Benedictum burst onto the heavy metal scene in 2006 with their debut album
Uncreation (CD Review),
which was produced by ex-Dokken (and current Foreigner) bassist Jeff Pilson.
For 2008 Veronica Freeman and company return to the
fold with a minor line-up change and Pilson once again at the helm. The group's
sophomore effort Seasons of Tragedy (CD
Review)is a pure metal album from
top to bottom. In takes the best of
classic metal and gives it a 21st century kick in the ass. There's no sophomore
slump here. Benedictum are once again joined by some of the metal contemporaries
to help bridge the gamp between old-school and new. Grave Digger's Manni
Schmidt, Lynch Mob's George Lynch, Dio's Craig Goldy, and of course Pilson
himself all lend a helping hand in the name of metal.
RIL: If I knew absolutely nothing about Benedictum,
how would you describe the group’s music to me?
VF: I would say we are a mixture of
old school power metal, with some modern influences.
RIL: Back in 1997 you
were known as Bound. Why the change to Benedictum?
VF: We weren’t around in ’97, you might
be thinking about 2005.
RIL:
I guess I got the wrong piece of information.
VF: Back in the day Pete [Wells]
and I were in a band, but it was nothing like we’re doing now. We’ve been known as Regime as well as Bound.
When we were shopping for the record deal we were known as Bound, and at
that time we had only been together for six months. When we got picked up
by Locomotive [Records], one of the songs on the three song demo was “Benedictum.” Pete
and I had written that song a while back. The label didn’t think that
Bound was metal sounding enough. There was drama and turmoil in the band
because of it. We’re cool with it now, but at the time it was frustrating.
RIL:
Well, if you’re going to be that sort of throw back heavy metal
band, then you have to have a song named after yourself.
VF: Yeah, ok (Laughs).
RIL: Iron Maiden had one. Annihilator had like four songs named
after them.
VF: We
sure didn’t plan it that way (Laughs).
RIL: You just released your
second album Seasons
of Tragedy. Not many metal bands get a chance for a follow-up album.
Did your first album meet or exceed
your expectations?
VF: I think the first one exceeded our expectations,
but I’m always the
worry-wart. I kept thinking no one was going to like it. On a personal
level, once it was all done, I was happy. I always wanted to do an album.
So that
was like a milestone for me. You hope for the best, and you hope it will
be received well. We got a positive reception.
RIL: Is there a major difference
between your 1st album and your latest offering?
VF: I think there is more
variety, but more in a subtle way. There’s a
song called “Steel Rain” that’s kind of like a ballad
but not really. It allowed me to really show off my voice. I wasn’t
really ready to go there on the first album. I think the sonic quality
is better
to. Jeff [Pilson] really took his time on this one.
RIL: Jeff Pilson produced
your 1st album of course and returned for Seasons. How did you hook up
with him in the first place?
VF: Through Craig Goldy, who’s been one
of my good friends forever. He had gotten connected with Jeff while Jeff
was in Dio. Craig actually said
that he would try to get a hold of Jeff for us since he had some of the past
production work that he did. We sent Jeff over a little promo package that
we put together from material from our earlier bands, and Jeff was thrilled
to help out.
RIL: Jeff doesn’t do too many of those projects,
and he seems to be a busy guy.
VF: Oh yeah. I really liked the work he did on the
War and Peace albums. He is a busy guy. He’s been touring a lot with Foreigner
lately. I remember when that first happened for him it was supposed to be
a weekend job, but
now it’s all the time.
RIL: Benedictum has paid tribute to past metal bands
with a variety of covers; on you’re first album you covered Black Sabbath’s “Heaven & Hell” and “The
Mob Rules.” Was there a particular reason you chose Ronnie James
Dio-era material? Is it the Craig Goldy connection?
VF: It’s just some of my favorite stuff. There was only supposed to be
one of them on the album, but that’s a whole other story. “Heaven
and Hell” was the one we planned to put on the album, because we loved
playing that one. With “Mob Rules” it was one of those things
where the label needed another song, and we were told it was only going to
be on the digi-pack version. It ended up on the regular album too. We weren’t
too happy about that, but that’s just the way it goes.
Same thing happened
on the second album. We had planned on doing one, but the day before we
went in for mastering, the label wanted a bonus track. They said we can give
them
something we already have, or give them another. That was how “Catch
the Rainbow” came about. I like how that one came out, but it was really
last minute so we worked through the night for mastering the next day. This
time they stuck to the plan. It’s only on the digi-pack version in
Europe.
RIL: Do you find that the European audiences are more
receptive to your style of music?
VF: We have fans over here in the States, but I think
we have better publicity over there. The label that we have is a European
label, so most of the promotion
was over there. They just opened up an office in the States though. The fans
are really same, but as far as the scene goes, Europe is a lot different.
It’s not as trendy over there, like you have to have this sound and
this voice to be a metal band. I think there’s just a wide acceptance
of all genres of metal in Europe. You go to festival over there you see so
many types of bands. One’s growling, one’s wailing, another one’s
doing whatever.
RIL: You made mention of “Steel Rain" earlier, but what
other songs on Season’s
of Tragedy are you particularly proud of?
VF: We’re all pretty proud of
the title track. It took a long time putting that one together. I think
it was one of the times where it was truly a collaborative
effort. It’s usually Pete and I doing most of the writing. We knew
we wanted an epic song that took you on audio journey.
RIL: Are you touring in
support of the album?
VF: We will be leaving in July for Germany. In
October we’ll be hitting
two more countries and doing it all over again December. Hopefully we’ll
have some shows in the States, that’s what we really want. It’s
not that we don’t want the European show either though. One of the
few shows in the States will be at The Flight of the Valkyries Festival
in St. Paul Minnesota.
RIL: What kind of festival is that?
VF: The festival is devoted to female
or female fronted bands. They’re
not all necessarily metal. I’m still learning about the festival my
self. It’s only their second one, but I’m starting to get really
excited about it. There are a few bands that I’m looking forward to
seeing, like Unexpect from Canada and Shadowside from Brazil.
RIL: While we’re
on the subject of female fronted bands, what do you think is behind the
current trend of hard rock and metal bands with female leads?
VF: I guess it’s just becoming a lot more acceptable, or it’s just
finally getting publicity. I know I’ve been doing this for a long time.
I know there are other women that have been doing it for a while too. I guess
it’s just more acceptable now, not so much people getting on the band
wagon though. When I first tried to get a band together, it was hard to get
people to take me seriously. You’d put an ad out, and once they found
out it was a female vocalist, they weren’t interested. Other than that,
I’ve had a lot of support from men and women.
RIL: Hard rock and metal
are ultimately male dominated genres. Have you had any real problems
because of that?
VF: I have really been blessed, so no. I always tell
people when they ask that question that I’ve had a really good support system from
really strong men. From Pete Wells my guitar player, to Craig Goldy, to Jeff
[Pilson].
I haven’t really been mistreated. There have been some things that
just come with the territory, but you’re going to find that anywhere
in life.
RIL: Are you ever concerned that the guys are just
there to check you out and could care less about the music?
VF: No, not at all. If there
are some cases, my thing is, if that’s what
gets them to go to the show, that’s great. My intent is to entertain
and put on a good show. If you have some good packaging, cool. It’s
like with cans of beans. Do you want the one with the plain label or the
one with the cool packaging? It’s human nature to want the one with
the more attractive label. One thing that does bother me is when I read
comments that instead of saying ‘the vocals were really good,’ it
says so-and-so is hotter than someone else. At the end of the day, it’s
about the music. The product has to be there.
RIL: In addition to Jeff Pilson
appearing on the new album, George Lynch also makes a guest appearance.
Are there any plans for any other former members
of Dokken to appear on your 3rd album?
VF: (Laughs) We were actually joking
about that. Why not have the whole Dokken reunion? Seriously though, we may
have George back. We had a good time.
He’s
such a crazy character. He is something else. I can’t figure him
out. We were blessed to have that all fall into place; some of it at the
last
minute. We wanted George on the first album, but we were too afraid to
ask.
RIL: Did George play with his shirt off? He always
seems to be trying to show how jacked he is?
VF: He’s something, isn’t he?
RIL: I assume Jeff Pilson was the one
that hooked you guys up?
VF: We were sitting in the studio with Jeff,
and we were kind of half-way joking when we asked. We were like, what
do you
think about George
being on the
album? He said, I don’t know, let me ask him. He picked up his
phone and called him right there. He was like, okay I’ll come down.
To top it off, Jeff picked “Balls to the Wall” for him to
do, but George was having such a good time, he wanted to do another one.
He
played on “Bare Bones” too.
RIL: Well, he does have that bare bones
guitar, right?
VF: Exactly.
RIL: You hired a new drummer, Paul Courtois, since your first album.
How did you find him and what did he bring to the table?
VF: That is a good question,
because he’s brought a lot to the table.
After Blackie [Sanchez] had left, we didn’t know what we were going
to do. Plus we had a show coming up. Pete had found some guy on MySpace or
something, so we went out to catch his show. We weren’t trying to steal
him from anybody, we just wanted to borrow him. It turned out that he was
interested. His timing is great, and come to find out he has a great voice
as well. He has a very strong work ethic too. He’s like the task master
for the band in making sure that we really stay on point.
RIL: So what happened
with Blackie?
VF: I actually talked to him not too long ago. We
were gathering stuff to put the new album together. We had an idea of how
we wanted it to
go. He wanted
to go in another direction musically. He has a couple of projects going on
right now, in which I’m very happy for him. We mutually decided to
part way. There was no major drama or anything like that. The timing wasn’t
that great, but it worked out find. It was time for a change for the both
of us. We had a blast with Blackie though.
RIL: It’s good that you’re
on good terms because a lot of bands start with the trash talk.
VF: I hate that
kind of stuff. Life is too short for that.
RIL: I think sometimes it’s exaggerated so that both parties
can get equal publicity out of it.
VF: Yeah, but we’re not at that level (laughs).
Life happens. We have a new keyboard player too. The era of the label sinking
tons of money into
a band is over. Unless your like a Britney Spears or something. It’s
difficult to get the backing to do shows. We’re not nineteen anymore.
We all have jobs. I run a business, and everyone else has what they have
to do. Some of us have to take vacation time just to go out on tour. We’re
not really taking home money, so it’s difficult. It’s a reality
for many bands I’m sure.
RIL: You mentioned you run your own business. What
is it that you do when you’re
not fronting a heavy metal band?
VF: I have a business called Street Fighters
Inc. You can check us out at www.streetfightersinc.com.
It’s a company that sells motorcycle accessories for sport bikes.
It’s
not just for street fighters. We are trying to bring that style over here,
but we have all sorts of accessories too. We import the stuff from Germany,
and it’s really high quality stuff.
RIL: That kind of incorporates well with
the whole hard rock scene.
VF: That happened after the band though. I find that
kind of ironic though. The first photo shoot we did were with these big Choppers.
I had never
ridden
a motorcycle before. Someone called me a poser once, so I was like hell
no. So now I have a bike, and I just happened to meet somebody and marry
him. His company is called Wild Hair Accessories. He’s had this
company for seven years. He’s German and he’s been importing
these products for a while. He was thinking about opening a second company
and
asked if I wanted to run it. My company has been open only a year. It’s
starting to grow. We want to hit some bike shows too.
RIL: What kind of bike
do you ride now?
VF: It’s a Suzuki Bandit. It’s street fighter
style, so it has cool fairings and stuff. It doesn’t look like
the original Bandit.
RIL: Do you think that the Internet is killing the music
industry or do you think it’s a good tool for an up-and-coming
band?
VF: The way the industry is now, if it’s used correctly, [the
Internet] is a valuable tool. Things change. Unfortunately for a
lot of people, including
myself, you’re hurt by the downloads. I had a fan e-mail me once
that they loved the album and apologized for downloading it illegally.
He swore
he was going to go out and by a copy of it. I’m sure he did, but
I know it kills a lot of people.
There are good people out there they go
out
and buy it to support their favorite bands. The Internet is a really
a great tool. We played a couple of festivals that the promoter contacted
us through
MySpace. It saturates the markets, but there is so much music that’s
not heard on the radio here in the States. If you work it properly, you
can get your music out there.
VERONICA
FREEMAN
