(by David E. Gehlke)
Rewind to September of 2005: ProgPower VI, Atlanta, GA. Yours truly was manning the merch booth for Inside Out Music America (my then-employer), trying to peddle Enchant and Poverty’s No Crime CDs to the prog and power metal contingent. Joining us for the second night was Icarus Witch bass player Jason Myers, a frequent visitor at IOMA’s office in Pittsburgh. As the merchandise area emptied out to catch Stratovarius’ closing Saturday night set, Myers and I sat at the booth, rapping on the golden age of metal. Donning his killer denim vest with myriad old school patches ranging from W.A.S.P., King Diamond, all the way to Uriah Heep and Krokus, Myers uttered a very simple phrase that has since stuck with me: “Metal has gone downhill since 1983.”
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Argue as much as you want with that sentiment, a look at 1983 reveals a slew of albums that provided the foundation for metal as we know it today. Iron Maiden’s Piece Of Mind, Dio’s Holy Diver, Accept’s Balls To The Wall, Mercyful Fate’s Melissa, the list goes on and on. And while it’s very easy to get swept up in the runaway current of nostalgia and good times that were the ‘80s [unless you were a homeless veteran and Reagan cut your healthcare — eds.], the future for classic metal is now and rests solely in the hands of Pittsburgh’s Icarus Witch.
After debuting in early 2005 with the Roses On White Lace EP, followed by a full-length album, Capture The Magic, later the same year, Icarus Witch struck again in 2007 with Songs For The Lost (Cleopatra). Stocked with soaring melodies, twin-guitar solos, song structures that stick and a vocal attack not heard since the aforementioned “Golden Age,” Icarus Witch have risen gradually to become a rising force on the melodic metal scene.
“It was 2004 that we technically formed, so everything that’s happened has been a bit a bit of a rush,” begins the always affable Myers. “If someone had told me during those initial stages that within two years we’d be on a jet flying to Europe to be featured at a German metal festival promoting our second international release, I’d say, ‘that sounds about right!’ Our five-year plan includes England and Japan, so that’s the next target.”
The immediate future for Icarus Witch has included stabilizing a lineup around the original trio of Myers, singer Matthew Bizilia, and guitarists Quinn Lukas and Steve Pollick and drummer Chris Batton. As Myers is quick to admit, getting Lukas in the band was crucial in rounding out the very-necessary twin-guitar assault.
“We started as a two-guitar band with Roses On White Lace, and then it was just Steve for [the recording of] Capture and the subsequent shows supporting that. We felt that our live set could be improved if we were able to incorporate more harmonies, rhythms and backing vocals. Quinn was the perfect fit to take us where we wanted to be. He and Steve have enough in common stylistically to blend effortlessly, but their differences are the real key. Steve’s a disciplined technician, very neoclassical and progressive in his tapping. While Mr. Lukas also goes note-for-note with him on the harmonies, he adds a very gritty, soulful edge. In my estimation we’ve got the best of both worlds now. Quiggly’s a maniac onstage, so it raises the energy level of the live set as well.” [Note: Steve Pollick has left since this interview and the band has yet to find a replacement as of March ’08.]
Scattered but highly successful live dates with 3 Inches of Blood, Yngwie Malmsteen, and a prime slot at Germany’s Headbangers Open Air festival prepped the revitalized lineup for Songs For The Lost. Production duties were split between longtime producer (and Pittsburgh metal fixture/Pro-Pain guitarist) Eric Klinger and Pollick’s home studio, allowing for Songs For The Lost to become the next logical step for Icarus Witch, with the band refining its already excellent songwriting skills into a compact, but powerful melodic metal package.
“We only had three of the songs written prior to entering the sessions with Klinger,” explains Myers. “The rest were raw at best. So for the first time we wrote as we recorded, which is wonderful in terms of capturing thoughts as they happen, but overall stressful and not nearly as enjoyable as going into the studio with more thorough preparation. That’s part of the reason this record took six months to produce whereas Capture the Magic was done in about a month and Roses in just a few weeks. Had it not been for Mr. Pollick stepping up to track acoustic instruments, some bass and synth parts in the his studio, we still might be torturing Klinger instead of preparing to hit the road.”
The title, Songs For The Lost is a unique one; straying from the tired and overwrought clichés the genre has become so accustomed to. For Myers, the title has a deep, personal meaning.
“It’s a tribute to the supporters we’ve met along the way. Icarus Witch is a strange creature; we don’t really seem to fit in anywhere. Too ‘true’ for the hipsters, too rock for the prog and death metal sect, too dark for the mainstream yet not quite dark enough for the goths. Still, we encompass just enough spirit of several styles to win over fans of each scene when we’re playing on multi-band bills. Somehow, we’ve connected to this thriving undercurrent of music lovers who feel the way we do about music’s past and present state.”
“The media has always been good at manipulating people’s feelings,” he continues. “Dress this way, name your band after a random phrase, cut your hair this way now, and jump around screaming. I’m not bitter, but feel completely disconnected from what music culture has become. Perhaps we’re the lost souls and these songs are just for us. But I know we’ve reached the hearts of thousands who also feel they’ve been passed by or simply refuse to buy in to the trend makers. These songs are for the strong-willed who don’t need some clever ad exec to tell them what they enjoy. Being lost from the herd can be the best way to find your true self.”
These songs (for the lost) are easily some of the most memorable pieces the band has written, expanding upon the neo-prog guitar work of Capture the Magic while retaining an accessible, almost AOR feel. This is most evident on album opener “Out for Blood” — a track which, if it was created during the ‘80s, would have arenas going bonkers.
“‘Stand up and Shout,’ ‘Trashed,’ ‘Bark at the Moon’ — so many of those iconic albums opened with all guns blazing,” enthuses Myers. “That’s a fine tradition and the sentiment behind ‘Out for Blood’ was also a crucial point we wanted to make with the listeners immediately. In case anyone had any doubt about this band’s potency, the first minute of this album showcases our new guitarist, a hard-driving beat and a festival-ready gang vocal chorus that Nikki Sixx circa 1983 could ‘Shout’ along with!”
One of the first songs written with the new lineup was “The Sky Is Falling.” A dreary, ominous mid-tempo, mini-epic, bolstered by Bizilia’s haunting vocals, “The Sky Is Falling” evokes those cautionary metal tales of yore.
”That was based on the first riff Quinn brought in when asked if he had any songs to contribute,” admits Myers. “The classical intro used to be practically a song in itself. We sheared it a bit and revisit it as an outro. Lyrically, it’s a portrait of the ‘woe-is-me’ pessimists who place limits on themselves and if not put in place, will create a negative gravity that threatens to pull the dreamer down as well. It was inspired by a former band member and the raw emotions that are unearthed at the end of a doomed relationship. We choose to dwell in the positive vibrations, as these draw more positive results into our realm.”
Already making a buzz online is the inclusion of former Rainbow/Deep Purple singer Joe Lynn Turner on the cover of Def Leppard’s “Mirror Mirror.” Wisely placed in the middle of the album, “Mirror Mirror” recalls an era when the ‘Leps were actually metal and along with JLT’s smooth and savvy vocals, you have one of the best covers in recent memory.
“As a child of vinyl, I tend to think of CDs in terms of side A and B,” says Myers. “With this record, we will be releasing it on vinyl so it seemed like the perfect sonic treat to end side A. As for the surreal [nature] of working with Joe, it was a dream come true. He’s one of the few vocalists that you’ll get every member of this band to agree is a true master. When I was a kid, I remember hearing ‘Street Of Dreams’ by Rainbow on a K-Tell compilation tape called White Hot. I thought it sounded different than all of these metal bands, more regal, classier and genuinely dark without forfeiting a shred of melody. That’s a formula that we’ve adhered to and when Joe agreed to sing with us, it was like a lifelong validation.”
Occasionally lumped into the power metal field, Icarus Witch has had to dodge these associations since its inception, sometimes preferring to be labeled simply as a rock band. According to Myers, it is much easier to be dubbed a plain power metal band than it is to forge one’s own path.
“There are a much wider range of tempos on this album, but I guess we’re just not a power metal band, at least not by 2007 standards. I remember the first time I heard that phrase was in the ’90s in Metal Mania magazine as it was being used to describe bands like Metallica & Meliah Rage! As language evolves, the term has come to be synonymous with formulaic expectations. You have your typewriter drum pattern; crazy arpeggios for the sake of showing you’ve mastered the technique and balls-in-the-vice, ear piercing wail on top of it all. We do like to challenge ourselves as musicians, but the toughest challenge will always be writing a song or an album that outlives your niche…something that will reach into souls for generations to come.”
It’s a perpetual uphill climb for anyone going against the grain in today’s metal climate. Given the overwhelming amount of bands coming out of the States and abroad, it’s even harder to remain faithful while staying relevant. The industry has enjoyed growth not witnessed in a very long time, but as any “true” metalhead like Myers will attest, the ones with sincerity, honesty, and devotion to their craft will outlast any trend.
“Look, good music is good music,” states Myers. “The people who come to Icarus Witch concerts and buy our records appreciate sincerity. Playing traditional metal and classic hard rock has been a heavy cross to bear, but we never underestimate the devotion of the true at heart. There will always be a majority of people who want to do whatever is popular. On the flip side, there will always be those few who follow their will regardless of what others think. That takes a bit more self-confidence but with patience, you’ll come to realize there are others out there who support this, if not en masse.”
