It's 11:14AM on Monday and I'm sitting here in MN (USA) completely hungover (actually I'm still kinda drunk!) after a wild sunday night at the bars in uptown Minneapolis. SO I figured it was the perfect time to sort of introduce myself to all the POWER QUEST fans out there. 
First of all, it's a true honor to be writing all of you as a member of the amazing band POWER QUEST is.
Second, I want to let you know that all the questions you post here, e-mail or myspace me (myspace.com/billhudsongtr) will be answered on video! I'm working on that and once I'm back from the "Fresh Meat Tour", on which I'm filling in on guitar for EPICUREAN (awesome newcoming band on Metal Blade Records.
myspace.com/epicurean) I'll post the answers online.
Let me tell you about how the thing with PQ happened more in depth. Why would I do this here not in the press? Well, I feel that people looking for metal news are not interested in the quotes the artists have, so those of you who want to see it here can, and the ones who get bored can just avoid it, haha! So, if you don't feel like reading a lot of stuff, stop now! There's still time hahaha!
It's hard to talk about being in POWER QUEST without mentioning my past band, Cellador. I believe everything in life happens for a reason and in the end everything is connected. In early 2005 I had just turned 22, was living in Brazil at my parents' house with a Russian girlfriend I had met in the US and all I could think about was getting the fuck out of there! My visa to the US had expired (for those who don't know, Brazilians need a very-hard-to-get visa to enter the US and it expires in 6 months) and I was in a real bad state of depression.
During that time, my good friend Cede Dupont quit his band, FREEDOM CALL and I thought it was my chance. I even remember saying "how ironic...the band that's getting me out of this depression is called FREEDOM CALL haha". Things didn't work out, as they were looking for a German, and I got real pissed about that hahaha! Today I realize that joining FC would've been a mistake, but at that time I really didn't care and would take whatever I could.
I ended up joining an awesome Brazilian band called AQUARIA, but that didn't go very well either, as they would get pissed at me for ranting about Brazil. When I was in Rio rehearsing with them, I met these guys from NEBRASKA, which I thought was really odd. I mean, I never thought I'd meet anyone from that state, let alone in BRAZIL, haha! I remember asking "why in the fuck are you here anyway?" and they were doing a school project or whatever. The way people treated those guys for being from the USA made me realize Brazilians definitely don't appreciate their own people, and for some reason I kept thinking about NE for a while.
See how things connect? AQUARIA is on the same label as PQ in Japan, and Cellador is based in NE, a state I would live for 2 and a half years!
So after all that, I came across Cellador on the internet. I was really surprised to hear a band sounding like that in the US, I didn't realize Americans KNEW what the style was. They were looking for a guitarist, so I auditioned and got the job. In about 2 weeks my entire life changed. I moved to Nebraska and started rehearsing with them. I didn't have a place to live and couldn't rent one (didn't have the documents 'cuz I was a foreigner) so I ended up living with their singer, Michael Gremio.
One day he had to go somewhere and his instant messenger was on. I sat on the computer and got a message from someone. I replied "sorry, this isn't Mike". That person decided to chat with me for whatever reason, and it was Mr. Steve Williams!
I wasn't familiar with PQ's music, but I had heard the Cellador guys talking about them a lot, so I went to check out what they had online and loved it! I added Steve to my own I.M and we started talking more and more.
What most people don't know is how big of a role Steve played on my career. One day I was really pissed during Cellador's recordings. The fact that all their songs were so fast and sounded basically the same really annoyed me, and I told Steve I wasn't digging the way the album was turning out. He told me "I agree mate, gotta have light and shade".
That sentence was so strong, that for the 2nd Cellador album (which never came out) I wrote all the songs but one and they were the opposite of the first. So, we went ahead and decided to name it "Light And Shade".
By the way, Steve and I already talked about it, and some of those songs will actually be used by POWER QUEST on the next record! So if you heard the demo previews Cellador posted about a year ago, you may recognize some of those tunes (of course they'll be 'awesomed up' by PQ!).
So, we talked about working together somehow a lot! I even remember sitting down and writing a couple of riffs, but I was so busy writing for Cellador that I never really finished it. The closest we've ever gotten really was a "swap" of guest appearances. I did a guest solo for PQ and Steve was gonna do one for Cellador. Of course the later part never happened because there was no album, haha.
During my last trip to Brazil, I was talking to my mom about how frustrated I was. I got to play 3 full blown US/Canada/Mexico tours and Japan in front of 20k people, yet I never played in Europe, but I really wanted to go there. So she said "well quit being stupid, buy a god damn plane ticket and go to Europe!". My mom is always right (aren't they all?) so I decided to do just that. I then e-mailed Steve and said I was going, to what he responded saying they were planning a tour! I replied "just tell me when it is, I'll go during that time and hang out with you guys!". His response was "well if you do come here, we gotta get you onstage!".
So...what was the next step? EXACTLY! JOINING POWER QUEST FULL TIME!
I don't have any "new" guitar idols. Of course there are good players out there, but nobody I can call an idol. My idols are either FROM the 80's or STARTED in the 80's. I think real highly about myself, and the other guy that in my opinion is miles ahead of everybody else is Mr. Andrea Martongelli! If I could choose ANY guitar player in the world right now to be on a duo with me, that would be him.
Like I said, there are good players, but it's almost like they NEED to play fast in order to be "cool", whereas Andrea (like myself) uses speed as a TOOL. Then, the other guys, the ones who DON'T play fast, it's simply because they can't.
So I'm really happy have Andrea as my guitar partner. This has got to be the most exciting thing of my career so far.
I hope you all welcome me as much as the band did, and I truly, truly look forward to meeting each and every one of you on tour! Please, add me to your myspace: http://www.myspace.com/billhudsongtr and hit me up anytime. I may take a while to answer (you have no idea how many messages I get a day) but I WILL answer!
Rock on and take care my friends,
Bill Hudson
First of all, it's a true honor to be writing all of you as a member of the amazing band POWER QUEST is.
Second, I want to let you know that all the questions you post here, e-mail or myspace me (myspace.com/billhudsongtr) will be answered on video! I'm working on that and once I'm back from the "Fresh Meat Tour", on which I'm filling in on guitar for EPICUREAN (awesome newcoming band on Metal Blade Records.
myspace.com/epicurean) I'll post the answers online.
Let me tell you about how the thing with PQ happened more in depth. Why would I do this here not in the press? Well, I feel that people looking for metal news are not interested in the quotes the artists have, so those of you who want to see it here can, and the ones who get bored can just avoid it, haha! So, if you don't feel like reading a lot of stuff, stop now! There's still time hahaha!
It's hard to talk about being in POWER QUEST without mentioning my past band, Cellador. I believe everything in life happens for a reason and in the end everything is connected. In early 2005 I had just turned 22, was living in Brazil at my parents' house with a Russian girlfriend I had met in the US and all I could think about was getting the fuck out of there! My visa to the US had expired (for those who don't know, Brazilians need a very-hard-to-get visa to enter the US and it expires in 6 months) and I was in a real bad state of depression.
During that time, my good friend Cede Dupont quit his band, FREEDOM CALL and I thought it was my chance. I even remember saying "how ironic...the band that's getting me out of this depression is called FREEDOM CALL haha". Things didn't work out, as they were looking for a German, and I got real pissed about that hahaha! Today I realize that joining FC would've been a mistake, but at that time I really didn't care and would take whatever I could.
I ended up joining an awesome Brazilian band called AQUARIA, but that didn't go very well either, as they would get pissed at me for ranting about Brazil. When I was in Rio rehearsing with them, I met these guys from NEBRASKA, which I thought was really odd. I mean, I never thought I'd meet anyone from that state, let alone in BRAZIL, haha! I remember asking "why in the fuck are you here anyway?" and they were doing a school project or whatever. The way people treated those guys for being from the USA made me realize Brazilians definitely don't appreciate their own people, and for some reason I kept thinking about NE for a while.
See how things connect? AQUARIA is on the same label as PQ in Japan, and Cellador is based in NE, a state I would live for 2 and a half years!
So after all that, I came across Cellador on the internet. I was really surprised to hear a band sounding like that in the US, I didn't realize Americans KNEW what the style was. They were looking for a guitarist, so I auditioned and got the job. In about 2 weeks my entire life changed. I moved to Nebraska and started rehearsing with them. I didn't have a place to live and couldn't rent one (didn't have the documents 'cuz I was a foreigner) so I ended up living with their singer, Michael Gremio.
One day he had to go somewhere and his instant messenger was on. I sat on the computer and got a message from someone. I replied "sorry, this isn't Mike". That person decided to chat with me for whatever reason, and it was Mr. Steve Williams!
I wasn't familiar with PQ's music, but I had heard the Cellador guys talking about them a lot, so I went to check out what they had online and loved it! I added Steve to my own I.M and we started talking more and more.
What most people don't know is how big of a role Steve played on my career. One day I was really pissed during Cellador's recordings. The fact that all their songs were so fast and sounded basically the same really annoyed me, and I told Steve I wasn't digging the way the album was turning out. He told me "I agree mate, gotta have light and shade".
That sentence was so strong, that for the 2nd Cellador album (which never came out) I wrote all the songs but one and they were the opposite of the first. So, we went ahead and decided to name it "Light And Shade".
By the way, Steve and I already talked about it, and some of those songs will actually be used by POWER QUEST on the next record! So if you heard the demo previews Cellador posted about a year ago, you may recognize some of those tunes (of course they'll be 'awesomed up' by PQ!).
So, we talked about working together somehow a lot! I even remember sitting down and writing a couple of riffs, but I was so busy writing for Cellador that I never really finished it. The closest we've ever gotten really was a "swap" of guest appearances. I did a guest solo for PQ and Steve was gonna do one for Cellador. Of course the later part never happened because there was no album, haha.
During my last trip to Brazil, I was talking to my mom about how frustrated I was. I got to play 3 full blown US/Canada/Mexico tours and Japan in front of 20k people, yet I never played in Europe, but I really wanted to go there. So she said "well quit being stupid, buy a god damn plane ticket and go to Europe!". My mom is always right (aren't they all?) so I decided to do just that. I then e-mailed Steve and said I was going, to what he responded saying they were planning a tour! I replied "just tell me when it is, I'll go during that time and hang out with you guys!". His response was "well if you do come here, we gotta get you onstage!".
So...what was the next step? EXACTLY! JOINING POWER QUEST FULL TIME!
I don't have any "new" guitar idols. Of course there are good players out there, but nobody I can call an idol. My idols are either FROM the 80's or STARTED in the 80's. I think real highly about myself, and the other guy that in my opinion is miles ahead of everybody else is Mr. Andrea Martongelli! If I could choose ANY guitar player in the world right now to be on a duo with me, that would be him.
Like I said, there are good players, but it's almost like they NEED to play fast in order to be "cool", whereas Andrea (like myself) uses speed as a TOOL. Then, the other guys, the ones who DON'T play fast, it's simply because they can't.
So I'm really happy have Andrea as my guitar partner. This has got to be the most exciting thing of my career so far.
I hope you all welcome me as much as the band did, and I truly, truly look forward to meeting each and every one of you on tour! Please, add me to your myspace: http://www.myspace.com/billhudsongtr and hit me up anytime. I may take a while to answer (you have no idea how many messages I get a day) but I WILL answer!
Rock on and take care my friends,
Bill Hudson
