Hey everyone,
On March 16th, 2006, I sat down with Matt, Rick and John from Odin's Court after a great rehersal for their March 24th show at Jaxx Nightclub (which has already happened as of last night). The interview took place at Rick's house in Stewartstown, PA. They were funny, entertaining and very informative and we had plenty to talk about.
So, without further ado, Part 1 of the interview.
Happy reading!
Matthew Bankes-Independent metal journalist/reviewer
******************************************
Matt Bankes: I guess we should start from the beginning…when did you all start to get into hard rock and metal music?
Matt: 1984. Van Halen 1984. I was young. Rick was probably already out of the Marines and college and all that, you know. He pretty much lived a full life by then.
Rick: That’s true
Matt: Yeah, about 1984, you know, Van Halen and then I went to Ozzy and Metallica and all that, Van Halen broke the ice for me.
John: I started with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd…
Matt: He was around when they were still teenagers…
John: The early years!
Rick: I started in 6th grade, which I think would have been 1981, with AC/DC, then I moved on to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy and Accept and that was my entry into the underground scene and then…Accept was really…I never really wanted to turn back…Metallica Kill ‘Em All, you know, Megadeth and hearing that was a rumor…so yeah.
MB: What made you want to do music for a living?
Matt: Still not doing it for a living (laughs), in fact I’m doing it negative for a living!
MB: Ok, for spare time, or just doing it period? I mean, what made you want to pick up a guitar, or pick up a pair of drumsticks?
Matt: Tom Petty…
MB: Tom Petty?
Matt: Actually the first thing I learned was “Free Falling”.(Rick makes a joke and to Rick, Matt says) It was easy! My friend had a guitar…actually the first thing I really learned was (Metallica song) “Welcome Home, Sanitarium”. Actually my mom had an old acoustic guitar that was at my grandparent’s house when we went to Florida one year, and it was strung for a left-handed person ‘cause my mom’s sister is left handed I learned on it. So I actually learned on a left-handed guitar for the first year, and then I switched…that’s why I suck so bad. I’m confused…I don’t know if I should do this or that so I just end up somewhere in between.
Rick: Actually it’s a pretty simple one (for me). I was 8 years old, my sister was babysitting me, she was taking guitar in high school and she needed something to keep her bratty brother busy, so my parents were out Christmas shopping, so she taught me the names of the strings, gave me a couple notes for each one, and a couple months later I was blowing her away! (Laughter all around) Then I guess it was about 5 years later that I started playing electric and just started really digging it all.
John: Well, I don’t know if I had any direct influences, I just liked drums and felt like I had a natural ability to do it so...
MB: …start out banging on pots and pans…
John: Yeah.
MB: Because that is basically how it all starts out, you know, we all like to hit things when we are kids..
Matt: He actually used a trash can lid, he was the original Lars St. Anger snare sound…That came from him.
Rick: There was a song that was defining for me, when “Dust In The Wind” was on the radio, from Kansas, I remember that really piqued my interest, so when she started teaching me in the guitar, I was like “I wanted to”.
Matt: But you still to this day can’t play it correctly…
Rick: Exactly. I never learned how to do finger picking.
MB: What was your first band you guys were in?
Matt: My first band was Dying Breed, that was what is was called because we…
Rick: …That was how they sounded…
Matt: …No, we were metal and we were the last, because, you know, the whole grunge thing was coming about so were sort of, a dying breed because we covered like, Metallica and Ozzy and Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath and all that good stuff, shut up Rick. And, you know, we sucked. We played a church “lock-in” and I learned the whole solo to “Fade To Black” and I thought it was so awesome, and then I heard the recording of it years later, and I was like “My God, that is embarrassing”. It was the most choppy, disjointed, piece of junk I ever heard. But, you know, we thought we were great.
Rick: I think my first band, unless you wanna count folk group in church (laughter all around)…that was in 6th grade…No, I think the first group I played in was a bunch of guys in high school and we were called Fusion. I was majorly into Slayer and all the thrashy, crunchy stuff back then, but you couldn’t really find people into that, so I was playing in a hair metal band doing Bon Jovi, Poison and Cinderella, Europe and all that good stuff.
Matt: And to this day, John wishes we were doing that kind of stuff.
John: Yeah.
Matt: Every time we say “John, let’s cover some Motley Crue” he gets so excited.
John: Oh yeah, I love hair bands!
Rick: Yeah, we do Motley Crue.
John: My first band was Sorcerer, we were kind of like a metal band.
MB: Cool name!
John: That was way back in high school.
Rick: …in LA!
Matt: Yeah, where did you play, though? You played in LA. He was part of the LA scene back in the heyday of the hair bands.
John: Grew up in Hollywood.
MB: Wow! That’s awesome! Exciting time, from what I hear.
Matt: You played in all those places too, right? Whiskey A Go-Go…
Rick: Did you play the Whiskey?
John: No, we didn’t play the…well…(laughs) That was way after, in my later years, but no. I never played the Whiskey. Played the Icehouse…
Matt: The Icehouse, huh?
John: They have good comedy there, now.
MB: Good beer!
MB: This is mainly for Matt and John…
Matt: Yeah, because Kenny G (referring to Rick), we don’t care what he has to say. Go play your alto sax!
MB: (laughs) So when and how did you form Odin’s Court?
Matt: Well originally, John wasn't even in the band, we were just a cover band. It was me and Scott (Adley), who was the original bass player who had just left, and a guy named Troy. We played covers and then we started doing originals and then our drummer at the time was kind of wishy-washy, and so we got John. We took off, and we started playing original music. But, you know, I was in a top 40 band at the time and I was sick of playing covers and I was ready to get back into the original thing. It was like, you know what, I don’t want to do this top 40 thing anymore. It might pay money, but I’d rather have fun.
John: Yeah, Matt and Scott kind of tricked me into joining the band because they said it would be…
Matt: Pulled him out of retirement.
John: was going to be a jeans and t-shirt, drinking beer band and that’s what…
Matt: That’s what Scott said. I never said that because I didn’t drink beer.
John: and next thing you know, we’re playing Jaxx.
MB: And it just grew from there, I guess.
Matt: I’m like “Alright guys, we’re going to be practicing almost every day this week, cause we’re opening for Symphony X in a couple of months."
MB: Wow!
Matt: And John, of course, was like "Who, where, what?" He was living under a rock from about 1985 to about 2003.
MB: How did you decide on the name “Odin’s Court”?
Rick: Yes, Matt. How?
Matt: Yes, well…
Rick: I’d like to hear this.
Matt: Would you? But you’re in the band…
MB: Is Rick interviewing you too?
Rick: Yes.
Matt: Well, um, honestly me and Scott and Troy sat around, we were batting around names. We each had a long list of stuff, and of course it’s always a big argument, what the name should be because you want it to sound cool, but you don’t want to sound too arrogant and all that, or you don’t want it to sound too goofy or whatever. But we wanted it to sound like a name that…
John: So you came up with Odin’s Court? (John and Rick laugh)
MB: I love that name!
Matt: I wrote it down, and it was more like I was thinking you know, like a group, where you don’t focus on one person, you know, like David Lee Roth or Steve Vai, you know like it’s a group, so it’s Odin’s Court. We’re all part of Odin’s Court. Not any one of us is Odin, of course. My name on message boards was Odin’s Court, people started me Odin, so that kind of defeated the whole purpose. But, also coincidentally it’s the name of a Black Sabbath song, but it has nothing to do with that song. But, that is a good song.
MB: Well, that’s cool. That’s really cool and I am kind of into Norse Mythology myself.
Matt: Well, there you go Rick. Does that satisfy you?
Rick: I didn’t realize that Black Sabbath also did “Vahalla”. Every time you say that I think of Manowar and Into Glory Ride, which is a great album.
Matt: No, I mean I took Latin for a year so I was always into Greek and Roman mythology, and of course I got into other types of mythology, and I thought Norse mythology was cool and that’s where I came up with Odin. Roman and Greek mythology is so common. Odin would be cool. It’s a group. Odin’s Court. I kind of beat that story to death so we will move on.
Rick: (To Matt) Would you shut up?
MB: Did anything influence your decision to play the type of metal music you do now, I mean did you wake up one day and say “Let’s do prog metal”?
(Rick and John hi-five each other and laugh)
Matt: Actually, that’s kind of funny…what’s that all about?
John: Oh, nothing.
Rick: He’s funny.
Matt: Well, before we move on and I answer that question…
John: That was a “visual” joke.
MB: (laughs)
John: You won’t get it.
Rick: Just think of Pink Floyd.
Matt: Actually…(Rick and John keep laughing) You guys are nuts. So anyway, in high school and stuff I was into the standard type of metal, we did like Iron Maiden and Metallica-type originals and then I got out of that and I wrote my own stuff which is more of a meshing of Pink Floyd and Maiden and Metallica, so in a way it was kind of progressive metal before I knew what progressive metal was. Then, when I got into this band it started out as more of a metal band but at the time I was really into progressive metal, and I was active on Dream Theater’s message board and I thought this seems like it would be an easier kind of market to break into than something like alternative where there’s all kinds of crap, and Rick laughs at me, but honestly it has been an easier market to break into because we’ve opened for national acts. If we had to try to break into something like…
Rick: That’s true, you know.
Matt: Alternative, I mean what are the chances we’d be opening for Puddle Of Mudd, or something? So, part of it was an interest, because I have always really been into layers. Even when I was in high school, and demos were recorded, and on the 8-track (recording machine) I’d be bouncing stuff down, you know, like 8 tracks to 1 track, 8 tracks to 1 track, over, over and over again. I always liked layers and I always liked complex rhythms and changing time signatures. So, it was just natural for me between all those different reasons to kind of get into this. Our original drummer was always like “It’s got a groove, it’s got a groove”, and I agree. That’s why I think our music is more flow and song oriented and less like Spiral Architect, it’s not like showing off a bunch of disjointed parts. It’s more like a song, and that’s my other side which is the whole Pink Floyd…I like groove and I like songs, but I also like complex stuff, so I thew them all together. Actually, some of the songs were songs that I wrote before we even had this band, like “Paradise Lost: Chapter 1 and 2” I actually recorded in 2000.
MB: I love that song.
Matt: I recorded that in my apartment in college in 2000. I layered everything, one thing at a time, on my computer. I made John and Scott learn it 3 weeks before we recorded it in the studio.
John: That was fun.
MB: Obviously Odin’s Court has had a few line-up changes. What difficulties have you encountered since the band started, and have that taught you any lessons?
Matt: Sure, definitely. I definitely learned personalities, and dealing with people more. One of the biggest criteria I have always had now is, before getting a new member is meeting the person and talking to them, and knowing them, because they can be the greatest musician in the world, but if I don’t get along with them, then I don’t want them in this band.
Rick: F*ck you, a**hole!
Matt: So, I mean, yeah, and there have been past members, both members who have actually gigged with us and members who might have played only 1 or 2 practices and didn’t work out. It taught me a lot as far as what to look for and I don’t wanna…
MB: You don’t have to mention any names, because I don’t want to stir up any bad blood.
Matt: Yeah, I’ve learned a lot from that. I think it’s definitely led to the line-up we have now, which I think is not only the most solid musically, but I think we all get along really well and have a lot of fun.
*****************************
Stay tuned for more!
Apologies for any misquotes I may have made.
On March 16th, 2006, I sat down with Matt, Rick and John from Odin's Court after a great rehersal for their March 24th show at Jaxx Nightclub (which has already happened as of last night). The interview took place at Rick's house in Stewartstown, PA. They were funny, entertaining and very informative and we had plenty to talk about.
So, without further ado, Part 1 of the interview.
Happy reading!
Matthew Bankes-Independent metal journalist/reviewer
******************************************
Matt Bankes: I guess we should start from the beginning…when did you all start to get into hard rock and metal music?
Matt: 1984. Van Halen 1984. I was young. Rick was probably already out of the Marines and college and all that, you know. He pretty much lived a full life by then.
Rick: That’s true
Matt: Yeah, about 1984, you know, Van Halen and then I went to Ozzy and Metallica and all that, Van Halen broke the ice for me.
John: I started with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd…
Matt: He was around when they were still teenagers…
John: The early years!
Rick: I started in 6th grade, which I think would have been 1981, with AC/DC, then I moved on to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy and Accept and that was my entry into the underground scene and then…Accept was really…I never really wanted to turn back…Metallica Kill ‘Em All, you know, Megadeth and hearing that was a rumor…so yeah.
MB: What made you want to do music for a living?
Matt: Still not doing it for a living (laughs), in fact I’m doing it negative for a living!
MB: Ok, for spare time, or just doing it period? I mean, what made you want to pick up a guitar, or pick up a pair of drumsticks?
Matt: Tom Petty…
MB: Tom Petty?
Matt: Actually the first thing I learned was “Free Falling”.(Rick makes a joke and to Rick, Matt says) It was easy! My friend had a guitar…actually the first thing I really learned was (Metallica song) “Welcome Home, Sanitarium”. Actually my mom had an old acoustic guitar that was at my grandparent’s house when we went to Florida one year, and it was strung for a left-handed person ‘cause my mom’s sister is left handed I learned on it. So I actually learned on a left-handed guitar for the first year, and then I switched…that’s why I suck so bad. I’m confused…I don’t know if I should do this or that so I just end up somewhere in between.
Rick: Actually it’s a pretty simple one (for me). I was 8 years old, my sister was babysitting me, she was taking guitar in high school and she needed something to keep her bratty brother busy, so my parents were out Christmas shopping, so she taught me the names of the strings, gave me a couple notes for each one, and a couple months later I was blowing her away! (Laughter all around) Then I guess it was about 5 years later that I started playing electric and just started really digging it all.
John: Well, I don’t know if I had any direct influences, I just liked drums and felt like I had a natural ability to do it so...
MB: …start out banging on pots and pans…
John: Yeah.
MB: Because that is basically how it all starts out, you know, we all like to hit things when we are kids..
Matt: He actually used a trash can lid, he was the original Lars St. Anger snare sound…That came from him.
Rick: There was a song that was defining for me, when “Dust In The Wind” was on the radio, from Kansas, I remember that really piqued my interest, so when she started teaching me in the guitar, I was like “I wanted to”.
Matt: But you still to this day can’t play it correctly…
Rick: Exactly. I never learned how to do finger picking.
MB: What was your first band you guys were in?
Matt: My first band was Dying Breed, that was what is was called because we…
Rick: …That was how they sounded…
Matt: …No, we were metal and we were the last, because, you know, the whole grunge thing was coming about so were sort of, a dying breed because we covered like, Metallica and Ozzy and Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath and all that good stuff, shut up Rick. And, you know, we sucked. We played a church “lock-in” and I learned the whole solo to “Fade To Black” and I thought it was so awesome, and then I heard the recording of it years later, and I was like “My God, that is embarrassing”. It was the most choppy, disjointed, piece of junk I ever heard. But, you know, we thought we were great.
Rick: I think my first band, unless you wanna count folk group in church (laughter all around)…that was in 6th grade…No, I think the first group I played in was a bunch of guys in high school and we were called Fusion. I was majorly into Slayer and all the thrashy, crunchy stuff back then, but you couldn’t really find people into that, so I was playing in a hair metal band doing Bon Jovi, Poison and Cinderella, Europe and all that good stuff.
Matt: And to this day, John wishes we were doing that kind of stuff.
John: Yeah.
Matt: Every time we say “John, let’s cover some Motley Crue” he gets so excited.
John: Oh yeah, I love hair bands!
Rick: Yeah, we do Motley Crue.
John: My first band was Sorcerer, we were kind of like a metal band.
MB: Cool name!
John: That was way back in high school.
Rick: …in LA!
Matt: Yeah, where did you play, though? You played in LA. He was part of the LA scene back in the heyday of the hair bands.
John: Grew up in Hollywood.
MB: Wow! That’s awesome! Exciting time, from what I hear.
Matt: You played in all those places too, right? Whiskey A Go-Go…
Rick: Did you play the Whiskey?
John: No, we didn’t play the…well…(laughs) That was way after, in my later years, but no. I never played the Whiskey. Played the Icehouse…
Matt: The Icehouse, huh?
John: They have good comedy there, now.
MB: Good beer!
MB: This is mainly for Matt and John…
Matt: Yeah, because Kenny G (referring to Rick), we don’t care what he has to say. Go play your alto sax!
MB: (laughs) So when and how did you form Odin’s Court?
Matt: Well originally, John wasn't even in the band, we were just a cover band. It was me and Scott (Adley), who was the original bass player who had just left, and a guy named Troy. We played covers and then we started doing originals and then our drummer at the time was kind of wishy-washy, and so we got John. We took off, and we started playing original music. But, you know, I was in a top 40 band at the time and I was sick of playing covers and I was ready to get back into the original thing. It was like, you know what, I don’t want to do this top 40 thing anymore. It might pay money, but I’d rather have fun.
John: Yeah, Matt and Scott kind of tricked me into joining the band because they said it would be…
Matt: Pulled him out of retirement.
John: was going to be a jeans and t-shirt, drinking beer band and that’s what…
Matt: That’s what Scott said. I never said that because I didn’t drink beer.
John: and next thing you know, we’re playing Jaxx.
MB: And it just grew from there, I guess.
Matt: I’m like “Alright guys, we’re going to be practicing almost every day this week, cause we’re opening for Symphony X in a couple of months."
MB: Wow!
Matt: And John, of course, was like "Who, where, what?" He was living under a rock from about 1985 to about 2003.
MB: How did you decide on the name “Odin’s Court”?
Rick: Yes, Matt. How?
Matt: Yes, well…
Rick: I’d like to hear this.
Matt: Would you? But you’re in the band…
MB: Is Rick interviewing you too?
Rick: Yes.
Matt: Well, um, honestly me and Scott and Troy sat around, we were batting around names. We each had a long list of stuff, and of course it’s always a big argument, what the name should be because you want it to sound cool, but you don’t want to sound too arrogant and all that, or you don’t want it to sound too goofy or whatever. But we wanted it to sound like a name that…
John: So you came up with Odin’s Court? (John and Rick laugh)
MB: I love that name!
Matt: I wrote it down, and it was more like I was thinking you know, like a group, where you don’t focus on one person, you know, like David Lee Roth or Steve Vai, you know like it’s a group, so it’s Odin’s Court. We’re all part of Odin’s Court. Not any one of us is Odin, of course. My name on message boards was Odin’s Court, people started me Odin, so that kind of defeated the whole purpose. But, also coincidentally it’s the name of a Black Sabbath song, but it has nothing to do with that song. But, that is a good song.
MB: Well, that’s cool. That’s really cool and I am kind of into Norse Mythology myself.
Matt: Well, there you go Rick. Does that satisfy you?
Rick: I didn’t realize that Black Sabbath also did “Vahalla”. Every time you say that I think of Manowar and Into Glory Ride, which is a great album.
Matt: No, I mean I took Latin for a year so I was always into Greek and Roman mythology, and of course I got into other types of mythology, and I thought Norse mythology was cool and that’s where I came up with Odin. Roman and Greek mythology is so common. Odin would be cool. It’s a group. Odin’s Court. I kind of beat that story to death so we will move on.
Rick: (To Matt) Would you shut up?
MB: Did anything influence your decision to play the type of metal music you do now, I mean did you wake up one day and say “Let’s do prog metal”?
(Rick and John hi-five each other and laugh)
Matt: Actually, that’s kind of funny…what’s that all about?
John: Oh, nothing.
Rick: He’s funny.
Matt: Well, before we move on and I answer that question…
John: That was a “visual” joke.
MB: (laughs)
John: You won’t get it.
Rick: Just think of Pink Floyd.
Matt: Actually…(Rick and John keep laughing) You guys are nuts. So anyway, in high school and stuff I was into the standard type of metal, we did like Iron Maiden and Metallica-type originals and then I got out of that and I wrote my own stuff which is more of a meshing of Pink Floyd and Maiden and Metallica, so in a way it was kind of progressive metal before I knew what progressive metal was. Then, when I got into this band it started out as more of a metal band but at the time I was really into progressive metal, and I was active on Dream Theater’s message board and I thought this seems like it would be an easier kind of market to break into than something like alternative where there’s all kinds of crap, and Rick laughs at me, but honestly it has been an easier market to break into because we’ve opened for national acts. If we had to try to break into something like…
Rick: That’s true, you know.
Matt: Alternative, I mean what are the chances we’d be opening for Puddle Of Mudd, or something? So, part of it was an interest, because I have always really been into layers. Even when I was in high school, and demos were recorded, and on the 8-track (recording machine) I’d be bouncing stuff down, you know, like 8 tracks to 1 track, 8 tracks to 1 track, over, over and over again. I always liked layers and I always liked complex rhythms and changing time signatures. So, it was just natural for me between all those different reasons to kind of get into this. Our original drummer was always like “It’s got a groove, it’s got a groove”, and I agree. That’s why I think our music is more flow and song oriented and less like Spiral Architect, it’s not like showing off a bunch of disjointed parts. It’s more like a song, and that’s my other side which is the whole Pink Floyd…I like groove and I like songs, but I also like complex stuff, so I thew them all together. Actually, some of the songs were songs that I wrote before we even had this band, like “Paradise Lost: Chapter 1 and 2” I actually recorded in 2000.
MB: I love that song.
Matt: I recorded that in my apartment in college in 2000. I layered everything, one thing at a time, on my computer. I made John and Scott learn it 3 weeks before we recorded it in the studio.
John: That was fun.
MB: Obviously Odin’s Court has had a few line-up changes. What difficulties have you encountered since the band started, and have that taught you any lessons?
Matt: Sure, definitely. I definitely learned personalities, and dealing with people more. One of the biggest criteria I have always had now is, before getting a new member is meeting the person and talking to them, and knowing them, because they can be the greatest musician in the world, but if I don’t get along with them, then I don’t want them in this band.
Rick: F*ck you, a**hole!
Matt: So, I mean, yeah, and there have been past members, both members who have actually gigged with us and members who might have played only 1 or 2 practices and didn’t work out. It taught me a lot as far as what to look for and I don’t wanna…
MB: You don’t have to mention any names, because I don’t want to stir up any bad blood.
Matt: Yeah, I’ve learned a lot from that. I think it’s definitely led to the line-up we have now, which I think is not only the most solid musically, but I think we all get along really well and have a lot of fun.
*****************************
Stay tuned for more!
Apologies for any misquotes I may have made.
