HAVEN
HAVEN
is another awesome female fronted AOR/Melodic Rockband. This new
band can easily be added to the list of other new female fronted
AOR sensations from the past few months such as RADAR, ALYSON
AVENUE, RUBY FAITH... I did an interview with the female vocalist
Pamme Kirby and she told me some very interesting stories, read
on...
Please tell us about Haven and it's members?
John and Michael
had a group in Agoura, Ca. that was looking for a new singer. At
the time, I was living in Mission Viejo, Ca., which was a pretty
good commute and a fairly easy argument against even going out
for the audition. Even so, I felt compelled on some level to
check them out. From the moment we all met, there was just this
immediate and intense chemistry that demanded to be pursued
further. So rather than kicking myself all the way home, I
instead found myself thinking, "somebody pinch me"!
Previously, we had all cut our musical teeth performing in
various cover bands. For me though, this was the first all
original band that allowed me to explore and contribute any
songwriting ideas and input I had.
Can you tell us everything about your recordings?
For this project, John and Michael would get together to bounce ideas back and forth. After they'd get the scratch tracks, they would then pass the ideas on to me on Adat. I would wait to have the mic on and the tape rolling before even hearing most of the parts for the first time, preferring to just wing it and improvise to whatever was on the tape. Then, we'd all get together and collectively choose the songs that we felt captured the most magic. Once we decided on which songs we would take to the next level, John and Michael layed down all the music tracks. Once again, I'd get the songs on Adat, and recorded my parts in a studio I have at the house, complete with all the necessary atmospheric "creature" comforts of home. And by creature, I do mean "CREATURE!" You see, I have alot of animals and have always found them to be very grounding, not to mention, quite the enthusiastic audience!
While writing this
record, I endured some of the most immeasurable losses in my
life, with little or no recovery time in between. I discovered
first hand, just how viciously relentless grief can be. So much
so, that at times, it can just threaten to consume you! Having
had the music to channel the waves of emotions into, was an
amazingly cathartic experience, and my hope is, that others who
are going through significant heartchaes of their own, will also
find subjective and substantial comfort in the songs!
On your debut CD appear some well-known guest musicians such as Matt Sorum from GNR and Robin McAuley from MSG, can you tell how they got involved in your project?
Well, Matt and I grew up in Orange County and played in several bands together. Even back then, he was a monster player! I remember him playing Burn by Deep Purple for me, and just blowing me away! Afterwards, he sold me this huge tamborine that barely fit in my hand, and a Queen album for10 bucks. (Which reminds me...I think I still owe him the 10 bucks!) With Robin, I actually had a dream that we were driving around in my car listening to The Curtain and Forgiveness, and I was asking if he wanted to do background vocals with me. Two days later, my sister Lisa and I saw him at a swap meet and he was just the COOLEST! The funny thing was, a couple years earlier, (which I neglected to mention,) I had stood in line after a MSG concert so he and Michael could sign their poster for me!
Anyway, I guess the
story must have intrigued him, because soon after, we were
driving around the block of his neighborhood listening to The
Curtain and Forgiveness. I'll bet if he'd known how excited I was
to be recreating my dream, he'd never have gotten in the car with
me, because I drove like "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at
Disneyland, and almost killed us at a 4-way stop! Matt and Robin
are both consummate professionals and a blast to work with, so
when their schedules permitted, they just came in and nailed
their parts! After Robin had done his parts, Matt came in and
laid down live drums to prerecorded tracks and did the drums in 3
days. No rehearsal was necessary because Matt, not unlike Robin,
are pretty much one take wonders. They'd just listen to the song
and then say "let's do it"! I recall telling Matt
before hearing the songs that we had several ballads, is that
cool? He responded with, "Does November Rain mean anything
to you?" Matt is a complete and perpetual crack up- I just
love that guy!
Your music is very 80s based Melodic
Rock, which bands inspired you?
Michael was
inspired by Paul McCartney, The Beatles, Rush, Sting, Led
Zeppelin, (and perhaps his all time favorite...Danny Partridge!)
For John, Michael Schenker remains the ultimate Rock God. His
other inspirations include Black Sabbath, Rush, Deep Purple and
Y&T. For me, without question, it's Steve Walsh of Kansas,
Ann Wilson of Heart, and Steve Perry from Journey! They are
clearly phenemonal singers and I have yet to hear anyone grab
hold of my heart and demand my attention at that magnitude! I
also learned alot from David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes of Deep
Purple, Tommy Shaw of Styx, Lou Gramm of Foreigner, and Joe Lynn
Turner from Rainbow. To us, these bands have truly stood the test
of time. Once a band inspires authentic emotions, they forever
live on . To this day, this is where we go to renew, recharge,
and remind ourself of our original inspiration. I realized early
on, just how powerful and healing music can be. "The
Wall" by Kansas is one of those songs, that just hearing the
intro brings tears to my eyes, and in an instant, puts me back
"in spirit!"
Do you think your type of music (80s AOR/Melodic rock) will ever come back and become as popular as it was in the States back in the 80s?
Great question!
John runs the music store here in town and has been noticing more
and more students coming in for lessons that are totally into 80s
classic rock . What's really cool is, this is the music that
they're learning to play their instruments on! In addition to the
resurgence the kids seem to have given this style of music, local
radio
stations including KLOS and ARROW 93.1, have gone back to the
Classic Rock format, so they must believe that the potential that
fueled the 80s powerhouse bands still exists! So we are seeing it
become much more popular, especially within the last year.
Did you know your kind of music is becoming very popular in some parts of Europe at the moment and have you been in touch with and/or are you aware of European labels that are completely based on AOR and Melodic Rock?
We had no idea. Our
first clue was when we received an e-mail from Strutter asking us
to send in our CD for a review. After the review was posted we
received a fair amount of requests from other Web zines' who also
wanted to do a review of our Cd. The thing that really surprised
us was that people were emailing us, and asking how they could
buy the CD. Around the same time one of the guitar tech's for the
band TOTO came into the music store John runs and mentioned they
had just come back from a tour in Europe and that the band is
huge over there. As for European labels that are based on our
music style, no we are not aware ot them. (But would like to be!)
We did get a few mail order outlets that contacted us after they
read the Strutter review that want to sell our CD.
What are the plans for the next coming months?
Our main focus right now is to get our music promoted in Europe. With the amount of interest we've received from just the one review in Strutter, we see that our style of music is very popular there. We have also started writing new songs and glad to say, yes they are in the same musicstyle! We're extremely grateful for all the support and heat that has been generated as a result of the Strutter review! Heartfelt thanks, Gabor..."On with the adventure!!!"