|
Past Issues:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27
BACK
 ONWARD
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
NET-only
The
music industry has indeed been an experience for Onward guitarist
Toby Knapp. The band—rounded out by singer Michael Grant, drummer
Jon Pereau and bassist Chris Payette—has received critical
praise for their debut effort, 2001’s Evermoving, and they
continue to intrigue us with their masterful arrangements and unique
stylings that flow on their latest offering, Reawaken.
Starts guitarist Knapp about the new record and the variety within
each Onward record, "There are so many genres of metal music
that I have been interested and continue to be interested in, whether
it be neo-classical guitar-oriented stuff or black metal or thrash
metal. As long as it is done well, I love it. If something inspires
me enough, I will try to incorporate it into what we do. I mean,
if we want a Slayer vibe in a small section of the album, we will
try to work it in and add some variety to the Onward record and
not make it all formulaic.
"When I was writing this album I was listening to a lot of
Rainbow and Michael Schenker albums, but I also had on Forbidden
and Slayer as well," comments the axeman. "Onward’s
music is just basically putting all of these metal pieces into a
soup and hoping that it all comes out sounding okay. With this record
we wanted to paint ourselves out of the corner that the last album
put us in with us being labeled a power metal band. And because
of what we have done here on Reawaken, when we do put out our third
album and it is much different than these two albums, it won’t
surprise anyone.
"The thing about our first album was that it was written in
1998 before Michael [from the band Legend Maker] had even joined.
It was originally going to be put out on Sentinel Steel Records
but he [label president Denis Gulbey] decided to shop it to bigger
labels. The album eventually came out in 2001, and by that time
Reawaken had already been written," he reveals. "It was
frustrating to have to wait so long for the first album to come
out. I didn’t even think it was going to see the light of day.
When it came time to finish up and try to get the second album going,
we just had to work hard to make sure this was going to be a solid
release. The first record, even though Century Media put it out,
we didn’t know until it came out that it was through them.
With the sophomore record we knew they’d be putting it out,
so Reawaken really feels like our debut with them."
Listening to Toby Knapp play guitar is like watching a kid fly a
kite. You know what they are doing, but you don’t know where
the kite will take them as they run through a field or sandy beach.
The winds of musical creativity are strong and Knapp has a knack
for making his music glisten with emotion.
"We work hard at making the sound of Onward strong and memorable.
We just try to channel this traditional heavy metal vibe into what
we are doing and keep it up to date. We are just fired up about
it at this moment in time. There are things that we will always
do with Onward. We will never tune down our instruments and we will
always try to keep with the traditional tuning. We stay true to
our guidelines of what we want."
Talking to Knapp, it is obvious that he believes strongly in the
music he makes. His love for music is powerful, his need to do this
is urgent.
"This is the only thing I have. That is sad, but true,"
he states. "This is my ‘thing’ in life that seems
to be working out halfway decent. We try hard to keep this going.
If this ‘thing’ falls through, I ain’t got shit.
I’ll have to start from square one. For me, there are times
when I have not wanted to be a part of this music business, but
because I love making music I am being drawn into it and I have
to deal with it. As long as the music is around me, I can deal with
the business part of it all."
Being on Century Media is a good deal for Onward, isn’t it?
"I am so glad that they have shown us so much support,"
he notes. "I like the people there. They have indeed done a
lot of stuff for us, and that makes me feel good. They really pushed
Evermoving, and that exceeded my expectations. I’m just amazed
at what they’ve done and how they’ve helped us. I never
expected that we would be on this label. I know the label is intrigued
that a band like us from Wyoming can play music like this, and it
is up to us to show them what we got. It is hard work, but I think
we have prevailed with our past two albums."
Having just released the second album, with touring to follow in
the latter half of 2002, Knapp says now the pressure on the band
begins to build. The pressure, you ask? Their third album.
"I don’t know what I am going to do, Adrian," says
Knapp with a slight chuckle. "I’ve tried to sit down and
compose things, and I am not liking what I am coming up with. This
record has to be a lot more superior than Reawaken, just as Reawaken
was better than Evermoving. It has to be an unpredictable move on
our part. I think some fans that hear Reawaken will be freaked out
a bit ’cause it isn’t all just a power metal album. It
offers a lot more than just traditional power metal. And we need
that reaction with the next record as well."
He ends, "When the time comes, hopefully I’ll have the
inspiration to make some great music. What is exciting is that I
have no idea how things are going to turn out. That is such a strange
feeling, yet exciting feeling, to have as a musician."
|
