In case you were not aware, Ashes of Ares is the incredible new project featuring the distinct talents of Matt Barlow (ex. Iced Earth/ ex. Pyramaze), Freddy Vidales (ex. Iced Earth), and Van Williams (ex. Nevermore), and this band is well worth your attention! Just take a listen on YouTube to their new lyric video for the song “Dead Man’s Plight” and you will know what I mean. These guys formed shortly after the departures from their respective bands out of a mutual respect for each other and a desire to write and perform some serious heavy metal. This project is a true collaboration showcasing the individual talents of each member. After making waves at this years’ Rock Hard Festival, Ashes of Ares is poised to move forward as a dominating force in Heavy Metal. Metal Exiles had the pleasure of speaking with vocalist Matt Barlow about this amazing new band.
An Interview with Matt Barlow of Ashes of Ares by John Knowles.
Metal Exiles: How did the three of you, yourself, Van and Freddy get together and decide to put a project together?
Matt: Well, Freddy and I were in Iced Earth together. He was the bass player when I came back for the second part of the Something Wicked monstrosity that it was. So he and I got along really well, we spent a lot of time on the road together. More often than not we were roommates, just because you know we didn’t smoke and we have similar likes and dislikes so we would hang out a lot. We had thought about doing some stuff together way back then. Jon (Schaffer) has his other projects, and we thought it would be fun if we ever had some time to get together and see what sticks. But, we didn’t have the opportunity at that point, and when I got out of the band Freddy continued on with Iced Earth, and they were touring a lot, plus Freddy has his other career as a civil engineer. So it basically opened up when Freddy decided he was going to get out of Iced Earth, and he had personal reasons for doing that. So it opened up from there, and when Freddy had left Iced Earth I was actually out of work for medical reasons because of an injury to my hand. I was out for about three and half months, so it gave us a pretty good opportunity to get together and knock out a lot of stuff at once. On top of that I had been in contact with Van prior to his departure from Nevermore. He was living in New York where he grew up, and had moved from Seattle so he was in close proximity. I had hit him up for various reasons and when I brought up the project Freddy and I already had some things demoed, so I shot that over to Van and he liked what he heard, so then the three of us started putting things together. So the three of us started working on songs, cranking things out, one thing led to another and that’s how things worked out. Freddy and Van get along really well, and I’ve known Van since 1996, and Freddy since 2008, and it just worked out man.
Metal Exiles: On that note tell us a little about the writing process. Were there collaborative jam sessions, or did one guy bring in full song ideas to present to the rest?
Matt: Its all been collaborative, every part has really been collaborative. The one thing was Freddy had some song ideas socked away, and riffs that he developed further for this, and I had some lyrical ideas written down. Usually when I write lyrics I write them out like a poem and I’ll fit it in to however the music works or move things around if necessary. I usually start out with an idea concept and I’ll just start writing it that way. And I write it like a poem so it’s going to have a certain flow anyway. So on certain songs we had that, I had some stuff, and Freddy had brought some stuff and I thought it sounded pretty cool. For some of the other stuff he had given me I just started fresh with new ideas and I would be inspired by what he did musically. Van’s approach was just doing his thing with the song structure that we had established. His approach was not to change the structure but to add his thing to it. And that was the coolest part because what Freddy and I had pales in comparison to what Van added to it. We were both like, Wow, this is how a drummer writes drum parts and it was really cool. It added a whole other level to the songs. I think the songs were solid, but when Van got ahold of them it took things to that whole other level. Getting back to your original question, every song was approached in a little bit different way, but it was a full collaboration. The three of us all added something special to each track to make it what it is. I was able to do all the lyrics on this album, and maybe future albums down the line that may change if Freddy has something to contribute lyrically, melodically, or whatever, but it’s still going to be Ashes of Ares. Were treating all these songs as being written and arranged by Ashes of Ares. Were not taking individual credits, the three of us are Ashes of Ares and we’ll split it up that way. Everything we contributed to this made these songs what they are. It was really fun for me, because this is the first record where I have contributed all the lyrics and vocal melodies, which says a lot since I have been in music for a long time now and this is the first time I have had creative control as far as that stuff is concerned.
Metal Exiles: Nowhere is the collaborative nature of the project more evident to me than on “The Messenger.” It opens up with your signature vocal approach, a heavy melodic build from Freddy, and Van’s incredible drum fills. There is some seriously killer playing in that intro.
Matt: Yeah exactly. We were like, “What the hell...how is he doing that!” All the odd-time signature stuff is crazy man, and he does that all throughout the record you know, like on the end of “The Messenger” when he does that backbeat odd-time signature stuff...it’s crazy, but that’s the shit I love, man.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of your lyrical contributions, I’ve noticed after repeat listens that the album’s themes tend to revolve around death or tragedy. Can you touch on that a little bit?
Matt: I’ve mentioned that before. This is certainly not a concept record, but there are certainly things that intertwine throughout the entire record. And death is certainly one of them, and I don’t know whether it’s consciously or subconsciously. A lot of the stuff that I wrote during this writing process tends to revolve around that. I’ve had a lot of deaths from friends and family in the last couple years that have probably on some level inspired that. One of my colleagues was shot and killed in the line of duty in 2009, and the song “On Warrior’s Wings” is dedicated to him. The entire song is not about him because I wanted it to be approachable to other people who may be dealing with that, not only in my position but also in the military. There are a lot of guys who are dealing with that stuff the way that I am, you know what I mean? You think about your friend, and it can happen at any time in the day, sometimes you just remember and you’ve got to deal with that, you have to deal with it every single day. So this song was sort of my way of dealing with that and thinking of my friend in a better place still doing what he loved to do, and that’s kind of what it’s about. The other one is “The Answer.” I wrote that after the last funeral that I went to of a friend of mine. He had some emotional issues, and he took his own life. I wanted to make this song broader and more approachable to the way people may be thinking of death. I didn’t want it to be like, here’s my friend, and he killed himself, but also it could be perceived from the aspect of someone who’s on life support, and they’re ready to go, and there’ll all but there. We have to as survivors let them go, and do it in an honorable way, and that’s the way I approached the song. “The Answer” is definitely a funeral song. It’s my way, because I have been to so many funerals in the past few years and it seems like all the songs that are typically at funerals make you go away feeling even more depressed, because the songs make you feel that much worse. And I wanted “The Answer” to be about: Here we are on Earth, and we’re telling you to go, and it’s okay, because we’re alright and we’re honoring you. So that’s the way I wanted it to be and come off as, as more of a triumphant song saying: You get to go before me, but I’ll be behind you in a minute...I’ll see you in a little while. It’s very emotional for me and I do get a little choked up thinking about it, so I apologize for that. But a lot of this record is very emotional for me.
Metal Exiles: One more song I wanted to ask you about is “Move the Chains.” I viewed your recent track commentary on Facebook and you mentioned the song had to do with slavery. Can you please elaborate on that idea?
Matt: It’s about the slavery that we’re all under. I sincerely believe that there are people out there that you need to be aware of. There are certain powers that be that you may not know or necessarily not see, that are manipulating the way that our culture and world works. It’s mostly just an awareness of what’s going on, I mean, if you think we’re not manipulated every single day by the media, and what you see on TV, than your missing it man, your really missing it. I mean, I watch all the different news networks from CNN to FOX and you see these different varying opinions, but ultimately they’re playing to their crowd. Its in much the same way that a band or artist would...play to their crowd, but the difference here is that I’m not trying to manipulate people. I’m just trying to be an artist and put stuff out there just so people are aware, but it just seems like there’s so much manipulation that goes on within the media, outside the media with politicians and all this other crap and I feel like we are more enslaved now. It’s not necessarily the chain on your leg slavery, but it’s just the psychological slavery. They don’t call it television programming for nothing, we’re programmed to believe a certain thing about this, that, or the other. For example there are hundreds of cases like the Trayvon Martin situation in the U.S. that occur every single day, but why was that one in particular pulled out and utilized? There’s varying opinions on that, but it creates more of a distraction for all of us. I know that’s kind of weird coming from me, because I have a dual life outside of this. I just find it very disheartening and I’ve had plenty of discussions about this with colleagues in law enforcement as well. But I just feel like we’re all kind of manipulated somehow by people who have money, power, and influence. I feel its tragic, I really do. It is more my thing of having people just wake up. And if you wanted to pair that song with “The One Eyed King” it kind of falls in the same genre. “The One Eyed King” is essentially about the same thing, these power brokers that manipulate us every single day. And if you’re in a power position or your family has been in that power position for decades and even centuries, would you give up that power, or would you believe that what your doing is the absolute right thing for humanity? It’s that big question. But my whole thing is that the people should decide, and that’s why we live in supposedly a democratic republic here in the U.S. Along with other democratic forms of government throughout the world, we’re all supposed to have a say in what’s going on, and I just think there are so many levels where we don’t have a say. I mean why is it that our elected officials get billions of dollars to run for president, and where is all this money coming from, and how can we trace that? Why on earth would you give a hundred thousand dollars to a presidential election if you didn’t think you were going to get something back from it? You know what I mean? It boggles the mind, and scares me a little bit. I just want people to think about shit. I don’t expect them to have an answer; I just want them to think about it. So that’s kind of my take on what those two particular songs are about.
Metal Exiles: Wow, that’s really heavy stuff. Thank you for sharing in depth about those tracks.
You guys have a European tour coming up, and I’m sure your all really looking forward to that. Something I’ve wondered for a long time, and especially during your second stint with Iced Earth, how do go about getting the time off for even short tours as a full time police officer?
Matt: It was a matter of just scheduling. I had vacation and things like that. I’ve pointed out to a lot of people that for The Crucible of Man tour, I did more touring to support that album than for any other Iced Earth record I was on. Its kind of crazy to think that, but if you look at the tour schedule I did way more shows for that record than any of the others. But in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t enough for Iced Earth to survive, because no a days the record industry has changed so much that bands really have to tour to survive, unless you have other means of income or you’re willing to be that band like Ashes of Ares is where we are going to have limited touring, but we are not surviving from the band. Hopefully with everything we do we will be able to keep the band going financially, but we’re not basing it on our livelihoods, because we all have livelihoods outside of the band. And a lot of bands are like that. Most people probably don’t know, or maybe they do, but there are a lot of bands that are in the same situation that we’re in. But we’ll tour as much as we can man, if we’re offered good spots where we can get out there and go and do like we’re doing with the Powerwolf tour in Europe. We thought this would be a really good opportunity for us. It’s an opening slot, but we’ll be able to get out there. We’ve only got one record out anyway so its not like we have a whole lot of material to do a headlining show, unless we start doing covers from our other bands. I think this is the best thing for us right now. We’ve got one record, but maybe when we have two records we’ll be able to do a headlining tour. That will certainly open it up for us, or a co-headlining tour. That may even be the more logical thing to do. But we’ll get out there with this European tour in September/October, and we’ll take full advantage of that 35, 40, 45 minute time slot, just kill it, and we’ll get out there and start talking with people and start reconnecting with our fans from our past bands and things like that, and hopefully meet some new people that are Powerwolf fans, Majesty fans, or what have you. So we’ll see how it goes.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of shows, Prog Power is approaching. You guys must be really stoked about that. I read the album review from Greg of ProgPower. He made some interesting observations about this project, and related it to Iced Earth. Relating to what he said, I would find it really hard to believe that a few years ago had you and Freddy presented Jon with a demo of say “The Messenger” that it wouldn’t have immediately been received well and possibly become an Iced Earth classic. Would you care to comment on that idea, and maybe shed some light on some of the creative challenges you and Freddy may have faced while in Iced Earth?
Matt: Well, the thing of it is I never really got to that point. When I came back for The Crucible of Man, Jon had some songs that needed lyrics or vocal melodies that he gave me to work on, and I was happy to do it man, proud to do it. And I know where Jon’s at as far as his control of Iced Earth. He doesn’t shy away from sharing that to anyone who asks. So I understand where he’s coming from, and I was happy to add to that record. I really like some of the stuff I did on that record...I thought it was pretty damn good if I do say so myself (laughs). Like, “Crucify the King,” the concept was Jon’s, and I just went with it. He would say: “I have this spot, and this is what I need...so just run with the lyrics and the melodies.” And in the end I really dug that song. Now when it came to the next record, around that time I was already pretty much committed that I wasn’t going to be in the band. I was writing stuff, I had actually written the lyrics for “The One Eyed King” by that point, and it was written out like a poem. But I think that that’s probably one of the songs I would have submitted to Jon if I was staying on with Iced Earth just because it certainly was along the lines of common thinking...I don’t know if it would have made it on the Dystopia record or not, but it was along those lines of common thinking and what I tend to believe. And more so the underlying thing in “The One Eyed King” is that everyone tends to follow blindly. Where I came up with the concept is the old proverb that says, “In the Land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” And if we’re all following around blindly, the man with the one eye will basically lead the pack. So that’s where that kind of came from. Anyway, I digress. As far as your questions...I don’t know man. I don’t know if stuff would have gotten picked or not. I know that Freddy did submit some stuff to Jon and they never got put on the record. But again, where that’s concerned, it goes back to creative control, and that may be one of the reasons why our approach in Ashes of Ares is collaboration, and I feel very strongly that we need to continue down that path. And I’m fine with Freddy taking over the reigns of the music, and there are actually a couple of songs on the record that I initially wrote the music for. “The Answer” is one of them, it was an acoustic song, and then Freddy just took it and blew it out of the water and took it to a whole other level. Now we did do an acoustic version on the digipack just because the label wanted a bonus track and it was the easiest one we could really crank out because we already demoed it in an acoustic form and it was there. Also, “Move the Chains” was one that I wrote the body of the music for, but I am not a guitar player so I took what I had, all my ProTools stuff and I asked Freddy to play it like its an actual guitar player playing it, and we structured it from there. And that may continue, I may have some other ideas like that, and we may contribute and turn it into songs, and maybe not...what I come up with may suck, but we’ll all come to that conclusion, and we’re all going to keep doing our thing, our parts. Because Freddy can play bass, guitar, drums, and he’ll probably start demoing up stuff and then shoot it over to me, over to Van as well. I would like it to be us coming to an idea or understanding of things minute by minute, but it doesn’t always work out that way. We may have ideas that take a couple weeks to come to, like a melodic direction, or lyric idea, or what have you. We’ll figure it out. We’re already excited about the next record now that we have this one done, and I think that’s a good thing. You always want your second record, your sophomore record to be a strong one, and I think all of our heads are in that to make the next one even stronger than this one.
Metal Exiles: I noticed on your Facebook some stills of a recent video shoot? How was your first music video experience?
Matt: It was cool, man. It was different. Dave Rofsky, he’s the videographer, director, and all the other good stuff, he’s a very, very cool guy to work with, and we had a really good time. Freddy actually worked with him when Iced Earth did the first video for Dystopia. We had a good time, and it was my first time ever doing one, so it was interesting. Hopefully the outcome will be great, and I hope people will like what they hear more so than see, but hopefully they like the whole package.
Metal Exiles: The engineering genius of Jim Morris is clearly evident on this album. How was it this time around working with Jim? And did he contribute as producer or guest musician anywhere on the album?
Matt: Well, the thing is I wasn’t around, due to our scheduling conflicts, for when all of the music was recorded. But I did go down there, and I actually did the vocals out of his house. Jim and I have known each other for a long time so he actually lets me go to his house. We did that to help cut some of the costs with the record, so that was very helpful. But when we started getting down to it, Jim definitely helped with putting some of the chorus stuff together, you know, I had one idea for a chorus notably for “Chalice of Man” and then Jim just helped elevate it to a whole other level when we did this really cool staccato stuff behind it, and really just elevated it up man. And then I’ve got a weaving vocal on top of the chorus. And that’s what producers do man, they hear the stuff and then they hear something that can make it better. And that’s what we did. So to answer your question, several elements of Jim are there, but I don’t think musically that he added so much to it. Freddy had done a lot of the guitars at his place, again, helping cut costs on production. And just a side bar here, every bit of money that we got for doing this record is in the record. We were able to cut corners on some areas, but the money went to Morrisound and to Jim. We’re not working with a huge budget anymore, and I don’t think any metal band is. So we’re doing this stuff somewhat on a shoe string, but hopefully we can sell enough records to at least pay Nuclear Blast back, so that they’ll want us to keep doing records for them (laughs).
Metal Exiles: I’d like to shift gears now and ask you a question about vocals. You definitely have one of the most unique voices in Heavy Metal. Who were some of your biggest influences, and who continues to influence you vocally today?
Matt: The guys that I grew up listening to are really more the influences. Someone specifically, even though we have very different voices, but just his approach to it is amazing, Geoff Tate is a big influence. Rob Halford is huge for me. I always loved how Rob went from being able to do really nice, rounded bottom end stuff to being able to do the piercing high stuff...that’s like right in my wheel house. I was always influenced by James Hetfield, the way that he approached delivery and stuff. He’s not a quote, “singer guy” per se, but he does have a very unique voice, and you know when you’re listening to James. And that’s always been the way I’ve approached it, meaning I don’t want to have to change my voice to sound like somebody else. I can be influenced by all these guys and appreciate them but I don’t want to sound like them. I want to sound like me, and every vocalist should approach it and go: okay, what are the sweet spots in my voice and how can I make them better? And how can I just be myself? And it’s not to say that guys who sound like other people don’t have their uniqueness or unique qualities to their voice, but sometimes when your trying to sound like somebody else, you are going to sound like somebody else, and I don’t think you want to do that. I think you want to stand out by yourself if you can. I had a really great vocal coach back when I was in Tampa, and he told me that, and he also told Jon that, “Matt’s going have his own voice, and he’s not going to sound like the other guys you had singing in Iced Earth before. But, if you embrace that and you start writing songs with that in mind then you’re never going to be disappointed with the outcome of that.” I think Jon took that to heart, and I certainly took that to heart and from that point on really just tried to establish myself more and embellish upon what I felt were my strong suits in my voice. And that’s my quote, “words of wisdom” (laughs).
Metal Exiles: Well, thanks so much Matt. Do you have anything else you’d like the fans to know about the album or the band?
Matt: I would really just encourage everybody to get out there and listen to the stuff. I hope that you really like it. If you listen to the samples or what not and you do like it, please buy it. We’re not going to be able to keep making the records if people aren’t buying the records. And I know it’s real easy to just download stuff sometimes, and you can do that if you’d like through the proper channels. But if we’re not selling songs, if we’re not selling records we’re not going to be able to do this stuff. We’re not going to be able to continue it, so I urge people to do that. And I know its common knowledge now, people get it, I think. Every record that’s sold shows how much more support we’re going to have and we can show the record company that we’re a viable thing here, and we can do well by them, and hopefully it means they’ll do well by us. I appreciate everyone who is a past fan of stuff that I’ve done, and been involved with, and I can’t thank you enough for being on board for this journey and I hope that we take this journey together.
Metal Exiles: Matt, thank you so much for your time and speaking with me about the new record. It really is an amazing album, and I wish you guys all the best at ProgPower and the upcoming European tour.
Matt: I appreciate it dude, and thank you for your work as a writer for heavy metal. Take care.
Ashes of Ares’ self-titled debut album will be released in on Nuclear Blast records, September 17th in the States!
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Official Ashes Of Ares Site
An Interview with Matt Barlow of Ashes of Ares by John Knowles.
Metal Exiles: How did the three of you, yourself, Van and Freddy get together and decide to put a project together?
Matt: Well, Freddy and I were in Iced Earth together. He was the bass player when I came back for the second part of the Something Wicked monstrosity that it was. So he and I got along really well, we spent a lot of time on the road together. More often than not we were roommates, just because you know we didn’t smoke and we have similar likes and dislikes so we would hang out a lot. We had thought about doing some stuff together way back then. Jon (Schaffer) has his other projects, and we thought it would be fun if we ever had some time to get together and see what sticks. But, we didn’t have the opportunity at that point, and when I got out of the band Freddy continued on with Iced Earth, and they were touring a lot, plus Freddy has his other career as a civil engineer. So it basically opened up when Freddy decided he was going to get out of Iced Earth, and he had personal reasons for doing that. So it opened up from there, and when Freddy had left Iced Earth I was actually out of work for medical reasons because of an injury to my hand. I was out for about three and half months, so it gave us a pretty good opportunity to get together and knock out a lot of stuff at once. On top of that I had been in contact with Van prior to his departure from Nevermore. He was living in New York where he grew up, and had moved from Seattle so he was in close proximity. I had hit him up for various reasons and when I brought up the project Freddy and I already had some things demoed, so I shot that over to Van and he liked what he heard, so then the three of us started putting things together. So the three of us started working on songs, cranking things out, one thing led to another and that’s how things worked out. Freddy and Van get along really well, and I’ve known Van since 1996, and Freddy since 2008, and it just worked out man.
Metal Exiles: On that note tell us a little about the writing process. Were there collaborative jam sessions, or did one guy bring in full song ideas to present to the rest?
Matt: Its all been collaborative, every part has really been collaborative. The one thing was Freddy had some song ideas socked away, and riffs that he developed further for this, and I had some lyrical ideas written down. Usually when I write lyrics I write them out like a poem and I’ll fit it in to however the music works or move things around if necessary. I usually start out with an idea concept and I’ll just start writing it that way. And I write it like a poem so it’s going to have a certain flow anyway. So on certain songs we had that, I had some stuff, and Freddy had brought some stuff and I thought it sounded pretty cool. For some of the other stuff he had given me I just started fresh with new ideas and I would be inspired by what he did musically. Van’s approach was just doing his thing with the song structure that we had established. His approach was not to change the structure but to add his thing to it. And that was the coolest part because what Freddy and I had pales in comparison to what Van added to it. We were both like, Wow, this is how a drummer writes drum parts and it was really cool. It added a whole other level to the songs. I think the songs were solid, but when Van got ahold of them it took things to that whole other level. Getting back to your original question, every song was approached in a little bit different way, but it was a full collaboration. The three of us all added something special to each track to make it what it is. I was able to do all the lyrics on this album, and maybe future albums down the line that may change if Freddy has something to contribute lyrically, melodically, or whatever, but it’s still going to be Ashes of Ares. Were treating all these songs as being written and arranged by Ashes of Ares. Were not taking individual credits, the three of us are Ashes of Ares and we’ll split it up that way. Everything we contributed to this made these songs what they are. It was really fun for me, because this is the first record where I have contributed all the lyrics and vocal melodies, which says a lot since I have been in music for a long time now and this is the first time I have had creative control as far as that stuff is concerned.
Metal Exiles: Nowhere is the collaborative nature of the project more evident to me than on “The Messenger.” It opens up with your signature vocal approach, a heavy melodic build from Freddy, and Van’s incredible drum fills. There is some seriously killer playing in that intro.
Matt: Yeah exactly. We were like, “What the hell...how is he doing that!” All the odd-time signature stuff is crazy man, and he does that all throughout the record you know, like on the end of “The Messenger” when he does that backbeat odd-time signature stuff...it’s crazy, but that’s the shit I love, man.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of your lyrical contributions, I’ve noticed after repeat listens that the album’s themes tend to revolve around death or tragedy. Can you touch on that a little bit?
Matt: I’ve mentioned that before. This is certainly not a concept record, but there are certainly things that intertwine throughout the entire record. And death is certainly one of them, and I don’t know whether it’s consciously or subconsciously. A lot of the stuff that I wrote during this writing process tends to revolve around that. I’ve had a lot of deaths from friends and family in the last couple years that have probably on some level inspired that. One of my colleagues was shot and killed in the line of duty in 2009, and the song “On Warrior’s Wings” is dedicated to him. The entire song is not about him because I wanted it to be approachable to other people who may be dealing with that, not only in my position but also in the military. There are a lot of guys who are dealing with that stuff the way that I am, you know what I mean? You think about your friend, and it can happen at any time in the day, sometimes you just remember and you’ve got to deal with that, you have to deal with it every single day. So this song was sort of my way of dealing with that and thinking of my friend in a better place still doing what he loved to do, and that’s kind of what it’s about. The other one is “The Answer.” I wrote that after the last funeral that I went to of a friend of mine. He had some emotional issues, and he took his own life. I wanted to make this song broader and more approachable to the way people may be thinking of death. I didn’t want it to be like, here’s my friend, and he killed himself, but also it could be perceived from the aspect of someone who’s on life support, and they’re ready to go, and there’ll all but there. We have to as survivors let them go, and do it in an honorable way, and that’s the way I approached the song. “The Answer” is definitely a funeral song. It’s my way, because I have been to so many funerals in the past few years and it seems like all the songs that are typically at funerals make you go away feeling even more depressed, because the songs make you feel that much worse. And I wanted “The Answer” to be about: Here we are on Earth, and we’re telling you to go, and it’s okay, because we’re alright and we’re honoring you. So that’s the way I wanted it to be and come off as, as more of a triumphant song saying: You get to go before me, but I’ll be behind you in a minute...I’ll see you in a little while. It’s very emotional for me and I do get a little choked up thinking about it, so I apologize for that. But a lot of this record is very emotional for me.
Metal Exiles: One more song I wanted to ask you about is “Move the Chains.” I viewed your recent track commentary on Facebook and you mentioned the song had to do with slavery. Can you please elaborate on that idea?
Matt: It’s about the slavery that we’re all under. I sincerely believe that there are people out there that you need to be aware of. There are certain powers that be that you may not know or necessarily not see, that are manipulating the way that our culture and world works. It’s mostly just an awareness of what’s going on, I mean, if you think we’re not manipulated every single day by the media, and what you see on TV, than your missing it man, your really missing it. I mean, I watch all the different news networks from CNN to FOX and you see these different varying opinions, but ultimately they’re playing to their crowd. Its in much the same way that a band or artist would...play to their crowd, but the difference here is that I’m not trying to manipulate people. I’m just trying to be an artist and put stuff out there just so people are aware, but it just seems like there’s so much manipulation that goes on within the media, outside the media with politicians and all this other crap and I feel like we are more enslaved now. It’s not necessarily the chain on your leg slavery, but it’s just the psychological slavery. They don’t call it television programming for nothing, we’re programmed to believe a certain thing about this, that, or the other. For example there are hundreds of cases like the Trayvon Martin situation in the U.S. that occur every single day, but why was that one in particular pulled out and utilized? There’s varying opinions on that, but it creates more of a distraction for all of us. I know that’s kind of weird coming from me, because I have a dual life outside of this. I just find it very disheartening and I’ve had plenty of discussions about this with colleagues in law enforcement as well. But I just feel like we’re all kind of manipulated somehow by people who have money, power, and influence. I feel its tragic, I really do. It is more my thing of having people just wake up. And if you wanted to pair that song with “The One Eyed King” it kind of falls in the same genre. “The One Eyed King” is essentially about the same thing, these power brokers that manipulate us every single day. And if you’re in a power position or your family has been in that power position for decades and even centuries, would you give up that power, or would you believe that what your doing is the absolute right thing for humanity? It’s that big question. But my whole thing is that the people should decide, and that’s why we live in supposedly a democratic republic here in the U.S. Along with other democratic forms of government throughout the world, we’re all supposed to have a say in what’s going on, and I just think there are so many levels where we don’t have a say. I mean why is it that our elected officials get billions of dollars to run for president, and where is all this money coming from, and how can we trace that? Why on earth would you give a hundred thousand dollars to a presidential election if you didn’t think you were going to get something back from it? You know what I mean? It boggles the mind, and scares me a little bit. I just want people to think about shit. I don’t expect them to have an answer; I just want them to think about it. So that’s kind of my take on what those two particular songs are about.
Metal Exiles: Wow, that’s really heavy stuff. Thank you for sharing in depth about those tracks.
You guys have a European tour coming up, and I’m sure your all really looking forward to that. Something I’ve wondered for a long time, and especially during your second stint with Iced Earth, how do go about getting the time off for even short tours as a full time police officer?
Matt: It was a matter of just scheduling. I had vacation and things like that. I’ve pointed out to a lot of people that for The Crucible of Man tour, I did more touring to support that album than for any other Iced Earth record I was on. Its kind of crazy to think that, but if you look at the tour schedule I did way more shows for that record than any of the others. But in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t enough for Iced Earth to survive, because no a days the record industry has changed so much that bands really have to tour to survive, unless you have other means of income or you’re willing to be that band like Ashes of Ares is where we are going to have limited touring, but we are not surviving from the band. Hopefully with everything we do we will be able to keep the band going financially, but we’re not basing it on our livelihoods, because we all have livelihoods outside of the band. And a lot of bands are like that. Most people probably don’t know, or maybe they do, but there are a lot of bands that are in the same situation that we’re in. But we’ll tour as much as we can man, if we’re offered good spots where we can get out there and go and do like we’re doing with the Powerwolf tour in Europe. We thought this would be a really good opportunity for us. It’s an opening slot, but we’ll be able to get out there. We’ve only got one record out anyway so its not like we have a whole lot of material to do a headlining show, unless we start doing covers from our other bands. I think this is the best thing for us right now. We’ve got one record, but maybe when we have two records we’ll be able to do a headlining tour. That will certainly open it up for us, or a co-headlining tour. That may even be the more logical thing to do. But we’ll get out there with this European tour in September/October, and we’ll take full advantage of that 35, 40, 45 minute time slot, just kill it, and we’ll get out there and start talking with people and start reconnecting with our fans from our past bands and things like that, and hopefully meet some new people that are Powerwolf fans, Majesty fans, or what have you. So we’ll see how it goes.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of shows, Prog Power is approaching. You guys must be really stoked about that. I read the album review from Greg of ProgPower. He made some interesting observations about this project, and related it to Iced Earth. Relating to what he said, I would find it really hard to believe that a few years ago had you and Freddy presented Jon with a demo of say “The Messenger” that it wouldn’t have immediately been received well and possibly become an Iced Earth classic. Would you care to comment on that idea, and maybe shed some light on some of the creative challenges you and Freddy may have faced while in Iced Earth?
Matt: Well, the thing of it is I never really got to that point. When I came back for The Crucible of Man, Jon had some songs that needed lyrics or vocal melodies that he gave me to work on, and I was happy to do it man, proud to do it. And I know where Jon’s at as far as his control of Iced Earth. He doesn’t shy away from sharing that to anyone who asks. So I understand where he’s coming from, and I was happy to add to that record. I really like some of the stuff I did on that record...I thought it was pretty damn good if I do say so myself (laughs). Like, “Crucify the King,” the concept was Jon’s, and I just went with it. He would say: “I have this spot, and this is what I need...so just run with the lyrics and the melodies.” And in the end I really dug that song. Now when it came to the next record, around that time I was already pretty much committed that I wasn’t going to be in the band. I was writing stuff, I had actually written the lyrics for “The One Eyed King” by that point, and it was written out like a poem. But I think that that’s probably one of the songs I would have submitted to Jon if I was staying on with Iced Earth just because it certainly was along the lines of common thinking...I don’t know if it would have made it on the Dystopia record or not, but it was along those lines of common thinking and what I tend to believe. And more so the underlying thing in “The One Eyed King” is that everyone tends to follow blindly. Where I came up with the concept is the old proverb that says, “In the Land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” And if we’re all following around blindly, the man with the one eye will basically lead the pack. So that’s where that kind of came from. Anyway, I digress. As far as your questions...I don’t know man. I don’t know if stuff would have gotten picked or not. I know that Freddy did submit some stuff to Jon and they never got put on the record. But again, where that’s concerned, it goes back to creative control, and that may be one of the reasons why our approach in Ashes of Ares is collaboration, and I feel very strongly that we need to continue down that path. And I’m fine with Freddy taking over the reigns of the music, and there are actually a couple of songs on the record that I initially wrote the music for. “The Answer” is one of them, it was an acoustic song, and then Freddy just took it and blew it out of the water and took it to a whole other level. Now we did do an acoustic version on the digipack just because the label wanted a bonus track and it was the easiest one we could really crank out because we already demoed it in an acoustic form and it was there. Also, “Move the Chains” was one that I wrote the body of the music for, but I am not a guitar player so I took what I had, all my ProTools stuff and I asked Freddy to play it like its an actual guitar player playing it, and we structured it from there. And that may continue, I may have some other ideas like that, and we may contribute and turn it into songs, and maybe not...what I come up with may suck, but we’ll all come to that conclusion, and we’re all going to keep doing our thing, our parts. Because Freddy can play bass, guitar, drums, and he’ll probably start demoing up stuff and then shoot it over to me, over to Van as well. I would like it to be us coming to an idea or understanding of things minute by minute, but it doesn’t always work out that way. We may have ideas that take a couple weeks to come to, like a melodic direction, or lyric idea, or what have you. We’ll figure it out. We’re already excited about the next record now that we have this one done, and I think that’s a good thing. You always want your second record, your sophomore record to be a strong one, and I think all of our heads are in that to make the next one even stronger than this one.
Metal Exiles: I noticed on your Facebook some stills of a recent video shoot? How was your first music video experience?
Matt: It was cool, man. It was different. Dave Rofsky, he’s the videographer, director, and all the other good stuff, he’s a very, very cool guy to work with, and we had a really good time. Freddy actually worked with him when Iced Earth did the first video for Dystopia. We had a good time, and it was my first time ever doing one, so it was interesting. Hopefully the outcome will be great, and I hope people will like what they hear more so than see, but hopefully they like the whole package.
Metal Exiles: The engineering genius of Jim Morris is clearly evident on this album. How was it this time around working with Jim? And did he contribute as producer or guest musician anywhere on the album?
Matt: Well, the thing is I wasn’t around, due to our scheduling conflicts, for when all of the music was recorded. But I did go down there, and I actually did the vocals out of his house. Jim and I have known each other for a long time so he actually lets me go to his house. We did that to help cut some of the costs with the record, so that was very helpful. But when we started getting down to it, Jim definitely helped with putting some of the chorus stuff together, you know, I had one idea for a chorus notably for “Chalice of Man” and then Jim just helped elevate it to a whole other level when we did this really cool staccato stuff behind it, and really just elevated it up man. And then I’ve got a weaving vocal on top of the chorus. And that’s what producers do man, they hear the stuff and then they hear something that can make it better. And that’s what we did. So to answer your question, several elements of Jim are there, but I don’t think musically that he added so much to it. Freddy had done a lot of the guitars at his place, again, helping cut costs on production. And just a side bar here, every bit of money that we got for doing this record is in the record. We were able to cut corners on some areas, but the money went to Morrisound and to Jim. We’re not working with a huge budget anymore, and I don’t think any metal band is. So we’re doing this stuff somewhat on a shoe string, but hopefully we can sell enough records to at least pay Nuclear Blast back, so that they’ll want us to keep doing records for them (laughs).
Metal Exiles: I’d like to shift gears now and ask you a question about vocals. You definitely have one of the most unique voices in Heavy Metal. Who were some of your biggest influences, and who continues to influence you vocally today?
Matt: The guys that I grew up listening to are really more the influences. Someone specifically, even though we have very different voices, but just his approach to it is amazing, Geoff Tate is a big influence. Rob Halford is huge for me. I always loved how Rob went from being able to do really nice, rounded bottom end stuff to being able to do the piercing high stuff...that’s like right in my wheel house. I was always influenced by James Hetfield, the way that he approached delivery and stuff. He’s not a quote, “singer guy” per se, but he does have a very unique voice, and you know when you’re listening to James. And that’s always been the way I’ve approached it, meaning I don’t want to have to change my voice to sound like somebody else. I can be influenced by all these guys and appreciate them but I don’t want to sound like them. I want to sound like me, and every vocalist should approach it and go: okay, what are the sweet spots in my voice and how can I make them better? And how can I just be myself? And it’s not to say that guys who sound like other people don’t have their uniqueness or unique qualities to their voice, but sometimes when your trying to sound like somebody else, you are going to sound like somebody else, and I don’t think you want to do that. I think you want to stand out by yourself if you can. I had a really great vocal coach back when I was in Tampa, and he told me that, and he also told Jon that, “Matt’s going have his own voice, and he’s not going to sound like the other guys you had singing in Iced Earth before. But, if you embrace that and you start writing songs with that in mind then you’re never going to be disappointed with the outcome of that.” I think Jon took that to heart, and I certainly took that to heart and from that point on really just tried to establish myself more and embellish upon what I felt were my strong suits in my voice. And that’s my quote, “words of wisdom” (laughs).
Metal Exiles: Well, thanks so much Matt. Do you have anything else you’d like the fans to know about the album or the band?
Matt: I would really just encourage everybody to get out there and listen to the stuff. I hope that you really like it. If you listen to the samples or what not and you do like it, please buy it. We’re not going to be able to keep making the records if people aren’t buying the records. And I know it’s real easy to just download stuff sometimes, and you can do that if you’d like through the proper channels. But if we’re not selling songs, if we’re not selling records we’re not going to be able to do this stuff. We’re not going to be able to continue it, so I urge people to do that. And I know its common knowledge now, people get it, I think. Every record that’s sold shows how much more support we’re going to have and we can show the record company that we’re a viable thing here, and we can do well by them, and hopefully it means they’ll do well by us. I appreciate everyone who is a past fan of stuff that I’ve done, and been involved with, and I can’t thank you enough for being on board for this journey and I hope that we take this journey together.
Metal Exiles: Matt, thank you so much for your time and speaking with me about the new record. It really is an amazing album, and I wish you guys all the best at ProgPower and the upcoming European tour.
Matt: I appreciate it dude, and thank you for your work as a writer for heavy metal. Take care.
Ashes of Ares’ self-titled debut album will be released in on Nuclear Blast records, September 17th in the States!
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