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Interview by Metantoine/Antoine Richard
AR :
Thanks for answering these questions; I'm honored to be able to do
that. Bedemon is legendary and should definitely get more
recognition!
Geof: I believe we all agree on that! Of
course, since Bedemon isn't really a functioning band, it's not like
we're out touring and keeping the name in the press, and while this
is the second official Bedemon album — the first being the 2005
collection of 70s recordings, Child of Darkness: From the Original
Master Tapes — it's taken ten years from recording to release.
AR :
In the liner notes of the promo package, it's said that the
songwriting was quite spontaneous, but in opinion it's definitely not
a bad thing. The solos are well done and I like their feeling, is
that an experience you would like to repeat or you'll like to do a
more professional recording ? I would also like some thought
about the song you wrote called "Exterminator," is there
some chances that the fans could hear this song in the near
future ?
Geof: Well, the songwriting wasn't
necessarily spontaneous, except in the case of the song, "Son of
Darkness," which Randy, Mike and myself did spontaneously write
one day during the recording sessions in April 2002. However, the
other eight tracks on the album, five by Randy, two by myself and one
by Mike, were all written during 2001 as we prepared for the
recording session.
As
for the solos, with the exceptions of my two songs, "Saviour"
and "Hopeless," on which I did do extensive work on years
later, the solos were indeed as spontaneous as could be. Randy had
worked out his melodic line solo in "D.E.D." but on his
other songs, we had no idea who would be playing what or where. While
Mike and I had recorded fairly complete demos of our compositions
with drum machines, vocals, solos etc., Randy's demos were literally
him playing one guitar into a cassette recorder. No vocals, no
overdubs, no solos, just the riffs. This was all Mike and I had to
listen to during the year leading up to the actual recording session.
This
is how it would go: we would sit in my living room with three
unplugged electric guitars and learn the song for that day, and then
go down to my garage and record it, usually in 2–3 takes max. As we
listened back to the track, Randy would then say, “Okay, the solo
starts…here! It goes for eight lines. Geof, why don’t you try
this one?” They would go upstairs to the house while I (or Mike, if
he was doing a solo) would see what we could come up with given no
advance prep to work anything out, and when we were satisfied, we’d
go get the other members to come listen. That’s pretty spontaneous!
Personally, I’d like to have had the time to have worked on them a
bit longer as I did with my two tracks. I like a solo to be
well-constructed but of course it’s a fun challenge to simply play
by emotion.
Ahhhh,
“Exterminator.” Kind of a sore subject which I discuss in the
album’s liner notes. Randy had my demo of the song for a year and
thought it was fine for the album . . . until the day we sat in the
living room learning it right before we were supposed to record it.
Suddenly he thought it wasn’t right and was too much like Judas
Priest. It WAS Priest-influenced but I’m sure it would have taken
on the Bedemon sound if we’d at least recorded it. This also
suddenly left me with one less song on the album and no time for a
back-up replacement. I wasn’t happy and an emotional scene ensued
with me leaving the room as I told him to fuck off and retreating to
my bedroom where I stayed until they coaxed me out. I would
absolutely like to record it properly someday, but have no idea when
that would be or for what project.
AR :
I liked Craig's voice on the album. Can you tell me more about his
choice ? Was he the only candidate outside of Bobby Liebling and
did the famous Pentagram singer ever call or talk to you guys before
or after Randy's death ?
Geof:
When we recorded the basic tracks for this
album in April of 2002, we didn't have a vocalist and didn't know who
would be singing. We actually considered Mike or I trying to handle
them, but neither of us has the killer chops to handle material of
this nature properly.
Randy
agonized for quite some time about working with Bobby again. He was
the obvious choice but Randy had two concerns: first, he wasn’t
crazy about Bobby’s vocal style on recent Pentagram albums at that
time. He thought he’d gotten too far away from the Ozzy/Iggy early
Pentagram sound. Secondly, Randy knew if he was spending time working
with Bobby, he would be tempted to fall back into using the drugs
Randy was trying to stay away from. Randy
had a few other possibilities for singers in North Carolina where he
was living but they didn't pan out.
Shawn
Hafley, the engineer who worked on this project was working at a
local indie record shop called Boo Boo's Records in San Luis Obispo.
He knew I had been looking for a singer and mentioned that their
other location in Grover Beach had a manager who was also a great
singer and that I should check him out. I met Craig for the first
time on June 14, 2002. He played me tapes of him with cover bands
singing Sabbath, Priest and so on, and he was great. I sent the
samples off to Randy and Mike. and we agreed Craig was the one.
Sadly, Randy died before ever getting to even speak with him on the
phone, much less ever meet him in person.
I
was contacted by a third party after Randy’s death, relaying the
message that Bobby really wanted to be the vocalist on the album as a
tribute to his friend, but we couldn’t do that. Randy’s wishes
had to be honored.
AR :
Are you and the rest of the band gonna continue ? Like Riot will
after Mark Reale's death, life continues and maybe that's something
Randy would want. You wouldn't have the emotional contraints that you
had during the recording of Symphony of Shadows. Speaking for
myself, I want to hear more of what you guys can do and there's
absolutely nothing to be ashamed of when we listen to Pentagram or
Saint Vitus' recent offerings compared to yours.
Geof:
Thank-you for those thoughts and interest. Obviously, the big issue
is that Bedemon was, first and foremost, Randy’s project, and he’s
gone. Having said and accepted that for the past decade, we have been
discussing the possibility of continuing in some form. One really
interesting possibility is that after returning home from recording
the Symphony of Shadows album back in May of 2002, Randy began
writing tons of new songs, and I have the tapes of those song ideas.
In some cases, it’s just a riff; in others, it’s a complete song.
Again, no overdubs, no lyrics, but some amazing riffs and song ideas,
and we could take these and build songs around them. We’ve been
discussing this, as Mike and I could play all the instruments and
Craig do the vocals, and therefore it would be very much in the style
and sound of Symphony of Shadows. It really depends on the
level of interest in this new album and how well it does.
AR :
The artwork for the album is dark and fits the mysterious and occult
feel of the album, can you elaborate on its choice ?
Geof:
We were originally going to work with Wes Benscoter, who had done the
amazing cover for the Child of Darkness release but things
fell through when, after expressing interest in doing the new cover,
he suddenly vanished and wouldn’t respond to e-mails for month
after month. We were back at square one.
When
Mike was visiting Randy’s fiancée Taryn and looking through some
of Randy’s music-related stuff, he came across a rough drawing of
potential cover art for what was going to at the time be called
Kaleidoscope of Shadows, showing a face peering out of a
doorway with one hand on the door. Good friend and Pentagram fanatic
Sean "Pellet" Pelletier saw Eric “Rot” Engelmann's My
Space page and examples of his work and suggested we check him out.
On Eric's site was this artwork of his showing a partially lit face
peering out from behind a tree with one hand on the tree. It was
eerily similar to Randy's sketch concept, and so we contacted Eric
and arranged to use his art for the cover
AR :
Can you tell me what were your influences for the album outside of
the obvious ones ? What are you listening these days and what's
some of your all time favorites ? Secondly, do you like
discovering new artists and do what's your opinion on the actual
metal and scene ?
Geof: It’s no secret that Randy’s
favorite band was Black Sabbath, so that’s a given. When I was
working with Shawn mixing the album, I’d bring in 70s releases like
Uriah Heep, Mountain, Sir Lord Baltimore, Captain Beyond, Deep
Purple, Montrose, Stray Dog and Three Man Army to show him the bands
we were listening to and tell him that was the overall sound we were
going for.
As
for what I personally listen to, it’s really all over the musical
map. I love so many different types of music, many quite removed from
what you might expect. I’ve always loved progressive rock like
Gentle Giant, Camel, Focus, Curved Air, Renaissance, Yes and bands of
that ilk and also a huge jazz fusion fan into Allan Holdsworth, Frank
Gambale, Jean-Luc Ponty and so on. I have so many CDs and records, it
is a hard question, but other artists that come to mind are Todd
Rundgren, Kate Bush, Neil Young, Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash, 60s pop
like The Association, The Beatles, The Zombies, The Hollies etc.
I
am really out of touch with new metal. Randy was more into
discovering new artists, but when he would send me some samplers of
bands he liked, they really didn’t do anything for me. The main
thing I find lacking is strong material. It doesn’t matter how well
it’s played or recorded. If the song doesn’t grab me, it’s not
happening. Another problem I have are vocalists: I really can’t
stand the growling non-singing singers, otherwise nick-named “cookie
monster” vocalists. I need an Ian Gillan, a Dio, a Rob Halford…a
singer with a voice who can sing a melody with power and emotion, not
sound like he’s being strangled. I’m sure there are new artists
out there I would love if I was exposed to them, but really, there’s
only so many hours in the day and I have a gazillion CDs I haven’t
even listened to yet sitting in boxes.
AR :
Do you plan to play some live shows in the future ? I know a
festival like Roadburn would be honored to have you. Maybe a
Pentagram/Bedemon show !!
Geof: It would be a thrill
to play some of the old and new songs in honor of Randy, but the
obstacles we face are having to find a guitarist or two and then deal
with the physical logistics of Mike living in Montana and Craig and I
living here in California. Bedemon, old or new, has never played a
single gig since it was never really a band to begin with. Yes, the
idea of doing some Pentagram/Bedemon shows is very interesting…
AR :
If there was one little known fact about Bedemon, what would it
be?
Geof: Well, the most common misconception about
Bedemon is that it was an actual band! It never was. We didn’t
rehearse and there was never any talk of playing gigs. It literally
was Randy’s recording project for fun. Bobby and I were friends of
his and he’d ask us to record some songs every now and then, so
we’d meet at the warehouse where Pentagram rehearsed, record the
new 2-3 songs and that would be it for months until he came up with
some more songs. We did fifteen tracks between 1973 and 1979, and
then recorded five more in 1986 with Greg Mayne of Pentagram on bass,
as Mike had moved to Seattle. These five had no vocals and have never
been released except on bootlegs.
AR :
Thanks for the interview and good luck in all of your future
endeavors ! You have the final word, of course !
Geof:
Thanks from Mike, Craig and myself for your kind words and interest
regarding Bedemon, and a huge thank-you to the fans who have
patiently waited for this project to be completed and now are telling
us how much they enjoy it. More to come? Stay tuned!
www.facebook.com/bedemondoom
twitter:
@bedemon
They toured with Witch Moutain twice so I got to meet them and they
were also very grateful for the positive review I wrote for them.
