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MM - Hi
lads, thanks for agreeing to take part in this interview with us we
really appreciate it.
G - Thanks Linda, it's a pleasure, thanks for the wonderful review of
the album.
MM - Would
you like to give us a brief history on the band, how it all came about,
where you call home etc?
G - Glyder began in Jan 2004 at a Philip Lynott
tribute concert in Dublin 2004. Tony Cullen, Bat Kinane and Davy
Ryan decided that they had what it took to start a hard rock band and
take it beyond the covers scene that they had previously cut their
teeth at. The lads then enrolled Pete Fisher another local guy in as a
second guitarist. The band at this stage were called Hollywood and in
the following months began writing and gigging.
In summer 2004 a single called 'Lucky Strike' was released and shortly
after the band made their debut TV appearance and shot their first
Video. In February 2005 the band opened for Thin Lizzy on six
of their Irish tour dates. An EP 'Black Tide Silver Path' was
released to coincide with this. This firmly established Glyder as
a serious band on the way up.
After the Thin Lizzy tour the bands management approached legendary
producer Chris Tsangarides with some demo material and he agreed to
produce their debut album. The summer of 2005 was spent in London
recording with Chris and the following months were spend trying to shop
the band the right deal. In Jan 2006 after many months of
negotiations and offers the band decided to licence out the debut to Bad
Reputation records in France and Rock Inc in Holland. From May 2006 the
album will be available all over the UK, Ireland and Europe.
The debut album is getting play-listed all over the UK and is making
huge impressions on Rocks most respected journalists, DJ and other
musicians. Jeff
Waters from Annihilator best sums Glyder up ... "Love the vibe
these guys are throwing out.... A bit of Lizzy, a bit of blues and some
killer rock/hard rock!"
MM
- How do you feel the bands sound has developed since it originally
started?
G - There is two Glyder sounds the hard and upbeat one and the mellow
and laid back one.
On
the debut you really only hear the hard one because Chris Tsangarides
chose the hard ones instead of the mellow ones as he wanted to create an
album that had a consistency through it and it worked. On the next
album you will probably hear the mellower side of Glyder, but of course
we will be dishing up plenty of heavy rock too.
MM
- The band are about to release your debut album at the end of the
month, how are you all feeling right now and what’s been the music
media reaction to it so far?
G - The reaction in the UK and Europe has been fantastic. In
Ireland it's getting good reviews although we didn’t spend any money
on PR in Ireland so it's only got 2 reviews here so far. Irish bands are
never accepted in Ireland until they make it abroad. I think the album
is going to do really well in the UK because we have that Lizzy sound
mixed in with NWOBHM style riffing etc and the UK audience really relate
to that sound.
MM
- How long did it take from the initial stages of writing the songs to
its completion?
G - Most of the material was written with the first year the band was
together. One song stargazer is a song I wrote a few years ago.
MM
- What were some of the high points of making the album and how does the
finished article compare with your initial intentions?
G - The high points were working with Chris
Tsangarides and watching him and learning from him. It was a real
learning experience. He is a perfectionist and while before in the
studio I wouldn’t be as fussy now I know what it's all about and I
think I have moved up a level in experience from working with Chris.
Also Chris is a fantastic cook so the grub was good. The songs
didn’t change too much from their original form only 'Neutral Coloured
Life'. The album turned out much as I expected so I'm very happy
about it.
MM
- Would you like to tell us a few thoughts or stories behind some of the
songs off the album?
G - 'Stargazer' was wrote on day while sitting in the back garden at
home. It's in the middle of the Wicklow mountains and there is a
lot of natural beauty. I was sitting on an old stone wall in the
back garden at night and it was peaceful and serene. I was having
a smoke (now quit) and thinking about life and stuff and the stars were
clear in the sky “the Pleiades shimmer on the midnight seas”.
Getting philosophical and all that so I had the first few lyrics and I
wrote the riff and it I finished off the song about two years later and
Davy’s brother Paul made a contribution to it and it became the
finished thing.
'PUP' I wrote the original riff and came back to it a few months later
and wrote the rest of the song in 5 minutes and Tony wrote the lyrics to
the last verse. 'Colour of Money' was a riff that Pete wrote.
I went home and wrote the first draft of the lyrics and the verse,
bridge, and chorus. Tony then took it and reworked the lyrics and
added to the verse.
'You Won't Bring Me Down' was an idea I had years ago and Tony rewrote
all the lyrics and changed the melodies. Tony wrote 'One for the
Lost' about a suicidal friend. 'She's got it' Tony wrote
about one night stands. 'Saving Face' is a collaboration of my
riffage and Tony’s lyrics about preachers.
Takin’ Off' was one of the first few songs Tony wrote and is fairly
self explanatory. I contributed some riffage. 'Die Or Dance'
is a Tony lyric about war from a soldiers perspective and I wrote the
riffage. 'Neutral Coloured Life' is a classic Tony composition
with some of my riffage. 'Neutral Coloured Life' deals with a
character that Tony knows and maybe he can explain it better, but it's
about a person talking about their stories of glory and you know most of
it is bullshit drunk talk.
MM
- How does the song writing process work within the band, is it down to
one particular person or do you all get involved?
G -Tony and I on the first album wrote most of the
stuff. We then jammed it and added bits along the way.
MM
- Stepping back slightly, you're currently signed to Bad Reputation, how
did that come about, did they discover you or did you discover them?
G - Eric from Bad Reputation found us and sent us
an email on St Stephens Day (Boxing Day) so I figured this lad means
business if he’s working over Christmas. I got a good feeling
about him and the label and I went with my gut instinct. We had
been dealing with some people and they just weren’t getting down to
business so we felt we had to get the album out as soon as possible.
MM
- What sort of a deal do you have with Bad Reputation, is it just for
the one album or does it go further than that?
G - We have licensed this album out to Bad
Reputation. We own the masters. Depending on the success of this
album we will try and see what we will do for the next one. We
will be working with Chris again and hope to be in his studio doing
album no.2 in November for early 2007 release.
MM
- Do you have plans to tour after the release of the new album and is
there any chance this might include some dates outside of Ireland?
G - We will be playing Clive Aid in Doncaster
on 26th May in aid of the Clive Burr MS trust. We hope
to get to tour the UK soon and are working on getting a booking agent
which seems to be difficult. We have a number of agents in Europe
and will be doing a lot of touring there in the autumn.
MM
- Have any members of the band been in other bands previous to Glyder?
G - We were in covers bands prior to Glyder.
Before that I used to play in a thrash metal band and we recorded some
demos.
MM
- At what age did you become interested in being a performer and
what/who inspired you to join a band?
G - The minute I heard Thin Lizzy my life changed
and I knew what I wanted to do. I gave it a go and failed, played
in covers bands and then Glyder came about when I least expected it to.
MM
- How would you describe your music and who do you see as your target
audience?
G - Rock music inspired by the Classic Rock bands of the 70’s and
80’s. Our target audience are 13 year old to ageing rockers.
We are in a funny position because we are doing something that no one
else is really doing at the moment and I think we will have mass appeal
if we get the right exposure.
MM
- What song is your personal favourite to play live and which one(s) get
the crowd going wild?
G - 'Stargazer' usually gets people on a first listen and I like to play
'Colour of Money', but that changes from week to week.
MM
- For you personally what bands do you think were the most influential
from: (a) the 70’s, (b) the 80’s, (c) the 90’s, and (d) today?
G - Well being influential is one thing, but being good or appealing to
me is another. From my perspective from the 70’s my four are Thin
Lizzy, Deep Purple, Black Sabbth and Led Zeppelin.
From the Eighties - Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake.
The
Nineties - The Foo Fighters.
Now - I don’t have any particular bands but I like tracks from The
Darkness, FFAF, My Chemical Romance, Edguy, Dragonforce and many
other bands that you can hear on Scuzz etc and the free CD you get with
the magazines. To be honest my Heart in is the 70's and 80’s.
MM
- Making a living from music does not seem to be that 'easy' anymore as
it was in the past. How do you predict your future as a musician?
G - My current goal is to make a decent salary
from playing and recording rather than doing 9 to 5. I don’t
care too much for becoming rich etc. I think that is a very
realistic and achievable goal. I'm still very far from it but this
time next year I hope to be almost there.
MM
- We’re often told that there’s a big problem now of people copying
and downloading albums instead of buying them. As a young and up
and coming band does this trend worry you at all and if you had the
chance to speak to a room of people who copied/downloaded your music,
what would you like to say to them?
I’d
also like to probe your conscience and ask have you ever copied or
downloaded music?
G - Not really, at this stage we are happy that there are people out
there listening to us. I think there are two types of music fans
out there, ones that buy albums and ones that copy them. There are
people out there that buy albums and remain loyal to their fans.
Luckily the sort of music we play has a lot of the loyal supporters and
they will always be there. Also people want to support the band
and they want their CD signed.
What I think is very important now is that the musicians go and meet
their supporters and never get too big for that. I have copied albums in
the past before and downloaded mp3’s, everyone does as far as I can
see but if I'm a fan of the band I'll buy the album.
I
like to have the sleeve, the lyrics etc and I like to support the bands
I like. I’ve 100’s of albums. I don’t mind people that
copy a bit and also buy. But I don’t like people that take all the
time. You have to give to take. I spoke to a room full of
downloaders I'd say how would you like if I went into your house and
took two cans of beer out of your fridge and eat all the pizza in the
freezer?
MM
- Finally do you have any words of wisdom for our readers out there?
G - Buy the Glyder debut you wont be disappointed.
Put beer in my fridge and pizza in my freezer.
*MM - We'd like to thank Glyder for taking time out of their busy
schedule to take part in this interview for us. Good luck with the
new album lads and look forward to catching you over here in the UK some
time. Cheers! |