http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=291344
Long after the heyday of grunge, rock musicians strove for non-flashy simplicity in their arrangement and playing. Finally, in part thanks to video games, the ability to play has effectively become cool again.
"Guitar Hero and games like that have put shred guitar back on the map again," says Scott Huffman, a Mount Prospect resident who sings in progressive heavy metal band Mindwarp Chamber. "My son has to go to Powerfest, because even before he actually played guitar, he saw Zakk Wylde on Guitar Hero and started figuring out the Ozzy stuff."
Real-life guitar hero Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne's longtime six-stringer, headlines Chicago Powerfest 2009 on Friday, May 8, with his band Black Label Society. Mindwarp Chamber also performs at the seventh edition of the annual heavy metal festival, which continues Saturday.
This year's lineup mixes OzzFest veterans, talented locals and four European acts making their first live American appearances, as well as an adjacent stage hosting acoustic sets and live comedy.
Although Powerfest becomes more diverse every year, Mindwarp Chamber evinces the event's roots in the progressive/power metal scene, where titanic musicianship, powerful singing and strong melodies adorn the sonic aggression.
Huffman displays world-class vocals on Mindwarp Chamber's debut album, "Delusional Reality." He says he has no formal training aside from occasional tips found on the Internet.
"I was a professional drummer that was frustrated by not having any singers," Huffman recounts. "So, I started writing lyrics and singing myself." He went on to front bands including Syris, Spirit Web and Twelfth Gate before forming Mindwarp Chamber with keyboardist Ed Bethishou near the end of 2005.
From the start, Mindwarp Chamber intended to play progressive metal in the vein of Dream Theater, Symphony X and Evergrey, even though, as Huffman notes, "in Chicago, there's really not a big pool of progressive metal musicians to pick from." Thus, members came from eclectic backgrounds.
Bethishou previously played keyboards with Chicago shredder David Shankle. He was also in Imperial Rage with Mindwarp Chamber bassist Marc Malitz, who toured Australia in modern rock band Sam Joole and the Heart Attack. Drummer Paul Kilkenny hails from punk act Genral Patton & His Privates, while guitarist Mike Cerna previously played with bands such as Beyond Sovereignty and Third Choir.
Huffman writes the majority of the band's lyrics, subjects for which he says he never seems to lack. "I'm not a political person," says the vocalist. "I'm not affiliated with one party or the other. I just see the things that they do, and that makes me want to write. The world in general, war, evil, the triumphs of getting through things in life -
"I think all the songs are positive. Even if I write about a negative topic, it's done in a positive way, because I'm not about doom and gloom. By nature, I'm not a negative person. In metal, I like it to stay dark, yet have a positive message."
That sense of balance, a dynamic crucial to any progressive music, extends to the Mindwarp Chamber's songwriting. Their rhythms and structures are complex, but each tune contains melodic hooks often supplied by Huffman's dramatic pipes. He says that while composing new material, catchier parts have appeared when the band wasn't intentionally trying to be catchy.
"That's the best way, I think," Huffman says of the natural approach to ear-pleasing melodies. "Trying to sell a million discs and saying the right things that everyone's going to like, that's good for some people, but not for us."
Trying or not, progressive metal seems to go over better with audiences these days, considering the commercial favor afforded acts such as Opeth, Dream Theater, Meshuggah and Mastodon.
Huffman acknowledges progressive metal's greater accessibility, although that hasn't affected his taste for the music. He says, "I don't think there's any reason you can't have flash and a hook in a song."
As Mindwarp Chamber focuses on writing and recording a new album, that balance remains key. Although Huffman reveals a heavier influence from '70s progressive rock ("some flavorings of Yes, a touch of Uriah Heep"), he maintains, "we're not trying to show off. We haven't written one song yet that just goes off on wild tangents."
Looking forward to Powerfest as much as a fan as a performer, Huffman says the festival offers "some really nice treats this year." Aside from Black Label Society, he anticipates locals Novembers Doom and Sacred Dawn, who both perform acoustic sets.
Long after the heyday of grunge, rock musicians strove for non-flashy simplicity in their arrangement and playing. Finally, in part thanks to video games, the ability to play has effectively become cool again.
"Guitar Hero and games like that have put shred guitar back on the map again," says Scott Huffman, a Mount Prospect resident who sings in progressive heavy metal band Mindwarp Chamber. "My son has to go to Powerfest, because even before he actually played guitar, he saw Zakk Wylde on Guitar Hero and started figuring out the Ozzy stuff."
Real-life guitar hero Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne's longtime six-stringer, headlines Chicago Powerfest 2009 on Friday, May 8, with his band Black Label Society. Mindwarp Chamber also performs at the seventh edition of the annual heavy metal festival, which continues Saturday.
This year's lineup mixes OzzFest veterans, talented locals and four European acts making their first live American appearances, as well as an adjacent stage hosting acoustic sets and live comedy.
Although Powerfest becomes more diverse every year, Mindwarp Chamber evinces the event's roots in the progressive/power metal scene, where titanic musicianship, powerful singing and strong melodies adorn the sonic aggression.
Huffman displays world-class vocals on Mindwarp Chamber's debut album, "Delusional Reality." He says he has no formal training aside from occasional tips found on the Internet.
"I was a professional drummer that was frustrated by not having any singers," Huffman recounts. "So, I started writing lyrics and singing myself." He went on to front bands including Syris, Spirit Web and Twelfth Gate before forming Mindwarp Chamber with keyboardist Ed Bethishou near the end of 2005.
From the start, Mindwarp Chamber intended to play progressive metal in the vein of Dream Theater, Symphony X and Evergrey, even though, as Huffman notes, "in Chicago, there's really not a big pool of progressive metal musicians to pick from." Thus, members came from eclectic backgrounds.
Bethishou previously played keyboards with Chicago shredder David Shankle. He was also in Imperial Rage with Mindwarp Chamber bassist Marc Malitz, who toured Australia in modern rock band Sam Joole and the Heart Attack. Drummer Paul Kilkenny hails from punk act Genral Patton & His Privates, while guitarist Mike Cerna previously played with bands such as Beyond Sovereignty and Third Choir.
Huffman writes the majority of the band's lyrics, subjects for which he says he never seems to lack. "I'm not a political person," says the vocalist. "I'm not affiliated with one party or the other. I just see the things that they do, and that makes me want to write. The world in general, war, evil, the triumphs of getting through things in life -
"I think all the songs are positive. Even if I write about a negative topic, it's done in a positive way, because I'm not about doom and gloom. By nature, I'm not a negative person. In metal, I like it to stay dark, yet have a positive message."
That sense of balance, a dynamic crucial to any progressive music, extends to the Mindwarp Chamber's songwriting. Their rhythms and structures are complex, but each tune contains melodic hooks often supplied by Huffman's dramatic pipes. He says that while composing new material, catchier parts have appeared when the band wasn't intentionally trying to be catchy.
"That's the best way, I think," Huffman says of the natural approach to ear-pleasing melodies. "Trying to sell a million discs and saying the right things that everyone's going to like, that's good for some people, but not for us."
Trying or not, progressive metal seems to go over better with audiences these days, considering the commercial favor afforded acts such as Opeth, Dream Theater, Meshuggah and Mastodon.
Huffman acknowledges progressive metal's greater accessibility, although that hasn't affected his taste for the music. He says, "I don't think there's any reason you can't have flash and a hook in a song."
As Mindwarp Chamber focuses on writing and recording a new album, that balance remains key. Although Huffman reveals a heavier influence from '70s progressive rock ("some flavorings of Yes, a touch of Uriah Heep"), he maintains, "we're not trying to show off. We haven't written one song yet that just goes off on wild tangents."
Looking forward to Powerfest as much as a fan as a performer, Huffman says the festival offers "some really nice treats this year." Aside from Black Label Society, he anticipates locals Novembers Doom and Sacred Dawn, who both perform acoustic sets.
