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Soaking in the Metal
-- Posted by The_Duke
on Saturday, September 19 2004
Howdy,
To
those of you who are checking in for the first time,
I welcome you to my cozy little commentary section of
The Duke site. To the rest of you who regularly stop
by to check in, thank you and welcome back.
On
Thursday of this week, my bro. Ed Aborn drove up from
Tampa for the ProgPower
metal festival. Thankfully, he made it into town just
before the high winds and rain from Hurricane Ivan hit
the Atlanta area. If you read my comments from last
week you'll see a pattern here with us driving through
hurricanes. Anyway, for the last three years he has
been coming up for this three-day event held here in
my home town of Atlanta. The first year that Ed came
up for ProgPower, he offered me an extra ticket that
he had for the musical flashback to 1986 and I gladly
accepted to have a chance to hang with my bud. In general,
I had not liked most of the power metal bands that Mojo
had played European festivals with back in the late
nineties. Whether you love or hate power/progressive
metal music please understand that my opinions on the
genre were not based on whether I thought they were
or were not "good,” the style just wasn't
my thing. So, I was going in with low expectations and
even dreading the thought of having to sit through three
days of "How are we Fucking doing Atlanta?"
It turns out that I was pleasantly surprised at how
many of the bands I really enjoyed and thought were
cool. A couple of the bands even whipped my ass. So,
now I look forward to Ed's annual pilgrimage and for
the chance to be inspired by some new music.
Last
year Symphony X kicked my ass and their singer is now
one of my favorites. Also Pagan's Mind blew me away.
This year was no different in that I was completely
blown away by John Oliva's Pain. This is the new project
from performer, producer and writer John Oliva of Savatage
and Trans Siberian Orchestra fame.
Even
before the show began, from behind the stage curtain,
John was playing polka music on piano and telling jokes
to the crowd. Then he said over the mic, "come
on I'm tired of looking at this curtain, let's rock!”
I was already feeling this guy’s vibe as completely
over the top, honest and ultra inclusive to the audience.
When the curtain was pulled back, it revealed a band
fronted by a really large man sitting behind a mic and
an electric piano. Then for the next hour he commenced
to whippin' my ass!
I
have to say that his show hit me even harder than the
Sabbath show that I had seen two weeks earlier. Oliva
was an amazing performer and had every eye in the crowd
glued to him from start to finish. To me, his song-writing
seem to perfectly blend sprinkles of Pink Floyd, Super
Tramp, Black Sabbath and Meatloaf into a masterpiece
that has me completely inspired. So much so that I am
going to aggressively seek him out in the hopes of hiring
him to do production work on some of my new stuff. During
the set, he announced that the band's record would be
out in late October. I'll be purchasing the first copy.
I
also saw a band named Brainstorm that I thought was
really good. Their singer was a killer front-man with
a great voice. He seemed so genuinely thankful for the
great response that they were getting. I think his honest
appreciation for the audience's enthusiasm, strengthened
the connection between the band and the crowd ten fold
and made for one of the festival's best performances.
That leads me to the last night’s headliner, Edguy.
My buddy Ed had played me their new CD. earlier that
day and I was excited to see them because I thought
that it was really good.
For
those who have never heard them, they are a German band
who I think would have been huge in America during the
eighties. To me, they come across with a modern approach
to old school riffs with a singer influenced by the
likes of Geoff Tate and Bruce Dickinson. Great singer,
great players and great songs. Unfortunately, I was
disappointed by their set. It wasn't the performance,
it was the between song raps from the singer that hurt
the show for me. I bring this up only because this has
become one of my biggest complaints about a lot of bands
that I have seen over the years.
Please
remember, this is only MY opinion and if you are reading
this section of the site, then it's MY opinion that
you are looking for. Throughout most of the show he
repeatedly asked the crowd, "What's the matter,
are you tired?" At one point he went as far as
saying, "Hey we're tired too. We spent a lot of
time stuck in an airport because of hurricane Ivan and
we're still up here working our ass off." Then
he commented that, he heard that metal music in the
states was dead. I was thinking to myself, the kind
you play is. We loved it in the eighties and, as American's
do with many things (good or bad), we just got tired
of it and went looking for something new.
My
point is that in the heat of the show I would have supported
his rant about metal being dead, but he had already
turned me off by crying that the audience wasn't living
up to HIS EXPECTATIONS. Trust me, I have played many
gigs where I thought that we were on fire and for the
life of me couldn't figure out why the crowd was so
dead. That mindset is what the problem is. Too many
bands have an expectation of the audience and a mindset
that they are deserving of a crowd that meets those
expectations. To me this couldn't be more wrong. People
pay money to see you play and it's up to them how they
want to react.
Unfortunately,
our little musician ego's are so easily bruised if they
don't get the stroking that they expect. So that's when
the "Come on, wake the fuck up" bullshit starts.
At the end of Edguy's set the singer said, "Wow,
we're finishing up our set and now you guys start getting
into it.” Why are you complaining? You've been
begging the crowd all night to scream louder, "I
can't hear you in the back, is that all you got?"
Now you're saying that you find it ironic that the crowd
doesn't get into it until the end? Whatever. I'm still
a fan of the band's music, I just hope that the singer
grows out of the trap that most of us musicians fall
in.
As
for the rest of the weekend, Ed and myself met Frank
(Bud) Fontsere' (drummer to the semi-famous) and Shawn
Grove (engineer to the stars) at Brannon Productions
studio in Atlanta. Our goal was to film some more interview
footage and to do some commentary tracks for the Mojo
DVD. We had some technical issues and couldn't do the
commentaries, but the interviews turned out great. We're
about 80% finished with the DVD and it's looking awesome.
One more trip down to Florida and I think we'll have
it wrapped up. As a side note, I have been writing a
detailed history of Stuck Mojo for the DVD. I mean,
it's like a book, very detailed and obviously it takes
a lot of time to write eleven years of history. Well,
I went to work on it today and I can't find it on my
computer's hard drive. My best guess is that it's gone.
How? I have no idea. Ed went back to Tampa today so
when he gets home he's going to try to help me find
it. Everyone cross your fingers for me. If I can't find
it, then I have to find a positive way to look at it.
OK, I got one. Spending more time on it gives me an
opportunity to become a better typist! Good Lord, being
positive can suck.
During
the last couple of weeks I've been working on some new
songs. I've finished one entitled "All" and
have almost completed three others. One of the tunes
may be too heavy for The Duke project, but I'll hold
judgment until it's finished.
As
for Ryan's guitar spot that is now vacant in The Duke
project, we are auditioning guitarists over the next
couple of months. I'll keep you posted if anyone looks
promising.
From the bottom of my heart, I am truly honored and
inspired by your feedback and support. I will be forever
grateful to all of you for granting me the opportunity
to do what it is that I love for a living.
Respectfully,
Rich Ward
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