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I
sat down with band leader Jon Leon for a chat about all things White
Wizzard on a very cold Wednesday night in Sheffield...
MM:
So how’s the tour going so far?
JL: It’s been
going great, we played Dublin the other day and we’ve never been to
Ireland before. Dublin’s a great, fun city. The fans were fantastic
and we’re definitely building a foundation there and the fans that we
do have are very passionate and sincere. I’m very happy with the way
the shows have been going and I think we sound the best that we ever
have.
MM:
What have you got planned for when the tour’s finished?
JL: We’re going to take a couple of weeks off then we’re
going back to the studio in L.A. to record the next album.
MM:
How’s the response been to ‘Over the Top’ since it was released
earlier this year?
JL: Of course you get your positive and negative reviews and
there’s extremes on both ends which means we’re doing something
right! Usually if you get an extreme reaction, you’re doing well and I
actually enjoy the negative reviews sometimes. Some parts of the metal
community are still trying to wrap their heads around what we’re
doing, metal’s been so pissed off for so long and here’s a band that
comes along that’s just having a good time – some are going to call
it pussy or whatever but it doesn’t matter.
We’re also on Earache
records who are known for extreme, death metal so we knew going in that
we were going to have our critics but I enjoy it – I made the band as
a completely self-centred venture to do the band that I want and I
don’t care what people think. I’ll continue to write what and if
people react to it positively then great, if not then that’s great
too. It’s fun to go out and stir things up a little bit.
MM:
Do you spend much time reading the reviews or does it just kind of gloss
over you?
JL: I read bits every now and again but it’s more for my
own amusement really. I don’t take anything to heart. I’m very proud
of the records so far and I’m very proud of what I’ve written for
the next record. I feel really good about what we’re doing and I
believe in it 100%. Iron Maiden and Rush were my two favourite bands
growing up and I’m just getting back to the roots of what I really
love and what drives me as a musician.
MM:
Is there a rough ETA on the next album?
JL: Well you would hope that after you record it, you get it
out roughly 3 months later so I’d say around April/May next year.
Hopefully it’ll be before the summer so we can come and kick ass on
some festivals after we tour the States again.
MM:
Have the line-up changes had an adverse affect on the band? Do you feel
it’s broken momentum in any way?
JL: Of course having to make the moves that we did after the
release of the album was not great timing, so that hurt momentum but at
the same time, there’s a means to an end here. I’ve been looking for
longevity and the guys that I can do this with for 20 years. It wasn’t
working with a couple of the guys, we had a lot of problems. Fans
don’t always know what goes on behind the scenes, on stage everything
looks fine but you’ve got to be able to make everything work and
sometimes it’s an effort just to get to the next town and people have
to want to tour as well and some people do it a couple of times then
realise it’s not for them.
Now I think the
band’s better than it’s ever been and I believe that we have the
right line-up and the guys that are going to go the next 20 years.
Everyone’s unified and on the same page and it’s unfortunate that we
had to go through the changes that we did, especially after the album
came out because some people get attached to a member or whatever, but I
write pretty much all the lyrics and all the music and it’s my vision,
so the song-writing hasn’t changed. We really had no choice either –
we were in a position where we had to do this and now we have the right
guys. You also learn from your mistakes and from what you don’t want
and when you have the wrong people but now we have the right people and
it’s very satisfying.
MM:
You played Download this year with Michael Gremio on vocals. Was there
ever a view of Michael becoming a permanent member of the band?
JL: There was talk about it, sure. After we came off the
Edguy tour we had problems with our guitarist and his drinking and we
had to make a move with that and our singer just didn’t want to tour
anymore. Thank God I found Lewis (Stephens, guitarist) who has been my
soul mate musically – he came over from Wales and we just hit it off
straight away. With Michael, our manager knew someone who knew him. He
lives in Nebraska, he’s got a wife and two kids, he wanted to do
Download and I liked his voice. He wanted to feel it out and we wanted
to see how it went and afterwards he wanted to come out to L.A. and make
it work but with his family and the amount of money it was going to cost
him, it just wasn’t going to work.
We’re still a baby
band and we’re not making a lot of money yet and moving out to L.A.
when you’ve got a wife and two kids is a big deal. It would have been
great if it had worked out because he’s a great singer but thank God
we ended up finding Peter (Ellis, vocalist) because he’s the
completion of the perfect circle for me.
MM:
Did you find Peter from another band that you played with?
JL: No, I was searching the world as I do and found an online
ad that Peter had placed. Turns out he was singing with a band called
The More I See but he wasn’t really happy with it and he was a fan of
the White Wizzard, he knew the material and it just feels like it was
meant to be.
MM:
You mentioned Lewis joining the band from Wales, how did that come
about?
JL: Lewis had been out to L.A. several times already as he
has kind of a second family out there and the mother of that family
found us and asked us to check him out. He’d been looking to move to
L.A. anyway as he absolutely loves it out there, he’s a total rock
‘n’ roll, sunset strip kind of guy so it works really well.
MM:
When you were starting out in L.A. was it tough to get booked? Did the
locals get what you were doing?
JL: It’s always tough to get booked
in L.A. doing this. The cover bands and the bands that pay to play
really rule there. It’s a very transient place. We have fans in L.A.
for sure, but there’s no scene there. When I started White Wizzard I
was going against the grain completely, it was an entirely self-centred
venture because it was the band I wanted to be in. I was sick of
compromising. It’s not a scene like it used to be, it’s all about an
‘entertain me now’ attitude and in this genre, nostalgia and cover
bands really rule. I mean, look at Steel Panther. They’ve been making
a living there for 8 friggin’ years! They sell out the place every
Monday night, it blows my mind how they do that. Don’t get me wrong,
they’re fantastic at what they do, I used to see the singer and guitar
player in the most fantastic Van Halen cover band you’ve ever seen and
they are great entertainers first and foremost. But what pushes them
over the edge is the whole package – they hit the nostalgia thing and
they entertain well doing it. I do believe with original music that
great songs stand the test of time.
Our back catalogue is
already very strong I feel and I think that one of our strong points is
that we have some great songs and too many metal bands don’t write
songs any more. People are trying to outdo each other in some way
whereas we just want to write good-time songs and get out there and rock
out, you know? It takes time for people to get nostalgic for your tune,
too. The more we play ‘High Speed GTO’ the more people are singing
along. That’s why Maiden and Priest are doing so much better now
because their songs have been a part of people’s lives for 20 years
and they are great songwriters too. They were great songwriters before
they were great musicians and the songs have stood the test of time.
Some other bands from back then didn’t quite make it as far because
they didn’t have great songs. They’re still good but great
songwriting is key to achieving what bands like Maiden and Priest have
achieved and having longevity.
MM:
When ‘High Speed GTO’ was included on the Heavy
Metal Killers compilation, did you know then that, that’s what was
going to propel the band forward, particularly in the U.K?
JL: The video director Davey Voorhees tracked us down in L.A.
after we’d done the E.P. It was meant to be a demo but the producer
mixed it really well and things just kind of fell into place. He said
that he’d been looking for a metal band to do a video with and that he
wanted it to be us. The song was written about the car I had at the time
and Davey wanted us to go out and do it in the style of ‘Breaking the
Law’ and he had some great ideas for it. It was all his idea and that
video is what got Earache’s attention. Of course getting on Heavy
Metal Killers was great but when (Earache boss) Digby heard more of
the songs and had some conversations with me, we talked about my vision
and he really got behind me as a songwriter which was the main
thing.
We had to go through
some line-up changes but he’s really stuck with me and although it was
down to circumstances beyond our control, the record label didn’t want
to see it happen when it did I’m sure, but kudos to them for sticking
by us. It had to happen, we were having problems with the live
performances too but we now finally have a frontman who wants to
entertain and that’s what Earache wanted.
The last singer was
great in the studio but he didn’t embrace the stage presence much, he
would just kind of stand there and I think everybody from the label is
really excited to see Peter involved now because he gives us so much
from the entertainment aspect. A big part of this genre is the live
performance and we now have a guy who embraces that as well as the
actual singing.
MM:
Absolutely. When I was watching Kiss’ press conference from Download
they guaranteed they would top every other band’s live performance and
they did just that...
JL: Definitely. They’re such an amazing live band. Some of
their songs can be hit and miss but it doesn’t matter because they
have such an amazing show. Paul Stanley’s energy is something else.
Paul and Iggy Pop are the best two frontmen I’ve ever seen.
MM:
When you did the US tour with Korpiklaani, Tyr and Swashbuckle, did you
feel like the odd band out? Was it hard to win over a crowd of Pirates
and Vikings?
JL: It’s funny you should say that because going into it I
was wondering the same thing but the commonality on that tour is that
all the bands are good-time bands you know? The crowd loved us! The
whole thing was fun because no band up there was pissed off at all and
that was great. Korpiklaani is like one big drinking party. They’re up
there having a blast and Tyr are the same way, raising chalices to Pagan
metal and all that and Swashbuckle, they’re just completely crazy! It
was a grouping of bands that really worked because the good-time vibe
was there throughout and the crowd had smiles on their faces no matter
which band was playing. The off-stage problems were a nightmare but the
shows and the crowd reactions to us were extremely positive.
MM:
Given that a number of your influences are British, does touring here
have a unique feel to it? And how are you finding the U.K as a place to
come and tour?
JL: The roots are here for sure, I feel that. It was almost
like a spiritual thing for me when we did Download because of all the
history that Donington has and it’s like a shrine here in some ways.
There are definitely fans here that see where many of our influences
come from so they respect that and it was great when Bruce Dickinson
brought us on his radio show. I mean, to even be on that show is great
but to have him listening to our music and be supportive of us was a
fantastic feeling and a very humbling feeling too.
MM:
I believe you have an exclusive 7” vinyl release available on this
tour?
JL: Yeah, that was a little tribute to Ronnie James Dio that
I did. I was really bummed out when he died and the world really isn’t
the same without him so I wanted to write something in tribute to him
and we’re donating the proceeds to the cancer fund that his family set
up and when I told Earache they were totally behind the idea so I hope
we sell a lot of them.
MM:
Ok cool, well thank you very much and good luck for tonight.
JL: Thank you dude, cheers.
Interview by: Adam
Grindrod
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