James Danzo & Sarabeth Linden
Tower
J: Thanks for having us in the Temple! Doing the best we can, man.
J: Hello Omicron! There's some news no one wanted to hear, right? Far be it from me to predict the future or give a medical opinion, but yeah, maybe we'll need shots once or twice a year from now on, like the flu shot.
J: As a musician the first thing I think is "what's going to be with touring now?" And of course, that pales in comparison to the much bigger issue of the impact it will have on human lives in general; those who will get sick and possibly die, and those who have been trying their hardest to stay safe and responsible, seemingly to no avail. The impact is devastating either way and there's not much we can do about it. If I knew of a way to contain this virus without ruining life for the vaccinated as well, I'd be a rich man.
J: Thanks! Yeah, everything about this recording was different. New studio, new engineer, new line-up, new songs, new approach. The material was prepared but the band had barely rehearsed together. Our goal was to wrap this album up in ten days, which we did. It was pretty fuckin' fun! Having our backs against the wall like that, coming out with the finished product was more satisfying than usual.
J: Cruz reached out to us! We were more than happy to sign with a European label because our music is much better received out there anyway. Touring Europe has been a goal since the band first started, but no one was able to get us there until the Metal Assault festival in February 2020. And that show was fantastic! So, things may be looking up as far as that goes.
J: Deaths of friends & family top the list for sure. We wrote "In Dreams" for someone we lost unexpectedly during the first summer of covid. "Running Out of Time" is about our country tearing itself apart. "Hired Gun" is about the temperance of everything, and even though it's written from a positive perspective, that can be pretty tough to deal with at times. Anxiety is all over this record no matter the lyrical subject. It's in the air everywhere now.
J: It might give me the creeps in the future when we can look back from a safe distance at these truly insane times. Right now, it's still a little too fuckin' familiar. It's odd how fitting the artwork really is. It was done before any lockdowns were ever in place.
J: The energizer bunny pumped up on '70s and '80s metal - now there's a visual! That's awesome! We honestly don't have anything in mind while writing music except to make sure it's catchy and entertaining to listen to. Any resemblance to decades past is purely coincidental.
J: Red lines you say? I guess the most extreme parts of the album? First, the end of "Metatron" which is pure thrash. It was a ballsy move to do an instrumental at all, let alone putting it third on the album. After reading some reviews, opinions seem to be split on that one. To me it's like "Merciless Onslaught" by Metal Church. Not that we need a precedent to do anything we want to! And the opposite extremes would be the lighter parts of the record, like the intro to "Lay Down the Law" or the interlude in "In Dreams". That was uncharted territory for us.
J: There really is a revival! NWOTHM is a thing now. And lucky for us, because we'd be doing what we do no matter what. I'm not against modern anything as long as the quality is there. To be honest, I find more substance in modern pop music like Dua Lipa or The Weeknd compared to what passes for "modern" rock or metal. It doesn't feel tough on us, no. I think we have a wide enough appeal to thrive in any musical environment.
J: Always, always, always we start with a hook first and then build a song around it. Once you have a good hook, it leaves room to get nasty with riffs and speed because that's not all there is to the song. You could call it a goal to come up with songs featuring all those elements. We're not inventing any new sounds, so that's all the room we have to play with. Get 'em with the ear bug, kick 'em in the teeth, leave 'em begging for another.
S: Thanks so much! Like James said before, we hardly practiced before recording this album. I was built up with various emotions from the pandemic that needed to be let out. Singing is definitely a coping tool of mine; just as physical exercise is for some people. I had not sung for almost a year, so I was losing my mind in ways. This is probably what the listeners are hearing! Me losing my mind! Haha
J: Great question! The first lesson is that we can thrive under pressure if all our heads are in the same space. The second lesson is that we can branch out in heavier or lighter shades and pull it off quite well without feeling vulnerable about it. The third lesson might be to take some more time in the studio for the next album. I'm very proud of everything about this record, but we can likely make an even better one with a bit more time and money on our side. A fourth lesson could be to allow the engineer/co-producer some more freedom to work their magic without us micro-managing everything. Sasha Stroud did some things on this album without our input that worked really, really well.
J: Thanks, that was a fun one to write and play! Of all the songs on this album, it stands out as being very different to anything we've done in the past. Even before we had lyrics, it was clear that the song had a dark vibe. We were calling it "Skynyrd Sabbath" at first for obvious reasons. I'll tell you exactly how the song was written. It started one day with me and Zak in the rehearsal room. He asked me what my favorite key is to solo in. I picked C#, which I got into by playing along to Black Sabbath because they tuned down to C# for a stretch of albums in the '70s. So I was giving Zak some pointers on the C# blues box, and I made up a riff for him to solo over, which became the main riff in "Prince".
There was no intention of writing anything at all, but it was catchy enough that we said "Wait a second!" It was one of those songs that almost wrote itself. Sarabeth was there too, and we all came up with the chorus melody together on the spot, all 3 of us, which has happened before but is pretty rare. For the second half it felt natural for the song to speed up. It's similar to how "Elegy" speeds up in the middle, but it felt so right that it just had to be. The intro was the last thing to be tacked on musically. The lyrics were written much later and when I heard them, I knew this song would be fucking epic. In that sense I'm almost like a fan, I just can't believe what she did. Blown away!
J: Oh yeah! Thank you kindly! That main riff was kicking around for a while. It's a simple Blackmore-style riff that I knew would work if given the proper context. And that context is speed, my friend! Musically it could be described as something Rainbow might have done after stealing Lemmy's amphetamines. Lyrically it's our tribute to Jeff Filmer of Shadowland who left Tower after making the record and playing one last gig. He's still a very close friend, family really, and we see each other all the time, but a very free spirit indeed.
J: We sure did. One thing that wasn't set until the 11th hour was the track sequencing. That's some tricky shit, keeping the order interesting for the listener, making sure that similar songs are placed apart from each other, and having each side a close-to-equal length. It takes many listens and experiments to get it right. Then there's mastering, EQ, and setting the exact spacing between the tracks. You have to really obsess over that stuff. I excel at that, haha.
J: Is there a future planned for us in 2022? Question of the century! We'd love to tour Europe, so I'm hoping we can squash this omicron bug and get our asses out there. We have a couple of shows in the works here in the States, including the Legions of Metal Festival in Chicago in May.
J: Thank you Lior!!
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