Axemaster
Axemaster one of the best
80s metal bands is back re-presenting themselves and their debut album
"Blessing In The Skies", setting the ground for their new album which we
should expect soon enough. Here we have a very friendly Joe Sims talking
about the band's past, present and future...
1. HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? HOW DID YOU DECIDE
TO RE-RELEASE YOUR ALBUM “BLESSING IN THE SKIES” FROM A GREEK LABEL?
Hey! I’m Joe Sims, I play lead guitar for
the band. Thanks for being into doing the inteview!!!! As far as us going
with a Greek label goes, since our main fan base is in Europe we thought
it’d be the best idea if we went with a European company so we knew the
CD would get good distribution there. We got interest from a few European
labels but Burning Star sounded really professional and seemed like an
up and coming company so we decided to go with them. I think it was a good
decision.
2. CAN YOU TELL US WHAT YOU HAVE IMPROVED IN THE
NEW RELEASE OF THIS ALBUM IN COMPARISON TO THE 80’S VERSION? YOU HAVE ALSO
INCLUDED SOME BONUS – TRACKS. ARE THE BONUS TRACKS NEW RECORDINGS?
The new version was remastered so the sound’s
a LOT better. Also, the artwork and packaging is KICK ASS, a huge improvement
over the album. It’s packaged as a digi-pack which is really cool and it
includes a 12 page booklet with some never before seen photos, song lyrics,
and liner notes. The original album didn’t have any of that. It also has
a video we did for a TV show back in 87. So the re-release is 100 times
better than the album overall. The 3 bonus tracks were recorded in the
late 80’s but none of them have been on CD before so they are like new!
One of them was recorded live……
3. DO YOU PLAN TO RE-RELEASE THE REST OF YOUR
ALBUMS AS WELL OR NOT?
No, but we might re-record some songs from
back then that we never did in a real studio. We have some tunes that we
think are killer that were recorded really bad originally so we’d like
to give them a good sound and put them on a new CD. It’s strange playing
those songs again after almost 20 years and actually have to re-learn them!
4. I BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE STARTED TO COMPOSE
NEW SONGS. WHEN WILL THEY BE READY AND HOW DO THEY SOUND? CAN YOU TELL
US FROM WHICH LABEL YOU WILL RELEASE YOUR NEW ALBUM?
We’ve got new songs ready to go. They’re a
little heavier than “Blessing”, kind of the same basic style we did on
“5 Demons” in the early 90’s. A little more thrash than the stuff we put
out in the mid 80’s but still with a power metal sound overall. We haven’t
started shopping the songs to record labels yet so I can’t say what company
will put out a new CD. But whoever does it, you can be sure that
it’ll be some major fucking metal!!!!!!!!! The time that’s went by since
Axemaster was together hasn’t mellowed us at all, the shit’s still majorly
heavy!
5. BY THE WAY NOW THAT YOU HAVE REUNITED HAVE
YOU WON THE INTEREST OF NEW FANS, ESPECIALLY IN THE U.S.A. WHERE NU – METAL
AND METALCORE ARE THE LATEST TRENDS?
I’m actually a little surprised at how many
people here in the states dig the kind of stuff we’re doing. You’re right,
nu-metal and hardcore are huge here, but we’ve gotten a lot of positive
responses from US fans. The main place we’ve done well has ALWAYS been
Europe and I don’t see that changing, but the US does have some true metal
fans. We just need more of them here and it’s up to bands like us to help
gain new fans for this kind of music!
6. I THINK THAT YOUR LYRICS HAVE A STRONG CHRISTIAN
THEMATOLOGY. AM I RIGHT? WHAT KIND OF THEMES GIVE YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE
ABOUT IN GENERAL?
Yeah, there are some songs from “Blessing”
that have what we call “white metal” themes, mainly 4 songs on the disc.
They are basically written about events in history from a more Christian
point of view, mainly trying to tie some things that happened in the past
to the present day. Since the album though we’ve mainly written about some
different stuff. We did write a couple songs with some Christian themes,
but for the most part we’ve gotten into writing about things in real life,
things that a lot of people can relate to personally. I guess a lot of
inspiration now comes from either personal experience or things that we
feel strongly about. Stuff that hopefully makes you think. But we never
have and never will write anything that praises evil.
7. ONE OF THE COMPOSITIONS INCLUDED IN “BLESSING
IN THE SKIES” WAS PART OF THE SOUNDTRACK OF A HORROR MOVIE. CAN YOU GIVE
US MORE INFO ABOUT IT? IS IT EASY TO FIND THIS MOVIE NOW?
Yeah, it was basically a comedy/horror movie
called “Killer Nerd” that was put out in 1991. The tune they used from
the album was “Rock Forever”. Even though it wasn’t a huge movie or anything,
it was pretty good and no matter what it’s very cool to see our names on
the credits at the end! But they did make a sequel to it and the star (Toby
Radloff) was nominated for an academy award a couple years ago for another
movie. So it’s still available but I’m not sure how easy it is to find.
I do see reviews for it on the internet so I’m sure you can find it somewhere
on there……..
8. ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FACT THAT HERE IN GREECE,
SOMEONE HAS RELEASED YOUR DEBUT ALBUM AND THE COMPILATION “DEATH BEFORE
DISHONOR” THROUGH A METAL MAGAZINE? DID HE HAVE YOUR PERMISSION FOR
SUCH A THING?
Yeah I know. I gave them permission to use
the tunes just for some promo for the magazine but it went A LOT further
than that. I end up hearing that they were for sale all over the place
and I saw them all over the internet. He never got permission to distribute
and sell either one of them like a regular commercial CD and when he did
he never gave us any royalties. A HUGE RIP OFF!!!!!! All I can say
for him is “off with your head!” At least they didn’t put out the whole
album, only part of it. So that along with the new bonus tracks means that
there are 6 songs on the re-release that aren’t on either of those discs.
Plus the sound and packaging are a lot better on the re-release so it’s
DEFINITELY worth getting even if you have the other one. I guess the only
good part about it is that those Unisound CDs really did help get our name
around during the time the band wasn’t together. So at least it wasn’t
a total loss!!!!!!!!!
9. YOU ARE A BAND THAT COMES FROM THE 80’S. 20
YEARS AND MORE HAVE PASSED SINCE THEN. IN YOUR OPINION HOW HAVE THINGS
CHANGED IN METAL MUSIC INDUSTRY ALL THESE YEARS? WHICH ARE THE POSITIVE
AND THE NEGATIVE ELEMENTS OF HOW THE HEAVY METAL INDUSTRY WORKS NOWADAYS?
It’s basically the same in my opinion except
for styles and trends have changed. But it’s probably harder now than it
was in the 80’s to get a break and make it, especially in this kind of
metal. There aren’t as many smaller indie labels in the US that can help
new bands. Thankfully there are still a lot of them in Europe! It’s basically
the same in that you still have to watch your back with most companies,
managers, and agents because they’ll rip you off if they get the chance.
That will NEVER change! Not anything really more positive than it was in
the 80’s, but it’s a LOT more positive now than the 90’s! The 90’s sucked
BIG TIME, so I’m really glad at least that things have gotten better from
then. The fan base for metal is a lot bigger now and the industry always
follows the fan base. There was NOTHING for metal in the States 10 years
ago and now the scene’s returning, which is why you see a lot of bands
from the 80’s reforming. The music and the industry are both improving
all the time now……..
10. WILL YOU DO ANY LIVE SHOWS? IS IT POSSIBLE
TO SEE YOU HERE IN GREECE?
We definitely want to tour Europe, and of
course play Greece! It’s one of the main things we’re trying to do besides
get a new CD out. We’ve had some offers but nothing we’ve been able to
do yet. But something will eventually come through that’ll be possible
so look for us there at some point!
11. IS THERE A QUESTION THAT YOU’D LIKE TO BE
ASKED IN AN INTERVIEW AND PEOPLE NEVER ASKED YOU? HERE IS YOUR CHANCE…
Interesting question, I’ve never been asked
that before! I guess I’d say that nobody ever asked me how we got the name
Axemaster. When I was a kid, I saw a headline in a music magazine saying
“Pat Travers – the radioactive axemaster” (Pat Travers was a pretty well
known guitarist in the 70s). So I started screwing around with my friends
at school saying “I’m the axemaster” and they all started calling me that.
A couple years later, when I needed a name for a solo project I was doing
I figured it’d be simple just to call it Axemaster. The name stuck after
I put together a whole band and it’s lasted for 23 years!
12. WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST OR FUNNIEST INCIDENT THAT
HAS OCCURRED IN THE BAND?
I’d say maybe 20 years ago we opened for a
band that was really trying to screw us over. Some of our fans got pissed
about it so they snuck into the dressing room while the other band was
playing and pissed all over their regular clothes! There’ve been some other
stuff that’s happened but that’s probably the most fucked up thing…….
13. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS!
THE LAST WORDS BELONG TO YOU… GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BAND!
I’d like to give a shout out to the fans,
you’ve always supported us through the years, you KICK ASS!!!!! We wouldn’t
be where we are today if it wasn’t for you! If you want to write me, you
can go to our Myspace page at www.myspace.com/thebandaxemaster,
or fans can write at [email protected]
and for promo you can reach me at [email protected].
Thanks again for the interview and keep it fucking metal!!!!!!!
Nick "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis
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