GREG FRASER – The Melodic Rock Force
1. How did you decide to form the band of the Storm Force?
I’m constantly writing music & over time the songs start to build up & I’ll weed through them to see if there is any that jump out at me & it got to a point that I found a bunch that I felt were quite strong in my opinion & decided it was time to start a new band and make a new record. The tough part as always was finding the right guys. Once I did, it all fell into place & STORM FORCE was born.
2. What is the current line up of the band and did you use any additional musicians?
The line up is: Patrick Gagliardi on vocals, Brian Hamilton on drums, Mike Berardelli on bass & myself on lead guitar. We also were lucky to get Rein Knol for some additional keyboards & Serena Pryne who did a fantastic vocal duet with Patrick on the song ‘Breathe’ & also did a cool vocal intro to the song ‘Age Of Fear.’ They both did an outstanding job & we are honored to have them on our record.
3. You have a new album coming out which is called “Age of fear”. Do you really believe that we live in the age of fear?
To a certain extent I would say yes, but I do not dwell on it & I try to have a positive outlook on life. I think a lot of fear is brought on by politics. And politics can really separate people, but I find that music is & always will be the one thing that brings us all together. I’m hoping STORM FORCE will be a big part of that.
4. Where did you record the album and were you involved in the process of mixing and mastering?
The album was recorded & engineered by our drummer Brian Hamilton at his recording studio in St. Catharines Canada & it was mixed by our Producer Darius Szczepaniak in Toronto Canada. It was mastered by Grammy Award winning mastering engineer Alan Douches in New York USA. I’m not too involved in the mixing or mastering other than suggesting the odd adjustment here & there. For the most part I leave that up to the pros.
5. I think that the album is very good, very different compared with the recent hard rock releases. Did your label like it and how did you end up in a deal with them?
Thank you, I really appreciate that. I started to ask around to some of my friends in the biz about different record labels that still released CDs in our genre of music & and few said to try ‘Escape Music Ltd.’ So we reached out to ‘Escape’ & then sent them a few songs & they really liked what they heard & offered us a deal. We gratefully accepted & are proud to be a part of a great company that is still as passionate about music as we are.
6. Is there any specific concept behind the album?
No real concept other then making a record that was true to our roots. Kick ass melodic rock & roll!
7. Why did the band of Brighton Rock break up in the early 1990s?
Like so many other bands from the 80’s, once the 90’s started, our style of music was getting slowly pushed aside by the new grunge sound that was taking over. We were not going to go that route so we called it a day.
8. Which is the current status of the Brighton Rock?
We got back together in 2012 to do a festival in England called ‘Firefest’ and it was fantastic! And then we were honored to get invited back again in 2013 also. Since then, the band has been playing a few shows a year and and we recently played on the ‘Monsters Of Rock Cruise’ back in Febuary which was crazy fun. We’re going to continue to do a few shows here & there & just have fun with it.
9. Any touring plans for Brighton Rock or Storm Force?
There are no touring plans at this time for Brighton Rock but Storm Force look forward to playing as many shows as we can, hopefully on a stage near you!
10. How do you adjust yourself to the current status of the music industry?
I just stay in my lane. I’m not going to take any detours & end up being something that I’m not just to stay in the game. I just keep making music that inspires me & hopefully will inspire you.
Buy the new album of Storm Force here
Photo credits: Facebook, brightonrock.ca
