ION INDIE MAGAZINE May 2015, Volume 12 | Page 64

made the decision, it actually moved forward quickly. I have known BOB BARNAK both through DAVE LINSK (OVERKILL/SPEED-KILL-HATE) and from Facebook, and I am a big fan of his vocals on SKH’s “Out for Blood”, so he was the first person I approached. Luckily for me, he said “Hell Yes!” on the spot. Truth be told, getting the chance to work with Bob was a deciding factor in me jumping back onto the business again. ION: You had a long period of musical downtime out of the spotlight for years--what kept you away? Falck: Well, I stayed involved with the business up until 1997 as a tour manager and FOH engineer. After that, I just lived a “normal” life really. The business side of the industry is more or less what kept me from wanting to be part of it. I fully appreciate, that management and record labels are in it for the money, and I have absolutely no problem with that. But when they start wanting to dictate what you should play, how you should play, etc., you kind of lose me. I mean; I get it, totally, but I never was one to be told to do certain things because it is currently “in” or because that’s where the “trend” is heading. Although I understand that the money a record label or management company makes is the very same money that helps them finance “my” recording and touring expenses, I am just not willing to be a puppet. And, the reality is; the mid-level independent record labels, which used to give the artist(s) a lot of freedom to play/record what they wanted to, those labels are long gone. Either bought up by one of the 3 big recording conglomerates, or they were simply starved out of business. ION: How did you find the members involved in this band? What made you choose each one to work with? Falck: Well, as I mentioned earlier, I knew Bob Barnak (SPEED-KILL-HATE) already and knew that this would only happen if he agreed to be part of it. His talent is obvious, and in my opinion, only PHIL ANSELMO and RANDY BLYTHE can match both his aggression and diversity. Originally, I had asked JANNA JORDAN-SQUIRES (Guitars) to be part of this. Her background is in commercial Metal. Unfortunately, around December of ’14, she told me that she was going to have to step back and focus of her own stuff. SHAWN SANDER (Guitars /ex BAGEYES) was actually only supposed to engineer the recordings at the studio. His background is with Hip-Hop Metal or as I call it “weirdo metal” (laughs). But, as the project moved forward from us doing a quick recording and release of “Paint It Black,” it very quickly became clear, that we were struggling in the song-writing department. I asked Shawn if he had any song ideas he’d care to share with me, and within a week, I had 5 new song ideas sitting in the Dropbox, and I was like…WTF (laughs). I asked him straight out, if he would have any desire to become a full part of the project--he did. STEVE POGUE (Guitars /ex- HARD TRUTH) joined us at the very beginning of this year; literally January 2nd or 3rd. His background is anything Metal. After having been making only limited progress writing-wise, and then having Janna step back, my mood was very dark to say the least. One evening at the studio with Shawn and Kelly (project coordinator) we were sitting around talking about the next step. Both of them told me, “You really need to look at this Steve guy; he’s right up your alley.” So, I asked Kelly to bring him into the studio with Shawn, set up a track, and tell him to lay down some secondary rhythm guitars without me there. He did just that, and when I heard the tracks I was blown away. He has brought new life back to the project and reminded the rest of u 2