Shadow Gallery
Shadow Gallery
Will you start off by introducing yourself and tell us what you find fascinating with playing metal/hard rock?
Gary: Hi, I am Gary Wehrkamp, maker of notes and noise on guitar and keyboards. Metal is agressive and its great to have that outlet as a writer and player. Brendt Allman and Mike Baker should be along before too long.
A small introduction of the rest of the band and a bit about their strong and weak sides will be great too!
Gary: Mike Baker, the vocalist, is potent, serious about his singing and a workhorse... I could use the same phrase about drummer Joe Nevollo. Guitarist Brendt Allman and keyboarder Chris Ingles are very talented, and fun. Bassist Carl Cadden is ambitious and informed.
You are soon ready with your new album "Room V" a very complete experience in my ears. How do you feel about the album?
Gary: I just started listening to it... Soon I will stop. I just got to the point where I had enough distance from working on it... It has its moments like any Shadow Gallery album that I think are worthy for the whole record.... but I also know we can do better.
What did you want to create, when you first started to make the music for the new album?
Gary: When we start off, it is JUST creation for the sake of creation... Then you put some insight into it and see where it can be most effective within the confines of the band, or if the new songs are even right for Shadow Gallery. There are always some ideas we have before we get too far underway, and we try to incorporate them into the songs, but usually we try to let the songs write themselves whenever possible.
Hey Brendt Allman just entered the room, Hey Brendt!
Brendt: I'm super proud of it. I've listened to it more than all of our other records combined already. I can't wait to start working on new music as well. This was a complete experience for me, from a musical standpoint. I just wanted to make and write the best album I could at the time.
Did you accomplish what you wanted to create?
Gary: Yes.
Brendt: I'd say so… yeah. There’s not much I'd change… and that's a BIG change for me. I'm satisfied with it for sure.
Gary: And here is Mike Baker joining us now!
Mike: Hey everyone - what's going on?
What do you wish to accomplish with Shadow Gallery and your music more generally?
Gary: Detailed creatively unique versatility.
Brendt: I'd like to continue introducing some jazzy/fusion stuff, which has slowly been creeping into our music lately. Gary turned out a great fusion solo on 'The Andromeda Strain'. I love that solo.
Mike: To continue pushing the musical envelope as both artists and storytellers without compromising our style or sound.
How has the press so far received “Room V”?
Gary: Very well.... Especially In Europe!
Brendt: We've historically been blessed with very positive press and thankfully, that's continued with this release. We must be doing something right...or maybe we're just lucky that way.
Mike: Yeah, I think we stepped in a big pile of... ummm, luck! haha
How do you think and hope your fans will react to the album?
Gary: Well, of course we want the fans to like it, but we do it for ourselves first, so in a sense, it doesn't matter much - If we like it, then we achieved what we set out for.... but we have found, that if we aim to fulfil our own musical needs and goals first, there are plenty of agreeable people out there who applaud our efforts and get as much out of it as we do.
Mike: We certainly hope they are pleased with our efforts, as they are the ultimately the ones who will decide an albums fate.
Brendt: Our fans are pretty damn supportive! That said, we know that they are fans of the same type of music that we love and as such, if we end up loving the music, then there's a good chance that they will too.
What do you expect from the album?
Gary: Just my own happiness, and a chance to learn, grow, and mature into putting out an even better follow-up record.
Mike: I never really expect much when we finish a new album. I guess I would say that I expect us to start thinking about our next one...
Brendt: A conclusion to this very complex story...but I guess that is for Carl to decide, it's his brainchild.
The story on the album is a continuation of the story on your '98 album "Tyranny", why did you choose to follow up and that story?
Gary: Seven years passed, it was time, it had to be done... or you could say the story was incomplete or incoherent.
Brendt: Well, in a sense it was a return to what our fans have loved the most from us. So, from that stand point, from a thinking man's standpoint, it does exactly what it's supposed to do. It just made sense to continue what we'd started with "Tyranny"... we always intended to do that.
Mike: By the time we finished "Tyranny", the band was mentally, emotionally and physically drained...so for our next album "Legacy", we wanted to get as far away from the "Tyranny" concept as we possibly could. So "Legacy" was much more experimental in that regard. After that, and going through the long process of finding a new label (and ultimately signing with InsideOut), we all felt the time was right for this new undertaking.
Was it difficult to continue the story and has it always been the plan?
Gary: In some ways it was the plan, insomuch as, it HAD to be done, but it is all about timing... It wasn't difficult to continue, however, you would have to get Carl's opinion on that, as he is the one who had the task of writing the next chapter’s storyline.
Brendt: Yeah, as I stated a bit ago, we intended to continue/finish it. Now was the time and I'm glad we did. This record was 500 times more fun to record than "Tyranny" was...
Mike: I'm not so sure all of us wanted to continue the "Tyranny" story because that one was like a bad nightmare that wouldn't end...technically speaking, everything that could of gone wrong DID go wrong making that record! But like Brendt said, "Room V" was a lot of fun to make (karma, maybe?), so I think we made the right choice.
Will you initiate us in the original story and then the continuation?
Gary: Two characters go through a learning process, and enlightening whirlwind of information and path choices light their way down personal, parallel journeys that eventually collide, and while part of them is looking out for the greater good of all mankind, they are searching for each other too, and in both instances, they find much more than they thought they would.,. That is the detail-less explanation.
Brendt: What Gary said
Mike: (laughs) "Room V" basically picks up about 8 hours after "Tyranny" ends and should answer many old questions, and raise a few new ones. I think it takes the listener on a whole new musical journey, and one that we would prefer they figure out on their own.
How do you get inspired to write lyrics?
Gary: Catchy adjectives start me off sometimes, or combinations of words, but I write very few lyrics for this band, Carl does that, and sometimes Mike and the rest of us get the chance, but with a concept album like "ROOM V", it is usually best to have one lyricist so the entire album remains tightly cohesive.
Mike: Inspiration comes from many different avenues, so it's hard to say. Sometimes it can be something as simple as watching the stars in the night sky or a flowing river, and other times it can be a painful memory, moment or event in your life, such as losing a loved one or a broken relationship.
Brendt: Well...I've never written any lyrics for Shadow Gallery....or none that we ended up using anyway. Personally, I find it to be something that spills out all at once. I rarely spend a lot of time writing lyrics for my non-Shadow Gallery songs...they either come out in 5 minutes or less, or I throw the idea away.
How hard do you find it to make concept albums? I know a lot of the bands who tries it, struggles a lot with it.
Gary: We struggled with "Tyranny", but only in the area of equipment failures. Writing a concept album puts restrictions to a degree on the art of composition, but having such a structure also leads us down specific paths and there is nothing wrong with organization within a record sometimes.
Mike: Concept albums can be tougher sometimes, but only because the storyteller must stay within the framework of the story. I must stay in 'character' for most every song on "Room V" and "Tyranny", so it has its limits on what you can and cannot do.
Brendt: Musically speaking, I think it's very easy. You have an emotion you must get across - that makes the writing VERY focused. Something like 'Birth Of A Daughter' and 'Death Of A Mother' was quite easy to write, considering I knew exactly what we had to do musically.
How do you get inspired to write music?
Gary: That is hard to say, but it usually begins with simply being available... I used to write songs in my head all the time, endlessly, but now it is much more economically to try to structure my composition time around the time where I will be near my studio... for example, I will not write any songs today, because the day is about interviews and promotion, so I can turn on and off the task, but it is very hard to control inspiration... and when I am inspired, songs write themselves, otherwise, it can be a long ongoing task.
Brendt: Typically, it's at the worst times for me... when I'm not near my guitar... movies, vacations, at dinner… just about any circumstance or event can inspire you musically.
Mike: Sometimes inspiration comes from a movie, or a book, or my girlfriend. Other times it can be something you see on the news... whatever it may be it just brings out an emotion inside of you and you feel like writing about it.
What can trigger your songwriting?
Gary: Silence, time, having a guitar in my hand in my studio... or inspiring new sounds usually work for me... If you gave me a new keyboard with new sounds, I could probably start improvising something appropriate for the sound, and structured improvisation equals the seeds of songs.
Brendt: I think god triggers it for me. This stuff generally comes out in one big burst for me. The rest of the time it's hearing an idea one of the other band members may have started.
Mike: For me it's all very emotional... so any emotion can trigger or inspire me at any given moment - whether it's being happy, sad or angry - all of those feelings can lead to some very creative thoughts/ideas.
Can you mention 5 bands and 5 albums which have meant a lot to you and your style of writing and playing music?
Gary: Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes, Kitaro, Yngwie Malmsteen... I have to leave to start another interview, so I'll let the very capable Mr. Baker and Mr. Allman finish up with you! Thanks- It was great talking with you!
Brendt: "Trick Of The Tail" from Genesis, "October Rust" from Type O Negative, "Perpetual Burn" from Jason Becker, "Elegant Gypsy" from Al DiMeola, "Eye Of The Beholder" from Chick Corea.
Mike: There are so many...but I'll try! Alice Cooper "Welcome To My Nightmare", Judas Priest "Sad Wings Of Destiny", Queensrÿche "Operation Mindcrime", Triumvirat "Spartacus" and Utopia "Ra".
How does the song writing process in Shadow Gallery work?
Brendt: There's no set process. Or better said, it changes from record to record. Generally, If a song does not come to me in my head in it's complete form, then I'll typically leave room for other band members… and I know it's that way for the rest of us as well. Some songs just don't need any more input from anyone else. Other times, we might purposely set out to write only certain parts of a song and specifically leave room for another band member to write parts. Sometimes it's a group effort. Sometimes, one of us might have a verse or a chorus and not know what to do with it, so someone else will take that idea and run with it. There's a lot of possibility there for different song writing scenarios, having five fairly strong composers in the band affords us lot's of ways to write an album.
Mike: With Shadow Gallery the music is (usually) always written first, then Carl (mostly) or Gary or myself, or a combination of the three of us will take the song home and write lyrics and melodies, then get back in touch in a few days or weeks and bounce these ideas off of each other.
When do you know you are done with a song, you must put a lot of work in the arrangements, so it must be hard to tell at times?
Brendt: I know I'm done with a song when it's mastered most of the time....other times I know I'm done with it the moment I finish recording the demo of the song.
Mike: Like Brendt says, we usually know we're done with a song or an album when the final mix is being sent to be mastered...and even then we have been known to still be working on a song (or songs) just in case we get a final window of opportunity to improve on it. We will always work on a record up until the last possible minute.
Will you explain the idea and thoughts of the rather cryptic album cover artwork?
Brendt: In a way, it's a continuation of the feel of the "Tyranny" cover art. The snakes were brought back, which represent the forces of evil and I think, where cleverly used. Bio-engineering plays a large role in the storyline, so the use of the double helix was a nice touch there too I think.
Mike: Yeah, that and we just wanted a big flaming "V" on the cover to represent our fifth album! (laughs)
Will you share your 3 all time favourite albums with the Danish metal heads?
Brendt:
Type O Negative - October Rust
Kate Bush - The Hounds Of Love
Chick Corea - Eye Of The Beholder
Mike: This is similar to my earlier list
Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare
Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny
Robert Calvert - Captain Lockheed & The Starfighters.
Thanks you for answering my questions, I hope it has been as great as your music is to me. If you have anything to add, please feel free to do it now!
Brendt: Huge thanks to all of our hardcore fans - we have the greatest fans in the world.
Mike: We thank you for the opportunity for letting our voices be heard, and we thank all the fans for standing by and supporting us throughout the years... keep spreading the word! And as Ozzy would say - we love you all!
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