Defender!

Okay, honestly, I like Bill's playing and all, but what is with his inability to stick to one project and see it through? I like Mike's vocals. They're not for everyone, but I absolutely love Cellador's first album. And Bruno Agra... he's a handsome fellow, wouldn't be out of place in an 80s rock band at all! Still, he's a fantastic drummer, and I'm desperate for news on Aquaria... why isn't he doing anything with them? He writes most of their music, as far as I know...

I'll check it out in a bit, regardless.

And Dom... regarding Cellador, I do believe there's a reverbnation page with a ton of new songs on it. As for who's playing... as far as I know it's just the one member, the drummer, remaining, and I think all the songs are just demos anyway. They're worth checking out, at least, if you're interested in Cellador's existence.
 
Heard, did not like. Too bad Gremio didn't stick with Cellador, thought he was awesome with them. As for the new Cellador material, I'm a fan! Been listening to "Honor Forth" a trillion times already. :headbang:
 
Just heard it... wow. Different vocal approach from mister "Gremio." Can't say I enjoy it... his voice reminds me a lot of Elvenking's Damnagoras, and it even sounds kind of like the new Elvenking album, which in turn sounds a lot like mainstream American "metal" (I use that term loosely)... like alternative rock. A Day To Remember, Three Days Grace, that kind of thing.

I'll probably give this a pass unfortunately, but it's good that they're doing something! Hope it lasts for them.
 
Thanks a lot for the post, Steve! You rule dude! Did you like the music?

To everybody else, thanks a lot for checking it out, whether or not you ended up liking it. It's just awesome to know that you guys actually took the time to listen to it! You can't imagine how thankful I am, as this is the first time in my life I'm actually promoting MY OWN band. :)

I saw the whole "Bill Hudson can't stick to a band" thing coming. At face value, that's really true. I also think the main reason that happens is because most of the bands I ever play with are at least halfway known. Most musicians go through many bands, but since nobody hears about most of them, they don't get the fame, hahaha. A lot of the bands people consider I was "in", really were just session jobs I did. It just so happens that in the rock/metal world, people actually wanna know who's playing, as opposed to other styles. I doubt anybody is calling Steve Lukather or Greg Howe bandwhores... Trust me, I do a lot more than it gets talked about on the press. I'm a full time musician and I hate the idea of having a job, so there :)

That said, I really did work with a lot of people. However, I hope DEFENDER is the definite band and I don't have to do any others. I believe that being in so many different situations, working with so many different musicians from different parts of the world helped me shape the vision of what I actually want out of my main musical project.

What I mean by that, is that throughout my career, I've had to "settle" for many things. You know when a situation is ALMOST perfect but you try to overlook the one aspect you dislike about it thinking it's not a big deal? Then it comes and bites you right in the ass and that's the very reason you end up leaving it? Well, I can tell you that it's ALWAYS been the case with me, and DEFENDER is certainly not.

Someone mentioned that we sound like Three Days Grace. On our bio, we actually mention TDG as one of our influences. Like I said, DEFENDER is exactly what we've always wanted to do, without any compromise whatsoever. Everybody in the band is a big fan of modern American rock, and we just decided to fuse that with the metal stuff we also listen to. Despite the fact that the person didn't like the result, it shows that we accomplished what we attempted to do. Gotta give us credit for that, come on :)

As for the person who mentioned AQUARIA, I'm really surprised and glad to hear it. I was actually IN the band back in 2005 when I still lived in Brazil (there, yet ANOTHER band to be added to the list :p). This is how me and Bruno became friends and realized we HAD to work together. Which also happened with mr. Gremio. Back in the CELLADOR days we had huge issues, it even became personal at one point. The fact, though...is that we never found in any other musicians the chemistry we had. After him, I worked with just about every "melodic" singer in America, and some from Europe. Not one of them worked as well with me, and he'll tell you the same about me. I quit CELLADOR in January 2008, which was 3 years ago. We were super young and inexperienced, and this time apart has helped us grow and realize what we had to do. The situation is VERY similar with Bruno as well. Our relationship after AQUARIA wasn't the best. We didn't hate each other or anything, but we barely talked.

My last project was very similar to DEFENDER, in fact, some of the music I had was actually used for these recordings. The problem is, again, I had to overlook certain aspects related to the way the band looked and acted in order to be in it. Those ended up being the reasons I gave up on it (and music altogether), going back to Brazil and not wanting to see a guitar for 8 months. Until one day I was having a talk with my parents about how I was getting close to be 30 years old and my life had no direction, since I spent over half of it doing music, before giving up.

My dad has always been a big supporter, but not very talkative. He always wanted to see RESULTS, and anytime I had SOME results to show, I'd give up... but this ONE day he told me:

"You can't give up yet. You were born to do this. You just haven't found YOUR band yet." And that was true. Ever since I quit my first band (at 13, mind you) my dad told me "you can't work for anybody. You need your own band". Took me another 10+ years to realize he was right... so I came back and put DEFENDER together with the people I consider to be the perfect matches for what I want to do.

So yeah...give me this last chance to prove to you guys I'm not a bandwhore haha. Don't expect the band to fail, but rather hope for it not to :)
If you can, listen to it a couple more times, maybe your opinion will change :)
Oh, and of course...time to plug the band haha:

ADD US:
http://www.facebook.com/defenderofficial
http://www.youtube.com/defenderww3
http://www.twitter.com/defenderww3
http://www.myspace.com/officialdefender (not ready yet)

Thanks for reading guys (I know this was long and boring haha).
Take care,
Bill Hudson
Bandwhore
 
Hey, Bill, longtime no see! I hope I didn't come off rude talking about the band thing.. in all honesty, I think you're a fantastic player, and I'm just frustrated that you haven't made it huge yet!

I'm really glad to see you doing something you love and not compromising anything. Glad to hear you and Bruno and Mike are all in good spirits too. Take it easy, man!
 
I know, FML hahaha.

You didn't come out rude at all... I just wanted to clarify that.
And you know what's worse than seeing Bill Hudson not make it huge?

BEING Bill Hudson and not making it huge hahahaha! Thanks for the opinion though!

Take care,
Bill
 
Hey Bill

I kinda figured some of the people around this board might not be that keen on Defender but, as a former PQ colleague and more importantly as a friend, I wanted to spread the word of what you are up musically. Big believer in that philosophy!

I'll give you my thoughts "off forum" when I've had a bit more time to form a considered opinion I reckon.

Very interesting what you say about your Dad......mine is very similar. These days I get..."you've been doing this for 10 years but you're still not famous" LOL!

And as for getting close to 30 years old......haha....I vaguely remember those days!
 
Side note: Bill, if you read this... if you have any news at all on Aquaria, please let me know. Or at least tell Bruno to give an update on the band! I'm dying over here :cry:
 
Bill,

First of all, mad props for coming here and laying down the law! I think that is one of the key ingredients in maintaining a succsessful band, interaction with the fans. Just look at Steve and the way he goes about it. I also want to say that I stick by my initial comment about not really falling for the samples. HOWEVER, that might very well change come the opportunity to hear some more material. I think you are a very good shredder, and like I said, I enjoy Mike's voice immensely. Too bad thinks haven't worked out in the past, but you always learn, don't you? As I have no experience regarding being in a band I can't really give you any advice on that, but from a fan perspective, being there, updating, interacting with the fans, it's all crucial. The rest will come. You have the chops, and the other guys do as well. I wish you the best of luck!

And I second 1928's request for news re Aquaria. Sorry to be talking about another band entirely here, but we take all the chances we get to get to the info. ;)
 
I'll see if I can get Bruno's ass to come here and talk about it, since it's HIS band, really.

However, what I can tell you guys for a fact is this:
He's no longer in the band, and hasn't been since 06 or so, when he moved to London. Now he's moving here to L.A so we can be a full time band.

They got a new drummer and played ONE show since he quit. Leandro, the original guitarist, who was now band in the band, unfortunately died 2 months ago :( He was a great dude...

Everybody else is doing something other than AQUARIA, so MY personal guess is that they are done. But you never know...

I think Luxaeterna is one of the best power metal albums ever made, and the only reason it never got them big was because they're based in Brazil. I didn't care much for Shambala honestly... but Bruno and the guys know that.

So yeah, that's all I know...hopefully I'll get Bruno to come here and talk himself, when he's done watching porn haha
 
WHAT :cry:

Thanks for the update Bill... had no idea. So sorry to hear what they've gone through, may he RIP...
 
So yeah...give me this last chance to prove to you guys I'm not a bandwhore haha. Don't expect the band to fail, but rather hope for it not to :)
If you can, listen to it a couple more times, maybe your opinion will change :)
Oh, and of course...time to plug the band haha:

ADD US:
http://www.facebook.com/defenderofficial
http://www.youtube.com/defenderww3
http://www.twitter.com/defenderww3
http://www.myspace.com/officialdefender (not ready yet)

Thanks for reading guys (I know this was long and boring haha).
Take care,
Bill Hudson
Bandwhore
Don't worry Bill, you haven't made it to Tolkki status yet as a drifter. :D

Btw, not to bring up old stuff, but what ever happened to that other band that you said was "the band" some time ago, Written In Blood? I'm only curious, not that I cared for them or am trying to stir the pot, I just recall reading something about them some time ago and you seemed pretty hyped about it.

Though I've never really gotten into any of the bands you have been a part of aside from Power Quest for which I was already a fan, I give you alot of respect for doing what you do and not giving up. :)
 
Hey, Bill, thanks a lot for the update on stuff. I'm a big fan of "Enter Deception" and one of the very few people lucky enough to have ever seen Cellador live (when you supported Sonata Arctica back in 2007 in Chicago.) I've been trying to keep tabs on what the band's various people, particularly you and Gremio, have been doing since, but, as you admitted, it's hard to keep track. (For instance, Mikey's, what, two-month stint with White Wizzard?)

I won't lie, I agree with 1928; what you showed us of Defender sounds a lot like the mainstream American hard rock that I always found Cellador such a refreshing break from... with a lot more of the Avenged Sevenfold and Three Days Grace than the Helloween and Iron Maiden. And while I have no doubt you're doing this because it's the music you want to play, I'd definitely prepare for charges of "selling out" along with "bandwhore." But I will definitely give you guys the benefit of the doubt. I imagine you can't resist a fleet-fingered power-metal solo for THAT long, anyway. :Spin:

And thanks for the news about Aquaria, even though it's sad. I suppose it's time to "let the show end..."

It's really nice to have someone who actually lets fans know what's going on... as opposed to a certain Mr. Petersen, whose band website was last updated in 2008 and who has only posted a single new song on his MySpace without details or explanation. :bah:

So yeah. Keep us posted man, and keep rocking as you wish to rock. \m/ Good luck to Defender, and may your shirts soon grace many a Hot Topic. :p
 
@Shredgirl, I expected that one, since I did say that about Written In Blood so no sweat there (just keep it to yourself) haha.

The music we used in DEFENDER (aside from 2 of the new ones) is what I had written for those guys. Like I said in my lengthy message up there, there are certain aspects of this or that situation that I always overlooked and that was the problem. Particularly in THAT situation, it was just too big a difference in personality and goals. I still think JD (WIB singer) is one of the best in the business currently. Not to go into details, but it just wasn't a match as far as personality and experience go. I also think that's the reason nobody knows who he is.
For a minute I thought they were the "IT" band, mainly because as soon as I started working with them, I kinda went straight to a leadership position and had an amazing singer.

So think of DEFENDER as Written In Blood, with experienced musicians and better chemistry :)

@RedFox742: You hit the nail right in the head. There's A LOT of elements of metal in DEFENDER. In fact, I think of us as a METAL band, rather than a ROCK band. We're just heavily influenced by modern rock, since that's all we listen to. No offense to the fans, but there's only so much Power Metal I can listen to, and I can safely say that not much in that style has interested me past the year 2000 or so. When it comes to Power Metal, I'm a Helloween/Gamma Ray/Blind Guardian/Stratovarius fan. Not much outside of that interests me. I never even got into Edguy, which is an old enough band, but still derivative of those 4 to me.

As for Chris Petersen... I tried all I could to help the guy. Everybody did. He definitely has a very particular way to handle things, and this is why he doesn't have any of the original members in the band anymore. Last I talked to him, he had some good material (which is available on Reverbnation) and doing all the vocals himself. In my opinion, Chris' main problem is the fact that he wants everybody to live within walking distance of his house. Not really, but he DOES want everybody to be in the same city, and that not always works. That IS the case in DEFENDER, but everybody needed to relocate here to Los Angeles in order to make it happen.

Oh and a PS...Mikey was never in WHITE WIZZARD. It was a "trial" period or whatever...but really he just did one show with them. Personally, I believe it was just the way the universe found to bring us back together, as we started writing for DEFENDER during his stay in Los Angeles to rehearse with them for Download Fest. He stayed at my house the entire trip and we wrote lyrics for "TEN THOUSAND VOICES", which initially was a song I wrote for WIB.

We'll start posting full length tracks soon... so hopefully you guys will dig it. If you don't, well we can still chat here :)

Bill
 
No offense to the fans, but there's only so much Power Metal I can listen to, and I can safely say that not much in that style has interested me past the year 2000 or so. When it comes to Power Metal, I'm a Helloween/Gamma Ray/Blind Guardian/Stratovarius fan. Not much outside of that interests me. I never even got into Edguy, which is an old enough band, but still derivative of those 4 to me.

The ironic thing about this is that I felt Cellador was one of the most exciting things to happen to power metal in a while. Edguy, Sonata Arctica and Kamelot were the last bands to really go big, back around 2000; in the new millennium, it seems like a new power-metal band can only really break out if they have some type of unique gimmick (DragonForce's wheedly superspeed, Alestorm's pirate growl, etc). But "Enter Deception" made a real splash doing things straightforward, just with a lot of skill and catchiness (and from, of all places, Nebraska!), it was still extremely well-deserved all on its own merits. So, as a devotee of the genre who always wants to see it gain more widespread acceptance, especially in the USA, it pained me to see the best thing to happen to it in a long time collapse! (Or, mostly collapse. That new stuff isn't bad at all. If that's actually Chris singing, he has an excellent voice.)

While I don't tire of the basic power-metal formula (I run on epicness! :p), I can see how others might. I do, however, tire of the staple chuggy New Wave of American Heavy Metal/American alt-rock/alt-metal formula. So what intrigues me about this project, Defender, is the potential to meld two incredibly different heavy metal styles and perhaps create something entirely new. Mikey has one hell of an upper register, and I hope we get to hear it used; similarly, you, Bill, have some terrific shred fingers, and I hope we don't lose that, either. Your basic American metal band wouldn't use those things; maybe an American metal band founded by ex-power-metal guys will.

A band that does chug, does wheedly, and does everything in between? That can do clean vocals in both a low roar and a high-pitched howl? I'd definitely be interested in seeing how that all plays out. Keep us posted. And yeah, even if we hate it, we'll still be starstruck when they play it in a Michael Bay movie and we're all like "I KNEW THOSE GUYS BEFORE YOU DID." :Spin: