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July 23rd marked the European release of the new CD from the band Balance Of Power. This British/American quintet offers on their latest effort a splendid mix of heavy metal music with catchy vocals. With this album under their belts it was time to hear what drummer Lionel Hicks had to say about the record, the band and future touring. _________
You have just released your new album Perfect Balance. Can you remember when you first heard the final mix and what did you think? When we first did the final mix, it was in America. Obviously I was there doing it. And we were really pleased. We thought it was our best album to date, you know. I mean, often you think that and it's like a test of time. But I really think that it's kind of come together this time with all the elements there. That's why we called it Perfect Balance. Because, you know, I think it's got power and energy and heaviness but it also has got melody and quiet passages. So it's dynamic as well. That's one of the reasons we called it Perfect Balance, because, we think, musically to us it is. As it comes to the music on Perfect Balance what elements of it are essential to the sound of Balance Of Power? Really, it's kind of what I just talked about. We always like working with heavy riff structures from the guitar. But the main thing that we're always trying to get across is a song. And a lot of bands in our kind of field are very progressive. They often miss the point with the chorus vocal melody. And that's really important for us. So we start with a heavy riff and then work on the chorus being a big hook so you can kind of sing along to it later. Like it sticks in your mind. I would say that that heaviness and that melody is kind of the trademark of Balance Of Power. So it is a combination of heaviness with catchiness. Yeah. The band currently hasn't got a keyboard player. Yet keyboards are all over the record. Why did you include keyboards in the recording? We do actually have a session keyboard player that plays live with us. And he has done the recording on the album. It's a guy called Leon Lawson. But he's not a full time member of the band 'cause he's also in a band called Praying Mantis. And it just works better. We used to have a full time keyboard player in the band before. A guy called Ivan Gunn. There were often problems keyboard wise. Because we think keyboards are great, you know, and they serve their place. But essentially we're a guitar based band. And when you have a full time keyboard player they want the keyboards to play more of a part of the whole thing. So, since we split off from Ivan Gunn, we decided that the best way is probably to have a session keyboard player so we can write and create music how we want without having to fight for having less keyboards. I mean, keyboards are great but sometimes if you use them too much it makes the music wimpy and we rather stick to the heavy, crunchy guitar kind of sound and then we have keyboards to embellish around that. So, the band will not look for a permanent keyboard player. Well, there's no need at this stage. You could, in a way, say that Leon is our permanent keyboard player. Because he plays live with us and he records. And while he can still fit that in when he's playing with Praying Mantis as well, then we're sure he will remain the keyboard player. You are the drummer of the band and you also produced the new album. Do you think that with you being the drummer the recording of Perfect Balance was different than if the album had another producer? I don't think so. I mean, as a producer in general I do all the work as well. And I always try and be objective about the mix in general and what you can hear and so forth. A lot of musicians they have this problem if they're the drummer or the guitarist and they're involved with that, they tend to put that as priority. And even make it overfed in the mix. But I think I'm objective enough to look at the whole thing so when I'm actually producing I'm not thinking from a drummers point of view. I'm just thinking of the general sound of the album. And when you're recording as the drummer yourself, what do you think of your role as the drummer within the band? Oh, I think it's very important. Because I structure the rhythm and feel from the beginning of the writing of the songs. Because we write together. I'm right there at the beginning, trying out different beats. There's a strong kind of rhythmical base to the whole thing, you know. It really moves all the time. I think this is part of what I do. It's often simplified in some cases but I like that. I like to get this almost trashing going with the drums, because I feel that. It makes it feel good which is something different to this kind of music sometimes Do you try to say that you're keeping your drumming simple in a way, straight forward? Yeah, I mean, I think so. I work on the overall feel of the groove, rather than like "what kind of fill can I get in here. How many times can I go round the tom toms on this part?" It's the overall groove and it's worked out very closely with the bass guitar, you know.
There's something else I was wondering about and that's the cover of the album. The cover depicts a naked angel who is stuck between heaven and hell, so it seems. Her head is enlightened yet her hands are down and burning. What is the idea behind this cover? Basically it's what anybody wants to read into it, but it's supposed to be like the album is, a perfect balance. It's a mixture of things like the dark side and the light side. And good and evil. And an angel is supposed to be good but obviously she's got her hands burnt. And she's in between heaven and hell. So it symbolises the kind of music, really. It's a mixture of all these kind of emotions, and the light and the dark side of life. Balance Of Power has certain religious references in the lyrics. What kind of band is Balance Of Power as it comes to religion? That's not kind of intentional. Sometimes people read different things into it. It actually started because we did an album called Book Of Secrets, which was a concept album. And it was this book about the Bible Code. And it (the album) wasn't written because we are overtly religious or anything. It was just written from a viewpoint. And since then some people, especially in America, ask the question or say that we're a Christian band. But that's not strictly true. Certain members of the band are Christians. But we certainly don't like to sell the point that we're a Christian band or whatever. Everybody has their own thoughts and feelings about this kind of thing. And unless every single member in the band is a Christian and wants to project this to our fans, then I think it's wrong to do so. So, it's just up to the fans to make up their minds. If they see something religiously uplifting in it, then cool. But most of your fans aren't Christians I'm sure, and they like heavy music. You already said that the Book Of Secrets is inspired on the Bible Code, the book by Michael Drosnin. Do you see, with that being part of the lyrics of that album, that religion is an art element within the music? Kind of, yeah. I mean, the whole thing was obviously inspired by that book. Two or three of us read that book. I mean, one of use read it first and said "oh, this is really interesting, you gotta read this". So, three of us ended up reading it. And then we thought, why don't we write some songs about these predictions and things in there. And especially it was at the right time because it was coming up to the millennium and that. And everybody was saying like "oh, the world is going to end". And that kind of theme is through the book as well, the Bible Code, saying about the coming of Armageddon or whatever. So, really it kind of inspired us. Most of the songs on the album are directly linked with things you read in the book. But that was the idea. It was a concept album. We thought "let's work that way". But that seemed to attract a big Christian following, especially in America, for us. Which is fine for us. If they get something out of it, spiritually, then that's great. Yeah, I checked out the Nightmare Records (the label that releases Balance Of Power in the USA) site. I saw they have quite a lot of religious bands distributed. I had the idea that in American Balance Of Power is projected as something religious. Yeah, it's not done on purpose. The fans just took it like that, which was quite strange. I mean, when it first happened we were quite shocked. And we started getting masses of E-mail from Christians saying how they love the lyrics and then asking us if we are Christians. But you must understand that in America the Christian scene is really big. And they like heavy music. So, a band like us, to them, is a perfect excuse. It fits in great for them. There's one thing we don't do and that's we don't use the F-word and things in songs, like the black metal kind of thing. We never go over the top. So, also people can't find something particularly offensive in it. So I suppose that's another reason why they think we're maybe Christians. That's just because we don't feel the need to be offensive. We try to tell a story each time in a song and it doesn't need to be offensive, you know. With the new album out, I'm wondering about the band's touring plans. I understand there's a European tour coming up this fall. Well, yes. We don't know any details yet. I might not actually happen in the fall. It might happen in the beginning of next year. And that's because we have to go on tour with another band on our label Massacre, like we've been before with Pink Cream 69 and Axxis. It's been suggested again. It's not sure when they're touring. It might not be until beginning of next year. So it's always a thing of we have to wait for this being in place first before we can decide how we're gonna do that. It's very much up in the air at the moment. But I hope we're gonna get to tour Europe with it because it will be real shame if we don't. And I guess that also depends on how Perfect Balance is received by the public. Of course, yeah. Tours cost and we actually loose money on touring. So the more the album sells -the whole thing is a snow ball effect- the more demand there is for us to tour and the more money there is for us to tour. It's always a factor on the political side, if you like. But what about the rest of the world? Are there plans for the United States, Japan? We're going to play the Prog Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. And that's on the tenth of November. We're playing with Symphony X and lots of bands like that. I don't know if you heard of it? Well, the name, yes. Yeah. So we're playing that festival in America. And apart from that there are no definite plans yet to tour in America. But we're also waiting to see how the album sells as to whether we tour in America. But we're also waiting to see how the album sells as to whether we tour in Japan. Because the album came out in Japan yesterday. And it also depends on the record sales again, whether you tour Japan or not, according to the record companies. So, it's frustrating sometimes. Because, obviously, a band like us wants to make it out there and play. And the fans don't understand that there's a lot of logistics in the way for us actually getting on the road and it all being paid for, financed and booked to actually doing it. There are often things that stand in the way. Finances and so on. You said logistically. Your singer lives in America. Is that also a problem for touring? No, not really. Because we rehearse prior to the tour without the vocals. And he comes in and rehearses for a few days before the tour. So the musical base is the thing we can work on to get it tight. And the vocals... he lays them over the top, so to speak. So it works really well. I think that if it was a guitarist or a bassist we'd have more problems. But because he's the singer we can work on the music in London and he can step in and sing when he's needed. The world is a small place these days, you now. Air flights are cheaper. So he comes over here and we come over there. So, it's not too bad. Last question: Perfect Balance is the fourth album. Are there plans for a live album or something exclusive? Actually, we're thinking about recording this festival in America and view to see how it comes out. To see if we're going to release it as a live album. But there are no definite plans for that. We just have to see how it sounds. But I don't know if there's a big market for live albums at this stage. We also need to talk to our record label about that. You haven't talked with Massacre about it? We've mentioned it. And they said "maybe you can do it as an exclusive thing for the fans rather than a full release that goes out to all the shops". It's a fan based thing. If fans get into us indirectly to the record company or to us, then we can make a CD for them. As a special kind of one of thing. But to actually release it properly it might not be the way to go. But, we'll see. |
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