I'm moving some old content from our old forum that you might find somewhat interesting into this thread. Note that the interview was from late 2004 so a number of things have changed since then. Some big things to note: We now have our official forum here on Ultimate Metal and we now do have a permenant drummer are probably the two biggest changes. Anyway, keep in mind that this was where we were well over a year ago.
Enjoy,
James
Hellspawn did both an interview and a CD review on us.
If you can read Dutch....
Interview here.
Review here.
I don't have an English translation of the review, but I do have the interview in English, which is posted below....
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Lets start with the introduction of the band! Who are the members, who started the band and when, etc...
Jeff: Well, I originally started trying to get a band together in early 2000 after I graduated from college and my old band dissipated. The musicians I found didn’t last long and we never had a complete line-up. At the time I was trying to put together a straight thrash band. I started getting more into power metal bands though and I decided I wanted to be in a band with a more versatile and melodic style singer, so I changed direction somewhat. I went through a lot of singers trying to find the right one. I finally met Blaine a couple years ago and from the minute I heard him sing the first note I knew I had found the right singer for this band. We found James later in the spring of 2002. Not only could he play the bass very well, but he also had great singing ability and a similar taste in music style. He is also just a great song writer and comes up with vocal and guitar ideas as well. There have been a couple others that had a short stay in the band that are no longer with us.
Blaine: I remember that Jeff told me he’d been looking for a singer for about a year when we met, which didn’t make me think I had a really good chance! However, he perked right up when I started singing. Given our influences and direction, I thought we might have something to develop. At that time it was just Jeff, me and a former drummer. We practiced in a metal shop—conveniently—in Monroe. It was a long drive, and damn cold in the winter.
James and I work at the same place, which is kind of cool. He really seemed to complement us. The three of us work well together. We’re all level-headed and work out the occasional creative difference with a minimum of fisticuffs.
James: At the time that I joined the band as it was then (Jeff, Blaine and guitarist Tim Diedrich who did some of the solos on our three song demo) had just recorded a one song demo of ‘My Eyes Fixed’ with a drummer who didn’t work out. It was a little rough in parts but I loved the potential I heard in that song. I met with the three of them and we hit it off from the start. After a while of not being able to find the right guy behind the drums, Tim decided to move back to Olympia where he had a job so now it’s just the three of us.
This might have been the end but we decided to push forward with just the three of us and record a three song demo with guest musicians. We were very fortunate to find some great players to fill in for the parts we needed (more about that below). The three song CD was completed in late 2003 and released early this year (2004).
Soon after the demo’s release, veteran drummer Will Anderson and lead guitarist Mike Lewin offered their services as performance musicians. Shadow Demon made its live debut in January at the 2004 Seattle PowerProg Fest.
The name Shadow Demon sounds pretty cool, who came up with the name...
Jeff: That was me. It was basically two words that I really liked the sound of together. I was trying to think of something that fit my mood at the time. I thought the name was perfect because it had a dark aspect to it, but also a very menacing and powerful aspect. I also thought that, metaphorically, shadows and demons can be related to many things. So far we have written songs about abstract concepts, philosophy, or made up stories, and I think the name fits us well.
James: Yes, as Jeff says, the words Shadow and Demon can have a variety of meanings depending on the context and even together I can think of a few different ways to use those two words together with different meanings. It’s very cool and I’m glad Jeff came up with it and spared me the agony of the decision!
Blaine: Jeff had already written the initial version of “Of the Shadows” before the band had a name, so it had to fit <smiles>. There are other cool names I’d have considered, but Shadow Demon also had the advantage of being a combination of nifty words that wasn’t already taken.
You released a three song demo CD, which sounds really great! How do you look back at it? If you could redo it, what would you change?
Jeff: It turned out great for our first serious recording. The difficult thing was scheduling time with the guy that was recording the instruments. We got a great deal, but the sacrifice was that we did not get to record very frequently and it took a long time to get done. I don’t know that there is much I would change…the guitar tones I ended up with I am happy with but they are not ideal to me and I think I know now what will help that next time. We had some technical difficulties with drum microphones and I think some bass tracks got deleted or were not transferred with the rest when we received them.
Blaine recorded all of the vocal tracks at James’ place, because we decided we just could not wait for the available studio time and we wanted to get it done. James is building a recording studio in his basement right now, which is almost done. We will be able to do all of our next recordings there from now on. This will work great because it is an atmosphere we are familiar and comfortable with and we won’t have to worry about coordinating with outside people. Terry Gorle did an excellent mixing and mastering job on it.
Blaine: Yep, we got some deals on the time and on the processing, but I’d have liked to target it and bang it out in a much shorter period of time. We had to do a number of short sessions for the vocals. I like the results, but we might’ve been able to generate a better sense of continuity if we all recorded all of our parts closer together. We also ended up doing a few creative changes along the way, like arrangement or harmony modifications, so we recorded some of the vocal parts in a couple different ways.
James: The one thing I wish I could go back and change is the way we recorded the bass. It didn’t turn out as well as (audio Engineer) Jason and I thought it would in the final mix.
On the CD I can heard music wise lots of influences of Iced Earth & Jag Panzer, and the vocals remind a bit of Brian from the legendary Satan. Any comment on this?
Jeff: Well, I think we are all huge Iced Earth fans for sure. Iced Earth was one of the first underground metal bands I got into…before that I listened to more well known bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Iron Maiden, etc. The “Night of the Stormrider” album was quite an awakening for me. So naturally, there is some influence there. Jag Panzer is not a band I really get into although I like their music and have a ton of respect for them. I actually didn’t pay much attention to them until I saw them live. They are awesome live!
James: Yep. Between the three of us we probably have influences from all over the Metal spectrum but I think our biggest influences would be traditional, thrash and power Metal.
As far as the singing, we just wanted a cool Metal vocal that fit the songs. We’ve heard all kinds of interesting comparisons, too.
Blaine: Yes, Iced Earth has come up before, and I definitely dig Barlow. Jeff has been listening to the John Schaffer crew since we met, and introduced me to that band. A couple people now have likened the vocal sound to Hansi of Blind Guardian. Having said this, emulating anyone isn’t really my intent; I just try to sing like I sing. In fact, when I hear cover tunes, I’d rather hear them play the tune like they want to. Live and in the studio, I try to allow the listener to hear the emotional impact of the lyrics, but deliver with the balls to demand the attention of the listener.
How would you guys describe your style? And who would you name as the most important musical influences? Are there also other influences (lyrical…
?
Jeff: Well, I have found that the music I tend to enjoy the most has the right mixture of aggression and melody. I would say some of my big influences are Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Testament, Primal Fear…early Megadeth and Metallica of course. These are probably the main ones. There are so many though…I mostly like thrash and power metal bands. I listen to some black and death metal as well but I’m not sure how much that influences our music. Lyrically…I like dark images and stories. Supernatural forces, good vs. evil, comic characters…things like that. Sometimes I write about thoughts as they pertain to my outlook on life.
James: You know, every time we come up with a one to three word description people tell us “No, you sound like something else.” Imagine if you took a good helping of classic Metal and U.S. power Metal and threw in some thrash and a little prog for taste and mixed it together in a blender. That’s more or less what we sound like.
Jeff: --Without the noise of the blender.
Blaine: Exactly.
James: Personally, I am influenced by a great many things musically. I grew up listening to classical then in the 80s I discovered Metal. I tended to be attracted to the more melodic and faster types of bands with Iron Maiden being my biggest influence from that time. I also love King Diamond for the way he is able to tell a tale with the entire song. I hope to achieve that one day. For a while I was really big into the European power Metal sound but I think I’ve been over saturated with it. These days I listen to a variety of bands. Right now the one band I tend to listen to the most is probably Blind Guardian.
Blaine: I’m into the classic metal more than Jeff and James—like Dio, who has also had some talented guitarists, similar to Ozzy. I like Maiden’s music and arrangements. I think Chris Cornell in the Soundgarden era is one of the quality examples from that genre. Tony Harnell is a lesser known influence, but he did some phenomenal work in TNT. Lately I’ve been listening to Sinergy’s “Suicide By My Side” a lot. On the other hand, Jeff appreciates death metal more than James and me, so we create our own system of checks and balances.
The cover from the mini/demo CD looks very professional, how are the reactions on it?
Jeff: We love the artwork. In fact James wrote a song based on it called “Brave Murder Day”. We originally got this piece for the website and did not intend to use this artwork for the demo CD but we were running out of time to find something we liked so we used it.
James: Yes, the artwork was done by Travis Smith. Any serious Metal fan has seen his work before. The logo was done by Terry Gorle of Heir Apparent fame (yes, he is a multi-talented guy) loosely based on a logo that Jeff had done some time ago.
Blaine: Yeah, Terry was probably getting sick of me critiquing each revision until we had the logo just right, but he was pretty cool about it. <laughs>
James: I originally found and purchased the rights to use the piece on the cover as something to spice up our website and my own personal enjoyment. We intended to use the art for something after the demo, namely because of the song we did inspired by the piece.
About the time we were finishing up the mixing for the demo we were contacted by the promoter of the Seattle PowerProg fest and asked would we be able to play the fest in January. We found some people willing to play the show with us and committed to playing as we thought it’d be great to debut our demo and ourselves at the same time.
We started contacting a few artists we wanted to use for original work for the demo. We found that they were too busy to meet the time schedule we wanted to keep (oops). Then we started looking at pre-existing pieces to purchase and nearly all the ones we liked were already in use. At this point we’d spent quite a bit of time looking for art and artists when I pointed out that we had a great piece ready to use that we’d bought the rights to already. And so you have the fantastic Travis Smith piece as the cover art for our demo.
Blaine: Without realizing it, you’ve probably seen Travis’s creations on the covers from a number of major bands. The quality of the artwork has been the first thing mentioned by several people who have contacted us. One person said that he knew he’d like the music just from judging by the cover art.
You guys have a nice website at www.shadowdemon.us can you tell our readers what they can find there! How important is the internet for you guys
Jeff: James made the website. I think he did a great job. We wanted to make it fairly simple and easy for people to navigate and still look professional. Well, there is whatever news is going on of course, and right now there are samples of the songs from the demo. We also have a discussion board hosted by our friends at Abrasive Rock so people can ask us questions or just interact with each other. At least one of us will try to check in frequently. We use the internet a lot. It’s a great tool for finding out about metal bands.
James: Sure! And thanks for pointing it out to your readers.
We have the important things like news, a little about the band & its members, the songs from the demo, some nice reviews, a link to our message board, and links to other people and local bands that have been important to us. We do invite any of your readers to join us on our official bulletin board. Jeff and I post there often and love to ‘chat’ with fellow Metal-heads.
The Internet has been our greatest ally in getting our music out to listeners and for keeping us going. That’s probably true for Metal in general. I think there are a good number of new bands that nearly nobody would have heard about if it weren’t for the Internet. Once we release our next CD we will definitely be using the ‘Net to get the word out and to let people get a taste for what we’re about.
Blaine: We’ve also got a few band pics up there. Later on we’ll add some show pics or video, so check back from time to time. Right now a lot of that happens on our discussion board.
On your site you also have a real original system for official downloading! Tell us something more about this!
James: Ah, well, in addition to the usual MP3 clips we are using this thing called Weed share so that people can listen to the full songs. You can read the details at www.weedshare.com. Basically it allows us to offer the full songs to listeners to listen to three times for free. If someone then decides they like any of the songs they can buy and get unlimited usage of those songs. We think this is great as people can get the full songs right away and they can support what we do by either buying the Weed share versions or ordering a CD. Since this is a labor of love for us and not money, we take all of the money from CD and Weed sales and put it right back into Shadow Demon in the form of things people will enjoy. We’ve pocketed nothing ourselves.
Terry Gorle from Heir Apparent mixed and mastered your CD, and did a really good job on it, how did you get in contact? What are those guys up to nowadays?
Jeff: I met Terry a few years ago after I found out about his band and that he lived in the same area. He was toying with the idea of adding a rhythm guitarist for live shows so I thought I’d at least meet him and check out their stuff, so I met him at a guitar store and I played right there for him. Well, I don’t know if he even liked what he heard but I decided that it just did not fit with the style that I wanted to play. They are a great band though, and we started going to their shows and hanging out with them once in awhile. Blaine and I roadied for them when they played the Abrasive Rock Fest. We then were sharing the same rehearsal studio for awhile.
I haven’t talked to them in awhile, but the last thing I knew is that they were looking for a drummer. They were going to go play a mini tour in Europe last spring and the drummer they found to do the tour bailed on them at the last minute. I have heard there is intention to put out another album at some point.
James: He’s a very cool guy. He’s offered his services as a veteran of the music and Metal industry to anyone that was interested and we took him up on the offer. We’ve had a great relationship with him and he’s very interested in and supportive of what we do.
Blaine: Besides the professional benefits of living close to Terry, Heir Apparent is one of the few good metal bands in our area. We’re fortunate to have seen their live show many times.
If I am correct the band consists nowadays out of 3 members and you are still looking for a drummer!? Is it such a hard job finding the right guy? You were helped out on the drums on the CD by a guest musician! Tell us something more...
Jeff: I think we live in the Twilight Zone. Ironically, the first musician I met when I tried to start this project was indeed, a drummer. Blaine and I were working with him for awhile, but when we went to record two of our first songs and he was playing to a click track and under the microscope of the microphones, he just could not cut it. Actually, after two full days, we barely had a decent take for one song. There were some other issues with him. There are a few good metal drummers in the Seattle area but they are all in bands and they do not play the same style we do. We have not met many drummers here at all who listen to similar bands that we do or understand our direction.
Clint Clark played drums for our demo. He previously played with Heir Apparent and was in a band called Byaxis at the time. He now plays in a rock band called Dog Bone Sanctuary. We are not of the style he most wants to play, but he is very learned in many styles of metal and music in general. He understands power metal and thrash and that is what we needed. He used to play in death metal bands and he unleashes some of the meanest blast-beats you’ve heard.
We also played some live shows earlier this year with the help of Will Anderson, who is the drummer for Lyranthe. He liked our music and kind of felt sorry for us I guess, and wanted to help us to get out there and play live. It was great! We made our first appearance at the Seattle Power Prog Fest playing back to back with both Lyranthe and Heir Apparent. We played a few more shows after that before Will had to start focusing on his own band again.
How are the reactions on the CD so far? Are you already working on new material? And will it be for a next demo CD or.... Or is it still a bit too soon?
Jeff: We have received many positive reactions so far. We have piqued the interest of some labels but they “need to hear more”. That is what our plan is now…to make more music and present it as a full album. Not to mention we have fans who are bugging us like mad to give them more than a three-song CD. We are currently writing new material and the goal is to start recording it in early 2006.
James: Yeah, reactions so far have been great! As we expected, Europe seems to have the most people that appreciate our style of Metal but we’ve had a good response from the US and other parts of the world as well.
Future plans?
Jeff: First thing is get our album done. We would like to do a tour in Europe and if there is enough interest in the States that would be great too. One of our goals is to play at the Wacken Festival.
James: Yes! Make more Metal and get it to the fans. Our greatest desire right now is to be able to come to Europe and play for you. That would make us very happy.
A last word or anything left to say?
Blaine: Thanks for the opportunity to say what’s going on with Shadow Demon.
James: We’d love for anyone and everyone to come by our message board and say “Hello.”
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An older review from Music Extreme:
http://www.musicextreme.com/cd0503b.htm
A climatic opening in "...And the Meek" turns soon into the most powerful heavy metal that is the style that Shadow Demon manages perfectly. The good thing that I perceived first is the huge guitar sound that this guys have that it seems coming from a downtuned guitar, which is not a common feature in bands of the style. But this guys go beyond this style and they have also added osme thrash influences in some rhythms and breaks and tempo changes. The vocals are excellent, being melodic but not loosing even a bit of power, managing the middle range and without abusing high pitches. The band is extremely well rehearsed and solid. Three tracks leave you wanting more, specially with the great sound that this release has.
And another review from a German e-zine:
http://www.sacredmetal.de/index.php?page=reviews/eigen/shadowdemon2005
Demo’ kommt ja von ‘Demonstration’ und demnach soll uns eine Band mit
so einem Dings einen Eindruck vermitteln ob sie was kann oder nicht.
Shadow Demon können was. Schlicht mit einem Einliegeblättchen aufgemacht
kommt ihre Demo-CD aus den US of A(sskickers) gerade jedem recht der
sich über die vielen Glattbügelproduktionen der letzten Zeit aufregt.
Blaine Hammond (Vocals), Jeff Helm (Gitarre), James Rinker (Bass) und
Gastmusiker Clint Clark (Drums) verweisen in nur drei Songs mit
Jahresangabe 2003 viele Möchtegern-Heavies auf ihre Plätze.
‘…And the meek’ eröffnet mit einem erhabenen a cappella-Intro den
kleinen Metalreigen und hört sich wegen dem heiser-kraftvollen Gesang
und der erdigen up-tempo-Ausrichtung ein wenig an wie eine Mixtur
zwischen früherem Rival (EP) und Powersurge. Die Produktion tönt als
hätte man das ganze 1986 im Keller aufgenommen: alles voll auf die
zwölf. Die Schattendämonen erschaffen genau die rauhe Atmosphäre die man
sich von solchen Eigenpressungen wünscht und die dann leider oft auf
einer ‘offiziellen’ Label-Veröffentlichung ‘rausproduziert’ ist. Das
nachfolgende ‘My eyes fixed’ geht straight nach vorne los und hat einige
forcierten Gesangslinien. Da aber Hammonds Stimme überhaupt so schön
heiser klingt, bekommt der Track dadurch sogar einen gewissen Reiz. Der
Abschlusstrack ‘Of the shadows’ ist ein aggressiv-melodischer US
Metalhammer der etwas brillant Verspieltes in sich hat. Hätte in einer
leicht überarbeiteten Version gut auf Jag Panzers Ample destruction
stehen können. Auffallend an diesem Demo sind die fulminanten Drumparts
und –Fills: Trommler Clark soll doch bitte fest bei Shadow Demon
einsteigen.
Das bedrohliche Coverartwork wurde von Meister Travis Smith himself
gestiftet, für das Mixing und Mastering zeigt sich Terry ‘Heir Apparent’
Gorle verantwortlich.
Da alle Gitarrensoli von zwei Gastmusikern eingespielt wurden, müssten
Shadow Demon erst eine weitere EP mit fester Besatzung einspielen, damit
man besser über die spielerischen Fähigkeiten der Band urteilen kann.
Songs with balls schreiben können sie aber bereits. Gibt’s bei der Band
für lächerliche 7 dollar, Porto inklusive.
And Alta Vista's attempt at a translation:
`Demo ' comes from `demonstration ' and therefore is for us volume
with so thing an impression to arrange whether it which can or not.
Shadow Demon can do which. Simply with an a couch lamella opened their
demo CD comes from US OF A(sskickers) straight everyone quite over many
smooth handle productions of the last time excites itself. Blaine
Hammond (Vocals), Jeff helmet (guitar), James Rinker (bass) and guest
musicians Clint Clark (Drums) refer many Moechtegern Heavies in only
three Songs with yearly indication 2003 to their places. `... and the
meek ' open with a raised A cappella Intro the small Metalreigen and
sounds itself because of the hoarse-strong singing and the erdigen UP
speed adjustment a little like a mixture between earlier Rival (EP) and
Powersurge. Production sounds as if one would have taken up the whole
1986 in the cellar: everything fully on the twelve. The Schattendaemonen
creates exactly the rough atmosphere which one of such self-pressing
wishes itself and which then unfortunately often on one ` official '
label publication ` ' is rausproduziert. The following ` My of eyes
fixed ' goes straight forward loosely and has some forced singing lines.
Since however Hammonds voice sounds so beautifully hoarse at all, the
TRACK even gets thereby a certain attraction. The conclusion TRACK ` OF
the shadows ' is aggressive melodischer US a Metalhammer the somewhat
brilliantly playful in itself has. Ample would have destruction to stand
to be able in an easily revised version well on hunts tank. At this demo
the fulminanten Drumparts and Fills are remarkable: Trommler Clark is to
enter nevertheless please firmly with Shadow Demon. The threatening
Coverartwork was donated to Heir Apparent ' Gorle by master Travis Smith
himself, for the Mixing and mast ring shows up Terry ` responsible.
Since all Gitarrensoli was brought in by two guest musicians, Shadow
Demon would have to bring in only a further EP with firm crew, so that
one can judge better of the spielerischen abilities that volume. Songs
with ball to write can do it however already. Gibt's with that volume
for ridiculous 7 dollar, postage including. www.shadowdemon.us
Enjoy,
James
Hellspawn did both an interview and a CD review on us.
If you can read Dutch....
Interview here.
Review here.
I don't have an English translation of the review, but I do have the interview in English, which is posted below....
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Lets start with the introduction of the band! Who are the members, who started the band and when, etc...
Jeff: Well, I originally started trying to get a band together in early 2000 after I graduated from college and my old band dissipated. The musicians I found didn’t last long and we never had a complete line-up. At the time I was trying to put together a straight thrash band. I started getting more into power metal bands though and I decided I wanted to be in a band with a more versatile and melodic style singer, so I changed direction somewhat. I went through a lot of singers trying to find the right one. I finally met Blaine a couple years ago and from the minute I heard him sing the first note I knew I had found the right singer for this band. We found James later in the spring of 2002. Not only could he play the bass very well, but he also had great singing ability and a similar taste in music style. He is also just a great song writer and comes up with vocal and guitar ideas as well. There have been a couple others that had a short stay in the band that are no longer with us.
Blaine: I remember that Jeff told me he’d been looking for a singer for about a year when we met, which didn’t make me think I had a really good chance! However, he perked right up when I started singing. Given our influences and direction, I thought we might have something to develop. At that time it was just Jeff, me and a former drummer. We practiced in a metal shop—conveniently—in Monroe. It was a long drive, and damn cold in the winter.
James and I work at the same place, which is kind of cool. He really seemed to complement us. The three of us work well together. We’re all level-headed and work out the occasional creative difference with a minimum of fisticuffs.
James: At the time that I joined the band as it was then (Jeff, Blaine and guitarist Tim Diedrich who did some of the solos on our three song demo) had just recorded a one song demo of ‘My Eyes Fixed’ with a drummer who didn’t work out. It was a little rough in parts but I loved the potential I heard in that song. I met with the three of them and we hit it off from the start. After a while of not being able to find the right guy behind the drums, Tim decided to move back to Olympia where he had a job so now it’s just the three of us.
This might have been the end but we decided to push forward with just the three of us and record a three song demo with guest musicians. We were very fortunate to find some great players to fill in for the parts we needed (more about that below). The three song CD was completed in late 2003 and released early this year (2004).
Soon after the demo’s release, veteran drummer Will Anderson and lead guitarist Mike Lewin offered their services as performance musicians. Shadow Demon made its live debut in January at the 2004 Seattle PowerProg Fest.
The name Shadow Demon sounds pretty cool, who came up with the name...
Jeff: That was me. It was basically two words that I really liked the sound of together. I was trying to think of something that fit my mood at the time. I thought the name was perfect because it had a dark aspect to it, but also a very menacing and powerful aspect. I also thought that, metaphorically, shadows and demons can be related to many things. So far we have written songs about abstract concepts, philosophy, or made up stories, and I think the name fits us well.
James: Yes, as Jeff says, the words Shadow and Demon can have a variety of meanings depending on the context and even together I can think of a few different ways to use those two words together with different meanings. It’s very cool and I’m glad Jeff came up with it and spared me the agony of the decision!
Blaine: Jeff had already written the initial version of “Of the Shadows” before the band had a name, so it had to fit <smiles>. There are other cool names I’d have considered, but Shadow Demon also had the advantage of being a combination of nifty words that wasn’t already taken.
You released a three song demo CD, which sounds really great! How do you look back at it? If you could redo it, what would you change?
Jeff: It turned out great for our first serious recording. The difficult thing was scheduling time with the guy that was recording the instruments. We got a great deal, but the sacrifice was that we did not get to record very frequently and it took a long time to get done. I don’t know that there is much I would change…the guitar tones I ended up with I am happy with but they are not ideal to me and I think I know now what will help that next time. We had some technical difficulties with drum microphones and I think some bass tracks got deleted or were not transferred with the rest when we received them.
Blaine recorded all of the vocal tracks at James’ place, because we decided we just could not wait for the available studio time and we wanted to get it done. James is building a recording studio in his basement right now, which is almost done. We will be able to do all of our next recordings there from now on. This will work great because it is an atmosphere we are familiar and comfortable with and we won’t have to worry about coordinating with outside people. Terry Gorle did an excellent mixing and mastering job on it.
Blaine: Yep, we got some deals on the time and on the processing, but I’d have liked to target it and bang it out in a much shorter period of time. We had to do a number of short sessions for the vocals. I like the results, but we might’ve been able to generate a better sense of continuity if we all recorded all of our parts closer together. We also ended up doing a few creative changes along the way, like arrangement or harmony modifications, so we recorded some of the vocal parts in a couple different ways.
James: The one thing I wish I could go back and change is the way we recorded the bass. It didn’t turn out as well as (audio Engineer) Jason and I thought it would in the final mix.
On the CD I can heard music wise lots of influences of Iced Earth & Jag Panzer, and the vocals remind a bit of Brian from the legendary Satan. Any comment on this?
Jeff: Well, I think we are all huge Iced Earth fans for sure. Iced Earth was one of the first underground metal bands I got into…before that I listened to more well known bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Iron Maiden, etc. The “Night of the Stormrider” album was quite an awakening for me. So naturally, there is some influence there. Jag Panzer is not a band I really get into although I like their music and have a ton of respect for them. I actually didn’t pay much attention to them until I saw them live. They are awesome live!
James: Yep. Between the three of us we probably have influences from all over the Metal spectrum but I think our biggest influences would be traditional, thrash and power Metal.
As far as the singing, we just wanted a cool Metal vocal that fit the songs. We’ve heard all kinds of interesting comparisons, too.
Blaine: Yes, Iced Earth has come up before, and I definitely dig Barlow. Jeff has been listening to the John Schaffer crew since we met, and introduced me to that band. A couple people now have likened the vocal sound to Hansi of Blind Guardian. Having said this, emulating anyone isn’t really my intent; I just try to sing like I sing. In fact, when I hear cover tunes, I’d rather hear them play the tune like they want to. Live and in the studio, I try to allow the listener to hear the emotional impact of the lyrics, but deliver with the balls to demand the attention of the listener.
How would you guys describe your style? And who would you name as the most important musical influences? Are there also other influences (lyrical…
?Jeff: Well, I have found that the music I tend to enjoy the most has the right mixture of aggression and melody. I would say some of my big influences are Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Testament, Primal Fear…early Megadeth and Metallica of course. These are probably the main ones. There are so many though…I mostly like thrash and power metal bands. I listen to some black and death metal as well but I’m not sure how much that influences our music. Lyrically…I like dark images and stories. Supernatural forces, good vs. evil, comic characters…things like that. Sometimes I write about thoughts as they pertain to my outlook on life.
James: You know, every time we come up with a one to three word description people tell us “No, you sound like something else.” Imagine if you took a good helping of classic Metal and U.S. power Metal and threw in some thrash and a little prog for taste and mixed it together in a blender. That’s more or less what we sound like.
Jeff: --Without the noise of the blender.
Blaine: Exactly.
James: Personally, I am influenced by a great many things musically. I grew up listening to classical then in the 80s I discovered Metal. I tended to be attracted to the more melodic and faster types of bands with Iron Maiden being my biggest influence from that time. I also love King Diamond for the way he is able to tell a tale with the entire song. I hope to achieve that one day. For a while I was really big into the European power Metal sound but I think I’ve been over saturated with it. These days I listen to a variety of bands. Right now the one band I tend to listen to the most is probably Blind Guardian.
Blaine: I’m into the classic metal more than Jeff and James—like Dio, who has also had some talented guitarists, similar to Ozzy. I like Maiden’s music and arrangements. I think Chris Cornell in the Soundgarden era is one of the quality examples from that genre. Tony Harnell is a lesser known influence, but he did some phenomenal work in TNT. Lately I’ve been listening to Sinergy’s “Suicide By My Side” a lot. On the other hand, Jeff appreciates death metal more than James and me, so we create our own system of checks and balances.
The cover from the mini/demo CD looks very professional, how are the reactions on it?
Jeff: We love the artwork. In fact James wrote a song based on it called “Brave Murder Day”. We originally got this piece for the website and did not intend to use this artwork for the demo CD but we were running out of time to find something we liked so we used it.
James: Yes, the artwork was done by Travis Smith. Any serious Metal fan has seen his work before. The logo was done by Terry Gorle of Heir Apparent fame (yes, he is a multi-talented guy) loosely based on a logo that Jeff had done some time ago.
Blaine: Yeah, Terry was probably getting sick of me critiquing each revision until we had the logo just right, but he was pretty cool about it. <laughs>
James: I originally found and purchased the rights to use the piece on the cover as something to spice up our website and my own personal enjoyment. We intended to use the art for something after the demo, namely because of the song we did inspired by the piece.
About the time we were finishing up the mixing for the demo we were contacted by the promoter of the Seattle PowerProg fest and asked would we be able to play the fest in January. We found some people willing to play the show with us and committed to playing as we thought it’d be great to debut our demo and ourselves at the same time.
We started contacting a few artists we wanted to use for original work for the demo. We found that they were too busy to meet the time schedule we wanted to keep (oops). Then we started looking at pre-existing pieces to purchase and nearly all the ones we liked were already in use. At this point we’d spent quite a bit of time looking for art and artists when I pointed out that we had a great piece ready to use that we’d bought the rights to already. And so you have the fantastic Travis Smith piece as the cover art for our demo.
Blaine: Without realizing it, you’ve probably seen Travis’s creations on the covers from a number of major bands. The quality of the artwork has been the first thing mentioned by several people who have contacted us. One person said that he knew he’d like the music just from judging by the cover art.
You guys have a nice website at www.shadowdemon.us can you tell our readers what they can find there! How important is the internet for you guys
Jeff: James made the website. I think he did a great job. We wanted to make it fairly simple and easy for people to navigate and still look professional. Well, there is whatever news is going on of course, and right now there are samples of the songs from the demo. We also have a discussion board hosted by our friends at Abrasive Rock so people can ask us questions or just interact with each other. At least one of us will try to check in frequently. We use the internet a lot. It’s a great tool for finding out about metal bands.
James: Sure! And thanks for pointing it out to your readers.
We have the important things like news, a little about the band & its members, the songs from the demo, some nice reviews, a link to our message board, and links to other people and local bands that have been important to us. We do invite any of your readers to join us on our official bulletin board. Jeff and I post there often and love to ‘chat’ with fellow Metal-heads.
The Internet has been our greatest ally in getting our music out to listeners and for keeping us going. That’s probably true for Metal in general. I think there are a good number of new bands that nearly nobody would have heard about if it weren’t for the Internet. Once we release our next CD we will definitely be using the ‘Net to get the word out and to let people get a taste for what we’re about.
Blaine: We’ve also got a few band pics up there. Later on we’ll add some show pics or video, so check back from time to time. Right now a lot of that happens on our discussion board.
On your site you also have a real original system for official downloading! Tell us something more about this!
James: Ah, well, in addition to the usual MP3 clips we are using this thing called Weed share so that people can listen to the full songs. You can read the details at www.weedshare.com. Basically it allows us to offer the full songs to listeners to listen to three times for free. If someone then decides they like any of the songs they can buy and get unlimited usage of those songs. We think this is great as people can get the full songs right away and they can support what we do by either buying the Weed share versions or ordering a CD. Since this is a labor of love for us and not money, we take all of the money from CD and Weed sales and put it right back into Shadow Demon in the form of things people will enjoy. We’ve pocketed nothing ourselves.
Terry Gorle from Heir Apparent mixed and mastered your CD, and did a really good job on it, how did you get in contact? What are those guys up to nowadays?
Jeff: I met Terry a few years ago after I found out about his band and that he lived in the same area. He was toying with the idea of adding a rhythm guitarist for live shows so I thought I’d at least meet him and check out their stuff, so I met him at a guitar store and I played right there for him. Well, I don’t know if he even liked what he heard but I decided that it just did not fit with the style that I wanted to play. They are a great band though, and we started going to their shows and hanging out with them once in awhile. Blaine and I roadied for them when they played the Abrasive Rock Fest. We then were sharing the same rehearsal studio for awhile.
I haven’t talked to them in awhile, but the last thing I knew is that they were looking for a drummer. They were going to go play a mini tour in Europe last spring and the drummer they found to do the tour bailed on them at the last minute. I have heard there is intention to put out another album at some point.
James: He’s a very cool guy. He’s offered his services as a veteran of the music and Metal industry to anyone that was interested and we took him up on the offer. We’ve had a great relationship with him and he’s very interested in and supportive of what we do.
Blaine: Besides the professional benefits of living close to Terry, Heir Apparent is one of the few good metal bands in our area. We’re fortunate to have seen their live show many times.
If I am correct the band consists nowadays out of 3 members and you are still looking for a drummer!? Is it such a hard job finding the right guy? You were helped out on the drums on the CD by a guest musician! Tell us something more...
Jeff: I think we live in the Twilight Zone. Ironically, the first musician I met when I tried to start this project was indeed, a drummer. Blaine and I were working with him for awhile, but when we went to record two of our first songs and he was playing to a click track and under the microscope of the microphones, he just could not cut it. Actually, after two full days, we barely had a decent take for one song. There were some other issues with him. There are a few good metal drummers in the Seattle area but they are all in bands and they do not play the same style we do. We have not met many drummers here at all who listen to similar bands that we do or understand our direction.
Clint Clark played drums for our demo. He previously played with Heir Apparent and was in a band called Byaxis at the time. He now plays in a rock band called Dog Bone Sanctuary. We are not of the style he most wants to play, but he is very learned in many styles of metal and music in general. He understands power metal and thrash and that is what we needed. He used to play in death metal bands and he unleashes some of the meanest blast-beats you’ve heard.
We also played some live shows earlier this year with the help of Will Anderson, who is the drummer for Lyranthe. He liked our music and kind of felt sorry for us I guess, and wanted to help us to get out there and play live. It was great! We made our first appearance at the Seattle Power Prog Fest playing back to back with both Lyranthe and Heir Apparent. We played a few more shows after that before Will had to start focusing on his own band again.
How are the reactions on the CD so far? Are you already working on new material? And will it be for a next demo CD or.... Or is it still a bit too soon?
Jeff: We have received many positive reactions so far. We have piqued the interest of some labels but they “need to hear more”. That is what our plan is now…to make more music and present it as a full album. Not to mention we have fans who are bugging us like mad to give them more than a three-song CD. We are currently writing new material and the goal is to start recording it in early 2006.
James: Yeah, reactions so far have been great! As we expected, Europe seems to have the most people that appreciate our style of Metal but we’ve had a good response from the US and other parts of the world as well.
Future plans?
Jeff: First thing is get our album done. We would like to do a tour in Europe and if there is enough interest in the States that would be great too. One of our goals is to play at the Wacken Festival.
James: Yes! Make more Metal and get it to the fans. Our greatest desire right now is to be able to come to Europe and play for you. That would make us very happy.
A last word or anything left to say?
Blaine: Thanks for the opportunity to say what’s going on with Shadow Demon.
James: We’d love for anyone and everyone to come by our message board and say “Hello.”
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An older review from Music Extreme:
http://www.musicextreme.com/cd0503b.htm
A climatic opening in "...And the Meek" turns soon into the most powerful heavy metal that is the style that Shadow Demon manages perfectly. The good thing that I perceived first is the huge guitar sound that this guys have that it seems coming from a downtuned guitar, which is not a common feature in bands of the style. But this guys go beyond this style and they have also added osme thrash influences in some rhythms and breaks and tempo changes. The vocals are excellent, being melodic but not loosing even a bit of power, managing the middle range and without abusing high pitches. The band is extremely well rehearsed and solid. Three tracks leave you wanting more, specially with the great sound that this release has.
And another review from a German e-zine:
http://www.sacredmetal.de/index.php?page=reviews/eigen/shadowdemon2005
Demo’ kommt ja von ‘Demonstration’ und demnach soll uns eine Band mit
so einem Dings einen Eindruck vermitteln ob sie was kann oder nicht.
Shadow Demon können was. Schlicht mit einem Einliegeblättchen aufgemacht
kommt ihre Demo-CD aus den US of A(sskickers) gerade jedem recht der
sich über die vielen Glattbügelproduktionen der letzten Zeit aufregt.
Blaine Hammond (Vocals), Jeff Helm (Gitarre), James Rinker (Bass) und
Gastmusiker Clint Clark (Drums) verweisen in nur drei Songs mit
Jahresangabe 2003 viele Möchtegern-Heavies auf ihre Plätze.
‘…And the meek’ eröffnet mit einem erhabenen a cappella-Intro den
kleinen Metalreigen und hört sich wegen dem heiser-kraftvollen Gesang
und der erdigen up-tempo-Ausrichtung ein wenig an wie eine Mixtur
zwischen früherem Rival (EP) und Powersurge. Die Produktion tönt als
hätte man das ganze 1986 im Keller aufgenommen: alles voll auf die
zwölf. Die Schattendämonen erschaffen genau die rauhe Atmosphäre die man
sich von solchen Eigenpressungen wünscht und die dann leider oft auf
einer ‘offiziellen’ Label-Veröffentlichung ‘rausproduziert’ ist. Das
nachfolgende ‘My eyes fixed’ geht straight nach vorne los und hat einige
forcierten Gesangslinien. Da aber Hammonds Stimme überhaupt so schön
heiser klingt, bekommt der Track dadurch sogar einen gewissen Reiz. Der
Abschlusstrack ‘Of the shadows’ ist ein aggressiv-melodischer US
Metalhammer der etwas brillant Verspieltes in sich hat. Hätte in einer
leicht überarbeiteten Version gut auf Jag Panzers Ample destruction
stehen können. Auffallend an diesem Demo sind die fulminanten Drumparts
und –Fills: Trommler Clark soll doch bitte fest bei Shadow Demon
einsteigen.
Das bedrohliche Coverartwork wurde von Meister Travis Smith himself
gestiftet, für das Mixing und Mastering zeigt sich Terry ‘Heir Apparent’
Gorle verantwortlich.
Da alle Gitarrensoli von zwei Gastmusikern eingespielt wurden, müssten
Shadow Demon erst eine weitere EP mit fester Besatzung einspielen, damit
man besser über die spielerischen Fähigkeiten der Band urteilen kann.
Songs with balls schreiben können sie aber bereits. Gibt’s bei der Band
für lächerliche 7 dollar, Porto inklusive.
And Alta Vista's attempt at a translation:
`Demo ' comes from `demonstration ' and therefore is for us volume
with so thing an impression to arrange whether it which can or not.
Shadow Demon can do which. Simply with an a couch lamella opened their
demo CD comes from US OF A(sskickers) straight everyone quite over many
smooth handle productions of the last time excites itself. Blaine
Hammond (Vocals), Jeff helmet (guitar), James Rinker (bass) and guest
musicians Clint Clark (Drums) refer many Moechtegern Heavies in only
three Songs with yearly indication 2003 to their places. `... and the
meek ' open with a raised A cappella Intro the small Metalreigen and
sounds itself because of the hoarse-strong singing and the erdigen UP
speed adjustment a little like a mixture between earlier Rival (EP) and
Powersurge. Production sounds as if one would have taken up the whole
1986 in the cellar: everything fully on the twelve. The Schattendaemonen
creates exactly the rough atmosphere which one of such self-pressing
wishes itself and which then unfortunately often on one ` official '
label publication ` ' is rausproduziert. The following ` My of eyes
fixed ' goes straight forward loosely and has some forced singing lines.
Since however Hammonds voice sounds so beautifully hoarse at all, the
TRACK even gets thereby a certain attraction. The conclusion TRACK ` OF
the shadows ' is aggressive melodischer US a Metalhammer the somewhat
brilliantly playful in itself has. Ample would have destruction to stand
to be able in an easily revised version well on hunts tank. At this demo
the fulminanten Drumparts and Fills are remarkable: Trommler Clark is to
enter nevertheless please firmly with Shadow Demon. The threatening
Coverartwork was donated to Heir Apparent ' Gorle by master Travis Smith
himself, for the Mixing and mast ring shows up Terry ` responsible.
Since all Gitarrensoli was brought in by two guest musicians, Shadow
Demon would have to bring in only a further EP with firm crew, so that
one can judge better of the spielerischen abilities that volume. Songs
with ball to write can do it however already. Gibt's with that volume
for ridiculous 7 dollar, postage including. www.shadowdemon.us
