ACCOMPLICE - INTERVIEW

ACCOMPLICE is a new revelation of prog metal rock coming from Southern  California. Your debut album auto intitled, released by Adrenaline Records,  is a masterpiece of prog atmospheres, inspirated guitars melodies and creative vocal in the line of the legendary Geoff Tate. Krepuskulum interviewed SEAN CLEGG (Guitars).

IN USA the prog rock isn't a loved music style, the MTV is the result of   fashion music. Is this the reason for ACCOMPLICE release your debut in a   foreign label?

The live music scene still kicks ass in America, but if you're not a rapper or an ex-mousketeer you can't get the time of day from a major label. It's about reaching the fan base, because it is there, but the labels here are not investing in progressive music. As far as Americans being trendy, its all force-fed by MTV who in my opinion have screwed up the whole music scene out here. We've had some interest, Mike Varney is interested in us but we haven't really pursued that direction. Right now we
own our product, and we haven't found the right licensing deal here in the U.S.. We've spent the last year doing some great shows, Judas Priest, Michael Schenker Group and Kings X were a some of the better highlights.

ACCOMPLICE play gigs with great metal legends like JUDAS PRIEST, VAN  HALEN and RUSH. What are the feelings and advantages to divide gigs with  these bands?

Well first of all it's a great honor to play a gig with those groups you mentioned and we're always very pumped and excited on those big shows because we're also fans. But we can't ignore the fact that it's a great opportunity to play for their audience. We know that if someone is into Priest, VH or Rush, they might dig us as well. We usually play our asses off at those shows.

Talk to us about the band's tragectory. Do you live off your music or  you have other jobs?

We all do paid sessions and gigs for other groups and artists. The band has income through our CD sales, but we have all kept at least part time day jobs. I have a recording studio at home and I teach music appreciation at a community college. Rich works with computers. Scott works with hazardous materials and as a freelance artist. Stephen works as a freelance artist and
at a halfway house for people getting out of jail, and Michael works as an insurance broker.

In your great debut, you include some sweet ballads like the beautiful   FALLIN' and powerful hard metal rocks like CENTURION & CRUSADER SOUL. What are your favourite musical styles??

An interesting thing about the band is that we all come from pretty different musical backgrounds. I grew up on classic and progressive rock, Beatles, Zep, Floyd, Rush,Yes, Purple. I cut my teeth on their music. Then it was Van Halen, Malmsteen and Vai. Recently I've been getting into Al Di Meola again, and Pat Metheny allot. I just completed my Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance, so my tastes vary quite a bit, Bach to Rock. Rich comes from more of a jazz background. He cut his teeth on rock, but studied jazz and classical in college playing with big bands, Dixieland, country bands etc.. He studied with jazz greats Alan Carter and Peter Erskine, and I know he likes Steve Smith and Mike Portnoy allot too. Green grew up on Motown and the funk of the seventies, but discovered rock as a young man working in a great rock stadium, The Forum in L.A.. The experience of seeing groups like Styx and Triumph from backstage changed his life. Bruce Dickinson, Geoff Tate, Steve Perry and Dio are some of his biggest influences. Scott grew up in Chicago which is a great blues and jazz city, also a great rock city so he got it all there. If anybody was ever born a bass player, it was Scott. He's a connoisseur of 70's and 80's fusion like UK, Brecker Bros., Jean Luc Ponty . Michael started playing piano at age eight, but grew up on ELP, Yes. Purple etc. Funny, but he really loves guitar shredders and has the best collection of guitar hero CD's I've ever seen! Lately he's been getting into Jens Johansen and studying with ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derrick Sherinian who lives in L.A.. He still studies
with T. Lavitz as well. I will also say for the record that we are all huge Dream Theater, and Queensryche fans.

NIGHTINGALE is a sad and deep music, the lyric is a dream of sweetness.  What is the meaning of the lyric? Is it a metaphor to human condition? Who  write the lyrics in the band?

The nightingale's song takes you away, while you listen you soar on the wings of melody. The music usually comes first, and Stephen often finds his inspiration for the lyrics in what he thinks the music is trying to say. Music can be very visual, and Stephen try's to stimulate the minds eye by painting a picture with his words.

The cover art show us an urban scene, but the musics of the CD are about   love, historic legends & etc. What is the reason of these cover art??

It relates more to the name ACCOMPLICE than our music. It comes from the idea of being partners in crime, something underground, maybe a secret agent.

The Stephen Green's voice is one the best voices that I listen in the new prog metal acts! Geoff Tate is a great reference for it, but Stephen  voice is personal. What are Stephen's influences?

Thanks. Dio, Dickinson and Tate are probably the three biggest. But also Steve Perry, Steve Walsh, Jeff Scott Soto...the list goes on and on.

Sean Clegg is a majestic guitar man with a intense sence of melody.Talk  to us about the creative process to create your riffs and solos.

Thanks again. Solo sections are usually born out of improvisation. We play the songs in rehearsal and I Improvise freely. When I hear riffs that I like I try to remember them. When it comes time to record I usually refine them a bit, most solos are set. Large instrumental sections or harmony solos I work out with a tape usually.

How are the fans' reception for the "ACCOMPLICE" ?

The response we've been getting lately is really phenomenal.Especially to some of the new material we've been playing. We're really hoping things will start to happen for us over seas since Europe seems to be more into Prog than America.
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Contacts:

ADRENALINE RECORDS: www.adrenaline.it   /  info@adrenaline