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BLACK STEEL
BLACK STEEL is the first and only real Melodic Power Metal band from Australia. They are right up there with all the European bands that invented this genre the past decade. I had an interview with bandleader Dave Harrison who informed me all about his band and the Australian scene...
When did you form BLACK STEEL?
[DaveHarrison] the band was formed in early 2000. We released the 'Battle Call' EP in 2000 and the 'Destructor' Cd in 2001
Did any of
you do something musically before BLACK STEEL?
[DaveHarrison]
Jamie had played and recorded with a few bands in his time Black
Alice & Trilogy. Matt had recorded a hard rock Cd called
Project X, Damien our drummer has recorded an EP with a
intrumental progressive outfir dcalled Syzygy. I myself played in
a very well known metal band here in australia called Allegiance
we released 3 CD's thru the Mercury label and toured the country
many times with acts like Slayer, Pantera, Rob Halford, Kreator,
Sepultura etc etc.. Allegiance was more bay area thrash sounding
metal..
Your music
is an excellent mixture of European Power Metal and Melodic
Hardrock, which bands inspired you?
[DaveHarrison]
All the classic metal bands Maiden, Sabbath, Priest, Dio,
Manowar, Scorpions, Accept, Purple, Rainbow, Queensryche,
Zeppelin etc etc and of course all the NWOBHM stuff. Plus lots of
80's undergroud metal which I am a huge fan and collector of.
Everything from Anvil, Stormwith, MSG, Riot, Sortilege to
Samson.. you name it.. I could go on and on but underground metal
rules.. Basically if it is metal with good melodies &
attitude then I will love it..
Your kind
of music is quite popular in Europe and Japan, but not in
Australia, are there other bands playing your musicstyle in your
area/country?
[DaveHarrison]
None that I really know of.. I suppose Pegazus is close but not
really the same,.Vanishing Point are more prog.. We are kind of
unique over here.. which I think set Black Steel apart from just
about every other metal act in Australia coz there is a lot of
groove nu heavy kinda bands with lots of angst but nowhere nearly
as melodic or anthemic us our music so we are starting to get
noticed as being something different thats for sure.. Overseas
people are now starting to pay attention to this band Black Steel
from Oz.. So I guess being different & a little unque from
everyone else in our home country is working in our favour a bit
coz we are not getting lost in a crowd.. I must say though that
Australia has many phenominal bands especially on the extreme
side of things. I am very proud of the Australian metal scene and
how healthy it is..
Are you popular in your area?
[DaveHarrison]
Our hometown of Perth is kinda small in population (1.5 million)
& it is also the most isolated city on the planet (I'm
serious) but we are doing OK.. On a good night we can draw a few
hundred and audiences are starting to get to know &
appreciate our material and style of music which makes for a good
crowd response. We also have quite a large mailing list and our
fanbase is growing all the time. When we first came out it was
like what the hell? Because we were so different to everthing
else around at the time people didn't understand but now they are
realising that we are genuine in what we do and are starting to
latch on.
How is the
debut going so far, positive reactions?
[DaveHarrison]
Yes I must say in all honesty I have yet to see a crappy review
thay have all been so positive!
We put a lot of time and effort into our music so of course I am
very happy about that it is very rewarding.. there seems to be a
great buz we are getting from all over the world. We really
appreciate that the fans of this music are so loyal and
passionate and everyday I get a ton of emails from people wanting
to know about our music so it is great to get so much positive
feedback.
What are
the plans for the next coming months? Have you written any new
material and if so, please tell us about it and possible
songtitles... Hopefully no musical changes...
[DaveHarrison]
We are currently working in a new guitar player Emanuel Rudnicki
who repleaces Jamie. I myself have lots of ideas for the next
album and i know some of the other guys do to soe it is a matter
of piecing them all together for the next album. We are also
working on a couple of video clips as well which should be
released soon. Black Steel are gonna continue to do what we do
best and that is play good honest heavy metal music so there is
not gonna be any selling out or band wagon jumping with this
band.. were gonna be keeping it real 100%
Finally,
do you have anything to add to our readers?
[DaveHarrison] Thank you for taking the time to read this interview and if you wanna know any more about BLACK STEEL or want to join our mailing list then please log onto our official website http://www.blacksteel.org