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MM - Before we begin I’d like to say
a huge thank you for taking this time out to take part in this interview
with us, it’s been a while since we last spoke and the band really do
seem to have come on huge leaps and bounds over this relatively short
space of time.
Richie/7th heaven: Thanks much. We have worked very hard and it’s nice
that it didn’t do unnoticed.
MM - The band has just released ‘Silver’ their new double album.
What factors helped you decide to release a double album? That’s quite
an unusual for a self-financed band to do, especially when it’s not a
greatest hits collection (although I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a
lot of hits from this collection of songs!).
Richie/7th heaven: Thanks... the decision to do this double cd came
after we spent over a year writing music and we felt that we had a lot
of great music... We wrote and recorded about 150 different songs and
picked the best 30 to make “Silver”.
We also wanted to open more opportunities for film/TV placement. 30
songs are too many to download off the net, it’s easier to purchase
for $10, which leads to the last point, we wanted to give the fan a
GREAT value... and 30 songs/double CD is a GREAT value for $10.
MM - I have to say I honestly think the whole album is one of the best
melodic rock albums I’ve heard for a long time, and is definitely THE
best so far this year. How does it fell to have the new album finally
out there getting all these great reviews from around the world?
Richie/7th heaven: It feels great. When you sit and get into a
songwriting mode you’re never sure how your music will be accepted.
Our approach to “Silver” was “Let’s make a great CD that WE
would LOVE to hear, play and buy” and we think it translated well to a
final product.
We are very proud of “Silver”. We wanted to a diverse CD rather than
one long song (10 songs sounding exactly the same). Hopefully more and
more people will find out about our CD and feel the same way as all the
reviews have been saying.
MM - How do you feel about the finished product? Is it everything you
hoped you would achieve with it or are there any parts that still niggle
a little bit at you when you listen to them?
Richie/7th heaven: As a producer I’ll always hear something I could
make better, but as a band member I am 100% happy with the way the CD
turned out. We all sit back and are sometimes blown away that this is
OUR CD. We hit the bulls-eye with our goals we set forth with
“Silver”.
MM - One of the strongest things for me about the album was the sheer
quality of the production and packaging. Am I right in thinking you
oversaw all the production yourself? I’ve heard you can be a bit of a
task master when it comes to how you’d like the songs to sound.
Richie/7th heaven: That’s funny. Yes, I am a task master. I search and
search for the right tone/sound I’m looking for. I’ll change a tempo
of a song by a hair to make sure the right feel is there.
I’ll re-track a song if the key could be sung better. When it comes to
producing, writing and arranging a song, you have to have a distinctive
vision on how you see it sounding. Then make sure the band shines on all
the parts by capturing the best performance possible. And lastly
understand the tools to make it all come together. I probably spent over
2,500 hours on “Silver”.
MM - Going back a step to the packaging of the
album. Whose idea was it to have the whole black and white disk thing
and who designed the album cover? Both concepts are so simple but so
classy and stand the product head and shoulder above the rest on the
market at the moment.
Richie/7th heaven: Well, I thought of the concept of having a black cd
with a white cd, which is how I wanted the CD’s to be, kinda a
contrast in a way, but one within itself. And Black and White mixed
makes Gray or “Silver”.
I didn’t want the CD to have any graphics or photos that would sway a
buyer on what it was. I don’t think a photo or graphic can sum up what
“Silver” is, so by making it simple, it leave a world of
possibilities for the music to shine.
MM - Other than you and Dan, the line-up of
the band has changed quite dramatically over the last few years. Is this
just a natural course for 7th Heaven or do you feel this latest line-up
is ‘the one’? Did your hectic tour schedule have
anything to do with the changes? Did the former members feel they
couldn’t commit the time that the band and its music demanded of them?
Richie/7th heaven: Good questions, the new line-up is perfect for what
7th heaven is right now. Hopefully this line-up will remain forever.
7th heaven has always been a group of talented musicians, songwriters
and performers that give 110% effort at all times. 7th heaven is VERY
hard working band. I love being in a band with these guys.
MM - How do you all find the time to do so many gigs and guest
appearances, it must put a lot of pressure on your daytime jobs? Can I
also ask who gets the job of doing all the driving? Do you have someone
else to do that or do you all take it in turns?
Richie/7th heaven: We are in promotion mode for “silver” so the more
shows the better for us right now. Some of us do this full-time, we have
a great crew of guys who travel with us to shows and help out with
driving.
We are a VERY busy band and we try to conquer a lot of ground is a short
period of time. We have a game plan we set forth and then we work to
attain those goals and stay on target with them.
MM - The album contains so many different styles of rock music and often
borders on the melodic/AOR/pop-rock genres. Would you say the songs on
this album accurately represent what the band is all about, particularly
it’s versatility to its approach to the music?
Richie/7th heaven: 100% yes. This CD IS 7th heaven. It’s funny
depending on who you ask, people call it different styles.
In Europe it’s called “AOR” or “Melodic Rock”, in the USA
it’s considered “Modern Rock” or “Pop Rock”… it doesn’t
matter to us what it’s called, but as long as people like the music.
One thing I can say is we feel this CD fits a void the music business is
lacking right now.
MM - With so many great songs and so many different styles showcased on
this album, can I ask which songs stand out as personal favourites of
yours and why.
Richie/7th heaven: For me it’s always changing… I like “Gravity”
and “Cellophane” and “The One”, but then there’s times I like
others…. It all depends… I love the entire CD.
MM - Listening to the album there seem to be a number of strong
influences, some of which you have openly admitted to on the website
under the directors notes section. Would you like to tell us about a few
of those influences?
Richie/7th heaven: Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Incubus, Linkin Park, Michael
Jackson, Police, Duran Duran, U2, Rage.. man the list could go on and
on… we all listen to so much different music from the 70’s and
80’s to today… There’s so much great music in the world that
influenced us.
MM - One song in particular ‘Faces of Terror’ sounded very similar
to some of Alice Cooper’s newer material, particularly the vocals and
the overall composition of the song. Are you familiar with his more
recent material and would you say this is a fair comparison?
Richie/7th heaven: I have never heard any new Alice Cooper. The song
came out of the unfortunate events the USA faced on 9/11/01. I was
looking for a powerful song musically that could enhance an angry vocal.
MM - It’s often said for every band signed to a record label there’s
another 100 still looking for a deal. 7th Heaven are a band who have
become bigger than most signed bands but who have managed to achieve all
this on their own. Do you feel with the release of this new album it might be time to start
shopping around for a deal with perhaps one of the ‘known’ indie
labels, or do you have reservations having come so far to hand it all
over to someone else to decide your fate?
Richie/7th heaven: Wow, another great question. Right now we are faced
with a lot of big record labels in the music business going out of
business. If 7th heaven was on one of those labels we might get caught
up with the fall of the label and be left in the cold.
We don’t want that to happen, we want to write, play and keep this
show on the road. Stopping this 7th heaven train is something we are not
interested in doing.
If we knew we had a great company behind us helping us enhance what we
are already doing, then we would love to talk to them, however we are
not actively searching for it. We have thought about working with a
European label because we are not there to work it. We’d like to tour
Europe, but need help doing so. We are also looking to possibly partner
our record label (NTD Records) with a distributor.
MM - One of the many highlights that stand out from album are the strong
harmonies and the way the various band members voices blend and
compliment each other and the songs so well.
When writing the lyrics and the music to the songs do you all think
about the effect this can have on the finished song and also the
importance to have a few big ‘sing-along’ chorus’s for the fans to
join in with?
Richie/7th heaven: Yes, we’ll re-work a vocal line or rhythm or melody
in a way that it sings well. We layer a lot of vocals and like to have a
lot of our choruses be a sing-along. We usually like the peak of the
song to be the chorus. A few of us have education in musical theory,
which helps in arranging harmonies.
MM - I know a lot of bands have mixed feelings about the internet and
how it can help or hurt bands today. How do you feel about it overall
and also what do you think of the ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ download
sites out there and do you use any of them?
Richie/7th heaven: Well, the internet is the BEST thing that could have
ever helped us. We are now very accessible to our fans. If you have been
to our website it is MASSIVE. We have news, our live dates, photos,
bios, custom video games, message board, a college section, store,
videos, a street team section, links, contact info, a press section for
people like you to grab photos, bios, and all related 7th heaven stuff.
We are also in the works to have a the website change based on the
different countries, for example if your from Germany and log onto
www.7thheavenband.com, you can find a flag of your country which if you
click, it will take you to a page in German. Since we have gained a lot
of worldwide success so far, we are going to make sure fans from around
the world can reach us.
MM - There was talk some time ago of the possibility of a 7th Heaven DVD
release. Has this been shelved for the time being or is it still in the
pipeline? Being based outside the
States I for one would love to see the band release a live DVD of one of
their shows, although it might make it even harder knowing I can’t
make it to any of the many shows you do over there.
Richie/7th
heaven: We are working on a DVD to come out possibly around Christmas
time… it will all depend on our schedule and if we can get all the
video shoots in, in time to have it done. We just started the
pre-production of our “Gravity” video. So a 7th heaven “Silver”
DVD is coming, just not sure when yet. Check website for updates.
MM - Is there any chance of the band coming over to Europe and in
particular the UK to do a few shows for all your fans over here?
Richie/7th heaven: We want to come there; we are waiting for the right
opportunity to do so. We would like to get some radio play there before
we arrive so there’s an audience to play for when we arrive.
MM - Lastly, is there anything you’d like to share with all your many
fans out there before we sign off?
Richie/7th heaven: Thank you so much for taking the time to find out
what 7th heaven is all about. We love meeting new people and playing
live.
We love to hear from new fans and friends. Tell us where we should play;
tell us what radio stations we should send our CD to. What festival we
should be at. Then join our “Street Team” and get even more
involved. 7th heaven is a band that welcomes everyone into our circle of
friends.
MM - I’d just like to close by again saying thank you for speaking to
our readers and to sincerely wish you all the very best of luck with the
new album and all the albums to come in the future. Hopefully we’ll
catch up with you face to face in the not too distant future.
Richie/7th heaven: Yes, hopefully soon… with the help of people like
you, our music will reach more and more people, which is our main goal.
Thanks for everything.
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