Interview with Mike Tirelli
Holy Mother has been around since 1994, founded by Mike Tirelli(Messiah's Kiss, ex-Burning Starr), Randy Coven(ex-Malmsteen) and Jim Harris (ex-Dirty Looks). Musicians came and went away, but Mike has kept this band going and nine years after the foundation the fifth studio album, Agoraphobia has been released. This time Mike teamed up with Randy and drummer Franck Gilchriest(Virgin Steele) to make a dynamic, ass-kicking power metal album. No, they won't rock the music industry but they surely will please the fans of fine power metal, though their long time fans will notice, it differs a bit from what they have been doing before. I talked to the founder, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, Mike Tirelli and here is what he had to say about Agoraphobia and about Holy Mother
Among the fans of American power metal I'm sure the name, Holy Mother is quite known but since 2003 is not the year of power metal, firstly I asked Mike to tell a bit of the history of the band and about how have they spent the three years that passed between their two latest release. "Holy Mother has been around since 1994. We are a band who really never stuck to certain guidelines. The music is now different on this CD then the others. It is a mixture of traditional and modern metal - influenced by the 70's, 80's, and what's happening now. I am the founder and original member still in the band. Randy Coven was also in the band, but only played five songs on Agoraphobia - he's not in the band for live shows.
Holy Mother was always loved by critics and the press, but was not able to get to the next level of "success" where the band should have been because of the record label we were on. It was a small independent label. The band enjoyed a lot of success when we unleashed Toxic Rain in 1998, and went on to play at the Wacken Festival that same year. But, again, because of the lack of support from the label, we were unable to tour and support the CD. In 1999, we released Criminal After Life and in 2000, we released My World War. Those records were also loved by the critics and the press, but never rose to the "superstar" level they deserved.
Finally after My World War, Holy Mother was finished with the control with the label, so it was time for me to go out and get a real "heavy weight" record label. That's when I was discovered by Rainel Hansel of Cultural Minority - that led to my signing with SPV SteamHammer. I then started recording and writing. I did pre-production with drummer John Macoluso and Randy Coven. They were both playing with Malmstein at the time. In the middle of recording, I received a phone call from the band Messiah's Kiss, a local band from Dinslaken, Germany. They were fans of Holy Mother and they asked me to listen to their CD demo, and asked if I would be interested in doing vocals. At first, I rejected the offer because I was too busy with Holy Mother. After listening to their music, I thought to myself that this could be a stepping stone to my career. Once I finished most of the recordings on Agoraphobia, I then recorded Messiah's Kiss. I showed the Messiah's Kiss CD to my label SPV, and they loved it. The CD came out and I toured Europe for two months, and at the end of the tour I finally finished the mixes for Holy Mother."
Agoraphobia has been out since the end of July but somehow I haven't read many articles about it. I wondered if Mike has gotten any feedback. "So far the responses to the CD have been all right. There have been some critics who expected it to sound more like traditional metal as opposed to modern and traditional. I played most of the rhythm guitar on the CD, and the stylistic playing of Frank Gilchriest on the drums. Frank played exactly like John Macaluso did on the pre-production, but more powerful. I would say with Agoraphobia the style reaches people who like traditional Metal, and even to the modern sounding bands like Tool, Disturbed and Ramstein. But of course I sing like the traditional singers like Halford, Dio, Coverdale and Maiden. My main influences go back to Priest, Dio, Maiden, Whitesnake, Queensryche, including Sevendust, Tool and Disturbed.
Well, the difference between Agoraphobia and the previous CD's are the guitar sounds and playing style. I played most of the guitars on the CD, and with the new drummer Frank Gilchriest of Virgin Steele, the CD enters into a new musical realm. It's powerful, more progressive, and the lyrics have a concept meaning."
Beside the music itself, the lyrics are always an important part of an album to me. With my favorite bands the music and the lyrics 'go hand in hand', complementing each other. Mike himself started to talk about it when he mentioned 'the lyrics have a concept meaning' so it was obvious I wanted to know more about why did he chose an album title that means: 'the extreme or irrational fear of open or public places'. "Agoraphobia means fear of leaving your home. Fear, meaning anxiety, panic attacks and nervousness. The reason for using Agoraphobia is because I know someone with this disorder. I have also been reading books about the topic and found it very intriguing and thought it would be very interesting to write about. I choose topics which I am inspired to write about at that time in my life - wherever I'm living, what I'm feeling at the time, a book I'm reading or movies I've watched."
I also asked him to give us a little explanation about every song:
"Success - what drives me to the next level for Holy Mother
Modern Day God - about a Catholic priest living in sin
Heaven's Door - deals with outer body experience - near death
Agoraphobia - fear of leaving home
Hungry for Exxstacy - sex, lust, hanging out in go-go bars
Society Anxiety - the anxiety of war, religion, and non trust
Skitzo - in love with a schizophrenic woman
Nympho - being in love with that same schizophrenic girl who also loves sex
Sheer Erotica - written about Michael Hutchins of INXS - what the press said about his death."
Beside the music and the lyrics, the layout of the album is also important. I know it's not the most important thing in the first place but it does catch your attention and ultimately it may make you buy an album if you don't know the band. I always like to find out if the cover picture of an album is connected to one specific song or tries to reflect the whole concept of it or is it just a cool picture. Here is the answer for the case of Agoraphobia: "It's not 100% connected to the songs - the monster on the cover trapped inside a crystal ball and he finally breaks out. We wanted to stick to the same concept of the previous album covers, mainly for the fans who bought other Holy Mother CD's in the past. The artist is Eric Phillepe."
The ninth song on the album is a Black Sabbath cover and honestly, musically it stuck out from Agoraphobia. I know through the years they made several cover songs and performed on different tribute albums (Billy Idol, Dio, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Queensrcyhe) but I still couldn't find out how 'Never Say Die' has been added to Agoraphobia. Mike explained it concisely: "Basically, I chose Never Say Die for the CD because it stands for the band's mantra, which is 'never say die.'"
I used to be very skeptical about cover songs and tribute albums till I first listened to 'Graveyard Classics' by Six Feet Under. While many find that album boring, I really enjoyed the unusual versions of the songs they played. Knowing the vocal abilities of Mike and also knowing some of the cover songs he sang on I would be really glad to owning such a tribute album made by him. But seems it won't happen in the near future: "I thought about it but never had the time. What I also do in my free time is play in a Dio tribute band called Sacred Heart, here on Long Island, New York. The people love it. "
The album was recorded at Mike's own MJT studios in Long Island, New York and at Karo Studios in Brackel, Germany. So we turned back to Agoraphobia and talked about the studio works and the guest musicians who contributed to the album. "I recorded just about all the guitars, bass and vocals in my own studio, but I recorded the drums and did all the mixing in Brakel, Germany. The CD was mixed on Sound Scape and Pro-Tools. I use Schecter and Jackson guitars. I also use Digitech Whammy pedals for the intense Pantera-like guitar screams.
John Macoluso only played on the pre-production, which laid the groundwork for Frank Gilchriest to follow. Herman Frank played lead solos on 'Modern Day God' and 'Never Say Die'. Also, a bass player by the name of Wayne Banks played on 'Modern ay God', 'Agoraphobia' and 'Never Say Die'.
When musicians have their own studio they've automatically get more advantages. First they can work on their own albums as long as they want, experimenting with different things as much as they wish for. Second, if they work with other bands as a producer or sound engineer they can become more objective on their own work and that's the best way for developing. Mike is somewhere in the middle at the moment: "I don't work or produce/engineer any other bands in my studio yet, but plan to do so in the future. I mainly used my studio for myself to write and record. "
I always wonder which band has the priority in a musician's life if he is involved in more bands. The most dedicated answer I've heard so far sounds like as Mike stated: "Of course Holy Mother is my baby, but I give 110% to both bands when I'm playing or recording. "
Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the band. 10 years is a long time for both sides. We, just like our beloved musicians, are changing, evolving, exploring but one thing remains the same through the years, the addiction to music. While we listeners, mostly don't really pay attention to the number of years, time has always have an important role in a band's life. Shall they celebrate it or rather just step over it? We all have different opinion on it but I think they should be proud of lasting so long and make everybody remember it. Mike has his own opinion on this too: "I hope to celebrate it with a two gold CD's from both bands - Holy Mother and Messiah's Kiss. "
A lot of things have happened with Holy Mother since the foundation and we, the outsiders would always like to hear something that hasn't been published before, something that let us peek inside: "There are a lot of memorable stories with Holy Mother. I've met a lot of great people and fans along the way. One great memory is the first time I played at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 1998. I again played at Wacken in 2002 with Messiahs Kiss and toured all of Europe.
But the first thing that comes to mind would be a lot of ups and a lot of downs! But for the most part, Holy Mother has been a blessing to my career. " And about the future of the band Mike said: "Well, I see Holy Mother with its new label SPV. I also see the band becoming a band to last forever with heavy metal fans, and becoming as big as many of the other heavy metal bands!"
We arrived to the end of the interview and Mike said good-bye with these words:
"Thank you very much to all the fans and we will see you all soon on tour. Success in the future for everyone who believes!"
Unfortunately at the time when we made this interview there were no further detail available about Holy Mother's touring plans, but hopefully they can hit the European road sometime till the end of this year. I didn't have the chance to see them live till now but after listening to their albums I can easily imagine the power and energy their music might deliver when it's played live.
Holy Mother Official Homepage
Holy Mother has been around since 1994, founded by Mike Tirelli(Messiah's Kiss, ex-Burning Starr), Randy Coven(ex-Malmsteen) and Jim Harris (ex-Dirty Looks). Musicians came and went away, but Mike has kept this band going and nine years after the foundation the fifth studio album, Agoraphobia has been released. This time Mike teamed up with Randy and drummer Franck Gilchriest(Virgin Steele) to make a dynamic, ass-kicking power metal album. No, they won't rock the music industry but they surely will please the fans of fine power metal, though their long time fans will notice, it differs a bit from what they have been doing before. I talked to the founder, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, Mike Tirelli and here is what he had to say about Agoraphobia and about Holy Mother
Among the fans of American power metal I'm sure the name, Holy Mother is quite known but since 2003 is not the year of power metal, firstly I asked Mike to tell a bit of the history of the band and about how have they spent the three years that passed between their two latest release. "Holy Mother has been around since 1994. We are a band who really never stuck to certain guidelines. The music is now different on this CD then the others. It is a mixture of traditional and modern metal - influenced by the 70's, 80's, and what's happening now. I am the founder and original member still in the band. Randy Coven was also in the band, but only played five songs on Agoraphobia - he's not in the band for live shows.
Holy Mother was always loved by critics and the press, but was not able to get to the next level of "success" where the band should have been because of the record label we were on. It was a small independent label. The band enjoyed a lot of success when we unleashed Toxic Rain in 1998, and went on to play at the Wacken Festival that same year. But, again, because of the lack of support from the label, we were unable to tour and support the CD. In 1999, we released Criminal After Life and in 2000, we released My World War. Those records were also loved by the critics and the press, but never rose to the "superstar" level they deserved.
Finally after My World War, Holy Mother was finished with the control with the label, so it was time for me to go out and get a real "heavy weight" record label. That's when I was discovered by Rainel Hansel of Cultural Minority - that led to my signing with SPV SteamHammer. I then started recording and writing. I did pre-production with drummer John Macoluso and Randy Coven. They were both playing with Malmstein at the time. In the middle of recording, I received a phone call from the band Messiah's Kiss, a local band from Dinslaken, Germany. They were fans of Holy Mother and they asked me to listen to their CD demo, and asked if I would be interested in doing vocals. At first, I rejected the offer because I was too busy with Holy Mother. After listening to their music, I thought to myself that this could be a stepping stone to my career. Once I finished most of the recordings on Agoraphobia, I then recorded Messiah's Kiss. I showed the Messiah's Kiss CD to my label SPV, and they loved it. The CD came out and I toured Europe for two months, and at the end of the tour I finally finished the mixes for Holy Mother."
Agoraphobia has been out since the end of July but somehow I haven't read many articles about it. I wondered if Mike has gotten any feedback. "So far the responses to the CD have been all right. There have been some critics who expected it to sound more like traditional metal as opposed to modern and traditional. I played most of the rhythm guitar on the CD, and the stylistic playing of Frank Gilchriest on the drums. Frank played exactly like John Macaluso did on the pre-production, but more powerful. I would say with Agoraphobia the style reaches people who like traditional Metal, and even to the modern sounding bands like Tool, Disturbed and Ramstein. But of course I sing like the traditional singers like Halford, Dio, Coverdale and Maiden. My main influences go back to Priest, Dio, Maiden, Whitesnake, Queensryche, including Sevendust, Tool and Disturbed.
Well, the difference between Agoraphobia and the previous CD's are the guitar sounds and playing style. I played most of the guitars on the CD, and with the new drummer Frank Gilchriest of Virgin Steele, the CD enters into a new musical realm. It's powerful, more progressive, and the lyrics have a concept meaning."
Beside the music itself, the lyrics are always an important part of an album to me. With my favorite bands the music and the lyrics 'go hand in hand', complementing each other. Mike himself started to talk about it when he mentioned 'the lyrics have a concept meaning' so it was obvious I wanted to know more about why did he chose an album title that means: 'the extreme or irrational fear of open or public places'. "Agoraphobia means fear of leaving your home. Fear, meaning anxiety, panic attacks and nervousness. The reason for using Agoraphobia is because I know someone with this disorder. I have also been reading books about the topic and found it very intriguing and thought it would be very interesting to write about. I choose topics which I am inspired to write about at that time in my life - wherever I'm living, what I'm feeling at the time, a book I'm reading or movies I've watched."
I also asked him to give us a little explanation about every song:
"Success - what drives me to the next level for Holy Mother
Modern Day God - about a Catholic priest living in sin
Heaven's Door - deals with outer body experience - near death
Agoraphobia - fear of leaving home
Hungry for Exxstacy - sex, lust, hanging out in go-go bars
Society Anxiety - the anxiety of war, religion, and non trust
Skitzo - in love with a schizophrenic woman
Nympho - being in love with that same schizophrenic girl who also loves sex
Sheer Erotica - written about Michael Hutchins of INXS - what the press said about his death."
Beside the music and the lyrics, the layout of the album is also important. I know it's not the most important thing in the first place but it does catch your attention and ultimately it may make you buy an album if you don't know the band. I always like to find out if the cover picture of an album is connected to one specific song or tries to reflect the whole concept of it or is it just a cool picture. Here is the answer for the case of Agoraphobia: "It's not 100% connected to the songs - the monster on the cover trapped inside a crystal ball and he finally breaks out. We wanted to stick to the same concept of the previous album covers, mainly for the fans who bought other Holy Mother CD's in the past. The artist is Eric Phillepe."
The ninth song on the album is a Black Sabbath cover and honestly, musically it stuck out from Agoraphobia. I know through the years they made several cover songs and performed on different tribute albums (Billy Idol, Dio, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Queensrcyhe) but I still couldn't find out how 'Never Say Die' has been added to Agoraphobia. Mike explained it concisely: "Basically, I chose Never Say Die for the CD because it stands for the band's mantra, which is 'never say die.'"
I used to be very skeptical about cover songs and tribute albums till I first listened to 'Graveyard Classics' by Six Feet Under. While many find that album boring, I really enjoyed the unusual versions of the songs they played. Knowing the vocal abilities of Mike and also knowing some of the cover songs he sang on I would be really glad to owning such a tribute album made by him. But seems it won't happen in the near future: "I thought about it but never had the time. What I also do in my free time is play in a Dio tribute band called Sacred Heart, here on Long Island, New York. The people love it. "
The album was recorded at Mike's own MJT studios in Long Island, New York and at Karo Studios in Brackel, Germany. So we turned back to Agoraphobia and talked about the studio works and the guest musicians who contributed to the album. "I recorded just about all the guitars, bass and vocals in my own studio, but I recorded the drums and did all the mixing in Brakel, Germany. The CD was mixed on Sound Scape and Pro-Tools. I use Schecter and Jackson guitars. I also use Digitech Whammy pedals for the intense Pantera-like guitar screams.
John Macoluso only played on the pre-production, which laid the groundwork for Frank Gilchriest to follow. Herman Frank played lead solos on 'Modern Day God' and 'Never Say Die'. Also, a bass player by the name of Wayne Banks played on 'Modern ay God', 'Agoraphobia' and 'Never Say Die'.
When musicians have their own studio they've automatically get more advantages. First they can work on their own albums as long as they want, experimenting with different things as much as they wish for. Second, if they work with other bands as a producer or sound engineer they can become more objective on their own work and that's the best way for developing. Mike is somewhere in the middle at the moment: "I don't work or produce/engineer any other bands in my studio yet, but plan to do so in the future. I mainly used my studio for myself to write and record. "
I always wonder which band has the priority in a musician's life if he is involved in more bands. The most dedicated answer I've heard so far sounds like as Mike stated: "Of course Holy Mother is my baby, but I give 110% to both bands when I'm playing or recording. "
Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the band. 10 years is a long time for both sides. We, just like our beloved musicians, are changing, evolving, exploring but one thing remains the same through the years, the addiction to music. While we listeners, mostly don't really pay attention to the number of years, time has always have an important role in a band's life. Shall they celebrate it or rather just step over it? We all have different opinion on it but I think they should be proud of lasting so long and make everybody remember it. Mike has his own opinion on this too: "I hope to celebrate it with a two gold CD's from both bands - Holy Mother and Messiah's Kiss. "
A lot of things have happened with Holy Mother since the foundation and we, the outsiders would always like to hear something that hasn't been published before, something that let us peek inside: "There are a lot of memorable stories with Holy Mother. I've met a lot of great people and fans along the way. One great memory is the first time I played at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 1998. I again played at Wacken in 2002 with Messiahs Kiss and toured all of Europe.
But the first thing that comes to mind would be a lot of ups and a lot of downs! But for the most part, Holy Mother has been a blessing to my career. " And about the future of the band Mike said: "Well, I see Holy Mother with its new label SPV. I also see the band becoming a band to last forever with heavy metal fans, and becoming as big as many of the other heavy metal bands!"
We arrived to the end of the interview and Mike said good-bye with these words:
"Thank you very much to all the fans and we will see you all soon on tour. Success in the future for everyone who believes!"
Unfortunately at the time when we made this interview there were no further detail available about Holy Mother's touring plans, but hopefully they can hit the European road sometime till the end of this year. I didn't have the chance to see them live till now but after listening to their albums I can easily imagine the power and energy their music might deliver when it's played live.
Holy Mother Official Homepage
