Category Archives: Unsung Heroes

A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Six Degrees Of Separation – Marc Ferrari, Oni Logan and Rowan Robertson

Did you know that Marc Ferrari featured on Pantera’s “Power Metal” album that came out in 1988?

“Proud To Be Loud” was written by Marc Ferrari  and it was originally intended for Keel’s 1987 self-titled album. The song didn’t get used, however the Pantera guys heard the song back in 1985 when Keel was in town for a live performance and wanted to record it. Ferrari then went to Texas to produce the vocal on that track and he ended up playing rhythm guitar on the song and also lead guitar on another song called “We’ll Meet Again”.

Marc Ferrari then left Keel in February 1988, after the touring cycle ended for the self-titled album. After the tour, the band were about to change labels from MCA to Atlantic Records. With anything that is record company related, the band started getting pressure from the label to get that hit single like Bon Jovi. Ron Keel’s vision for the band was much different from Marc Ferrari’s vision and when a keyboard player was brought in, Marc Ferrari stepped out.

Then Ferrari discovered Oni Logan who at the time was working in Florida. Logan moved out to California to do some demos and showcases. The band was originally called Ferrari, then Crying Shame until they were told that they couldn’t use the name. Since they had a cool logo with the C and S intersecting, they tried to keep within the C and S theme and Cold Sweat came out of that.

Enter George Lynch.

Being a higher profile guitarist than Marc Ferrari, Logan was made an offer he couldn’t refuse and left Cold Sweat on the day they either entered the studio to record their debut album / or were meant to sign their major label contract (there are differing stories). Logan for his departure more or less slowed down the Cold Sweat project, nevertheless, he went off to create the excellent “Wicked Sensation” album with Lynch Mob that came out in 1990 on Elektra. The funny thing is that Cold Sweat’s debut “Break Out” which came out on MCA Records also came out the same year. However, the Lynch Mob album did far better than the Cold Sweat album.

Marc Ferrari then started working on another project called Medicine Wheel who recorded three records and had a decent following in Japan. The records were issued on a number of small independent labels in Germany and Japan. All of this happened between the years of 1992 and 1999.

Logan on the other hand was out of a job by 1991.

Enter Wendy Dio who suggested that Logan work with Dio guitarist Rowan Robertson. The “Lock Up The Wolves” era of Dio was put on hold while Ronnie James Dio reconnected with Tony Iommi for the “Dehumanizer” album that came out in 1992. The writing sessions between Logan and Robertson spawned the band Violets Demise.

Violets Demise managed to get a major record deal with Atlantic, however by the mid-nineties, the label money makers considered hard rock music not a commercially viable product, so the album that Violets Demise recorded with Alice In Chains producer Dave Jerden never saw the light of day officially, until 2002, when it was released as Logan/Robertson Revisited on Oni Logan’s website.

After disbanding Cold Sweat and while working with Medicine Wheel, Marc Ferrari started to get some of his songs placed in films and on TV, so he developed a business called MasterSource which is a music catalogue company that licenses its music primarily in films and on TV shows. And that gig along with the work that he does for Universal is still Ferrari’s main thing. Rather than waiting for things to happen Ferrari made things happen for himself.

So by the mid-nineties, while Logan took the big offer money deal from the Lynch camp to jump ship, it was actually Marc Ferrari that had a stable source of income and in general was better off. Just goes to show that the instant payola might be gratifying when it happens however in the long-term not so much.

Then by 1998, Logan was back with Lynch Mob and recording a demo (that ended up being released as the Syzygy EP on Lynch’s website) for the sole purpose of shopping to record labels to listen to and decide whether or not they wanted to sign the band. Meanwhile, Marc Ferrari also got back together with Ron Keel to finish and complete some of the unfinished tracks the band had lying around in the vault for the “Back In Action” album however his main gig was and is the MasterSource business. While Logan was involved in an EP to obtain a deal, Ferrari was involved in a full album release on an independent Canadian label.

Meanwhile Rowan Robertson fell into a slump after the demise of Violet Demise. However by 1998, he got an audition for a band called VAST. If you haven’t heard the excellent song “Touched” from the also excellent “Visual Audio Sensory Theater” that came in 1998, then you need to give it a listen.  The best way to explain VAST is Enigma meets Metallica meets The Beatles. Even though VAST was seen as Jon Crosby’s project, it was also seen as Robertson’s entry back into the music industry.

Comparing all three, by 1998, Marc Ferrari was way better off. He didn’t have the high-profile gig as Dio’s lead guitarist, nor was he as high-profile as George Lynch however what he did do was create for himself a position in the music business. He created opportunities when they didn’t exist and he diversified, focusing on licensing opportunities and music for television, films and games.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Unsung Heroes

The Art Of Copying, Tweaking and Creating

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.”

“Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.”

“To copy others is necessary, but to copy oneself is pathetic.”

One person said all of the above and that person was Pablo Picasso who is seen as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century and who is also known as a co-founder of the Cubist movement. His comments about success leading to copying oneself is spot on. Bon Jovi re-wrote “Slippery When Wet” and called it “New Jersey”. Jovi and Sambora re-wrote “Living On A Prayer” and called it “Born To Be My Baby”, “Keep The Faith”, “It’s My Life”, “Bounce”, “We Aren’t Born To Follow” and so on.

Stryper re-wrote the “To Hell With The Devil” album and called it “In God We Trust”.

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to”.

Film director Jim Jarmusch said the above and he is seen as one of the most ORIGINAL storytellers in the world of cinema.

Metallica took the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal to new heights.

All of the above sort of led me to Black Sabbath.

“Take a tune, sing high when they sing low, sing fast when they sing slow, and you’ve got a new tune.”

The above advice came from the experienced Woody Guthrie to a young Bob Dylan. And that is exactly what Black Sabbath did. They took the blues, distorted it even more, played it faster and sang it darker.

Now some might dispute this way of songwriting where an artist uses the structural template of older songs to create newer songs. And the funny thing is this, music progressed and developed through the ages because of this. The whole British blues rock invasion of the world happened because those artists copied, tweaked and reinvented blues classics. Prior to the recording industry, music mainly spread from performer to performer without any issue of copyright or licenses.

Music’s history is very much like any other form of creativity – influences and ideas are taken, reshaped and reinvented. All of that originality is simply reinterpretation.

But then came the Corporation and Copyright was remade so that others could get unearned income from someone else’s creations. In other words, enter the RECORD LABEL and the PUBLISHERS.

The lawmakers at the time were quite worried that extending copyright to sound recordings would stifle creativity and it could create monopolies, harm consumers, throttle innovation and competition. It is there to protect the profits of the record labels and the publishers, not the artists. Mitch Bainwol and Cary Sherman got paid in millions each year due to their involvement with the RIAA.

This is what Copyright has created. People getting paid so much more than the actual artists who created the works. Copyright law originally lasted for 14 years from production. In most parts of the world, Copyright is now life plus 70 years.

Jimi Hendrix has been dead for 44 hears and it looks like his music will not enter the public domain in my lifetime for others to build on and re-invent.

The rise of digital music, both pirated and legal, has led to a steep decline in revenues for artists yet there has been no decline in the amount of music being written and recorded. More people are making music now than in the pre-Napster era and that is all happening with piracy and copyright infringement being rampant.

Copyright needs a re-think and a re-write so that it benefits the artists again.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

We Don’t Live In A Happy World

One of the reasons why I got into bands like Metallica, Machine Head, Evergrey, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Twisted Sister and Queensryche (and there are many more bands) is because their lyrics reflect/reflected what was going on in the wider world at that time.

You see we are not living in a Pharell Williams’ “Happy” world.

We are living in a world that is besieged by economic problems. We are living in a world that has democratic governments undertaking surveillance on their citizens like the totalitarian regimes that our grandfathers died fighting against. We are living in a world where the majority of politicians are on the payroll of the corporations. We are living in a world that has a digital divide to go along with a class divide. We are living in a world where privacy is eroded a little bit at a time.

Some of my favourite artists had songs that just spoke to me.

They questioned the system and pointed the finger at the wrongdoers. When our governments lost their way, our heroes always told us so. When society went to hell, our heroes told us so. When epidemics happened, our heroes told us so.

We believed that music could change our lives, if not the world.

“What do you mean I don’t support your system, why do you think I’m broke”.

Dave Mustaine wrote that back in the mid-Eighties. Fast forward almost thirty years, and we are still broke supporting the system. The rich and the powerful caused a global recession and guess what, they got bailed out by the governments while we lost our jobs and homes.

Inequality exists in music as it does in economics. You’re either a winner or a loser and if you cross over, you become a global phenomenon. Think Metallica. There crossover was the “Black” album. That is their victory lap album.

“But now the holy dollar rules everybody’s lives, gotta make a million, doesn’t matter who dies.”

The above line is from “Revolution Calling” from Queensryche. Spotify cares about Spotify and they want to make millions. Taylor Swift cares about Taylor Swift and she wants to make millions.

Remember all of the suicides post GFC, especially in the Asian countries.

“Words are the bullets to this revolution”

Robb Flynn spits out the line in “Clenching the Fists of Dissent”.

We live in an information age. Everything is at our fingertips so we should put those tools to use to do our own investigations because our media reporting outlets are all owned by large corporations. They report news items that will push their agenda. They report news items that have been paid for by a marketing PR firm. Impartiality is over.

However, there are people out there that look at events and issues critically. WordPress gives us a tool to voice these opinions.

Yes they’re making lists of people interested in this
And anyone who speaks their mind is labelled anarchist

Barcodes and fingerprints, obedience identikit
It’s time to read the warning signs

COG’s “Are You Listening” released in 2009.

The tragedy of 9/11 brought about a new reality. The erosion of our rights and the erosion of our privacy. Suddenly, the Governments of democracy started to spy on its citizens much like regimes our grandfathers went to war against.

England has cameras on every street corner. This need of protection and surveillance arose due to the IRA terrorist bombings. And they still got bombed in the subways.

The NSA spies on all Americans and their answer is “IT’S OKAY, WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS.”

This was once the land of dreams
Now these dreams have turned to greed
In the midst of all this wealth
The poor are left to help themselves

A capitalist’s democracy
Why no one said that freedom’s free
Lady liberty rots away
No truth, no justice, the American way

Sacred Reich and “The American Way” released in 1990.

The problems of today existed before. However, the it is the people of today that had to bail out the rich. If the POOR or the WORKING CLASS did something fraudulent and corrupt, they would be doing time in a cell. When the RICH do something fraudulent and corrupt they end up screaming to the Government for a bail out and escape without punishment.

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” was the catch cry once upon a time. In time it will be the catch cry of a new generation.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The B-Sides For Engaging With Fans

Remember how cool it was to discover new bands or songs from the B-sides of singles.

Like when I purchased the “Creeping Death” single and I first heard “Am I Evil” from Diamond Head and “Blitzkrieg” from Blitzkrieg. Or picking up the Whitesnake singles to “Here I Go Again” (and hearing “Guilty Of Love), “Give Me All Your Love” (and hearing “Fool For Your Loving and Don’t Break My Heart Again”), “Is This Love” (and hearing “Bad Boys” and “Standing in the Shadow”) and “Still Of The Night” (and hearing “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again”).

Europe also promoted their back catalog with the release of “The Final Countdown” single. On the B-side there was the excellent “On Broken Wings”. Def Leppard also went into the archives when they put non album tracks “Ride Into The Sun” and “I Wanna Be Your Hero” as the b-sides to “Hysteria” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me” respectively.

Throughout music history, the b-side has often thrown up an extra, unexpected treat. And with technology advancing, the vinyl b-side is a thing of the past, and when CD singles started coming out, the B-side was relegated to a four song EP while the MP3 introduced the era of cherry-picking and the b-side was dead forever.

One of my favourite rock acts from Australia “Candy Harlots” had real good single releases. I still have the original 7 inch single of the Leeno Dee penned “Danger” that was with Ron Barrett (RIP), Mark Easton, Leeno Dee, Tony Cardinal and Marc DeHagar. On the B-side was the Ron Barrett penned “Wrap 2 Arms”.

Then a few years later came the “Danger” CD Single. However this time the B-side was another Ron Barrett penned song called “Hot Love Child”.

The intention of the single was for artists to double up with releasing two great songs at a time.

“The Beatles” single releases came to be known as the “Double A-sides”. In the Seventies, the second cut was even seen to overtake its a-side: “Beth” from Kiss comes to mind. It was their biggest hit and it was a b-side to “Detroit Rock City”. By the Eighties, the B-side started to become a method for releasing versions of songs that were not officially released. Some bands used demos of unreleased songs, while others used live recordings of released songs or demos of released songs. Other bands used the B-side as a way to record cover songs.

Bon Jovi took the “unreleased demos of songs plus liver versions of released songs” route initially with each single, while Metallica took the “demos of released songs plus cover songs route”. Both formats worked and fostered a connection with fans that ended up with both bands releasing  albums that celebrated their own paradigm.

Bon Jovi came out with the boxed set” 100,000,000 Fans Cant Be Wrong” which focused on the unreleased songs. They did it again with the 2014 re-issue of “New Jersey”.

Metallica brought out “Garage Inc” which further built of the culture that both bands created.

Motley Crue tried to get in on the act with their “Supersonic And Demonic Relics” release.

Just recently Machine Head did a similar concept with “Killers and Kings” and their cover of Ignite’s “Our Darkest Days”/Bleeding”. It was a creative release that had four different covers based on Tarot Cards. As a fan, I purchased all four of the covers and they are still wrapped in plastic.

Coheed and Cambria released all the demos plus a few unreleased songs as part of the Super Deluxe release for “The Afterman” releases.  We, (the fans) lapped it all up.

Those albums that I purchased, I played them over and over (especially the demo/unreleased songs). However, all that time and devotion from all the fans was not counted by any metric so the artist had no idea the engagement the fans had with those releases.

All that mattered was the flawed business model of the initial purchase.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Unsung Heroes

Piracy, Lost Sales and Profits

I am sure that everyone has come across the “Minecraft” game in some form or way. My exposure to this game was when my kids asked me last year if they are allowed to download the free version of the game, which I agreed. After playing it for months and unable to save their progress, they kept on asking me to download the full version, which cost $6.99AU.

I said NO.

They kept on playing the game and as they did new features kept on getting added to the game that made it better. However they still couldn’t save their progress and they kept on asking me to allow them to download the full version.

Eventually after a stellar week of good behaviour I couldn’t say NO to them and they got the full version at the beginning of the year.

For the uninitiated, Minecraft is one of the biggest games in the world right now. It debuted on Mac and Windows PC in May 2009. By February, 2014, it had sold 15 million copies of the PC version. Also in the same month, Mojang (the makers of Minecraft) had sold more than 21 million copies of Minecraft: Pocket Edition on Android and iOS; more than 12 million copies of the Xbox 360 Edition; and more than 1.5 million copies of the PlayStation 3 Edition — making for a sum very close to the 50 million mark. They have over 100 million registered users.

Just imagine if a streaming service had those numbers. However, the argument would still be the same. Artists are not getting paid. We all know why this is so. Talk to your record label.

And they did all of this with piracy being rampant on the game. However, Minecraft’s developer Notch (Markus Persson) has been on record in saying that worrying about piracy was a waste of time, and it was much more important to focus on giving people a reason to buy.

“Piracy is not theft. If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world. If you just make your game and keep adding to it, the people who copyright infringed would buy it the next week.”

Persson adds features to the game based on conversations he has on Twitter with random people and he fixes bugs based on the Minecraft community voting on the priorities. He is engaging with the users and a majority of those users are people who said that they copied the game initially, but then bought a copy for both themselves and a friend. Or they are people who didn’t ever buy a copy, but had friends who learned about it through them who then went on to buy copies.

There is a clear indicator here for any artist.

Make sure that everyone has access to your music.

I remember a time when I went to Utopia Records and I purchased four CD’s. They were “Subhuman Race” from Skid Row, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” from Slash’s Snakepit, “Balance” from Van Halen and “Waiting For The Punchline” from Extreme. I hand over my cash and a sale goes onto their chart record.

The fact that “Subhuman Race” and “Waiting For The Punchline” gathered dust on the shelves, while I played the hell out of “Balance” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” didn’t even come into the equation. All of those bands got a “SALE” or a “COUNT” from me. The fact that two albums connected with me more than the other didn’t even come into the equation. Probably the reason why SLASH is still such a force to be reckoned with in the music business, while Skid Row and Extreme, not so much.

That is why a lot of the Eighties bands couldn’t understand or get a handle on their decline in popularity. Everything under the sun got blamed, however the real reason was ignored.

WHAT DOES A SALE OF A PIECE OF PLASTIC/VINYL REALLY MEAN?

Everyone saw a sale as a fan number, a unit to add up, however the fact that the real fans listened to the music non stop and due to playing it to death they had to re-purchase the album.

In my music collection, anyone will see that for bands like Motley Crue, Dokken, Megadeth, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Stryper, Ratt and many more, that I would have an LP, plus a CD, plus for a select few, remastered releases and remastered releases with bonus tracks. That means that I have re-purchased the bands whole catalogue over 4 times. And I am sure I am not alone in that.

In other words, a sale of an album never reflected what we (the fans of music) did with the albums after we purchased them. The second-hand music market thrived for a reason as music consumers got rid of those albums that gathered dust. However, was this stat shown.

But what about all the tons of money, lawsuits, lobbying, education campaigns, advertising, threats, news reports and the like from the recording industry, all telling people who unauthorized downloading was unquestionably morally wrong and that each download is a lost sale.

The developers of Minecraft (who struck even bigger when they got acquired by Microsoft in 2014) showed that you can compete with free and that you can get people to commit if you focus on the art. Making money was always a byproduct and in the end they made a bunch of it.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Unsung Heroes

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Look at any band that is successful and you will see a band member with an entrepreneurial spirit. There is always that person in the band that just has that extra drive. They would go ahead and start their own label as a way to get their music out there.

Some do it out of necessity.

Twisted Sister kept on getting rejected by all the labels so Jay Jay French went and formed their own independent label to release their early singles.

Metallica couldn’t get a record deal. Then came Jon Zazula, otherwise known as Jonny Z onto the scene. He ended up hearing the demo tape “No Life ‘Til Leather” which then led to him founding Megaforce Records so that he could release their work. However, Lars Ulrich was always on the lookout for a better deal and eventually that persistence would lead to a deal with Elektra Records. Jonny Z gave them their break however it was the entrepreneurial spirit from Lars Ulrich that took them to the stratosphere.

Motley Crue had a real estate agent called Alan Coffman. He helped finance the “Too Fast For Love” album and assisted them with obtaining gear and going out on the road. Then once Motley Crue got picked up by Elektra, Coffman ran off with their advance money which led to a song called “Bastard” on “Shout At The Devil”. The band  also had Vicki Hamilton on board, who managed to get their self-financed debut album into record stores through her position as music purchaser for a chain of record stores.

Throughout it all, it was Nikki Sixx who had the entrepreneurial spirit and when Allen Kovac came on board in 1994, Sixx was given a tie-breaking vote in collective decisions of the Operations that Kovac’s was setting up. All of these changes led Motley Crue to operate independently and by the late Nineties, they gained ownership of their masters and publishing rights back from Elektra.

Joan Jett had 23 labels pass on releasing her first solo album. Out of a need to get her music out, she founded Blackheart Records with producer Kenny Laguna. This was 34 years ago. By 2014, her label is now a force to be reckoned with, via its music, clothing and film divisions.

In 2014, NO artist can afford to sit back and expect someone else to make them a star. Read any story on successful artists and you will see just how extraordinary that person has to be to overcome the odds stacked against them. If you want a real day example, look no further than Pomplamoose.  Read the article about the financial realities of an independent band. And the take away;

“We, the creative class, are finding ways to make a living making music, drawing webcomics, writing articles, coding games, recording podcasts. Most people don’t know our names or faces. We are not on magazine covers at the grocery store. We are not rich, and we are not famous.

We are the mom and pop corner store version of “the dream.” If Lady Gaga is McDonald’s, we’re Betty’s Diner. And we’re open 24/7.

We have not “made it.” We’re making it.”

Write your own story and defy the dominant culture.

Pomplamoose is the definition of being in a band today. The faces might not be as recognizable as the bands of old, however that doesn’t mean that they are nobodies. They are writing their own story.

Motley Crue didn’t go on VH1 and throw trash at each other. They did that via “THE DIRT” which ended up launching their comeback in 2004.

And never give in to impulses.

Motley Crue could have licensed their music to the “Rock Of Ages” movie and made millions, but they didn’t.

Lars Ulrich rushed in with Napster without looking at events critically and analyse both sides. Metallica is a bigger band today because of piracy. Get the statisticians to explain how Metallica can play sold out shows in China without selling any music.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Evergrey Compendium

Evergrey.

What a cool name for a band!

Tom and Dan Nojd the original bassist came up with the name after they saw their life and situation as always grey. Everything seemed to be forever grey. The logo and the artwork remind me more of a black metal band, which is the yin and the yang because musically Evergrey are melodic and progressive.

To anyone that is prepared to listen to me, Evergrey is one band that I continually try to spread the word for. Just recently I was asked to give a few people a list of the Top 10 songs from my point of view. At first I relished the challenge and then I struggled with it. Evergrey are 16 years into their career and nine albums deep. If you take the average 10 songs per album, there is a pool of 90 or so songs to pick from. Also for a band that hails from Sweden their Spotify presence is not huge so I needed to bring out the good old CD’s and YouTube.

Well after spending a week playing a John Kalodner style role with the music of Evergrey, here is the sequenced list just like they would be on that imaginary album in my head.

The Masterplan

Evergrey was started in 1995 by Tom Englund and former guitar-player Dan Bronell. By the time 2001 rolled around their career had been moving up. There was a fan base to please when they set about creating their third album.

The tone is set with the tape recorder spoken intro.

“I have decided to keep this tape recorder with me at all times, just so that I maybe one day can explain all the strange things happening to me.
The lack of sleep…the loss of time. But most of all, the sensation of never being lonely…always being watched…”

“The Masterplan” is from the 2001 concept album “In Search Of Truth”. On hand again to produce was former King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque. How good is that 7/8 syncopated intro? This is Evergrey in Progressive Metal territory.

We are all a part of
Forced to live within
Conspiracy for ages
The masterplan

The vocal melody and the frantic energy of the music seals the deal.

This was a new Evergrey from the previous two albums that came before “In Search Of Truth”. Founder Tom S Englund and hard-hitting drummer Patrick Carlsson welcomed a new keyboard player in Sven Karlsson and a new bass player in Michael Håkansson. Both of them came from the band Embraced. And then there was the new guitar virtuoso from Denmark, Henrik Danhage.

Changes happen in bands because it is hard to have people hat are just not putting in the same effort as to what the others put in. That is why bands make decisions at certain points in time. They all want to have people around them that have the same drive and goals as them.

Broken Wings
From “Torn” released in 2008 and this time Evergrey is dabbling in heavy rock.

For this album, gone is the huge stage presence of bassist Michael Håkansson and in his place comes Jari Kainulainen from Stratovarius.

And if you look at the 2001 version of the band, also gone is keyboardist Sven Karlssonn who was replaced in 2001 by Christian Rehn and Rehn was then replaced by Rikard Zander in 2002. Other changes that happened involved the departure of Patrick Carlsson on drums, who was replaced by Jonas Ekdahl in 2003.

I came so close that I felt the flames
I came so close that I’ll never be safe again
I’d give anything to find a way to leave the fear and evacuate

The flame inspires so many different meanings. We feel the flames when we don’t heed or listen to the advice of others. Icarus failed to heed or listen to his father and flew too close to the sun. In life and in relationships, we always want to see the good in people. We always believe that we can help people. And then we come full circle when the people that we believed we liked or helped turn on us.

King Of Errors
Evergrey released “Glorious Collision” in 2011. Awards, certifications and praise followed after the release however the band was about to be broken again with the departures of Van Dahl and Jidell after only a short time with the band. Englund wanted to call time. However a commitment to play a few festival shows led to an unexpected return and a the possibility of a new future.

“King of Errors” is from the new one, “Hymns For The Broken” released this year. The band now is normal mainstay Tom Englund on vocals and guitar. Rikard Zander is still on keys along with Johan Niemann who joined in 2010 on bass, while Henrik Danhage and Jonas Ekdahl rejoined the band again.

“They call us kings
Then watch us fall down broken”

For some reason, we are all attracted to a story of someone high-profile crashing and burning. For some it is seen as a bittersweet “sucked in” story while others see it as a tragedy. In our personal lives, the kings could be our parents, our partners, a certain friend or a work colleague. And normally when “our kings” crash and burn, we just watch.

I watched my cousin, a person who I looked up to immensely and who also introduced me to metal and rock music “crash and burn” as he struggled with bi-polar and schizophrenia. I just didn’t know how to deal with it and decided it was best to just watch him fall down broken.

Soaked

Also from “Torn” released in 2008.

My chest is open
My heart’s on the ground
My bare feet soaked in my blood
As I leave you without a sound

The vocals are straight up.

What a way to start the song?

“Soaked” is a pure metal gem that a lot more people need to hear and digest.

Haven’t you had that feeling in a relationship?

You feel like you have given the relationship everything that you have and it just wasn’t enough. All that is left is to walk away however you never really walk away, as a little piece of you still remains rooted there, like your heart or your blood.

Frozen
The frantic opening kicks off this beauty from the “Glorious Collision” album released in 2011. Another album, another new band dynamic, however due to the monolith that is known as Tom Englund, it is still EVERGREY.

This time around the band consists of Tom Englund on vocals and guitars, Rikard Zander on keys, Johan Niemann on bass along with new additions Marcus Jidell on guitar and Hannes Van Dahl on drums, who came on board to replace Danhage and Ekdahl who left to focus on DeathDestruction.

If we took time to contemplate
The years have passed and now it’s late
Much too late to compensate
The loss that made me frozen

Knowing what we know about the departure of Ekdahl and Danhage, you cant help but feel that the lyrics are about Englund’s emotional state after the departure. Even though they posted that it had to happen to preserve the friendships, there is still a sense of loss and with time, the loss can grow deeper or it can be forgotten.

A Touch Of Blessing
From “The Inner Circle” album released in 2004. You can interchange “The Masterplan” chorus with this one.

Climbing walls of an endless circle
Walking paths you never heard of
Struggling in an endless battle
Searching far for a higher purpose
Drowning in betrayal’s river
The freezing cold will make you shiver
Join the world of greater learning
Crown me king and be my servants

That whole verse vocal melody just reminds me of Maynard from Tool.  Even though the song is part of a concept story about religious cults, that verse just sums up so many different aspects of normal everyday life.

Fear
Another metal classic from the “Torn” album released in 2008. It was like they started fresh again after “Monday Morning Apocalypse”. The “Torn” album to me has three bona-fide metal classics in “Broken Wings”, “Soaked” and “Fear”.

If I could I’d crown myself each day
If I could I’d let myself know I’m okay
If I could I’d throw myself into the flames

I don’t know about you, but I keep my inner fears close to me. So when you see another soul, talk about the same feelings, a connection is made instantly. In 2008, I was going through this fear.

You
“You” is a head banger type of song, purely built for the live show. It is also from the excellent “Glorious Collision” released in 2011.

I wear these marks of shame
Not with pride my head’s held low

History tells me that the people who wore the marks of shame are the persecuted ones and I don’t want to persecute myself mentally anymore. Life is all about mistakes and learning from them, however to others life is about mistakes and then making those people wear those mistakes like marks of shame.

And if weakness is a virtue
And an act of strength a pride
Then I am king and misery’s my empire

So many feelings and emotions.

Archaic Rage

Also from the current album, “Hymns For The Broken”.

‘Cause who I am to you does not reflect the truth

A brilliant lyric. I always keep a little bit of who I am to myself. I call it flexing my style to suit my surroundings. The only problem with that is when I explode, it is never pretty.

Dark Waters

Englund read a book called “Communion” by Whitley Strieber and the book affected him very deeply that he decided to base the concept story on the basic feelings and fears of the character in the book .

This song is a guilty pleasure for me. It is also from the 2001 concept album “In Search Of Truth”. It’s got so many different emotions and movements, that it still stands up as a great song, years later. From about 3.30 the song kicks into gear. It is heavy, then it comes down to a ballad like instrumental movement and it starts to build up again. It just keeps on rolling and rocking.

Deprived of all pride
I’ve been stripped of all value

Welcome to the Evergrey world.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

The Arc

All of our favourite acts have an arc, their popularity comes and goes, no matter how talented they might be. Sometimes it’s got nothing to do with the quality of their music, rather the scene just changes. The fans will let them come back once. Our devotion and the pull of nostalgia are the reasons. After that, they need to stand or fall based on the quality of their work.

Machine Head had a brilliant debut with “Burn My Eyes”, then stumbled a bit with “The More Things Change”, “The Burning Eyes” and “Supercharger” only to return bigger and better than ever with “Through The Ashes Of Empires”. After that they have stood tall based on their quality of their work. Just look at the releases that came after in “The Blackening”, “Unto The Locust” and “Bloodstone And Diamonds”. For me, being a fan since day dot, those stumbles that other people see are all part of a bands evolution.

A favourite band of mine from the Eighties was Ratt. I really liked the DeMartini/Crosby guitar team. So they came onto the scene running out of the blocks with “Out Of The Cellar”. They kept the momentum going with “Invasion Of Your Privacy”, “Dancing Undercover” and “Reach For The Sky”. They then started working with Desmond Child on the “Detonator” album and even though it moved units, it was seen as a stumble. Then the band imploded and they never really came back as a recording force. A 1999, self-titled album came out that did nothing and “Infestation” came out in 2010 which to be honest, based on the calibre of players involved, it was a dead set let down. It looks like “King” Crosby (RIP) was the X-Factor behind Ratt’s success.

Motley Crue had notched up a lot of wins and then in 1992 they dropped a bombshell and Vince was out. They dug in deep and delivered a stellar album in 1994, with John Corabi on vocals, however the market didn’t reciprocate. Blame the times, blame the change of vocalist, blame the lack of record label support. Then Vince was back in and “Generation Swine” followed that further alienated the majority of the fan base with its industrial leanings. Then Tommy was out and “New Tattoo” followed which led to a club tour and talks that the band was washed up.

No one saw the comeback that would come on the backs of “The Dirt”. The “Carnival of Souls” tour with the original band captured that new-found fame and a whole new generation of fans along with the old generation came out to see the Crue. This was followed up by the excellent “Saints Of Los Angeles” album in 2008 and their arc was complete. And now instead of standing or falling based on their new musical output, Motley Crue decided to not participate in making an albums worth of music. We got a single in 2012 and maybe another single will follow next year.

And in 2014, new music is a common theme of contention with artists. Musicians are digging down deep and delivering what they believe is their best work and without the usual old sales metrics not truly capturing the impact of the new music, they believe that the reaction to their new music is…nothing.

In some cases that might be the truth. And in this confusion and fragmented music industry they find it hard to keep soldiering on. But the truth is if they are good, they will have fans that will believe in them. It may not be the platinum armies that the MTV generation grew up with, but just because a musician doesn’t break through to the masses that does not mean they should change direction. A lot of the times it takes a while for the marketplace to catch up with what a musician is doing.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Bloodstone And Diamonds vs The Journals

So I listened to “Bloodstone and Diamonds” quite a bit over the last few days. It’s a solid album.

“Now We Die” is a great way to kick off the album and a relentless tour de’force. I like the connection that it makes to “Halo” during the solo section and the slow ballad like aftermath that builds up again to an epic conclusion.

“Killers & Kings” is like an oldie but goodie by now. It has been doing the rounds for a while now. A demo version with a cover of the Ignite classic “Our Darkest Days / Bleeding” was made available for Record Store Day. I picked up all 4 Tarot Cards releases.

“Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones” will be seen as a metal CLASSIC. It’s got an Iron Maiden “Paschendale” style intro. Then it goes into a Pantera/Black Sabbath style groove. Verses are sung like the Deftones however it still has the classic “Paschendale” guitar line. It’s working title was “DokVanSchenkerSnake”. I am assuming the names mean Dokken + Van Halen + Michael Schenker + Whitesnake. I think that sums up why I like it.

“Night Of The Long Knives” makes it a one to four knockout punch combo. Can’t say I’m a fan of the Manson lyrical content, however the melodies and the music are just pure speed.

“Sail Into The Black” is another “Descend The Shades of Night”. The knockout punches keep on rolling. Especially when the distortion kicks in. The lead break is also a song within a song composition.

“Eyes Of The Dead” kicks off with a sinister “Black Sabbath” style opening. Then it kicks it up. “I am no longer alive” screams Robb. This is the track that was titled “Ojos De La Muerte”, which actually means Eyes Of The Death.

“Beneath The Silt” is down tuned and heavy as lead. I really dig this song. It’s got a sick groove and the vocals are very dreamy atmospheric like in the verses with the typical Robb Flynn aggression in the chorus.

In his Journals, Robb stated that “Beneath The Silt” reminds him of “Elegy” from “Through The Ashes Of Empires”. The song is tuned way down to F# and it has all of those Machine Head trademarks, ala- the beginning of “Ten Ton Hammer”. Then there was the whole “Beneath The Silt” journal post, which was pretty depressing and dark. However with every black cloud there is always a silver lining.

“In Comes The Flood”, Rob’s ode to “America”.

“Damage Inside” was mentioned by Robb via his General Journals. The guitar is all Dave McClain from an MP3 he recorded years ago. The band tried to re-work it a few times, but somehow it was never as cool as the very first pass that McClain did on his laptop. So in the end what we hear is that lo-res MP3, with keys and vocals added. This is the way Flynn described the vocal take in his journals;

“I woke up it was raining on the patina copper rooftops outside my window. It was a pleasant sound. A church was down the street, and on the hour the bell would toll. It’s a beautiful city and looking out every morning with a gloriously mild hangover, looking at the patina and gold rooftops, listening to the rain, it was inspiring. I needed to write the lyrics and sing on one last song on the record, a really mellow piece that Dave had written and played guitar on, and that Jordan Fish and I had worked out a keyboard arrangement on. I named this track “Damage Inside.” Our friend Biffen had booked us time the next day at a studio called Top Floor studios, and that morning I woke up, wrote the lyrics on my iPhone notes, a lot of which were what I was experiencing in Gothenburg, the first lines I wrote were:

“The bell tolls on as the rain comes down
On my face the drops they sound
I slowly melt into grey abyss
Depression and her endless kiss”…

I walked over to the studio cross the street from the hotel, and sang the vocals. I free-styled the rest of the lyrics, making it up in the booth. And somehow, after 2 nights of quality raging in Gothenburg, my voice had this perfect vodka and cigarette “rasp”, I don’t know if I could have gotten it otherwise. It was exactly how I’d envisioned it, even though I had no idea how was going to end up.”

Love the narrative more than the actual song at this moment. It just felt that it needed that extra five minutes to it, to make it complete.

“Game Over”
That intro man brings memories of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I felt like throwing my work table outside the window the first time I heard it. Then the Chorus kicks in and it’s like a punk song. Brilliant.

From reading the journals, I wonder if this is the song that was formerly known as “Blazing Saddles” that just wasn’t working and on the 2nd to last day of rehearsals McClain and Flynn deconstructed “Blazing Saddles” into a far simpler structure. As Robb noted, “Less of a Slayer/Slipknot vibe, and more of a “Screaming For Vengeance”-era Judas Priest feel to it. Appropriately, it has now been given the working title: “Simmering Saddles”.

Or is it “Sharkbite Days Revisited”.

“Imaginal Cells” is the “Real Eyes Realise” song that Robb Flynn has been talking about. It’s a cool song musically however I would have loved to hear some vocals on this. The audio collage is of spoken word snippets by Dr. Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman, taken from their audiobook “Spontaneous Evolution”.

“Take Me Through The Fire” ends the album but it doesn’t have the same effect as the previous closers, in “Descend The Shades Of Night”, “A Farewell To Arms” and “Who We Are”.

I am still keen to find out which titles “Sharkbite Days Revisited”, Falsetto Sunrise” and “Riffnado” ended up being.

Also the final track listing should have been as follows;

Now We Die
Killers & Kings
Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones
Night Of The Long Knives
Beneath The Silt
In Comes The Flood
Game Over
Sail Into The Black

It’s a killer package.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Digital Summer Compendium

Digital Summer

Who?

It’s criminal that a lot more people don’t know of them however there is a certain part of the U.S that does. And that seems to be growing a little bit at a time. The original three from 2006 are Kyle Winterstein on vocals, Ian Winterstein on guitar and Anthony Hernandez on bass.

It actually all starts with Kyle Winterstein. One of his bands “Shaded Grey” fell apart due to pregnancies, coke addictions and alcoholism which led to Kyle getting a real job with the fire department as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). But, he never stopped writing. And then fate would have it that his brother’s band “ADL” would also fall apart, which offered Kyle a guitarist and a bassist and with the addition of Kyle’s old guitar player, Digital Summer was born.

Forget You

Start here. It’s the opening track from the fan funded “Breaking Point” album released in 2012. The “Kickstarter” goal was $25,000 and the band ended up raising over $50,000.

The track features Clint Lowery from Sevendust. From a rock perspective, the song is heavy, angry, to the point and very catchy. The intro is like a car crash and it is the perfect energy for the live arena.

“Shut your mouth
I’m done listening to you”
It’s over, it’s over
I’ve had enough were through
I’m taking back
The person that I used to be
Before these scars
Before your lies
“So fuck you, forget you, goodbye”

The last line seals the deal. It is simple and it makes the point pretty clear. The end result is that “Forget You” is burned into my DNA. I have played it over and over and over again.

Counting The Hours
It is the title track from their 2010, album. This song is more rooted in the alternative metal sound. While “Forget You” is more frantic, “Counting The Hours” is slower and groovier. You can hear the Sevendust influence.

“There’s nothing like an apocalypse to open your eyes”

What a great protest lyric!

Just Run
Another up-tempo, frantic and angry track. Even though it is from the “Counting The Hours” album released in 2010, it’s lyrical theme is very similar to “Forget You” from the 2012 “Breaking Point” album.

Keep on talking we’ll find out
What you’re made of

Did you know that angry music can actually make you feel better? It brings out the emotions necessary to cope with a negative situation. And when you hear someone else tearing into a person that wronged them, you know that you are not alone in the world. You know that others feel the same pain that you feel.

Wanted To Love You
The foot is off the accelerator. It is a ballad from the 2012, “Breaking Point” album and in my opinion it is one of their best ballads. It’s about the feel, the plaintive vocal that showcases Kyle’s voice, the sampled music echoes and the digital delayed guitar lines in the chorus.

These city streets reflect my thoughts and moments that should have been with you

You feel consoled when you hear it. It’s a haunting song that made an undeniable impression upon me.

I’ve wanted to love you for so long
I just need to
It’s the only thing left
That this empty heart can do

Suffocate
It is from their 2007 debut album, “Cause And Effect”.

Another day, another sunrise
Calls to me
Saying get out of this place

The place can be a relationship, the town, your occupation or just a real shitty situation. With each new day, there is a new hope. Carpe Diem, I say.

Disconnect
The opening track from “Cause And Effect”. Everyone can relate. We’d experienced love and the disconnection therefrom

Disconnect me
From this awful dream
This world is not designed for me
I reject this reality

We are constantly connected today in our lives. That is where the world is at right now. That is why this song connects. We have all wanted to disconnect for a while when things go to shit.

Breaking Point
The title track from their 2012 album because the breaking point is where everyone was at. They either had to band together  or it was just going to fall apart.

I’m on a downward spiral
Past the breaking point

We’ve all been there at some point in life. I feel the lyric, the message. In my case, the breaking point led to the band falling apart. The drummer had two kids from a previous relationship. His current partner had one kid from a previous relationship. Then his ex had two kids with her current partner and the drummers current partner wanted to have a kid with him. He was bringing his shit into my life and I didn’t like it.

To top it off, the bass player just had a baby with his current girlfriend. He also has a kid from a previous relationship. The bass players current girlfriend also has three kids with two different dudes and due to her drug addiction, had those kids taken by the Department Of Community Services.

To top it off even more the vocalist was torn by what his parents wanted, which was a degree and a well-paying job versus his desire to be a musician. So his focus shifted from the music to “why aren’t we making millions”. I was at the breaking point alright.

So Beautiful, So Evil
Another track from the “Counting The Hours” album.

She’s so beautiful, so evil

It is lost deep within the 16 song album however it is a great track with excellent dynamics. Love that guitar melody line in the Chorus.

Use Me
Another track from the “Counting The Hours” album. Morgan Rose from Sevendust makes an appearance on drums.

Put our problems behind us and just for this moment pretend everything is alright
Let me use you…. And I’ll let you use me
Let me use you…. To forget these memories

We all have this incredible urge to connect with a soul mate because no one wants to be lonely. Life is about the yin and the yang. You can’t be happy without being sad.

Sick Inside
It is from their 2007 debut album, “Cause And Effect”.

I can see right through,
Your distorted views
I know whats underneath
Its nothing real

Relationships that go bad are like a locust swarm on green fields. The person that leaves the relationship, leaves you stripped of resources both financially and mentally. We always take a while to see through the masquerade because we don’t want to be lonely.

Love And Tragedy

It is also from their 2007 debut album, “Cause And Effect”. It’s got movements and breaks. It’s atmospheric and it’s progressive. It’s catchy and groovy and listen to that guitar sound!

The waves crash down all around me
And consume all the air I breathe
The sirens sing to me in my sleep
A familiar song of love and tragedy
But the sun wont shine were the shadow grows
Yet my heart beats still, so tell me is this real
Tell me is it real

It’s all about the flood, washing away our sins. As I mentioned before, the yin and the yang. How can you know what love is if you haven’t experienced loss and tragedy.

While The City Sleeps
Another track from the “Counting The Hours” album. The song is a modern-day take on a clichéd theme from the Eighties. Bruce Springsteen said it in “Born To Run”, The Animals said it first with “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” while Journey told everyone to “Don’t Stop Believin”. The song is honest, sincere and inspiring.

While the city sleeps
We’ll make our way thru the night
Taking nothing to remind us
While the city sleeps
We’ll leave this world behind
Hoping they never find us.

No one has to know
We’ll just get up and go
Only guided by the night the stars and the road
With the destination nowhere
We don’t care
As long as it’s
Anywhere but here

They went out and set up their own label in Victim Entertainment which gives them a power to control their destiny. It’s a more difficult road. From a business perspective they would make more money as independent artists than they would on a major for a band of their size and stature. They turned down every record deal because they didn’t like the terms offered. They didn’t have the luxury to buy themselves onto a tour, which is known as a “buy on”.

But they had a work ethic and a business plan.

For Digital Summer another breakthrough came via Sevendust when Kyle became friends with Morgan Rose. The tour they did with Sevendust after that was a turning point. A management deal with “In De Goot” followed. SiriusXM Octane was willing to take a chance on an unsigned band.

The music industry is a brutal industry and the odds are stacked against the artist. Even if you’re the greatest musician, it doesn’t mean that people will hear you or care. And at the moment there is no shortage of bands trying to make it, with zero business minds.

This is not the ’80s. The industry has changed so much, it’s a different game right now.

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