Artist:  A.J. Cavalier (SOiL)

Date: 8 November 2009  

A.J - So what do you want to know? 
MM - Your full life’s story will do for a start.  (laughs)
A.J - Not enough time! 

MM - How has the tour been going so far? 
A.J - Very good, very good, the Shinedown shows are going great, a lot of the shows have been upgraded to bigger venues so that’s good.  The Shinedown boys are a great bunch of fellas, we get on well with them.  It’s fun to tour with friends. 

MM - Have you known Shinedown a while?
A.J - Yeh, we toured with them in the States and even before I was in the band they knew the guys real well.  We toured with Shinedown and Godsmack.  We were doing some pretty big shows in the States so that was the last time we toured with them.  It’s nice to get back with them, we really like their music and love the new record they have, it makes it a lot of fun to play with bands that are your friends. 

MM - Have the fans been receptive to SOiL?
A.J - Yes definitely. 

MM - The bands latest album 'Picture Perfect' was released last month, what has been the reaction from both the fans and the media? A.J - Well I haven’t been taking much attention to the reviews.  I’ve heard people saying it’s either been getting really good reviews or really band ones. And that’s what I figured it would be, people either love it or hate it.  It's just how it goes.  There is no middle of the road.  They either think it’s gonna be a great new thing or they are just think it’s gonna be like what has gone before, but who wants to write the same record over and over?  You have to progress in life as in records.  MM - Will you be playing some songs off the new album during this tour?  A.J - Yes.  I think on the Shinedown tour we’re playing 'A Lesser Man', 'Broken', 'Picture Perfect' and 'Surrounded'.  They’ve had a good reception so far

MM - Have you released a single off the album or are you intending to? 
A.J - Yeh, 'Like It Is' is the first single and is out there right now.  That's more of a heavier track.  I’m not sure what the next one will be.  

MM - Yes we were just talking before and we both thought 'A Lesser Man' would have been the obvious choice for a single as it has a more commercial feel to it. 
A.J - Yes I thought that was a very commercial, more classic rock roots kind of song.  I think it would have been a good single, it goes over really well live too.  'Like It Is' is catchy and heavy, it’s groovy, but you don’t always get to choose what you want for a single, the record labels are far more involved with that than we are. 

MM - Yes, a lot of bands have said that. 
A.J -Yeh, sometimes it’s nice to get that other opinion because when you're attached to the music, you're sometimes biased and you don’t always think what is best.  It’s nice to have that outside opinion of what it is and that way you get a clearer perspective.  I mean each song is like a little baby to you, you love it and there are reasons why you like that one more than the others, as opposed to what the industry thinks.  Maybe this one is more commercially viable than the other one even though the other one means more to me.  We don’t always get to choose which is maybe a good thing.  Let someone one else decide. 

MM - Who writes the songs for SOiL?  A.J - Anything for 'True Self' or 'Picture Perfect' I wrote, both the lyrics and the vocals.  The writing process as far as the band goes with me, is that the band write the music and send it to me and I write the harmonies, the lyrics and the everything else.  That’s how we basically did 'True Self' and 'Picture Perfect'.  So to answer your question who writes the songs, the band writes the songs and I do the arrangements and vocals and stuff, we write them together but a separate stages.  MM - So you  don’t have lyrics that the band write the music too?  A.J - No, I don’t have a book of lyrics or poetry, I get inspired by the music and that initiates what I’m gonna say or sing about.  You just hear the music and it just sparks a feeling inside and then I write.  I don’t have a book, I feel it’s cheesy, you should get inspired by the music and let it come out and flow, but everyone works differently.  That's just the way I work.  Sometimes this way takes longer, but to me it's magic, once I get the music I’m up till three in the morning and the song is done. That’s how it pretty much turns out. When it happens like that I know it’s gonna be a good song, as appose to ones that

you have to work on and work on.  I like that magical feeling of ... Wow! I just wrote this song in five minutes! To me that’s better than working on a song, or two songs, trying to come up with five different choruses and three different verses, that's just not for me.  It’s stale there’s no magic in that.

MM - Yes it’s more organic that way. 
A.J - And that’s usually your first initial feeling, 90% of the time this is what stays on the records.  Except for 'Like It Is' which actually had two incarnations, two different versions of the verses, there is more of a singy one and then there was a one with more words in there, so we chose the second one.  That’s the only one that went that way. 

MM - What part of your life do you think your music represents? 
A.J - What part? All of it, because a lot of the music … the lyrics are pulled from the past and pulled from the present.  As to what parts of my life, it’s from all parts of my life really, from situations from when I was younger to current situations.  From ten years back or even five years back, it goes everywhere.  Again the music sparks things, that feeling, and takes you back to that time.  When I don’t want to talk about this time or that subject the music sort of tells me what to do.  I have a lot of anger issues, so that comes out in different forms.  I try not to come out too cliché, but it is what it is. 

MM - At what age did you first have aspirations to become a singer? 
A.J - Back in '93, because I play drums and guitar, a drummer first by trade I should say.  I sang in high school in choruses and chambers choirs, but back in '93 I was playing drums and singing at the same time and that sort of stuck.  Then I got out from behind the drums and started singing full time.  Then my voice started developing through the 90's, I was listening to a lot of Sound Garden and a lot of Pantera, Alice In Chains, those three bands.  Kings X are one of my favourite bands.  That kind of started to shape my voice and turn it into what it is today.  It was definitely a process, I didn’t start of singing like this in '93.  It took a while to develop this style of singing. 

But singing, I never regarded myself as a singer until the mid 90's, that's when I started to come up with things to sing about.  It’s not just being able to sing, it's what you have to say that is real important.  In life as you get older you have more things to sing about, because you’ve experienced more things, as opposed to when you're young, what you gonna sing about? Chicks and drinking?!? … You know what I mean.  When you get older you experience more hard ships, loves that are lost, someone has died, longing for family and where you live.  

My family is all in New York and I grew up in New York, but when I was nineteen I moved to California to be a rock star. (laughs)  I moved there for drums actually, to a drum school, the musicians institute back in  ... a long time ago!   I won't say the date because it will scare everyone.  Let's just say before the internet! (laughs).  Now singing just feels right.  I still play drums and play guitar.  I’m not a shred guitar player, I’m more of a singer song writer.  Yes I enjoy singing, I’m able to get a lot of demons out, so they're not stuck in here. (pointing to his head)  They are able to get out live and on Cd’s so they’re not screaming in my head all the time. 

MM - You say you haven’t had any formal vocal training, what do you do to make sure your voice is in tip top condition? 
A.J - I’ve been pretty lucky, I learned over the years not to push too hard to try to warm up the best I can.  Most importantly I try to sleep, to eat, to sleep and I try not to drink to much, because alcohol dries me out.  But mostly the in-ear monitors have saved me during rigorous touring, because if you're trying to scream over the top of the music on stage and just have the monitors upfront, it’s hard to do that.  I have these in-ear wireless monitors that allow me to hear my voice clearer and more consistently, that way I don’t push too hard, because if you push too hard, your voice gets sore and gets horse.  Thin and raspy.  We’re doing nine shows in a row so the only way I can last through it is to have in-ear monitors.  I think in-ear monitors have been the saviour for me for singing consistently every night.  Some singers can go out partying and go to strip clubs after shows but I cant, I need my sleep.  To keep my voice and I don’t talk too much after shows, I just need some quiet time to rest my voice and chill out.  If you go to a club you have to talk to people over the music and it strains your voice because you're yelling.  So after, when everyone’s out partying you have to go back to the bus and read a magazine.  You have to suffer for the art.  You cant have fun, only on stage. 

MM - Yes, a guitarist can change his strings if they get worn but a vocalist can’t change his vocal chords. 
A.J - Yeh if I go down the whole thing goes down.  I have to be more disciplined than everyone else.  Drummers can get drunk, they can show up drunk and still play (laughs) and get away with it. 

MM - SOiL are a band that have had more than their share of sucker punches and things go a rye over the years, what keeps the band motivated to keep on going? 
A.J - Sucker punches yes. The fact that we’re still going ... from day one when I joined it’s become a different band.  Now we’re just a four piece so we’re a different band again.  We just stay positive.  As long as you still believe in what you're doing and bringing it from the heart.  I think careers go up and down and there are going to be good times and bad times.  I think what speaks the most is that we’re still here and doing it, where as some bands would have just given up.  

If we sat there and worried about every bad review or worried about how come we don’t have a song as big as ‘Halo’, or how come we don't have this or that ... to me it’s a different band to the one in 2001.  This is nine years difference.  Those were different times.  The internet is different, labels are different.  You know we’re not on a major label any more.  We got lucky with a one hit kind of thing back then.  We went as far as we could with that incarnation of the band.  Now it’s a newer incarnation of the band.  We’re keeping the SOiL name.  We have to keep some of the old songs, but we still have to move forward and try to stay positive, and hopefully people will like what’s happening now and if they don’t they can go somewhere else.  As long as I stay true to myself then I’m ok. 

MM - Yes this new album I find is more melodic than the older albums.  I know Halo had melody but that was a rare song from that era of the band.  I think 'Picture Perfect' is a better album throughout. 
A.J - It’s one of my favourite albums for sure. 

MM - The band has much more melody now that it ever had. 
A.J - As I said before it’s a completely different band.  A new singer changes the voice of the band.  When I joined the band I said maybe we should change the name because I’m so different from the last guy.  A lot of people who are ignorant out there, think because we kept the name we should get a singer that sounds the same.  That’s completely the wrong way to go about it.  Take a band like Van Halen, Sammy Hagar’s stuff sounds nothing like Dave Lee Roth.  You're kidding me, maybe they should have changed the name too?  But it’s Van Halen, you're talking millions and millions of records as opposed to SOiL who haven’t sold millions of records.  

Either way I got voted out on that one.  I just tell them when you change the identity of the band which is the vocalist,  I hate to say it but it is, that’s what people relate to first.  I don’t sing like their old singer at all, I’m not putting him down either, but he’s a little one dimensional vocally than what I do.  I kind of jump around singing and screaming.  Emotionally I’m all over the place and that’s how I sing and how I am generally.  That’s how it comes out that way and it is a very musical record, this 'Picture Perfect' record, musically, meaning it’s a lot more melodic and there is a lot more singing than there is heavy stuff.  There still is heavy stuff, it still has what SOiL have been doing, but it think it’s a step up vocally to go to a more melodic range than before.  

Like I said, every record should be a little different sounding, and should grow and progress, and I think 'Picture Perfect' is that kind of record.  I hate to use the term but it is a 'Picture Perfect' version of what SOiL is at this time.  Being a four piece.  I couldn’t be any happier with the music were doing.  I hope it takes off and we continue to be successful, but not everybody is open minded.  A lot of fans think are too old school minded, where they think you have to sound like this, or it’s got to be like that.  A different singer is a different voice and that’s the way it is.

I don’t like singing the old songs because I don’t think I do them good truthfully.  I mean the old singer sings the old songs best, because he should, they were written for his voice.  For me to sing the old songs it’s part of the job, but I think I don’t do them very good.  I feel like I do ok, but they don’t come from my heart.  They don’t come from me.  Emotionally I need to be attached to songs.  I do the best I can.

But you know we are trying to please everybody, because SOiL has history and they don’t just want to let it go.  That’s why we play the older songs, they're still in the set to please the older fans.  I’m sure we’ve lost fans because of the voice and the changes, because people have fallen in love with that style of singing.  People have to grow, but a lot of times people don’t and they don’t like change.  They want every record to sound like the last, which to me is like someone eating the same food everyday, nobody wants to eat the same food everyday!  We've got to have some variety and flavours. 

MM - Your voice on the album is sort of a Chad Kruger with a bit more edge to it. 
A.J - There is a little more bite to my voice, I’m not totally melodic, I will turn in a second and be complete hell.  Demons fly out.  That’s what happens musically, but I do what ever the music needs.  I wont over do it, I will just do what the music dictates. 

MM - I think this new album will attract a new fan base that will embrace the new sounding SOiL. 
A.J - If you played the SOiL records back to back from 2001 to right now you’d think they were two different bands, that’s the way it should be. 

MM - When I put the album on for the first time I was.. 
A.J - Who’s this? 

MM - Yes, I enjoyed it from track to track.  I think it’s a hell of an album, I actually said in the review just take the album as it is, don’t try to analyze it. 
A.J - It’s just natural for people to make comparisons, they want to be able to compare something so they can explain it.  They want to understand it easily, rather than having to think about it.  They want things that they can label, rather than say ... hey they’ve got a new singer, this is totally different.

I’ve been in the band for five years now and in that time we’ve have two records.  I think we’re at a point now where the people who are here now are gonna be here to stay.   I think from here on in its a newer fan base, it’s almost like starting over. 

MM - Back to the album, you’ve got some big names on the production side of things like Johnny K, and Ulrich Wilde, what do you think these guys have brought to table to make the album what it is? 
A.J - They’ve brought years of experience to the table, which is cool.  They’ve brought a familiarity working with Johnny K as regards the other guys, they’ve worked with him before, so on this record we recruited him again to help us out.  Ulrich Wild did our last record, the 'True Self' record, which is awesome, we brought him in for a couple of weeks of torture.  He really saved the day on that record and then we wanted a kind of fresh and different style of mix here.  We really liked Dave Fortman and what he’s done as well.  We like Johnny K and Ulrich, but like anything you want things to progress and sound at little differently, so we went with Dave on the mix.  We went down to New Orleans and mixed the record down there.  He's got great ears.  He’s crazy but he’s got great ears.  It was great, we had three people with great experience who helped capture what we do and make it sound sonically the best they can. 

MM - Where do the band go from here after this tour is finished? 
A.J - After this tour, we finish on the 23^rd, which is Tim’s birthday that’s how I remember it.  We go back to the States where we have a week off to do Thanksgiving and all that crap.  Then we do a couple of dates in the States with Dope and (hed)pe, then we go over to Australia with Dope and we have three of shows there in December. After that we come back for Christmas then January, although it's not booked yet we're hoping to come back over here and then perhaps do a few festivals. 

MM - Right, is there anything else you’d like to say or anything you’d like to add? 
A.J - No not really, just that your hair is really sparkly! (laughs).  Were happy to be still here and we should feel lucky that we’re able to still play.  The way things are in the business these days, there are a million bands, everyone seems to be in a band.  Back in the old days there weren’t that many and now its flooded, so we feel lucky to be able to still tour.  Hopefully we will continue with this new record and people will embrace the band.  'Picture Perfect' is the Perfect Picture of what this band is now and we hope to continue in that manner and progress and write better music, otherwise what’s the point? 

MM - You seemed to have now found that a natural avenue for things that you want to get out. 
A.J - I’ve always sang both heavy and lighter stuff, because I’m an emotional person.  A lot of things bother me but you cant scream all the time, so each song is like emotions musically and you don’t put out the same emotions everyday.  I’m pretty moody as it is.  Sometimes I’m pissed off and sometimes I’m almost a little bit happy! (laughs)  Most of the time I’m either sad or pissed off and that turns into screaming and singing.  Melodically they just go together, because my emotions are all over the place.  I guess being screwed up in the head is good for singers.  If I was normal I might be a bit boring.

It’s always tough, because when you pour your heart out into a song and then its up for scrutiny and people just rip it apart, it’s your baby, it’s something how you feel and they’re putting it down because they want to hear something from 2001.  I just want to rip their face off because of their ignorance, and if they got close to the stage I would rip their face off, if they were in my reach. (laughs)

I like to reach out and touch the people.  I try not to be to serous about things but it’s hard man, even singing the old songs is hard because I don’t have any emotional attachment to them.  I don’t want to sound mean about it, don’t quote me the wrong way, but its kind of like going through the motions for me because it’s not my song.  Its not how I work.  I’ve never sang anyone else’s songs, I’ve only done my own things with my other bands, so it’s hard to sing someone else’s material, it doesn’t feel like its mine.  Ill try to keep that in check, the SOiL fans should be happy.

I think with this new record your either gonna love it or hate it, because I think it’s a little of a departure, but its growth.  The band grew and the music has grown, and that’s the way it should be.  If the fans don’t grow with us then they can go away as far as I’m concerned because for me that’s ignorance and I have no tolerance for ignorant people really.  Hence I’ll write about them too. (laughs) I think I already have! 

MM - Thanks for taking the time out and good luck with the show tonight. 
A.J - Thank you for the intelligent questions, sometimes you get questions like what underwear do you wear ... what the hell does that mean?  Thanks for the intelligent questions from intelligent people!

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