SHADOWSFALL : Edge of darkness

-J : I would say definitely the production done with the record sonically is very much improved, as we spent a lot more time worrying about getting a guitar sound, and drums and thousand things like that. There’s a lot of new equipment involved as well from the previous time we were in there, we did work with the same producer, at the same studio. For me that are the biggest improvements, and the song writing is more focused as well I feel.

-Considering the lyrics and the title, can we say that this time it’s more a travel inside yourself, a personal fight ?

J : Definitely : lyrically, I know it’s a very personal record for Brian. I’m not sure too much about subject matters, we kind of like him take control of that and do what he wants to do with it, but I know it’s a very personal record for him.

-Does your inspiration come from social life too, including the actual world problems and the wars ? Are you involved artistically like bands such as Ministry, Amen or SOAD ?

J : I wouldn’t say too much of that. I think he was more influenced by outside things like on ‘Art of balance’ for songs like ’Idiot box’, and stuff like that, but this record is more personal for him as far as discussing inner demons and personal issues.

-With the arrival of Jason 2 years ago on drums, does Shadows fall get a real stability today ?

J : Completely, it's always been very easy to work with him and we’re totally totally satisfied now, it’s a very stable line up and all the touring has been great with him so far, the recording process was very smooth, he knew exactly what we wanted to do, there were no issues at all, it has been great.

-Once again, Zeuss produced the album : is he the best producer for your music ?

J : Oh yes, we knew him and he was a friend of ours even before he recorded bands and even before Shadowsfall was a band, so he was there from day one when the band started, back in 96 and he knows exactly the sound that we’re looking for, what this band is supposed to be accomplishing, all that, and he can answer questions in the studio even before we even ask it ! He knows exactly what we’re thinking, so it’s really nice to work with, and the studio itself is literally right up the road from where we live so we can actually go home, spent time at home while we’re recording, and not have to travel anywhere, stay in hotels, things like that, so it’s a very comfortable environment for working. I’m not sure if we’ll work with him for the next lp, but I hope so !

-Recently, you toured in Europe, not in France, with Killswitch Engage, among others : what do you think of Adam Dukiewicz as a musician and as a producer ?

J : The tour was great, and Adam has always been a multi-talented guy. We know him from a very long time, and John, our guitar player and him were in high school together. We all grew up in the same home town, hanging up here anywhere from like fourteen years old, and he has always been the guy who could play bass, drums, guitars, electronics, doing everything from the early days when he was recording demos in his bedroom. A multi-talented guy, and all the records he gets involved in is amazing ! He’s very funny as well, he’s a comedian !

-‘Art of balance’ sold 100 000 copies in the States only, and today you are very successful and receive a lot of awards in the music business and with the fans : how do you feel about it ?

J : It’s been amazing : we worked very hard to try to get at this level, we’ve been touring in the states for the last six years now non stop, and it starts sort of pay off now, and hopefully we can take some of that and bring it over to Europe as well, we’re trying : it was this tour in Europe as you said with Killswitch already and we’re planning on coming back again in January and then again later in the year so we really try to move over that direction as well, but everything has been great : the record is better than we thought we’d gonna do, better than the label thought is was gonna do, hopefully this new one will do just as well.

-What bands made you want to become a musician and start a band ?

J : Our influences come from so many different places like from eighties rock bands like Skid row to old death metal bands like Obituary and Suffocation, and pop bands, classical music, so we were influenced by music in general, not a particular style or particular bands. I always felt there were two kinds of music : good and bad ! And to me it doesn’t matter the genre or the style, we draw influence from all those different places.

-What did you discover recently which you really like ?

J : The most recent thing I’ve got into for a new band is probably The Darkness, I think they’re doing something really interesting.

-Could you name some record which changed your life at one moment ?

J : It’s hard to say, because at the moment I’ve been listening to the same stuff recently, classic rock like Thin Lizzy, Boston, Elton John, great songwriting and good music in it. It definitely had an impact.

-Let’s talk about the Internet : is the website of the band important for you and are you a big user yourself ?

J : It is the most important tool that we have, I think : back in the old days, I remember sitting down at a table licking up stamps and send up mailers and it was a great thing to do, but thinking back to it, it was a real pain in the ass ! It’s so great now that you can have an e-mail and just send thing to everyone, free as well. For bands starting out, obviously, money is the big issue, because they don’t have any. Before you had to send your postcards and flyers, but now we have the Internet and you can post it on the message board and have free samples of your own music available for download, oyu don't have to worry about sending out your cassettes, tapes or CDs, you’re saving money, you’re getting to more people, internationally, which is great too, I think it’s all good, the best tool you can ever have. The press and the Internet are equally important, we need both of them to make this kind of business work. Being online, you can touch a lot of people, but press and magazines are an important part of that as well.

-If Shadowsfall was a movie ?

-J : ‘Porky’ s !

-What will be on the bonus DVD with the limited version of the album ?

J : The DVD will have some rare live videos, produced especially for this DVD, as well as guitar lessons and drum lessons, and other interactive features as well. The CD of the album itself is gonna be an enhanced cd-rom, where you will find more photos and all kind of bonuses.

-Will you have new videos for this album ?

-J : There will be two videos that we shot already, the first one for ‘The power of I and I’, which debut in the US on September 18th on MTV2, I don’t know for Europe, and the second video will be for ‘What drives the weak’, sometime in October or November.

Telephone interview conducted by Jean Paul Coillard in August 2004.

Translation: JP and Marie Lecocq.

Photos : dr

Thanks to Jean Marc and Valérie from M10.

Shadowsfall official website: www.shadowsfall.com