Interview with SKELATOR

Questions by Tomek/Nevermore (Pure Metal Magazine)

Answers by: Jason Conde-Houston (vocals) and Rob Steinway (guitars)

  

Pure Metal: It’s Tomek from the Pure Metal Magazine from Poland. Hail to the mighty Skelator!

Jason: Thanks for having us we are proud to speak to our brothers and sisters of steel in Poland.

Rob: Hail to Pure Metal Magazine! Welcome back!

PM: How come I only heard about you guys this year? Your promotion doesn’t seem to work as good as you guys deserve it, huh? :))) Just kidding - I mean, it’s true that I only heard your music this year, but that’s more of an issue of my „merits“, as in, negligence. And now a question: Do you think that thanks to ‘Death To All Nations’ and ‘Agents of Power’ you broke out of the metal underground? Because the critics labelled you as such not so long ago.

Jason: I would completely agree. We had some underground success with Swords, Gore of War and Give Me Metal but only with fans... not with magazines. Swords and Gore got some pretty horrible reviews in Metal Maniacs in the Firing Squad section. I laugh my ass off every time I read them. I think we had a lot of work to do like: write more fluid songs, create more interesting musical passages, learn to control my voice, depend less on falsettos, Robbie learning how to record us better and just the simple fact that we paid someone to master our albums to make people really turn their heads and realize that we are a metal force to be reckoned with.

Rob: Both Death to all Nations and Agents of Power were promoted heavily by Metal on Metal and the worldwide distribution has put us in stores and independent distros. The positive underground publication and webzine coverage we’ve been lucky enough to get has introduced us to true metal fanatics throughout the world. And of course our loyal fans have spread the word to anyone and everyone. We’re incredibly lucky to have all the support.

PM: I must say, you went quite a long way, both musically and when it comes to where you live and work as a band. I’ll tackle the music first and foremost though. I was lucky to have begun the journey with your music with the ‘Swords’ EP and finish on ‘Agents of Power’ - thus I can see your musical development in detail. If you were to tell a complete novice who doesn’t know you where to begin - which album would you select and why?

Jason: Well, just to promote the new album I'd say listen to Agents. But to be honest I think Death to All Nations is the best gateway drug to Skelator. As much as I love Agents, I think that the Elric Saga might be too much for some listeners (especially fans of extreme metal). Whereas Death to All Nations shows off every aspect of Skelator and there is no conceptual theme to worry about, it's just headbanging all the way through.

Rob: I’m definitely right on board with Jason, DTAN is the one to start with. I think the casual listener would get overwhelmed by conceptual portion of Agents and lose sight of album as a whole.

PM: Was it worth to go all this way - from the early demos, through the EPs, to the two full-fledged LPs - to end up where you are now? If 12 years ago someone foretold you such a scenario, would you still do it?

Jason: Man I wish I could go back in time to the year 2000 and give myself a copy of Agents of Power. I think my younger self would freak the fuck out and start crying of joy. But yes, I would have been very happy knowing that it would take blood, sweat and tears to make the legacy that we have started. We have a long way to go, it can only go up from here.

PM: From the ‘Swords’ EP to ‘Agents of Power’ all your releases contain very diverse songs, some more epic, some fast and aggressive... others very complex, containing a lot of various motives and styles (heavy, speed, sometimes thrash even). Where does that diversity come from, especially in the traditionally conventional classic heavy metal.

Jason: We have had a lot of influences over the years, not just as a band but each member in their own respect. Just listen to Give Me Metal, every song is all over the place and those are the first songs we ever wrote. I think we are finally starting to write songs in our own vein and less trying to "rip off" our influences.

Rob: Definitely, our influences are all over the board. I also think a lot of the varied style comes from the fact that the whole band is contributing to the sound. Skelator is not the type of band where one person does all the song writing and the rest of the members show up to rehearsal and are handed their parts to play. Additionally, a full album of just one type of song would be boring!

PM: ‘Agents of Power’ is a very consistent release, despite being written as a concept album. But I’ll ask about that later. And now a question about the band’s beginnings... How did the band form? I know it began with Jason and Max. How did you guys get to know each other? Did you take part in any other projects, school bands maybe?

Jason: Max and I have known each other since we were kids. Both of our parents were activists and we ended up hanging out because of them. Once I saw his collection of Star Trek toys, it was over. We hung out every weekend for years watching old Sci-Fi movies, playing PC games, writing our own screenplays for movies we wanted to make (like Mortal Kombat 3) and drinking tons of Coca-Cola. Then in 1998 we started listening to the radio every day and recording our favorite songs. Metallica took over our lives and soon it became Slayer and Iron Maiden. We then thought of starting a metal band but we did not know anyone who could play an instrument. He got a guitar and we started writing lyrics, riffs and song structures but only passively and we didn't have a band name. In 1999 Max and I decided to call the band Skelator because we knew it would be memorable. Then my friend Nikolai said he knew a drummer named Patrick. We went to Pat's house and started jamming and wrote a really stupid song called Dungeon (we never recorded it until 2010 as a joke... b-side???). Then in 2000 I asked my cousin Robbie to "SAVE SKELATOR!" and he joined soon after. Once Robbie was in the band we could actually write bad ass metal songs and have guitar solos.

PM: What caused you to form an early Slayer-inspired speed/thrash band in the heyday of nu metal? Perhaps you wanted to play just for the pleasure, for your friends and a handful of fans?

Jason: It was purely for pleasure. Pat was in like 3 bands at the time. So Max and I would spend the weekend at his house and play video games while he practiced with his other bands and then we would have Skelator practice after the other sessions. Sometimes some friends would hang out and it felt like a show. Then we started playing house parties, coffee shops and then finally a real venue here and there (small clubs obviously). We didn't even play with Metal bands at first. We played Punk and Hardcore shows for the first year because we didn't even know there was a Metal scene in SD since the scene was in a hiatus at the time just like it was all around the US at that time.

PM: Oh yeah - how big was the fan-base in San Diego ?

Jason: In the beginning it was very small, pretty much just friends. But by the end we were headlining all the local shows we played. It was never AMAZING, but our "LAST SHOW" in 2005 had at least 100 people.

PM: The best known band from San Diego is still Cage. Did you play on the same bill often? Did you run into one another at other bands’ shows? How are the relations between you?

Jason: We never played together until 2010 at the Warriors of Metal Fest III in Ohio. Honestly, I never liked Cage, I used to despise them because they were Christian and I felt that they were dull and boring. But nowadays I just don't care to have grudges, especially towards a band that has worked very hard to play True Heavy Metal. I would love to share the stage with them again, I had fun yelling "Save the Devil" between every song.

PM: Did any of the early, thrashier Skelator songs find their way into the setlist? I heard you change it frequently?

Jason: We still play Give Me Metal or Give Me Death semi regularly. Songs like Skelator, Heavy Metal Sacrifice and Circle of Bloodshed make an appearance here and there.

Rob: I think we’ve all seen bands play time after time where they play the same set other than one or two new songs switched in and we don’t like that! We pride ourselves on never playing the same set twice. Jason is the “set list maestro” and he tries to individually craft a set for each show. He will construct a basic set and we will revise it at rehearsal, switching in and out songs. By my last count we have around 25 to 30 songs that with a rehearsal we can play live, and an additional 5 to 10 that we could have live ready in about two rehearsals.

PM: Why did you change your style during the thrash renaissance in the States (2004-2005) and changed the direction towards the more epic heavy metal? Whose idea was it?

Jason: What's funny is our bassist Ben Thompson wanted to keep going further with Thrash into a more of a Sepultura vibe. But Robbie and I wanted to go more into Manowar and Blind Guardian. I wrote the lyrics to Death to False and Robbie wrote all the riffs. Ben was OK with it but he wasn't happy so he wrote a song called Killing Fields, I had to inform him that Slayer already took that name so we changed it to Upon the Killing fields. That song was all over the place, too many riffs, but I did my best to make it awesome. My vocals were very much like Bobby Blitz on that song with a few Corpsegrinder growls here and there. The solo section totally sounded like Sodom. The song was fun to play but we were tired of Ben and his stupid power trip and when we let him go he took his song with him. But that's fine we were destined to become a "Power Metal" band anyway, I mean I was already writing Elric, The Coming of Chaos, The Wrath of Odin’s Sons and other songs in that vein that you will see in future releases.

PM: Did you ever consider the possibility of changing your name?

Jason: I have thought of the scenario but I think the fact that I misspelt the name "Skeletor" will prevent us from ever getting sued or a cease and desist. The only way we will change our name is if Robbie and I split ways. He and I have been through everything together, even when Patrick has had to leave the band, we have stuck together since 2000. What's funny is that even though Patrick has left the band numerous times, he is the only drummer that we have ever really recorded with. I think that is fate.

 PM: Was moving to Seattle a necessity for you? You wanted to make things easier for Patrick, but in modern times, distance doesn’t necessarily have to be an issue. From a purely musical viewpoint - was it a good idea to trade the sunny California for the rainy Seattle?

Jason: I had to leave San Diego to become a man. I was still living with my parents and I really had no responsibilities, I spent my time getting high and playing video games and taking care of my little sisters (great combination, right?). Sure I could have stayed and started a new band with Jesse and Rah but more than likely I would still be with Mom. I love my Mom but I had to find my own life and keep the flame of Skelator alive. Plus we were already getting buzz in Europe and I was talking to Volker about playing the Swordbrothers festival in Germany. I had to see it through and make this band what it is today. Don't get me wrong, I can't stand the weather here, and the passive attitude everyone has in Washington is annoying as fuck but the venues have better sound and actually pay us. It's not like we are swimming in money either but in San Diego all the venues would close all the time and we would be lucky to get free beer.

Rob: The weather isn’t that bad here, Jason’s just a whiner.

PM: ‘The Wrath of Odin’s Sons’ is your longest song so far. It stuns with the amount of different motives and its complexity. It also has a lot of surprising solutions that sound almost black metal - those blasts and dirty vocals. Where did you get such an idea? Or maybe I should ask about your black metal inspirations?

Jason: That song was my baby. I wrote all the lyrics and structure in 2001, the same year I drew the sketch for the Skelator logo. I was listening to a lot of Manowar, Rhapsody, Enslaved and Marduk at the time. I listened to a lot of Black Metal back then, Immortal, Cradle of Filth (hahahaha...), Emperor, Dark Throne... etc. I also had a rule back then that every time I read a fantasy book I could only listen to Black or Power Metal. Thus that song is kind of a marriage between the two. By that point we were playing with a lot of local Death/Black Metal bands. I almost joined my friends band Mortus Infernuus on bass but I didn't have time with school and Skelator.

PM: On the ‘Swords’ EP there is a song called ‘Death to the False’. Whom does it concern, who is to die?

Jason: False Metal and the Religious Right. What is false metal? Metal that is written without conviction or integrity and dedicated to stupid trendy teenagers. I used to think that Butt rock (80's Glam Metal) was false, now I think that stuff was awesome. Sure, they wanted to make it, but they had fun at what they did and they had talent. Nu-Metal, Screamo, MetalCore is all bullshit made for 13 year olds to put on dark make up, cut themselves and cry. Then you have the Religious Right which has tried to take away our right to rock since rock was invented. I mean, look at Egypt where they are persecuting metalheads for being "Satanic" or America where they burn metal albums in the streets... reminds me of Fascism.

Rob: The false? Trend hopping, scene chasing losers that are just trying to fit in to be “cool” or make money out of what is successful at the time.

PM: Why is ‘Time of the Sword Rulers’ a compilation and not a full-fledged, proper debut? Weren’t you tempted to record all those songs again in one session and release it that way?

Jason: Because Metal Archives says so. Honestly, I was really hoping for the "Full Length" title but it was denied because yes it IS a compilation of songs from 2 separate releases. But no we were not tempted to re-record those songs because we were already re-recording Give Me Metal at that point (which might have been a mistake but that's a whole other discussion).

Rob: Sometimes it is best to let the past speak for itself and “move on” - while we’re not opposed to re-recording old Skelator songs, you always get in the sticky situation of comparisons between the old and new. As Jason said, there was already a recording project underway and the two EP records were more or less out of print. Personally, whenever I hear a band re-doing old songs for a studio release every time the original recording is infinitely better!

PM: ‘Save the Devil - (From His Cage)’ is a parody of a well-known Cage song, and a song of your other project, Shredder at that. Are we going to hear a serious Cage cover in future?

Jason: No Cage covers will ever happen from us. I think the best you could hope for is a Youtube of me and Sean Peck singing a Priest song together or something of the sort.

PM: Are you going to keep Shredder alive? What purpose could it serve today?

Jason: No, it was just a joke and we have no plans of bringing it back. I mean, it was just me and Jesse fucking around and that is why we didn't call it Skelator.

PM: With what Seattle formations are you on good/friendly terms? With whom do you share the bill most often?

Rob: Fallen Angels and Midnight Idols are two that we play shows with quite regularly (interestingly enough, they both are on Metal on Metal as well!). Phalgeron and Blood Of Kings are two more bands that we’ve also shared bills with quite frequently. All four bands are very different and quite talented - it is always a pleasure to play a show with them. We’re actually quite lucky as there are a lot of quality metal bands in the Seattle area, only a handful of heavy metal bands though, mostly extreme metal or doom - Seattle loves doom metal.

Jason: I think we have played with Scorched Earth the most. Rob filled in for in Scorched Earth for a handful of shows years ago and Zach currently plays bass for them as well. Robbie recorded their “Mars” album and is working on their latest album as well. Even their old drummer Josh played with us in Germany at the Swordbrothers Festival in 2007. So they are brothers till the end.

PM: Did you have a chance to meet the musicians of Queensryche, Nevermore or Sanctuary?

Rob: I’ve met a few members of Queensryche in passing and met members of Nevermore and Sanctuary at a lot of different shows over the years. Of all of those the most down to earth and friendliest person in the bunch has been Jeff Loomis; great guitarist and an all-around nice guy.

Jason: I saw Jeff Loomis in the crowd when I was playing with my Priest tribute band. He was very drunk and super happy, seems like a cool guy.

PM: In 2007 you opened for Helstar and Agent Steel in San Diego. What kind of feeling was it to play on one stage with such inspirational bands?

Jason: It was a very magical show for me. Not only did I get to see both bands on the same stage, but it was the final show with the “Swords” lineup. We played VERY well and everyone was very happy to see us one last time. The next morning was not so good. I woke up with a terrible hangover and the word “PENIS” written all over my arms and face.

PM: After the gig at the Swordbrothers Festival, Metal on Metal records offered you a record deal. How did you captivate them? Are you happy with the cooperation?

Jason: Basically, all we had to do was play our best on stage and they came to us right after. Jowita took amazing pictures and Simone even filmed the show on his camcorder. That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship and partnership.

Rob: Metal on Metal has helped us out a ton. Their support for each of our releases has been amazing and they really came to the rescue with Agents of Power. FedEx messed up the shipment of our Agents of Power release (seriously - we ended up with designer clothes,169 Euro shirts and jeans, one pair of jeans was pink!) and Jowita and Simone came to the rescue and tracked down where the box went whereas FedEx had pretty much no idea where the package was. The best part is that FedEx called me after Jowita and Simone found the package and put it on its way to us and said that they still couldn’t find the package! We ended up getting all of our Agents of Power CDs in mint shape thanks to Jowita & Simone’s hard work. And no, we didn’t get to keep the designer clothes. There will be no pink designer jeans in Skelator’s live attire!

PM: Why did the fans have to wait for your debut album until 2010? Please don’t bring up the lineup changes, you had a lot of material after all...

Jason: If we would have stayed in San Diego or if Jesse and Rah would have moved up we would have had Death to All Nations done in 2008 but that wasn't the case. Instead we had to teach our old songs to a bunch of new members and we lost track of what we were doing. But we learned a lot in those first years in Seattle and I think we are a better band because of it.

Rob: Making an album is a massive time and money investment, we all have day jobs and getting 5 people all on the same schedule, then getting all of the same people comfortable enough with the material to record it, and then have the time and money to make that happen is a pretty delicate balance. We’ve really lucked out in the last 3 years to more or less all be on the same page and be able to record two full albums and then another recording project of around 6 songs too, all while playing a ton of different shows.

PM: On ‘Death to all Nations’ you finally defined your epic style. How come „Circle of Bloodshed“ is still in the mood of the old, Agent Steel-esque speed metal? It’s the only song on the album that somehow reflects your previous sound.

Rob: We all really enjoy speed metal / thrash metal and we like to invoke that intensity every so often. For Death to all Nations it was Circle Of Bloodshed, on Agents of Power we have Rubble and Ash as well as The Kinslayer. There is just this certain “on the brink of being out of control” feeling that thrash songs and speed metal songs have that gets your blood pumping. I really enjoy extreme metal, but bands like Dark Angel, Holy Terror, and (early) Sadus have this unmatched, out of control ferocity that is quite energizing. While I don’t think we’re anywhere near as intense as those prior bands, we try our best.

Jason: I would like each album to have a little taste of speed and evil.

PM: Didn’t the melody on ‘Death to all Nations’ cost you some of your heaviness?

Jason: The ending? I disagree. The ending is maybe the heaviest part of the album. The melody is both majestic and somber all at the same time. It's meant to be the “Fear of the Dark” part of the song where the crowd gets involved and sings along. Then that's followed by the bass explosion from Hell.

PM: Congratulations on the awesome ‘Agents of Power’. Undoubtedly this is your most mature record, you clearly have progressed a lot when it comes both to production and musicianship. Do you feel that you have recorded a really great album?

Rob: Thank you! We were all very happy with how Agents of Power came together. If we could go back to the beginning of the writing process and show ourselves the completed product I think our minds would’ve been blown. We knew the album was going to be longer, but 16 songs? I started to get a little bit worried at the end of the mixing process, and that urge to go back and change things gets stronger and stronger but luckily I have four other guys to talk sense into me and say that things sound fine.

PM: I can hear the progress in the guitar parts as well as the rhythm section, the solos are better polished and more technical, and the sound of the album is fuller and more selective, but not overpolished... your musical A-level, if you will. I’m really impressed, that album got you to a whole new level. You realize that you raised the bar for yourselves very high?

Rob: From a playing perspective - I’m sure Robbie will agree with me on this - coming up with guitar leads and solos for this release was a huge investment of time. I spent hours looping sections of the songs and trying to really put together solos that we were happy with and weren’t just rehashing the same stuff done on Death to all Nations. The song writing process was quite involved with a ton of revising and reworking. Everyone contributed ideas and feedback for everyone else and it really pushed all of us to put together our best material and best performances.

PM: You recorded a very American album, the sound is more meaty than on the melodic, Helloween and Maiden influenced ‘Death to all Nations’. Who is behind this?

Rob: We liked how Death to all Nations sounded, but we felt we wanted to have a bigger and heavy sound without getting more modern sounding. For the overall production and sound of the album the credit goes to Robbie. He engineered and mixed the entire album. He has his own mobile studio and has been steadily recording more and more bands and each Skelator recording is better than the prior one. This was the 3rd recording session that we’ve done with this lineup and Robbie knows how to get the best performances out of each of us. For the mastering we tapped Cass Anawaty. Cass did the Death to all Nations vinyl master and the end product he provided us with sounded amazing so he was the easy choice for Agents of Power.

On the “gear nerd” side of things (feel free to skip over the section if you don’t care about the more nitty gritty recording elements, ha!)... For guitars we looped a DI guitar signal for the title track and switched between a Laney GH100L amplifier (we use the Laney for live performances) and a Marshall JCM 800 2203 into two different speaker cabinets (Bogner V30 cabinet and a Marshall 1960A cabinet) and found the winning combo in the JCM 800 amplifier and Bogner cabinet. There really is just this magic sound that you hear with a cranked JCM 800 head that you can’t really replicate with anything else for big rhythm sounds. My solos were through the Laney amplifier and Robbie’s were through the Marshall amplifier. Drums were recorded on a much larger in size kit than Pat normally uses (I think the floor tom was bigger than his normal drum set’s kick drum) and it produced a bigger overall sound for the drums. Bass was recorded through an Ampeg rig with Robbie’s old Ovation bass.

PM: I’m really under the impression - instrumentally at least, especially in the faster songs - that you got pretty close to what Helstar sounded like in the 80’s. The heavy guitars, the tempo changes, the passages, the James Riviera-esque vocal parts... you’re Helstar’s children all right :))) what do you think about such a comparison?

Rob: Interestingly enough we’ve heard the Helstar one a couple times! I think it is a very flattering comparison and Helstar is an amazing band!

Jason: I first downloaded Helstar on Napster in 2000, it was “The King is Dead” and even though it was only 64kbps, it was the coolest thing I had ever heard. I also downloaded incomplete files of “The Dark Queen” and “Baptized in Blood” and I was hooked. Later on when I got the first 4 albums I would listen to them once a day to study his voice.

PM: When did the Moorcock concept album idea reach maturity? I know that certain tracks were developed during different periods of time, some of them very long ago, same as the lyrics.

Jason: I would say the maturity of the epic came over time. I mean, even when we recorded “The Dark Tower” on “Gore of War”, I had to re-write some lines because they were too juvenile. But as a whole, it really didn't happen until we had to write the full epic with the whole band in 2011. But even before that I would check my old text files and tweak the lyrics more and more every single year. If you read the original draft you would all laugh a lot... at least I do.

PM: Why did you choose the anti-hero stories about Elric? Jason, did you read any other of Moorcock’s stories?

Jason: Well, my favorite characters are Captain Kirk and Darth Vader. Elric is kind of a middle point, both daring and gets all the ladies, but also full of hatred and guilty of killing his own kind. I guess it makes me think about my own role in this universe. My favorite aspect is that he is neither a good guy nor a bad guy and that both sides of Law and Chaos are just as “evil” as the other. As an Atheist, this is a breath of fresh air.

PM: Why is metal usually all about the dark characters?

Rob: You know, I’m sure it is a little bit of escapism - we don’t live in a happy or perfect world, there is plenty of horrible things happening in the world right now and it is a little therapeutic to focus in on these dark, fantastic stories of anti-heroes.

Jason: Well, as a kid I was always obsessed with the villains in cartoons/movies/video games, from Shredder to Darth Vader or even Ganon. Metal is the only form of music that glorifies our evil fantasies and lets you write lyrics about whatever you want. Plus who wants White armor and a White horse? Fuck that, I want Black armor and Red Dragon to ride on.

PM: Which song proved to be the most work-consuming one when it came to composition? Was there a song you had to approach and rework multiple times?

Rob: Either Agents of Power or Dream Dictator. For Agents of Power we had the whole song pretty much done and after a lot of work I remember Jason saying something like “I really think that we need to change this part” - quite frankly, I don’t really remember which part it even was, but I remember that it was a pretty big section of the song and a bunch of arguments happening because of it, in the end it was the right choice to make but by that time we’d all considered the song done and completed. For me, I felt that Dream Dictator was changed over and over. That was really the first song we started writing from scratch after Death to all Nations. I remember thinking “Not again!” whenever anyone wanted to try something for the song. By the time we got to the recording process I was pretty burnt out on the song.

Jason: I would say Victory or Death to All Nations. The original riffs for that song were written by Samuel (our guitarist from 2006-2008) but when we kicked him out, he wanted to keep all the riffs. So we had to figure out how to write it from the ground up and keep all the vocal melodies that I had come up with and keep the basic structure that we had laid out. Death to All Nations was really hard for me because I had most of the melodies in my head but since I don't play guitar I had to sing the parts to the band and they would get very confused and not play it the way I wanted. It took a long time but the end product is awesome and I have to thank my bandmates for putting up with me.

PM: My favourite songs from ‘Agents of Power’ are: the title track, ‘Elric: The Dragon Prince’, ‘Stormbringer and Mournblade’ and ‘Bane of the Black Sword’. I’ll take a minute to ask about the last one. Who is the author of the music? Which guitarist? I’m asking because in the middle of the track there is a very characteristic speed up, and then there’s a sharp riff - some tricks that Iced Earth used in the mid-90’s. Is there an Iced Earth fan in Skelator?

Rob: Good choices for favourite songs! Earlier, I had mentioned that everyone contributes with writing and ideas for songs in Skelator, but it might come as a little bit of a surprise that Jason came up with the main ideas for Bane of the Black Sword. The speedy riffs you’re referencing Jason whistled or sang at practice and they were translated into guitar riffs. When he showed me the ideas for that song, I grinned a little bit as I’m a fan of galloping riffs like that and we figured it out from there. The verse section which Jason sings over we wrote at practice more or less on the fly with Jason singing at the same time, and the middle harmony / solo section came together pretty fast as well. The “doomed to live forever” part started out as a much more speedy, power metal in the style of Blind Guardian but changed into a more Thin Lizzy / melodic part. The doomy part after that always reminded me of a Mozart. Bane of the Black Sword is probably my favourite on the album. And yes, there are a few Iced Earth fans in Skelator.

Jason: I'm not an Iced Earth fan but that riff is definitely a hats off to them. I do like their first album a lot but then they just kinda loose me over the years. I thought of the “Arabic” intro, the Iced Earth riff, then the transitional riff and then the doom riff at the end just before the outro. Those riffs were playing in my head for a couple years before we ever started writing it, this one was very much like Death to All Nations but by then they knew how to listen to my ideas and break them down for guitar.

PM: The cover art is based on your idea, Jason. Are you happy with the final effect? Does it fully reflect what you imagined?

Rob: I’ll let Jason answer this one as he put a ton of time and effort into this and ran into a lot of speed bumps along the way.

Jason: I had a certain concept in mind based on an event in the second Elric book where the 4 eternal champions join forces and become “The four who are the one”. Basically a Chaos entity with four faces and four arms wielding all of their enchanted weapons. I went through two different artists and they both dropped the ball on us and never drew sketches. I was e-mailing these people for months and months trying to get something, what really angered me is that they were “professionals” but they didn't have the decency to tell me that they didn't have time to do it. Then when the time arrived to deliver all the files I told Jowita our problem and she suggested a certain portrait of Elric from Deviant Art. Immediately I was sold and we got the rights to the image. It's a miracle from the Metal Gods really. I was scared of a Spinal Tap situation to just end up with a black cover.

PM: How is the ‘Agents of Power’ promotion going along?

Rob: You know, we’ve received a lot of coverage from webzines, blogs, and underground publications as well as radio stations throughout the world. The album has really been received quite well and we were surprised that people have seemed to genuinely embrace the concept instead of writing it off as boring and nerdy fantasy. We were worried that twelve songs in a row about Elric would be too much but people have enjoyed that epic piece quite a bit.

Jason: Of course it's going well, you can find it on iTunes, Spotify, Zune and even Amazon MP3. That's good enough for me.

PM: Are you playing the album live in its entirety?

Rob: We haven’t played through the entire album at a show, yet, but we’ve played all but 3 of the songs live at some point or another (Pulsing Cavern and the two ballads). We were set to play Cymoril at a show but the mood of the show just wasn’t right playing that song so we ended up scrapping it at the very last minute. Playing songs from this album live is really refreshing, Gates of Thorbardin, Rhythm of the Chain, and Stormbringer and Mournblade are a ton of fun playing live. I really like playing Bane of the Black Sword a lot although it is fairly challenging. The most difficult cut for me to play is The Dark Tower with all of the changes, short leads during the chorus, and the tradeoff solo section - we all really have to be “on” to make that song sound good.

Jason: I don't think we ever will unless the fans insist on it like some sort of “Alive in Athens” type scenario.

PM: Rob Steinway - can you tell us what musicians are your idols when it comes to guitar playing? What guitarists do you appreciate the most today?

Rob: There really isn’t a short answer to this question. When I first began playing in bands, my biggest influences were Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray from Iron Maiden. I still hold those guys all very high. Kai Hansen is another one of the great guitarists that I’ve looked up to for a long time. Same goes for Uwe Lulis. Andy LaRocque's song writing, musicianship and general vision as a producer / engineer is very inspiring. Same goes for Dan Swanö, just pure talent there. Edward Pursino from Virgin Steele is very inspiring as well. Jimmy Hedlund of Falconer is another musician that writes amazing guitar solos, no one every mentions him and I'm not really sure why. For just over the top ability and talent that I wish someday I could come remotely close to... Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry is an amazing musician and his solos are remarkable, clean, precise, and very pleasing to the ear and Guthrie Govan is simply a guitar god.

PM: One of the most recognizable elements of Skelator’s music are Jason’s vocals. How does he handle all the high registers and how much does he need to practice to stay in shape?

Jason: I sing everyday, sometimes a lot, sometimes just a little bit. Luckily my new job is very casual and I can listen to whatever I want on Spotify. During the day I keep it chill and put on 70's soul music so I can learn a thing or two from those guys (Earth, Wind and Fire, Isley Bros, Marvin Gaye... etc.) but at night it's time for Dio, Malmsteen and Manowar. I also sing in a Judas Priest tribute band entitled “Call for the Priest”. I have always had a lot of Halford influence but now that I actually have to perform these songs, I am starting to know more about my own voice and the tricks he used back in the day. But I still have my bad days as well and that's usually because the night before I yelled/laughed/drank/smoked too much and the next day I sound like Lemmy or I can barely even speak.

PM: Jason, you’re compared to great vocalists and metal icons very often. The critics can hear some Halford, Geoff Tate, Midnight of Crimson Glory, Dio even in your vocal delivery. Some of those comparisons I agree with, some not really, but hey, to each his own. On „Death to all Nations“ I noticed some similiarities with Kiske (Helloween), Cyriis (Agent Steel) and James Rivera (early Helstar days). What do you think about the three guys I mentioned, did they have any impact on your singing style?

Jason: James Rivera for sure!!! I had about two years where I listened to one of those first four albums everyday. I downloaded “The King is Dead” on Napster and it BLEW MY MIND! Even though the MP3 was 64kbps, I didn't care, it was the most amazing thing I had ever heard in my life! I like Kiske a lot, and Cyriis but I never really sat down and tried to sound like them. I think I spent more time with the inspirations that they had like Halford, Dickinson, Dio, Eric Adams, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Biff Byford and UDO. My later inspirations are Ralph Scheepers, Morby, Fabio Leone and Chris Boltendahl.

PM: Do you intend to write anything else based on Moorcock?

Jason: Well we already did “The Coming of Chaos” on Swords based on the Corum saga. But we do have plans to have a song dedicated to our favorite Lord of Chaos himself “Arioch: Lord of the Dark” and a song about Hawkmoon called “Sword of the Dawn”. I'm sure we can find other tales to tell in our music but we have a lot of other ideas brewing too that will make many metal nerds happy all around the world.

PM: What fantasy writers inspire you?

Rob: Right now, I’d have to say Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch. I find their stories gritty yet humorous and quite inspiring. I really want to start into reading Steven Erikson’s Mazalan series as he’s come highly recommended and the excerpts I’ve read have been very promising but I just haven’t had a chance yet. If I didn’t have to work for a living, I’d probably spend the majority of my time reading books and playing guitar.

Jason: I just stick to Moorcock, I find the rest of the genre too boring to read. I'll let the other guys do the research for me and I'll make up the vocal melodies. I'd say I get more inspiration from video games, as stupid as that sounds.

PM: You have probably tasted the magic of writing concept albums already. Do you feel confident enough to write your own story lyric-wise?

Rob: I think we could do it, but after the massive undertaking that it was on Agents, we’re focusing right now on just writing individual songs for now. If we get a good concept put together, I think we could make it happen, we’d just really have to settle in and make it happen.

PM: When do you intend to release ‘Guerreros de Metal’ under a label? Will it be an EP or something else? Will it be the starting point (or part) of a new LP?

Rob: Guerreros de Metal is more or less the lost Skelator recording at this point. It originally started off as a split with Dantesco, but it just ended up not happening due to money and we were going to release it as 7 inch single with another song. That more or less fell through with the label we were going to release it with and now it is more or less in limbo since we don’t have thousands of dollars to make a single with. We have album art, the layout done, and the master for vinyl songs ready to go with no way to get them out. We’d LOVE to release it still as a 7 inch vinyl so if anyone wants to please drop us a line. We’ve talked about doing a rarities / live CD release on our own and possibly putting that on there but with the west coast tour coming up in October we’ve more or less put it on the back burner for now.

PM: I heard there will be a Spanish-language song on it?

Rob: Yes! The title track. 100% in Spanish.

Jason: I wrote the lyrics basically to prove to myself that it could be done and to have something special for our fans in Latin America and Spain. I'd like to do some more songs in Spanish over the years but that is not a focus of mine at this point.

PM: You don’t have a mascot, unlike some other notable bands (Iron Maiden’s Eddie, Megadeth’s Vic Rattlehead). Weren’t you tempted to do something in that vein?

Jason: Well, I would disagree because our mascot IS Skelator. The cover for “Behold...” is me dressed as Skelator, the original “Give Me Metal...” has Skelator with the head of a deceiver, the second “Give Me Metal” is supposed to be Skelator waving his banner and then last but not least is “Death to all Nations” has him destroying the earth with his mighty hands of iron. I don't want to use him on every album but he will make appearances in our later discography. There is a whole stupid mythos that I have created around him and you'll get to see more of it over the next few albums.

PM: Do you still have swords during your performances?

Rob: I’m too damn busy playing guitar to be waving a sword around!

Jason: I still do but I'm getting more and more lazy with that kind of stuff especially in smaller clubs. But I still use a sword every once in a while to make the show that much more awesome. We have a Skelator flag now too it's like Bruce and his British flag during The Trooper.

PM: The toughest moments of your career...

Rob: The USA tour that started with a two day straight drive to arrive at a venue only to have the show canceled by a jerk club owner was probably the most frustrating moment. You know, I feel that we’ve been lucky in that we haven’t had any really horrible stuff happen to us. Anything bad that has happened usually gets resolved without too many headaches.

Jason: Lineup changes, loosing friends and moving up to Seattle. But I don't want to talk about the negatives any longer, we have overcome a lot over the years and we are stronger because of it.

PM: You have a new song, ‘Stronger than Steel’, which you play live. When will the work on the new release start?

Rob: Stronger than Steel came together quite fast and it was a lot of fun putting together a power metal track. I think fans of German power metal will enjoy the long guitar harmony section in the middle. Maybe we can put together a little rehearsal demo track and post it online for people to check out. We already have another song called Temple of the Witch in the final stages as well, definitely a much different style song than Stronger than Steel, I’m looking forward to playing that one live soon. We really are planning on writing for the time being, putting together new material and then maybe reflecting on where we are in a while and deciding on what to do next; an EP or an album...

PM: Before you started working on ‘Agents of Power’, you had already recorded some covers. What songs did you select?

Rob: Between Death to all Nations and Agents of Power, we recorded an assortment of songs, one original and four covers. Northern Heroes by Metalucifer for a tribute put out by Skol Records (Bart Gabriel) called Heavy Metal Hell, Resistiré by Baron Rojo, Evil Never Sleeps by Phantom Lord and Laying Down The Law by Cloven Hoof. We also recorded Easy Livin’ by Uriah Heep during the Agents of Power session.

PM: Want another 50 questions? No? That’s a pity, but we can arrange another interview in advance... but, until then, I’ll wait for your next release, I can feel in my bones that it will be just as good as the album about Elric. Many thanks for the interview... that’s all from me for now. With your latest album you gained a devoted fan in me... Good luck and all the best!

Rob: Hey - I’m impressed that you came up with 51 questions about us! Hahaha... Seriously though, we appreciate the opportunity to speak with Pure Metal Magazine and the support! To all our Polish fans and all the other true metal maniacs throughout the world: CHEERS! To anyone that reads this and thinks “Who the hell is Skelator?”, check out some of our songs on our ReverbNation page (www.reverbnation.com/TrueSkelator) or the Metal on Metal page (www.metal-on-metal.com). True Metal Forever!

Jason: I want to thank all our fans in Poland for the many years of support from their True Metal Community. WAR IS DECLARED, DEATH TO THE FALSE!!!!