Continued from main page... SVH interview with his hometown Newspaper in Sandusky, Ohio now available! Posted on 09/12/07 Are you originally from Sandusky? Where are you now, and how long since you've been in the area? I was born (Aug. 7th 1973) and raised in Sandusky and lived there right up until 2002 when I relocated to Los Angeles. At age 17 (as a junior at Perkins High) I released a solo guitar cassette called "To Each His Own" and sold it at local music and record shops which soon landed me a guitarist gig with the local metal band Vatican. This was the start of my musical career really as we played all over Ohio and founded the Metal Bash Concert Series starting at the National Guard Armory building and later it grew so big we had to rent the big building at the Erie Co. Fairgrounds. After about a year (now senior class president at PHS) I started my second solo record "Cries of Silence" and then with Vatican drummer Shawn Lowery (from Huron) formed a high school drug and alcohol awareness presentation called "Who Dares Wins" playing assemblies at Ehove and other local schools. This led to the formation of a new band called Theater of Madness which added Matt Bennett and FM 104 dj Rob Sledge to the fold. We fast became an influential local band in building an original music scene in Sandusky. We started opening for national acts like Quiet Riot, Overkill, and Slaughter at the old Bourbon Street (now Cabana Jacks) then moved in on the Cleveland scene and Opened for bands like Mushroomhead, Suffocation and played festival style shows with big national touring acts like Anthrax and Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson. We got to a point that the artistic expression of our music was more important than commercial acceptance and we changed our name to Kurai, a Japanese term meaning, to achieve a state of mind in which you become one with your art. I then started a small indie record label on Market Street and we recorded our first CD "Mantra". We landed major label distribution soon after and we're all set to be rock stars till conflicts with the companies marketing left them feeling we wouldn't sell enough to meet their demands and our record was shelved. We all went our separate ways after that, but thanks to modern technology we have reformed via the web and are writing a sophomore release and will be self releasing "Mantra" by years end. I believe a few copies of the aforementioned solo cassettes are still available at Musicians Alley. Was music always a part of your life? How did your interest develop? Yeah I was always around it growing up, I used to sing in church and school plays and played the trombone in the school band. My grandma bought me an old Sears brand electric guitar at a garage sale and it sat in the corner of my room for a few years. When I was about 11 or 12 my sister dated a guy in high school that was an awesome guitarist and he taught me a Journey song and I thought I was hot stuff! I told everybody at school I was a guitar player and soon I got asked to play an old folk song called "Grandma's Feather Bed" in a school play so I quickly had to back up my boasting with some lessons. I went and signed up with Fred Kochendoerfer (still teaching at Musicians Alley!) and it just came very natural from there on out. I was obsessed and practiced about 6-10 hours a day. Breakfast - School - Rock 'n Roll that was my life! Tell me about your band, Healer. Healer has been my main project since relocating to LA. It was formed by White Zombie drummer Ivan de Prume and Cirque du Soliel violinist Martin St. Pierre about 6 months before I came along. The two met at a party and jammed and made a great connection. The idea was to intertwine World Music elements with Heavy Rock to created a unique sound that we later dubbed "World Metal" for lack of a better description. They were searching for a singer and once I heard the concept I worked my butt off to get the gig! Everything worked out and eventually I took over both guitar and vocal duties and we started our debut Cd "Awakening". This record is really personal and just overall opened my creative development as an artist. I wanted to write lyrics that had depth and relevance in a time when heavy music was all geared towards angry hateful subject matter. Life is too short to just dwell on personal pain and I had expressed plenty of that on "Mantra" so with a change in environment and a new band I was literally "Awakening" a whole new positive vibe within myself. I've always had a love for the music and philosophies of other cultures too so this gave me a great opportunity to expand on that and create some textures and sound-scapes that could reach a larger audience. The experience has opened lots of doors for me and we've gotten so much positive feedback that a band like us is refreshing to hear! Do you have any finished albums? Where can people hear or buy your music? Well my two solo cassettes (that sounds so funny to say) are floating around town still and can be snagged at Musicians Alley as well as whatever is left of the Theater of Madness demos. Kurai's "Mantra" will be out soon via CD Baby ( www.CDBaby.com/kurai) once we re-mix it. And "Awakening by Healer is available at www.CDBaby.com/healer, our website www.healerband.com and all the online outlets like iTunes etc. I also recently did a 5 song demo with a side project called Baron Von Sloth and that stuff is floating around on My Space. I have some odds and ends stuff on my own My space page too. www.myspace.com/SVH. Can I pull info from your Website for the article? Absolutely ~ I'm all over the web too : healerband.com, myspace.com/SVH, myspace.com/Healer, MySpace.com/Kurai and YouTube.com/TheSVH. How did you become involved with Minarik guitars? A good friend of Ivan's has know the owner Marc for many years and was bragging Healer up to him for a while. About a year ago at the NAMM show (the National Association of Music Merchants annual trade show in Anahiem California) he gave him the Healer CD. At this years NAMM show we chatted a bit and he really believed in what we're all about so enthusiastically I agreed to endorse his guitars. They are so unique and the sound is like no other! Aside from that they are passionate about the artistry of what they do and cater to artists like myself who are about pure self-expression. It's been an honor to represent their instruments and be listed as a Minarik artist along side guys like Dave Navarro, Gene Simmons and Lemmy Kilmeister. What's your role with them now? Basically I play their guitars exclusively and recently put together a string of product demo videos for the internet (They are all at www.youtube.com/thesvh) and will be doing some in store clinics and trade show performances to help promote their guitars. They are re-vamping the Minarik website too and they will be featuring the product demos there as well. Talk about your upcoming instructional book. I call it an instructional book but I see it more as a guide book to exploring personal artistry. Tentatively it's titled "The Mystic Art of Self Discovery". I have studied many different forms of music as well as philosophies derived from several cultures and spent many years training in various schools of martial arts. I wanted to capture some of the essence of my training and apply the concepts of cultivating the inner spirit to the outward expression of the self through the art of music. It's taken me several years to compile all the info but I think I've put together a very concise collection of Concepts, philosophies and techniques to really help any musician, or artist of any sort for that matter, to unlock hidden potential and set free their own expressive nature. The DVD? The DVD opportunity opened up thanks to the taping of the Minarik videos. I'm basically self producing it and it'll be a video version of the book but will contain some hands on guitar and vocal exercises, live performance stuff and I'm sure a lot of ridiculous banter that'll make it fun to watch over and over again. When will they be released and where can you purchase them? I expect them both to be out in early 2008. The book I am launching digitally so it'll be sold via all of your big on-line book chain outlets like Amazon etc. I'm working out details for the DVD distribution but it will initially be available on the Healer website and I'll be setting up an SVH on-line store as well. These days the industry is dominated by the digital marketplace so it's just a smart move for a lesser know artist such as myself to get in there and do it yourself and let the bigger companies seek you out. It's more profitable and puts you in total control of how your material is presented and marketed. How would you describe your music for those readers unfamiliar with your work? I suppose deep and heavy with a good dose of mystery behind it. I love to explore the depths of the human mind and spirit and I try and find ways to express that but leave people to find their own meaning in it. I think that's what makes a song timeless, when you can experience the artists vision yet it can mean something personal for each person that hears it. I love creating layers of sound so the heavy element creates a thick foundation for some really creative sound imagery to be build upon it. Who are your musical influences? I grew up idolizing guitar gods like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and that instrumental music really molded my playing abilities. I loved the bands of the 80's. One of my favorite bands growing up was actually Stryper! All that stuff really gave me a strong sense of harmony and helped in my ability to create melodies. Where do you find your inspiration, musically and lyrically? Nature is a big inspiration, looking at the vast lanscape of existance and how we fit into it makes for some interesting sounds in my head. By nature I also mean the nature of people and things. The study of people and how they react to life is a great teacher. I read a lot of philosophy and works by people who have shown great insight on inner growth like Bruce Lee, Lao Tsu or the mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan. The best inspiration comes from my own life experience and sometimes my best material comes from just looking at many ways to approach any one given idea. What other groups are you listening to right now? These days I'm way into bands like Tool, Isis, & Gojira on the heavy side and for my more eclectic taste it's Jeff Buckley, Beethoven, Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn, and good 'ole Pink Floyd! If it's honest and expressive I can get lost in it for sure. What is the best part of being a successful musician? The most difficult? The best part is being able to express what you feel and have someone tell you they feel it too when they hear it, that is very rewarding and makes all the effort worth it! The worst is coping with the fact that the industry could care less if somebody feels it as long as they buy it, & convicing a record company that you can sell pure art is like trying to sell ice to an eskimo! Then again with the onset of Global Warming..hey anythings possible! Who are the other members of your band and how long have you been playing together? Well of the two projects I'm part of now (aside from my solo effort in the works) in Healer we wanna keep the sound evolving and too many cooks in the kitchen has prevented that in the past, so as far as the writing goes it is basically Ivan and I. Kurai is gearing up for a new release and a re-first-run-release of "Mantra" and Shawn Lowery and Matt Bennett along with our producer buddy Tom Hejnicki have all signed on to spark the fires back up again. What's your favorite part of being a musician? The freedom it gives me to express myself and be comfortable in my own skin. Being a musician is always a great excuse for having weird hair and lots of tattoos! Any stories you can share about the Sandusky area, performing or otherwise? Ya know, I just wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for the fact that I grew up in that town, It gave me the drive to push the envelope past what most would expect possible in a small community and gave me the push I needed to explore farther possibilities in life! I'd say my best memory of playing in Sandusky was the Kurai video shoot we did down at Jackson Street Pier. The city gratiously let us close off the end of the pier for a night to put on a HUGE concert to film for our video. We had close to $500,000 worth of equipment that Tom had begged, borrowed and...borrowed for that night and I felt so blessed to have the opportunity to give that kinda show to the kids in our town that deserve a chance to lose themselves for a bit in the music they love. It was loud and raucis and I think a few letters even hit the next readers forum but there were ALOT of people that showed us love and support and I'll never forget that incredible night! I hope when I do the DVD I can squeeze in some footage from the show for all of those people that showed up to take part in it. Have you always been a spiritual person? How has that changed you musically? Yeah, I was raised in a Christian home and although I claim no set religion and have my own spiritual practices and beliefs than what I was exposed to in the church growing up, I know that we are all part of one spirit that ties us all together. Spiritual work to me is alot like unraveling a knot after you've been pulling on both ends as hard as you can. You gotta start in the center and work your way out and every word I sing helps to loosen that knot a little each day. It's a lifelong effort and since I'm focused on my own spiritual evolution my music has become an extension of that personal journey. If I can share just a few things through my art that can guide someone to the peace I've found in my own life then I feel like I'm fulfilling my purpose on the big old spinning Globe. What is the best part of SVH's day? Without a doubt, waking up next to my wife! She brings out the best in me so to start each day by her side is a real blessing. What's next for you? Right now I have alot on my plate. I gotta tie up loose ends on the book and DVD and sift through all these tunes in my head and toss them in the pile and sort out which project they serve best. For many years my freinds at home have all said "When you make it big you better come back and do a free show for us all", so I hope to make that happen soon. All I gotta do now is make it big! Tell me a secret. Well my life is an open book so no secrets here, but I'll offer up this. In my opinion, the secret to success in life is Love. Love yourself for the unique person you were made to be and all else will fall into place! Anything else? I'd like to just encourage anyone reading this young and old that if you have dream the only thing that can stop you from acheiving it is you. It's never too late, so put down the paper and get out there and do it! The opportunities that are in front of you today will be all but a memory tomorrow. Oh and buy my records...please!