During the collapse of The American metal scene in the early
90's, many musicians either quit or went underground. Gabriele J. Palermo,
first went to L.A. with a guitar on his back, and a vision of how metal should
be. From that wasteland of excess he arrived a few years later in the center of
the European Power Metal scene, Germany. He followed his dream and the metal,
straight to the heart of it all.
On the eve of a fall tour of Europe, (including opening slot
on the Alex Masi tour), Gabriel from the power metal band, Tragedian, is
contemplating the state of metal and life as a touring musician. I fired up the
Skype machine and dialed in this German based power metal virtuoso.
How is it going?
Going good here.
Getting ready for the tour.
How often do you
guys jam together?
We actually rehearse
about one full day before we leave and then that is it. Because everyone else
does all the rehearsals at home. That is the way it is nowadays. We usually
play the first chorus and the main riff and then go drinking afterwards. Then
we just smooth out the rough edges next day at the sound check and that is it.
Do you ever come
across anyone who doesn't hold up their end of the rehearsing?
No. Everybody is well
prepared. The keyboard guy plays with one hand and sends texts with his other.
As far as the
shows and the tour, how hard is it to get all these gigs lined up?
The problem is getting
gigs nowadays. It is sad to say that Europe is where America was after the
whole grunge explosion. I am kind of seeing history repeat itself now. 20 years
later. Because it doesn't matter who you are. The main factor is that there are
too many open air festivals and that just kills the local scene. That is what
killed the single gig market. The last six or seven years everyone is putting
on a festival. It's a nightmare. The Wacken festival was all about metal. It
was pure. I saw overkill there. Now it is like a tourist trap. It almost
doesn't seem like it is metal anymore. So organizing the gigs is a lot more
hassle. The only advantage we have is that we get to target the non capital
cities. We hit the places that people don't really gig. They don't care who
comes as long as somebody does. So we do really well there.
How did the tour
with Alex Masi come about?
During my time in Los
Angeles I met him and took some lessons from him. We ended up hanging out and
actually sharing an apartment for years. We get along great right from the
beginning. We both love purple and rainbow. It was a crazy constant party for
two years. A lot of stuff I do have to credit him with as far as teaching me
how to record the guitar. I benefited so much from that time. So the opportunity
presented itself to do something together. It is all about timing. We don't
play a similar style but the music goes together as a package real well.
What else do you
do for income besides touring?
Well it's too late for
me to go work in a factory somewhere you know. So I do film scores, independent
recording work. A lot of people I know do this. I'm not rich but I'm not poor,
I am happy.
What separates
this album from the last one?
The first thing is
that it is a concept album. It deals with the mystical and the darker side of
life. You could compare it to DIO's "Dream Evil". In a darker themed
direction. The cover has a Ouija board and things. People will be in for a
surprise. The songs have a slightly heavier edge. A touch of Dream Theater
meets King Diamond.
I actually got the
chance to hear an unpolished demo of one of the songs and it sounded killer.
And that was just the rough mix.
So tell me about
the co-producer.
A good friend of mine,
Kai Henson that you all know from Gamma Ray and Helloween. He has been a friend
for about 12 years. We were party friends and then we started discussing music.
I always get invites to his house for barbecues. He brings so much experience.
He listened to all our records and pointed out certain things and we started to
tweak our sound. He spent a lot of time with the vocalist on this album. With
us it was kind of how Bob Rock worked with Metallica. Sometimes he would point
out things we needed to turn back or record differently.
Was everyone open
to his advice?
Yes. For Kai to be
around for as long as he has he obviously knows what he is doing. He is the
Godfather of power metal. Everyone had their ears open.
When does the
album come out?
I was hoping it would
be ready for the tour but there have been issues. Nothing goes according to
plan. Kai had a few shows with unisonic. So there were always a few bumps in
the road. We are almost totally finished. But looks like the start of 2016.The
tour will be wrapped up but we will play a few songs from the new album. Maybe
one new one thrown into the set as a teaser. We are considering recording a few
shows to do a limited live disc and DVD.
If you're in
Europe catch the band on tour.
October 2nd
Hamburg, Germany-Markthalle/Marx
October 3rd
Amsterdam, Netherlands- The Cave
October 4th
Roeslare, Belgium- De Verlichte Geest
October 8th Oslo,
Norway- Skuret
October 9th
Gothenburg, Sweden- Vasterhus
October 10th
Malmo, Sweden-Dr. Feelgood's
www.tragedian.com
www.rockitup.org- MetalRising
Comments