Artist Interview | Page 142 | Revolver

Artist Interview

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Hard rockers Puddle of Mudd will be releasing an album of cover songs titled re:(disc)overed, on August 30. In anticipation, the group is premiering their cover of the Rolling Stones' classic "Gimme Shelter" right here. Lead guitarist Paul Phillips fills us in on the song below. Let us know what you think of the song in the comments.

[audio:http://revolvermag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/01GIMMIESHELTER.mp3|Titles="Gimme Shelter"|Artists=Puddle of Mudd]

REVOLVER When did you first hear this song?
PAUL PHILLIPS
Not sure of the exact age, but it was very young. This song is a classic that has been with us for years and still holds up.

Why did you guys decide to cover it?
We knew that we wanted to do a Stones song and we had several on our possible list, but this one just stood out. That intro is so haunting and the chorus is so massive, with the female singer working off of Jagger. The female singer was something different for us that was very appealing, as you will hear on several tracks on the record. We also felt that it had a vibe that we could really capitalize on and represent well within our own Puddle style.

What, if anything, did you want to do differently with the song?
Well, we obviously did it in our style tonally, but other than that, we kept it pretty close. We upped the tempo a bit and decided to bring that great intro riff back in the bridge. We all just wanted to hear that part again. However, our goal on this track and this record was just to pay tribute and not try and reinvent an already great song.

What sort of feedback have you gotten to it so far?
Well, we have just gotten the masters back, so we are just beginning to get it out there. As of now, everything has been pretty positive though. This was something we did for fun. It's not a Puddle record and that allowed us to toy with different styles, sounds, and instruments without alienating our Puddle fans. We saw this as a stepping stone to open up some doors for the next Puddle originals record, and it will come sooner than later. We are already gearing up for it. So have fun with this one like we did

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Italian goth metallers Lacuna Coil will release their new album, Dark Adrenaline (Century Media), in October. As with their last album, Shallow Life, Don Gilmore is producing. Co-vocalist Andrea Ferro (left) fills us in on the recording process so far. Check out a photo gallery from the studio below that.

REVOLVER How are the songs sounding on your new album?
ANDREA FERRO We have different kinds of songs, some are pretty heavy with a really powerful groove and some killer riffs, some have a darker vibe a bit more in our traditional style, and some others are more anthemic. In my opinion it's a great collection of metal and rock songs.

Are you trying anything different with your songs this time?
There's a variety of moods; some things which are new, and some which sound like more traditional Lacuna Coil. We were experimenting with the previous album and we learned a lot from that about what is the essence of our "sound." We usually never repeat the same record, and that will again be the case this time around. It's 100 percent a Lacuna Coil album, with the benefit of some great inspiration during the songwriting process.

What's been the most adventurous thing you've done in the studio so far?
The studio is not usually crazy or exciting, especially when you have to complete the recording in a reasonable amount of time. We've been working our asses off! The most exciting thing is probably seeing the record take shape in between Europe and the States.

You are again working with Don Gilmore. What does he contribute most?
After you've spent a few months constantly working on the songs, it's important to have someone like Don come in and give you a sincere opinion of the songs. He is helping us in keeping things fresh, and getting our sound together for 2011. Most of the songs haven't really changed in essence, but he is really good at outlining the most important and interesting details of the music and the lyrics. He also creates a really great vibe while recording.

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For "End to the Lies"—the first single off Jane's Addiction's new album, The Great Escape Artist (Capitol)—the group made a "collage of street art" and "sex appeal," according to Dave Navarro. Get an inside look at the making of the video below, and for a more in-depth look at the making of their new album, pick up the Revolver issue on newsstands now, as well as here.

Created for Revolver Magazine.
Jane's Addiction global video exclusive (June 2011). No Viral Sharing.

Photo by Chapman Baehler

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In 2000, a video game based on Alice in Wonderland, directed by American McGee and simply called Alice, came out for PCs. Its anything-is-possible graphics and storyline—as well as a soundtrack by Chris Vrenna of Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails fame—earned it rave reviews almost across the board. Now, over a decade later, McGee has created a sequel, Alice: Madness Returns (Electronic Arts), which came out last week for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. We sat down with McGee to get the scoop on the creation of this new version of Alice and the music that inspired it.

REVOLVER As twisted as Carroll's book can be at points, it's still a children's fairytale. Why has it had such a huge impact on this particular horror game and, in your opinion, horror and hard-rock music in general?
AMERICAN McGEE
The original books provide an amazing wealth of ideas for characters, setting and story. Alice herself has appealed to generations of readers, and by virtue of her new storyline, now also appeals quite well to horror game enthusiasts. The Alice character everyone knows from the books is appealing because of her fantastic imagination and curiosity; with the games we've turned that imagination into a sort of psychological super-power and used curiosity to drive her towards overcoming sometimes horrific obstacles.

What was the inspiration for turning this fantasy into something terrifying? Are there any other horror games or movies that inspired this vision of Alice?
McGEE
At the moment of inspiration for the game, I was listening to "Trip Like I Do" by the Crystal Method. Back at my desk it was Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" and various tracks by Manson, NIN, Tom Waits and more that really drove a lot of the initial tone for story and characters in the game.

Games didn't so much inspire the core ideas as inform me as to what I didn't want to do—having come from a background of development on games like DOOM and Quake, I badly wanted to move away from the "Space Marine" horror theme—and Wonderland offered a great opportunity to explore really surreal environments and characters.

Chris Vrenna did the music for the last game, and Marilyn Manson was involved in the development. Are either of these guys involved again?
McGEE
Vrenna did provide all the music for the original game—mainly because Manson dropped out mysteriously mid-development. Chris returned to provide a track to the sequel—Manson remains mysteriously absent. The bulk of audio and music work was handled by our in-house sound department, headed by Jason Tai. He received support from sound designer Roland Shaw and external composer Marshall Crutcher, based in San Francisco. Together they've produced a soundscape that really suits the surreal and beautiful nature of the game.

Music can be essential to a game. How did you approach the music for the sequel?
JASON TAI
I've always enjoyed producing tracks that are more ambient, surreal and sort of 'out there.' A:MR was a great opportunity to push that further.

From the beginning we decided that London would have a Victorian-style theme, minimal, and for the Wonderland sections it would be more open but nothing too synth-like or electronic. The art and general look and feel of the game contributed a lot to my selection of instruments and sounds. I wanted the soundtrack to have a more 'mature' sound to it with a little influence from the first game.

Getting back to the story, what was the inspiration for introducing sanity as such a huge theme in both games?
McGEE
The Wonderland stories are played out inside Alice's imagination, which I knew early on offered a path to some incredible psychological horror—but only if we could rob Alice of her sanity. As a rule, everything seen in Wonderland has to draw inspiration from real world experiences had by Alice, either in the asylum or London. Insanity becomes Alice's "kryptonite" where her imagination and the mental landscape of Wonderland are her super power. For me, these things are all metaphors for our own struggles—most of which aren't as external or physical as we tend to think they are, but instead lie within our own psyches. Alice is a pretty pure expression of the "we are our own worst enemy" concept—though she, like us, ultimately holds the key to her own salvation.

There were a couple of fan made trailers that seemed to plead for a sequel. Was a sequel always in the plans, or did you plan it after the original gained a large following?
McGEE
We knew when the narrative in the first game contained enough threads to allow for a follow-on (or two). And myself and RJ Berg [Executive Producer/Writer on both Alice games] had ideas we thought could fuel an entire "twisted fairytale" brand alongside development of many fairytale-inspired games, but EA had different plans for us. RJ was fired, I left EA to become and independent game producer and many years had to pass before we were back together again with a studio we felt could handle the development of a sequel.

There were plans for a movie based on the game. Is there still a chance we might see a movie?
McGEE
Don't really know. There's a film producer in Hollywood still holding onto the rights and presumably trying to make something happen, but we don't speak often. I'm not holding my breath. Being Hollywood, it'll probably happen, but it's anyone's guess how long it will take.

What can gamers and fans of the original expect to be different in terms of both visuals and gameplay?
McGEE
In many ways the core formula that made the original game has been maintained for the sequel. We felt we got something right the first time around and didn't want to outsmart ourselves trying to change things radically just for the sake of change. That being said, there are many aspects of the game that have improved by virtue of 11 years worth of advances in game technology and development processes. We also had the benefit of 11 years feedback from fans around the world, which we used to improve things that needed improving and amp up things that people said they loved. Combat was one of those gameplay elements that many people felt was one-dimensional in the first game, so we completely rebuilt it with a wider range of gamers in mind.

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Today Canadian hard rockers Danko Jones drop the deluxe reissue of their 2010 full-length, Below the Belt. The new edition comes with two bonus tracks, "Guest List Blues" and "Rock N Roll Proletariat," and the entire acclaimed "Below the Belt" music video trilogy, featuring guest appearances by Lemmy, Elijah Wood, Selma Blair, and others. Below, check out the previously unreleased B-side "Rock N Roll Proletariat," read what singer-guitarist Danko Jones has to say about the song, and let us know what you think in the comments.

[audio:http://revolvermag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/13RockNRollProletariat.mp3|Titles="Rock N Roll Proletariat"|Artists=Danko Jones]

REVOLVER What's "Rock N Roll Proletariat" about?
DANKO JONES
Despite the song containing a five-syllable, $10 word in its title, it's not about anything too deep. It's just an assertion of hard rock's working-class ethic. You learn very fast that real rock and roll isn't about cocaine, limos, and stadium shows but rather loading in and out of the van during snowstorms and playing urine-smelling waste dens called "rock clubs." I kinda like that though.

Which part of it did you come up with first? What was the inspiration?
The chorus with the lyrics and the song's title came right away. Musical inspiration was certainly from AC/DC and the pre-chorus is an obvious tribute to  ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man." The outro of the song, where I say, "Are you ready?" and then laugh, is also a little homage to Joe Elliot and Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages" outro... I use words like "tribute" and "homage" because it can sometimes aid in evading possible lawsuits. Lyrically, the song is just the age old theme of infusing a little punk rock ethos into a bloated pampered established hard-rock tradition.

Was this an easy song to write?
It wasn't too hard. I don't remember us hemming and hawing over parts too much, but once I used the word "proletariat" in the song's title, I knew it was a loaded word and tried to steer the lyrics away from making too much a sociopolitical statement.

Why didn't it make the album originally?

I don't know! Every time someone hears this song, they have to ask why it didn't make the record. We should've put this song on the album and, because we didn't, it's starting to keep me up at night. I fucking wish we did now. Fuck!

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Chimaira are releasing their latest album, The Age of Hell (eOne), on August 16. In anticipation, the band is premiering the 10th song on the album, "Trigger Finger," right here. Frontman Mark Hunter fills us in on the song, which you can download from iTunes here, below. Let us know what you think of the song in the comments.

[audio:http://revolvermag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/10TriggerFinger.mp3|Titles="Trigger Finger"|Artists=Chimaira]

REVOLVER What's this song about?
MARK HUNTER
When life presents you with a fork in the road, sometimes the choices you are forced to make mentally drain you. When those moments occur and you feel threatened, sometimes you have to bring a gun to a knife fight.

Which part of it did you come up with first? What was the inspiration?
We wrote the music one day and the lyrics and vocals another. Life inspires us.

Was this an easy song to record?
Pretty easy. We spent more time talking about it then working on it. [Laughs] Considering all of the crazy shit that's happened to Chimaira, it should be no surprise that we were on fire in the studio.

What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
Fans got a sneak peak when they saw it live last month or the YouTube bootlegs. Thankfully, the response seems to be overwhelmingly positive. I think the world is ready for some new Chimaira.

Photo by Todd Bell

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Contributing writer Chris "Potable" Krovatin is the author of two young adult novels, Heavy Metal & You and Venomous. He is currently working on multiple new writing projects, as well as new material with his New York metal band Flaming Tusk. Many people call Chris an alcoholic. He prefers the term "mixologist." Join him as he makes a series of potables inspired on songs and albums by his favorite extreme-metal bands and serves them to his unwitting friends.

Plenty of modern-day kultists laugh at black metal's corpsepaint-and-leather imagery, but no one fucks with Immortal. While many black-metal bands were shying away from the Kiss-like origins of the scene, Immortal were owning it. And as if it weren't enough that they're grimacing badger-faced night warriors who worship a raven-headed deity in a mountainous wasteland they made up—the music, man. Songs like "Damned In Black," "Tyrants," and the inimitable "Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)" stripped away the genre's newfound love of goth symphonics, returning it to the shred-heavy thrashiness that made Venom and Celtic Frost the legends they are.

My Immortal drink had to reflect the band—abrasive, swift, awesome, but still straightforward and simple. I also wanted to use ingredients from the band's native Norway. A boiler maker-esque shot-drop would do. For the beer, I decided to use Norwegian Bøkkol, or Bock beer, a heavy brew meant to be sipped and savored, not pounded. For the shot, I decided to do a half-and-half of Jäger—hail Satan—and Linie Aquavit. Linie is fascinating—to obtain its nutty, biting flavor, the liquid has to be transported by ship over the equator twice (the word 'linie' means 'line'). It is, I imagine, a beverage oft enjoyed between frozen raids on the mountains of Blashyrkh.

Immortal's "Norden On Fire"

1 bottle—eight to 12 oz—of Bock beer, preferably Bøkkol.

Jägermeister

Linie Aquavit

Pour beer into pint glass. Pour a shot equal parts Jäger and Linie. Drop shot into beer and drink swiftly.

Reactions From Friends:

Alex: Blargh!

Andy: Hugh!

Bernard: Ugggh!

Final Rating:

Fail! The flavor of Jäger-diluted Linie and full-bodied beer is a sudden assault on the senses that results in gagging and stomach trouble (See photo). More so, all of these ingredients are far better served on their own or chasing another than as an epic single gulp. Only consume if you're preparing for the most ferocious battles in the north.

If you or your dirtbag friends can come up with metal-themed cocktails, send your recipes to krovatinc@gmail.com. Remember, though, these should be metal-themed and original, not the usual headbanger fare like Blacktooth Grins and Butt Burners. Use your imagination, and get slaughtered!

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