Right, so this is where Mike and I talk about influences, Slough Feg albums, the Hammers albums (including The Locust Years), John Cobbet, stolen guitars, playing in East Germany, just generally lots of good stuff.
Ready set go:
JK: We just re-launched our webzine and if you dont mind, we copied the quote from Twilight of the Idols on to our homepage.
MS: HAH! Thats cool, thats cool. Thats awesome!
JK: Im hoping that our webmaster was listening to Life in the Dark Age on his Twilight vinyl when he published that.
MS: Oh he found that huh? As far as Ive heard, you can only get that on eBay now or something.
JK: He lives in Sweden and went to a record fair.
MS: Yeah, in Sweden you could probably get it. I cant believe what that thing is worth see what a BROCAS HELM vinyl might fetch you these days, maybe $100.
JK: Whenever youre mentioned, youre always discussed in the same light as bands like BROCAS HELM or MANILLA ROAD, but do you associate yourself more with the NWOBHM?
MS: To be honest, I do associate myself more with the NWOBHM. When it comes to MANILLA ROAD, not really, and not because I dont like them but just because I was never influenced by them. BROCAS HELM on the other hand I didnt discover until 1996, but when I played a show with them was the first time I ever heard them. I have to say, Im definitely inspired by them now, and vice versa Im sure. Were really, really good friends. Theyre the best of those underground bands by far. People always mention CIRITH UNGOL too and MANILLA ROAD as if Id listened to them when I was a kid but I had no idea who they were! Its just because they werent that big and I like the early MANILLA ROAD stuff a lot, but Im not crazy about every one of their albums. Ive met them and theyre really cool, and CIRITH UNGOL, I like their stuff but it doesnt make me go nuts.
JK: Which particular MANILLA ROAD album is your favorite? Crystal Logic?
MS: Everyone says thats the best one but I disagree, I think their best albums are the first two. Metal and Invasion I think those two are far beyond Crystal Logic. See, everyone says Crystal Logic is the best album but when I got it, I liked the first song a lot but otherwise it doesnt really get to me like it does with other people.
JK: Yeah, well you do hear a lot about Crystal Logic and so I also ended up getting The Deluge and Open the Gates, but I havent got into them as much yet.
MS: The Deluge and Open the Gates? Ive heard those like once each. I mean, just between you and me, theres a lot of hype around them and I dont really see it. People really worship them and I just dont get it.
JK: But then you get BROCAS HELM self-releasing their own albums once every ten years or something.
MS: Yeah well you have to see them live. Their records dont stand up to the live performance, but as far as MANILLA ROAD goes, those two first albums are really, really great. After that, theres some good stuff too, but not as much.
JK: How much of the Bay Area scene did you get into back in the mid 80s?
MS: I will say right now that I was never interested in the Bay Area Thrash scene, period. I bought Bonded by Blood when it came out in 1985 because I liked VENOM, and somehow I associated it with VENOM, but I didnt even know it was from the Bay Area. I did like that, then I bought some METALLICA albums and eventually I liked those early ones, of course, but I never liked EXODUS after Bonded by Blood at all. I never liked TESTAMENT at all. I never liked DEATH ANGEL at all. That stuff doesnt do much for me.
JK: Ok what about MEGADETH?
MS: I liked the first album, but Im not crazy about MEGADETH. I like some of it, but Bay Area stuff is not heavy metal to me in that it doesnt have the same spirit. First of all, its too Americanized.
JK: Well, when I listen to your instrumental work, I hear a lot of Dave Mustaine type riffs.
MS: Oh there might be, yeah.
JK: I mean, what about Robustus?!
MS: [laughs] You know when I wrote that? I wrote that when I was 15 in 1985. I wrote that because I was listening to VENOM and EXODUS a lot. Yeah, I wrote that when I was 15 and I tried to do it in a band and no one could really play it that well at that age, you know.
JK: Thing is, its interesting because I hear it on occasion on the HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE stuff as well.
MS: Oh yeah.
JK: Is that coming from you or John?
MS: No, its coming from John. In HAMMERS, I wrote some of the stuff on the first album but thats about it. Otherwise I didnt write anything.
JK: I suppose thats cool because its Johns baby
MS: Yeah.
JK: I know hes left SLOUGH FEG now, but I suppose that doesnt stop you from carrying on.
MS: He wasnt around that much at the end really, he was only at the tour and live shows really. He wasnt participating and that was part of the problem.
JK: Who have you got to replace him?
MS: This guy Angelo from COLD MOURNING. Theyre an underground doom band from Monterrey, CA. He plays a [Gibson] SG first of all, which Im not crazy about. [laughs]. No, its fine, it sounds good, its heavier, and we were always just two Les Pauls for a long time but with the SG it gives us that heavier, doomier sound. Hes more into lead guitar than John was which is good, so were both doing leads all over the place, and hes doing leads that are more rock n roll leads where John would do these weird jazzy leads. John is a fantastic musician, and there will be certain things I miss about him like I would write a riff and Id ask him to do a harmony, and hed just add in these great melodies. Angelo does that too but not to the same extent, hes more into throwing leads in that are more rock sounding which is good for the live show. I think what it really comes down to is that Angelo might be better for the live experience, and in the studio, John was really fantastic, but well have to wait and see, maybe Angelo will be great in the studio too.
JK: Have you started rehearsing for this tour?
MS: Oh yeah, weve been playing shows. We just keep doing things all the time. We dont take many breaks. Weve done a show every month for the last three months in San Francisco. Were doing one in Oakland in 2 weeks, so were rehearsing for the tour, and another album. Like I said, Ive written music and we have an 8-track in the practice room so Im starting to 8 track everything we play.
JK: How do you decide on your set lists? Are you leaning heavily towards Atavism for the upcoming tour?
MS: We even it out. It used to be heavily weighted on Down Among the Deadmen because at the time it came, it was our biggest & best album, in the popularity sense. So we played mostly stuff from that and threw in songs from the other two albums, but then when Traveller came out, we still had the set heavily weighted towards Deadmen because we couldnt do some of the stuff on Traveller. Now we do 3 or 4 songs from Traveller, 3 or 4 from Deadmen, 4 from Atavism, and only 1 from Twilight and 1 from the first album.
JK: Do you play Addendum Galactus by any chance?
MS: [laughs] We have never done that live.
JK: Did you know thats my favorite SLOUGH FEG song?
MS: It is?! Oh, so youre the guy [laughs] thats crazy. To me, it sounds like a POLICE song the vocals, with the way the harmonies are done, is what Sting would have done in the early 80s.
JK: I love it. I love the verse riff, the harmonies bounce along really well.
MS: Yeah, the vocals work well on top of that riff.
JK: So which songs do you play off Traveller?
MS: High Passage/Low Passage, Asteroid Belts, Professors Theme, and Gene-ocide. And occasionally well do Baltechs Lament which is the mellow one with the acoustic guitar. Sometimes we do that live.
JK: I assume you wrote Baltechs Lament on the acoustic?
MS: Actually no. It was originally going to be a doom song, a sort of a [proceeds to sing] DOOOOWWW DAAHHNNN, like that, but slowly realized it didnt work as well, so I threw it onto an acoustic guitar and played it that way.
JK: I spent so much time listening to Traveller, then Deadmen, then Twilight, but perhaps a month or so ago, it suddenly dawned on me that the debut is the best album. I guess I didnt realize that until I understood the other albums first.
MS: Oh really? Thats a lot of peoples favorite.
JK: The vocal performance on that album is extraordinary.
MS: You know what? The vocal performance on that debut album is probably the best vocal performance on any SLOUGH FEG album [laughs]. Thats scary to me.
JK: With that said, the vocals on the new one are a complete return to form.
MS: Its rougher, but yeah, weve tried to return to the roots of the debut. Yeah, you see I sometimes I put the first album on and I think God, this is the best album weve done. At times I feel that it says everything we wanted to say just in that 30 minutes or whatever it is.
JK: Why Not and The Red Branch are two of the greatest songs, at least vocally
MS: Wow, thanks.
JK: and you even managed to pull in the CONAN THE BARBARIAN theme into The Mask.
MS: Aha! Yes, well thats on the re-issue yes. You know, no one noticed that we did that there are two other bands that have done that, but we did it first. In 1993, we recorded that on the demo, but we did it live in 91 and 92.
JK: Do people recognize the CONAN riff?
MS: No one really did actually besides after the record was out for a while.
JK: Who were the other bands to do it?
MS: One band from around here, they were on an Italian label I think they were called TOTAL ECLIPSE, and some other band in Europe did it on a demo. Neither one of them realized that we did it first actually.
JK: Theres also DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE. They used it on Deaths Design, but they literally just played the exact same thing as whats in the movie, whereas you guys basically play a variation of the theme.
MS: Oh yeah, it just fits into the song.
JK: Which are your favorite songs from Atavism?
MS: I think the best song on that album is Agony Slalom. Its such a fucking weird name, I dont know why I keep doing that. I come back and look at it later and I wonder, why did I call it that?[ [laughs] But that song is great, and then I will Kill you / You will Die is a pretty good, cohesive piece. Those two songs dont get awkward at any point at all. Also, Hiberno-Latin Invasion which is like the pop single off the album that everyone seems to like so much. I like it because it was the last SLOUGH FEG collaboration between John and myself, and I think that one works. A lot of people really think about that one.
JK: Do you start the shows off with I will kill you ?
MS: No, not right now, but we might on tour. Right now were starting with The Spinward Marches from Traveller and then going straight into Sky Chariots.
JK: I LOVE Sky Chariots especially the mid song MAIDENisms.
MS: Yeah of course, that ones a total MAIDEN rip-off, you know, the way we throw in Where Eagles Dare right in the middle thinking no one would notice. [laughs]
JK: Is this year going to be busy for you in terms of touring just because youve also got the new HAMMERS album coming out soon too?
MS: Yeah, the new HAMMERS album is coming out but I dont think there will be any touring with that any time soon, but for SLOUGH FEG theres the whole month of July pretty much, and then November were going to Europe. Its somewhat busy. Im not sure exactly when the HAMMERS album is supposed to be coming out.
JK: Its supposed to be this Fall. So might there be some HAMMERS touring at least next year?
MS: I dont know. HAMMERS is in limbo. Its in a weird situation right now. We did the tour last Summer, and some people came out of it not wanting to tour very much again, like John. He doesnt like touring very much. We may do some short things but theres a lot of questions in that band with regards to whos going to be around so actually at this point Im not sure whats going on with it really.
JK: Thats a shame.
MS: Well, I do know whats going on with it but John would have to reconfigure things a bit in order to have a lot of live shows coming up. Several people arent interested in doing much of that, and other people have other obligations, family, and so its tough.
JK: So it could be one of those things where HAMMERS only release albums but not tour?
MS: Yeah it probably will be something that turns out like that, I just dont want to say for sure, because I enjoy touring with HAMMERS but its a different thing to SLOUGH FEG which is much more based on me, one person I mean, I dont mean to say its not a band, actually its more of a band at the same time because people have the opportunity to collaborate a lot more, but its not as dependent on everybody, whereas with John, if he didnt want to tour, we got Angelo. SLOUGH FEG is much more malleable because I base all the importance on myself, and Ive had to because over the years Ive lost so many people. So much bullshit has happened, Ive learned to NOT depend on anybody else. I just cant feel secure that way.
JK: You almost put yourself in that situation though because, for example, with the HAMMERS, youre the lead vocals and second guitar, and if they were to lose that, they would lose a big chunk of their sound.
MS: Yes, it would be very tough for the HAMMERS to go on without me, yeah.
JK: From a fan perspective, you could almost live without the HAMMERS touring, but not releasing any more albums wouldnt be good at all.
MS: Well, I dont see any problem releasing albums you can always replace people in the studio. Well see what happens.
JK: How do you think The Locust Years turned out, at least comparing it to The August Engine?
MS: Better. Theres always been things that I havent been too crazy about on HAMMERS albums though because I dont write the songs, and he does certain things that I wouldnt do, and there are certain things I dont agree with, but its Johns thing and Im willing to sing on it. I wont be willing to sing on anything I dont like, or I have no reason to. At least, not any more. In order for HAMMERS to continue, theyve come this far with one man calling the shots (after the first album), and it cant really continue that way because people arent really interested in doing that, they want to be a band, including me. If were going to do it, its got to be more of a collaborative effort, so there will have to be some changes made. I think he could survive anyway.
JK: And what will it take to put in those changes? People just sitting down and coming to an agreement?
MS: No no, that will never work. People can agree to whatever they want to agree to. They can say whatever they want to say, but when it comes down to actually doing anything, I dont know if its going to work or not it might come to a big butting of heads. Or it may come to someone just taking over and saying no, were going to do it this way. Does the majority say were going to do it this way? OK youre outvoted. [laughs]. I dont know, or maybe it will come down to someone writing a song that everybody likes and we all agree to doing it.
JK: But youve worked with John for a while, and I assume you know him well enough as a person in order to predict where he might want to go with this.
MS: Yeah. Thats why I say its gonna be tough. [laughs]. Its not going to be easy to get him to change something that he has control over. But hes fine either way where he has the control and nobody else does.
JK: Did you enjoy making The Locust Years?
MS: Er well I didnt make much of it.
JK: OK, did you enjoy performing on it?
MS: I enjoyed performing on some of the songs, yes. Some of them, I didnt enjoy that much, but most of it I enjoyed.
JK: Well then, when you say its better, in what way do you think its better?
MS: You sound like youve heard The Locust Years?
JK: No? Ive only heard the title track that was released a few weeks ago on myspace.
MS: [laughs] Oh ok, I thought there were hijacked copies running around or something. It would be funny if there were. I wouldnt be surprised at all, because The August Engine was just a mess .it was just done very .it wasnt Johns fault it was just done I wasnt even in the city very much at that point, I was traveling, or I was in LA a lot, and I learned most of the songs in the studio right before I sang them. So we didnt have time to do anything, that album was done by John and the drummer just being in a room and making it up, so it didnt have that band feel to it at all. The Locust Years is WAY better because the songs had more time to develop and we had a better producer and engineer.
JK: What about the dynamic of having new blood in there with Jamie [bass/vocals] and Sigrid [hammond/keys]?
MS: Yeah, that energized things a bit. Sigrid has a strong personality and is a big part of the band. The whole spirit of the thing is enhanced by Sigrid particularly because shes a very good musician. And shes a fun person to play music with. In a way, she kept me going in wanting to continue with HAMMERS just with her joining the band. Its just different, I dont know how to describe it actually.
JK: We really like the HAMMERS, and its a shame because this is only the third album in and the potential
MS: Yeah the potential has to be unlocked, and you cant just be one person doing everything. So the potential will not be there. You see, on the first album [The Bastard], which I think is the best one, there wasnt that much collaboration but I wrote a lot of the stuff I sang, part of the melodies, and I wrote some of the music on a couple of songs, but it wasnt just me, everybody had more of a hand in it. It was more of a band effort and I think that comes out in the music. I think thats true with anything, its always better when its a band effort. You know, Hiberno-Latin Invasion was John and myself. Addendum Galactus was John writing the music, and John and I arranging the music together, and me writing the vocals. Sky Chariots was mostly me, but some of Johns riffs as well
JK: You would think that with the side bands John has, like LUDICRA, that he gets that all out of his system so he could open himself up more for band collaboration. Other than HAMMERS, you dont really do the side band thing do you?
MS: No, I dont. Thats one of the reasons John isnt in SLOUGH FEG anymore because he was spending too much time doing all this stuff with the other bands where he had more control. He just likes to have control over everything, where he mostly had control over LUDICRA and had all the control over HAMMERS, I dont think SLOUGH FEG interests him as much unless he has all the control. Sorry, I like for him to collaborate, but he didnt like touring. If you dont like touring then you cant be in SLOUGH FEG, thats all there is to it.
JK: Did he join SLOUGH FEG before you participated in HAMMERS?
MS: HAMMERS was just starting. Not even playing music, just sort of writing music together between three or four people, two of which never even ended up on any record. And Erika Stoltz [LOST GOAT] who actually wrote a lot of the lyrics with me for The Bastard, we wrote some of that together, so John wanted it to be a collaborative effort from the beginning, but then he joined SLOUGH FEG shortly after that -- actually as a bass player at first. He filled in on bass while we were in Europe, and then when we got a bass player, he started playing guitar again. Its kinda weird.
JK: Do you remember performing on the UNHOLY CADAVER demo?
MS: Of course. Theres not much of me on there but I remember it. Thats Erika Stoltz singing, the first singer. Yeah, were on our third female singer now.
JK: Is Janis still with PINK?
MS: No, she hasnt been in PINK for over a year she was in FIREBALL MINISTRY for a while, which is a pretty successful and terrible band, in my opinion, but now shes not in that anymore either.
JK: So what is she doing now?
MS: I dont know. I havent seen her, she lives in LA. When she was in FIREBALL MINISTRY, they opened up for DIO about four or five months ago, and she got me backstage to meet Dio. That was really cool, but that was the last I saw her.
JK: Do you prefer SABBATH with Ozzy or Dio?
MS: OH! Give me a break. I mean, I love the Dio albums but the Ozzy albums are the real thing.
JK: Do you like RAINBOW with Dio?
MS: Yeah! I like everything Dio did well almost, except for some of those really cheesy albums he did.
JK: Do you remember the lead break that you play in The August Engine part 1? Doesnt that sound like Ritchie Blackmore?
MS: Yeah, thats what everybody says. It does. I mean, I never wrote it but both John and I play it live in harmony. It does sound a lot like Ritchie yeah. I like DEEP PURPLE, I like RAINBOW, but in RAINBOW I dont like his guitar sound that much, I just like the band with Dio obviously, and the songwriting.
JK: Ill be coming to see you guys when you come to NY. I did actually see you guys last year when you came out with the HAMMERS. I wanted to comment on both Jamie and Sigrid, and I agree, they both seem very approachable and easy to talk to. You obviously spend more time with them, but with them in the band, it was just a great show.
MS: Oh yeah, it was a great show. That was one of the best HAMMERS shows ever, that was fantastic. You see, thats the kind of stuff that kept it going and thats the kind of stuff that makes me really mad or upset that John doesnt want to tour. HAMMERS could do ok touring, I mean on that tour we did ok we played some dead shows but we could just shoot around and play places like New York. John wants to play places like New York, but you cant just go and play New York, you have to play a bunch of places down the east coast, and pay for it, and somehow manage to get out there and make some money to pay for it all. Its tough.
JK: The New York show was incredible. Those people in the front row were just going nuts for you guys!
MS: I dont know who those guys were but that was pretty crazy. It was a great thing, but I think it was a freak chance, I mean, I dont think the SLOUGH FEG show will be like that although I hope it will, but I think once in a while you think how did that happen?. SLOUGH FEG played in Germany once, and we thought no ones going to come to the show, its out in East Germany, its in the middle of nowhere, right next to the Czech Republic border, and theres probably not going to be anyone there, and we went there and it was probably the greatest show Ive ever played in my entire life. It was totally packed, totally sold out with these crazy kids from 3 different countries, and they went absolutely nuts. We did 3 encores and it was just a freaky thing, much more freaky than that night in New York.
JK: Ive always wondered, if you keep getting called out for unexpected encores, what happens when you play a song that you havent rehearsed?
MS: You suck. [laughs] But its an encore and everyones freaking out so much, nobody notices [laughs]. But usually you keep one for an encore.
JK: Or you could do a cover perhaps.
MS: [sarcastically] Yeah you could do the usual Louie Louie or Paranoid again, yeah.
JK: Do you do any covers on the road?
MS: SLOUGH FEG does, HAMMERS is very weirdly organized because, again, its just one guy making all the decisions a lot of the time so its kind of a mess. HAMMERS has practiced a million covers and never done any of them live because John always decides at the last minute that he doesnt want to do it. SLOUGH FEG has played all sorts of covers THIN LIZZY songs, or weird songs like The Wizards Vengeance [LEGEND]. Weve done a lot of weird covers weve done a GOVERNMENT ISSUE cover, hardcore. Just crazy oddball stuff.
JK: And then every now and then you do these 7 covers where you might cover a MANOWAR song or some NWOBHM track, do you ever play those songs live?
MS: Nah. Someone told us to do those, we never decided to do those songs. If we were going to decide for ourselves, wed probably cover HORSLIPS [JK: a 70s Irish folk rock band] or something like that. Perhaps BLACK FLAG, or something really unexpected. Not heavy metal, I dont know why we would do that.
JK: OK to wrap things up, I have a few questions from the readers. Firstly, Starport Blues is this a leftover from the Traveller sessions?
MS: Ahh! Yes! Not the recording, but the songwriting, yes! I wrote that song for Traveller and we even recorded some of the music and then gave up because the album was already long and we didnt have the time to do the whole thing. We thought that wed never pull it off and make it sound right with the budget we had, so we just practiced it and did it again for Atavism.
JK: I like it when you get that blues groove thing going. Every now and then you get songs like BiPolar Disorder
MS: Oh yes.
JK: right, and thats where you hear the blatant BLACK SABBATH worship. Right there and the Shadows of the Unborn, the first track off the debut.
MS: Yeah, its just total SABBATH.
JK: OK next question. Jamie Myers is she single and what are her thoughts on dating other bass players from Southern California?
MS: The answer to that is no. [laughs] She is not single. Shes not married, but she might as well be at this point. Believe me, if you met her, youd think different no Im just kidding [laughs]
JK: Well, theres something about the tattoos and mean looking bass -- guys go for it.
MS: Oh sure, shes attractive theres no doubt about it. However, Sigrid is single so [laughs]. Shes a fun party girl.
JK: I remember talking to her about the keyboard weighing 500lb.
MS: Oh you should talk to me about that, I remember that more than she did. It wrecked my back.
JK: Didnt you guys lose some equipment on the HAMMERS tour?
MS: Yes we did. Someone forgot to lock the trailer. I lost the guitar that I had since 1993. It was a Les Paul, so the one you saw me playing was a replacement. Somehow we had a little extra money at that point from the tour so because Jamie also lost her bass, that was $700 and my Les Paul replacement was $1200, so we just bought new ones. I bought it at Guitar Center with a 30 day return policy, so that happened in Minnesota, I bought the new Les Paul and I didnt like it very much and when I got back to San Francisco I returned it and got the money back!! [laughs]. I kept it in good enough shape, I told them I didnt like it very much and that it had just been sitting around the house. And it worked out really well because with the money I got back on that, I ended up finding a Les Paul gold top on-line for around $1000 so it worked out ok.
JK: So somebody out there found your Les Paul on the road, or drove over it.
MS: Yeah, and the funny thing is, in 1995 I lost that same Les Paul. It was sitting in the back of the truck and it got stolen, but I got it back. I gave the serial number to the cops and they found it in a pawn shop. Then I got it back in Southern California, but I dont think Ill get it back this time somehow.
JK: How long was it until the cops found it the first time?
MS: A year. Its amazing that they did. The serial number goes through the system and when it goes into the pawn shop, it goes through a system and the cops find out. The LAPD did that, yeah.
JK: OK last readers question. Whos managing the SLOUGH FEG website when it comes to placing orders?
MS: Why did someone lose an order?
JK: Yes.
MS: OK, tell anyone on your site that if they want to contact me, they can. [JK: if you think youve lost an order at their site, contact me and Ill pass the message on]. Im going to ask him to shut that thing down!
JK: OK were done! Any words to the fans?
MS: Just hi er I dont know sorry if we screwed you over on the website!! [laughs] Come see us live, were touring America for the first time, and if youre in Europe well be there too! And buy merchandise it keeps us alive!
Ready set go:
JK: We just re-launched our webzine and if you dont mind, we copied the quote from Twilight of the Idols on to our homepage.
MS: HAH! Thats cool, thats cool. Thats awesome!
JK: Im hoping that our webmaster was listening to Life in the Dark Age on his Twilight vinyl when he published that.
MS: Oh he found that huh? As far as Ive heard, you can only get that on eBay now or something.
JK: He lives in Sweden and went to a record fair.
MS: Yeah, in Sweden you could probably get it. I cant believe what that thing is worth see what a BROCAS HELM vinyl might fetch you these days, maybe $100.
JK: Whenever youre mentioned, youre always discussed in the same light as bands like BROCAS HELM or MANILLA ROAD, but do you associate yourself more with the NWOBHM?
MS: To be honest, I do associate myself more with the NWOBHM. When it comes to MANILLA ROAD, not really, and not because I dont like them but just because I was never influenced by them. BROCAS HELM on the other hand I didnt discover until 1996, but when I played a show with them was the first time I ever heard them. I have to say, Im definitely inspired by them now, and vice versa Im sure. Were really, really good friends. Theyre the best of those underground bands by far. People always mention CIRITH UNGOL too and MANILLA ROAD as if Id listened to them when I was a kid but I had no idea who they were! Its just because they werent that big and I like the early MANILLA ROAD stuff a lot, but Im not crazy about every one of their albums. Ive met them and theyre really cool, and CIRITH UNGOL, I like their stuff but it doesnt make me go nuts.
JK: Which particular MANILLA ROAD album is your favorite? Crystal Logic?
MS: Everyone says thats the best one but I disagree, I think their best albums are the first two. Metal and Invasion I think those two are far beyond Crystal Logic. See, everyone says Crystal Logic is the best album but when I got it, I liked the first song a lot but otherwise it doesnt really get to me like it does with other people.
JK: Yeah, well you do hear a lot about Crystal Logic and so I also ended up getting The Deluge and Open the Gates, but I havent got into them as much yet.
MS: The Deluge and Open the Gates? Ive heard those like once each. I mean, just between you and me, theres a lot of hype around them and I dont really see it. People really worship them and I just dont get it.
JK: But then you get BROCAS HELM self-releasing their own albums once every ten years or something.
MS: Yeah well you have to see them live. Their records dont stand up to the live performance, but as far as MANILLA ROAD goes, those two first albums are really, really great. After that, theres some good stuff too, but not as much.
JK: How much of the Bay Area scene did you get into back in the mid 80s?
MS: I will say right now that I was never interested in the Bay Area Thrash scene, period. I bought Bonded by Blood when it came out in 1985 because I liked VENOM, and somehow I associated it with VENOM, but I didnt even know it was from the Bay Area. I did like that, then I bought some METALLICA albums and eventually I liked those early ones, of course, but I never liked EXODUS after Bonded by Blood at all. I never liked TESTAMENT at all. I never liked DEATH ANGEL at all. That stuff doesnt do much for me.
JK: Ok what about MEGADETH?
MS: I liked the first album, but Im not crazy about MEGADETH. I like some of it, but Bay Area stuff is not heavy metal to me in that it doesnt have the same spirit. First of all, its too Americanized.
JK: Well, when I listen to your instrumental work, I hear a lot of Dave Mustaine type riffs.
MS: Oh there might be, yeah.
JK: I mean, what about Robustus?!
MS: [laughs] You know when I wrote that? I wrote that when I was 15 in 1985. I wrote that because I was listening to VENOM and EXODUS a lot. Yeah, I wrote that when I was 15 and I tried to do it in a band and no one could really play it that well at that age, you know.
JK: Thing is, its interesting because I hear it on occasion on the HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE stuff as well.
MS: Oh yeah.
JK: Is that coming from you or John?
MS: No, its coming from John. In HAMMERS, I wrote some of the stuff on the first album but thats about it. Otherwise I didnt write anything.
JK: I suppose thats cool because its Johns baby
MS: Yeah.
JK: I know hes left SLOUGH FEG now, but I suppose that doesnt stop you from carrying on.
MS: He wasnt around that much at the end really, he was only at the tour and live shows really. He wasnt participating and that was part of the problem.
JK: Who have you got to replace him?
MS: This guy Angelo from COLD MOURNING. Theyre an underground doom band from Monterrey, CA. He plays a [Gibson] SG first of all, which Im not crazy about. [laughs]. No, its fine, it sounds good, its heavier, and we were always just two Les Pauls for a long time but with the SG it gives us that heavier, doomier sound. Hes more into lead guitar than John was which is good, so were both doing leads all over the place, and hes doing leads that are more rock n roll leads where John would do these weird jazzy leads. John is a fantastic musician, and there will be certain things I miss about him like I would write a riff and Id ask him to do a harmony, and hed just add in these great melodies. Angelo does that too but not to the same extent, hes more into throwing leads in that are more rock sounding which is good for the live show. I think what it really comes down to is that Angelo might be better for the live experience, and in the studio, John was really fantastic, but well have to wait and see, maybe Angelo will be great in the studio too.
JK: Have you started rehearsing for this tour?
MS: Oh yeah, weve been playing shows. We just keep doing things all the time. We dont take many breaks. Weve done a show every month for the last three months in San Francisco. Were doing one in Oakland in 2 weeks, so were rehearsing for the tour, and another album. Like I said, Ive written music and we have an 8-track in the practice room so Im starting to 8 track everything we play.
JK: How do you decide on your set lists? Are you leaning heavily towards Atavism for the upcoming tour?
MS: We even it out. It used to be heavily weighted on Down Among the Deadmen because at the time it came, it was our biggest & best album, in the popularity sense. So we played mostly stuff from that and threw in songs from the other two albums, but then when Traveller came out, we still had the set heavily weighted towards Deadmen because we couldnt do some of the stuff on Traveller. Now we do 3 or 4 songs from Traveller, 3 or 4 from Deadmen, 4 from Atavism, and only 1 from Twilight and 1 from the first album.
JK: Do you play Addendum Galactus by any chance?
MS: [laughs] We have never done that live.
JK: Did you know thats my favorite SLOUGH FEG song?
MS: It is?! Oh, so youre the guy [laughs] thats crazy. To me, it sounds like a POLICE song the vocals, with the way the harmonies are done, is what Sting would have done in the early 80s.
JK: I love it. I love the verse riff, the harmonies bounce along really well.
MS: Yeah, the vocals work well on top of that riff.
JK: So which songs do you play off Traveller?
MS: High Passage/Low Passage, Asteroid Belts, Professors Theme, and Gene-ocide. And occasionally well do Baltechs Lament which is the mellow one with the acoustic guitar. Sometimes we do that live.
JK: I assume you wrote Baltechs Lament on the acoustic?
MS: Actually no. It was originally going to be a doom song, a sort of a [proceeds to sing] DOOOOWWW DAAHHNNN, like that, but slowly realized it didnt work as well, so I threw it onto an acoustic guitar and played it that way.
JK: I spent so much time listening to Traveller, then Deadmen, then Twilight, but perhaps a month or so ago, it suddenly dawned on me that the debut is the best album. I guess I didnt realize that until I understood the other albums first.
MS: Oh really? Thats a lot of peoples favorite.
JK: The vocal performance on that album is extraordinary.
MS: You know what? The vocal performance on that debut album is probably the best vocal performance on any SLOUGH FEG album [laughs]. Thats scary to me.
JK: With that said, the vocals on the new one are a complete return to form.
MS: Its rougher, but yeah, weve tried to return to the roots of the debut. Yeah, you see I sometimes I put the first album on and I think God, this is the best album weve done. At times I feel that it says everything we wanted to say just in that 30 minutes or whatever it is.
JK: Why Not and The Red Branch are two of the greatest songs, at least vocally
MS: Wow, thanks.
JK: and you even managed to pull in the CONAN THE BARBARIAN theme into The Mask.
MS: Aha! Yes, well thats on the re-issue yes. You know, no one noticed that we did that there are two other bands that have done that, but we did it first. In 1993, we recorded that on the demo, but we did it live in 91 and 92.
JK: Do people recognize the CONAN riff?
MS: No one really did actually besides after the record was out for a while.
JK: Who were the other bands to do it?
MS: One band from around here, they were on an Italian label I think they were called TOTAL ECLIPSE, and some other band in Europe did it on a demo. Neither one of them realized that we did it first actually.
JK: Theres also DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE. They used it on Deaths Design, but they literally just played the exact same thing as whats in the movie, whereas you guys basically play a variation of the theme.
MS: Oh yeah, it just fits into the song.
JK: Which are your favorite songs from Atavism?
MS: I think the best song on that album is Agony Slalom. Its such a fucking weird name, I dont know why I keep doing that. I come back and look at it later and I wonder, why did I call it that?[ [laughs] But that song is great, and then I will Kill you / You will Die is a pretty good, cohesive piece. Those two songs dont get awkward at any point at all. Also, Hiberno-Latin Invasion which is like the pop single off the album that everyone seems to like so much. I like it because it was the last SLOUGH FEG collaboration between John and myself, and I think that one works. A lot of people really think about that one.
JK: Do you start the shows off with I will kill you ?
MS: No, not right now, but we might on tour. Right now were starting with The Spinward Marches from Traveller and then going straight into Sky Chariots.
JK: I LOVE Sky Chariots especially the mid song MAIDENisms.
MS: Yeah of course, that ones a total MAIDEN rip-off, you know, the way we throw in Where Eagles Dare right in the middle thinking no one would notice. [laughs]
JK: Is this year going to be busy for you in terms of touring just because youve also got the new HAMMERS album coming out soon too?
MS: Yeah, the new HAMMERS album is coming out but I dont think there will be any touring with that any time soon, but for SLOUGH FEG theres the whole month of July pretty much, and then November were going to Europe. Its somewhat busy. Im not sure exactly when the HAMMERS album is supposed to be coming out.
JK: Its supposed to be this Fall. So might there be some HAMMERS touring at least next year?
MS: I dont know. HAMMERS is in limbo. Its in a weird situation right now. We did the tour last Summer, and some people came out of it not wanting to tour very much again, like John. He doesnt like touring very much. We may do some short things but theres a lot of questions in that band with regards to whos going to be around so actually at this point Im not sure whats going on with it really.
JK: Thats a shame.
MS: Well, I do know whats going on with it but John would have to reconfigure things a bit in order to have a lot of live shows coming up. Several people arent interested in doing much of that, and other people have other obligations, family, and so its tough.
JK: So it could be one of those things where HAMMERS only release albums but not tour?
MS: Yeah it probably will be something that turns out like that, I just dont want to say for sure, because I enjoy touring with HAMMERS but its a different thing to SLOUGH FEG which is much more based on me, one person I mean, I dont mean to say its not a band, actually its more of a band at the same time because people have the opportunity to collaborate a lot more, but its not as dependent on everybody, whereas with John, if he didnt want to tour, we got Angelo. SLOUGH FEG is much more malleable because I base all the importance on myself, and Ive had to because over the years Ive lost so many people. So much bullshit has happened, Ive learned to NOT depend on anybody else. I just cant feel secure that way.
JK: You almost put yourself in that situation though because, for example, with the HAMMERS, youre the lead vocals and second guitar, and if they were to lose that, they would lose a big chunk of their sound.
MS: Yes, it would be very tough for the HAMMERS to go on without me, yeah.
JK: From a fan perspective, you could almost live without the HAMMERS touring, but not releasing any more albums wouldnt be good at all.
MS: Well, I dont see any problem releasing albums you can always replace people in the studio. Well see what happens.
JK: How do you think The Locust Years turned out, at least comparing it to The August Engine?
MS: Better. Theres always been things that I havent been too crazy about on HAMMERS albums though because I dont write the songs, and he does certain things that I wouldnt do, and there are certain things I dont agree with, but its Johns thing and Im willing to sing on it. I wont be willing to sing on anything I dont like, or I have no reason to. At least, not any more. In order for HAMMERS to continue, theyve come this far with one man calling the shots (after the first album), and it cant really continue that way because people arent really interested in doing that, they want to be a band, including me. If were going to do it, its got to be more of a collaborative effort, so there will have to be some changes made. I think he could survive anyway.
JK: And what will it take to put in those changes? People just sitting down and coming to an agreement?
MS: No no, that will never work. People can agree to whatever they want to agree to. They can say whatever they want to say, but when it comes down to actually doing anything, I dont know if its going to work or not it might come to a big butting of heads. Or it may come to someone just taking over and saying no, were going to do it this way. Does the majority say were going to do it this way? OK youre outvoted. [laughs]. I dont know, or maybe it will come down to someone writing a song that everybody likes and we all agree to doing it.
JK: But youve worked with John for a while, and I assume you know him well enough as a person in order to predict where he might want to go with this.
MS: Yeah. Thats why I say its gonna be tough. [laughs]. Its not going to be easy to get him to change something that he has control over. But hes fine either way where he has the control and nobody else does.
JK: Did you enjoy making The Locust Years?
MS: Er well I didnt make much of it.
JK: OK, did you enjoy performing on it?
MS: I enjoyed performing on some of the songs, yes. Some of them, I didnt enjoy that much, but most of it I enjoyed.
JK: Well then, when you say its better, in what way do you think its better?
MS: You sound like youve heard The Locust Years?
JK: No? Ive only heard the title track that was released a few weeks ago on myspace.
MS: [laughs] Oh ok, I thought there were hijacked copies running around or something. It would be funny if there were. I wouldnt be surprised at all, because The August Engine was just a mess .it was just done very .it wasnt Johns fault it was just done I wasnt even in the city very much at that point, I was traveling, or I was in LA a lot, and I learned most of the songs in the studio right before I sang them. So we didnt have time to do anything, that album was done by John and the drummer just being in a room and making it up, so it didnt have that band feel to it at all. The Locust Years is WAY better because the songs had more time to develop and we had a better producer and engineer.
JK: What about the dynamic of having new blood in there with Jamie [bass/vocals] and Sigrid [hammond/keys]?
MS: Yeah, that energized things a bit. Sigrid has a strong personality and is a big part of the band. The whole spirit of the thing is enhanced by Sigrid particularly because shes a very good musician. And shes a fun person to play music with. In a way, she kept me going in wanting to continue with HAMMERS just with her joining the band. Its just different, I dont know how to describe it actually.
JK: We really like the HAMMERS, and its a shame because this is only the third album in and the potential
MS: Yeah the potential has to be unlocked, and you cant just be one person doing everything. So the potential will not be there. You see, on the first album [The Bastard], which I think is the best one, there wasnt that much collaboration but I wrote a lot of the stuff I sang, part of the melodies, and I wrote some of the music on a couple of songs, but it wasnt just me, everybody had more of a hand in it. It was more of a band effort and I think that comes out in the music. I think thats true with anything, its always better when its a band effort. You know, Hiberno-Latin Invasion was John and myself. Addendum Galactus was John writing the music, and John and I arranging the music together, and me writing the vocals. Sky Chariots was mostly me, but some of Johns riffs as well
JK: You would think that with the side bands John has, like LUDICRA, that he gets that all out of his system so he could open himself up more for band collaboration. Other than HAMMERS, you dont really do the side band thing do you?
MS: No, I dont. Thats one of the reasons John isnt in SLOUGH FEG anymore because he was spending too much time doing all this stuff with the other bands where he had more control. He just likes to have control over everything, where he mostly had control over LUDICRA and had all the control over HAMMERS, I dont think SLOUGH FEG interests him as much unless he has all the control. Sorry, I like for him to collaborate, but he didnt like touring. If you dont like touring then you cant be in SLOUGH FEG, thats all there is to it.
JK: Did he join SLOUGH FEG before you participated in HAMMERS?
MS: HAMMERS was just starting. Not even playing music, just sort of writing music together between three or four people, two of which never even ended up on any record. And Erika Stoltz [LOST GOAT] who actually wrote a lot of the lyrics with me for The Bastard, we wrote some of that together, so John wanted it to be a collaborative effort from the beginning, but then he joined SLOUGH FEG shortly after that -- actually as a bass player at first. He filled in on bass while we were in Europe, and then when we got a bass player, he started playing guitar again. Its kinda weird.
JK: Do you remember performing on the UNHOLY CADAVER demo?
MS: Of course. Theres not much of me on there but I remember it. Thats Erika Stoltz singing, the first singer. Yeah, were on our third female singer now.
JK: Is Janis still with PINK?
MS: No, she hasnt been in PINK for over a year she was in FIREBALL MINISTRY for a while, which is a pretty successful and terrible band, in my opinion, but now shes not in that anymore either.
JK: So what is she doing now?
MS: I dont know. I havent seen her, she lives in LA. When she was in FIREBALL MINISTRY, they opened up for DIO about four or five months ago, and she got me backstage to meet Dio. That was really cool, but that was the last I saw her.
JK: Do you prefer SABBATH with Ozzy or Dio?
MS: OH! Give me a break. I mean, I love the Dio albums but the Ozzy albums are the real thing.
JK: Do you like RAINBOW with Dio?
MS: Yeah! I like everything Dio did well almost, except for some of those really cheesy albums he did.
JK: Do you remember the lead break that you play in The August Engine part 1? Doesnt that sound like Ritchie Blackmore?
MS: Yeah, thats what everybody says. It does. I mean, I never wrote it but both John and I play it live in harmony. It does sound a lot like Ritchie yeah. I like DEEP PURPLE, I like RAINBOW, but in RAINBOW I dont like his guitar sound that much, I just like the band with Dio obviously, and the songwriting.
JK: Ill be coming to see you guys when you come to NY. I did actually see you guys last year when you came out with the HAMMERS. I wanted to comment on both Jamie and Sigrid, and I agree, they both seem very approachable and easy to talk to. You obviously spend more time with them, but with them in the band, it was just a great show.
MS: Oh yeah, it was a great show. That was one of the best HAMMERS shows ever, that was fantastic. You see, thats the kind of stuff that kept it going and thats the kind of stuff that makes me really mad or upset that John doesnt want to tour. HAMMERS could do ok touring, I mean on that tour we did ok we played some dead shows but we could just shoot around and play places like New York. John wants to play places like New York, but you cant just go and play New York, you have to play a bunch of places down the east coast, and pay for it, and somehow manage to get out there and make some money to pay for it all. Its tough.
JK: The New York show was incredible. Those people in the front row were just going nuts for you guys!
MS: I dont know who those guys were but that was pretty crazy. It was a great thing, but I think it was a freak chance, I mean, I dont think the SLOUGH FEG show will be like that although I hope it will, but I think once in a while you think how did that happen?. SLOUGH FEG played in Germany once, and we thought no ones going to come to the show, its out in East Germany, its in the middle of nowhere, right next to the Czech Republic border, and theres probably not going to be anyone there, and we went there and it was probably the greatest show Ive ever played in my entire life. It was totally packed, totally sold out with these crazy kids from 3 different countries, and they went absolutely nuts. We did 3 encores and it was just a freaky thing, much more freaky than that night in New York.
JK: Ive always wondered, if you keep getting called out for unexpected encores, what happens when you play a song that you havent rehearsed?
MS: You suck. [laughs] But its an encore and everyones freaking out so much, nobody notices [laughs]. But usually you keep one for an encore.
JK: Or you could do a cover perhaps.
MS: [sarcastically] Yeah you could do the usual Louie Louie or Paranoid again, yeah.
JK: Do you do any covers on the road?
MS: SLOUGH FEG does, HAMMERS is very weirdly organized because, again, its just one guy making all the decisions a lot of the time so its kind of a mess. HAMMERS has practiced a million covers and never done any of them live because John always decides at the last minute that he doesnt want to do it. SLOUGH FEG has played all sorts of covers THIN LIZZY songs, or weird songs like The Wizards Vengeance [LEGEND]. Weve done a lot of weird covers weve done a GOVERNMENT ISSUE cover, hardcore. Just crazy oddball stuff.
JK: And then every now and then you do these 7 covers where you might cover a MANOWAR song or some NWOBHM track, do you ever play those songs live?
MS: Nah. Someone told us to do those, we never decided to do those songs. If we were going to decide for ourselves, wed probably cover HORSLIPS [JK: a 70s Irish folk rock band] or something like that. Perhaps BLACK FLAG, or something really unexpected. Not heavy metal, I dont know why we would do that.
JK: OK to wrap things up, I have a few questions from the readers. Firstly, Starport Blues is this a leftover from the Traveller sessions?
MS: Ahh! Yes! Not the recording, but the songwriting, yes! I wrote that song for Traveller and we even recorded some of the music and then gave up because the album was already long and we didnt have the time to do the whole thing. We thought that wed never pull it off and make it sound right with the budget we had, so we just practiced it and did it again for Atavism.
JK: I like it when you get that blues groove thing going. Every now and then you get songs like BiPolar Disorder
MS: Oh yes.
JK: right, and thats where you hear the blatant BLACK SABBATH worship. Right there and the Shadows of the Unborn, the first track off the debut.
MS: Yeah, its just total SABBATH.
JK: OK next question. Jamie Myers is she single and what are her thoughts on dating other bass players from Southern California?
MS: The answer to that is no. [laughs] She is not single. Shes not married, but she might as well be at this point. Believe me, if you met her, youd think different no Im just kidding [laughs]
JK: Well, theres something about the tattoos and mean looking bass -- guys go for it.
MS: Oh sure, shes attractive theres no doubt about it. However, Sigrid is single so [laughs]. Shes a fun party girl.
JK: I remember talking to her about the keyboard weighing 500lb.
MS: Oh you should talk to me about that, I remember that more than she did. It wrecked my back.
JK: Didnt you guys lose some equipment on the HAMMERS tour?
MS: Yes we did. Someone forgot to lock the trailer. I lost the guitar that I had since 1993. It was a Les Paul, so the one you saw me playing was a replacement. Somehow we had a little extra money at that point from the tour so because Jamie also lost her bass, that was $700 and my Les Paul replacement was $1200, so we just bought new ones. I bought it at Guitar Center with a 30 day return policy, so that happened in Minnesota, I bought the new Les Paul and I didnt like it very much and when I got back to San Francisco I returned it and got the money back!! [laughs]. I kept it in good enough shape, I told them I didnt like it very much and that it had just been sitting around the house. And it worked out really well because with the money I got back on that, I ended up finding a Les Paul gold top on-line for around $1000 so it worked out ok.
JK: So somebody out there found your Les Paul on the road, or drove over it.
MS: Yeah, and the funny thing is, in 1995 I lost that same Les Paul. It was sitting in the back of the truck and it got stolen, but I got it back. I gave the serial number to the cops and they found it in a pawn shop. Then I got it back in Southern California, but I dont think Ill get it back this time somehow.
JK: How long was it until the cops found it the first time?
MS: A year. Its amazing that they did. The serial number goes through the system and when it goes into the pawn shop, it goes through a system and the cops find out. The LAPD did that, yeah.
JK: OK last readers question. Whos managing the SLOUGH FEG website when it comes to placing orders?
MS: Why did someone lose an order?
JK: Yes.
MS: OK, tell anyone on your site that if they want to contact me, they can. [JK: if you think youve lost an order at their site, contact me and Ill pass the message on]. Im going to ask him to shut that thing down!
JK: OK were done! Any words to the fans?
MS: Just hi er I dont know sorry if we screwed you over on the website!! [laughs] Come see us live, were touring America for the first time, and if youre in Europe well be there too! And buy merchandise it keeps us alive!
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