Warrel Dane/Nevermore

Vocalist Warrel Dane of NEVERMORE and the reunited SANCTUARY was interviewed by Greg Hasbrouck for the ProgPower USA XII program that will be distributed to all fans at the festival. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Q: The obvious first question, is NEVERMORE done?

Warrel: No.

Q: Definitely not? There will definitely be another NEVERMORE album?

Warrel: Oh yeah.

Q: Perfect. And can you ever see yourself reconciling with [recently departed NEVERMORE members Jeff [Loomis, guitar] and Van [Williams, drums] or are those bridges burned?

Warrel: One bridge is burned, the other I'm still... It's like getting a very painful divorce. If you want to repair the situation you can, but there's one where I don't want to. I miss those guys. I think they made bad decisions. I'm going to "emo" if I keep talking about it.

Q: Understood. Let me ask you this. At one point, there were all these rumors about disharmony within the camp. And on the [NEVERMORE] forum you made the comment, "After so many years together you become a family, of course we fucking fight, we make up..." Was that you trying to keep the peace and keeping the alarmist element from rearing its head?

Warrel: Kind of, yeah.

Q: So, were you genuinely surprised when they quit or was that a long time coming?

Warrel: Yes... I was. I was extremely surprised and very, very upset and still am. As I... uh, yeah... I don't want to get messy.

Q: OK... more of general question about NEVERMORE. As a fan of the band, it always seemed that NEVERMORE had just a bit of bad luck, or perhaps was the victim of poor timing. When you look back on it, from the inside looking out, does it seem the same to you?

Warrel: I think we had our fair share of bad timing and we had our fair share of disorganization within the camp. That's kind of what played into everything that happened. But I don't think I would really change anything, because everything happens for a reason. And the reason I'm here right now, and I'm talking to you is for a reason... and those guys decided that they didn't have as bad of an alcohol problem as I did... is for a reason. And, whatever...

Q: So I had a chance to chat with Jim [Sheppard, NEVERMORE bassist] a few times during the last tour. Aside from all that he was dealing with, he told me that there was a bad cold ripping through the band. I think he called the tour bus "a rolling incubator."

Warrel: (laughter) Yeah... it's a rolling Petri dish.

Q: (laughter) So... when you're a guitar player or drummer, you can fake 90 minutes of energy. However, as a singer, your body is your instrument. When you know you’re taking the stage and you don't have your fastball, is that scary as hell?

Warrel: Yeah. The two most important things for a singer when you’re on tour, sleep and as much water as you can drink. Stay hydrated, and you got to sleep. Sometimes that's not always possible on a tour bus full of drunk people. I didn't sleep a whole lot on the last NEVERMORE tour.

Q: Is that because of all that was going on internally within the band, or because of where you were at mentally?

Warrel: I have my own problems, so I'm not going to point fingers at anybody, but it was hard to sleep. But yeah... you learn how to use your instrument, you learn how to not damage it, and the most important thing for me is sleep.

Q: So that raises an interesting question. A few months ago, no one would have asked you what you consider your primary project to be, it would have just been presumed to be NEVERMORE. If I ask you that question today, how do you respond?

Warrel: That would be SANCTUARY right now. I am working on solo stuff, but the music is so different that it's easy for me to go into different modes. And actually, well, there is a couple of ideas being thrown around for the next NEVERMORE, too, which is going to be really good, if the preliminary stuff is any indication... To tell you the truth, I'm not really happy with the last NEVERMORE record.

Q: What specifically weren't you happy with? Can you put your finger on it or was it just an overall quality issue?

Warrel: No... I think the production was amazing. I really enjoyed a lot of the lyrics I wrote for it. (laughter) I just felt like it was more of the same and that's just not what we should have been doing at that point. But there were a lot of factors involved with why it turned out that way. I'm still proud of it... it's not my favorite.

Q: Yeah... nobody is. So, how long had you been toying with the idea of reforming SANCTUARY?

Warrel: Well... for a couple of years. We've [guitarist Lenny Rutledge and I] always talked to each other, but never really been friends again. And when the whole thing came about, that we were actually friends again, that's when we started talking more about doing it. And it definitely wasn't because NEVERMORE was imploding... which it was, at that point. NEVERMORE... the greatest band that alcohol ever ruined.

Q: (laughter) I love that!

Warrel: It's true. We all just started talking with each other again. That was kind of the groundwork for it. And then we started saying, "Well, gosh, let's make music again." And my god! Lenny is writing some stuff that is so friggin great! Obviously, he's been bottling this up for years, because he really hasn't been doing anything... Well, he's had bands here and there. But he's really writing some great stuff that's really inspiring me, and making me fall in love with music again, with the creative process... everything that revolves around that. Really inspiring me to write
really evil lyrics.

Q: So, as we find ourselves here in 2011, what do you think the biggest difference is between how you're approaching this now, than if you were writing this as your third album back in 1993?

Warrel: Well... that's a hard one. It's kind of like a different phase. This record is not going to sound like the other two. It might sound very similar to the second one ("Into The Mirror Black"). It's definitely not going to sound like the first one... (mutual laughter) ... because we're all a little bit older and I can't come up with a c-clamp for a scrotum and a helium tank.

Q: OK... what can you reveal about the new disc? Are you targeting a release date yet? Are all the songs written? Is it just a matter of tracking them? Where is everything as it stands today?

Warrel: We're in the writing process. I can give you, maybe, a little bit of an exclusive thing right now. I think the record is going to be called "The Year The Sun Died". And there's a lot of stuff playing into that, and you can read whatever you want to for right now into it. God, that song is really good. We've been working really hard on that. It's not going to sound like the old ones... it's 2011. It's still gonna be that good I think, and there's gonna be high-pitched screaming. I'm making sure of that. With NEVERMORE, high-pitched screaming was never really called for. You know, with SANCTUARY... of course it is.

Q: So if I can assume Jeff is not going to be the second guitar player [in SANCTUARY]. Do you know who is yet?

Warrel: Kind of... yeah... I don't want to...

Q: Still under wraps... got it.

Warrel: It's really been kind of interesting to me, how many people, of very high caliber musicianship, are contacting me wanting Jeff's old job.

Greg: In NEVERMORE, SANCTUARY or both?

Warrel: Both.

Q: So let's talk a bit about your solo CD. First, how long had you had it in your head that you wanted to do a solo CD, before it actually came to fruition and you began making plans?

Warrel: Well, I've always wanted to do one, somewhere in the middle of my career, just because I have such affection for rock music. I always wanted to do something that was more rock... rock and roll, and not something that you had to wrap your head around and show off your technical skills with. That's not a slam on anybody, by any means. It's just something I wanted to try, try writing rock music. Even though it was still, obviously, a little bit metal. That's why I wanted to do it, and I still want to do it again. I'm working on another one already.

Q: So, with respect to the next solo disc, will it be you and Peter [Wichers, SOILWORK guitarist] again? Will it be the same lineup?

Warrel: Well, we talked about it a little bit. Right now I'm working with Matt Wicklund, who's currently playing in GOD FORBID, and he wrote a couple of the really great songs on "Praises To The War Machine". We're working on stuff together, were working very aggressively right now. And he's writing some great, great stuff. And it is completely different from SANCTUARY, so it's easy to separate that. The stuff Lenny is writing is really, really good. It seems like he's been holding this stuff back for years and he's been let out of his cage and it's really inspiring. It's just a really good time for me. And I thought this would be a dark period, because of everything... It's turning out to be kind of a blessing in disguise, to quote METAL CHURCH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zNRZ4o5hD0

you can say THAT again, sir....

zero order phase je super, rad mam megajeff shred klinike pa to, samo useeno ga raj vidim headbangat na odru kot kitarista kot pa sedet na barskem stolčku v music shopih in nam slinastim mulcem kazat kak zaigrat 7 strunski sweep.

jeff loomis z 6ko jacksonko, tim calvert in debeli warrel dane leta 99 in 01

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llsL0NCoGSQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD_fiBW-EGg&feature=related





Edited by Luxpalloris - 15.Aug.2011 at 16:15

ma ja no:) pač proti tem kak je bil zdej.

evo, tle je pa res debel, pa še zajebe vstop v prvo kitico:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3Iaqb4mH4

po eni strani komaj čakam novo plato sanctuary,  po drugi me pa tud zanima kako bo izgledala nova postava nevermore

Luxpalloris wrote: keith merrow je rekel, da je century media klicala vse možne kitariste naokrog, da rešijo preostanek turneje, "but no one had the guts to fill in jeff's shoes". tko da ja...tist ki pride namesto jeffa, bo moral poleg odličnega igranja pokazat dobršno mero jajc in železnih živcev, da bo prenesel vse haterje.

sj iz tega razloga me zanima, kako se bo stvar obnesla, jst še vseen potihem mislm da se bojo pobotal po sanctuary turneji :P

f3r0m0n wrote: warrel je vprašou : who would you like to see back in NM ? Curran Murphy? Tim Calvert? Pat O'Brien?

jeff loomis!!!! kašn kreten je ta warrel, tut Van je naredu velik pr nevermore, znou je narest bobne ki so totalno sedl v komad, pa še faca je biu.. Upam, da se pobotajo enkat pa grejo nazaj na odr pizda jim materna :D

ja če je že treba zbirat med temi bi jst tut najraj vidu Pat-a :)

MetalSucks recently conducted an interview with former NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

MetalSucks: Let's dive right in with the obvious question: From your perspective, what happened with NEVERMORE?

Jeff: Van [Williams, drums] and I started discussing leaving NEVERMORE when we were on our last tour with SYMPHONY X in Europe. Obviously, as everyone knows, NEVERMORE had been together since 1993, and we were very happy for many years. I think that over a period of time, with excessive touring and doing records together, we just got burnt out from one another. There were also many issues with drinking and alcohol abuse [my own] included. I'm not out to do interviews about the end of NEVERMORE and just zero out particular people in the band; that would be wrong and false information anyway. We were on the last leg of the SYMPHONY X tour and Van and I had a talk with Warrel [Dane, vocals] backstage and we told him we didn't want to continue on with the next tour with SYMPHONY X in the States. We wanted to take some time and regroup, so to speak, and wait for Jim [Sheppard, bass] to come back, since he was recovering from brain surgery. Warrel really did not like that idea, but Van and I stuck with it, thinking it was a smart move to maybe start fresh at a later date. All hell kind of broke from that [discussion], because the concert promoter [in the U.S.] got pissed off, and I heard through the grapevine that we might get sued because of it. That's pretty much when Van and I issued a statement that we were going to depart from the band. I really just had had enough at the end. I want to do different things musically, and I think it was just better that we left. It was quite amazing, though, with all the response we got from our fans. It's really nice to know that we affected so many people in a positive way with our music.

MetalSucks: So you started discussing leaving the band during that tour... at that point, for how long had you known that there were serious problems within the band?

Jeff: For quite some time, actually... there were many problems health-wise that were kinda getting scary. Warrel had a problem with his pancreas and diabetes back in '05, and Jim recently underwent brain surgery to remove a small brain tumor, plus he had issues with Crohn's disease. Sometimes Jim wasn't able to tour because of that, and we would always have to find a replacement. Troubles happen all the time in bands, and we always dealt with them. I think that over a period of time, though, that started to kind of take a toll with never having the whole original band onstage at certain times when we were on tour. People were asking tons of questions about it, and we would do the best we could with trying to explain everything, but sometimes fans wouldn't understand or get the real picture of what was going on. So, yes, I would say from as early on as 2005, there were issues we had to deal with, medical-wise.

MetalSucks: So... not trying to get you to talk smack or anything, but Warrel said some very not nice things about Van in the press, and claimed he had learned you guys quit via Blabbermouth. Do you have any thoughts on the way he reacted? Did he learn about the split via the Internet?

Jeff: Yeah, when I read [what Warrel said about Van] I was really bummed. I've known Warrel for twenty years now, and still, to this day, I sometimes can't figure him out. He has known Van for almost twenty years as well, and to say something like that is really sad, especially after the numerous tours and records we have done together. Van is the kind of guy that speaks what he believes in. He is from New York and he is my best buddy. When certain issues would come up in the band, he never had a problem holding back his thoughts, and I don't think Warrel liked that very much. A lot of that started about five or six years ago when we used to get paid through Warrel and Jim. This sucked really bad for many reasons. Number one, you shouldn't be getting paid by other band members, especially when you're in a signed band. Van and I ended up going to our manager and lawyer to get paid through them. Equal split four ways. It's so simple. This bothered Warrel and Jim quite a bit. For some reason, Jim had always thought he was our "manager" and the one that could get things done. This actually worked for a while, but in the long run, it really didn't. I wish he would had just stuck to playing his bass at those times, because it ended up not being a good thing at all. I think Warrel might have heard prior to the Internet that Van and I wanted to leave, but you know, I can't be certain.

novi/stari warrel dane imiđ
http://www.soundmag.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3219%3Asanctuary-disharmony&catid=133%3Aphoto-live-reports&Itemid=400169

Mrkun wrote: bol je kokr pa začetk tega leta, pizda je biu grd :D

Ce bi razumel slovensko, bi ga tvoje besede mocno prizadele. Mocno.

Sej peba ne rabi več Nevermore, zdej, ko ma spet Sanctuary. Nevermore so nastali zaradi sanctuary in zdej so tudi razpadli zaradi Sanctuary... need I say more?

zanimiv warrel dane intervju, govori tudi o odnosu s svojim bratom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS7ZHPxXLC4

Edited by Luxpalloris - 18.Dec.2011 at 12:09

Še en komad iz prihajajoče plate, sicer mi ni tok po godu. Ne vem, res mi ne sede growl zravn Loomisa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T61X60Vwktg

Se totalno strinjam. Pizda ej, kva so kreteni pa ne grejo nazaj skup :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llsL0NCoGSQ&feature=related

en klip iz leta 1999, Dreaming neon black tour.... Jeff še ni meu sedemstrunke, sm je fseeno ružu tk, ko se zagre :)

... defenitivno je bla tle bolš energija na odru, kot je bla na zadnjem njihove touru -.-   ...