| 1. What are you currently up
to? |
We have just returned from the "Critical Mass" European Tour to
promote the new album. The band will be performing in the USA in
November and should have some dates to announce for the first half of
next year. Writing for a new album will also commence at the
beginning of the new year. In addition to this Inside Out, the bands
German label, are looking to record a special show in order to make a DVD.
|
| 2. What has been the highlight(s) and lowpoints(s) of your career
to date? |
The highlights have been the opportunity to continue to make the
music we love and have control over the output quality. Also the
amount of touring we have done over the years is always enjoyable. As
for lows, I think for most of us it has been line-up changes.
However, this has led to the strong setup that we have today and
enabled us to make our best albums to date.
|
| 3. If you could form a fantasy band line-up - who would be in it
and why? |
My fantasy line-up would probably be being able to keep this current
band together for the next 20 years. We have a great understanding of
each other now and I am able to write freely when I know what they
are capable of.
|
| 4.
The new album deals heavily with the theme of reincarnation.
What are the band's views on this? How easy/difficult was it to weave
this theme into your lyrics?
|
I think Jon has always explored a lot of spiritual issues and
beliefs. It is something that interests him. As there was no lyrical
concept behind this album, it was easy to write over a few different
ideas.
|
5.
You are about to tour with the new CD. What countries have your
biggest fanbase? How easy is it to get gigs?
|
Each album this varies a little, although Germany is our strongest
country for sales. Japan used to be a good market, but now America is
taking over from that. Traditionally we have toured mainly in central
Europe, but we are now taking in new territories. On the Critical
Mass tour we went to Slovakia and in November we will go to USA. Also
the UK has improved considerably for the band with the last few shows
in particular being excellent.
|
|
6. How did Threshold come together? What were/are the bands
influences? Any other bands/artist you would like to work with in the
future? |
Threshold started in about 1989 when Karl, Jon and Nick got together
a band with former drummer Tony Grinham. We could not decide on the
musical style because we liked bands such as Metallica and Testament,
but also Genesis, Rush and Pink Floyd. Therefore we decided to try
and blend elements of both. The metal side provided the power and
excitement and the progressive side the melody and dynamics. This was
before the category of prog/metal had been coined. We were surprised
to be picked up and signed at the time. Things have gone from
strength to strength since then. We have been lucky to tour with a
lot of good bands in the past and hope it continues.
|
| 7. Outside of business, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
|
Nick and I both belong to the same gym and enjoy going to live
football matches. The other guys live further away, so I see them
less often.
|
| 8. What are your views on the current rock music scene? Do you
think radio will ever embrace your style of music more? (It seems
only punk/nu metal get a look in on mainstream radio). Has the
Internet helped you gain exposure or been a hindrance (eg downloading
music, etc)? |
I think the fact that we were the only band in this style from the UK
for so long made it easier for us to stand out from the crowd.
English music has a sound of it's own in terms of both guitar sound
and production. The are some really good new power metal bands coming
through in the UK now, but still not so many prog metal. Radio comes
along sometimes and we received a lot of support in the mid 90s. The
internet has helped all bands from less mainstream musical styles. I
think there are less people downloading this type of music. The fans
generally seem to buy the package and the bands make it more
attractive to do so. We put a lot of effort into multimedia sections
of our new CDs, with CD-ROM videos and other enhanced elements.
|
| 9. What was the last thing you
read? |
Sound On Sound whilst on tour. This is a recording magazine. The last
book I read was Parklife by Nick Varley, which deals with the state
of British football by a writer who covered the Hillsborough disaster.
|
| 10. Message for your
fans... |
I hope they enjoy the new album. It was a tremendous amount of hard
work to make, but the band is please with the result.
|
