About my site: INTERVIEW====(JUDAS PRIEST GUITARIST K.K DOWNING)

Reign of Chaos

Monday, 2 April 2007

INTERVIEW====(JUDAS PRIEST GUITARIST K.K DOWNING)

A Conversation With The Judas Priest Guitarist (K.K Downing)

Judas Priest founder K.K. Downing and his bandmates continue to work on the concept album Nostradamus, due out later this year. He’s also the executive producer and plays on a couple tracks of the new Violent Storm album Storm Warning. The band was formed by Mick Cervino (Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore). K.K. is an extremely nice guy and was more than willing to talk about the progress of the Priest album, his involvement with Violent Storm, and debunked the myth that his house is also a bed and breakfast.

Chad Bowar: How is Nostradamus coming along?
K.K. Downing: We are working on it day and night. It’s going really, really well. It’s a long project in terms of the length of music. It’s over an hour and a half of music, so for that reason alone it is going to take us a bit longer to pull it together. But hopefully we can offer something unique and wonderful to the world. We’re totally into it. We promise the fans we’ll get it to them as soon as we possibly can. We’ll get a Priest tour together as well.

Are you and Glenn (Tipton) doing the production on the album?
So far that is the way it seems. We’ve been working hard, pretty much nonstop. That’s not to say at some point we might bring someone else in, but we’ll see what we need. If we think we need to, we’ll certainly do that. But I think between Glenn and I we’ve got an awful lot of experience. It’s sounding really good. It’s the closest guarded secret in rock and roll at the moment. It’s a bit different than the work we’ve done previously. We’re looking forward to exposing it as soon as we can.

Obviously writing lyrics is different on a concept album, but is writing the music any different from a regular album?
I think there are a lot of the usual ingredients, but with a bigger spectrum of sound with a bit of a classical element and more orchestrated sounds, which can be extremely heavy if used right. Hopefully it’s going to be pleasing to a lot of people, and that’s what it’s always been about. We’ve always tried to widen the audience of rock and metal and make it more credible to more people, and hopefully we’ll achieve that goal with this project.

How did you become involved with Violent Storm?
We were on tour in Miami, where those guys reside. We got hooked up at one of our gigs. That was back when Ripper Owens was in Priest. We just hung out and had a few beers. It was quite a while later when I was in the south of Spain and we jumped on a plane and went to Barcelona. We watched Mick (Cervino) play in Yngwie Malmsteen’s band. We again hung out and drank a few beers. Mick mentioned that he wanted to put together a solo record and asked if I would play on a couple of songs. He sent the songs to me and I thought they were pretty cool. It was along the lines of the type of music I like, more classic metal. I played on the tracks and sent the tapes back to him. It went on from there. I got more and more involved. There were lots of things that needed to be done to the recording as they were. My years of experience have helped me learn a few things. I took on a producer’s role, rearranging and editing and helping with the mixing. I got more into it and wanted to see how good we could make the record.

Mick has been called one of the best bass players in metal. Would you agree?
Absolutely. He has an awful lot of musical ability. He also has songwriting ability and can play the guitar as well. He’s well rounded. He’s a very talented guy. He was formerly with Yngwie Malmsteen and Ritchie Blackmore, so he’s got good credentials. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the band getting out there and doing it live.

How has the response been to the Violent Storm album so far?
It’s building slowly but surely. You can’t keep a good record and a good band down. They are playing some festival dates in Europe with Heaven and Hell, which will be great exposure for them.

30 plus years into your career is it easier or harder to write songs?
I think the sponge is always being squeezed harder. When will we run out before we are just duplicating what someone else has done? The answer to that is in the combination of what people have to offer in the band. Five individuals when we come together creates something unique. When we will run out of ideas is a very good question. Hopefully not until this record is done! (laughs)

What do you think are some of the most underrated Judas Priest albums?
I think they are all underrated. I think everyone who’s never bought a Priest album should go out and buy one, and follow that up by buying every other one as well! It’s fair to say that even with as long and successful of a career that Priest has had, we still have a long ways to go to be comparable with a lot of bands that have gotten a much bigger audience, whether it’s Queen or Gun ‘N Roses or Metallica or AC/DC. We are not considered underground by any means, but Priest is still climbing the ladder in a lot of respects. For that reason I think we’re still doing it. We’re still hungry. It would have been great to have been a Led Zeppelin, where your first album is bigger than sliced bread. The good thing about Priest is that we’ve always been building and hopefully getting better. But then again, we’re not over and done with yet, while a lot of those other bands are.

A Conversation With The Judas Priest Guitarist

In addition to the technology changes and the internet, there have also been musical changes. I’ve been around long enough to witness the evolution of rock music and metal music from the ‘60s all the way to the present time. I’ve seen lots of waves of different trends. In metal the big change was from the end of the ‘80s early ‘90s when it was classic or pure metal changing to the newer metal. Whether it changes back remains to be seen. The good news is that a lot of the great veterans are still around, like AC/DC, Iron Maiden, etc. We’re still hoping for a massive revival of the brilliant ‘70s and ‘80s. That would be pretty cool.

It seems like bands are under a lot more pressure today for instant success. Would Judas Priest have been given the chance to develop as you did if you were first signed in 2007?
That’s a good question. The industry has changed dramatically. In the old days you would go on tour to sell records. Most bands didn’t make money on tour. You put all the money into production hoping you’d have a hit record and make some money from it. But now it’s turned around. Now the industry is suffering from downloads and things like that. You make the records so you can go on tour, which is a turnaround. I don’t know if Judas Priest would have been in a position to make those extra records, but I certainly do know a lot of bands now don’t know if they will be able to make that follow up record to their first record. I see a lot of that going on.

I was reading in your Wikipedia entry that your house in England, Astbury Hall, is also a bed and breakfast. Is that true?
No. That is quite ridiculous. I live on my own in a very large house, but I love it. I bought it because it’s in a secluded location and I like to make serious amounts of loud noise. I can really turn up my Marshalls really loud in this place. It’s a big old Victorian house. Everybody said I was mad when I purchased it. It had some land with it, and I bought all the surrounding land, about 450 acres. Now it’s about 720 acres. I do have permission to eventually convert it to a hotel and leisure complex. Maybe when I struggle to get up these four flights of stairs, who knows? For years when I was a struggling musician I lived in just one room, so it’s good to have a house with a recording studio and gym and everything I want. So it’s not a bed and breakfast, but if anybody wants to come and stay, they are more than welcome!

Taken from About.com
Interview made by Chad Bowar

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SOME DEFINITIONS ABOUT GENRE"S OF ROCK MUSIC & HEAVY METAL MUSIC

Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a genre of music that evolved in the United states in the late 1940s and became popular in the early 1950s, quickly spreading to the rest of the world. It later spawned the various sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock

The musical basis of rock and roll is its beat, usually accompanied by lyrics. The beat is basically a boogie woogie blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, the latter almost always provided by a snare drum. Classic rock and roll is played with one electric guitar or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. Keyboards are a common addition to the mix. In the rock and roll style of the early 1950s, the saxophone was often the lead instrument, replaced by guitar in the mid 1950s. In the earliest form of rock and roll, during the late 1940s, the piano was the lead instrument, and indeed, among the roots of rock and roll is the boogie woogie piano of the big-band era that dominated American music in the 1940s.

The massive popularity and eventual worldwide scope of rock and roll gave it an unprecedented social impact. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. Many of its early stars, notably Elvis presley, built movie and/or television careers around their music.

The term "rock and roll", which was black slang for dancing or sex, appeared on record for the first time in 1922 on Trixie Smith's "My Baby Rocks Me With One Steady Roll". The word "rock" had a long history in the English language as a metaphor for "to shake up, to disturb or to incite". The verb "Roll" was a medieval metaphor which meant "having sex". Writers for hundreds of years have used the phrases "They had a roll in the hay" or "I rolled her in the clover". 1 In 1934 the Boswell Sisters were referring to the rock and roll of waves in their song "Rock and Roll" [2] Country singer Tommy Scott was referring to the motion of a railroad train in the 1951 "Rockin and Rollin'". [3]

John Lennon summed it up by stating: "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."^[1]

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed between 1968 and 1974.^[1] With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion and fast guitar solos. Allmusic declares, "Of all rock & roll's myriad forms, heavy metal is the most extreme in terms of volume, machismo, and theatricality."^[2]

Heavy metal has long had a worldwide following of fans known as "metalheads" or "headbangers". Although early heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath attracted large audiences, they were critically reviled at the time, a status common throughout the history of the genre. As the original wave of heavy metal bands began to wane, the late 1970s brought the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which stripped away much of the music's blues influence and fused it with a punk rock sensibility.

Heavy metal became broadly popular during the 1980s, when many now-widespread subgenres first evolved. Variations more aggressive and extreme than metal music of the past were mostly restricted to an underground audience; others, including glam metal and, to a lesser extent, thrash metal went on to mainstream commercial success. In recent years, new styles such as nu metal have further expanded the definition of the genre.

Power metal is a style of heavy metal music with the aim of evoking an "epic" feel, incorporating characteristics of primarily traditional metal along with thrash metal or speed metal, often within symphonic context. There is some dispute about the term, which can refer to two different, but related styles: one pioneered and largely practiced in North America, and one based in Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. In contemporary usage, "power metal" describes music influenced by or derived from the European variant, with the exception of several American bands that are associated with both power metal and thrash metal. (Iced Earth and Nevermore.)

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres, that is characterised by its high speed and aggression.^[1]

The origins of thrash metal are generally traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a number of bands began incorporating the sound of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal^[2] with elements of hardcore punk (in particular its drum tempos), creating a new genre and developing into a separate movement from punk rock. This genre is much more aggressive compared to its relative, speed metal. There is often significant crossover from one metal category to another, and the influence of non-metal genres, including classical music and jazz, is not uncommon.

Doom metal is a form of heavy metal that emerged as a recognized genre of metal in the mid-1980s. Doom metal is slow, heavy, and rife with pessimism, evoking an atmosphere of darkness, despair and misery. It is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath. A number of early Black Sabbath tracks, such as "Black Sabbath" and "War Pigs," are often considered embryonic or prototypical doom metal songs. Many of the tracks on their third album Master of Reality (released in 1971) seem to have more in common with what today is seen as doom metal, with tracks such as "Sweet Leaf", "Into The Void", and "Children of the Grave" that featured Tony Iommi's guitar and Geezer Butler's bass tuned down to C# for heavier riffing and reduced string tension for his previously injured fingers. However Black Sabbath was not the only influence. Many doom metal bands started up only a few years after Black Sabbaths debut, with many hailing from countries where the popularity of Black Sabbath had not yet spread.

Gothic metal is a genre of heavy metal music that originated during the mid 1990s in Europe as an outgrowth of doom-death, a fusion genre of doom metal and death metal.

The definition of gothic metal is commonly debated amongst fans and the media; older fans and musicians have a firm concept of the genre and its characteristics, having been around through its growth and evolution, having strict ideas of what bands pertain to the genre and what bands don't. Newer fans reject this categorization as limiting, useless or wrong, often claiming bands are gothic metal that do not meet the criteria of the older fans

Grindcore often shortened to grind, is an evolution of hardcore punk, most commonly associated with death metal and crust punk. Grindcore is characterized by heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, blastbeats, hardcore punk and crossover thrash influenced riffing, short songs, and a vocal style consisting of growls and higher-pitched vocals, often similar to those found in black metal. Lyrical concepts range from social and political issues to gore and horror to humor.

Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that spawned in the mid-late 1970s and was the direct musical progenitor of thrash metal^[1] ^[2]. When Speed metal first emerged as a genre, it innovatively increased the tempo of the music template set forth by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple while keeping their melodic ideas. Speed Metal can find its significant beginnings with NWOBHM bands.

Many speed metal bands also ostensibly fall within the categories of other heavy metal sub-genres, typically Thrash metal, Shred metal and Power metal^[3]. This is mainly due to the influence speed metal had on the development of these genres, although it should also be mentioned that Speed metal was used by some Glam metal and NWOBHM groups during the 1980s. Many Japanese bands from the 1980s to the present can also be described as speed metal, largely due to the success of X Japan.

Black metal is a type of extreme heavy metal music that started in the early 1980s. The genre is characterized by an aggressive and abrasive sound, coupled with a dark atmosphere and rejection of Judeo-Christian values.

The first bands with black metal characteristics included Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and Venom. These bands were mostly thrash metal bands that formed the prototype for black metal; they are referred to collectively as the First Wave. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a Second Wave emerged in Norway, including prominent bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem. Although there is no well-defined Third Wave, modern black metal bands have incorporated new musical and lyrical trends into their music.

Black metal has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the misanthropic and anti-Judeo-Christian attitude of bands contributing to the genre. Additionally, a few black metal bands have been known to have associations with church burnings, murder, and in rare instances, National Socialism.

Death metal Generally includes violent or dark lyrics which focus on death as a nihilistic metaphor, chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure without a standard verse-chorus arrangement; compositions instead emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs. The genre is often identified with downtuned rhythm guitars, fast percussion, and dynamic intensity. Blast beats, exceedingly fast drum patterns, are frequently used to add to the ferocity of the genre. The vocals are often grunts, snarls, and low gurgles colloquially called death grunts or death growls. Death grunts require use of the throat and guts, unlike traditional singing techniques which discourage this technique. Some people consider it an overtone style of singing. Music journalist Chad Bowar notes that, because of the similarity of the vocals to those of the Sesame Street character, the style is sometimes called "Cookie Monster vocals".^[1] This term has become commonly used as a show of dislike for the genre.

Death metal is occasionally known for abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes, and extremely fast and complex guitar and drumwork, although this is not always the case, as seen in some forms of death metal which focus on ferocity and speed rather than technicality^[vague]. Bands of this genre frequently utilize downtuned and distorted guitars, a downtuned, sometimes distorted bass guitar, a drum set almost universally using two bass drums or a double bass drum pedal. Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to incorporate other instruments such as keyboards and saxophone. Death metal is very physically demanding of its musicians, especially in its more complex forms.

Death metal lyrics usually address more nihilistic themes than other forms of rock music (with the exception of black metal), usually using metaphors of a gruesome nature to explore a larger concept. The genre, originally an offshoot of thrash metal, was established to celebrate the darker underlying ideas that lay dormant in metal music. The focus on mortality along with the extreme nature of the music likely inspired the naming of this genre.

There are three common theories on the origin of the term "death metal." The first being is the title of the Possessed song Death Metal, which was featured on their 1985 debut album Seven Churches (an album widely regarded as the first death metal album, predating Morbid Angel's and Death's works. But in the same year, a song called Death Metal appeared on the debut album Power from Hell by thrash metal band Onslaught. A 1985 demo by Death was also called Death by Metal. The second theory is that the name of genre pioneers Death was the origin of the genre's name, since their 1987 debut album Scream Bloody Gore made death metal a more recognised form. Their austere name has said to have been adopted as the genre's title. A third theory emerged in 2003 when the late Thomas 'Quorthon' Forsberg of black metal band Bathory claimed in an interview with the British journalist Joel McIver that he had invented the term 'death metal' as far back as 1984, even though his band never pursued a death metal approach.

*Definitons are taken from the wikipedia

Reign of Chaos

About my site

Monday, 2 April 2007

INTERVIEW====(JUDAS PRIEST GUITARIST K.K DOWNING)

A Conversation With The Judas Priest Guitarist

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SOME DEFINITIONS ABOUT GENRE"S OF ROCK MUSIC & HEAVY METAL MUSIC

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