John: I guess the first place to start is with Band #1 � Mister Bones. Gimmie the Reader�s Digest summary of what you�re all about, how long you�ve been kicking around, and why in God�s name you keep on changing band members.
Alex: Well Bones is basically a stripped-down amalgamation of numerous influences. With that band I like to keep things more southern/whiskey metal style of thinking. I don�t like to get too kooky and inventive with it, as it is more of a live band than anything else. What we play live and how we do it is what the band is known for the most. Just recently we�ve been writing and coming up with some killer sounds and riffs for a new record. I hope I�ll have time in the near future to demo out some of this stuff and get focused on what needs to be done for the new year, with all projects and bands. I started Bones back in 1999, and yeah, it went through some major morphs and changes, although they were all for good reasons, looking back now. The steady change of line-ups over the years has helped build us where we are now, musically. As the evolution of our band continues, things and people get weeded out, (that may not fit the total goal in mind anymore.) And that goal is to just become amongst the staples in Canadian underground metal/dare I say it, stoner rock scene.
John: Band #2 � The Mighty Nimbus. You replaced original singer Dan Soren last year. Tough act to follow?
Alex: Man is it ever. I think everyone knows how much of an influence Dan�s voice has on me, and how much of an impact it was to tour with him a year and a half ago. I just have to keep trying to remember, that I shouldn�t be comparing my work to his. If anything, I�d want to hear what he thinks of what I�m doing lyrically in TMN. I actually called the guy not too long ago for this same reason (nobody answered). But I will tell yah what, when you hear this new Nimbus record, there will be no doubts that the band as it is NOW, was meant to be together.
John: You recently told me that Mister Bones will be going on hiatus. Even though labels are showing interest in your new material and you�ve had some solid tours, why focus instead on TMN?
Alex: We are going to be recording a new demo of all the material we played on tour, in a studio. Old tunes that are on albums already, and all the new shit. (Most of it)� We plan on sending that off to the labels and taking a long awaited, well-deserved break from Mister Bones. I�ve put so much time and emotions into Bones, that I need a break. I only feel bad that Steve Beard (guitar) has been really pushing like a steamroller to move forward and keep haulin� ass motivating us to write �that record we�ve been waiting to write.� And I think we�ve got some great tones and ideas for the new one, just got to get back into mode. Right now, I�m in Nimbus-writing mode. But in regards to Bones, we�ll be doing this for a long time, (I�ve got way too many demons to go around) and well, if labels are interested or not, there will be products waiting and needing to be released that we hold, and we will tour and continue on, with or without support.
I just feel that now, more than ever, is the time to be focusing on The Mighty Nimbus. The year of the great 100 year storm is coming, the �Nimbus reigns supreme.� It is time, what can I say, with all the hurricane devastations, and Mississippi drowning, this government I think is fucked enough in the head, that they deserve a great 100 year ass kicking! They�ve been waiting to get it for a long time, and I think with this shit going on right now, and being that we�re rounding out almost a year since Dimebag Darrell�s death (assassination) something has got to happen. Doom is coming, and everyone feels it, so why not start one last revolution. An uprising of underground metal.
John: With Mister Bones, it�s pretty much your gig, your baby. How was the transition to Nimbus?
Alex: Pretty smooth, since I knew what it was going to be like on guitar (replacing Larson) first. Although must admit, singing without a guitar in hand is a totally different ball game now. Much more freedom, and the ability to focus more on the vocals is very nice. But not being able to hide behind a guitar is a little revealing. The first time, it felt like Superman being exposed in front of hundreds of people that he was actually Clark Kent. But later, I played off it, and it became the opposite. Er�the Yeti, rather.
John: Oh, wait, I almost forgot about Yeti. Gimmie the low down on that other other project of yours.
Alex: Well, Yeti was designed originally as a workshop for new Bones and Nimbus ideas. Steve Beard and I drove to Minnesota to demo out some stuff with Pete Dinis and Big Andy, and some of the riffs were just undeniable. We just had our first show back home in Windsor with some guys form Bones and some friends who stepped up to jam as Yeti and it was slammin�.
John: And with all these projects, do you ever feel like you�re stretching yourself too thin?
Alex: Sometimes. But I would say this is just a natural progression of what I have to do to become who I�m supposed to be. Not everything that comes out of me is geared towards one type of heavy sounds; I�ve just recently started to branch out.
John: And because people on the site have been asking, how�s the follow up Nimbus record coming along?
Alex: Unbelievably well. It is mutating into a monster� Out of the cold north and into the depths of hell, the demon awakens and has been reborn. The songs are gloomy, HEAVY doom, dripping with the emotion that is equivalent to a beast awakening after 100 years and being very hungry and finding out that the only thing that resembles any kind of food to him is human flesh.
The album is tentatively titled Chronicles of the Northern Beast and will be a concept album. From the beginning to the end, the album will tell the tale of a beast that was created by sections of different points of the universe, and through their travels to find each other�s center that was bringing them all together, they were brought to the cold North (although the cold North is played by a different version of earth in our story). The sheer impact of his own existence made him sleep 100 years. And in his awakening, he reveals true disaster and terror. Bitter with horror he delivers the real Armageddon. For he is the Destroyer of Time. Our hero/villain (you learn to love him) goes back into time to see the world as he knew it; once human in a dream, he recalls the destruction as if it were deja vu. He learns to love time travel the way a crack head loves crack. And begins to go insane from his experiences. He slowly becomes frozen in time, from all the reprehensible damage and carnage he�s caused in the past and future. As things change through time because of his lifeblood and interference of generations past, the future looks to him as a god. His evil later becomes born in the new arrivals to the world, as he has infected the new breed of humans that evolved from natural humans combined with Demon Yeti blood. Sounds like a total fuckin� juggernaut don�t it? Trust me, it is going to rule!
And the best part of it, I�d say we�re pretty close to getting started on the artwork soon. The concept is put together, the songs are done, we just finished pre-production, and will start work in Nov/Dec. Then tour in January. The new songs you can expect them to just sound heavier. You hear it for the first time and you�ll go, �Oh yeah this is definitely The Mighty Nimbus!�
John: Seeing how you came into TMN after the debut was recorded, are there any parts to that album that makes you think, �Man, I wish they did it this way�? And are the other members receptive to that sort of tinkering? Or do they glare at you and call you names?
Alex: Nah, I look at that first Nimbus record as a landmark album. Not many of them exist anymore, but that is one of them. You listen to that from front to back, and it�s like that kind of thing don�t happen anymore. You hear that firstheavy droned wah note that leads off �Everything I See� and you just know you�ll be able to tell what album this is, anywhere, anytime you ever hear it again. It reminds me of a Sabbath record.
John: Erik Larson from ATP was part of TMN when they first belched onto this earth. Is he still working with the band (like leaving messages on the answering machine where he hums riffs)?
Alex: Nah, nothing like that at all� lol We wish him the best with ATP and the gang, but Erik stepped out around Emissions a year ago. Then there was talk about bringing him back for the tour to sing, but that was when I was still on guitar. Him doing the GWAR tour was what brought about the idea of me singing for TMN, and it all worked out like it was meant to be, so for that, I thank him with all my heart�It was for the best.
John: So you�re moving from Canada to Minnesota. What are you going to miss the most?
Alex: Well we�ll see about the move. As there are some difficult steps ahead with that process. But I would probably miss my family and girlfriend the most. If it were to go down the way I�d want it, in a perfect world yah know.
John: How goes The Stoner Rock Revolution?
Alex: SRR.com is offline temporarily until we find a new host. It will be back up and in full effect soon. Once we figure out what our next move will be. All the bands are hard at work with their respective works, and right now, is the part of the game that everyone is looking towards themselves for growth. New albums are coming out, and tours are getting ready for the new year.
John: Ok, this interview was a long time coming. Now�s your chance to rant and rave about, well, whatever.
Alex: just want to thank yah for the opportunity to lay the law down about what�s going on these days. And the future holds a bright path for the Nimbus, and next year will be the year of destruction. We�re hoping to really impact heavy metal and the genre of Doom with this next record. The TMN.com site is being re-worked as well, and we�re paving our own road to get where we need to be. Things are looking good. We�ll also have a track or two ready for download sometime soon too. |
