Detritus
Mini-Issue #465.5 - July 18, 2008
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*** CAST OF CHARACTERS ***
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Patrick Brower, Editor
patrickbrower@...

Sean P. Gahgan, Editor
lof@...
http://www.lakeoffire.net/

Tim Wadzinski, Owner
tsw512@...

Steve Shumake, Co-owner
vongoober@...
http://www.myspace.com/kdsteve

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*** LET IT BE KNOWN ***
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-Check out Neal's cool interview with Michael Olivieri, plus some
feedback on the Rocklahoma musings in this week's issue. - Tim

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*** SPECIAL REPORT ***
*
by Neal Woodall (MysticX9@...)

-Interview w/ Michael Olivieri (Leatherwolf)
July 2, 2008

Back in 1984 triple lead guitar teams were the exclusive province of
southern rock bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws and Molly
Hatchet. Huntington Beach, California melodic metal outfit Leatherwolf
adopted the idea, however, and applied it to a heavier, shred
reverent, progressive-tinged style of music, releasing three stellar
albums overlooked by the masses but embraced by fans and even a good
number of critics. Following an almost decade long hiatus, the band
reformed for the 1999 live document WIDE OPEN, but conflicting
schedules and interests again put the band on hold until 2006, when
vocalist Wade Black, bassist Pete Perez and guitarist Eric Halpern
joined original members Geoff Gayer (guitar) and Dean Roberts (drums)
for the excellent comeback disc WORLD ASYLUM. Yet another round of
lineup changes then resulted in original members Carey Howe and
Michael Olivieri being welcomed back, and WORLD ASYLUM was re-recorded
with Olivieri's vocals. Then the band subsequently lost guitarist
Gayer. NEW WORLD ASYLUM has recently been released and with the band
seemingly on firm ground again I took the opportunity to speak with
Michael about his auspicious return...

DETRITUS: I was just listening to "The Grail" -- man your vocals are
just amazing on this re-recorded version of WORLD ASYLUM!

MICHAEL OLIVIERI: Thanks man, I definitely laid blood out there!
(laughs) It was fun to do.

D: The reviews I've read have been very positive so far.

MO: So far, not bad huh?

D: Was it awkward replacing Wade Black's vocals or did it come pretty
naturally to you?

MO: Ahh, I wouldn't say it felt natural, obviously melodically there
was a lot of stuff that I wouldn't have done but I wanted to stay true
to the record but try to put myself into it... I for sure didn't try
to copy Wade's style but melodically, where the melodies were, I was
trying to stay true to that. But yeah it was challenging actually, I
would have to say. It was a good challenge though, and kind of
stretched me vocally. You know as a singer you kind of write in your
comfort zone and it took me out of my comfort zone a couple of times,
so it was cool.

D: Which of your vocals do you think came out best on NEW WORLD
ASYLUM?

MO: I'm really happy with "The Grail." You know what? I really like
them all -- we didn't really let anything get by where we were like
"Oh well, that's OK." We wanted to make sure it was the best I could
do. I think "Never Again" is really cool, "Behind The Gun" -- they
were all kind of a stretch. Nothing with the exception of maybe "King
Of The Ward" or "Institutions" was easy, as there was something in
every song that stretched me a little bit.

D: You actually did some backing vocals on the original version didn't
you?

MO: I did, yes I did. You know, I couldn't really be part of the group
at the time. It just wasn't working out in my schedule and everything,
so when they got Wade to do it Dean and Geoff called me up and asked
if I would come down and help out with some backups and help Wade out
with some harmonies here and there. So yeah, I was never really too
far removed from the band even though I wasn't in it. Those guys were
always good friends of mine so I wanted to help out however I could,
but at the time I just couldn't make the commitment of staying full
time, three or four nights rehearsal and all that, the whole bit you
know...

D: I also read you played some guitar on it although I didn't see it
in the credits...

MO: I played the solo in "Dr. Wicked," just that feedback solo, but
you know all the guitar work had already been done by Geoff so it was
like "How can I improve upon that"? (laughs) It was already good to
go.

D: Speaking of Geoff, watching the video for "Dr. Wicked" (at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pCYDVwr82E ) I noticed someone I
didn't recognize playing guitar. Is that Geoff's replacement?

MO: Yes it is...

D: Who is that?

MO: His name is Greg -- forgive me for not knowing his last name
(laughs) -- I think it's Thompson though. Yeah, it just didn't work
out with Geoff -- we wanted it to work and I love the guy dearly and
hope to play music with him someday but not today! (laughs)

D: What is he up to now, do you keep in touch at all?

MO: I talked to him not too long ago, he gave me a call just to kind
of clear the air and make sure we're friends and everything -- and we
are. I definitely don't hate him or anything, it's just that we had a
different agenda.

D: I'm sorry all that happened with him, he's a great player...

MO: He's a great player man, amazing player. You know I've been kind
of out of the metal scene a little bit so I've been listening to some
people, listening to some stuff just to see what's out there and...
(pauses) Geoff shreds is what I'm trying to say! (laughs)

D: Yeah, that solo on "Derailed" is one of my favorites of the last
few years.

MO: "The Grail" or "Derailed?"

D: "Derailed" is the one I was thinking about, but all the guitar work
on the album is great; for some reason "Derailed" just hit me, that's
killer.

MO: Yeah, he's a fantastic guitar player.

D: I met him at ProgPower a few years back.

MO: In Atlanta?

D: Yeah, up in Atlanta.

MO: I didn't make that show.

D: Well hopefully Leatherwolf can play it again sometime.

MO: Yeah, I was going to do the show because they couldn't find a
guitar player and I was just going to come in and just play guitar,
but I kind of felt a little weird to do that...

D: Yeah, I imagine that would be!

MO: Are they having ProgPower again this year?

D: Yeah, they do it every year. We need to get you up here for that.
I've only seen Leatherwolf live twice, once in 1989 on the STREET
READY tour in Houston and once at ProgPower so...

MO: I remember the one, many, many years ago -- I think it was the
Cotton Club in Atlanta. Is there a Cotton Club there?

D: Yep. That was back in the '80s?

MO: Yeah, it was like '88. Good times...

D: I see several upcoming shows listed on your MySpace page: Kansas
City, Missouri and Las Vegas coming up in August...

MO: Yeah, we're doing the Metal Fest in Kansas City, and then a show
with Y&T and L.A. Guns in Vegas.

D: Oh yeah, that will be good! Do you have any more scheduled for
later on in the year?

MO: Our PR hooked us up, trying to get us on some deals with some
booking agents, so they have our name on the bait trying to get a
catch for the tour. Some things are in the works but nothing really to
talk about yet. You know how that goes, it's rock n' roll, a lot of
talkin' goin' on!

D: (laughs) Right. How many shows have you done since you rejoined?

MO: Ahh, not many, we went out to Europe last November and did about
ten shows out there.

D: Those go pretty well?

MO: They went pretty well considering, you know, it was really just
word-of-mouth. There wasn't a lot of promotion at all, then we had the
small incident with Geoff. So it was nice to get out and play, love
doing that. Hopefully we can do more of that this year.

D: Where is the best place to tour?

MO: I really love going to Europe; fans are pretty dedicated out
there. I also like the south, your area and North Carolina, that whole
area was really cool. I like being on the road anywhere. You know the
only place I wasn't really thrilled about going? There are some
countries in Europe where I was like "What are we doing here?"
(laughs) "Anybody going to be here?" Then you get to the show and it's
like at a barn or something, next thing you know a thousand people
show up and it's like "Wow!" Crazy...

D: What does the current set list look like?

MO: The current set list looks like three or four new songs -- we're
doing like "Derailed," "Dr. Wicked," "Behind The Gun," and "I Am The
Law" -- and about three or four off each of the records, the standards
like "The Calling," "Hideaway," "Street Ready," "Thunder," "Spiter,"
"Wicked Ways," something off the first record, "Kill And Kill Again,"
"Season Of The Witch..."

D: That sounds really good right there!

MO: Yeah, "Gypsies And Thieves..." (pauses) Drawing a blank, can't
think of anymore.

D: How much guitar are you going to be playing live?

MO: Oh, just about as much as I used to, half the show.

D: What are your favorite solos to play live?

MO: I think the triple lead in "Spiter" and "Kill And Kill Again" -- a
lot of good guitar work. We used to take a lot of time working out
those guitar parts you know, back in the day; me, Geoff and Carey
would just sit there for hours at a time working out triple leads, we
thought we were onto something nobody else was doing...

D: You were! (laughs)

MO: (laughs) Kinda had fun with it...

D: Are you working on any new Leatherwolf material?

MO: We're not working on any new Leatherwolf material right now, we're
just kinda getting the show together -- you know we've been working in
a new guitar player. What I am working on is my solo record, for three
years now and finally getting real close to getting that finished.
Probably just a month or so away from getting that all wrapped up,
getting ready to mix and master it, real excited about that. It's
going to be the first thing I've done to record musically a true,
honest representation of myself; although the Leatherwolf stuff is a
big part of me, it's still a watered-down version of me...

D: There's another aspect...

MO: Yeah, you know anytime you're in a band with five other people
you're not going to get your true influence in there so the solo album
is going to be a real good representation of what I'm about musically
and all that.

D: What can we expect stylistically on there?

MO: You know, it's going to be closer to a Lenny Kravitz/Elton John/
Beatles record...

D: Oh, that will be different!

MO: It will have some heavy overtones but it's just real melodic,
catchy choruses, a lot more soulful, more bluesy. Leatherwolf was, you
know, balls out progressive metal, so this will be a far cry from a
Leatherwolf record, that's for sure.

D: Are you going to be playing guitar on there too?

MO: Yeah, I'm going to be playing everything on there. Dave Goode did
the drums and I just kind of did everything from the bass to the
guitars and keyboards. I had some friends do some horn sections and
some strings on there, couple of guest spots on guitar but pretty much
it's all me.

D: I'm looking forward to it.

MO: Thanks.

D: Are you equally happy singing in Leatherwolf and doing your own
stuff or do you kind of prefer one or the other?

MO: You know, I prefer doing the solo stuff. That's a little closer to
my heart, but the thing about Leatherwolf is there's just so much
history and magic there that it's always nice to put those shoes on as
well too. It just kind of keeps me out there and keeps me going. It's
just a very powerful thing when we get the three guitar players all
playing real tight together and doing our thing. I haven't really ever
experienced anything like that musically before so that's something
there.

D: I understand you have a home studio?

MO: Yeah!

D: Are you doing any recording or producing for other artists?

MO: I've been doing some vocals for a guy named Bjorn Englen who is a
bass player -- he's playing with Yngwie right now.

D: Oh, yeah...

MO: I did his record, I did all the vocals there at my house for that,
but basically it's just been my own stuff that I've been recording.

D: What is NIL8 Records, is that your own label for Leatherwolf only
or are there other artists on there?

MO: No, it's just our own independent thing. Seems to be the way to do
it these days, eliminate the middleman that does nothing for you.

D: Do you think record contracts are obsolete?

MO: I wouldn't say that but unless you are signed by a label that
believes in you and you've got somebody there that's going to take you
under their wing, sometimes it's better to be independent and in
charge of your destiny than be put on somebody's shelf, which is kind
of what happened to us on Island -- they just did not know what to do
with us at all.

D: No good on the promotion end of it, huh?

MO: No, none whatsoever.

D: What are your thoughts on the current music scene, with the
Internet and YouTube...

MO: For an independent artist it's the best time, I mean obviously no
one is selling millions of records anymore...

D: No, it seems like the live venue is where it's at now.

MO: Yeah, you know, as far as people downloading music for free, that
ain't cool, but if artists want to give their music away that's
another story. But I guess I don't really have my ear to the ground
too much as far as the music scene now; just from my experience with
Leatherwolf it's a different game these days, that's for sure.

D: Yeah, it is -- I mean, how would you like to be starting out as a
young band today? (laughs)

MO: I don't know if I would want to do that. (laughs)

D: Yeah, seems like too many of them out there, too many people trying
to do similar things...

MO: Yeah, it's so tough to do anything and stand out anymore. Seems
like everything has been done, and I think the music fans are a little
bit jaded. What else could come out that could possibly be
groundbreaking and relevant all at the same time? It's tough, you
know? Back when we were starting everything was a little more fresh
and new, it was like "Oh wow, you play guitar?" "Cool!" Now it's like
"What, you don't play guitar?" (laughs)

D: (laughs) Yeah, it's the people who don't play who are the
exception!

MO: Everybody's got a band, everybody's got a CD, so I think a bit of
that freshness and newness and being in a band, out and playing, it's
a little different these days, the spark is gone. We still enjoy it,
but back in '84 everything was so fresh and that whole new metal thing
was happening, there was that freshness in the air and it was exciting
and new...

D: Can't really recapture that particular magic.

MO: Real tough.

D: What advice would you give a young band just starting out now?

MO: I don't know what kind of advice I would give, probably be true to
yourself, try to carve out a little niche, something that stands apart
from the other 20,000 bands out there.

D: (laughs) Yeah. So you've got your solo album coming out next and
then maybe sometime next year you'll start working on some new
Leatherwolf stuff?

MO: When we start jammin' we're writing material. We say we want to do
a record but it's also going to have to be really good -- we don't
want to just throw something out there. Hopefully we can throw some
ideas down and... (pauses) I sure don't think Leatherwolf has made its
best record yet. This one came close but I wasn't really a part of it,
the writing or anything. I think the next time around, if and when we
do another record it will definitely be a more wide variety of colors
and emotions. This record was pretty much heavy, dark, about
hopelessness, and I hope the next record can be about the solution and
not the problem.

D: I'd like to hear more stuff similar to "Rise Or Fall" and "Wicked
Ways," with a lot of guitar, you know that high-level melodic
Eurometal that you guys are so good at...

MO: Yeah, I was hoping to go along that direction too. When we got
back together originally to do a record, the direction... I just
couldn't get into it, and that's why I bailed out. I'm just more of a
melodic, soulful guy. There's gotta be something that grabs me. I
can't just do it for the sake of being in Leatherwolf -- I've got to
really like what's going on and be able to put myself into it.

D: Are songs like "Share A Dream" a thing of the past or do you think
you might revisit that style?

MO: For a solo album it's not but as far as a Leatherwolf record,
yeah. I think everybody's got these misconceptions that for
Leatherwolf it's got to be metal, it's gotta be this or it's gotta be
that. A perfect example, look at a Led Zeppelin record, they were just
all over the map; I always kinda thought that's what we were, but when
you're in a band with four other people, influences come from all the
people in the band so I would have to say yeah, those are a thing of
the past, on a Leatherwolf record at this point. Perfectly good
example of why I'm doing a solo record.

D: Yeah, put that kind of stuff on your solo record 'cause I want to
hear more like that, that stuff's beautiful...

MO: You know, we were never afraid to do that back in the day and I
don't know what happened along the way but it kind of became uncool to
do that...

D: Yeah, and I don't know why, I love melodic stuff like that. It's
great and I love the headbanging stuff too.

MO: Me too, and I thought Leatherwolf back in the day was a perfect
blend of fast, hard, heavy, melodic and beautiful, so I just think
lately in writing my style's been pushed aside just because we were
trying to be heavier and... (pauses)

D: Keep up with the modern element?

MO: Yeah, a little bit of that I guess you could say, which for me, I
really don't care because I'm a firm believer that it's got to be true
to me and I've got to like what we're doing. I just can't write for
the sake of putting out a product they want to sell. I mean, it's
great to sell records but it's got to be a part of you and NEW WORLD
ASYLUM, although I can step into that genre and belt out the metal,
that's not where my heart is. I can do it and I enjoy doing it, I get
on stage and the energy is there and we go for it and it's all good,
but at the end of the day it's the bluesy, soulful hard rock that gets
me.

D: You mean you're not going to be barking your vocals? (laughs)

MO: That's one thing I just don't get.

D: No, I don't either. I haven't figured it out or why it has stayed
around as long as it has. It's rather disappointing...

MO: Yeah...

D: Do you keep up with any of the past members of Leatherwolf, like
bassists Matt Hurich, Paul Carman or Pete Perez?

MO: Nah, I haven't talked to Matt in quite awhile. I don't know where
he is; I lost touch with him. Paul Carman, yeah, he went out to Europe
with us last fall, he was on tour with us, and he lives in Colorado
right now and it's hard for him to get out here and do the band thing.
We might be doing some shows with him but for now we have Pat Guyton
who played with me, Geoff and Carey in a band called Hail Mary, the
band that Leatherwolf turned into. Who else was on bass?

D: Pete Perez.

MO: You know what? I never even met Pete.

D: He was from Riot, a really good player...

MO: Yeah, he is, he did a great job on the record. We just never
crossed paths. I think I talked to him on the phone before. He was
going to do the Europe thing but it didn't work out.

D: Well let me ask you this: I know Judas Priest was a big influence
on you, have you heard their new album?

MO: I've heard some cuts off it.

D: What did you think?

MO: I would have to get the whole CD and probably listen to it in its
entirety and take it in...

D: Yeah, that's definitely what you have to do for that one. It's
good, but it's different.

MO: Yeah, I mean from what I heard it's definitely not the classic
Priest that I remember. I just heard a couple of tunes, like I said. I
know it's a concept record so you can't just listen to one song and
get a grasp of the record. I'm sure it's meant to be taken in its
entirety and listen to the story. Do you have it?

D: Yeah.

MO: You like it?

D: Yeah, I do -- I didn't when I first listened to it because like you
I thought that it didn't sound like the Priest I was used to, but
after I listened to it about four times, oh man, it's got some really
good stuff on there...

MO: It has got to sink in?

D: Yeah, I recommend you check it out, I think you'll like it.

MO: I will.

D: I wanted to ask about your web page,
http://www.leatherwolfmusic.com/ . I noticed it's been down recently.
Are you doing maintenance on it or something?

MO: No, we never really were maintaining that and someone put it
together for us and it was just that there was never really anything
you can do on that that you can't do on a MySpace page so we've just
kind of been using the MySpace page as our homepage to promote.

D: Well, anything I left out that you would like to talk about in
closing?

MO: We did that "Dr. Wicked video" you can check out on YouTube, I got
my solo deal coming out and the few Leatherwolf shows that we do have
and... I think we're good!

D: Well thanks so much Michael, I'm really looking forward to seeing
you live sometime and hearing new Leatherwolf music with you back at
the mic!

MO: Alright, thanks for your time!

Relevant links:

Carey Howe
http://www.myspace.com/careyhowe

Leatherwolf
http://www.myspace.com/leatherwolfmusic

Michael Olivieri
http://www.myspace.com/michaelolivieri

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*** FEEDBACK ***
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1. From: Todd.Craven@... (Todd Craven)
Re: Rocklahoma

In regards to your Rocklahoma news, the problems with Extreme were
their time management. They ran long & were due to close with "Get The
Funk Out." You could easy hear Gary ask Nuno "Funk?" and Nuno said
we're out of time and they instead did "Communication Breakdown" to
close their set. The acoustic song Nuno did was "Midnight Express" off
WAITING FOR THE PUNCHLINE which does kick ass live. In fact, here's
their complete set, though the song order may be off in the later part
of the set but all of the songs are there.

Decadence Dance
Kid Ego
It's a Monster
new song (Star, I think)
Tell Me Something I Don't Know
Play with Me
Cupid's Dead
Midnight Express
More Than Words
Am I Ever Gonna Change?
Hole Hearted
Communication Breakdown (Zeppelin)

Living Colour was actually excellent, one of the best bands on the
Friday & Saturday I was there. The crowd really didn't seem to get
into them, though; I guess because they were so different from the
other acts (the Friday fans seemed to be really into Night Ranger &
Triumph, who are quite different from Living Colour). LC focused on
the first album but played some tracks from the 2nd & 3rd discs;
skipped the newest disc completely. The played during one of the
hottest parts of Friday and I didn't hear anything about a meet &
greet for Living Colour, either from the stage or on the grounds.
Vernon Reid was definitely the most impressive musician of the
weekend.

I'm surprised about the tour programs/booklets as they had tons on
Friday & Saturday morning. In fact they were giving away the 2007
version if you purchased this year's poster. They had two merchandise
booths & both had different items, so perhaps the person went to the
wrong one. The one on the left side of the stage (facing the stage)
had a lot more stuff. That booth was damaged when one of the side
stages fell, though, and I can't imagine some of the merchandise
wasn't destroyed by the rain.

Didn't go last year so no idea on comparison, but it was a fun couple
of days except for the heat & then when the rain hit. The police were
telling everyone it was over, so we left Saturday after Trixter (the
rain with 65 MPH winds came through during their last song) only to
later find out the main stage bands ended up playing, just later than
anticipated.

Tora Tora & Trixter were very impressive for bands that hadn't played
together in 15+ years. Armored Saint, Living Colour, & Night Ranger
were also really good. In fact, Black 'N Blue was the only band I saw
on the main stage all of Friday & Saturday that wasn't any good.

[This jogged my memory -- my buddies had also told me that Black 'N
Blue put on a good show, and UFO was awesome. And in fact, regarding
UFO, two of my friends said one of the solos Vinnie Moore played was
basically the coolest solo they'd ever seen live. I'll try to pick
their brains to see exactly what song they were talking about. - Tim]

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*** OUT ***
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