Artist:  Eden's Curse 

Date: 16 May 2009  

There's few bands we look forward to interviewing quite a much as these guys.  Eden's Curse is the name and spreading mischief and mayhem is their game ... oh plus some damn good hard rock tunes to boot!  We catch up with my two favourite Lambrini babes Michael Eden and Paul Logue.

MM – How’s the tour going so far?
Paul - It’s going great, the days are rolling into nights and the nights are rolling into days, we can’t seem to remember the date at all! (laughs).  But it’s all good.  We did our fourth show last night, we started off in the rock n' roll capital of England, Grimsby and had an awesome show.  It was fantastic.  Great crowd and we played a headline show.  I guess that would actually be our very first ever real headline show.  We did play a warm up show on the last tour in Swansea but we were billed as Edna’s Purse then.

MM - Yes, so I hear.
Michael – Yeh we like the band Edna’s Purse.

Paul – Somebody actually asked the booking agent and if they could book them, the Eden’s Curse tribute band!   Yes it was great last night, the first night of the tour and we were delighted.  We did a great performance last night.  We’re hoping for a better turnout tonight and I think the whole band are all gearing up to get to Glasgow to be honest.

MM – If you don't mind me saying it's a bit of a strange combination of bands on this tour ...
Michael – Yeh, there’s no compensation in playing it safe, so you go out and rock with whoever and let the chips lay where they may.  We just go out and do what we do ... we play.  Fact is the band has fans in all of these different cities and those fans show up.  I mean last night I don’t know if they are fans or not, but two girls were down the front and one of them passed out cold.  

Michael – Actually I've just turned forty-one.  I started doing this twenty-seven years ago, so I just keep on going.  The years go by and I occasionally ask myself ... "WHY?" ... and ... "HOW?" ...  but we just do it, we just keep on delivering for the fans. Simple as that really.

MM – How did the Stratovarius tour go?
Michael - It went great and now Gus G is in Ozzy Osbourne's band.  How much better can that get?!?  So connections were made on that tour.  I'll let Paul tell you about Apollo from Firewind ...

Paul – We made good friends with Apollo on the tour and we approached him (Apollo) to sing on the next album with us.  He said he’d do anything for a single malt.  Yes he’s a good guy and a big whisky fan, so being from Scotland I obviously knew a little about this and we got on like a house on fire.  Actually I just spoke to him last week and we may even be writing a few songs together next year for what he was asking about last week.  I don’t know what it’s gonna be, but sure if I have the time I'd be delighted to do it.  It’s going to be a busy time for Eden’s Curse next year and there some major changes coming ...

Michael  – MAJOR CHANGES!

Paul – All for the better and we’re looking forward to it.  We’ve actually come up with a new concept for the live shows, we’re going to put Pete’s kit on a bouncy castle!  Talking about bouncy castles, here’s a good road story for you.  We went to Hard Rock Hell and we were playing on the Friday ...

Michael – It just gets worse and worse!

Paul – Yeh it does!  (laughs).  Trying to save some money ... imagine a band headed by a Scotsman trying to save some money ... Pete managed to borrow a van from a friend and it was "Absolutely Fabulous Bouncy Castles" ... so we turned up at Hard Rock Hell and there’s Geoff Tate getting out of the limo and there’s us getting out of the "Absolutely Fabulous Bouncy Castles" van.  The security said ... "ALL RIGHT MATE" ... and we said ... "Bouncy Castle for the half time entertainment" ... (this produces a fit of giggles all round as we have this mental image of the band getting out of this van like it was the most normal thing to do).

But on the way back the van got stopped by the police, it had no insurance and was full of equipment.   Luckily we got around it because we phoned ahead to the guy we got it from.  His policy had lapsed but luckily Ian has an insurance policy that covers him for driving other vehicles for his term of business.  But that took a trip to the police station to sort it all out, so there was a few nervous panics about how we would get the equipment to the gig tonight!

Paul –You don’t want to get into that Nightliner I tell you!   Alexandro’s comment this morning when he came out of the bed area and into the lounge was ...  “OH MY GOD! This place smells like eighteen cows” ...  It’s not the most pleasant of smells.

MM – So new keyboard player eh? We wondered if when Pete saw the name and saw Ale wrote down on the page maybe thought it was Ale (of the alcoholic variety) and said that’s my favourite!
Paul – Well he has he calls him "Beer Del Vecio" ... Pete, Ale and beer there’s a connection there somewhere ...

Michael – New keyboard player, this should have happened four years ago.  He really should have been in the band four years ago but unfortunately he wasn’t.  I think we made two really good records with the line-up we had but the next record will be THE Eden’s Curse record.  Some say he boasts, but believe me it will be or it won't come out. 

So there’s pressure (looking across at Paul).  He knows we’ve got some major major things coming up next year and we’ll get to it when we get to it.  Hopefully in the fall of 2010, but if it runs a little longer it runs a little longer!  Perfection doesn’t come over night.  We’ve got to be picky.  I was picky over the first two records, but with this one there’s a lot riding on it.  But we can't tell you about that yet. 

There’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes, the line-up will stay the same, that’s one thing the band is not changing. The songs are not changing, the producer is not changing, the artwork guy is not changing, other things might change but beyond that Eden’s Curse doesn’t change and we will not fail the fans.  I can guarantee that!

MM - You’ve both hinted at big things coming next year ... you can't just say that and then leave it open ended!
Michael – No we can't tell you anything more.  It's business decisions that we're making for the benefit of Eden’s Curse’s longevity, so that Eden’s Curse doesn’t end effectively as soon as we end this tour. It’s not a financial thing, it has nothing to do with one guy getting more money than the other, it has nothing to do with anything like that.  It’s having to deal with the professional side of the business that Paul and I hate.  Everything is going to be for the better, everything. That for the moment is all you're gonna get.
MM – Grrr, you're such a tease!

Michael – No, no.  It's all good, there’s no negativity, all of the things ... from anything we’ve ever done, starting with say ...Ferdy Doenberg ... when things don’t exactly work the way that the vision Paul and I have, then those things are removed.  So I told you without telling you.  We do what we do.  We’re not going away I can guarantee that.  So that’s all that really matters.  Eden’s Curse is intact and in full swing.

Paul – What I can tell you is that the new album is going to be called 'Trinity'.  We're working on that right now and after this tour we’re going to take the last few weeks of the year off and spend time with family, see out loved ones etc.

The way we work is Mike and I primarily, and Pete who's involved in the writing as well.  I’ll get the song ideas together and sent them to Mike.  First things first he has to sing the songs, so (a) they have to be in his key and nobody knows the style we do better than us two.  Once we’ve got that we take it to the guys, who luckily when we give them the songs they are very much behind them and they get carte blanche to go and do what they want with them.  There is no whips and chains.

Michael – Everybody adds their own salt and pepper to the recipe.

Paul – We always say that I’m the guy who sketches it in black and white and these guys fill in the colours and make the beautiful landscapes

Michael - He writes the recipe and the rest is added by everyone else.  Then Dennis Ward boxes it and gets it ready to ship out to everyone else.  He’s got a big job this time, probably the biggest ever.

Paul – There is a lot of pressure from us, because 'Second Coming' was a big album from us.  Somebody asked us the other day if this was are breakthrough album, but for us the first one was the breakthrough album  because you cannot put together such a insane idea.  If somebody in hindsight had said that I was going to put together a band with five people from different countries and showed me everything that I've been through then maybe I’d have thought twice. We love taking stock.  You’ve got to take stock because sometimes you can get bogged down with where you are.  You’ve got this vision in your head but we’re always rising as each year comes.  We know roughly what we want to do in 2010, but you just don’t know what’s going to happen.  We had no inclination last year that we were going to play with Firewind and Stratovarius.  If we could have hand picked a bill ourselves then we would probably have gone with something like that.

But on this tour, as Mike said ... yes it’s a risk but ... why do the same thing?  Everybody goes go out with bands the same type as themselves because they're only gonna play to that crowd.

As you know the Melodic Rock and Metal is a dying kind of music and it appeals to a certain type of audience, but this tour gets us in front of kids and if you can get the kids on your side, then you have a chance of rising over the crap and making your own path.  

So that’s our new philosophy at the moment.  Let's not do what everyone else does.  Eden’s Curse has always done that, we’ve always stuck to our own thing and we don’t listen to those people outside the band who say ... “you can’t do that, you mustn’t do that” ... that sort of tells us that we’re right.

Michael – When you say ... you can't ... we say ... WE MUST! ... WE HAVE TO! ...  We're lead dogs.  It’s all too simple for people to simply follow.

Paul – Take a look at the Wright Brothers, their own father said they’d burn in hell if they built what the built, but look how that worked out.  I’m not trying to say that we’re doing anything on that scale, Van Gough said he painted the pictures in his mind then put them down on canvas, that’s kind of what we’re doing.  We know what we want to do and where we want to go ... we're taking charge of things.

Michael – If you quote the great Sammy Hagar ... “What is known, need not be discussed”.  Paul and I are risk takers, but at the same time we take chances to better everything.  I look forward to getting out there and doing the next record.  At least there is going to be a next record!  Hell bands are dropping like flies at the moment, saying ... "OH there’s no money" ... well yes there’s no money and that’s the reason Paul and I do the things we do.  It becomes necessary to the things that benefit oneself.  A band is a situation which is essentially built around business ... and we’re not dummies put it that way.  But anyone who's read your past interview with us knows the philosophy of the band already.

MM – Is Jay a permanent member of the band?
Paul – Yes and No...

Michael – I hate that question.

Paul - Especially when he’s standing next to me.

Michael – We hate that question, it’s a political thing.

Paul – He become part of the family.  When we go to do a show it’s not five people that get the call it’s six. We’ve kept it the way because that's been that way for so long, and it’s just a case to recreate the sound.   Jay’s on board first and foremost as a good friend of mine.  I knew immediately when Mike and I talked and then obviously we talked to Thorsten upfront and said, there is no way you can replicate that same sound.  He hates me for writing the songs with duel guitar parts anyway.  I wanted to be true to the fans in the live setting because I’ve been there myself as a fan and seen some of my favourites try to produce the sound with just one guitar and some backing vocals and it not the same.  I felt cheated when I saw that bands do it and I swore to myself that I wouldn’t let it happen with Eden’s Curse.  I’m the boss and the guys have just to go along. (laughs)

At least Thorsten understood and the first person I called was Jay.  He had the CD’s and loved them as it was his kind of music.  He was onboard straight away and as long as he wants to be here he’ll be welcome.

MM - Going back to your new keyboard player, how did you come across Ale?
Michael – Obviously we needed to find a keyboard player because the last one, he was ousted.  Without going into gory details, he was an amazing talent and I won't say otherwise, I always say the same thing to people who ask.  Now we have an amazing talent who has to be one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.  This guy is crazy!  He’s nuts.  Right from the day he walked in he was one of the family. You're gonna notice huge changes on stage.

Paul – You were quite complimentary about Ferdy on stage with the keyboards and the showmanship and that was never in doubt.

Michael – Ale doesn’t not take keyboards and dump them on their sides, that’s not his thing.  He plays with Glenn Hughes, he’s a musician, a phenomenal one at that and a great singer.  He’s a lead singer not a background singer, in fact he’s probably a better singer than I am! (laughs).  He’s such an amazing talent, amazing.  He brings a lot to the party and to have him in the band is, as I've already told him, a gift to us.   He came in and it has worked incredibly well.  He learned the keyboards as they were on those records.  Ferdy Doernberg did not and Ferdy Doernberg was the guy that played them.  So it was as simple as that.   He (Ale) comes from Italy, he plays with the amazing Glenn Hughes and now he’s a permanent member of Eden’s Curse.

Paul – The audition purpose was because we'd struggled to find players.  I know you mentioned someone and we actually auditioned that person.  Initially we wanted a British person because we thought if we were going to be a live band, it would have been easier travel wise ... because we have the travel costs the equivalent of debts of an African nation.   But suddenly the auditions for the Brits weren’t really happening.

What we did was gave them 'Angels and Demons' without the keyboards on it and seen if they could replicate it and then also gave them a new song where there was a whole middle section, in fact the bridge before the chorus, there was no instrumentation except for the drums and the bass line.  we asked them to create their own and I wanted to hear what they could bring to the table in terms of writing.  Ale’s came back and absolutely blew me away with what he'd done.  He came back with this massive orchestration, over it lovely counter melodies.  I’ve actually written a song with him since because it was so good, which is now going to be on the new album.  'No Holy Man' is the name of the song.  That just floored me and he can play all of Ferdy’s stuff no problem, and as Mike said, the singing has made a huge difference.  Plus he’s such a lovely guy to deal with.  I’d go along with what Mike said Ferdy was an incredible musician.

Michael – It wasn’t easy to replace him, you had to find somebody that can play that stuff and there are a lot of guys who think they can play that stuff and they can't.  Not only did he play it, but even more importantly than the musicianship is the he really wants to be here, he really does.  He likes us and we like him.  He’s funny beyond funny.

Paul – I’ve written a song with him for Carsten (Schulz), for the "Bruce" project that we were trying to do.  He sent me a song by Ale and I wrote 'The King Is Back'.  I got talking with him and knew he could play but didn’t really speak other than email, so when Carsten said you should really try Ale out ... we were saying ... you know it's Italy. (laughs)

Michael – Another country ... now five! (laughs)

Paul – When we contacted him, his reaction was ... "OH MY GOD!  I’D DIE TO BE IN EDEN’S CURSE!” (laughs) ... he gave us this tape back that just blew us away.  He should have been in the band four years ago and it now feels like he has been.  He brings in a playing perspective, a modern element to the band that no disrespect to Ferdy because he’s a classic kind of player, but Ale does everything.  I just can’t wait to get started on the new album with him because creativity is just oozing out of every pore of Ale.

Michael – Paul’s got it covered, we’ll probably start working on the album in January and probably be in the studio by May or June.  That’s the plan.

MM – If you're going to be concentrating on the album in the Spring and early Summer does that mean you won't be touring during that time?
Paul – We don’t know, at this stage we have a tentative offer for the May in the States.  We don’t know yet whether it will materialize or not but they're talking, that’s the management.  Thankfully we can get on with writing the record and let those guys work that side of thing out.  So we’ll see if that materializes.  We'll look at it, consider whether it would be conflicting with our schedules.  It would depend on how far we’ve got with the new album.  

As Mike says we don’t have that pressure on our shoulders, we've never had that.  Even with AFM and everybody involved with them they’ve never said to us ... "hurry up and write" ... we actually continued writing whatever.  

Actually my wife gave birth to our wee girl just after the first record came out, so actually I continued writing because I thought I wouldn't be able to write for the next two years.  'The Second Coming' was pretty much written before we'd even thought about recording it.

If a festival comes up, what we do is if the band expensive are covered ...  often people don’t realize that Mike has to travel over four thousand miles to get here ... as long as he can get his expenses paid, or money to pay his heating while he’s away or whatever else then fine.  I mean we got offers last year where people were saying we’ll cover your land travel and I’m thinking ... does that cover a hovercraft? ... so don’t waste our time, if you want Eden’s Curse to play, serious offers only please!

MM – You’ve got a new EP out I believe? Paul – Yes it’s on sale tonight. Michael – www.edenscurse.com that’s where you can get it, www.melodicrock.com , www.metalmayhemmusic.com  and www.metalmayhem.com  ... boy I’m the biggest whore! (laughs) It's available at the shows and it's on the website.  It's a thank you to the American label for the support they’ve given the band.  There is an extra 2 CD edition available through www.melodicrock.com .  Two discs, fourteen songs instead of nine.  It’s got the original 'Angels And Demons' with the original female singer.  Carsten Schulz and I are doing the thing back and forth

Paul – It’s called singing! (laughs) Michael – Yeh  ... we’re singing! (laughs)

(Just then Ale re-enters the room ...)

Michael – Ale, tell Linda what the bus smelt like this morning when you got up ...

Ale – If you put twenty cows in the same room ... and it has to be a tiny tiny room ... then you would have the same smell we had this morning on the bus.  Pete stands for two. (laughs)

Michael – He said Pete stands for two! (laughs)   He has truly been a blast on this tour.

Paul – On the first three days of rehearsals it was just the four of us, me, Mike, Jay and Ale, and it was just mental.  I mean if you were in the hotel room next to us it must have been an absolute nightmare.

Michael – It’s been good fun it definitely has and now that Ferdy D is gone ... well Elvis has left and Ale D is in. It’s a good vibe and the band are getting really tight.

(Pete Newdeck enters the room, now the whole band are here)

Pete - Hey, how you doing?
MM – We're doing fine  Pete, nice to see you again.

(Pete leans over and kisses Mike and Paul)

Michael  – He kisses me!.  He's so sweet and sensitive! (laughs)

Pete – That tickles my nostrils (Pete's referring to Paul's new furry facial features) 

Paul  – That’s what my wife said to me before I left for the tour ... don’t come next to me until you get that face shaved.  I must tell your readers that I grew my goatie for 'Movember' in support of Prostrate Cancer, £550 I raised.

MM – Very good! 
Paul – Thank you.  It's a good cause, my dad just got the all clear so I grew it anyway.

Michael – He just wants to look like a bad ass.

MM – Rumours are that you've just told your label where to go ...
Michael - I tell people where to stick things all the time!

Paul – True.

Michael - It’s absolutely true.

MM – I take it we're not talking about Metal Mayhem here?   Michael – Metal Mayhem will be with us until this band no longer exist.  People that shows their support towards the band will be there till the very end.  Ryan and Sarah are my friends and they're Paul’s friends.  They drive us insane because they don’t send emails, proper telephone calls and things, but that's the worse thing about dealing with them.  They’ve put a lot of money into Eden’s Curse when they didn’t have to.  He’s got the new album cover tattooed to his arm from his shoulder down, I mean it is huge.  People don’t do that unless they love the band.  As far as AFM goes, people are removed if they are not on the same playing field as us.  We think things have to move in a more positive direction.

I said the elements remain the same, Dennis Ward is on board for album No. 3 and Thomas Ewerhard our art artist is on board for album No.3.  The songs are getting written ... the demo’s are started ... it’s going to be bigger and badder than any Eden’s Curse record before ... and the fans and the press will be getting this for sure

MM - I guess AFM know all about this?
Paul – Yes, you’ll be the first to know about this!

Michael - See you got it out of us! (ah, a woman has her ways of getting to the bottom of these things ...)

MM – Any final words?
Paul - Thanks to all the fans for sticking by the band.  Continue to check out the band on tour as we're filming every show.  We’re trying to put together some kind of package, a second part to 'Condemned To Burn' which will hopefully include an official DVD bootleg.  We’ve got lots of footage now and we're even the making of the first album in a documentary format, so we're hoping to do something with that maybe next year.

MM - With that we switched off the recorder, cracked open some beers and chewed over the cud with the band on all things un-repeatable and definitely un-printable.  If you haven't already caught Eden's Curse live in action then why the hell not?  These guys absolutely know how to rock and then some.    

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