the keys and piano behind your voice.<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Paul tried a lot of people on that song. It started out as a very, very different piece of music. It was a very over-the-top, Broadway-ish kind of song with this high belt vocal and completely different to how it turned out. We were in the studio and about 99% done with it; we just had some background vocals left, when Al started changing it and put it in a minor key. We then took out the entire chorus which had the phrase "<i>Past Tomorrow</i>" in it and really just changed the entire feel of the song. We started layering my vocals and doubling the harmonies, and it was coming out great. I am really, really happy with how this one came out. Of all the songs that I have sung for TSO, this is the one that I had the most creative input on. It was a very cool experience to be involved in the transformation of a song that we just took two weeks to record and then sit there with Al and Paul and work out this totally new arrangement and made it really a different song.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Jennifer Cella with TSO - Nassau Coliseum in 2007</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo courtesy Donna Searing McDonald</span></div>
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<b>DR: </b> It's great that you continued to record even after you stopped touring in 2007.<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Yeah, Paul always wanted me on everything, and I was thrilled to continue doing that. In fact, I was working on a song for his next project when he died. In the days leading up to his death, he had me working on demos for his next project. I was working with [Talent Coordinator] Danielle Sample on getting Paul exactly what he had wanted. I was actually waiting on a call back from Paul the day that he died to hear what he thought of what I had sent in. The call that I got was not what I expected obviously - very shocking.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Was it a hard decision to leave the TSO tour after seven years?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> I was ready to start a family and I was afraid that if I waited too long, I wouldn't have that opportunity. As much as I loved the touring, I also wanted to be a Mom. You have to make choices in life, and I didn't want to look back one day and find that I waited too long. To this day, I miss it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Looking back at your time with TSO, what did you take away from your time?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> So much. You don't get to perform in front of 20,000 people unless you're in a group like that. It is something that most musicians don't get to experience. I really learned from every bit of it. One thing that Paul really taught me was connecting with people. He cared deeply about the experience people took away from the shows and that sticks with me to this day. We were up on stage with the opportunity to make an impact and I feel really blessed that I was able to make an impact on people's lives.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> After you left the tour, you were out of the public eye for the most part.<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Yes. I wasn't out there touring, but I wasn't going to stop singing because I was a Mom. I was involved in a wedding band which was great money and helped to keep my chops up. I actually really grew a lot in that job because you get requested all kinds of material and you have to be able to do it. With singing, it's really "use it or lose it" and I still got sing every week to make sure I didn't lose it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Over the course of the last few years, fans started seeing you on stages again, collaborating with some of your TSO bandmates like Alex Skolnick and Dave Z.<br />
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<b>JC:</b> That was so much fun and nostalgic. I have the utmost respect for all my TSO bandmates so any chance that I get to play with them is amazing. I'm really glad that I did those dates with Rubix Kube; those are memories that I have with Dave that I otherwise wouldn't have.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Let's talk about your current band, Beauty in the Machine. That is a collaboration with Electronic Dance Music icon Anthony Fonseca (aka Monikkr). How did you two get together?<br />
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<b>JC: </b> I knew Anthony as far back as when I was working with Anton Bass in Karmadelic. Anthony and I were signed to the same management and were always moving in the same circles. In fact, I sang lead on a bunch of songs for the Jason Nevins album (2004's <i>The Funk Rocker</i>) and Anthony was involved in one of those songs as well. At one point, he and I formed a band and were going to record and play out. This was around the same time that I was making the decision to leave TSO and start a family. I wound up taking a step back from that band as well. As time went on, we didn't really talk as much as life just took us in different directions. After Paul died, I had posted something online which prompted Anthony to call me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0GRwMhKmpQF54Dg5_s_uP8i0jxiEDbPcQerXmBfW-Ww_yMDxxMEeuxF6p69KnzmzoiPRBCWNi9Vpg8LA_sXnBiTINUWQfL9dnT0uxTDcHh2hA_xm8j6b8BgSeCr_2osGakz-YctlHnJa/s1600/bitm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0GRwMhKmpQF54Dg5_s_uP8i0jxiEDbPcQerXmBfW-Ww_yMDxxMEeuxF6p69KnzmzoiPRBCWNi9Vpg8LA_sXnBiTINUWQfL9dnT0uxTDcHh2hA_xm8j6b8BgSeCr_2osGakz-YctlHnJa/s400/bitm.jpg" width="400" /></a>Anthony had a band that he started called Beauty in the Machine which he had abandoned a couple years earlier. He had one song written from that time which is called "Again". We actually got together, re-worked it, changed the key, and re-wrote some of the lyrics. That came out so well that he presented me with a snippet of a song that he had started writing called "Morning After" and I finished that. Things were really clicking between us musically and he asked me if I wanted to do this and I was feeling really thirsty to do something creative. I worked with him in the past and knew how talented he was, and it looked like Anton was going to be involved with it as well. I was looking forward to writing on a creative level and really developing something. Two years later, here we are on this journey. It's been slow because we are self-funding it, and sometimes I have to take a step back for family responsibilities and obligations. It is going slower than if we had done this ten years ago, but it is fun and really rewarding.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Apart from those songs on the Karmadelic album that you had in writing, is this first time since then that you have been involved in the songwriting process?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> I wrote and recorded a Christmas song that I put out myself, but I spent a lot of years not exploring that creative side. Motherhood is a lot of work and really took me out of the loop of a lot. Now that they are a little older, I have some freedom to dive back into stuff like this and it's been great!<br />
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<b>DR:</b> How is your collaboration process between the two of you?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> A lot of times he will come up with a musical track and ask me to add a melody and a lyric. What has worked out best is that he will come up with a track and we will do a writing session together, just bouncing ideas off of each other. We wrote "13 Days" in about two hours. Another song that we recently completed, "Hold On", we wrote in less than two hours and that is my favorite so far. I was at his studio for three hours and in that time, we were able to write the song and record the demo with background vocals in that time. It's still got the beat, but it's a little darker and has a lot of heavy grungy guitars in it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You both have that dance background, but the music that you are creating is more of an electro trip-hop sound, reminds me a bit of Massive Attack. Does that sort of music come natural to you?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> I have my toes in a lot of different genres and I do love a beat. But I also love a good rock vocal. Obviously, Anthony does bring with him his dance music experience, but he also was in a rock band years ago that coincidentally opened for Savatage a few times back when Alex was in it; so, our backgrounds really gel well together.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> The first song that you released was "Morning After", which is kind of ethereal and stark and really captures a feeling of loneliness.<br />
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<b>JC: </b> Anthony had the track written and the first stanza<i> [sings "You looked into my eyes, I was hypnotized"] </i>and I wrote the other verses and the chorus. Honestly, I wrote the rest of the song while I was at my son's baseball game. I had my earbuds in and a notebook and wrote the lyrics while watching the game.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> I understand that there will be a dance remix of that one?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Yes. We did a gig on New Year's Day at the House of Yes which is a dance club. We felt that we needed to rework some of our songs to fit that crowd, so he remixed it and it translates really well for live performances. That version has so much more energy so that will probably be the version that we do when we play out. The Remix for "Morning After" will be released on May 21st with an accompanying video on May 28th<i> (Edit: Now out here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cheYjzoKo88"><span style="color: white;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cheYjzoKo88</span></a>)</i>. I can't wait for everyone to hear and see it! It will be playable and viewable on <span style="color: white;"><a href="https://www.beautyinthemachine.com/"><span style="color: white;">our website</span></a> </span>along with all of our music.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Both of your singles so far have music videos and big rollouts for them. And now with adding the visual element to the shows, is having that visual presentation to your music and presentation important to you?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> It is an aspect that we want to develop. We want our shows to be an immersive experience. We want people to come out to listen to music but also to see a show.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>I was pleasantly surprised to see a real drummer as part of your live band configuration, as it is drum programming on the recordings. And, not only do you have a drummer, but it is John Sawicki who really takes the live performance to another level. How did you know John and why did you pick him for this project?<br />
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<b>JC: </b> John Sawicki and I go way back; he was in the cover band that I was in before I joined TSO. He has always been one of my favorite drummers. When I left to go with TSO, John left to be part of Stomp. When we talked about bringing a drummer in, John was just a perfect fit. His percussion set-up has been evolving also, he now has kick drum set up so he plays that standing up and his snare is mounted to his percussion set-up. It's a more visual aspect and sounds really cool. He is also my drummer in Cover Girl.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> What is next for Beauty in the Machine? Two songs have been released so far, with many more written and full live sets are happening. Any timeline on when a full EP or album will be ready?<br />
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<b>JC: </b> We just got a monthly residency at <span style="color: white;"><a href="http://www.thevnyl.com/"><span style="color: white;">The VYNL</span></a> </span>in the East Village; last Wednesday of every month. We do have a plan to release an EP. It was supposed to be out by now, but we got derailed by the video of "Again"; we weren't happy with it and that put everything on hold. I hate to put a timeline on it, but we are on track for a Summer release for the EP. It's coming, I promise.<i> [Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> Tell me about your Cover Girl band. You are obviously doing covers, but you are calling it a "mash-up band"?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> Well, we do a lot of straight covers, but we throw in some mash-ups that might be unexpected. For instance, we will start with "Seven Nation Army" and go into "Sweet Dreams" but keeping up the bass line from "Seven Nation Army". It comes out awesome. The first gig we did, I was so scared because I didn't know if people were going to get it or understand or if people were going to like it. So far, everyone seems to be loving it. Sometimes they look a little confused - they'll hear us start off with "Every Breath You Take" but I go into singing "Stand by Me". It's just a different experience and shows you how fluid music is from one song to another. It's doing covers but in a creative way. We also pay tribute to some iconic bands; we do a Led Zeppelin medley, a Nirvana medley that are really craftily done. And John Sawicki is our drummer in this band too!<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Nice. Jeff Allegue is in the band also. Did you know him from your TSO days?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvuyg2D0SFIOZ3kf_VUglBu1pUCVF4k3LTO7fughEhq0L7r3T6ol2k9EH5Fx5CAuu-bB4thHBcZlfT4d6C6mmQGCoG_6keHLzokWPkmxVM7J-xPxdJu9_XHbqj24aDhrbisKRRwyV53fB/s1600/CoverGirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1137" data-original-width="1600" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvuyg2D0SFIOZ3kf_VUglBu1pUCVF4k3LTO7fughEhq0L7r3T6ol2k9EH5Fx5CAuu-bB4thHBcZlfT4d6C6mmQGCoG_6keHLzokWPkmxVM7J-xPxdJu9_XHbqj24aDhrbisKRRwyV53fB/s400/CoverGirl.jpg" width="400" /></a><b>JC:</b> I didn't work with Jeff in TSO. I knew him more as Paul's friend and he was always at the New York Shows. Jeff laid down some guitar tracks in the early days, before I got on board, so we never actually worked together with TSO.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Thus far, you have been playing gigs just on Long Island. Any plans to expand your area a bit?<br />
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<b>JC: </b> Right now, we are building a following and going into good clubs. We all grew up on Long Island played in bands on Long Island. There is a really strong music scene on Long Island. People go out to hear bands and there are a lot of good places to play. We all bring in people from our reputations and history on Long Island. It just makes sense right now to stick to that area. Eventually we will play some gigs in other places.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Last question I wanted to ask about is the recording that you are doing for Joe Petrucelli's project for <i>A Sparrow's Tale</i>. Are you doing voiceovers for the animated project?<br />
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<b>JC:</b> That is an exciting project that is in development. It is going to be animated and it could be a TV project or a video; it could go a couple different ways. It's a story about a sparrow who wants to learn how to fly, but every song is also a music lesson. It's a cool immersive way of teaching music without kids knowing that they are learning music. I'm singing the parts of Allegra, the mother sparrow. It's coming along; it has some really good people behind it but is really early in the developmental stage. It's a cool little project and I am looking forward to seeing it come to life.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Great! Thanks for taking the time today.<br />
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<b>JC: </b> Thank you!<br />
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For more information:<br />
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<span style="color: white;">Jennifer Cella:</span><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Jennifercellamusic/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/Jennifercellamusic/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_cella/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_cella/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Beauty in the Machine:</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><a href="https://www.beautyinthemachine.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.beautyinthemachine.com/</span></a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/beautyinthemachine/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/beautyinthemachine/</span></a></span><br />
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/beautyinthemachine/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.instagram.com/beautyinthemachine/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Cover Girl Band:</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><a href="https://thecovergirlband.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://thecovergirlband.com</span></a></span><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/thecovergirlband/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/thecovergirlband/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/covergirl495/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.instagram.com/covergirl495/</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: white;">Sips & Gifts:</span><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sipsngifts/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/sipsngifts/</span></a><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-74818143645259828092019-04-27T13:31:00.001-07:002019-04-30T17:15:16.195-07:00A Conversation with John O.Reilly<span style="color: #ea9999;">John O.Reilly, the world-class drummer from Long Island, NY, is probably most renowned for his </span><span style="color: #ea9999;">keen sense of timing and his </span><span style="color: #ea9999;">15-year stint with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. But John has been on a remarkable musical journey since the early 1970's, playing with a multitude of bands and artists over the years including Blue Oyster Cult, Rainbow, O'2L, Richie Havens, Joe Lynn Turner and many others. In 2018, John brought his collective blend of band and industry experience to Yuletide-rock sensations The Wizards of Winter, as he assumed the drum throne for their tour and upcoming new album. While we certainly couldn't cover John's entire career in one afternoon (though we tried!), we did chat quite a bit about some of the defining points of his long and interesting career.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John O.Reilly with The Wizards of Winter, December 2018, St. George Theatre, Staten Island</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo courtesy Jeff Smith of ReflectionsNYC</span></div>
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<b>Dan Roth:</b> The bio on your website states that you started playing drums on your 10th birthday. Was there a defining moment for you that steered you towards drums and an interest in music?</div>
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<b>John O.Reilly:</b> Like so many others, it was seeing The Beatles on television - that's what got me started. They made such an impact on so many, including me. Where I grew up in Queens, NY, three of my best friends were drummers. My mom took me to Bohack's, where we did all our shopping, and we used our collected plaid stamps to get a snare drum and a cymbal on a stand - that was my first one! The other guys who all played drums were all better than me, so they were guys that I looked up to.<br />
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My next real encounter was right before my fifteenth birthday. At the time, five of my good friends were all drummers also and we were always involved in neighborhood drum-offs. We were hanging out in a local music shop one day when I met George Christ who was a pseudo-cowboy looking kinda guy. It was 1967 and musicians were dressing like no one else back then. He drove a van with "Magic Bus" written on its side, and he had a band called Gripweed. I wound up joining Gripweed for one day and then the band broke up. But three days later, I ran into him and he was telling me of this new band that he was working with, and that he needed some help moving the band's equipment around. He asked me if I wanted to be a roadie. I had no idea what that was, but he explained that I help move the equipment, set it all up, and I get paid $10 a show. That band was J.F. Murphy and Salt. At that time, they were known as J.F. Murphy and Free Flowing Salt. That was a real life-changing moment for me.</div>
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<b>DR:</b> They were certainly a successful band in many regions of the U.S. and were on some major record labels.</div>
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<b>JOR:</b> Yes. I signed my first record deal with them to Columbia when I was 20 years old. But from 1967 to 1971, I went from being their roadie/tour manager/lighting director/sound guy to playing in the band. I started out just carrying the gear, and I was always amazed how we blew every band that we played with out of the water. They were such a great, great band.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> They were such a diverse band too, with so many different influences in their music.</div>
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<b>JOR:</b> Very diverse. And this was when AM Radio ruled. We were very successful in certain pockets of the country. We’d sell out a club in St. Louis five nights in a row but couldn't get arrested in NYC. I toured with them and would set everything up and play drums after the soundchecks.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Ah, so you still weren't drumming for them except for soundchecks. Did you have any other opportunities to play?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> We had a great manager - Lou Linet. One day, Lou took me aside and told me, <i>"I manage this other band that is looking for a drummer, and they checked you out at one of the soundchecks, and they would like you to come down and audition." </i> I asked him what they were like and he said, <i>"They are kind of like the New York Dolls-ish"</i> and at that point I was such a musical snob being around these great musicians that this didn't really appeal to me. I asked him what the band was called, he says, <i>"Wicked Lester” </i>Lou was urging me on, saying <i>"I'm sure you're tired of being a roadie at this point, here's a chance to play drums" </i> I thought it over and decided to pass on the audition. Jump ahead many years later, I was recording at the Record Plant in Manhattan - this was 1980 or 1981 -and KISS were in one of the other studios there. I knew who KISS were and I had bought their solo records by that point. Gene Simmons comes walking up, and I said to him, <i>"Gene, I noticed that you thanked Lou Linet on the back of your solo album." </i> Gene responds <i>"He was honorable man. An honorable man. How did you know him?" </i> I explained that he managed the band that I was in, J.F. Murphy and Salt. Gene looks at me, and says, <i>"You were the drummer!" </i> And then Paul Stanley came walking up and Gene says, <i>"This is that drummer from J.F. Murphy and Salt!"</i> and Paul started humming the melody to one of our songs, and says, <i>"That song should've been a hit!”</i> I was stunned and I said to both of them,<i> "I don't remember Lou Linet ever managing KISS." </i>and Gene says, <i>"Lou managed us when we were Wicked Lester” </i>I just went <i>[jaw drops]</i>! That was another career defining moment for me. <i>[Laughs]</i> I was like Oh. Ok. Oops! <i>[Laughs] </i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> Wow. That was quite the audition to pass on.</div>
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<b>JOR:</b> Yup. [<i>Laughs</i>] Oops. I had no idea of the connection as I hadn't followed them that closely.</div>
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<b>DR:</b> But you did go on to become the drummer for J.F. Murphy and Salt.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Band photo - back cover of "The Last Illusion". Reilly, 2nd from left</td></tr>
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<b>JOR:</b> Yes, Bobby Paiva left the band, and I took over the drums. I had recorded some demos with the band, which was a real learning experience for me. Back then I tended to overplay a bit, and we were recording a ballad that called for a big drum fill. Rather than play a nice legato, drum fill and lay back into the chorus, I did this big over-the-top thing. That did not go over well.<i> [Laughs]</i>. No one said anything, but I got the look! Shortly after that I met up with Kevin Ellman, this great drummer who I really respected, and I was telling him about that session. Kevin gave me the best advice I ever got. He told me <i>"You've got good meter and good time. Whatever it is that you are hearing in your head, cut it in half "</i> That stuck with me forever.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Were the J.F. Murphy albums your first official recordings?</div>
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<b>JOR:</b> I was on their last two albums, <i>The Last Illusion</i> and <i>Urban Renewal</i>. But as it turned out, my first official studio recording was with Earl "Fatha" Hines, the great jazz pianist. I had recorded some demos for J.F. Murphy and was playing live, when I met Fatha.</div>
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<b>DR:</b> How did that come about?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> There was a well-known nightclub on Bleeker Street in New York called The Village Gate and Earl used to come down and check out the bands playing there. One night, I was playing there with J.F. Murphy and Salt. He came backstage, and came up to me, I was there in my cowboy hat, all decked out in Conchos, boots, and spurs <i>[Laughs]</i> and Fatha says to me, <i>"I like your fire. I like your style."</i> After that I was contacted by the local music contractor for the musician's union to play on his next album, <i>This Is Marva Josie</i>. Fatha was really a trip. We recorded at a small studio in the West Village and at that time, I was not proficient at sight reading music. The producer came over and handed me a chart for the first song. Fatha stepped in and said <i>"Don't give him no paper. I want to hear him do what he does best." </i>I just went <i>[Wipes Forehead]</i> Saved! <i>[Laughs]</i> That would have been embarrassing. We ran each track down a few times and rolled tape, we basically cut the album in a day. That was my first real recording experience.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> The J.F. Murphy and Salt albums are really diverse. A bit of psychedelic, jazz-rock fusion, traditional Irish tunes, and straight-ahead rock.<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> The band was very talented but all over the place. The record labels didn't know what to do with us. We had this song called "New York City," which got played on WNEW-FM all the time, but Clive Davis at Columbia Records couldn't figure out how to cut it down to three minutes to get it played nationwide. Clive thought the hook was really strong, but how do you get rid of that whole middle section, and still have the song make sense? We had some radio support, like the one in St. Louis and other stations in the mid-west that really got behind us, but it was tough going for the music we were making.<br />
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The band was great though we had our share of turmoil. Then there was the big purge at Columbia and Clive Davis was fired and disbarred and suddenly we were like <i>"J.F Murphy and Who?”</i> The real bummer was that Davis had reached out to Lou Linet, told him that he believed in the band, and that he could do something more with us. Davis had just taken over Bell Records, wanted to do everything he could to make the label grow, and he wanted to sign us as his first act. Lou passed on this offer, Bell Records of course went on to become the immensely successful Arista Records, and our manager got fired. </div>
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<b>DR:</b> One song that I would like to ask you about is "Urban Renewal" which was this adventurous ten-minute medley of West Side Story music on your final album for Dunhill Records.</div>
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<b>JOR:</b> Oh wow. <i> [Laughs]</i> That was a real workout! We adapted that from the Buddy Rich Big Band's version of the West Side Story Medley. We played all of this stuff live in the studio as a band, no click tracks. That was a real trip putting that together. We wanted a real show-stopper for our shows and it was so much fun to play.<br />
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I want to share a story about this song though. In 1973, we played the annual Christmas concert for WNEW-FM; we opened for a popular Canadian band called Lighthouse. This was a sold- out Christmas show, and we were ready to go on and open with "Urban Renewal" and just knock it out of the park! We were all a little nervous; we were on this huge stage, Murphy would be on this concert grand piano, which we had never done on stage before, huge crowd. We hit the stage and launched into that song. Everything is going great right until we hit the transition - the song breaks for this solo clarinet part that leads into the "Rhapsody in Blue" section. There was dead silence. We're all looking at each other and Ronnie Allard, our sax and clarinet player was standing there without his clarinet. Jack Murphy signals to him to pick up his clarinet, and Ronnie says <i>"I left it upstairs"</i> - in the dressing room that was three floors up!<i> [Laughs] </i>Murphy finally signals to me to do something, and I just started playing this groove, and the band started jamming for maybe three or four minutes until we somehow transitioned into that next <i>"I want to be in America"</i> section. Just a little bit of train wreckage in front of a sold-out crowd at Lincoln Center, and in front of my entire family who came to see me play for the first time.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>After Jack Murphy ended the band, what was next for you? I know Murphy eventually went on to some great success writing Broadway shows. Was this when you started working with guitarist Johnny Gale?<br />
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<b>JOR: </b>I had gone through a couple of bar bands during the mid 70’s a few of them with Gale. I got involved with the band Whiplash, which was playing the tri-state club circuit that had an investor with lots of money, and the band was going to go places. Turns out that our manager was a smuggler; it was the first time I ever saw two million dollars in a suitcase <i>[Laughs] </i>that I was not supposed to see. It was a real wild time. We were playing a lot of industry showcases, and almost signed with Polygram. We had a $350,000 two-album contract sitting in front of us with our manager Al Dellentash. We had our pens out and ready to sign, when our manager told us that he wanted one more person to hear us play - an executive that was coming over from Atlantic Records. We wound up doing one more showcase for him, and we blew it. We should've signed that contract. <i>[Laughs]</i> Our salary was cut off; our truck was taken away, and that was it. I left the band and a few years later and Dellentash was sent to prison. Google his name, as you can’t make this shit up!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Whiplash - L-R: Johnny Gale, Charlie Cochran, John O.Reilly, Keith Gale</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by Lynn Goldsmith</span></div>
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<b>DR: </b>How did you wind up working with Richie Havens and Yoko Ono?<br />
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<b>JOR: </b>That was all with a band I was in called Visitor. That was a killer band live, but we never got signed. We had two drummers, two guitarists, keyboards...we were a great live band. We opened for The Stray Cats, Foghat, Meatloaf, and Todd Rundgren's Utopia in the 80’s. We wound up working with Richie Havens as his band and recorded a couple songs for a movie called <i>The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything</i> with Richie singing lead. Both songs were released by Elektra, and I played drums on "Two Hearts in Perfect Time.” That was a real learning experience as we spent a lot of time at Record Plant studios in New York recording our album. The owner of Record Plant at the time, Roy Cicala, was our producer.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Was this the same band that recorded demos for John Lennon's Double Fantasy album?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Yes. One day Roy Cicala called us at our band house in Queens telling us that we needed to be in the studio the next day, and I can't tell you who it's for. We got to the studio, set up our gear and in walks Yoko Ono. Of course, we were all looking for John.<i> [Laughs] </i>It turned out John wasn't around at the time. She brought with her some songs and explained to Roy that she felt it was time for John to come back out and wanted to get things started. Yoko had called Roy, and said she wanted all of the top session players in New York at the time to be in the studio the next day - she was asking for people like Steve Gadd and Will Lee, all of whom were booked with projects. Roy told her that he can have a great band ready for her, and they will do the job. So, we got the call.<br />
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It was an up-and-down day for me, because the day we went into the studio to work with Yoko, June 28th, 1980, my brother-in-law died. My brother-in-law was a fireman, and he fell seven floors to his death that day. It was such a surreal, heartbreaking day. We did the demos, working with Yoko for two days. We thought this would be a real shot in the arm for the band, even though we hadn't gotten paid a dime to do record these demos. Roy Cicala had gone down to Brazil to open up a studio down there and then we didn't hear anything for about a month, until the news comes out that Jack Douglas is going to produce Lennon's new album at a different studio. We weren't sure what happened, but Lennon insisted on coming back to Record Plant to have the record mixed. While Lennon is there for the mixing, Roy mentions to Lennon about this band that did all the demo work and never get paid. Lennon had no idea so he offered to Roy that he would sing on the Visitor record that we were working on in return for our work on Yoko’s music. I met John a couple times at the studio, one day of which he came down from the mixing room while we were working on the song that he was going to sing on. He sat in the control room for a bit with Roy, listened to us working on the song and told us how much he liked it. We were all very excited, we thought that we were on the verge of hitting it big to come out with a record with John singing on it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> So, John Lennon sang on one of your songs?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Well, here is the heartbreaking story that thousands of bands have. You think you are on the verge of something amazing that is about to happen to your career, that you are just that close, and everything is lined up. We are all in our band house on December 8th. having a late dinner and we're celebrating about how great this will be that John is going to sing on our album. Then we turn on the news and hear that he was killed. It was such a shock and an unreal situation. We wound up finishing our record but it was never released.. We managed to get the song "Uptown" to WAPP-FM on the last day of submissions for their "NEW YORK ROCKS" Promo contest. The station was syndicated around the country with every song on the record getting equal airplay. If the station's audience liked what they heard they could phone in to cast a vote. Whoever got the most votes for a particular area would be invited to perform in concert. We were chosen along with 3 other bands who were on that record, one of them being "John Bongiovi.” First place in the contest was a recording contract with a major label and Bongiovi's track "Runaway" was all over the radio by the time of that concert. <br />
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<b>DR:</b> So many close calls - could have been the first band on Arista, a huge record deal with Polygram, John Lennon singing on your record....<br />
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<b>JOR: </b> That is every musician's career. Some guys can weather through it and come out the other side, others just bag it. You need the thickest skin you could possibly have in this business. You need to persevere while living with a high degree of uncertainty. <br />
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<b>DR: </b> I want to skip ahead and talk about the two albums you made with bassist Randy Coven and guitarist Al Pitrelli. All three of you were Long Island guys, did you just meet up organically from playing out?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> I was in a band with guitarist Lucille Almond called Lucille and the Real Deal and Randy Coven had come to see us play at a club in Glen Cove. That was the first time I had met him. After our bass player left, we called up Randy and asked him to join the band. That was the first time he and I played together. After some turmoil, that band broke up, and lost contact with Randy. One day I am at Tower Records, and I see a CD in the racks by Randy Coven! I called him up and said, <i>"Dude, you got a record out?! Why aren't you out working it?" </i> He told me that he didn't have a band. I said, <i>"You've got a drummer! All you need now is a guitar player." </i> We put a band together with a keyboardist, a singer and a different guitar player than Al. We started doing gigs all over the island, and one day I come into rehearsals and Al was sitting there.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Was this the first time you had met Al?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Yeah! Never met him, never heard of him before. Even though we were both on Long Island, you didn't really hear much about the players or bands that were in other counties than the one you were in. We started playing clubs and playing the songs that you hear on the <i>Sammy Says Ouch!</i> album. We had played that set for about a year and a half, so these songs were really tight and rehearsed by the time we went to record. All the songs you hear on that album were recorded live in studio except for a couple overdubs for solos. One of my favorite songs from that first album was "A Minor Disturbance." Mark Wood played this incredible electric violin solo on there, and you can't instantly tell that it's a violin. I used to play that for people, and no one could figure out what instrument that was!<br />
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The album was really well received but Al got the gig with Alice Cooper and Randy moved back to Canada with his wife Michelle. While up in Canada, he met Phil X, and they put a band together, and played a lot from this album. When Randy came back to play the States and needed a drummer, he called me up, and we toured a bit with Randy, Phil, and I as the band. While on a break from Alice Cooper the three of us went back into the studio to record our second album, CPR.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> So, it is the same band, but the album was released as <i>Coven Pitrelli Reilly CPR</i>. Was that a band decision?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> No, that was the record label. I think they wanted to gain a bit of traction from Al's involvement with Alice Cooper. That record was a little different as we did a couple covers on there and brought in Zakk Wylde and Randy Jackson to sing. Mark was back to do a couple solos too. It was such a blast making these records because we were such a tight band. Nothing was done with a click track, it was all just laid down live. It was great working with Randy and Al because we each had this sixth sense of what the other was going to play; we were really locked in.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> What was it like working with Randy Coven? He was such a monster bassist and played with so many people, but never seemed to gain the notoriety I think he deserved.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Al Pitrelli, Randy Coven, John O.Reilly</td></tr>
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<b>JOR:</b> If you got along with Randy and dealt with what you had to deal with in order to work with Randy, he was fine. Randy was always a very busy player because he was playing his bass as a lead instrument. He was always on top of the beat. His playing really matured later in his career after working with Leslie West and Yngwie Malmsteen, but we didn't keep in touch after the CPR days. He pretty much expunged me from his resume, which is fine. Unfortunately, those things happen in this business.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> One of my favorite albums that you are on is <i>Gale Force</i>, with your old Whiplash bandmate Johnny Gale on guitar and Tommy Farese on vocals.<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> That is a great record. Tommy, Johnny and I go way back - we were in a bar band together called Kivetsky years before. Johnny's brother, known now as Keith Karloff, was the principal songwriter on that album. This is another band that got that close to a major recording deal, this time on Interscope Records. The president of Interscope, Jimmy Iovine heard our demos and was blown away by our recording of "Boom Boom.” Gene Simmons was managing Johnny at the time and arranged for Jimmy to come to SIR Studios in NYC for a showcase. He loved it and was looking to give us a $500,000 contract for 2 records plus tour support, and he wanted us to tour like crazy up and down the 95 corridor to help break the band. He told us that his A&R people are going to think he is crazy to sign a blues band out of New York City. <i>[Laughs] </i>Turns out that is exactly what happened - they told Jimmy that they could spend $500,000 to sign a bunch of bands and see what sticks, and that's what they did. They signed Primus and a few other bands instead of us. But Johnny has gone on to great things, arranging and consulting on the Broadway show “A Bronx Tale” among other things. He is an amazing guitar player, knows how to get a killer tone, knows what to do with it, and does it better than anybody.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> It's a great record, and possibly the best Tommy Farese ever sounded. He sings his ass off on this album.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Boom Boom" by Johnny Gale/Gale Force </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">John O.Reilly-Drums, Johnny Gale-Guitars, Harvey Brooks-Bass, Tommy Farese-Lead Vocals</span></div>
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<b>JOR:</b> Absolutely. We were all blown away. Neil<i> [Ed. Note: Johnny Gale's given name is Neil Posner]</i> was a big part of that. He was responsible for getting that kind of performance out of the band.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> With all of the various bands that you were involved in on Long Island, how surprised were you to get a call from Ritchie Blackmore of all people?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> I first heard about Ritchie putting Rainbow back together again when I was on the road with Joe Lynn Turner. One of Deep Purple's former tour managers came to one of our gigs and was telling Joe that Ritchie was looking for a bass player and a drummer for the band, and how Ritchie was now managed by Legends Artists Management. At the end of that run we played a benefit show at Webster Hall where I met Ritchie’s assistant Jim Mangard. He told me about the Rainbow gig and asked for my number, which of course I gave him, but forgot to get his! Turned out that a singer that I was working with at the time, Lucia Cifarelli, worked for Legend Artists so I went to her, and she graciously made sure my demo tape got in there. I got together with producer Bob Stander, and we put together some of my tracks - in fact, some of the Gale Force tracks were among the stuff on my tape. I sent that in but didn't hear anything, months had gone by and I had given up. Then one day my phone rings, and Jim Mangard, asks me to come down for an audition! I was told not to learn anything special for it, so I went down, and it was the weirdest audition that I had ever done.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> In an interview about this era of Rainbow which was later included in Jerry Bloom's biography of Blackmore called <i>Black Knight</i>, Ritchie is quoted as saying this about you: "<i>John O. Reilly, who used to play drums on Long Island, I heard about him and was particularly interested in his time keeping. It was very steady. He's not a showy type of drummer; he is more of a timekeeper which I think is very important. It's very hard to find a drummer in these times that plays in time. So, to me it's the first thing a drummer should be able to do. But it's very hard to find a drummer.</i>". Did Blackmore's quest for proper timekeeping come across?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Well, for the first ten minutes of the audition I played drums by myself. Ritchie sat in front of me and would tell me what he wanted to hear. First, he asked me to play a groove and snapped his fingers to the tempo he wanted to hear. Then he asked me to play something fast, again snapping his fingers to a tempo. Then he asked me to play a shuffle. Now, if there is anything that I pride myself on, it's knowing how to play a shuffle at any tempo in a variety of styles. I asked him what kind of shuffle did he want to hear? I could play a Chicago Two-Hand Shuffle, a Texas Swing, a rock shuffle...He was surprised! He asks me to play a rock, and then a Chicago shuffle. I never had anyone check my time like that. So yeah, I got his penchant for time keeping right there in the audition.<br />
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Then finally after all this drumming - just me and no one else playing anything - he asks the rest of the band to play. At that time, it was Rob DeMartino on bass, Paul Morris on keys, and I forget who the singer was, but it wasn't Doogie yet. Then Ritchie puts down his guitar and asked me to play a drum solo. When we were done, he asked me if I played football (soccer). I said <i>"No, but I can learn."</i> And that was my audition. I then didn't hear anything until Ritchie called me about a month later and asked me if I wanted to be in the band.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> What were the recording sessions like?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Well, Rob left during rehearsals, and I brought Greg Smith into the band to play bass. We all got together in this huge house in Cold Spring, New York and really had a great time. Ritchie had a reputation for being a taskmaster, but there were some days that we just would be out there kicking the soccer ball around. Ritchie liked to write what he called the "cornerstones of the album" - four key songs that anchor the album and that is what we really worked on up there. “Black Masquerade." was one of those four and one that came together quickly. That is one of my favorite tracks on the record. The rest of the album was written in the studio.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> With everyone that you have played with over the years, was this just another gig to you or did you find yourself getting starstruck at all?<br />
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<b>JOR: </b> Yep, I knew I was in a great place. We would have the weekends off, and the band would all go back to Long Island while Ritchie would stay up there. Often, he would ask me to hang with him at the house on the weekends to <i>“Have a Bash”</i> And I remember thinking<i> "How cool is this!”</i> Here's a guy that I used to watch on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert with Deep Purple, and here he is sitting in front of me as we play together, just the two of us.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You wound up in his next band too correct?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Yes. While at following years Christmas dinner he played me the recording of what would become Blackmore's Night, which they were just getting together, and I wound up being in the first incarnation of that band in 1997.We toured all of Japan, all through Europe staying in some very cool castles! We always had a good relationship, and we still do. The last time I heard from him was while I was on tour with The Wizards of Winter - he called to invite me to his 2018 Christmas party. A weird twist in all of that is that Chuck Burgi wound up getting hired for the Rainbow gig replacing me for their tour, and a few days later I joined Blue Oyster Cult replacing him! Who knew? <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> Let's jump ahead to your longest gig, playing drums with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In 2002, Steve Murphy was the drummer for their western tour unit. Takanori Niida was the backup but has also said that he was to be the drummer in the proposed third touring unit. Then you wound up drumming for TSO West while Murphy was listed in the program. Can you explain what happened and how you got the gig?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> In 2002, I was doing a number of steady local gigs, the weekly Richie Cannata jam in NYC. Was one of them. I had done a few albums with Westworld, and I had fallen completely out of touch with Al after that second album we did with Randy and a couple albums we did with Joe Lynn Turner. Al had done that TSO thing, went out with Megadeth and then came back to TSO. Along the way he had run into Tony Harnell and a mutual friend of ours, producer Bob Held - both of whom brought my name up in conversation to Al. Al called me one day out of the blue, saying that he had taken over the West band and that he might have something for me. Now I knew nothing at all about Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I think I had heard about them from being on Rosie O'Donnell's show, but I didn't know what they were. He asked me to come down to the studio and meet the guys. I came down to one of the small studios they were using at the time in New York and who is there but Bob Kinkel. Bob and I met each other back in the Record Plant days in the 80's when I was recording there, and Bob was working there. So, I knew Bob longer than I have known Al. I remember Bob was working on "Queen of the Winter Night," and we all just hung out and talked until Paul O'Neill showed up and I got to meet him. We ended the day with Al giving me a couple of their CDs and told me to learn four songs just in case there were some changes within the backup band.<br />
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Two days later I was back in that same studio, and I was told that I might want to learn some more of the material. The rehearsals had started, and I got to meet Jane Mangini, Johnny Lee Middleton, Angus Clark and everyone for the first time. They wound up offering me the backup gig, and I did some songs with the West band during rehearsals. I remember something happened - Steve Murphy was there - I was never too sure what it was, and I heard a few different stories. Their tour manager at the time pulled me aside and told me that they might need me at their pre-production studios in Connecticut the next day. I tried to explain that I had some gigs lined up already, and then I was told that I was to be in Connecticut the next day. By the time I got home that day, Al called me and said, <i>"Here's when the gig starts, here's when it ends, here's how much it pays. Do you want it?" </i> And that's how I found out I had the gig.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John O.Reilly with TSO 2004<br />
Photo courtesy Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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I was learning everything on the fly. By the time I got to Connecticut, I really only knew five songs. I was relying on charts and some cheat sheets to get things together as quick as I could before we went out. I was really in the hot seat.<br />
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Takanori stayed on as my backup. He did play one show on the 2002 tour though, he came out and played the last two songs of one of the shows that year.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> As different as the TSO job was/is to all of your previous gigs, it had to have helped to at least have some folks around you that you had worked with many times, like Al, Mark Wood and Tommy Farese.<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Oh, I felt comfortable from that standpoint. The only weird thing about it was that I couldn't play acoustic drums.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Had you ever played electronic drums before?<br />
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<b>JOR: </b> Never. They are brutal. I don't care what they will tell you about them, they are such a different animal. You really have to sort of trick yourself. You can tension them to make it feel like a drum set, mount thumpers under your throne. But you don't get that visceral thing that you get by playing acoustic drums; everything is coming through your monitors or your in-ears. The reason to use them is total control; Bam - it's the same thing every night.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> I imagine that there is some value in guaranteeing them to sound the same every night.<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Yes, but you're not guaranteed that they will work every night. I've had that happen where all of a sudden, the kick drum would go dead, or the snare drum goes dead.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> That doesn't happen with acoustic drums. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>JOR:</b> <i>[Laughs]</i> No it doesn't. I will tell you this though - and Johnny Lee will corroborate this - Paul did not like drums and bass in the mix that much. It was always vocals, piano and guitar. Vocals were the most important to Paul. There were many times that the kit was taken almost completely out of the mix.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Did you work with the other drummers at all?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> Only if the back-ups got too far off their parts, which was very rare. Paul encouraged Jeff Plate and me to steal from each other. If one of us was doing something that the other was interested in, we would trade off.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Was TSO still playing theaters in your first year? Or had they moved to playing some arenas at that point?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> It wasn't until 2003 or 2004 that the west tour played an arena. I believe the first one was the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. That first year was tough, as many of the arenas were only a quarter full. But then the next year it was a bit fuller, the next year it was sold-out, and then the next year we were doing matinees. It didn’t take long for the west tour to grow.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> I have had the pleasure of interviewing five key performers that were in the West cast as it grew from the early days and every one of them spoke about how things were less rigid than the East and they got away with a bit more of their own contribution back then. Can you speak to that?<br />
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<b>JOR: </b> The whole vibe was a lot looser back then. Paul was always with the East coast band and spent very little time with us. He let Al be in charge of mostly everything while the East coast band was pretty much under Paul's thumb as to what he wanted and how he wanted it done. The West coast band definitely had more freedom. We had a great combination of players - attitudes, personalities, musical abilities - and we just clicked. We had basically the same core band from 2002 through 2016. Towards the later years though, Paul wanted both bands to be identical. There was no more ad libbing, no more jamming. The West coast band played for the longest time without a click track; we just played together as a band. The big turning point was everyone had to go to in-ear monitors. Both Al and I went kicking and screaming. Neither of us wanted any part part of them. I like to play to the room. But when we headlined the Wacken Festival in 2016 with two bands on adjacent stages, we all had to use them.<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John O.Reilly with TSO 2007</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo courtesy Brian Reichow</span></td></tr>
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The West Coast band was always considered the red-headed bastard stepchild. We were a little unruly to say the least. <i>[Laughs]</i> Whoever came in new to the band - whether it was a violinist or keyboard player - you weren't going to change us. You were going to adapt to us. We never wore watches on stage, because wearing watches was considered, just bad luck. We never played music before the show in the band dressing room - also, considered bad luck. Some former west members liked to come in and play their own music in the dressing room to get ready for the show. None of this ever had to be said, but you got the vibe right away.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> For many years, Jeff Plate performed a drum solo on the East coast tour. Why did you not do a solo?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> On the west tour we had to trim down our set length as much as possible without giving up any of the songs or production effects. Adios drum solo and long introductions for band and singers…Any way to shave the band and road crews travel time.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> You had worked with Al Pitrelli previously on those two albums and tours with he and Randy Coven. Was it different working with Al in his capacity here as musical director?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR: </b> “Church and State” is a key phrase here. We’re Brothers, but this is business. Al and I have a great relationship. He is an amazing guitarist, bassist, and musical director. One thing that we did, which that the East band could not do (because of Paul) was tweak things along the way. We had it worked out during the show that if there was something that maybe didn't work right or something that Al thought we could improve upon, he would signal to me at that point during the Show, and I would remember where we were at, and get together at the next soundcheck and tweak things. With no click track, we could move things around, change a part, or do something different.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> TSO used to throw in some classic rock cover tunes into the set, like "Layla" or "Immigrant Song".<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> You know what was weird about that? If the band we were gonna cover was still around or still touring, we wouldn't do their song. You never knew what Paul thought the right fit for us would be One year we did "Radar Love". "Radar Love"?? Where did that come from?<i> [Laughs] </i>But we enjoyed doing those and sometimes we got to make our own call on stuff like that. The first year that we went to Canada, Al had this idea during soundcheck. He says, "<i>Why don't we do the Canadian National Anthem and blend into a Rush song?"</i> Within 15-20 minutes we had a segue of a Rush song and "O Canada" that we performed during the show, and it came off great! That goes to show you how great of a band we were.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Other than that one show where Taka Niida got to play a couple songs, did you ever miss a show?<br />
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<b>JOR:</b> No, but I came close once. The year we toured with that big toy box on stage, I got a bad cold and a cough that I could not get rid of. They filled that toy box with fog before the show started, and we had to sit inside there for a good ten minutes breathing all of that in before it opened up. I was really pretty sick. I thought it was turning into walking pneumonia so at one point I went to have myself checked out. They didn't know if I was going to make the show or not, so they rehearsed with Ronnie Lee Hise Jr., the tech and backup. I wound up being cleared and arrived as they were wrapping up soundcheck. I just remember seeing Ronnie as he finished soundcheck - he was beet red and sweating. <i>[Laughs]</i> He says, <i>"Don't you ever do that to me again!"[Laughs]</i><br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> Did you ever get to play on any of the albums?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> It was mainly me and Jeff doing the studio work with Dave Wittman and Al doing the programming. There were some songs that Jeff and I would both play, and Paul would pick one that he liked and went with it. There were also some songs that only I did and only he did. Then there are other songs that we would listen to once the album was done, and it sounded like they edited together parts of what we each had played, so we couldn't tell who it was. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The first album that I played on was <i>The Lost Christmas Eve</i>. I remember when I first got the demos for that, there were already drums on there, and Al basically telling me, <i>"Do what you do."</i> I worked up three different versions of each song and gave them to Paul, and he picked the ones that he liked. In the end for that album, I played drums on "Wizards in Winter" "Queen of the Winter Night" ” "Christmas Jam," and "Siberian Sleigh Ride.” Takanori also drummed on a couple songs, "Faith Noel," and "Christmas Nights in Blue” I did a bunch of others after that album, such as "Believe,” "Forget about the Blame," and "Nutrocker.” Many of them didn't have names at the time as there were no vocals on them. But after that Lost Christmas Eve album, Paul got a bit of that demo-itis where he’d want the tracks to sound exactly like the demos, so you have to duplicate what's there. All the demos were done with the same programming and the same electronic kit and sounds in the studio.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> Ah, so you were playing those electronic drums in the studio too?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> They wanted the same drum sounds that were going to be played live to be on the records.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> Your last tour with TSO was 2016. Did you have any sense that you were going to be let go afterwards?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> It came outta left field! I remember that day. Paul called to tell me he needed to make a change. He couldn't give me a reason at the time, and we were never able to sit down and have that heart-to-heart conversation because he passed shortly after. He did compensate me for not doing the next tour, which is unheard of in this industry. One thing you can say about Paul is that he was a very generous man. I don't have anything bad to say about anyone in the organization, because when my wife was alive and her MS was in control, she was allowed to travel with the band for the last ten days of each tour. Before my wife passed, she always referred to those days with TSO as some of the best times of her life, and I am so grateful that we had those times together.<br />
<br />
It really took the life out of me because I wasn't expecting it at all. It was definitely a disappointment and a struggle. It was then that I really realized how hard my wife's death had hit me. <i>[Editor's note: John's wife Cathy passed away May 12, 2015] </i>It was tough to carry on without her because she was my world. I still think back to the day she passed, and the first person I saw that morning was Jane. Jane and her husband Travis were so supportive, as was everyone in the TSO organization. Everyone from TSO who knew Cathy loved her, she was just that kind of person.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> I understand that he let you go without having a plan or a drummer lined up?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> As far as I know he had no one certain in mind. Once services were arranged, I flew to Florida and met up up with the entire TSO family to say goodbye to Paul. It was so heartfelt to be embraced by Paul’s Family, to honor his memory.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Let's talk about The Wizards of Winter. After about a year of being let go from TSO came the announcement that you were now the drummer for this band. How did you hook up with them?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John O.Reilly with The Wizards of Winter 2018</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo courtesy Jeff Smith of ReflectionsNYC</span></td></tr>
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<b>JOR: </b> The keyboardist and musical director of The Wizards, Scott Kelly, had reached out to me after he had read my book (The High Paid Musician Myth). He liked some of the ideas in there and wanted to discuss some business and marketing, which is what I do. Scott and [vocalist/flutist] Sharon Kelly came up, and we discussed some ideas for the band. I applauded them for what they have done with that band. They have worked their asses off becoming a national touring act and releasing two albums without benefit of a record label or management per se. They were looking to make some changes to move things forward both in business and possibly within the band as well.<br />
<br />
We continued staying in touch over a period of time, talking business, and I helped to create a digital lyric booklet for their fans. One of the changes that they were looking to make was in the drumming department in the band and during one of our conversations one day, Scott asked if I would be interested in drumming for The Wizards of Winter. I took some time to think about it and said, <i>"yes"</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>DR: </b> Were you aware of them before they had reached out to you?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> Oh, yeah. Heard about them through social media.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> What made you say "yes" to them?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR: </b> They are real, honest and great people. Through all of our business discussions I never got a sense of bullshit or putting on airs. They were always very upfront with me with everything. I really enjoyed going out on tour with them, and we're going in the studio shortly to record a new record!<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Are you excited about that?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> Very excited! Honestly, I am just very excited about The Wizards of Winter. I'm playing with great people and I get to play acoustic drums! Are things rough sometimes with travel? Sure, but we work it out. And it is so wonderful seeing and hearing the audience’s reaction. The fans love it and it was so great to feel that appreciation night after night.<br />
<br />
One thing that The Wizards also do is poke fun at itself, which TSO would never do! The fans love that, and it helps make it a fun show. I also want to mention one of our vocalists, Vinnie Jiovino. Vinnie is one of the most professional singers that I have ever worked with. All he does is think about the gig. He has fun too, don't get me wrong, but he is so focused on the gig. He doesn't talk much on the day of the show to save his voice, keeps to himself with the humidifiers and such. And when showtime hits, he delivers every fucking night.<br />
<br />
<b>DR: </b> The Wizards of Winter have released two Christmas albums so far. What do you think of their music?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> I love it. If you listen closely, there is a real Celtic feel to it, and I don't think that's by accident. I think that's just the way Scott writes.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>DR:</b> You mentioned playing acoustic drums with the band. Was it good to be back on an acoustic kit again after all that time?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> Absolutely! Are you kidding me? I love it. The kit I use with The Wizards of Winter is the same one that I used in Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, and all the gigs that I did with Joe Lynn Turner. I've had that kit a long time. I am very comfortable with it because I know what I can get out of it.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> With each band that you have played in over the years, you often wind up playing with someone from a previous band of yours. The Wizards of Winter is no different as you get to work with your rhythm section partner from Rainbow, Greg Smith and Tony Gaynor, the longtime narrator from your years with TSO West.<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> Working with them again has been a lot of fun. It's like riding a bicycle. Once a bass player gets a sense that you are in control of what you're doing and knows that they don't have to chase you for tempo or drag your ass along. It sets them and the band at ease. Greg and I have that great relationship. And Tony is a trip and a great guy. He was cooking for us on the tour bus, which I've never experienced before. He is such a huge personality and really is serious about his narration.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">John O.Reilly soloing, followed by "The Gales of December" </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Wizards of Winter; Lerner Theater, Elkhart In. 12/21/18</span></div>
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<b>DR: </b>Are there any drum parts that you have come up with over the years that you are most proud of?<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>JOR: </b>No, I've always been a songwriter's drummer. To me, it's the support that I can give a band. One memorable moment that will always stick with me happened early on with TSO. We we're doing "The Three Kings and I," and right in the middle of the "Hallelujah" section of the song we all left out the same note at the same time, which created a short pause. In that moment, the sound of the band in the arena came back at us in this incredible <i>"whoosh!!”</i> Al and I just looked at each other like <i>"What just happened?" [Laughs]</i> It was just a really unique moment that I will never forget.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> You have drummed in so many bands and have written a book on the music business. Have you ever wanted to be a bandleader?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> No. Never wanted to have my own band, never wanted to own a studio, never wanted to do anything other than do what I do for a band. I just don't have the patience to deal with people and their schedules to keep all the moving parts together. Some guys love that stuff, not me.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> If you weren't playing drums, is there another instrument that you have an affinity for?<br />
<br />
<b>JOR:</b> For a while I dabbled in some piano. I love the piano. But then again, after the 2016 tour I bought
Al and myself ukuleles. I bought myself a little chord book, and I started my
morning every day with a cup of coffee and playing the ukulele. <i>[Laughs]</i> I
think everyone should be issued one of these at birth because they bring so
much joy. You can't screw it up, and it
is so much fun.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> John, thank so much for taking the time. Someday we will have to chat again and include all the bands that we didn't get to today.<br />
<br />
<b>JOR: </b><i>[Laughs]</i> Anytime. Thanks so much, Dan<br />
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For more info:<br />
John O.Reilly:<br />
<a href="http://www.johnoreilly.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.johnoreilly.com/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/johnoreillylive">https://www.facebook.com/johnoreillylive</a><br />
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The High Paid Musician Myth: <a href="https://maverick.samcart.com/products/the-high-paid-musician-myth/"><span style="color: white;">https://maverick.samcart.com/products/the-high-paid-musician-myth/</span></a><br />
<br />
The Wizards of Winter: <a href="https://thewizardsofwinter.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://thewizardsofwinter.com/</span></a><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-72821027684989824062018-01-02T08:32:00.001-08:002019-02-09T11:27:16.001-08:00A Conversation with Alex Skolnick<span style="color: #ea9999;">Guitar legend Alex Skolnick is not one for sitting still. He started his career at 16 years old with the thrash metal band Testament. While he continues to be heavily involved with them, Skolnick has along the way picked up a jazz degree, formed his own trio, created a world music ensemble and can be found at any given time working with artists as diverse as jazz bassist Stu Hamm, metal drummer Mike Portnoy, violinist Joe Deninzon, Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela</span><span style="color: #ea9999;">,</span> <span style="color: #ea9999;">a</span><span style="color: #ea9999;">nd many more. For this interview, we focused on his time working with Savatage, his move to New York City and and the beginning of his jazz career, and his involvement in Savatage's Christmas successor, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Dan Roth:</b> I'd like to take you back a few years. It is 1993, you had left Testament and had assembled a new band, Exhibit A. Savatage guitarist Criss Oliva was tragically killed in a car accident and Jon Oliva decides to make a new Savatage record. For a little history, lead me up to how you entered the studio for the <i>Handful of Rain</i> record. <br />
<br />
<b>Alex Skolnick:</b> I was still managed by Testament's management at the time and I had gotten a message through them. After so many years of this period that was very intense, the last thing I wanted to do was jump into another band. I told them that I was totally flattered but I don't think I'm the right guy for this.<br />
<br />
I loved Savatage. My friends and I used to trade tapes in high school because back then you couldn't get the first couple recordings.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Alex Skolnick with TSO November 2009</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo Courtesy of James Marvin Phelps</span></div>
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<br />
Looking back, what I should have done is taken a "gap year". You know, the year some take between high school and college? As far as my music career goes, that first wave of Testament was my high school. I didn't know what I was going to do to after leaving them, but I knew I wasn't looking to jump right into something else.<br />
<br />
Somehow Jon Oliva had gotten my number and called me personally. He said, "<i>Look, the record is done, we just need someone to play the solos. I know my brother and I know the one person that he would want to play the solos on this is you</i>."<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> Wow. That's heavy.<br />
<br />
<b>AS:</b> Yeah, that's pretty heavy.<br />
<br />
<b>DR: </b>So this wasn't an invitation to join the band, this was more to wrap up the album.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>AS:</b> Right. Clearly the door was open though. Look, I'm a fan of the band and I know it's sacrilege to take the job as the band's guitarist and not be totally committed to it. So, I told them, "<i>Let's see how it goes.</i>"<br />
<br />
It was great for me to do a record that was not thrash, but it was still heavy. It was based on heavy rock - influenced by Maiden, Sabbath, Deep Purple, but more modern. It was very different from what I had been doing with Testament. At that time, there really weren't that many influences in that music: Motorhead, Venom, Slayer. It was a real struggle to get my melodic ideas into the music and in the end, that's what really made Testament stand apart.<br />
<br />
But recording with Savatage, it was so open; it was nice to do a record like that.<br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> Did you do all of your recording at Morrisound Studios in Tampa?<br />
<br />
<b>AS: </b> Yeah. We were holed up there. I worked entirely with Jon and Paul O'Neill. I didn't actually meet the rest of the band until the very end of the session when there was a photo shoot. I think I was there about a week or so. We did about three songs a day.<br />
<br />
The music was done already and I was just recording solos over top. There were a couple spots where I would add fills, like in "Handful of Rain". That has fills between vocal parts. That was new, and I don't think it was planned. I was just noodling in the studio and they said, "<i>That's great! Let's keep that!</i>"<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Savatage Group Shot<br />
(L-R) Doc Wacholz, Johnny Lee Middleton, Zak Stevens, Alex Skolnick</td></tr>
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<b>DR: </b> Did you play your own guitars, or did you use Criss Oliva's Charvel?<br />
<br />
<b>AS:</b> I played Criss' guitar on a lot of it. It's a very special guitar. It really has some magic to it. It has a great sound and really represents the best instruments of that era. <br />
<br />
<b>DR:</b> How much latitude were you given? Was there any pressure to emulate Criss' sound at all?<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>AS:</b> I just did what I do. The first song that I worked on was "Taunting Cobras". I remember talking with the Morrisound engineer and telling him that I had been listening to the song and I have some ideas outlined. He said, "<i>Great. Let me record them so we have them as a reference</i>." I laid it down and first thing I heard was "<i>That's great!</i>" So right away I knew it was clear that we weren't going to have a lot of problems. Sometimes I would give them a few different options and let them choose. Other times I asked for guidance - like I would ask if they wanted more of a melodic thing there or more of a heavier thing. In general, I ended up doing the solos the same way I do them today.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> What was the mood like in the studio, with Criss' passing in the recent past?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> It had reached a point when they were ready to move forward. There were times when it would come up and it was sad, but for the most part we were all in good spirits. Jon Oliva is such a character and the jokes were flying and a lot of stories being told.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Looking back on this album, do you have a favorite song or one that stands out to you?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> The song "Stare into the Sun" is my favorite. On that one I really got to play dynamically. I take heat sometimes because I play outside of the rock and metal genres and I enjoy working with musicians that play jazz or blues. On that one, I felt like I was able to bring in some different influences. To this day, I hear from fans that cite that song as one where they really enjoyed my playing.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> "Chance" is a song that has proven to be pretty popular from that album.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Yeah! That would by my second favorite. Even though it was mostly keyboards and vocals, I really felt connected to that one and enjoyed laying down those guitar runs in there. I heard it made its way into the TSO thing not too long ago.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> They performed it on their <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i> tours and also in 2015 at Wacken Open Air.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Wacken! Yeah! I saw some clips of that and remember saying "<i>Hey. I played that!</i>" <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR: </b> Were you invited to be part of that Wacken Savatage/TSO gig?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> No. I wouldn't have been able to make it anyway had I been asked. No hard feelings there. But it was fun to watch those clips.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Al Pitrelli has said that was the first show he has played in 20 years without a tailcoat on.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Ah. It must have felt good.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You guys made a music video for the title track which got some MTV play.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> We flew to Dallas to film that. It was a lot of fun. I remember driving past the Grassy Knoll for the first time which was interesting. I had played Dallas many times, but never went there before. I actually hit it off with the actress in the video, Kelley Huston. We became a thing for a little bit after that and we're still friends. And in a strange twist, she later dated the bass player in my Trio. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> Was touring with Savatage part of the plan?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> It was not in the beginning, but it was hinted at over time. I also had a great opportunity to let my own band at the time, Exhibit A, open for Savatage on the tour.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> When the band went out on tour, you obviously were also playing songs and solos that Criss Oliva had recorded and was known for. You changed up some of the solos which many fans didn't appreciate. It seemed like a no-win situation; if you had played them note for note, you could be called out for being just a stand-in with no originality. If you played them with your style, the fans of Criss would be upset.<br />
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<b>AS: </b> I tried to reference his solos at times, and sometimes that was hard to do. I remember playing some very closely and some were a blend. I know if I am in a situation like that as a fan, I don't want to hear the exact solo that was on the record, unless it was something like "Little Wing" or "Running with the Devil" where the melody is part of the solo. Maybe I should've played them more like the record. At the time, I was listening to a lot of Allan Holdsworth and more instrumental stuff that was influencing me. Allan Holdsworth was known for playing radically different solos than were on his records. I recently was honored to play at an Allan Holdsworth tribute concert and one of the songs was his "Metal Fatigue". Allan never played the solo on that song the same way twice, but I happen to love the original solo on the record. So, when I went to play it at the concert, I played the original solo. Sometimes as an artist and as a listener, you can see things differently. I try to see both sides.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Any songs on that tour that you particularly enjoyed getting to play?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Sirens! That was one of my favorite songs growing up and was great fun to play on stage. "Jesus Saves" is another that has such great riffs. Some of the newer ones were fun too, like "Chance".<br />
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<b>DR:</b> After the tour was over, you moved on from Savatage. Was there some consideration to staying? Was there an offer to stay in the band?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> I had a lot of things that I wanted to work on as an artist and staying in that situation just would not have been honest. I was actually open to it for a little bit but then it became clear that I was not going to be part of the creative process. During the tour, I really bonded with Jon. He turned me on to these Deep Purple records that I hadn't been aware of and so many other classic rock records. I started brainstorming ideas about combining some of these classic rock influences and some of what influenced me growing up and I had some ideas about where we could go with the next Savatage record. But then one day I get a phone call from Paul O'Neill; <i>"Great News! Jon and I got inspired and wrote the whole record. It's done. We just need you to come down and record it."</i> He then read me the whole long <i>Dead Winter Dead</i> narrative over the phone with Sarajevo and a gargoyle <i>[Laughs] - </i>I loved Paul, but - I could tell that they were going to do to some great things with that record but this all just wasn't for me, so I respectfully declined.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> After you moved on from Savatage, you did start working on some different things with bassist Michael Manring in Attention Deficit and then eventually made the move to New York City and started studying jazz in at the New School here. Was that a long time coming?<br />
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<b>AS: </b> Yeah. It was in my head for a long time off and on. I was so afraid of doing it and finding out I had made a mistake. I gave myself six months and then a year and so on. Instead, I realized that the mistake was that I should've come straight here after the original Testament lineup fell apart. But then we wouldn't have <i>Handful of Rain</i>, we might not have had Attention Deficit. It took a while, but I got here.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> It was while you were in school that you met up and started collaborating with violinist Joe Deninzon in Stratospheerius?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Yeah. He was hanging up flyers for a gig that he was doing and saw my name on another flyer. At the end of every semester, every ensemble that was part of the class would do these public performances in the auditorium of the New School. Joe wound up coming to the performance and talked to me afterwards. He says, "<i>Are you the same Alex Skolnick from the Testament records?</i>" <i>[Laughs] </i>He had a gig coming up and he was looking for a guitarist. That wound up being my very first New York gig. We had a pretty good band. We had this respected latin drummer named Phoenix Rivera, a ridiculous bass player Rufus Philpot and of course Joe who is amazing on violin. We just continued gigging and eventually recorded the first Stratospheerius album which was a lot of fun.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> So you are going to school here in the city, playing gigs and recording with Joe Deninzon and forming your own jazz trio as well. Meanwhile, Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva and Savatage are releasing Christmas records and starting to tour as Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In 2000, you are once again working with them, this time in the role of "Guitar 1" with the TSO East touring production. Connect those dots for me.<br />
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<b>AS: </b> It was really the strangest thing. I was heading to one of my very first shows with my Trio - right around here actually - I was in a cab heading to the Izzy Bar which is the first place in New York that I was playing a lot. The Izzy Bar was a great spot where a lot of jazz artists were playing regularly, like the great bassist Richard Bona. The same guy who booked him knew who I was and started booking me there for various projects. Anyway, I remember it was a misty night - heavy fog - and I see this figure walking down the street that looked like a ghost coming through the fog. I remember thinking how strange this guy looked but I had a feeling I knew him. I hadn't seen him in five years but as we got closer I realized it was Paul O'Neill, walking through this dark mist, looking like this mad genius plotting something or other. <i>[Laughs]</i> Just as I realized it, I was going to roll down the window and say something, the cab took off.<br />
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Not two weeks later, I get this email from Adam Lind that basically said "<i>My name is Adam Lind and I work for David Krebs. We hear you are in New York now and we need to talk to you.</i>" What followed was this hilarious charade over several days of trying to reach David Krebs, who was not an easy person to reach at the time. Once I finally got through, it was hilarious, like right out of the movies. <i>[In Krebs' voice] </i>"<i>We're looking at different guitar players. So, I'm listening to this record called Handful of Rain. Who is that guitar player? That's the guitar player you should get. Which one is that? Are you that guitar player?</i>" <i>[Laughs]</i> We got to talking and he basically explained that he was managing Paul now, TSO has been spawned out of Savatage, and they were splitting it in two bands. Pitrelli was in Megadeth at the time and not doing the tour so they were looking for some guitar players. This led to a meeting with Paul where I explained to him that I think I saw him a few days earlier and he remembered that night perfectly. He lived in the building right around the corner from where I saw him and it all made sense. But the whole thing was kinda spooky. I don't always go by feelings and coincidences but the whole thing was spooky and made me think that I should do this. It was really strange because the path I was on was going full-on jazz and music education, but this sounded fun.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex Skolnick with TSO 2007</td></tr>
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<b>DR:</b> Sounded fun? That partially answers my next question. You just explained that you didn't move forward with Paul and Jon in Savatage because you were not going to be part of the creative process. This is a similar situation with the same guys, except now you are playing Al Pitrelli's guitar parts. What made you say "yes" this time?<br />
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<b>AS: </b> <i>[Laughs] </i>Well, a number of reasons. I looked at it and considered the reasons to say "yes" and the reasons to say "no" and the number of reasons to say "yes" outweighed "no". For one thing, it was optional. I could do this tour, but that does not mean I was expected to do the next one. I could decide to do the next tour or not - it's not a big deal. The way it is run, different people can be plugged in, as has happened with almost every role over the years. That can be frustrating when you are in it as a performer, as you want to be more of the face of it. But, I respect it as a business model, especially at that time.<br />
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I was actually in school when I agreed to do the first one. I talked to all of my professors and was given homework assignments to take on the road with me. One of my hardest assignments was to work on a big band arrangement. Luckily for me, Mee Eun Kim, who is now my good friend, was a keyboardist that had also been hired for TSO and is a Berklee graduate. She specialized in notation, arrangement and all of the gaps that I needed to fill. She graciously and enthusiastically helped me with my homework while we were doing that first East tour.<br />
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Also, you have to remember that the tours back then were much shorter. This wasn't like saying "yes" to the TSO of 2017. It was less than a month and I realized that it wouldn't interfere with my schooling. By the time the next tour came along, I had graduated and had released my first Trio record.<br />
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DR: The album that was mostly jazz versions of rock standards?<br />
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<b>AS: </b> Yes. <i>Goodbye to Romance</i>. We recorded it at the same studio that I did the Stratospheerius record with Joe. I didn't think much was going to happen with it, I just knew I wanted to make a real jazz guitar record. I then got contacted by this radio programmer out of Nashville who was very influential in jazz radio programming at the time. This programmer told me that he loved the record and wanted to work it himself, which led to it getting on radio stations across the country. It was really surreal. It was really blowing up and PR costs money. I also took the band on the road with my own money. I only did that once before and that was with Savatage and I didn't put together the tour. The TSO tours helped support my PR campaign and my recording costs and it made sense from a business standpoint to still do the short TSO tours. The following year (2003) I did not do the TSO tour for all of the reasons you would think I would say "no" in the first place.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>After that year off, you were back out on the TSO stage in 2004 and right on through 2009.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Why did I come back to it? The paycheck was certainly part of it, but being away from it I realized that I missed it more than I thought I would. I knew it was getting bigger, but I didn't realize how big. I was determined to balance it with everything else I was doing, even with how much energy I was putting into it and how beaten up I was feeling.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>Your own musical preferences were certainly counter to what you were playing in TSO - and you were not alone in that among TSO's cast. Was it difficult to keep up the energy and enthusiasm for their Shows playing music that was not created by you and played with such a level of direction?<br />
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<b>AS: </b> You learn how to do it. And also, the audience is so wonderful. They bought a ticket and made plans and you can feel the excitement that they bring. It's beyond your own musical preferences. If you add up all of the tours I did with them - I did nine tours! That's a lot. As much as I loved the audiences and the camaraderie, it wasn't going to sustain me anymore. The energy it was taking from me and who I was and what I wanted to do was becoming too much. I wanted to step away before I became bitter - that's not fair to anyone.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Over the years, the TSO Show became a bit more choreographed for various reasons. Many past performers have talked about the increased amount of direction as the Show changed. Did you receive a lot of direction?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> There was a lot of direction. I remember rehearsing "Christmas Canon", the girls were singing, and Paul would walk on stage and start flipping his hair around from side to side. <i>[Laughs]</i> It was the funniest thing, but he was serious about this direction. Many of the moves would come about this way.<br />
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A guy who deserves a lot of the credit and someone that I miss greatly is bassist Dave Z. A lot of the moves we did on stage came from him. He would egg me on all the time, "<i>C'mon do this! It will look great!</i>" and I would always resist until he wore me down. "<i>Alright Dave, I will do it this one time just for you because we're friends.</i>" And the next night I hear, "<i>That move you guys did was fantastic!</i>" and it suddenly became a nightly stage direction. Dave was so committed to performing and you had to keep up with him. It really helped me as a performer no matter what musical project I was doing. I credit Dave for helping me with my performance.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Erin Williams / RockPhotographer.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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Some would paint me as an elitist because I am in it for the music and I believe art triumphs above entertainment. That's my mindset; I am all about the art. Doing the TSO Show - in particular working with Dave Z - helped me see that the entertainment is important too. There are moves in the Show - even today - that originated with Dave. There may be a few that I came up with, but not as much. Like the end of "O Holy Night" where I was lifting the guitar away from me, trying to get some feedback. That just came naturally; nobody told me to do that. But as I have seen clips of the Show, whether it's Joel Hoekstra or Bill Hudson, that's part of the Show now. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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One more thought on direction before we move on, sometimes I thought there was too much direction. I remember one time where there was a note that I played, and I slid into the note. I was quickly told, "<i>Don't slide into the note. Just play the note</i>." That level of micromanaging is a little antithetical to where I come from.<br />
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<b>DR: </b>I noticed that over the years as TSO brought in the scissor lifts and rear rising stage, you rarely were involved in those.<br />
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<b>AS: </b>Yeah, well I was more of the "player", which was fine with me. I don't need to do stuff like that. There was one tour, where we opened with "March of the Kings" and we descended on platforms. That was the only time where I was involved in that. As the Show got bigger though, I got busier with my performance. If your stage partners are running around the arena, you still had to hold down that large stage.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> One of the many musicians that I have interviewed was a vocalist that you worked with, Peter Shaw.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Another character. Great guy though and fantastic singer.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> He talked a bit about the slowing of the tempos and the frustration the band had with that.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> I remember the tempos were shockingly slow. Paul was convinced that everything sounded faster to the audience. He might be right, up to a point. All of us felt that it was too slow, and it presented challenges for certain singers. My good friend, Steve Broderick, loved the original recording of "Old City Bar" which is a reasonably mid-tempo waltz. We slowed it down to the point that it almost became a narration.<br />
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We would also have these celebrity special guests on the tours back then and we had a moment of vindication when Roger Daltrey performed with us. We had been rehearsing this trio of The Who songs at a painfully slow tempo and Roger Daltrey stopped us mid-song and said, "<i>Who came up with these tempos?</i>" <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> I wanted to run a couple song titles past you that you performed live many times over your nine tours. You talked a bit about "O Holy Night" earlier. You changed the ending quite a bit from what Al Pitrelli recorded on the original.<br />
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<b>AS: </b> That was one of those interesting dynamics, because you're not supposed to change the song. I did and its part of the Show now. <i>[Laughs] </i>But it felt natural and was no disrespect to the original. If I play it naturally and what feels right to me, this is what happens. To this day, fans talk to me about that song and that video. I am grateful that I got to do that every night, that was sort of my moment in the Show.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> "Tracers", where you got to play the double neck.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> That was a fun one to play. There is a break in the middle where it's only 12-string electric guitar, so that double neck was helpful for that. That's a very meaningful guitar. I was its caretaker and eventually Paul gave it to me. It made its way onto the new Trio record that we just recorded, and it sounds amazing on there.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> "Old City Bar". Was this a bit nerve wracking at all? To go from a stage full of musicians to just you playing completely exposed acoustic in a packed arena?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> I loved playing that song, even when the tempo was directed to be so slow. I am the only one playing in this giant arena and there is some power in that. I loved the challenge of making the song more musical at that tempo. There were a lot of funny things that happened when Steve and I did that song. For a long time, it seemed cursed. One time, a section of the stage that we were on came loose while we were playing it and it felt like we were on the Titanic, rocking back and forth. <i>[Laughs] </i>That's the song where everyone - the singers, the band and the crew, take a break.<i> </i> I'm looking over at a crew member trying to signal him with my eyes as the stage is rocking, and I am trying to look like I am moving to the song. Finally, he realized what had happened, grabbed some other crew guys and they came up and fixed it. We never stopped playing the song.<br />
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Another time, there was a medical emergency a few rows back from the stage - which wasn't funny - but the paramedics are coming in, tending to that and everyone is watching that while we are carrying on with the song as if everything is normal. <i>[Laughs] </i>Another time a light caught on fire during this song. Everyone is looking straight up and pointing at this fire while we're playing and looking up there too. Eventually a lighting tech climbed a ladder, put out the fire and everyone cheered. The song never stopped the entire time. <i>[Laughs]</i><br />
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<b>DR:</b> That was the one TSO song where you got to sing a bit.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Yeah. I enjoyed that, and it helped me with my vocals. It was the best training. I tried to sing before with Exhibit A, but I hadn't found my vocal range and really wasn't ready. Doing that vocal part night after night with TSO really helped me. When Testament was resurrected, I started taking on more backing vocals. Even today, I take on more vocal parts, like in the song "Electric Crown", there is that high part during the chorus - I got that! I even sing a bit of blues now with the Trio.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24"<br />
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<b>AS:</b> That was fun to play, and the fans love it. It's an amazing charge of energy. And it's not that easy. There are some good licks in there! Al played some challenging stuff on the record. When I first learned it, Al was at the very first rehearsals even though he wasn't doing the tour that year. He was telling me how I didn't have to do the runs exactly as he did on the record, but still you have to make it exciting. It's a workout and fun to play.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> We know that most of what we are hearing when listening to the TSO albums is Al Pitrelli's guitar work. Did you ever get to record anything with them?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Yes. I had a couple riffs that showed up on the <i>Lost Christmas Eve</i> album and then I played lead and the solo on the TSO version of "Believe". I played some rhythm but not sure if it was used or not.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Your last tour with TSO was 2009. You had left once before. What made you leave for good that time?<br />
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<b>AS: </b>Part of the reason that I left wasn't from a guitar-related thing, but from the overall sound and presentation. It was like being in a blender. I think any large ensemble will be like that to a point. Even playing in Testament, it's a smaller ensemble but still a blender. If you hear me playing with Stu Hamm or with my Trio, it's a smaller group but my role is so much larger. It's not in a blender - you can hear everything I do. I'm somebody that likes to not be in a blender all of the time.<br />
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There would be parts of the show where I remember feeling lost. I would be playing a part that required a lot of technique, I'm putting my heart into it and I was trying to figure out why people didn't seem to be noticing. Then I look to my left and the girls are doing these dance moves and to my right there is an explosion and fire and then a platform coming down. I started having enough moments like that along with the feeling of how much energy I was expending that I realized it was time to go.<br />
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<b>DR: </b> Understandable. Looking back at your time with the TSO, I understand it helped fund what you really wanted to play and was a bit of a learning experience. What did you take away from it?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> <i>[Laughs] </i>Well, I could go on and on. It was a real life and profound learning experience. Doing TSO forced me to become a better performer. It was a major course in the music business, in psychology, personal dynamics and drama. I've seen some people that were unfazeable, Dave Z for example, that saw the bright side of everything and never focused on the negative. On the flipside of that, I have also seen meltdowns that you wouldn't believe and unnecessary drama that would make reality television look tame. It was fascinating. If I ever have time to do a book, I would love to write a fictional book about all of the stuff that went on.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Are there any particular moments during your nine tours that still stand out today as memorable?<br />
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<b>AS: </b> Oh yeah. The visit with Roger Daltrey was one. After everyone was told not to talk to him and leave him alone, I was pulled aside and told that Roger wants to play guitar with us and can I work with him on his parts! All of a sudden, he and I are in this small room together going over guitar parts which I will never forget.<br />
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Another was playing the opening part of "Roundabout" when Jon Anderson guested with us. That was one of the hardest things I had ever done. Not that the part was that difficult, but it had to be played exact with Jon standing there in front of 14,000 people. That was a moment right out of a TV show. Paul pulled me aside before the show and I think I am going to get a pep talk. He explains that this is Philadelphia, this is where Yes had their biggest market, there are 14,000 fans out there, this performance needed to be right, don't screw it up. <i>[Laughs] </i>To play that opening, I had to use some meditation and yoga breathing techniques to just get disconnected from any nervousness. I was really playing from a different space. It was like I was on a meditation retreat and unaware of the gravity of the moment. Later, when everyone was going crazy I let myself enjoy the moment.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Nice. I know you are busy with so many things, what is coming up next for you?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Well, the new Stratospheerius record just came out and I was so happy that Joe and I were able to reunite and work together on that. He came by and we had a great time and I laid down a solo on one of the songs on there.<br />
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I also just finished tracking and mixing our new Alex Skolnick Trio album that will come out soon. I am really excited about it. I think it's my best work. There's acoustic and electric guitar on there, all original, one classical arrangement and no rock arrangements.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> You played some of these new tunes on the short tour you did recently. Does that help when you go to record them?<br />
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<b>AS:</b> No comparison. Especially for a project that is basically recorded live. Playing these songs out first was basically our studio prep.<br />
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Metal Allegiance also has a follow-up record that is recorded and it's going to be great. Mark Menghi and I wound up being the main production team on this one and I recently went in and did some edits. It is very heavy but with some very cool creative stuff that I am excited about. We also have some touring in Europe planned.<br />
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And Testament just signed on to a North American tour that I can't talk about yet, but it will be one of the biggest tours of the year.<br />
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<b>DR:</b> Alex, thanks so much for delving into this part of your history for a bit and look forward to hearing your upcoming albums.<br />
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<b>AS:</b> Thank you! Glad we were able to make this happen.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex Skolnick Trio<br />
Photo courtesy of Evelyn Steinweg</td></tr>
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For more information:<br />
<span style="color: white;"><br />Alex Skolnick: <a href="http://alexskolnick.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://alexskolnick.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlexSkolnickFanPage"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/AlexSkolnickFanPage</span></a><br />Alex Skolnick Trio: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/alexskolnick/"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/alexskolnick/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Testament: <a href="http://www.testamentlegions.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.testamentlegions.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Metal Allegiance: <a href="http://www.metalallegiance.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.metalallegiance.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Stratospheerius: <a href="https://stratospheerius.com/"><span style="color: white;">https://stratospheerius.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra: <a href="http://www.trans-siberian.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.trans-siberian.com</span></a></span><br />
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<br />Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-44850474546869285802017-11-03T00:01:00.001-07:002017-11-03T00:48:51.004-07:00A Conversation with Robin Borneman<span style="color: #ea9999;">While millions of Trans-Siberian Orchestra fans know Dutch singer Robin Borneman from his naturally flowing curls and his gravelly voice on "Forget About the Blame" (from TSO's most recent album), there is another side to Robin where his creativity is bursting in the form of stories, songs, videos and more. Since 2013, Borneman has spent two months of every year touring the eastern half of the USA with the Christmas spectacle that is TSO. The rest of the year? Robin spends that writing, recording, and performing his own amazing solo releases. In October of this year, Borneman released the stunning new album that constitutes the second in his Folklore trilogy: <i>Folklore 2 - The Phantom Wail</i>. In between his Album Release Concert and his preparations for the 2017 TSO tour, I caught up with him to discuss the Folklore triumvirat, his work with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, his love of crows, and much more.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> · Robin, I want to start by asking about your musical background growing up in the Netherlands – or is it Holland?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Robin Borneman:</b> Well, we say both here. They mean something different if you dive into the history but nowadays we use either.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Jos van den Broek</td></tr>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Got it. But you're Dutch.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> I am very, very Dutch. <i>[Laughs] </i>They call me the "Dutchie" on the TSO tour. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Growing up, was there ever a significant moment or event that spurred you down the musical path? An album or artist perhaps?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> There were a couple of influences but the one thing that stands out the most is <i>Jesus Christ Superstar</i>. That was probably my first encounter with music. My mom used to play it a lot and I remember singing along with it even though I didn't know what it meant back then or what they were singing about. The theatrical aspect of it became a major influence on how I sing. It also inspired the drama and the spiritual subjects that I sing about today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> The guitar is your instrument of choice. What made you gravitate towards the guitar?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I got a guitar for Christmas one year when I was very young and never really used it. When I was 15 years old or so, I discovered Nirvana, Metallica and other bands that were starting to appeal to me. From that point, I picked the guitar back up and started imitating my heroes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Can you tell me some of the artists that have helped shape and influence your solo work? I find it difficult to describe or easily categorize your music to others. There is some folk in there but so much more - blues, rock, country - but all identifiable as you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>Thanks, Dan. That is a compliment to me. My booking agent often has the same problem and doesn't know what to do with me for that same reason. I just do whatever it is I want to do. For example, if I end up creating a blues song, then it is a blues song. If I like it, it will be on the album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Over the years, there have been artists like Genesis and Dire Straits - bands that my Dad was listening to that influenced me before I was really aware. But once I became more aware and picked out my own artists, it was definitely Tom Waits who really became my idol. He is the one who taught me that it is OK to be crazy in music, do whatever I wanted to do and not be bound to a single genre. He really became a role model rebel to me. Even today, what he does can be so weird but at the same time, so poetic.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>I have four of your studio albums and, while they are musically diverse, each one really tells such deep stories. Can you tell me about your songwriting process?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I like to write from my emotional side and it's always different. Sometimes it will start with a single chord that I find on my guitar. Sometimes I find a melody and if it inspires me, then the lyrics just come out. It is hard to explain. I wish I had a formula but it really comes from me just sitting on the couch, thinking about nothing and playing. If it is an interesting idea to me, I immediately know what the song is going to be like. If there is going to be a violin in it or a saxophone, all of those ideas just become obvious to me. I know this sounds like some sort of magical process, but it is the only thing in life that I don't know how it works.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You recently posted the comment, “<i>Songs just seem to come pouring out of me, it's actually quite ridiculous</i>”</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxUKmhx9E3dg54l3ltUGis4Wkgv2x5BbRvr7iZT39wZ5akdw_RTJKv06z5X1yiYsepNC1QLd2cZgRCrx6wLPldYHKYCF2rUbjyLdrnBKVqh0rlJjnV4T1n408_x8pV-sUKDPa-AAVlsoDS/s1600/RobinPlayingGibson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxUKmhx9E3dg54l3ltUGis4Wkgv2x5BbRvr7iZT39wZ5akdw_RTJKv06z5X1yiYsepNC1QLd2cZgRCrx6wLPldYHKYCF2rUbjyLdrnBKVqh0rlJjnV4T1n408_x8pV-sUKDPa-AAVlsoDS/s400/RobinPlayingGibson.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> <i>[Laughs] </i>Yeah! I know that may sound arrogant, but I did not mean it that way. I just am able to write so easily. I often have a hundred songs in my head and there are times that I don't want to touch my guitar because I don't want to write another song. <i>[Laughs] </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you have a go-to guitar of choice? Or do you play from a variety of them?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I play different ones, but there is my Gibson J-50 from 1959, which is my baby. When I got off the first tour I did with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I gave myself the one gift of buying the one guitar that I always wanted. I went to the store and played hundreds of guitars, but came home with this one. I am twice the guitar player than I would have been if not for this Gibson Acoustic.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>You have released several solo albums now, leading up to the <i>Folklore</i> trilogy. When did you start writing and recording?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>Right when I first started playing guitar. I had already been writing lyrics - they were just poems. I started writing songs right away. I never learned to play covers or figure things out from other players, which is something that I should have done. I really just started to write. I had so many lyrics already so it was obvious to me that I would put them to music. The very first songs that I wrote are very similar to what I write today, actually. They were really the same melancholic, heavy style with the same elements of loneliness that I still use in my music today. Hopefully the newer songs are better. <i>[Laughs] </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> We've talked a lot so far about your solo work. I wanted to briefly touch on the band that you were in - Dearworld. That seems light years from where you are at musically.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Dearworld was an electro-rock sort of thing that became more electronic along the way. I was 22 and started this band with my best friends. We would go to parties and see DJs turning knobs and we would think, <i>"We could do that but use real instruments"</i>. That's how it started and the radio picked us up. Within a year or two, we had a full schedule of shows. The live shows were the best time; I was dancing around and it was a great way to express all of this energy in a very beautiful way. The audiences were insane! I love to jump around on stage and be crazy and that is something I miss when performing my own music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Dearworld was a lot of fun and lasted about six years. All during that period I was also writing and releasing my own music. When I started writing <i>Folklore</i> it became obvious to me that I was going to have to give up Dearworld. My own music has always been closer to me than anything else.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Let's talk about that <i>Folklore</i> trilogy. Being that it’s a trilogy of albums, do you already have the entire story mapped out or written out?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I do. The reason I wanted to do a trilogy is because I have so many songs and they all fit together in this one storyline. This is also something that I always had wanted to do. I remember when I was 16 years old telling my buddies that someday I wanted to make a movie without images, like a radio play. When I started to write down the story and the songs, I realized that this is going to be way too long for a single album. No one wants to hear a double album from an unknown artist! <i>[Laughs]</i> I was also influenced by the <i>Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy of movies. I love those movies - they are like my Bible. So in the end I decided that it would be a trilogy. When I first began working on this, I did not realize how much work it was going to be. So far, it has been five years and when I finish with the last part, it will have been seven years of writing and recording. It is fun, but a little ambitious. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> The story itself seems to revolve around a man referred to only as "Ranger” and he is clearly on a lonely journey searching for something. What is he looking for? His reason for being? A spiritual path?</span><br />
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<b>RB:</b> To me, it is a spiritual path - something that we all do in life. In the first part, he is losing his memory and his name, which is his identity really. He then has to undergo all of these tests throughout the first two parts, but all done very metaphorically. By the end of Part 2, he has regained or earned back his name. In the end - and this is SPOILER ALERT <i>[Laughs]</i> - when we come to Part 3 the main realization will be that all that time he was looking for something but it really wasn't about that. It is really about "the road" itself, which is what we do. Part 3 will be more warm and about family and coming home.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Where are these stories coming from? Is any of it pulled from your own experiences? Are any of these songs autobiographical at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> I got this question not long ago and it has been keeping me busy because my first answer was, <i>"No, it's not autobiographical because it's a fantasy story"</i>. But, if I really think about it, it is really how I perceive life. So, in a way it is autobiographical. I hardly ever use names of people that I know in my lyrics, so to me, the character Muriel is not a particular person that was in my life, but more a metaphor for love in general. That's how I usually write. Everything I do in life finds its way into my songs, but in more of a helicopter-view kind of way.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The listener first learns of Muriel in the title track "The Waving Days" where he is thinking of her and wishing he could love her more. And then she gets her own song later in the album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Around the time I started recording <i>Folklore 1 The Waving Days</i>, I had a girlfriend. I broke up with her because I felt I needed to be alone to get into the story. When I wrote and recorded Muriel, I was thinking about her. She was the kind of girl that kept me grounded and when I lost her, Muriel became that person that would call for you when you are in dire need. She really became this sort of guiding angel kind of character.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> There are a number of songs on these albums where he is questioning his faith – particularly on <i>Folklore 2</i>. For example, in "The Crossroads", you write about the angels leading him astray and the Lord is not his God. In "O Faithful World", you seem to speak to the impact religion has on him, hopeless days and kneeling before "the Lord of None". Where is this coming from? Are you a religious person?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>I am not a religious person but I am a very spiritual person. To me, spirituality and religion are two different things. The reason I write a lot about religion is because to me, religion to a lot of people is what spirituality is to me. It's a way to translate my own experiences into something they are familiar with. The reason religion is often criticized in my lyrics is because I look at religion as the hijacked version of spirituality. Spirituality does not require a person to kneel before anyone or get their morality from a book. I'm not against religion but I feel like there is a missed opportunity for humanity here.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The first part of the trilogy is subtitled “<i>The Waving Days</i>” – I had never heard that phrase before. Can you describe what The Waving Days are?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> When I think about The Waving Days in combination with the story and the Autumn-kind of vibe to the story, I see days waving by like leaves on a tree. Days are waving by as you live and grow older and those days are passing you by. It is a very sad and lonely kind of image.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> <i>Folklore 1 The Waving Days</i> ends with Ranger journeying across the valley to find the giving Cradle Tree, whose branches will send you home. What does The Cradle Tree represent?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> You are asking a really important question here. The Cradle Tree is the end goal - it is a fantasy thing I came up with to be a tree in the shape of a hand. This is essentially the Tree of Life - it gives life and also takes it away.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> In between <i>The Waving Days</i> and <i>The Phantom Wail</i>, you released an EP (<i>Caught on Tape</i>) of songs that you cut live in a studio that included songs from both of those albums as well as “Mercy” from your<i> Home</i> album. What led you to you record and release this?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>The way I recorded <i>Folklore 1 and 2</i> was that I basically wrote all of these songs on my own and then recorded in the studio with some of my friends. I then did all of the editing and most of the mixing myself which results in a single person doing all of this work with his timing and his preferences. I really started to miss the interaction of being in a band and playing together and mistakes that people make that turn out to be beautiful. I told the guys that we should go into the studio on a day and record a couple songs together. I never expected it to come out so, if I may say so, so great. I am really proud of this. When I was mixing it, I just knew that I wanted to put this out and it became a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> The songs have a bit of a sparser feeling than on their studio albums, but a lot of the elements that made up the atmosphere of those songs were still there in a way.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I am really happy with how it came out. It also proved to me that I could capture the soul of the album version with a four-piece band. It's not about the train in the distance or the sound of crows. These songs have a certain texture or structure that stands.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You just released the second part of the trilogy,<i> Folklore 2 The Phantom Wail</i>. We first heard that phrase on “Sacred Curse of Change”, the opening song of <i>The Waving Days</i>. You wrote “<i>Upon these lands they rove around the arid fields of corn, Sowing seeds of frozen tears, they’ll cry out once they’re grown, A false cry, A phantom wail dressed in rags and feathers of time</i>”. Tell me about <i>The Phantom Wail</i> and why is it the name of the new album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> My meaning of <i>The Phantom Wail</i> is fear or evil. It is the thing that holds us back from becoming who we really are. It can take on many shapes that represent this jealousy or evil. In that particular poem, I look at it as some sort of a ghost. It's there and can be in the same room as you without you realizing that it's there. The reason why I chose the word "wail" is because it is like a cry that you don't want to hear because it is hurting you. This was a very strong image that I had and felt that it was appropriate to make the title of the second part.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> <i>Folklore 2 </i>feels more intense at times than the first part, particularly with songs like "O Faithful World", "The Crossroads" and "The Reckoning". Was this intentional to rock out a bit more or because the subject matter of this release is dealing more about such malevolent subjects?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>It was intentional. The first part is more adventurous and I am trying out certain things. The second part was always going to be the loudest and the darkest, particularly as the themes on this album are more aggressive.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You created two music videos so far for this album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> Yes! When I was editing the <i>Caught on Tape</i> videos, I just started to learn Adobe Premier, which I picked up pretty easily because of my graphic design background. Doing those live videos really inspired me to think about creating my own music videos. When I had an idea for "O Faithful World", I sat down with a photographer friend of mine, Ruud van de Wiel, and we just started shooting some shots and next thing I knew, music video number one was finished and that inspired me to make another. The second one was much more ambitious. I really like making these videos. It helps unlock the same creative box that making music does. I have the same sort of obsession when making these videos that I do when working on a song. I really like doing it!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was there a reason you picked those two particular songs to create videos for?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> "O Faithful World" was a no-brainer because it's one of the few songs of mine that just takes off from the beginning. Most of my songs start slow and build up and I liked the idea of doing something with this song. I never thought I would make a video for "The Reckoning" just because it is so long. Once we sat down and started shooting though, we kept on having so many more ideas and we wound up shooting more than we needed. It's funny, I am so proud of it but it came out so weird and there is so much of me in it; I can't look at it myself. <i>[Laughs]</i> I had a good group of people that helped give me honest feedback when we were making it though because I couldn't keep looking at myself. <i>[Laughs] </i>I don't even like to put myself on the album covers because I feel like it's more about the story and not about me so this was really scary but really fun at the same time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> In "The Reckoning", there is a turning point and a voice asks him where he will go now</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> "The Reckoning", for me, is a game changing moment for the Ranger. He learns that it is OK to let out your dark side. He realizes that he is not that dark person and that it doesn't make you a devil because you have a dark side. That voice he hears that asks him where he will go could be Muriel,; it could be a voice that is always with him and it calls him home in a way.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> This album, like the previous, is really filled such such despair on his journey, but this album ends with two songs – “Dawn” and “Found”, which seem to be stories filled with hope – is the Ranger finding what he seeks?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>That's the moment where he reclaims his name. In this case, his name is a metaphor for his identity. "Found" is the last part where he is coming out of a really dark world that he was in. Since <i>Folklore 2 </i>is so dark, I didn't want to end it with "The Reckoning" - I wanted there to be a bridge to the Part 3.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Musically, both of these albums are such a rich soundscape with the various ambient sounds that go along with the music, which really helps draw the listener in to the experience and the story. We didn't hear this on your previous albums - do you enjoy adding in that aspect of the piece?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>I love doing that! I might even love that more than adding actual instruments in. <i>[Laughs]</i> When I start off, I put my headphones on and it is just so silent! I instantly want to add the sound of waves or wind or just experiment with the atmosphere. I could listen to the sounds of rolling waves or the sound of crows for hours. That's the way I like to dress up my songs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> There is a wide array of musicians on these albums. Did you recruit them especially for this project?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I met my co-producer and drummer, Wouter Bude, when we were doing the Dearworld album. I called on a lot of my friends who are musicians and can play much better than I do to play on the album also. For this album, the guitar player Roman Huijbreghs who is also in my band, really helped come up with a lot of the great guitar parts you hear.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robin Borneman Nijmegen, Netherlands October 2017<br />
Photo Courtesy of Rob Jansen/3voor12</td></tr>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You yourself are not listed in the liner notes other than writing and producing. Do you also play guitar on the album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Yeah. I play acoustic and some of the electric parts, like the solo on "Talisman". And you know that third part in "The Reckoning", the solo with the feedback? That's actually me and I am so proud of that! But it felt so pointless to credit myself. I don't mind not crediting myself.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I do see another Borneman listed in the credits - Mary?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> She's my mom! She plays accordion on both <i>Folklore </i>albums. I asked her to come to my home studio and she recorded her parts and it was so much fun! It is so great to have her on my albums. I am really proud of her.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I understand Dustin Brayley helped with lyric translation on<i> Folklore 2</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Yeah. I am not a native speaker and often my lyrics are very poetic. Sometimes I am not sure if they are correct so I always have someone check my lyrics and grammar before recording. In this case, it was my good friend Dustin.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask about the cover art. For both <i>Folklore</i> albums, the artwork is so striking and matches the mood of the albums</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Barbara Florczyk in Poland designed those. For the first one, I was on my computer looking for pictures of trees and saw this picture, which became the cover of <i>Folklore 1</i> and I immediately knew I wanted that to be on the cover of the album. I reached out to her and we worked out a deal for the rights for me to use it as the cover. Because I was so happy with the first one, I asked her to create the cover for the second one and I am so happy with how it came out. She will be creating the cover for the third one also.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> What is the significance of the crow that is on in the trees on those covers? There is also a crow on the back cover of your <i>Home</i> album and there is mention of crows in your lyrics.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> Crows are my favorite bird. They are so intelligent and are always around. They are just so dark and they really interest me. In <i>Folklore</i>, the crow is what is leading you astray.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Let's shift gears a bit and talk about your involvement with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. You have been singing with them since 2013. I understand it was a Tom Waits cover performance that got you noticed?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robin With TSO Uncasville, CT November 2014<br />
Photo Courtesy of Ken Bowser</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>Yeah, it was. It was a very early morning after a full weekend of recording with Dearworld and my voice was just shattered. I decided to do a Tom Waits cover since my voice was already there and I put it up on YouTube. About a year later, I got an email from [Talent Coordinator] Danielle Sample saying that she was with TSO and that she wanted me to do an audition for them. I didn't know anything about them at all but my manager at the time told me to do the audition because he knew who TSO were.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> I understand that they usually ask you to make an audition video first before coming to their studios. Similar process with you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> Yes. My first video was "Christmas Dreams" which was a hard one for me because it is a pretty intense song. After that, I got "Believe" - they sent me the TSO version with Tim Hockenberry on vocals. I remember just being mesmerized by it and I asked them if I could do a guitar version of the song. I really got familiar with the song and came up with my own version of it. This is apparently what Paul heard that got me to the audition in Florida.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Had you been in the USA before?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> No! This was the scariest day of my life. <i>[Laughs]</i> This was my first time in the United States. My first time meeting Paul O'Neill, Al Pitrelli, Derek Wieland, and Dave Wittman. I had made a decision leading up to my trip not to find out anything about whom I was going to meet. I didn't want to know anything about who Al Pitrelli was or who Paul O'Neill was - I was nervous enough already. So, I got to the studio ready to focus on the songs, ready to do my best and ready to focus on what they expected me to do. The way Paul worked was very fast - he would go from left to right, then he tells you a story and wants you to do it again but from a completely different angle. I thought I was doing it all wrong. As the day went by, my confidence was gone and I was certain that I would not be hired. Finally, Paul pulled me aside and told me that he was completely blown away and that he wanted me to be part of the tour. It was such a weird day but great at the same time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Performing on the TSO stage can involve lots of stage movement – running around that gigantic stage, interacting with other performers, swinging the hair of course and engaging with the audience. None of which you do during your solo live performances. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was all of that stage presence and energy difficult to learn? Did it come naturally? Or did it harken back to your Dearworld days?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> Oh yeah! If not for Dearworld, I would not have been able to pull that off. On the one hand, I feel like I am that "poetic ballad" type guy. But I do have a lot of energy and I enjoy running around and jumping and screaming. When I was doing "Sparks", my Dearworld energy was running through my veins and I was just feeling it. Doing that song was originally an experiment and after I did it, Paul was like, <i>"OK, you're doing Sparks now" [Laughs]</i>. It was a lot of fun. I learned so much from singing that song, both as a singer and a perfor</span><span style="color: orange;">mer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was it intimidating being there and performing with such seasoned performers from Broadway and the rock world?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> Hell yeah! Intimidating is really the right word. As a European kid being in America for the first time, everyone is just so damn confident compared to most Europeans I know. My first two years, I had many moments where I would think, "<i>What am I doing here?!"</i>. The musicians are just on another level. I was thrown into this pool and was just trying to swim. Everything is so much bigger - the cars, the roads, the distances, the personalities I was dealing with - people like Rob Evan and Russell Allen who I love, don't get me wrong. But I was just so green. I wasn't scared and I was confident enough to go out there and sing my songs, but I was just in awe of everything.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You have sung five different songs on the TSO stage thus far. We already talked about "Sparks" - I'd like you to comment on the others, starting with "Believe". you mentioned that did that on your audition. On your first tour with TSO in 2013, you were singing "Sparks", but you were singing "Believe" on the Morning Drive radio appearances that you would do.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> I am not sure why they had me doing that. It's a great song to sing at those radio appearances though. I have never sung it in the United States during a Show. We toured Europe in 2014 and I sang it at those Shows.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> That had to have gone over so well in Europe with Savatage being so appreciated there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> It was so great. It was so amazing when we played Amsterdam. That was the best day of the year for me. I remember rolling in to the Netherlands with all of the stage trucks and buses just being so damn proud. I was feeling like, <i>"Here I am, this Dutch guy with this amazing band!" [Laughs]</i> My parents, my bandmates from Dearworld, my girlfriend at the time were all there - it was great.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Did you get a special introduction that night, being the hometown kid?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Actually, Al gave me the microphone! <i>[Laughs] </i>I was able to thank the audience in Dutch and the crowd just went crazy. Just by talking about this now, I can feel the excitement again.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You sang "Believe" again at the 2015 performance at Wacken where you split the song with Jon Oliva.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> That was one of the best days of my life. We had been rehearsing for two weeks in Florida before we flew to Germany. The whole thing was such an adrenaline rush. I was so honored to be singing "Believe" with Jon, I was so focused; I did not have much room to fuck up. <i>[Laughs]</i> When the song started, it was still dark on my side of the stage. I walked towards the mic while Jon was singing and when I started singing right after the drum break, the lights went on. I saw this ocean of people all of a sudden out there and I remember thinking <i>"What the fuck!"</i> but I had to really focus on singing the song. It was such a profound experience to do a massive performance like that. I wish now, when I look at footage, that I would have said something like, <i>"Give it up for Jon Oliva!"</i> but I was just so focused and maybe shy to say anything.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> "Find our Way Home" is a song you have sung the last two years, though you changed outfits - In 2015 you were wearing a standard stage jacket but in 2016 you were wearing a sort of a trenchcoat.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robin Borneman with TSO Greensboro, NC December 2016<br />
Photo Courtesy of Ben Miller</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b> Well the coat has everything to do with how it feels like it is the closing song. Wearing a winter coat almost is showing like I am ready to leave. Paul really liked that so we kept it in. I remember singing it one time when the band was playing it in rehearsals and I just grabbed the mic and started singing it. Paul came in and stood behind me without me seeing him and when we were done, Paul told me that I would be singing that song! It is such a beautiful song and I can really relate to it. I really connect with this "Ranger", "Storyteller", kind of rider that tells you it's OK to go home now and find your way.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> For the 2014 tour, you sang "Dream Child". When I interviewed vocalist Bart Shatto - who sang it for the West tour - he told me how you and he rehearsed together side by side in this small studio with Paul, Jon, Al and Danielle. You and he each had a different interpretation as you alternated takes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB: </b>I really loved performing that. I actually had that song to learn in my first year because they were thinking of adding it to the set but they wound up leaving it out. And Bart is right - I would sing it and then he would perform it and back and forth. I liked Bart's approach and it was really interesting to sort of spar with each other and take certain elements out of his performance and add them to mine.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The last song I want to ask you about is the one you also recorded for TSO - "Forget About the Blame"</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> You know, we never intended to record that song. It was a song that Paul didn't write, but he had it sitting there for a long time. We were just listening to music one day and talking and all of a sudden he pulls it out and he tells me to listen to it and do a take. I told him to give me an hour and I did a take of it. After he heard it, he told me that he decided to go ahead and record it. I love that song and am so glad it found its way onto the album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Since you were at the studio already, were you there to record something else?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I was. Paul had me trying out a few different songs. I remember doing a take of "Not the Same" and doing it an octave lower which gave it sort of a Leonard Cohen kind of vibe to it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> When you were recording your vocals to "Forget About the Blame", what were you singing to?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> That was the amazing Al Pitrelli, who recorded the whole backing track. I had told Paul to give me an hour to work on my vocals and Al said, <i>"Give me two hours"</i> and he had the entire thing ready. Al is one of those amazing magicians who can grab a guitar and turn anything into everything. He has really inspired me over the years. So in a few hours, they had the whole backing track done. Later on they added the gospels and changed the drums up. It came together really fast.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> For the TSO Shows, the singers learn multiple songs so you can fill in for someone if needed. Have you had to do that yet? </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robin Borneman with TSO Reading, PA January 2015<br />
Photo Courtesy of Ben Miller</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I haven't. But when I have to, I am ready. My backup songs are mostly Russ' songs, like "Christmas Nights in Blue". I also do "Christmas Dreams". That's such a fun thing to do - we always sing each other's songs in the dressing rooms; it keeps things really fresh.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to get your thoughts on two people that were lost this year - Paul O'Neill and bassist David Z.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I've just been really sad and I miss them terribly. They were both such big personalities. Paul was such a mastermind and a teacher. And with the way Dave laughed and the way he spoke and the way he was excited about stuff - he was such a big personality. For someone like them to pass away so suddenly, it leaves such a large hole because of who they were. Whenever I see a picture of David or Paul, it's still just so fresh. Being over here on the other side of the ocean, it is hard to share my sorrow because not many over here knew them. I really just miss my friends.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> A few weeks back, you held an album release concert for <i>Folklore 2</i>. When you performed "The Crossroads", I understand you did that on a guitar that Paul had given you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> That is correct. I never told anyone about this. Paul gave me a guitar last year that was built just for me. I have it right here in my hands right now. It was such an amazing gift. It has a silver plate on the back that says, <i>"To Robin Borneman from Paul O'Neill"</i>. This is such a sacred guitar to me and I will always have it with me. That was the first time I had that guitar on stage with me. I wanted to share it with the audience and talk about how he isn't with us anymore. Me standing there that night with that guitar around my neck was such a spiritual moment.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I just have a couple questions to wrap this up. Because your lyrics are so deep and tell such vivid stories, have you ever considered writing a book?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> I have considered writing a book. In fact, I have already started writing it. It's something I always wanted to do but right now, I am not patient enough. To be a writer, you have to be patient because it takes such dedication. If I am recording music and come up with eight songs, I can release an album. To write a book, you have to commit to the whole thing from top to bottom. I have an idea - it will be a fictional story but it's not fully shaped yet.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> What's the most curious record in your collection?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Ooh, that's a good question. I am actually now gazing at my record collection. I think I would have to say The Black Rider by Tom Waits. It is such a weird album but over time, I became so familiar with it. When I listen to it now, it is so comforting and nostalgic. It is such a strange, avant-garde collection of songs but I really like the craziness of it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> This year you got to open for Kiefer Sutherland and also follow Eddie Vedder on his bill. Which was the cooler experience?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> The cooler experience was opening for Kiefer Sutherland. We didn't get to meet Eddie Vedder - that was the same week that his buddy Chris Cornell died and he was pretty unhappy. The Kiefer Sutherland shows were great because they were close to sold out and I was there on my own. The room was quiet - you could hear a pin drop - but my music was really projecting and I could feel that people really liked it and understood what I was about. And also, Kiefer Sutherland is a really nice guy!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Robin, thank you for taking the time today and best wishes on the upcoming TSO tour.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>RB:</b> Thank you, Dan! I appreciate you taking your time as well!</span><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-41535399266076198782017-08-08T06:28:00.001-07:002019-12-14T16:23:45.722-08:00A Conversation with Dino Jelusić<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #ea9999;">Vocalist Dino Jelusić has been performing in front of audiences around the world for most of his life. Since hitting it big early as a pre-teen star in his native Croatia and around the world, Jelusić has been following a rock and metal trajectory, writing and releasing music inspired by his wide range of musical heroes and fueled by his own unique musical virtuosity. Over the last two years, Jelusić has solidified his own band, Animal Drive, and signed a worldwide record deal. He was also introduced to North American audiences in a big way as he toured as a featured vocalist with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I caught up with Dino while he took a break from recording his band's new album to chat about all of this and more.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> Dino, can you tell me about your musical background? Did you always have musical aspirations?</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Dino Jelusić:</b> Yes. My father was a guitarist in a rock band and my mother was playing flute, so I was always surrounded by music. I have been singing since I was three years old and had my first TV appearance when I was five. Things just developed from there. As I grew up, I started listening to Led Zeppelin, Kingdom Come, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, and so on.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> In 2003, you won the first-ever Junior Eurovision Song Contest from singing "Ti si moja prva ljubav" ("You are my one and only"). Did you compose that song as well as sing it? Can you tell me a little about this contest?</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I was 11 years old and it was a real breakthrough for me to become popular in my country. I remember the day I wrote the song - I was ten years old and my father asked me if I wanted to sign up for this contest. First, I won Croatia with the song and then four months later I won the entire contest in Denmark. Next thing I know, I am performing around the world and had released my first album worldwide. That era of my career wrapped up in 2007 when my voice changed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Today you seem to sing equally well in English as well as your native language. When were you comfortable enough to sing in English?</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> My first English song was made in 1999, so 18 years ago. I was seven years old. Back then, I could already speak English - not as well as now of course - but I was travelling around the world and picking up English pretty quickly. That first album actually had ten songs sung in Croatian and five of them sung in English. Since I was singing at many festivals in Europe and Africa, we decided to record and release some songs in English as well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Moving on from there, you released your first rock album in 2011, <i>Living My Own Life</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I would put my career into three sections. The first being the Eurovision days, the next being <i>Living My Own Life</i>, and then my current era since 2012. With the <i>Living My Own Life</i> album, I did not write any of the songs on there so I do not sing any of those songs anymore in my concerts. In 2012, I performed in South Africa and did songs like "Walk on the Other Side" and "Bad to the Bone", songs that I still perform with Animal Drive today. From that point. I really got into the more rock/metal scene.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned earlier some of the bands you grew up listening to. Is there any one band or album that really inspired you to move in this direction?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b> I can't remember any one particular album but let me tell you the first five CDs on my shelf right now. The first one is King's X <i>Dogman</i>, which is such a great, fun hard rock album. Slash's <i>Apocalyptic Love</i>, Whitesnake's <i>Slip of the Tongue</i>, Dream Theater's <i>Scene from a Memory</i>. Toto's <i>Kingdom of Desire</i>! I am big Toto fan and this is probably my favorite album. I love Velvet Revolver, Jet, Aerosmith, Chris Cornell, Lenny Kravitz, Tool, Lamb of God, John Mayer, Phil Collins, Billy Joel. I listen to so much and it's a big musical mess. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<b>DR: </b>We certainly know you as a lead vocalist and songwriter - do you also play any instrument? I believe I saw you on keyboards in one live video.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I do! I've been playing piano for seventeen years and this year I will finish up my studies at Zagreb Music Academy. On the new Animal Drive album, I am playing all of the keyboards in addition to the vocals. I also play keyboards with the band Stone Leaders with drummer John Macaluso.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>You mentioned that you divide your career up into three parts. Let's talk about your last couple of years where you won the New Wave Festival in Sochi, hired by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and got your own band signed to a major recording contract.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b> Trans-Siberian Orchestra has been amazing. It's a whole new level for me and really inspiring. Getting to know all of these people and touring big arenas around America...I cannot wait to go out again in a few months.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Before the 2016 TSO tour, I recorded some songs with my band and was going to put out an EP. I thought that when the tour ends, some fans may want to hear what else I was doing. During the TSO rehearsals, Jeff Scott Soto asked to hear some of my songs. I played him one ballad and two heavy songs - and even though at the time I wasn't believing in these yet - Jeff loved them and contacted Frontiers Records about my music. Frontiers also loved what they heard and told me that they wanted to release an entire album from us!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyNw7psX_bcvcXB7ZRne94l0labsSWwQFYLZr_Yz_FqaE0QrlIIH4JuSioTQF-QGb19nwo6zutJYz7Z8zzi3slqhVYJsPTAVhTUwh1LeRk_MxWYc0I7sI6jmSdQ8WRb2WWaTEXEA-wN_j/s1600/AnimalDriveMay2017METALAC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="639" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyNw7psX_bcvcXB7ZRne94l0labsSWwQFYLZr_Yz_FqaE0QrlIIH4JuSioTQF-QGb19nwo6zutJYz7Z8zzi3slqhVYJsPTAVhTUwh1LeRk_MxWYc0I7sI6jmSdQ8WRb2WWaTEXEA-wN_j/s400/AnimalDriveMay2017METALAC.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dino Jelusic with Animal Drive, Cakovec Croatia, May 2017<br />Photo Courtesy Maja Music</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;">When I got back to Croatia, we decided to change the name of the band from Dino and the Mad Dogs to Animal Drive. In May, we signed a contract and we are right now recording the album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> What made you change the name of the band? </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I wanted to remove the "Dino and...". I wanted it to be a band. The guys in the band are such great guys and great musicians - I really wanted this to be a band, not "Dino and them". I also didn't like the Mad Dogs name; in my opinion it sounds like a 70s style band and we felt that Animal Drive was a better fit for what we do.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> How long has the band been together?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I have been playing with the bass player and one guitarist since 2012. Our drummer came into the band in 2014 and our newest guitarist joined us in 2015. So, this lineup came together from 2012 to 2015.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Who writes the music for this new album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I write all of the music and all of the lyrics. I also create the arrangements until we start rehearsing and we change things as a band.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> What sort of subjects do you touch on lyrically?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> Most of my songs are very deep lyrically. <i> </i>We will have eleven songs on this album; three of them ballads and eight of them heavy. The songs are about real life, fears, pain. Many of them true life stories that I can connect with. There are two love songs that are very personal to me on the album also. There are also two songs that we recorded that did make it onto the album. They are very progressive and possibly not right for this release so we are saving them for the next one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Earlier you had mentioned songs like "Walk on the Other Side" and "Bad to the Bone" that you perform live and even released music videos for them. Will those or any other songs that you have been playing be on the new album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> No. Frontiers loved the music but they asked for an album of all new material. What you hear on the promotional video from Frontiers are demo versions of three of the new songs that will be on the album: "Had Enough", "Time Machine", and "Power of Life".</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> When Animal Drive performs live, you often throw in some cover songs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> We play Deep Purple's "Burn" at every show we do. But - we do the Whitesnake version of it. Whitesnake did a pretty impressive version on their 2004 <i>Live...In the Still of the Night </i>DVD. We all love their version of it and since Whitesnake is our band's biggest influence, we wanted to include this in all of our concerts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> I know you are taking a break from the studio to do this interview. How is the recording process going so far?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> It's going great. I finished up some keyboards today. Tomorrow I go back in and record some more vocals. I then will be taking a bit of a break, as we have been on this for two months straight. We are just about done the first version of the album, then back in to record new vocals and then mixing and mastering.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Does this album have a name yet? And any idea for a release date?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I have an idea for a name, but we haven't discussed it yet with management or the record company, so can't say quite yet. As for when it comes out, right now I expect a single to come out in December while I am on tour with TSO and the album should be out by March 2018.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Animal Drive is the first rock band from Croatia to sign to a major record label. That has to be a pretty special feeling?</span><br />
<b><br /><span style="color: orange;">DJ:</span></b><span style="color: orange;"> Well previously there was Croation singer Michael Matijevic. He was the lead singer of Steelheart and also sang the songs along with Jeff Scott Soto in the movie <i>Rock Star</i>. Also, the bassist from Nirvana is natively Croatian. So there have been a few. We have a completely different mentality about music in Croatia and I am happy that what I do is making its way to America and other parts of the world. In my country, you can do nothing with music like this. I am so grateful to the opportunities from both Frontiers and TSO because these are my way out to get my music heard.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned TSO a couple of times. How did you first get on TSO's radar? I understand that they heard you singing Queen's "The Show Must Go On". True?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSo7nd6jjQbY7euIGYu-SL7UAgyEElL-0hl_TZBe42CpPceSXL8AioXQl8YRDfieEZpjiz21A7KHRSq4wNrQTHWUybGmipdRBIHfovPXTmPTdccNG8xZG0Cdowl0BO6rkXVjBzE3cl8JFm/s1600/DinoCH2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="917" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSo7nd6jjQbY7euIGYu-SL7UAgyEElL-0hl_TZBe42CpPceSXL8AioXQl8YRDfieEZpjiz21A7KHRSq4wNrQTHWUybGmipdRBIHfovPXTmPTdccNG8xZG0Cdowl0BO6rkXVjBzE3cl8JFm/s400/DinoCH2.jpg" width="381" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dino Jelusic with TSO, Kansas City, MO 2016<br />
Photo Courtesy Carolyn Handy</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> That is what I heard too. They heard me singing "The Show Must Go On" which I have sung over the years. They sent me the Savatage song "Handful of Rain" to record and send back to them. After they heard that, they sent me one Savatage song and six TSO songs to work on and they flew me to Florida. After three days of working on them with [Talent Coordinator] Danielle [Sample] in the studio, I met Paul O'Neill. I really enjoyed working with him in the studio. He sat and talked with me about the story behind "Handful of Rain" for like an hour. He wanted me to go back to 1994 when that song came out and picture the streets, the dark, the wine that is drying out on the floor. After that, he had me sing it again. When the song started, I started having chills because it had a completely different meaning to me. After I sang it and got the deep meaning out of it, Paul said, <i>"That's it"</i> because I understood the song now and sang it better.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Were you already familiar with Savatage or TSO before you got the call?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> Sure. I knew both. I knew of how big TSO was and that Soto is in there, Al Pitrelli is in there, and Russell Allen of course. Also, Kelly Keeling used to sing for them and Alex Sklolnick used to play guitar for them, so I knew how huge this was. Also, a good friend of mine who played guitars on "Walk on the Other Side" had auditioned for TSO.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> How long did it take before you found out that you had passed the audition? With two male vocalist slots open, I understand that they auditioned quite a few singers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> I could tell that they liked what I did when I was at the audition, but I had to wait to find out. About two months before the start of the tour, I found out that it was me and Mats Levén that made it as the new guys.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> For the 2016 tour, you sang "Christmas Dreams". Was that hashed out in the rehearsals?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> Yes. I did not know before that, but they try different singers on different songs and I was given "Christmas Dreams" because Paul thought I should be the storyteller of that song.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Did you get a lot of direction from Paul on how he wanted to sound and perform that song?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b> He wanted the storytelling to come through. There is no place for any vocal exhibitions or doing anything that broke from the character. All of the singers are characters in his story. TSO is Paul's vision and we are here to fulfill that story.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You came to TSO with so much experience of performing at big festivals and TV competitions and tours. Were you nervous at all to tour with TSO?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b> I was nervous in the beginning. My first day at rehearsals, I am in the same room as many singers and musicians that I grew up listening to. After a few days, it all becomes normal. You go out to the bar with Soto and talk about his Malmsteen days, and then come back to the hotel to see Joel Hoekstra from Whitesnake there. They are all just normal guys and good people and we really became close. I love those guys. But to answer your question, Yes, I was nervous. The first time I go out and sing for TSO being one of the new guys, with the audience watching and Paul watching - there is a some pressure there. But by the end of the tour, I had found what I was searching for in those first few stage appearances.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you find the tour challenging, with so many days where two Shows are performed?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> It is a challenging tour. Some people will say, <i>"Oh you only sing one song"</i>, but I also sing backing vocals for many of the songs. I sang backings for "Who I Am", "Lost Christmas Eve", "This Christmas Day", "Music Box Blues, "What Child is This", and "Carmina Burana". So it can be exhausting after two shows, we are happy to sleep in that tour bus. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dino Jelusic with TSO, Kansas City, MO 2016<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Photo Courtesy Carolyn Handy</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;">I will tell you this, after coming back from the TSO tour and doing my band again, I found that some things became so much easier to me. For example, I found some of the range that I couldn't hit before.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> I understand that you were the singer on the Free and Bad Company songs that Paul Rodgers was planning on singing as you and the TSO band rehearsed them in the weeks leading up to his guest appearance.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b>That was unreal. They were hiding from us who would be the special guest on the tour. At one point, Al Pitrelli told me that the guest is one of his five favorite vocalists. So a few days later, I asked him to tell me his favorite vocalists. He named them and I started thinking and eliminating and I think I knew at that point it was Paul Rodgers. Finally, Al asked me if I knew the lyrics to "Can't Get Enough" and "All Right Now" and I said, <i>"Of Course!"</i> and I was Paul Rodgers for five or six rehearsals.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">It was really something special having him there. He still looks great, moves great, and his voice is still clean like he is 25 years old. And meeting him I found out what a genuinely nice and generous man he is. Meeting him and Paul O'Neill really made me rethink what the goal is in being a rock star. Paul O'Neill was very serious and always helped people. He did some things on tour, which will stay private, which made all of us singers happy and really inspired us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> This has been a tragic year within the TSO ranks with the deaths of Paul O'Neill and Dave Z. Can you talk about your relationship with both of them? I know you have only been with TSO for one season thus far, but any special memories that you could share?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b>When Paul passed away, I was out of function for five days. I started bringing back some memories - I was looking at this old American Silver Dollar that he gave me to carry for luck when I auditioned. He has done so much for TSO and for people like me, so now I appreciate him a thousand times more. During the auditions, he tried me out on a new track which was to be on a new TSO album. It was this country-blues song that he wrote in 1978 that he has tried with so many singers over the years and I got it! The irony is that I was in the airport, on my way to Tampa, to record that song when Paul O'Neill died.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">With Dave Z, I got to know him in the rehearsals in Council Bluffs. We would have lunch together and I started training with him. He was so talented - he could sing, he could play, he could dance like Michael Jackson. And he was so funny - he was like a big child. After the TSO tour, I did a guest appearance with Jeff Scott Soto in Budapest; we did "Stand Up and Shout" together and Dave was Jeff's bass player. I did some crazy harmonies on the chorus and when Jeff sang the verse, Dave came to me and told me how much I killed it on the harmonies. He was so supportive all of the time. I remember our last conversation after that show - he was telling me how excited he was to start rehearsing with Adrenaline Mob and I told him that I have some connections with a big festival in Croatia and I wanted to see him and the band perform over here. I really wish I could have been at his memorial - I just wasn't able to right now.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> We have talked a lot about Animal Drive and TSO. Over the last couple of years, bands like Chaos Addict, The Ralph and Stone Leaders have all released albums with you on vocals or keys. Are you still involved with any of these?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b> I was involved in these bands but when I signed the contract with Frontiers, they wanted me to focus 100% on my band. This is really good advice as you can't grow five bands at once and expect them all to be big. With Chaos Addict, I have worked with them for two years. I played live with them a lot and I sang a cover of Toto's "I Will Remember" for their debut album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">With The Ralph, I did the whole album, which came out in February 2017. I wrote most of the lyrics for that album and sang lead. With The Stone Leaders, I came into it that later as they needed vocals and keyboards. Though I wasn't involved in the writing, I played all of the keyboard parts and solos and vocal melodies and I sing lead on "Box of Time". We recorded the album in 2015 and it is just now coming out. It features John Macaluso on drums, who is one of the greatest drummers in the world. We had a great time recording that album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> We have talked so much about your music career. Lets wrap this up by having you tell me what you do for fun – what do you do when not performing?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ:</b> You know what I do? Table Tennis! A lot. I had to choose between singing and Table Tennis at one point. When I was touring last year with TSO, they have a table and the guys from the crew play Table Tennis. I started playing with them and started winning all of the time. They asked me who I was because they had never seen me before - they thought I was a Table Tennis coach in disguise. <i>[Laughs] </i>It definitely is one of my passions.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Dino, thanks so much and I will let you get back to the studio now.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>DJ: </b> Thank You! See you on the road!</span><br />
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For more information:<br />
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Dino Jelusić:<br />
<a href="http://www.dino-official.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://www.dino-official.com/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Dino-Jelusic-159562060757196/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/Dino-Jelusic-159562060757196/</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/DinoOfficialYT" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.youtube.com/user/DinoOfficialYT</span></a><br />
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Animal Drive:<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AnimalDrive69/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/AnimalDrive69/</span></a><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-17687619779892140252017-05-06T22:34:00.000-07:002017-05-06T22:44:53.852-07:00A Conversation with Val Vigoda<span style="color: #ea9999;">Val Vigoda, the star of the current off-Broadway smash musical Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, has carved out quite a remarkable, uncommon musical career. This pioneering singer/songwriter, armed with her 6-string Viper violin, spent close to two decades with her band mates in the theatrical pop/rock trio GrooveLily, creating album after album of smart pop music and theater productions. Along the way, Val also scored arena-touring gigs with Cyndi Lauper and Joe Jackson. When “rock theater” juggernaut Trans-Siberian Orchestra first split into two touring casts, Vigoda secured the role of Concertmaster of the West Coast troupe. After a recent split with her longtime husband and musical partner, along with GrooveLily going on hiatus, Val has come out swinging. She recently released her empowering new live-looping solo album, joined up with the innovative Electrify Your Strings music education program and has landed in New York with her long-in-development epic musical adventure about Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. While Val points out how inspirational Shackleton was on his voyage, we learn here how inspiring Val herself is. In this in-depth chat, we touch on all of that and more.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">Dan Roth:<b> </b>How did you come to choose the violin as your instrument of choice?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"> Val Vigoda:<b> </b>I have music in my family going back many generations. My grandfather was a cantor and my Dad was a wonderful jazz pianist. From the time I could walk, I was sitting on the piano bench with my Dad and starting to read music. By the time I got to elementary school, I wanted to play an instrument and I really wanted to learn the trumpet. I had just lost my baby teeth so they wanted me to wait a year for the trumpet, but they needed violinists in the orchestra. Instead of waiting a year, I decided to go with the violin and I fell in love with it. I am so glad that I did not go with my original instinct to play the trumpet because I would never be able to do what I do today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Who has inspired you musically along the way?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> From the classical side of the instrument - Nathan Milstein, Jascha Heifetz, Itzhak Perlman, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Joshua Bell, my teachers Ed Johonnott and Danny Heifetz. As far as violinists from outside the classical realm, musicians like Mark Wood, Joe Deninzon, Julie Lyonne Lieberman, Christian Howes, and so many others...all really joyful players using the instrument in such diverse and creative ways.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I had read that it took you a decade or so to rid yourself of the "violin face". What did you mean by that?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>Ah, the "violin face"! We are taught as classical string players in such a fear-based way. (And to be clear, I’m not referring here to my specific teachers, but the overall gestalt of classical learning.) It is all about precision and hitting that right note and God forbid you tap your foot. As students, we are taught to practice putting our fingers in the correct place on this weird instrument that is very unnatural and counter-intuitive -- and then, if you get really good, you get to go play for the “jury.” (!) I remember playing for the jury and I couldn't stop my knees from shaking, being so concerned with how they would grade me. It was really the opposite of what music should be about.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I found that I could not smile and concentrate on playing at the same time. I looked like I was stern, almost angry when I played. It was not until I started getting into bands and playing music that wasn't classical that people started to notice and would tell me that I looked like I was not having fun. It was a physical reflex - I was so used to concentrating on playing correctly, with a certain grimness associated with that, that it took me a long time to relax, enjoy and re-engage with the simple joy of playing music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>You are also that rare violinist that sings lead as well. Since you do both beautifully, tell me about that journey - did that come naturally? What are the challenges?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Well thank you for those kind words. For most of my early life, singing and playing the violin were two very separate activities for me. I have always been a singer; I think it probably came from my grandfather (a renowned cantor with a gorgeous tenor voice). I was always in choirs, and in college I was in an a cappella group. When I was eight years old, I started playing the violin and got serious about it pretty fast. I got involved in chamber groups and orchestras. It wasn't until I was a teenager and started writing songs that I even thought about combining these two skills. </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br />When I first tried to do it, it felt like my brain was being split apart in this incredibly uncomfortable way. Just singing one note and playing that same note at the same time was so difficult and very unnatural. One night at The Bitter End, I saw Allison Cornell sing backups and play the violin with Rachael Sage. It was my first time seeing someone multi-task like that and it really inspired me. I spent a couple of years making my brain hurt, trying to sing and play at the same time. After a while, I could sing while playing a simple part on the violin, Over the years, it's just gotten easier and easier to the point where it now feels natural to me and I can do different counter-meters and odd rhythms and different kinds of harmonies with myself.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">The biggest breakthrough for me on this journey was finding the Viper, which is designed and built by Mark Wood. Playing a violin that has a chin rest means having your neck area squashed a bit. That meant to me that either the singing suffered or the playing suffered. As soon as I discovered that I could have this different design with the harness and the freeing nature of the way that the Viper is designed, it really changed my world. I could sing better, I could play better.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>It really seems like the perfect instrument for what you do. I have seen it noted that you were the first female Viper player. Do you like that pioneering moniker?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>Absolutely! I was Mark's first female client and I am honored to hold that distinction. That instrument really has defined what I do going forward.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> How many strings does your Viper have? And do you enjoy the extended range?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>It has six strings and Yes! I love having those fifth and sixth strings. For so long, as a member of GrooveLily, it was mostly just the three of us - keyboard, drums, and electric violin. So when performing we had to fill up as much musical space as we could, and having that low C and low F string for power chords and rhythm-guitar-esque sounds while I am singing is just perfect. It really helped fill out our sound and I love being able to roll full arpeggios.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> When you compose songs, do you write them on a piano or on the violin?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Both; it depends on the song. I do more and more on the violin - I have had it for so long and I can think more chordally and harmonically on the instrument than I used to be able to. I used to always write on a keyboard first and then try and translate it to the violin, which was a bit of an unwieldy process.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> When you write, are you more lyric-minded or music-driven?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>I am such a verbal person. I almost always will start with the meaning, the content, the lyrics and then the music. For many years, I was collaborating with my "wasband" [Laughs] and we used to say that our skill sets were almost like a graph. I think in terms of melody and words (linear, X-axis) and he is a "chord" person, thinking harmonically (vertical, Y-axis). Together we worked very well that way. For a time, we were incredibly prolific; we were churning out writing assignments as quickly as possible and we found that my verbal facility and his harmonic facility made for a fast, efficient way of composing. I would be being more of a lyricist for a time, while he stuck to the music. It is only lately that I am finding my way back to writing more music again.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR</b>: In May of 1994, you released your first album, <i>Inhabit My Heart</i>, with the single "Raindance". This was before you had formed GrooveLily and before your Viper even?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Yes, though we did eventually re-brand it as a GrooveLily album and we as a group would perform some songs from it in concert.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> From there you formed the trio, GrooveLily, with whom you released ten or so albums. Where did the name come from?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>When I was thinking of band names, I knew I wanted one word and I wanted that word to represent what we were about, which was the combination of rhythm and beauty. This image of a dancing flower came into my head which is a GrooveLily! I had a friend who is an artist and I asked him to draw that and he came up with our logo. It was this flower with a blossoming top and then petals and stem akimbo, which I loved.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">If anyone is looking to name their band, don't name it something that is hard to say or hard to pronounce or hard to spell.<i> [Laughs] </i>That was a big issue.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Most artists aren't crazy about having their music labeled or put into a defining category, but it does become necessary to help sell and promote the band. GrooveLily, at least in the first few albums, was difficult to categorize. You were playing both the college circuit and folk festivals with this unique instrument lineup playing a jazzy, pop, smart blend of pop music with an occasional theatrical feel as well. How did you see the band? What was GrooveLily about?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>That's a really good question. We always had a lot of trouble with this. We were always a theatrical pop/rock trio. We always had a branding and marketing problem. We would try to explain our sound by saying ridiculous things like: if Steely Dan, Paula Cole and Bruce Hornsby got stuck in an elevator together and they had a baby that played the violin... <i>[Laughs]</i> I always thought of us a combination of head and heart; smart, well-crafted songs that are real. We always got the same reaction from the industry, which was "<i>This is interesting, this is original, this is refreshing, I would love to have this music in my library, I don't know how to describe it, I can't sell this</i>." <i>[Laughs]</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>The band was unique in being a violin/keyboard/drums trio. Did you ever think about expanding the sound with other instruments?</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> We did. For a while, we became a 5-piece band with guitar and bass. It was great but it was also expensive, quixotic and great fun. <i>[Laughs]</i> The violin can be a rock instrument but there is something about a guitar that cannot be replaced. I loved adding the sound of a guitar and bass to fill it out but I also really liked us as a trio.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>There definitely was a noticeable shift in what GrooveLily was doing in their first five or six releases and the release of <i>Striking 12: The New </i>GrooveLily<i> Musical</i> in 2004.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> We tried being a square peg in a round hole for years when we were trying to make it in the "music industry". We kept trying to do things that were radio-friendly and come up with that elusive hit song. We tried to smooth out our rough edges. We were quirky as hell. We had three lead singers from three different backgrounds. I came from a classical background and listening to singer-songwriters, Brendan came from the world of ‘80s pop and musical theater, and Gene was a jazz drummer. There was no other band for us to follow or say, "<i>We want to be just like them</i>" <i>[Laughs]</i> It wasn't until we did what seemed like a thousand unsuccessful showcases for record labels that we took what they said to heart. We would always hear, "<i>You are a little too theatrical. You sound like Broadway.</i>" so we finally decide to treat that as a feature instead of a bug. To make that turn into the world of theater was what made our career take off. When we wrote Striking 12, we knew we had found our niche. </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br />The timing was such that the trend to have musician-actors hadn't happened yet. We were really pioneers in that way. The John Doyle production of Sweeney Todd hadn't happened yet, for instance. When we showcased our Striking 12 show in 2004 at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, it was a bit of a shock for everyone. We came out on stage to our violin and keyboard and drum set in front of this audience filled with all of these New York and regional theater movers and shakers and they were waiting for the actors to come out. We proceeded to do the whole thing ourselves. We were literally swamped with offers and that changed our lives. We were not only gaining notoriety in the theater world but also as writers for others.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>The band continued in that musical theater world, creating <i>A Little Midsummer Night's Music, Sleeping Beauty Wakes</i>, and <i>Wheelhouse</i>. Looking back, do you have a favorite album that really still resonates with you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Tough question. I feel like <i>Striking 12</i> is when we let go of all of the anxiety and said, "<i>This is who we are.</i>" For that reason, I love that record. I love looking back at the early stuff and finding the seeds of what we were able to do later. As far as quality of songs and recording, I would have to pick the <i>Sleeping Beauty Wakes</i> album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Is GrooveLily on hiatus? What is its status?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> We are definitely on a hiatus right now and I do not know if there will ever be a reunion. Brendan has said he is not interested in performing anymore.Gene and I have been talking about doing something together. Here is my dream: Striking 12. 2018. The 12th anniversary of being on Off-Broadway. Me, Gene, Ben Folds.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Does Ben Folds know about this dream?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>No.<i> [Laughs] </i>That's why I'm putting it out there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>In the late '90s, in addition to GrooveLily, you were touring arenas with Cyndi Lauper and Joe Jackson.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>Playing with both of them were such fantastic and different experiences. With Cyndi, it was really trial by fire. My first performance with her was live on a big-time morning drive radio show here in New York City and I was playing mandolin for the first time. I didn't even have my Viper. I was there with this strange instrument playing live <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Cyndi is so great about having female musicians in her band and really championing them. I got that gig after someone that worked for her saw me at a GrooveLily showcase and they called me because they were looking for a violinist/vocalist. It was my first time playing arenas; we opened for Tina Turner on one tour and then a couple years later we were opening for Cher.</span><br />
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<span style="color: white;">Cyndi Lauper performance with Val Vigoda (1997)</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;">I toured with Joe Jackson in 1998 and 1999, in between the two Cyndi Lauper tours. He was touring his <i>Heaven and Hell</i> album that Sony Classical released. That same violinist that I mentioned earlier that I had seen at the Bitter End playing with Rachael Sage all those years ago was now Joe's violinist but she couldn't do this tour. Joe flew to New Orleans to see the Cyndi Lauper concert and auditioned me afterwards. It was a real departure from what he had done before. For the tour it was him, Elise Morris on keys and me on violin and vocals. So in addition to all of great rock and roll songs that he is known for, we were also doing this classical song cycle.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> On each of those tours with Lauper and Jackson, many of their classic songs were presented in a different way. Did you have some input in to how you would be playing them at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Somewhat, yes. Both of them were interested in re-imagining the songs that they had played thousands of times.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Let's chat a bit about your time with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. After an initial tour in 1999, they split into two touring groups in 2000. Mark Wood was the original and founding String Master and went to the East touring group after they split into two. You took on that role with the West touring group for the 2000 and 2001 tours. Tell me how you became part of this.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>Mark Wood told them that he had just the right person for the West Coast cast and here she is. There was no audition. I was hired, given the music to learn and told where to show up for rehearsals. Boom.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Were you familiar with TSO before this?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> I had actually played in the "local strings" section when they played the Beacon Theater in 1999.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Did you work with Mark at all during the rehearsals?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> A little bit. I was mostly on my own. I had the music and I really concentrated on that so I would be ready by the time we got the first string section that I would have to lead. I remember the tours were a really grueling routine though for the concertmaster. I was given two hours to rehearse each string section, for the two-hour-and-twenty-minute Show! And then part of the gig with TSO is the autograph line and that is like a whole other gig.<i> [Laughs]</i> It was 90 minutes or so of signing and talking with fans. After that we would finally get back on the bus, drive overnight and then be at our next gig in the morning. I would always make a point of hitting a gym first thing - even if it was just for six minutes so I could work out a bit and move. Then it would be on to the two hours with the string section, then the show, then the autograph line. Rinse and repeat. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> With TSO having been around for so long now, I think most string players that are interested in playing at their Shows have a good idea what they are getting into.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>These people did not. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> 2000 was the first "West Coast" TSO tour so they were hitting areas outside of the East for the very first time. Were you getting a lot of classically-trained musicians?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>All classically trained. And they varied widely in their ability to pick up music quickly. My favorite group of all were technically possibly the least-skilled players that we had hired for the tours but they were so wonderful - I don't want to say anything bad about them. I am talking about the El Paso string players who were almost all family and they were so happy to be there. They had the best attitude and were joyful; they did not have "violin face"<i>[Laughs] </i>They were so excited to be part of the Show and they were an absolute pleasure to work with. They did not hit their high D's, I didn't even care because they were so joyful. Then you go to big cities like Chicago or Minneapolis-St. Paul where you are drawing on musicians from major orchestras and some of those players who were technically amazing were such a drag.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I spent a lot of time in the rehearsals getting the players used to working in this new environment. I worked with them on getting them not to put their violin on their knees. Classical violinists aren't used to working with amps and mics and feedback. Often they would play and then at a rest, place their violin right in front of the speaker causing terrible feedback. Also, the mic attached to the instrument would pick up their breathing, which we would have to work on. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I am so glad that I had the opportunity to have that gig. It was great for practicing, flexibility and leadership skills. It was also a great help in developing my stage presence; jumping on things, waving my bow around and feeding off of all that rock energy. The whole job as their concertmaster is never-ending, just constant motion.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Did you get much direction during your time on how they wanted you to look or perform?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Oh no. I just played, ran around the stage, jumped on things, waved my bow around and riled people up. <i>[Laughs]</i> It was a great time, especially on songs like "Mozart". I basically followed Mark's lead on what he was doing with the East group.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>I’ve interviewed other performers from those early TSO casts and many of them – particularly on the West – have mentioned that those early tours had more of an emphasis on their performance and personality and chemistry with the audience rather than the effects and spectacle that is there today. I have heard fun stories of rubber chickens, silly string and much more on stage. Can you speak to that?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>Oh yeah. It was so much fun touring with those guys. I remember vocalist Kay Story was singing that heartfelt Stevie Nicks song "Landslide" and they would torment her trying to get her to break character, One night, I think it was a little toy mouse on a string that was creeping along the stage and Kay kneels down and starts petting it, completely unfazed; it was awesome. <i>[Laughs]</i> There were so many pranks being played. They were such a wonderful group of people but I was somewhat apart from them because I was always running off to do rehearsals with the strings. <br /><br />I had such a great time. I had never before really had the experience of almost commanding the audience to applaud, gesturing in that almost-pompous way to the audience while performing. <i>[Laughs] </i>It was a lot of fun. Mark was great at that because he naturally does it without being pompous.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The cast was really a melting pot – metal rockers, Broadway performers, journeyman rockers. Anyone you really connected with?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>Oh sure. Malcolm Gold who was the bassist on the 2001 tour later toured with GrooveLily when we went to a 5-piece. John Margolis wound up being my neighbor in NYC and we did a gig together. So many great people - I loved Sophia Ramos - she is just an amazing, fierce vocalist. And of course Michael Lanning, Paul Morris, Kay Story, Damon LaScot, Rebecca Simon, and I loved touring with Al Pitrelli and Jane Mangini. Everyone on the bus was just so much fun.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> So after the 2001 tour, you were gone from the TSO stage.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Yes, though they did ask me back to tour the next year. I will always be grateful to TSO though - because it was around this time, as I mentioned earlier, that we, as GrooveLily, decided as a band to move into more of a theatrical mode and TSO was the inspiration for us to write our own holiday concert with a story, <i>Striking 12</i>!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Over the last few years, there has been a bit of a "Val Vigoda Renaissance" – The <i>Ernest Shackleton Loves Me</i> musical, your new solo album <i>Just Getting Good</i>, and your recent work with Mark Wood's <i>Electrify Your Strings!</i> music program. What prompted this flurry of activity?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> It's so interesting. Both <i>Ernest Shackleton Loves Me</i> and <i>Just Getting Good</i> were precipitated by the fact that I love performing so much and I get such energy and exhilaration from it. Brendan, who was my collaborator for so long, couldn't care less if he ever steps on to a stage again. He much prefers now to be behind the scenes, writing and arranging. Musicals can take a long time to ripen; we have been working on <i>Shackleton</i> since 2009. This all came about with us trying to write something together where I would perform and he wouldn't have to. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">We had just seen this incredible museum exhibit about British Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton that really inspired us. Shackleton has to be one of the most inspiring, optimistic heroes ever. That exhibit just blew me away and really stuck with me. We then got the opportunity to write something for me with the amazing playwright Joe DiPietro. Joe asked, "<i>What do you want to write about?</i>" . I told him that we had seen several one-person shows that were autobiographical and I really didn't want to do that. I remember telling him, "<i>I want to do something big, something epic and adventurous, I don’t know, like, Ernest Shackleton!</i>" <i>[Laughs] </i>We told Joe the saga of Shackleton's trip to Antarctica as well as the story of how he insisted that this 14-pound banjo be carried along their trek and be used to keep up the spirits of his men. Joe came back to us with an outline of a one-person show called <i>Ernest Shackleton Loves Me.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was it similar to where you are at with it today?</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>In a way. We brought a director in and we did a read-through. The director liked it but said, "<i>You are singing about Ernest Shackleton. You're telling us the story of Shackleton. Where is he?</i>" We realized that this really needed to be a two-person show and that's when things really took off. One of the big aspects of the show was that my character is a modern composer that plays electric violin, very much like me <i>[Laughs],</i> and this character was using live looping. Again, musicals take a really long time. We started this in 2009 and here we are in 2017 finally hitting New York. While we were waiting for this to get produced, we decided to use this looping technology that we were learning to create something that we could be in charge of, so <i>Just Getting Good </i>was something that we created together as well. The themes of both projects are all about spreading your wings as a self-reliant, empowered, courageous human being. <i>Ernest Shackleton Loves Me </i>is really a feminist manifesto of hope, optimism and not relying on others. So these themes were all there as we created them together, but now that both are seeing the light of day and Brendan and I are no longer together, it sort of all makes sense in hindsight.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I find it interesting that you had this theme, particularly on <i>Just Getting Good</i>. It is such an empowering album lyrically. The title track speaks of “just getting good” and standing your ground. “If You Believe” talks about doing what you love and believing in who you are. “Level Up” talks about overcoming feeling alone and afraid. “Larger Than Life” talks about helping yourself and leaving the past behind. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>All of the songs on this album are in alignment with that theme. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was it challenging to start working without a band?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Hugely challenging. It was the same "<i>My brain is coming apart</i>" feeling that I had long ago when I first tried to sing and play the violin at the same time.<i> [Laughs] </i>For such a long time, I was one who did not embrace technology, but for performing with live looping I dived in. It was a steep learning curve but eventually it got easier and I became more comfortable with it all. I keep a picture hanging up for inspiration; it is a woman embracing a man who is entirely made up of images from the Ableton Live music production software. It reminds me of falling in love with technology and that's what I have been doing for the past few years. It's really all about planning and multi-tasking and is another approach to creating music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you rely on a lot of foot pedals when performing this way?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>Yes, mostly as navigational pedals. The patch changes are in the computer so it does involve some pre-planning. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>This album contains some of your songs from your career but here in fresh new arrangements. For instance, I noticed that you re-did "If You Believe" which is a song that you wrote for one of the <i>Tinkerbell</i> movies and "Thaw" which was on an older GrooveLily album. How did you pick which to tackle?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> I looked at many of the songs that had become favorites in their new arrangements over the past five years. I had done a version of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" early on and that didn't quite make the cut because the arrangement was not that interesting. I did go with "Thaw" which you mentioned but it was a new arrangement that I put together in memory of my mom. I mashed it up with "Irish Lullaby" which she used to sing to me. Thaw is such a meaningful song to me and I feel like adding in the "Irish Lullaby" portion has made it even better.
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<span style="color: orange;">But we chose songs that thematically were in alignment. We wrote "Just Getting Good" and that was the name of this concept so they had to fit. This was recorded in concert and the concert was actually longer but we discarded a couple songs before we arrived at the eleven on the album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Another interesting song choice is a song that dates back to the 1850’s: “Hard Times Come No More”. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> That is just a beautiful song that was on our radar for a while. Eastmountainsouth does a great version of it as does James Taylor. My version has Brendan's arrangement and has some beautiful reharmonizations in it that I love.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Let's talk a bit more about your musical, <i>Ernest Shackleton Loves Me</i> which you are now starring in at the Tony Kiser Theatre here in New York. You mentioned earlier that it has been in the works since 2009?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> It was first commissioned by TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and La Jolla Playhouse came on board as well. It has gone through readings, several workshops, three developmental productions and here we are finally in New York!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Do you enjoy acting along with playing, singing and composing?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> I love it!! I used to have a fear of it because I am not necessarily a trained actor. But really acting is really just an extension of communicating with your audience, and it’s all about presence. I have been taking some Meisner classes in Seattle which have been super fun.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Has the show's story changed at all for this New York run?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> There have been some tweaks along the way, and yes, for those that have seen any of the prior productions, there are some changes that you will pick up on. I’d say it’s 30% different from our last production. We’ve been doing a lot of work over the past month!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I don't want to spoil it for anyone that has not yet seen it, but does Shackleton still make his entrance to the stage in the same fashion as the 2015 New Jersey production?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> He does! <i>[Laughs] </i>I think it is one of the great musical theater entrances!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You are playing a Viper on stage. There is a second Viper on stage during the show. Is that a backup?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> I do play both of them in the show, mainly for logistical reasons. One is upstage and one is downstage. I use one for the opening number and the other for the rest of the show. Superstitiously, I always have two with me though. When <i>Striking 12</i> opened Off-Broadway, during opening night with all of the press there, I was using one but I had a second one on the stage purely as set dressing because my director liked the look of it. In the middle of the show, in the midst of the most exposed moment as I was soloing, the violin stopped working. There was complete silence on stage as I was mentally running through what could have happened - volume, battery - and I was trying not to show in my face what was happening. I very calmly walked over, grabbed the other violin and started playing. It had turned out that a piece of solder had come loose and there was no way that I would have been able to continue on. That was a life-changing, career-defining evening. We ended up with rave reviews from the New York Times and it all worked out well, but now having two just makes me feel better.<i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Similarly to your past work, <i>Ernest Shackleton Loves Me</i> is uniquely tailored to you and your talents. <i>Striking 12</i> certainly has continued on with various casts performing it. Can you see <i>Shackleton </i>without you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>We totally want to license the show and we will. There are definitely ways to do that which we are going to explore. We have already seen that the show can go on without me as we had the wonderful Angel Desai step into the role for some shows during the New Jersey run. We have also discussed making the lead character of Kat not necessarily be an electric violinist. She would still be a musician but maybe she plays a different instrument. At the moment, there are some very specific gestures and dialogue moments that are about the spark that comes from the electric violin but those could be adapted if need be. But at the moment, we are just making the show as good as it can be with me on the Viper.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Tell me about your co-star Wade McCollum. He has been in this musical with you for some time? Do you enjoy working together? Was he been the only person to play Shackleton so far?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> I love Wade! He is not the first to play that role though. The first actor to play Shackleton was Will Swenson who is a fantastic Broadway star (he did an early reading with us). I had met Wade through our work with Disney. We had written <i>Toy Story The Musical</i> and Wade was our first Woody. When the opportunity came up for Shackleton, we connected again. He is such an inspirational, buoyant person and perfect for this role.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The story of the real-life Shackleton was so resilient and inspirational and I feel like in the musical, Kat is inspired by him as much as he is inspired by her music and it ultimately is a love story. How would you describe this to someone who has not yet seen it?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b>It's an adventure love story across a century of time. She finds self-reliance and hope and optimism from him and realizes that she can be "Shackleton" for her son. She doesn't have to settle and she doesn't have to be beholden to someone who doesn't respect her and that she can do this on her own.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> What kind of audiences have you been seeing? Besides fans of musicals, have you captured the interest of history fans as well?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> We started the show in Seattle and we found that not only were we getting fans of tech and games, but also Coast Guard members and people on ice-breaking ships! We are even doing an event at The Explorers Club where they have Shackleton's original sextant and some of his family are going to Skype in for it. So we have been seeing the Shackleton people, the gaming people, the electric violin fans, fans of musicals.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You had quite an active fan base from your GrooveLily days called the Petal Pushers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> Yes! And I have seen many of them at these shows as it has developed. It is very heartening to find that what I am doing now is still resonating with them as much as GrooveLily did. Many of them continue to be in my world, not only as fans but also as friends.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> A couple of years ago you started working with Mark Wood at his <i>Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp </i>and in his<i> Electrify Your Strings!</i> program. What led you to reconnecting with Mark?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> I did stay in touch with Mark over the years but not very actively until two years ago. I had some upheaval going on in my life and I finally was looking up and out again,. It is very easy when you are married to your collaborator to be sort of hermetically sealed while working and not be as connected to the other people in your professional sphere as much. I realized that I was not part of the electric violin community and I reached out to Mark and Laura [Kaye] and asked if I could just come visit their Rock Orchestra Camp and immerse myself in that community. I went there just as a 'camper' and met all of these wonderful musicians there to learn and the talented faculty that they have. Afterwards, Mark brought me on board for his <i>Electrify Your Strings!</i> music programs and as a faculty member for the camp.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Val Vigoda at the Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp Music Festival 2016<br />Photo Courtesy of Heather Cobb Isbell</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> At his camp, each of the faculty members focuses on different aspects while teaching. What is in your "curriculum"?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV: </b> I love working with students, particularly there where they are so eager. I work with them a lot on presence, improv and full engagement. I play some theater games with them and we break out of that fearful stance - that "violin face". We reconnect with the joy of doing what we do. Simultaneous singing and playing, lyric writing...we get to do a lot over a short period of time!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You have so much going in your life right now, is there anything that you still have your sights set on?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> Even though it has been eight years in the making, <i>Ernest Shackleton Loves Me</i> is such a huge passion project for me and is just hitting New York now. That is my focus for the moment. and who knows what its future may be? Once it is open and off the ground, I am adding on a project in the world of motivational speaking. It will include some of my work with <i>Just Getting Good</i>, some of what I present in Electrify Your Strings. It’s all about peak aliveness. I hope to incorporate stories from <i>Shackleton</i>, stories from my Army training, working with Cyndi Lauper - all things that have brought me to where I am today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Sounds wonderful! Thanks so much for taking the time today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VV:</b> My pleasure!</span><br />
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For more information:<br />
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Val Vigoda<span style="color: white;">: <a href="https://www.valvigoda.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.valvigoda.com</span></a></span><br />
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Val Vigoda Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/valvigoda" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://twitter.com/valvigoda</span></a><br />
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Val Vigoda YouTube Channel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ValerieVigoda" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.youtube.com/user/ValerieVigoda</span></a><br />
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Ernest Shackleton Loves Me: <a href="http://ernestshackletonlovesme.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://ernestshackletonlovesme.com</span></a><br />
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GrooveLily: <a href="https://groovelily.bandcamp.com/music" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://groovelily.bandcamp.com/music</span></a><br />
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Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp: <a href="https://www.mwroc.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.mwroc.com</span></a><br />
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Electrify Your Strings: <a href="http://www.electrifyyourstrings.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://www.electrifyyourstrings.com</span></a><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-52528288275161683502016-11-19T00:57:00.000-08:002016-11-19T01:41:22.771-08:00A Conversation with Fred Gorhau<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #ea9999;">Hailing from the fertile musical ground of New Jersey, guitarist Fred Gorhau has been a constant fixture on the New Jersey/New York metal scene for over twenty years. Though steeped in the long tradition of '80s Power Metal, for the last six years Gorhau has been spreading his wings musically and geographically as part of the Yuletide rock ensemble The Wizards of Winter. I caught up with Fred as he and the band are rehearsing for their upcoming 2016 holiday tour. Fred talks about his history with The Wizards and what it's been like working with many of the former members of Trans-Siberian Orchestra as well as being managed by metal legend Jon Zazula. We also discuss his long association with the Power Metal band Exxplorer, his current work with Dark Sky Choir and Living Colour's Corey Glover. </span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> When did you start playing guitar?</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Fred Gorhau:</b> I was about 13 years old. My father lent me the money - $45 at the time - and I paid him back $5 a week out of money from my paper route. I would say it was well worth it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Any particular bands or albums that inspired you early on?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> KISS was probably my favorite band growing up. They were just so influential. As I got older I started getting into Rainbow, AC/DC and bands like that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you recall what the first song was that you learned to play on your guitar?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: "</b>Day Tripper" by the Beatles. My neighbor at the time had a nephew that had already been playing. He came over to her house, was playing and I said, <i>"I have one of those!"</i> <i>[Laughs] </i>He taught me how to tune it and how to play "Day Tripper" and I never looked back.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> From a technical standpoint, is there one guitarist that influenced your playing?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Although I was a KISS fan for the longest time, I quickly gravitated towards Ritchie Blackmore. His classically influenced sound, alternate picking and his use of modes really sounded different to anything I had heard. As a teen, I got into Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio. Blackmore wrote a lot in harmonic minor and Dio's writing really complimented that. After Blackmore, I gravitated towards Eddie Van Halen which was a game changer and then of course Yngwie Malmsteen.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Do you still practice and work on your scales?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Yeah, I do. I think it's important. When Randy Rhodes was touring with Ozzy, he would still stop and take lessons when he had a day off. I still take lessons when I can. There is always room to learn new things and make yourself better. As recently as 2015, I was taking skype lessons from this monster guitar player in California named Dave Nassie. He really helped me out a lot. But yeah, I still practice my scales because you can lose some of the control and attack if you don't practice them often.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fred Gorhau with The Wizards of Winter<br />
Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ Nov 2015<br />
Photo Courtesy Sean Tobin</td></tr>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Starting in the 1980's, New Jersey had a large presence on the metal scene, with Jon Zazula's legendary Rock N Roll Heaven record store, his label Megaforce Records, Metallica recording and living there, and the incredible support that the area gave to metal bands. Were you involved in that at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> I wasn't part of the original Old Bridge Metal Militia, but that scene definitely was huge in my life. I would go to Jonny Z's record store and pick up all of the import metal records that were coming out at the time. I remember picking up the new Angelwitch record, the new Accept record, the new Motorhead record. That scene with Jonny's record store and then his label being at the middle of it all was what we knew growing up here.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Were you involved in a lot of different bands as you were spreading your wings with your playing?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I was in a few different cover bands. I was in a band called Push in the '80s and we had a pretty big following. We did the whole [legendary Brooklyn rock venue] L'Amour scene and opened for many of the national acts that came through L'Amour. We opened for Kix, Extreme, Dangerous Toys, Kings X. We must have opened for Blue Oyster Cult a dozen or so times. Push was pretty much my first venture to playing outside of the basement.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> For many metal fans outside of the NJ/NY area, their first taste of hearing you play was when you joined Exxplorer. They had an interesting but sporadic history. You joined them for their third album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Exxplorer were local heroes when I was growing up. They were the first band that I knew the members of that got a record deal. By the time I joined the band, they had already released records on Black Dragon and MetalBlade Records. They were quite a big deal in Europe and have a nice following. I joined the band in 1993. They had just released their second album and were booked for some shows in Europe when they found themselves in need of a guitarist. At the time, I was teaching at the drummer's music store and he asked me if I was interested. Of course I said, <i>"Yes"</i> and he says, <i>"Great, Your audition is tonight."</i>. So I pulled out their classic <i>Symphonies of Steel</i> album; I had eight or nine students that night and each one of them got to learn an Exxplorer song. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I auditioned that night and got the gig. We then went into the studio to record the band's third album, <i>Coldblackugly</i>. That album featured a new lead vocalist and the songs on it were not classic-style Exxplorer. I like the music on it and I like the vocals, but looking back on it, it probably should not have been an Exxplorer album. It was a lot closer to a Tool or Marilyn Manson record than it was Exxplorer. The album was well received to those who like that style, but it did not go over well to Exxplorer and Power Metal fans. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">They were a great band though. I was with them for twenty years and played in Europe three different times with them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> It often seems to be the case that metal bands have larger followings in Europe than here in the U.S. Was that true of Exxplorer as well?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Oh yeah. When we played here, we would play for 200-300 fans. In Europe, we were playing small and medium-sized festivals with thousands of metal fans. In Europe, music is part of their lifestyle. They book their vacations around the festivals - the small ones and the big ones.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned that <i>Coldblackugly </i>got away from the Exxplorer sound, but it seemed to be back with a vengeance with the 2011 album, <i>Vengeance Rides an Angry Horse</i></span>.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b>We had taken a bit of a hiatus - 10 or 12 years and getting back together was all because of some renewed interest in the band over in Europe. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> The reviews for that album were great. Comparisons were being made to Omen, Jag Panzer, Accept. Possibly most importantly, it was being favorably compared to the band's original sound.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Musically it definitely was in the right direction for the band and even the production resembled the earlier albums. It's honest, it's raw - all in all I think it's a very good record. Songs are really strong and it's complete old school '80s metal.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Is Exxplorer still active today?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> I'm not sure. They did a festival a year or two ago. I'm no longer with them; they are back with their original lineup and I think that's the way Exxplorer should be. I think they are a better band without me in it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> That's a surprising and honest thing to hear.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Well, I ran into some over-playing things with them. I don't think they always agreed with how I played or do things that I thought belonged in the songs. It's a little different with the Wizards where I can work on a song or a riff, send it to Scott to see what he thinks and often I will get a message back that says, <i>"Sounds great! Can you do it in harmony?" [Laughs]</i>. I can spread my wings with The Wizards where I felt a little stifled with Exxplorer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Speaking of The Wizards of Winter, tell me how you came to be a lead guitarist with them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I was looking for a side project and stumbled upon their ad. The first time I contacted them, it didn't quite work out because they were just rehearsing and I was looking for a paying gig. As luck would have it, about a year later after their first tour, they put another ad out. At that time, I was a little better financially and could afford to do a side gig and not get paid. Of course, they started out as a charity and there was no money.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> This is when they were still strictly a Trans-Siberian Orchestra tribute band?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b>Yes, mainly a tribute band and we were playing churches to raise money for food pantries and the like. It was a great gig because I always loved TSO's music and this was a cool opportunity to play some of it for a good cause. Plus, available gigs tend to dry up a bit around the holidays.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Is there any TSO song that you particular enjoyed playing?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Nothing stands out. I enjoy playing most of them really. They are fun songs to play and well-written.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> The Wizards of Winter are now a full-fledged original act. Talk about that transition.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> We were getting so many requests from fans at our shows asking where they could purchase our album. Of course there wasn't one. Scott Kelly, our keyboardist and musical director, had already been working on some original demos to mix in to the show so we started working on those. It was really a natural progression. We released our self-titled album in 2014 and everyone seemed to like it. We went right back into the studio and started work on the second record, <i>The Magic of Winter</i>. That record took us seven months to write, record and release it. We felt that was pretty good because there are some bands that take years to release albums. I am really proud of it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Your original music is a mixture of metal, progressive rock, and even some ballads. As a long-time metal guitarist, do you enjoy playing such a diverse set of genres?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I actually do. That diversity helps keep me interested and enthused about playing this music. For example, there is a beautiful ballad on the <i>The Magic of Winter </i>that Mary McIntyre sings ("I Am Here") that is primarily piano and flute and then the bass and drums kick in. I had to write a solo for it and it was a great opportunity for me to write just a nice melodic solo that fit the song. It wound up being one of my favorite solos on the record.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The band has certainly grown over the years to the point now where you are on the calendar for many concert-going fans during the holiday season. Have there been many growing pains?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Well there is always the comparison to TSO and that's fine. I know from talking to some of the original TSO members that they went through a similar thing with Mannheim Steamroller when they were first coming out. They had people telling them that they were crazy for trying because Mannheim Steamroller had the Christmas live scene locked up. Plus, trying to expand geographically gets expensive. Even though we don't have the huge production that TSO has, we still travel with a crew of twenty and you can't just easily throw the guys and equipment in the back of a van and head out. We are still self-financed and pay our own way. We don't have an investor that dropped six zeroes on us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You have mentioned how much you like TSO and enjoyed playing their music. Even though you got a great response from the audience doing that, is it more satisfying playing your own guitar parts rather than Al Pitrelli’s?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Absolutely. It's always better playing your own stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Starting with the 2013 tour, you caught the attention of many of the legendary fan-favorite performers who were part of TSO for many years. So far, five former TSO members (Tommy Farese, Tony Gaynor, Michael Lanning, Guy LeMonnier and Joe Cerisano) have toured with you. What have they brought to the table? Have you enjoyed working with them?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> I have enjoyed working with them, for sure. One of the main things they brought to us besides their talent was their experience. Not all of the Wizards members had a touring background. The former TSO guys were all there on those early TSO tours and they had gone through it with them, so they helped us navigate what to expect a bit. They also helped us with some of our live sound expectations. Most bands tend to speed up a lot of their songs when playing live. Tommy Farese in particular helped us realize that we need to slow down the TSO songs a bit because of how the sound comes back at the audience in the larger theaters we were have been playing. If you play it too fast, the audience winds up hearing a mish-mosh, especially with two keyboards, two guitars, flute, violin, and the rhythm section, not to mention the multi-part vocals - there is a lot that can get lost and by slowing it down just a bit, it helps it to be a bit more audible to the audience.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> TSO certainly has the reputation for slowing the tempo of their songs down a great deal when done live.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy Vicki Bender</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> When playing their songs, we try not to slow them down too much. But we consciously like to play them at the original tempo that you would hear on the record, and not let the song take off.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Guy and Tony eventually became very integral to the band, with Guy taking some lead vocals on the albums and Tony getting very involved with his narration of the concerts. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> They have meshed so well with the rest of the band. Almost instantaneously, they were excited to be playing with us and playing our music. The funny thing is when they first joined the band, we looked at them as the "rock stars" amongst us, so we almost felt that we had something to prove. Now we are all friends and bandmates and have such a great camaraderie; it's a great place to be. And we are reminded at every rehearsal and concert why they got the gigs that they got - they are supremely talented guys.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>I understand that there is a core of the band that creates your original songs – Scott Kelly, Sharon Kelly, Steve Ratchen and yourself. How does the songwriting and arranging process usually go for you guys?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> More often than not, Scott will bring an idea to the table and describe what he was hearing and what direction the song could go in. We get together and hash out the various parts, making suggestions, reworking or adding parts. Scott and I have a unique musical relationship that I haven't had with anyone else. When he starts playing something, I immediately know what the pulse of the song should be. We have a real symbiotic relationship that way and I immediately can get an idea of where we are going with the song and what it needs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I've also come down with ideas for songs and the process works the same way. Often we will wind up with various musical parts and phrases and we collaborate on tying them together.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I would like to get your thoughts on a few particular songs from each Wizards of Winter album. First up, let's talk about "March of the Metal Soldiers", which has that huge majestic, regal feel to it. I recall this song was released on Memorial Day 2014, before the rest of the album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Everyone in the band has a real affinity for the U.S. Military. If they don't do what they do and make the sacrifices that they have, we couldn't have the lives that we have. This song is dedicated to them. It's based on the old classic "March of the Toys" and we wanted to rock it up a bit. When Scott started playing it, it felt natural to throw the guitar harmonies on to the beat. The vocal break in the middle is actually the mottos of the four branches of the military sung in harmony in Latin. Towards the end of the song, I came up with the idea to add in some fast guitar runs. Like I mentioned earlier, I recorded these runs and the engineer sent them to Scott to see what he thought about adding them in. Scott loved it and asked to have them done in harmony. It gave me chance to show some of my versatility and it came out great.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> "Just Believe" is a real fan favorite and sung beautifully as a duet by Mary McIntyre and Guy LeMonnier. This one is such a great power ballad that is really telling a story between the two vocalists and then all of a sudden there is this somewhat unexpected two-minute guitar break that winds up fitting really well within the song.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I grew up on so much of '80s rock and you couldn't escape hearing those power ballads that had a killer solo. Here we are doing something reminiscent of that and I wanted to do a solo that followed the chords instead of running scales in one key. There is a lot of string-skipping and tapping that follows the song's chords and once again recorded them in harmony. When playing live, we are lucky to have TW Durfy also on guitar to help bring these harmonies to life. He is such an awesome player that there is nothing where I would have to worry about having written something and wonder if he could play it, because he definitely can.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> There is a bonus track on that first album entitled "Ode to Eisenach" which is a solo classical guitar piece.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b>That is Bach's "Chaconne", which was originally written for violin but transcribed for guitar by Andres Segovia. There are actually two parts to that piece and when played in its entirety is about fifteen minutes in length, so that wasn't something that would have fit on the album. I edited it down to about three minutes and I made sure to use the cadence at the end of the first movement because it is so brilliant. To me, that piece is the sound of a guitar crying. It is such a perfectly written piece of music and it fit in well with what we are doing. It doesn't necessarily sound Christmassy but I thought it fit in with the mood and I am grateful that it is on the record. As for the name, Eisenach is a town in Germany where Bach was born, which is why I called it "Ode to Eisenach".</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> One of the instrumental highlights of the second album is "Seasons Lament", which has elements of "Coventry Carol" with a little Paganini thrown in. Walk me through that song; I feel like there is lot of you on this song in particular.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Yeah, this one does have a lot of me. When we were creating <i>The Magic of Winter</i> album, I had this idea of wanting to combine two darker pieces, with one being Christmas and one Classical. "Coventry Carol" is this 16th century piece that was based on the time when Herod was ticked off about the birth of Christ. He ordered all male children under the age of two killed. "Coventry Carol" is the lament of the mother's sorrow over the death of their children. If you listen to the words - <i>Bye bye, lully, lullay </i>- it is heart wrenching to hear when played really slow. Annie Lennox actually does a rendition that is amazing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I looked at this piece and realize that if you put some heavy guitars behind it and sped it up just a bit, it sounds very, very metal. Of course, I love Paganini and his wonderful Caprice Number 24, so I looked for a way to tie that in. Scott, Steve and I collaborated on tying those two pieces together and I think it came out great. It's short and to the point and it gave me a chance to lay some good guitar parts down.</span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> "Flight of the Snow Angels" is song that Guitar World seized upon and highlighted when the album came out and I find makes a superb opener to your shows with the elements of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" incorporated in.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> That song was Scott's idea, as well as bringing that "Ode to Joy" bit in there. There is a lot of bouncing, back and forth between the guitar and keyboard parts. This one winds up being a good guitar/keyboard duel, if you will, especially with the climbing arpeggios towards the end. Even though it is an instrumental original, it sounds Christmas. When it first starts with Scott's keyboard playing, it just brings to mind some of those old Christmas kids' specials that we used to watch on TV.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> "The Spirit of Christmas" is one of the more melodic, poppier Styx-like songs that features a lot of keyboards out front and of course Guy's vocals. Though you get your guitar licks in, it is not one of the heavier pieces that you are used to. Do you enjoy a song like this where your metal style isn't called for?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I do! It is such a well-written pop song and so much fun to play. Initially we weren’t discussing having a guitar solo in it. Scott was working with such a cool keyboard sound - that reminds me of the sound that was used in the old Rockford Files TV theme. I loved that sound in the context of this song so much that I wanted him to have that solo instead of a guitar riff. Eventually we decided on both guitar and keys during the solo. Scott takes the first solo on his keys and then we play together for the next one in harmony. Then the solo gets handed over to the guitar. I initially had some shredding ideas that ultimately did not fit the song, so I borrowed a musical idea from .38 Special. If you listen to the end of the solo just before it goes back to the chorus, you will hear me holding a note out and that is completely borrowed from .38 Special. I don't even know of a particular .38 Special song that I am thinking of there, but it is more their feel instead of an Yngwie Malmsteen feel.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Earlier you mentioned some of your overplaying issues with Exxplorer and here is an example where you pulled back from that and certainly gave a more restrained, complimentary solo.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Yeah. and ultimately shredding guitar would not have fit that song and I think what we all came up with there worked out really well. Sometimes you can challenge the listener too much by saying, <i>"Watch how many notes I can play!"</i> You know what? I can play three and that's all it took because four would have been too many.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>You filmed a music video for that one, directed by Tommy Jones. Jones regularly works with Testament, Slayer, Lamb of God and so many others with their video work. Did you enjoy working with Jones?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> I had a blast making that video. Tommy Jones is a complete pro and his staff was fantastic. It was 100 degrees out the day we filmed that and probably 108 on the stage with the lights and everything. <i>[Laughs] </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> A couple years back, the band got noticed by and subsequently signed with Jon Zazula (Jonny Z) for management. Zazula has such a rich history in the music business, with discovering and signing Metallica and so many other legendary bands. Tell me about that experience thus far. Does it change things for the band working with someone that legendary in the music world?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Yeah, it was a little bit of a full circle for me - I used to ride my bike to his record store! But no one is more respected in the business than Jonny. It is actually he, Chuck Billy of Testament and Maria Ferrero from Adrenaline PR that make up “Breaking Bands”, and they are a great management company to work with. They have done a great job in increasing our footprint and our name recognition. We used to be primarily a Northeast US band. We haven't gone completely national yet but with their help and guidance, we are establishing ourselves from Florida to the Midwest.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Being involved with them and getting our name out there certainly has helped forge the sponsorship that I have with ESP Guitars. I recently spent some time with Chris Cannella of ESP at the NAMM conference and he has treated me fantastic. I really have to thank him and all of ESP for the amazing level of support. Chris actually told me that he is honored to have me on their roster and I am having a blast playing their incredible guitars. And beginning with this year's tour, Blackstar Amps is now sponsoring me as well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> How many guitars do you bring on tour?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> This year I will have five with me. Fortunately, we do not have a lot of alternate tuning stuff, but certain guitars have their own very distinct sound. Depending on the mood and sometimes even the room that we are playing in will dictate which one I use. Sometimes I might want one with a meatier sound and sometimes I go for a smoother sound.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I've got two guitars with EMG pick-ups, one has Duncans and one has DiMarzios. I also have an older ESP that I have had for 25 years that has Seymour Duncan super distortions in it so if I want a good, solid flat-out metal sound, I will grab that one. I usually switch between two or three a night and then have a couple for back-ups.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I will be bringing out a brand new ESP USA model that they just built for me. It's got a quilted maple top - it is just beautiful.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> This will be your sixth year touring with the Wizards. Any favorite venue or crowd over the years?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I love the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ because it's a hometown gig for me and it is always exciting to play there. As for crowds? I have to mention the audience we had in Maine a couple years ago. They were insane! They were so excited and loud - it was bedlam. After such a long drive up there - and that time the band was still helping with setting up the lights and stage - we were exhausted. That audience at the State Theater in Maine definitely fueled us that night.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Any fun memory stand out from your concert experiences so far?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Oh yeah! A few years back, as I was playing I spotted a woman in the second row talking on her cell phone. I kneeled down at the edge of the stage and pointed to her, while I am still playing with my left hand. The woman's friend took her phone away and handed it to me and though I couldn't hear the person on the other end, I said to them, <i>"Do you realize that your friend is at a concert and trying to enjoy herself?" [Laughs] </i>That was pretty funny. The audience got a kick out of it because they all saw what was going on. And luckily the woman was great about it and we all had a big laugh in the signing line afterwards.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> How far in advance do you start getting in the Christmas spirit and working on Wizards music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> All year round. It never goes away completely for us. Once the tour ends, we usually take January off and then we wind up back together working on new song ideas, set list changes, and ideas for the next tour.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> As the theaters and venues continue to fill and your audience has grown so much, do you feel the band has solidified its own identity?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(L-R) Greg Smith, Fred Gorhau, TW Durfy - The Wizards of Winter 2015<br />
Photo Courtesy Linda Suz</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> There will always be that comparison with TSO because we started out playing their music and that's fine. We are thrilled that we now have our own identity and such a nice, growing base of fans that like what we do and enjoy or music and concerts. Unfortunately, there are some TSO fans that are dead set against any other band other than TSO doing Christmas music. The only thing I would ask them would be <i>"If you liked the Rolling Stones, did you automatically dislike Aerosmith and Guns 'N Roses?"</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Any changes or something new for the 2016 tour?</span><br />
<b><br /><span style="color: orange;">FG: </span></b><span style="color: orange;"> We are once again performing a complete Christmas set of our original music and we will have a couple TSO songs thrown in. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> In 2015, the bass duties were split between Steve Ratchen and Ted Nugent's bassist Greg Smith. What can we expect this year?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Greg is now our full time bass player and will be playing at all but one show, which Steve will be playing. Greg is such a consummate pro; he is solid and always has the material down. He has played with so many - Ted Nugent, Rainbow, Alice Cooper and so many others - we are thrilled that he wanted to be part of our band.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The band is supporting high school marching bands this year?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> Yeah, we never got away from the charity aspect and we always want to keep giving back. With a lot of schools, they don't always have the money in their budget for instruments and uniforms so we are doing some benefit concerts at some schools to help them raise money to keep their music programs going.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Let's talk about what else you are doing outside of the Wizards world. Tell me about Dark Sky Choir.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> Dark Sky Choir is a band I co-founded whose original plan was to play out and perform some classic old school metal covers; we try and focus more on deeper cuts and some classics. The response from the fans has been overwhelming. We have even started writing our original stuff and we'll see where things go. We will continue booking gigs and playing out but we may also be in studio in 2017 if everything falls right.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">What has also been great and a bit humbling has been the great response from the metal community. Derek Tailer of Overkill joined us at one show and we did an Overkill song with him and Chris Caffery joined us at another show and we performed Savatage's "Sirens" with him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You also have been playing guitar for Corey Glover of Living Colour. How did you get involved with him and his band?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> I met Corey at NAMM and we hit it off pretty well. He is pretty busy with Living Colour right now - they just kicked off a European tour with Alter Bridge. But when he does his solo stuff, I get the call. His solo concerts are a blast. Typically we will do "Cult of Personality", "Middle Man", a bunch of songs from his solo repertoire and usually throw in a couple covers. He is such an incredible singer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> What guitarists on today's music scene do you admire?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I love Alex Skolnick. I also love Michael Romeo - I grew up with him actually. I have to throw in Jeff Loomis, Steve Vai and of course Yngwie.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> What is one thing about Fred Gorhau that most people wouldn't know?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG:</b> I'm the class clown. I am the guy who the teacher always told, <i>"Sit down and shut up!. [Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Thanks for taking the time today, Fred!</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>FG: </b> No problem. Happy to do it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">L-R: Joe Stabile, Hollywood How, Fred Gorhau (Dark Sky Choir)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Photo Courtesy </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Diana L. Zavaleta</span></div>
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For More Information:<br />
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Fred Gorhau Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FredGorhauGuitarist/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/FredGorhauGuitarist/</span></a><br />
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The Wizards of Winter: <a href="http://thewizardsofwinter.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://thewizardsofwinter.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter</span></a></span><br />
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Dark Sky Choir: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/darkskychoir" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/darkskychoir</span></a><br />
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<br />Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-85641961225180282882016-10-15T00:50:00.000-07:002016-10-16T20:53:09.943-07:00A Conversation with Bill Hudson<span style="color: #ea9999;">Hailing from Brazil, guitarist Bill Hudson has been a steady fixture on the metal scene for the last decade. Since 2006, Hudson has been recording and touring with numerous bands in the Melodic and Power Metal genres and has appeared on some of the biggest concert stages, including Wacken Open Air and ProgPower USA. I recently caught up with Bill to discuss his musical journey: from taking lessons from Angra/Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro to becoming an in-demand musician-for-hire to his recent involvement with Circle II Circle, Jon Oliva and Trans-Siberian Orchestra to his forthcoming solo album. We also discuss his "Rock Star"-like story that culminated with Hudson playing guitar for his boyhood musical heroes, Savatage.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> Where did your inspiration come from to play guitar in the first place?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Bill Hudson:</b> When I was about eight or nine years old, I saw the music video for "November Rain" by Guns 'N Roses. Watching Slash soloing outside of that church was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. And it still is the coolest thing. I didn't come from a family of musicians. It all really started from seeing that video. Up to that point, I don't know that I cared that much about music really. That is really my "Point Zero" in my involvement with music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> I had read in an interview with Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro (of Angra/Megadeth) that he started with an acoustic with nylon string classical, that's more like the Brazilian tradition. Did you start with one of those as well?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b>I did. In Brazil, it's kind of a tradition that everyone has a nylon sting acoustic in their homes. I did start out with one, trying to learn and play on my own. Once I got to taking lessons though, those were on an electric guitar. I even wound up taking lessons from Kiko back when I was starting!</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> With Brazil being so well known for classical and bossa nova guitarists, did you always know that you wanted to go in a metal direction?</span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> No, at first I just wanted to be Slash. My relationship with music back then was very egotistical. It was more of "<i>I want to be a guitar player</i>" than "<i>I want to play music</i>". Now, over time, I started falling in love with music itself. I recently read that whatever kind of music that you were listening to at 13-14 years old is what stays with you forever. Between the ages of ten and 13 or so, I really got into heavy metal. I discovered Iron Maiden - that was a game changer. That is the music that moves me and really enjoy listening to.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">In Brazil, we had the band that you
just mentioned - Angra. They really opened up the market in my country
for Power Metal in the early to mid-90s. That’s how I got into bands like Helloween,
Stratovarius, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Savatage - that is how I got into
Savatage, really! It was all somehow lumped into a style we called “melodic
metal” back then. I know now Savatage doesn’t fit that genre, but back then I
kinda of got into all this bands at the same time. Because of that, the mid-90s
were ridiculously good for any band in that genre in Brazil. Savatage came
there TWICE in 1998, the second time to play Monsters of Rock in 1998. I was in
the audience, at age 15!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;">Up until that point, Sepultura had broken big out of Brazil. They are great and they are national heroes and celebrities. But when Angra came along, it was like "<i>here's the other side of metal - the kind that your mom can listen to</i>". [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">I was getting into all of these
bands at the same time that I was learning guitar. This is how I really
got into Savatage. There is a <span style="color: orange;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKqBNvKJLK8" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;"><i>video of them performing "GutterBallet"</i></span></a> </b></span>from the Sao Paulo Monsters of Rock concert and you can actually
see me in the crowd!</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">I also saw Gamma Ray when I was 14,
Stratovarius and Halloween too. It's funny, because in America those bands
are still not popular. That whole genre never caught on big over here, but in
the '90s in Brazil? Those bands were living off of playing there for us.
This time is when I really got into metal. I was always having these
game-changing moments around that time. I saw Yngwie Malmsteen, when he
came to Brazil in 1996 - I was like "<span class="apple-converted-space"><i>Holy
Shit! That is what I want to be now! That guy is fucking wild!</i></span>”.
I also saw Satriani and Steve Vai and started getting into the whole
instrumental thing then. Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, Vinnie
Moore…Cacophony…I really got into that for a while! I still play some of those
songs sometimes just to keep the chops up! I recently had to learn a bunch of
Greg Howe’s parts for Vitalij Kuprij’s show! </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> With Angra becoming so huge in this power metal scene there, how did you wind up taking lessons from Kiko Loureiro</span>?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">Before Angra got big, Kiko was
already a well known guitar teacher in my home town. He was actually my second
guitar teacher. When I first started taking lessons - my first lesson -
was October 17, 1993, which of course is the day that Criss Oliva died. At that
point, I had no idea who Savatage and Criss Oliva were - I didn't find out
about them until 1997 or so, when Wake of Magellan came out.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">Anyway, my first teacher had been a
student of Kiko’s. He was an acoustic player and was trying to teach me music
properly. All I wanted to do at that point was shred, so in my mind, I
felt that getting taught by Kiko directly would be different - which it really
wasn’t, I had to learn the basics. So since I wasn't connecting with my first
teacher, I went right to Kiko. Angra had just released their first
album, <span class="apple-converted-space"><i>Angels Cry (STILL my favorite
album by them) </i></span>and they weren't real huge yet.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I have read that you attended a music college in Brazil, in pursuit of a classical composition degree.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">Yes, I did. I was right out of high
school and at that time I was interested in becoming a conductor. I was
two years into this six-year program and realized that I did not like it at
all, so I dropped out. From there I moved to the States and attended the
Musicians Institute.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> That was in Hollywood?</span><br />
<b><br /><span style="color: orange;">BH: </span></b><span style="color: orange;"> </span><span style="color: orange;">Yeah, Their approach was the
complete opposite from what I had just come from in Brazil. For example, in
Brazil, you take piano lessons and you lose points if you don't sit the right
way. With M.I., they had classes like "Led Zeppelin Bass Lines" or “Let’s
write a song in the style of No Doubt". At the time, this approach
also didn't work very well for me. I had a weird mentality at the time, and I
didn't think I was into the courses they were offering. Alas, it was a
good time!</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I'd like to skip ahead a little bit and talk about the band that got you into the United States - the power metal band out of Omaha, Nebraska - Cellador. How did an aspiring guitar player from Brazil wind up in a band based in Omaha?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">As we talked about earlier, Brazil
was this huge market for power metal. I wanted to be a guitarist in one
of these bands that I was listening to: Helloween, Gamma Ray, Savatage. But my
country doesn’t really nurture its own talent, so to speak. You can be
Sepultura and Angra and receive respect, but any other Brazilian band does not
get any credit. Even Krisiun, as huge as they are worlding, I feel that they
don’t get as much credit in Brazil. So, I knew in my head that I wanted
to get out of Brazil and be in an American or European band.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">I had just come back from studying
at M.I. and I was browsing through MySpace and found this band Cellador from
America. They were the exact kind of Power Metal I was looking to play, and
they were looking for a guitarist! I started reading about them and found
out that they had just signed to Metal Blade Records! I sent them an email and
told them that I would like to try out for their band - at this point, I didn't
mention that I am sitting at home in Brazil [<span class="apple-converted-space"><i>Laughs]</i></span>.
They wrote back that they had found someone. I wrote back to them and
told them that unless they had Steve Vai in their band, I was a better choice. <span class="apple-converted-space"><i>[Laughs]</i></span> Chris Petersen, the leader
of the band, sent me some songs with drum tracks and asked me to send it back
with my playing on them. I spent the next ten hours learning those songs.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">Once they heard me play, they wrote
back and asked me to come for an audition. At this point now I explained
to them that I didn't live in Nebraska <span class="apple-converted-space"><i>[Laughs]</i></span>.
I wound up selling all of my stuff and booked a flight to Nebraska,
booked a rental car and a hotel room.
Never told them I flew from Brazil. I showed up at the audition and
got the gig. When they offered me the job, I finally explained that I live
in Brazil and will move to Nebraska for this but would need their help. The
band freaked out for a minute, but after a week or so, I had the job. I wanted to live in America really bad, and
that was the perfect opportunity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">The band got a lot of push from the
label. We toured with Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine, and All That Remains.
We went to Japan and played with Heaven & Hell, Blind Guardian,
Marilyn Manson and a bunch of other bands at the LoudPark Festival in 2007. We
did a lot of big time things, but ultimately the band just wasn't ready.
Everyone in the band, including me, were all alcoholics. We spent all of
the tour support money on booze. We were just a bunch of stupid kids at the
time. But we had so many opportunities - being signed to Metal Blade, touring
with big time bands, played the ProgPower Festival, we even had a music video
that was featured on Headbanger's Ball, etc.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Looking back, that is a pretty nice introduction for your first band - eleven weeks on MTV, touring with these musical heavyweights, signed to a major metal label.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">You have to understand, that people
in Brazil do not believe that what I am doing is possible. Kiko, being
now in Megadeth, is the only other Brazilian musician making a name for himself
in the U.S. and he already had a name in Brazil. When I would tell others about
my hopes to make it, they would tell me things like "<span class="apple-converted-space"><i>Are you going to be delivering pizza in America?</i></span>"
because no one thinks that we can make it.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">What you just said is what I would
tell people: I am touring the world with a band signed to Metal Blade, I was in
rotation on MTV, I was - at that time - endorsed by Ibanez Guitars. I
used to buy Ibanez Guitars and now I was doing a signing session for them in
Japan, all within one year of being in America!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Let's talk about your name for a moment. You have been pretty open about "Bill Hudson" not being your given name.</span><br />
<span style="color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> Well, first off, I don't like the sound of my real name, so I never use it. Secondly, no one ever calls me by my real name. Not my parents, not my siblings, not my friends - nobody. I've always been "Bill". Even when I was little and learning to speak, I used to say "bill" all the time, but in Brazil it would be spelled "Biu". I think the first time I saw it spelled "Bill" was from a note that my Dad had left me, telling me where he was and he wrote it that way. So I have been "Bill" since I was a little kid.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;">My last name is very much a stereotypical, common Latin name which I have no problem with, but I used to hear from so many in Brazil that it will be tough to make it once people hear my real name. After hearing that so much, I decided to come up with a new last name. For that, I looked at my original guitar hero, the one who inspired me to do this to begin with, Slash. Slash's real name is Saul Hudson, so I just started using his last name. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Did you actually move to and settle in Omaha once you got the gig with Cellador?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b><br /></b>
<b>BH: </b> Yes! I even married a woman from Omaha who is still my wife! I lived there for three years.</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> It had to be somewhat full circle in 2015 when you were hired by Trans-Siberian Orchestra and returned to the Omaha area for their rehearsals.</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b> </b></span> <span style="color: orange;">It
was crazy! I got to spend time with my wife's family and got to see so
many of my friends while I was out there again. I got to hang with my father in
law and eat my wife’s grandma’s food! I totally plan on doing it again this
upcoming rehearsal season.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> I had read that, besides guitar, you also contributed vocal harmonies to the Cellador record?</span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: orange;">BH:</span></b><span style="color: orange;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: orange;">I did. I don't remember if I sang them on
the record, but I did write them. Some keyboard parts too, but they got erased.
I probably did not sing the vocal harmonies, though. They knew I had the
experience from the college in Brazil with choirs and multiple vocal harmonies.
I definitely did provide the arrangements and conducted the singer when
doing the demos.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> We do see occasional credits that list you contributing "Backing Vocals". Are you an accomplished singer at all?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> No, and that is the problem of my life. <i>[Laughs]</i> I always say that if I could sing, my career would be much further along. Starting with Cellador, every time things didn't work out with a band it was because of a problem I had with the singer. Except for Zak Stevens and Jon Oliva, I have had nothing but problems with singers in my career. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: orange;">Good thing it works with those guys! <i>[Laughs]</i></span></span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> In 2008, the stories came out that you had left Cellador.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">Well, I just told you about the
problems that I have with singers. We had so much going for us, but we
took it all for granted. The label wanted demos for the next album, so I
had written twelve songs and sent them in without vocals because I couldn't get
the singer to sing on them. The guy just wouldn’t show up to record! The
label had paid for studio time for us to complete the demos and the singer
didn't show up. It was about then that I just left the band.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Did you have anything else lined up at that point?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> No, but I started talking to people and making myself available. That's really where I have started my current career as a "hired gun" of sorts.</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I also wanted to ask about your contribution to the Stevie Wonder tribute album – "Superstition". How did this come about?</span></div>
<div>
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<div>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">That was right after I quit
Cellador and I was trying to work with that singer, Carlos Zema. We did that
track online - we each recorded our parts at our homes and sent them in and it
turned out cool. My friend Vernon Neilly was putting together this tribute to
Stevie Wonder, and I really had no experience playing that kind of music. When
he told me who all was going to be on it, I knew I couldn't compete with any of
them doing something funky or fusion. Greg Howe, Kiko Loureiro…are you kidding
me?! I knew that if I did a really heavy version of the song, at least I would
stand out. That's really how it came about. Vernon gave me a few choices of
songs to pick and "Superstition" was the one I knew the best.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b></span><span style="color: yellow;"> In this new career as "guitarist for hire", you have played with a score of bands, more than we could chat about here. Power Quest, Vital Remains, Nightrage, Emphatic. Do you enjoy this role of playing guitar for a group but it's not really your band?</span></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b></span><span style="color: orange;">I don't know if I enjoy it as much
as I think this is what works for me. I've never been able to take a band of my
own from the ground up because I have always had problems with the singer. I
see myself putting in all of this work and then watching it crumble. As a
hired gun, I know that I will be able to do what I do best - play guitar.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">Another very big part of it is the
part that musicians don't like to talk about - the money thing. Once you are in
a band, that is an investment. I would like to start my own band again someday,
once I find the right singer. I haven't met that star singer of the future yet.
I know many singers that are amazing - Zak Stevens, Russell Allen, Jeff Scott
Soto. But those guys are established and are freaking legend!!. I have
not yet gotten to that status, or found that singer that I can invest in and
make a totally new thing, someone that no one’s heard of it. But as a hired
gun, I just try to provide the best service possible for the people that
hire me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">Quite honestly, it can be hard. I
worked for a band last year for several months that toured a lot, didn't pay a
lot, but they did pay enough to keep me working. And this was a band that I
really, really didn't like to play with <i>[Laughs]</i>. I had to be thinking, "<span class="apple-converted-space"><i>I could be sitting at home right now and not
have this money coming in</i></span>" while I was playing to get me
through the concerts. But you also wind up in situations where you are
headlining Wacken Open Air Festival as part of your favorite band, as I did
with Savatage and TSO! It's a way to stay grounded, because at the end of
the day, it is a job.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Almost all of the bands you have played in have more than one guitar player. Do you enjoy that sort of lineup, playing with another guitarist?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> Honestly, I don't get to choose. I am hired to fill a role and if there is another guitarist in the band, so be it. There are actually very few guitar players that I have clicked with while playing. I am not competitive at all and it makes no difference to me. You may remember that gig that I did with Vitalij Kuprij this past Spring. I was the only guitar player in his band and that was a really, really hard gig. That may have been the hardest gig I have ever played; I wish there was another guitarist at that one! <i>[Laughs]</i> But then again, if there was another guitarist and he sucked, he would have made us both look like shit, which often happens too <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Let's talk about the first time you played with Zak Stevens and Circle II Circle. The Fall of 2008 and they had just lost guitarist Evan Christopher and had a tour coming up with Jon Oliva's Pain.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">This point in my life is where I feel like my life started being like the Rock Star movie. I had played the Prog Power Festival in Atalanta with Cellador in 2007 and I met Zak Stevens at that festival. Zak was backstage for an All-Star jam and I went up to him like a fan and introduced myself. It was great meeting one of my heroes! I asked him for a photo as a fan. I still have that photo [Laughs] And then we hung out a few times that weekend and really bonded. I gave him my phone number and told him to call me if he ever needed a guitarist. He eventually called me and told me that they had a tour booked with Jon Oliva and asked me to tour. I was psyched - this was the first time that Zak and Jon had shared the stage together in a really long time.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupNAYDUybo51XsEnVXh0p9HGOBEVAlMJu7fISrtZDdA4W1AiydbNdhmsGHHbvJiTmsgFeK2-Usctx66TrOSS8xDoEaPjn0JTp0B1BgOauXcToTKhhqTMaseoS5ghv-aSSsl-OIu27ex-M/s1600/BillAndZak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupNAYDUybo51XsEnVXh0p9HGOBEVAlMJu7fISrtZDdA4W1AiydbNdhmsGHHbvJiTmsgFeK2-Usctx66TrOSS8xDoEaPjn0JTp0B1BgOauXcToTKhhqTMaseoS5ghv-aSSsl-OIu27ex-M/s400/BillAndZak.jpg" width="323" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bill Hudson and Zak Stevens meeting for the first time <br />
October 2007<br />
Photo courtesy Kristy Katz<br />
<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">I was still pretty inexperienced
and young and had a serious drinking problem. It was on that tour that I
first met Jon. That was such a cool tour. Now, today, this is my reality.
But at that time, as a huge Savatage fan, to be playing on stage while
Jon and Zak sang "Chance" every night? That was pretty mind
blowing. Like I mentioned before, I saw Savatage in 1998 and I also saw them in
2002 with Damond Jiniya singing, so this was a dream come true to be touring
with these guys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;">You know, when I was in high school
and Al Pitrelli quit Savatage, I had my girlfriend who kind of played my “PR
person” <i>[Laughs]</i> - write a letter to the Savatage fan club and tell them that I was
interested in playing guitar for them. A lady even wrote back and told me
to send in some material. The problem was that I was only 16 or 17 at the
time and had no material. I was lucky they didn’t call me for an audition, or I
would’ve blown it <i>[Laughs]</i>!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> This was your first stint with the band. Did you leave for other opportunities?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">Both the drummer (Tom Drennan) and
I were let go from the band at the end of the 2009 tour. Considering the
drinking problems I had at that time, it's not hard to figure out why.
Zak re-hired me in 2012 after I got sober, and the funny thing is that
between 2008 and 2011, my drinking had gotten progressively worse and I really
did not have a career. I stopped drinking in January 2012 after a disastrous
tour I did with Firewind and Nightrage where I went through a full week
drinking binge after, just sitting at home. Then six months later, Zak
called me again for another shot with Circle II Circle.</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You play on Circle II Circle's <i>Seasons Will Fall</i> album. Tell me about that experience.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">When Zak called me again to play
with Circle II Circle, it was initially just talk of playing live at
Wacken, which was another dream of mine. The band were doing an all-Savatage
set of <span class="apple-converted-space"><i>Wake of Magellan</i></span> at
Wacken! But after some discussion, Zak invited me to be part of the band once
again. The <span class="apple-converted-space"><i>Seasons Will Fall</i></span> album
was basically done at this point, but they sent me some of the songs without
vocals and without titles even and told me to play lead guitar on them.
My favorite solo - which also wound up being the favorite solo of Zak's
mom! - is from "Epiphany". I play the second solo on that song.
the slower one. I usually am very meticulous in the studio - I do several takes
in the studio and take the best parts. This one was recorded all in one take.
Funny how those things happen, but I just played and this is what came out.</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> After the <i>Seasons Will Fall</i>, the band released the <i>Live at Wacken 2012</i> album, which you of course are on. With the 2015 release of their latest studio album <i>Reign of Darkness,</i> you are listed as playing guitar on the album. Do you have a favorite solo from this album?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> I am glad you asked, because I always wanted to put this on record. I did not record anything on that album. My picture and name are in the credits and I did the tour but I have nothing to do with the <i>Reign of Darkness</i> album. In 2014, I had another falling out with the guys and I was out of the band for a year. That also happened to be the year that I was working with Jon Oliva's Pain. So, in that year that I was out of the band, they recorded <i>Reign of Darkness</i> with Christian Wentz and Marc Pattison working together on guitars.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;">As for the <i>Live at Wacken 2012</i> album, I have never heard it. <i>[Laughs]</i> I have signed countless copies of it while on tour in Europe and have seen the video on YouTube, but I have never listened to the album. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> When Circle II Circle plays live, most of their setlist is made up of Savatage material. I totally understand why - there is still such a demand for their music and Zak was their vocalist. But, do you ever feel compromised as an artist that you don't get to present and play as much original Circle II Circle music in the live shows?</span><br />
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<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> I don't, and I will tell you why. First, I don't ever write any of the Circle II Circle music so it doesn't bother me. Secondly, as you pointed out, most of the fans who come to see Circle II Circle are Savatage fans. On this last tour, we made a point of playing a full Circle II Circle set and played Savatage only in the encores. That was the biggest mistake. The way we got into the Savatage set was as I was ending my guitar solo, we would go into the riff for "Jesus Saves". That opening riff got a better crowd reaction than anything we played for the entire hour leading up to that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Those songs are classics. I don’t mind playing Savatage - ever. I love that music and have an incredibly deep connection with it.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span><b><br /></b><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Have you gone back to Brazil on tour as a member of Circle II Circle?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> Yes sir!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Do you feel like a conquering hero returning to Brazil with this band and not delivering pizza? <i>[Laughs] </i></span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><i>[Laughs] </i></span>No.
It's a funny thing. For example, we played two sold out shows in Sao
Paulo. We had just completed that tour in Europe, playing to small to medium
crowds. When we come to South America, every show was huge! The really odd
experience was fans coming up to me and speaking English and I would respond in
Portuguese. At every show, I would speak to the audience for a bit and I would
speak in Portuguese, and then play the Brazilian National Anthem during my
guitar solo. It was a lot of fan!</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">The Sao Paulo venue, Manifesto, I
used to go there as a kid to see bands play. I still hang out there when I go
back home, I know the owner, Silvano and all of the people that work there.
The security guy who once kicked me out because of being drunk was now my
security guy! <span class="apple-converted-space"><i>[Laughs] </i></span>It
was pretty surreal. My family was in the VIP section and I needed his help to
get to them and this guy who used to throw me out was now helping me. Another
thing that makes me feel accomplished is that I would see guys in the audience
that used to go to Savatage concerts with me. If I wasn't on stage playing, I
would probably be with them in the audience to see Zak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: orange;">So to answer your question, yes! It
was very fulfilling to me!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You alluded to this a bit earlier - In 2014, you were announced as the new guitarist for Jon Oliva's Pain for their performance at the ProgPower festival. Did you get that gig through knowing Zak? Or did Jon remember you from that 2008 tour?</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> I saw that Jerry Outlaw had left Jon's band and I sent his drummer, Chris Kinder, a message letting him know that I was interested in playing if Jon was going to tour at all. Chris asked me to send in videos of me playing a couple of the songs from <i>Streets</i>. I decided to record videos of me playing all of the songs from that album.</span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Being such a Savatage fan, were you already familiar with that album?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">I already knew most of the songs, yes. But, there were a few that I had never played, although I had listened to them obsessively as a kid. So I learned the whole album and sent in videos. Eventually it got to the point where Jon was happy with what he heard and we had to get ready for the ProgPower Festival. I flew in and stayed at Dr. Dan Fasciano’s - the keyboardist for this show. We rehearsed at Doc's place for six weeks to nail that Streets performance. And that was really the beginning of me working with Jon.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> So about a year after that Jon Oliva performance, you are on the Wacken stage once again, this time with Savatage. You mentioned how surreal it was to be playing with Circle II Circle in Brazil. This had to be a bit mind blowing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">Man, I don't even remember most of
it. I remember everything around it - the flying, the hotel, the rehearsals,
even the soundcheck. I spent a lot of time with Kyle Sabel during that time, he
is one of my best friends and a huge part of the TSO family who recently passed
away. He was Chris Caffery’s tech for 17 years and we had become really good
friends years before I ever got involved in TSO. The Wacken rehearsals in Tampa
really was the first time I did any “work” with Kyle, even if he was working
the other side of the stage. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOW36cluzllm1bX6LU08-UKH_2JqvSCieDvJYTEejeoEJdnKoI9RDVSZTWMFNa2ie7xOsgBVRTOoDOjTMxU8-IYEtdUuLQRlt-Mcls_FZtpqT18KP45mdkOE9FoJTb2aoGzZIsvYHgJk1/s1600/BillHudson_KyleSabel_Germany2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOW36cluzllm1bX6LU08-UKH_2JqvSCieDvJYTEejeoEJdnKoI9RDVSZTWMFNa2ie7xOsgBVRTOoDOjTMxU8-IYEtdUuLQRlt-Mcls_FZtpqT18KP45mdkOE9FoJTb2aoGzZIsvYHgJk1/s400/BillHudson_KyleSabel_Germany2015.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kyle Sabel and Bill Hudson<br />
Wacken Open Air - August 2015</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: orange;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif";">
<br />
</span></span>I really don't remember playing the show, though! That was just
ridiculous and surreal. Here I am playing "Hall of the Mountain
King" as a part of Savatage?! Hang on… how did that happen!?! So many
incredibly talented guitarists have played Savatage music, but I was ON STAGE
with them. I still sometimes watch the YouTube videos and try to fathom what
happen. And I know most of the people on those stages feel the exact same way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You certainly have had a long history with the band both as a fan and now as musician. Was it sort of a natural progression that you wound up touring with TSO in 2015?</span><br />
<b><span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="color: orange;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> You know, TSO is actually the second concert that I ever saw in the U.S. I saw them back in 2005 and remember thinking even back then how cool of a gig that would be to get. I remember even when I worked with Zak for the first time back in 2008, asking him for help to get me into TSO. With Jon, I didn't really have to ask. The entire time I am working with Jon and rehearsing for ProgPower, this is when Joel Hoekstra got into Whitesnake. I was working with Oliva as it happened. He started bring it up casually, telling me that there might be some opportunities for me. When they realized that Joel couldn't do the Wacken show, they invited me to do it!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Did that directly lead to the TSO Winter Tour gig? Did you still have to go through the TSO audition process with Paul O'Neil?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">I played for Paul before Wacken, actually. I think that landed me the Wacken gig, but the way I see it, Wacken was my real audition for TSO.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Do you recall what you played for Paul?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b></span><span style="color: orange;">I played "Believe",
"Sparks", and a bunch of random Savatage and TSO riffs. I also
did "A Last Illusion" with just me on guitar and Al Pitrelli on piano
- THAT was fucking awesome. When I went to the studio, I spent more time
playing with Al than I did playing for Paul. Al spent time showing me the ins
and outs of the songs as well as his style too. Sometimes I feel that I
am really good at emulating other player's styles and I was alot more proficient
at emulating Criss Oliva's style than Al’s, and I’ve learned so much just
watching the way he plays even ONE note. He’s so ridiculously amazing! I spent
a lot of time just jamming with Al and I feel like that the time that I spent
with him was better for me than any guitar lesson that I had before.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Al couldn't be more of a different
player than I was at that point. He shared with me a lot of the things
that he does that make up his style. He would show me things that would sound
incredible when he played them but sounded like shit when I tried! <span class="apple-converted-space"><i>[Laughs] </i></span>I got to spend time
with him and ask him what he was doing that made these parts sound different.
So many guitarists will ask a mentor, "<span class="apple-converted-space"><i>How
do I play more notes? How do I play this scale? How do I play this lick?</i></span>"
Al is not about that at all. Al's playing is about being Al and I
got to spend some valuable time playing with and learning from him. I hope I can
do this again this year… he should start charging me for guitar lessons <i>[Laughs]</i>!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cris Lepurage and Bill Hudson, TSO tour 2015</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Touring as part of a Trans-Siberian Orchestra Show is a lot different from gigs that you have had previously. I don't just mean in terms of power metal vs. the TSO brand of metal but more so the staging and blocking.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> I don't think I "got" the stage thing until about a week or so into the tour. It is second nature to everyone else on stage who has been there for a while. "<i>Should I stand here? Should I play here?</i>" I felt like I was annoying everyone. You also have to remember that by the time that we got to the point of working out the stage, we have spent weeks getting the music down. So now, that I can play all of the music, I have to know where I am going to stand and where I will be going on stage. It is less choreographed than people think. I used to think that the stage direction and moves were very exact. Then I realized that it is more like this: They give you an idea and you run with that do what you want. If they don't like it, they'll let you know. They will pull you aside and say "<i>Hey that one thing that you did there didn't work, lets try something else</i>."</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;">It's definitely a learning curve to get comfortable. There was one part during "The Mountain" that I was standing in front of a laser and it burned me. It takes a while with so much going on - not just other musicians but the effects too. At the end of "O Holy Night", that last note is supposed to ring. It is very hard to find the spot on stage where it actually rings. Every night, I would be out standing by myself in the center of the stage trying to get that note to ring. It was so nerve wracking because you never know if it's going to work or not. Finally I got my tech </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: orange;">Cris Lepurage (<i>dude, I love you!</i>)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span>and we would try it out in soundcheck at each show, find the spot and mark it with an 'x' on the stage. That didn't happen until one or two weeks into the tour. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: orange;">At one point during rehearsals, I wasn't used to where the pyro was coming out yet and I was standing right where the fire was going to come out during a song we were doing. Then I hear some yelling "<i>Get the fuck off of there!</i>" <i>[Laughs] </i> and seconds later pyro came shooting through where I was just standing. That was close, but I also think they have some safeties built in so it gets killed if someone is standing there.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was this the first time that you played to a click track?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> No, I've been doing that for a long time. With Power Metal bands, their music has to be precise and is normally played to a click so I was used to that. </span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Three guitarists have had that role on TSO East before you: Alex Skolnick, Tristan Avakian, and Joel Hoekstra. Were you given board tapes of any of them to listen to to get an idea of how they wanted things played?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">I did some research on YouTube just on my own and watched a lot of Alex Skolnick. Joel is actually a good friend of mine; we go back a long ways. I probably have known Joel for longer than I’ve known most of the people in TSO. Joel is always someone that I will look up to because I feel like he took similar career path to the one I took. I am big into the two-hand tapping thing and I don't know anyone that does that better than he does. I didn't do much of the tapping with TSO because unless you can do it as equally good or better, there is no point. And I have been a fan of Alex since I was a kid with his work in Testament. I see Skolnick and Pitrelli as separate from us. Those two are just on a different level.<br /><br /> I watched a lot of videos for where they were on stage and also watched recent videos with Joel to see how he played certain parts.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Were you given some latitude to make some of these songs and solos your own?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">To a point. You have to remember that I am playing these guitar parts that were originally played by Al - a guitar player that I love and I wouldn't want to change alot from what he did with them in the first place. That’s how I like to listen to those songs! A good example is "Christmas Jam". Joel's version is different from Al's version and I wanted it to kind of have my own style. I based mainly on Al’s performance, but tried to make it sound like me. I had all the room to play, until they said they wanted something different.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Alex Skolnick in particular was known for adding his own special flair on "O Holy Night", where he would jam for a bit on that last note.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">That was something I wanted to do but they had a different vision for the ending.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Joel of course was known for his finger apping in songs like "Faith Noel" and "Christmas Canon".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> The only tapping that I did in the entire show was on "Christmas Canon" and that was because it was recorded that way. It's a simple one-finger thing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Was there any one song that you were trying to make your own?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> Well, with "Christmas Jam", I feel that its a very "Al" song and I was trying it to play it more like Al than how anyone else has played it. I guess I was trying to play it with Al's notes but in my own way, if that makes any sense.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> How much did you rehearse with Caffery to get comfortable trading parts with him? How was it worked out which songs you would be playing lead on and which Caffery was?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> I just respected what was done before. I learned most of the songs off of watching YouTube videos and showed up at rehearsals knowing the parts that Alex and Joel were playing. Now, there were a few parts that I ended up taking on lead that I wasn't expecting, like on "Prometheus."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You are endorsed by ESP Guitars. Did you play ESP models on the TSO tour?</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWbuvrVTym6OWtZE2rwC4lseCic50Y0MWJaH70ZmoP7TRVcyxYTohmdFrGTfnqgIxQZTyFZKeMnl2MZK5MC_LyA2Rbc0W9H6OQvvcUW4sPM_mI9H1LBGjlW3pEr6jpZL1lKqabdR6t6Br/s1600/BillHudson_GusG_ThomasYoungblood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWbuvrVTym6OWtZE2rwC4lseCic50Y0MWJaH70ZmoP7TRVcyxYTohmdFrGTfnqgIxQZTyFZKeMnl2MZK5MC_LyA2Rbc0W9H6OQvvcUW4sPM_mI9H1LBGjlW3pEr6jpZL1lKqabdR6t6Br/s400/BillHudson_GusG_ThomasYoungblood.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b></span><span style="color: orange;">Oh yeah. I have the best relationship in the world with those guys. The vice president, Jeff Moore is a very close friend of mine and my brother from another mother Chris Cannella is the best Artist Relations in the business today. They get me WHATEVER I NEED WHENEVER I NEED, no questions asked, ever. I LOVE them to death! I’ve been on the cover of the catalog twice and at this past NAMM, there was a huge banner of me as you went into their booth. I love their guitars! I had four ESPs that I used on that tour. I had the white one which is the M-1000. I asked Chris Cannella for a guitar that looked like Criss Oliva’s for the “Streets” show and he picked me that one. It’s amazing! I also had the blue ST-1 model, which is kind of a slicker stratocaster, kind of! And I had two black Eclipses - one that is an LTD Elite with a hipshot (thanks Kyle!) which is probably my favorite and the other is a German ESP with the 4 knobs. </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> How do you decide which one you use on each song? Are they tuned differently?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> Some songs require a different tuning and I do change guitars for that. For others, I just like the sound of the guitar better in a particular song.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You play the first half of that show wearing that tuxedo jacket. As someone who is well known for always going sleeveless or shirtless when playing, was this tough? Happy to shed it in the second half?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;"><i>[Laughs]</i> Yeah, I guess. At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to take the jacket off because Chris kept his, I didn’t know what to do. But I have lots of tattoos that I love showing them off <i>[Laughs]</i> so I decided to do it. It is more comfortable, that's for sure. But I do love that tuxedo jacket look. In some places like the Air Canada Center in Toronto they’re actually a necessity <i>[Laughs]</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> One moment that I thought was very cool in last year's Show - and it is almost a photo-op moment - is during "Christmas Dreams" where Zak poses between you and Chris while you are playing that solo.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b></span><span style="color: orange;">Think how I feel at that moment. I grew up watching those two play. I still have a Jackson Randy Rhoads Guitar that my parents bought me when I was 15 because of Criss! That's how big an influence those two people were on me. Then I’m looking at these shots and I go “<i>really?! is that me?</i>”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> And then you got to play with Zak in Circle II Circle, Jon in his band, and then finally with Savatage on the Wacken stage. It's almost like your own Steel Dragon story.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> </span><span style="color: orange;">It really is. I tell everyone now
that literally anything is possible. Here I am playing and making music with my
idols. There is nothing that I wanted to happen in my life that hasn't
happened.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Were there any songs from that tour that really stood out to you – any one or two that you especially enjoyed playing?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> My favorite song from that tour was "Madness of Men". I also really loved playing "The Lost Christmas Eve" where I am also playing the 12 string acoustic. It is a lot harder to do than it looks because you are playing both guitars </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: orange;">(electric and acoustic).</span></span><span style="color: orange;"> When you are playing the acoustic, it's just you. You have to be very precise and very exact. To go from that to the energy of the electric and back to the acoustic was very cool. I would love to play that again.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> We didn't see you go up in the cherry picker lifts. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> David Z actually offered his spot to me in rehearsals. He told me, <i>"Since it's your first year, if you want to go on the lifts I will give it up.</i>". I tried it out but it really freaked me out. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: orange;">Roddy took a video of it!</span></span><span style="color: orange; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="color: orange;"> I play the lead part on "12/24" and there was no way that I could be playing that lead while up on those lifts. </span><i style="color: orange;">[Laughs]</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJhxMxaXdtYHssVU-96rUFFto8FgZLyLB5_Vd2qSyJJIRdq_T0Gwi3y8g-ARIBS1usBwlrMzuCObYkC1204pZQ7bxWIQncPYfMM_Vgma0O9EyP9v7t6HccgKCq032ccsSx1sYRAkqjMKV/s1600/BillAcousticShaneLaRene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJhxMxaXdtYHssVU-96rUFFto8FgZLyLB5_Vd2qSyJJIRdq_T0Gwi3y8g-ARIBS1usBwlrMzuCObYkC1204pZQ7bxWIQncPYfMM_Vgma0O9EyP9v7t6HccgKCq032ccsSx1sYRAkqjMKV/s400/BillAcousticShaneLaRene.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Bill performing with TSO<br />Fort Wayne, IN 12/3/15<br />Photo Courtesy of Shane LaRene</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Have you done meet and greets with other bands and their fans before?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> I have done signing lines before, but never anything like the TSO signing line. My autograph used to be somewhat complex but I had to make it simpler as the shows were going by. I still try and keep the guitar drawing in there, but sometimes I would hold up the line as I signed my name. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask about the fan experience with TSO. Probably more so than any of your previous bands, there is a particularly ravenous fan base, with some fans getting very attached to certain performers. There certainly was a vocal contingent of fans that were unhappy that Joel wasn’t there. At the same time, you certainly won over a lot of fans to where there are a very vocal group of Bill supporters. Ever experience something like this? Did you pick up on any of those positive or negative vibes either at the shows or on social media?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">It is weird in a way. That is
the unsettling thing about TSO, in my opinion. It is a rock band and it
is a multi-million-dollar tour but we're not celebrities. But, to some people
we might as well be. It's not like I go out on the street and people stop me
because I played in TSO. It seems like most fans are attached to the TSO
name and brand and they know who we are. It is crazy how certain fans can
get attached because it doesn't happen all of the time and I just don't
understand.</span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: orange;">As for the Joel fans, that whole
competition that some fans created online was weird to me. Remember, Joel and I
have been friends for many years, but some of the fans really took sides and I
didn't get it. I even got some hate mail at the beginning, from people
that I now see on my FanClub page, so I’m glad at least I’ve been able to convert
some fans. But there is not competition between Joel and I and the “Bill
supporter” and “Joel supporter” thing really doesn’t make a lot of sense… ask
Joel and I guarantee you he’ll say the same.</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Between you and Joel, both of you guys recently announced that Joel is returning to the TSO East Cast for the 2016 tour and that you are still part of the TSO organization but will be working with them at rehearsals and then in the studio for now. Can you expand on that a bit? Any idea what your role will be at rehearsals and what you will be doing in the studio? Are you excited for this new chapter?</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: orange;">BH: </span></b><span style="color: orange;">Well
I can’t say much about that at the moment, mainly because I don’t know, <i>[Laughs]</i>! I
know I will be a sort of back up guitarist, so I have the set list and am
already working on the songs, making sure I learn all parts. At the same time,
Jon Oliva and myself will be going over stuff for the recording projects I will
be doing once the band goes out on tour. Jon and I will be in Florida at the
studio during that time.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXtBF-6q3MYEfOLYNynWgkRA4BuRXUCdkw07ea_oP8cYY0ONOx4YMws_3goQAQiOaOFauTjpg_VM2RuLHtg-2mwGu94HMG0M-9olzjbmvqMNQuwFdeHuZzLW0szPS5G7t_lsC5y4ZmUwc/s1600/BillGloria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgXtBF-6q3MYEfOLYNynWgkRA4BuRXUCdkw07ea_oP8cYY0ONOx4YMws_3goQAQiOaOFauTjpg_VM2RuLHtg-2mwGu94HMG0M-9olzjbmvqMNQuwFdeHuZzLW0szPS5G7t_lsC5y4ZmUwc/s400/BillGloria.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Bill performing with TSO</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Columbus, OH 12/26/15</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo Courtesy of Gloria Moore Suiter</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You certainly seem to spend an enormous amount of time on the road. Will you miss the road with TSO?</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: orange;">BH: </span></b><span style="color: orange;">I’m already having withdraws, seriously! I haven’t done a whole lot of touring this year, except for the May-June thing with Circle II Circle in Europe. But I am doing a lot of writing for different things and I’ve spent also some time with family in Brazil both here and there, so I’ve been trying to occupy my time </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: orange;"><i>[Laughs]</i>!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Can you tell me about the solo album that you have been working on?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">I have been working on it off and
on and in different places with various people. The latest tracks that I
have been working on have been in a town in Sweden called Gävle with a producer
named Per Nilsson from the band Scar Symmetry. Per is one of the best
modern guitar players in the world. He and I have written two songs so
far. I also have several other songs that are halfway done.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;">The thing is, I have this idea to release an instrumental solo album. The more I work on it, I realize that I write better vocal songs. At this point, what I have are a bunch of good vocal songs and I plan to release them as singles. I always thought that it was really hard for guitar players to come out as solo artists, but I see it happening more frequently.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;">The album will have different guests on it with vocals and is pretty heavy - lots of lower tuning, 7-string guitar stuff. I am finally happy with what I have together so far; I have been working hard and been pretty unhappy with what I was writing. <i>[Laughs</i>]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You did that one solo track a few years back to demonstrate a guitar for ESP, "E.G.O."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> It's funny because I don't really like that song anymore. I like the idea of what it could be. I don't think it's quite as good as the stuff I am doing now. Now that you brought it up though, I might go ahead and write a new song based on "E.G.O." - just from what I am saying in this interview.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I look forward to that!<b> </b> Any timeline on when the album will be ready?</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> Soon, I hope. </span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> All of this talk about playing guitar and writing songs, we haven't touched on your acting career. You were recently in an episode of <i>Castle (ABC TV)</i>.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> </span><span style="color: orange;">That was funny. I met this actress while I was in L.A. and her agent happened to be looking for someone that spoke Portuguese for another project entirely. I talked with the agent and she told me about the job, which I ultimately did not get. But she also thought I was perfect for this role on Castle. I got hired for that pretty quickly and I had never even heard of Castle. But it was great, they took me out to teach me how to shoot a gun, had my own dressing room. It was very cool.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Might we be seeing you in anything else?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> The agent who got me the gig still works for me, so you never know. Not sure how many times a TV show will need someone who plays the guitar. That was the thing for Castle - they wanted someone who could play this guitar piece, I learned the part but when you watch the show, it's not like you can see my fingers so in the end, it didn't make a difference that I know how to play guitar.</span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> If you were not making a living as a musician, what would you be doing?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> I don't know, man. That's a good question because I never wanted to do anything else. As I was telling you, I had a few bad years there because of alcohol and I went back to Brazil and tried working with my Dad. I realized that I just don't know how to have a job. I'm not good enough on focusing on anything other than playing guitar. I took my first lesson when I was ten, so this has been my goal since then.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> So you are really living the dream, not just with Savatage, but in general.</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH:</b> Yeah. I also have endless support from my parents. They have always been "<i>Go after what you want and we will support</i>" and that is such a big part of it.</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Thanks for taking the time today, Bill.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>BH: </b> Thank you! It's been great!</span><br />
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For more information:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: white;">Bill Hudson's Official Website: <a href="http://billhudsonofficial.com/site/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://billhudsonofficial.com/site/</span></a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: white;">Bandcamp: <a href="http://billhudsongtr.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://billhudsongtr.bandcamp.com/releases</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-4139749898886702222016-07-29T23:49:00.000-07:002016-07-30T00:30:39.580-07:00A Conversation with Chameleon<span style="color: #ea9999;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ea9999;">Born in 2011, the band Chameleon has steadily been evolving, performing, writing, recording, and ultimately forging it's own very unique path upon the musical landscape of today. Combining a wide array of influences and determined not to be bound by accepted genre barriers, Chameleon has released three EPs to critical acclaim. I caught up with the band - vocalist Chloe Lowery, guitarist/vocalist Andrew Ross, guitarist Aurelien Budynek, bassist/keyboardist Georgios Pesios, and drummer Gabe Marshall - in their <i>Center of the Universe Studio</i> in New York. Among the topics we discuss are the evolution of the group, their writing and recording process, live performances and their newest epic music video. We also take a close look at the first installment of their new <i>Black and White</i> album: <i>Black | Part One</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Dan Roth: </b> Before we get into the new album, I would like to catch up on a little background with the band. Where did the Chameleon name come from?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe Lowery: </b> Andrew and I were working with Dr. Robert and the three of us were just so different in our musical backgrounds. Personally, I have always been called a "chameleon" because I was singing pop and then rock;</span><span style="color: yellow;"> I was constantly being hired to sing in various styles.</span><span style="color: yellow;">. I suggested that one day as a name idea because with our band, particularly at that point, we had the rock element, an electronic element and a pop element. We as a band didn't want to be restricted to just one </span><span style="color: yellow;">genre because we were more than just one. </span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;">In hindsight, we maybe should have picked something a bit more unique and searchable. There are so many bands called Chameleon.</span><br />
<br />
<b>Dan:</b> Were there any other names in contention?<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="color: yellow;">Andrew Ross: </span></b><span style="color: yellow;">There were a few. "Mayhem and Cheese", "The Baddest Dinosaur of All Time", "Things with Toes on it". </span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> Andrew, Natalya (Rose Piette), Dr. Robert and I were all playing <i>Catch Phrase!</i> </span><span style="color: yellow;">and the names and adjectives we were coming up with to play the game were just so ridiculous! We thought all of them could be potential band names. We kept a list of all the guesses and jokingly were going to pick an official band name from this list. We didn’t, but kept the list on the refrigerator for a solid year and always referenced back as potential options.<i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> The band started in 2011 and had a bit of a different lineup than where it is today. You mentioned Dr. Robert's involvement. Can you walk me through the evolution of the band to how it is now?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b>We started out as just Andrew and I writing songs together for fun and for the love of music, with no idea at all that we were going to form a band. At one point we were hanging out with Natalya and her (at the time) boyfriend Dr. Robert. </span><span style="color: yellow;">Robert is an amazing graphics designer and visual artist but also an amazing musician. He is an amazing producer with an ear for beats and synth production. </span><span style="color: yellow;"> Andrew and I had written and recorded a demo of "L.A. Chameleon" and Dr. Robert heard it and asked if he could produce it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> It was just guitar and vocal at this point. We gave him the track, he went away for a while, and one day he emailed the song back to us with his beats and production work on it. As soon as Chloe and I heard it, we were blown away - it was really awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> So we talked and decided to form a band with the three of us</span><span style="color: red;">. </span><span style="color: yellow;">It was really exciting at first as we all had the same vision. Working together was just seamless and easy. We released the <i>Something in the Water </i>EP and were playing out all over NYC. After a while though, I believe our influences and natural artistic direction took over a bit. Dr. Robert wanted to go in a more electronic direction and Andrew wanted more organic instrumentation, particularly in the live shows. It was around then that we decided it would be best for Rob to leave and go in his own direction. The split was all very amicable and we are still distant but good friends to this day. We even continued to work together after the split collaborating on songs like, "Zombie" and “Robber, The Ghost.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> He had created the drumbeat for "Zombie" and Chloe and I added in everything else.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> </span><span style="color: yellow;">After the actual split, we still had some live shows booked with the three of us, so we finished out those commitments. Along the way, we incorporated Aurelien Budynek on guitar and brought in Gabe Marshall on drums for the live shows. Dr. Robert then officially left and Andrew and I finished <i>The Monster EP</i> as a duo act. In the studio and on stage, we started to collaborate heavily with Aurelien and Gabe and then hired Georgios Pesios to mix and add some co-production.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">When we came up with all of this new material, we really made the conscious decision to make <i>Black and White</i> a full band effort. We brought the songs into the rehearsal space with the guys and together we all created </span><span style="color: yellow;">the song structures and layers.</span><span style="color: yellow;"> That brings us to today, where we are a full five-piece band.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Gabe, how did you get involved with the band?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Gabe Marshall:</b> </span> Jason Gianni, the drummer for DareDevil Squadron, hooked me up with Chameleon. They were looking for a drummer and he recommended me. I used to study with Jason at the Drummers Collective and then became friends with him after I graduated. He tipped me off to Chameleon, I heard some raw demos, and immediately wanted the gig.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> You came on board with Chameleon when Dr. Robert was still a part of the band. He was creating layers of beats and sounds – did you have enough space within that framework to lay down what you wanted to do beat wise? Was that challenging at all, working with another “beatmaker” in the band?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Gabe:</b> I love playing with other drummers - or beat-makers, in this situation. I marched Drum Corp International with The Cadets for a few years, and marched in a variety of other drumlines, so I'm used to having to fit in smoothly with other percussionists. There was plenty of room to fit in drum set parts. Plus, Chloe and Andrew were super cool about giving me creative space, so it was a lot of fun. The challenging part was finding something slick that didn't interfere with the rest of the band, but still enhanced the overarching vibe.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Aurelien, I understand this isn’t the first time you have been in a band called Chameleon. When and where was the previous one?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien:</b> That’s correct. I was in a jazz trio called Chameleon while studying at Berklee in Boston, around 2005. We were playing private parties, weddings, hotel type of gigs… Coincidentally, the bass player Ryan Leach is about to move to Philly after 10 years in LA, and the drummer Mike Reilly has been my roommate in NYC for the last couple of years, after touring around for years. Maybe a Chameleon/Chameleon double bill soon?! <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b><i> </i>George<i>, </i>as the newest member of the band, can you tell us how you got involved with Chameleon? Had you worked with any of the band members previously?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>George Pesios:</b> My first "encounter" with Chameleon was a couple of years back when Andrew called me to record the band playing during a live video shoot at the House of Yes. They were doing a few songs from the first record - "Boom", "Something In The Water", and "Uh Huh"; my job was to capture the band and guest musicians live and mix it. Andrew and I met at a studio I used to work at in Brooklyn a few years prior, we worked on a side project of his you might be familiar with - Daredevil Squadron. Coincidentally that's when I also met Aurelien and Angus Clark, who played a mean solo on Anthem!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span><b>Dan:</b> Chameleon is based out of New York City. Is anyone in the band actually from here<span style="color: yellow;">?<br /><br /><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b>No. Aurelien is from France, George is from Bulgaria, Gabe is from Missouri, Chloe is from Florida and I am from the Carolinas.</span></span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> You mentioned that everyone added his or her input. Several songs on the new EP are co-written by the entire band. Was that a hard transition - going from Andrew and Chloe being in charge of the direction of the band and its music to full collaborations with the others?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> Not really, because </span><span style="color: yellow;">organically we all had a place and expertise in varying areas.</span><span style="color: yellow;">. Andrew and I started with the core of the songs - verse, chorus - and they all brought their ideas to the table. That part was really easy because we are all such close friends </span><span style="color: yellow;">so the communication and understanding of the sound was clear. It was a very open forum when we created this music. Gabe brought his drumming background to the table and defined the grooves. Aurelien is a brilliant artist and had very strong opinions as far as structure and arrangements. George always comes with great musical ideas and is truly the comedic relief of the band, which is super important. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>George:</b> W</span>orking with Chloe and Andrew is very easy! Usually they would have a very strong idea for the song and a direction. Many times, they'd even have a demo that we'll listen, jam out, dissect and put back together. As a co-producer, we butt heads here and there when talking about things like should this part be loud or quiet, should this transition be longer, do we need all those guitar parts playing at the same time... We all get attached to the songs and work hard and try to make each of them as good as they could possibly be. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien: </b>As George says, typically they would come in with a rough draft of a song, or a couple of riffs linked together. Gabe, George and I, along with Chloe and Andrew would come up with different feels, work on transitions, arrangements, structure, “<i>let’s use that riff as the intro, play it 3 times instead of 4</i>”, or “<i>let’s try this set of chord changes on the chorus, change up the melody a bit</i>”, “<i>let’s write this intricate guitar/drums set of rhythms that we’ll play in the background during the bridge</i>”, “<i>let’s play that strong hit together on the and of 4 but only the second time around</i>”, that kind of thing. We try it, we keep it when we like it, discard it when we don’t. A lot of the details - on my guitar end anyway - are also done during the recording process, where we differentiate the details and “sonic high architecture” from the foundational, meat and potato function of the basic rhythm tracks. Getting a special tone for a certain section, a shimmery effect during a quiet part, a crazy stuttery high register glitchy sound etc… Some of it is kept, some of it gets scratched, we experiment.<br /><br />Overall, I would say that I try to bring my musical personality in the mix, without too much altering of the original sound, or at least the sound that Chloe and Andrew have in their heads. I’m just trying to help crystallize that sound. But at the same time throwing some spices of my own that I think make for an interesting and different taste. Never overpowering.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Gabe:</b> It's been a lot of fun! The collaboration has been very familial. The writing/arranging process involved a lot of trial and error. Ideas were put forth that would be really cool, then the same person would put something forward and we'd end up laughing at how goofy it sounded. <i>[Laughs]</i><br /><br />Group-writing and collaborative efforts generally require plenty of give-and-take combined with a lot of patience. It's fun, frustrating, and gratifying all in the same session.<br /><br />My contributions were similar to everybody else's. I'd have some good ideas, and some bad ideas. I wanted to throw out any options that crossed my mind, because you never know when something will land. An example of this is the walk-up before the bridge of "Everybody's Going Down". We were trying to come up with a transition and I looked at Aurelien and said "<i>we could do a goofy jazz walk-up...</i>" and we laughed about it. He ended up coming up with some cool chords and we left it in. It started as a joke, but ended up being something we liked.</span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br />It was an overall great vibe and a lot of fun to put this album together as a group.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b>It's been about three years since <i>The Monster EP</i>. <b> </b>Why the long gap between releases?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> Well, a lot happened. My Dad got sick. We actually were going to try and tour a little bit out of state, which is always challenging for us. We had a few dates booked and we were going to give it a try. Then I got this call from my sister that sort of blindsided us. We talked to the guys and cancelled all of the dates and Chloe and I moved to South Carolina to be with my Dad.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">This is where <i>Black and White </i>really was born, as it turned out. We rented a house down in Abbeville. This is where we met Bailey (a german shepherd) - she came with the house and we adopted her. Now, there is nothing to do in Abbeville. Everything closes by 9:00. I would visit with my Dad and help him out, but there were all these hours where we had nothing to do. Chloe and I just started writing songs. We must have written 30-40 songs. We had a drum kit in the living room. Neither one of us is a drummer, but we pretend sometimes. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> We wrote all of the songs there. When we came back to New York, we then had to head out on tour with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and everyone else was so busy with what they were working on. So we didn't really get a chance to start recording any of those songs until the following year.Plus, we didn't want to rush it. There was no point in rushing, since we weren't on anyone's deadline. We just wanted to take our time with it and make sure it sounded right. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> George works all of the time, so he would come over on the weekends to work on the mix. Aurelien and Gabe would work on it whenever they had breaks in their schedules. So, slowly but surely...</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b>What about who you are as people and as a band now can we hear on this new material that may be different from past efforts?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b>I would say that on this record, lyrically, we are actually speaking of a deeper message in a lot of the songs. I feel like the past EPs - particularly <i>Something in the Water</i> <i>- </i>were more </span><span style="color: yellow;">light hearted and fun. All of our records have been more or less a reflection of our lives at the time. Those songs obviously had meaning, but I feel like because these new songs were coming from an even deeper personal place for Andrew and I, it's a more "grown up" record. Everything's a little bit more mature. Even musically we have evolved, so this record really shows that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Gabe: </b> Well, </span><span style="color: yellow;">I like to hope I've developed substantially as a player since the last record, so hopefully the overall level of my performance has risen in its entirety. More specifically, I've tried to free up my headspace so I can be more creative without worrying about making mistakes. To me, too much worrying during a performance - live or in the studio - can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I start blowing parts when I think about them too much. <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br />On a personal level, I went through a few perspective-changing experiences that I believe affected how I approach music. Chameleon is such a special group with special people, and I really want to maximize every opportunity I have when I play with these guys. The group means a lot to me and I think that comes through in the music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b>They always say to never talk about politics and religion. But this new EP is very political and we also touch on religion. I am not very religious at all, but here I was with my Dad while he was dying and sometimes I would be looking up at the sky asking what was going on.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">From a musical standpoint, you hear a lot more of an Aurelien influence. You hear more of the other guys.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Aurelien? It's been a while since<i> The Monster EP</i>.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien Budynek: S</b>ince the last release, I have been involved in many recording projects and live productions, sometimes on a creative level and most of the time on a performing level. I’m always learning and I always try to give my best whatever it is I’m doing. Now if I were to re-record my parts on the previous Chameleon release now, I’m sure a lot of it would be quite different. But every recording is a reflection of a point in time, a document of the present, “this is how we sound like now” kind of thing. A lot of things that you will hear from me on another upcoming Chameleon release, the <i>White </i>counterpart shows more of an evolution on my end, or at least some more unusual sounds like some 12-string electric guitars, a lot of banjo, some string quartet approach guitar arrangements, and some more ethereal textures.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b>Can you tell me about your musical influences? When listening to Chameleon, can we hear those influences shine through?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien: </b>Well,<b> </b>I’ve been playing for 25 years now, so my influences are a giant melting pot of players, bands, styles, education… all of which somehow comes through in everything that I do, to some level. Chameleon is close to home because I grew up playing and listening to rock music in a broad sense, so that naturally shines through. A lot of my musical upbringing was listening to virtuosic guitar players and there are elements of that in Chameleon, even though these days I’m much more interested in building and creating compelling guitar parts and interesting tones that serve the song. But it’s fun to just rip once in a while if it’s remotely appropriate, you know? I’ve always been into epic, strong rock n roll presentation with music that is scripted, details that work and help break the repetitive nature of the music, like a painting - staged, calculated, beautiful in the same way every time you look at it. At the same time, improvisation is my religion and I will take any chance I get to play with something that is flexible, a solo, a section, an ambiance - like keeping a small spot in the painting where the color would change every time you look at it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> I am definitely the most "pop" person in the band. I grew up listening to Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Barbra Streisand. </span><span style="color: yellow;">I also grew up listening to some Broadway (Thanks Mom!). As I got older, I started discovering other genres like jazz, electronic, rock and classic rock, which had a huge influence. I toured with Big Brother and the Holding Company right out of high school and got an education for sure. I think the big epic singing you hear, stems from those influences. I am also very into Goldfrapp , The Kills, Muse etc... I also have a love for current pop and hip hop music that’s on the radio today, not going to lie. <i>[Laughs]</i> However, Goldfrapp is where we got some of the idea for the Black and White albums. They make these incredible records that are heavily dance influenced and then they do these dreamy atmospheric records. Part of Andrew’s influence falls heavily into the acoustic/ bluegrass category, so we wanted to incorporate that in this new project, which is what you will hear on <i>White: Movement One.</i> (Coming Soon)</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> I grew up a thrash-head - Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer. I also had this big bluegrass influence because of where I grew up and I learned to play the banjo and the mandolin. I have always said that Bluegrass is very similar to thrash - both are very technical and fast. And you will definitely hear both the metal and bluegrass sides come out from me. </span><span style="color: yellow;">But probably the most obvious influence on my guitar playing and vocals has been 90’s Grunge and Black Sabbath.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">Gabe: </span><span style="color: yellow;">The first rock album I bought on my own was <i>Down on the Upside </i>by Soundgarden. I was 13 years old and I flipped out when I heard it. That sent me down the modern rock/heavy metal rabbit hole, which you can hear all over the Chameleon recordings. I also grew up listening to James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Earth, Wind and Fire because my parents love those bands. Some of that funk shuffle comes through in the Chameleon stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">As I said, I did a lot of marching percussion when I was younger. You can hear that influence in "Anthem" and "Stay Wait". It also makes its way onto the new album a bit.<br /><br />"Movement One", which will come out on the <i>White</i> album, provided space to draw upon a lot of different influences. I pulled ideas from Brazilian grooves, jazz grooves, and even a few Tool-inspired moments. It also required a lot more finesse and creativity. I have a background in jazz - I'm getting my masters in jazz performance at the Aaron Copland School of Music - and I had to draw from that side of my playing to come up with some of the parts.</span></div>
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<b>Dan:</b> Chloe, you mention the "epic" singing and you cited several epic singers as influences. With Chameleon, you have several songs - some from each release - that have a huge "epic" feel to them ("Something in the Water", "Stay/Wait", "Up There"). They seem almost like a test of endurance, where you start out almost with a whisper-like vocal and then as the song builds, you are belting out full force. Are those songs challenging to perform for you?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> </span><span style="color: yellow;">One thing that I pride myself on and what I think people recognize me for is my emotional content when I sing. I really try to connect to the messages of each song while bringing the technical aspect of the voice. I love performing songs like that and I take really good care of myself so I can continue to do so. Singing in some ways is like being an athlete, so it’s important to treat myself as such. I still take vocal lessons and practice daily.</span><span style="color: red; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> Sometimes she will not speak at all for two days for vocal rest.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> Are they challenging to perform? Sometimes when I'm tired, sure, but I like it. </span><span style="color: yellow;">One beautiful thing about writing your own material is organically I write melodies that suit my voice. </span><span style="color: yellow;"> The only thing I don't like is when I can't hear at a live gig - if the sound in the monitors isn't balanced right. Then I feel like I over-sing and possibly strain. That's what you get sometimes though when you are playing smaller rock clubs. </span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> You mentioned earlier that you had a plan to tour a bit outside of the New York area before you got the news about Andrew's dad. I wanted to ask you about that. The band certainly has built up a nice following in the New York region from your many live concerts here, and you have a devoted online following as well with your music videos and social media activity. For all of your fans outside of this vicinity that are beckoning you to come to their area to perform, can you talk about the challenges of taking Chameleon on tour?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> The main challenge is that everybody is doing other things. </span><span style="color: yellow;">Aurelien is on Broadway all of the time and works with The Dan Band, Stratospheerius and others. </span><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span> George is working all of the time. Gabe has stuff going on. It's hard to drop everything and go on tour because all of us are active working musicians. It's hard to get five people on the same schedule. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> Well, especially for 2016, we don't have a tour </span><span style="color: yellow;">planned because we are all super busy at the moment. I personally have a bunch of other things happening that I need to be available for. As for the rest of the band, they are in a similar boat. We all have other projects and “jobs,” that are taking priority right now. </span><span style="color: yellow;">Even for one gig here in the city, it can be tough getting everyone together. Hopefully the stars will align here at some point and we can work out some dates. It's also a bit of a financial burden. Andrew and I fund everything ourselves and it would be a sizable commitment to fund a tour at this point.</span><span style="color: yellow;">But it is something we hope to do in the near future.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> At your <i>Black | Part One</i> Release Concert, you streamed bits of the show live on Facebook. Have you thought about doing more of that? Or maybe performing a concert for your fans online on a site like Concert Window?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> </span><span style="color: yellow;">It is something we are totally open to. That was our first time trying it, but the signal at Rockwood Music Hall was terrible and we kept getting knocked offline. We are definitely looking at doing that again and trying some other things online. We definitely want to figure out a way for our fans outside of NYC to see us, so we will get on that! If we can’t come to you, thanks to the internet we can come to your living room! <i>[Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Are there any particular Chameleon pieces you especially enjoy performing live, and why?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> My favorite to perform live is "Jesus and Guns". It's rowdy and has sort of a punk edge.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Gabe</b>: "Jesus and Guns" is a blast to play because it has a lot of vibe. Otherwise, "White Movement One" is my favorite so far. We haven't actually played that live, but there's a ton of depth to the piece, both musically and personally. The piece means a lot to each of us; it's hard not to get too emotional when I play it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien: </b> I really enjoy performing the new material. "Jesus and Guns" and "Everybody’s Going Down" are my personal favorites, they’re really high and intense energy, and they sort of embody my perception of a rock show/spectacle.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> For me, I have to say "Stay Wait". We had that one show at the Rockwood Music Hall earlier this year where the audience was singing along. It was so moving and so inspiring. I also really enjoyed singing "Barbie" when we debuted that at Bowery Electric. </span><span style="color: yellow;">The song flowed perfectly in the set and I feel the crowd responded to the intention of that song. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>George: </b> We haven't played it in a while, but I love the last song from the <i>Monster EP</i> "The River". It has a really haunting melody that I just love. From the new material I really enjoy playing "Record on the Floor", which I believe will be part of <i>Black | Part Two</i>. </span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b>Aurelien, your first appearance on a Chameleon record was on the epic “Something in the Water” from the first EP. The band now plays an instrumental piece in concert that is based on this song, with your guitar work taking center stage. Can you talk about how that instrumental piece came to be?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien:</b> As far as I remember, we were all in a rehearsal room practicing for a show and Chloe suggested we do a short instrumental hint at the melody, chord changes and general vibe of that song, with the guitar being featured. We played it a couple of times and she encouraged the Pink Floyd/David Gilmour aspect of it, with the rhythm section supporting and following the build and the intensity of the guitar. It’s fun!</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> George, during live performances, you play keys in addition to bass. Do you have a preference?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>George: </b>Little known fact is that neither of those are my main instrument! Guitar is my first, which is why I prefer playing bass. I definitely have the most fun and feel most expressive. I've been playing keys since I was six years old and I keep going back to it all the time. It's definitely a huge part of the song-writing process for me. </span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> In the past, you often had a horn section playing with you at your shows - Justin Surdyn and Lena Lien. They also made appearances on your first two EPs, but are not on <i>Black</i> and haven't been at recent gigs. Will we be hearing from them again?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cinematographer Jimmy Negron and Chloe Lowery <br />
Filming on location for "Up There"</td></tr>
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<b>Andrew: </b>On the first two EPs, we had certain songs that really leant themselves to having horns. </span><span style="color: yellow;">With </span><i style="color: yellow;">Black | Part One</i><span style="color: yellow;">, we just really went in a harder rock direction with the core band. </span><span style="color: yellow;"> We're still great friends and we have a song or two that are being worked on that may need some horns. </span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Both on the new release, as well as during your live concerts, you make it a point to have no space between songs, creating musical interludes between each song. Is that important to you?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> We like it on the albums, but we also like to do that live. I hate awkward transitions between songs when performing live. </span><span style="color: yellow;">I think the musical segues make it like a journey for the listener.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> I did it on my solo EP and I love records that never stop, just seamless. </span><span style="color: yellow;">Side 2 of The Beatles' Abbey Road album does that. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, etc.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> The band seems to have a real love and flair for making music videos. Do you enjoy making them?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> Love it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> I feel like it can be hard to get people to sit and listen to music. I think they are more interested if there is a visual aspect. We have a great relationship with our video director, Jimmy Negron. We met him when he was </span><span style="color: yellow;">a student and our relationship has continued to grow and evolve. Our video for "Anthem" was his final thesis for school. The work he is creating now is just on another level and we feel very fortunate to have him on our team. He is so professional and super creative. He’s also a genuine fan of the music, which makes his involvement a bit more personal. He really delivers epic work!</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Did he work on the video for your current single "Up There"?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b>Yes! So in this video, we took three different people that are portraying a trying circumstance in their lives and the video revolves around them and follows each of their stories. All of the actors in the video really did go through what they are portraying. We have an amputee dealing with PTSD, a woman dealing with domestic violence, and then Bob and Linda Carey dealing with breast cancer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">For those who don't know about Bob and Linda, she has been battling breast cancer and at one point, to cheer her up, Bob dressed up in a pink tutu. </span><span style="color: yellow;">He then started posing for photographs in various settings while wearing this tutu to help him cope with things, and it has turned into this great awareness hub for people dealing with breast cancer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">We wanted this video to be about the message, so the band is barely in it. </span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> I understand you guys made a video for "Stereo". Will we be seeing that soon?<br />
<b><br /><span style="color: yellow;">Chloe:</span></b><span style="color: yellow;"> We have sort of a love/hate relationship with that video. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> <i>[Laughs]</i> It's a crazy video. It is a bizarre amalgamation of things.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> The video came out a little too goofy. It has no purpose or point. Andrew wanted to shoot a video and it had the guys dancing, Natalya was dancing and singing in it, it just really was goofy.</span><br />
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<b>Andrew: </b> I think we're going to put it out at some point though.</span><br />
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<b>Chloe: </b> It is on the backburner for now. Some tweaks need to be made.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> I find Chameleon's music genre tough to pin down. Each of your releases contain songs that are great, but not necessarily identifiable as a "Chameleon sound". Are there any genre styles, be it metal, jazz, electronica, etc, that you would like to incorporate at some point in Chameleon that you feel the band haven't touched on yet?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chloe Lowery and Cinematographer Jimmy Negron <br />
Filming "Up There" on the Brooklyn Bridge</td></tr>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> We really don't think of it like that. I don't know what we will write next, but I am sure whatever we are listening to at the time and </span><span style="color: yellow;">what we are going through emotionally </span><span style="color: yellow;">will have some influence. We might go a little more dance, maybe a little more prog. Whatever comes out of us is what we will go for.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> Well, "White Movement One" is very acoustic, singer-songwriter driven, which is a side of that we hadn't focused on before.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Describing Chameleon's music to someone who hasn't heard it before can be challenging, since you have such divergent sounds, from danceable electronica to emotional message-laden power ballads to full-on rockers.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> That's part of the reason we went with the name Chameleon for the band. <span style="color: red; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="color: yellow;">Organically, we didn’t fit into one genre, so we thought why not have any musical confinements and just weave in and out of them all. When we started we were massively influenced by The Kills, especially their first record. They are still one my favorite bands out there and you can hear their influence in our music. We have since fused other influences which you can hear. </span><span style="color: yellow;">As far as other bands that you could compare us to - maybe some Heart and Muse? </span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Chameleon is really sort of its own thing.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> Yes, and I am proud of that. I like not being labeled or grouped in with a "sounds-like". The core genre is rock and we circle around that.</span><br />
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<b>Andrew:</b> We don't make each song sound different just for the sake of being different. It is just what comes out of our collaborations. </span><span style="color: yellow;">I think there is a through line that keeps it all together and that is the vocals and the words- the lyrics.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> With now several writers contributing to each song, can you walk me through the process? Does someone come in with a musical or lyrical idea and then you work from that? Or does it always start with one particular person?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>George: </b> The writing process usually starts with a riff that Andrew would play on guitar, or Chloe would have a piano or a rhythmic idea and then she'll just ad-lib some stuff over it, make up words as she goes. That's how the melody is born, which is really most of the song already. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> I really like writing songs on the bass. I don't like to start off with too many chords or too many notes because then I can't hear the melody. I just want to hear something simple and from that, some babble melody will come out. Andrew will hear that and put some lyrics together to that melody. He will then change the chords so it starts sounding a bit more musical. That's pretty much how <i>Black</i> started. Then we brought what we had to the guys. Aurelien is really a genius - he came up with different chord structures and different arrangements. Gabe would chime in and tell us "<i>I want this drum here</i>" and "<i>I want this stop</i>" or "<i>I want this kind of beat here</i>". And George has such a great ear and he comes in with his suggestions.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> <i>White Movement 1</i> started with me and that guitar right there <i>(points to his black Martin acoustic guitar hanging on the wall).</i> I tuned it to DADF#AD. </span><span style="color: yellow;">We were sitting around our rented house</span><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>in Abbeville and I was playing acoustic guitar and recording it. Chloe was singing random lyrics and melodies as I played this guitar. We wound up with a bunch of files that we condensed to six songs. It is very much in the vein of my solo EP, <i>The Letter. </i>Like that EP, the music never stops - it just runs seamless from one song into the next. Very much a stream of consciousness work. I cannot wait until this comes out and everyone gets to hear it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> "Up There" is my baby. "Barbie" is another that is me. <i>White </i>is Andrew. I contribute to some of the melodies, but </span><span style="color: yellow;">but overall it’s </span><span style="color: yellow;"> really more Andrew. </span><span style="color: yellow;">As Aurelien mentioned earlier, he really loved White and wanted to produce and mix it. He came in a added guitar layers and an atmospheric sounds that really sculpted the piece. I know you haven’t heard it yet so it’s hard to describe, but he magically morphed all the songs together at the end in this epic way that gives the movement a “finale” if you will that is incredible. It’s truly a beautiful record.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> How was the overall creative and recording process for each of you on this new release – <i>Black | Part One</i>?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> Well, on <i>The Monster EP</i>, we were working with beat elements and then layering it with actual drums.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> We started with chords and vocals first.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b>I mentioned earlier that we all got together and worked out the songs playing them live in a rehearsal space. As for the recording, we then do it all separately. It starts with Andrew and Aurelien laying down the guitars, then George came in and laid down the bass parts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Gabe: </b> We then went to Dennis Leeflang's studio and recorded drums. The recording process for the drums had to happen pretty quickly. Dennis lived out in New Jersey, so it took us a while to get to his place. By the time we were set up and ready to actually record, I usually only had about five hours to get five songs down. Because of this setup, I had to make sure I knew the songs really well before I got to the studio. So, I practiced a lot in the weeks leading up to each session. As for creating grooves, my primary MO was to support the overall vibe of the band. I wanted the songs to feel good. Everything else I did was secondary to the feel and vibe of the tune.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien:</b> We took a few days and sat down and went through as many things as we could, tried things. The songs in this band tend to get sonically busy pretty fast, so I try to keep to the essentials and the foundational, then focus on more textural overdubs. A lot of it can be seemingly unnoticeable, until you mute a certain track and you go “wait, something is missing and sounds empty”. They all play in the overall sonic architecture. We experimented a lot with different pedals and sounds, doubling some existing parts with more extravagant, over the top tones to pepper in where we felt it was appropriate.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">I also recorded some tracks in my own studio, most of it were fixes or stuff that we found out were missing, after living with working versions of the songs for a while and feeling the need to fill out some blanks here and there.</span><br />
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<b>Chloe:</b> Once all of that was down, I would lock myself away in the studio and record my vocals.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> And then I would come in and layer my vocal parts in. Sometimes we would then re-record the guitars if we didn't like how they were sounding with the rest of the components.</span><br />
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<b>Chloe:</b> One of the great things about having our studio here in the house is that we can easily go in and re-record parts. It's also a bad thing sometimes because we are never satisfied and it winds up taking a long time to actually finish it up. </span><span style="color: yellow;">We are always striving perfection.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> And then George comes in and starts mixing. He is so great and has such a great ear. He really makes the sound of Chameleon with his effects and layering.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>George: </b> The rest of the song elements, including my bass parts, extra keys and other production add-ons kinda happen on the spot. Many times, Chloe would be looking for "space" or "brightness" or something else abstract and then we'll come up with a new cool keyboard part, or a reverb or delay thing. Some songs like "Up There" for example, got to me in pretty finished form and I just polished the parts and added my own vibe to the performance.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> George, several times your name came up here as working on the mix. Is Music and Audio Tech your specialty? Is this your background?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>George: </b> Yes, I've been recording and mixing since 2004. I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts from City College, specializing in Audio Production. I've been doing a lot more performing than recording these days though. </span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b>Aurelien, you have been collaborating with Andrew for some time now in DareDevil Squadron and on his solo EP. Any differences when working with him on Chameleon material?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien: </b> Every musical context is different. DDS is a very specific sound with a canvas that we limit ourselves to - we work within the metal and classic hard rock genres. Andrew’s EP was an interesting process because we almost entirely worked separately. He provided me the basic tracks and I worked on the architecture of the arrangements on my own, until it was done. It wasn’t a collaborative effort in the sense that we were in the same room together bouncing ideas around. We barely even talked about it at all! But we very much get along musically so everything fell into place organically.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">With Chameleon, it’s yet another sound and a different set of parameters to work in. A lot of times, the songs are pretty fleshed out and already have a sound, it’s just a matter of getting together and sculpting the raw material, making it sound like a band and bringing it to life with details, edges, choices.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Chloe, you talked about how it's hard to walk away sometimes and say it's finished. Do you enjoy being your own producers?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> Oh yes. I'm a control freak particularly with the vocals. </span><span style="color: yellow;">I will sing a line a million times over to make sure I get one crack or one emotion that I feel is crucial to the song. I’m a drill sergeant with myself and good is never good enough in my book. It has to be perfect in my mind. <i>[Laughs]</i> When I work with other projects, I do have a bit of a hard time letting go of control. I know my voice so well and instinctually know when I’ve nailed a part or not.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Your new project is called <i>Black | Part One</i>, which is part of the larger <i>Black and White</i> album. Is there a meaning behind the <i>Black and White</i> name?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> Someone who had reviewed <i>The Monster EP </i>described it as the first half being heavy and the rest of it acoustic. He went on to say that people don't understand music unless it is in "black and white" - in other words, it all has to sound the same. I don't think that's true. Why can't people listen to a band that does different genres on the same record? That is what inspired the name though. And for this album, <i>Black</i> is the heavier side, while <i>White</i> is the more acoustic side.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> </span><span style="color: yellow;"><i>Black | Part One</i> is more of what Chameleon is known for: Straight forward Loud Rock. <i>Black | Part Two</i> is a bit more fun and there is more of a dance element. <i>White</i> is completely acoustic and a different side of Chameleon that people haven't heard.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> The idea that this would be released as a double album was initially floated out there. Now you are releasing the music in this series of EPs. Why?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> I wanted it to come out as a double album.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNCOBX1GpiXX2DJYRVRNuME4Sgvh0lxjicuAGs_gxnkUHy19k0fX5CUkGA3YWm7O7ySB1BjA7PTstSqJJ1xmutE3VwBde1IcttSF3fxUgIJaajOgZwXjT_BPaKaQoV4QU5o5bW02mU9AE/s1600/ChameleonBlack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNCOBX1GpiXX2DJYRVRNuME4Sgvh0lxjicuAGs_gxnkUHy19k0fX5CUkGA3YWm7O7ySB1BjA7PTstSqJJ1xmutE3VwBde1IcttSF3fxUgIJaajOgZwXjT_BPaKaQoV4QU5o5bW02mU9AE/s400/ChameleonBlack.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> Gabe suggested that we release it a little bit at a time. It is more of a singles market these days. It can also be hard to get people to listen to one song, let alone twelve songs. Additionally, it does take us time to get these songs down and recorded the way we want them, so this way we can release them at our own pace.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">For those looking for the physical CD, we will be putting that out after all three EPs have been released digitally, so you will be able to buy the complete<i> Black and White</i> that way.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Let's talk about the songs that are on <i>Black | Part One</i>. The first thing we hear when listening to the opening track "Stereo" is the radio voice of Asheville North Carolina radio broadcaster Scotty Rhodarmer. He was a radio legend there, broadcasting there for fifty years. Where did this soundclip come from? And why?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> My step-dad sent me a large collection of tapes that his parents had recorded over the years and asked me to digitize them. His parents were musicians, so there were tapes of them playing but there were also tapes where they had recorded the radio. I heard Scotty on one of these tapes and I remembered being a kid in Asheville and hearing that voice and felt that it would go perfect with "Stereo". So that bit is from one of these tapes of his broadcasts from the late '80s. But, the jazzy music underneath Scotty's voice is actually Gabe. He was working on a jazz project for a class he is taking and let me hear some of it and I thought it was perfect to put underneath Scotty's voice.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b>This opening song, quickly followed up by "Jesus and Guns", make up the heaviest music that Chameleon has released so far.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> I think that comes from the fact that this is the first record where there are no electronic drums at all. Gabe is such a heavy hitter and that energy comes across. I think as a band, we are really playing up to Gabe on those songs.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Lyrically, it starts off with “<i>Change your ways, Change your way, You’re on display, So mind what you say</i>”. What is this song about? Who are you talking about here?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> Kanye West. It started with him, but even later I started thinking about </span><span style="color: yellow;">other super famous pop stars and then even </span><span style="color: red; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="color: yellow;">politicians and the platforms these guys have. At some point, people are going to watch the Hillary/Trump debates and many people are going to think, "</span><i style="color: yellow;">Why am I listening to this? Because these are my choices? I am going to turn it off</i><span style="color: yellow;">." It's the same with music. We as people have the power to turn off the TV and turn off the stereo. Think for yourself - that is the message of the song.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> At the end of the song, someone yells “Yeah!” and Chloe is laughing. What is happening?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> I was recording Chloe and we did several takes because she really wanted to get it right and she just absolutely killed the ending. So that was me yelling "Yeah!" at the end of that take and then Chloe laughed. Normally we would have taken it out, but we thought it was funny to leave it in.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> It seems like you guys have a blast performing this at live shows.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> Oh yeah! It is so fun to play!</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> As that song segues into "Jesus and Guns", we hear someone singing the Gospel standard “Thank You Lord for One More Day”. <br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b>That is a field recording from the subway. Gabe heard this woman singing in the subway somewhere in Harlem and he recorded it and sent it to me. We were looking for a segue into "Jesus and Guns" and I thought this fit in so well.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> "Jesus and Guns" has a lot of Andrew on vocals, which is somewhat unusual for a Chameleon song.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> It has been a nightmare trying to get him to sing more on Chameleon songs; he is such a great singer. When we work on the songs, he is always telling me "You can sing this". With this one, I told him "I am not singing this!" <i>[Laughs]</i> We were in South Carolina and I was on the drums and I wrote the chorus "<i>Go Get Your Guns, Go Get Your Guns</i>" and came up with the beat. I had to fly back to New York and by the time I got back, Andrew had written the rest of it. When I heard the lyrics and how clever and funny they were, I knew Andrew was the only person who could sing this and I am so happy he did.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> And we are hearing some banjo rocking underneath, which helps give it that southern feel to it.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b></span><span style="color: yellow;">Exactly. The song itself came from our time in the South. There is such a weird dichotomy of people that are so religious, so into Jesus - a pretty peaceful guy - and then so into their assault rifles. Some of the people we met are preppers, collecting their beans, canned goods and ammunition for some sort of Apocalypse, Hyperinflation collapse or terrorist invasion scenario. I really hope this song doesn’t offend too many people, it was meant as playful satire. I was just observing. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and religious freedoms. However, there is nothing funny at all about the rise in gun violence and religious persecution happening all over the world today. I just had this image of Jesus returning to earth with an AR-15 to fight evil and thought it would make an interesting song.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe:</b> </span><span style="color: yellow;">This is a bit of a generalization, but so often when we would talk to “this specific group of people,” somehow in the conversation Jesus and or guns would come up; their form defense or justification. In all honesty though, the song is supposed to be a good laugh with no ill intention or disrespect.</span><br />
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<b>Andrew: </b> So we said, "<i>Jesus and Guns are Your armor on us.</i>"</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> "Everybody's Going Down". Can you talk about that one lyrically?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> It's about death. We're all going to die. So, Why are you breathing if you are not going to live your life the way that you want to? Before you're old, try something new, because Everybody's Going Down. Life is such a gift - that is something that really came out of watching my father slowly die. This song is really about making every day count.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> There is a spoken quote that transitions this song to "Up There". "<i>We're all bozos on this bus. There's not a one of us that is not a bozo in one way or another. We're all striving for an elusive goal. If it weren’t elusive, then what would life be?</i>" It sounds simple, but quite profound at the same time.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> That's my father speaking. He was very nostalgic and liked to record all kinds of things. After he died, I found a tape in his office that was labeled "To Drew, when he is 18". I had never heard this before. I sat and listened to it and it was him explaining why he and my mother divorced. He had so many of these tapes of him just rambling, but so much of what he was saying was brilliant. That quote from him just struck us as perfect for that segue.</span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> "Up There" is such a wonderful song and lyrically perfect to follow "Everybody's Going Down". Can you tell me a bit about this one?<br />
<b><br /><span style="color: yellow;">Chloe: </span></b><span style="color: yellow;">We had this song for a while, but we have never really finished it. I think it's a universal feeling that when we are feeling lost or if we don't know what to do, to look up and ask for help. No matter what or who we believe in, there are times that we ask, "<i>Is anybody up there? Can somebody help me? Because I am lost.</i>" I know I have felt that way several times in my life, and especially when we were going through the loss of Andrew's dad. What I have realized since writing it is that it's not what's "up there" but what it is within ourselves and within people that we love that we can find hope and the answers. And that is what is really conveyed in our music video for this song.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew:</b> We are all in this together. Let's help each other out. There might not be someone up there. There could be. There might not be. We really need to rely on each other. </span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> The EP wraps up with "Barbie". The line that stands out to me there is “<i>I don’t want to be nobody’s Barbie. So take your love away and don’t you follow me</i>”.<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b></span><span style="color: yellow;">I wrote this kind of in retrospect because I don't feel this way anymore or have the same angst I did as my younger self. When performing I can go back to how I felt when I wrote it. The underlying message is not wanting to be controlled or made into something I’m not. Something I feel many of us can relate to. It's angry and I get really into it; it's a form of therapy. In my life, I have had people try to mold me and dictate who I should be instead of just being who I was. </span><span style="color: yellow;"> It is almost a letter to myself: "<i>Oh conscience, I think we agree. This world is not for the weak. I can't be what I never was; you got the best of me</i>". It's me saying that I don't want to be this mold that you want to make me into. Be yourself.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> That song came together so quickly. Chloe was just improvising lyrics and I was playing guitar and we recorded it. The same exact structure that you hear on the EP is what we did for about five minutes that one day. It almost wrote itself.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Do you have a long term goal for Chameleon?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> It's so hard to make a projection and say something is our end goal. The music industry is so strange, so I am not going to set myself up for disappointment. I feel like Chameleon is constantly evolving. We are even at a different place now than when we wrote <i>Black and White</i>. We will continue to make music and hopefully more people will hear it and want it. Our intention is really just to make great music and be honest.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b> If one person hears our music and gets it, that's all we can ask for.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b> Chameleon and the new release is the subject of our discussion here, but is there anything else that you are working on musically (live or recorded) where we might hear you soon?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> I just shot a big PBS special called <i>Rocktopia </i>with Rob Evan. We shot it in Budapest and it is epic and amazing. That should be airing on your local PBS stations in November and December. I am also working with Dina Fanai on my solo project. I cannot give you a release date yet, but it is very exciting. I am also working with Heather Holley and Bob Kinkel on this album. And I will also be on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour this fall.</span><br />
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<b>Dan: </b>You were saying what a control freak you are with Chameleon's music and how you love being your own producer. Is it hard giving up some of that control for your solo album?<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Chloe: </b> Dina is like a family member to me. I completely trust and love her. I trust her opinion and she is so positive to work with. Dina and Bob believe in me so much, so I feel very safe with them. </span><span style="color: yellow;">Having that trust makes it easy to let go of some of the control and listen to the opinions of others.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Andrew: </b>The second DareDevil Squadron record is finished and it is fucking awesome! We are actually shooting a music video for it in August. We obviously took our time with this one and it is a lot more heavier and progressive. I think the title will be<i> Breakneck Speed.</i> The cover art is completed - you know how on the first record we had the five planes flying? On the new one, there are five motorcycles and you can see a crashed plane.in the background. So it's like we are picking up where we left off - the planes crashed and now we are on old Nortons and Triumphs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">I also did this musical project with Jason Wooten, <i>Goodbye, Dali</i>, which should be coming out soon. I think I am going to work on a sequel to my solo EP, <i>The Letter</i>. </span><span style="color: yellow;">Then of course I will be back on tour with Trans-Siberian Orchestra.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Aurelien: </b>I am also on that new DareDevil Squadron album. It’s been in the works for a lot of years and we couldn’t be happier with how it came out. Also, back in January 2016, I spent three days and three nights in a recording studio in Las Vegas with Cindy Blackman-Santana and her band, and we recorded an album’s worth of music with no preconceived ideas, completely from scratch. It is high-level improvisation and spontaneous interaction and arranging, with a compositional aspect, with some of the very best musicians in that field. It will come out soon as well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">And lastly, while in New York, I’ve been fortunate to be a regular replacement for Robin Macatangay, the guitar chair in the Broadway show Hamilton. It’s been a really great experience to be involved in such a massively successful creation; it demands an extreme high level of discipline and focus.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Gabe:</b> Suspyre, the prog metal band that I was in a few years back, has been talking about recording some more tunes, but that's very uncertain at the moment. And I've been working as a freelance drummer ever since I moved to NYC. Otherwise, I'm considering recording my grad school recital, but that'll fly pretty far under the radar. <i>(Laughs]</i></span><br />
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<b>Dan:</b> Well, good luck with <i>Black and White </i>and all of your other projects!<br />
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For more information:<br />
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<span style="color: white;">Official Chameleon Site: <a href="http://www.wearechameleon.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://www.wearechameleon.com</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;">Chameleon Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WEARECHAMELEONMUSIC" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/WEARECHAMELEONMUSIC</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;">Chameleon Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/wearechameleon"><span style="color: white;">http://www.twitter.com/wearechameleon</span></a></span><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-85070055518585602272016-06-20T21:44:00.005-07:002022-04-17T15:36:10.303-07:00A Conversation with Vitalij Kuprij<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;">Ukrainian-American maestro Vitalij Kuprij is a classically trained virtuoso, equally at home playing Beethoven's 4th Concerto on a grand piano in a concert hall, or in an arena shredding on one of his neo-classical rock compositions surrounded by a full rock band. Kuprij is no stranger to either genre of music, having released solo albums of him performing classical compositions alongside albums from legendary progressive-metal bands Artension and Ring of Fire with Kuprij rocking on his Korg keyboards. I caught up with Vitalij in his suburban Pennsylvania home to chat about his extensive musical training, his adventures in the prog-metal neoclassical world, his recent work with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, along with news of some exciting new music from Mr. Kuprij.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> I'd like to kick things off by talking about your musical background. I understand your father was a trombonist?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>Vitalij Kuprij:</b> Yes! A professional trombonist. He wore many, many hats. Trombone was his main instrument but he was also a music teacher, a director of a music school and a director of a House of Culture. He also had his own band; he was a bass player. My Dad was the one who got me into trouble. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>How did you know that you wanted to focus on piano?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> That is a funny story. A very good friend of my Dad had wanted me to study accordion with him. The accordion is a very, very popular instrument in my country. My Dad signed me up for accordion lessons for that September. The day before I was to start lessons, my Dad took me to work with him. He was doing some writing for his folk band and I ran to the upright piano that they had there. My Dad told me later that I started to jam! My fingers just went naturally on the piano keys. My Dad called his friend and told him that he was switching me from accordion lessons to piano lessons. Totally changed my life! I am so grateful. Nothing against the accordion, but the piano is the king.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>With learning piano in the Ukraine, are Ukrainian-born composers part of the training?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> The classical training was basically the traditional Western Music. I studied the greatest composers from the 17th and 18th century: Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and so forth. Yes, we do have some great Ukrainian composers and we were taught their music in the school. There are some great, great piano pieces that I learned and stayed with me to this day. It was influential of course. We had Levko Revutsky who was a great composer - what a soul he was! His music is very folk-oriented, just like my country. But the main foundation of my training was the music from Germany and France.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Is there one composer that you can say had the biggest influence on you? Or does that change?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> It always changes. They are all so different and if you want to master your instrument and your true classical training skills, you have to broaden your vision and not focus on one thing. I will say that the one composer that did stand out for me was Chopin. Chopin wrote mainly for piano. At that point, when I was young, Chopin was my idol.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>At 11 years old you moved away from home - to Moscow - to continue your musical training and subsequently became the youngest person ever to compete in the All Union Chopin Competition, winning first prize. Can you walk me through that time?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> In the Soviet Union, at that time, any training you could get was Big. Whether it was military, or music or painting or anything else, it was done like the Army. It was very rigid. We lived in dorms, five people in a small room, no privacy, everything is public. Showers were two days a week for guys, two days a week for girls. That was the most bizarre thing that I have experienced, but I am grateful for it at the same time. I got the discipline that I needed. Lessons weren't done once a week like it's done in Western Europe or here. I would go for two or three hour lessons a day, every second day. The rest of the time would be taken up with practice.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">We studied all of the composers, but as I said earlier, I was so in love with Chopin at this time that I didn't want to play anything else. That was like telling the government "<i>Screw You!</i>". I told my teacher that I didn't want to play anything else, so the faculty at the school had debates over whether or not I would be allowed to focus just on Chopin. They finally gave me permission to concentrate on Chopin's music if I could represent the school in that Chopin Competition. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Winning that competition really opened up some channels. I toured the Soviet Union for three months when I was 13 years old, travelling by train.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>That had to be an exciting time though, competing in such a prestigious competition. Any special memories from that?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> You know, everything is sort of bizarre in my history with classical music. The Chopin Competition was in Kazan, which is in the north of Russia. This was my first time flying and it was in the middle of a severe snowstorm. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">They also had a drawing to see who would perform first, second and so on. You usually don't want to go on first. It is so hard to play first. You are starting the whole thing, plus there is so much music to come and so many more candidates have to play and the jury doesn't have you in the front of their minds any longer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> And you drew that opening slot?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b>No! I drew Number Two. Not too bad, right? But the girl who had drawn first fell in the ice and snow on her way to the competition and broke her wrist! So I end up going on first. [<i>Laughs</i>] Nothing was ever normal; there was always a story to go along with everything I did as I learned classical music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Over the years, I have seen many articles and news sources refer to you as a "Russian" keyboardist. You seem pretty proud of your Ukrainian heritage. Does it bother you when someone identifies you as "Russian"?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VR: </b> No. I understand that for the most part, people are misinformed. These days, it has gotten a little better, but I do make a point to correct anyone who thinks I am from Russia. Russia and Ukraine are two different countries that were under that one big umbrella, so I understand the confusion.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> It's clear that you had a pretty rigorous classical upbringing, but I understand that it was a particular Yngwie Malmsteen record that opened your eyes a bit to other music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VR:</b> Yes! Well I certainly had watched my Dad perform in his folk band and do other things, but I was a total classical nerd. Back then, there was only one record company in the Soviet Union - Melodiya. My brother had gotten me the<i> Trilogy</i> album by Yngwie. I put it on and listened to that song "Liar" [<i>sings guitar melody of "Liar"</i>]. Immediately I wanted to put a band together. I started asking my friends.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">While it was that Yngwie album that grabbed me, there was also a Beatles album that was released there called <i>A Taste of Honey</i> and some Queen as well. All of that is what I started listening to all of the time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>What was it about that Yngwie Malmsteen album that so grabbed your attention? His neoclassical guitar chops? Or as a pianist, were you listening to the keys on there from Jens Johannson?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Well, Yngwie didn't feature a lot of keyboards prominently. Johannson, you are right, but maybe more on his earlier albums. It was Yngwie's playing! It was so technical and melodic at the same time. I loved the expression and the harmonies.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">You know, many years later, Yngwie called me and asked me to be in his band.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Really?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Yes. I could have been on his <i>Alchemy</i> album. He called me and offered to fly me to Florida and have me play the keyboards on this album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> At that point you already had a couple solo albums out along with a couple albums with Artension, so you were certainly building a following</span><span style="color: orange;">.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b>Yes, and I was also trying to break through in the classical world as well and I was broke as a skunk at this time. I politely refused the offer. I would have loved to have worked with Yngwie but I didn't want to give up what I was doing on my records and Artension records to play two or three chords while he shreds. As I say, I would love to work with him, but I think it would be great to put together a neoclassical monster with a guitar/keyboard revolutionary shred! I think a record like that would be amazing musically.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">The next thing I knew, he was trashing me in the Japanese press, saying that I had no experience. Well "<i>Duh!</i>", I was just starting out in the rock world and didn't have a lot out yet. And he didn't even really know me. You don't trash me in the press just because I didn't say "<i>yes</i>" to you. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>How long after you listened to that <i>Trilogy</i> album did you dive into that neoclassical style yourself?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> It was gradual. Not everything was accessible in my country. Most of the Western rock bands got music released there much later. We didn't really have a rock culture in my country - there were a few bands (Aria, Black Coffee, and others) that tried. But I eventually started picking up on whatever my brother got his hands on - he was collecting a lot of Western music - and I listened to develop my own musical style.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Back to your training for a moment - So you were in Moscow then touring the country after you won that competition. You then went on to Switzerland for further training?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Yes. I attended the Basel Academy of Music for four years there on full scholarship. I studied with this famous Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. He taught me much about the Western style of performance and discipline. With me coming from such a Romantic environment with much bigness and Russia, Buchbinder polished me with that Western European disciplinary attitude.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> It was while you were studying in Switzerland that you met guitarist Roger Stafflebach?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Yes. That's correct. Roger has been my friend now for almost 25 years. I was living in a little town in Switzerland through the summer and there was this piano bar that I would go to and jam. Roger came in and introduced himself to me. There was a bit of a language barrier as I could not speak German, but Roger was looking for a keyboard player. He and I hit it off and started playing together. Monday through Friday I would study music at the Academy of Music an hour away by train, then Friday night I would take the train to Roger's and rehearse in his garage for the weekend. Then Sunday night I would go back to the Academy - you must do whatever it takes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Roger and I formed this awesome instrumental rock quartet with two more Swiss players; we called ourselves Atlantis Rising. I started writing neoclassical music and we would put any money we had into making cassettes. We must have made 300 of these cassettes and shipped them all over. We were broke as a skunk; we were just hungry boys wanting to do a CD!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Did one of these cassettes wind up at Shrapnel Records?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Yes, Mike Varney at Shrapnel heard it. Roger and I both came to America. I came to Philadelphia to audition for the Curtis Institute of Music while Roger was on the West Coast. After my audition, I flew to Roger and we then both flew to Novato, California to meet Mike Varney. At that time, Mike and Shrapnel were releasing a lot of music that was similar to what we were doing. Mike signed Roger and I and we would become Artension.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> So here you are enrolled at one of the most prestigious, challenging music schools in the world, forming Artension and releasing their first album and then the next year releasing your first solo album. How did you balance everything while going to Curtis? </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VR: </b> Building a big career is difficult when targeting both fields so passionately. I didn't care how difficult it was; I just believed that it was possible. I would go through semester and then while other students are on break, I would be writing on the piano and remembering what I was writing. I would then fly to California, record with Artension, then fly back and return to my classical studies. Curtis is a tough school; probably number one in the world. I believed - and still do - that music has no limitations as long as you have enough passion for it.</span><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> How did vocalist John West and the rest of the folks join the band?</span></span></span><br />
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<b style="color: orange;">VK:</b><span style="color: orange;"> Mike introduced us to John West and he brought Kevin Chown (the bass player) and Mike Terrano, the drummer. Up to this point, we had all instrumental music and Mike asked me to write some music that was suitable for a vocalist and we cut our first album (</span><i style="color: orange;">Into the Eye of the Storm</i><span style="color: orange;">).</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Artension released a total of seven albums - so far. Does any one of them stand out as a favorite?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> With each one, there are certain things you like and certain things you don't. It's not so much the album that stands out but rather the process of making the record and the experiences. Sure, everyone likes to see the finished product with the cover art, but you as an artist will never be satisfied - and you shouldn't be! If you are satisfied, then you stop growing as an artist.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">I think <i>Phoenix Rising</i> is great and of course <i>Into the Eye of the Storm</i> is most memorable, but I really do like <i>Forces of Nature</i>. It has a different feel to it because of a new bass player and drummer - Shane Gaalaas on drums.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Did Artension ever tour?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> No. Artension never played live. We almost did though as we had much success in Japan. Our first album almost went Gold in that country. We planned a tour of Japan, but the tour manager screwed up my paperwork. I was still young then and had a Soviet Union passport and did not know what sort of privileges it carried when travelling in Asia. I wound up in a hotel in San Francisco hoping for a work Visa to come through while the rest of the band were on their way to Japan. Since I couldn't make the trip, the rest of the band did some promo appearances and then flew back.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Did the band have opportunities to tour later on?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Yes, we had some offers but it just never worked out. It must not have meant to be. I would still love to grab the guys and go tour - we have enough material to play.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> I want to ask you about three particular instrumental piano pieces that you have spread out across those Artension albums. They are named "I Don't Care", "I Really Don't Care" and "I Really, Really Don't Care." Can you tell me about these?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> [<i>Laughs</i>] The first one was "I Don't Care". I sat down and jammed it out. Mike Varney really appreciated my chops and wanted to showcase me a bit. I had to have a solo piano piece on the album. Then the next one I wanted to continue the concept. It's cheesy but it's funny. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> In 2001 you started working with vocalist Mark Boals on his solo album <i>Ring of Fire</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Yes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> By this point in time, you had released several solo albums as well as albums with Artension, Despite all of this experience, were you at all starstruck working with the vocalist that you first heard all of those years ago on Yngwie's <i>Trilogy</i> album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> It wasn't starstruck, but of course much admiration! He sung on that album that was of such importance to me and here he was inviting me to perform with him! That was fun. I had such a great, great time working with Mark. We turned that into an actual band, named after that solo album. I wrote the music with Mark writing the lyrics and melodies.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> The band released two studio albums and that great double live album recorded in Japan. By the time the third studio album came out, you were not on it. What happened?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;"> Mark and I had some misunderstandings in several ways. Nothing dramatic, just certain things we did not agree on. Artension was a little bit close to my heart in terms of how it started and I told Mark to go with another player while I continue to focus on Artension and my own material.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Understandable. But in 2014 we were graced with a brand new Ring of Fire album (<i>Battle of Leningrad</i>) - nearly twelve years after the last one that you were on. What spurred you guys to work together again?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> It was totally random. Mark and I had reconnected and during some conversations we talked about doing a new album. It had been a while, we decided to throw some music together and see if the spark was still there between us and see what happens.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was it your idea to focus on the Russian history as the album's theme?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> You know what's funny? Johnny Lee Middleton got me hooked on the band Accept, in particular their <i>Stalingrad</i> and <i>Blood of the Nations</i> albums. I was just loving those and I also am really interested in World War II history. It came to me that we should do an album about the Battle of Leningrad - it is a real important story. I am a very intense individual and said "<i>Hey, Let's go to war, Let's capture that feel through music.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">The concept came from me and Mark researched some of the facts from this time and those tragic events and put together the lyrics.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><br /><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Can you talk about the keyboardist's role in these bands? Your solo albums are mostly instrumental where there is plenty of space for your solos and keeping the keys out front. With Artension and Ring of Fire, you are working in a band format with a vocalist.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Sure. Because I wrote most of the music, it was always somewhat keyboard-oriented. I was also exploring the opportunities to write vocal material. It may have been limiting in terms of me being flashy, but I can do that through my solo albums. As the albums progressed, they don't have as much of me being prominent because I was really focusing on the power of the band itself. But they all will always have that touch of me on them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Nine </span><span style="color: yellow;">albums have been released under your own name. There was a period from 1996 through 2004 where you released your first fi</span><span style="color: yellow;">ve solo albums, seven Artension albums, and all of that work with Mark in Ring of Fire. Since you wrote most of the music for all of these, how did you approach the writing process when you sat down at the keyboard? How did you know that what you were writing would be right for each project?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> It was different each time. There was a time where I would sit down and write specifically for Artension. I would look at it as developing the flavor that we created on the earlier albums and continue to push that. I would also be very conscious when writing, knowing the range of John West, knowing the band's styles and the chemistry in the band between the players. And similarly with Ring of Fire and my own band.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">Now, I just write and want the music to have a very powerful and emotional feel. I focus more on the composition, get it to a higher level of maturity. I utilize all the knowledge that I collected from the experiences I went through and I write plainly without targeting a specific band or project. I just want to capture my writing, preserve it, save it and then develop it, change it up, and come back to it. Writing music is just phenomenal. I love it because it is such an innocent process and you give birth to new information. You start from nothing and end up with this musical, spiritual information.that is accessible to others.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> When I look inside of this Ring of Fire album for example and it says "All music written by Vitalij Kuprij", are you writing out the guitar, bass and drum parts as well?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> I write all of the music - all of the parts - on the keyboard. So there are guitar, drums and bass played in keyboard-form to give the rest of the guys a clear direction of what they should be playing. Especially with the later albums, they get to be more thought-out. I try to leave out improvisational stuff and leave that to myself, that way I am in control. But structurally, it is pretty well thought-out when the guys get together to record.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> When you write for your solo albums, quite often we will hear a direct quote from a classical piece. Other times there are runs that are inspired by classical composers. Are these done on purpose, or just naturally in the writing process?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Both. I always believed that there shouldn't be a set formula. You have to aim for something, but things will happen naturally. They will just pop out of you because that's you. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">When I am performing a classical work, my performance or orchestration of that piece will be different, based on how I will develop it with my flair.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Speaking of classical works, you have released three classical albums. Do you see yourself recording or performing more music in this vein?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Absolutely. I would love to do another classical album. What I don't know is whether I will do another album of works of the great composers or an album of my own classical material.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I had read that you were writing a piano concerto to honor your father.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Yes! It's been going for so long. It is something so important to me that I don't want to rush it. It is written, but there are parts that will probably be re-written. I will finish it, but this one takes time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I would like to talk to you about Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Your first tour was with the East touring group in 2009. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> That was a totally "out of the blue" scenario. I woke up one morning, got my coffee, and checked my emails. There is an email from their management asking me to come down to Florida to meet with Paul O'Neill. I am not sure how exactly they first heard of me. I know Paul was looking for a keyboardist that could do everything and be flexible. He had called someone that he had worked with in the record industry and that person recommended me. </span><span style="color: orange;">A few weeks later, I was there. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Can you talk about your audition with them? Did you play your own work or some of theirs?</span><br />
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<b style="color: orange;">VK:</b><span style="color: orange;"> Let me tell you how my audition went. I arrived to the studio and knocked on the door. Bob Kinkel opens the door and I say "</span><i style="color: orange;">How ya doing, brother? Do you have any beer?</i><span style="color: orange;">" [</span><i style="color: orange;">Laughs</i><span style="color: orange;">] Bob showed me around a little bit, I played some Mozart Figaro and that was it. I didn't play too much. They had a beautiful grand piano there, so I jumped on that and started having a good time. After this, I wound up talking with Paul for hours into the night. The next day I flew home and a few months later I was in Omaha for the tour rehearsals.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Were you familiar with TSO or Savatage before all of this occurred?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> I knew Savatage, yes! What a great, great band. I was even featured in Burn Magazine one time in the same issue that Savatage were. </span><span style="color: orange;">I have a kick playing Savatage material.</span><span style="color: orange;"> </span><span style="color: orange;">If I could go on tour with them and just play their music, I would leave now. It is so rockin' and fun - really my cup of tea.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Had you worked with any of the Savatage/TSO musicians at all before being hired by TSO?</span><br />
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<b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;"> No, but I had heard so much about Chris Caffery because he was good friends with John West, but didn't meet him till I got to those rehearsals in Omaha.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> On your first tour with them, you only played the second half of the Show, while Bob Kinkel played the first half. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vitalij Kuprij with TSO <br />
Toledo, OH November 2009 <br />
Photo courtesy of James Marvin Phelps</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> I was so nervous when Bob would introduce me. The very first time that I came running out, my transmitter for the in-ears fell out as I hit the stage, and here I am picking it up off of the stage, blushing. [<i>Laughs</i>] I care so much about the music and treating it with respect and here I am looking like a clown up there. But once I was on the keyboard station, I was at home. That's what I am here to do.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Bob mentioned that this splitting the Show between you and he was about transition.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Bob wanted to still do the rock opera - Christmas Eve and Other Stories - but Paul wanted me to be on the more technical stuff in the second half.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Since you have been on the West touring group, you have been on "Keyboard Two", with Jane Mangini on the front-of-stage "Keyboard One". Can you talk about the differences at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b>We both play a lot of the heavy strings. Jane plays that flute part and most of the piano during narration. I also play a lot of piano because sometimes we just switch. Sometimes there will be parts that Jane is not comfortable with and she will ask me to cover it. I do a lot of the whistles, bells and strings. Strings are very important. An organ was added for the last couple of tours and I have been having a blast shredding on the organ!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> How do you mesh with Jane? She comes at the keyboards from a different place than you, with more of a bluesy groove to her playing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> I love Jane so much. She is an incredible human being. She is so humble and nice and never asks for anything. She is also the hardest working female musician that I have met in a long time. If I had to sum Jane up in one word, it would be "strength". I so completely admire her.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you enjoy the "keyboard duels" that you and Jane do as part of the Show?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> They are great fun. We did it one year (2012) where we were running around to each other's keyboard rig, sometimes having trouble seeing the stairs because of the fog [<i>Laughs</i>]. We are cracking up the whole time. Fans really like the piano duels because it is very entertaining, and sort of an "exhale" from the seriousness of the Show. But also for Jane and I right there on the stage, it is entertainment for ourselves.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>As the two keyboardists in the band, do you and Jane spend a lot of time rehearsing together?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK:</b><span style="color: orange;"> We spend most of our time working individually. Jane will do her thing, and I do mine. We do get together though where we try out some things. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>You mentioned the fog earlier and watching for the steps. Is it challenging to play keys with such an elaborate light show? They have to cast shadows on the keys?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> They try and make you comfortable but sometimes there are some dark spots. Sometimes you will see me with my nose almost to the keyboard. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Do you use foot pedals to trigger the sound patches?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> No, they are all programmed and you just have to go through them from song to song. It is demanding but I remember them well. The pedals are used more for dynamics.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">With TSO, the show has to be exact. It has so many moving pieces and everything is on cue. You really have to be sharp and on your game from the first note to the last. The focus level really has to be there because there are so many components to the Show. From pedal work to how you articulate your playing to when you turn the keyboard to even when you have to communicate visually across that big stage. Sometimes Jane and I are communicating with gestures to each other. You really cannot lose your concentration. Once you take your last bow, you are back on your own and can breathe again.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">I often play the hardest parts without breathing, and that is wrong. I will take a deep breath and play - I will exhale - but I do not breathe normally when playing something challenging. It's fun though! It's worth the fight.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vitalij Kuprij with TSO<br />
Beethoven's Last Night Tour April 17, 2010<br />
Photo Courtesy of Chris Sweda</td></tr>
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you have a warm-up routine?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> I have a keyboard in the dressing room and I have finger exercises that I go through to get the blood moving, but that is pretty standard for a classically-trained keyboard player. But it's all about the mental focus before the Show. I shut down about ten minutes we are to hit the stage, I close my eyes and get into the adrenaline and responsibility mode.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Any particular TSO songs over the years that you really enjoy playing live?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> I was such a big fan of the Beethoven's Last Night tour, and not just because I had the role of Beethoven in terms of the piano. I find fun in every song, because I have to. You play two and a half hours twice a day, it can get to you after a month of touring. [</span><i style="color: orange;">Laughs</i><span style="color: orange;">] Sometimes you get to a song and think "</span><i style="color: orange;">Oh fuck, not this shit again!</i><span style="color: orange;">" [</span><i style="color: orange;">Laughs</i><span style="color: orange;">], so you have to make it fun.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Credits on TSO albums are known for being vague. Many musicians are listed with no specifics as to which song they might be on. You are listed on the <i>Dreams of Fireflies</i> EP - did you play on it?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b>Yes, I played piano on "Winter Palace" and also on "Time You Should be Sleeping". Jon Oliva played the original piano parts and Paul gave it to me to bring it to life using Jon's parts as a reference.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>There is a song on TSO's 2015 album <i>Letters from the Labyrinth</i> called "King Rurik" that you got a writing credit on. Can you tell me a bit how this song came to be?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> First of all, it is an extreme honor to get a writing credit on a TSO record. Paul knows me really well - he knows my culture and he knows my music drive. Same with Jon Oliva and Dave Wittman.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">Let me tell the background. It was the summer of 2013. I knew I would be touring on the <i>Lost Christmas Eve</i> tour on Keyboard 2. Then when the tour is over, instead of flying home, I would immediately be flying to Europe to start rehearsing Savatage material for the TSO tour over there where I would be on Keyboard 1 in an entirely different tour. Plus, at the end of that tour I would be flying into a war - I was going home to Ukraine and visit my family while there was all of that unrest going on there. I knew I would need a lot of juice - both physically and mentally. I connected with John Schaeffer, who is an amazing Fitness and Conditioning Trainer. John put together a personalized training program that was specific to me and what I needed. I worked out twice a day with this very hardcore program, getting myself in shape for what was to come. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">So I did the<i> Lost Christmas Eve</i> tour, the European TSO tour and then to the war zone with my family. When I finally came back, Paul got me right back to Florida to work with him. I shared with him what I had just seen and experienced in the Ukraine. We started collaborating and put together "King Rurik". Then Paul came up with the story that goes with it. Working with Paul was one of my greatest experiences musically. Not just because he credited me for the song, but because he let me pour out and express myself. It turned out to be a great situation for the album and being able to showcase the story. It is really a blessing for me to end up in the credits; I am truly honored.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Are you playing all of the keys on "King Rurik"?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;"> I'm not sure about that. I am certainly on it, but I would rather not comment about that.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you play on any of the other songs on this new album? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Just "King Rurik". But I am such a big fan of "Past Tomorrow"! It is so moody and Jennifer Cella does such a great job on there.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> With the vast bulk of your work - your solo albums, Artension, Ring of Fire - you wrote or co-wrote all of the material. With the TSO Shows, you are playing music written by others. Does performing with TSO bring you the same level of satisfaction as playing music that you had a hand in creating?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> It is really about the experience. The TSO Show is really a one of a kind. You are playing in an arena twice a day! To me, I have to ask "<i>Does it have artistic integrity? Does it have that punch?</i>". Paul accepted me and works with me so closely. I have gained so much information, knowledge and experience touring with this Show.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">This Show helps me survive as an artist and to be able to reinvest in my own vision. I still have plenty of opportunities where I can be more in control of my vision as a musician, writer and performer. <i>Progression </i>- my new album - is a perfect example. It's like I am back to my own vision.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>You have worked with so many talented performers on these TSO tours. Any one of them really surprise or impress you?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> I hate to leave anyone out, but I must talk about Chloe Lowery. Chloe is one of the bad-ass female singers of all time. I am such a fan of hers. When she opens her mouth to sing, it is just ridiculous. </span></span></span><span style="color: orange;">Music to me is a language of emotion and should be something that audiences not just hear, but see and feel as well. You are assured of experiencing all of that when Chloe sings.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">And of course I must mention our musical director, Al Pitrelli. I love working with him. I hope someday to do an album with Al - The Pitrelli/Kuprij Project! That would be awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> After seven years of touring with TSO, any particular show or memory stand out?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> One funny thing happened during my first year. I was on Bob Kinkel's spinning keyboard stand playing "12/24". Everything was going great; I was hitting every note, I just had that feeling of everything going fantastic! I am spinning that keyboard stand around like crazy and suddenly the top keyboard flies off the stand. [<i>Laughs</i>] All of the cables are now fucked up. The bottom keyboard slides off and I catch it on my thigh. I am still jamming on it - no sound is coming out because all of the cables ripped out. But there I am with this keyboard balanced on my leg and I am still playing it. [<i>Laughs</i>] The crew still gives me a hard time about that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> In the summer of 2015, you performed at the Wacken Festival in Germany as part of Savatage. How did you wind up being part of the Savatage line-up for that gig?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vitalij Kuprij performing with Savatage<br />
Wacken Open Air 2015</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> I was asked! I love those guys and their music. That was another memorable moment for me. Forget that it was Wacken and the magnitude of the event. Playing Savatage music was such a thrill for me. It reminds me when I first met Roger and we put Atlantis Rising together. We were in Florida rehearsing for this and I was literally jumping around while playing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;">We would be playing "Jesus Saves" and I would be jumping around, sweating and just having so much fun. It was great playing all of that Savatage music on the 2014 European TSO tour, but playing it here as part of Savatage for all of these fans that love and came to see Savatage was really something special.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Was that the biggest show you have been a part of?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;"> Oh yes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Once you were joined with the TSO band on the adjacent stage, was it challenging to play with so many musicians playing at onc</span><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;">e?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK:</b><span style="color: orange;"> Yes, It was pretty sick, but we all knew what we needed to do. Everybody was all-hands-on-deck. I took the whole concert very personally. I wanted to have a blast playing the Savatage songs and just feel that energy!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> How did you and Jon Oliva split up the keyboard duties?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Jon would do what he needed to do and whenever he needed me to do anything, I followed along. Savatage is Jon's vision and I just played whenever and whatever Jon wanted.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> In the liner notes of many of your albums, where it normally lists what keyboards you are playing on the record, it will usually state that you used "Knowledge, Experience and Confidence". Tell me about that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b>Those are the tools that I use to improve myself. Knowledge is something you gain as you do it. You apply your knowledge and get experience out of it. Confidence is something you need in your vision to survive and to defend your point of view as an artist. Otherwise you are just a copy machine or a shallow artist.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;">DR: Did you ever consider just focusing on the classical side and making a name for yourself as a classical pianist?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Of course, when I was younger. You know Vladmir Horowitz is my idol! I have performed in Europe with orchestras. I have performed recitals and held master classes. I have performed Brahms' First Piano Concerto, Rachmaninoff's Second, Beethoven's Fourth! But to answer your question - Yes, but I spread myself out like a tree. I want to do what makes me feel the power and the joy of music. I am blessed to be classically trained, but I have so many choices. I can play classical and I can play neoclassical shred. Whatever is bringing me that joy of music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Since you mention Horowitz as an idol, who are your influences on the rock side?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Coming from my country where much of the rock music was not available, I really started from Square Zero in terms of that kind of influence. I came to realize that if I study the discography of all of the great rock keyboard legends - whom I admire and respect - I would lose something of my own. I try to do this completely like hunting in the dark. Some of that great music would subconciously sink in and I would lose a bit of that "<i>raw me</i>".</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"></span><span style="color: orange;">I certainly have great love and respect for Keith Emerson, Jon Lord and Rick Wakeman. And for current players, I can say that I do respect Jens Johansson. He was so funny and so cool in his days. He is amazing in his own right. I am also a big fan of Mike Pinnella. And I love Jordan Rudess. I used to be skeptical with his approach to the art form as he focuses so much on the technology. I like to write and then record in the studio; I am old fashioned that way. But despite my admiration for these players, I am not influenced by them. Often when you ask an artist they might say "<i>If it wasn't for this person and this person, I wouldn't be doing what I am doing</i>." I am not like that. I just don't want to stuff too much in my head because I would not have room to focus on my element. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Have you ever explored jazz or other non-classical music?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;"> Absolutely. All the time. I love exploring different genres of music, whether it be jazz, hip-hop or whatever. I write all of the time and have played and written music in these styles. Music has no limits.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I want to ask you about Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, a classical piece that is widely recognized. You incorporated parts of it into your own "Piano Overture" from your<i> Forward and Beyond</i> album. You played it on an Artension album. You played part of it on the live Ring of Fire album. Then when you got hired by TSO, you are now playing a version of it with them. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> It's a masterpiece in it's own right that has become commercially accepted through the centuries. I have been playing this stuff for many years. That's just me. It is such a great piece; I might do it again. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Do you teach piano students?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;"> I don't teach much. I used to. Some students have come to me wanting to win a competition. Some have come to me wanting to really grow. I do occasionally teach and I am not the most fun teacher. I don't care how perfect you are playing a piece of music. If I don't feel it, you are disrespecting music. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">Truthfully, I would rather be writing than teaching. </span><span style="color: orange;">I feel somewhat paranoid when it comes to my time as a musician. There is so much that I want to say musically that I try to preserve it and make it last.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Are there any bands in today's music scene that you really enjoy?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> I love Dream Theater. I know every album and have met all of the guys. I was into their album "Images and Words" back in 1993 while I was still in Switzerland. I also love Gary Moore, Queen and Sting.</span></span><br />
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</span><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You have worked with a number of incredible shred guitar players on your solo albums - Greg Howe, Michael Harris, Tony MacAlpine, George Bellas. What's it like to work with such a level of guitar players and hear them play music that you write?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;"> It's been a phenomenal experience because I love guitar and I love how everyone has approached it. I love working with those guys and they are so different. Plus, it's been a great learning curve for me!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> You made two albums with the late, great Randy Coven on bass. He never became a household name, but he worked with so many and was highly respected by musicians everywhere. We lost him unexpectedly in 2014. Any particular memories of working with Randy?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vitalij Kuprij's band 2005-2007<br />
(L-R) Randy Coven, John Macaluso, VK, Michael Harris<br />
Photo Courtesy of Kyle Cassidy<br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Oh Yes! Randy was the funniest jack-ass on the planet [<i>Laughs</i>]. God Bless Him. I invited him here and he came on his bike with his girlfriend and totally let me know what a rock star he was. When we were recording, he showed up to the studio with a giant pot of his home-made stew for us. He was a total redneck but such a good soul. He always made sure we were fed. He never took care of himself but he took care of others.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I would like to wrap this up by talking about the many current and future musical endeavors you are involved in. <i>Progression</i> is your new forthcoming solo album?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: orange;">VK:</b><span style="color: orange;"> I have been working on this for so long. </span></span></span><span style="color: orange;">I am so proud of it though. </span><span style="color: orange;">It has really turned into an expensive album because I don't work the modern way. I would book the studio and a producer for two or four weeks at a time, and that gets expensive. I also want to show my musicians that I want to treat them well. I don't care how famous they are, I want to pay them to follow my vision. The album is finally recorded, so just be patient - it will be out sometime in 2017 on Lion Music. I love working with Lars Mattsson at Lion - I feel like he really believes in my stuff. </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> Can you give me an idea of who is playing with you on the record?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> On drums, my longtime drummer Jon Doman. Angus Clark, Chris Caffery, and Bill Hudson are all playing guitar. Dave Naccarelli, who played on my VK3 album is playing bass. He has such an incredible feel. And also for this album, I am adding a second keyboardist. The album is a blend of High Definition and VK3 styles, with more of a progression to where I am today musically.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">I want to go play live with this new music after such a long break. I am creating a vision of emotionally, powerful music that should trigger a reaction and bring a new fresh air to the music scene. I hope to play some clubs and smaller venues to bring my music up close and personal to my fans and hopefully make some new ones.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You recently performed at a benefit concert for your trainer John Schaeffer where you and the band played quite a bit from <i>Progression</i>. Was this the first time these new songs have been performed live?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Yes! This was the first time for those and first time in a long time that so much of my solo music has been performed. I put together a killer band for this gig and it was so much fun. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> You recently announced that a new Artension album is happening. The last Artension album came out in 2004. How did this reunion come about?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK: </b> Artension is my baby and it never really went away. Everyone was getting busy with other things and I had some opportunities to get involved with. We all just went on our own and did our own things. For this re-birth, I spoke to Chris Caffery and we are adding him to the band, so we will have two guitarists. So it will be me, Roger, Chris and John. </span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b> Any word on the rhythm section?</span><br />
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<b style="color: orange;">VK: </b><span style="color: orange;">That is still a puzzle. The writing process has already begun and I have my ideas and preferences of who I would like there, but that decision hasn't been made yet.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I understand that you are part of Mistheria's all-star Vivaldi Metal Project?</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> Yes! That's awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR:</b> I understand he has put together a lineup of some of the world's greatest rock musicians.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK:</b> He has everyone on there. I played one part on the recording. </span><span style="color: orange;">Giuseppe</span><span style="color: orange;"> is a great soul. He is like a "European Me". He is really passionate and I wish him all the best. This is a very unique project. I have to give him so much credit for the endeavor and the risks taken.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><b>DR: </b>Well sounds like we have quite a bit of music to look forward to. Vitalij, thanks so much for finding the time to sit down and discuss your career and your vision with me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><b>VK</b>: Thank you, brother. So glad we got together!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vitalij Kuprij with TSO<br />
November 26, 2014 Sacramento, CA<br />
Photos courtesy of Patti Hoffman</td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange;"><span style="color: orange;">For more information:</span><br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/vitalij.kuprij" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/vitalij.kuprij</span></a></span><br />
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<br />Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-33647622284407835612016-02-18T19:52:00.001-08:002020-01-29T17:58:12.752-08:00A Conversation with Tim Hockenberry<span style="color: #ea9999;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #ea9999;">When Tim Hockenberry opens his mouth to sing, you can usually count on all heads turning in his direction. This singer/songwriter has an astonishingly emotional voice, reminiscent of Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Louis Armstrong and Tom Waits. Long a staple of the Bay Area music scene, Tim was exposed to wider audiences when he recorded and toured with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, known particularly for singing their cover of the Savatage power ballad "Believe". After an album and four tours with TSO, Tim connected with Grateful Dead legend Mickey Hart, recording and touring the nation with his brand of freeform, hippie rock. And then in 2012, Hockenberry made a splash on the America's Got Talent television talent show, making it to the semi-finals. As Tim is about to release his first solo album of all original music, he and I got together to discuss his amazing musical odyssey: his musical background, his love for jazz and the trombone, his time spent with TSO and Hart as well as the wonderful new songwriter's delight that is his new self-titled album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> Tim, you are known in musical circles not just for your gravelly voice, but also for your keyboard and trombone playing. Which came first?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Tim Hockenberry:</b> The trombone. I was born in upstate New York, but I didn't really get into doing anything musically until we moved to Michigan. My Dad played the trombone - he played in a lot of Dixieland bands - and he threw one in my direction when I was about 12 years old. I continued wrestling with that until I was about 16 and we moved to Minnesota. It was then that I decided that I wanted to be an orchestral trombonist and started studying it seriously. I went to the University of Minnesota, going for a classical performance degree but also studying jazz while there. I had a really incredible teacher there who was also the principal trombonist with the Minnesota Orchestra. He got me a couple blind auditions in Detroit and Kansas City. It was there that I discovered just how competitive it was to score a position with a major orchestra - over 500 trombonists auditioning for these positions.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Wow. That's some great experience though. Did you do anything in the jazz world?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b>Actually, yes. Clark Terry, who is a legendary jazz trumpet player, came to my school. I was playing in the jazz band at the time, Clark hired me and a saxophonist from the jazz band and we hit the road, touring the Midwest USA in 1983. We got on so well that he scheduled a year in Southern Europe and wanted to take us along. It was such an amazing opportunity. I was only 19 years old at this point. I had to quit school to make this happen. Unfortunately, two weeks before I was supposed to leave for Cork, Ireland, Clark Terry came down with a devastating pinched nerve in his spine and had to have back surgery. When that tour fell through, it really devastated me. This was really my next step to making a living in music and being a professional trombone player.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> That is disappointing, considering what a break it was to be touring with someone as legendary as Clark was.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Yeah, so </span><span style="color: #e69138;">I had already quit school and didn't have any housing so I got into the restaurant business, waiting tables to make money. That was kind of eye opening too - that there was a job that actually paid money! Playing jazz </span><span style="color: #e69138;">is great but there was not a lot of money in it. <i>[Laughs] </i> So while I was making a living waiting tables, I started playing in some funk bands in Minneapolis until my brother invited me to come live with him in Virginia.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #ffd966;"><b>DR:</b> Did you continue your musical path there?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> No, I actually wanted to make a living and got into the serious restaurant business, working at this famous restaurant called The Inn at Little Washington for a few years. From there I eventually moved to New York and then New Jersey, waiting tables and pouring beer. My music had just stopped.</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;"> I basically hadn't been involved in anything musical in about ten years.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Today, you are a pretty well-known musician in the Bay Area. How did you wind up there?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> A couple deadheads that I got to know while working in New Jersey wanted to move to California, and they asked me to drive one of their cars out there. I loaded up my dog - I had a 160 lb. St Bernard Malamute - and all of my musical stuff and moved to California with these guys. I had planned to come back but wound up settling in Sonoma Valley. I got a really hot-shot waiting gig at Auberge du Soleil, which was a very fancy restaurant in the Napa Valley.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Were you doing anything musically at this point?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> No, but I really wanted to get back into it. I actually went out and bought a trumpet. I always wanted to learn trumpet, so I started spending some time with that, just to get back into music. I wound up bartending at this Irish bar in Napa Valley and they had really bad live music there. So on Halloween night, I dressed up like Michael Bolton and sang, "When a Man loves a Woman" with a small Casio keyboard. I had never sang or played keyboard in front of anyone at that point, and I was almost 30 years old. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Well considering your voice, that had to have surprised some there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Yeah, I got a lot of love from that moment. It was like "<i>Damn! The Bartender can sing!</i>" <i>[Laughs]</i> The next day the owner of the bar fired me and told me that he would rehire me to sing there instead. I told him that I only knew like two songs and he told me that I had better learn some more. [<i>Laughs]</i> Then a couple of my regular customers that drank there all the time went out and bought me a full-sized keyboard!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">That right there stopped my whole restaurant career in its tracks. I locked myself in a room and learned how to play keyboards and sing at the same time. So now, I had this new singing gig at the Irish bar and I started playing Sundays at this wonderful bakery owned by Alexis Handleman. Alexis didn't pay me, but she did feed me, which was major - I was literally a starving artist at that point. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">One thing led to another and I met a guitarist, formed a duo with him and started getting gigs around town. And from there I got into the society thing in Napa and San Francisco. That led to more gigs around San Francisco and forming a couple different bands. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Sounds like a late start, but a start nonetheless, to a promising music career.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> It did. Except right around then I got married and we had two kids right away. For the next fifteen years or so, I continued to plug away and play the area but I stuck close to home to raise the family. That got me into my 40s.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> I know at this point you had some regional success with a Christmas song, and had a couple independently-released solo albums under your belt. Were you making a living with music?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> I was scraping by. I performed in various clubs as a solo act, and sometimes with other musicians. I also got some guest spots working with people like Bonnie Raitt and Sammy Hagar when they needed some trombone. But that "Christmas by the Bay" was a song written by Clark Sterling and Nolan Gasser and it was attached to an entire album. The rest of the album was more Broadway style singing but this song wound up going viral on the radio and now every year it gets massive airplay on three big radio stations here.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Speaking of Christmas music, at what point did you hook up with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I'm a member of this Bohemian club in San Francisco. It's basically a men's art and music camp that gets together for three weeks every year. I was up there one summer, I was about 46 or so, and I met vocalist Kelly Keeling. Kelly was brought in as a guest and he and I really hit it off. We did a couple gigs together and he asked me if I had ever heard of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I had no idea what he was talking about, but he told me I should check them out. They are not my thing, as I am not into that sort of sanitized metal.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">Six months later, he calls me and asks me to email some of my song files to [former TSO Talent Coordinator] Dina Fanai. I asked him what it was for and Kelly says that Paul O'Neil is recording this song called "Believe" and he wants someone that sings just like me. My first response was, <i>"I'm an atheist. Does that matter?"</i> [Laughs] and Kelly says <i>"No, just send the files."</i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim with TSO - 4/21/10 - Detroit, MI<br />
Photo Courtesy James Marvin Phelps</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What did you send Dina?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I sent one of the songs that I had recorded recently. Paul heard it, got in contact and told me that he was emailing over a file of the backing track to "Believe" and he wanted to hear me sing the song over top of that. I didn't care for the demo that he sent; it sounded like everything was real synthetic and I had trouble singing over it. I sat down with my piano, played and recorded "Believe" and sent that back to him. He sent a plane to come get me two days later.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> To record the song?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b>Yeah. He flew me to Florida and we recorded "Believe". I think we did 140 takes in two weeks. <i>[Laughs] </i>Even after all of that, they went back and used the original recording that I did in my garage for the first half of the song. That's what made it on to the finished record. They then combined that with the parts that he liked for the second half of the song that I recorded in Florida.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I am sure you heard the original Savatage version sung by Jon Oliva before recording your version. Did Paul give you any particular direction when recording?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> He just really let me do what I want, but I had to really honor the melody. I could not jazz it up it all. He really didn't want me to sound like Jon. He really wanted me to sound like myself. Frankly, I always thought Jon sounded like Al Stewart on that song. Paul wanted somebody with this gravelly voice to bulldoze his way through the song. I just followed Paul's lead on that. It was always <i>"More stones, More gravel, More chest, More throat!" [Laughs] </i>It was actually a really difficult studio session for me because this literally went on for 8 hours every day for two weeks.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So you never had an audition?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Those two weeks spent in the studio recording that song was my audition. I never auditioned for anybody.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> This was in 2008. Did you sign on for the tour at that point as well?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> No. I really didn't want to do the tour. Paul paid me well for the recording and I flew back to California. A few weeks later, one of their managers calls and asks me if I will head out on tour with them. He made it sound really good - "<i>You only have to sing one song, maybe some backing vocals, comfortable bus, this much money a week. But you are out for three months</i>." I was like, "<i>Three months? That's all the holidays right there away from my kids</i>." At this point, I had a little girl along with my two boys. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Pretty tempting though. TSO was at it's height of touring popularity around this time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> Yeah. They also kept on promising how they were going to do real radio promotion for the song and use my name and really blow the song and my name up big. Their manager kept assuring me that they were going to do things for me that they had never done for any other artist on the tours. None of that ever happened. All they did was the early morning radio to promote the tour and get people to buy tickets.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> They did run an online video contest for it. Were you involved with that at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> No. They were very careful not to put my name anywhere but on the very inside of the liner notes of the record. <i>[Laughs] </i>Trans-Siberian Orchestra is very much like Disneyland. As a performer, you are kind of like Donald Duck. No one knows who you are and they keep you in the shadows. They want 'The Show' to be the star - the lights and the fire.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you enjoy the tours? Their music is much different than what you had been performing up until this point.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim with TSO - 12/13/08 - East Rutherford, NJ<br />
Photo courtesy Jean L. Scrocco</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;">TH: The first year was fun. I had a blast. Luckily, I had let my hair grow out - they are all about hair - so that definitely helped. I had fallen in love with the violinist they had at the time. We had a real good time, but then I found out that she falls in love with a different person every tour. <i>[Laughs] </i>But then I did another tour and another tour and I was not getting along well with the guys from Savatage at all. They all really disliked me because I was out there singing a song that was sacred to them. To them, it was Criss Oliva's song and Jon Oliva was the only one with the license to sing it. To make matters worse, Paul loved me and my voice and he would always make a big deal about me when he would come to a show. The Savatage guys were kind of resentful towards me. Plus I didn't fit their idea of a metal rocker, which I clearly wasn't and didn't aspire to be. <i>[Laughs] </i> They tried to metal me up, but I wasn't really having it. I really don't gravitate to that sort of music. I'm all about R&B , Soul and Jazz. But I definitely did what Paul wanted done on the song. I wasn't taking any liberties.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I enjoyed the Beethoven's Last Night tour the most. Bob Kinkel wrote so much amazing music for that album and tour. And the singers - Chloe Lowery just tore it up. And Rob Evan - they were both fantastic.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Sounds like you at least had a good relationship with Paul. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Yeah and Jon Oliva. Paul was always nervous that I would say the wrong thing. We would do live radio, they would have us introduce ourselves and I would say something like <i>"Hi I'm Tim and I'm an alcoholic." [Laughs] </i> Everyone would laugh but I hear Paul would cringe when he heard it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Besides "Believe", you recorded three other songs for TSO: "Sparks" which was on Nightcastle. "Someday" which wound up coming out later on the Dreams of Fireflies EP and they also had you re-record "Dream Child". Any special recollections from those sessions?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I never got "Someday". It seemed like such a dirge to me. It was actually hard for me to do. It was really out of my range. When I sing, it sounds like I have this big low range, but it's not there. I'm a first tenor. Paul wrote that so low for me. I hear Kayla Reeves does a great job with it on tour.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Why was "Dream Child" re-recorded with you on vocals?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I asked the same question. The singer on the original (Joe Cerisano) sounds great! Paul gets on these trips of </span><i style="color: #e69138;">"Lets repackage this and send it back out"</i><span style="color: #e69138;">. They had me sing it live at a few shows in 2010. I was very nervous performing it live; it was really difficult to memorize that one.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: black;"></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Sparks is one of my favorite songs off of their Nightcastle album.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Sparks was a lot of fun. And that high 'D' on the record - that scream - is Jon Oliva, not me. I could not hit that note. Anything more than a high 'A' and I am done. But Oliva came in and crushed it. He still has it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> So after those four tours, did you leave on your own?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> It was somewhat mutual, I think. During the last tour I was on, in 2010, things were getting really tense between me and some of the other guys on the tour and it just wasn't enjoyable. I went to Adam Lind, their manager, and expressed my concerns. He convinced me to finish out the tour and told me that we would talk again in the Spring. I never heard from him again, which was totally fine by me.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Are you bitter at all with your experience working for them?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> Definitely not bitter. For the most part it was a pretty good time. I did get to experience a major tour and sing in some nice-size arenas and the fans were great. There were just some things along the way that were very disappointing to me, however, and the music itself really isn't in my wheelhouse.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> And from there, you hooked up with Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Yeah, I helped him finish his album and we toured the US.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> You are all over that Mysterium Tremendum album. I really enjoyed that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> It's a cool record! My buddy Ben Yonas produced it. We had a lot of fun putting that together. Then we hit the road and had a blast touring that record. We had a great band. Gawain Mathews joined us on guitar - he is a genius. Eighty-percent of that tour was really fun, Twenty percent was a nightmare. Talk about the opposite of Trans-Siberian Orchestra! No catering ever, the bus slept 12 and we had 14! <i>[Laughs]</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> But musically you were much more involved and it seemed to fit you a bit better.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Yeah, and we had so much fun. I told Mickey I wanted to play trombone on the tour. He said, <i>"You can play trombone as long as it never sounds like a trombone!" [Laughs] </i>So I bought a pedal rig for it, so every time I picked up my trombone it sounded like a spaceship landing. <i>[Laughs]</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> I noticed that you co-wrote about half of the album. With Robert Hunter writing all of the lyrics, where did you fit in?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b>We would all get in a room together as a group and threw stuff against the wall and see what stuck. It's the kind of music where you can do that. We weren't a bunch of hired guns to perform Mickey's music - we were a band that collaborated.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> One song that always stands out to me is one that you co-wrote, "Let there be Light". It's only four minutes or so on the album, but you really would stretch it out on tour.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I really like that one too. "Cut the Deck" is another that I was very fond of. I really liked doing that tour for the most part. Mickey's one rule was that there were no rules, so we got to try a lot of different things and nothing ever sounded the same twice.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Now having recorded and done some nationwide tours with Mickey Hart and TSO, what did you take away from those experiences that help you going forward?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> I learned how to really go on tour; how to live out of a suitcase. I also learned how to preserve my voice. Some of Mickey's concerts would go on for three hours so I learned how to pace myself vocally.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I would like to switch gears and ask about your appearance and run on America's Got Talent. What led you to going on that show?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I never thought about going on there, to be honest. I always felt I was too old for something like that. I got a call from Natasha Miller, who is now my manager, and she offered me a VIP slot to audition for the show. I had no interest but my 9-year-old daughter, Lola, told me, <i>"This show is the one that takes old people."</i> <i>[Laughs]</i>. So I told Lola that I would do it if she came with me. We went down to the Bill Graham Auditorium and we were ushered into this room with 12 people sitting there. They asked me to sing something, so I asked Lola what I should sing. She said sing "You are so Beautiful". I sang that with her sitting by my side. Things just sort of progressed from there. They kept moving me on through the audition process over several weeks. I knew things were getting serious when they started filming me backstage and asking me about my background.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The running storyline that they kept pushing each week was that you were almost 50 and a recovering alcoholic. No mention of your prior work at all.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b>During interviews, I mentioned to them that I had times where I was in rehab and worked through it. The producers told me to continue talking about that and to make that my backstory. At the time, I wasn't drinking, so I went with it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> As you appeared each week, you certainly had the support of many TSO fans who were actively promoting your appearances. However, there was quite a loud faction of TSO fans on social media that felt you shouldn't have been on there since weren't an amateur and you had already been successful by touring with TSO.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> Successful? Where's my mansion? Where's my big car? Doesn't some sort of financial security come along with being successful? <i>[Laughs] </i>I get where they were coming from though because I have had some success compared to most musicians in the world. Compared to the successful ones though? No. I certainly had not achieved any fame behind my name, but the show wanted to promote this rags to riches story.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> I know you only got 90 seconds for each performance, but did you ever consider singing "Believe" on the show?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;">TH: I actually did. It would only be the front half of the song, and not singing the back half would be a little weird to me. Also, I was a little resentful. TSO lured me into their show with all of these promises about how much they were going to promote that song and me as the vocalist. Since they never did their job, why should I turn around and promote their song to 14 million viewers? In retrospect, it might have been smart - there are many TSO fans out there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Did you ever tire of the Joe Cocker references?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I get it - we have similar style voices. But I don't think I sound a thing like Joe Cocker. I knew when I sang "You Are So Beautiful" the kind of comparisons that were coming. Billy Preston wrote that song and sang it first. But as soon as anyone hears someone that remotely sounds like Joe Cocker sing it, those are the only comparisons you hear. They kept bringing it up. That was a struggle to overcome that every week.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Were you enjoying yourself through the process? You made it to the semi-finals. Were you getting excited about winning?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I was until I finally read the contract that I had signed. The contract states that if you win, they own you for seven years. You are signed to work for them in Las Vegas, six nights a week, for $1000 a week. They own 75% of all of your publishing retroactively for ten years. I talked to my lawyer about it and he told me that I need to get off the show. <i>[Laughs] </i>At this point I certainly had the competitive spirit and wanted to win, but not at that cost. So for the next song, I chose John Lennon's "Imagine". The first line is "<i>Imagine there is no heaven</i>", which right there should kill most of the Midwest vote. I knew it would not go over well because of that first line and I wanted to be voted off the show, and that's what we did. I was happy about that.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR</b>: That was a great performance though, with Dave Eggar on cello.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b>Yeah, we tried a couple different versions. I flew my guitar player out and he was going to play with us as a trio. Then we tried something really stripped down with just me singing to the cello. The producers stepped in and said they wanted me to play the keys also, so I agreed to that. We wound up doing this really minimalist arrangement. I was so nervous - if you listen to the first note that comes out of my mouth, it is out of tune.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You have a new self-titled solo album that is all original material. I know you have had a couple previous albums that consisted mostly of cover tunes. What made you want to release a record of all of your original songs?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> My manager, Natasha Miller, was encouraging me to release a new album and she was pushing me to write some new songs. I was going through a really bad breakup at the time with my girlfriend and I sat down and wrote a couple songs about that. I also had been writing another song about the relationship I had with my ex-wife. In addition, I had a few songs that I had written while on tour with TSO. I had a couple songs that I wrote with James Lewis but they didn't make the cut for this album. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you record the album in the Bay Area?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b>Yes. I recorded the whole album with Justin Miller, Natasha's incredibly talented brother. We did the whole album in his apartment. I was pretty much hands-off. I would come in and play the piano or sing the vocal track and Justin would sculpt the whole thing. He is an amazing musician and I am so impressed with the job he did on this record. He brought in some musicians he knows from Nashville and the Bay Area and it really came together well.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> How is this album different from your previous solo releases?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Well my first album, <i>Pennies from Heaven</i>, is a straight jazz record. I had hired this great jazz band called The Blue Room Boys that played jazz classics from the '20s and '30s and were fantastic. I sang and added trombone. We recorded a bunch of classic jazz tunes and t</span></span></span><span style="color: #e69138;">he whole thing took eight hours from start to finish.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">My second record was <i>Mostly Dylan</i>, an album of mostly Bob Dylan's music that I did with Tom Corwin and Bonnie Raitt's band. My favorite track from that record was a song called "My Back Pages", which is a song that I wrote for my son who was being picked on at school.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">My next record was <i>Back in Your Arms</i> with George Daly, who was a major record industry executive. It's a long story but we were supposed to be signed to a major label for this one but things wound up falling through. I recorded it entirely in my basement. George Marinelli from Bonnie Raitt's band came in and played most of the guitar work on there and did a great job. I really liked this album; it was a mix of cover songs that I enjoyed playing and a few originals.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">Then my last record was The List, which is all cover tunes. That was sort of a boutique thing, where my friends from the Bohemian club helped fund that. It didn't have a label behind it; we just released it as a download. I think my favorite track from that album was the remake I did of Billy Joel's "And So it Goes".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>You mentioned some of your favorite tracks from your previous albums. Do you have a favorite song on the new album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> I really like "Little Angel". I love what Justin did with that one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">I really like another song on there called "I've Got Nothin (Better To Do)". That song came about from one day I called my manager and asked her if she was busy. She said, <i>"Now Tim, You know I've got nothing better to do than you." </i> That was such a great line that I went and wrote a song from that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">"This Time By Me" is a song that was on my </span><span style="color: #e69138;"><i>Back in Your Arms</i> album that I wanted to remake. I was never happy with the way it came out on that album and then a couple years ago my co-writer on that, Tim Johnson, passed away. It's a great song that I wanted to be re-recorded and Justin did a great job on that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Tell me about "Carrying You", which really stands out on the album and is a favorite of mine.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Each year before I would leave for TSO rehearsals, my daughter and I would pack up a bike with sleeping bags, ride up Mt. Tamalpais and we would spend a night in up in these cabins at the top of this mountain. In 2009, after we spent the night up there, I took her to school and then flew to Omaha for rehearsals. I wrote "Carrying You" while on tour that year with TSO, thinking about carrying her up that mountain. I try to stay away from corny, heartfelt, human-interest songs, but this one just sort of fell out of me while I was on the tour bus. I left right before Halloween and came back right after New Year's. That was rough as I was thinking of her that tour.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> There are two songs on the album that you co-wrote with your sons. "Me and You", written with Maxx is a great album opener.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Maxx and I wrote that on Christmas Day 2012. He was having some relationship problems and I suggested we write a song about it. Within an hour, we had finished the song and we put it up on YouTube - just he and I on guitars and Maxx singing it. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;">When I went to record it for this album, Maxx originally had sung the second verse. We wound up taking it out though and replacing it with mine. His voice is so remarkably different from mine that it sounds a little out of left field on there. The mandolin on here is played by Gawain Mathews, from Mickey's band.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> I love the line in there "We're just an ordinary version of a complicated situation"</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b><i>[Laughs] </i>I think that's his line. He is such a brilliant songwriter but he doesn't want to do that for a living. He has more sense than I do.<i> [Laughs]</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> "If the Sky Was to Fall" was written with your son Jack?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Yes. I wanted to call it "Down on You", but got shot down. That could imply something else entirely.<i> [Laughs] </i>Jack wrote about eighty percent of the song. He wrote the lyrics and the melody. I wrote the bridge. That song sort of just fell out of him. He has a pretty cool sense of melody.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Any plans to tour to promote the record?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH:</b> I'm not sure. If something breaks, then yes. Our strategy is that we are going to shop it hard not just to radio but also to Hollywood for movie soundtrack placement. I wrote mostly about relationships on this album - relationships with my daughter, with my girlfriend, with my ex-wife</span></span></span><span style="color: #e69138;">. There is a lot that could fit into the Hollywood world.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Thanks for taking the time for this, Tim.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TH: </b> Thank you! Enjoy the new album!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;">For more information:</span><br /><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="https://talent.entireproductions.com/talent/tim-hockenberry"><span style="color: white;">https://talent.entireproductions.com/talent/tim-hockenberry</span></a></span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/tim.hockenberry.583600263"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/tim.hockenberry.583600263</span></a></span>
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/user68168251"><span style="color: white;">https://vimeo.com/user68168251</span></a></span></span>Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-55237391518899936602015-10-31T20:15:00.002-07:002022-04-17T15:32:00.458-07:00A Conversation with Bart Shatto<span style="color: #e06666;">Over the last two decades, Actor/Singer Bart Shatto could be found in many places: Carnegie Hall, National tours of Broadway shows, Disney cartoons, major motion pictures,</span><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"> the Broadway Stage itself, and even in an Old City Bar</span>. Hailing from Peoria, Illinois, Shatto has climbed the ladder, performing in Tony-nominated Broadway shows and the acclaimed yearly tours of the rock theater Trans-Siberian Orchestra production. With TSO, Bart brought his keen sense of theatricality to their stage and created an iconic character that millions of their fans adore. Bart </span><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;">continues to hone his craft and reinvent himself as he </span></span>prepares to head out on his </span><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;">eleventh national tour with TSO. He and I met over lunch and talked at length about his varied career, and what he calls "the best job he has ever had".</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>Dan Roth: </b> Bart, Let's kick this off by talking about your background. Today you are well known both as an actor and a singer. Did you always want to be an entertainer?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Bart Shatto: </b> Ever since I was two years old, I wanted to be an actor. I was highly influenced by movies. Growing up in Peoria, Illinois, Robert Redford was my favorite actor. Musically, I was influenced by singers like Bob Seger, Michael McDonald, and John Cougar Mellencamp. Also Gary Richrath from REO Speedwagon came from my hometown and I loved their music. Most influential though was Dan Fogelberg, who also came from my hometown. My aunt used to babysit him in fact. I am highly influenced by his voice and his songwriting style. Take the albums where he collaborated with flutist Tim Weisberg - they just explored different genres of music, just fantastic stuff. He was someone that I looked up to and felt "<i>I want to be that guy!</i>". I never wanted to be a Broadway actor. I really wanted to act in TV or film and to be a singer fronting a rock band. But then musical theater kind of took over and my aspirations to front a rock band went by the wayside.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I had read that when you were in high school, you were spotted by a talent scout to read for the role of the "The Geek" in the <i>The Breakfast Club</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yes. I read with John Hughes in Chicago. I was 16 years old and in Chicago with my Aunt, my mom, and my brother for a big combined audition thing for different theaters and I was spotted by a scout for that role. They gave me parts of the script, where the character breaks down and talks about committing suicide. I am sitting there with John Hughes and he is giving me notes and I take a pen off of his desk and start writing down these notes. I read the scene a couple times and I was done, so I go downstairs and my mom asks me how it went. I said, "<i>I don't know, but I think I stole John Hughes' pen.</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> It was such a surreal thing. It was a cool opportunity</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You got serious with acting in high school and college?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yeah, I went to college for theater but dropped out after the third year to work professionally.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>I know you appeared in such musicals as <i>Cats, Les Miserables</i>, and <i>The Civil War</i>. Was there anything that you considered to be your big break into this world?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> I worked with Jim Caruso as part of a musical comedy trio known as Wiseguys. With Wiseguys, we played Carnegie Hall with Rosemary Clooney. This was my entre into the world of Cabaret in New York. That is where I was introduced to people like Michael Feinstein and Liza Minnelli, so Wiseguys was an important step. But my big breaks were <i>The Civil War</i> and <i>Les Miserables</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Do you have a favorite role of all those that you have done?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Valjean would be my favorite</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Which role has been the most musically and physically challenging?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Valjean was definitely the most challenging, every which way. I think <i>Jekyll and Hyde</i> was just as hard though.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What do you look for in a role?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>I look for a character who is going on some sort of journey. A journey of finding himself - good, bad, ugly, whatever. I am interested in those characters with an anvil on their back and a dark past, trying to find light.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Do you prefer roles that have a singing component?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Not necessarily.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I was thinking of your role in the recent motion picture,<i> Freedom</i>. Your character is singing "I'm on my way to Canaan's Land".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>Yeah. Well, that was a real sacred song that was sung in those days. That was me singing and I also did the high harmonies on that. It was great fun to get to sing and record that song for the movie, but it wasn't essential to my desire for the role.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Carving out three months of the year for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra position must present some real challenges in securing a role in a Broadway show or touring production.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yes it can. [<i>Laughs</i>] I have lost a couple agents over me being in TSO because they don't like me being gone during pilot and episodic season. The fact that I am gone for such a long period of time makes managers and agents very angry.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> I have seen you in plays and musicals during TSO's "off season". Can you describe what the rest of the year is like for you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> I audition for regional theater, television, film, and Broadway.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Now if you get further along in the Broadway call backs...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> I have to make a tough decision. This actually came up this year, as the creative team for a show that is coming to Broadway next season wanted to see me and I had to say, "<i>no</i>". So, yes, I have had to make some compromises while working for TSO. It's very difficult in the Broadway world.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Speaking of TSO, let's dive in a bit to your long history with them. We know you came aboard the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour in 2002, joining the West cast and taking over for John Margolis. John sang the original "Old City Bar" on the record and then sang it live. Did you ever get to meet with him?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>Never met him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Did you listen to his original recording before auditioning?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> I did. I love "Old City Bar" so much because it reminds me of Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" and I love Croce's music.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I know this was early on, but did you go through an audition process to land this role?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> I did. They had me sing "Old City Bar "and "Ornament". It was a unique audition for me, as it was held in this dimly lit recording studio. At first, all I had to sing was "Old City Bar". I literally had it in front of me on a music stand with a light shining on it. The only two people there were Paul O'Neill in his dark glasses and Taro Meyer, the other producer that was working there at the time and I could barely even see them. They played the track and I got into the zone and sang the song, loving every moment of this. When I was done, Paul says "<i>That was fucking God" </i>which is an expression he often uses. He says "<i>I believe that your soul just spoke to my soul when you just sang that.</i>". I was like "<i>Who is this guy and what is he saying to me?"</i> [<i>Laughs</i>] I was kind of taken aback by the response. I was just singing the song as Bart, but I was interpreting it. It was by far the strangest audition that I ever had.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Was this when they had a casting director to find talent?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yes! They had hired Dave Clemmons to be the TSO casting director and he had cast me in my first Broadway musical, <i>The Civil War</i>. Dave was casting a lot of Broadway shows, a lot of Frank Wildhorn's stuff, so Dave had this arsenal of some of the best rock/Broadway singers in New York. He knew all of these singers. They wanted a rock singer who had a sense of theatricality about them and that is why Dave brought me in.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Were you familiar with Trans-Siberian Orchestra before this audition?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> I knew the name, but didn't know what it was. I worked with Michael Lanning in <i>The Civil War</i> and he would tell me how he was going on the road with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I remember thinking "<i>What the heck is that?</i> <i>You're going to Transylvania? Siberia? To perform?</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>]. Michael would talk about this thing every year and how much fun he was having. And then my friend Rod Weber tells me that he was going on tour with them too. I am hearing that it's rock music with an orchestra but the music is all Christmas? It sounded like the most ridiculous thing in the world to me, until I got called in for it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> So you had already worked with Michael Lanning and Rod Weber. Were there any other folks from TSO that you had worked with earlier?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> I had done a reading of a musical version of <i>Joan of Arc</i> with Rob Evan. I knew of Rob from <i>Jekyll & Hyde</i> and how amazing he was. Rob came up to me during the workshop after hearing me sing and told me, "<i>You're going to play Valjean one of these days</i>". This was in 1997 and at that point I hadn't been seen for Les Mis yet. Three years later I was playing Valjean on Broadway. That's one thing about Rob - he is the most giving and supportive guy. He has climbed that ladder but he is always willing to lend a hand and help people up. I also worked with him in the <i>The Civil War</i> production in Gettysburg.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Margolis used to perform Old City Bar in the tux that everyone was wearing. Did you go right into going method with it and adopting the persona and costume of the character?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> No, it didn't start off that way. That came about from my fear of being fired. It was a complete gut reaction of fear. This was back when we were rehearsing in the studios in Connecticut and I was singing it the way Bart would sing it. It wasn't working; it wasn't landing. I knew it wasn't working and no one was happy. Paul finally suggested, "<i>What if we put him in costume?</i>". That's all Paul had to say, so I decided to create this character. He was an old jazz musician that was washed up and now living on the streets. He wasn't schizophrenic but he was homeless and I played him much older as well. After Paul's suggestion, I went to Salvation Army and picked up a coat and some things and dressed as this character and went to catering. I went through the line, got food and everything and no one recognized me. I then got up and sang the song as this character and it finally landed.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bart Shatto - December 2010<br />
Photo Courtesy Cindy Wagner</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;">I knew I was really on to something here. It eventually morphed in to this whole "Gerald McNally" thing and the schizophrenic idea. (Vocalist) Maxx Mann came up with that name. We had this whole idea that
Gerald lived in the bay of the bus, touring with the group. He was sort
of the mascot for TSO. Gerald was really just a byproduct of my fear of being fired. I was panicked and I had to create something really quick. I had no idea then that it would turn out so incredibly cool and iconic with the TSO fans.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Was that whole experiment of you going through catering as the character what led you to start going out in the arena for what you guys eventually referred to as the "pre-show"?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Yeah. I would be outside the arena or in the concourses, picking through garbage. It got a little weird when people started giving me money though. I was not accepting money but people would give it to me anyway. My character's goal was to go through the garbage cans and gather up as many bottles as I could, so I get something to eat. Sometimes it was like parting the Red Sea, as the fans would just move to either side of me because they were so disgusted by my appearance. I would often get kicked out of the arenas from the complaints, but I always had my cell phone on me so I could get let back in</span>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>The fans would ask security to throw you out?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yes. And Michael Lanning of course. [<i>Laughs</i>] Michael used to take great joy in getting me thrown out of the arenas. I would hear him call security over and say "<i>What's that homeless guy doing here? I can't perform with him around here, he smells.</i>" and security would completely apprehend me and throw me out. [<i>Laughs</i>] He loved doing that. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">But seriously, to be treated like that as a human being was really tough on my soul after a while. I remember calling my wife at the time, telling her that I couldn't handle doing this anymore. She would always tell me what a wonderful thing it was that I was doing, holding a mirror up to society. When I went up on stage and the fans realized who I was, it was a really great lesson. She would always advise me to keep doing what I was doing. It was an interesting human experiment that I was trying to create. It all stopped after a show in Las Vegas where a fan there gave me money, saw me later on stage, and then called the TSO offices complaining that we were pulling a scam. It bothered me because at that time, I would take the money that people would try to give me and we were using it to buy gifts for the kids at St. Jude. Sadly, that all came to an end after that complaint because TSO did not want fans to get the wrong idea, and I totally understand that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> None of this was happening with the East Coast touring troupe, and Steve Broderick who was singing the song for them.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> No, this was all me. I like doing these things which are super risky. Being in character and seeing how people react in these situations was something that I enjoyed doing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Did you work with Steve Broderick or the others who came after him in developing that character for the East?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> I worked a little with Steve in the end days, hoping to impart what I could.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Was it a challenge to get into character for the pre-show and then back into the tux for singing backing vocals, then back into the costume for "Old City Bar"?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Singing backing vocals before "Old City Bar" stopped when I started the pre-show. I started doing the pre-show before the audience started coming into the arenas. I would prep around 6:00 and start the pre-show around 45 minutes before the start of the show. I would be out there until the first or second song and then I would come back in, so they allowed me to stop doing the background singing. So I would literally be doing the pre-show for 45 minutes while in character and then stay in costume until I would come out and do Gerald for "Old City Bar".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> There was a tour or two where you sang a portion of the song with Al Pitrelli, harmonizing on a verse. Can you talk about that and why that stopped?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Paul took that away. That went against the template that had been set for this song. I loved singing it with Al. I loved that kind of camaraderie in the song. I thought Gerald was nothing without Al being there and singing with him brought Al as a character into the scene. It gave Al more to do and made him more of an active participant, but Paul changed it one year to being just single solitary me. He wanted the spotlight to be on me and the song. He was going back to his original template and the basics.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDc3gOvha_V0SNz1g7lS9-P_ERwWCXhRsPPjsvb8e-prM6aFcNbTKzfCIdsBXXjtlD6zvzWddW1iuIvq_WTvlA6T5LjKN4-64ifdBocCn0QJYGZjvUDy6OPJPtJaSRLhDwhe7Ql6JwRXOK/s1600/BartAndAl2005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDc3gOvha_V0SNz1g7lS9-P_ERwWCXhRsPPjsvb8e-prM6aFcNbTKzfCIdsBXXjtlD6zvzWddW1iuIvq_WTvlA6T5LjKN4-64ifdBocCn0QJYGZjvUDy6OPJPtJaSRLhDwhe7Ql6JwRXOK/s400/BartAndAl2005.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bart Shatto and Al Pitrelli - December 27, 2005 Minneapolis, MN <br />
Photo Courtesy Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Do you approach "Old City Bar" as an acting role or vocal performance?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> It is one of the only theatrical moments in the show and that's what makes it stand out to be so iconic. I think people want that. I think people are looking for a break in the show and this is the only intimate number. It's a moment where it is just acoustic guitar and very theatrical at the same time. It is a real defining moment because it is such a departure from the rest of the show and that is what makes it so interesting and unique. Could there be more theatricality in the show? Yes. I think that comes in with the flames and the lights.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;">But as far as that number itself, I will always first and foremost be a singer. That blending of acting and singing is what I do best and is sort of my "super power". I take great pride in commingling the acting and singing - a lot of people can't do it and I take great pride in being able to pull it off so well. That moment is a wonderful opportunity to really display my talents at their best.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Have you ever felt out of place being the only performer dressed in character on the stage?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yes. I think I have always felt like an outsider within the group and as a performer. I don't think it's a bad thing. In the end, we're all outsiders and I feel like I represent that. The core of people that are attracted to TSO are kind of like the <i>Island of Misfit Toys </i>[<i>Laughs</i>] and Gerald is like the king of them. So it definitely represents how I feel being part of the band - I feel blessed but I feel like an outsider that doesn't really belong. I like to immerse myself in a character so I don't have to be "Bart" because Bart doesn't feel like a star. I like to hide behind the character a bit. Doing "Dream Child" was tough because I was out there as me.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bart Shatto - December 2014<br />
Photo Courtesy Cindy Wagner</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;">I don't feel like a cool rock star when I am on that stage. I let the rock stars act that way. [<i>Laughs</i>] I am a bit starstruck of some of these performers like Jeff Scott Soto who have built their careers as a rock star. We are really a melting pot, blending together all of these "misfits", doing what we do best, mixed together to create something fresh and new and innovative.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;">Taking that two year hiatus (2012-2013) and returning makes me feel even more blessed. Being able to go on that stage and perform for 8,000 people when most of year I am performing in small black box stages for less than a hundred people is a blessing. They understand the passion that I have for the music and for what I am given to do. Paul is taking this song that he wrote and handing it to me as a gift, basically saying, "<i>Here, I wrote this. Now use your talents to interpret this.</i>".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I understand that over the 11 years that you have toured with the TSO Show, you only missed one.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Yes. I broke my ribs while on tour and I missed a show. Tommy Farese filled in and sang "Old City Bar". To this day, Tommy brings that up with me and reminds me how "his version" was the way to go. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> "His version" was done at a quicker tempo than you do.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Well, it is slowed down in concert. All of the music is slowed down in the Show. I think Paul wants that music savored. He wants everyone to listen to every note and for it to be a real live experience, not a carbon copy of what people listen to on the CD. He wants that music slowed down for effect. Everything Paul does has an effect.and has a meaning and you can't question it. It may seem insane to people, but he has a very specific idea of why he is doing it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>You mentioned "Dream Child" earlier, which is the song that you performed on the 2014 tour. Can you talk a bit about that?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>
I really felt that "Dream Child" was the best song of the set. I don't
mean that egotistically; I feel it is one of the best songs that he has
written. I really didn't feel that I get the best reaction/result from
the song, but I still firmly believe in the song as an integral part of
what TSO is. Like "Old City Bar", I love the journey that this man in the
song takes. Maybe because it's more of a spiritual journey that I am
interested in as an artist and as a person. This song is about making
choices that don't serve you and hurting other people, which I can
relate to in my personal life. It really came along at an interesting
time, as I was going through some things in my life where I was looking
at friendships that I have and people that I have hurt in my life, and
here is this song that I was asked to do which really tied in to what I
was going through.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> And once again, you were on stage bringing that character to life. It seemed to evolve as the tour went on, as you added <span class="null">a pseudo military look with the jacket and the pants tucked into combat boots. Even your vocal delivery seemed to evolve a bit.</span></span><br />
<span class="null"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span class="null"><b>BS: </b> Yes, I explored that more on the road as Al had suggested that we needed to make the song more interesting from a physicality standpoint. I started watching a Peter Gabriel concert video and drew a lot of influence from that. I know not everyone understood what I was doing, but everything I did - from removing the jacket and taking off the dog tags - all had a meaning. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>So you are still given some artistic freedom and leeway to develop the character?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Yes, as long as it's honest. As an actor, you have to be true to the text of the playwright and also true to the character's objective. And in this case you also have to be true to Paul's vision. We get plenty of time at the rehearsals in Omaha to work on things. I love being in a room with Paul, Jon and Al and listening to their stories of where they want this thing to go. You have to find your character within the parameters of that world.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;">As far as creativity is concerned, yes. It depends on what you are allowed to get away with. I like to push the buttons from a creativity standpoint. I've done strange things with "Old City Bar" where I get out a lawnchair and sit down or I am unpacking a bag, and Paul hated it. [<i>Laughs</i>] I went for comedy bits where I pulled out aerosol spray under the arms and I was pulled back. I am notorious for pushing the parameters and I like pushing the envelope. I always had that bottle with me. Al Pitrelli and I created that
little interaction where I would offer him a swig from the bottle. I
used to smoke on stage as well, until the fire codes changed and they
had to cut that part.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> That is sort of ironic. You can't smoke a cigarette on stage but they can shoot these giant flames right behind you. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Exactly. [<i>Laughs</i>] </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> I understand you were given that song quite some time before the 2014 tour.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b>
Yes. They were looking at that song for the <i>Lost Christmas Eve</i> tours
(2012-2013) and I had been working on it for quite some time. There was one
incarnation in particular that I did was when I was at the Residence Inn after
Hurricane Sandy. We were evacuated from our home, so we were staying at
this hotel. I was doing Skype sessions with Danielle Sample, where she
would coach me and we would tape my performances. The take that I did in
that hotel room on Skype is the one that Paul says is the topography
for the perfect "Dream Child". Keep in mind that I am working in this
hotel room, wearing sweats and without a mic - but that take is what
Paul saw and what he wanted for the show.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So the original thought was to have you performing this song for the <i>Lost Christmas Eve</i> tour?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b>
Yes, but at the last minute they decided that there were too many
ballads. I was told just before the tour that they weren't going to be
using me or the song. I was disappointed, but I understood. That's when I booked my Broadway show (<i>Hands on a Hardbody</i>) and my film (<i>Freedom</i>) because I suddenly didn't have TSO to lean on and I got to work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Robin Borneman sang "Dream Child" with the East Coast cast. Did you two work together at all?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>Robin had a completely different interpretation than I did, and Paul loved his as well. Our voices are completely different. We rehearsed together side by side in this small studio with Paul, Jon, Al and Danielle. He would get up and do it, then I would get up and do it. I was nervous because here I am singing a new song for the first time in ten years, but I knew my version had set the template. But then I have this other younger guy coming in and singing "my" song - it can get very territorial, but the sense of competition has to go out the window.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;">With Robin, I fell in love with his gift and his interpretation. We were artists bringing in two completely different interpretations, both musically and acting wise that worked within the template.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> As a performer, you certainly want to please the audience as well as pleasing your boss.</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> The question is "<i>Who do you satisfy?</i>". If you can find an alignment of satisfying Paul, pacifying the fans and appease yourself creatively, you have gold. The problem is that if you satisfy Paul, you may not satisfy the fans. TSO is Paul's baby and his vision. I pushed the parameters with "Dream Child" because he really didn't want me to do a lot of blocking and movement. He stopped me several times, but I still continued to do it and that appeased the fans. That's the risk that I take.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> New Years Eve 2013, you made an appearance singing along side Steve Broderick, Chris Pinnella and Jay Pierce at the TSO East performance at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Can you talk about that experience?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> After a two year's hiatus from the group, I didn't think I would be back on stage with them. I thought my years with TSO were done. When they called me for this show I had hope that I might still be part of the band. It was great because I got to perform with the East Coast band, who I never got to spend any time with. It was great to spend time with them in this foreign place, even though it was such a short time. We were literally on the plane longer than we were actually in Berlin.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>The performance itself was around nine minutes long?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yes! Everything was so fast-paced and intense. I knew it was going to be something really special.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Did you guys rehearse together at all before being flown over?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> No, we had backup tracks to rehearse with. We all knew the song. [<i>Sings Priusquam praesens...</i>]</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>It had been reported that the music for all of the bands that night was canned. Were the vocals done live?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>Oh yes, all of the vocals were live. We were singing our asses off!</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Many of your bandmates from those formative years of TSO often bring up the family aspect of the cast back then, how they bonded and really connected with each other. Do you feel the same way? Do you miss that?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>Here's the deal: It's a job. Sometimes you love your job, sometimes you hate your job. Sometimes while at work you might connect with a person or two, but you won't always connect with everybody. Is it a family? I guess. I have been with them for twelve years, so I have a "TSO family", but you have a job to do. My job is to do what Paul tells me to do and that is to carry out his vision. He is the head of the family and he sets the parameters. You do what Dad tells you to do. We as recalcitrant teenagers like to push Dad. To the brink. Of Insanity. [<i>Laughs</i>] If we push Dad a little too far, we can find ourselves in trouble with the law. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBO4AokJEaDY4LxNmhYMkv2JH6tiKzISA5wk2kDg_IkXgYJrlAjgj0QpFch0vHzxt4z-jyG7S4gvNRA0aufHPtr1YOy5nE9OSipzX0v2glgOB9rg6CfyF3fvV9qAaFDoZVWTNfyk74APYr/s1600/Bart2007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBO4AokJEaDY4LxNmhYMkv2JH6tiKzISA5wk2kDg_IkXgYJrlAjgj0QpFch0vHzxt4z-jyG7S4gvNRA0aufHPtr1YOy5nE9OSipzX0v2glgOB9rg6CfyF3fvV9qAaFDoZVWTNfyk74APYr/s640/Bart2007.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bart Shatto - January 4, 2008 Moline, IL <br />
Photo Courtesy Brian Reichow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;">What it comes down to is this: It's a job and its the best job I have ever had. There is a family feel to it and Paul picks his people very wisely and I think the people that he picks belong in the family because of their energy and their essence. We are there to carry out Paul's vision and it is our job to do what Paul tells us without compromising our own creative integrity. I trust Paul's vision and what he is doing is right for the fans and right for the show.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;">It is also very important to remember that we as performers are representing this brand. TSO is a multi-million dollar corporation, so we need to maintain the integrity of the brand. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> TSO has done three non-Winter tours that had a bit more theatricality to them for the <i>Beethoven's Last Night </i>album. I understand that you had worked up a a presentation for the Twist character.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Yes. They approached me about learning material for those tours. I learned the Beethoven songs that Rob Evan eventually sang and I learned the songs for the Twist character. I really wanted to be part of that production. I really am trying to reinvent myself within this organization. I love doing "Old City Bar" but I want to be considered one of the other guys that can get out there in front of the band and do a great job. I am constantly working on my instrument; I am working with an opera teacher to make my voice stronger because that is what Paul wants. I will continue to do that as long as I am with this organization so Paul can see me in a different light.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Do you ever see yourself recording or performing as a solo music act?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>
Yes! It's always been my dream to do sort of a combination of John
Leguizamo's <i>Ghetto Klown</i> and a cabaret act. It would be stories of my
crazy life and then infused with rock 'n roll and Broadway songs.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>What are you thinking for this solo album? Original material? Cover songs?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b>
It would be mostly Broadway material with a couple rock tunes
interspersed. I would love to get Al Pitrelli and Jane Mangini to be
involved in it and create songs with a rock edge to them, like "Music of
the Night" from <i>Phantom</i> or "Bring Him Home" from <i>Les Mis</i>. I want to
blend his sensibilities with my musical theater acumen and see what we
create. I would also want to record my version of "Old City Bar" and "Dream Child" on there, with hopefully Al playing the guitar. I just love those two songs and they really represent what I have done with TSO.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Nice. Looking forward to that! This
past summer you went back to your hometown of Peoria and performed <i>The
Secret Garden</i>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Yes. I did <i>The
Secret Garden</i>
for four or five weeks, did my cabaret show for two sold-out nights and
taught some workshops as well.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Do you feel a bit like a conquering hero, returning to Peoria to perform?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b>
I did! And I feel like I left on a really high note. I did tons of
press while there and it was just an incredible experience for me. I had
never really felt appreciated in Peoria while on tour with TSO or <i>Les
Mis</i>; I would get a lukewarm reception when our tours would come through
there. I am very proud of my hometown and for the first time after all
of these years, I was really celebrated by being there. I've come full
circle.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> We talked a little about the <i>Freedom</i>
motion picture that you recently appeared in along with Cuba Gooding Jr.
Did that come about just from auditioning?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> Yes.
They brought in all different types of people for that role. Rob Evan
auditioned for it as well. I was told that it was offered to Lyle Lovett
but he had a conflict and wasn't able to do it. I thought it was cool
role, as McGee (the character) had sort of a journey as well. His
journey is very similar to the one of the character that Bill Sadler
plays. I felt that McGee had been hunting down slaves for a long time
and that he decided to do something completely different with his life
and and start helping them. Of course he pays a very high price for it at the
end. That is the backstory that I created and this character was
actually helping other people but had a dark, seedier life before that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>And one other role I wanted to ask about was your voice over work in the Disney cartoon <i>Gaspard and Lisa</i>. You did the voice for Gaspard's Papa. Was that the first time you had done animated voiceovers?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> Yes.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Is that challenging? Do you work with the other voice actors at the same time?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b>
I did it in a studio by myself. In this case, the show was already
pre-recorded by British actors. I actually had to overdub English!
Usually you have to overdub a foreign language, but they wanted American
voices. This was actually more challenging than overdubbing someone
speaking a foreign language. The way the British talk, they enunciate
certain consonants and stretch them out longer than others. It was very
challenging, as I had to watch the animation and match my lines up to
the moving mouth of the character and fit my American-isms in with the
British-isms; it was painstaking.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Can you tell me something about Bart Shatto that fans would be surprised to learn about you?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b>
Hmmm. Well, I played trumpet for ten years. I could play really high
like Herb Alpert. Chuck Mangione was a hero of mine! I love playing
those kind of songs.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> If you hadn't gone into entertainment, what would you be?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> I would be a writer, writing novels or plays. It's solitary work and you're under your own gun. You just create.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Have you ever acted on that at all?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS: </b> No. I would love to at some point but I am just too busy right now.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Lastly, what is next for you?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b>
The TSO tour of course. Then I want to get this cabaret performance
piece up and running. I need to look for a new manager and agent and I
also really want to pursue this solo album that we talked about.
Something else that a partner and I have been talking about is creating
an evening of Phil Collins music show, with myself and some other
Broadway singers come in and reinterpret Phil Collins material. I am also taking a standup comedy course at Gotham Comedy
Club to hopefully create my own standup show.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRFXYJrJ8Y2U9pmzIt-LUZPCktjuh0gr3f6uv2zmcnOJt9YfACQ7hL28ikcvcuRCw8AbIa9GDVQRFbWpCDg-FxlnXup9FT5X9O0elwmYvsQu7hhjr2T0Q3vMNzvJiOo8tFLm-307NRw4Dy/s1600/BartHeadShot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRFXYJrJ8Y2U9pmzIt-LUZPCktjuh0gr3f6uv2zmcnOJt9YfACQ7hL28ikcvcuRCw8AbIa9GDVQRFbWpCDg-FxlnXup9FT5X9O0elwmYvsQu7hhjr2T0Q3vMNzvJiOo8tFLm-307NRw4Dy/s400/BartHeadShot.jpg" width="332" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Great! Thanks so much for the time, Bart.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BS:</b> My pleasure!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
For more information:<br />
<br />
http://www.bartshatto.com<br />
<br />
TSO: http://www.trans-siberian.com<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-77013372308139408322015-01-24T12:46:00.000-08:002015-01-24T14:22:53.821-08:00A Conversation with Guy LeMonnier<span style="color: #e06666;">At 6' 3", Guy LeMonnier often towers over those around him, and for seven years his smooth, powerful baritenor voice set the lofty tone for Trans-Siberian Orchestra's venture into theater-style vocal performances. Millions of TSO fans know Guy as a founding and long-time featured vocalist with their touring show and the voice of "Young Beethoven" from their<i> Beethoven's Last Night</i> rock opera. I caught up with Guy to talk about his TSO legacy as well as his time spent with The Kings of Christmas (the group made up of TSO alum) and his current involvement with Christmas-Prog-Rock sensations, The Wizards of Winter. We also discussed his acting background and his time spent with theater luminaries Frank Wildhorn and Neil Berg, as well as his future in the film and televsion world.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>Dan Roth: </b> I would like to start with Guy LeMonnier, circa:1999. You are on the very first Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour as a featured vocalist. How did you connect with them?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /><b>Guy LeMonnier: </b> Those were the days where I was doing straight up theater, pounding the pavement, and I saw the open audition call. I was very, very ill; my voice was raspy. But, I got up at 6:30 in the evening, went into SIR Studios in the city and there were Paul O'Neill and Bob Kinkel. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Do you remember what you sang for the audition?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> Great question. It may have been something from the musical Rent. I think I also did Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" too. Depending on the audition, I would have some Broadway songs ready and usually something that rode the line between theater and rock.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">But I went in there, was raspy as hell, and they loved me. They claimed that they had seen 2000 people that week, and I know I was the last one that they saw. They adored me until I got in to the studio with them when I was well. I didn't have the same rasp in my voice from being sick. I went into the studio with this clear Jekyll & Hyde theater tone and from there on it was a battle for them to try to get me to sound the way they wanted.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>You were the original "Angel" on their tours, singing "An Angel Came Down" and "The Angel Returned" that first tour and for many tours afterwards. Did you know going in that that was the part they were looking for?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> No. Had no idea. I just went in there, sang what I sung and found out later.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgomDt0Ap-ZweDjcSS-Vqda_RrwsQtvq1H-tCSOLoJIjvwaC18AUfpBusKpJgDSJUgtkCaC7D40rV-aL4VtvYK0tjdD492TirGnYqhtvgIKAZDqarFvxm5Utucxl7qvOVPh1jfXMnhPHNCZ/s1600/GuyCG1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgomDt0Ap-ZweDjcSS-Vqda_RrwsQtvq1H-tCSOLoJIjvwaC18AUfpBusKpJgDSJUgtkCaC7D40rV-aL4VtvYK0tjdD492TirGnYqhtvgIKAZDqarFvxm5Utucxl7qvOVPh1jfXMnhPHNCZ/s1600/GuyCG1.jpg" height="291" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Guy with TSO 2003. Photo Courtesy of Charlie Gow</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you sing any other songs on tour? Or just those two?</span><br /><br />GL: I also sang "Christmas in the Air". If you listen to the original cut of "Christmas in the Air" on the album, it all sits in the basement. There's no dynamic to it, it doesn't climb, there's no high note, no big rock notes. So when they wanted to do it on tour, I sat down with Bob Kinkel and said, "<i>Can we do anything with this song? Can we move and build it and gain some dynamic? Can we end on an up note?</i>". And Bob, with his way, it took him like three seconds and he had the song totally rearranged with big high notes and it was great from there on out.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you know the original vocalist on that song, Jody Ashworth?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> I did! At the same time that I was spending 90 hours a week in the studio with Bob and Paul as they were trying to get me to sound like what they wanted for the Beethoven songs, they got Jody Ashworth singing them in the end. That's gravel; it's like glass scraping and it's a cool sound - but nowhere near any sound that I was going to achieve for those songs. He has a beautiful voice; he even hit those high notes, which was incredible for as low as his voice was.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Can you tell me a little about that first TSO tour in '99? The vocalists then were you, Tommy Farese and Daryl Pediford?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> Yeah, and John Margolis singing "Old City Bar". </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Had you done anything similar to this before?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> It was definitely my first exposure to playing with folks working in the rock world, like Al Pitrelli playing with Alice Cooper and Tommy Farese singing in every rock club on Long Island, so playing with a rock band behind me was definitely new to me. Everything up until then had been musical theater. I remember it didn't pay very much that year, and they had all 14 of us packed on one bus. </span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I had been on tour before, but this was definitely
a 'rock tour'. It wasn't very extravagant, but they made us feel important.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;">They treated us good; you felt like a rock star. You
would don your leather jacket and your boots every October; I grew my
hair out every year for that. [<i>Laughs</i>] That was ultimately a big
issue for me in TSO, that I couldn't grow long hair. The hair is very,
very important in TSO - make or break important. At this point, they
wouldn't hire someone with a buzz cut or really short hair, unless they
could grow it out; it's a big thing for Paul.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you know anyone on the tour before this? Had you worked with anyone?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> No. I was a new hire. In fact, I was one of the first theater vocalists they hired. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"> </span> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vnlfLXoYlKbmHM8lCza01u1mz3qYeUOOa4RgGiYctN1YKYX7e9F44VesUuFW-8Nif5hHtIfzPAjhY0TzDJe04LnXS8FNjobt4q8fn_bCwD0fDJVUReMOhcT3JCMEgYR5gwcPWyeEDhSm/s1600/GuyCG3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vnlfLXoYlKbmHM8lCza01u1mz3qYeUOOa4RgGiYctN1YKYX7e9F44VesUuFW-8Nif5hHtIfzPAjhY0TzDJe04LnXS8FNjobt4q8fn_bCwD0fDJVUReMOhcT3JCMEgYR5gwcPWyeEDhSm/s1600/GuyCG3.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Guy with TSO 2004. Photo Courtesy of Charlie Gow</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Did you ever fill in for another vocalist and sing something different?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> No, my bag was the musical theater bag. And by that rationale, they would never put me on to sing a song like "Music Box Blues" or any of the rock songs. Like many people in the industry, when they paint you in a corner and see you one way, that's what you are to them. They don't have a lot of vision to see what else you might be capable of. I was not the soul/blues guy, I was not the rock guy; I was the musical theater guy.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>So after that first tour, you were not on the TSO stage again until 2002. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b>Correct. I kept on working and picking up other roles. I did Frank Wildhorn's <i>Jekyll & Hyde</i> tour for nine months. I then did his <i>Dracula</i> musical in La Jolla, California.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Did you have to audition again to get back on the TSO tour in 2002?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b>No, they were great about that. I had gotten these other roles and couldn't make it out in 2000 and 2001 and they wanted me back. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>When you returned, the tour was now split into two touring troupes. You are one of a handful of performers that have played in both troupes. Did you have a choice when they added you to the East cast?</span><b><br /><br />GL: </b>No. But I liked being on the East tour because it was close to home. But then Rob Evan came in and I got bumped to the West tour the next year.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;">They used to include vocalists in their backup band. Were you involved in that at all during your time away? Or were you too busy?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">GL: </span></span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I did the backup band for one year after I was fired, just for the paycheck.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> So you were with TSO in 1999, then 2002 through 2006. You were there for the remarkable growth from theaters and smaller venues to the arenas. Now that the lights, stage, risers and effects have grown to as large as they are, many fans seem to long for those early tours when it was less about the spectacle.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b></span> <span style="color: #e69138;">There are some changes in the dynamics of a rising band that are hard to combat, unless you don't care about making money. If it were me, there would be at least three TSO tours going right now. There are cities that they toured for years and they are dumping them. They built fanbases in these cities and they left them. There are fans left that gave their time, money and devotion and now they don't come to their city anymore.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I thought the transition to the arenas was really cool. I had never performed on a stage where I could look up and see three tiers of people. The magic definitely left to some extent, just from the lack of intimacy. But it was necessary and inevitable. In the end, it's all about business. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Even the whole "<i>You've got a job for life</i>" thing that I am sure you have heard from all of the original TSO cast. Was it said? Absolutely. Repeatedly and passionately. Did I ever actually believe that? Even at the tender age of 23 years old? No. This is a business, and absolute statements like that are never valuable in business. </span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;"> For six years, you sang the same two songs at every show. Did it ever get old?</span><b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">GL: </span></span></b>Of course. When you consider that it's about ten minutes of your day that you are on stage. But it never got old when I was in the moment, as I stepped to the mic. I couldn't help but feel that emotion and immerse myself in it when I have a row full of children and families looking up at me. But outside of that time, it absolutely got old. And a big reason for that was because there was no real room for elaborating or creativity. I could stick a little grace note in there and get slapped down that night. I had a whole ending for the "<i>Kyrie among nations</i>" that didn't just sit in that same droll way that everyone was singing - I had an R&B line over top of that that went over big, even Pitrelli and the guys on stage loved it. But it had to be taken out immediately. That's what makes something stale. Do I blame Paul for that? No. Do I think his vision is a little limited? Yes, absolutely. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">You have to remember, the show is backlit for a reason. They would much rather have you see flowing hair and cardboard cutouts than actual people. No one has ever spun a solo career off of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. If you're playing 60 shows a year, twenty thousand people a night - don't you think you would get a following? Never. They don't nurture their own people. You're a tool and you're there for a reason.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Since you were the first one to sing these songs live on tour, did you spend much time trying to emulate the original vocalist? Or did you get much direction on how to deliver them?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> No. I just sang the songs. Here is the thing about those Angel songs though: They are in the basement. The top note is a D above Middle C - you had to have a real low end to your voice. And to be honest, I don't think they have found anyone yet that can hit the bass notes for those songs. They still pulled it off wonderfully, and I think Andrew [Ross] did an amazing job with them on the West tour, but they're not basses. It's not usually particularly useful to be a bass, but with these songs, it would have opened them up so much more.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVS8Exw7BeEVUIP5jFqjsy5S1PLhLo0Iz49R8c-K7qpSyssc8WzBAASBJYfokjXyKPfSSoel9TTv0Gc1mqBqgcHfklI1lcGnBZrMivegHQtNHsm3btX0636kB2OjRcsepg1C622trgVrKJ/s1600/Guy2004g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVS8Exw7BeEVUIP5jFqjsy5S1PLhLo0Iz49R8c-K7qpSyssc8WzBAASBJYfokjXyKPfSSoel9TTv0Gc1mqBqgcHfklI1lcGnBZrMivegHQtNHsm3btX0636kB2OjRcsepg1C622trgVrKJ/s1600/Guy2004g.jpg" height="400" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Guy with TSO 2004. Photo Courtesy of Brian </span><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Reichow </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;">When I sang them, I always had the 'wingspan'. I always did it with my arms outstretched. They used to tease me about it. [<i>Laughs</i>]. But the only direction I would get was to "<i>take out that grace note</i>" or "<i>keep it in the basement and keep that drone going</i>". I know it sounds impressive to the audience that way, but they could have done so much more with those songs. I tried but they didn't like it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You would come out, sing "An Angel Came Down" to kick off the show and then, apart from some occasional chorus vocals, you weren't back out again until the last song, An Angel Returned". How did you pass the time?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">GL: [<i>Laughs</i>] We had a straight-up pisser backstage. We were bored out of our minds! It wasn't about us, it was about the band. They thought it was about them and management thought it was about them. We were just extraneous, until the audience started identifying with us and we helped to grow the brand. But what did we do? We ate a lot! Lunch at 3:00. Here comes dinner at 4:00. And here are the menus for the after-show meal. There were a couple years there where we just got fat! [<i>Laughs</i>]. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span> </b><span style="color: #f1c232;">You were one of the few performers that spent time with, not just the original, but both the East and West casts as well. Can you talk a little about the differences?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"> </span><b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> The East show was always more of the structured template. The West show was "The Wild West" and went very untouched for many years. When you look at the maps of the cities that the East and West troupes travel to, it's hilarious. The East tour would seemingly cover a handful of states, and the West did the rest of the country. [<i>Laughs</i>] </span></span></span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Nobody bothered them - they would travel 700 miles a night, through snow and ice storms - for us it was a rough tour. That alone built so much camaraderie - laying in a bunk in <span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">a bus, heading down the Pacific Coast Highway in an ice storm, you are scared for your life. So we built a real bond on those trips.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">And the West show was so much <span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">more fun. It was much looser and not tied up in the bureaucratic nonsense. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">That came along eventually though.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> Yeah, that came later. Once they took a look out at the shows and said "<i>W</i><i>oah! What's going on out there? They're out their building tens of thousands of fans. We better go and change the shit!</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>]</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Do you keep up on their shows these days?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> Not really. I hear enough from colleagues about the click tracks, the in-ears, the moving light trusses, the direction. If I had to sum the show up today, I would call it "plastic". "Plastic with moving parts". [<i>Laughs</i>] And I mean no offense to the performers, just the show today doesn't breathe like it used to. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b><b> </b>For those that didn't have the pleasure of seeing you perform live, all TSO fans certainly know you as the voice of Young Beethoven, since you sang "Vienna" on their <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i> album.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YG195kNX6uU" width="560"></iframe>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra - "Vienna" - Guy LeMonnier on Lead Vocals</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL</b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>:</b> <span style="color: #e69138;">They were grooming me for a while, trying to get me to sound like a particular voice that they were looking for with the Beethoven character. Again, they wound up going for Jody Ashworth, who I think is wonderful. We have nowhere near the same sounding voices. They should have known what they had with me - a clean-sounding musical theater voice. Instead I would be spending 90+ hours a week in the studio with them - unpaid hours - for them to realize that they needed Jody's voice for those songs. I was doing all of this with the hopes that I would get picked for the Beethoven role. I could have had four albums worth of material for as much time that I spent in the studio, but in the end, I wound up with the one song, "Vienna".</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What else did you record while with them?</span><br /><br /><b>GL: </b> I recorded many of the songs for <i>Romanov</i>. I recorded "Who is this Child?", "This is Who You Are", and most of the <i>Beethoven</i> songs. Some of those songs were a right fit for me, many were not. They wrote those songs with a really deep low end and then they peak at the other end of the spectrum. Rob Evan would have been great from the beginning with these songs because he has that range. But in the end, I think Jody did just a terrific job with the <i>Beethoven</i> songs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>After so many years touring and recording with TSO, are they any particular shows or moments that stand out to you?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> I only have terrific memories of my time there. We all had just so much fun. With the core group of guys - Tommy Farese, Tony Gaynor and Michael Lanning - we built such wonderful friendships that will last a lifetime. It was a "rock tour" - it's as close to Aerosmith as someone like me is going to get. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> One event that seems to have gone down in TSO lore is your appearance on stage in a cow costume. For years, TSO fans talked about this as one of the funniest things ever witnessed on the TSO stage. Tommy talked a bit about it in my interview with him. Can you explain how you wound up on stage wearing a cow costume? [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZR70QnZ1roIFSnv_Uc7tZ6qEoApjHvp0WB_xDIF1HsmNxkH453hYVj-RSHCRsQdMtSsLDxMttxd49dKyeAWLa6Hz9OyYWXsFTBRzWpDqpoNGFePUartGvzb4153iTIq_bm_3b5EwtGC14/s1600/GuyCG2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZR70QnZ1roIFSnv_Uc7tZ6qEoApjHvp0WB_xDIF1HsmNxkH453hYVj-RSHCRsQdMtSsLDxMttxd49dKyeAWLa6Hz9OyYWXsFTBRzWpDqpoNGFePUartGvzb4153iTIq_bm_3b5EwtGC14/s1600/GuyCG2.jpg" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Guy & Tommy Farese with TSO 2003. Photo Courtesy of Charlie Gow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> Well, I found a cow costume in my size and it was all over from there, Dan. [<i>Laughs</i>] When you find an XXXL cow costume, you hang on to it!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Part of the reason that the audiences loved us so much is because we were always taking it to the next level and hamming it up. Audiences like to feel that they are being let in on something or they are part of a joke. During the introductions, we would really ham it up and show the charisma of this group. Those kinds of actions were very much frowned upon by the organization. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Anyway, I had found this cow costume and I brought it with me to rehearsals as a joke for Halloween, but never used it. So now, I had this costume in my luggage. We let Tommy know what was up, but we didn't tell him when. We get to Omaha for a show and I decided that I was going to get into this costume for the intros. I walked out on to stage in this head-to-toe cow costume, with a straight face as if nothing was wrong. Tommy basically spit water across the stage. [<i>Laughs</i>] He put a towel over the udders, which made it look like a bunch of erections. Everyone on stage and in the audience was cracking up - it went on forever. I just walked to the mic with a complete straight face and said "<i>What?</i>". The crowd roared. It was a lot of fun. Of course there was a phone call from the office waiting for us after the show.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I got gifts for years from fans: cowbells, cow statues, anything cow related. It was good times, a lot of fun.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnmVipEFLLyLM455KSkpAkncpQI-WsHZwqWk-FqqJu1Fd_rQZ1DIfy43ejXQusHcgnQh_-IAXNM0euw1O5cjbFyPkAFEI1vyMQmNnZyszUbbXC9fOR4LmTSQKDDlRsKV5k_crW8K0M1Kl/s1600/Guy2004e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnmVipEFLLyLM455KSkpAkncpQI-WsHZwqWk-FqqJu1Fd_rQZ1DIfy43ejXQusHcgnQh_-IAXNM0euw1O5cjbFyPkAFEI1vyMQmNnZyszUbbXC9fOR4LmTSQKDDlRsKV5k_crW8K0M1Kl/s1600/Guy2004e.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Tony Gaynor, Tommy Farese, Michael Lanning, Guy LeMonnier <br />
on stage with TSO in 2004</span>
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">(Photo courtesy of Brian
Reichow)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you ever miss a show?</span><br /><br /><b>GL: </b> No. There was a time where I got really bad food poisoning. Our Canadian crew was very big into mixing Clamato juice with beer. One day, I was hanging out on the crew bus and they offered me this drink. It turned out that the clamato had been sitting underneath a table in the back lounge of the bus for half a day and went bad. I was not in good shape after drinking that. [<i>Laughs</i>] I still went on though. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"> </span><br />
<b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;">TSO has a mandatory signing line for their performers at the end of their shows. Did you enjoy those?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> Absolutely! It was so much fun to connect with the fans. Of course, there were some nights where the line wrapped around the arena and it was a little daunting, but it was harder for the band. The band was up there for the whole show, while most of us singers only sang a song or two and then sat around. We had a great time with the fans. Tommy, Tony and I would have a riot with the fans in that line. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Can you talk about the circumstances that led to your separation from TSO in 2007?<br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /><b>GL: </b>My ending was horrendous and life-changing, like many peoples were. All I want to say about it - and I <i>do</i> want to say this - is that I was fired over hearsay. And the hearsay came from an unreliable source, especially in light of the behavior that occurred afterwards. There was enough drama to fill a reality show.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I had just bought a house down the street from where Al Pitrelli owned a compound of six houses with Jane. I did this because I, along with the rest of the TSO cast, were all invited to stay up there and live there and contribute to and write the next TSO album.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> They asked the cast for creative input?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> That sweetens the pot a little bit, right? I was a single guy and didn't want to live in their house with the others, so I bought my own place down the street. I was working for this multi-million dollar organization and it was great to be brought even more so into the fold - and with the promise of helping to create the next album. Of course, that promise never came through, and I was let go.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>The next time most TSO fans heard from you again was in 2011, when you were involved in The Kings of Christmas with other TSO alumni. Where were you from in the interim?</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0jdtdf2dVw6IVZavtatjFDih6GHnAaPlH6AEE1FdyJk4k_VE5ZtP5J2Xxe0awTRS4sLGj4ytAM8Eqao2ZbSTjXjLqKK_sz4OO2gPq_Ftx7Xbie0a-yE-2EWMoAmUQQpKvwz3-WN7rLph/s1600/Guy2004c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0jdtdf2dVw6IVZavtatjFDih6GHnAaPlH6AEE1FdyJk4k_VE5ZtP5J2Xxe0awTRS4sLGj4ytAM8Eqao2ZbSTjXjLqKK_sz4OO2gPq_Ftx7Xbie0a-yE-2EWMoAmUQQpKvwz3-WN7rLph/s1600/Guy2004c.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Guy with TSO 2004. Photo Courtesy of Brian </span><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Reichow </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> The extrication from TSO was enough to make me start a new page. I had lost my girlfriend of four years, I was up to my eyeballs in debt after just buying this house, and I had lost my steady job. </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">The whole ordeal was humiliating and devastating. </span></span></span></span>So I left. I packed up the truck and I went out to Los Angeles to pursue </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">TV and Film roles.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Everybody has his or her story - particularly with that organization. Michael Lanning was fired just after his son died and was wrongfully accused of drinking on the tour. If you can allow me to refute that on tape right now, that was bullshit. Absolute bullshit. We lived in tight quarters, together all the time; we knew what he was doing. In fact, we were the ones that would tease him about having a drink, and he refused every time. So that accusation was perhaps the most wrongful of all of TSO's many firings, in my opinion. It was a blatant lie, he didn't have a drop to drink, and that was the reason they used for getting rid of him. All of the firings - from Michael Lanning to Mark Wood to Tommy - were all done in such a tactless, cowardly, horrible way. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">The bottom line is that Paul decided that he wanted kids up there and that's what he has now. Leather-clad, long hair, the chain-wallet look. No offense to the folks who take the stage today, but that's the vision that Paul decided he wanted and older guys with tux tails on are not going to fit in that image. Young, blonde-haired kids with hair down to their butts does. I get why he wanted that image - that's what he thinks a rock show should look like. Never mind how successful it had gotten over the years with talented, experienced people that didn't quite fit his vision all of a sudden.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Andrew Ross took
over your role on the shows after you were let go. In my interview with
him, he mentioned that you and he met that next year.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b>Yeah!
We went to Disneyland together. Andrew is a great guy and did a
wonderful job in the show. He was nowhere close to me, which was good.
If you are trying to imitate the one who was there before, that's often
not the way to go - you have to have your own take on it. I thought he
was terrific. I feel bad that he had such a hard time from the audience
and the cast when he first took over. I was well liked and had a lot of
fun with everyone there, but I never felt like I was <b>the</b> Angel or
someone that would have been that missed. But he was great in the show
and if things were different and I was to do it again, I would take
things from him and what he did with the role as well. We had a great
time hanging out. And he has beautiful hair. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask you about The Kings of Christmas record, <i>365 Days a Year</i>. How did you get involved with that?</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> The guys called me and said they wanted to write an album. So I packed up the car in LA and moved back to New York. Because of that, I had a lot at stake with this record, maybe more than everyone else. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Tony Gaynor, Tommy Farese and Maxx Mann were involved with this. There were rumors of Bart Shatto being part of this as well?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> Bart was at first, but his involvement was only as deep as the TSO leash would allow him to be. Once the news of our band reached TSO, he was out. I do understand where Bart was coming from - when TSO tells you that you are going to lose your job over this and that you can't do a Christmas album, some people are going to tell TSO to buzz off, and some are going to cling to them. I understand both positions. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRAz4mKkQ3wDItn0TkW4DH49fO88fnnovLoeTUgNiFnRDy64t-D9i9AT83PeKoSsKG6crKKE7uBRYOfMu0x0Hn1qlm21DjJjPTRxQjYDtkybFQVG9LUWTGcNU4ElwzLH5P0eElzHnqouq6/s1600/Guy2005b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRAz4mKkQ3wDItn0TkW4DH49fO88fnnovLoeTUgNiFnRDy64t-D9i9AT83PeKoSsKG6crKKE7uBRYOfMu0x0Hn1qlm21DjJjPTRxQjYDtkybFQVG9LUWTGcNU4ElwzLH5P0eElzHnqouq6/s1600/Guy2005b.jpg" height="400" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: x-small;">Guy with TSO 2005. Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow </span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span></b>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Before you guys announced the The Kings of Christmas band name, there were two other names floated on the internet from your camp: "TxO" and "Bunk Alley Brothers". Was either of those in real consideration?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> TxO was never going to be used. It seemed cute, as in Ex-TSO guys, but Tommy, Tony and I never intended to use it, but suddenly it was out there [<i>Laughs</i>]. The Bunk Alley Brothers name was talked about a bit more and considered viable.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What was it like to work again with your former TSO cast members?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> Tommy and Tony are in my heart of hearts. I love those guys. I grew up with them in a lot of ways. I was 23 years old when we all started the TSO live shows in 1999, so I have known them now 15 years. And we have transcended to that point where no matter whether we are fighting or kidding or whatever, it's all love. They're family. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;"> Each of your voices are pretty distinct and one can easily pick out who is singing what. I know you sing lead on five of the album's songs, and you share the lead on "Soldier's Song. Some of the songs on the album are pretty heavy, in terms of lyrics and topic. Can you talk about the writing process? The credits aren't very specific.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b>For the unity of the band, we agreed to list the credits as everything having been written by The Kings of Christmas. First, let me say that most of the songs on that album would not have happened without the amazing Dave Silva on guitar. He came up with so many riffs that we were able to run with. But we all did contribute in various ways to various songs. I had a hand in writing "Henry the Horse", "Christmas Passed", "New York Christmas", "How's Your Life", and "How do you Feel?". "How's Your Life" is mine - I wrote that song front to back. Tommy helped with the lyrics and brought a new aspect to the song. That's really the way we worked. I am really proud of my work on this album; I had a real hand in the melodies in particular. Tommy is such a terrific lyricist and he really helped bang out the lyrics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">"How's Your Life" "Christmas Passed"</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>The Kings of Christmas project seemed steeped in TSO-inspired controversy. Tommy Farese was fired from TSO for participating. Tony Gaynor admitted that he took phone calls from TSO management where he was told that he couldn't be involved in another Christmas project. Did all of this cast a pall over your work as you were putting the album together? Or did it create a bit of drive or motivation?</span></div>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> TSO were like hounds on our ass for a while there. There were cease and desist letters and lawyers involved. There was this ridiculous notion of "<i>You cannot do anymore Christmas</i>". But we took all of that and used it as a motivator to make the best album that we could. We still thanked the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in our credits, because the bottom line is that we would have never met if it weren't for them. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;">The album certainly garnered rave reviews once it was released, though you ran into some difficulties in mounting the tour. Now that a couple years have passed, is there still a future for The Kings of Christmas?</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> Well, first, my apologies to the fans for that aborted tour situation in 2011. The fan response was overwhelming, but Tommy, Tony and I had decided that the live show wasn't ready. Some others in the band and a promoter felt otherwise and they went out on tour without the rest of us, using the Kings name. We still stand by our decision; a canceled show can be forgiven, a bad show is never forgotten. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">As for a future, I really don't know. I personally put a lot of time and effort into it. Not just the recording and writing, but looking for investors and building the interest. </span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"> I'm not even 40 yet and I am trying to pursue a career of my own. </span></span>It got to the point that I couldn't afford any more time out of my life to keep this project growing. Is there a future for it? There could be. The album was pretty well received, but we also heard from critics that it was a little too heavy and emotional, when in fact it's just a different take. We weren't trying to be TSO at all. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> And that was something that you as a band were pushing to the fans - letting them know that you guys were writing these songs, not a producer or a behind-the-scenes person. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> The only thing that was similar was the combination of songs and a story. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>In 2013, you, Tommy, Tony and Michael Lanning wound up collaborating with The Wizards of Winter on their tour. </span><br />
<b><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> Yes! They are an outstanding band, and they are inspiring because of their music.They used to be a TSO tribute band, but if they were still just a cover band, I wouldn't have been interested. They are such authentic people. What attracts me to them are their personalities, what a wonderful family they are. At this point in my life, the quality of people that I am working with is more important than anything. Plus, their original music is so beautiful.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you four enjoy touring together once again? It seemed like the audiences really appreciated seeing and hearing you once again.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGjHS8VZ5JjQpi_UX9tcvlrVi17t7VEKc2JHiPCt0-y6Km4BDNSoMOsBj6v1wPbVYdvrgAdB-VnTQtKQV0ZBLytGNAxQqjQTk8lAj9HqkbPsohYJ9Ann19Ag8-hbH2-rxVMCmQsJhwzBAb/s1600/GuyWizardsV2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGjHS8VZ5JjQpi_UX9tcvlrVi17t7VEKc2JHiPCt0-y6Km4BDNSoMOsBj6v1wPbVYdvrgAdB-VnTQtKQV0ZBLytGNAxQqjQTk8lAj9HqkbPsohYJ9Ann19Ag8-hbH2-rxVMCmQsJhwzBAb/s1600/GuyWizardsV2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Guy with The Wizards of Winter 2014. Photo Courtesy of Vicki Bender</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL:</b> Yeah, it was a good time. We all got to go out and do our thing again. Mikey would bring down the house every night </span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">like he always did </span></span>with his "With a Little Help From My Friends". Tommy was out there singing his songs - he did "Ornament" the way he sang it for the early morning radio gigs. And Tony tells a story like no one else. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>You recently announced that you have officially joined the band. How come?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b>Because they asked. I like the path that they're on. They are exiting the mold of a cover band and are breaking out with their original music. I want to be there to help with that and to see that happen. Their music is brilliant.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> And you are more involved in the tour?</span><br /><br /><b>GL:</b> Yes, I fill in where they need filling in. I help with the arrangements and in backing vocals throughout the show.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You sing lead on two songs on the new Wizards of Winter CD - can you tell me about them?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> Yes! "Special Feeling" is a song that I sang with them on the 2013 tour and really fell in love with it. I was delighted when they asked me to sing it for their new album. I also sing a duet called "Just Believe", which they had just written for the album. It's nice to be appreciated and I don't think I ever felt that way with TSO, for the many years that I was there. I kind of bled into the background, I did my job and hope I did it well, but it wasn't a real atmosphere full of appreciation if you know what I mean. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">"Special Feeling" "Just Believe"</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I really enjoyed singing these two songs with the Wizards. I am so excited for the band's future. They have gold on their hands, whether they realize it or not and I am thrilled to be a part of the growth. Plus, having Tony there and hopefully Tommy again next year is great as well. I am in love with their music. Unlike most TSO songs, where they never fit right into vocalist's ranges and are in these weird keys, </span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Scott Kelly writes for the singer. Every song has a sweet spot. I love singing with them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> We talked earlier about you doing some musical stage work. You toured with </span></span>Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll and Hyde. What was your involvement in his Dracula production?</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> </span></span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I was in his
production of Dracula in La Jolla that was coming to Broadway. I was Tom Hewitt's understudy and stunt double, so I was flying on wires
for the show. I also recorded the demos for the Broadway production.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;">Guy singing "The Longer I Live", Dracula The Musical</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Frank
writes amazing musicals. If you look at his body of work, it is absurd
that they won't keep his musicals running on Broadway. He has taken
his musicals to Korea and Japan and he is huge there because they love
his shit, as well they should. He wrote this wonderful new musical of
the story of Camelot, <i>Excalibur</i>, that went right to Switzerland. That's
the kind of show we need back here on Broadway instead of all of these
movie rip-offs and bullshit. You look up and down Broadway and wonder, "<i>Where's the dramatic musicals that have always been around?</i>".
Musicals like <i>Les Mis, Miss Saigon, Jekyll & Hyde</i>, and <i>Scarlet
Pimpernel</i> are all going away, and that's what I moved here to do!</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> And you also worked with Neil Berg in<i> The Prince the Pauper</i>?</span><br /><br /><b>GL: </b> </span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Yes! I actually took over
for Rob Evan in that one. I had met Rob when we were both doing Frank
Wildhorn's <i>Jekyll and Hyde</i>. He was doing the alternate and understudy
for the role on Broadway and I was out on tour doing the Second National
tour. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I would work with Neil again in a heartbeat. His musicals are fantastic! <i>The Prince and the Pauper</i>? It's a full-length Les Mes-style musical. It's beautiful and funny and dark and serious. The music is phenomenal! It was an amazing musical that was cut down to make it a kids show. His music is so pleasing to the ear. Rob Evan and I were in that together, and I eventually took over his role of Miles Hendon when he left. For the cast recording, I am on a song with other characters, performing </span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">"Father Andrew's Lesson / Thrill Of Adventure".</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Most recently, you were seen in the off-Broadway show of <i>Around the World in 80 Days</i> here in New York, which was a very elaborate production for being off-Broadway.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> I really came in on that to help with the theater transformation for that show. It had a 2½ million dollar budget and was top notch all the way. Myself and two other guys rebuilt the theater and when some of the original cast started moving on, I took over in the lead role. It was very cool and a nice re-entry to theater here in New York.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: small;"><span style="color: white;">Guy singing "Oh Holy Night", Flat Rock Playhouse 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> And in 2014 you were the Production Manager for another Off-Broadway show that drew rave reviews, Ayn Rand's <i>Anthem</i>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b>Yeah, I enjoy being behind the scenes as well. I ran the production - I had a technical director, a lighting designer and a sound designer all under me. It was hellish, but it really came out well.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You seem equally comfortable whether you are swinging a hammer and building a set, singing in front of 20,000 fans or running the behind-the-scenes production of a play.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b> I gained a valuable skill set from my father growing up; he and I would build houses and I am thankful that I learned a lot from him. I like being a production manager because I think I am a good boss; I am not always the best with delegation but I am pretty fair with everyone.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;">What is something that someone might not know about Guy LeMonnier?</span><b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />GL: </span></span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I love movie scores. </span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I have a real fascination with movie soundtrack, from Forrest Gump to Bridges of Madison County</span></span><b><span style="color: #f1c232;"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;">You have a somewhat unique last name. Did you ever think of going with a stage name?</span><br />
<b><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>GL: </b>So many people think that LeMonnier is already a stage name. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJLKVI8Li0Kt65VPLKQ9KNopTlqmULQevYcsbskDEvVCxONNC0W4lZoSoyF22x7BciApgA8U-LzkOlZ1dup7c5zTECMX6salDO4u7ozPHYP6HgtRUD-f88FIieMG5Lsf4IT9E-Oo9hRqa/s1600/GuyHeadshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJLKVI8Li0Kt65VPLKQ9KNopTlqmULQevYcsbskDEvVCxONNC0W4lZoSoyF22x7BciApgA8U-LzkOlZ1dup7c5zTECMX6salDO4u7ozPHYP6HgtRUD-f88FIieMG5Lsf4IT9E-Oo9hRqa/s1600/GuyHeadshot.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>What is next for you?</span><br /><br /><b>GL: </b>The further along in you get in life, the more you want those creature comforts - a family, a house and you want to make money. Frankly, Off-Broadway theater is not the place to make money and the state of Broadway at the moment is not the most viable venue for me either. I'm in love with the film and television process. I got into the entertainment business to fulfill an obvious need for attention [<i>Laughs</i>] and I want to be wherever people are picking up the remote.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I've got a great manager now and I want to be involved in the most prolific screen venue I can, and right now that's Netflix, Hulu, and whatever else people are watching at home. the auditions are rolling in, we'll see what happens.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;">For more information:<br /><br />Guy LeMonnier:</span><br />
<a href="http://guy-lemonnier.com/"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">http://guy-lemonnier.com</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;">Video Channels:<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/guylemonnier/videos"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">http://www.youtube.com/user/guylemonnier/videos</span></a></span><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6MCl4gZO6moGy5jbyBdUWA/videos"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6MCl4gZO6moGy5jbyBdUWA/videos</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;">The Wizards of Winter:</span><br />
<a href="http://thewizardsofwinter.com/"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">http://thewizardsofwinter.com</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"></span><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">The Kings of Christmas:</span><br />
<a href="http://thekingsofchristmas.com/"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">http://thekingsofchristmas.com</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/thekingsofchristmas"><span style="color: #f9cb9c;">https://www.facebook.com/thekingsofchristmas</span></a><br />
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<br />
<span style="color: white;"><i>Special thanks to Charlie Gow for his help with photos for this interview. Charlie was a good friend and a big fan of TSO. He was also a big supporter of my series of interviews and frequently opened up his vaults and shared with me photos from his personal collection for use with the interviews. Charlie passed away before he could read this one, but I am pretty sure he would give his seal of approval. R.I.P. Charlie.</i></span>
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-69844247471141102022014-12-11T07:41:00.001-08:002014-12-26T13:05:17.012-08:00A Conversation with Scott and Sharon Kelly of The Wizards of Winter<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #c27ba0;">If it is the Christmas season and you enjoy progressive rock with a dash of
metal, or power ballads with a dash of theater, chances are good that you are
listening or going to see The Wizards of Winter. Based out of New Jersey, this 10-piece eclectic ensemble has been rocking the airwaves and filling theaters each year with their take on the Holidays. I
caught up with the husband-wife team that helped found the band: Keyboardist,
composer and musical director Scott Kelly and his wife, Flutist and vocalist
Sharon Kelly. In this sit-down interview, we talk about the band's origins as a
Trans-Siberian Orchestra tribute act, their transition to writing and performing their own
original material, joining forces with original TSO members, and their exciting
new self-titled CD.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> Before we get into The Wizards of Winter, I want to ask about your musical background.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott Kelly: </b>I got involved with playing keyboards after attending an Emerson, Lake and Palmer concert in the 70s. I saw them do Pictures at an Exhibition in New York and afterwards I thought, "<i>That's what I want to do</i>!". Little did I know how hard it was at the time. [<i>Laughs</i>] I convinced my parents to get me my first Hammond organ and some music books and began learning how to play. I also got a job working at a music store where I worked with a lot of really good musicians and absorbed a lot from them. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">I eventually got good enough - and brave enough - to get involved with a band. All through college, I played in various cover bands. I eventually wound up playing keyboards for a band called The Features. They were a popular cover band in the '80s, mostly playing new wave music. We opened for artists like Cyndi Lauper, Joe Jackson, David Johansen and many other artists that were touring at the time. We were playing seven nights a week - I also had a day job and Sharon and I had gotten married, so that did not leave a lot of time. I wound up leaving The Features to join Dr. Jimmy and The Who Show, which was a Who tribute band. We mostly played in the North East, from Boston to New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. We had the same agent as Twisted Sister so we wound up being on the same bill as them many times, and we did countless gigs with The Good Rats as well. This gig was more like four nights a week, so it was a little bit more manageable, and then it all stopped for me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Stopped? What happened?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott Kelly with The Wizards of Winter 2011</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> We had a gig one night at a popular rock club in North Jersey called Circus Circus. Our next gig was two nights later and when the crew went to open our cases, all of my instruments and equipment were gone. Someone had stolen everything. At the time we were a young married couple saving for our first house and I didn't have money to replace everything, so literally my music career stopped in one night. I just moved on with my non-musical day job and really didn't get back into things until 1999 when our daughters were in high school. They were in the school's marching band, they had no one to teach pit percussion and I jumped in and helped. I eventually helped form and lead their Drumline program and we wound up winning state championships - we would design the show, the choreography, the whole thing. It was a great program that is still going strong today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"> It wasn't until 2004 when I got a keyboard again, a Korg Triton. </span>Sharon and I decided we were going to start playing out and we performed as a duet at local restaurants, when the next opportunity came along - we joined this progressive rock band called Contrarian. They were like a cross between Kansas and Dream Theater. They called me for an audition and I really liked the stuff they were doing; it was challenging keyboard material. I did this for a couple years, but they never had the impetus to go out and play live. We played a couple shows here and there, but we spent most of our time in the studio writing and rehearsing. I really wanted to get out and play live more, so I left and started looking for more opportunities. I wound up in another cover band called Prankster that played locally and</span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: #e06666;"> met our bass player Steve
Ratchen around the same time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666;">I am not formally trained, and many of the musicians in the band are, so when I present material to the band that I have written, they might question how I have the chord structure laid out. From their trained ear, they might not have gone the same way that I had in a song, but I do and it works out.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Sharon, you sing and play the flute in The Wizards - did you follow a similar musical path as Scott?</span> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sharon Kelly with The Wizards of Winter 2012</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon Kelly:</b></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b> </b>I started pretty early on as
well. My mother was a singer and both my parents sang on Christian Radio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother was the Musical Director of four
large church choirs and had me performing in Holiday musicals and Christmas
Cantatas throughout the year. I sang and played flute since grammar
school, participating in choir and band right through High School and
later,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sang <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>backup for Dr. Jimmy and The Who Show. I took
a long break as well, until Scott and I started going out as a duo and I sang
and played flute with Contrarian as well. I also did a short stint with the
Sweet Adelines when we lived in Oklahoma. But I kept my musical side on the
backburner for a long time as we raised a family and just experienced life as
it went along.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b></span> We always kept music in our lives, we just didn't get to do it professionally for a long time. And now it's taken on a life of its own. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;">DR: Well speaking of taking on a life of its own, can you explain how The Wizards of Winter came about? You mentioned meeting Steve Ratchen when you were out playing locally again.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b></span> That is really where it started - we were introduced to Steve and we became friends. He was looking to start a new band and I had this idea to try out a Trans-Siberian Orchestra cover band. I was always a fan of their music after seeing them live in their early days. In 2008 or 2009, We had gone to see them at the Continental Airlines Arena and I didn't like it.. They had the whole wall of fire going; to me the show had become so impersonal from when we had seen it in the smaller venues. I felt that it had lost the magic that was there in the beginning. The production was just so over the top and it was becoming more about the fire and lights, and less about the music and audience connection. I had wondered if we could bring the music back to where it started, with doing smaller shows without the spectacle.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;">This was also at the heart of the recession in 2009; the economy really hit us and everyone around us hard. Even our local food pantry was empty. This really got me thinking as to how I could tie all of this together. I always was inspired by the line in their song Old City Bar, "<i>By helping a neighbor or even a stranger, And to know who needs help, You need only just ask</i>" - that line always resonated with me. So I started thinking about putting this band together to perform this music and raise some money for the food pantry.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;">We talked to Steve about it and he was in, so we started reaching out to others who were interested in doing this, and doing it for the right reason. The plan was to give most of whatever money we made away, so we had to find the right group of people.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon:</b></span> <span style="color: #e69138;">We were looking for people that really had the passion for it.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b></span> After some auditions and getting to know some folks, we wound up assembling a dozen musicians and singers that were interested. My original plan was to reach out to some churches, schools and play locally and see where it goes. One of our guitar players introduced us to an agent who has a production company out of New York that books gigs for bands. We wound up doing a showcase for him and he loved us, told us how he was going to line up all sorts of gigs for us. We learned a hard lesson here, as it turned out that this agent had lied to us about promising gigs and had strung us along for several months. By the time we had found out that he wasn't lining up shows, it was Fall and I quickly started lining up gigs for us to play. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What was the audience response like that first year?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b></span> It was terrific. It really inspired us and told us that we were on to something here. After every show, fans were asking to buy our album, and of course we had to explain that this wasn't our own music and didn't have albums to sell.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You were just doing strictly TSO covers at this point?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott: </b> Yes, we did the <i>Christmas Eve & Other Stories</i> album the first half of the show, and then we mixed in songs from the other albums in the second half. We did "After the Fall", "Requiem", "Dreams of Candlelight", and songs from their other two Christmas albums as well. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Today, there seems to be a TSO tribute band in almost every market. Back then, this was something different - getting to hear TSO music performed again in small settings.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> And not everyone even knew that we were a TSO tribute band. In fact, our very first show - in this wonderful theater in Pottsville, Pennsylvania - many fans there didn't know that we were performing music at all !</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> What is the story behind that?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> We were booked for The Majestic Theater in Pottsville. I called the theater and asked how many tickets they had sold, they told me, "three"! [<i>Laughs</i>] I was thinking, "<i>How am I going to explain this to the band</i>"? [<i>Laughs</i>] Well, we loaded up the truck drove out there knowing this and we all decided that we are going to play this gig as if we are playing Madison Square Garden and give these three people the best show! We got there early in the morning to set up our lights and equipment and run through soundchecks.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did you have a crew then to install and work the lights?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b></span> No, we did everything ourselves - and still do a lot of it ourselves to this day. In fact, that first year, I controlled the lights with foot pedals underneath my keyboards.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;">So we have the show all ready to go and just before the doors opened, our guitar player at the time went outside and comes back to tell us that there is a line of people wrapped around the building. I went outside and sure enough, the line was going down the block - the show was sold out! All of these folks just showed up! We greeted everyone as they came in and then got the show going. After every song the fans were cheering wildly and giving us standing ovations. It was great, but we thought we were being punk'd "[<i>Laughs</i>] </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;">We took a break for the intermission and we started chatting with the fans. They started telling us how much they were enjoying it, but they all thought that they were coming to see a magic show because of the name "Wizards of Winter", but they said, "<i>This is good too</i>!" [<i>Laughs</i>] And that was our first gig!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you still follow through with your mission of donating to the Food Pantry?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b>Yes! That first year we wound up donating several thousand dollars. We helped that food pantry, Habitat for Humanity and the Children's Hospital. The one charity that we have really been helping out a lot though is the Choroideremia Research Foundation. One of our young fans has this rare condition that causes blindness and we have donated tens of thousands of dollars in the hope that a cure can be found. And then this year we have been donating to the Wounded Warrior Project, which is near and dear to our hearts.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">The band name - is that a play-off of TSO's "Wizards <i>in</i> Winter" song?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b> Yeah. I always liked that song and since the original vision was to be TSO tribute band, we started looking at their song names for inspiration. Plus, I also liked the idea that abbreviated you get 'WoW' - even though at the time our 16 lights wasn't exactly a "WoW Factor" [<i>Laughs</i>]</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> </span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">At what point did you start incorporating your original material into your set?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"> </span><br /><b>Scott: </b>After we finished that first year's tour, we started looking at the idea of putting together our own album - so many fans after the show were asking to buy our album, so I started coming up with some ideas. I was working out the chord progressions for the first song I wrote for The Wizards, which eventually became "Arctic Flyer", and my daughter heard it and remarked that it sounded like a train. That led to the idea that our narrated story would involve a train, and each stop that the train made was it's own story and a song would be attached to it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>We started thinking of what Christmas meant to each of the people that we meet along this train ride. Some are happy, some are melancholy. We also wanted to touch on THE Christmas story, with its religious connotations. TSO leaves all of that out.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b>Right, and this way we could change the songs up and not always be locked into performing the same exact story each year. The concept would be the same, but as I would write new songs, we could incorporate those into our story. We sort of equate it to Dr. Who, who travels through time and space. Our little train travels on Christmas Eve and can visit any place or anyone in any time, looking into people's lives.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott Kelly with The Wizards of Winter 2013</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Who composes the music?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott: </b> Well, I never intended it for it to be me, but it worked out that way. We did try to write together as a band at first, but the music styles just didn't work together. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>We all worked cohesively together when performing, but with writing the music, each person was bringing such different dynamics that it wasn't working with what we had envisioned. Scott writes a lot of the melodies and I help with the lyrics.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> Most times I write the music first and then backfit the lyrics. Then Steve and [guitarist] Fred Gorhau will come in and help with the arrangements. I usually present the melody and basic structure to the song, and they will work with that, adding in their bass and guitar parts in there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Was the first time that either of you had written original music?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott:</b> The only other time was when I wrote out music for the drumline that I was working with.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>"Moments of Wonder" is a song that I wrote and sing lead on. We took an early iteration of that song and submitted it to a contest for Women of Substance, a radio show that was looking for new female talent. Among thousands of entries, that song was chosen and was played between a song by Carrie Underwood and Celine Dion, which was pretty amazing for us just starting out with our own material.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> All of your songs seem to have a moral center to them. One of the differences I find between your songs and TSO's songs are that while TSO often uses metaphors and devised characters to tell their story, your songs are pretty straightforward about feelings. Your songs come right out and say, "<i>Life is a gift</i>", "<i>Hold on to what you believe</i>", "<i>Remember Christmas memories</i>"...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>We really just want people to think about their own lives. So often our lives are on autopilot and maybe for a couple of hours, they can sit in their seat while we play and think about their own lives and what's important. What it comes to for The Wizards of Winter are family and friends and sitting back, breathing and enjoying life. A lot of our songs reflect that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> Our songs are from the heart. Our song "Simple Gifts" is a true story that took place right here in this house. As far as differences between us and TSO, what they put on is such a secular presentation of Christmas. We are not a religious or Christian act, but what is Christmas? We feel that the original Christmas story needs to be included and our train will always stop there; that's the first stop in our story. Yes, we are playing prog and metal like TSO does, but our story and the meaning behind it all is very different. It's not like we are presenting a moral tale, but we want to think about what does Christmas really mean? Why are people so different at that time of the year? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You have mentioned that you were in Contrarian together and also performed as a duet together. And now here you are working together in The Wizards. Does working together musically as a married couple always come easy?<br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><br />Sharon: It has always worked. This is obviously the biggest musical venture that we have been involved with and it can be stressful at times. It has taken off so quickly and the logistics can be overwhelming at times.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sharon Kelly with The Wizards of Winter 2013</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b> She comes along kicking and screaming some days [<i>Laughs</i>]. We've been married for 34 years and as stressful as putting all of this together year round can be, I don't think it would work if our marriage wasn't as strong as it is. I still have a day job, as do all of our band members and it can consume you. It becomes part of one's persona.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Will we see you in leather jackets and sunglasses soon?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott:</b> [<i>Laughs</i>] No, that won't happen. But at the end of the day, we enjoy performing together and were proud of each other. When the audience roars and gets on their feet from something that we wrote and performed, we catch each other's eyes on stage. It's a good moment.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Do you find that your own material goes over as well as the TSO covers?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott:</b> We find that it goes over better than the TSO songs. And that's because we do it better than we do TSO's material. We certainly put our spin on their songs and we do them well, but it is still not like playing your own original material that you wrote and recorded. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The production val<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">ues in your live shows are similar to the early TSO shows. And as TSO's stage show becomes more extravagant and immense each year, there seems to be a growing contingent of fans that miss the intimacy when their shows were more music and personality and less fire and spectacle. Many of TSO's past performers have expressed similar thoughts. Can you relate to that?</span><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /><b>Sharon:</b> Absolutely. When we saw first saw them in concert there was such intimacy and you could really connect with the performers. That is something that we have experienced as well - I always recall at one show, I was singing in the audience and this little 6-year-old girl put her hand out and we hi-fived. It was such a great moment and that is what gets lost in the arena shows.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> We have definitely experienced this as we have grown. We're playing 1500-1800 seat theaters and we see the fans in the balcony, you can feel the separation already. A lot of times I will try to sneak up there before the show starts and shake hands, just to thank them for coming. </span></span>As much as we are enjoying the growth in popularity, we really don't ever want it to get that big where it becomes a spectacle or a Circus McGurkus. Even as we move up into 3000-4000 seat venues, we lose a bit more of the audience connection - we saw what happened with TSO and it is something that we are very conscious of.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> The group that makes up the Wizards of Winter today is not the same that started out a few years back.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> No, there are just the three of us left. In the early years, we brought in folks that were passionate about it. As we talked about earlier, we wanted a talented group, but also we wanted them to be here for the right reasons. As the band started tasting a bit of success, the attitudes of some started changing and didn't always fit with the overall vision. There are musicians that we haven't invited back for various reasons, but the band that we are today is very harmonious and the overall talent level is the best we have had.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> You obviously handle the brunt of the keyboard work. Have you always had a second keyboardist on board?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott: </b> No, not in the beginning. Sharon used to do auxiliary keys, but now we have Mary McIntyre who is a classical pianist, which helps a lot.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> With TSO, some of the keyboard work is the doubling of the string parts. Do you do something similar?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> Yes, you really have to. We obviously only have the one violinist, and this helps thicken the sound.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> 2013 was a pretty eventful year for The Wizard<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">s. As your tour got underway, fans saw not just the band on stage, but four pretty special guests on stage with you: Can you talk a bit about how this marriage of The Wizards and four of the pillars of Trans-Siberian Orchestra got together?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott: </b>As a fan of TSO, I was certainly very familiar with their legendary performers, and I knew that some of them had formed their own group, The Kings of Christmas. They had released an album but their tour dates wound up being canceled. I had wondered what had happened to them, so one day I sent Tommy Farese a message, telling him about our band, how we started, what we are doing now and I invited him to give a listen to our music. A short time later, he responded, "<i>I really love your stuff, if you ever want me to appear as a guest at your show, let me know</i>". Within minutes we were on the phone and we really just hit it off - we just laughed and exchanged road stories for a couple hours. We really connected and he asked me to send him more of our music, and things just progressed from there. He came back and said, "<i>Look, Guy LeMonnier and Tony Gaynor want to come along too</i>". </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e06666;">We talked about a guest appearance, then several shows, then the whole tour!</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e06666;">I now had to talk to the band and present this opportunity to them. I explained that we have three of the original TSO performers interested in touring with us and we had to learn some new music! Tommy wanted to do "The Snow Came Down" and "Ornament", neither of which were in our show and Guy used to sing "Christmas in the Air" with TSO so we looked at that as well. It was different, because we were just starting to get away from it being an all-TSO show and adding in more of our originals, and now we were adding back in TSO songs with the singers that were associated with them. We had a lot of internal discussion about this, because all it was going to do was put the TSO spotlight on us, and this was something we were trying to move away from. This was going to change everything in how we were doing our shows.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> What was the band's reaction to bringing these performers on board?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon:</b> We took a vote and everyone was in. I think everyone realized what a great opportunity this was. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> They came down to our rehearsal space in June of that year and we all really hit it off musically. They are all such pros and they really helped us to up our game, and we all got along really well. Then Tommy told us that Michael Lanning was on board as well ! We didn't start booking the dates right away, as they still were still looking at doing a Kings of Christmas tour, but ultimately it was decided that they would all just come out with us, so we were a little behind in setting up the tour. The response was great; some fans started flying in from all over the country just to see these guys on stage again. And the bottom line was we had so much fun.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon:</b> Tommy Farese, in particular, made us tighter and better as a band. He would come in to our rehearsals with an iron fist - in a good way though - and contributed so many great ideas and suggestions. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> All four guys really loved our original material and I am really proud of that.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned a couple songs earlier, but what songs did they wind up performing on the tour?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> Guy did "Christmas in the Air" and one of our originals, "Special Feeling". He loved that song so much, and he fits it so perfectly, that he came in to the studio and sang it on our new album! Tommy sang lead on "Old City Bar" and three of the TSO songs that he sang originally: "The Snow Came Down", "Ornament" and "This Christmas Day". </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Michael Lanning </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;">
sang a beautiful solo of "The First Noel" with just piano backing, and
his original "Benny the Christmas Tree" which is a real fun song</span></span></span></span>. He also did "Christmas Nights in Blue" and "With a Little Help From My Friends" which he used to sing with TSO - that would bring the house down every night! Tony of course shared the narrating duties with the narrator that we had at the time.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Highlights from the Wizards of Winter 2013 Tour</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">with special guests Tommy Farese, Tony Gaynor, Michael Lanning, Guy LeMonnier</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> With all of these songs now added to your setlist, did you change the story to accommodate them?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b>Yes. We changed the libretto to include those songs. It still had small pieces of the original TSO narration though, like the lead up to "Christmas Eve Sarajevo".</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> You seem to be in a unique situation. You started out as a TSO tribute band, evolved into doing your own music with a bit of TSO inspiration and a desire to move away from the TSO music. But then adding in some of the original and fan-favorite TSO performers sort of steered you back in that direction again. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> It is a mixed blessing. We talk to fans that don't know the difference at times between our songs and their songs. It gets crazy with some fans - these are not the hardcore TSO fans coming to see us for the most part. We still have fans bringing their TSO CDs to us to sign and we explain to them that most of what they just heard was Wizards of Winter music with us paying tribute to a few of TSO's classics. We've had fans tell us how they saw us at a particular arena and we have to explain that it wasn't us, but thanks for the compliment. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b> I had a fan comment to me about my performance of "Queen of the Winter Night" - she told me that I didn't let her down and that I sounded just as good as when she saw me at the Izod Center. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> It seems like it was a win-win deal for the fans and the band to some extent though. Longtime fans got to once again see and hear the voices that built the TSO live show, doing songs that they were known for, and these fans were all introduced to your own music at the same time in a theater setting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b> Exactly - there was a certain amount of confusion for some fans, but TSO has a reputation for hiring quality talent, and these fellas were some of the best that they ever had. Fans know the quality and that certainly helped gain interest in our shows last year.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So after that hugely successful 2013 tour, you headed into the studio, recorded and now released the new self-titled CD for 2014. I know the band had an earlier CD with limited availability, and it looks like you have re-recorded several of the songs from that earlier disc on the new one. Why?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon:</b> Because of the quality of that first release. It just wasn't up to par. We didn't really have any money since almost all of it was going to charity, so it was not recorded in the best circumstances; we utilized an in-house member who didn't have the qualifications.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> This new self-titled CD was recorded with all of the current band members?</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b>Yes - the band that you see on stage is the band that recorded the CD. And unlike the earlier album, this was done in a real studio with real engineers and mastering.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The album artwork has been created by Ioannis, one of the preeminent album cover artists working today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b>It is an honor to be able to work with him because of all of the legendary artists that he has created cover art for. He likes our music and he contacted us. He even came to rehearsals to really get a sense of what we are about and really created something special for our album art.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask specifically about some of the songs on the new album. The first single from the album - "March of the Metal Soldiers" - garnered considerable attention when it was released on Memorial Day. The proceeds from those sales were going to the Wounded Warriors Project?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>Our son-in-law is a disabled vet so the military is very near and dear to our hearts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> The original that it is based on is a Victor Herbert classic from Babes in Toyland. The original vision for this song that I had in my head was gladiators marching into an arena with big marching drums, which is my drumline experience creeping in there. And I wanted to make it regal and give it a bit of an ELP flair. There is even some influence from Rainbow's "Gates of Babylon" in there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The vocal break in the middle - are they singing in Latin?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott:</b> With our son-in-law being a Marine, we certainly were familiar with 'Semper Fi' - Always Faithful. Each branch of the military has their own slogan or motto, so I took each one and translated it into Latin. <span style="font-family: inherit;">The words together jointly are loosely
translated as "Always faithful, not self but country. This we will
defend. Integrity, service, always ready. These colors won't ever run."
This seemed like a fitting tribute to all that sacrifice for our
freedom. And yes, since this march is our tribute to the military, all of the proceeds from this song go to the Wounded Warrior Foundation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>DR:</b> "Toys will be Toys" is a fun instrumental </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Scott:</b> This song actually started its life as a finger exercise that I was doing in C#. From that, I developed the melody line and presented it to the band. They weren't thrilled playing a song in C#, but it came out great! <span style="font-family: inherit;">T</span>he story with the song is that </span>no one sees the toys when they are alone underneath the tree, so this is them having a ball and playing while no one is around!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> For "Night of Reflection", is that a mixture of "Ave Maria" with your original lyrics?</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b> Yes. For that one I really got the idea to tell the Christmas story from Mary's perspective. Here is this young, frightened girl who now has this great task imposed on her - to give birth to the Son of God. How does she deal with that? One of our former vocalists wrote lyrics, and we massaged them a bit to get where the song is today.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> One of the songs on the CD is one that certainly brings down the house at your shows: "Once Long Ago". It's THE Christmas story and it has a dramatic 70's classic rock feel to it - was that intentional?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b><span style="color: #e06666;">Scott: </span></b><span style="color: #e06666;">The story in that song is being told by sort of a ghostly character, was it an angel? It is clearly someone that was there to watch the events unfold. So it had sort of an eerie feel as I was writing it, so it also put me in mind of Phantom of the Opera. The organ break and the percussion are very influenced by Emerson Lake and Palmer, once again.</span><b><span style="color: #e06666;"><br /></span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>When that song came about, we envisioned someone with Vinny Jiovino's voice and now that is exactly who we have singing it! We wanted some drama to it, similar to Phantom of the Opera. The singer that sang it previously never quite captured the drama that we envisioned - it was always choppier in the verses. The version on our new CD is exactly as we had always pictured</span><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>.</b></span> <span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned earlier that Guy LeMonnier has recorded "Special Feeling". Is he on anything else on the album?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> He sings a duet with Mary McIntyre on "Just Believe". I really enjoy working with Guy. That first day in the studio when he came down and sang "Special Feeling", our jaws dropped. It was like, "<i>That's the voice</i>!". When I sat down to write "Just Believe", it was his voice that I could hear in my head singing it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b> Guy and Mary really came in mind when we were working on "Just Believe". They just really brought that song to life. And for the tour, he is much more involved, helping with vocal arrangements and backing vocals as well. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I did want to ask about a TSO song that you perform live, but I find it somewhat unexpected - "<i>Whoville</i>". TSO has never performed this one live, but your band seems to have a lot of fun with it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon:</b> It's so much fun and it really ties our story together, with our trip to the North Pole with Mary as Mrs. Claus and all of the toys. And Tony gets to step away from the narration on this one and he joins us on backing vocals. It's just a really fun song.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJR39hfWTAtHsMHnbdSVGpEXiSL8WZUfjl8B1Tp2Cv1hPOzGSDUsM6qyqC_Dkpya1gsOcWPBcSSB7k65YGlXzXlss6RIuCO9vwP3bkacT0LkssEMmVUvwweEMcz-W8DCEdf-pkL4af_mWp/s1600/sharon2014a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJR39hfWTAtHsMHnbdSVGpEXiSL8WZUfjl8B1Tp2Cv1hPOzGSDUsM6qyqC_Dkpya1gsOcWPBcSSB7k65YGlXzXlss6RIuCO9vwP3bkacT0LkssEMmVUvwweEMcz-W8DCEdf-pkL4af_mWp/s1600/sharon2014a.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wizards of Winter - Weinberg Center, Frederick, MD 12/4/14<br />
Photo courtesy of Vicki Bender </td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Do you have a particular favorite song to perform?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>Of the TSO songs we still include, I like doing "First Snow" and of ours, I think "Gales of December".</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott</b>: For me, it's "Once Long Ago", "Sing O'Alleluia" and one of our new instrumentals "The Journey".</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>For the 2014 tour, you mentioned that Guy LeMonnier is returning with an even more increased role as he has officially joined the band. Is Tony Gaynor involved more as well?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott: </b>Yes, The "Voice of Voices", as Tommy Farese coined the phrase. Tony is our sole narrator now, where as previously we split the role between our previous narrator and Tony. An exciting change is that Tony will not be tied to a mic stand - he will be wearing a mic so he can move around the stage a bit more.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></b><span style="color: #f1c232;">Also for the 2014 tour, I see vocalist Joe Cerisano is now on board. Joe obviously has a long successful history in the music business, and has the TSO connection as well, being a featured vocalist with TSO for several years and the voice of their song "Dream Child". What does he bring to the table for The Wizards?</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>Joe is such a professional and so kind. He is here for the love of the music. He really has enjoyed being part of what we are doing here, and he is another who has pointed out how similar our band and outlook are to the early days of TSO touring. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b>He sort of brings the father figure feeling to the band - he has experienced so much in the music business and he is very assuring and very positive. For the tour, he is singing the songs that he used to sing with TSO, but we have also talked about recording with him as well. We looked at a couple of our original songs that he really likes but we just ran out of time this go-round. We are looking at doing something together in the studio though.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJc1aQ0dEUdMIPwbEm3TYeHzMSgBouzSxnS7Cwg4AprFPNvoIkPiSpY737Zm6gcN-QRd3pQy2SgHz_5kq73nkPhIjJa3lvQyZceX4YhNwcMUh1KZBfSZOfzq5hLCKOKeKRiqhizrHJZuL/s1600/kelly2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJc1aQ0dEUdMIPwbEm3TYeHzMSgBouzSxnS7Cwg4AprFPNvoIkPiSpY737Zm6gcN-QRd3pQy2SgHz_5kq73nkPhIjJa3lvQyZceX4YhNwcMUh1KZBfSZOfzq5hLCKOKeKRiqhizrHJZuL/s1600/kelly2014.jpg" height="271" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wizards of Winter - State Theater, Portland, ME 11/28/14<br />
Photo courtesy of Vicki Bender </td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Over the last few years, you have played as far south as Norfolk, Virginia, and as far north as Niagara Falls, Canada and Portland Maine. Any favorite places to play so far? Or any places that you really want to play?</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b>I really like playing in Maine and I love the State Theater in Easton. I would love to play in Florida, Tennessee and in Texas.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott:</b> The audience in Maine is unreal - they are so great. We have had a lot of wonderful audiences, but Maine certainly is the loudest. Over all the years, that small theater in Pottsville, Pennsylvania was one of the most fun places to play. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What is next for The Wizards of Winter?</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><b>Scott: </b> It has definitely taken on a life of its own, so we are looking at a number of things. There will be another album, maybe an EP as well. We are looking at various opportunities to tour nationally, but they have to make sense in a number of ways. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Could you see yourself splitting into more than one touring group to visit more cities in the lead-up to Christmas?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott:</b> I can. Based on the offers that have been coming in, we could have probably even done that this year, there is certainly audience demand for it. We think there is certainly room for us in the market, as we offer something different from the Mannheim Steamrollers and TSOs of the world. I am up for the journey, but we will probably need some investing assistance, just like the others did.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> Do you have any plans to do anything outside of the Christmas theme?</span><br /><br /><b>Scott: </b> I do, I have actually been working on something with a pirate story that will be a progressive rock epic. Both the music and the story are in a preliminary form, so not sure when that will happen. Right now we are concentrating on the Christmas show, guiding and building that up.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Thanks so much for taking the time.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Sharon: </b> It's been our pleasure!</span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTzsJZxn4exP6zyBAr_a4ZzkjVeHk3OPayMbrvdC-j4c61l_THPbEKxIv6KryHwvQDHuXuN8ufWV_xaRVEi8J1S1ljJgripI3AvQdA7dToISdSqc1aCmFDd1_DMCSRNNGUUHQNKOL78Fs/s1600/wizardsbandshot2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTzsJZxn4exP6zyBAr_a4ZzkjVeHk3OPayMbrvdC-j4c61l_THPbEKxIv6KryHwvQDHuXuN8ufWV_xaRVEi8J1S1ljJgripI3AvQdA7dToISdSqc1aCmFDd1_DMCSRNNGUUHQNKOL78Fs/s1600/wizardsbandshot2014.jpg" height="331" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wizards of Winter - State Theater, Portland, ME 11/28/14<br />
Photo courtesy of Vicki Bender </td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;">For more information:</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://www.thewizardsofwinter.com/"><span style="color: #e69138;">http://www.thewizardsofwinter.com</span></a></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter</span></span></span></span></a><br />
<br />Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-85820110422323482822014-04-22T12:29:00.000-07:002020-05-01T06:32:38.704-07:00A Conversation with Peter Shaw<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: "arial";">Many may know Peter Shaw from his featured acting roles in motion pictures such as Hannibal and Practical Magic, but eventually Peter turned his attention to singing and his dreams of performing for thousands of fans. A chance encounter led to his stint as a featured vocalist with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra </span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: "arial";">for four years</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: "arial";">, just as they were hitting their peak and playing arenas. After performing in front of arena-sized audiences across the U.S. with TSO, Peter started working earnestly on his craft, creating his own music. This year, Peter became the first vocalist from TSO's ranks to hit the radio on his own, as his song "Eyes Open Wide" has hit the airwaves in the USA and has been charting worldwide. With his ever-present sidekick Leo (Peter's very friendly female pit bull terrier), Peter and I discuss the ups and downs of touring with TSO, the realities of the music business today, and his exciting new solo EP <i>More Alive.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Dan Roth: </span></b><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"> Your first tour as a featured vocalist for Trans-Siberian Orchestra was in 2005. How did you connect with them?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;">Peter Shaw:</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"> At the time, I was doing sales for Hilton...doing real well, making six figures. I was working out at the Reebok Gym here in New York one day and I met [TSO Talent Scout] Dina Fanai. Dina asked me to sing something for her and to sing as if I was signing at Madison Square Garden. So I jumped on a bench press and began [<i>sings Queen's "Somebody to Love"</i>]. I did the entire song standing on this bench press. Dina looked at me and said, "<i>You're going to sing with TSO this year.</i>"</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR</b>: Did you know who TSO were?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> I knew who they were; I had seen them on the Today Show and Regis And Kelly</span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">. I knew the one song that was really popular - that year Miller Lite Beer had used Wizards in Winter for their commercial. I remember thinking that they didn't have any singers and wondering what they needed a vocalist for.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">So they got this great corporate tie-in and now they had to write a hit song to follow this up. And - write a hit song that was rock, not Christmassy. Not "old rock" either, I am not sure how much listeners follow "old rock" anymore. Generations are changing, tastes are changing - you have got to keep up with the generations. TSO are trying to bring younger singers in, but the younger singers aren't going to do it - it's the song and the sound of the music that makes all the difference.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Did you still go through an audition process?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS: </b>Yes. I met Paul O'Neill at SIR three times. I sang both of the Angel songs (An Angel Came Down, An Angel Returned), Prince of Peace, and Christmas Nights in Blue. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">I also sang Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll, because he was looking for somebody to sing that during their shows. I didn't understand why they would be doing that anyway, when they had their own songs to sing. I sat down with Paul once and we talked about it - he said they like to throw in a classic cover song each year, so I suggested that they do a Tina Turner hit song and he added her Proud Mary one year.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3BDw-rFXZMXBUXt6UwW6osP1tzPw_IS-eAagXuh7GexxY3uUDpLkrQqP_L6Phg22PmCh9gp8TROj6Z4_DNvrpsG-S2xzv2eTht1jCFRN-89a-H7Lq8Z0RBHULhfNrwFSepe8Zl5aqvnj/s1600/Shaw2005a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3BDw-rFXZMXBUXt6UwW6osP1tzPw_IS-eAagXuh7GexxY3uUDpLkrQqP_L6Phg22PmCh9gp8TROj6Z4_DNvrpsG-S2xzv2eTht1jCFRN-89a-H7Lq8Z0RBHULhfNrwFSepe8Zl5aqvnj/s1600/Shaw2005a.jpg" width="325" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Peter Shaw with TSO<br />Chicago, December 2005<br />Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><b>DR:</b> Andrew Ross has mentioned that when he was hired to sing the Angel songs for the West Coast touring group of TSO, he was given soundboard tapes of you singing for him to learn the songs. Did you listen to any of the previous vocalists that did these songs for inspiration?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><b>PS:</b> They gave me tracks with Paul singing on them. They also gave me a video, which I didn't watch. I don't like watching other singer's performances because then my performance inevitably becomes theirs. I wanted to try to do something a little bit different, but it's hard with his songs. But I did open my voice up a bit and I became Elvis. I listened to Elvis Presley a lot in the beginning of those tours and then I came out on stage and struck the pose by putting my left foot forward and doing that Elvis hand gesture. I literally became Elvis for those couple of songs. That was it. I would reach out, like Elvis would do. Not too much - they wanted it done much more elaborate. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Those two songs didn't use my real vocal range. I have a huge range - I can sing soft and beautiful but also scream like Freddie Mercury and Roger Daltrey. The songs were low in my register, and when you sing your voice gets accustomed to singing in that range. I would have to take a whole month off after the tours to let my voice pop back up.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you get a lot of direction from Paul in how he wanted the songs presented?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS: </b> Not a lot, because with my Elvis stances I was already doing something that he and Dina liked. The only real direction I would get was not to touch the microphone. That meant just stand there and sing it without really moving. But it was powerful that way I suppose. In my first rehearsals </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I was new and a little scared that I wasn't doing what Paul wanted. They would give me these </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">frivolous</span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"> notes that was really just Paul trying to micro-manage every moment and movement on stage. Jon Oliva would always come up and tell me how impressed he was with me - Oliva and I got along great.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><b>DR:</b> How was your take on those two Angel songs different from others who have sung it?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><b>PS:</b> Rob Evan sings it big, almost like an Ethel Merman kind of thing, very theatrical. I knew I did not want to sing it like that. If Elvis were to sing a lullaby with a pointed voice, that's how I did mine. It was so low though that it hurt my larynx. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I sang it as Elvis as I could, totally different from how Rob Evan sang it. I think that's why they gave tapes of my performances to Andrew Ross when he was hired to do the songs on the West Coast tour - the way I sang it fit the song better.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><b>DR:</b> In a live setting, TSO performs their songs much slower than they were originally recorded for their albums.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>PS:</b> Yes they are! It killed all of us. I remember Chris Caffery once remarking to me how he was getting gray hair from doing the songs at that tempo. Paul slowed those songs down to almost nothing. The click track was like [<i>snaps fingers very slowly</i>] - all just to drag the show out for three hours. These guys all had to play solos through that and extend it; it's tough for the band. If the band could do the show, they would do it in an hour, hour and half and be off the stage. The songs wouldn't have to be five or six minutes long. Why O'Neil doesn't let them play it the way they should be played and let the show be over by 10:00 so the fans can get home at a decent hour is beyond me. I would just let the band run with it.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiic_6zw_H_jC7x8wB4Mcfmwu71gGBe4oTZcpcg3UGMlQ8UVweQd5IYSj0XR93NldxLkfhkcHH0-Kb10SJ11FQ7NwuUKr8E_wDcpVrNbJ5fQROXsV7D7XqaZt5MnWfZCeZY_2NAg4IrZUjd/s1600/PeterShaw2007Phelps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiic_6zw_H_jC7x8wB4Mcfmwu71gGBe4oTZcpcg3UGMlQ8UVweQd5IYSj0XR93NldxLkfhkcHH0-Kb10SJ11FQ7NwuUKr8E_wDcpVrNbJ5fQROXsV7D7XqaZt5MnWfZCeZY_2NAg4IrZUjd/s1600/PeterShaw2007Phelps.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Shaw with TSO<br />
2007<br />
Photo Courtesy of James Marvin Phelps</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><b>DR:</b> Paul has mentioned that he slows them down so fans can really hear the lyrics and follow the story.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>PS</b>: I hear the lyrics and understand them when I hear Steve Perry or Steven Tyler sing, and their songs are flying. Please, don't give me that shit. The band doesn't want to play that slow. We had Roger Daltrey guest with us, and when he came in for the rehearsals, he immediately told the band, "<i>It's got to be faster. You're playing it too slow!</i>". Paul started telling Roger Daltrey how his song needed to be slower. Roger was pissed. Roger is a rock star - you have him on stage, you play it the way he wants it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Paul wants to be a rock star, but he can't be. Paul can write hit musicals, but he can't sing and he can't write a successful pop song. Nice guy and generous to a fault, but everyone needs to know their limitations. He is a successful multi-millionaire that had a lot of success with hiring talent and building this show. It will probably go into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame someday as a specialty act. That's an accolade that I am sure Paul would love to attain. Paul always would say, "<i>We've got 32 buses and 36 trucks and we're bigger than Pink Floyd right now by 2 and half trucks.</i>" He would say this stuff on the bus. He would tell us, "<i>Great show! I want you to know that we are as big as a Pink Floyd show.</i>" He would always compare himself to the legends. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I do that too though; the only way to grow and become a legend like that is to dream that. </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Won't that be funny - my name will be on a plaque someday in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for fronting this band for three years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> I understand that you were the singer on The Who songs that Roger was planning on singing as you and the TSO band rehearsed them in the weeks leading up to his guest appearance.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><b>PS:</b> Yes! Because I was the only singer in the band that could sing like that. I did "See Me Feel Me", "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Pinball Wizard" and I ran the band through the tracks for a few weeks. Roger came up to me and paid me the ultimate compliment - he told me "<i>Keep on singing, man. Your voice is incredible. You do these songs better than me!</i>". That was great to hear, but I told him, "<i>I don't sing them better than you, but I want your songs to live on and on. You and Pete and The Who really did something special with those songs and changed lives with them.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> In your three tours with them, did you ever have the opportunity to fill in and sing one of the other songs in the show?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> No, everybody was always ready and I never had to step in. I could have done any of the songs though, as I learned them all. I did however once have Jay Pierce step in for me, though I didn't know it at the time, as I missed my cue. We were playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, and that arena is buried in the earth - the sound does not travel outside of the stage. When the doors shut, you hear nothing. I was in the dressing room getting ready, and normally you can hear the band from down the hall. I kept sticking my head out the door and didn't hear anything. I finally walked down the hall and Jay was halfway through "An Angel Came Down"! I was like, "<i>My God, I missed my cue!</i>". Bob Kinkel and Mee Eun Kim missed their cues for the start of the second half of the show also in that same arena. Right after I missed that cue, they started putting a speaker in the hallway so we all could hear what was on stage.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you ever sing on the radio or TV promo performances that TSO did?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> No, never was invited for those. I didn't understand that. My song was the song that would open the show and you would think that they would want to use that for those appearances. But they always did the song with the female dancers. "Wizards of Winter" was a hit because of that beer commercial, so you have to do that, but why not have one of your vocalists sing a song? It would have been Jen Cella, Jay Pierce, James Lewis or</span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"> </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">me</span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">. Stevie Broderick's song was a specialty song with the acoustic guitar and way too long for TV. You need a quick song - my song or Jen's song into something else. They should have done a little medley of their songs and singers for TV - why not use your singers?</span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"> Peter Shaw singing "An Angel Returned" 12/09/07</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You toured with the East Coast touring company - did you have the opportunity or desire to perform with the West?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS: </b> The first time I went to TSO rehearsals down in Lakeland, Florida, I noticed a big difference in the West show. They walked out with a certain panache and chemistry that really rolled. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Michael Lanning, who was touring with them then, is a rock and roll God - he is one of the truest and most real people I have ever met. The first time I heard him sing was when we were at these rehearsals. Michael got on stage and rocked! I looked at Jen Cella and said, "<i>I want to perform with them!</i>". And that was because of him! And also with Tony Gaynor and his delivery and Guy LeMonnier and his nonchalant way of walking on stage and grabbing the mic and just singing it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I remember watching the West group perform and telling my band, "<i>Wow! They put on a great show!</i>". They all looked at me funny. The performers on the West all had this great feel about them and they seemed like they were a family. I looked at our band and thought that everybody feels cold and not close. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">The West had a family. We on the East had a dysfunctional group; a lot of them had huge personalities and it was not always easy getting along with everyone. The West would often congregate off stage and hang out; our band didn't do that. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">The West band even grooved the songs differently - Al Pitrelli would put the songs in a whole different frame of mind. Ours would always sound exactly like the record, but slower and bigger. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">My memories of my tours were not like the West Coast group, not jovial, happy, great experience, lets get drunk on the bus and hang out. The East Coast was a whole different ball of wax - they are very clique-ish and I wasn't included in the clique. There were a few. James Lewis and I were close. James is a great personality, talented as fuck and I loved working with him. If anybody should have been a rock star, it should've been him. Nobody else on those tours sang with a realness to their voice.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;">DR:</b><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"> Sounds like you didn't always feel a part of it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><b>PS: </b> I didn't always feel part of it, except for time I spent with [Electric Violinist] Mark Wood, [vocalists] James Lewis and Stevie Broderick - I felt alone in it. If I were on the West Coast tour, I would have felt like I could have gotten on anyone's bus, hang out and talk with anybody. On the East Coast tours that I was on, it wasn't like that. Keep in mind that TSO isn't a real band - it is a bunch of performers trying to upstage each other, and I couldn't upstage anyone with the two songs that I sang. But I can by having a hit song on the radio!</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><br /></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I respect all of the players for their talent, but you have to have that "it factor". Michael Lanning comes out on stage and has the "it factor". Tony Gaynor, Guy LeMonnier have the "it factor". You saw that more on the West coast tour than the East. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"> </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Alex Skolnick has the "it factor".</span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"> Chris Caffery has the "it factor" but I think he tries too hard to get the audience going. But that's Chris and you got to love him for doing his own thing.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Peter Shaw with TSO</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Chicago, December 2005</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Mark Wood and I got along better than anyone else on the tour - it was an immediate friendship. He is all about the music. Such a difference from the string players they have now - </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Mark Wood didn't need all the bouncing around like they have now. He could just stand there and actually play like he is a musical rock God, like Dio! Ronnie James Dio didn't have to dance - he would walk up to the mic, put his hand on his hip, and start singing. You could hear right then that he was not a fake.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;">DR:</b><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"> You toured with the TSO show for three years, and then you were gone from the stage. What happened?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> It was a combination of things. There was a personality conflict there that involved some egos and politics. Paul O'Neil was gracious enough to give me my full salary - not backup-band salary - to be in their backup band in 2008. I accepted that because I was still trying to get money to do my own thing - I wanted to do my own record. So I did that for one tour and then I didn't hear from them anymore - I didn't even get a phone call, but I was fine with that though - that tour can wear on you. You can only do that tour for so long before you get bored. I didn't want to grow old and die on that tour. Once you are locked into a role there, there is no change. I have my own thing that I want to do. My life turns faster than anyone else's on that tour - I don't want to be one of those people who grow old on a tour that I didn't want to be on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">But the back-up band was fun for what it was. In there, I sang not just the Angel songs, but also "Christmas Nights in Blue" and a couple others, so I was the backup for them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">Right about this time, Peter's </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">fun and very friendly </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">pit bull came over and showed me her toy and how strong her teeth are. </span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><i><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">After our little tug-of-war, Peter and I got back to our interview...</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Are there any moments or times with TSO that stand out or are very memorable to you?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS: </b>I was a hired gun, like the rest of the singers, so it wasn't like I was singing anything that I helped create. But, I will always remember walking on their stage with Mark Wood looking at me with his reassuring smile. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">The memory that is stuck with me now is the first time I sang "Eyes Open Wide" to a live audience - their reaction was just incredible and that was my song! I created that moment so I will always remember that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">One moment I do think back on was when we were in Detroit </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">on my first tour in 2005.</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"> We did three shows, and no one was applauding for the narrator, Bryan Hicks. At the end of the first act as we all came out to take our bows, we were all in a row: there was me, James Lewis, Jay Pierce, Stevie Broderick, then the girls. I was the one on the outside and Bryan always took his bow next to me. Bryan would take his bow and hardly anyone would be applauding for him. So at one of these shows in Detroit, I went behind him and started waving my hands in the air with my energy as he was introduced - I was jumping behind him and pointing to the audience and the audience started roaring with applause - so finally Bryan could hear and feel the applause. Paul O'Neill came running from the soundbooth, shook my hand and thanked me for doing that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">I did that to make Bryan feel good, and he gained some confidence from hearing those applause. He started performing with more confidence and the applause started coming naturally as the tour continued. </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Some others in the band looked at me funny that I did this, but I felt bad for him - he had a part in the show that was a lot of work. I never got a thank you from him, which was kind of sad, but I was still glad I did it for him and his ego - it's important when doing a show that your ego is up like the others or else you don't feel a part of it.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Peter Shaw and TSO</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">November, 2007</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b> What did you enjoy the most during your years touring with TSO?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">The most would be singing in front of the sizes of the audiences.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Every morning for a year, I would watch the video of this Roger Waters show that he did at Portland's Rose Garden Arena. I would watch this every morning before I left for work and I told my girlfriend that my dream is to sing on a stage to that size of an audience. With TSO, getting up in front of the crowd when my cue was up and walking up to that microphone for the first time every night and looking out at that vast arena of people and thinking, "<i>I dreamed this one year ago and one year later it came to fruition.</i>" That is what I enjoyed the most. I used to think, "<i>How lucky am I ?</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">You know what the best part of singing with TSO was? The one thing I am thankful to Paul and TSO for is giving me that feeling of fear of singing in front of 20,000 people. Once you are over that, you can do anything - the world's yours. Once that fear is gone, I could play in front of anyone. I could play in front of 50,000 people or play in front of you and do it flawlessly. That experience was invaluable. Ultimately, I didn't even care about the money from TSO. Sure it helped me out, but I was making more doing sales for the Hilton.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b> </b> After your time with TSO, you started collaborating with guitarist Angus Clark for your solo project?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> Yeah, right away Angus and I wrote some songs together and we put them up on Myspace. If you go to my Myspace page, we still have nine of those songs up there. We never did any of them live though - didn't have an investor at the time to help pay the band and do the shows the right way. I wanted a song with a Bruce Springsteen feel and Angus wrote "Everything is Gone" for me, which really came out well. Some of these I may take to another level. My current band wants to do "I'm Coming for You", which is one of the harder rocking songs on there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did you work with anyone else from the TSO casts?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">PS: </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">David Z is incredible - he and I are like brothers. I love Dave and his brother Paulie. I love their band [ZO2] but it's not happening for them now because rock is just not in right now. David and I did this cool little Christmas song together called "Christmas in New York City" but we never released it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> In the spring of 2013, you performed with Mark Wood and his band. What was it like working with him again?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Wood and Peter Shaw<br />
Brooklyn, April 2013<br />
Photo Courtesy of Tom Couture</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> Mark put on this big show in Brooklyn to help launch his non-profit Foundation for music education. It was a great show, with a huge orchestra of students from New York City. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister and I were the special guest vocalists. I had just gotten back from weeks of recording in Nashville, so I was a little exhausted vocally. But, Mark told me to just get up there with my energy and exuberance and have fun. Mark, of course, had his band and orchestra very ready - if you know Mark, he is very prepared and professional. I hadn't performed on stage in a while at that point, but I was with Mark so I was very comfortable and we had a blast!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Who are some singers that have influenced you?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> To me, you can't get better than that Daryl Hall vocal. Listen to him when he opens his mouth and sings - now that's a singer! Musical Theater singers are okay, but I find that style incredibly boring. When you put your soul into it - [<i>sings Hall & Oates' Sara Smile</i>] - that feel of a song makes me go, "<i>Wow!</i>". If you're busy singing TSO stuff with big guitars, that stuff doesn't play like that. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">I also love all of those soul singers from the '80s: Al Jarreau, </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Jeffrey Osborne, and J</span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">ames Ingram. I grew up on [<i>sings James Ingram's "How do you keep the music playing"</i>]. Those were some of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, they last an eternity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">I love Freddie Mercury. What he did with Queen and solo will never be duplicated. He did a lot of exploring with beats before he died - even Queen's <i>Hot Space</i> album was experimenting with techno beats. And his solo stuff - [<i>sings Lets Turn it On</i>] - was groundbreaking. You can still hear his vocals on McDonald's commercials, commercials for tires, still getting on because it has a feel of commercial sound without having that old sound to it. This is because he was always exploring. Mercury was exploring sound - if you don't explore sound, you got shit. You have got to explore it, dive into it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><b>DR: </b>You mentioned coming back from Nashville, is that where your new EP More Alive was recorded?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><b>PS: </b>I did part of it in Nashville and part of it in Los Angeles. I did most of my writing in Nashville and got to work with some great producers.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter and his female Pit, Leo<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Is the band that play on the EP the same that you perform with live?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: #e69138;">PS:</b><span style="color: #e69138;"> No, they were mostly hired guns that were brought in while I was in Nashville. These are pros that come in and play my songs exactly the way I was envisioning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Did you write all the songs on there?</span><br /><br /><b style="color: #e69138;">PS:</b><span style="color: #e69138;"> I wrote all songs except "My Love" and More Alive". Everything was written on my acoustic guitar while in Nashville. I actually wrote some of them with a homeless man I picked up while there. I met this guy at a bar and he helped put words down on a few of the songs.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">"All I'm Giving You" is one I did with Angus Clark. He and I wrote that together a long time ago and I always wanted to do more with it. It's a good feeling song, with a bit of a country feel.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Leo came with me to Nashville and was at my feet as I recorded this EP. She has been a very integral part of my life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b> </b>A lot of your songs on More Alive have a soulful, heartland feel to me. I hear Daryl Hall's voice in there with songs that also have a Bob Seger feel. How would you describe your music?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> It's all me and my musical idols. When you stand up to a mic and you are vulnerable, alone and naked and just let loose and make it as real as can be. I hear people sing, but I rarely hear them get real. I never hear what I call the "ernst" in their voice. There's got to be ernst. Bruce Springsteen sings with ernst. It's all about singing without a put-on. Pete Townshend sings with the guts and balls. Same with Steven Tyler. Tina Turner too. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">I'm an emotional performer. I'm not a performer who just goes out and fakes his feelings. You have got to really feel it or else you are not a real performer. It's all about being real, bringing in love and passion and ernst - without those adjectives, you've got shit. When you've got that ernst in your voice and the songs are real, they live on. There is not much out there that is original any more, I hate to say it. All you're doing is taking whats been done and bringing it to whatever new level you can and making people feel you in it. You mentioned that you heard a bit of Daryl Hall in my EP - he is one of my musical influences and I take his style that inspired me and now it becomes familiar.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">People respond and dance to what is familiar. Mick Jagger told me this. Everything you hear has to have a familiarity to it. If it doesn't it won't be a hit record. It has to have a commercial viability to it or else it will fail - it might be good for a moment, but it won't last. That's the key - writing your own original songs, but keeping them familiar. There are a bunch of riffs and beats that I plan on using in some of my songs which you may recognize, but they will be my own songs that will relate.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I plan on doing some more songs with dance beats underneath of them. These songs with produced sounds are where the hit songs are at now. From what I can tell, rock is on its way out. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"> Look at the music that is happening right now - Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Jay Z, Beyonce. Great modern rock groups like Kings of Leon are struggling now.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><b>DR: </b> Your song "Eyes Open Wide" is really catching on with radio listeners around the world. Tell me about that song.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> "Eyes Open Wide" is the first song and first lyrics I wrote while in Nashville. Sings "<i>Look at you lying there soft brown eyes</i>". It was all from a friend of mine named Melissa Bollea. I wrote that while sitting with her at her apartment.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;">Eyes Open Wide as heard on WDHA FM</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned that the title track of your EP was one that was not written by you. Can you tell me a little about "More Alive"?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS:</b> The lyric in there is "Hard to be More Alive than when I'm with you". For my opening record, I didn't want something that was too heavy. The title of that song was perfect for the EP title because I want to bring people to life with my music. I don't want to bury anyone in sad songs. I want to bring youth, vitality, joy and passion to people with my music. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Any interest of shooting a music video?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>PS: </b> Yes! I want to hire Anthony Mandler, who directed Rihanna's brilliant "Diamonds" video. Watch his videos and look at his vision. His vision is incredible, but he costs a half-million dollars for a weekend. But hiring Anthony will get me an MTV Music Video Award. If you don't work with award-winning people, you will not win awards. Awards beget awards. Money begets hits.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><b>DR:</b> What have you found to be the most challenging part of the process of launching your solo career?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><b>PS: </b></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">One of the hardest things to do is find an investor who believes in you and your music to help you follow your dream. Paul was able to do TSO with a $10 million dollar loan from his wife. You need that money to hire the best for recording and performing live. I have had investors that invested financially in me which helped with studio time in Nashville and hiring top producers and musicians. If you hire award-winning people, what do you think you are going to get? Awards! You will reach success. I'm not afraid to ask for money, because I believe in myself and in my music. Not everyone has a hit song. I do - I have several. I say this not to toot my own horn or be arrogant - I am very humble - but I am just letting the world know. The reviews from fans and radio listeners have been incredible. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I heard from Michael when my record came out. He told me "</span><i style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">You're the real deal. I'm impressed. I didn't know you could sing like this.</i><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">". It's hard to impress Michael Lanning. He has been around and worked with some of the biggest artists in the history of music.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;">I will eventually sign with a record company, but for now, I am making it happen with my talent and the help of investors along the way. </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I got investors on board to get this going, and from one meeting with one woman from WDHA FM, they jumped on it immediately. That has led to other stations picking up on it and now it's getting play in England, Thailand and Japan. It has also been a Top 10 smash on the nationally syndicated radio show "Radio Cafe", which has helped get it airplay across the country!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I want to be lifted up in my life. I don't want to be pushed down. I surround myself with people that lift me up. This whole new record has lifted me. It's lifted my spirits from being pissed off at the politics and personalities in TSO and the way things ended there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I want to be a hit songwriter - I want to leave a mark on this Earth, but not as a guy who once sang for TSO, but as a great vocalist and songwriter. I want to change the world with my songs - that's why I do music - to change the world. I am not a prima donna about music - but I know who I am and what I bring to the table when I sing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><i>To give me a hint of what is still to come from Peter musically, at this point he brought out his guitar and sang "So Far Gone", a simply stunning song that he wrote and recorded for the EP, but didn't make the cut, and another lyrically-deep soulful song called "Bound Slave" that he co-wrote with legendary music producer Godfrey Diamond.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><br />For more information and to hear and connect with Peter Shaw:</span><br />
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<a href="http://petershawmusic.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">http://petershawmusic.com/</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/petertshawmusic" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://www.facebook.com/petertshawmusic</span></a></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/petershawnyc" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://www.facebook.com/petershawnyc</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://myspace.com/petershawband/music/songs" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://myspace.com/petershawband/music/songs</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/More-Alive-Peter-Shaw/dp/B00F8J0MVK" style="font-family: Arial;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">http://www.amazon.com/More-Alive-Peter-Shaw/dp/B00F8J0MVK</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/more-alive/id708292423" target="_blank"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/more-alive/id708292423</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Peter Shaw's Acting Reel: <a href="http://vimeo.com/39312432"><span style="color: #e69138;">http://vimeo.com/39312432</span></a></span></span></div>
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-32924609591540665832013-12-29T11:50:00.001-08:002015-06-01T18:39:06.918-07:00A Conversation with Andrew Ross<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Arial;">Though thousands of fans may know him from his tours around the world with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in the last seven years, singer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Ross has been hard at work lately with multiple musical projects. When not touring and recording with TSO, Andrew has been singing lead for his metal band DareDevil Squadron, writing and performing with vocalist Chloe Lowery in their alternative band Chameleon, and working on a forthcoming solo project. I caught up with Andrew while on tour with TSO to discuss all of these musical ventures and much more.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Dan Roth: </span></b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I understand you are from Asheville, North Carolina. When I think of North Carolina music, bluegrass and mountain music comes to mind. Can you tell me a little about the music scene there?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #e69138;">Andrew Ross:</span></b> <span style="color: #e69138;"> I was born in Conway, South Carolina, but when my parents divorced, my mother moved us up to Asheville. My stepfather's parents were into Bluegrass and played banjo, guitar and bass and they would have whole family gatherings, which became musical jam nights. My uncle was in a band called Windsong and they opened for Kenny Rogers on his Australian tour. So, I grew up with all of this musical talent surrounding me from my stepfather's side of the family.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;">The music scene in Asheville? Bluegrass and mountain music for sure. But there is also a rock scene. [Guitarist] Warren Haynes is from Asheville and he comes back every year and throws this all-star jam at the Orange Peel. It's a really rich and artistic environment up there in the mountains.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR:</b> I've seen you play guitar, bass and mandolin. Any other instruments in your repertoire?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b></span> <span style="color: #e69138;"> I play a little banjo and I also taught myself how to play the didgeridoo. If you listen closely to the beginning of Chameleon's "Something in the Water",</span> <span style="color: #e69138;">you will hear this droning D ostinato - that's me playing the didgeridoo right there at the top.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">Is that the first time you have played the didgeridoo on a recording?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> No, I have done a lot of recording over the years and none of it has really been released. I used it in a recording for a musical of <i>Where the Wild Things Are</i> that a friend of mine was putting on as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR</b>: Since you have so much going on musically right now, I would like to dive right in and talk about your various releases. Let's start with the new EP from Chameleon, your band with vocalist Chloe Lowery - <i>The Monster EP</i>. Can you talk about the songwriting process for you guys? Is it a true collaboration between you and Chloe?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Chloe and I have definitely found our stride in the songwriting process. Our songs usually start off from just her and I sitting in a room - often me with a bass line and Chloe on a piano. Chloe likes to hear the bass line only, not the other notes or chords because those notes will influence what she hears in her head. So we'll get the bass line down first, and she will write the melody to that bass line. Then we will go back and fill in the chords around those bass notes. So typically, what we will do is have a bass line, hit 'record', and then Chloe will start singing in gibberish - some unknown Chloe language - and once in a while it will turn into English and she'll have this brilliant hook. "<i>Put Your Money Where your Mouth is</i>" and "<i>There's a Ghost Living in my Head</i>" came about this way.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">So now we have a recording of her singing this melody line over top of the bass line. I will now go in, fill in the verses and lyrics and talk about what the song is about. We usually don't start out saying, "<i>Let's write a song about this or that</i>"; we just start writing the music. How it sounds, the mood of the pieces, and the place we are in all help determine where the song will end up.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">For those that haven't heard Chameleon's music before, how would you describe it?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b></span> <span style="color: #e69138;">I guess I might call it college-rock. There are so many influences in our music - there's a little bit of grunge in there, mixed with pop from Chloe. At its core, its electronic beats meets rock guitar, and now that we have our live drummer in place, we are mixing in the acoustic element to our sound</span><span style="color: #e69138;">. We're not a technical band - the stuff I am playing on guitar is pretty simple. It's more about creating a mood and an atmosphere for Chloe to really show off what she can do vocally.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR:</b> The new EP has sort of a theme here, at least lyrically, with "<i>Ghost in My Head</i>", "<i>Zombie</i>" and "<i>The River</i>". Was it intentional to have all of those on one EP?<br /><br /><b>AR:</b> [<i>Laughs</i>] No, we didn't intentionally do that. I guess it was just happening in our minds at the time. When we are singing about Zombies, we aren't singing about actual zombies - we're singing about people under the influence. When we're singing about monsters in "<i>The River</i>", we're singing about evil things that we cannot control in our lives. And with "<i>Ghost in My Head</i>", it's about that devil on your shoulder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> <i>The Monster EP</i> has six songs and I would like you to comment a little on each one. Let's start with "How the West Was Won", a song that you have been performing since the very first Chameleon concert back in 2011. It also has some really nice, delicate violin work along with some nasty slide guitar work in there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Yeah, that was one of the first ones we wrote. Chloe and I wrote "How the West Was Won" in Eugene, Oregon. We both have traces of Native American in our bloodlines, and I have always been fascinated with Native American culture, their stories and proverbs in particular. They have proverbs like <i>It's better to have a handful of lightning than a mouthful of thunder </i>or <i>Those who have one foot in the canoe and one foot in the water will always fall in the river</i>. So when I started writing the verses, I tried to write them in this style: <i>If you keep skipping stones, you'll dam that river and flood your home; Let those big rocks go" </i></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">Basically what I'm saying is leave it alone - kind of like the Beatles' "Let it Be"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">So we're in Eugene and I had the guitar tuned to some strange Open D tuning, and just started writing this in that proverb style. When we got back to New York, Dr. Robert put a beat under it, we called up our friend Aurelien Budynek and he added some slide guitar. Violinist Caitlin Moe was in town at this time, and she came over to the studio. We hit record, she just improvised and what you hear is her first take.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> "Stay Wait" is just a powerhouse of a song and really shows off Chloe's range, with it starting off soft and building into something so huge.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> "Stay Wait" is a Chloe song. That is really her baby on this EP. I walked into the studio one day and Chloe was playing the bass line on my Gibson SG and we started adding in some electronic drums - some totally different hip-hop style beat. We set it aside for a while, but we would always come back to it. We realized that the more we did to it, the further away we got from what the song really was. So we stripped it down so it's just Chloe's voice in the beginning and then it just builds and builds and crescendos. We are really happy with how this one came out. So much so that we decided to make this our new music video.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">Lyrically, Chloe and I had both come out of major break ups in recent years, and we drew from that. It's kind of a love song, about wanting to fall back in love with someone. I think that's why it is so powerful, because this song really came from the heart.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">"Anthem" was your first single from this EP.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> "Anthem" is our procrastination anthem. "Anthem" is really all about the things that we want to do: "<i>I want to go on a diet, I want to start reading more, I want to write a new song, I want to do this or that</i>". But no one ever does it today - everyone starts it tomorrow. "<i>We'll get with it tomorrow</i>".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> "Zombie" is sort of a fun and quirky song.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> With "Zombie", were touching on the drug culture in America. I find that there are a few different levels of this culture. There are the law-abiding citizens who will go out and get smashed on liquor or beer, but its okay because its within the boundaries of the law, but they're still anesthetizing themselves. Then there is the second level of people who get depressed and start needing Xanax or anti-depressants just to cope with their 9-to5 job. Then the third level is folks who go completely out of the legal system: the clubbers and ravers who are dropping acid just to go out and be a freak at night. We're not advocating or condemning the uses of any of these things, just a commentary on how so many people just want to 'drop out' and escape. It seems like we're hiding from something, thus the "<i>Zombie United States</i>".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;"> "Robber/Ghost in My Head" is another song that has been in the Chameleon live set for quite a while. For those that have heard you perform this live, they will notice that a recognizable verse is missing from the studio version - the lines where you sing the verse from Black Sabbath's "War Pigs".</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> That is completely due to copyright permission. I tracked down the current publisher of "War Pigs" - the company that owns the rights to it. I sent them the lyrics and the song, and described how we would like to use the opening four lines of "War Pigs". The deciding factor for the publisher was "<i>How many copies are we producing?</i> <i>How many do we thing we are going to sell?</i>" Basically "<i>How much money will they be making from them granting us permission?</i>" They didn't like my answer - I explained to them that we are still just starting out and we're not going to make them millions of dollars. So that verse was cut from the studio version at the last minute.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">We started thinking - do I write a new verse to go in there or leave it blank? We decided to leave it blank, so when verse three comes up and there is nothing there, just imagine Ozzy singing "War Pigs" right there. [<i>Laughs</i>].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Will it still be in there when you perform it live?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> Oh yeah. We're going to do it up!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR:</b> And then the last song on the EP is another in the "monster" theme - "The River".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> This was a song that I had been playing around with on the acoustic guitar, much like "How the West Was Won", and it just came together really fast. The lyrics are kind of dark, dealing with things that we can't foresee and diseases and all of the awful things that can happen to you. It's basically someone speaking to their loved one who doesn't have much time left.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">My favorite part of the song is when Aurelien breaks into the guitar solo and Chloe starts hitting those high notes and it becomes sort of a "Great Gig in the Sky" moment. Originally, it was just going to be a break with Chloe riffing like that. Then we tried it with just a guitar solo in there and we couldn't decide which was better. We finally tried putting them both together and it worked so well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span><span style="color: #f1c232;"> Chameleon has been performing live now for a couple years, since 2011. There have been numerous line-ups on stage, from three to as many as eight, with various musicians and vocalists adding their talents. Have these dates been about growing and finding your footing as a band?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b> Yeah, absolutely. I think what we thought Chameleon was a couple years ago has changed. Originally, it was Me, Chloe, and Rob (Dr. Robert). When we record, we would keep adding on instruments. We just weren't satisfied with the guitar and vocal. We kept adding all of these players to the mix - Aurelien, [violinist] Asha [Mevlana], Justin Surdyn on trumpet, Lena Lien on sax, and Gabe Marshall on drums - they really dug the music too. We have also had some terrific singers contribute backing vocals - Natalya Rose, Jason Wooten and April Berry. They all wanted to play and add their talents because they believe in what we are doing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">At the core, Chameleon is Chloe and I, but it really wouldn't sound the same without the contributions from our friends, so it's their band too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask about the Patsy Cline cover that you performed live, "Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray". It was unexpected but still fit in with the Chameleon vibe.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR: </b>That's a song I always really loved, and I played it for Chloe and she loved it. We went in and recorded it as well, so there is a recorded studio version of it, but I'm not even going to get into it with copyrights again. [<i>Laughs</i>] This song just seemed to fit her Chloe's voice so well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;"> And you now have two music videos. Can you tell me a little about them?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> "Anthem" was the first professional music video that I had ever done. We've done the EPK and some live videos where we cut scenes together, but this was our first big video. We came in contact with Jimmy Negron, who was a film student in New York. He approached us and told us how much he loved our music and that he had a school project to finish for his final thesis. He wanted to make a video for one of our songs for his thesis! He did an awesome job, got an 'A' on his thesis and graduated.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">The video was shot on one long 3-day weekend. Luckily, we had good weather, since a lot of it was shot outside. For the outside shots, it was us driving around Queens and Brooklyn, looking for places that looked cool and where no one was around. We were shooting guerilla-style; jumping out of the van, filming a shot, and driving on to the next spot. If you stay too long in one area, you have to get a permit. That was a lot of fun.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">The next day, we rented a studio and shot the scenes that you see at the end of the video with Angus [Clark] and the whole band. We had planned to shoot on the roof of the building, but it was over 100 degrees that day and it just didn't work out. And then the third day was when we shot the party scene, which is my personal favorite part of the video. We asked you and some of our other friends to come out to be background actors, and Jimmy found some extras by advertising on Craig's List. I'm really proud of how that came out, it really looks like we are at a bar, having fun.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>And now "Stay Wait" has been released as a music video.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b></span> <span style="color: #e69138;">It's more of a concept video, more plot-driven than the "Anthem" video. We're trying to tell the story of a girl who wants her old boyfriend back. We have a special guest in the video - Chloe's sister Savannah is dancing with a partner, and they are representing the two lovers. Savannah Lowery dances with the New York City Ballet so she was a natural for this.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR: </b>Do you have any plans to perform outside of the NYC area?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b></span><span style="color: #e69138;"> Last year we went to Austin during the SXSW festival, we did the Red Gorilla festival. But having all of us piling into a van and going on the road - that's what it's all about. We want to get out there, maybe support a bigger band. A lot of our friends in the band have other jobs and other gigs, so it's not as easy as it may seem to do. We want to be able to financially support our friends so it is worthwhile for all of us to hit the road. For 2014, we have plans to hit more of the tri-state area, with more Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the mix. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">Nice. Well, in addition to this new release from Chameleon, you have your solo EP about to be released as well. How long has this been in the making?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> The original guitar tracks and scratch vocals were recorded in 2010. I was going through a really difficult time; I was breaking up with a girlfriend of 7 years and was really depressed. Right around that time, I grabbed a mic and started playing and recording some guitar riffs that I had in my head for a while. All the songs on this EP are about girls. The first song on it is about my mother. I was born in Conway, South Carolina and we moved around a bit before settling in Asheville. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">The first song is called "The Mountain", and I sing about my time in Pawley's Island and moving to Asheville with my new stepdad. The man that I sing about who "shared my middle name" was a friend of my Dad's that lived in Conway whose name is Marion who had a bit of a troubled life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR:</b> I was going to ask if this song was autobiographical, with the mentions of Conway, Pawley's Island, and Asheville.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> The whole EP is autobiographical.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The next song on the EP is "Ships with Strings"</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> I wrote this song while I was in my jam room, which is red - "The Red Room" - and I was looking at all of my guitars on my wall, and that day they looked like boats or ships up there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR:</b> Ah, Ships with Strings.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Exactly - "Ships with Strings". The song came about from there and this one touches on Sarah, and our relationship as we are sailing away from each other and drifting apart.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> There is some tasty slide guitar on this track. Is that Aurelien once again?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> Yeah - Aurelien appears on all four songs on this EP. The acoustic guitar and vocals are always me, but everything else is all Aurelien's production. He brings the slide guitar, ebows, delays and everything else.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">So the "Ships with Strings" song ends and it segueways into "Sunday" which was basically written when I was depressed - Here I am in this house with nothing to do, my girlfriend is gone, every day is the same. Over the course of the song, I realize that there are other fish in the ocean and by the end of the song it picks up as things start feeling more hopeful.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR:</b> Then the EP wraps up with "The Letter".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> This is another autobiographical song about a letter that I wrote to a girl who sent it back and then I wrote her another letter that she couldn't throw away, which is this song. Things didn't work out with this girl, but she was very important to me at the time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So why only four songs?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> I thought about adding more, but it really felt complete to me. With this EP, I told my story up until 2010 and anything after that will be another EP.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;"> All four songs segue really nicely together musically, almost like a suite of music.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Yeah, that's what I wanted to do from the start. I love albums that do that. Like Side 2 of Abbey Road, how one song flows into the next? I love that. I love the vibe - when I'm listening to a song and I'm in the zone with it, then it's over and there is this big awkward space of dead silence before the next song starts. [<i>Laughs</i>] When I wrote these songs, I was in sort of a dreamy state and I wanted them to all flow together. I've been doing so much heavy material; with DareDevil Squadron, I'm screaming and Chameleon has a real hard side to it. This is completely different from those, really acoustic and atmospheric. I just wanted to paint a landscape with this collection and not raise my voice ever.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Yeah, it definitely has a chill vibe about it. When is the release date for it?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> I am releasing this on my birthday, February 6th, 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Any further plans to support the release with a video or any live shows?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> You know, Chloe is the one who really got me going with this EP. I was just sitting on these songs and Chloe urged me, saying ,"<i>You have got to release these songs!</i>". Chloe thought I should do a video, but then I started thinking that I should do a video for the entire EP, with all of the transitions. We'll see though.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7YB2aQMD7vgtHjjU-3hU1b4BNWiqa23IZRTDzxMky8sbeRVWVWUkqSZ-sRkThnfrppHIyq9BZC-gtkmMn0HZOJaD9Wf3L8wDYlxzNTHRh4cmdO00htg73744vESyt-_BIfOdbEh3Kffv/s1600/DDS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7YB2aQMD7vgtHjjU-3hU1b4BNWiqa23IZRTDzxMky8sbeRVWVWUkqSZ-sRkThnfrppHIyq9BZC-gtkmMn0HZOJaD9Wf3L8wDYlxzNTHRh4cmdO00htg73744vESyt-_BIfOdbEh3Kffv/s400/DDS.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Ross & Angus Clark<br />
performing with DareDevil Squadron Oct 2011</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask about DareDevil Squadron as well. You have a new album in the works with them as well?</span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"></span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> We do. This has been a busy year. We got together and decided to make another DareDevil Squadron album and this one will be heavier, more progressive and very melodic. We're going to drop-tune everything down to C-sharp and we will have lots of vocal harmonies all over the place. We kind of found our sound now. Our first record was a mishmash of a lot of different genres of rock, but I think we have honed into something that is uniquely DareDevil Squadron. We already have five songs recorded and will come back after the TSO tour and bang out the rest.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">We have made "Chronicles of Sorrow Part 4", which is a continuation of Part 1, which was on the first album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR: </b><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">"Chronicles of Sorrow Part 1" opens with you playing the mandolin, which is a bit unexpected, but it works. Where did the idea to include mandolin on a prog-metal song come from?</span><br /><br /><b></b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b> That came from Angus and I sitting in a room, deciding to write a prog song and wanting to include a different sort of instrument. It was that simple. I brought in my mandolin and our drummer, Jason Gianni came up with that melody line. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The band did a very popular cover of Mumford & Sons folky hit "Little Lion Man". How did you choose this song to cover? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> It was Angus' idea. He pointed out how popular the song was and we figured that if we did a cover version of it, people might hear it and discover our band when searching for the song on YouTube. That was fun to put together and came together real fast. We laid down the drums and guitar parts in a day, then everyone came to my studio for me to scream out the vocals. I then left for TSO's spring tour and Aurelien mixed the song and put together the video. A lot of people have been asking us to put it out on our album or as a single, but I don't know if we are going to get the rights for that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">Chris Altenhoff played bass on the first DareDevil Squadron album, but he wasn't always at your most recent gigs. Is he playing bass on the new record?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> Winston Roye, who is an amazing bass player and is really into the prog side of things, and Pemberton Roach, who has been playing a lot of shows with us, have both been working with us. We're not sure how exactly things will pan out, if both of them or only one will be on the new record. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">We loved working with Chris Altenhoff, but he has been taking a step back from the rock and roll lifestyle lately had has been exploring other things in his life. I am sure if we asked him to record this album with us, he would have said, <i>"yes</i>", but we wanted the band that you see live to be the same lineup that made the record and he just isn't in the same place anymore. We talked to him about that and he understood and gave us his blessing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Do you have an idea yet of when the new record will be released?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Not sure exactly, but probably in the spring of 2014.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">With this band, all five of you guys have "call signs". Yours is "Awesome Wolf". Where did that come from?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> When we were forming the band and came up with the DareDevil Squadron band name, Angus wanted us all to have code names, like squadron fighter pilots often do. Everyone came up with theirs, but I had to think on it. Near my house, there used to be an off-track horse racing betting site. A buddy of mine took me in there one day to check out some of the crazy names that the horses have, and one of the horse's names was "Awesome Wolf". So, it's silly, but I stole my name from a racing horse. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Ross with TSO<br />
Moline, IL 2007-8 tour<br />
Photo Courtesy Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b> Dina Fanai heard me singing in <i>Jesus Christ Superstar. </i>I was doing a lot of rock musicals back then <i>- Godspell, Hair, Superstar - </i>musicals with an edge to them<i>. </i>But with TSO, Guy LeMonnier was out, they needed someone to fill his shoes and Dina had me come down for auditions. I wound up singing</span><span style="color: #e69138;"> "Angel Came Down" and "Angel Returns". about fifteen different times for Paul O'Neill. Dina would meet with me during this process, giving me tips and feedback. I also used to wear my hair in a ponytail back then, and Dina was like, "<i>Take that ponytail out.</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>]. Finally, one day, Dina leaned over to Paul and whispered something in his ear - I don't know what she said, but he looked at me and said, "<i>Andrew, you're in. Call your mom; you're joining the West Coast band.</i>". And that's what I did - We were very familiar with TSO and their "Sarajevo 12/24" song, so I called my mom right away and it was so cool to tell her I was in the band now that does that song!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned Guy LeMonnier, the singer who you were now replacing. Guy was one of TSO's original touring vocalists and had proved to be a real fan-favorite over the many years that he toured. Was it challenging stepping into a role that he was so well known for?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> There was an amazing amount of pressure taking over for him. He was THE Guy; he was THE Angel. He and I couldn't have looked physically any different, and our voices are different too; he is a little more operatic than I am. It was a big change; Paul definitely wasn't trying to get someone to do a Guy impression. I did feel some resentment early on from some of the guys in the band, after all Guy was such a good friend to many of them and was a part of their touring lives for many years. But they eventually opened their arms to me - even Tony Gaynor said something to the effect of, "<i>I didn't want to like you - Guy was my friend - but I couldn't help it.</i>".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">That first year was the worst. I was petrified on stage. Here I was taking over for this really popular dude, and a lot of fans didn't know he was gone. And here I come out singing "his" songs. But by my second year of touring, a lot of fans started remembering me and I started getting fan mail and finally got really accepted. Including the Spring tours we did, this is now my tenth TSO tour and I am starting to feel like one of the old faces around here.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> When preparing for going out on your first tour, did you listen at all to Guy LeMonnier's performances of those songs?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> I never listened to Guy. Dina didn't want me listening to him so that I wouldn't be influenced at all by the person who I was taking over for. I listened to the studio version and I listened to a lot of Peter Shaw, who was singing those songs for the East Coast touring group. I have since heard Guy's performance of the Angel songs, and they were great, but it's different than how I do it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">The funny thing is, Guy and I met at Disney World a few years ago. He is the coolest, nicest guy. He came to the show and was real supportive. He could have hated or resented me, but I always thought that was really cool and gracious of him. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">You mentioned the Spring tours. With those tours, you were tasked with singing a couple Savatage songs - "Handful of Rain" and "Chance". Were you familiar with these songs beforehand? And did you enjoy singing these?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Oh yeah. I had some Savatage records when I was a kid. I went through this phase of getting into a lot of metal, particularly stuff that was played very technical, fast and melodic. I came from the Bluegrass scene, which, if you think about it, is also very technical and fast. So, Savatage was already on my radar.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">You know, I had been singing "Angel Came Down" for so many years, and that is only one side of my voice. I was real excited to have the opportunity to show my higher, screaming register. Those two songs really gave me the opportunity to open up and yell, more so than the Angel songs. Those are just great songs as well. "Chance" is my all-time favorite song that I have done with TSO. I am a die-hard prog fan; if there are time signature and key changes, sign me up!</span> </div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">The 2011 <i>Beethoven's Last Night </i>tour, where I first got to sing those songs, was my favorite TSO tour so far. It was so fun. When we got to Europe, the crowd there just exploded when they heard the opening riff of "Chance". Especially in Germany - Savatage is like Metallica over there - the fans were singing all the lyrics...in English, along with me! I was just thinking, "<i>I hope they like me!</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR: </b>Was that song challenging to you as a vocalist?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR: </b>It was. I had some frustrating moments in rehearsals - there was one part of the song that I just couldn't get to flow out of my mouth [sings <i>"I believe in nothing, never really had to, In regards to your life, Rumors that are not true</i>]. I just had a mental block on that one section, trying to get that out. It was challenging to spit those lyrics out in that strange melody that [Savatage vocalist] Zak [Stevens] did.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Have you met Zak Stevens?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> No, I want to though. Zak came to one of the shows in Florida and sent me a message through Jeff Plate and Jeff said, "<i>Zak said to tell you that you did a great job with the song and he was proud of you.</i>" That just meant the world to me. Once again, here I am singing someone else's song.- that was Zak on the record, that was Zak who toured with Savatage for years and laid down that foundation over in Europe. To hear that feedback from him, it really made me feel justified for singing the song. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">These things go through my mind. Even when I sang the <i>Twist</i> songs in the<i> Beethoven</i> tours, taking over for Jay Pierce. The poor guy - he couldn't sing anymore. He had his voice taken from him! Jay is the sweetest, nicest guy. He never drank, never smoked. He did such an amazing job with the role of Twist on that first <i>Beethoven</i> tour, and here I was trying to fill that role too. That's three times now with TSO that I am stepping in for an established singer and role.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">You certainly made the role of Twist your own on those next two tours though. Was that tough, since those performances involved getting a little more into the part?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Jay taught me a lot about Twist, but I stepped in and gave it my own "twist" [<i>Laughs</i>], my own interpretation. It was a lot of fun. I am an actor, and have done this before. Paul's direction of "<i>Get up in his face! But don't be malicious, be mischievous.</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>] He would tell me to think about punks from my childhood that would egg you on. I love working with Paul and his off-the-wall imagery that he gives us to help nail the part the way he wants.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">It looked like you were having a blast on stage, interacting with Rob Evan.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Rob is such a character. [<i>Laughs</i>] He is such a nice guy. Every night on that tour, I would whisper something crazy in his ear, just to try and break him. Off stage, He always would say, "<i>Andrew, I'm going to kill you!</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>], but he would not break character. I managed to make his lip quiver a couple times, but we really had some fun up there. He is so tall; I had to stand on my tiptoes to get up to his ear.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">On this current tour, you are singing "Lost Christmas Eve". How does that compare to the other songs you have sung for TSO?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> It's a real wordy song; there are just a lot of lyrics. I remember Opening Night of the 2012 tour, I walked on stage and looked at April [Berry] and asked, "<i>What's my first line?!</i>" [<i>Laughs</i>] Sometimes with all of the lasers, lights, fire and snow happening around us and thousands of people looking at you, the last thing you think of is, "<i>What's the words?</i>". We rehearse so much, it becomes engrained and you let your muscle memory go.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">As far as studio recording with TSO goes, you are listed as "Backing vocals" on the <i>Night Castle</i> album. Which song or songs are you on?</span><br /><br /><b>AR:</b> [sings <i>Here, Believe, A Night Enchanted, Seen</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">"Night Enchanted"</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Yeah. I did the bass line, the baritone, and the tenor line, and then I doubled all of them. There are so many vocals on that song. If you really sit down and listen closely, you can pick out who's who. I did about three different sessions for that song. They brought all the guys in for this...me and Tommy [Farese], Tony [Gaynor], Scout, Kelly Keeling, James Lewis...so many of us. They had us all in this tiny room with a mic in front of us and we sang that song over and over and over. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">I was then flown back down with Steve Broderick and we added more layers to it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR</span>:</b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">Can you say if you are on any of the new TSO albums that are currently being worked on?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> Yeah, I have done some recording. You can expect to hear a little more Andrew on the newer stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">What do you like and dislike about touring with TSO?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR:</b> I love the people, and I have friends all over the country now. I have met a lot of people that have really touched my life. There is a girl named Shan Hunter, who lives in Georgia, who has started an Andrew Ross Fan Club, and we talk online every few days. I get to hear a lot of stories from people about how TSO has changed their life. Getting out there and having a real relationship with these fans - that's the best thing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">Least favorite thing would be that I am away for the holidays every year. I'm away for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Year's Eve sometimes. It's tough, but I wouldn't give it up. These people I tour with are like family though, and we have Christmas dinner together.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBviB6jJZ2g5LxzrhBydvWy0FBpunoHzlCArAJ-1wXTY6P0R-kjgDu-NEsV_zZCjoufZky5TWIFgaQvy_JHvXIegnoxBQbP2luTt7LtCRVsOEzMWl4lFKrP2VoWeX81KTIpTxWea4U7hs/s1600/ARoss2010a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBviB6jJZ2g5LxzrhBydvWy0FBpunoHzlCArAJ-1wXTY6P0R-kjgDu-NEsV_zZCjoufZky5TWIFgaQvy_JHvXIegnoxBQbP2luTt7LtCRVsOEzMWl4lFKrP2VoWeX81KTIpTxWea4U7hs/s400/ARoss2010a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Ross with TSO, 2010 Tour<br />
Photo Courtesy of Kelly Michals</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">You have now toured with three different TSO stories. Do you have a favorite?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR</b>: <i>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</i> is my favorite story. The whole story is so beautiful. <i>The Lost Christmas Eve</i> is a little darker and hits closer to home, as my sister has had trouble with pregnancies. <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i> was just fun because of the historical value and getting to play the part of Twist.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">Do you ever have the opportunity to work with TSO co-creator Jon Oliva?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR: </b>Jon Oliva is such a big part of the process of getting us together on stage. He runs the vocal rehearsals; he's an acting coach, a vocal coach. In rehearsals, he is like a cheerleader - We'll be singing a song and we'll see his hands come up doing these mystical waves; He's like our TSO shaman. [<i>Laughs</i>] He is really big into how we say the words and what point we are bringing across when performing. He really helps me; I wish he were out there at every show. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR: </b>I wanted to ask about the guitarist that you work with a lot, Aurelien Budynek. Many know him from the proggy jamband Stratospheerius or his work on Broadway musicals, but he works with you in DareDevil Squadron, Chameleon, and your new solo material. Can you tell me a little about Aurelien and why he is involved in so much of what you do?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR: </b>Aurelien is a great friend. He is hands-down, one of the greatest guitar players I can think of. He knows music inside and out - he transcribes music for the Hal Leonard-published tab music books. He has put together the books from everyone from Foreigner to Pearl Jam to Cannibal Corpse. When we were putting together DareDevil Squadron, both Angus and I knew Aurelien and thought he would be perfect for the band. When it came to my solo work, I was just sitting on these acoustic tapes and Aurelien asked if he could take it and work on it - what he sent me back just blew my mind. He added these ebow parts and slide guitar parts that really moved it to a new level. When we started working on Chameleon, he would hear what we were doing and ask to add various things, and it would come out brilliant. When we started expanding the Chameleon lineup for live shows, he was a natural to have with us to add in guitar and bass parts; he's basically a full-fledged member now.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: Arial;"><b>DR: </b>To wrap things up today, I would like to ask about your involvement with Music for Autism.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b>AR: </b>Music for Autism is a great non-profit organization that will come to communities and bring together families that have children living with autism. A lot of people don't understand what autism is, so often parents are hesitant to bring their autistic child to an event where everyone is expected to applaud or be quiet at certain times. So we create an environment where they can do whatever they want to do while we are performing for them. We play acoustic instruments and we do everything from Katy Perry to Hank Williams Sr.- just fun songs that kids like. Music really connects with people with autism - it really breaks through to them. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">I got started with this through Jarrod Emick. He is a Tony Award winner who was doing a Bluegrass show for Music for Autism and he asked Jason Wooten if he knew anyone that could play the mandolin and we got together and put on a country set that the kids really loved. I found doing this really fulfilling, so I talked with the organization and asked to put on more shows. I have done these concerts now with Jason Wooten, April Berry, and Chloe Lowery. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;">The shows are very interactive; they can come up on stage with us, dance around, whatever the music makes them feel like doing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></b> <span style="color: #f1c232;">Very nice. Well, thanks for taking the time today.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>AR:</b></span> Been my pleasure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;">For more information:<br /><br />Andrew Ross Official Site: </span><a href="http://www.andrewmross.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.andrewmross.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;">Andrew Ross Fan Page: </span><a href="http://official-andrew-ross-fanpage.moonfruit.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://official-andrew-ross-fanpage.moonfruit.com/</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;">Chameleon: </span><a href="http://www.wearechameleon.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.wearechameleon.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WEARECHAMELEONMUSIC"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/WEARECHAMELEONMUSIC</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;">DareDevil Squadron: </span><a href="http://daredevilsquadron.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://daredevilsquadron.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/daredevilsquadron"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/daredevilsquadron</span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra: </span><a href="http://trans-siberian.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://trans-siberian.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra Fan Site: <span style="color: white;"><a href="http://tsoboards.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: white;">http://tsoboards.com/</span></a></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: white;">Music for Autism: </span><a href="http://www.musicforautism.org/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.musicforautism.org/</span></a></span><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-88683157340454707752013-12-03T01:41:00.001-08:002019-09-20T16:19:44.377-07:00A Conversation with Tony Gaynor<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: "arial";">Millions of fans know Tony Gaynor as the original, founding narrator with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. After their initial tour in 1999, Tony fronted TSO's West Coast touring company for the next decade, warmly telling the tale of <em>Christmas Eve and Other Stories.</em> For the last couple of years, Tony has continued working with his close friends from TSO, writing and recording their own songs in their new group The Kings of Christmas. I caught up with Tony as he and The Kings were preparing to tour this year with the Wizards of Winter.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Dan Roth: </span></b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Before we get into your work the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and The Kings of Christmas, I wanted to ask a bit about your background.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; line-height: 115%;">Tony Gaynor:</span></b><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">My first exposure and interest in entertainment was when I was in military school. I grew up on the streets of Brooklyn - Bed-Stuy. My mother didn't have much confidence in the public school system, especially in those neighborhoods. So many in our neighborhoods eventually ended up in jail, on drugs or dead. My mother came to me one day and told me that she was sending me to the New York Military Academy upstate. I started there in the Fifth Grade, and it turns out that for all of the protest that I put up about going, she couldn't get me to come home on the weekends; that's how much I enjoyed it. I was going to school with diplomats and ambassadors and learning to ride horses.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> That couldn't have been more different from the streets of Brooklyn.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> Very different. From playing skelly or stickball in the park in the projects. [<em>Laughs</em>] Here I was playing lacrosse, was on the swim team, even became the quarterback of the football team. One year we were putting on the play Treasure Island and I was cast as Captain Smollett. We put on the play and I had a lot of parents complimenting me and asking if I had ever done this before. This was really my first time acting.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">For my senior year, I came back to New York and went to the High School of Fashion Industries. I had this one substitute teacher who also moonlighted as an actor. He had us work on this exercise of going on a job interview, he gave me the role of the hiring employer, and I was to work with this other girl in the class who was playing the applicant. After class, this teacher took me aside and complimented me on how I really took control of the scene and was very believable as this employer. He asked me if I had ever thought about pursuing a career in acting. I don't recall his name - but this substitute teacher was the one who really encouraged me and got me thinking about this seriously.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I started doing a lot of Black Theater around New York City. I worked in the Negro Ensemble Company, which is where I first met Samuel L Jackson.
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I grew up in the Baptist church, singing in the choir. My mother had me doing poems for </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">stadiums of people. I still remember one from when I was 8 or 9 years old, standing up on the podium: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">"Here I stand, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Books in my hand</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Today's black child, Tomorrow's strong man</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">The hope of my race is to mold the place, in Amercia's magic land</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">American am I, None can deny</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">He who oppresses me, He who I defy"</span></span></span></span><br />
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I was doing a lot of regional and off-off-Broadway plays. Eventually, wanting to work on developing my craft, I enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where I studied acting, speech, and movement.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR</span><span style="color: #f1c232;">:</span></strong><span style="color: #f1c232;"> What were some of your first professional roles? Did you get involved in voice over work at all?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG</strong>: I think my first job was actually a voice over spot for the <em>Donahue</em> show. I did a lot of voice over and commercial work as well as regional theater.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR</strong>: You had a role on <em>As the World Turns</em> as well?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> Yeah, I was a day player on there. I came in for in extra role and ended up doing this character called Mad Dog. I never got to star in the show, but it was a nice little role.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR</strong>: But you did star in the musical <em>Another Chance</em>.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> I joined the cast in a leading role when the show was running at the Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, NJ; my character was named 'Ace'. The show was about three young black guys that had grown up together and were up to no good .One of the guys, played by my good friend Neko, meets up with the daughter of a pastor and turns his life around to get with her. It's based on true story from the playwright.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Were you making a living as an actor by this point, or did you still have a survival gig?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> I didn't do the usual bartending or waiter job that a lot of actors will do while auditioning. I got a real good job driving - I got my Class 1 license and this is what I did at night. I really liked this job and driving eventually became my backup - when things were slow in the entertainment business, I could jump in a truck and still support myself. I left this for a time though, in 1997 when Neko and I went to Los Angeles to look for acting work out there. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">L.A. turned out to be not as grand and not as rewarding as I had hoped. We struggled out there. I got a quick lesson in how things worked out there, especially when it came to acting. So often I would walk out of an audition feeling as if I had really done well, only to find that the role went to the cousin of the Director. Also, at that time, because of California's laws, I couldn't use my Commercial license to get a job driving out there; I would have had to have one of their licenses. So I got other jobs, but it was a real struggle. It got to the point that I was homeless, living in my car behind a Rite Aid in Hollywood. Things improved a little bit, but Neko and I eventually managed to get an apartment in North Hollywood, but we had no furniture, no TV, no radio. It was bad, but we knew that we were paying our dues, pursuing our dreams.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><strong>DR:</strong> It really makes you value the roof over your head.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> It makes you value a lot of things. That's really where I learned to be humble and have faith. For the times that we starved and struggled out there, when I needed help, He stepped in and provided somehow. It was rough, but we didn't go without. But this experience did make me want to start looking into writing or working on my own material, working behind the scenes.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">It got to the point that I became a target of a gang. There was a guy who didn't know me but made two attempts on my life. I would be working on my car outside and would see this guy watching and following me, while wearing a goose down coat in the middle of an 80-degree day. I knew something wasn't right and I later found out that he was someone who was joining a gang, and the initiation was to murder someone he didn't know. That someone was me; I started having to park my car at another end of the complex and taking different routes back to my apartment as this guy was targeting me. After a while, Neko and I were preparing to move back to New York. One day I went out to get an oil change so we could drive back cross-country. I came out of the apartment and started walking up the block to where I had parked the car and I get this feeling, I turn around and the guy is running up behind some bushes holding "something". I jumped in the car, took off and called Neko - I told him to pack up the rest of our stuff. When I got back from the oil change, he threw our stuff in the car and then I kept on driving. I drove about 48 hours straight, stopping only for gas. When we reached New York, I kissed the ground.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Once I got back to New York, I got an audition for the TV special for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I came in to do that movie in this old theater in New Jersey and that's where I met Tommy, Al, and the rest of the group. That was the beginning of TSO.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">So you auditioned to perform on the special, not to be the tour narrator?</span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> Exactly. My audition song was "Music Box Blues" and Paul [O'Neill] told me that I had beaten out 3,000 others. Singing was never my main thing - I always just wanted to perform and be an actor. I came in to perform for the special and did it in one take. Paul had us do two more takes for close-ups and that was it. I was done.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">How was filming that television special different from work that you had done before?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> You know, it was quick for me because we knocked my part out. But once I saw it being broadcast on TV, I felt really proud.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">After that, I was asked to go on tour. Paul told me that he got a lot of good comments about my performance and he was impressed how I knocked it out on the first take and he said that he felt that I had a strong stage presence and a real command of the stage. He said that was when he got the idea of having a storyteller during the show. So he called me in and had me read the story in David Krebs' office. I was still hesitant because I wasn't sure what we were getting into - I wanted to be an actor. I didn't know about going on tour with this longhaired rock band. [<em>Laughs</em>]</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Paul called me down to the studio and convinced me to take the job. He told me that he understood that this wasn't my goal or what I wanted to do, but he said, "<em>This will be something that your kids will be proud of; This will be a real family tradition.</em>" That's when he sold me. When he said those words to me, I really thought about it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I knew early on that I wanted to do a body of work that was positive, especially having a young daughter at that time. I didn't want to play anything derogatory; playing a pimp or a pusher or something like that. I turned down a role (of Collins) in the Broadway run of <em>Rent</em> because I didn't feel true to myself portraying that kind of character night after night; I had that moral ground that I didn't want to step over.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> But what Paul was offering you was a role that fit you?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> When Paul told me that "<em>This will be something that your kids will be proud of; This will be a real family tradition.</em>", I bought into it hook, line and sinker. I believed in the message and I believed in the vision. I really thought it was something that had that potential.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">So that first TSO tour went out in 1999 and the talent assembled on stage was a real melting pot, as there were singers and musicians from the musical theater world, from the rock and metal scene, and even from an R&B background. How did you fit in with this collection of performers?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> I didn't know what to expect with going out on this tour bus. Guy [LeMonnier] didn't either, as he came from the musical theater background. Tommy and Al knew what to expect, as did some others. But we all gelled right away. A lot of us had bonded during the filming of <em>Ghosts of Christmas Eve</em>. Tommy was the funniest character I had ever met. But everybody got along well....[Chris] Caffery, Daryl [Pediford]... I think us getting to know each other for the movie made the difference.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR: </strong> Did you get a lot of direction early on in regards to how to deliver the story?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span><span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>TG: </strong>Taro Meyer and Paul worked with me a lot early on with how they wanted it presented and delivered. But after that first year, I would change things up and add in my own take on it, but still keeping it with how Taro and Paul wanted it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">So you had some freedom to add your own creative input back then?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span><strong>TG:</strong> Yeah. It was pretty much, "<em>Guys, go out there and do your thing. Sell it, Let's build it</em>". I really didn't get too much flack - occasionally Taro would pull me aside if she thought something wasn't working, but they pretty much left us to our own devices to sell the show.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></strong> <span style="color: #f1c232;">How long did it typically take you to learn the script?</span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br /></span><br /><strong>TG:</strong> About a day and half to learn it and have it down off-book. I always had a pretty good memory; you see how I threw out that poem from when I was 8 years old! [<em>Laughs</em>]</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR: </strong>In the one section of the narration: "<em>Like Belfast and Burundi, Rwanda, Palestine; The only decorations here had been awarded for their crimes</em>", the city of Darfur was eventually added during the 2007 tour. Can you comment on that change?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> That was Paul's idea. He told me about it right before a show one night. He told me that when I do that line, to put Darfur in there. He said, "<em>There's a lot of things going on there right now and it's relevant.</em>" And it stayed in there from then on.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><strong>DR:</strong> In my interview with vocalist Michael Lanning, he mentioned that he was called upon to fill in for you for one show on the 2002 tour. Was that the only show you had missed during your tenure with them?<br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>TG:</strong> It was the only one show I had ever missed. I will never forget - I woke up that morning and got a phone call; my mother told me that my grandfather had died. When the office heard about it, they insisted that I skip the show and go to the funeral. So I did the show that night, and then flew home, attended the funeral, and flew back the next day so I could make the next show.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><strong><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></strong> <span style="color: #f1c232;">After so many years of performing the same role and the same show</span><span style="color: #f1c232;">, did you ever start feeling stuck or bored? What kept you coming back year after year?</span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>TG:</strong> Yeah, the script was the same, but really, every show was different. I was having a ball on stage. For instance, Jane [Mangini] and I had our own private jokes going on up there. It really became so much like a real family that it didn't feel like work. Towards the end of my time, it started becoming more routine, more like work. But on the first few tours, we were having the times of our lives. </span></span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Also, so much of the audience became like an extended family. Hearing from them about how they were looking forward to us coming back the next year was very motivating.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">In those early years, when nobody really knew who we were, Tommy and I would go out on excursions; we would go to some filthy rich neighborhoods with these million dollar homes and we would go in there like we were shopping for a house. [<em>Laughs</em>] We would go to places when we were out in the West and Midwest and no one know who we were, but they knew we weren't from around there - Long-haired Italian guy and a black guy with a Brooklyn accent [<em>Laughs</em>]. We would get into conversations with people who would ask what we were doing there and tell them all about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We would take their names and go call the office. "<em>Are we sold out tonight? No? Well can we get 4 tickets or 6 tickets for these folks we met?</em>" The office would shoot back "<em>No, we can't give away tickets</em>". We would then ask, "<em>Would you rather have empty seats or fill them?</em>" We would eventually get our hands on the tickets and get them to these people we were meeting. And at the end of the shows, there were these people in the signing line with armfuls of merch. They would thank us for the tickets and then we would see those same people the next year with 6, 8, 10 other people that they were bringing to the show, and they were all buying merch. This kind of word of mouth is what helped us grow.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">And the whole thing of saluting the military during the show came from us as well. Michael Lanning started to notice the military who would come through the signing line. He would tap us on the shoulder and say, "<em>Hey, there are a lot of folks from the military here; we should thank them</em>" and Tommy would direct us to stand up and really thank them not only for coming, but for their service. Paul eventually took notice of what we were doing and so the TSO military tribute began.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">That West Coast touring cast - particularly the performers involved in the first five or six years of touring - really became known for their chemistry and rapport with each other. As the narrator, did you get in on that?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"></span><br /><strong>TG:</strong> Absolutely. A lot of people think that The Kings of Christmas came about because we parted ways with TSO and we wanted to compete or get back at them. Honest to God, that is not the way it came about. On those long drives as we traveled all over the West and Midwest, we really bonded and respected each other as performers and as people.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">Around 2004, Tommy and I started talking about coming up with something that we could do where we could work together year 'round. Since TSO was only doing Christmas, we were looking for ways that we could work and perform together the rest of the year. I actually wrote a television pilot that involved a few of us. I also wrote a musical play that involved all of us. In 2006, when Maxx Mann came back and Guy was still with us, we bought cameras and started filming and recording stuff that we would work on together while on the bus. We were looking for an outlet to work together because we all enjoyed it so much. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">That's where the birth of the idea for The Kings of Christmas really came from. We would sit up for hours on the bus and sing old songs and we were really looking for an avenue to work together.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">It just so happened that we finally acted on it when we had all been let go by TSO. We were known for Christmas, we were attached to so many families' lives around Christmas. We thought, "<em>Why would we need TSO to get together and perform? Why not do a Christmas album and do what we are known for?"</em> And this won't be the only thing we are working on. There are a lot of things that we have talked about that you'll be hearing about in the near future that doesn't involve Christmas.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Your delivery style - the way you presented the story - was very different from how Bryan Hicks delivered it with the East Cast touring company. Was there ever a discussion to alter your style to come closer to how it was being done in the East?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> The year that I was let go. After all those years it was brought up to change my style to do more of what he was doing. What Paul wanted me to start working on was a style of speaking that is called "Standard Stage", which is similar to what Bryan does. After the 2009 tour, Paul signed me up for speech lessons with a coach in New York. Even after going for those lessons, I found out before the 2010 tour that I was let go anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">My take on it is that when you are telling a story, you are engaging people; you don't want to deliver it in such a manner where you are projecting <em>at</em> them. Bryan just has a different style. Just because it is theater, doesn't mean that you have to speak as loud as you can, especially when you are mic'd like that. You let the soundman do his job. The way I perceive it is that when you are telling a story, you don't project it to the back of the room. [in Tony's storytelling voice] "<em>Hello kids, would you like to hear a story?</em>". You invite them in and make it intimate for them. Over the years, I think that's what a lot of fans did like what I did with it. On the parts that needed to be a little more softer and intimate, I made it that way. On the parts where I was really bringing home a message, I took it there. I never kept it here on this monotone level, I took it everywhere. You're trying to engage them and have them hanging on every word. If you do it more intimately, the fans will lean in and really pay attention.</span></div>
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"An Angel Came Down" - Live in Concert 2006</div>
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Tony Gaynor - Narration, Guy LeMonnier - Vocals</div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">[Original TSO East narrator] Tim Cain had that stronger, deeper delivery. He had that Darth Vader presence [<em>Laughs</em>]. That was his take on it. Not mine. And then Bryan came along and he had his take on it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">After 11 years of you delivering the narration in this style, were you surprised that they wanted you to change?</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> I was surprised. I sacrificed and helped build TSO to what it is today. The way I did the narration worked and it sold. We doubled, tripled and quadrupled the audience while I was narrating his story that way. I was surprised that now, after all of those years, he was not happy with it. I was not surprised about being let go though.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><strong>DR:</strong> No?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> No. We had seen what was happening with the singers, being let go one by one. Tommy and I started this and were there from the very beginning and we watched as our friends and performers that built this were being let go. He and I always thought he was going to be let go before me. It just so happened that it turned out the other way around. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Charlie Gow</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> I have had the pleasure of interviewing some of the popular performers that helped build TSO. Michael, Tommy and now yourself. All of you, and others as well, were let go at some point, and the feelings and sentiments expressed afterward about how TSO handled things have not painted a rosy picture. I can certainly understand the fans being disappointed, as you guys were the foundation and some of the most popular performers they had. But a devil's advocate might say, "<em>That's just show business</em>". Can you comment on that?<br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>TG:</strong> Like I </span></span><span style="color: #e69138;">mentioned earlier, I never wanted to go this direction. I wanted to be an actor, do film and television. What sold me was that conversation I had with Paul down at SIR studio. He was convincing me to do this, and I had no intention of doing it. But when he told me about things like, "<em>If we do this right, this will be a family tradition. This will be a job for life. Your family will be proud of you.</em>". I bought it. I believed in the message and what he said to me. So after all the years of doing it and sacrificing, yeah - absolutely that's show business. I have no problem with being let go or telling me that they want to go in a new direction. But that's simply not what happened.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">I can honestly say that I do not regret my time with TSO. I do believe that I probably did stay too long. I believe now that after parting ways with them, that they actually did me a favor. You had asked me if it ever became routine or boring. No it didn't. But - I now realize that I became lazy. I grew accustomed to having the big show at the end of the year. It paid well - not as much as promised, not as much as the agreement in the beginning - but I did all right. But I became complacent. I stopped auditioning. I stopped being that guy living in his car in Hollywood, going for every audition. I stopped being that guy. I didn't realize that until I parted ways with them. It made me wake up and say: maybe this should have happened years ago. Honestly, in my heart, I believe that they did me a favor that they don't even realize. I have no ill feelings about being let go - that is show biz. Part of being in show business is always trying to reach the next level. Being with TSO, I wasn't reaching the next level. Maybe the show and the lights were reaching the next level, going to the next plateau. But me as an artist, I wasn't. That's </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">never going to happen to me again in this lifetime. That situation has jolted new life and a new hunger in this business for me. Again, I say "Thank You"!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">There are two things that did bother me though. The first was the manner in which I was let go. I just felt that an excuse didn't have to be made up and I didn't have to be tested to see if I would take the time and do these classes. If I had said "<em>No</em>", they would have said "<em>sorry, we can't use you next year"</em>. But I did take the time - I actually lost my trucking business doing it because I couldn't do both and I had to give up a lot of my contracts. After putting in all that time and making the sacrifices and always being willing to go the extra mile for the organization, the least they could have done was tell me. They could have picked up the phone and told me, or invited me to dinner or down to the office and just told me.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><strong>DR:</strong> In my interview with Tommy Farese, he mentioned that he wound up breaking the news to you, without him realizing that he was doing so. Is that how you found out?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> Yeah. I never should have heard it from Tommy. After all of those years - my kid grew up without me there for the holidays. I bought my home and I never had a Christmas in my own house. I never woke up to a Christmas morning in my home until the year that I was let go. After all of those years, I was owed a little more respect.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">The second thing that bothered me was discovering the true faces of some of the so-called friends and fans. During the whole building of TSO, Myself, Tommy, Michael, Guy and many of us would go the extra mile with the fans, in particular the "d group" <em>(</em><em>ed. note - </em><em>an online discussion site for some TSO fans).</em> We really gave a lot of ourselves to these people. We would be out there with the autographs, pictures, hugs, chatting, talking with these fans, meeting some for lunch or dinner, while the office wasn't on board with all that. There were a lot of times in the beginning that the office wanted nothing to do with the "d group", in particular certain members of this group. TSO had a business to run - for them it was about the bottom line: time and money. We were the ones who really spoke up for the fan group, as we saw that they helped sell tickets and they maintained a presence on the internet for us <em>(ed. note - this was before TSO launched their own online fan site). </em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">To hear some of the hurtful things that these folks said after the fact, and about us forming The Kings of Christmas - there are some people who should just be ashamed of themselves. I've forgiven them; it is what it is. But they know who they are.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">There was no reason to take sides. There is enough stuff in this world that people should really be worried and focusing about; this is trivial. When you leave your job, are you going to try and find or create another job in that same field? Or are just going to go work at McDonald's? Why would you begrudge anyone from doing what they love, what they are known to do, and what they are good at?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">Bryan Hicks got the <em>Beethoven's Last Night</em> narrating gig, both live and studio. Were you ever in discussions to be involved in that?</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><br /><strong>TG:</strong> From the very beginning. That was the whole premise. We loved what we did and loved working with each other every year, but that was supposed to the plan from the beginning. Again, all that talk that we bought into, "<em>were going to do all of this together, were going to be doing this and that, when it all comes together it will be you guys". </em>I was supposed to be doing <em>Beethoven</em> 13 years ago. But when it finally came about, you know what happened. That carrot was always being dangled. There were supposed to be films and other projects promised.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">For me, it wasn't really about the money. I do what I believe in. I have turned down jobs if I didn't believe in them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Yeah, you mentioned you turned down that role in <em>Rent</em>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> Exactly. Broadway. What actor turns down Broadway? I got blacklisted for doing that. When I turned down the role and gave my reasons, my phone stopped ringing. That's when I decided to go to LA and you know what happened there. I suffered for my craft. I have no problem with that, but the fun is in building it; going out and doing it and watching it grow. That's what TSO was, until somewhere down the way, the message got lost and it became the bottom line and not the message.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><strong>DR:</strong> You are listed as contributing backing vocals on the Night Castle album, which song are you on?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> "Night Enchanted". Everyone was on that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> You shared the stage with so many great vocalists and musicians with TSO over the years, any stand out to you as favorites?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> Sophia Ramos. Also Jill Gioia, and of course Michael Lanning, Guy LeMonnier and Tommy. Daryl Pediford is definitely missed. And Maxx Mann's voice and enthusiasm were great on stage. And in terms of musicians, Jane Mangini for sure.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Once the tour groups were split, you were always the voice of the West. Did you ever want to do the East coast tour?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> I would have loved to have done the East tour at least once so my family could have seen it, and also to play New York! I would have loved to play at Madison Square Garden. I also would have liked to show the East coast fans what the West coast guys could do. [<em>Laughs</em>]</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial";"><strong>DR:</strong> Much has been made of the change in the size and scope of TSO's show, How did moving the show from theaters into arenas affect you as a narrator?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>TG:</strong> It affected me a great deal in the beginning. I will never forget the first arena we did - I had no idea about the slap back. I was used to the stage with the side fills and the sound coming back to me. It was weird to have the sound slap back to me. It's great to play in the larger arenas, but me personally, I loved it when we were in the more intimate setting of the theaters.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Can I ask you what your relationship with TSO is now? Have you stayed in touch with anyone, other than Tommy, Michael, Guy & Maxx?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> Nobody will talk to me. I have spoken with [TSO Manager] Adam [Lind] a couple of times. It's unfortunate because I hold no ill will towards anybody. I don't see why we can't stay in touch. My father passed two years ago and I didn't even get a 'Sorry for your Loss' note or anything. To this day, I cannot understand why there is this whole separation and the side-taking that has happened.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> I want to talk a little about The Kings of Christmas. I'm going to put you on the spot a little with this one. When you guys were working in the studio on recording this album, one of your engineers was keeping an online blog about the progress of the band. She used somewhat-vague names in place of your real names, but I want to read this excerpt from that blog and then ask you to comment:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #17365d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">"So when Hood (aka Tony Gaynor) received a call from the TSO management, he
came running into the recording studio all a dither. (</span><span style="color: #f1c232;">Which is hard for a man
of his natural suaveness…) Boom Boom (Tommy Farese), Yoda ( Dave Silva ), and X Man (Maxx Mann) </span><span style="color: #f1c232;">naturally thought someone
had died and/or they had finally hit a high point and had hit stardom (without
even releasing a record!).</span></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #17365d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"></span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #17365d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">However when Hood put the phone on speaker the guys were
tossed. Abba (a representative from TSO) had
said that the pay due to Hood would not be given since it would go towards a
“competing project” and that lawyers were on the line to go through contracts
signed. It was also said that Hood </span><span style="color: #f1c232;">could not do Christmas music with anyone
ever again.</span></span></i></span></div>
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</span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #17365d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">TSO had received word from another promoter about the
project and the advertising on the public relations and booking agent site.</span><span style="color: #f1c232;"> They had previewed the 45 second snippets and had seen the bios of the people
working on the project. </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #17365d; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">Along with this, since the call came into the public
relations firm, came the unsaid threat of pulling venues out from under</span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">the
boys booking"</span></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial";">s that all 100% true?</span></span></span><br />
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<strong>TG:</strong> It's 80% true. There are two things in there that are not true.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> You are not naturally suave? [<em>Laughs</em>]</span><br />
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<strong>TG:</strong> [<em>Laughs</em>] No, that part is true.<br />
<br />
Two things are false in there. I was already in the studio when the phone rang, so I didn't come running into the studio. And the phone was never on speaker. I was speaking to the person that called from TSO right outside the door, but they could hear what was going on. For the first time, I kind of lost it. When the comment came over the phone that "<em>I can't do Christmas</em>", I took offense to it. This is my holiday; I'm a Christian. I just found the comments ridiculous - they told me that it would be no problem if I was doing this in a bar or a club, but because of whom I was doing this with and that we were doing Christmas - that was a no-no and that I couldn't do that.<br />
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Again, I spent twelve years with these guys, we've grown accustomed to and love working together, and this is what we do. That was probably the first time that people in the organization saw me out of character.<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></strong> <span style="color: #f1c232;">What is your role with The Kings of Christmas?</span> <br />
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<strong>TG:</strong> I sang back-ups on all of the songs. I sang the high parts and falsettos that made up the harmonies. At the end of "Letter to Santa", that's me and Guy doing that whole angelic part, that's me on the "We ride" part of "Sleigh Ride" that Guy sings. <br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> And "Henry the Horse", that's you on lead?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> That's me.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> That is such a fun song. I love the story in there. Who is doing the voices in there?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> The horse voice is Tommy and the Rudolph voice is Maxx. A lot of people don't know, but Tommy has a sense of humor that you wouldn't believe. [<em>Laughs</em>]<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Where did that song come from? It's a little different from the rest of the album.</span><br />
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<strong>TG:</strong> I remember when we were working on this one. Me, Tommy, and Guy did the lyrics in my apartment one night and Dave Silva played the guitar. Once it hit the studio, Maxx had his input with the sounds and effects.
We were looking for a kid's song to do. Originally, we wanted Michael Lanning's "Benny the Christmas Tree" and Tommy wanted Michael to write a little more. But Michael was on Broadway at the time and we just couldn't connect our scheduling to make it happen. One day, Tommy comes running into the room and says, "<em>Listen,</em> <em>I had this premonition about this horse</em>" [<em>Laughs</em>]. So he came up with the original concept about a horse disguising himself as a reindeer, and then we all got together and wrote it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";">You know, with The Kings of Christmas, we didn't know how things were going to go. We just knew that we wanted to do something together, making our own sound, and it not be TSO. Some probably thought we were going to try and rip off the TSO sound, but we knew that was exactly what we didn't want to do. We were confident that between us we were going to come up with some good stuff. From the very beginning, we would sit in a room just like this with some acoustic guitars and a digital recorder and just wrote some songs. We came up with about 20 different ideas and songs from those meetings. <br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR: </strong>Some of your narration for this album appears on the Kings website. Will we get to hear the full script when you tour the album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>TG:</strong> Oh yeah. We will have the entire narration for the tour.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong></span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">So now, you, along with Guy LeMonnier, Tommy Farese and Michael Lanning are going on tour with the Wizards of Winter. Can you tell me a little about the show?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> I am one of the team here. We are collaborating and putting this thing together, together. It's been a pretty good open forum between the two groups. We rehearse together; we all have some say into the songs. If one of us has an opinion on the tempo or an arrangement, we have our say and try things out. It is completely different from TSO, where the direction comes down the pike with "<em>this is where you stand, this is how you will sing...". </em>It is more in tune with how we did The Kings of Christmas, where not one guy makes all the decisions. We bring whatever we have to the table to make this a great project, a great show and a great situation to be in.<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></strong> <span style="color: #f1c232;">You guys seem to be having a blast in rehearsals. Are you looking forward to hitting the stage with the shows?</span><br />
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<strong>TG:</strong> Absolutely. We are having so much fun; it reminds me of the first few tours of TSO.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Can you talk about the future of The Kings of Christmas? You had the aborted tour in 2011 and then didn't make it out in 2012 with Tommy getting hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>TG:</strong> The past couple of years we had things happen that prevented us from going out, and we were anticipating going out in 2013. While we were planning things, this opportunity with Scott [Kelly] and the Wizards of Winter came about. They wanted to grow as a band and asked us to be involved this year. Once we met them, rehearsed a bit and got to know them not just as musicians but also as people, this just made sense. Why not collaborate, join forces and see what happens?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Is there still a plan to go out on tour as The Kings of Christmas and present your album in concert?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> Yes. We are planning it now for 2014. We have a great bunch of people that are getting behind us to help present the tour. And fans should also pay attention this season, keep your ears open because you will be hearing "Sleigh Ride". And "New York Christmas" was used on the <em>Live with Kelly and Michael</em> TV show.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Other than working on The Kings of Christmas, what else have you been working on lately?</span><br />
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<strong>TG:</strong> I write a lot. I'm in the middle of finishing off a novel. You know, we have been losing so many people to substance abuse. Even recently, Whitney Houston, Cory Monteith and countless others that struggle with it. That's something that's been weighing on my heart. What I have been writing about deals with this, particularly how we as performing artists often fall into the trap of addiction. It's not a new story, but it's something I felt I needed to get off of my chest.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Can you tell me something about Tony Gaynor that fans would be surprised to learn about you?</span><br /><br /><strong>TG:</strong> I could have gone professional as a bowler. My bowling average is 274!<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Wow. Very nice. Well, thanks so much for taking the time and discussing so much. Is there anything you would like to add?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong><span style="color: #e69138;">TG:</span></strong> </span><span style="color: #e69138;">In closing, I just hope that a lot of our friends and fans take a moment to open their eyes and open their hearts and not be so quick to judge or jump to conclusions. There is so much happening in the world; TSO and KOC are so trivial in comparison. No one stays at their same job forever. You may go off to start your own company doing what you do best. There shouldn't be anything wrong with that. There are no sides. I can't tell anyone how to live their lives or what position to take - if they choose not to pick up the phone anymore, that's fine. I just want to let them know that I still love all of those guys. I am proud to have been part of it. I am proud to have played my part in it. What happened cannot be undone - myself, Tommy, Guy and all of those guys were there, were an instrumental part of TSO. It's a fact and it's just not the case now. We are moving on and that's OK.</span><br />
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For whatever happened, I have long since forgiven every single person in the TSO organization and I wish everybody the best. Take care and start worrying about the things that matter, like us eating and surviving. It's getting bad out here. We should be building each other up and not putting each other down. I am a man of faith and that's what I go by. I go on faith alone, because I've been there. I told you one incident out in LA, there were others. If I told you the others, your mouth would be on the floor. I'm not supposed to be here right now, but I am. I'm here for a good reason. I'm never going to give up and fulfill my purpose and I hope everybody else does the same thing.<br />
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In the end, I want people to walk away from The Kings of Christmas experience knowing that this is all about us doing something that we love to do, and do with each other. None of this comes from having a vindictive attitude or soul. A long time ago, I made a promise to myself and to God that the day I can't be humble, take it away. I always look back to Matthew 16:26 that basically says "What profits a man to gain the world and lose his soul." and I live by that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMTrhWvSMe7ysw93Fxyjg4KRAE6t8A8PSCwJtRlMJA-0uzI4oMSZ8fQezqyjn50Mj2JPOjt7RqkBomlqLCkVKf5F3yXj6KrdoX0FxaS7ufro0D8pIsD2AZccjjKEUX_Mui19FwupEFjv6/s1600/Gaynor20131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMTrhWvSMe7ysw93Fxyjg4KRAE6t8A8PSCwJtRlMJA-0uzI4oMSZ8fQezqyjn50Mj2JPOjt7RqkBomlqLCkVKf5F3yXj6KrdoX0FxaS7ufro0D8pIsD2AZccjjKEUX_Mui19FwupEFjv6/s640/Gaynor20131.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tony Gaynor, surrounded by Guy LeMonnier, Tommy Farese and Michael Lanning</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">on tour with Wizards of Winter 2013</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">For more information:</span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">The Kings of Christmas:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/thekingsofchristmas"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">https://www.facebook.com/thekingsofchristmas</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://thekingsofchristmas.com/"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">http://thekingsofchristmas.com/</span></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">The Wizards of Winter:</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.thewizardsofwinter.com/"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">http://www.thewizardsofwinter.com</span></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.trans-siberian.com/"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">http://www.trans-siberian.com/</span></a></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra Fan Site:</span></div>
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<a href="http://tsoboards.com/"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">http://tsoboards.com/</span></a></div>
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-52114306008527281452013-11-02T23:44:00.001-07:002019-07-14T08:09:32.295-07:00A Conversation With David Z<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: "arial";">Bassist David Z is full of energy. Whether it is playing bass in a tux while touring with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, shirtless at one of his ZO2 shows, dressed in bright '80s garb with Rubix Kube, or simply sitting across the table from me in a club dressing room, David is indefatigable. As he himself says, he is "always on ten". And for those lucky enough to work with him or catch him in concert, his spirited personality and enthusiasm for life and music are contagious. I caught up with David before a Rubix Kube concert in the heart of New York City to discuss some of his musical history and what he is up to currently.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; line-height: 115%;">David Z:</span></b><span style="color: #17365d; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as I realized that Zablidowsky was too hard to pronounce, so pretty much right from the beginning. It sounded cooler, it was easier, and it was quicker to sign that way.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Have you always played bass guitar? Why has that become your instrument of choice?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> I play other instruments: guitar, piano, drums. Bass has been my first passion, my first love. My dad played bass so I think I took after him with that.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Have you and your brother Paulie always been a musical team?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah! My very first band was with Paul and it was called Legend. It was very Iron Maiden-esque. But even before we actually learned to play instruments, we were making cardboard-cutout guitars, performing concerts with these fake guitars and singing cover songs in our bedroom.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Did Legend ever record or release anything?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah, the only official thing we put out was a three or six-song cassette tape, back in those days. After that, we did a CD but I don't remember if we officially released it. None of it was ever released through any kind of label, so technically all of it was "officially unofficial". But, we had a good collection of songs that were out there and we did pretty well in the Brooklyn area. And then after Legend I joined up with October Thorns.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> They were a prog band, correct?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> October Thorns was basically a progressive metal band, like a heavier Dream Theater. And it was while I was with October Thorns that Paul and I formed CO2. This was an early version of what was to become ZO2. It was still a three-piece, but we had a different drummer. CO2 was our first attempt at sounding more modern. Prior to that, it was all hair metal and then prog metal. CO2 eventually evolved into ZO2 when we parted ways with our original drummer, Ike, and we found Joey [Cassata].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> On the TV show that you guys eventually did, it was advertised that it was based on real events. On the show, the band often played for kids. Was that a real thing?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> When they said, "semi-scripted comedy show based on reality", we really did do children's music by day. So the idea for the show took that general premise, saying "a kid's band by day, a rock band by night". Then mayhem will ensue when we start throwing in things that were not true. But that piece of it is 100% authentic.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paulie Z and David Z with ZO2<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> I know ZO2 opened for KISS on one of their tours. How early into the band's career did this happen? And how did you guys happen into such a great opportunity?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Very early. At that point, we had played maybe six or eight live shows together as a band. As opposed to what we were doing with Legend and what you hear most bands do - where they play and play and try to land a record deal - the manager we were working with made us feel confident in doing our own record. When you're young and just starting out, you might think, "<em>If there isn't a label, it's not going to be a "real record"</em> ". But realistically it was just a matter of going to the right studio and having the right engineer and your record can sound as good as a major label release. A lot of times, those records can cost a ton of money because the band is renting out the entire studio; they're writing in the studio, they're paying for extravagant food.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What we did was cut our own demos and getting them as exact as possible before we set foot into a real studio. By the time we got into the studio, it took us one take to do everything. We wound up keeping the costs down because of all the prep we did for it in our rehearsal studio. So we did our first record completely funded by ourselves. It was a big leap - it cost us about $30 grand out of our own money. We were serious about it. The way I always looked at was that if I am not willing to dump money into my own project, why would alone else be? So, instead of vacations or cars or elaborate things like that, we put all of our money into our own music. And it paid off. Our manager had ties with KISS. He told us that he could give it to them and their manager, Doc McGhee. In the past, he was able to get bands that he managed a date or two opening for KISS in New York and New Jersey and he told us that he would talk to them about doing that again with us. He gave Doc and Paul Stanley our record and instead of offering us a couple dates, they offered us the entire tour, which was unbelievable! Apart from the business standpoint, KISS was our favorite band of all time. They are our idols. To have somebody that you looked up to your entire life offer you a full tour was unbelievable.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> In terms of lead vocals, Paulie sings on most and Joey sings on a couple.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Joey sings lead on one of our newer songs called "I Will Be Alright" which was released on iTunes only. We also have a song called "Comin' Home", where each one of us takes a verse.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> I know you sing lead on some of the songs as well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> I sing lead on a lot of them. On the first CD, I sing lead on "Living Now", "Fly On Your Wings", "Liar", "Paper Breakup" and "Sweet Lover". On <em>Aint it Beautiful</em>, I sing "Everywhere", "I Don't Mind" and "Hopelessly Gone". And on <em>Casino Logic</em>, I sing lead on "Hero", "I'm Still Waiting" and "Infinity Rising".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> "Fly On Your Wings" is always a highlight staple of your live shows - did you perform any of these others in concert?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> We always ended our shows with "Fly on your Wings" and we would usually alternate two others, often it would be "Hopelessly Gone" and "Infinity Rising".</span><span style="color: #e69138;"> So in any given set we would usually do three that I sing lead on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> In the liner notes on all three ZO2 albums, in addition to your instruments, it would list a particular trait for each of you. Paulie was listed as "Passion", Joey was "Patience" and you are listed as "Persistence". Was that what each of you brought to the band?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah. That wasn't made up or anything. Paulie cared the most about the integrity of the music. Not to say that Joey or I didn't, but if you ever watch the movie <em>That Thing You Do</em> where the singer is more concerned about writing that next song</span><span style="color: #e69138;"> and really the art of it - that's more Paulie than any of us. Joey was "Patience" because he had to deal with two brothers in the band. We would always fight and debate and Joey would have to be the middle-man in that. He was always the man on the outside having to mediate between the two of us, which took a lot of his patience. And then for me, "Persistence" - I'm like a perfectionist so I won't stop until something is done correctly. I was the accountant for the band, handled all the merchandise, so literally, I would be dealing with all the numbers and I loved doing it. That's where the persistence came from.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> How friendly were those fights that Joey was mediating?</span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> When I say that Joey was in the middle of our fighting, it was more debates. We're Jewish, so it was always about lawyering up and trying to make your point. [<em>Laughs</em>] We would fight, call each other names and debate pretty hard, but at the end of the day, everything was fine again. Paul is my best friend - always has been, always will be.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> In terms of composing, it looks like you wrote most of your songs together, and some with Bob Held?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Yup - Bob was our manager and producer at the time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Did you guys have a particular process when writing ZO2 songs? Did one of you focus on lyrics, while another contributed the melody?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> For the most part, Bob would bring the lyrics to the table on the songs that he co-wrote. We weren't as much lyricists; we were more musicians. We'd come up with melodies, but our lyrics weren't top notch. Me personally, I never really cared for the lyrics. I know that's a stereotype for men - men usually listen to the melody, women listen to the lyrics. I didn't really care what the lyrics were, as long as the melody was hooky and catchy. Again, that comes from being brought up as a musician first, not necessarily as a singer.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A lot of the time Bob would add lyrics to songs. Usually it would be something where I would come in to rehearsal with a riff or sometimes a verse and a chorus. Same thing with Paulie. Nothing ever was completely finished. We would come in and start playing what we had come up with, and as we would play it, holes would start getting filled in. Joey was very integral in structuring a lot of this stuff. That's usually how the songs would come about - hashing out pre-written ideas that Paulie or I would have.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> I wanted to ask about "Liar" - the one ZO2 song that you solely wrote.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> That was one of the songs that was written prior to us hooking up with Bob. There are a few, like this one and "Takin' Me Down" that we had written before ever meeting Bob. Bob eventually become our manager, but he started out as our producer. So as our producer he would tell us things like "<em>the lyrics need a little bit of work</em>" or "<em>it's not up to par</em>". And he was right. "Liar" is just a tune that I happened to write from start to finish and we just never tweaked it. I'm sure it could've been - if you listen to the lyrics, it's not ingenious [<em>Laughs</em>]. For me, as long as I can sing the melody back, I can sing "<em>La La La</em>" and be happy with that. [<em>Laughs</em>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Any song from the ZO2 catalog that holds a special place for you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ</strong>: That's a tough question because it's like asking who your favorite child is. "Infinity Rising" was always fun for me - it had a fun vocal line for me to do. But honestly, they all had something about them that made them a good time for us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> "If You See Kay" was always a favorite in your live sets, with your extended bass solo and Paulie's spoken word intro.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> KISS is the band that we all looked up to, obviously not from a musician's standpoint because their songwriting and musicianship is not very complicated. But more so in their performance - when you went to see a KISS show, you were seeing something larger than life. When we first started, we were toying with some ideas: Should we dress up? Should we all look the same? Should we use any kind of makeup or any special effects? There were a lot of ideas tossed around.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When we first played live, we realized that we actually don't need any of that. Our music, and just us being up on stage and being the showmen that we are, we don't really need the extra stuff. For the beginning of "If You See Kay", it went back to the idea of putting on a show. We love the idea of intros and outros and segueways, and being in this trio allowed me to perform a bass solo more than if I was in a regular pop-rock band. This was a nice little moment that I got to play something and it just sort of evolved. Originally, Andrew Dice Clay was the inspiration.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If You See Kay" was on <em>Aint' It Beautiful</em>, and for that record we played those songs live before we went into the studio to record it. With <em>Tuesdays and Thursdays</em> and <em>Casino Logic</em> we didn't - for those two records we recorded everything and then started playing them live. With the songs from <em>Ain't it Beautiful,</em> we had the luxury of seeing what worked and what didn't work and we were toying with the idea of putting that monologue on the album. We were actually trying to get in touch with Andrew Dice Clay to have him do it. You can imagine him doing that [<em>in his best Andrew Dice Clay voice</em>] "<em>Once upon a dreary night...</em>" [<em>Laughs</em>]. So that's where the inspiration came from. It was just a fun little poem that goes in the beginning and sets up the song.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Electric violinist Mark Wood performs on one of your songs - how did that come about?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> The music business is really all about who you know and who you can pull favors from. I've been with Trans-Siberian Orchestra now for 13 years and have made some really amazing friendships with these people. It was really as simple as saying "<em>We need strings on this song Dirty Water. <span style="color: #e69138;">Who do we know that can do that?"</span></em> Mark Wood. I mean, who better? That was perfect as Mark and I had a very, very tight relationship and I asked and he did an absolutely amazing job with it. I went up to his studio and he laid down the tracks and it worked out amazingly.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Can you talk a little about the Rock Asylum shows and foundation that ZO2 was very involved with?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Originally, it had nothing to do with children. This was all Paulie's concept and the original concept was to make a local Lollapalooza. Instead of having bands promoting their show, it would be bands promoting the entire night. So we started teaming up with other bands that we respected and enjoyed their music and getting them all together and promoting the "Rock Asylum night"! The idea was to get the fans to enjoy all of the bands and music and stay the entire night.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Through Paulie's genius, that concept changed. Though it might not have seemed that way on the show, we love doing kid's music. When you get to perform for kids and see their faces, it's really a wonderful thing. Eventually, Paulie said "<em>Why not combine the two?</em>" and make it not just a great night of rock music, but make it something that we can give back to the children. He made it a non-profit foundation that funded music for kids in schools and we also worked with kids on writing and performing their own songs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> You mentioned loving performing for kids. The show portrayed it as a way to make a living. Did you really want to do children's music?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah! It was both. We got into it by playing at the Children's Museum of Manhattan and places like that. We would do sit-down sing-a-longs for kids. The very first time we did this, a parent asked us if we did birthday parties. We said "<em>No, but we can!</em>". And we were good at it because we enjoyed it. So, to answer your question: Yes, it definitely paid our bills and yes, it was our job, but we absolutely enjoyed it because we were still playing music at the end of the day.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> It's recently been announced that ZO2 has been retired. How and why did you guys reach this point?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> A lot of things came together for this to happen. Paulie was looking to move, we no longer had the TV show, we didn't have a label anymore, we didn't have investors. So literally everything that happened since the show stopped was all on our own dime. We're talking about three guys doing what it normally takes for a label to move the band to the next level. We looked at it and realized that things weren't moving ahead. It wasn't going down, we were maintaining but it's not really going anywhere. Truth be told, if we kept doing it without having any real push and real backing, nothing is really going to progress. And if you don't progress and become kind of stale, you will eventually not dig doing it anymore. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You want to progress in so many ways - even doing a record was proving to be difficult because we have to fund it. If we start skimping then the record will suffer and it's not going to sound great. We don't necessarily want to call it retirement - nothing is ever final. If an opportunity presents itself down the line we would certainly look at it, but it would have to provide that spark and help us move upward again.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> I wanted to ask a little about the Z-Rock TV show. How scripted was it?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Not at all. None of our lines were scripted out. We would take a scene, act out the scene and improve the entire thing. And then we would do it again, taking bits that worked the first time and re-do it. We would keep doing that until we eventually wrote our own script, so nothing was ever written down on page.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> How close to your real life was the show?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Essentially, we sat in a room with the producers of the show for hours and hours and gave them all of our road stories and all of our kid party stories - anything that we thought was interesting or funny. The writers would take all of these real stories that we gave and started putting them together and tweaking them. For example, they might take something that happened to us in the beginning of our career and something that happened recently and put them together in an episode. A lot of the scenes that you saw - especially in the first season - are things that kind of happened to us at different points of our career but tweaked and amplified.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> You had a lot of notable musicians making appearances in the episodes. Were these folks that you knew?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> No. Believe it or not, we got them through casting agents. In the beginning the show was an unknown, so you couldn't go up to a Steven Tyler and say "<em>Hey, you want to be on Z-Rock?</em>" because he wouldn't have known what it was yet. But it worked to our advantage because we got musicians that you wouldn't necessarily think of - John Popper of Blues Traveler, Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors, even Daryl Hall ! I would never think that he would do an acting role. Or Dave Navarro. We didn't get any musicians who even had any acting experience. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The show wound up being filled with stand-up comedians and musicians. Hardly any actors. That's also what helped give the show its realistic vibe, because nobody on the show were actual trained actors.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> I wanted to ask a bit about your involvement with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. You were on board with their yearly tours way back in 2000, as soon as they split into two touring units. How did you get involved with them?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> The band that I was playing with at the time, October Thorns, was hired to play a "SavaCon". This was a Savatage convention in New Jersey and they had a talent contest as part of the convention. In this contest, I played a bass solo and the judges for this contest were Chris Caffery and Jon Oliva. They got to see me perform with the band and as a solo artist. Chris came up to me after the show and took my information and we started talking. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">About a year later, out of nowhere, I get a call from him saying "<em>Hey this is Chris, we met a while ago at the SavaCon. We just wanted to see if you would be interested in playing with TSO on QVC.</em>". I didn't know what either of those were - I didn't know what TSO was and I didn't know what QVC was. [<em>Laughs</em>] So I said, <em>"Don't know what you're talking about, but Yes! Sign me up.</em>" [<em>Laughs</em>] So Chris had me come on and perform with TSO on the QVC shopping network. This was before the tour happened. Looking back, I guess that was kind of my audition. I learned a few songs, we played on the show, and I got to meet everybody and that was essentially my way in. They got to see me play and see my personality and then they asked me to go on that first TSO East tour.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> So there was no formal audition with Paul or the talent team?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> No, that process didn't even exist back then; it wasn't even an entity the way it is now. Now there are channels that you go through - you go through the audition process, there are callbacks and eventually you get to Paul O'Neill. Back then you weren't really auditioning for anything - it was literally "<em>OK, were going to split this and I know this bass player that would be really good for it.</em>"</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> I was going to ask you if you were familiar with Savatage or TSO before coming on board.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Savatage - yes. I was a big Savatage fan. I knew "Sarajevo" from Savatage. I didn't know that they had a separate thing called TSO where they built an entire record around that song. I didn't realize that until I actually played with them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Any idea why [Savatage/TSO bassist] Johnny Lee Middleton wasn't on that QVC show?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> I think just because of location. QVC is in Pennsylvania and he lived in Florida. And remember - TSO wasn't really anything yet. It was just starting. It probably didn't make sense to bring him up for this one-off show that was just to sell some units, move some CDs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> How many songs did you have to learn for this?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> It was two or three songs. We rehearsed "Mad Russian's Christmas", "Sarajevo", and I think there was also an acoustic of "Music Box Blues" with Katrina Chester singing. They were easy to learn and didn't take much time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Once you got the call to go out with TSO on the 2000 East tour, did you work at all with Johnny Lee or Al Pitrelli on learning the bass guitar parts?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> No, the way I learned bass in general is by ear. I didn't learn music theory until way later. When I first started playing it was all literally ear training. I would listen to a song and keep picking out the bass part until it sounded right. By doing that for so many years, that's how I learn all my music now. I never go by any tabs or music - I literally do it all by ear.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> So I am guessing you really didn't know what you were getting into on that first tour.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> I was a kid in a candy store - it was a dream come true. When I first showed up and saw the tour bus, I was on cloud 9, and I think everyone saw that. Whenever Paul mentions me in an interview, he talks about my "youthful energy", and that is totally true. I was so happy and so willing to do anything and everything it took to make this tour as good as it can be. I literally was bursting with energy and loved it - and still do! For me, if you don't love what you're doing, then why are you doing it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Do you ever tire of playing many of the same songs every year? Until last year, the first half of the show was exactly the same for 13 tours. Did you ever think of passing on it and doing something different?</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><strong>DZ:</strong> No, and for a few reasons. First, in my eyes it would be such a silly thing to say 'no' to because it's only three months out of the year - now it's down to just two months. Even if you were getting to that point - which I'm not - where it's becoming old hat, to me it makes no sense to turn it down. It's still work, you're still getting to play in front of 10-15,000 people. As a musician, what is better than that?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a very different setting - we are in an arena, but all the fans are sitting down. It's not like when I'm playing a club like this one that I will be doing tonight with Rubix Kube, where the people are in your face and it's a party environment. For me, I get the best of both worlds. I get to experience that arena-rock feeling and vibe on the TSO tour and then I got to experience the smaller more-intimate club settings when I'm playing with Rubix Kube or when I was playing with ZO2.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> The first few years of TSO tours, they were playing in theaters. Some fans and performers feel strongly one way or another over that transition from the more-intimate settings. Did you have a particular thought on it?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"></span><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> I know a lot of people didn't like when we made the transition to the arenas - they did feel more disconnected. And I understand that vibe - it's natural for some to feel that way. Me personally - I like the arenas. Again, my idols are KISS, so I want to be playing stadiums. I just love that rush of hitting the stage and seeing that many fans. And it's great to be playing on a stage where, growing up, I used to see some of my favorite bands play.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Don't get me wrong - the theater shows were fantastic. There was a closer connection between us and the audience, especially for this kind of show. But Paul has been able to make it this big and bombastic thing - just like the KISS shows - with pyro and lasers and lights. You couldn't do all of that in a theater.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> There were three Winter tours that you were not on: 2007, 2008 and 2009. Were you concentrating on ZO2 in those years?</span></span></span><br />
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that third year (2009), we weren't doing Z-Rock anymore but I didn't even think about asking to come back because I just assumed that I was out. For that next year, I took a shot in the dark and called them and explained that I wasn't doing the TV show anymore and that I would love to come back in any capacity, even if it were in the backup band or where you could fit me in. I was super fortunate that they took me back as a full touring member again. I lucked out and was so happy, which is why I will never stop this again.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Do you know Chris Altenhoff?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> I do.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Any bad vibes there from you taking your old job back? [<em>Laughs</em>]</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> [<em>Laughs</em>] I don't know. To be fair, it was my spot originally. But we're all musicians and we know what the score is. This happens with gigs, especially for Broadway musicians. Somebody holds the chair and then they have subs that come in whenever somebody can't do it. So it is an ever-evolving career. Unless you are lucky enough to be in 'an Aerosmith' as an example, you will be jumping from one gig to another.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> So you weren't in their backup band for those three years?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> No. I was just so busy filming the TV show and touring with ZO2.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> You mentioned energy earlier. It seems like you are having a blast on stage with your little dance moves and interactions with the other players. Is that something that just comes as part of the David Z package or is any of that directed?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> [<em>Laughs</em>] That's all me, and luckily no one has told me to stop yet. [<em>Laughs</em>] A lot of the moves that I do have evolved over years of playing and it's literally what I feel when playing. It would be a lot harder for me to stand still at a show.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> And you interact a lot with the other players. On the last tour you and Jay Pierce had that little fun dance-step thing you guys did together for a moment.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> That's great that you noticed that. The cool thing about TSO is that it is so massive that even if you go multiple times, you will never catch every little bit that is happening on that stage. There is so much - so many musicians, so many lights. Every time you go, you can choose to watch just the light show, or just the keyboard players and what they're doing - there are so many details to catch. It is impossible to catch everything because we are all moving. Especially on the instrumental songs, we're everywhere on that stage. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Have you gotten to record on any of the TSO records?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> The liner notes are never too specific. Can you tell me which songs you are on?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> It's so funny because you would think that you would know this, but we record so many different parts and you forget what was used where. The only song that I know I am on for sure - and I am very proud of this song - is "Christmas Jazz". That was just me and Al Pitrelli together. That one was so much fun and it stands out more to me because it's just the two of us - there are no vocals or other instruments - it's just guitar and bass. I am very proud of that one and Al is the consummate professional and such an amazing musician. It was a pleasure and an honor to be able to play a tune with just him and me. He is such a great person to work with in the studio as well. Paul O'Neill was trying to get us into that vibe where "<em>you guys are two old timers who have been coming into this bar and you're old buddies and just playing this thing together</em>". He really gets you into the mood and spirit of the song.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> The word on his recording technique is that there are a lot of takes.</span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Tons! Just tons of takes. But remember, I am the same way - remember "Persistence"! I'm the same way, so I understand it. I will literally sit there and play two notes for ten hours, and be fine with it. That's just my kind of personality. So I had no problem doing it over and over.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Bass players always have a special relationship with the drummer. You have been playing with Jeff Plate now for many years, both on Chris Caffery's solo records and on the TSO tours. What's it like working with Jeff?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> He is fantastic. Dare I say he is the most professional out of all of us? He really takes pride in making sure everything is right and together and sounds good. At the end of every show, he goes back on the bus and watches the video recording of the show - every night.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Sounds like a football coach watching game film.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> It's exactly like that. He looks to see if there was any time that we were not super tight, looks for places where we can tighten things up, and listens to see if the vocals were off in any spots. He is literally listening to all of this so that at the next soundcheck, he has these notes and we go over them to make ourselves better. It's pretty fantastic.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He is also a great pocket player. When I first joined TSO, that's really where I developed my pocket playing. For non-musicians, being "in the pocket" is basically being in the groove - not playing ahead or on top of the beat, you're playing sort of behind the beat so you really feel that 2 and that 4 and you really have a sense of groove.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Your drummer in ZO2, Joey has been in TSO's backup band for some time.</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah, he has been doing it forever. Joey came on board years ago after Bob Kinkel came to see us play while we were on the KISS tour. That was the first time Bob had seen and heard Joey play and it just all wound up working out from there. Joey is an amazing, amazing drummer. Same type of thing as Jeff - a great pocket player, very John Bonham-esque.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> The backup players are there to fill in of someone has to miss a show for whatever reason. Have you ever missed a show?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> No, never missed one.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Do you know who your backup is?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> I do, but I am bad with names. He's a younger guy, just out of college.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Do you work with your backup in rehearsals?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah. The whole idea of them coming to the rehearsals is because sometimes we do things differently from coast to coast. The East Coast and West Coast might have a different ending or a different tempo </span><span style="color: #e69138;">on a particular song sometimes. The backup guys actually have a very difficult job because they have to learn both sides and both players and what they do and be ready to fill in for either one without a hitch. That's a tough task.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> It seems for as long as TSO has had the rising rear stage, you have been one of the musicians going up on it during the shows.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> It's worked out that way and I'm happy to do it. I'm such a ham and I love the spotlight. [<em>Laughs</em>] Believe it or not, a lot of the risers we use are actually KISS's risers - the actual ones that were used by them. For me, to have a chance to jump on something that I can say Gene Simmons was on is great! Sign me up! [<em>Laughs</em>]</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jfHNCkYwFMH1OX1UPtTvvasjQhOUm150LagMc7BPBtBJu1F2-DQhkJeCmHk85vuF6alVm0UbTgu5ZulZG5t1mzXOPvvl3fOEw_lfB8-8LfuBZHBaeKr1k2Q-BKzjuj4bYhyphenhyphenc5aVyq6jR/s1600/Dave+Z+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jfHNCkYwFMH1OX1UPtTvvasjQhOUm150LagMc7BPBtBJu1F2-DQhkJeCmHk85vuF6alVm0UbTgu5ZulZG5t1mzXOPvvl3fOEw_lfB8-8LfuBZHBaeKr1k2Q-BKzjuj4bYhyphenhyphenc5aVyq6jR/s400/Dave+Z+3.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Z with TSO<br />
Newark, NJ 2012<br />
Photo courtesy of Angie Zwicker</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> So, assuming you are in the mix, what is the secret to playing while running through the audience?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Years of rehearsal. It becomes one of those things where since you have been doing it for so long, you don't necessarily think about what you are playing any longer. That is a fantastic feeling, let me tell you. Once you know the material and you have it in your fingers, it just flows.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Have you ever wiped out while doing your run back to the stage?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Absolutely. A few times. You get back up, smile, and brush it off. A lot of times it looks a lot worse to you than it does to the audience. Even with mistakes. When you make a mistake you think, "<em>Oh my God, this is awful, everybody heard that</em>". Most of the time no one even knows. When we watch it back, we realize that things that seemingly take forever on stage go by in a couple seconds. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even if we break a string on stage, it feels like forever while we switch things out but in reality, it goes by so fast. It doesn't happen often because we have such amazing techs and they change out the strings and batteries almost every day - we go through <em>so</em> many strings.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> How many basses do you bring on tour?</span><br /><br /><strong>DR:</strong> Only two. I know Johnny will have a lot of basses with him where one is tuned down to an E flat, one is tuned down to a D, and one is in standard tuning. I don't do that. It's easier for me to learn it all on the same bass, especially when I'm rehearsing at home and I don't have to keep switching basses for certain songs.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Are these the same instruments that you use with ZO2 and Rubix Kube?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Yup. I play Spector basses. I'm endorsed by them and I've always loved them. I also play with a clutch with a drop tuning on the E string - it's a detuner so that with any of the low D songs that I have to play, I just flip that down and my E string becomes a low D string. I learn it that way so I don't need to have a specific bass that is tuned to D Standard.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> For the folks that aren't musically-inclined, what would be the difference between your bass playing and Johnny Lee's? Could a fan hear a difference?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> I don't know that you would hear a difference because we're playing the same music. He may use a pick, I'm not sure. I don't use one. I've always been a finger player; I feel more like I'm one with the bass using my fingers. The pick has a great sound though - I used a pick when I toured with Joan Jett because that was the sound needed there. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> I wanted to ask about your time with Braindance. Did you record with them in addition to touring?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> I recorded one song but I don't know that it ever got released.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> Do you know if they are still together in any sort of way? Their website hasn't been updated in some time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> There are so many great bands out there, that it's really difficult to keep going. Even when you have the chops and the songs, you still need that touch of luck. Their music was fantastic; the bass players that played with them were amazing. It was more prog metal, more like October Thorns. I'll put it this way: I used my 6-string when I played with them. Anytime I use my 6-string bass you know it's more musical.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> They had a pretty unique sound and look, and they even had their own musical genre name.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah, Progressive Darkwave. It was like Type-O Negative meets Dream Theater.</span><br />
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Braindance with David Z on bass, 2003<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> How were they to work with?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Sebastian and Vora were great. We had good times. I don't know that they were ready for my kind of energy [<em>Laughs</em>]. I'm a jokester and very high energy - it sort of created a moment of levity for them, lightening the mood a bit. Their look is all about Goth and dark - when performing I did all that - the makeup, the fishnets. But as soon as we were done, I would be still be animated and on ten [<em>Laughs</em>].</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> In a few minutes, you will be taking the stage with Rubix Kube. You guys used to play exclusively at the Canal Room and then there was some sort of controversy with the band or the name. Can you straighten that out?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Yes. Rubix Kube used to play the Canal Room every Saturday night for like four years, selling out every week. The club owner had an issue with some of the members in the band. What happened was that one of the original members of Rubix Kube, behind all of our backs, brought in all new musicians and blindsided us. We showed up for our weekly gig and the owner of the Canal Room told us that our services were no longer needed. This one member formed a new band, tried using our name, and had a new website with all of these guys. The only original member of Rubix Kube that was in this other band was the guitar player. Myself, both singers, and the drummer are all still together today in the real Rubix Kube.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since he tried keeping the name, it went to court and he lost. So legally, they then had to change their name. So the band that now plays at the Canal Room never was or is Rubix Kube. It was just this one guitar player, who tried stabbing the rest of the original band in the back, with other musicians.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was a mess - we had to regroup, our keyboard player at the time decided to stay with them, and we had to figure things out. Our band was trying to be stolen right out from under us. So in the interim while we were booking new places to play, they were still performing at the Canal Room every Saturday night using the Rubix Kube name causing lots of confusion. People didn't know what was going on. The Canal Room was telling people that the band that was now playing there was Rubix Kube but just had a lineup change. It took probably about three months to get our name back and start booking shows again. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So now, there are two distinct bands. There is Rubix Kube, which has three of the original four members in it, including both original lead singers. And there is that other band that plays at the Canal Room.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Over the last few months it seems like Rubix Kube has really grown. You guys are playing not just in New York, but all over and packing the houses. What is the secret to a band playing '80s cover tunes growing in popularity like this?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> The whole thing was really a blessing in disguise. When we were doing the Canal Room every Saturday, it was great to be drawing the crowds and having the residency. But it was hindering us from branching out and getting any bigger. We were the biggest thing at the Canal Room. Since that split, we have started playing in states that we have never played before and the response has been overwhelming. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The secret to it is that we are not a cover band and we are not a tribute band. We are kind of both - we are paying tribute to the entire decade. You are going to see Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi. But it's not just a band covering these artists. From our stage show, to our props, to the videos that we show and the music we play, the entire night is all-encompassing of the 80s. When you walk in, you almost feel like you have been time-warped back to the 80s. We have a big <span style="color: #e69138;">Stay Puft Marshmallow Man</span> standing outside the room. We really want you to feel like you have been transported back to that time period.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwnJwvhNcM3MHGQFa8XjjWf2ZMrZSmE0iayeSKGP3sx4qtFB-XzfB58gDDW_88dAiFzpIWE6wkvWm9CLxnFePtHqsRpbCUucA3t99mG8z9JV58t0pp1I9k14Bbjq4q8ywdRYGlQaw5eBOO/s1600/Dave+Z+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwnJwvhNcM3MHGQFa8XjjWf2ZMrZSmE0iayeSKGP3sx4qtFB-XzfB58gDDW_88dAiFzpIWE6wkvWm9CLxnFePtHqsRpbCUucA3t99mG8z9JV58t0pp1I9k14Bbjq4q8ywdRYGlQaw5eBOO/s400/Dave+Z+4.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dave Z with Rubix Kube<br />
Photo courtesy of Denise Sparks</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> I saw that the band is sponsored by the real Rubik's Cube?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DZ:</strong> Our female lead singer, Cherie Martorana, worked in the board game industry for years before she became a performer. She reached out to the folks who own the licensing for Rubik's Cube. They saw what we we're doing and they loved it. It's a good time, nothing dirty, fun for kids and adults. So they were very generous letting us use the name and happy with what were doing with it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Do they play when you are away for the two months with TSO?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> They do. Just like any band, we have subs that come in and play for all of our parts.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>DR:</strong> You guys did record one original song, "Shakin' & Twistin' " and you directed the music video for it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "arial";"><strong>DZ:</strong> Yeah, that's been a hobby and a passion of mine for years. I don't do it for the money; I do it for the love of it. I own way more equipment that any one person that's not doing it professionally should own [<em>Laughs</em>]. My younger brother Brian and I always had a love for film - in fact, Brian filmed and edited most of the ZO2 videos. But with "Shakin' & Twistin'", that was all of my equipment and gear and my editing. It was an amazing experience to be able to use all of my toys.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Earlier this year you toured with Jeff Scott Soto. Was that the first time you worked with him?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> I've known Jeff for years through TSO. Since he tours with the West Coast band and I am on the East Coast group, the only time our paths cross is during rehearsals in Omaha. This is the first opportunity that we have had to work together. I seized the opportunity because it's Jeff; I love Jeff, his music is great, and it also gave me a chance to tour in Europe for the first time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> You also played bass on a couple of Chris Caffery's solo records - Faces and Warped. Any fond memories of recording those?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> That was so long ago. The one thing that stands out is having porno playing on the prompter as we were recording. That was my inspiration. [<em>Laughs</em>]</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> What bassists have been influential to you and do you have any favorites today?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> Geddy Lee was one of my favorite bassists growing up. One of my favorites now is Victor Wooten. I went to Victor's Bass/Nature Camp a few years ago and that was life changing. He can play some incredibly intricate, fast, and hard popping and playing but even when he plays one note it's just the tone and the way he vibratos it is just fantastic.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><strong>DR:</strong> Last question for you - with no more ZO2, what are you working on now?</span><br /><br /><strong>DZ:</strong> I've had my hand in a lot of things, not sure exactly where I'm going yet. I have so many original songs and so much original material that span from rock to pop to other kinds of genres. I don't know what I am going to with all of that yet. Right now, I am enjoying the success that Rubix Kube and TSO is offering me. Because I don't have ZO2 anymore, I am leaving myself open to whatever comes my way. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For more information:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Rubix Kube: </span><a href="http://rubixkube.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://rubixkube.com/</span></a></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ZO2: </span><a href="http://zo2.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">http://zo2.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Z Brothers: </span><a href="http://www.thezbrothers.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">http://www.thezbrothers.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra: </span><a href="http://www.trans-siberian.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">http://www.trans-siberian.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Braindance: </span><a href="http://www.progressivedarkwave.com/home.htm"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">http://www.progressivedarkwave.com/home.htm</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">October Thorns: </span><a href="https://myspace.com/octoberthorns"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">https://myspace.com/octoberthorns</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spector Bass Guitars: </span><a href="http://www.spectorbass.com/"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">http://www.spectorbass.com/</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-32347611009803846312013-09-20T09:26:00.002-07:002020-12-24T16:30:27.727-08:00A Conversation with Tommy Farese<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e06666;">Long a fixture on the Long Island music scene, vocalist and guitarist
Tommy Farese worked the clubs of the Island throughout the 70s and 80s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though he was a front man for numerous bands
over the years, it wasn’t until the late 90s when he reconnected with a couple
old friends, did he become known to the rest of the country. The group was the
Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Tommy is a featured lead vocalist on four of their
classic songs, starred in their movie “Ghosts of Christmas Eve”, and for twelve
years was the M.C. and a featured singer on their annual Christmas tours. I
caught up with Tommy at his house on Long Island – still recovering from
Hurricane Sandy -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as we discussed some
of his early bands, the ups and downs of performing with TSO, his current group
The Kings of Christmas, and the upcoming tour dates that he is involved with
for this 2013 Christmas season.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Dan Roth: </span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were a big part of the Long Island music
scene in the 1970s and '80s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me about some of the early
bands you were in. I know you were in The Hombres with Johnny Gale.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Tommy Farese:</span></b><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were a great band. Johnny Gale is
probably the best guitarist I’ve ever played with – I’d put him against
anybody. He is one of the greatest guitar players on the Island, but very
unknown to most. The Hombres played from ’76 until ’79, and then I did a
version of a band called Samantha with him, which was another big Long Island
group at one time.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-V07BU7e4ps-5v3mZ5NQxjLOn3OvzZKbNkDugcYad2D9EVkwqVl65SqBt-DP-_wkorIi7JTstHiwLpRAbQhhrwRKzwiR47A8lfcXD7C0pCbs3SROOJpuEaEHzG2V7hR_vetUm54eXc-ne/s1600/TommyHombres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-V07BU7e4ps-5v3mZ5NQxjLOn3OvzZKbNkDugcYad2D9EVkwqVl65SqBt-DP-_wkorIi7JTstHiwLpRAbQhhrwRKzwiR47A8lfcXD7C0pCbs3SROOJpuEaEHzG2V7hR_vetUm54eXc-ne/s400/TommyHombres.jpg" width="325" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hombres in 1977<br />
Keith Gale (drums), Julius Manno AKA Al Martin (bass and vocals), <br />
Tommy Farese (lead vocals), Johnny Gale (guitar and vocals).</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">There were two periods of the Long
Island club scene. The CTA period is when the Creative Talent Agency had all
the big bands – they had Twisted Sister, Rat Race Choir – any band on the Island
that was drawing the most people and making the most money. They
would hold a lot of clubs hostage – meaning, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You’re going to take five shit bands if you want Twisted Sister on
Thursday night</i>.” It became completely out of hand where club owners could
not afford to pay five crap bands that weren’t drawing anybody just to have a
Twisted Sister or a Zebra or whoever. Around 1980 or ’81, the club scene
started to change to the Irish Pub circuit; you didn’t have to have a
light show or a road crew or anything like that – you would just walk in and
play. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip8_egm6YsY0PduCD9u8jWEweRqPl71KtMzgHNkcoHW-Dd_ElXeyApjfOhIMUKJUnTPPgtjpftXk-99fV_mU-M8_8tyWEsxKmuN6sDXH8vLs5BZtG9gcIHBfmwWg80CsaGwCRe1w6CS8o0/s1600/FareseKivetsky.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip8_egm6YsY0PduCD9u8jWEweRqPl71KtMzgHNkcoHW-Dd_ElXeyApjfOhIMUKJUnTPPgtjpftXk-99fV_mU-M8_8tyWEsxKmuN6sDXH8vLs5BZtG9gcIHBfmwWg80CsaGwCRe1w6CS8o0/s400/FareseKivetsky.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tommy Farese with Kivetsky</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">Johnny had asked me into this band
called Kivetsky. They had started back in ’70-’71 and I was in the band for 10
or 12 years. It’s a stupid band name; don’t ask me where it came from. But
believe it or not, they were a really big draw. We did everything from the 1910
Fruitgum Company to Led Zeppelin – pretty much anything ‘50s, ’60, and ’70.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you were in Swift Kick, The Furys, Insex…</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, Swift Kick was Tony Bruno, Ricky Panzica
and Richie Raccuglia on drums. That was a good time, playing on Friday and Saturday
nights. Those were the risqué days when I was ‘Front Man Extraordinaire’,
telling everyone to take their clothes off. [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>].</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">DR: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">I wanted to ask about the band Cathedral that you were
fronting while Paul O’Neill managed you guys. Was this the first time you got to
know Paul?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew Paul before that because he used to
come down and see a band I was in with Teddy and Bobby Rondinelli called Tusk
back in the early ‘70s. So sometime in the early ‘80s, Mark Cunningham and I started
working together and he asked me if I wanted to form this band with him – it would be somewhat
different from anything I’ve ever done. He thought I would be perfect for it
because he was looking for my kind of vocals. So we did it and O’Neill was
managing it. He was looking for a Savatage-type band at that point and he
wanted us to be Savatage.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">Paul does not like the way I sing
because he doesn’t like blues. He thinks he knows blues. His idea of the blues
is his album called <i>Streets</i>. He thinks that’s the blues. I guess everybody has
their own version of the blues. Paul never really dug the way I sang but he
knew I was a good front man. I don’t think he pushed us as hard as he could and
he was looking for someone to take my place – Mark didn’t want to hear about it.
Mark and I were tight and we had this great chemistry on stage. The band looked
great – we all had hair down to our asses [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>].
We were a good-looking band, the music was great – it was different – and it
should have become something. But the bottom line was that Paul didn’t like the
way I sang – I couldn’t sing the way he wanted me to because I don’t hear that.
He got me to do it on TSO albums because at that point my voice had changed so
much over the years – from ’81 to ’95 is a long span. To be able to do what he
wanted in ’95 was a no-brainer for me, but there was no way back in ’81.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">That band should have made it. That
band should have been the “Savatage” band that he was looking for, but he
finally found his niche with [Jon] Oliva. He just fell in love with that whole
thing and he had more control over them – he had no control over us. He tried
to write with us but Cunningham wasn’t too keen on him getting that involved. Our music was very dark - picture Savatage-type music, but darker and with R&B vocals over it. I was doing real R&B, bluesy vocals on it. It was real different and no one was doing anything like this at that time. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">We got booked on the 1984 Aerosmith tour. At a gig in Worcester, we got three encores and their road manager threw us off of the tour. Long story short, Paul wound up breaking up the band and taking half the guys for this band called Heaven.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:</span></span></b><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"> I had heard</span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">that you guys did record an
album though. Was that</span> <span style="color: #f1c232;">ever released?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF: </b>No, never got released.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJefJlLUnown_tOnhitc_hvp4uIFBC4YQdxSTli9aRRXSO3dnToH8PCBzJtHwypRExlvDZMznZY0XbukAT0FJTjIYhAxeo5TnAbR8eGA3l9KiaoyqznHK-FVSYvaYjDc2OsRidh__Ina7/s1600/cathedralmarktommy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJefJlLUnown_tOnhitc_hvp4uIFBC4YQdxSTli9aRRXSO3dnToH8PCBzJtHwypRExlvDZMznZY0XbukAT0FJTjIYhAxeo5TnAbR8eGA3l9KiaoyqznHK-FVSYvaYjDc2OsRidh__Ina7/s400/cathedralmarktommy.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tommy Farese and Mark Cunningham with Cathedral</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you a fan of Savatage at all? Or that
style of music?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be real honest, it’s not my kind of music,
but I appreciate what went into it to do that stuff. Heavy Metal was never my
thing. I grew up on the Four Tops, Temptations, Otis Redding, Frank Valli and
the Four Seasons. If I had to go the other way, I’m listening to Bad Company,
Deep Purple with Coverdale and Hughes; these are the guys that influenced me.
To me it was all about R&B vocals – not show-offy stuff, but just sittin’
in the pocket and making the song more melodic. I don’t hear melodies with TSO
sometimes.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interesting that you say that, because you
never hear any TSO vocal songs on the radio.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He doesn’t write vocal songs.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I often thought that “Christmas in the Air” had
some potential as a radio-friendly song.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, that one should have. But they never
promoted it; he never considered it for radio. He thought “Christmas Nights in
Blue” was going to be a radio hit. He swore up and down to us that it was going
to be a Number One hit. They pushed it and pushed it – you can bait that hook
all day long but nobody’s biting.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;">Far be it from me to predict what’s
going to be a radio hit. If you told me that <span class="st">"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" was going to be a hit, I would have laughed at you at the time. And that's par for the course in the music business. You might have three or four songs on your album that you think are guaranteed hits, and all of a sudden someone points out a song that you think is album filler - and that's the one they want to run with. You never know what will be the hit. To me, as a musical guy, if I don't hear a melody with a verse, a chorus, and a bridge with that hook, it's not radio-friendly to me.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">I hear a lot of things on the radio today that are not radio-friendly. I think a lot of times they are just filling up space because there are so many stations. And each station is a genre, and they play that genre all day long. How boring! What happened to the days of AM radio? You turned it on and heard Frank Sinatra into Led Zeppelin into Crosby, Stills & Nash. into whatever. That's how I grew up with music. You turn on the radio today and listen to one station, you think, "<i>Is this all there is?</i>"</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So after Cathedral - this would have been the mid 1980s - what did you move on to?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> I continued doing Kivetsky - I was with them the whole time. I was always working on the Island; that was my bread and butter. I never really left the clubs. I knew, if all else failed, I could always go back to the clubs, have a better time and make a living.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to skip ahead a little bit and ask about this terrific blues-rock
record, Gale Force, you made with Johnny Gale in the early '90s. This was years after you
played with him in The Hombres, obviously.</span></span></span><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah. Well, Johnny Gale is his stage name.
His real name is Neal Posner. I used to use the stage name of Tommy Fury. I was
going to change that to ‘Tommy Force’ and call the name of the record “Gale
Force”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wound up leaving halfway
through the record as he and I had a falling out, as a couple of outside
agencies got involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I will say
this: Regardless of what happened between the two of us, he is the greatest
guitar player I ever played with. Nobody can really hold a candle to him.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> And then you did this band called Place Called Rage? Was this the first time you and Al Pitrelli had worked together?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Al and I had played together a million times before that. We would do these jams in Rockville Center where Michael Bolton and a bunch of other guys would come down and we would all just jam out and have one hell of a time. Anybody who was anybody would come down - Joe Lynn [Turner] would come down. Al and I knew each other for a long, long time. I knew him since he was a little kid.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">As far as Place Called Rage, Al called me up and said he had this deal with a Japanese label and that he thought that I would be perfect for the band.</span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> A lot of the press on that record said it "captured the essence of the Long Island sound". Would you agree with that?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> It was a combination of all the things that we like to hear. We threw that into the writing. A lot of people don't know this, but Al's favorite band in the world is the Allman Brothers. He's a Dicky Betts fan and he copped every lick he used to do. If you would come to soundchecks that we used to do, Al would play the Allman's "Jessica" - note for note, top to bottom. So that was his influence. My influence was everything else and we put it on the Place Called Rage record. Don't forget - we recorded this album in one week. Could it have been better? Of course. We only had a certain </span><span style="color: #e69138;">window of time to do this record. Right after we did the record, we were going to look at doing a tour, but then Al got the gig with Savatage.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Where did the band name come from?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Place Called Rage? I have no idea. [Laughs]</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I was going to ask why there was no follow-up to this record.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Al did the Savatage thing and I went back to playing the clubs. Eventually Al would call again about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He didn't know that Paul and I knew each other when he mentioned my name to him. Paul was looking for a singer for "Ornament" and "This Christmas Day". He auditioned like 45 or 46 singers - most were Broadway guys. Al brought my name up and Paul says, "<i>Tommy's around? Get him in here. Maybe I can finally get him to sing the way I want him to sing</i>." The rest is history.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> How was this recording process different from what you had done with your other bands?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> [<i>Laughs</i>] The long and short of it? O'Neill will do 150 takes of something that you can get in two. I did literally a hundred and some takes of "Ornament" to only go back to Take 2 [<i>Laughs</i>]<i>.</i> But that's just Paul. He is such a stickler, that even after we did those takes he would compile and edit. He would like the way I sing the word "the" in one sentence as opposed to the way I said "the" in another sentence. He will go as far as to punch in syllables. He would tell me "<i>I like the way you sang the beginning of the word, but just the way you said "a"</i> ", and he would punch in syllables, taking the "a" from another part of the song. Or in "Ornament", he would like the way I would sing the "t" in one verse, but not the other, so he would have me sing that one word and he would record the "t" off of it. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">I'm sitting there baffled and Pitrelli is looking at me like "<i>Just go with it</i>".</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So this is 1995. Did you have any idea as you are laying down these syllables in the studio that this record and act would one day become as big as it is?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> No. I thought I was doing a friend a favor. That's basically the way I looked at it. I never thought it would go anywhere.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Can you tell me about the other arrangement that you had for "This Christmas Day"?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Well, the original story was that there were no background vocals in "This Christmas Day". I automatically heard background vocals when presented with the song and Paul was like "<i>No, just sing the song and were not going to put in any background vocals</i>". I had sung - just so I could get into the ending of the song - this little three-part background thing. [Dave] Wittman layed it on there just for me to sing to, with the idea that he could take it off later so Paul didn't have to hear it. I came back one day to do another take and all of a sudden, I hear the "Merry Christmas, Merry Merry Christmas" - three black chicks. I said to Paul, "<i>I thought we weren't doing background vocals</i>" and he says, "<i>No I came up with this idea the other day</i>." I thought "<i>Really?</i>". But I left it alone. Long story short, Even though he did change it to "Merry Christmas, Merry Merry Christmas", mine was similar - sung a little differently with a little more melody to it.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You wound up recording four songs for Paul: "Ornament", "This Christmas Day", "The Snow Came Down", and "Find Your Way Home". These songs are very different from what you had done up until this point.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Oh yeah.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> How did it feel to be called on to sing songs like this that were so far outside of your more bluesier, rockier style?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> It's like anything else - Say you're an interior decorator and you have great taste, but the person that you are working for has completely different taste. Not saying one taste is better than the other's, but this is what you do. You give the guy what he wants. I gave Paul what he wanted. There were other songs that were being sung that I just wish I could've gotten a little piece of. But it was tough putting the restraints on.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned earlier that Paul didn't care for your vocals with Cathedral. What was it about your voice that now clicked for him?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> I have always had a gruffy voice, but I had a much higher range back in the early days. I was known for screaming and my voice would split up into three octaves. As I got older, my voice came down. Paul was specifically looking for a blue-collar guy who was going to sing about his daughter being missing. My voice - at that point in my life - fit the bill for him. I just laid off the R&B stuff. I just sang it the way he sang it to me and he got what he wanted.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Do you have a favorite TSO song, whether out of the four that you recorded or any of the others?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> I thought "The Snow Came Down" had a lot of potential, though I did not like my performance on it, but Paul seemed to. That's one of those things where I would have done it differently. But it's his thing and you don't argue with somebody who is paying you to give them what they want. I always loved "Christmas in the Air"; I always thought that was a potential hit song. And one more: "Old City Bar" - the original version - the way John Margolis sang it in the studio - he just nailed that song.</span></span></span></span></div>
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Trans-Siberian Orchestra - "The Snow Came Down" (Performed Live in Concert 1999)</div>
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Tommy Farese - Lead Vocals</div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Why no lead vocals on the <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i> record?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> They started checking out other lead singers. I got it - why go with the same thing when you have all this other talent to introduce? That was his whole game plan - to have a host of people come in.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">In the beginning, we were basically doing him a favor. We were doing this because we believed in what we were doing and the deal was "<i>Hang in there, guys. When things get good we're going to take care of you. You got a job for life</i>." Being a man of my word, I always gave 110%. Tony [Gaynor], same thing. And it goes right down the line. The first five, six years of that thing, we didn't make any money. Well, I didn't make any money. There were probably people making money, but it wasn't me, it wasn't Tony, it wasn't the bunch of us. But we did it because we were changing people's lives. We were shaking hands with fans after the show and hearing stories of how we rejuvenated their whole belief in Christmas again. To me, it became more of a spiritual thing than a performance thing - when I got up there and sang "Ornament", I would see big burly truck-drivers crying. This wasn't about me anymore or anybody on stage. It became about giving something back to people that they had lost. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">As time went on, promises were broken. Like I said, we were all men of our words - we kept our end of the deal. A job for life meant a job for life. That didn't mean you had to be on stage, you could be doing whatever. They're employing hundreds of guys on each side every year. To let guys go that have families that started this thing with you, built it, gave it credibility and sold your product all those years - you should look out for them a little bit. That was the only tiff I had with the whole 'letting this guy go' and 'letting that guy go' and watching everyone disappear before my very eyes - if you notice, the band rarely gets touched. That to me was like playing favorites. If you have singers on rotation, why not guitar players on rotation? There are a million guitar players out there that could give it more flavor or a different take on things. Same thing with bass players, same thing with drummers; keys have come and gone - but the core band is still there.</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhnT_CJlYwlvswTv6rVamt-xSoqu196NitUu4a76XgNE2X3YlVy8TExIljNA4Ru-VXDScBac2XrW56EdzXTOG5YN46RVeOiTGwlqItd1ScJQ1pqOscUXtNiEY2yLOKAt_tMVUysi6U5C79/s1600/Farese1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhnT_CJlYwlvswTv6rVamt-xSoqu196NitUu4a76XgNE2X3YlVy8TExIljNA4Ru-VXDScBac2XrW56EdzXTOG5YN46RVeOiTGwlqItd1ScJQ1pqOscUXtNiEY2yLOKAt_tMVUysi6U5C79/s400/Farese1.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> A</span><span style="color: #17365d; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">n extra
instrumental <i>Night Castle</i> song was released as a download-only. Although you didn’t
sing on it, you had a slight connection to it – “The Flight of Cassandra”.</span> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Cassandra is my daughter's name. Janey (Mangini) wrote it - it's a brilliant instrumental. In my opinion, this is the best instrumental that TSO could have put on their record but didn't.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> It is a great piece. I don't want you to speak for them, but any idea why it didn't make the record?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF: </b>If I had to guess, it would be because Paul didn't write it. Or Paul had no input in writing it. But, the song performed live? Absolutely brilliant. We did it with O'2L a couple of times.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> We talked about how you recorded four songs for TSO. Were there any others that might have hit the cutting room floor or wound up being sung by other singers?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Not for me, No. But there were songs that were sung by other people that I thought were brilliant that wound up getting done by other people. Michael Lanning was originally slated to do "Christmas Nights in Blue" but James Lewis got it instead. And they gave Michael "Christmas Dreams". And the kicker is - Michael wound up singing "Christmas Nights in Blue" live and he would go into "With a Little Help From My Friends" which was just brilliant.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #17365d; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So you recorded this <i>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</i> album in 1995, and it was released in '96. Was it a surprise to you when a tour was planned three years later?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> Oh yeah, I had no idea. I got a phone call out of the blue saying "<i>We're going on tour</i>". My answer was "<i>Who is this?</i>". It was Paul and he tells me that we're doing this Christmas tour, but before we go, we have to do this DVD. We were doing this made-for-TV movie and Paul says, "<i>They want me to hire an actor but I want you because you're the father in the story".</i></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So we did this thing in Jersey. <i>The Ghosts of Christmas Eve</i>. [<i>Laughs</i>] Our whole day was waiting on Jewel or Michael Crawford. I had the toughest scene, because at the top of the stage ceiling they had about four tons of crushed-up plastic bags for the snowstorm I wound up in. We had to do like seven takes of that. There is one point in the video - it's only for a couple seconds - it just came down [<i>Laughs</i>]. Me, Al, all of us - covered in these plastic bags, spitting them out of our mouth...[<i>Laughs</i>] But before we got to this, every time I was about to go on and do this scene, we would hear "<i>Stop production, Jewel is on her way</i>". This happened like four days in a row - I would be ready to go on and "<i>Stop production, Jewel is on her way</i>", "<i>Stop production, Michael Crawford is on his way</i>". What am I, wood? [<i>Laughs</i>]</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Besides singing and playing guitar on tour, you also took on the role of the Master of Ceremonies: introducing the band, telling some jokes, warming the audience up for the second half of the show. These mid-show breaks have become things of legend at this point, with so many fans fondly remembering this portion of the show.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> We used to have a lot of fun.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Chris Caffery did something similar with the East touring company. How did you wind up taking on this role?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b>TF:</b> I was a front man. That's what I did on Long Island. I didn't go as far with TSO - the club scene with adults is a little different than when you have children in the audience [<i>Laughs</i>]. So I cleaned it up and we had so much fun.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Two instances that stand out in my head:</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Tabernacle in Atlanta, last show of the 2000 tour. We let all hell break loose. We were playing gags on everybody. We powdered [Steve] Murphy's drums. On the opening number - I forget which song it was but it had a big crash on the tom-toms, Murphy had no idea that we powdered all of his drums. He hits the drums and the powder just covers him [<i>Laughs</i>]. The guy looks like a reverse-Jolson - he's in whiteface. [<i>Laughs</i>]</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We also had these mechanical rats that we had running behind the background singers that were scaring the living daylights out of them - they thought they were real rats. I had the guys at the soundboard tweak the monitors so everyone sounded like chipmunks. At this show, I came out to sing "Old City Bar" and they got one on me. My buddy George Cintron was playing acoustic guitar. They put George on a stool and I couldn't see him as the stage is pitch black as I am walking out. When they turned the lights on, George had this giant sombrero on with this little car with eyeball lights that is running around on the inside of the sombrero. [<i>Laughs</i>] I took one look at that and I couldn't get through the song. The antics we did were hilarious.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The second instance that is hysterical to me, was one year when we were playing a gig in Omaha. Guy [LeMonnier] had gone out on Halloween as a cow. He had somehow managed to pack the costume with him in his luggage - I'm looking at this costume and said, "<i>Now that would be a gag, wouldn't it?</i>" Guy says, "<i>You think I should?</i>" I told him, "<i>If you do, don't tell me</i>". Long story short, one night I'm doing the introductions and Guy comes walking out in this cow costume. [<i>Laughs</i>] The audience is hysterical. Guy - the actor that he is, complete deadpan - didn't break a smile. He is standing there with these ten udders. I'll never forget - I had a towel over my shoulder and I threw the towel over the udders. Now the audience gets even more hysterical. I walked over to the microphone and said something like "<i>This is udderly ridiculous</i>" and the audience just broke up. It was just one laugh after another. Between Guy, Michael, all the chemistry we had on stage - all we did was laugh. There were other people on stage that didn't care for it - they would call the office and tell them that things were getting out of hand. But if you looked at the audience, they were having a ball, which is what entertainment is all about. You laugh, cry, you feel something.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Slowly but surely they started cutting the intros down. It went from 15 minutes to 10 to 8 to 6 then down to 4 minutes. You know what? You can't properly introduce 18 people in four minutes. I finally told him that I'll do half of the intros and Al can do the rest. I didn't want to be bothered any more.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We were doing three-hour shows back then. You cannot bombard people with three hours' worth of music. An hour and 45 minutes is pushing it. To have people glued to a seat for three hours - it's like watching The Godfather straight through. And even that had an intermission in the theaters. That 10 or 15-minute break gave people permission to go to the bathroom, get a drink, and have a few laughs. How long can you sit quietly? The first half of the show was very quiet - people are taking it all in and getting emotional - that was what the first half was for. Now you want to break them out of that stupor, put a smile on their face and get ready to rock out for the second half. Why he had a problem with the intros, why he kept cutting it back and cutting it back was baffling to me. Not only to me, but Caffery too.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My only real enjoyment from
the shows, besides seeing people’s emotions, was emceeing – because it was fun.
We had a lot of fun. It was a lot of laughs and it made the audience get into
us more; <span style="color: #17365d; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;">now they didn’t feel like
there was this wall between us and them where we are these rock stars
swinging our hair around and posing all night.</span></span> I’m not that
guy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> One thing that really shines through in both this interview and the one I did with Michael Lanning is the camaraderie and fun you guys had on stage.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTxxOETzUxuRiGYLBx3fTIjePoa-1ivW8FGy7HmZLFXlouQonaQTseM-SdtTMjBVvkmB6ZcPxdks08Mk4ljMyPGC3an7HgSSIZvOFAFuvMO5JKsyH_EpYAo6DaD6DMQPleUQrD2slBpacW/s1600/Tommy2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTxxOETzUxuRiGYLBx3fTIjePoa-1ivW8FGy7HmZLFXlouQonaQTseM-SdtTMjBVvkmB6ZcPxdks08Mk4ljMyPGC3an7HgSSIZvOFAFuvMO5JKsyH_EpYAo6DaD6DMQPleUQrD2slBpacW/s640/Tommy2004.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Gaynor, Tommy Farese, Michael Lanning, Guy LeMonnier <br />
on stage with TSO in 2004<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">(Photo courtesy of Brian
Reichow)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>TF:</b> We had a great chemistry.</span></span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We won over the entire
country. The music, the personality, the chemistry on stage – that’s what made
the show what it is. On the East Coast, Caffery did it all too. Give credit
where credit is due.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">
</span>
<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #e69138;">It was a comedic thing; we were fun guys to be around. A couple
of guys in the band didn't like that and wanted to keep it as a serious rock
thing. It was great for the first five, six years - nobody ever said a word to
me. It was all "<i>You're doing a great job! You are coming back next year
right?</i>". But as soon as we got into the arenas, they started telling
us that we can't do this kind of stuff anymore. They're telling me that it
doesn't translate. Meanwhile you got comedians like Andrew Dice Clay out there
in arenas that translated just fine. Whether you could see us or not, you could
hear us. The comments are there, the funny lines are there, the whole
camaraderie thing is there and fans liked all of this. And now were supposed to
take this serious. That isn't what got us here. And that's when we started
wishing we could go back to the theaters. Those days were the best and you'll
never get those days back.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">
</span><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And here is one thing that Michael didn't cover, but I will because it is so. This was very strange. They always had a divider put up between the singers and the band. All the singers would be on one bus, the band would be on another bus. And they weren't supposed to visit each other. Carmine [Giglio] for instance used to love coming on our bus because we had the X-Box and PlayStation. He would come on our bus to play and they would get livid with him. It was just a lot of childish rules. There was a 'no fraternizing' law, meanwhile more people hooked up on these tours than in any other tour in the world [<i>Laughs</i>]. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="st"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This was also the only the band in the world where the crew was treated better than the entire band and singers.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">DR: </span></span></b></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Did you ever have the opportunity or desire to perform with
the East touring company?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #e69138;">I wanted to do it at least once so my family could come see
me at the show. I wish that they had one tour where they just switched the two
bands, so the West guys would play the East dates and East guys play the West
dates.</span> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">You mentioned the singers bussed together; did you guys
rehearse together?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">What you do in the room and what you do on microphones are
two different things. You can rehearse all day in the room, when you get to
the mic on the stage, that’s where you need the rehearsals the most. Everyone
was told to stay on the mic and the soundman is going to mix it. The soundman
does not know who is singing what; there are too many things going on and he
can’t be bothered with figuring out who is singing the high part, the low, the
mid, across ten microphones. The idea is he puts the mics on. If you as a
singer are too loud, you back off. The West Coast background vocals were always
horrible. I never wanted to take part in them, but they needed the bodies up
there. Bob Kinkel on the East Coast gave those guys enough rehearsal time with
the mics so they could nail the background vocals. Pitrelli, as much as I love
the guy, had no tolerance for singers. He would give them 30 seconds and that
was it – the rest of the time was for the band to rehearse.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">As the tours grew in popularity, so did the size of both
the venues and the shows themselves. What was it like being part of that
amazing burst of growth and moving from theaters to arenas?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtqp77KhCcL7oNfn-9xI_9y3qzRZvm0FBg5UZEJVSaTk0MoNdTlXcUj_WQ1NY0Um6SyHwrpenXzexmKevDtvFXA0YiX7ou570WPhnFqGlS7_RkKwSbgz6iuEdAKwZKN0JCBdSD254Rgvr/s1600/Farese4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtqp77KhCcL7oNfn-9xI_9y3qzRZvm0FBg5UZEJVSaTk0MoNdTlXcUj_WQ1NY0Um6SyHwrpenXzexmKevDtvFXA0YiX7ou570WPhnFqGlS7_RkKwSbgz6iuEdAKwZKN0JCBdSD254Rgvr/s400/Farese4.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">It was great, but if I had my choice I would go back to the
theaters; they were always my first love. The arenas got a little too
impersonal. I felt bad for the people that were sitting all the way at the top
and the back. It’s like going to a ball game and sitting in the bleachers;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d rather sit home and watch it on
television.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Maybe the response to that from TSO’s perspective was
adding the bigger light show as well as the rear rising stage and the cranes
that extend from the stage to try to bring some of the stage action to those
folks in the far seats?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Yeah, yeah. Fill it with lights. Don’t forget – when we
started these tours, we didn’t have these kinds of lights. We didn’t even have
the star curtain on the West Coast. The East had it and we got it like a month
later. We had a couple Par Cans– just bright white, backlit, and that was
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were no moving trusses, no
lasers. The show went over like gangbusters. I remember standing ovations after
standing ovations. As the show grew and more stuff was being added, I noticed
less standing ovations and less audience reaction. Just everyone staying seated
and staring.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">The
show that TSO puts on today is light-years ahead of those early Theater tours.
There is a contingent of fans that long for the intimacy and less-fire-filled
shows of today. Can you appreciate where they are coming from?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Absolutely.
I will equate it to seeing Humble Pie at the Fillmore and then seeing Humble
Pie play Madison Square Garden. Big difference. You get more out of the little
show than you can get out of the big show.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my interview with Michael Lanning, he
mentioned that he filled in at times for other vocalists when they couldn’t go
on. You mentioned earlier that you were singing “Old City Bar”. Did you ever
wind up singing another “part” in the show?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Yeah,
I did “Old City Bar” when Bart [Shatto] broke his ribs. I filled in when Jeff Scott Soto
got sick. I even did “Angel Came Down”/”Angel Returned” one night.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Did
you ever miss any shows? Did anyone ever come on and do your songs?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I
am the only guy on the West that never went down. I never missed a show. I am
the only singer that never had someone go on for him. And it was tough on the
West tour – when you are coming from sea level on up two miles in one day –
people were going down all the time. And here I am sitting there smoking
Marlboros [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its years and years of playing in clubs and
knowing how to get through this.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Perfect example was Kelly Keeling. I
love Kelly, but he came across cocky, especially in the beginning. I told him
to be careful on a tour like this and to learn a couple different versions of
how to sing his two songs. This way, in case he wasn’t feeling it one night, he
could sing the other version and not crap out. He wanted no part of my advice. One night he gets on stage, he
opens his mouth and nothing comes out. He did the biggest no-no in the world:
he ran off the stage in the middle of the song and left the band hanging.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">For a singer to sing only two songs,
with all the waiting in between is not easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To come out and do one song after waiting a half hour while the band
plays and then come off and wait again, it’s struggling. It’s hard to explain.
You can sing all you want backstage, but it’s not the same. </span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: 12pt;">DR:</span></b><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You mentioned how the original Margolis-sung version of “Old City Bar” is one of your favorites and that you filled in for Bart in concert. I know
this wasn’t your song, but I wanted to get your perspective on it. For many
years, this song seemed to be revered by fans of the West Coast group, but didn’t
always have the same favorable reaction by fans of the East group.</span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">
<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>]
It was 20 minutes long. The song got loaded down so much, by the time you get
to the end of the song, you go, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What
time is it?</i>” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">[Laughs</i>] I could’ve
gone for a steak dinner, a ride around the park, and I wouldn’t have missed
anything. [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>]. It was
ridiculous. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: 12pt;">But the reason that Bart got away with it is
because Bart – I have to give it to the guy – went balls to the wall with
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would be outside the building
before people came in – in his full bum outfit – in the dumpsters, rummaging
through garbage. People were handing him money thinking that he was an actual
bum. They had no idea that he was part of the show. It was really about
teaching people a lesson. Some people were nice to him, some people were like,
“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Get this guy away from me.</i>”. Then
when you found out the guy was part of the show, you felt like an asshole. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;">
</span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: 12pt;">There was a point when I would come out during the
intros and say, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A lot of people gave
this guy money, we just want you to know that your money is going to a good cause</i>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bart would collect all this money and then we
would all go out and buy presents for kids that are sick in hospitals using this
money. We would go to a hospital on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and hand out
these presents to cancer patients – little kids. A lot of people don’t know
this. It was never advertised and we weren’t allowed to say anything, but I
want to say it now. We did it every Christmas Eve and all that money that was
given to him went to a really good cause.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;">
</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: 12pt;">The thing that pissed me off, was that one person
called into the office and complained, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If
I knew the guy was in the show…I can’t believe he took my money, blah blah</i>”.
The office turned to Bart and said, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t
do it anymore.</i>”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So now, he wasn’t
allowed to go outside the building anymore and do what he fell in love with
doing.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After so many years of singing “Ornament” and
“This Christmas Day”, did it ever get old or routine? How did you keep things
fresh and keep interested?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/P0Jw_fJbhkw" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Tommy Farese & Al Pitrelli - "Ornament"</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
performing on early morning radio</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">My
favorite versions of “Ornament” and “This Christmas Day” were when Al and I
used to the early morning radio while on tour. It was just him and me with
acoustic guitar. We worked out arrangements that were a little different and I
sang it a little different.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have shared the TSO stage with many great
vocalists over the years. Any of them stand out as favorites?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two. My favorite TSO male vocalist of all
time is Michael Lanning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But besides
Michael, my favorite is Sophia Ramos. She is amazing. The voice on that woman –
she got a standing ovation every time she went out on that stage. I used to
stand on the side of the stage every night in awe of her voice. Why she is not
a huge star today is beyond me.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Lanning was always the surprise of the
show. Everybody had this “rock look” with the long hair, and here comes Lanning
walking out on stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was the most
unsuspecting character in the world looking like your next-door neighbor, and
he opens his mouth and everybody is floored. All of a sudden, he breaks out
into Joe Cocker; he just sings his ass off.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">Your
last tour with TSO was 2010. Did you have any indication that this would be
your last tour with them</span><span style="color: #f1c232;">?</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I
heard the train coming down the tracks. After Tony went, I was the last one
out. I kind of knew it was coming.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you describe the circumstances of your
departure?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I
got a phone call from [TSO manager] Adam [Lind] in June of 2011. He basically
said that they had heard that I was writing songs for this band that had some
former TSO members in it <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– they were
calling it “TxO” at that point. I said, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yeah,
I had some songs that I wrote for myself that I am giving to these guys because
they are starting their own venture. What’s the problem?</i>” Adam says, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s a conflict of interest and Paul is very
hurt</i>”.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;">I said, ”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why? I broke bread with these guys. We all banded together. We were
family. Remember family? That’s what this was supposed to be? Am I supposed to
turn my back on them? These guys are like family to me. We spent a lot of time
onstage together, we spent our holidays together. I didn’t spend my holidays
with my family – I spent them with these guys.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">I guess they were looking for a reason
and could not come up with anything, so this is what they came up with.</span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Do
you think they didn’t want you to do anything with former TSO performers?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I
guess because it had something to do with Christmas. What’s the difference?
They weren’t playing TSO-kind of music anyway. So when they fired me, I joined
these guys. I started writing songs for this band and I took control of the
whole thing. I wrote what I consider pop music.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgshQXanzO9mcgdXo338giFucQCMAyBnWQj5b9j0gRPHqXiugSu8pyxi5_c9AiAC30FU5hrS9qwsJEWXYNjXejBeiDh342a4EHD9Z3xNp8GIn686QJDatX5-jOSzerjcbongSk8fSHP0K0W/s1600/Farese2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgshQXanzO9mcgdXo338giFucQCMAyBnWQj5b9j0gRPHqXiugSu8pyxi5_c9AiAC30FU5hrS9qwsJEWXYNjXejBeiDh342a4EHD9Z3xNp8GIn686QJDatX5-jOSzerjcbongSk8fSHP0K0W/s400/Farese2.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tommy Farese & Al Pitrelli<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;">(Photo courtesy of Stacey Porter)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you surprised by all of this? This had
to have hurt after so many years of knowing and working with Paul and Al.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was disappointed in certain people whose
names will go unmentioned. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">I was the one who wound up telling
Tony that he was let go. I had gotten a phone call from Paul who said that he
just got off the phone with Tony and he let him go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then called Tony and said, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I heard they let you go.</i>”. Tony says,”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What!? He didn’t tell me that!</i>”. So I
inadvertently wound up telling Tony that he was let go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was their real backdoor way of letting
him know that he was fired, without telling him themselves.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">When you promise people things, I take
you at your word. We didn’t have signed contracts with TSO until 2006, 2007.
There was no such thing as a contract. It was a handshake, and they knew I
would be there. And I expected the same from them – whatever they promised me,
I expected. So when someone turns to you in 1999 and says, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Just hang in there with us guys, when this
thing takes off, were going to take care of you and you got a job for life.</i>”,
I take you at your word. I don’t expect that 10 or 11 years down the road for
you to say “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oops. I don’t remember saying
that.</i>”</span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;">Are
you still in touch with Paul or Al?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No. I do talk to Adam every now and then. There’s a bunch of people I
miss. I miss Kinkel. I miss Caffery – even though he and I only played together
in ’99, he and I always had a good rapport. There were a bunch of
them that were just “real people”.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For your fans that are still holding out hope
that they may see you grace the TSO stage once again, what would it take for
that to happen?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An apology. And not just to me, to everyone
that they hurt and lied to over the years.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> That wouldn't cost them anything. But after all is said and done, I have no hard feelings.</span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">So
you decided to join up with these guys that you had written songs for. I was
hoping you could clear up some of the stuff that was being put out on the web
at that time. There was a pretty harsh blog being posted…</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I
was so wrapped up in writing songs at that time. Someone asked me, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“What do you think about keeping a blog about this
band?</i>” I said if you’re going to blog, be vague. And then I heard it wasn’t
so vague.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">There
was a lot of information being thrown around on the blog and on Facebook<b> </b>-<b> </b>statements like “Were taking
Christmas back”.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was a bad statement to make.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then the “TxO” name. There was even a
logo floated out there.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was dumb. I mean, it’s funny. That’s
just my sense of humor. TxO – Ex-members of TSO – it made perfect sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there was no way in hell that name was
going to stick with me.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a couple different websites as
well, with varying members listed. Keyboardist Carmine Giglio…</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carmine was definitely going to do it. It’s
hard to nail Carmine down because he’s working a lot. Paul Morris got involved.
Yeah, it was going to be a bunch of ex-TSOers, but we were looking at putting
together a super band together. Tommy Byrnes was going to play guitar on it.
Byrnes actually played “How’s Your Life?” on the record – that’s all him – he
even played the keys, the strings and everything. When the band finally does
hit, it will be a band to be reckoned with, but that’s next year.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know you wrote “The Empty Chair”, which is
a real highlight of the album.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I basically wrote all of them, but I have to
give credit where credit is due. “Christmas in Long Island” was me, and Paul
Morris came up with the keyboard. Maxx and I wrote “Letter to Santa”. “Sleigh
Ride” was written by me, Maxx and Dave Silva. Basically, I wrote all the lyrics
and melodies to the songs and everyone else contributed. It really was a joint
effort.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4DhXKnthxlg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4DhXKnthxlg?feature=player_embedded" width="560"></iframe></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which songs do you sing lead on?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I sang lead on “Christmas on Long Island”, “Empty Chair” and “Pages of My
Life”. All three of us sang on the “The Soldier Song”. And the backgrounds are Guy
and me.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Tony Gaynor was preparing and
working on the narration, but did he also sing on the record?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tony sang “Henry the Horse” and he also has a part in “Sleigh Ride”.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How was recording these songs different from
recording with TSO?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>]
Like being let out of prison after 25 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way; I’m just doing what I do as
opposed to what somebody else’s vision is. If you’re a hired gun - which I’m now
taking it as that’s what we were, I didn’t see it that way in the beginning –
you’re basically doing what somebody else’s vision is. I get that. If a guy is
casting a movie and is looking for a certain character, the actor’s job is to
give that guy what he wants. Doing your own material has always been more
freeing to me.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagT2ZRASEbe63KoaXhwyrAzP7VTkaGNnTJIlGoBg5O_FAJXT7NARQAm4nXc9dsX8E9zXudpO0YXpTZdRu0Jz9pYMZHVuseyNG5vSr1-DO88FlgDbLOjWYJZxaccd-u2-Mz8Zd3lQGaJLy/s1600/TKOC.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagT2ZRASEbe63KoaXhwyrAzP7VTkaGNnTJIlGoBg5O_FAJXT7NARQAm4nXc9dsX8E9zXudpO0YXpTZdRu0Jz9pYMZHVuseyNG5vSr1-DO88FlgDbLOjWYJZxaccd-u2-Mz8Zd3lQGaJLy/s320/TKOC.png" width="211" /></a></div>
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you enjoy working once again with Guy,
Tony, and Maxx?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yeah. It was under different circumstances. We weren’t living in the
Waldorf anymore. The conditions weren’t the greatest, but I have to give all
the kudos to Richie [Kossuth] from Twelve Twenty-Four. He let us record at his studio and
stay at the house. He was one hell of a guy and without him none of this would
have went off.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were you, or are you worried about musical
comp</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;">arisons to TSO?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No. This music is not even close to what they do. It’s night and day.</span> </span></span></span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason I asked that question, is that
many fans were jumping to conclusions as soon as the news broke about this band
of former TSO performers making a Christmas record, before they heard one note
of the music.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For argument’s sake – even if we were, which we
weren’t – but even if we were, what’s your problem? We don’t live in a free
country? You’re going to tell me that TSO has cornered the market on Christmas?
They cornered the market on that style of music? I hate to tell you – Emerson,
Lake & Palmer was doing rock and classical style long before TSO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to talk light shows, Pink Floyd
cornered the market on that. And “Rock Theater”? The Who’s “Tommy” had that
covered years ago. TSO didn’t invent Rock Operas. They are simply taking from what
they saw from before and adapting to it to them.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Instead of getting insulted about it,
to me, impersonation is the sincerest form of flattery. You should be happy
that somebody wanted to follow on your coattails. There’s a bunch of bands out
there like the Wizards of Winter who write songs along the lines of TSO – and
if you closed your eyes you could swear they were TSO on certain songs – and I
think the material is damn good. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Wizards have this vocalist Michael Clayton Moore – he’s a really good singer. And they
have real flute and real violin – that’s actually heard.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The CD came out in 2011. Can you explain what
happened with the Kings of Christmas tour that went out? It certainly was a
confusing scene for the fans.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I canceled the tour dates two months before
we were supposed to go out. The booking agent, who was working for me, decided
to go against our wishes and not cancel the dates. So behind my back, she used
our names – mine, Tony, Guy, and Maxx to book the dates, but then recruited
Maxx and a bunch of other guys from the band and elsewhere to tour. So whatever
happened on those five dates were all on her. I don’t blame Maxx anymore – it’s
all on her. So if it went over like a fart in church, which I hear it did, it’s
her problem. </span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">I felt bad for those guys, and Maxxy
was estranged from us at that point. I was like – go out and learn your lesson
and come back and let me know how it goes. I’ve been doing this way too long to
know whether it’s time to go out or say, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hey,
Let’s just wait another year</i>”. I am not going to put on a bad show. The
first thing people are going to remember is the first impression you give them.
That will be the last thing they walk away with. If you come to a show and the
show is terrible, you are not coming back. The show wasn’t ready and I was not
going to tour until it was.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So you mentioned waiting until the next year.
In 2012, you had plans on going on out the right way?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: 12pt;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were, but then I got destroyed here by
Hurricane Sandy. This house was five feet under water. This half of the house wasn’t
hit as bad, but all of the floors still need to be replaced. I had to re-do all
of these walls. The other side of the house was just gone. We were going to go
out and do the dates. Maxx wasn’t going to do it with us anymore, so Michael
Lanning stepped in and the four of us were ready, but I couldn’t walk away from
this.</span> </span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here we are in 2013 and you, Michael, Guy,
and Tony are rehearsing for a brand new tour with the Wizards of Winter. How
did you connect with them?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>[Wizards Musical Director] Scott [Kelly] got in touch with me through
Facebook. We got to talking and Scott is a hell of a nice guy. He suggested
that I come down one day and play a gig with them. It sounded good to me, and
he suggested maybe a couple dates. I said, “H<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ow about I bring three other guys from TSO and we do some shows?</i>”
We had a lot of fun doing TSO; we could have a lot of fun doing this. One thing
led to another and we decided to do it.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How are the rehearsals going? And what can
fans expect from this tour?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re good. It’s not going to be as
polished as a TSO show, but then again if you go back to ’99, 2000, 2001 – none
of those shows were polished either. You will see a looser version of what you
see with TSO today. And I might do “Ornament” acoustically, the way I liked it.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you doing any material from the Kings of Christmas
record?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No. I think the band and we have enough on
our plate right now learning the TSO songs that we are going to perform. I also
don’t want anyone to really hear the Kings of Christmas music without the
proper setting and preparation. It’s not something I would just throw out
there.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you excited to be going out performing
live after a couple years away?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, I am looking forward to getting
together, having some fun on stage again, and doing what I’m known for.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Certainly,
there will be many fans who will be excited that you and the others are back
together again and performing so many of the songs that you became known for. However,
what do you say to those fans that say that you shouldn’t be performing TSO
material anymore?</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Get over it. Very simple. You don’t have to
come. We’re not doing this to pack the house. We’re doing it because we enjoy
performing together and the fans that do come will see a hell of a show.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I
wanted to ask about a couple other bands that you have been involved in over
the years. You sang with O’2L?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was Jane’s creation. She is brilliant at
what she does. She is an amazing keyboard player. You give her a mac studio and
some outboard gear and she plays all the instruments. On those records,
whatever you hear, with the exception of the guitar, is all Janey. She let Al
play sometimes. [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>] All those
instruments on there – the saxes, the horns – everything is her.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">We toured the Midwest a lot though –
Tennessee, Kansas, Texas. It was essentially TSO on stage. John O’Reilly on
drums. Scooter (Chris Altenhoff) on bass – that kid can play. He is one of the
greatest – and youngest – bass players that I have ever played with. I was
really surprised that TSO let him go.</span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></o:p></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aTXkYOdfewQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aTXkYOdfewQ?feature=player_embedded" width="560"></iframe></div>
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
O’2L – “Rain”</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tommy Farese - Lead Vocals</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">And
you and Michael Lanning did backing vocals for Van Helsing’s Curse.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">I’ve
known Dee [Snider] for years. We go back to 1970. Believe it or not, I was a
roadie for his early 70s band Peacock. I did lights for him.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:
</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>wanted
to ask about the series of records that you were involved with in the ‘90s for
Blue Dolphin Records in Japan called “Rock Superstars” that consisted of all cover
tunes.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Oh
God. Let me preface this by saying, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Please
– don’t anyone buy those records</i>”. [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have them already, please use them as
coasters or throw them out immediately.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve seen them go for hundreds of dollars on
eBay.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are they? What fool would buy those records?
[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Laughs</i>] You know, I don’t even own
copies of them. That is how bad that stuff was.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Can
you give us an idea of how you got involved in that mess?</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Al Pitrelli got these record deals with this
little record company in Japan. The problem was that they had a roster of
musicians that they wanted to play on these records. The deal was that he only
had two weeks to do everything – If you got the deal on Monday, the stuff would
have to be turned in on the second Monday – finished, soup to nuts. Meanwhile he
would have to fly people in from all over the place and schedule them to play
or sing. So you got Snake Sabo from Skid Row,
James Labrie from Dream Theater, Corey Glover from Living Colour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long story short, there was no way you could
get all of this done right in that short amount of time. </span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">They paid a lousy $15,000 for the
records and all the money went to paying these guys, paying the airfare and
hotels, and recording costs. At the end of the day, we didn’t make any money.
So Al called me up and asked me to help him out. He had to have 12 songs on the
record and whatever songs these guys weren’t singing, he wanted me to sing. So,
I started doing this clean-up job for Al, and then Al got the job with
Megadeth. Al asked me to take things over and finish it out. I didn’t want
anything to do with this nightmare, but I didn’t want to leave him hanging. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "calibri";">So we turned in that first record and
I find out that Al signed this deal for two or three more records. So here we are
sending rough tracks to Japan. They’re telling us “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You send to us, we mix</i>”. When I heard what they put on the record,
I was like “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I had better mixes before I
sent them to you. What did you do to them?</i>” They destroyed them. I asked
them to please take my name off the record. So long story short, I was stuck
with this disaster that has my name all over it, and these big-name guys who we
had come and play on it are looking at me as if I had something to do with it.
So I advise everybody – do not buy those records. Don’t hold anybody on those
records to task for what <span style="color: #e69138;">happened.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #f1c232;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though these wound up being real rough
recordings with bad mixes, were there any actual performances that stood out to
you?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Corey Glover. Corey was unbelievable. He could sing on the worst
material in the world and make it sound like gold.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-size: 12pt;">DR:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were many TSO performers on these
records – Paul Morris, Mark Wood, Katrina Chester, and George Cintron.</span> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once we got all the people that they wanted on the record, then I was
free to use whoever else was available. So I called up Katrina, and George and
everybody.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what’s next for you? Will we see a Kings
of Christmas tour?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes, hopefully. You’ll see it in 2014.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";">DR:
</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why have we never seen a Tommy Farese solo
album?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t like to go solo. I like people around me. I could have done that
years ago. My big love, believe it or not, is big band music, the old
standards.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "calibri";">DR:</span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw that you have released a series of
standards on YouTube. Where did they come from?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><br />
</span>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TF:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I did those after my father died. That was his era and he loved that
music. As a tribute to him, I did a whole record full of that stuff. It was
just something I recorded for my family.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"> </span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Wxv2Zw5mgrc" width="560"></iframe>
</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Tommy Farese - "Under My Skin"</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
</span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">DR:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">Well,
thanks for taking the time here for the interview.</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;">TF:</span></b></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My pleasure. I’m happy to get the truth out
there and hope to see you at one of the shows.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><br />
<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: white;">For more information:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
</span></span><br />
</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
Kings of Christmas: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thekingsofchristmas"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/thekingsofchristmas</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;">
</span></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.thekingsofchristmas.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.</span><span style="color: white;">thekingsofchristmas.com</span></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;">
</span></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">The
Wizards of Winter: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardsofWinter</span></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;">
</span></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: #17365d; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.thewizardsofwinter.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.thewizardsofwinter.com</span></a></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-themecolor: text2; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: yellow;">
</span></span></span></span></span>
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-49521875779943825042013-07-31T18:25:00.003-07:002022-04-17T15:09:34.252-07:00A Conversation with Bryan Hicks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #e06666;">Millions of Trans-Siberian Orchestra fans know Bryan Hicks from his many years as the Storyteller on their annual Winter tours. While he tours with the East Coast touring company in the winter, the rest of the world's TSO fans were introduced to him as he performed with their <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i> nation-wide and European tours in the last few years. I recently caught up with Bryan in Manhattan to discuss his acting and performing background, his contributions and thoughts about his role with TSO, and his work outside of the TSO universe.</span> <br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>Dan Roth:</b> I would like to kick this off by asking about your acting background and performance training.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>Bryan Hicks:</b> Well, I started studying when I was 12 years old. I went to a new Junior High School for the Performing Arts and I met an acting teacher who knew about the High School for the Performing Arts. He coached me and two other actors to get in, and once I got in to PA, that's what changed my life. At first acting was just fun, but after a while I knew that this was something that I wanted to do. People seemed to enjoy whatever I was giving, so I was thinking "<i>OK, maybe this is what I am meant to be doing</i>".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">I studied there; we had our days split with acting classes and academics. Because we were downtown on 46th Street (in New York City) at that time, I had access to all of the theaters and this wide assortment of people that I went to school with from all over the city. I started taking dance classes at Alvin Ailey [Dance Theater] and Phil Black [Dance Studio]. When I was 15, some of my upperclassmen asked me if I would be interested in doing a commercial. I had never worked professionally before, so after school we went around the corner to an office building, met with the producers and casting people and I booked my first commercial. So basically, my whole life has been like that; like dominoes falling.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> One thing leading to another...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes. I grew up in Harlem and where I was, there were only a certain number of opportunities available to me. But I just happened to meet the right people who helped guide me to the right places.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I also started taking classes at the Manhattan School of Music; studying singing, sight-reading, and opera. I would do this after school. It was there that I met Walter J. Turnbull.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The creator of the Boys Choir of Harlem?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXJAWDQ2aIKA-fhMAy9OcG7a-E4f6tMigbfH5xHs8SKtgV8T-XQ0yQEVwK62KAgWebtOPCfF50G_fmUGsvhJAMDvKUBqguyNYI8s9q-DsQQDGmv1qih8Te0jIDL7ERbgPmKYZVHDN-jnW/s1600/bryanhickschoir.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXJAWDQ2aIKA-fhMAy9OcG7a-E4f6tMigbfH5xHs8SKtgV8T-XQ0yQEVwK62KAgWebtOPCfF50G_fmUGsvhJAMDvKUBqguyNYI8s9q-DsQQDGmv1qih8Te0jIDL7ERbgPmKYZVHDN-jnW/s200/bryanhickschoir.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes. And he asked me if I was interested in being a member. I said "<i>Sure, Why not?</i>". He also became my singing teacher, and then I became a member of the Boys Choir of Harlem.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Nice! They were a well respected and world-renowned choir. Did you record or tour with them?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> We toured. We went all over Europe, also Washington DC and a few other places. It was great - it was a lot of fun but disciplined; it sort of kept me off the streets. Between that and the High School of Performing Arts which was very disciplined, we were taught that going to acting school was like going into a church and demanded that kind of respect.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbSPO4ZkaonRSI_Xg6Z9xZeUFZSfEyMbHJgHP__p7N8SoovNklkfIGgncR9oxBpDbP_31Vk2MRrQlasAY_63jLK5Kw8AoodSr6DOdLAOxD9ml6_NA-IXVLkfoPaiKvekz3Vw8hgEc-CbFP/s1600/bryanhicksfame.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbSPO4ZkaonRSI_Xg6Z9xZeUFZSfEyMbHJgHP__p7N8SoovNklkfIGgncR9oxBpDbP_31Vk2MRrQlasAY_63jLK5Kw8AoodSr6DOdLAOxD9ml6_NA-IXVLkfoPaiKvekz3Vw8hgEc-CbFP/s400/bryanhicksfame.jpg" width="257" /></span></a><span style="color: #e69138;">Then, I think it was my second or third year, <i>Fame</i> came along. Because I went to the High School we got to audition for the film. A lot of people in the film, both students and teachers, went there, and they figured it would be easier to hire us and then fill the rest in with more experienced actors.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> This was the original 1980 motion picture <i>Fame</i>?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes. I auditioned for that twice and got a small part in that. I worked that whole summer and into the fall. They even gave us time off from school so we could continue to shoot.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">Then things started getting a little crazy. After the film came out, people started calling the school asking for actors to audition for roles in films. So even before I got out, a lot of the people I knew were already working in the business. I continued to audition and to study - At first I wanted to be a triple-threat kind of actor, because the first things I was really exposed to were musicals and operas. But then I started reading Shakespeare and poetry and I had a teacher - his name was James Moody and he was in the first graduating class of Juilliard’s Drama Division - and I had never seen a man like this before.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> How so?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Well, he was a black man, unbelievably articulate and when he walked in the room and started to talk about Othello and Quasimoto and the like, we were all just terribly fascinated. We were so engrossed in the stories he would tell and the way he carried himself - it's difficult to describe, I had never seen anyone like that before. It made me really curious about Julliard as well. I auditioned for a number of colleges in my junior year; I got into Julliard, Purchase and Marymount. Of course I accepted Julliard.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">At that point I had both a manager and an agent that I was working with, but I was afraid that if I kept auditioning for things professionally, then I would never finish college. It was very important to my mother that I get to college and graduate. So, I went to Julliard and I was one of the youngest members of my company. I'm not sure how it is now, but back then most of the people that went to Julliard's acting program as a graduate school. I was 18 but most of the people in my company were in their early to mid-20's. It was a very mature environment and an unbelievably disciplined environment. We went to school from 10 in the morning to 10 at night. I rarely got home [<i>laughs</i>]. What was ironic was that they would tell you that it was important to have a life, but there was no time for a life! [<i>laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">After two years there, I spoke different, I walked different, everything about me was totally different. As opposed to talking like this when you grow up in the hood [<i>slips into a street style of talking</i>], I was more like this - even more so. I found myself talking much more articulate, so I had become something else. As it turned out, back then, Julliard would accept more people than they actually needed. They would cut anywhere from 10 to 15 people in the company. I was fortunate to be in a great company with people like Thomas Gibson from Criminal Minds and Bradley Whitford. People like Kelly McGillis and Ving Rhames were also there when I was there. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">The classes were mind blowing; we were learning so many different things and in the evenings we were performing - working on scenes or doing a full-length play. One of my teachers was Marian Seldes. We would also get free tickets to Broadway, so we were attending Broadway shows regularly.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5yYXkSdTKjIHhaRaCxfnncvLEtkjeVdFlCPPKbQ_wnflW92xlKxKocGj4_Vihr-9nLfWQtSubQ_BZ5LyzhvgfpoLTOIZ4MR-0X4k4l16Shk9caO-VL0t3_lWkaeWcVTw_r0a2zs31VFZ/s1600/bryanhicksothello.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5yYXkSdTKjIHhaRaCxfnncvLEtkjeVdFlCPPKbQ_wnflW92xlKxKocGj4_Vihr-9nLfWQtSubQ_BZ5LyzhvgfpoLTOIZ4MR-0X4k4l16Shk9caO-VL0t3_lWkaeWcVTw_r0a2zs31VFZ/s400/bryanhicksothello.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amy Hutchins and Bryan Hicks in Othello </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">American Players Theatre - Spring Green, WI </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">(Photo courtesy of Bryan Hicks)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You were really immersed in the acting culture 24 hours a day it seemed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Oh yes. It was unbelievably overwhelming. But unfortunately, in my second year, my class was too big and they had to cut some people. I'm not sure why I ended up being one of them. But, I was and for a while I wasn't sure what I was going to do. After a few months I decided I still wanted to act, got myself an agent and ended up doing a production of <i>Measure for Measure</i> for no money and I was so happy to be acting again. I started auditioning a lot. Ving Rhames was a good friend of mine and he helped me out by letting me go in his place to some auditions. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I auditioned for about a year, booked a couple of commercials, and got a couple of bit parts in a film and a mini-series. I used to hang out with Ving a lot, and I remember saying to him that I felt incomplete. I didn't graduate college and Julliard left me in an awkward position where I didn't know who I was. Ving recommended Purchase [College]. He had been to both Julliard and Purchase. It was around that time that I met people like Edie Falco, Hal Hartley and folks like that. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">Purchase was a totally different environment. I was away from home and it was more of a college environment so I got to have some fun. [<i>laughs</i>] It was a little more laid back. It went well, I graduated, and a year after I got out I got my first gig doing <i>Shakespeare in the Park</i>. I got an agent with the help of Joe Papp and Rosemarie Tichler who basically vouched for me as an actor. And then I started understudying and doing Off-Broadway plays and within a year I was on Broadway!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Again, the dominoes falling. Did you think you would get to Broadway so soon?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I really wasn't expecting that. I was still basically a kid - 25 or 26. The agency got me an audition for <i>A Few Good Men</i> and I got the part. I thought I was going to jump through the roof! I came in midway through, after it had been running for six months. The cast was changing over - Ron Perlman and Timothy Busfield were coming in - just a wonderful cast. I had a wonderful time and the great thing about that was that it sort of bumped me up a little bit. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I started auditioning for more leads and the next thing I did was Romeo in <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> at the Cleveland Playhouse, which was my first classical lead. After that I booked <i>Six Degrees of Separation</i> with Marlo Thomas and Veronica Hamel in Chicago, which was unbelievable because it had just left Broadway and I got to work with wonderful people for six months. Then I started working a lot doing regional theater all over the country. After three or four years I decided that I wanted to get started on film and television as well, which meant staying in town [New York City], which was scary because now I had to and get a survival gig! I was a lousy waiter [<i>laughs</i>], and then got a gig as a personal trainer, and then I got a gig as a doorman.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I started to go out on more auditions for TV and booked a six-month recurring role on <i>All My Children</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You played Zeke, was it?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes - a drug dealer. It was really ironic, after all those years of studying the classics, my breakout role is as a drug dealer [<i>laughs</i>]. But, I was happy to do it. As a matter of fact, it was more challenging because I wasn't like that. It was originally supposed to be three days and it turned out to be six months. It might have gone longer, but the actor, Keith Hamilton Cobb, that was in my storyline - I was the guy that he beat up all the time - that was my job basically - to get beat up and kicked around [<i>laughs</i>] - when he didn't re-sign, they faded out the storyline. So I had to look for work again. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I've always been more comfortable on stage than in front of the camera. The great thing about working on <i>All My Children</i> was that it gave me time to learn what it's like to be in front of a camera. I eventually booked a film (<i>Childhood's End)</i>, then came appearances on <i>Law and Order</i> and <i>As the World Turns</i>. I also got a voiceover agent and started going out for voiceovers and commercials.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwhqfkfQ56cYb56Ftb-B_9_mBOnAwAj6_EQKWFdE54jRBrjpgdM3NJOSPfRTx3aoQVKUIlDbkkWXiBH6pUCVRioa0ie3mfvnjUdXPTPM7x80cDmO-TdlXenO0IWd6FbPcXOC7eEXUkmm-g/s1600/bryanhicksIA.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwhqfkfQ56cYb56Ftb-B_9_mBOnAwAj6_EQKWFdE54jRBrjpgdM3NJOSPfRTx3aoQVKUIlDbkkWXiBH6pUCVRioa0ie3mfvnjUdXPTPM7x80cDmO-TdlXenO0IWd6FbPcXOC7eEXUkmm-g/s400/bryanhicksIA.jpg" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Laiona Michelle and Bryan Hicks in Intimate Apparel</span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Theatreworks - Palo Alto, CA</span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-size: small;">(Photo Courtesy of Bryan Hicks)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I had a really nice survival gig but I really wanted to be an actor full time, so I started doing more theater again. I started leaving town a lot and this has gone on for years. I consider myself very blessed as I have gotten to work with some great people and play some great roles. It's sort of like a roller coaster ride; I look back and can't believe it's been 35 years.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">So that's basically how my career started and got going. I've worked all over the country, done plays, musicals, commercials, voiceovers... Not as much film work as I would like, but I'm not dead yet [<i>laughs</i>].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> As far as the commercials you have done, anything stand out that we might have heard and didn't realize it was you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I don't know. Well, for one thing, I looked different back then - I had hair [<i>laughs</i>]. I did a voiceover for the Maryland lottery - that was animated and I was this really hip tuna with a deep voice [<i>laughs</i>]. I did spots for Black History, Cancer Society, Nynex, Sports Illustrated. I did one for Brooklyn Bubblegum, which nobody probably ever bought or ever heard of [<i>laughs</i>].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] I understand the Trans-Siberian Orchestra has had other performers that have been active with commercials and voiceover work: Michael Lanning, Joe Cerisano -</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Oh yes - Joe Cerisano! He used to do a lot of jingles. Joe is a great guy - my first year with TSO I toured with him. And James Lewis and I have the same voiceover agent now. I was with ICM (International Creative Management) for a while until they decided they wanted to let go actors who weren't celebrities. James invited his voiceover agent to see a TSO show. I met her after the show, and she has been my voiceover agent now for four years and I owe that introduction to James.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned opera training. Have you ever had the opportunity to perform in an opera?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Once. At the Manhattan School of Music we did an operatic production of<i> Paul Bunyan</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">I've auditioned for musicals, but the closest I ever came to doing one was when I did a wonderful production of <i>Dream on Monkey Mountain</i>, written by a poet and playwright named Derek Walcott, and it was directed by Bill T. Jones. Bill is a great choreographer and had a big hit on Broadway a couple years ago, <i>FELA!</i>, that won a few Tonys - he really is a genius. Anyway, Bill had his own dance company and they were incorporated into this production, which was like a mixture of <i>King Lear </i>and<i> Jesus Christ Superstar. </i>I had to sing, dance, act and do acrobatics - all of that for the first time, in one show. I had to admit to him, "<i>Bill, I don't do all of that</i>". I had taken classes for all of this, but I had never had to do all of this before - by then I was in my 30's. He said "<i>Well, you do it now</i>" [<i>laughs</i>]. I played a character whose name meant "monkey", so I spent most of my time squatting, flipping, tumbling and singing. It was a huge production with a mountain rising out of the stage, one actor being dropped in on a bloody parachute -</span> <br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Goodness, what a grand production!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> It was unbelievable. I had never done anything like that in my entire life, but it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. That is probably <i>The</i> instance of where I got to do a little bit of everything.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I know you made a guest appearance on Season One of <i>The Sopranos</i>. That has become such an iconic show - did that stand out to you at the time, or was it just another gig?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSIEar8yz-cY2gwOGGVxZm7nhLEEg9kfEUB_f0oR-BWQHoW_uIdA-EqjNnqYrMJW3V8sD684531RFj4klaSYXIq66hT3MnIgzKcszG0gY6Osxd7WrmkGS0nLtRw3kxtchyphenhyphen_nqorS-n2iw/s1600/bryansopranos1.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSIEar8yz-cY2gwOGGVxZm7nhLEEg9kfEUB_f0oR-BWQHoW_uIdA-EqjNnqYrMJW3V8sD684531RFj4klaSYXIq66hT3MnIgzKcszG0gY6Osxd7WrmkGS0nLtRw3kxtchyphenhyphen_nqorS-n2iw/s640/bryansopranos1.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bryan Hicks (in orange) as "Orange J" - The Sopranos 1999</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> It was a great gig but nobody knew it was going to be so popular. What was great about it was they made me feel very comfortable - I had never done a TV role of that size before - I had five or six scenes. The cast was so down to earth - it is unfortunate that James Gandolfini is no longer with us - he was a brilliant actor and was very nice to me. I never got to see Edie [Falco] because we worked on different days but I knew Edie from when we were doing the rounds back in the old days.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">It was the sort of thing that snowballed. It was a fun gig, but then I started getting recognized - everyone was saying "<i>I saw you in this, I saw you in this</i>". As a matter of fact, at the time I was still moonlighting as a concierge and Kathleen Turner lived in the building and she and her husband knew one of the writers, so they got a preview of the episode. So Kathleen and her husband come down one day and said "<i>Bryan - we didn't know you were an actor!"</i> because I didn't tell anybody there. So after that, I sort of became this celebrity concierge! [<i>laughs</i>].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] Over the years, through all of the various television and theater roles that you have been in, it seems you always come back to Shakespeare's works, performing in many of his plays over the years. What is about Shakespeare that keeps you wanting to perform his work?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> The language. The language is so intelligent and so beautiful. I had a dream once - I wanted to be a great classical actor, and that's one of the reasons I focused on theater. In junior high school, I did a book report on Ira Aldridge; he was called the Black Tragedian in the 1800s. Because of what was happening in this country, he left to act in Europe and he ended up doing the classics for Kings and Queens all over the world. I was like "<i>Wow! Who is this guy? Where did he come from?</i>". </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I felt inspired at the time by Sir Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud and I got fixated on the BBC productions and I really wanted to do that. Of course I found out later that it wasn't very practical [<i>laughs</i>]. Even great Shakespearean actors want to make a good living [<i>laughs</i>]. But, it's always stayed dear to my heart and there are still great roles that, God willing, I would love an opportunity to play.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask you about the tour that you did with vocalist Patti Austin. I understand it was a tribute to the music from the Bebop era and also celebrating the music of Ella Fitzgerald. Were you the narrator on that tour?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes. Taro Mayer, who helped with my induction into TSO had passed along my number to a friend of hers and they called to see if I was interested in taking over the narrator role, as Tim Cain had left that tour. I wasn't working at the time and it was an interesting script, so I said "<i>Sure Why Not!</i>". It was different from TSO in that I was more of a griot or a master of ceremonies that guided you through time and it talked about Patti's influences in different periods of her life. It was fun. They had a wonderful cast of young musicians and we did that for two or three months.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Were you already touring with TSO at this time?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I was already with TSO, but hadn't yet toured with them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Ah, so you started with TSO as part of the backup band?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes, I started with them as an understudy in 2002. </span><span style="color: #e69138;">I worked with Taro and they gave me a video towards the end of the run, so I never even got to see them until the end of the run that year and were at the Beacon [Theater]. I was like "<i>What is this?</i>", because the place was packed - all of these people were piling in for the show and I never heard of this.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">They told me that what they were looking to do was start a third touring company that would probably focus on the south. And then the following year, for whatever reason Tim Cain was no longer with them and they asked me if I would be interested in taking over the role of the narrator.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWtyDaaTLyEr2TBwG8pdJkGngBRfUP7atwuepBpa1LMdzOGD1gYsuS60lQ9d54p4pSWD2j2EHSavsVIIA3BLszTqi_6HV4F5CXgsdGllB3_oblmpqyAVnKpJ3IyMBwG0ZWZyKOspw-jK5/s1600/bryanhicksbr1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWtyDaaTLyEr2TBwG8pdJkGngBRfUP7atwuepBpa1LMdzOGD1gYsuS60lQ9d54p4pSWD2j2EHSavsVIIA3BLszTqi_6HV4F5CXgsdGllB3_oblmpqyAVnKpJ3IyMBwG0ZWZyKOspw-jK5/s400/bryanhicksbr1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bryan with TSO, 2005</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">(Photo courtesy of Brian
Reichow)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I have heard how auditions work for musicians and vocalists. Did you approach this audition like other acting auditions?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> You know, people have asked me "<i>Do you narrate for a living?</i>" [<i>laughs</i>] and I say "<i>No, for me, the narrator is a character - it's a part, like a part in a play.</i>". Depending on the piece that I am doing, the narrator is different, unless the director says "<i>I</i> <i>want you to be like you were in the last show.</i>". So I approached it like the same way I approached any audition. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">They had a casting agent that they worked with at the time, and my agent saw the ad and knew I did voiceovers and sent me in. As a matter of fact, when I first auditioned for TSO, I was not familiar with their show. When they said "narrator", I thought they meant a narrator for a voiceover.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I remember looking in the back of the room and there was this guy with long hair and sunglasses. He was very nice and he gave me a silver dollar when I was done. I went back to my agent and I said "<i>You know, I think Howard Stern was there!</i>" [<i>laughs</i>] Of course it was Paul O'Neill, who is a wonderful person and has been a great inspiration in my life. He is just an unbelievably generous and kind person and I am honored that he would trust me with his material.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Any idea why the "TSO South" touring company never materialized?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Well, it's always been evolving. Every year they are figuring out ways to make the tour better and to cover more ground in less time. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So you wound up taking over for Tim Cain on both the TSO and Patti Austin tours. Did you know Tim at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I didn't know him. I met him twice, once at a voiceover audition. Seemed like a nice guy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Any trepidation following him? He had a much different style that you have, much quieter.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Right - he and Tony [Gaynor].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">I was taught that when you understudy, you try and come as close to the actor playing the role as possible. So when I started understudying, I started to go in his direction. They said to me "<i>No, don't do that.</i>" Originally I hadn't seen him, so I just did it my way. They kept on saying, "<i>No, no - keep doing what you are doing, do it your way.</i>". Once again, it started to evolve as I went along, and I kept sort of checking in, saying "<i>Is this alright? Are you comfortable with what I'm doing? I'm a little risque here; I'm going to see how far I can take this.</i>" and they were like "<i>Okay, keep going.</i>".</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">So I never had the pressure of having to be like Tim or Tony. They gave me the freedom to try things. Over the years they have let me go a little further in spurts, and now they give me a lot of range. It's the trust that comes with time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Were you the understudy for both Tim and Tony?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes, the deal was that if either of them went down, they would fly me out.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> TSO Vocalist Michael Lanning had covered for Tony in one show when he had a death in his family, and I understand Taro worked with him as well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes, she was connected to David Krebs. She was good for me, she was the one who vouched for me. When her stint was done, Paul basically stepped in and has been hands-on with me from there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned that you were given some freedom to take the narration in your own style. Was that something they were actively looking to change?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I don't think they ever thought about it. Back then, it was like this is the person that did it and this is the way it's done. I just happened to come in and do something different and it got a different reaction from everybody. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I came from a different world and I had to make some adjustments because this is the rock world, where people rehearse at night as opposed to during the day. [<i>laughs</i>] It's very different, very loose. Over the years they understand more where I am coming from too because every artist has different needs. I had to explain to them "<i>This is where I am now but I want to take this much further and for me to do that, I need you to help me so I can concentrate.</i>" It was an evolution - TSO is something so new still - they're feeling it out and learning as they go along.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> It's such a hybrid of a rock concert and a musical theater production, they are sort of defining their own role.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yeah! And all of a sudden we're doing "Rock Theater"! And then <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i> came along and I was tentative, Paul wanted me to do different voices. I was like, "<i>Paul, are you sure?</i>" and he said he wanted me to do the female voice and the other voices, so I went there.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;">The challenge with <i>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</i> was that I was doing it for so long, that I had to find a way to keep the audience interested and to keep myself interested. So I would try a different take on it every year. I didn't want the audience to get bored - they know the words, some of them better than I do! [<i>laughs</i>] There were some things that they were very adamant about that I keep, because everyone was used to certain passages delivered that way. Other things I would try differently and go back and ask how that worked and was told "<i>Yeah, go more in that direction.</i>". That's how what you refer to as "my style" came about. Basically when it all started I wasn't sure what I was doing. Especially with <i>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</i>, it's more fragmented - like a number of monologues as opposed to <i>Beethoven</i> which is more of a story they way it is edited.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Photo Courtesy of Stacey Porter</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> How do you and Paul work together?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Well, he is very hands-on. The creative genius is his. If there is something I want to try differently - for <i>Beethoven</i> we had numerous drafts; I was still getting drafts in reheatsals. That's why I had to look down a lot, because I was still getting new pages.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So that is the actual script in the book that you have on stage?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Well, yes. Once again, we started something that became traditional. It is the script, but the idea is that if you're an actor, you don't want to have to need the script. So that was really scary for me, because I never had to juggle that much in a short period of time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Well you certainly captivated the audience with that show for sure. I can't say I recall seeing you look at the script a lot during the shows, so I thought perhaps the book was a well-placed prop.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> What's happened now, even after I learned it - it worked - the idea with the book. They came to me and said "<i>When you did this and you did that and the audience responded, so let's keep that.</i>". And then Paul said <i>"Why don't we call him the 'Storyteller' </i>". I like that because I am not what you would call your typical narrator. Most narrators don't get emotionally evolved in the piece. They tell the story and let the actors or singers on stage get involved with the piece. But since they seem to like the idea of me getting involved with doing the voices, the idea of a "Storyteller" is something new. And it gives me a broader range to work with. In Greek Tragedy, sometimes the Storyteller does became a character. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">So, once again, the book has become part of the evolution. When we started working on <i>Lost Christmas Eve</i>, I said "<i>You know that book we used for Beethoven? Why don't we make that a thing?</i>". Paul's idea is that I am this timeless character that travels through time - I'm here now in the present and I have a new story for you. Like in that PBS series, <i>Masterpiece Theater</i> - where the guy would be sitting there and he would open a book. And that's where we are with it now. So yes, the story is in there, but the idea is that I don't need it. [<i>laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> The narration for TSO is often read in rhyming couplets. Shakespeare employed certain rhyming patterns in his works. Does your background with studying and performing his work help you with delivering TSO's script?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Oh definitely. It gives me ideas because Shakespeare plays little games with words. When I find Paul doing little things that remind me of Shakespeare, I play with it. If Paul likes it, then we keep it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> How long does it take you to have a TSO script memorized?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] Well, that depends.</span> <br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] If pages aren't added after you had it down, of course.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Right. It's a rare experience where you have the producer, writer and director with you most of the time. Where you can give him a call and say "<i>Hey, what about this?</i>" or he can call you - that's very rare. Paul gets ideas even after he has written the piece and sometimes he makes changes. So if we do it this year, I am sure he will come to me and discuss the script and possible changes, because he is trying to make it better too. Once we get an audience's reaction to a piece, then other ideas come into play of how they can make it better.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">In that way, it feels like a collaboration. It's similar to an acting company where the director knows it's actors. So, he can write with you in mind - I think he writes with certain people in mind when he is creating his work. Hopefully I am one of them [<i>laughs</i>].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> How far in advance do you start preparing for the yearly Fall/Winter tour? Or do you go into the Council Bluffs rehearsals cold?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Well, in answer to your other question, I'm used to two to three weeks to get something down. But, I try not to think about it in the down time. Unless something sparks an idea in my head, I try to make a mental note. Each year I try to take a fresh approach. There are numerous things that worked and I try to remember what some of them were, while at the same time I try to stay open and see what else I can discover with this. Assuming all goes well this year, I probably wouldn't start looking at it until a month before.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> In terms of taking that fresh approach, I was wondering if you ever got bored or tired of the <i>Christmas Eve and Other Stories </i>script after performing it for so many years</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yeah, but that's part of the challenge. With any long running show, the challenge is every night going out there and try to find a way to make it as if it's the first time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Have you ever forgotten a line or a portion of the script?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Oh yes! [<i>laughs</i>] That's the challenge of live theater. When you are doing something live, all kinds of things are going to happen. With this show, this is huge. You're dealing with stuff going on with the lights, the sound, things happening on stage and everyone trying to keep cool about it - and they usually are. We have some of the most skilled and credible people in the rock world - but stuff happens. We just try to keep cool and keep going.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Anything you care to go on record with?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Photo Courtesy of Jasmin Stierli</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] Well, towards the end of the <i>Beethoven</i> tours, we were doing three different versions of the show. We had an arena show, a casino show, and a short version of the arena show, so we had three different scripts. I remember one day we were at one of the casinos and I forgot which show we were doing! [<i>laughs</i>] There was a monologue that I said but I wasn't supposed to say it until later, but the singer came up anyway and did the number. Al [Pitrelli] was looking at me like "<i>What do you want to do?</i>" [<i>laughs</i>] I was like "<i>I don't know!</i>"[<i>laughs</i>] I had maybe two minutes while the singer finished her number - I think it was Chloe [Lowery]. I had to find a way to make this make sense - I had already said what I was supposed to say, but I had to say something different but similar. So I added two lines to connect that song to the next monologue and it went off fine.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> I wanted to ask you about newspaper reviews of the shows. I find that quite often the reviewer that is sent seems to be expecting a straight rock concert and does not write too kindly about the narrator and/or the narration itself, while the fans seem to enjoy and really connect with this facet of the show. Do you pay attention to these reviews at all?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Sometimes I look at them when were done, and if it's constructive criticism I try to take it into account. If it's not, then I discard it. Based on the fan's reaction over the years, they have been more and more gracious all the time. People will write me - and all of us, really - and say the most wonderful things. The love that pours out is really wonderful. With that being there, it says that were doing something right.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">My goal as an actor has always been to bring about some sort of change, hopefully positive change, to make people think. Sometimes people come to see a show and they don't want to think. They want to forget. If it's too heavy they don't want to deal with it and others feel that if it's too light it must not be intellectual enough. But it's all subjective and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Based on most of the fans, and even - I would say 50% of the reviews have been very kind and gracious, As long as somebody feels good about it then it's my pleasure to do it for them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Well, speaking of things being "too heavy", the script for <i>The Lost Christmas Eve</i> certainly includes some heavy moments.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Oh Yeah.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> In particular there is that one 2-3 minute section which really got heavy and serious. Was there some struggling with including that?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Oh Yeah! [<i>laughs</i>] Oh Yeah. There are many voices and it went back and forth, and it may continue to go back and forth. Because this was a new piece, a lot of opinions were expressed. The powers that be don't want to put anything out there that would be offensive to others or sink the ship, as it were. The last few years with <i>Beethoven</i> and <i>Lost Christmas</i>, because we're so innovative, everybody has been on pins and needles wondering "<i>Will this work?</i>". Paul has the final say, and as long I am given the freedom to commit - if you want me to do it, I'm going to go there. We can't go and pull back - we've got to go. So, that's what we did. Based on what they have said to me, they feel it went well, but it's still a work in progress.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Okay, understood. I know seeing the show last year and watching some of the reaction around me, that particular passage seemed to jolt some emotions in the crowd.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> It's sort of like <i>It's a Wonderful Life</i>. Without that change, without that tragedy, it may be difficult for people to feel catharsis. The idea was for people to leave not feeling bad, but feeling good because everyone has their faults in life, and a strong underlying theme is forgiveness.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You have performed the narration now for three different Trans-Siberian Orchestra stories. Do you have a favorite?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> At the moment I would have to say it's <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i>. Only because that's as close as we've come to doing something in it's entirety. For me, I love to be challenged and that was an unbelievable challenge. I hope everyone reads the full-length <i>Lost Christmas Eve</i> story. It is a beautiful story. Some of the poetry in it is just magnificent, but unfortunately because it's so long, we can't do a lot of that. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">If I am doing a certain kind of piece and I connect to it - just like the audience has a catharsis, I have a catharsis. Something happens within my person - and it's one of the things that I love about acting is that it's a natural high that is difficult to describe. It basically has to do with an exchange of imagery that happens between the artist and the audience. When that happens, and the audience really seems to get it - even if they are angry, something happened. We all sat there and you left there feeling something, as opposed to feeling numb. So that works for me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> In terms of the<i> Beethoven's Last Night</i> narration, that script certainly had much longer spoken passages than had been used in prior TSO shows. Was part of the challenge holding the audience's attention?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> That was a large part of the challenge. How can I do this in a way that keeps people interested? Maybe it's my imagination, but sometimes I can feel that connection with the audience. It's sort of like this journey that we all go on and my job is to keep you interested. There are places in that story where people may drift off and part of the challenge is pulling them back.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You mentioned earlier how Paul wanted you to give voice to the other characters in the <i>Beethoven</i> story. How did you go about preparing for that?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I worked with Paul, trying a number of different things in the studio. We played around with it - when there was something that he liked he would let me know. Even today if he wants me to do something, he will say "<i>You know that voice that you did for such and such? That voice.</i>" So he remembers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> When not speaking to the audience, it looks like you are having a ball up there, playing your air guitar, which the audience seems to get a kick out of. It's interesting how you, as the one telling the story, winds up interacting with the vocalists and musicians on stage. I recall Steve Broderick offering you his bottle during "Old City Bar" -</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Steve Broderick and Bryan Hicks</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Toledo, Ohio - November 8, 2009</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">(Photo Courtesy James Marvin Phelps)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rob Evan and Bryan Hicks</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">(Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Corcino)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] It's wonderful - that's part of the evolution. Now that a lot of us have been working together so long, we play a lot. Performers will come over and do things and I'm open to whatever they want to do. In some cases, I never know what they are going to do. Like this last tour, Rob [Evan] came over to me and started doing his thing [<i>laughs</i>]. I was like "<i>Oh, ok!</i>" [<i>laughs</i>] And some nights, he might not do it. In that sense, it's looser than most theatrical productions, but it keeps you on your toes.</span><br />
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Bryan Hicks, Steve Broderick, and Alex Skolnick</div>
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"Old City Bar" 2008</div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Do you have any special routines before the show?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I have warm-up exercises that I do and speech exercises that I do, pretty much everyday before every show.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Do you have an understudy if you were unable to take the stage?</span> <br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Last I heard we don't have one in the back-up band anymore. I'm not sure who that person would be. If it were one of the singers, it's probably Jay [Pierce] - Jay knows everybody's pieces, he's just like that. [<i>laughs</i>] We were doing a show some years ago with Peter Shaw - I think we were doing a show in his home town - and something happened and he wasn't able to make it to the stage, and Jay was right there. So if anybody knows my monologue, it's probably Jay.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Have you ever missed a show?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> No, not so far [<i>knocks on wood</i>].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> So after the first half of the show and the introductions, we don't see you again until the end of the second half of the concert. Inquiring minds want to know: What are you doing the second half of the show? [<i>laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] It depends. If I can go to the bus for a few minutes, I do. With <i>Lost Christmas</i> there's not much time, so to play it safe I usually stay in the dressing room. It goes so quickly now. By the time I get there and take my coat off for a bit and relax, before I know it I have to put it back on to take the bow. Occasionally I'll step out and take a look at the show and I'll think "<i>Wow. I can't believe I was just up there.</i>". [<i>laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What do you enjoy the most and the least about touring?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> One of the things that I enjoy about it is one of the same things I dislike about it. In terms of the work, its more continuity. Especially if it's a new piece, it's always with me. Were always there, either doing the show, in rehearsal, on the bus, in the arena. With matinees, our days start at 12 in the afternoon. It really helps to soak myself into that.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">At the same time, by the time we get to the middle or the end of the tour, it would feel nice to be able to go home and sleep in my bed. [<i>laughs</i>] I often feel that if I could get away from my fellow cast members, it would be easier to come back and have fun with them - just to let the pressure go for a little bit. And then we have the fans, then meet and greets with people from the company and management - it's a lot of pressure as everybody is depending on everybody.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">(L-R) Luci Butler, Bryan Hicks, Chris Caffery</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Toledo, Ohio - November 8, 2009</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">(Photo Courtesy James Marvin Phelps)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Do you enjoy the meet and greets with the fans?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I do. Though sometimes it's hard. Like after a two-show day - especially with these last two pieces where I am more emotional - but I do. Like you spoke about the reviews earlier, we get hands-on perception from people right there. So we don't really have to look around and wonder what they thought. It's a wonderful thing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> We certainly know that you play a pretty mean air guitar on stage. Do you play any other instruments?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] I play other air instruments! I've done a little air drumming. [<i>laughs</i>] I learned how to play the recorder in elementary school, but I have long forgotten that.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> In an interview I did with Chloe Lowery, she mentioned how some of Paul's lyrics really touched her. Are there any particular pieces of Paul's lyrics or poetry that really spoke to you or that you found particularly poignant?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Oh yes. I couldn't say off the top of my head, but there are a lot of piece and places where I have to make a decision if I am going to get emotionally involved or not because sometimes it doesn't serve the piece at that moment. A lot of it is beautiful and beautiful poetry touches me so. He says some heavy things.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Besides your live work with TSO, you recently recorded the studio narration for the recent re-issue of the <i>Beethoven's Last Night</i>. It's well known how meticulous Paul can be in the studio. Can you share any of that experience?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> It took about six weeks to record, but not consecutively. It wasn't recorded all at once - it was divided up into segments because they have to edit and get an idea of what the whole thing sounds like. What I did like about the studio recording was that I got to do the whole piece. That's magnificent.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Has there been discussion at all to record any other past or future TSO albums with your narration?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Yes, we've talked about a few things. That's all I can say. [<i>laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> On the <i>Night Castle</i> album, you did the guide vocals for the carnival barker portion of "Epiphany", but in the end we hear Rob Evan's voice in that part. What happened to your recording?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Have you ever heard of the term "the cutting room floor"? [<i>laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] Of course. Enough said.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">From your time with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, millions of fans know you, appreciate you, and are comfortable with you. To so many, it's like seeing an old friend on stage. Can you reflect a bit on what that means to you after all these years of performing for TSO's devoted fans?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> It's wonderful. I never expected it go this far or to be this grand. The appreciation is wonderful. It says to me that I am here for a good reason. The idea is to bring about some sort of positive change in the world and as long as I can make someone feel good, I'm happy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Can you speak on your future with TSO? Will fans be seeing you this fall?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> It's a little early to say, I try not to be presumptuous because this is show business. [<i>laughs</i>] But I hope so.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Photo Courtesy of Jason McEachern</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Can you tell me something that most people wouldn't know about you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Well, originally I wanted to be a great painter. I used to draw alot for a number of years. When I went to that new junior high school, I wanted to be in the art class so that I could paint. But it was full! So I thought acting was fun and got into the acting class.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> What sort of music do you listen to? Anything in particular on your iPod or CD player?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> I am an R&B/Jazz kinda guy. When I work out I listen to pop and rap, something fast and heartfelt to get me going.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> You have done such a wide range of work in your career - soap operas, theater work, Shakespeare rolls, narration and voiceover work. </span><span style="color: #f1c232;">What would you like to do that you haven't done already?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> More film! Maybe a TV series.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Is it difficult going for roles like that when you presumably have a three month period set aside each year? Are other roles hard to fit in?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> These days it is, because of TSO's schedule. I give them priority. I suppose it's serendipity where people will call me and ask if I am interested in doing a project, and I will have to say "<i>When is it?</i>" [<i>laughs</i>] and it's usually during TSO season or it would run into November and I can't do it. I am still trying to figure out how to juggle this schedule with all of the other things. I am sure it will work itself out.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> One last question...the narrator for the West coast touring company of TSO, Phillip Brandon, recently released his first single, a catchy, upbeat song called "You". So when is the Bryan Hicks single coming? [<i>laughs</i>]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> [<i>laughs</i>] I'm working on an acting project now that should be done by the end of the summer, though I can't say what it is. I'm also writing a screenplay, which is something I have wanted to do for a while.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>DR:</b> Well, that's about all I have today. I know we covered a lot of ground. Is there anything you would like to add?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>BH:</b> Well, this has been my pleasure. You know, for a kid that grew up in the 'hood of Harlem and could have gone in many different directions, some not so good, it's just been an unbelievable run.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Photo Courtesy of Jason McEachern</span></td></tr>
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For more information:<br />
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<span style="color: white;">Bryan Hicks: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bryan.hicks.733"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/bryan.hicks.733</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra: </span><a href="http://trans-siberian.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://trans-siberian.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Boys Choir of Harlem: </span><a href="http://www.boyschoirofharlem.org/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.boyschoirofharlem.org</span></a><br />
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672713545753315966.post-14552475620128774092013-05-22T17:01:00.001-07:002022-04-17T15:24:47.577-07:00A Conversation with Bob Kinkel<span style="color: #e06666;">Bob Kinkel has worn a lot of hats over his long, successful musical career: Producer, arranger, engineer, composer, conductor, performing keyboardist, and much more. He of course is most well-known for co-creating the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, where he played a key role in their first five albums and their annual Winter Tours through 2010. Mr. Kinkel has been busy working in the studio with a new project that is now being released. I caught up with Bob at his very busy, world class recording studio, as we look back at his time working with Savatage and TSO and discuss his exciting new project, Cinema 12.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">Dan Roth: I would like to start by asking about your musical upbringing. Are you classically trained?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">Bob Kinkel: Yeah, I have a lot of classical training. I had the obligatory piano lessons when I was 7-8 years old and sang in the church choir. I grew up in Williamsville, New York, which is a suburb of Buffalo, and they had one of the best music programs in the country. When you are in elementary school, they stick an instrument in your hand. I started playing saxophone - my mom actually played sax and I inherited her saxophones. I started playing in bands and we had a piano in the house; my Dad played piano a lot. There was always music around.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I took lessons for probably 4-5 years before they got cancelled because of me not practicing. Once I got to high school, I really started teaching myself to play though. You may remember the old record clubs - you had to order like 20 records and I was going through and picking albums by the covers and I ended up picking Emerson, Lake & Palmer's <em>Tarkus</em>! I bought it because of the cover, ended up loving it and bought all of their other records. I remember bringing ELP's <em>Pictures at an Exhibition</em> into school one day to show Michael Levy - he was one of the teachers that was teaching theory and directed the choir. I started telling him "<em>Look at this - what a great piece this is!</em>" and he was like "<em>You know that is a piano piece</em>". I went "<em>It is?!?</em>" [Laughs]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">He was kind of mentoring me in high school, which was nice. I wanted to get better at playing the piano, he had me start with Bach's Two-Part Inventions and from there I basically started teaching myself a lot and practicing constantly. By this time, the grand piano in our house had moved to the basement, so I kind of had a studio set up down there. I started experimenting with tape machines - I had a Radio Shack 2-track reel-to-reel - and started reading all the magazines and was just really into it. I was always working and I would spend all of my money on music things...I bought my first synthesizer - a minimoog - in 1975.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bob Kinkel (far left) with Rogue</span><br />
Photo Courtesy of Bob Kinkel</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I went to Hamilton College, entered as a Pre-Med, then a chemistry major, a physics major... In my freshman year I was lucky enough to take piano lessons from concert pianist Albert Bowen, who was a student of [Vladimir] Horowitz. He taught me so much, in terms of how to approach pieces and how to practice. I started taking all of the music theory classes, music history, orchestration and learning how to conduct. I also learned about Edgard Varèse and other composers who worked with synthesis, found sounds, and musique concrete. The school also had an electronic music studio there, which was wonderful. They had one of those big ARP modular synthesizers and a Scully four-track reel-to-reel and a quarter-inch tape machine. That's when I learned how to edit tape and a lot of the other studio chops that paid off later on. By that time, I was always playing in bands and out late closing the pub [Laughs]. I would also be practicing the pipe organ in the chapel til 2 in the morning.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">I wound up staying an extra year at Hamilton, working in the physics department and playing in Rogue, a covers band. We did a huge cross section of covers - Steely Dan, Turtles, The Who, The Cars,
Talking Heads etc. Everything from the 50s through the late 70s - More of a pop
rock band. I was also the organist for the chapel, so I was still constantly playing music and working on my classical chops.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdQ1IHx5k3qK7x05fVMBS5CozqNrfveoc5Ev6rYuzYLy_gMyq9f9mKUo-AiP5nu0BZhwmw5he896a0J7HqWO_d7QZglsKNQhnwA_5fLQQf-NoFkrCrTextLP4_sW2EnaC3Kxq1OGhj4k2/s1600/!cid_7778BA59-E746-4F15-88E4-744E8BC04026@nyc_rr.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdQ1IHx5k3qK7x05fVMBS5CozqNrfveoc5Ev6rYuzYLy_gMyq9f9mKUo-AiP5nu0BZhwmw5he896a0J7HqWO_d7QZglsKNQhnwA_5fLQQf-NoFkrCrTextLP4_sW2EnaC3Kxq1OGhj4k2/s400/!cid_7778BA59-E746-4F15-88E4-744E8BC04026@nyc_rr.jpg" width="388" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Bob (on keyboards) performing with Rogue</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Photo Courtesy of Bob Kinkel</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You sort of answered this a little bit...I was going to ask you which keyboardists influenced you. I am guessing Keith Emerson?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Keith Emerson was a big influence. Rick Wakeman and all of the prog rock guys. Elton John and Billy Joel for that style. I was also a huge Who fan and I liked tons of classical music. Growing up I had inherited a collection of 78 [rpm] records from my grandmother. I would listen to the William Tell Overture on the 78s and it would take like eight records on the spindle to get through the whole thing - it would stop in the middle, go "clunk" [Laughs].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: [Laughs] That's awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah...so, I really just grew up with music around me all of the time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You eventually wound up getting involved with studio work and commercial jingles?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, that was in the 80's. I actually went to grad school at Columbia University on a full ride for solid-state physics. I wound up quitting halfway through and started looking for work. I had met Jim Ball, who was an assistant engineer at the Record Plant [recording studio] and he introduced me to Lila Wassenaur, who was the manger there at the time. For months, I came back every two weeks and told her I would work for free - finally they let me, and eventually I was hired officially. I really honed my engineering chops there as I got to work with tons of the top people.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I want to skip ahead a little bit to your involvement with Savatage. The first record you were on was <em>Hall of the Mountain King</em>?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, <em>Hall of the Mountain King</em> was the first record I played on with them. That's how I met Paul [O'Neill] and Jon [Oliva].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Were they recording at Record Plant at the time?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: They were recording at Record Plant - that was the first record that Paul produced of theirs and Jim Ball was the engineer.</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">By this time, I had left Record Plant to go out and do session work <span style="color: #e69138;">and I was playing in a prog rock band led
by Richard Termini. I'd be in sessions and a keyboard player would be brought in, and I was realizing that some of these guys would take four hours to play something that</span> I could play in ten minutes. I started thinking, "<em>Hey, I must be ok</em>" because I never thought of myself as a great, great player. But I had chops and I was always practicing while I worked at Record Plant.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">There was an early sampling keyboard called the Emulator II, which was the first one that made it easy to spread out samples. I was one of five people in the city that had one of those. I also had a Prophet 5, a Yamaha DX7 and a few other things. That was the era when I was doing jingles - that was when I did the Hefty commercial and was being successful in that world. I got a call from Jim Ball out of the blue who says, "<em>Hey I'm working with this guy who wants to do a whole orchestra thing. Can you do that sort of thing with your samplers?</em>". So I said "<em>Sure</em>" and came down to the studio and we did "Prelude to Madness". That whole thing is basically me and the band. I played every single part on that - the whole orchestra is me - and then we just all got along really well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">It was fun. At first, when I walked in, it was Studio A at Record Plant. There are candles everywhere with wax dripping and Jon had this skull necklace on. I was like "<em>Whoa! Hey Jim, what did you get me into?</em>" [Laughs] But within five minutes, I realized that these are the nicest people in the world and we had a great time. So I did "Prelude to Madness" and ended up doing a couple more days and did all the orchestration for that record. From then on I did all of their orchestrations whenever they needed them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Were you familiar with Savatage before that?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Never heard of 'em</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You mentioned orchestrations. Can you explain what it is you do when you are credited with orchestrations? Are you writing out the various orchestra parts and then recreating them with keys? Or sampling orchestra sounds?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: It's combinations. For instance with "Prelude to Madness", that was all samples. I basically played every single part to make it layered and it feels organic if you do it that way. Even if I'm doing fake stuff, I always fake as if I'm playing the instruments so you breathe with it, you phrase with it as you would if you were playing the instrument and not play it like it's a clunky keyboard thing. I always approach it from an orchestration point of view, whether it's a traditional classical piece or something like a Beatles kind-of thing where you can use the instruments in slightly different ways. Depending on the song and where it would take me, I would do different things.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">With TSO, it's mainly strings but there is a lot of timpani, bells; there's winds in there too. It's a mixture of live and not.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: With Jon Oliva already there in Savatage playing keys, how did you two divide up the keyboard work?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: On the Savatage records that I was on, Jon played piano and I did everything else. With <em>Handful of Rain</em> and the ones I didn't play on, Jon did all of the synth work on those.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: How did the band react to having a session player come in and play on their records, after so many albums of it being just the core band?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: We all had a great time. Criss Oliva in particular was such a sweetheart. I just remember the hours he spent with me showing me his guitar riffs so I could double things on keyboards. I was doing so much session work, and Criss used to ask me "<em>You wouldn't want to come on tour with this metal band, would you?</em>" [Laughs]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I was going to ask you if they ever had asked you to go out on tour with them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: They had. But at the time I was married and was basically making way more money in the studio than I could going on tour with them. Plus I didn't want to be away that much.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I wanted to ask you about Savatage's <em>Streets</em> album, which opens with a children's choir. You worked with the choir on there?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, it was the children's choir from The Met (Metropolitan Opera). Paul wanted a children's choir for "Heal My Soul". They came in and they were singing a Mozart piece - The Magic Flute. They were singing this just to warm up and the mics were on, so we rolled on that and added it to the beginning of the album. And then I arranged the parts and conducted the choir for "Heal My Soul".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: It seems that whenever Savatage or TSO used a choir, you were the one working with them. Is working with the choirs something that came natural to you?</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, I would always work with them. With the TSO stuff, I would actually sing everything first. I remember with the first TSO record I would sing all the children's parts in falsetto just to get the feel of the whole record and orchestration.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Speaking of "Heal My Soul", you guys released this song again in 2007 under the TSO name, but this time a children's choir sang it completely. What was the reason for doing that?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Paul wanted a softer version out there. It's such a great song; he wanted a version that had a little less edge to it. That piece is based on a Welsh lullaby ("<span class="st">Suo Gân"), such a traditional piece. Some pieces of music just become universal because you hear them in so many different contexts. Most people are familiar with what could be called the "hit parade" of classical music because they're everywhere - even if you don't listen to classical music per se, it's everywhere - in television, film - you are constantly bombarded with these themes.</span></span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did you work with the choir on that version as well?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, I arranged it, conducted it, recorded it, and played piano.</span></span><br />
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<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Back to <em>Streets</em>. Jon has said that it took over a year to record that album. Were you involved the whole time?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I came in as a session player. I might have been there a week, doing keyboards. It was intense though - there is a lot of orchestration on that record. It was a fun record to play though.</span></span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You weren't on the <em>Handful of Rain</em> or <em>Edge of Thorns</em> records?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: No, they did those down in Florida. They started one thing in my studio before moving down there - "Chance" - Jon had come up with this riff [<em>Sings keyboard riff from "Chance"</em>] - which is such a brilliant, brilliant keyboard riff - and then they recorded the rest down in Florida.</span></span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #f1c232;">DR: There is one Savatage song that you have a co-writing credit, which of course is "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24". I wanted to ask you a little about that piece. I understand it was around in some form before it became a Savatage song?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span class="st">BK: Paul had it around for a while and had some different ideas of how to work with it. He had this idea to take "Carol of the Bells" and start it with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". </span><span class="st">It originally started with acoustic guitar instead of cello, with a nice blocked-out melody that Paul had for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". But then the two of us got together and came up with the additional musical parts, I figured out how to put the two themes together in that whole center section. We worked on it together for about four days. We came up with the "<em>Bum bu-bu-bum</em>" and said "<em>Yeah! That works!</em>" [Laughs].</span></span></div>
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<span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">It was great; we had a really good time putting that together. We came up with the original new sections and put it all together and gave it its shape. There were no guitars other than the acoustic at first. Then we realized that it would fit into the Sarajevo story on the Savatage record (<em>Dead Winter Dead</em>) and then Al [Pitrelli] came in and put all of his brilliant guitar work on top.</span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;">This wasn't the first time we had written together though. We worked together on a musical called <em>Romanov</em> - it's mostly Paul and Jon, but four of the songs I co-wrote with Paul.</span> </span></span><br />
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<span class="st" style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did you have any idea that once it was recorded that you had created something really special?</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Paul and I definitely loved it. What happens, when you create a piece of music - you're creating a piece of art, you put your heart and soul into it and you hope that other people will enjoy it. But you never know. I just remember getting the phone call - [Disc Jockey] Mason Dixon down in Tampa had played it one night [on WMTX] and the lines lit up. We flew down to Florida and put on a special show for their listeners in a special benefit concert - we played like six or seven songs.</span> </span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: And you performed live with Savatage?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I performed live with Savatage twice. Once was at this show in Tampa, the other time was at a show in Cologne, Germany. At the Germany show, we had just finished recording the <em>Beethoven</em> record [TSO's <em>Beethoven's Last Night</em>] and we debuted a couple <em>Beethoven</em> songs at that show along with a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".</span> </span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Really? Did you play the whole show with them?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I remember they basically set up a keyboard for me and I think we did "Requiem" and "A Last Illusion" and then "Bohemian Rhapsody" and then they took my keyboard off stage. I just remember that was the hottest day, walking up a flight of ten stairs to the stage, I think the temperature went up by 20 degrees. [Laughs] But it was fun - it was a great crowd.</span></span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You mentioned <em>Romanov</em> - what was your involvement with that?</span> </span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">BK: I co-wrote four of the songs and we did all the demos together, then Paul, Jon and I did all the presenting. It was on a fast track to Broadway at one time, and then TSO happened. Originally, Paul's concept was for that to be the first TSO record, but Christmas just took over. [Laughs] It's kind of weird now for it to come back twenty years later. They're in Florida working away at it.</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Are you involved in the current production that is being worked on now?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: No, not really.</span></span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Any idea how similar it is to the original demos and recording?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I haven't heard any of it. I can tell you that one of the songs that was on the recent EP that came out - "Time You Should Be Sleeping"...</span></span><br />
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<span class="st" style="color: #f1c232;">DR: That's such a beautiful song.</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">BK: That's actually my song. It's mis-credited on the record. That was part of the original <em>Romanov</em> recordings - it was a lullaby I had written for Alexei, the young son of the Romanovs. I don't know if it's still going to be on the Romanov recording that they are working on now - <em>Romanov</em> itself is such a long work, I couldn't say if it will still be on there.</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I wanted to ask you about what became the first TSO record - <em>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</em>. It was recorded with essentially the same band lineup as was on the Savatage records, but with many additional vocalists. How different was it to record that album from a Savatage album?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I was involved more as a co-producer and writer with TSO. Except for "Christmas Eve Sarajevo", Savatage was pretty much a Paul and Jon thing and I was brought in as an extra. With TSO, Paul and Jon would write songs, and I would write as well and had more of an influence on things with my classical background and they would have the more metal stuff too. I think it was a really nice combination. And we could have all of these different singers, so a different character in the story could have a different voice, which you couldn't really do with a rock band with a single singer.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by James Minchin</td></tr>
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<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: From an actual recording process though, how has it changed?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: There's a lot of ways to build songs. You can hit it in the studio with a band, play everything, do a couple overdubs, and you're done. It used to be you would build them from the drums up, but you can go backwards now. It is often a process where the song evolves as you're recording it, where you can make changes like if you decide you want the chorus to be twice as long, and then you may go back in and re-record a bunch of stuff, so it's an evolution process.</span> </span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Were you involved in assembling the vocalists?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #e69138;">BK: From the beginning I was always involved with the auditions and bringing vocalists in. I was involved with that right up until when I stopped touring in 2010.</span></span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #e69138;"><span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: When you would write songs, did you write them with particular vocalists in mind?</span><br /><br />BK: A lot of times Paul would have a type of voice in mind, then we would try a lot of different people on that song. What's really nice with TSO is that you can try different vocalists to see which has the best fit - it's somewhat like making them a part. It's like "<em>Who has the proper emotional content to bring this song to life?</em>" or "<em>Who has the tone or persona to make you see this character with your eyes closed?</em>"</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #f1c232;">DR: That's fantastic to have that luxury. It's got to be like being a kid in a candy store.</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">BK: Oh God, Yeah! It is, but it can also make things take a lot longer! [Laughs]</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #f1c232;">DR: How difficult was it to merge the works of classical composers like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart with hard rock?</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st" style="color: #e69138;">BK: Not really too hard. There's a lot of "rock stars" that have been around forever. Beethoven was a massive "rock star". People lined up for his funeral. When his Ninth Symphony was performed it caused riots - people were saying "<em>What is this?!</em>" It was definitely the equivalent of parents today telling their kids to "<em>Turn that shit down!</em>" [Laughs] That energy has been around for a long time. Mozart...Paganini...they were "rock stars". The Romantic era, all the French composers, they were like musical jocks. Virtuoso playing seems to exist in the classical world and the metal world so it marries up really well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: How would you go about deciding which classical pieces you wanted to work with?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Paul would always have things in mind, I would bring in something, Al would bring in something. Sometimes we would have a song and we would realize how it would go well into a particular classical piece. Like in "Mozart and Madness", Paul would say, "<em>We could go into some Mozart here</em>", and then I would say, "<em>How about this one?</em>" and we find pieces that naturally fit. And in "Requiem", Paul came up with that great riff that worked with Beethoven's Fifth. And the TSO song "Beethoven", we wanted to make something out of the [Beethoven's] Ninth [Symphony] so I added this one riff and then we went back and put in the Pathetique Sonata. It just flowed. Again, it comes from the Top 100 classical, the kind of stuff that is in everybody's subconscious. It just kind of flows, since we all know those pieces so well; when wer'e writing, it comes out.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: What were some of the musical challenges you had when marrying up these classical pieces to what you were creating? Did you feel like you had to stay true to the original piece?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Ah, No. [Laughs] You keep the energy but you can add to it. So much of classical music has become museum pieces. Instruments have evolved. The old violins sound nothing like the modern ones. The old pianos were really quiet and now they have the big steel frames, more tension, longer strings, and they're louder. With brass instruments, the bore - the size of the hole is bigger. Guitars and lutes - stringed instruments like that have been around forever. And now you have electronics, you can add stuff - "<em>Let's make it louder!</em>" Everything is bigger now anyway so it's like a natural progression, a natural extension.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: On the early TSO records, you and Jon Oliva handled all of the keyboards. How did you divide it up and how can one discern who is playing what?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Jon has such an amazing feel when he plays. Basically, on all of the songs that he wrote, he played the piano parts. All of the orchestration parts and all of the really fast runs, that's all me, because I have the classical background.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: On the first five TSO albums, you are listed as the "Co-Producer". For the uninitiated, what was your role as Co-Producer?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: As a Co-Producer, you're handling lots of the production, but you're not making the final decisions. I would work independently a lot from Paul; I would be in my studio working, he would be down the hall working. We would talk about the overall shape of the record together, but all of the final decisions rest with him. I would work with all the players, work with the choirs, and do all the vocal comping. General ideas, concepts - that's him. He controls the budget...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZmMq9__PObwq7SxrNItzGcVUhVU03C81wSaltBHL73sM2oLIEZZHpnTsgH6sMyT3l3G2XJW5YBjTPQ7FbHqNh6hk0mEWjPfcks4nScsZKkURK9GTw0x_TPJrSNfRpOFPAt1h0RFVsrZI5/s1600/kinkel5.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZmMq9__PObwq7SxrNItzGcVUhVU03C81wSaltBHL73sM2oLIEZZHpnTsgH6sMyT3l3G2XJW5YBjTPQ7FbHqNh6hk0mEWjPfcks4nScsZKkURK9GTw0x_TPJrSNfRpOFPAt1h0RFVsrZI5/s400/kinkel5.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of Brian Reichow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I didn't think there was a budget [Laughs].</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: It may have been Jason Flom that said it, not sure, but one of the executives used to tell Paul that he was the only one they knew that would have an unlimited budget and still go over-budget. [Laughs]. It's all because Paul doesn't settle, which is nice. He is a true artist, and if he hears something and wants to go for something, he will.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Can I ask about <em>Running in the Passion of the Fairytale Moon </em>?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: That's a musical that Paul and I wrote, shortly after <em>Romanov</em>. Paul and I had gotten on a roll and wrote the whole thing in about a month. We demoed it out, presented it to a few people. That one is top secret - I can't even tell you what it's remotely about. [Laughs] Paul came up with a brilliant idea. Other than saying it's a brilliant idea, I'm not going to say a word about it. I'm hoping it will show up soon.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: How about <em>Letters from the Labyrinth </em>?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I don't know a thing about it. That's Paul. Paul just writes. I don't know where he finds the energy with all of the other stuff he does, but he will go in and write all night. He will have twenty notebooks of ideas before he'll start a record. He is really good at editing; he reads like crazy, he's a history buff, he reads poetry. He never stops.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: When you and he would collaborate on writing songs, was it primarily you with the music and Paul with the story and lyrics?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Not necessarily. Sometimes I would have an idea, and he is great at shaping stuff and adding his own thing to it, so if you come up with something really "hooky", he'll force you to finish it and then he'll add things. So musically, he co-writes and he does the story and he does stuff on his own too.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: How do you feel about the reworking or updating of some Savatage songs to become Trans-Siberian Orchestra songs?</span><br />
<span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Well, you don't have to a song done only one way. Like "Heal My Soul" - doing it entirely with a children's choir. It's a different take on the same song. Sometimes it's nice - if the song fits the story - sometimes the perfect song already exists</span>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">Are you going to compete with yourself? Are they cover songs? You'd really have to ask Paul about his inspiration, because it's his idea to bring those in.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: From 1995 through 2004, seven albums were released from Savatage and TSO, and then nothing for five years until <em>Night Castle</em> came out in 2009. After such a productive and busy period, what took so long for <em>Night Castle</em> to be finished and released?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Well you'll notice a slight slowdown before that; <em>The Lost Christmas Eve</em> took a few years to get done. I think part of it was just exhaustion. We had started touring in '99 with just a few shows and by the middle of the first decade it had expanded to slightly over two months of touring with two shows a day, plus a month of rehearsals before that, plus auditioning people. I created all the arrangements for the strings, vocals, and keyboards for the live shows. People would leave then we would have to find someone else that could play. It's a massive amount of work making all the touring stuff happen. You get off the road and - it's an old joke, but you check to see if your head is level by seeing if you are drooling out of both sides of your mouth. [Laughs] It just took a toll over that period. And <em>Night Castle</em> was really ambitious for Paul. That's also when he centered himself in Florida for good, so instead of having everyone local here in New York, everyone would fly down and back. It just took a while.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: After four TSO albums that featured you heavily as a songwriter, there are no Kinkel-written tunes on <em>Night Castle</em>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, that really was a result of Paul now being in Florida. My family and I are here in New York, and with Jon living down there as well, the record was done.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: The roster of musicians on the records seems to expand with each record; Night Castle boasts six different keyboardists. Why so many?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: When you're working with everybody live, and everyone has been playing on the tours, you want to make sure everybody gets to play on the records. It's only fair; they've been out on tour working their asses off, so we bring them into the studio to play a couple parts here and there. Though the bulk of <em>Night Castle</em> is still Jon and I.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Since you guys are such prolific writers and working constantly, are there a lot of songs that haven't made it on to the TSO records?</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Well, there are always ideas and fragments out there. If Jon has a song that doesn't go on the TSO album, he'll put it on his record. If you're writing all the time, there will be some things that you'll write for one project and not for another...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Any prospect of ever seeing a TSO album filled with rarities and out-takes?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: No. Because we don't go in and finish them. It's not like we have full recordings that didn't make the record. There's bits - like we'll get through the first chorus of something and then move on - some demos, but no full complete songs.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKoZeaXUFZvZPtF_BZn8AVlanavsEkLydheeYR8e1Bv-wMrc9AbK-HZG-TV1H6lA7KaAhM6VaXCLLvEApgn8GCbZBpg7OMV2wkN53SKi0GsGeEi22VSOqesgCz331HEpwKalW1ebQxYURz/s1600/kinkel4.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKoZeaXUFZvZPtF_BZn8AVlanavsEkLydheeYR8e1Bv-wMrc9AbK-HZG-TV1H6lA7KaAhM6VaXCLLvEApgn8GCbZBpg7OMV2wkN53SKi0GsGeEi22VSOqesgCz331HEpwKalW1ebQxYURz/s400/kinkel4.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Photo Courtesy of Pete Ferling</span></td></tr>
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</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: When looking through TSO liner notes, it's striking how many engineers the albums have. There's the mixing engineer, associate engineers, additional engineers...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: The guy who polished the engineer's shoes... [Laughs]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: [Laughs] Can you describe what an engineer contributes to a recording for those that might not be aware? And why do you need so many?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Okay, well, Dave Wittman is the main engineer. The engineer's job is to capture the sound and performance on to what used to be tape, but now it's in to Pro Tools or Digital Performer. Whether you are recording a performance in midi or acoustically, they look at mic placement in the room; they are responsible for the sonic quality. Dave is the mix engineer and he mixes everything. These days you have hundreds of tracks. You have the luxury and the curse of being able to delay your decisions until the final mix. In the old days, you would have 24, 48, sometimes 72 tracks, so you would have to be very conservative when mixing; you might have to mix some things early. For example if you had recorded ten passes of strings, you would bounce them all down to four tracks, as opposed to now where you would just leave them all. So the engineer is responsible for the sonic quality, and helping the producer achieve their vision of what the sound should be like. </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">The reason there are so many, and I engineer as well, is that there are times when we are trying to get a record done and Dave might be mixing in one room while were still recording vocals in another room, recording guitars in yet another room, so we would be using multiple studios at the same time. The most we ever had going at once was five. It's really a production trying to get it done. I would be in recording the choirs, doing string sessions, making sure all the keyboard parts are right or editing - there is just so much work for the engineers to do. It really is a massive undertaking. It's amazing that we got those records done as fast as we did.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Really?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah. It's just massive numbers of tracks and a massive amount of work.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I know your daughter had a cameo on <em>The Lost Christmas Eve</em> doing that spoken "Merry Christmas" part. How did that come about?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: We were trying to find the right child for that. We were auditioning tons of kids. I was just exhausted one night and Gretchen was there eating dinner, so I asked her to sing that part like a real little kid. She went into the studio and nailed it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I wanted to ask you about your time on the road with TSO. You were the musical director for the ten years you were out there?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, most of the time I was the overseeing musical director for everything.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: What went into your role as musical director? What sort of things were you responsible for?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I arranged all of the string parts, I would rehearse the band, make sure everyone is playing the right parts. Just making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing to make it sound the way it should be.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: And Al has a similar role for the western touring troupe?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: It started out being one uniform thing and then we kind of diverged a bit where Al started changing stuff on the West Coast.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: When performing, Al is a bit more visible in his role, with hand motions and pointing, while you were more subtle.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: The keyboards, especially in the TSO stuff, are kind of unique. It comes from the way Jon Oliva and I play, which is very rhythmic. The foundation is piano, drums and bass, while there are a lot of big power chords for the guitars to play while the keyboard is keeping the rhythm going. So in a lot of ways I don't have a free hand to do any of that dramatic-gesturing. I actually can conduct, and used to it when we did "Carmina Burana" on stage. I'm also "tethered" in one place so I don't have a way to move around as much to make the big sweeping cues.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">After a while, the band really takes care of itself and we make the cueing less obvious. For me, I wanted to make one big show; I didn't want to be out front. There's ways you can do it subtly and there's ways you can do it big. It's all how your ego is or how you want it to appear.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: But the performers on stage were still watching you for cues?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah. A lot of time I wasn't lit, but if you watched me closely, you could see me give cues, count vocals off and things like that. I conduct a lot with my head, as again, I have both hands always taken up.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did the role as musical director come natural to you?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Well, I had always been conducting and working the vocals and the strings. I would always stop the band and make sure the tempo was right. During rehearsals I would really be in there conducting transitions - I love for transitions to feel really organic - I hate lots of click cues and things like that. We'd always find ways to rehearse the band so it breathes as one; that to me always felt good</span>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did you get involved with determining the setlist?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah.</span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrm1TbMSzWLrzII_yx9hpiqcson4cG4k0moe5M2XVpwpYNVVihraSBJplazqvEwKvFWIFXABtKhJWjU-8rl3X0574PA4bAcnqaplDUehPD4qAD1sDyNRH1MO4VQdcqDv6ltWxmg1JKms3/s1600/kinkel2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrm1TbMSzWLrzII_yx9hpiqcson4cG4k0moe5M2XVpwpYNVVihraSBJplazqvEwKvFWIFXABtKhJWjU-8rl3X0574PA4bAcnqaplDUehPD4qAD1sDyNRH1MO4VQdcqDv6ltWxmg1JKms3/s400/kinkel2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of James Marvin Phelps</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Any songs that didn't make the cut that you wish did?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: The problem with TSO, is that we had four albums and that alone is almost five hours of music. Since we had the tradition of always doing the full rock opera and then some excerpts from other things, you always have to leave off great songs. So, yeah.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: The keyboard duel that you used to do with Mee Eun Kim -</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: That actually started with the West Coast group with Jane [Mangini] and Derek [Wieland]. Paul always wanted to have that kind of thing; I was like "<em>meh</em>". I guess I'm not super competitive [Laughs] But yeah, it was fun to do. It was a good moment.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: And you would wrap it up with the band doing Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, we did do that for a while. That was Al's idea to do that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Tell me about your spinning keyboard.</span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Oh, that was fun! That was the most fun for me; I loved that thing. I remember Elliot Saltzman and Patrick Whitley and some of the production guys were trying to figure out how to make a spinning keyboard to work. They were out to dinner one night and there's this huge Lazy Susan in the middle of the table and they started spinning it and went "<em>Ah!</em>". [Laughs] So basically they made this thing out of a giant Lazy Susan and mounted the stand on it and made a base that would attach to the floor - well, they attached it to the floor after I dumped it over once [Laughs] - and yeah, that was so much fun. The first year I could only turn it once or twice in each direction and then later on when we started bringing our own stage, we made a hole in the stage so the cables could go down and I could spin it about six times in each direction, I just had to keep track. Our poor roadies - after each show one guy would be under the stage and one guy on top trying to untangle the cables. [Laughs]</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">But that was fun because I got freed up a little bit, face different directions; I got to actually play with different people on stage and see more of the audience.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIwpezZibRJTSxuhtHR-V5ESFY0ltaGkpPq5P6Zb-H55p07h2c3g5GMGZq4KAI27Y1YhMV_hSq0JuYXX2XytQeWSzmx9HcymsOJmAYImKSs9DDn2PTOiSpllSCQx9ZvNyKMXPyMu-BtV4S/s1600/kinkeljean.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIwpezZibRJTSxuhtHR-V5ESFY0ltaGkpPq5P6Zb-H55p07h2c3g5GMGZq4KAI27Y1YhMV_hSq0JuYXX2XytQeWSzmx9HcymsOJmAYImKSs9DDn2PTOiSpllSCQx9ZvNyKMXPyMu-BtV4S/s400/kinkeljean.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Photo Courtesy of Jean Scrocco</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did you ever think about using a keytar so you could be more untethered and could move around the stage more?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: No. I used to have one of those, but it always felt...wrong. There are a couple guys who can pull it off, but it wasn't for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: On your last tour with TSO in 2009, you split time on stage, with you playing keys during the first half of the shows and Vitalij Kuprij taking over for the second half. What was the background on that?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: It was about transitioning. Rhythmically and feel-wise, I'm way more solid than Vitalij. But classical chops - he won that big Chopin Competition in Russia when he was ten years old, so he was one of these childhood prodigies - he can really rip it up classically. I worked with him a lot getting him into shape, because the keyboard parts are not played the way a piano player would play them. I did so much pipe organ playing and that sort of thing, that I don't approach a piano as a piano. I play much heavier, so I had to work with him to change his natural instincts. I also spent a ton of time working with him on the <em>Beethoven's Last Night</em> stuff as well. Same with Derek.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">We have people that learn the parts just in case, God forbid, something happens to somebody, so I had worked with Derek for a long time and getting him rockin'. He's also one of these really amazing classical players and I was working with him to dig in in a slightly different way and he's come a long way. He does a great job.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Was it decided before the 2009 tour that it would be your last? Or during?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: My last tour? It's complicated. [Laughs]</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Was it tough to not be going out on tour on anymore after doing it for so long?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: It was good for me, in some ways. My kids were growing up and I had missed ten years of Christmas. Plus it's allowed me to get back and doing other stuff. I get bored with repetition.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Over the years, TSO performers have had to miss a show here and there due to sickness or personal reasons, often replaced by someone in the back-up band. Did you ever miss a show?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I didn't miss any. When <em>Beethoven's Last Night</em> went out, Chris Caffery became the only one left who had played every show. I put together all the parts and all of the arrangements for that first Beethoven tour, worked on the keyboards and was there for the rehearsals until that went out. Same with the 2010 winter tour - I worked with Derek and all of the keyboard players getting that all together.</span> <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I wanted to ask you about the <em>Beethoven's Last Night</em> tour. You co-wrote about half of that album -</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, that one's got a lot of me in it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Did you miss not being on stage for that tour?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: That one I would have liked to have played. It was difficult for me to watch.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I was going to ask you what it's like for you to watch something that you helped create now from the fan's perspective.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: In some ways I prefer being behind the scenes. I'm more of a producer and writer than a "<em>Hey, look at me</em>" performer. [Laughs] I do like being on stage though. I love the fans and the energy of touring is an amazing thing. But I am not one that sleeps well on tour buses and things like that. It takes its toll.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Any particular songs over the years that you really enjoyed playing live? Any songs that stand out to you?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: The first show of each tour, when we played "An Angel Came Down", when the narration would start and you kind of felt the magic beginning. That was always a great moment. And I loved playing "Beethoven" and "A Last Illusion"; they are just fun as hell to play. "This Christmas Day" was always a high point when the whole story wraps up.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I love the way James Lewis delivers that song too.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zSinb3rNNUpbIPjHQdjGqEFmgCBLXU2VtiDNxUC6EYZbGgfUv6huTKTmVTEGnInZdRVNP_-mEEygsGAFkQ8K7fPryevldvdsaVO5ggQks6_LWgkmsxKLMZL3_Cm06JQ9j0S-lCAdiQb5/s1600/kinkel3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zSinb3rNNUpbIPjHQdjGqEFmgCBLXU2VtiDNxUC6EYZbGgfUv6huTKTmVTEGnInZdRVNP_-mEEygsGAFkQ8K7fPryevldvdsaVO5ggQks6_LWgkmsxKLMZL3_Cm06JQ9j0S-lCAdiQb5/s320/kinkel3.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: James is an amazing, amazing singer. He is such a pro and he never sings without a huge amount of emotional content. For me, I am an emotional player. Any performance, whether it's an instrument or vocals, needs to have a lot of emotional content. Otherwise it's just notes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: What did you enjoy the most and least about your years touring with TSO?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Well, most - Playing. It's a lot of fun to be up there. Everybody is good friends and just amazing players. It's just so much fun to be playing together and creating something that is larger than any one individual. It becomes this larger-than-life thing. To feel that flow is an amazing feeling; it's incredible. And least - being away from family and the kids; that's always hard.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: After the act split into two touring groups, you spent the rest of your time with the East group. Did you ever want to or think about heading West?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: In the early times we talked about it, but then Al and Jane ended up being married, so there really was no way to float between after that. It would have been nice, but it's just the way things worked out.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I wanted to ask you about how the show has changed over the years. Some long-time fans and former performers alike have noted how the show today is a lot more scripted and choreographed than in it's earlier years. Can you comment on that?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Well, the stage direction evolved over the years; "<em>Who's gonna stand here?</em>" and things like that. We went from a theater show, where basically no matter where you are, you're lit, to an arena show, where if the lighting guys don't know where you're going to be, there's no way they can keep a light on you. It really necessitated thinking what the flow of the stage is. When we started adding pyro, lasers and the cues, you really had to start taking the production aspects more seriously. You had to be in the right spot, or you'll be playing in the dark.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">As the show grew, it necessitated more stage and placement direction. For instance, we would watch to make sure no one is blocking someone else and that everyone could be seen. And then we started adding staging in the back of the arena; the TSO shows are just a massive undertaking. There are about 130 people on the road, per tour. You'll have 26 performers on stage, but then you'll have 18 semis worth of equipment, a generator truck because a lot of buildings don't have enough power for all of the lights. You have nine tour buses. So that right there is 28 people just in drivers. And then you have your lighting crew, the laser crew, the pyro crew, the rigging crews, the backlines guys, the production manager, stage managers, tour managers; all of these people are out there. It's a huge team of people that it takes to put on one of those shows.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">So again, if you're doing something in the back, and the performer has to come to the front, you can't just go back there - there's people going up on lifts, there's safety issues; it's complicated. There's live fire on the stage - you do not want to become part of a barbecue. [Laughs] </span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">You have to know where you are, so just the evolution of the size of the stage and the massiveness of the show dictated a lot of that happening.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Of all the Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra records that you were involved with, which one do you personally hold in the highest regard?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: <em>Christmas Eve and Other Stories</em> was just a magic record. It flowed; it had a lot of heart and magic to it. The other ones all have that too, but that one just holds up really well. It just came together so well, it's really cohesive and just flows beautifully through the entire thing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Tell me about this amazing studio that we are sitting in.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: We're sitting in Spin Recording Studios. I'm a partner here; I have my own production room here and I do a lot of my recording here. I've always had a studio since high school, and obviously the size of it has grown. I do a lot of my writing here, and I also have a full studio in my home. When we opened this, it was my idea to have a lot of really talented people all on the same floor that can work on projects together. I bought the console so we could make it really first class and it competes with any studio in the city. This is one of the largest SSL consoles on the east coast.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You mentioned that you were still hands-on with TSO through the 2010 tour. What have you been working on since then? I know you are featured on a couple of Dave Eggar's albums.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I have worked a lot with Dina Fanai. Dina is an amazing vocalist and works with artist development and casting with TSO, and one of her best friends is Dave Eggar. Dave is an incredible cello player and is also a piano virtuoso. He is one of those truly gifted musical geniuses. He has his doctorate from Julliard. Dave does a lot of the stuff that they would have Yo Yo Ma do, and he also tours with Yo Yo Ma's band.</span> <br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: One of your songs, "Dream in 4D", is on Dave's <em>Left of Blue</em> album.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, Dave and I were just messing around and came up with that one. We recorded that at the old Spin Studios, which was in another building a little further from here, before we opened this one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: And you continued to work with Dave?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: We really started working together; we would get together and jam. We have done a project together called Cinema 12. It's Dave, Dina, myself, and Nik Chinboukas. Nik was a recording artist with a band called Collision and he is also one of our main engineers here. Dave and Dina and I would just get together and jam for hours, and then Dina and Nik would get together and start cutting things up, structuring the compositions and feels and vibes, and then they would call Dave or myself back in and we would play more parts. We came out with this record called <em>Cinema 12</em>. It kind of feels like film music but with a song structure so it's all very melodic, very hooky, but there's no lyrics - it's all made-up language. So big choir, big vocals, big and lush strings. We just did that over the last few years; we would work on it a little bit at a time, put it away and then come back to it. We finally finished it a couple months ago so we are putting that out there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: I have listened to the entire Cinema 12 album, and it is really amazing music; it sort of draws you in and keeps you there. I noticed that "August Moon" is on there, which was on Dave's <em>Kingston Morning</em> disc.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, and if you read the credits on Dave's record, you'll see "Cinema 12". It's one of the pieces we had been working on and it just fit on his album. That's Dave and Dina singing; Dave singing with a vocoder with Dina on top of that. It's really simple, but a gorgeous piece.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: It certainly is. Where did the band name come from?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Dina thought it up. The music is thematic; it's very visual music, very image provoking.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: When writing the songs for this album, did they start with the piano or start with the cello?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: A lot of it was just improvised as we would jam together and come up with ideas. There's a piece called "Rubixtsar" that started with an electronic percussion instrument called the Handsonic. My daughter Gretchen started playing with it one day and came up with this cool rhythm and we recorded that; then we added a bunch of hand-clapping stuff, we just had some fun with it. Dina then took it and started working with it. I did a lot of the writing, Dina and Nik produced it, I executive produced it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: And you still have the classical feel on here - one of the tracks is Bach's Prelude from his Cello Suite Number One.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, that's just a favorite piece that Dave plays his ass off on and Dina adds those great lyrical hook lines on top.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: It's on Soundcloud and the Cinema 12 website now. On which formats will the album be released?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: It will be on iTunes shortly and at some point a CD will be released. We have also been getting it out to the film people, so hopefully you'll be hearing some of this in film and TV.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: There are also videos for a couple of the songs.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Yeah, Manny Quintero created the two videos. He's done a lot of visual work with Dave and Dina. The goal is to have a video for each song. A lot of people tell us how inspirational our songs are visually, so Manny came up with those two concepts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Any plans to take this project to the stage and do a live show?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: It would be complex and take a lot of people to do it right, but it could be fun to do. We'll see.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You mentioned that you are submitting this music out to the film industry. Have you ever been approached to compose or perform music for films?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: A little bit. I'm actually going to actively seek more of that. Its fun getting back and doing orchestration and arranging for other stuff; it's inspirational. I just did a piece for the new Five for Fighting record. We just recorded it yesterday. We did full orchestra, everything live. He has a beautiful song called "Symphony Lane"; it's just him on piano and vocal and everything else is the orchestra.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Will we ever see a Bob Kinkel solo album?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I don't know. Maybe. I've got some stuff going on. Anything is possible right now. I'm in a good place right now. It's been good to have a breather and get back in my creative head and having the facilities here and having a full time engineer that I can have work on projects for me. We have so many musical people around here and working in this environment is so much fun for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: You have worn a lot of hats over the years. Are you most comfortable as a producer, engineer, composer or performer?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Producer/engineer falls really well but I love playing out. Now I just play out for fun; I'll go out and play with Dina sometimes and there's a few others that I'll play with sometimes. But I'm loving being in the studio again and being creative and focusing on that aspect.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: What can you share that most fans might not know already about Bob Kinkel?</span> <br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: I was a competitive swimmer for a long time. I love to go windsurfing. I used to do down to Sheepshead Bay. I would sail from Plum Beach across to Breezy Point. On windy days, I would get up in the morning and go windsurfing and then play sessions all afternoon. It was a good time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Got to ask the old standby question: What's on your iPod or in your CD player? What sort of music do you enjoy listening to?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: Really depends on mood. I have all my classic rock stuff, tons of classical stuff, film scores. There's so much great music in so many different genres. There isn't really one type or one artist that I listen to over and over again.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f1c232;">DR: Anything you would like to share as we wrap this up? Anything I may have missed?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">BK: You'll hear more things from me. Check in every once in a while. I'm working with some new artists and doing some other production work as well. You should be hearing some stuff in the next few months.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvP8W4p4QWcbBJO-YoX3LGu4amx_SRKNb0X-hLcs1TvYd5QECPEd3I739FHiEL1FOdFG8vdaHOqbV8t69nYIFVyhQlXQBtPFNehF9vLTcb51bG9OpTx7-yMvIPM7N-fp3iiN-L9XExEtpq/s1600/!cid_06D71A0F-A3A6-456A-A733-D13D5B1D67A1@hsd1_va_comcast_net.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvP8W4p4QWcbBJO-YoX3LGu4amx_SRKNb0X-hLcs1TvYd5QECPEd3I739FHiEL1FOdFG8vdaHOqbV8t69nYIFVyhQlXQBtPFNehF9vLTcb51bG9OpTx7-yMvIPM7N-fp3iiN-L9XExEtpq/s640/!cid_06D71A0F-A3A6-456A-A733-D13D5B1D67A1@hsd1_va_comcast_net.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Photo by Matthew Kleinrock</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: white;">For more information:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: white;">Cinema 12: </span><a href="http://cinema12music.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://cinema12music.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Cinema12music"><span style="color: white;">https://www.facebook.com/Cinema12music</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Dina Fanai: </span><a href="http://dinafanai.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://dinafanai.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Dave Eggar: </span><a href="http://www.domomusicgroup.com/daveeggar/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.domomusicgroup.com/daveeggar/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Spin Music Studios: </span><a href="http://www.spinrecordingstudios.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.spinrecordingstudios.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Savatage: </span><a href="http://www.savatage.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.savatage.com</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Trans-Siberian Orchestra: </span><a href="http://www.trans-siberian.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://www.trans-siberian.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">TSO Fan Site/Message Board: </span><a href="http://tsoboards.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://tsoboards.com/</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Rogue: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cr2o_Dsd4E"><span style="color: white;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cr2o_Dsd4E</span></a><br />
<span style="color: white;">Termini Band: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCB_rDPAslA"><span style="color: white;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCB_rDPAslA</span></a><br />
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<span class="st"></span><br />Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10039580419449389261noreply@blogger.com