THOM: I’m doing great Eric – the freshest news from AMULANCE is, we have officially reformed. Since the release of “Rage Within & the Aftermath” (Stormspell Records, April, 2007) we have been writing material for a new AMULANCE record & preparing for a European tour both to coincide the summer of 2008. As a matter of fact, Bob (Luman) and Rik (Baez) are here with me at Phlex Audio right now finishing up some pre-production work on our new material, so I asked them to join me for this interview. Say “hi” guys..
BOB: Hi Eric; Hello, everyone !
RIK: Whats up Eric !
Looking
back to your debut, how were the first steps of the band ? Do you remember
how did you get into Metal and how was AMULANCE created ?
THOM: AMULANCE was Bob’s bastard baby child, so I’ll let him
tell you how AMULANCE came together.
BOB: Boy, that’s in the ‘wayback machine’ – had
some guys that I jammed with from high school; Although I had the name
“AMULANCE” during that time, the band everyone came to know
didn’t really come together and really “sound like”
AMULANCE until 1985 when Thom and Rik came along. There was a band that
shared a rehearsal spot with me and was auditioning bass players. Thom
came down to try out for them and long story short, I stole Thom from
them. Rik came along a couple months after that, followed by Eric Wedow
and Vince Varriale. Eric was in the band a couple of years, and when things
started to take off he told us that he was unable to tour, so we had to
replace him. That’s when we found Tony Divozzo (our current drummer)
after auditioning 39 others.. And here we are...
BOB: No, well we were hopeful that people would like our music. Great memories from the recording of those sessions.
THOM: We had only been together 6 months when we began recording ?…
BOB: …mmm, well, I think so, fuck dude, I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning, ha-ha.
THOM: The demo was recorded in one day ?
BOB: Well, recorded in one day, a couple of over-dubs and the mix on the second day.
THOM: At the time we recorded that demo, we weren’t even sure what we were going to do with it…as far as the reviews go, you need to remember that it was before the days of internet, it was a complete underground thing, where you actually had to duplicate cassettes and send them out via mail– AMULANCE was really poor – (we still are, so send money, ha-ha) in those days. We would go to Radio Shack, buy a double cassette recorder for making copies, make a couple hundred copies at a time, then box the machine up and take it to Radio Shack and get our money back ! We would send out tapes to anyone that would take one. We weren’t expecting anything as far as reviews go, because we were just jammin’. They were a nice surprise, that’s for sure.
RIK: I remember literally sending out close to 100 demos out to zines and labels and week after week many of the packages would come back with a stamp or sticker reading “We do not accept unsolicited material”. It was very discouraging ! But once the reviews started coming out about us there was a turnaround – within months the same labels that had originally denied us began to contact us asking for our demo.
How did you get in contact with New Renaissance Record and how did you get a deal with them ? Was it a single album deal or so ? What were the other labels interested in AMULANCE ? By the way, were you happy with the job of the label ?
BOB: We’ll answer this in parts….
THOM: I’m sure the devil had something to do with it (chuckle), because in hindsight, it’s something that I wish would not have happened. They approached us, sent us a letter, saying they were interested and sent along a contract at the same time. Should have been a red flag, but oh well. As far a getting a deal with them, we just signed the paper, they didn’t have to give us anything up front – they promised the world once "Feel The Pain" was released but didn’t keep their word on anything.
BOB: It wasn’t a single album deal, per se, it was like 3 or 5; but it really didn’t matter. I really don’t want to talk any more about it – I don’t want to get sued by those fuckers…There WERE other labels interested; Roadrunner, Island – but you know, we signed that New Renaissance deal against the advice of EVERYONE; our manager, our attorney. Everybody told us that we were stupid for signing that deal with New Renaissance ! I think they could see that we were pretty naïve – but New Renaissance pressured us and promised us a lot of cool stuff, but did not deliver once we signed.
THOM: In response to whether we were happy with the label - ABSOFUCKINLUTELY NOT ! I can say that they released Feel the Pain 18-20 years ago, and re-released it 2 years ago and we have seen not one scrap of paper – no money, no statements, from that record company ! It has just been the absolute run-around and bullshit after bullshit - I feel they were responsible for AMULANCE ultimately breaking up back in the late ‘80’s. We never got the exposure that the album should have had; I think their lack of doing anything had a lot to do with that. Working with them just seemed to be one lie after another. It is something we would never, EVER do again.
RIK: One of the reasons that we decided to go with NRR was that the other labels were taking so fucking long in wanting to negotiate and plan. We just didn’t know enough about the business end of the music industry and were thinking that if we wait too long that we would just miss opportunities elsewhere. In the meantime, NRR was ready to sign us on – yes, we did have EVERYONE around us warning us – but do you really expect 5 young guys with strong opinions to listen to anybody ? At the time we felt that we knew what we were doing – unfortunately we were wrong and paid the price for being so headstrong.
RIK: Thanks brother !
BOB: As far as how "Feel The Pain" sounded when it was released, it was a let-down for me, because I’m so big on production..
THOM: I liked the "Feel The Pain" record as far as the songs, and the way the band felt at the time and all that stuff; we’re really happy that, after all this time, people seem to really still dig the record. Production–wise, well, everyone has their own opinion of that. But I really don’t remember the master reels sounding like that when they left the studio compared to how they came out on the album. We sent the original studio reels to New Renaissance and they did their “mastering magic”. I don’t really know what happened in the interim – but in my opinion there was a fuck somewhere. In my opinion the album that was released was not the album we mixed. Of course New Renaissance no longer has the master reels, so I guess we’ll never know.
BOB: Regardless we are happy that, after all of this time people seem to dig that record.
According
to me the production completely fucked up on this full-length, what happened
in the studio exactly ? Did you lack of money while recording this album
?
THOM: I guess my answer above addresses the production. We actually spent
about 10 days or so in the studio recording "Feel The Pain".
So, it’s contrary to what you would think, we spent more time and
more money. The master reels had been out of our hands for a long time
before it was released by New Renaissance..
According to
me "Violent Victory" is definitely the strongest title of "Feel
The Pain", the speed and aggressive Thrash Metal hymns rule supreme
here. The vocal is perfectly melted with the music, this track is simply
awesome…could you tell us a bit more about this tune, how did you
compose it and when was it written ?
BOB: Wow, that was kind of my ‘Iron Maiden’ riffage phase,
I was really into those guys, and a lot of that and Seventh Son came from
the ‘Maiden’ phase.
THOM: Didn’t Rik come up with the intro to that song ?
BOB: Rik added the intro…
RIK: That’s right brothers - I sure the fuck did!
THOM: That was your first musical contribution to the band right? I believe
that was written in ‘87
RIK: Yep
BOB: That’s about the most commercial song on that album, arrangement-wise;
it’s catchy.
THOM:. I know it’s surprising to me that that’s a tune that
people still mention. We’ve had several people tell us how much
they dig that tune since the band reformed.
BOB: No, I wouldn’t have guessed it. We are grateful for the input
though, because "Violent Victory" is definitely going to be
part of the set when we tour.
THOM: Well, Bob just told me this tonight as we were looking over the interview – The one with the slip case you’re talking about is a bootleg, from Greece, or something like that.
BOB: Yeah, the picture disc and slipcase….
THOM: The one you’re referencing here is one that we didn’t even know was in existence, until someone sent Rik & Bob copies to autograph and send back !
BOB: …and he allowed us to keep one as a gift ! Which was more than we ever got from NRR, ha-ha.
THOM: Yeah….then about a year later, New Renaissance did their “re-release” of "Feel The Pain", which is a travesty.
BOB: NRR’s re-issue looked AMAZINGLY like the bootleg !! (snicker)
THOM: …yeah, AMAZINGLY like the bootleg. Ha-ha. Coincidence ???
BOB: …Picture disc and all !!....
THOM: I KNOW that Ann bought a bootleg off EBay, I watched her do it…
RIK: I still say that we should offer the entire "Feel The Pain" album as MP3s and give them away as free downloads – we didn’t make one fucking penny off of that so why should anyone else ?!
BOB: She no longer had the masters, there was nothing to duplicate from –
THOM:… As a matter of fact Ann sent us an email asking if she could “borrow” an original cd from us for comparison against her re-release.
BOB:.. That is so fucking hysterical.
THOM: So it is our belief (our belief, here) that the New Renaissance re-release (which again, we had NOTHING to do with) was the bootleg of a bootleg. That’s New Renaissance for ya. But again, that’s our opinion. She claims to be a lawyer now, and I don’t want to make any statements that may be deemed libellous.
BOB: Yea, this is just our opinion.
THOM: Hey Bob this is totally unrelated to what we are talking about but, is calling someone a “cunt” too strong ?
BOB: ha-ha.. probably..
THOM: bummer.
RIK: Ha-ha
I saw few video tracks of AMULANCE
on the net, I feel like that in the 80's your look was pretty simple in
opposition to some Thrash Metal combos with leather and spikes as Slayer
for instance had. So, was there an AMULANCE "live look" ?
BOB: We did the leather and spikes, but they just were not very BIG spikes…
THOM: ..and to us, although we dig bands that do that and all (nothing
negative about bands like that), it just wasn’t us. It would not
have been sincere. The most we did was change out of street clothes, into
leathers and stuff – we were more focused on the stage performance…
BOB: …except for my flash pots…
THOM: yeah, we blew shit up sometimes.. ha-ha
RIK: For all that do not know, Bob’s a real pyro !!!
THOM: We always did everything in this band as a complete band, the same way we lived then. We rehearsed 4-5 days a week back then, we were brothers, so if we were on the road it wasn’t much different – if we were at a hotel, we would all end up partying in the same room anyway. Life really wasn’t that much different….the band is all we lived for. We just saw new faces, made new friends at each show…that’s it.
RIK: It was a great ride and an awesome time in my life!
BOB: Best memories ??? Well, there was one show where Rik went running across the stage the same time I did, and we smacked into each other – I went down, and we knocked a half-stack over…And we came across some pretty interesting chicks on the road. Ha-ha..
THOM:… You said we “came across”… ha-ha
RIK: Yea!!! Haha!!!…
BOB: Grow up you guys.
THOM&RIK : NEVER!!!!
What
had always astonished me with the 80's Metal bands was that no matter
the aggressiveness of the combo nearly all of them recorded a fucking
cheesy ballade, do you remember of that and do you know the reason ? What
is the cheesiest ballade for you ? And strangely enough AMULANCE never
did any ballad, as "Witch's Sin" can't be considered as a ballad
even though there's a smooth part in …
THOM: …I think many Metal bands do that as sort of a “gentle”
way to gain some fan base from people who normally wouldn’t be into
their style of music..
BOB: Some people might say that doing a ballad is a smart way to gain
some fan base.
THOM:.. Vince and Rik wouldn’t ha-ha
BOB: No doubt. Ha-ha (mimicking Rik Baez “I DON’T DO FUCKING
BALLADS!!!)
RIK: Ha-ha! I just don’t see the fucking point of it! I mean –
why do a ballad to gain fans that won’t like anything else you do
? I want to write for the people that will appreciate ALL of our music
- the real Metal-heads!
BOB: You’re puttin’ me on the spot - but off the top of my head, here they are, in no particular order:
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast; Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East; Black Sabbath - , Heaven & Hell; Scorpions - Love Drive; King Diamond - Abigail.
THOM: Savatage - The Dungeons Are Calling ; Metal Church – Metal Church ; Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break The Oath ; Queensryche – 1982 Demo ; Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell
RIK : WOW – there are way more than five and I know after this interview goes out that I’ll think of one that I should have included – but this is what I can think of for now: Saxon – (toss-up between Wheels of Steel & Strong Arm of the Law); Scorpions – Animal Magnetism; Metallica – Ride the Lightning; Iron Maiden – (toss-up between Iron Maiden & Number of the Beast); and Rainbow – Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (Gates of Babylon fucking kills!)
As you are from USA I'm wondering how
you were looking at the European scene in the 80's ? I feel like excepted
from Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Motorhead American Metal
heads didn't give a fuck about European bands. What were the differences
between European combos and American one according to you ?
BOB: It wasn’t that we didn’t care; it’s just that a
great number of very deserving European bands weren’t exposed to
many people in America.
THOM:… I agree. It wasn’t that the kids in the USA didn’t
care; it’s that they were not aware. Thank God for the internet
huh?
RIK: If you were lucky enough to have a music store that carried imports;
that was the only way to find out about them – but then again they
charged crazy fucking prices for imports back then !
Are you still
following the worldwide Metal scene ? Are there new bands that impress
you and new releases you enjoy these last months ?
THOM:.. There have been a number of them. Beyond Fallen (from Pennsylvania,
USA) is a band that I am into right now. I have spoken via telephone to
their guitarist Steve and he is a really cool guy. Their singer Joe seems
to be pretty cool too. As a band they are fucking killer.
BOB: I am into a band called Tacere from Finland. I also like Arakain
from the Czech Repulic
THOM:.. It’s hard to name all of the good bands because thanks to
the internet we are exposed to some great bands pretty much everyday.
A couple others that I dig are Neudi’s band Viron (from Germany)-
they’re slammin ! Dofka puts out some really good shit. I could
go on and on..
RIK: Man – that’s a real fucking tough question ! I really
dig Onslaught’s new shit but they’ve been around for a while.
I’ve heard some really good music lately but when I go to check
who the band is – it usually turns out to be a band that’s
been around for a while. The internet is really like a double-edged sword
– its great for getting your name out but at the same time there’s
so much shit coming at you – you almost don’t know where to
start ! Bob and I actually partied with the guys from Seventh Calling
last night, they are pretty kick ass.
I think that
know you're nearly 40, I'd like to know you view on the 80's Heavy Metal
look of musicians back then ? Hair and way of dressing on stage were miles
away from what we can see now, how is your regard on this today ? Do you
sometime smile seeing yourself from the 80's ?
THOM:.. We are lucky, we never did anything too terribly embarrassing,
so it’s not too bad.
BOB: Thom, there IS that one photo of me circulating wearing a pair of
Spandex pants; I remember burning those pants after the photo shoot. Ha-ha
THOM:.. Oh yea, I forgot about that one.. Those pants were pretty embarrassing.
Ha-ha..
RIK: There was that time in that really hot summer when we decided to
wear Bermuda shorts and then were accused of trying to be like Anthrax.
That really pissed me off! Ha-ha ! I think they copied us! Speaking of
Anthrax – have you noticed they’re new logo ? I really think
it looks a lot like ours !
THOM: Oh yea, that’s right. Hmmm ????
THOM: I’m friends with Eric Wagner, I listened to it with him at his house about 9 months before it was released. I liked it, it sounds like a Trouble record. I’m glad for them that they’re giving it another crack.
BOB: I would say that the emotion that I feel is that just when the music was getting good, public tastes changed, so the fact that some people still want to listen to this music is a great emotion !
THOM: It also proves that just because things go out of fashion, doesn’t make it irrelevant.
RIK: As long as they are still making great music – I don’t see any reason for them not to be around.
According
to you, what lack to AMULANCE to hit a top popularity in the Metal scene
? Do you think that "Feel The Pain" was recorded a bit too late
? In the end of the eighties, a new Metal style was rising, Death Metal,
thence fans and labels were looking for something new and different….
THOM: I don’t think that the album was recorded too late; my opinion
is that with any band - there are millions of bands who deserved to be
way more popular than they are. A lot of it rests on the shoulders of
what record company you’re working with; if you aren’t exposed
to people, how the fuck will they know you’re there ? So, especially
back before the internet, any band that signed with a record company was
dependent on their record company to put the product out and promote it.
The record company should support their artists, but unfortunately very
few labels did.. Ours sure didn’t... On the opposite end of the
spectrum there were a lot of bands that got very popular that didn’t
deserve it, that were absolute shit…What do you think guys ?
RIK: I can think of a few – but I won’t name them.
BOB: …none come to mind…
THOM: I think you are just being nice.
BOB:.. I’m never nice you fucker!!! Ha-ha
THOM: I guess the true catalyst would be Iordan, from Stormspell; the band basically reunited when it did because we were approached to release "Rage Within" and "The Aftermath". Speaking of Stormspell Records, if any band would come up to me and ask me my thoughts on if they should sign with Stormspell, I would give them a big thumbs up. It’s how a record company should be – and is one of the only companies I’m aware of that actually cares about the music, and the bands that they put out.
BOB:.. Rik did that Snakepit interview during a pretty low time for everyone. I guess it just goes to show that there is no way of telling the future. I don’t think Rik has ever been so happy to have been wrong..
RIK: Bob is right – I’m fucking stoked to have been wrong when I said that AMULANCE would never reunite ! At the time I just never saw it ever being a possibility. With Vince living so far away for starters; he said that there was no way he could ever do it. I think he changed his mind when he saw the release of "The Rage Within" & the "Aftermath". I think seeing our CD packaged the way we had originally imagined our CD being packaged and sounding superior than the NRR release of Feel the Pain as well as finding out that we still had a fanbase made a huge impact on him… big enough of an impact that he was willing to travel out here to make this happen. I personally didn’t think that I could find the time to make it happen… one of my concerns was that after a few weeks of getting together that “outside influences” would begin pressuring us into not making rehearsals and the whole thought of reuniting would die down – but that hasn’t been the case at all – its been the exact opposite! Vince has actually made plans to increase his rehearsals with us when we start working on our show.
Some sources state you'll reform to
write the second album, thence will the new songs be only new composition
or will you take old and forgotten tunes from the 80's ? What line up
will AMULANCE get ?
BOB: I think we’re pulling three previously written songs that were
never recorded - as material for the new album – As well as brand
new stuff
THOM: Yea, there’s 3 or 4 tunes that were written back in the late
‘80s that weren’t released. The new stuff is going to blow
people away, shit it blows me away !!! We are playing so much better than
we ever did before.
BOB:… We are definitely back !
THOM:… As a matter of fact, not only will we have a new album out
in 2008, we are going to tour as well. I can’t talk about that too
much right now, but I can tell you that we are confirmed for the HeadBangers
Open Air in Germany in July of 2008.
RIK: Our line-up will be the same as Feel the Pain except for our drummer
will be Tony DiVozzo. Tony was in AMULANCE right after FTP until we disbanded
and is the ONLY drummer for us ! He was another factor in our reuniting
and luckily he was completely up for the job when we came to him. Just
wait till you hear him ! He was built for Metal !
Thanks a lot for your time Thom : feel
free to close this interview as you wish
THOM: Just want to say thanks to you Eric. I’m gonna turn you on
to some of the new material, so feel free to write your opinion ! This
is stuff that we’re in preproduction for right now, so feel free
to express your opinion to the readers, so they know that they have something
to look forward to in 2008 ! Thanks to everybody that’s stuck with
us through the years. Hopefully you’ll be able to come to our show,
and we can have some beers together! Drop us a line at www.myspace.com/AMULANCE
BOB: Thanks take care and METAL ON !!!
RIK: A great THANK YOU to you and your readers ! It’s all of you
that keep the metal scene alive - we know that we wouldn’t be here
without you – we truly appreciate your support throughout the years
and will not let you down with our next release and our shows. Cheers
!