Ed Dampier

When a rock guitarist does a solo album, it generally falls into one of three camps. First there are the shredders, those who want to try and get as many notes as is (in)humanly possible into every minute of music. Then there are the experimentalists, those who want to use their instrument of choice to try and create strange and exotic soundscapes, pushing the boundaries of guitar based music. In both of these cases, the term music can sometimes be only loosely applied. Luckily there is a third style of instrumental music, the style that focuses on melody, songs without words, tunes, that kind of thing, and this is where Ed Dampier comes in.

Although American, Ed is currently based in London and has been playing guitar since he was 15 years old. His debut album “Blues Deluxe” is a mix of rock, blues and the occasional touch of funk. It shows Ed to be accomplished as both a musician and a song writer. I asked Ed how it all began. 

“I started playing when I was around 15, 16 years old, and I can remember feeling at the time that I’d left it too late to start! I was inspired by hearing the music that was around at the time, mostly Britpop stuff. I knew virtually nothing about guitar so even quite simplistic players seemed impressive to me then. My Mom had a classical guitar, she used to play piano and sing, but she had never gotten around to learning the guitar, so I commandeered the classical until I got my first electric, an Epiphone Les Paul copy. As soon as I could afford one, I switched to a Fender, and these days I play a Strat almost exclusively.

”Ed’s album is a good mix of styles, you can hear a bit of Jeff beck in there, a bit of Satriani and in “When Two Worlds Collide” he’s managed to create that rarest of beasts, a listenable funk-rock song. I asked Ed how he would describe his music, and who his influences are. 

“I listen to Rock, Blues, Folk, Funk, some Indie and some Jazz – mostly fusion. When I was starting out I was heavily influenced by classic rock bands, Led Zeppelin being a prime example. I was also listening to bands that drew on that style, but although they were drawing on that style, it seemed a bit reductive, I found it entertaining but limited. I didn’t want to be there cranking out big Les Paul riffs and solos. I see the aim of my own music as being to create a self-contained world within each song, and to write structures that don’t have to conform to the usual verse/chorus layout. Some of the more complex pieces have the drama and dynamic you would associate more with classical forms.”

Now, being a non-guitarist I was curious to know why there was a difference between playing a Strat and playing a Les Paul. A lot of blues players use Strats, but Jimmy Page always had a Les Paul didn’t he? Ed was kind enough to explain. “Strats have single coil pickups – which sound ‘thinner’ but perhaps more biting; the Les Paul humbucker pickups are ‘fatter’ sounding with more sustain – so might naturally tend towards rock. But there are no hard and fast rules – Ritchie Blackmore used a Strat for all the Deep Purple stuff, and Clapton used a Les Paul and SG on all his early blues stuff. Page did gravitate towards the Les Paul, true, but the first album and some of the stuff on “Presence” was done with Fender guitars; whatever the guitar used it was really the quality of imagination in the parts that shines through. I used my Strat on everything on the album but “Snowfall in Spring” which was played on a Les Paul.”

I asked Ed if had had lessons when he was starting out. “I’m almost entirely self-taught, the exception being the opposite extreme – one year at The Guitar Institute in London. Each approach has its advantages, but I feel that teaching myself was crucial to developing uniqueness in my style and ideas. I didn’t just learn to replicate existing players.”  

The Guitar Institute sounds kind of intimidating, I asked Ed for more details “It’s a music college focusing in contemporary as opposed to Classical music, currently based in Kilburn but it was located near Turnham Green when I went there. It sounds flash but I don’t think the entry requirements are that demanding – I can remember early on one of the teachers tearing the cellophane wrapper off a student’s guitar midway through a performance! He’s obviously only just bought it. It was there that  I had to take on a greater level of discipline and also I became more aware of the extremes people can go to - if you look at say the knowledge of a jazz player, or the technique of a metal guitarist, it’s inspiring but intimidating at the same time!” 

I asked Ed how he felt about the shredder brigade. “I’ve never really been sold on shredding. I definitely pursue technique but only because I see it as a tool in composition – it enables you to try different things out. If your music comes across as just a demonstration of your prowess, then you’re in trouble. I’ll be impressed first time round, but it won’t stand up to repeat listening.” 

Although Ed cites several bands with singers as influences, his album is an all-instrumental affair. I asked Ed why he had decided to go down this road, and if it was a style he would be continuing with in the future. “It was actually the original intention to get in a vocalist, but although there were several suggestions, I could never see anyone who totally fitted in with the style I was doing. Also, a lot of the songs don’t have much ‘space’ for a conventional vocal; they would need someone who could totally think outside the box in their whole approach to it. I have considered singing myself, but my singing isn’t strong enough to sit alongside my guitar playing at present. I’m not ruling it out at some point though.” 

I wondered if Ed had any desire to follow in the footsteps of Joe Satriani and join a band, and Joe did with Chickenfoot. “I’ve tried forming bands before, but never felt I could reach the full potential of my playing and writing in that format. I’m happy to play as a sideman now in various bands, but I’ll always have the desire to do this music as a solo artist.”

Ed’s album, “Blues Deluxe” has been released online through Abstract Logic. I asked Ed if it had been a problem not having label support. “It’s hard not having label backing, it’s a bit of a Catch-22 situation really. Labels are looking to invest in a pre-existing fanbase but having the exposure a label can bring is the best way of getting your name out there I think. The album has done ok, I’ve had great feedback from people who have heard the record, but overall I haven’t got the level of exposure I’m content with yet.”

This is a shame as the album is one of the better examples on an instrumental guitar album I’ve heard lately. The opener, “Overture” has a bit of a Jeff Beck feel to it, catchy as hell, and with some excellent, complex playing on it. The other guys in the band also do a pretty good job. I asked Ed who else played on the album. 

“Yves Fernandez of the group ‘Jurojin’ plays Bass. Ed Carlile is on Drums, and the record was co-produced by myself with Andre Antonio, who also played the Keys parts. ““Overture” is definitely my favourite song. The central riff is a bit of a jam, a blues boogie albeit at an unsafe tempo; but the progression just opened out and I worked hard to take it somewhere special. The chorus sections are an attempt to arrange guitars as you would instruments in an orchestra. When I was first in London I was working at the Albert Hall and all these trumpet blasts and crescendos were going round in my head, I wanted to capture that kind of majesty. It’s a bit grandiose maybe but, you know, first song on your first album, you want to arrive in style! The end riff is a real mind-twister, and had the band out-foxed temporarily. I tried to write out charts but had no idea how to notate it. All credit to Ed (Carlile) he worked out the timing – 4/4, 7/8, 9/8! I don’t count it like that, I just see it as moving from the 4 to the 1 without a pause for the full beat.” 

I asked Ed if he had any other highlights from the album “A lot of the parts on these songs were pieced together from various other unfinished song ideas. It’s a miracle they cohere so well, I guess songs don’t always coalesce in a logical order. The bridge on “Archipelago” is the chord progression I’m most proud of; played on keys but written on the guitar using ‘stretch voicings’, basically chords formed with wide left hand finger stretches. The musicianship of the other guys is on another level here too.  If you listen, all the parts are very busy but nothing clashes, everything has space. “Sidewinder Blues” is another favourite. It was fun to do something in a major key for a change! I was worried at the time it was turning out too country, but that’s its charm. I even put in a couple of clichéd country licks in towards the end just for a laugh.”

And finally, are we going to get any new material soon? “I’m writing new material as we speak, but my own standards are quite exacting, and I don’t want to commit to recording till I know the tunes I have are as strong as I can make them. I’ll be demoing material over the summer.”

Ed Dampier is definitely a name to watch. If you like tasteful, skilful guitar playing then “Blues Deluxe” is an album you need to check out. You can hear more at www.myspace.com/eddampier 

MARTIN HOWELL

A Day With a Hack, An Evening With Anvil

As soon as UK tour dates in support of Anvil's new album, "Juggernaut of Justice" were announced, I behaved exactly like fanboy that I am and bugged our esteemed editor to let me be the Powerplay writer to cover them this time around. The saint that he is, or just to shut me up, the boss gave me the go-ahead to set it all up. Thus emails with PR people were exchanged and a time was arranged. By the time day itself rolled around, I was a writhing wreck of excitement. Just ask my girlfriend. The poor thing has to suffer this every time I interview someone I really admire. Thus, in tandem with the magazine feature, album review and live review, I'd like to offer you this look into the day itself, and how we do what we do.

I finalized a set of interview questions while grilling sausages and listening to the new album again that morning. Something I always do is to write more questions than I need, so that I have more to ask if other questions don't really go anywhere. Getting the right mix of questions covering the past, present and future is tricky, and you can never be sure how an interview is going to go, so you try to cover all the bases that you can, whilst also trying to make sure the interview won't take up half the magazine.

Before setting out for the domestic part of the day that's of little interest to you guys, I assembled my interview bag. This consists of a battered messenger bag containing notepad, pen, dictaphone, batteries, deodorant and the tour manager's contact details for the evening. My old housemate, Chris Dowson, would be my Plus One for the evening and would be taking some snaps to go with this piece you're currently reading, and was also kind enough to offer to record the interview digitally alongside my trusty old tape recorder. Sorted.

We arrived at Nottingham Rock City twenty minutes before the interview was due to start, and I called tour manager Dale Tomlinson to let him know I was around and ready when they were. Dale must be the most chilled and pleasant tour manager around, and his phone demeanour put me at ease. This was going to be a good one. The gig had been moved to the Rescue Rooms around the corner at the last minute, so we headed round there and discovered Lips and G5 sat relaxing with fans outside. Dale came and introduced himself and it was decided that Lips was the guy for the interview. Dale then had us all follow him deep into the maze-like corridors over the Rescue Rooms and towards the production office, where the interview would take place.

At one point Dale went on ahead to check if the room was free, leaving myself, Lips and Chris stood on a tiny dance floor that was being prepared for the club night later on, once the normals took over the place (The Rescue Rooms is a weird place- a really great live venue with the rather awkward addition of a Hipster/Chav bar on the side of it). A worryingly enthusiastic young lad was shifting tables away from the dance floor and loudly declaring "This will be a disco later!" at three people who really couldn't give a toss. Thankfully Dale came back and rescued us from the tiny dance floor and took us upstairs to the top floor of the building. As we ascended, Robb Reiner appeared behind us with his netbook, and as we settled into the production office chatted to us about the passing of Peter Falk, star of Columbo. He wandered off to check his emails and the interview began.

For twenty-two minutes, Lips answered questions and told stories, and his boundless love for what he does shone through with every word. Here is one hell of a passionate musician, as you'll discover when you read the interview in the pages of Powerplay Rock and Metal Magazine. As the interview came to an end, Lips posed for a couple of photos with me and we were done. As interview subjects go, he was friendly, interesting, eager to talk and thoroughly honest, just how we want it! 

After watching the Anvil movie so many times and taking in their back catalogue, it’s kinda surreal to sit down with Lips and chat. You end up feeling like you’re in a deleted scene from the film, albeit one that doesn’t involve a freezing camper van or a venue with four people in it. It’s a similar feeling whenever I get to interview anyone, be it in person or over the phone. You spend years listening to their creations and seeing them in videos, and suddenly for a little while they’re yours to investigate and learn from. It has always been, and continues to be, a humbling and invigorating experience as a music fan and a writer. I love it.

Interview over, Chris and I headed back downstairs, back over the stage Anvil would be tearing up later, and into the bar to mingle with the audience. This is something I love to do, as it means I get to meet our readers and talk about music, which as you know I'm rather fond of doing. The first face I see is that of Jack Sutton-Bassett, a young Anvil superfan that I know from Anvil's various pages (all run by the inimitable Sister D, who is becoming a star in her own right on those pages). I talk to Jack about the interview and he's stoked. Rob and G5 appear and chat with fans while I meet brothers Ian and Leigh, Powerplay readers from Bradford, who have a long history of seeing Anvil live and are just the sort of passionate music fans that we love having as readers. They bend our ear for a good while about all things Anvil, metal in general and how "Powerplay is about the only unbiased music magazine there is". Thank you gents - we aim to please! We’re lucky to have such dedicated readers- it makes an already fun endeavour even more satisfying.

As gig time rolled around we headed into the venue itself and took up a spot by the stage. Anvil came on and played their hearts out, as ever. Being the metalhead that I am and not some stuffy journo (well, not *that* stuffy), I was throwing the horns, singing along and sweating with everyone else, and had a blast. As the show drew to a close and the band came out to meet everyone personally (which is an amazingly admirable thing to do), Chris and I decided to take our leave as other fans deserved their time with the band, and I'd certainly had my fair share that day.

Arriving home, we replenished our liquids and I started writing the intro for the interview. I listened to my tape and Chris's digital files of the interview and started planning what to do in terms of making a coherent piece for the magazine. If I had included every word, the interview would have filled about four pages, and not everything said was relevant. However, what I had was the perfect souvenir of a wonderful evening, and a lot of work ahead of me that I couldn't wait to get stuck into.

Andrew Hawnt

BLACK ‘N BLUE

All of us will be fans of a band who we think should have been huge but for one reason or another never really made an impact. This is despite releasing records and putting on live shows that were far superior to the more successful bands of the time. Whether it was down to bad management, the record company or just plain bad luck they just never achieved the success they deserved.

One such band is US hard rockers Black ‘N Blue who were part of the first phase of the burgeoning LA Sunset Strip 1980’s metal scene that brought us Ratt, Motley Crue, W.A.S.P. and Poison. 

Black ‘N Blue were built around the song writing axis of vocalist Jamie St. James and lead guitarist Tommy Thayer. The five piece were completed by Jeff “Woop” Warner (guitar), Patrick Young (bass) and Pete Holmes (drums). 

The band originally hailed from Portland, Oregon but soon realised that if there were going to get noticed, they had to relocate south down the west coast to Los Angeles. In the early 80’s the Sunset Strip on Hollywood Boulevard was fast becoming a hotbed of new bands that as it turned out went on to influence and dominate the metal scene for the entire decade. Giving birth to what we now refer to as “Hair Metal”  

Soon after arriving in LA in 1983 and playing the usual Sunset Strip clubs such as Gazzari’s and The Whiskey they caught the eye of Geffen A&R supremo John Kalodner who immediately signed them on a four album deal. As it turns out Black ‘N Blue were one of the first bands from the LA scene to be signed by a major label. The only band who were ahead of them were Motley Crue who already had an independent album (Too Fast For Love) under their studded belts and had just released their major label debut Shout At The Devil on Elektra.

Herein lies the first the first piece of bad luck or poor judgement to beset the band. Black ‘N Blue didn’t release their first record until the later part of 1984 by which time Ratt had recorded and released “Out Of The Cellar” and scored a massive hit with the single “Round And Round”. Motley Crue were also well on the way to world domination following the success of the aforementioned Shout At The Devil.

Let’s not forget that New Yorker’s Twisted Sister also hit pay dirt with “Stay Hungry” in 1984 and a New Jersey band by the name of Bon Jovi released their debut album that year. Anyway more of these two bands later. 

The delay was down to the selection of the producer of their first album. The band were big fans of European rock band The Scorpions whose rise to platinum status had been driven by producer Dieter Dierks. It was therefore the German Dierks they wanted to produce their debut release. However they had to wait for Dierks to become available. He was already committed to the Scorpions on what would become their “Love At First Sting” album.

The band travelled to Germany in early 1984 to record at Dierks’ studio in Cologne. On the way they stopped off in London to play a couple of shows supporting Whitesnake at the famous Hammersmith Odeon. It would turn out to be the first and last time they set foot on UK or mainland European soil for that matter in the life of the band. 

So when their self titled debut album was eventually released in the latter half of 1984 the market was already crowded and the forces of supply and demand meant that it went largely un-noticed by the record buying public. This was a real shame because, in my opinion, it was (and still is!), one of the best releases that came out of the whole LA scene. That is a bold statement I know but in terms of song writing, musicianship and production it’s up there with the best of them. I have started listened to this album again recently and it still sounds as fresh and exciting as it ever was. A true test of a classic album.

Whilst Ratt went for the sass and swagger of Aerosmith and Motley Crue aimed at all out sleaze, the Black ‘N Blue sound was more rooted in classic ‘70’s hard rock with Kiss being one of their major influences. (Both St James and Thayer had been in Kiss tribute acts prior to forming the band) 

The band were often compared to Twisted Sister around this time – well it didn’t help that Jamie St. James looked like Dee Snider’s kid brother! This is not entirely unwarranted because some of the tracks such as “The Strong Will Rock”, “School Of Hard Knocks” and “Wicked Bitch” do have an anthemic Twisted Sister vibe about them. Dee Snider and the boys must have taken notice of the album as they engaged the services of Dierks to produce their follow up to “Stay Hungry”, which resulted in the rather patchy “Come Out And Play”.

The rest of the album is made up of rocking gems such as “Autoblast”, “I’m The King” and “Chains Around Heaven” as well as the hit single that never was “Hold On To 18”. How “Round And Round” was a hit for Ratt and “Hold On” wasn’t for B’NB is beyond me!

The album also contains a cover of The Sweet’s “Action”. If you like Def Leppard’s version - that appeared in the mid ‘90’s on their “Vault” compilation - then this one is better. Rumour has it that Black ‘N Blue were not really aware of The Sweet and covering the song was only suggested once they got to the studio. Whatever the story is they made the song their own and it made a blistering opening track to side two of the record.     

Some fans at the time thought the album was a bit too polished and didn’t reflect their grittier, harder edged demos. These demos were eventually given an official release in 2001 as “Anthology: The Demos Remastered Vol 1”. I don’t tend to agree with this point of view.  I think that Dierks captured the essence and vibe of the songs perfectly in a crystal clear, crisp production that is both heavy and commercially accessible.   

With their debut release in the shops, Black ‘N Blue headed out on the road picking up a prime support slot on the recently reformed Aerosmith’s Back In the Saddle tour of the States mixed in with their own headlining club dates. 

One of these club shows was recorded for a local radio station and some 20 years later was commercially released as “Black ‘N Blue Live In Detroit 1984”. This together with a pro shot DVD recorded in Japan later that year – again posthumously released – show a band that could really cut it live. The band showcased some new songs in the Japan set but only one, “Rock & Roll Animal”, would eventually make it - albeit reworked into “Rockin’ On Heaven’s Door” - onto their next album.

Following the poor sales of their debut release, the band dusted themselves down and started writing material for their second album. This time Geffen dispatched them to Vancouver in Canada to work with a new hot production team of Bruce Fairbairn (producer) and Bob Rock (engineer). At the time Fairbairn and Rock were relatively unknown outside their native Canada but were beginning to earn a bit of a reputation through their work with Canadian bands such as Prism and Loverboy. They had also just worked on Swiss rockers Krokus’ 1984 release “The Blitz” that had sold reasonably well Stateside.

This collaboration would result in another damn fine album called “Without Love”.  It had more of a commercial sheen than the first album as both the band and Geffen made an all out assault on prime time rock radio. This is particularly evident on the first side of the record where Fairbairn weaved keyboards into their sound to create powerful radio friendly anthems such as “Without Love”, “Stop The Lightning” and “Nature Of The Beach” as well as the power ballad “Miss Mystery”. The later was the only single lifted from the album. It’s not one of my favourite BNB tunes and I can see why it didn’t fair very well in the singles charts. I for one think that either “Without Love” or “Nature Of The Beach” would have been much better choices for singles. So Kalodner’s knack for picking the right single certainly deserted him on this occasion.  

The second side is much heavier, featuring the rampant “Swing Time” and a thudding “Bombastic Plastic”. The trippy “Strange Things” and the blues influenced  “Two Wrongs Don’t Make It Love” close out the album and happen to be two of my all time favourite BNB tracks.

As with their debut, “Without Love” fell on deaf ears on its release in 1985. Even a prime time support slot on Kiss’ “Asylum” tour that year didn’t manage to find a mainstream audience for the band. 

One person who did listen to the album was none other than Jon Bon Jovi. His band were preparing for their make or break third album, following the lukewarm reception to their second release “7800° Fahrenheit”.  Bon Jovi liked the sound of “Without Love” and therefore decided to engage the services of producer Fairbairn and engineer Rock to produce their next record. As we all know, this resulted in the multi platinum selling “Slippery When Wet” which sent the careers of Bon Jovi, Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock into the stratosphere. 

During the Kiss tour Jamie St James and Tommy Thayer approached Gene Simmons to produce their third album thinking that at least he knew what the band sounded like live. Simmons agreed.  Now when Gene Simmons gets involved, he really gets involved, to the extent that he also contributes to the song writing process. On the positive side, he brings experience to the table but all too often the songs become “Simmonsized”. You only need to hear songs from not only Black ‘N Blue but Keel and Wendy O Williams to know that Simmons has exerted his considerable influence during his production work for these artists in the ‘80’s. Let’s face it the ‘80’s weren’t the best for Simmons and to put it bluntly (and this comes from a huge Kiss fan) his song writing in that decade largely sucked!

That said the resultant album “Nasty Nasty”, released in 1986, achieved what the band wanted with a stripped down altogether heavier sound that seriously rocks! However their record company would again screw things up. Instead of sticking with the heavier sound of the album, they insisted on including a song penned and produced by Journey’s Jonathan Cain. “I’ll Be There For You” - a keyboard drenched almost AOR song - was originally recorded for inclusion in the Iron Eagle III soundtrack. It didn’t make the final cut so Geffen not only insisted that it be included on “Nasty Nasty” but that it be released as a single. Net result: Both the album and single bombed. “Nasty Nasty” was by no means a classic but it deserved better. And that really was the last throw of the dice for the band.

Give Geffen their due though they stuck by the four album deal. Simmons was retained as producer for their final album for the label “In Heat” which was released with albeit with little promotional push in 1988. This is the weakest album in the BNB cannon. It does have some decent songs on it such as “Heat It Up Burn It Out” and “Suspicious” and but to me it has something of a contractual obligation feel to it.

The band fell apart soon after. Tommy Thayer would go on to join the Kiss Organisation acting as tour manager on their reunion tour in the mid nineties before replacing Ace Frehley as the Spaceman in 2003. Jamie St James went on to front his own band before joining fellow hair metallers Warrant. He features on their 2006 release “Born Again”. Drummer Pete Holmes joined LA rockers Malice and features on their Crazy In the Night EP.

The band would reunite for a one off show on Halloween in their home town of Portland in 1997, which is captured on their “One Night Only - Live” album. In what is very much a best of set, they showed that the chemistry was still there as they proceeded to blow the roof off the place. Every time I listen to this album it re-enforces my opinion that with a bit more luck on their side this band would have been huge.

The band have reformed again over recent years - sans Thayer of course, his place having been taken by Shawn Sonnenschein  - and have featured on the bill at the US Rocklahoma festival a couple of times. There have been rumours of a new album called “Hell Yeah” for years and I’m delighted to hear that premier hard rock label Frontiers are finally set to release it in May of this year.  The new album will feature their first recorded output for nearly 25 years and I for one can’t wait to check it out. I hope you will do likewise because these guys really deserve another crack at the big time.

Recommended Listening 

If this has whetted your appetite for checking out the music of Black ‘N Blue, then I’d suggest you start with their first two albums “Black ‘N Blue” and “Without Love”. Both were re-mastered and re-issued by Majestic Rock Records in the UK in 2003. You could go the whole hog and purchase the “Collected” box set. Although it was a limited edition release, again by Majestic Rock, it’s still available on line at a decent price and contains the four original studio albums along with a DVD of a live show from Japan shot in 1984. There’s also an “Ultimate Collection” compilation that cherry picks most of their best tracks and “One Night Only - Live” is a great live document from this criminally underrated band.

 Alister Strachan

                    If you ever prodded a black-gloved finger into the murky world of the UK goth scene during the mid-nineties, chances are you’ll already know the name 13 Candles. Their sinister music and vampiric aesthetic was an acknowledged influence on a fledging Cradle Of Filth, while their albums on Nightbreed and later Cacophonous, saw the band establish themselves as one of the UK’s most popular acts for the dark of heart.

                    Having formed in 1992, they released their debut “Come Out Of The Dark” in 1995 and followed it with sophomore effort “Angels Of Mourning Silence” in 1997, the second effort adding a more metallic edge to their traditional goth sound. The band gigged extensively in support of both albums and became a regular highlight at UK goth events, surviving the departure of original vocalist Louis Holloway after the “Angels...” album. As the nineties drew to a close, 13 Candles recruited a new vocalist in Dan Finch and, for the first time in their existence, a live drummer in Paul Mackey, both of whom joined Candles stalwarts Justin Dracul (Bass) and Marc Hoyland (Guitar) in recording the EP “Killing For Culture” under the guidance of Cradle Of Filth / Bal-Sagoth / My Dying Bride producer Mags. With a string of successful shows, everything looked rosy at the turn of the century, before it all went eerily quiet.

                    The band is now back and gearing up for some live appearances throughout 2011, but let’s just back track a moment and figure out what the hell happened to the missing decade. Dan summarises what led to the prolonged bout of inactivity

                    “We got to a point where we were kind of stuck”, he reflects. “We had lost our deal with Cacophonous, a few labels showed some real interest but there was this weird thing going on at the time within the music scene. We had no management, nothing. I watched some videos of our some of our last gigs recently and it was amazing to see just how on top of our game we were near the end. But I guess we were all just fed up. So we called it a day. Plus the guys wanted to do something away from 13 Candles. We were all into heavy music, and I think we knew we couldn’t turn 13 Candles into a black metal band or whatever.”

                    “We all got disillusioned with everything”, Justin adds. “We had shit with labels and managers, and then there was so much back stabbing and bitching in the scene that we had enough, Marc was doing his black metal band, Dan was doing stuff. Pauly had left the band, I was doing a project as well and there was other personal stuff going off and we just drifted.”

                    So, no acrimonious bust-up or dramatic split, it seems that 13 Candles simply ceased to function for ten years. It’s a long time, but it’s clear that the band members have been far from idle. Marc has been in Norway indulging his love of black metal; Dan has kept busy by recording and gigging with a number of bands including The Thinking Principle and Twisted Autumn Darkness, while Justin has been occupied with his Egyptian-themed ‘tomb metal’ project Fields Of Iaru, which already has an EP out in the UK and an album scheduled for release in the States.

                    Dan describes the period immediately after 13 Candles apparent retirement as being ‘like waking up with a hangover with the house smashed up and way too many empty bottles everywhere’, but in much the same way a bacon sarrnie and strong coffee cures a hangover, time has healed any scars and it seems the idea of 13 Candles getting back on the road has never been far from anyone’s mind.

                    “We had been talking about doing it since we broke up back in 2000”, says Dan. “I remember hearing Marc and Lou did a gig of Candles stuff back in 2005 I think I was, and I remember being pretty mad that I wasn’t asked, but I waited for the phone to ring and it never did. Then Marc, Lou and Justin did a gig in 2009 and again the phone didn’t ring, but I wasn’t so pissed off then, I was happy living with my girlfriend in Colchester. Then last year I got in touch with Paul (Mackey - drums) and we started talking again. We joked about doing some Candles stuff again, and next thing you know I’m talking with Justin and Marc and they’re like “yeah let’s do it” you know.”

                    Justin takes up the story and it seems there is a certain symmetry to the band getting back together some fifteen years after releasing their debut, with the catalyst for the reunion having also been influential in the early days.

                    “It wasn't till Trev (Bamford – top man at goth label Nightbreed Recordings) asked us to play the Nightbreed all-dayer that we finally got our collective asses together to do a gig”, Justin explains. “It was like we had never been apart. The magic was there and I loved every minute on that stage with my two brothers. You realise how much you miss your band mates and to be onstage with Louis and Marc again was an honour. We planned to do more gigs but it was difficult with Marc being in Norway but when Dan got in touch saying he had a lot of interest in us touring again we came up with combining the two line ups to do a tour.”

                    Whoa, the two line-ups? This might take a minute so pour yourself a large one and we’ll keep it simple. The line-up for the 2011 gigs is going to feature the core founding members of Justin and Marc, who will be joined by original vocalist Louis. This trio will be supplemented by the “Killing For Culture” era drummer Paul Mackey, which leaves Dan – the replacement vocalist for Louis after the “Angels...” album – to complete the personnel as a second guitarist. There will also be a live keyboardist augmenting the sound. Confused? You should try writing this stuff.

                    Assuming everyone remembers who does what in the revised line-up, the band is understandably excited about the forthcoming live dates and fans of the band – old and new – look to be in for a treat.

“I think these will be the best shows in the band’s history”, Dan states optimistically. “We are all better musicians and performers than we were ten years ago. I think it’s gonna sound huge live. I think there is a certain amount of bitching going on again with our return, people are kind of like ‘oh here they come, the sad old goths’ but I think they will change their opinion of us once we leave the stage.”

That sounds like fighting talk and it’s a sentiment shared by Justin when asked what fans can expect from the gigs, even if he does put a slightly more self-deprecating spin on it.

“Full energy, powerful, atmospheric, all out 13 Candles onslaught. We are better and tighter as a band than we have ever been. We can now actually play well.”

A little light self-mockery aside, anyone who ever caught any incarnation of 13 Candles live on a really good night will know they always could play. Their problem was not the musicianship or the songs; it was having to deal with the difficulties of labels and management, and of being an ostensibly goth band at a time when goth was rapidly splintering into industrial, darkwave, EBM and a dozen other sub-genres. The heavy guitars employed by 13 Candles throughout their career alienated them from many traditional goths, while an equal number of metalheads couldn’t see beyond the goth aesthetic. The last decade has seen goth and metal become the natural bedfellows they always should have been which bodes well for the band. Not that they seem unduly concerned, mind.

“We have never fitted in. We will do what we want to do and how we feel it should be. We are the type of people who are leaders not followers”, Justin concludes. “13 Candles has always appealed to a wide range of fans so why box ourselves in to one scene. We still love goth and our roots are goth but all we offer is 13 Candles, plain and simple.”

And with that, all that remains is to point you towards www.myspace.com/13candlesuk to find out where you can catch the band over the next few months. If you ask nicely, Justin might even tell you the story about Dan and a field full of sheep while the band was gigging in Yorkshire. It’s not what your depraved mind is thinking, but it is equally as funny.

MARCUS JERVIS

Tell us about how the band got together...

Aeon of Horus was started in mid-2006 by our drummer, Ben Hocking. The driving force behind the band's formation was a desiretochallenge ourselves as musicians, both creatively and technically. We had each played in a number of bands prior to Aeon of Horus but were generally frustrated by the lack of focus and professionalism in these projects. Essentially, we all sought an environment in which there was a commitment to open-mindedness, creativity and technical ability.

By 2007, we had consolidated our line-up and entered the studio to record our self-titled EP. This was released later that year, accompanied by a long string of regional Australian shows. Less than a year later we recorded and released our debut album, "The Embodiment of Darkness and Light". We continued to play shows throughout late-2008 and the first half of 2009.

The band experienced a series of line-up changes in late-2009 and early-2010, after which we arrived at our current members. The New Aeon was born, this time, with an uncompromising unity in vision.

It is fair to say that the UK has been resting on its laurels and relying on past glories for too long. This Fair Isle may be lauded by many as the birthplace of prog or at the very least one of the galloping frontrunners thanks to bands like Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis but, in recent years, the output has diminished significantly. And when it comes to progressive metal, the situation is even worse with Threshold arguably the only established progressive metal band in the purest sense of the term. There is however, a new beacon of light for the UK in the form of London-based sextet Haken. And, based on the evidence of their 2010 debut album “Aquarius”, this beacon has the potential to illuminate long and hard across the progressive metal scene both in the UK and further afield. What better time then to chat with the band to find out more than after an impressive head-turning performance at ProgPower Europe?

Rising Korean Extreme Metal with a British Flavour - Ross Baker

Hailing from Busan, South Korea and featuring a Canadian on drums and a British-born vocalist of Polish and Jamaican descent, Fatalfear’s slamming melodic death metal has a truly international flavour. It’s one thing to come up as an underground act who were fortunate enough to land that big gig supporting a metal sensation but it is quite another to have achieved such a milestone in a country where the metal scene is virtually unknown other than to the artists which operate within it.

“Music T.V. doesn’t feature much metal”, vocalist Ed explains, “usually just on special programmes. Most metalheads in Korea download the music they want to hear!” Having supported luminaries such as Arch Enemy in Korea, they have a growing fanbase and are hungry to make their mark on the international music scene. Singer Ed Campbell comments on the fertile underground scene in South Korea.