Steve H:This is Talamasca’s first trip to Powermad. What did you think of the experience?
Steve G:I thought that Powermad was interesting. I thought that the city where they held it at was very clean and friendly. I thought the people here were friendly. I thought the whole organization that set up this Powermad ’99 was very friendly; they’ve obviously done this before. They’ve invited a lot of good talent here. I was very impressed. I’d like to come back.
Steve H: I’ve heard a few people saying this weekend that Baltimore seems to be a good site for progressive metal and power metal. So, why would you say that those genres having such a hard time getting recognition in the United States?
Steve G: I think progressive metal has always been underground, and it always will be. Music, like a fad, does change from decade to decade, but such bands as Dream Theater and Queensryche have made it more popular over the years. They’ve helped other bands like us. But, it’s always been underground because it’s never been a real friendly radio kind of sound. And, you know people: they wanna hear the friendly "Oh, baby! Oh, baby!", singing their love story kind of thing, and that just doesn’t go in progressive metal. Progressive metal is more of a fusion of jazz, hard rock, metal, punk, classical...everything combined into one. It might be a little too overwhelming for the public. But, for most musicians, they’re very open to it.
Steve H: In the 80s, bands came out of nowhere in the glam metal style, and many of them
were instantly successful.Steve G: Well, you know the 80s: it was more your hair and glam bands; you saw a lot of make-up bands come through. It took Queensryche forever to get where they’re at, where it took a band like Slaughter---and I’m not putting these guys down---they were an overnight success because they all looked good. You look at a band like Queensryche: there’s no sexuality there, it’s purely talent. The record companies in the 80s were more interested in what you looked like than what you sounded like.
Steve H: Coincides with some of MTV’s history.
Steve G: MTV is now selling sex. If you don’t get up and shake your booty, they don’t want nothing to do with you. That adds to a lot of the problems with what’s going on with the youth movement today. When MTV started when I was a kid, and you were young too---
Steve H: [laughs] Thanx!
Steve G: ...when we were both young!---it was like going to a rock concert because every video had something different in it. The bands weren’t selling sex, they were selling their musical skill.
Steve H: You were not an original member of Talamasca. How’d you get hooked up with them?
Steve G: The drummer (Matt) and the guitarist (Andy) were childhood friends. They formed and have been together since the early 90s. The bass player (Brad) came on in ’94. They had a lot of different singers come in; none of them cut it. Before all this was happening, Matt came to one of my shows when I was with another band called Provider---it was a glam band in Green Bay---and he knew me from that day, on. He always had me in the back of his mind, he told me; he always thought of my voice, he thought it would be perfect for what they were doing with Talamasca. So, basically, through a friend of a friend, he got in touch with me. He gave me a phone call one day---caught me off guard---"How’d you like to come out and try out for the band?" I joined in the Spring of ’97.
Steve H: What got you to change from glam to prog?
Steve G: I really wasn’t hip on progressive metal at first because of the time signatures. I guess I was stuck in that 80s trend, that radio-friendly kind of thing: "What do the people want to hear? How can I sell out?", so to speak. These guys basically moved me, they inspired me, and they gave me a whole different outlook on music. I wasn’t very familiar with progressive metal; I knew of bands like Queensryche and Dream Theater, but these guys inspired me on a whole new movement. It took me about a year; I didn’t like it at first, but then I got more hooked, and then they started giving me more tapes of progressive metal acts, and I’m thinking to myself: "Yeah, this is my cup of tea, I’m gonna go down this road."
Steve H: Listening to your singing, the Geoff Tate influence is obvious. You mentioned to me earlier that you were also influenced, to a point, by Rob Halford.
Steve G: I like the way he handled himself on stage. I liked his gimmick. I liked the way he dressed. His British accent; I liked the way he accented certain words when he would say them in the song. I liked his growl. I liked his singing, obviously. I never really heard a more powerful falsetto. If you’ve ever been to a Judas Priest concert, he’ll blow your eardrums out with some of his notes. Now you’re seeing a lot more singers that can handle that. But, growing up in the 80s, there weren’t too many people who could touch Halford. I guess that kind of stuck with me. I just liked everything about Rob Halford and Judas Priest. They started the head-banging movement.
Steve H: Being that Talamasca was an established band, what were you able to bring to them that they didn’t already have?
Steve G: They told me that they needed a singer that had a fairly decent range. They
were looking for a melodic kind of singer. They liked my so-called opera style of singing.
They liked my control. They liked my pitch. They liked the idea that I was versatile. They
liked the idea that I was not just a one-dimensional singer, I was more like three or
four-dimensional. I can do different things with my voice. I can do different styles of
singing for each particular song. Some songs, you’ve gotta show emotion; some songs, you
basically have a blank face. They figured that I would add to their compositions.Steve H: Talamasca had established songs before you joined. As the vocalist, explain the band’s lyrics from your viewpoint.
Steve G: Talamasca believes that you just can’t throw a song together. The story line, and the certain words that you use for that story line, should match. Andy’s mother was an English teacher, and that gave Andy a huge vocabulary; Andy’s always handled the lyrics. I give it my two cents, of course. With some of the words we use, they do make sense, there is meaning behind them, and they match the story line. It’s important that the words do match the story line, or the story doesn’t make any sense. Then again, you get to banging out there, and people don’t really care anyway; they just want to hear you scream and put on a show. There’s some people that are particular; I’ve had people walk up to me and say: "I listened to your CD, and you were doing some mumbling in that one song." So, there’s always those people out there that are gonna be nitpicking. They’ve heard you perform a song, and, all of a sudden, the second time you perform it, it’s not the same thing. Once you get it in stone, so to speak, you keep it that way.
Steve H: How did you work with lyrics containing beliefs or mindsets of someone else?
Steve G: I don’t like getting the religious issue involved. Everyone has their beliefs, everyone has a right to their beliefs. I will change the wording on how I would sing it. We had one song which contained the word "atheist." I think that’s a very ugly word, ‘cuz I’m Catholic. I said: "Well, what about 'non-believers’?" People are going to feel more comfortable hearing something like that than they are with "atheist" because some people don’t know what the word means. I try not to add religion, because you’re going to start a controversy. I try not to sing about things that are horrid. You don’t want to put a negative message out there; there’s so much of that out there right now. It’s best to just tell a story, show aggression when you have to, but overall it should be positive, and it should be a story that’s interesting, kind of like a novel.
Steve H: Talamasca is from Wisconsin, which is not known as a metal territory.
Steve G: The metal movement is there, believe it or not. It’s hard core, what is there for metal, so it gives you a very small limit of bands to choose from who you can open up for. One band in particular, Profane: they’re a very popular act. They’re a Pantera-sounding band. They’ve got many CDs out. They’ve got a huge following; they’ve traveled all over the midwest. They’ve given us a big opportunity over the last couple years to open for their shows, but I see in Wisconsin that it’s just not going over; people, from what I’m seeing, don’t understand it. I was always told: "Steve, if you really want to make it in this business, head west." But, that’s not always true. There’s a lot of bad influences out that way, too. I feel comfortable in Wisconsin, but I don’t feel that our band is gonna get the recognition that it needs there; it’s overrun by the Country music industry, and you’re also seeing a lot of Blues. For what we’re doing, it just doesn’t fit.
Steve H: What if somebody were to come up to you and suggest: "Head east"...?
Steve G: There’s a lot of opportunity out this way. But I guess, over the years, I can say I’ve been brainwashed, to be honest with you; the first thing you hear is "L.A.!" or "Seattle!" But, I think you stand a good enough chance out here in the Baltimore area, as well as in New York, as you do out there. You go where you’re requested. For example: Germany, they love us. They’ve written many stories on us there, and we’ve won "this title" and we’ve won "that title," so to speak. If I had a choice, I would like to go to Europe because I feel that’s where the market is right now---until the trend comes back, when progressive metal is going to be accepted here.
Steve H: What do you feel it will take for that to happen?
Steve G: Well---a lot of praying. [laughs] A lot of doing this: packing up the band with four guys, and breaking into the band’s bank account, and getting deeper in debt. But, I think that this is important because, for instance, I’ve met people like you that help us promote the band. I think you need to go to functions like this to survive. You go where the action is.
Steve H: As short of a touring history as you guys have, what experiences from the road---dealing with club owners, dealing with the public, dealing with your own personal lives---have shaped how your band exists today?
Steve G: We’re a young band. We’re working on getting the experience. I think the experience that’s helping us out is that we’re growing together as a band. We’re writing together; I’ve never worked with a better band than Talamasca when it came to sitting down and writing music because everything is very professional. You don’t have a six-pack of beer by you. You don’t have the local bar whore sitting on your lap. Basically, you have a clean environment, so that helps you write songs. Everybody’s got a good head on their shoulders, so that helps us write songs. Being on the road, like what we’re doing right now, staying in one room, with two of us sleeping on the floor, shows that we can get along. We’re not fighting. None of this male domination kind of thing. That would be the greatest experience: four guys getting along.
Steve H: Now, it’s free-form time.
Steve G: I hope to make it in this industry. I hope to achieve my goal, and I hope to achieve the other three guys’ goals as well. I’m gonna continue doing it; I’m gonna do it until I can’t do it anymore. I think we’ve got a good shot, just like anybody else does. It depends where the cards fall; hopefully, you’re that Ace on the top.
