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STORMZONE
Stormzone have just released an excellent melodic rock album Caught In The Act via Escape Music. Over to vocalist Harv Harbinson...
We're rehearsing a lot for the shows we'll be doing later in the month as part of the promoting of 'Caught In The Act'. We obviously don't have to learn the songs as we wrote and recorded them for the album, but we're trying to put things in place such as four'part vocal harmonies etc.
Also we're going out on the road with two guitarists instead of just one and a keyboard player, so we're having to work out how to fill some of the more prominent keyboard parts with the additional guitar. So far the keyboards haven't been missed and, indeed, the overall sound is more powerful, but still maintaining a lot of melody!
I know it's strange to say it as we're just about to embark on a new album launch, but we're also in the middle of writing and doing demos for the follow up to the debut CD. We recorded the first one last July and it got a January release, so by right it'll only be another four or five months before we're expected to get back into the studio for album two, so we have to combine pre'production for that new record with all our plans in making the first one sound great live!!
The song'writing is going very well though and with a bit of a better budget for the next recording we should hopefully build on the encouraging reviews the first has been receiving.
OK, here goes. You might want to get a flask of tea and a more comfortable chair for this interview btw, hahaha.
1. 'Spellbound' This song is about an older man who falls in love with a girl half his age and although he's as happy as anything he can't face telling any of his friends or family the truth about the age of his new partner. It gets to the stage where he knows he has to break it off with the girl for both their sakes and to keep his life on track, but she has him mesmerised and every time he attempts to end the relationship he realises she's got him hooked on her
2. 'Hold On (To her love)' This song isn't as immediately obvious as it seems, as it's more to do with the lengths a man has to go to in order to keep a balance between appearing to be a loving partner, yet not a pushover. It's definitely not abouttreatem mean and keepem keen' but more the consequences of appearing cool in a relationship in order to keep your partner interested but then you being the one lying awake all night by the telephone when she fails to come home at an early enough time to make an evening comfortable!
3. 'Stranger Things Have Happened' This one is about two people who have been platonic friends for a very long time but one of them starts to feel differently towards the other but wants to hide it in case it ends what has so far been a long and great relationship. On of them has always been under the impression that they've just been good friends for years because there's no way the other would want to be anything other than friends, but slowly and surely he (or she) feels that the other person is maybe feeling the same way and the song is about the scary moment right before he or she reveals how he or she feels and ready to take the consequences.
4. 'Nervous Breakdown' This song is about the perils of internet relationships and chat rooms etc where one person has been talking to the other for a while and they both decide it's time to meet! The guy is 18 and excited about the prospect of eventually meeting the girl at the other end of the connection who, for months, has been telling him she's the same age. Is she? Is the person even a girl? It would definitely leave a young man feeling 18 and Nervous!
5. 'Crying in the Rain' This is a sad song about a young girl who lives alone and can't go out to face the world, so all she does all day is sit and listen to the radio for news of what's happening out there, then spends her evenings blotting out what she's heard during the day by watching sad movies on her video whilst smoking and drinking to give her what she believes is some sort of pleasure in her life.
The only time she'll ever venture over her front door is when she hears rain beating off her window and she'll then open her front door and stand a foot or so across the threshold knowing the rain will keep people from venturing outside and she'll be able to stand and cry outside in peace for a little while before returning back indoors and going through the whole cycle again!
6. 'Call of the Wild' Ah ha! At last, a song that's not relationship orientated or sad! This is one we wrote hoping to impress the maker of the next big Hollywood Werewolf blockbuster because it would be great to have it played as people are leaving the theatre after having the shit scared clean out of them, haha. It's basically a fun romp about a young boy who gets abandoned in a wolf ridden forest by his mother who, being unmarried, can't cope with the child. The boy is raised by the wolves and develops all of their habits to the extent that once he's a grown man he decides it's time for man'meat and terrorises the village he was abandoned from. They're making Dog Soldiers 2? Really?Mmm! Do you know the producer?
7. 'Beating of a Heart' I have a real fondness for horror and gothic writing and in that field there are few who can match the excellence of Edgar Allen Poe.Beating Of A Heart' is a modern re'working of his classic storyTell'tale heart' in which a man'servant devoted to his master in Victorian England suddenly, after 25 years of service, begins to become more and more obsessed with the master's glass eye. Over a period of time the obsession turns to hatred and eventually to a plot to rid himself of the thing that haunts his dreams by killing his master. He does so during the darkness of midnight and proceeds to chop up the body so he can bury the parts under the floorboards of the mansion. Having done so and impeccably cleaned the house and covered any trace of a murder he pours himself a glass of wine being now exceptionally pleased with himself.
Sometime later in the evening the door knocks and it's the police who tell him a neighbour had earlier reported a scream from the mansion. The butler informs them that his master is on holiday and the scream was his whilst having a nightmare. The police ask to be shownround and, confident that he has covered his tracks, the butler happily leads them from room to room. He asks as the tour continues if the police officers can hear a dull thumping. They say no. The thumping in the butlers head gets louder from room to room, he asks from room to room if they can't hear it too and they still say no, by this stage become concerned.
By the time they reach the room where the butler has buried the master's body parts the thumping in his head is unbearable and he rips up a floorboard, reaches down and produces his master's heart, quite still (although dripping blood) but seeming to be beating in the butlers hands as he's lost his mind! He falls back and faints knocking over the glass from which he has had his night'cap. He awakes in a doctor's office in a straight'jacket where the doctor proceeds to remove bandages from his face where he had been injured when he fell against the glass from the wine glass.
When the butler looks in the mirror he screams and dives head-first out the window of the third'floor room and dies as he's smashed on the road below. When another doctor runs into the room to enquire what all the commotion is about the examining doctor explains that the man had committed suicide having seen himself when the bandages were removed from his face and the doctor couldn't understand why a man would react like that when the only evidence of any injuries was the slight discoloration and temporary blindness in one of the butler's eyes! Classic stuff!
8. 'New World' When peace was finally brought to Northern Ireland and the terror campaigns (mostly) ended by the respective paramilitary organisations it was, and still is, a wonderful time for the province. The problem was that although terrorists had given up their weapons as far as a political struggle was concerned, the fact remained that the terrorists still existed and although the streets of Belfast were a safer place to walk, there were still men in bars and clubs who were, and still are, capable of killing other human beings. New World is about what way Northern Ireland may end up like once the novelty of peace wears off and these men realise that 30 years of terrorism cannot easily be drained out of their system and they need environments where they can still manipulate people and make money!
9. 'Tugging At My Heartstrings This is a song about the honeymoon period at the start of a relationship when it's the whirlwind effect and your mind goes into hyper'drive wondering if the other person feels the same way. It's about getting carried away by the feelings you experience, then wondering if it's love or lust, trying to keep a grip on reality but also loving the feeling of living in a dream, not knowing how long it's going to last, not caring but also worried about the way you'll feel if it suddenly comes to an end. I think it sums up what most people go through when they first meet and it's probably the most AOR style song on the album with the chorus intentionally catchy and the rhythm jogging along at a pace that reflects the beating of your heart when you meet the girl or guy of your dreams.
10. 'Sky High' A kind of sad story this one about being at the bedside of an exceptionally ill loved one and the imagery is from the perspective of the person who's sick rather than the well one. It mentions dark clouds and bright lights and it's basically about the strength required to let go knowing that the person left behind is going to struggle without you. Therefore at the end of the song there's a passage where the ill person goes beyond life and experiences for a moment what it's like and sees people he recognises and experiences a feeling of well'being and is afforded the strength and opportunity to embrace his or her mortal body for one second, enough to smile, and the loved one realises that there's no more pain and the passing has been a blessing rather than something to greatly mourn over. It's not a slow or morbid song, quite the opposite as it stomps along quite heavily but hopefully now the descriptive words will mean more to people.
11. 'Rock On Through The Night' This one was meant as an album closer but the Japanese version got an extra track with 'Invasion' so it doesn't make as much sense on theirs as with the European version. This is basically a uniting of the fans who still have total faith in rock music and combine the world over to keep it a vital and enthusiastic genre to be up to your neck in.
You can't really go all through the night with any other sort of music only ROCK, and at other venues playing other types of music they can certainly be all night dancing or whatever to forgettable dance music or indie grunge stuff or whatever, but rockers unite and stick together and it's obvious on forums and webzines that the rock fraternity is a friendly organisation that appreciates the greatest music in the world and those bands who try to keep the flag flying. That's why there was no point in trying to call this song anything other thanRock On Through The Night' cos it's simply an explanation as to what every rock lover wants to do (and what you do while listening to it is another question, but that's up to yourselves, hahaha!)
I've known Khalil Turk for about 12 years now and met him when 'Den Of Thieves' were being looked after by Ivan Gunn. Khalil was involved to an extent back then with the ill'fated Long Island Records and when that company folded he then saw the opening for Escape Music. Den Of Thieves was also signed to the Zero Corporation in Japan and when both labels called it a day it also heralded the end for Den Of Thieves. I then became heavily involved in the rock tribute scene but still maintained in constant contact with Khalil and although for a few years I wasn't producing anything on the original material front being in Whitesnake and Iron Maiden tribute bands, he always said that should I go down the original band road again he would like first shot at listening to the product if we recorded anything.
When we decided to put Stormzone together (needing an outlet for our increasing desires to express ourselves with our own music rather than doing covers) we didn't have any intention initially of sending our recordings to anyone, but I listened to them constantly and the more I did so the more I thought this was an opportunity to take Khalil up on his word. I sent him a CD of the songs and as a safety net also sent a few other companies the same thing. I never heard from Khalil for a couple of weeks and in the meantime a couple of the other companies were showing a big interest in Stormzone. I was almost going to sign to one of them when I was informed that Khalil was actually in Dubai visiting an ill relative and then had gone on for a weeks holiday.
What I didn't know was that Khalil was listening to our CD when on the holiday and had decided that he wanted to sign us to Escape Music. I was delighted to learn this as he was my prime target when dispersing the CDs and when you actually get signed to the company of your choice it's a great feeling and one that galvanises a mind'set within the band that a lot of other things will work out the same way!
4. You have sung in a Maiden and Whitesnake tribute bands. Do you go for an exact mimic of the band's vocalists or do you add your own style to the songs' delivery?
Bruce Dickinson has a very powerful and operatic style of singing, and although I can exude an amount of power myself and do all the vibrato stuff, there's no way I could mimic Bruce, so I just sand the Iron Maiden songs basically as best I could, and as long as I was delivering them in tune and with power then most audiences were happy enough.
As for mimicking David Coverdale, well I guess I'd come closer to being able to do so with the Great One, but I still more'or'less sing the Whitesnake songs in my own style and it just so happens that it seems to suit the Coverdale ranges and I hopefully pull it off. I get compared to him sometimes but I honestly don't try to sound like anyone other than myself.
Jorn Lande is one of my favourite singers at the moment and has been for quite a few years now. He has this amazing ability to sound like David Coverdale (and Glenn Hughes and Dio) but unless I actually get speaking to him on the subject over the next while I'll never know whether that's an intentional thing on his part or whether he maybe just opens up his vocal chords and that's what comes out naturally. I think the only singer I can naturally mimic with intention is Tom Jones, hahaha (no kidding). I would love to hear Tom Jones singing Whitesnake songs, I think he's be fantastic at them!
I get exasperated sometimes when I go on various forums and see people sounding the death knoll for melodic hard rock. To me it's not a shrinking scene! Certainly in the mid'nineties it took a nose'dive in popularity, but more so where the actual band members were concerned rather than the rock buying public.
When Nirvana and Pearl Jam etc came along I think most melodic rock bands lost their bottle and either tried to jump on the grunge bandwagon or changed to other more acceptable styles such as Country Rock etc. Once the mass extinction of the melodic rock genre slowed and eventually settled down, then it became a popular 'underground' movement which has maintained a very healthy following and, to my mind, is starting to pick up momentum.
Myspace and other online services I think are fantastic and open doors for bands previously they couldn't have dreamed of even knocking on.
Everyone now is reachable and, to an extent, wants to be seen as available which is part and parcel of the great internet family. Myspace is obviously supposed to be first and foremost a means of making friends and I don't think it's owners would ever have known at the beginning that it would be embraced by bands and other companies as a means to advertise themselves to the world.
To that extent its original ideologies are being manipulated by people who don't really care whether you're a friend or not as long as you know about their product, but it seems to have been made totally acceptable now and the whole idea of it has to be woven into a band's promotion or you'll surely be left behind.
Myspace is obviously an internet tool, and whilst the internet is essential in the modern age in getting your band's name and songs out to the world, it's also an unfortunate bi'product of its success that bands also lose a fortune with people freely able to download their songs and images for free!
My views on that in a sense allow me to live stress'free because I just accept that it's part of the modern music industry and there'll never be a way to stop people from illegally getting hold of your songs, but I also try to use the theory that it's important to give CD 'buying' people something not readily available everywhere.
There's nothing quite like having a real CD in your hand and experiencing the thrill of viewing a high quality printed (and real) CD booklet and placing the 'real' CD into a player to listen to WAV music instead of the lower quality downloadable MP3s. That's the reason we invested heavily in getting Rodney Matthews to do our CD cover and booklet as studying his amazing artwork on the real booklet is awesome and no PC printer could capture it!
As I say, there's no way illegal downloading will be banished but bands and record companies just have to accept it as an occupational hazard these days and give people value for money if they expect them to go out and spend their wages on the real items!
When I was performing in the tribute bands I would enjoy 'Still Of The Night' most when doing Whitesnake and '2 Minutes to Midnight' in Maiden because both songs were the last ones of the night and I could get off stage and have a few beers, hahaha.
Only joking, although on both fronts I would have to say maybe the opposite to the last songs as I love the buzz of the 'seconds before' moment when hitting the stage and I would be last on during the first song of both tributes and either coming on to a pyro show during 'Bad Boys' or a seething mass of headbanging during 'Aces High'. An awesome experience whether you're playing to 50 or 500 people.
Where STORMZONE's concerned I adore singing 'Beating Of A Heart' as I get to gradually go through every range during the intro and then storm straight into the story when the band kicks in to full stomping throttle. I love every song for different reasons, some because I love what the guys are doing during the backing vocals in chorus's, or the way a lead guitar is played or a rhythm's chunking out during a verse or whatever. 'Stranger Things Have Happened' allows me to be a bit bluesier than at other times, 'New World' gives me the opportunity to feel the way David Coverdale must have felt when blasting out 'Burn'.
Put it this way, there are absolutely no songs that I don't enjoy singing live and I know that sounds obvious, but quite a few of them are really hard to sing live and do, at times, hurt to put across during various parts, but it's an achievement when it's done to the best of my ability and the discomfort's soon forgotten.
Do you mean for me to front or including a fantasy vocalist? I guess if I was to create what for me would be the perfect rock band and I couldn't be at the front of it I'd choose David Coverdale and lead vocalist as, apart from the brilliance of his voice in rock and blues he just exudes charisma as a focal point at the front of any stage. With the in'between raps and just general appeal to both male and female fans alike he's the complete package, even these days.
I would have a twin guitar attack and although it would be a tough choice from the many guitarists I admire, the two I'd have in my fantasy band would be George Lynch and Vivian Campbell. The former because I adore his sound, it's unique and you'd know his style anywhere, and apart from being different from the crowd it's also a fantastic ability that the man has rhythm and lead'wise. Just puts the hairs up in the back of my neck!
Vivian I would have there because apart from warranting a place in the band by being a magnificent guitarist, he's from my part of the world and had to put up with everything associated with being from a small Island and the effort required to emerge from a largely ignored Country music-wise, he did it, rose to the top and has been consistent in his contributions to rock music for over 25 years. Yeah, George Lynch and Vivian Campbell, two tasty choices each side of Coverdale.
On keyboards, mmm, tough choice between Don Airey, Jordan Rudess or Jon Lord but if I had to make a quick choice it would be Don as apart from having played with some legendary bands such as Rainbow and Ozzy he also joined Irish band Mama's Boys for a few years and I was in support band Emerald at the time and loved watching his playing. He's a genuinely lovely guy too!
Bass player? Billy Sheehan, end of story for me on that department and there's no real need to go into why he'd be in my fantasy line'up. He's just awesome!
Finally the drums. Well, has this fantasy band to have all living musicians or can I choose from those no longer with us? OK, if I was to have a drummer brought back to life to be sticksman in my ultimate fantasy rock band I would honestly put John Bonham at the top of the list. He was a phenomenal drummer and contributed to the greatness of some of the best songs ever written. Technical or straight down the road, he was a masterclass in sticksmanship and ideally would be in my fantasy band. Living?
OK then, if the drummer had to still be playing then I would have no hesitation in including Lars Ulrich as he's not just as technically gifted as some other legendary drummers, but who's the best wasn't really the question, more who would I want in an ultimate rock band and Lars Ulrich, apart from being a fantastic hard rock drummer, would bring a sense of enthusiasm and drive to the rhythm section that would make it a highly entertaining facet of the band. So lets see now
1. Lead Vocals = David Coverdale
(What a band ' don't ask me to come up with a name for them, it was hard enough coming up with 'Stormzone', haha)
As far as a degree of success is concerned (and I don't want to seem like I'm counting chickens before they hatch here) this new 'Stormzone' album is actually the first real break during a long long time struggling in the business (I'm not going to say how long cos I don't want people adding the word 'spring' to the 'chicken' I just mentioned, hahaha).
I've had varying degrees of 'almost there' with other bands such as Sweet Savage and Emerald. The original 'Sweet Savage' was four'piece line up consisting of Raymie Haller on bass and Vocals, Vivian Campbell on Guitars, Julian Watson on Drums and Trevor Fleming on Guitars. They released two singles, 'Take No Prisoners' and 'Killing Time', the second one to have great bearing on our band at a later time.
The band, with the original lineup, was formed in 1980 and did successful tours during that period with Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash, but as time went on and success was seemingly inevitable, it became necessary to install a 'front-man' to ease the burden on Raymie as vocalist so I was drafted in as lead singer and seeing as Thin Lizzy had added Darren Wharton on Keyboards to their ranks, it was decided to also add a Keyboard player to the Sweet Savage line'up and Stephen Prosser was recruited for that position.
The prospect of heavy touring took it's toll on the ranks as original guitarist Trevor Fleming decided he didn't want to either commit to such things nor hold the band back, so he stood down and Sweet Savage was graced by the guitar playing of Ian 'Speedo' Wilson to accompany Vivian in the guitar attack. With this line'up the band became a much more melodic unit whilst still maintaining a very heavy sound, much akin to the later Whitesnake sound (at that time David Coverdale's band were still in a very blues'rock vein).
Supports followed, again with Thin Lizzy, Budgie, Rory Gallagher and, very significantly, a band called 'Wild Horses' a three piece band featuring Brian Robertson (formerly of Thin Lizzy) on guitar and vocals and Jimmy Bain (formerly of Rainbow) on bass.
Ronnie James Dio was forming DIO shortly after the Wild Horses tour and obviously wanting to have the best guitarist available, but didn't want to settle for the usual method of poaching a 'name' player from an established band. Jimmy Bain had been drafted in on bass for DIO, and he remembered Vivian from the Irish leg of the Wild Horses tour. He recommended Vivian get an audition, and that went brilliantly for Vivian and of course he got the position of guitarist in DIO. That meant a great hole was left in the Sweet Savage ranks, and it was a hole too great to contemplate filling with another guitarist.
It was also a problem then to go on as Sweet Savage without a two 'guitar line'up, so we decided to continue with the line'up as it was with Ian 'Speedo' Wilson leading the guitar attack, but also to change the name of the band to herald a new era for all of us, and Vivian was wished all the very best and EMERALD was born out of the ashes of Sweet Savage.
Vivian then went on to play for DIO, WHITESNAKE, THE RIVER DOGS and is now very successfully touring and writing with DEF LEPPARD. Over the years when Vivian was in town and we were gigging as EMERALD he would join us onstage and it was excellent to hear Speedo and Vivian back in twin'guitar attack, especially when we played the Thin Lizzy song EMERALD and they battled it out on'stage like old times wowing crowds with a temporary Sweet Savage reunion!
Recording wise it was probably most notably with 'Den Of Thieves' that we felt we'd break some delph as we managed to secure a couple of CDs in Japan around ten years ago with the ill'fated Zero Corporation. We would have loved to have toured more in those days because, as I've previously stated, I don't think the CDs we released then fully did the songs we wrote justice, and we were definitely a better live act than a recording one because of the financial restraints we were under.
Unfortunately because of the logistics involved in bringing a band and equipment from Ireland to Japan and beyond, and the fact that there was no way either of our (then) record companies were in a position to give us money to get out and support the albums with decent tours, it just proved impossible for us to let those who actually did buy the album and had a great interest in Den Of Thieves see us in live action. We particularly wanted to do some shows in Japan and Europe because we knew of the excellent reception we would have received in both territories. Hopefully, ten years on, as STORMZONE we can set the record straight and sell enough albums to justify touring a lot more and to rock like we weren't given the opportunity to do first time around.
As far as advice to budding rock musicians is concerned it would be to try to be the very best you can but also realise that it may take a long time and a lot of perseverance before you get the recognition your hard work and determination deserves. Never be put off by a bad review as my good friend Kieran Dargan puts it 'One third of the people will love your music, one third will hate it and one third won't give a damn' and he's absolutely right, although I have to say at this stage that with Stormzone we've been very fortunate in that those calculations need re'adjusting a little because we're most grateful that 'Caught In The Act' has been getting a majority of great reviews!
It's amazing the amount of people who combine music and art as their passions. As a musician working sporadically and with varying periods of time between either recording or playing live, I need to fill my days with something other than music and my art occupies most of my other waking hours. I went to Art College shortly after I left school and got a UK Degree in Fine Art. Over the years I've discovered that both my music and art benefit from one another as I go back to each mediums more refreshed with having had a break from one and concentrating on the other.
I have done many oil and watercolour paintings, but my medium of choice is large detailed pencil drawings. These can be a large as 80cm X 60cm and can take me anything up to three weeks to complete, but my ambition when starting a piece of art is to try to make every square cm interesting to look at, even if it's not the focal point of the artwork. Basically if you cut a square hole in a sheet of paper and hold it anywhere on one of my pieces of artwork, what you see through the small hole should be interesting enough to hold your attention for a few seconds.
I'm not sure I achieve that, but it's what I try to do, especially with my street scenes. I just finished a large commission for a football (soccer) team in Ireland called Linfield F.C. and they wanted me to do over 40 large portraits of past and present Linfield players for what they now class as their 'Linfield Hall Of Fame'.
That commission lasted me a few months and it'll be a while before I undertake another like it as, apart from being a 24 hour a day commitment, by the time I had reached the 30th portrait I was beginning to tire of doing the same sort of work day in and day out and worried that the portraits close to the end would suffer from my fatigue and increasing eagerness to complete what was turning out to be a monotonous endeavour. I hung in there though and the Linfield hall Of Fame is now open with all the portraits on show.
I have great admiration for some modern fantasy artists such as Rodney Matthews, Frank Frazetta, Richard Corben, Boris Vallejo and Bernie Wrightson and the classic artists I love include Turner and many of the Dutch masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Gerrit ter Borch and Pieter de Hoogh.
Other than the artwork side of things I also love to go sea angling, watching football and rugby (I used to play the latter and only stopped around three years ago), collecting old comics and horror magazines and watching horror and fantasy movies on DVD.
I honestly think that fans of hard melodic rock and metal are some of the greatest in the world and I'm specifically proud of the fact that when the rest of the world were turning their backs on our beloved style of music for a few years, Europe remained loyal and open'minded with regards to the best music on the planet. I know that European rock fans are courteous and polite, but also demand the very best and would let us know if we were not making the grade. In that respect the challenge is there for us to continue to create great music and perform it to the best of our ability in concert, and to be able to do that in any European country will be a great honour for us in STORMZONE.
We can only do that if people get to hear the music and go and buy it, so please spread the word.
My last message to Melodic Rock fans in the UK and beyond is this: you are very important to us and we need to make our way to you to be able to repay your faith in rock music the only way we can, by recreating our album on your stages. But we can only justify that through sales and demand so please spread the word that STORMZONE exists, that melodic rock is still very much alive and well in 2007 and that there is an Irish band who will never let you down when you show the faith in us to make us linked in rock for a long time to come. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my words and I sincerely hope to hear and see you all soon,
Kindest regards and yours in ROCK,
Harv.
Interview © 2007 Jason Ritchie. All rights reserved.
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