Rockezine.com interview with White Skull on Oct 25, 2006

with Tony on Oct 25, 2006

The last album of White Skull – The Ring Of The Ancients will be released on 20th October. The album’s subject, the music and the new record label are interesting enough to ask some questions and to share the answers with the fans.
		Two previous albums have historic themes, the Vikings and the Ancient Romans. What is it that these objects interest you so much? I’m very interested about the story, I never study story at school, ah ah ah… Now I like to study and I like to read a lot of things about that. Vikings were the first because we were interesting about Myths from the North and the legend coming from the Iced land. Looking the album that we spoke about Ancient Romans and Celtic people (last one) we like to speak about our origins.
		Is there a certain message you`d like to pass on with your music? If so, what is it and why? Yes, the message is to have more respect about our origins, about the ancient people and overhead to respect the world, our ancients respected the nature a lot more than we do now.
		Can you describe the creative process of making this album? (How did the songs get written, arranged, produced, the lyrics.. who does what in the band?) Initially all the Band play together and we start to record our ideas over the tape. Second step is to start the pre-production, during this step we record the album in a really quickly way; next we think about arrangements, we work over the vocal line and we write and try the lyrics. This year Steve Balocco wrote all the Lyrics. He likes to write about historic theme.
		A new album, a new record label Dragonheart. It all seems to be a new start. Why did you change from record compagny? With old Record Company we got a deal for two albums, The Dark Age and The XIII Skull. We ask them to get out from the label at the end of deal, because the label is too Melodic Hard Rock oriented, and they couldn’t support the Band in really good way. About to start again is not true, we know the label since a lot of years and we prefer to continue in this way.
		Are there any clear differences in comparison with the previous release? Yes. First of all the songs, they are more direct than the other album, second the production, it is more with a live sound; direct and pushed. This album keep inside a lot of Band energy.
		In which way does your new album surpass the previous releases? Only in one way, the album is spontaneous!
		The Ring Of The Ancients is a power metal album with the emphasis on power. Musically it is a great album. In my point of view Gus’ singing however sounds sometimes a bit forced. When he lowers his voices he sounds a lot better. What is your opinion? You are right, but sometimes the singer want to push more high and there are no chance to change his idea. Gus is a good singer but his voice is not for really high notes, he works well in the middle or low range.
		Why did you cover the Black Sabbath classical song Valhalla? It must be hard to reach the same level as the original song especially with regard to a singer like Tony Martin. Alex the drummer one day ask me the possibility to record a cover with Cozy Powell on the drums. We started to think and he suggested to me Valhalla from TYR. I said yes, but there were a lot of high notes and maybe that was not good for the singer. Gus tried to sing the song and his performance was absolutely amazing. So we decided to record the song.
		What is the meaning of the last track of the album Tuatha De Danaan? This song differences a lot from the other songs. Tuatha De Danaan is in Gaelic language. I wrote this celtic songs like a tribute to celtic culture, the song is in perfect celtic style. Tuatha De Danaan were a divine people.
		From your point of view, what is your favorite track on the new album and why? I like all the songs, ok ok, my favorite track is After the Battle…Bottle, the reason is because under the title of the song there is a funny story. After 1 week spending in the rehearsal room to write some good songs we were tired like at the end of a battle… we start to drink and when we got a little bit drunk we started to jam all together and borned After the battle… bottle. We wrote immediately the song title and later Steve wrote the story about the battle.
		You`ve been compared with bands like Maiden, Helloween and Hammerfall. How do comparisons like this sit with you? I don’t think that my Band could be compared with big band like Iron or Helloween, we are in another level, we can speak again when will be like them…
		Who would you name as your influences besides Maiden, Helloween and Hammerfall? Is not a secret Iron Maiden is my favorite Band.
		I read the band had an obliged break coursed by health problems, would you tell more about these problems and are these health problems cured? Yes, Gus was sick for a log time and we stop all the activities for more than 6 months. The doctor forbidded him to sing, the problem was Gus’s heart and he got a medical operation.
We want to play, play and play live shows		What are the plans for 2006/2007? Play, play and play live shows, I hope to play everywhere. We want to plan a tour, maybe in small clubs, but we want to play in a lot of places.
		What is the weirdest thing that has happened to the band on the road? To see Federica (our old female singer) searching with her hand and arm in a chemical wc the make-up trousseau.
		If you had to chose between supporting a band in front of a crowd of 5000 or headlining a show with just 250 people? There is not a difference, I hope to play in both situation, both could be great!
		Please finish these sentenses: - 2006 is going to be the year of.......White Skull, because we wrote a good album, ah ah ah. - I wouldn’t want to be in any other band because........I love White Skull. - It’s my ultimate goal........to be rich.
Thanks for the interview and I wish the band a lot of succes in 2006! (Ralph Vermeere)