Who doesn’t know of Midnight (Real name: John Patric McDonald) the amazing original singer of Crimson Glory, with the otherworldly voice that really, made their albums quite unique and possibly recorded some of the most “demanding” vocal parts that I can think of on a relatively commercially successful metal album, back in the day. Unfortunately, after he parted ways with the band and “dropped off the grid” he seemed unable to rebound in a big way and he spent most of his time in seclusion, sporadically trying out some musical endeavors that never seemed to bear any fruits, until he resurfaced decades later (actually by doing an interview with yours truly) who was one of the very early people to follow the “acoustic” adventures of M. Fast forward, several years and several failed attempts to complete the “second” recording attempt the second “M” and it ends up seeing the light of day, posthumously, with Mid, no longer among us, unfortunately. From being just a casual fan of Midnight, Lee Harrison of Monstrosity, ended up acting as the main producer, player as well as an instrumental person in getting these “recordings” made and now finally released. But it would be much better if we’d allow him to tell us how it all happened… I mean, he was there and it’s the best Midnight interview you could ever get with him being absent these days...
Firstly tell us of how you came to be involved with Midnight and how this idea of “M2” came about?
L: Actually, Midnight had already promoted “M2: Descending into Madness” and had taken pre-orders as far back as 2006, before the album was ever recorded. I was a casual fan of Midnight since I was 14 but I didn’t know him personally until May 13th, 2007. I had heard the stories and knew Midnight was trying to finish this record.
Late 2006, early 2007, Matt LaPorte was renting a room from me and at the time I happened to be reading the Ace Frehley book from Gordon GG Gebbert. The book detailed Aces drunken shenanigans in the 80s and Matt and I got into talking about that and other “fallen rock stars”. Midnight’s name came up and he told me crazy stories he had heard about Midnight. That here was this monster talent, but he was living a reclusive life not concerned with the business anymore. Matt and I would have what we called “Painted Skies parties” and we would sit around and listen to the song “Painted Skies” over and over and talk about Midnight.
At the time, Matt was playing with Jon Oliva of Savatage & Transiberian Orchestra fame. He was in Europe on tour and was given the new Midnight CD called “Sakada”. Matt brought it home and we checked it out. The first song “Incubus” came on and to me, it sounded like it was literally recorded in 1973. I was put off by the rough production and the sort of sloppy execution of the music. However, it sounded like Midnight’s voice was intact. It wasn’t the soaring high notes but it was Midnight’s unique voice that was his and his alone. A few days later, I popped the CD in again and I discovered “Berber Trails” and “Ms. Katie” and fell in love with the imagery that these songs conveyed. After a few days, I just went back to whatever I was working on and really didn’t think about it for several months.
We were following the stories about Midnight on Blabbermouth detailing the short lived Crimson Glory reunion and the big plans they announced in 2006. Then we read about his DUI and how quickly Crimson Glory fired him after that.
So sometime between Feb and March of 2007, Matt contacted Midnight through email offering to work together on things. Next thing you know Mid was in touch and he set up a date to meet Matt. Midnight had no idea who I was at that point and I was just kind of hanging on the side lines ready to help if I could. I had no idea that I would end up as the main producer of the whole thing even though I’m glad things worked out that way. The fact is, I am responsible for creating an entire library of new music for Midnight.
Most people were wary of Mid’s reputation, myself included. I don’t even drink, so I was apprehensive about working with him because he was getting such bad press at the time. It was all still a mystery to us and we had to see for ourselves what was going on. I got the full treatment and got to witness first hand all of the trials and tribulations going on with him at the time. It was eye opening to say the least.
So the date had been set to meet up with Midnight and just to be ready for anything, I brought all my recording/video gear along just in case. Matt and I had come from more progressive/technical music so we were all over Midnight’s 4 chord simple strummers. With Mid’s songs, the vocal melody is the focus and we were able to add to them and turn them into what you hear on the recording. The thought was to add the killer background music to Midnight’s awesome vocal melodies. Also, to just catch him in his natural state of just a voice and an acoustic guitar. He had lots of simple little song ideas and stuff that we captured. There were also tons we never captured, unfortunately.
Our original intent was to bring him back to the “Transcendence” style, or even heavier, but he had grown in other directions and it soon became apparent that wasn’t going to happen. He was pretty negative towards Crimson Glory at this time and insisted Jon Drenning in particular had taken his ideas and would change a word or two and then want to take equal credit for his songs. He cited “Lost Reflection” as an example. Jon added the heavy part at the end and that gave him a credit on the album. Now to me personally, that heavy riff is actually the same chords that Midnight plays through the whole beginning, so technically it’s still all Midnight as far as I’m concerned. Adding distortion wouldn’t justify a writing credit to me but to not rock the boat or cause friction we left out the heavy part from our 2008 version for that very reason.
Anyway, we more or less, just fell into the direction he was already headed and tried to capture his ideas as pure as we could. He would do something and we would fall in love with it and then the next week he would totally change it and we would have to fight him to keep it or get used to the new way. The beauty was every song didn’t have to be a full orchestration with 4 stacked rhythm guitars and all that. Sure, you needed some stuff like that just to mix it up but a lot of his best work was just him and an acoustic guitar.
Phil Anderson and his Hammered Dulcimer was also something new and different for us. The Dulcimer created this cascading waterfall of sound and was very unique thing to witness in what was supposedly a rock/metal setting. Phil was the producer for “Sakada” and kind of musical director for that record. He has a very old school vibe and that’s where the production values of “Sakada” stemmed from. We actually had some pretty in depth conversations about it and basically Phil’s outlook was “set up the mics, play the song 3 times, pick the best version, and done”. Their outlook was they felt modern productions were too sterile and didn’t have any bite. While I can understand that line of thinking, the sonics of “Sakada” were lacking to me and I wanted to step Midnight back into a more modern production. Maybe try to find a better balance between the two. Phil explained how Black Lotus Records demanded to remix the “Sakada” album themselves and had ruined what Phil felt was a good mix and how they did the best they could with the budget they had. Phil said they had started out doing a totally different style project and that Black Lotus wanted them to go back and make it more of a metal album to appeal to Midnight’s Crimson Glory audience. Thus, that is why “Sakada” was such a radical departure for Midnight.
So for the first year I would drive down weekly to Sarasota from Tampa and record Midnight singing on top of whatever Matt and I had worked on during that particular week. Sometimes, Mid would surprise us and pull out something we had never heard and all of a sudden we were going full steam on that idea. For instance, after the first year, he came up to stay with me in Tampa for a bit and I remember he slept really good the first night and woke up and was singing great. I set up a guitar and a mic and he just started pouring out all these ideas we hadn’t heard yet. Songs he had in his arsenal that we didn’t even know he had. We had been hanging out with him for a year and suddenly, out of nowhere, he pulls out “Cold Caves”, “The Field”, “Garden of Stone”, “Little Aquafina”, “The Plow”, and all these other songs which we didn’t know existed. It was like “what???”. In our minds the album was taking shape in one direction and now with all these new ideas that’s when it hit me that this was going to be a bigger concept than we originally thought. We got so much done on that day, it was a very inspirational time. I had to go back to the drawing board with all these new ideas to flesh out.
So while we trying to figure out how we were going to release all of this stuff we just kept working. Adding more and more songs to the list. Matt and I would work on the music and then have Mid sing on top of it. I would go back the following week and have him do another pass just to see if we could improve on what we had. Songs like “Carnival 2” and “The Last Forever” were done like that. Where a song like “Silver Balloon” we only heard him sing the one time it was recorded and it was almost never discussed again. We had a finished version and that was it. I’ve got the video of him doing that and it’s great because there’s like 7 people all standing around him watching him get this take down. Everyone is trying to be quiet but you can hear every little sound. The tension was mounting and mounting and right in the middle of the take his dog “Little Guy” lets out this big bark. Midnight finished the song anyway probably thinking to himself, “great, there’s a dog barking in the middle of the song” and that it was ruined. Luckily, I was able to edit out the actual dog bark and turn it into a backwards reverb effect and it worked out great. You would never know it.
Another classic thing that happened was the song “Motorcycles”. It’s not a real song per se, as it’s actually a free style jam from the day we met Mid. Phil Anderson was doing some Dulcimer stuff and Mid was scatting along doing some falsettos and then he starts with some phrase off of the top of his head. As soon as he finishes his first line a motorcycle literally goes tearing down the street. Midnight doesn’t miss a beat and incorporates it into the lyrics and it was just a classic moment in time that I was able to capture. We thought it would be cool to add to the bonus disc (disc 3).
Tell us who else got involved in the project and how you went about selected the players/guests?
L: When we came into it, Midnight was only working with Phil Anderson. Tim Fredenburg was loosely managing him but there wasn’t much happening at the time we came along. Midnight had gotten his well-documented DUI and had been fired from Crimson Glory (Midnight didn’t realize he was fired. He always maintained he had already quit the band by that time). So, mostly it was Matt LaPorte and I working on things. We started out working together on things but before long we were doing our own stuff separately too. For instance, when we started we did a new version of “Pain” because Matt liked it and wanted to extend some part that never got extended but we redid it. We didn’t like the out of tune noodling that was all over the “Sakada” version either so we wanted to rectify that. That was sort of both of us working together, where as I did “Cold Caves” on my own... or “Egyptian Lullaby” was something where Matt did that on his own. Then I would record all of Midnight’s vocals on top of whatever we had finished.
As for the keyboardists, we brought in John Zahner originally, who played keys in Crimson Glory back in “Transcendence” days. He did a bunch of great stuff for the recordings. However, after the ill-fated 2008 ProgPower show Zahner put out a statement about the show saying Midnight had gone down the Sid Barrett highway or something to that effect and it bothered Mid so we brought in a guy named Zane Black who had been talking with Mid for years but never managed to get together. With Zane, we got down “Windows”, most importantly. That song almost didn’t come to life. It was one of the last things we did, almost as an afterthought but it really turned out great in the end. Zane did some other stuff too on the unreleased “Covers album” (coming 2015/2016?!?!) So the main list of players on the recording were: Midnight, Matt LaPorte, Phil Anderson, John Zahner, Zane Black, and myself (Lee Harrison). The rest of the players were just guests and weren’t involved directly with what we were doing.
We had another guitarist involved for a short while named Dan Pocengal, but there were already too many cooks in the kitchen and he got frustrated and bowed out. He was a good guy though and handled the job respectfully.
Tell us a few things about Midnight and Matt, obviously they are no longer with us and it’s sad. How where these guys on a personal level? How do you feel now in retrospect and do you think they could have been “saved”?
L: I think Midnight could have bought more time had he gone into the hospital right away. He procrastinated and it cost him. He was aware of the damage he was doing but he felt it was part of the show. It was what made it rock and roll to him. He was very into that idea of the Jim Morrison, fallen rock star thing. He would say he needed his “music juice” and without it he couldn’t perform. That’s just how he felt. There was a balance he felt he could achieve and that was where the magic was. I, of course, told him the magic was actually within him, but he had his reasoning.
What could I say? When I came into the project, I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t do what Ozzy Osbourne did and corral his drinking and partying until after the gig. Midnight promised me when the time came he would do what it took to sober up for the gig. He kept his promise and before we went to do the Prog Power show in 2008 I took him to the hospital and he checked himself in without a struggle at all. He had done what I asked. Unfortunately, what I didn’t know, is how fragile he was going to be after getting out. So for that gig, he was hurting and we were trying to get him through the show but it just turned into a bigger nightmare. It was very disheartening. He really needed more time and at that point wasn’t willing to go the miles needed to get truly sober.
Then the Prog Power forum blew up on Mid. Very negative, hurtful things were being said about his performance. The irony was 2 years later being at the same festival after he passed away and Crimson Glory headlining a tribute to Midnight and the whole room celebrating him. It was very bittersweet and for me, caused a lot of mixed feelings. I remembered how hard they bashed him and now he was king?! It seemed opportunistic on Crimson Glory’s behalf to re-launch their career on the back of Midnight’s death but at the same time, glad that at least he was being celebrated finally.
Before Mid passed, Crimson Glory was considered a “dead issue” in the business with anyone else but Midnight fronting the band. They tried with Wade Black but it was just a different animal and the fans weren’t having it. The fans wanted Midnight. Once Midnight died, the doors opened up again for Crimson Glory because the fans knew there could be no reunion now since Mid had passed and it seemed they were willing to accept someone else now. It seemed logical for them to go on with Wade at that point but then the whole “Todd LaTorre” thing happened.
With regards to Midnight, do you think that from his “heyday” he had really done great damage to himself to the point his performances were really affected?
L: I can safely say the guy from the backyard party video in 1988 is not the singer we met in 2007. He was obviously much healthier and in a better state when he was younger. Having said that, there are a couple of things you have to understand. First, Midnight didn’t want to be the constantly shrieking high pitched singer. He was more into folky stuff and “regular” singing stuff.
Now maybe the reason he didn’t like it is because it was such a struggle for him to do that kind of stuff. He did claim it was easier for him to sing the high stuff though, so I don’t know. He only did high screams a handful of times around me and I captured most of them and used them where I could... (i.e “Last Forever”, “Pain”, and “Seven Angels”)
The other thing is that Midnight would sing until he was blue in the face. He would damage his voice from that. He would just keep going and going and eventually his voice was shredded. He would get on a roll and just keep going. He was a very loud singer too so he was pushing his voice for sure.
To answer your question though, I will say it really depended on what day it was. Certain days he was in great shape and could pull off things with total ease. Other days he would be in rough shape and we would be working, knowing most of the stuff wouldn’t be used but we would call it “practice” or “stock footage”. Some times he was in the middle and I would just capture it all and then figure it out later whether we could use any of it.
How much were you involved with “M2”’s material in terms of orchestrating and arranging stuff?
L: Only a few things were finished when we came along but even that stuff we either re-did or we added some things. It just depends on which particular song we’re talking about.
For instance “Doc and Kate” is mostly me and my idea built from Midnight’s simple little demo idea that starts the song. I built it up to have a kind of a Bonham/Zeppelin swagger to it with a few added technical bits here and there. Matt came up with the idea for the ragtime piano solo thing in there. The slide guitar is just enhancement to add to the western feel.
Something like “Cold Caves” was just a verse and I came up with the arrangement idea and built it into the song. Matt had the idea for the sax which was brilliant. So even though we did some things on our own we still got together and collaborated on it all. Things like the heavier version of “Seven Angels” and “Tea for Two” were more or less taken from a demo Mid did with Atheist guitar player Rand Burkey. We just did our own thing and I ended up writing the whole ending section of “Seven Angels” by accident.
Describe “M2”, the different configurations, (single/triple CD) the issues with getting the “release” out and how it can be obtained?
L: Right now we have 2 versions available. We have the 3 CD digipak version which is the 36 song version. (The album is actually 2 discs with a 3rd as bonus stuff). We also have the 12 song version for the casual listeners. We are working on possible vinyl versions and a lyric book as well. Right now, the CDs are available through the Conquest Music website (www.conquestmusic.com). We had started to do some mail order stuff before he passed away but I stopped when he died. Now I am moving forward with our original plan. Things like not having the lyrics printed in a little tiny CD booklet but made into a nice lyric book was something Midnight wanted and I want to complete his original vision exactly as he wanted.
Recently there was a performance done in memory of Midnight with members of Crimson Glory participating as well as a lot of local talent from the Florida scene paying their respects as well. Can you tell us a few more things about that event since I take it you must have been present as it doubled as a release party for the “release of M2”?
L: Yeah, unfortunately that didn’t go quite as we had planned. I didn’t even realize it until a few weeks after when I saw the video. I really didn’t think it was too bad when I was in the moment but when I watch back and see the video I can see things differently. There were moments that were great but unfortunately there was a lot of dead time and people not being ready. The biggest highlight for me without question was having Midnight’s daughters come out and Ariel sang a song and that end of it went really well. Ariel was awesome and really blew everyone away. Hopefully, we did something good for his family to celebrate Midnight and his legacy.
The main singer we used on “Nightmare” had a really uncanny knack for capturing Mid’s inflections so that was cool. I was able to do the throne idea that Midnight and I had discussed. My mistake was making it so wide open with too many people instead of just making a set band. It just wasn’t rehearsed enough. Simply, we needed more time. So, if there is ever a next time that will be what I do differently. Just have a core band and that’s it. It just became too crazy with certain people wanting things to be their way and all that kind of stuff. A few more rehearsals would have helped flesh all of that out.
We were lucky to have Twinkle and her brother Tony LeClerc involved. Buddy Yochim is their Dad who was the Allman Brothers manager and Twinkle has a solo career of her own, she was on Atlantic Records, and is a backup singer for Dickie Betts of the Allmans etc. So they have kind of a Southern Rock cred thing going and she really nailed “Boxes” and the songs she sang. It was cool not just having it be a guy’s voice all night too. Kinda mixed things up.
Another awesome talent we utilized was a 14 year old drummer who is a local prodigy from Sarasota named Kei Bland. He really did a great job too and went the extra mile to learn his parts the right way. He was instrumental in pulling it all off and was a huge help.
We had Bill Hudson, Bobby Kovacs, Phil Anderson, Ryan Bales, Jake Skylar, Spirit Zollo, Mark English, and the Schmitz brothers, also help with the performance. Everyone did a good job it just needed fine tuning.
We had hoped to bring in Jon Oliva for the performance. We thought it would have been cool to have him do the “Painted Skies” duet but he had fallen and broken a rib the week before and he wasn’t able to make it. We were hoping Todd would make it as well, but he was busy with Queensryche.
Most importantly about the Memorial Show, was that it started the final push to get the CDs out. If the tribute show didn’t happen the CDs would probably still be on my hard drives. So whatever happened, it was a positive thing ultimately.
Midnight also had recorded some of his most favorite cover songs which are supposed to surface at some point? And the “2 DVDs” dubbed as “A Strange Tea Party” which are actually various clips from the making of “M2” with performance of various of these songs I take it? Care to inform us on those two “future” endeavors. Maybe even offer a possible time frame for their release?
L: Yes!!! I have tons of material to release yet. I think the plan for now is to continue pushing “M2 DIM” until after the New Year, hopefully do the lyric book, and hopefully a condensed vinyl version of some sort. Then hopefully in the Spring, come out with “Ultimate M” deluxe reissue containing all 3 mixes of “M”. Followed by “All Souls Midnight” deluxe edition which I have already fixed up immensely to be released in the Fall/Winter 2015. The plan is to replace the “DIM” tracks that were included on “All Souls Midnight” with the newly found “Lost Barn Tape 1997”. Midnight’s brother Matt found an old cassette tape in a box “in the attic” and gave it to us to restore and release. It is such an awesome find and has 4 songs. I also went back through my archives and reconstructed 2 different versions of “Far Way” which are so much clearer than the “Bells Mix” that Matt did on the original version of “All Souls Midnight”. A new mix of the song “Transcendence” will be included as well as an unbelievable never heard before version of “O Holy Night” from 2008. If you remember, we had found an old cassette with the original Christmas recording he had made back in the 90s. Matt and I wanted to do new versions of these songs but only finished two. “What Child is This? 2008” we finished early on and that made it to the first version of “All Souls Midnight” but the new “O Holy Night” wasn’t finished then, so now it will be added to the new version. It’s all still tentative but those are my plans at this point.
Going back to Midnight and all those vocalists from that era, Tate etc... what was the thing that made them stand apart and what did you think was Midnight’s “best quality” as a vocalist even if your collaboration came at a time when he was not at his forte?
L: Well, I think the emotion he could capture was his strong point. He had a very unique voice to say the least and it could be either the high pitched screams or the soft lilting lullabies that he could pull off. It was a natural talent for him. He didn’t really practice or do any training. He just sang and there it was. That was his voice. I take that back, he did train and practice but he didn’t need to. It was just a natural gift he had.
Normally most people would know you from Monstrosity and your various projects, which are numerous actually. Introduce yourself musically a bit to people that might not be wholly aware of who you are and where do you come from musically... (i.e. influences, favorite players)
L: I was infected by Kiss at 7 years old thanks to my neighborhood friend Brace Boone. (editor’s note: Now you know who to blame!) I wanted to play guitar originally but I’m left handed and I was trying to play guitar left handed. My Dad forced me to play a right handed guitar (thankfully) but I was discouraged at the time since it was still awkward so I kind of gave up for a while. Later, my Dad got me hooked up with drum lessons from a great drummer named Steve Rucker. Steve, at the time was in the University of Miami Jazz band and went on to do a 10 year stint as the drummer for the Bee Gees. (He can be seen on the Bee Gees DVD from Wembley Stadium.) I was more naturally inclined to play drums and I remember the liberation I felt the first time Steve let me “go off” on his drums. I continued with the drums as my focus but also remember picking up the guitar of whoever I would happen to be playing with at the time and getting slowly better and better on that.
I started playing professionally in 1989 in a band called Malevolent Creation. I was instrumental in getting that band signed to the Roadrunner label, since I sent in the video that first got them interested, but it didn’t work out with them. Within a year, I started Monstrosity with Mark Van Erp and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher who you might know as the current front man for Cannibal Corpse. George moved onto Cannibal Corpse and I kept Monstrosity going with different players. Monstrosity is still together and we’re working on a new album at the moment. We’re about half way done with it now. In Monstrosity, I am the drummer, but I’ve done touring work with Obituary as the guitarist and currently I’m playing guitar in Terrorizer which features ex-Morbid Angel drummer Pete Sandoval. I also play bass in a cover band locally for side work so I’m always playing somewhere usually every single weekend.
I also have my solo “rock” project where I sing and play all of the instruments, I handle the production, art, etc. That project is called Lavoizen and I started it to go against my “natural” instincts of playing heavy. It was so easy for me to write heavy riffs that I wanted to challenge myself and go “the other direction”. That was the challenge. I wrote the songs in a very “stream of consciousness” type setting. Letting everything “flow” and not force anything. I ended up with about 50 or 60 songs and I’ve whittled that down to about 20 strong songs I’ve got ready to go for an album. My problem is I want a really huge production and I just don’t have the budget for my vision. I’ve got some great demo recordings that I may end up putting out. It just depends on what I can get done.
You got this company Conquest Music that you use to publish most of your musical endeavors and that “M2”, came out on. As both a musician and an “industry professional” what is your take in the changing climate in the business? Has piracy killed, the “radio, movie, record star” and even probably might get the cockroaches “torrented”? What’s your take on the matter and what do you think could be done? Streaming seemed to be gaining ground and like a nice alternative to piracy, but the actual payouts are really small.
L: Don’t have much of a comment. I see it both ways. The fans have a point. They get this commercial crap forced down their throats by the big record companies charging $18.99 for a CD at the mall. The bands were getting ripped off the whole time and the industry was so cut throat that it is nice to see the power being taken away from the big boys who decide who is “in the club” or not. For the smaller labels that sprung up in the 80s, it brought a freshness to music but slowly the same “rock and roll” tactics were creeping into the underground. The pay to play, the behind the scenes blacklisting of certain bands or players etc. it’s still not a nice place to exist. On the other hand, people are stealing our music left and right. No one buys CDs anymore. I think a lot of people have been exposed to our music that otherwise wouldn't be thanks to YouTube and other streaming sites, so who knows?!?! I definitely see both sides.
Is there another person with whom you’d like to collaborate after “this”?
L: Sure, there are many but nothing that is total necessity. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to fulfill many ideas and play with respectable players. From playing with Obituary to recording the Jon Oliva duet in my living room, to playing with Midnight and capturing what I did, to now playing with Terrorizer. I don’t really know what I could do next. I just want to do things my way, more and more, as I get older.
What does the future hold out for you, in terms of “Mid” projects?
L: As I said before, the plan is to do the Lyric book, vinyl versions of “M2DIM”. Then after that we can hopefully move on to deluxe versions of “M” and “All Souls Midnight” for 2015, and then the “Covers” disc and finally the “making of” DVD for 2016. It’s all tentative, but I want to get it out there that this is not a “one and done” project. I want to keep Midnight’s legacy alive and since there is so much left to release, why not? He wanted it out there for his fans. I also have interviews and some raw demos that could be utilized in some way too further down the road.
Do you think, Midnight’s former band Crimson Glory will ever manage to get it together following the on and offs they had with him, finding and then losing a guy like Todd La Torre ?
L: Anything is possible, but from the conversations I’ve had with Ben Jackson it seems like they are moving on with their respective individual projects and aren’t actively seeking a replacement for Todd. Ben and Dana are awesome, totally great guys, and Midnight always said how much he loved them. I only know those two guys so I can’t speak about Jon or Jeff. I’m sure if the right guy came along they would attempt a comeback, but guys like Midnight and Todd don’t come along very often.
I remember Mid had just passed away when Matt first brought Todd LaTorre to my house to record a demo so he could get an audition with Crimson Glory. I know Matt would be 100% blown away had he known that Todd would go on to join Queensryche. He would have loved to see that, for sure. Todd is a great guy and a phenomenal talent and I know he had to face a lot of tough criticisms when replacing Midnight.
What are your musical plans, as LH/projects/Monstrosity? Any tours?
L: Actually, I’m in Brazil now on tour with Terrorizer at the moment and just looking to get back to finish the long awaited Monstrosity record we have been working on. That is my top priority. We’re about half way finished with that and once that is done I will be able to focus on other things. We have more touring planned for both Monstrosity and Terrorizer so I plan to stay as busy as I can. I want to do my Lavoizen album eventually and maybe do some shows with that as well. We will see what happens...
Please salute our readers & your Greek fans…
L: I’ve always heard such great things about the Greek scene. I’d like to get over there eventually and see it for myself. There’s definitely some great talents in Greece as well. People like Seth from Septic Flesh, George Kollias etc. are totally on another level and are well respected in what they are doing. There’s tons more too. I remember talking with Jim Morris when he was doing the live Iced Earth record and he told me how into the fans were there. So yes, it would be great to visit to see for myself. So thanks Dimitrios for the interview and support regarding this Midnight stuff. All the best...
Thanks to www.conquestmusic.com & Lee Harrison for the interview. Head over to the Conquest Music Site to order “M2: DIM”.
L: Actually, Midnight had already promoted “M2: Descending into Madness” and had taken pre-orders as far back as 2006, before the album was ever recorded. I was a casual fan of Midnight since I was 14 but I didn’t know him personally until May 13th, 2007. I had heard the stories and knew Midnight was trying to finish this record.
Late 2006, early 2007, Matt LaPorte was renting a room from me and at the time I happened to be reading the Ace Frehley book from Gordon GG Gebbert. The book detailed Aces drunken shenanigans in the 80s and Matt and I got into talking about that and other “fallen rock stars”. Midnight’s name came up and he told me crazy stories he had heard about Midnight. That here was this monster talent, but he was living a reclusive life not concerned with the business anymore. Matt and I would have what we called “Painted Skies parties” and we would sit around and listen to the song “Painted Skies” over and over and talk about Midnight.
At the time, Matt was playing with Jon Oliva of Savatage & Transiberian Orchestra fame. He was in Europe on tour and was given the new Midnight CD called “Sakada”. Matt brought it home and we checked it out. The first song “Incubus” came on and to me, it sounded like it was literally recorded in 1973. I was put off by the rough production and the sort of sloppy execution of the music. However, it sounded like Midnight’s voice was intact. It wasn’t the soaring high notes but it was Midnight’s unique voice that was his and his alone. A few days later, I popped the CD in again and I discovered “Berber Trails” and “Ms. Katie” and fell in love with the imagery that these songs conveyed. After a few days, I just went back to whatever I was working on and really didn’t think about it for several months.
We were following the stories about Midnight on Blabbermouth detailing the short lived Crimson Glory reunion and the big plans they announced in 2006. Then we read about his DUI and how quickly Crimson Glory fired him after that.
So sometime between Feb and March of 2007, Matt contacted Midnight through email offering to work together on things. Next thing you know Mid was in touch and he set up a date to meet Matt. Midnight had no idea who I was at that point and I was just kind of hanging on the side lines ready to help if I could. I had no idea that I would end up as the main producer of the whole thing even though I’m glad things worked out that way. The fact is, I am responsible for creating an entire library of new music for Midnight.
Most people were wary of Mid’s reputation, myself included. I don’t even drink, so I was apprehensive about working with him because he was getting such bad press at the time. It was all still a mystery to us and we had to see for ourselves what was going on. I got the full treatment and got to witness first hand all of the trials and tribulations going on with him at the time. It was eye opening to say the least.
So the date had been set to meet up with Midnight and just to be ready for anything, I brought all my recording/video gear along just in case. Matt and I had come from more progressive/technical music so we were all over Midnight’s 4 chord simple strummers. With Mid’s songs, the vocal melody is the focus and we were able to add to them and turn them into what you hear on the recording. The thought was to add the killer background music to Midnight’s awesome vocal melodies. Also, to just catch him in his natural state of just a voice and an acoustic guitar. He had lots of simple little song ideas and stuff that we captured. There were also tons we never captured, unfortunately.
Our original intent was to bring him back to the “Transcendence” style, or even heavier, but he had grown in other directions and it soon became apparent that wasn’t going to happen. He was pretty negative towards Crimson Glory at this time and insisted Jon Drenning in particular had taken his ideas and would change a word or two and then want to take equal credit for his songs. He cited “Lost Reflection” as an example. Jon added the heavy part at the end and that gave him a credit on the album. Now to me personally, that heavy riff is actually the same chords that Midnight plays through the whole beginning, so technically it’s still all Midnight as far as I’m concerned. Adding distortion wouldn’t justify a writing credit to me but to not rock the boat or cause friction we left out the heavy part from our 2008 version for that very reason.
Anyway, we more or less, just fell into the direction he was already headed and tried to capture his ideas as pure as we could. He would do something and we would fall in love with it and then the next week he would totally change it and we would have to fight him to keep it or get used to the new way. The beauty was every song didn’t have to be a full orchestration with 4 stacked rhythm guitars and all that. Sure, you needed some stuff like that just to mix it up but a lot of his best work was just him and an acoustic guitar.
Phil Anderson and his Hammered Dulcimer was also something new and different for us. The Dulcimer created this cascading waterfall of sound and was very unique thing to witness in what was supposedly a rock/metal setting. Phil was the producer for “Sakada” and kind of musical director for that record. He has a very old school vibe and that’s where the production values of “Sakada” stemmed from. We actually had some pretty in depth conversations about it and basically Phil’s outlook was “set up the mics, play the song 3 times, pick the best version, and done”. Their outlook was they felt modern productions were too sterile and didn’t have any bite. While I can understand that line of thinking, the sonics of “Sakada” were lacking to me and I wanted to step Midnight back into a more modern production. Maybe try to find a better balance between the two. Phil explained how Black Lotus Records demanded to remix the “Sakada” album themselves and had ruined what Phil felt was a good mix and how they did the best they could with the budget they had. Phil said they had started out doing a totally different style project and that Black Lotus wanted them to go back and make it more of a metal album to appeal to Midnight’s Crimson Glory audience. Thus, that is why “Sakada” was such a radical departure for Midnight.
So for the first year I would drive down weekly to Sarasota from Tampa and record Midnight singing on top of whatever Matt and I had worked on during that particular week. Sometimes, Mid would surprise us and pull out something we had never heard and all of a sudden we were going full steam on that idea. For instance, after the first year, he came up to stay with me in Tampa for a bit and I remember he slept really good the first night and woke up and was singing great. I set up a guitar and a mic and he just started pouring out all these ideas we hadn’t heard yet. Songs he had in his arsenal that we didn’t even know he had. We had been hanging out with him for a year and suddenly, out of nowhere, he pulls out “Cold Caves”, “The Field”, “Garden of Stone”, “Little Aquafina”, “The Plow”, and all these other songs which we didn’t know existed. It was like “what???”. In our minds the album was taking shape in one direction and now with all these new ideas that’s when it hit me that this was going to be a bigger concept than we originally thought. We got so much done on that day, it was a very inspirational time. I had to go back to the drawing board with all these new ideas to flesh out.
So while we trying to figure out how we were going to release all of this stuff we just kept working. Adding more and more songs to the list. Matt and I would work on the music and then have Mid sing on top of it. I would go back the following week and have him do another pass just to see if we could improve on what we had. Songs like “Carnival 2” and “The Last Forever” were done like that. Where a song like “Silver Balloon” we only heard him sing the one time it was recorded and it was almost never discussed again. We had a finished version and that was it. I’ve got the video of him doing that and it’s great because there’s like 7 people all standing around him watching him get this take down. Everyone is trying to be quiet but you can hear every little sound. The tension was mounting and mounting and right in the middle of the take his dog “Little Guy” lets out this big bark. Midnight finished the song anyway probably thinking to himself, “great, there’s a dog barking in the middle of the song” and that it was ruined. Luckily, I was able to edit out the actual dog bark and turn it into a backwards reverb effect and it worked out great. You would never know it.
Another classic thing that happened was the song “Motorcycles”. It’s not a real song per se, as it’s actually a free style jam from the day we met Mid. Phil Anderson was doing some Dulcimer stuff and Mid was scatting along doing some falsettos and then he starts with some phrase off of the top of his head. As soon as he finishes his first line a motorcycle literally goes tearing down the street. Midnight doesn’t miss a beat and incorporates it into the lyrics and it was just a classic moment in time that I was able to capture. We thought it would be cool to add to the bonus disc (disc 3).
Tell us who else got involved in the project and how you went about selected the players/guests?
L: When we came into it, Midnight was only working with Phil Anderson. Tim Fredenburg was loosely managing him but there wasn’t much happening at the time we came along. Midnight had gotten his well-documented DUI and had been fired from Crimson Glory (Midnight didn’t realize he was fired. He always maintained he had already quit the band by that time). So, mostly it was Matt LaPorte and I working on things. We started out working together on things but before long we were doing our own stuff separately too. For instance, when we started we did a new version of “Pain” because Matt liked it and wanted to extend some part that never got extended but we redid it. We didn’t like the out of tune noodling that was all over the “Sakada” version either so we wanted to rectify that. That was sort of both of us working together, where as I did “Cold Caves” on my own... or “Egyptian Lullaby” was something where Matt did that on his own. Then I would record all of Midnight’s vocals on top of whatever we had finished.
As for the keyboardists, we brought in John Zahner originally, who played keys in Crimson Glory back in “Transcendence” days. He did a bunch of great stuff for the recordings. However, after the ill-fated 2008 ProgPower show Zahner put out a statement about the show saying Midnight had gone down the Sid Barrett highway or something to that effect and it bothered Mid so we brought in a guy named Zane Black who had been talking with Mid for years but never managed to get together. With Zane, we got down “Windows”, most importantly. That song almost didn’t come to life. It was one of the last things we did, almost as an afterthought but it really turned out great in the end. Zane did some other stuff too on the unreleased “Covers album” (coming 2015/2016?!?!) So the main list of players on the recording were: Midnight, Matt LaPorte, Phil Anderson, John Zahner, Zane Black, and myself (Lee Harrison). The rest of the players were just guests and weren’t involved directly with what we were doing.
We had another guitarist involved for a short while named Dan Pocengal, but there were already too many cooks in the kitchen and he got frustrated and bowed out. He was a good guy though and handled the job respectfully.
Tell us a few things about Midnight and Matt, obviously they are no longer with us and it’s sad. How where these guys on a personal level? How do you feel now in retrospect and do you think they could have been “saved”?
L: I think Midnight could have bought more time had he gone into the hospital right away. He procrastinated and it cost him. He was aware of the damage he was doing but he felt it was part of the show. It was what made it rock and roll to him. He was very into that idea of the Jim Morrison, fallen rock star thing. He would say he needed his “music juice” and without it he couldn’t perform. That’s just how he felt. There was a balance he felt he could achieve and that was where the magic was. I, of course, told him the magic was actually within him, but he had his reasoning.
What could I say? When I came into the project, I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t do what Ozzy Osbourne did and corral his drinking and partying until after the gig. Midnight promised me when the time came he would do what it took to sober up for the gig. He kept his promise and before we went to do the Prog Power show in 2008 I took him to the hospital and he checked himself in without a struggle at all. He had done what I asked. Unfortunately, what I didn’t know, is how fragile he was going to be after getting out. So for that gig, he was hurting and we were trying to get him through the show but it just turned into a bigger nightmare. It was very disheartening. He really needed more time and at that point wasn’t willing to go the miles needed to get truly sober.
Then the Prog Power forum blew up on Mid. Very negative, hurtful things were being said about his performance. The irony was 2 years later being at the same festival after he passed away and Crimson Glory headlining a tribute to Midnight and the whole room celebrating him. It was very bittersweet and for me, caused a lot of mixed feelings. I remembered how hard they bashed him and now he was king?! It seemed opportunistic on Crimson Glory’s behalf to re-launch their career on the back of Midnight’s death but at the same time, glad that at least he was being celebrated finally.
Before Mid passed, Crimson Glory was considered a “dead issue” in the business with anyone else but Midnight fronting the band. They tried with Wade Black but it was just a different animal and the fans weren’t having it. The fans wanted Midnight. Once Midnight died, the doors opened up again for Crimson Glory because the fans knew there could be no reunion now since Mid had passed and it seemed they were willing to accept someone else now. It seemed logical for them to go on with Wade at that point but then the whole “Todd LaTorre” thing happened.
With regards to Midnight, do you think that from his “heyday” he had really done great damage to himself to the point his performances were really affected?
L: I can safely say the guy from the backyard party video in 1988 is not the singer we met in 2007. He was obviously much healthier and in a better state when he was younger. Having said that, there are a couple of things you have to understand. First, Midnight didn’t want to be the constantly shrieking high pitched singer. He was more into folky stuff and “regular” singing stuff.
Now maybe the reason he didn’t like it is because it was such a struggle for him to do that kind of stuff. He did claim it was easier for him to sing the high stuff though, so I don’t know. He only did high screams a handful of times around me and I captured most of them and used them where I could... (i.e “Last Forever”, “Pain”, and “Seven Angels”)
The other thing is that Midnight would sing until he was blue in the face. He would damage his voice from that. He would just keep going and going and eventually his voice was shredded. He would get on a roll and just keep going. He was a very loud singer too so he was pushing his voice for sure.
To answer your question though, I will say it really depended on what day it was. Certain days he was in great shape and could pull off things with total ease. Other days he would be in rough shape and we would be working, knowing most of the stuff wouldn’t be used but we would call it “practice” or “stock footage”. Some times he was in the middle and I would just capture it all and then figure it out later whether we could use any of it.
How much were you involved with “M2”’s material in terms of orchestrating and arranging stuff?
L: Only a few things were finished when we came along but even that stuff we either re-did or we added some things. It just depends on which particular song we’re talking about.
For instance “Doc and Kate” is mostly me and my idea built from Midnight’s simple little demo idea that starts the song. I built it up to have a kind of a Bonham/Zeppelin swagger to it with a few added technical bits here and there. Matt came up with the idea for the ragtime piano solo thing in there. The slide guitar is just enhancement to add to the western feel.
Something like “Cold Caves” was just a verse and I came up with the arrangement idea and built it into the song. Matt had the idea for the sax which was brilliant. So even though we did some things on our own we still got together and collaborated on it all. Things like the heavier version of “Seven Angels” and “Tea for Two” were more or less taken from a demo Mid did with Atheist guitar player Rand Burkey. We just did our own thing and I ended up writing the whole ending section of “Seven Angels” by accident.
Describe “M2”, the different configurations, (single/triple CD) the issues with getting the “release” out and how it can be obtained?
L: Right now we have 2 versions available. We have the 3 CD digipak version which is the 36 song version. (The album is actually 2 discs with a 3rd as bonus stuff). We also have the 12 song version for the casual listeners. We are working on possible vinyl versions and a lyric book as well. Right now, the CDs are available through the Conquest Music website (www.conquestmusic.com). We had started to do some mail order stuff before he passed away but I stopped when he died. Now I am moving forward with our original plan. Things like not having the lyrics printed in a little tiny CD booklet but made into a nice lyric book was something Midnight wanted and I want to complete his original vision exactly as he wanted.
Recently there was a performance done in memory of Midnight with members of Crimson Glory participating as well as a lot of local talent from the Florida scene paying their respects as well. Can you tell us a few more things about that event since I take it you must have been present as it doubled as a release party for the “release of M2”?
L: Yeah, unfortunately that didn’t go quite as we had planned. I didn’t even realize it until a few weeks after when I saw the video. I really didn’t think it was too bad when I was in the moment but when I watch back and see the video I can see things differently. There were moments that were great but unfortunately there was a lot of dead time and people not being ready. The biggest highlight for me without question was having Midnight’s daughters come out and Ariel sang a song and that end of it went really well. Ariel was awesome and really blew everyone away. Hopefully, we did something good for his family to celebrate Midnight and his legacy.
The main singer we used on “Nightmare” had a really uncanny knack for capturing Mid’s inflections so that was cool. I was able to do the throne idea that Midnight and I had discussed. My mistake was making it so wide open with too many people instead of just making a set band. It just wasn’t rehearsed enough. Simply, we needed more time. So, if there is ever a next time that will be what I do differently. Just have a core band and that’s it. It just became too crazy with certain people wanting things to be their way and all that kind of stuff. A few more rehearsals would have helped flesh all of that out.
We were lucky to have Twinkle and her brother Tony LeClerc involved. Buddy Yochim is their Dad who was the Allman Brothers manager and Twinkle has a solo career of her own, she was on Atlantic Records, and is a backup singer for Dickie Betts of the Allmans etc. So they have kind of a Southern Rock cred thing going and she really nailed “Boxes” and the songs she sang. It was cool not just having it be a guy’s voice all night too. Kinda mixed things up.
Another awesome talent we utilized was a 14 year old drummer who is a local prodigy from Sarasota named Kei Bland. He really did a great job too and went the extra mile to learn his parts the right way. He was instrumental in pulling it all off and was a huge help.
We had Bill Hudson, Bobby Kovacs, Phil Anderson, Ryan Bales, Jake Skylar, Spirit Zollo, Mark English, and the Schmitz brothers, also help with the performance. Everyone did a good job it just needed fine tuning.
We had hoped to bring in Jon Oliva for the performance. We thought it would have been cool to have him do the “Painted Skies” duet but he had fallen and broken a rib the week before and he wasn’t able to make it. We were hoping Todd would make it as well, but he was busy with Queensryche.
Most importantly about the Memorial Show, was that it started the final push to get the CDs out. If the tribute show didn’t happen the CDs would probably still be on my hard drives. So whatever happened, it was a positive thing ultimately.
Midnight also had recorded some of his most favorite cover songs which are supposed to surface at some point? And the “2 DVDs” dubbed as “A Strange Tea Party” which are actually various clips from the making of “M2” with performance of various of these songs I take it? Care to inform us on those two “future” endeavors. Maybe even offer a possible time frame for their release?
L: Yes!!! I have tons of material to release yet. I think the plan for now is to continue pushing “M2 DIM” until after the New Year, hopefully do the lyric book, and hopefully a condensed vinyl version of some sort. Then hopefully in the Spring, come out with “Ultimate M” deluxe reissue containing all 3 mixes of “M”. Followed by “All Souls Midnight” deluxe edition which I have already fixed up immensely to be released in the Fall/Winter 2015. The plan is to replace the “DIM” tracks that were included on “All Souls Midnight” with the newly found “Lost Barn Tape 1997”. Midnight’s brother Matt found an old cassette tape in a box “in the attic” and gave it to us to restore and release. It is such an awesome find and has 4 songs. I also went back through my archives and reconstructed 2 different versions of “Far Way” which are so much clearer than the “Bells Mix” that Matt did on the original version of “All Souls Midnight”. A new mix of the song “Transcendence” will be included as well as an unbelievable never heard before version of “O Holy Night” from 2008. If you remember, we had found an old cassette with the original Christmas recording he had made back in the 90s. Matt and I wanted to do new versions of these songs but only finished two. “What Child is This? 2008” we finished early on and that made it to the first version of “All Souls Midnight” but the new “O Holy Night” wasn’t finished then, so now it will be added to the new version. It’s all still tentative but those are my plans at this point.
Going back to Midnight and all those vocalists from that era, Tate etc... what was the thing that made them stand apart and what did you think was Midnight’s “best quality” as a vocalist even if your collaboration came at a time when he was not at his forte?
L: Well, I think the emotion he could capture was his strong point. He had a very unique voice to say the least and it could be either the high pitched screams or the soft lilting lullabies that he could pull off. It was a natural talent for him. He didn’t really practice or do any training. He just sang and there it was. That was his voice. I take that back, he did train and practice but he didn’t need to. It was just a natural gift he had.
Normally most people would know you from Monstrosity and your various projects, which are numerous actually. Introduce yourself musically a bit to people that might not be wholly aware of who you are and where do you come from musically... (i.e. influences, favorite players)
L: I was infected by Kiss at 7 years old thanks to my neighborhood friend Brace Boone. (editor’s note: Now you know who to blame!) I wanted to play guitar originally but I’m left handed and I was trying to play guitar left handed. My Dad forced me to play a right handed guitar (thankfully) but I was discouraged at the time since it was still awkward so I kind of gave up for a while. Later, my Dad got me hooked up with drum lessons from a great drummer named Steve Rucker. Steve, at the time was in the University of Miami Jazz band and went on to do a 10 year stint as the drummer for the Bee Gees. (He can be seen on the Bee Gees DVD from Wembley Stadium.) I was more naturally inclined to play drums and I remember the liberation I felt the first time Steve let me “go off” on his drums. I continued with the drums as my focus but also remember picking up the guitar of whoever I would happen to be playing with at the time and getting slowly better and better on that.
I started playing professionally in 1989 in a band called Malevolent Creation. I was instrumental in getting that band signed to the Roadrunner label, since I sent in the video that first got them interested, but it didn’t work out with them. Within a year, I started Monstrosity with Mark Van Erp and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher who you might know as the current front man for Cannibal Corpse. George moved onto Cannibal Corpse and I kept Monstrosity going with different players. Monstrosity is still together and we’re working on a new album at the moment. We’re about half way done with it now. In Monstrosity, I am the drummer, but I’ve done touring work with Obituary as the guitarist and currently I’m playing guitar in Terrorizer which features ex-Morbid Angel drummer Pete Sandoval. I also play bass in a cover band locally for side work so I’m always playing somewhere usually every single weekend.
I also have my solo “rock” project where I sing and play all of the instruments, I handle the production, art, etc. That project is called Lavoizen and I started it to go against my “natural” instincts of playing heavy. It was so easy for me to write heavy riffs that I wanted to challenge myself and go “the other direction”. That was the challenge. I wrote the songs in a very “stream of consciousness” type setting. Letting everything “flow” and not force anything. I ended up with about 50 or 60 songs and I’ve whittled that down to about 20 strong songs I’ve got ready to go for an album. My problem is I want a really huge production and I just don’t have the budget for my vision. I’ve got some great demo recordings that I may end up putting out. It just depends on what I can get done.
You got this company Conquest Music that you use to publish most of your musical endeavors and that “M2”, came out on. As both a musician and an “industry professional” what is your take in the changing climate in the business? Has piracy killed, the “radio, movie, record star” and even probably might get the cockroaches “torrented”? What’s your take on the matter and what do you think could be done? Streaming seemed to be gaining ground and like a nice alternative to piracy, but the actual payouts are really small.
L: Don’t have much of a comment. I see it both ways. The fans have a point. They get this commercial crap forced down their throats by the big record companies charging $18.99 for a CD at the mall. The bands were getting ripped off the whole time and the industry was so cut throat that it is nice to see the power being taken away from the big boys who decide who is “in the club” or not. For the smaller labels that sprung up in the 80s, it brought a freshness to music but slowly the same “rock and roll” tactics were creeping into the underground. The pay to play, the behind the scenes blacklisting of certain bands or players etc. it’s still not a nice place to exist. On the other hand, people are stealing our music left and right. No one buys CDs anymore. I think a lot of people have been exposed to our music that otherwise wouldn't be thanks to YouTube and other streaming sites, so who knows?!?! I definitely see both sides.
Is there another person with whom you’d like to collaborate after “this”?
L: Sure, there are many but nothing that is total necessity. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to fulfill many ideas and play with respectable players. From playing with Obituary to recording the Jon Oliva duet in my living room, to playing with Midnight and capturing what I did, to now playing with Terrorizer. I don’t really know what I could do next. I just want to do things my way, more and more, as I get older.
What does the future hold out for you, in terms of “Mid” projects?
L: As I said before, the plan is to do the Lyric book, vinyl versions of “M2DIM”. Then after that we can hopefully move on to deluxe versions of “M” and “All Souls Midnight” for 2015, and then the “Covers” disc and finally the “making of” DVD for 2016. It’s all tentative, but I want to get it out there that this is not a “one and done” project. I want to keep Midnight’s legacy alive and since there is so much left to release, why not? He wanted it out there for his fans. I also have interviews and some raw demos that could be utilized in some way too further down the road.
Do you think, Midnight’s former band Crimson Glory will ever manage to get it together following the on and offs they had with him, finding and then losing a guy like Todd La Torre ?
L: Anything is possible, but from the conversations I’ve had with Ben Jackson it seems like they are moving on with their respective individual projects and aren’t actively seeking a replacement for Todd. Ben and Dana are awesome, totally great guys, and Midnight always said how much he loved them. I only know those two guys so I can’t speak about Jon or Jeff. I’m sure if the right guy came along they would attempt a comeback, but guys like Midnight and Todd don’t come along very often.
I remember Mid had just passed away when Matt first brought Todd LaTorre to my house to record a demo so he could get an audition with Crimson Glory. I know Matt would be 100% blown away had he known that Todd would go on to join Queensryche. He would have loved to see that, for sure. Todd is a great guy and a phenomenal talent and I know he had to face a lot of tough criticisms when replacing Midnight.
What are your musical plans, as LH/projects/Monstrosity? Any tours?
L: Actually, I’m in Brazil now on tour with Terrorizer at the moment and just looking to get back to finish the long awaited Monstrosity record we have been working on. That is my top priority. We’re about half way finished with that and once that is done I will be able to focus on other things. We have more touring planned for both Monstrosity and Terrorizer so I plan to stay as busy as I can. I want to do my Lavoizen album eventually and maybe do some shows with that as well. We will see what happens...
Please salute our readers & your Greek fans…
L: I’ve always heard such great things about the Greek scene. I’d like to get over there eventually and see it for myself. There’s definitely some great talents in Greece as well. People like Seth from Septic Flesh, George Kollias etc. are totally on another level and are well respected in what they are doing. There’s tons more too. I remember talking with Jim Morris when he was doing the live Iced Earth record and he told me how into the fans were there. So yes, it would be great to visit to see for myself. So thanks Dimitrios for the interview and support regarding this Midnight stuff. All the best...
Thanks to www.conquestmusic.com & Lee Harrison for the interview. Head over to the Conquest Music Site to order “M2: DIM”.