Interview with: Billy Coumreau from VERDICT DENIED

Hello! Everything is ok! We are close to the release date of the album. We are writing new material and also doing rehearsals for any live gigs maybe requested for us to do. We were performing the songs from Condamned for so many years that the task of re-visiting them is kind of easy. So we get the time also to write and rehearse some new songs. Things are smooth!

It all started on the summer of 1994. Four buddies out of school started a band with an ambition to write some songs and also try to do covers. First song we wrote was Verdict after which we named the band. After going through the expected changes in the line up we ended up making a demo in 1997 titled 3rd Alternative The Name. It got us going a little bit. There was some form of interest from a couple of labels but due to changes in the line up again we couldn't go on with this. Some more demos came up (2000, 2002, 2005) and then on May 2006 we made contact with Jeff Waters. We hired him to mix the album. Then again we were on a quest for a label. So here we are now signed with Secret Port Records and ready to go on.

We changed the name of the band right before we released the Promo 2005. I was aware for a number of years of another band with the same name, playing Thrash Metal also. So I did the formal search in Yahoo and found a number of bands. We were the 2nd in the row. After I read of a Reggae band performing under the same moniker I thought that it was time for a change. The VERDICT DENIED name can be explained with 2 options in mind. First, that we are the Denied by the public/authorities Verdict due to law related matters (In a way though....as we are probably the first founded of all) and the 2nd one which is kind of cheesy being this: Imagine a trial concerning this issue and us VERDICT being accused of an unlawful use of a name (our name). We would deny this verdict! 😛

That's a tough one. I thought about it when we finally signed a deal. I recalled all events that lead us to this moment. The many line up changes were one thing that led to many dead ends. Imagine that before we get Jim on the drums we were searching for 7 months and auditioned 6-7 drummers. The military service was another factor that delayed us.

The thing is that the album got finished in 2005. After making contact with a number of labels we faced the issue of trying to get ourselves a more of a pro sound. This happened because after a number of e-mails going back and forth with a famous label's A&R person, he asked for a better sounding recording from us. Minutes later we made contact with Jeff Waters. He was interested, made us an offer and informed us of 2 weeks un-booked at his studio that were close in time. We sent him the wave files and he did the mix and the mastering. So the mix was done at the end of 2006. Then we were again on a quest of a label. We faced this dilemma though. As we didn't get any further interest from any big/famous or semi-famous label should we sign with somebody that's far away (because there were some of those being interested in signing us) and we don't know personally or maybe someone that we know or can get to know.... We decided to follow the 2nd path. We hooked up with a local label that kept us 1 year stuck as they kept postponing the release because of financial issues that they were facing. So after ending the co-operation with them, Secret Port Records entered to clean up the mess and to help us carry on. We are more than happy. So there you go.

The influence issue doesn't end as everything can inspire you and affect you musically in a way that even you cannot explain or recognize. When we started we obviously wanted to honor the bay area scene. So METALLICA, EXODUS, TESTAMENT, FORBIDDEN, LAAZ ROCKIT, HEATHEN along with bands such as TOXIK, REALM and PARADOX were the blue print which we followed in our first steps. Off course more influences came up on the way and they keep coming.

Mate, be advised that I am also a huge fan of PARADOX too and I am super happy of calling Charly Steinhauer a friend!!!!! I had to set things straight first.

I would like to share the stage with any famous band that can get us more fans and more fame! I know though what you want from me to answer, so here they are: PARADOX, TESTAMENT, OVERKILL, ANNIHILATOR, FORBIDDEN, HEATHEN and TOXIK.

Soon we will hit the stage again. We will try to travel across the country to promote it. Nothing scheduled yet.

Well, if we speak about Condamned then I would say technical, riff oriented Thrash Metal mostly. It's a label and I am sure you know most musicians hate labels and tags. Anytime somebody does to me personally this question I say: Imagine CORONER and TESTAMENT just to get a clue.

Ok next time we write any music we will try to follow the trend and jump on a bandwagon full of mindless non-inspired bands that include a beat-down or a blast-beat in their music just for the sake of it. Wait till the next album and you will get lots of influences that don't follow any trend and show that we can make a progress. This modern and old school issue is really silly! I guess I am being sarcastic here. There are many songs nowadays in modern Metal that can stand against old school songs like CRIMSON GLORY's Where Dragons Rule for example. Well, I have been many times witness of totally boring but modern local bands and on the other hand I really enjoyed STEAMROLLER ASSAULT which to most fans sound old school but have the power and the balls to deliver great shows and manage also to sound fresh. I will get myself an alternative haircut and extra large clothing, tune down to C and grow a beard of 20 inches. Then I might be modern to most. Actually we laugh when we get comments of how modern we sound in Action Defensive. The D tuning got us up to date. As I said, we do experiment with new sounds and scales in the new songs, so wait till we make a new album if we are lucky enough to make it.

The line-up changes were necessary just to keep us going. When you get 4 persons in a group with a common cause you may expect differences musically or personally. Sometimes the ambitions of all 4 may collide and you face a dead end. The focus needed for any VERDICT DENIED song is overwhelming and many people may quit in the way too. Tassos is an amazing player, talented and intelligent. I haven't seen a person learning our songs so quickly. It's scary really. It's also a pleasant surprise that the guy is a very good composer.

It's not too early. There are actually song ideas for 2 more albums in the can. We are working on the next CD at the moment. We are halfway through actually. I have written lyrics to almost half of the songs and we make pre-production demos. It's an ambitious project musically as we added lots of new influences to our style.

We discuss it, I mean the band. We don't know yet. The budget is one thing that worries us and the fact that we don't have a concept or a song we want to do a video for. To give you a perfect example, we may come up with an amazing idea of a concept that may costs us too much to be done or maybe cannot be done by any film crew we can approach. And then we are in square one again. 😛

This song will be released in another version in the 2nd album. The one we uploaded was just a demo. We just made a demo of this song and we were very satisfied of how it ended up. So due to pure excitement we included it in the live set and uploaded it at Myspace. It's so simple. We should think better though as most people showing any interest in this band assumed that it is included in Condamned which is not.

Well thanx for the support and to all readers. Give this band a chance... It's one click away (and here you put our url for Myspace :-p )