Lothar Keller leads a blessed life. Not only does he have a nice job, a nice wife, and a nice personality, he also has talent as Rush Limbaugh would say on loan from God. He sings (and what a range!). He plays guitar like nobodys business. And he writes songs that are immediately accessible. As the head honcho of the Chicago-area prog metal band Sacred Dawn, he has caught the attention of fans and critics around the world. But theres even more to the story. Hes one of the few musicians I know who has released his bands debut album not just once, not just twice, but three times each time a little differently. [Gears of the Machine for the first release
Gears of the Machine: A New Beginning for the second and third releases] How does he do it? And why should you pay attention to Sacred Dawn at this years Nightmare Metal Fest? Read on and find out
This is Part Two of a Two-Part Interview recently conducted with Bill Murphy.
LK:...emotional part that comes to play in it, but its a very flowery, melodic kind of thing for me, and its one of those, its kind of like playing blues, I guess.
BM: Yeah.
LK: You get into a groove. Theres a definite groove when youre playing a song, and that one for me, its very cool, very, maybe something else thats kind of fundamental to the Sacred Dawn sound were trying to get out there. As well as we can play the fast stuff, I like being able to have nice slow, groovy riffs.
BM: Yeah.
LK: That people can fall into. And it makes a very hooky, whether its vocal part or a guitar part or something like that, that people identify with. And he always said he liked hearing that solo. And I was like, and that made sense because I really liked playing it. So I guess whenever theres songs like that in particular, its a nice, refreshing part of the show for me.
BM: Well tell me about your vocal approach on these songs. Those two especially, I just noticed you really hit some notes, youre really approaching stuff that only dogs can hear. [laughs] Is that difficult to reproduce live, and do you worry about that down the road at any time?
LK: You know what, I dont. Its here again, kind of strange, but in the live sense, I actually struggle more with the studio recording part of things.
BM: Really?
LK: Because maybe Im being way pickier, and oversimplifying things, but when I get into a live situation, maybe part of its adrenaline, it, in most cases just comes out. One thing I have kind of taken notice that I have made a point of trying to take a lot more care of my voice. I actually, a year ago, because there was some shows I was having a struggle with, but it was typically stuff like catching a cold or something like that, but there was occasionally almost a regular thing, I found out it was acid reflux.
BM: Oh yeah.
LK: I got tired at some of the shows, feeling a little fatigued and not understanding why. I had just gotten over a really bad upper respiratory throat thing that was going around, was really having some struggles hitting some of those high notes. And this clinic put a camera down my throat, they put this numbing stuff so they could get the camera down my, they had to literally put it through your nostril and then it comes down where your voice box is.
BM: Ugh.
LK: And they said, Yeah, theres definitely some inflammation, and a little bit of swelling, but because of the cold, your vocal chords, certain viruses will actually paralyze the muscle. And it might be one side of the vocal chord, it might be the other side, but sometimes both, you never really know. But what happens if its not closing, your notes wont produce. So they put me through some therapy sessions, and they were trying to figure out my habits, and she said, Lets try this for a couple weeks, but Im like 90% sure acid reflux is your biggest problem. And Ive always struggled with heartburn, but I never really put the two together. So shes putting me through this regimen, and I tried it for two weeks. I went back and notes were coming out better and everything. And because we had some shows coming up, stayed really strict to this. And then we were doing a four-day, mini tour with Cage through the Midwest. We started in St. Paul and came down towards Chicago. By the third day, I could actually sing better, I think because I had made such a point of, maybe it was being warmed up and trying to stay really conscious of everything I was doing, but I was like, Acid reflux, who would have thought? But its a big one.
BM: [laughs] Thats actually, when I interviewed Zak Stevens, he said he had that problem.
LK: Yeah?
BM: Wow. Well, thats interesting, because I would have thought those kinds of notes would be difficult. Geoff Tate cant hit them anymore, of course, hes older than you are, but still.
LK: Yeah, well, I guess of course, Ive heard he smokes three packs a day, but I dont know if thats true or not. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: No, I do notice that there are a lot of notes now that I can hit easier.
BM: Thats great.
LK: Its some of the high mid notes that sometimes actually become challenging for whatever reason, which is always weird. And very low notes. So I would lose weird parts of my vocal range when I was suffering from a cold.
BM: Well, you know whats a fun song to listen to on the second edition of your CD, its one that wasnt on the first one, Devil Went Down to Georgia.
LK: Yeah.
BM: How did you decide to put that song on this second release?
LK: Actually, it started playing that song live, from the very beginning. It was, lets pick a song that most people, and I love doing this stuff. Ive actually, Ill let you hear even a version that I did on my own of a Beatles medley, where I mixed up Dear Prudence and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Kind of like Labamba and Twist and Shout. I kind of did a combination like that. But I love taking tunes that are maybe a little bit out of the genre and bringing them to make them our own. And that song has such a wide appeal. Even people who arent country fans still appreciate the song or definitely know it and were like, even the country fans, how many people know that song? A lot of people. I dont know if anybody doesnt. In fact, what were we watching the other day? Was it Dancing with the Stars? One of these new dance variety shows, and the very first thing they came out to was Devil Went Down to Georgia. Its like, youve gotta be kidding me. When we played it out, all the metal heads, and all just the regular folk who might not necessarily be big metal fans, all liked it.
BM: Well, its a fun song. Its a cool story, not to mention a lively, fun song.
LK: Yeah. And playing it out live, we ham it up. And its just, its fun. And we get out there, and if our wireless works that night, we go walk around in the audience, Brad [Sabathne, drummer] comes out with a snare hanging from his shoulder. [laughs] But its always been fun. We can play that song for the two and half minutes that it is or we can stretch it on for six, seven minutes before just improving it.
BM: I saw that clip of you, I think it was on the WGN morning show. Did you guys get a lot of mileage out of that? Did you get a lot of people who were turned on to the band who didnt know about it?
LK: Yeah, yeah. We actually got quite a few responses.
BM: Cool.
LK: There was a woman that made a point of coming up to me this past weekend when we played and said, Yeah, I saw you guys on WGN.
BM: Cool.
LK: When people say that, its like, Wow, we got our point across. And we actually had a chance to play again the weekend before new years on the noon news, and we actually played Walls of Jericho for that one.
BM: Is there one song that you think best sums up what Sacred Dawn is all about? Of your songs on these albums, if someone said, Dude, I just wanna hear one track. What would you tell them to listen to?
LK: Probably Master of Thought. God, I wanna say two songs though.
BM: [laughs] Ok, well lets say you could pick two.
LK: Im the One.
BM: Yeah.
LK: Im the One and Master of Thought. Im the One because of that definite hook, it brings some of that groove into it. As much as I would love to say Walls of Jericho, I think I would be better summing up with Master of Thought because it kind of represents a little of both elements, I guess you could say an American metal kind of thing, but still bringing some of the progressive elements in.
BM: Yeah.
LK: And that song, every time, it seems to be the one song everybody seems to know when we play it.
BM: Are you thinking about your next album yet? Do you have anything written or at least in concept form, or are you still too busy cranking out the first one? [laughs]
LK: [laughs] You know what? Im glad you asked that. Were probably, I would say we almost have a second album written.
BM: Really?
LK: Yeah, which we are actually taking about trying to get some of these rough tracks recorded to start getting the work to developing them. We have talked to the guy we worked with before about you know, working with us again to produce this, but well see how that goes. Obviously, we gotta talk to Lance and see what he thinks, but weve, yeah, theres so much material. [laughs] Ive got a hard drive here, what we do is we start getting some of these ideas going. Ive got a hard drive of probably about seven, eight hours Ive gotta go through and decipher what seems to be the strongest ones.
BM: Wow.
LK: I want to be able to come in with 17 recorded songs, and pick like the best 13, 14, and thats gonna be our next album. The concept at this point, we have a really good feeling about one song in particular. We played it out live a couple of times, and its gotten some really positive responses.
BM: Good.
LK: And Mr. Tom Wild even has made a point of saying he thinks its gonna be our next single. And its called Demon Lover.
BM: Demon Lover. As in, you have a lover whos a demon, or youre someone who loves demons?
LK: It could be taken many different ways.
BM: [laughs]
LK: Think of almost like kind of on the slight fantasy side of things, but at the same time, theres always that relationship out there that seems maybe a little off kilter. And it doesnt have to be necessarily male or female. It could be either or, but youve got friends out there that you know are in relationships, and its like, this person is just not right for them, or this person has some issues they need to get through. But I like to keep a little bit of that fantasy side involved.
BM: Oh yeah.
LK: It should be interesting. Its, whether that ends up being the actual album title, or just ends up becoming just a really strong single. [laughs] But weve got a lot of songs. The direction of the band is in the writing process, because now youve gotta keep in mind Ive got now Brad and Vega, who played a really huge part in the writing process with us. Baritone, seven-string guitars, seven-string standard guitars, three different tunings on the six-string.
BM: Wow.
LK: Weve got, right now, about five alternate tunings. [laughs]
BM: Really? Wow.
LK: Yeah, which is gonna make it interesting for guitar changes. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Youre gonna have to have a team of people standing backstage with the next guitar in hand.
LK: You know, weve got one guy that does that now for us when we go out and play. And hes definitely a dedicated friend of ours whose got our guitars in hand when weve gotta do these changes. But we also let Brad, the drummer, arrange our set lists. Hes gotten really good at that. We just say, Hey, put our set list together for this gig. We need to fill 45 minutes or an hour and 15. Or whatever it is. And hes like, Alright. And he goes through and looks at all the scenarios, guitar changes, tuning changes, and then manages the flow. We just find a way, and its all about how you transition into the songs. Youve gotta keep the audience going one way or another. You try to make that not the focal point. You dont go, Hey folks, we gotta change guitars. Hold on, well be back in 30 seconds. [laughs]
BM: Yeah. [laughs]
LK: Its all about song transitions, and the one thing we try to really be aware of is we never at any point want the crowd to stop listening. We gotta keep them engaged the whole time. So however its done, whether its Brad and Vega doing something goofy or just some kind of bass and drum thing together, or whatever it is, theres always something going on.
BM: Your, the audience leads into my next question here. Do, when your audiences are getting into it, theyre digging what youre doing, are you minding that some of them may be YouTube-ing you, recording you and uploading you somewhere? Do you see places like YouTube as a threat to the band, or is it a help to the band?
LK: Oh, absolutely not a threat. I actually, I dont know. For me, if theres somebody whos putting something out there and theres a million hits on it, Im like, Good. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
LK: Because I know there are a lot of people who look at that stuff and go, I should be getting paid for that. Well, you know what, its free publicity too. And if these people are actually taking the time to go through that trouble, you know, theres a point where that kind of exposure of videos, of live performances, you know, as long as its not at a show where theres a video crew in there that were paying for to do stuff. And people are still gonna do it, but just being mindful of that, I mean, as long as youre not out there phishing songs and DVDs for $25.
BM: [laughs]
LK: Yeah, they can spread it around to all their friends, its just getting our name out there.
BM: Well let me take that a step further then, to what seems to be the hot topic on say the ProgPower USA forum, is the illegal downloading. Is that a threat to you? Do you worry about that as a metal band in 2008 America?
LK: [sigh] You know, I guess for me if I sat up and didnt get any sleep over the fact that people are out there doing it, its something that is going to happen. I do know that it has hurt the record industry severely. Theres a lot of these majors that are merging now with other majors, and some of the indies that are, yeah, its, the indie labels almost seem to be standing stronger than some of the majors, because of however their business is done or how they do things. You know, here again, I guess if our name is getting out there and people are still buying the stuff, theres just a point where, how much control can you keep? You ask yourself, Do I really want to keep doing this? You know what, absolutely. I dont intend on putting this down. And it becomes a point like, do I want to be a multi-millionaire, or making a very comfortable living? Its very black and white, I guess. I just want to do this, and it would be great to make a really good living at it. But producing music and getting it out there for people to listen to, I guess if its getting spread around, I guess I cant see too much harm in it. What I do dislike is how it gets taken advantage of.
BM: Oh yeah.
LK: People doing it disrespectfully, and making a point of it. But I guess I cant sit around and worry, all we can do is try and convince people to support the band.
BM: Is your goal to be a full-time Sacred Dawn musician? Would you ever leave WGN and just do music full time?
LK: Oh yeah. Im freelance. [laughs]
BM: Oh really.
LK: Yeah, I can come and go as I please. Thats the reason I made the changes in my life. Thats the reason Jen made a lot of changes in her life, to help us with administering this stuff, because this is something Id like to do. I would like to see us out there touring as many dates as we can, because the one thing I have really noticed is sales boost when you play.
BM: Sure.
LK: And if we can do anything like the response we had at Symphony X every night or every other night, I could see a lot of really good potential and strong possibilities for this band to really do some good things in the future, whatever that takes.
BM: Thats a great point for me to ask my question, then. What can audiences expect from your gig at Nightmare Metal Fest? And how many minutes are you going to be able to play?
LK: I was told we were getting 40 minutes.
BM: Thats not bad.
LK: That is not bad. And actually, were pretty accustomed to a good 40, 45 minute set to an hour. I mean, in that range, what I can pretty much say for people to expect from us is once we start, were not gonna let up. We plan to be, were even gonna have a show back here in our home town, to have a show before we go down there. To say, a live rehearsal, you could say, to keep our fingernails sharpened. High energy is definitely going to be on the plate. Were gonna come down there and do our thing. Were gonna be professional about it. People arent gonna, lets put it this way, not letting people sit down for 45 minutes. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: We want to make as good an impression as possible. But we want people when we walk away from there to remember who Sacred Dawn is. We want people on April 1st to be going out, buying the album, showing their support, and spreading the word, getting the name out there. Because our intention is by all means to be playing in all these peoples towns.
BM: Cool.
LK: Playing the music and getting the word out there, and spreading metal.
BM: [laughs]
LK: It is, metal is, I am seeing it everywhere we go. Its really coming back full force, and its really cool to see.
BM: Thats true. Its kind of exciting, really.
LK: It is. Well, and I think it helps kind of culturally-base people too, I mean, when you hear about metal coming from Argentina, what are they going to sound like? I mean, is it going to sound like everybody else, or are they putting the flair of their style in it? And I heard that yeah, theres a lot of this folk metal now thats like, wow, its got a little bit of an Irish twist to it. Its very, very cool. I think that its gonna definitely open up a lot more doors, as well as what we all think of as standard, traditional metal.
BM: Thats kind of my take on it. I find it kind of exciting, this folk metal stuff. The Viking or Celtic or Pagan or whatever theyre calling it, its kind of cool. Youre right, theres metal exploding all over the place.
LK: It is the one genre that there are so many sub genres. To go through, when I go on internet radio, you know, when you click on metal, how many different radio stations and genres and how they break it down. Theres tons of metal. Ive seen Tundra metal. But its coming from Alaska. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: Its really Tundra Metal. And boy, thats some of the darkest metal Ive heard. But it is very exciting, I do agree. And I think thats, the fact that people are really starting to take notice again. There is something to say about the era weve gone through with a lot of the Cookie Monster and the growling vocals, I think what its done now is its made people go, You know. Just like how alternative music came about in the 90s, its almost like metal has a place now to kind of alternatively create more genres. Lets not keep the door closed and have 100 bands that all sound the same. Let everybody develop their own unique sound and style with whatever they feel. And if it creates more genres, good. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: I mean, I think its extremely cool. For me, I grew up on classical music. And anytime I hear classical music involved with the writing process in metal, you know, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has obviously taken that to an extraordinary level.
BM: Oh, thats the most exciting, in fact, thats the standard show by which I measure all others. The first time I saw them, I was just literally blown away. It changed my life, you know?
LK: Oh yeah.
BM: Magic.
LK: And I think they are one of the bands that are also truly helping bring back, lets put on a show, lets put on a production. Lets make it something people will enjoy to watch, not just to go see a band play. They really have taken it to a level thats, [laughs] its phenomenal, its unbelievable. So it is a very exciting time period to be a part of, especially metal.
BM: Well, thats a perfect way to end it. Thats a great quote for the end. [laughs] Its a pleasure to chat with you. Ive really enjoyed it. Ive had your second release of Sacred Dawns album for quite some time. I think Jennifer [Lothars wife] even sent it to me last fall or last summer.
LK: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
BM: Its good. I really enjoy it.
LK: Oh, appreciate it. Absolutely. And now being fine-tweaked on the mastering and being put out there, were really looking forward to it.
BM: Ill have to get the third one now. [laughs]
LK: [laughs]
BM: Collect em and trade em.
LK: Itll definitely sound a little brighter and a little beefier on the bottom end.
BM: Oh thatd be cool.
LK: Hes doing the finishing touches on some of the songs that arent finished yet, but it will soon be out there and like I said, weve gotten some really positive response out of it. Now its, let everybody else in the world hear it.
The End
This is Part Two of a Two-Part Interview recently conducted with Bill Murphy.
LK:...emotional part that comes to play in it, but its a very flowery, melodic kind of thing for me, and its one of those, its kind of like playing blues, I guess.
BM: Yeah.
LK: You get into a groove. Theres a definite groove when youre playing a song, and that one for me, its very cool, very, maybe something else thats kind of fundamental to the Sacred Dawn sound were trying to get out there. As well as we can play the fast stuff, I like being able to have nice slow, groovy riffs.
BM: Yeah.
LK: That people can fall into. And it makes a very hooky, whether its vocal part or a guitar part or something like that, that people identify with. And he always said he liked hearing that solo. And I was like, and that made sense because I really liked playing it. So I guess whenever theres songs like that in particular, its a nice, refreshing part of the show for me.
BM: Well tell me about your vocal approach on these songs. Those two especially, I just noticed you really hit some notes, youre really approaching stuff that only dogs can hear. [laughs] Is that difficult to reproduce live, and do you worry about that down the road at any time?
LK: You know what, I dont. Its here again, kind of strange, but in the live sense, I actually struggle more with the studio recording part of things.
BM: Really?
LK: Because maybe Im being way pickier, and oversimplifying things, but when I get into a live situation, maybe part of its adrenaline, it, in most cases just comes out. One thing I have kind of taken notice that I have made a point of trying to take a lot more care of my voice. I actually, a year ago, because there was some shows I was having a struggle with, but it was typically stuff like catching a cold or something like that, but there was occasionally almost a regular thing, I found out it was acid reflux.
BM: Oh yeah.
LK: I got tired at some of the shows, feeling a little fatigued and not understanding why. I had just gotten over a really bad upper respiratory throat thing that was going around, was really having some struggles hitting some of those high notes. And this clinic put a camera down my throat, they put this numbing stuff so they could get the camera down my, they had to literally put it through your nostril and then it comes down where your voice box is.
BM: Ugh.
LK: And they said, Yeah, theres definitely some inflammation, and a little bit of swelling, but because of the cold, your vocal chords, certain viruses will actually paralyze the muscle. And it might be one side of the vocal chord, it might be the other side, but sometimes both, you never really know. But what happens if its not closing, your notes wont produce. So they put me through some therapy sessions, and they were trying to figure out my habits, and she said, Lets try this for a couple weeks, but Im like 90% sure acid reflux is your biggest problem. And Ive always struggled with heartburn, but I never really put the two together. So shes putting me through this regimen, and I tried it for two weeks. I went back and notes were coming out better and everything. And because we had some shows coming up, stayed really strict to this. And then we were doing a four-day, mini tour with Cage through the Midwest. We started in St. Paul and came down towards Chicago. By the third day, I could actually sing better, I think because I had made such a point of, maybe it was being warmed up and trying to stay really conscious of everything I was doing, but I was like, Acid reflux, who would have thought? But its a big one.
BM: [laughs] Thats actually, when I interviewed Zak Stevens, he said he had that problem.
LK: Yeah?
BM: Wow. Well, thats interesting, because I would have thought those kinds of notes would be difficult. Geoff Tate cant hit them anymore, of course, hes older than you are, but still.
LK: Yeah, well, I guess of course, Ive heard he smokes three packs a day, but I dont know if thats true or not. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: No, I do notice that there are a lot of notes now that I can hit easier.
BM: Thats great.
LK: Its some of the high mid notes that sometimes actually become challenging for whatever reason, which is always weird. And very low notes. So I would lose weird parts of my vocal range when I was suffering from a cold.
BM: Well, you know whats a fun song to listen to on the second edition of your CD, its one that wasnt on the first one, Devil Went Down to Georgia.
LK: Yeah.
BM: How did you decide to put that song on this second release?
LK: Actually, it started playing that song live, from the very beginning. It was, lets pick a song that most people, and I love doing this stuff. Ive actually, Ill let you hear even a version that I did on my own of a Beatles medley, where I mixed up Dear Prudence and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Kind of like Labamba and Twist and Shout. I kind of did a combination like that. But I love taking tunes that are maybe a little bit out of the genre and bringing them to make them our own. And that song has such a wide appeal. Even people who arent country fans still appreciate the song or definitely know it and were like, even the country fans, how many people know that song? A lot of people. I dont know if anybody doesnt. In fact, what were we watching the other day? Was it Dancing with the Stars? One of these new dance variety shows, and the very first thing they came out to was Devil Went Down to Georgia. Its like, youve gotta be kidding me. When we played it out, all the metal heads, and all just the regular folk who might not necessarily be big metal fans, all liked it.
BM: Well, its a fun song. Its a cool story, not to mention a lively, fun song.
LK: Yeah. And playing it out live, we ham it up. And its just, its fun. And we get out there, and if our wireless works that night, we go walk around in the audience, Brad [Sabathne, drummer] comes out with a snare hanging from his shoulder. [laughs] But its always been fun. We can play that song for the two and half minutes that it is or we can stretch it on for six, seven minutes before just improving it.
BM: I saw that clip of you, I think it was on the WGN morning show. Did you guys get a lot of mileage out of that? Did you get a lot of people who were turned on to the band who didnt know about it?
LK: Yeah, yeah. We actually got quite a few responses.
BM: Cool.
LK: There was a woman that made a point of coming up to me this past weekend when we played and said, Yeah, I saw you guys on WGN.
BM: Cool.
LK: When people say that, its like, Wow, we got our point across. And we actually had a chance to play again the weekend before new years on the noon news, and we actually played Walls of Jericho for that one.
BM: Is there one song that you think best sums up what Sacred Dawn is all about? Of your songs on these albums, if someone said, Dude, I just wanna hear one track. What would you tell them to listen to?
LK: Probably Master of Thought. God, I wanna say two songs though.
BM: [laughs] Ok, well lets say you could pick two.
LK: Im the One.
BM: Yeah.
LK: Im the One and Master of Thought. Im the One because of that definite hook, it brings some of that groove into it. As much as I would love to say Walls of Jericho, I think I would be better summing up with Master of Thought because it kind of represents a little of both elements, I guess you could say an American metal kind of thing, but still bringing some of the progressive elements in.
BM: Yeah.
LK: And that song, every time, it seems to be the one song everybody seems to know when we play it.
BM: Are you thinking about your next album yet? Do you have anything written or at least in concept form, or are you still too busy cranking out the first one? [laughs]
LK: [laughs] You know what? Im glad you asked that. Were probably, I would say we almost have a second album written.
BM: Really?
LK: Yeah, which we are actually taking about trying to get some of these rough tracks recorded to start getting the work to developing them. We have talked to the guy we worked with before about you know, working with us again to produce this, but well see how that goes. Obviously, we gotta talk to Lance and see what he thinks, but weve, yeah, theres so much material. [laughs] Ive got a hard drive here, what we do is we start getting some of these ideas going. Ive got a hard drive of probably about seven, eight hours Ive gotta go through and decipher what seems to be the strongest ones.
BM: Wow.
LK: I want to be able to come in with 17 recorded songs, and pick like the best 13, 14, and thats gonna be our next album. The concept at this point, we have a really good feeling about one song in particular. We played it out live a couple of times, and its gotten some really positive responses.
BM: Good.
LK: And Mr. Tom Wild even has made a point of saying he thinks its gonna be our next single. And its called Demon Lover.
BM: Demon Lover. As in, you have a lover whos a demon, or youre someone who loves demons?
LK: It could be taken many different ways.
BM: [laughs]
LK: Think of almost like kind of on the slight fantasy side of things, but at the same time, theres always that relationship out there that seems maybe a little off kilter. And it doesnt have to be necessarily male or female. It could be either or, but youve got friends out there that you know are in relationships, and its like, this person is just not right for them, or this person has some issues they need to get through. But I like to keep a little bit of that fantasy side involved.
BM: Oh yeah.
LK: It should be interesting. Its, whether that ends up being the actual album title, or just ends up becoming just a really strong single. [laughs] But weve got a lot of songs. The direction of the band is in the writing process, because now youve gotta keep in mind Ive got now Brad and Vega, who played a really huge part in the writing process with us. Baritone, seven-string guitars, seven-string standard guitars, three different tunings on the six-string.
BM: Wow.
LK: Weve got, right now, about five alternate tunings. [laughs]
BM: Really? Wow.
LK: Yeah, which is gonna make it interesting for guitar changes. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Youre gonna have to have a team of people standing backstage with the next guitar in hand.
LK: You know, weve got one guy that does that now for us when we go out and play. And hes definitely a dedicated friend of ours whose got our guitars in hand when weve gotta do these changes. But we also let Brad, the drummer, arrange our set lists. Hes gotten really good at that. We just say, Hey, put our set list together for this gig. We need to fill 45 minutes or an hour and 15. Or whatever it is. And hes like, Alright. And he goes through and looks at all the scenarios, guitar changes, tuning changes, and then manages the flow. We just find a way, and its all about how you transition into the songs. Youve gotta keep the audience going one way or another. You try to make that not the focal point. You dont go, Hey folks, we gotta change guitars. Hold on, well be back in 30 seconds. [laughs]
BM: Yeah. [laughs]
LK: Its all about song transitions, and the one thing we try to really be aware of is we never at any point want the crowd to stop listening. We gotta keep them engaged the whole time. So however its done, whether its Brad and Vega doing something goofy or just some kind of bass and drum thing together, or whatever it is, theres always something going on.
BM: Your, the audience leads into my next question here. Do, when your audiences are getting into it, theyre digging what youre doing, are you minding that some of them may be YouTube-ing you, recording you and uploading you somewhere? Do you see places like YouTube as a threat to the band, or is it a help to the band?
LK: Oh, absolutely not a threat. I actually, I dont know. For me, if theres somebody whos putting something out there and theres a million hits on it, Im like, Good. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah.
LK: Because I know there are a lot of people who look at that stuff and go, I should be getting paid for that. Well, you know what, its free publicity too. And if these people are actually taking the time to go through that trouble, you know, theres a point where that kind of exposure of videos, of live performances, you know, as long as its not at a show where theres a video crew in there that were paying for to do stuff. And people are still gonna do it, but just being mindful of that, I mean, as long as youre not out there phishing songs and DVDs for $25.
BM: [laughs]
LK: Yeah, they can spread it around to all their friends, its just getting our name out there.
BM: Well let me take that a step further then, to what seems to be the hot topic on say the ProgPower USA forum, is the illegal downloading. Is that a threat to you? Do you worry about that as a metal band in 2008 America?
LK: [sigh] You know, I guess for me if I sat up and didnt get any sleep over the fact that people are out there doing it, its something that is going to happen. I do know that it has hurt the record industry severely. Theres a lot of these majors that are merging now with other majors, and some of the indies that are, yeah, its, the indie labels almost seem to be standing stronger than some of the majors, because of however their business is done or how they do things. You know, here again, I guess if our name is getting out there and people are still buying the stuff, theres just a point where, how much control can you keep? You ask yourself, Do I really want to keep doing this? You know what, absolutely. I dont intend on putting this down. And it becomes a point like, do I want to be a multi-millionaire, or making a very comfortable living? Its very black and white, I guess. I just want to do this, and it would be great to make a really good living at it. But producing music and getting it out there for people to listen to, I guess if its getting spread around, I guess I cant see too much harm in it. What I do dislike is how it gets taken advantage of.
BM: Oh yeah.
LK: People doing it disrespectfully, and making a point of it. But I guess I cant sit around and worry, all we can do is try and convince people to support the band.
BM: Is your goal to be a full-time Sacred Dawn musician? Would you ever leave WGN and just do music full time?
LK: Oh yeah. Im freelance. [laughs]
BM: Oh really.
LK: Yeah, I can come and go as I please. Thats the reason I made the changes in my life. Thats the reason Jen made a lot of changes in her life, to help us with administering this stuff, because this is something Id like to do. I would like to see us out there touring as many dates as we can, because the one thing I have really noticed is sales boost when you play.
BM: Sure.
LK: And if we can do anything like the response we had at Symphony X every night or every other night, I could see a lot of really good potential and strong possibilities for this band to really do some good things in the future, whatever that takes.
BM: Thats a great point for me to ask my question, then. What can audiences expect from your gig at Nightmare Metal Fest? And how many minutes are you going to be able to play?
LK: I was told we were getting 40 minutes.
BM: Thats not bad.
LK: That is not bad. And actually, were pretty accustomed to a good 40, 45 minute set to an hour. I mean, in that range, what I can pretty much say for people to expect from us is once we start, were not gonna let up. We plan to be, were even gonna have a show back here in our home town, to have a show before we go down there. To say, a live rehearsal, you could say, to keep our fingernails sharpened. High energy is definitely going to be on the plate. Were gonna come down there and do our thing. Were gonna be professional about it. People arent gonna, lets put it this way, not letting people sit down for 45 minutes. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: We want to make as good an impression as possible. But we want people when we walk away from there to remember who Sacred Dawn is. We want people on April 1st to be going out, buying the album, showing their support, and spreading the word, getting the name out there. Because our intention is by all means to be playing in all these peoples towns.
BM: Cool.
LK: Playing the music and getting the word out there, and spreading metal.
BM: [laughs]
LK: It is, metal is, I am seeing it everywhere we go. Its really coming back full force, and its really cool to see.
BM: Thats true. Its kind of exciting, really.
LK: It is. Well, and I think it helps kind of culturally-base people too, I mean, when you hear about metal coming from Argentina, what are they going to sound like? I mean, is it going to sound like everybody else, or are they putting the flair of their style in it? And I heard that yeah, theres a lot of this folk metal now thats like, wow, its got a little bit of an Irish twist to it. Its very, very cool. I think that its gonna definitely open up a lot more doors, as well as what we all think of as standard, traditional metal.
BM: Thats kind of my take on it. I find it kind of exciting, this folk metal stuff. The Viking or Celtic or Pagan or whatever theyre calling it, its kind of cool. Youre right, theres metal exploding all over the place.
LK: It is the one genre that there are so many sub genres. To go through, when I go on internet radio, you know, when you click on metal, how many different radio stations and genres and how they break it down. Theres tons of metal. Ive seen Tundra metal. But its coming from Alaska. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: Its really Tundra Metal. And boy, thats some of the darkest metal Ive heard. But it is very exciting, I do agree. And I think thats, the fact that people are really starting to take notice again. There is something to say about the era weve gone through with a lot of the Cookie Monster and the growling vocals, I think what its done now is its made people go, You know. Just like how alternative music came about in the 90s, its almost like metal has a place now to kind of alternatively create more genres. Lets not keep the door closed and have 100 bands that all sound the same. Let everybody develop their own unique sound and style with whatever they feel. And if it creates more genres, good. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
LK: I mean, I think its extremely cool. For me, I grew up on classical music. And anytime I hear classical music involved with the writing process in metal, you know, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has obviously taken that to an extraordinary level.
BM: Oh, thats the most exciting, in fact, thats the standard show by which I measure all others. The first time I saw them, I was just literally blown away. It changed my life, you know?
LK: Oh yeah.
BM: Magic.
LK: And I think they are one of the bands that are also truly helping bring back, lets put on a show, lets put on a production. Lets make it something people will enjoy to watch, not just to go see a band play. They really have taken it to a level thats, [laughs] its phenomenal, its unbelievable. So it is a very exciting time period to be a part of, especially metal.
BM: Well, thats a perfect way to end it. Thats a great quote for the end. [laughs] Its a pleasure to chat with you. Ive really enjoyed it. Ive had your second release of Sacred Dawns album for quite some time. I think Jennifer [Lothars wife] even sent it to me last fall or last summer.
LK: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
BM: Its good. I really enjoy it.
LK: Oh, appreciate it. Absolutely. And now being fine-tweaked on the mastering and being put out there, were really looking forward to it.
BM: Ill have to get the third one now. [laughs]
LK: [laughs]
BM: Collect em and trade em.
LK: Itll definitely sound a little brighter and a little beefier on the bottom end.
BM: Oh thatd be cool.
LK: Hes doing the finishing touches on some of the songs that arent finished yet, but it will soon be out there and like I said, weve gotten some really positive response out of it. Now its, let everybody else in the world hear it.
The End
