*Can you please introduce yourself for the people who don't know who you realy are?
My name is Paul Speredes!I am guitarist for SPIRIT WEB,a Power Metal band from Chicago,Illinois.USA
I used to be in a band called SYRIS and many years ago i was in the early line up of a band called STYGIAN.
*How did it all started?Can you tell us something about the very beginning of Spirit Web?
Well,SW had its first origins even before myself,Scott Huffman,and Rob Such joined Syris.
We were all jamming with a drummer called Mark Levin.We did a couple of shows in the mid 90's before Scott left to join Syris.
Scott has hooked up with Syris drummer,Sean Brown,who had a record deal but needed some
musicians to write a record.The original Syris guitarist Scott Payne,unfortuately has passed away from the cancer.
Scott and the other remaining Syris guitarist were having trouble writing new material so
Scott recruited myself to come aboard and eventually bass player,Rob Such also joined up.
Myself and Scott Huffman wrote most of the music on the Syris' Unseen Forces record.
Shortly after Unseen Forces was released and after we played on the POWERMAD festival in august 1998 i left the band.
Me and the drummer Sean Brown just couldn't write well together.
I wanted to get faster and more progressive with the music at that time and Sean wanted to keep the music real straight forward.
Well i decide to look around for some of the best Metal players in the area.
One thing led to another and eventually i hooked up with the monster drummer,Tony Rios and bass phenomenon Brent Sullivan.Scott Huffman also joined Spirit Web but continued singing for Syris for another two years with their new line-up.
We all agreed to self produce the debut SW CD and see how the labels in Europe will react. The original SW CD eventually got outstanding reviews in Europe!
One of our songs got on the ROCK HARD magazine's unerhort CD and eventually this led us getting heard on many radio stations.
One radio station in Belgium called OVERDRIVE hosted by Patrick De Sloover has given us a lot of airplay ans this led us to getting a recording contract with Mausoleum Rec.
*SW features members from Slauter Xstroyes,Winterkill,Syris and Stygian.
What's happened with these bands,do they still exist or did they quit?
Well unfortunately all the above bands no longer exist.Slauter Xstroyes broke up in'86.The original drummer and singer have long ago moved out of Chicago and got out of the music busines
Winterkill has broke up and their former singer Randy Barron is now in Sprit Web.
Syris is no longer an entity after all the remaining members departed from Sean Brown.
Stygian broke up many years ago also but i have lost all contact with the former members so i don't know if they're still involved in music or not.
*A US Metal band and a German record deal,how did you get involved with them?
Well as started to mention previously we had got one of our songs on the Rock hard Unerhort CD and one very enthusiastic fan from Belgium named Stefan Sileghem,has heard our music and recommanded to me that i send our SW CD to Patrick De Sloover,the host of the famous Belgium Metal radio show called OVERDRIVE!
Patrick played our music on the air a lot and we got a great respons from the listeners so he recommended us to some Record labels.So one thing let to another and we were contacted by Mario Mortier the A and R representative for Mausoleum Records.We signed a licensing agreement to release the debut SW CD with two brand new tracks ans also to give them the option on several more Spirit Web in the future.
*Was the debut CD a real success?Are you satisfied with the results?
Well i thought that musically the debut SW CD was a success,also the musicianship was great.
I thought the production could have been better but when you have a limited budget you must do the best that you can in the studio time that you have.The metal mags in Europe all gave us fantastic reveiws!
I'm not satisfied with the number of CDS originally sold.I would have liked to reach more people with this music.I am at the point now that i would rather get average reviews and sell 100,000 CDS than get outstanding reviews sell 5,000 CDS.I want people to hear our music!Otherwise,what's the point of making a record??
*Tell me something about the forthcoming new album... Title,influences,production,..?
The new SW is entitled Far Beyond The Visual Mind and i think that this album is kind of like a combination of Syris,Spirit web and Winterkill music in one.Brent Sullivan,the bass player wrote several songs on this album and Randy barron our new singer has a much different voice than Scott so the style is changed some from our debut CD.We even had a guest keyboard player come in and do tracks on the title track.The music kind of combines old style Metal and Hard Rock with some more modern style Metal.
It's still Heavy Metal and well written material but there is less guitar solos and riffing than on our debut CD.The music is more chord oriented rather than riff oriented.I think that music is also at a slightly slower tempo than our first one.Chuck White has a different drum style than Tony Rios but still very kick ass!We recorded the album at UP ON THE ROOF RECORDING STUDIO in Lombard,Illinois,USA.Recording engineer was Mark Blas.We are expecting the CD release sometime in early may on...
Mausoleum Records out in Belgium .
*How do you see the future for SW,any concerts to come and can we expect a concert in Europe?
In the past there was talk about Mausoleum touring us in Europe but until we have written agreement then we just can't say for sure.We all have responsibilities here and we just can't pack our bugs and go for 3 weeks to Europe unless some of our expenses are taken care of.This would also have to be planned well in advance or some of the guys would lose their jobs!Unfortunately at this point in time music doensn't pay our bills so we have to treat it as a hobby,not as a career.As far as the future is concerned wa have to see how the fans and our label react to our new album before we decide which direction we will take the music in the future.
*What are your faves at the moment,are you only listen to Metal?
I still listen to mostly old school hard rock and classic metal.Some of my faves are old Deep Purple,Rainbow,Ronnie James Dio,Yngwie Malmsteen,Mercyful Fate,Black Sabbath,UFO.
I have always liked heavy music with killer guitar solos.I think that lead guitar and guitar soloing have become a lost art in today's music scene.I still enjoy the music that i grew up on to this day!
I do listen to a lot of other genres of music besides hard rock/metal but i like heavy music the best
*OK Paul,i wish SPIRIT WEB all the best and maybe a last words to our readers?
SPIRIT WEB would like to thank all the fans in Europe who supported our music in the past and helped to spread the word about us.
We hope to continue making music and one day would like to bring our liveshow in Europe.
Special thanx to you for helping us to get a record deal in Europe!!!Cheers..
Band Contact:
SPIRIT WEB C/O Paul Speredes
6749 Dempster St. 108
Morton Grove,Illinois 60053
U.S.A.