Sahar Vagan recently interviewed John Gaffney, the Bass player and
co-founder of Sinister Realm.
The US Heavy Metallers Sinister Realm have started working on their next,
third studio album tentatively titled "World Of Evil". Some of the new
song titles are: "Cyber Villain", "Bell Strikes Fear", "World Of Evil",
"Call Of The Night Wolf" or "Dark Angel Of Fate". In other news,
Sinister Realm has been recently confirmed for the Warriors Of Metal
Festival in Ohio, US, where they will play on June 30th.
Members:
Alex
Kristof - Vocals
John Risko - Guitar
Chris Metzger - Drums
John Kantner -
Guitar
John Gaffney - Bass
The Interview
Sahar: How did the band meet and how long have you been together?
John: Me
and the original drummer Darin McCloskey used to play together in a doom band
called Pale Divine. Around the summer of 2008 I left Pale Divine.
Darin contacted me and said he wanted to continue working with me on some
song ideas that I had, at first it was just me and him but as things progressed
we thought the songs were really good so we went out and found our
singer Alex Kristof, who I knew from singing in a local metal cover band.
The three of us recorded a demo with me playing bass and guitar, the response
was so good that we knew we had to put a band together and start playing
live. Darin unfortunately had to leave because he had moved from the
area, we replaced him with a local guy named Chris Metzger. We had
another guitar player for a brief moment but he was quickly asked to leave and
replaced with another local player named John Risko.
Sahar: The band has an obvious 80s metal influence, how has
your music developed since you first formed?
John: I think were a bit more
focused now then when we first started. A lot of people don't realise
this but we had never played out live till after our first album was out so we
didn't really know how people were going to react to what we were doing, people
seemed to have liked our demo that was spread all over the internet but we
never had any live interaction with people. After we started playing out
live we began to form more of our identity, which like you mentioned is in a
traditional metal style. We use to have a bit more of a doom influence in
our sound, which I think is still there and we could have gone more in a doom
direction but I think playing out live and seeing fans react to our music
helped move us in a more traditional metal direction.
Sahar: What are your songs about? Are there themes you regularly cover?
John: I like to use symbolism and paint pictures in the mind with the lyrics.
Mostly I like to write about the good and evil that exists in mankind. I like
supernatural and spiritual topics but I'm also a sucker for a good epic battle
type theme every now and then. Sometimes if I'm angry or depressed I'll
let that out in the lyrics.
Sahar: Can you tell us more about the album, 'The Crystal Eye'?
John: Well, it's
our second album and was released in the summer of 2011. It was released
by Shadow Kingdom Records and available at most online distributors including
all the Amazon stores. I think "The Crystal Eye" is a step
forward from our first release in that it's a bit more focused and more well
rounded in the song writing. It's also a little bit more in a traditional
metal direction then our first album was and I think that is because we had
played a lot after our first release and we started working on songs that were
geared a bit more towards the live stage.
Sahar: I really like the song ‘Winds of Vengeance’. What is your favourite song off the album and why?
John: Tough for me to pick one song but "Winds of
Vengeance" and the title track I thought came out really good.
"The Tower is Burning" is a song we don't really play live but I
really like the way it closes out the album...so like I said, tough for me to
pick just one.
Sahar: Which song do you like performing the most?
John: Probably "With Swords
Held High", we always end our set with that song and it always gets the
crowd going and their fists in the air, it's a good metal anthem type song.
Sahar: You are touring the US during 2012, are there any plans to tour in Europe?
John: Hopefully at some point in the future, I would definetly like to
make that happen, right now we are concentrating on some new songs and
hopefully when our third record is released, sometime in early 2013 we can make
it back to Europe. It seems like traditional metal is very well received
over in Europe so it's important for us to try our best to get over there.
Sahar: What has been your most bizarre/amazing experience on the road?
John: Nothing really too bizarre, I don't really drink and I don't do drugs so I don't
have any funny stories of me falling off a stage or anything. I guess the
most amazing thing is just getting a chance to meet people and hear them tell
you that they really like what your doing. It's a great feeling when
someone tells you how much they like their music and point to a specific song,
riff or lyric that they love, moments like that make the whole thing worth
while.
Sahar: What has been the biggest challenge for the band?
John: Good question,
probably to just find people who believe in what we are doing, there are so
many bands out there right now that it's hard to get people to pay attention to
you. Many people in the buisness are jaded and some have lost their fire
and passion, I try to only surround myself with people who are positive and have
a true love for heavy metal. We are really lucky to be able to be working
with a great manager named Bart Gabriel and his company Gabriel Managment, he's
a true believer in the power of metal and a great support. So I guess
that's the biggest challenge, finding people wheter it be a record label
or promoter who believes and feels as strongly about what we are doing as
we do.
Interview by Sahar Vagan
Sinister Realm's new album "The Crystal Eye" is out now on Shadow Kingdom Records! Check also:
