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| DRAGONSCLAW - Moving Target CD | |
HRR 1019Cd, slipcase | |
| Giles Lavery - Vocals Ben Thomas - Guitar Aaron Thomas - Bass Jimmy Waldo - Keys Mark Zonder - Drums | |
| 01 The Road Beneath Your Wheels 02 Survival 03 Cry Wolf 04 Don't Break the Silence again 05 Back on the Streets 06 Ghost Soldiers 07 Shadowfire 08 (Tell me) All Your Lies 09 Raise Your Fist | |
AVAILABLE | |
Giles Lavery is best known as the vocalist of Warlord, Alcatrazz and Jack Starr. On top of that, he is also a highly prolific band manager, record producer and label co-owner.
Dragonsclaw is the name one of the first bands Giles formed, while still residing in Sydney, Australia. He explains: “I met guitarist Ben Thomas in 2010. He asked me if I would like to write and record some songs with him, so we worked at his house once a week, each Sunday night for a couple months, and came up with the material for the first album »Prophecy«. The history of the band is now forever linked and connected to the history of Warlord, as it is how Bill Tsamis and I met -- by a strange twist of fate he heard a Dragonsclaw song that we had posted online and he contacted me ... We became very good friends and this led him to asking me to join Warlord as vocalist. The rest is history really ... He posted our music on his facebook page (something he very rarely did outside of his own music) and we were offered a deal within three weeks, by a Greek label named Arkyen Steel for the »Prophecy« album. The response was really good, we even entered the Burrn magazine charts in Japan. We followed this up with our second album »Judgement Day« very quickly. There are some really good songs on that record too. Things were moving very fast ... during recording for that record I was also rehearsing for Warlord live shows in Europe.”
»Prophecy« (2011) and »Judgement Day« (2013) is now followed by the brand new studio album »Moving Target«. So why has it taken Giles and the boys a record breaking twelve years to come up with a new effort? “So much has happened to me in that twelve-year period, it's almost like two lifetimes,” muses Lavery. “I joined Warlord, I started my management company, record label work, producing etc ... So singing took a bit of a sideline, to be honest, but I am back now fully focused on it, and Ben and I had always wanted to finish up the third Dragonsclaw album, which we have been writing on and off for ages. I am the reason it got so held up really as I was so involved in other projects ... But I am very happy it is finally finished.”
“The current band is spread out all over,” continues the vocalist. “I live in Germany since 2013, Ben and Aaron (Thomas, bass) are still in Australia. The line-up for this new album also features my Warlord band mates Mark Zonder (drums) and Jimmy Waldo (keyboards) ... So the Warlord link is even more defined on this record.”
According to Giles, it took some effort to put the production puzzle of »Moving Target« together: “All vocals were recorded in Germany at my studio here. Ben recorded his guitars at his place in Australia, as did Aaron. Mark and Jimmy recorded their parts in the USA. Myself and Ben produced it, and Thomas Mergler, who really was a massive factor in us completing this record, co-produced the album.”
»Moving Target« comes with really nice cover art reminiscent of old horror B-movies. “Oh man, absolutely, I Iove this kind of stuff from the 70s, 80s and early 90s,” smirks Lavery. “But I have to tell you ... I am just as much into classic TV shows from the 70s and 80s, such as »Hot Pursuit« (1984), »MacGyver« (1985), »A-Team« (1985), »Renegade« (1992), too many to mention … and tons of the direct to video thrillers and action films of that era, too. My favorite TV show ever is »Hot Pursuit« ... There are always references to it on all my records.”
Listening to »Moving Target« closely, you can hear hear a lot of epic US metal and some classic Euro metal – a bit like Warlord meeting Riot meeting »Keeper«-era Helloween. “That’s a fair comment,” says the vocalist, “for me the direction on »Moving Target« was intended to be if Judas Priest had made an album somewhere in 1985 between »Defenders Of The Faith« and »Turbo« … with some of the second Fifth Angel album sound in there too.”
Keyboards are prominently featured on »Moving Target«, which was actually the original plan of the band: “I think for this album the keyboards are very important, they create the needed atmosphere and drama ... I would say that we used them in a similar way that Virgin Steele did on »Age Of Consent« ... to build atmosphere. I really like that haunting effect keyboards can have when used right. Like Tony Banks from Genesis does, or Tony Carey on his Planet P Project albums ... Jimmy Waldo is one of those guys too.”
Probably the fastest and most upbeat number on »Moving Target« is called “Shadowfire”. And it comes with a surprise: “’Shadowfire’ reminded me of a current-day Riot song, so I asked Todd Michael Hall to sing on it with me ... He was kind enough to do so!”
“(Tell Me) All Your Lies”, on the other hand, is a really accessible track, possibly the catchiest tune on »Moving Target«. It’s got a bit of that “Wasted Years” Maiden-vibe, following the Adrian Smith school of songwriting. “Yes, I am glad you noticed that,” laughs the singer. “As I heard that too ... Co-producer Thomas Mergler was largely responsible for helping to finish that song up as it wasn't quite right and he added some very good ideas to it.”
As mentioned earlier, Giles Lavery is singing in quite a few different bands, so does he adapt his vocal style or is it more important for him to sound like himself? “It's more important to sound like me,” is his answer. “I often tell bands, who ask me to sing for them, that I am not good at copying another singer exactly, or even copying exact melodies etc. I really need to feel it my own way ... With Warlord it's a bit different as I really do work hard to get close to the original singers performances on those older Warlord records ... But I find with Warlord that comes quite naturally for me anyway, to align that with my own style.”
If you dissect Giles vocal style, you’ll find a bit of Michael Kiske and also Geoff Tate, Ronnie James Dio as well for that matter. “Yes, absolutely,” he laughs, “you just named three of my favorite singers ... What an amazing compliment to even be slightly compared to them ... Thank you very much for that ... I have to mention Lou Gramm is a huge influence, too.”
MATTHIAS MADER