Interview with Johnny Middleton<\/p>\n
1. What were the reasons for the departure of Al Pitrelli and Zak Stevens?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Zak left due to the fact that his wife has a kid and he wasn\u2019t comfortable leaving her eleven months , he had a problem traveling around the world and leaving her alone. He doesn\u2019t live in an apartment but in a farm and when he was only with his wife there wasn\u2019t a problem but now\u00a0 the baby is involved and she needs his help. That is the reason that he left and not that he didn\u2019t want to sing for us anymore. Al left for a\u00a0 larger paycheck , when he came we knew that as soon as someone would come with a larger paycheck \u2013he\u2019s gone!<\/p>\n
2. Are all the poets madmen?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 We came with the idea of the title of the record because John was gonna sing the half of the CD and he was gonna be the madman – Zak was gonna be the poet !Zak left but we decided to keep the title because it was so cool, great title for a CD. Now Paul Neil is the poet and John is the madman !<\/p>\n
3. You ?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I\u2019m just a bass player! There is a thin line between poets and madmen , everybody is capable of murder and everybody is capable of love\u00a0 and if you can balance your life and keep it in the middle , that is alright. That is the kind of a poet and a madman is , inside in your brain there is rage and murder but the other half has love and tenderness .<\/p>\n
4. Ok, now tell me about your new album \u2026\u2026<\/p>\n
\u00a0 It\u2019s round it\u2019s got twelve songs on it , basically it\u2019s the kind of the CD that we would release after \u201cStreets\u201d, it\u2019s the same style. We have taken little pieces from all the records that we have done and the difference from the latest CD is that John sings all the vocals .The songs mix the keyboards of \u201cGutter Bullet\u201d era with the big vocals of\u00a0 \u201cWake of Magellan\u201d , it \u2018s the heaviest thing that we have done since probably Streets.<\/p>\n
5. How are you going to promote this CD ?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in different airplanes for the past two weeks and I am traveling all over Europe doing press interviews. We also have big plans for touring , this summer we have festivals and we\u2019re\u00a0 trying\u00a0 as hell to get to this festival that you\u2019ve got here in Greece .We will concentrate in the markets that we hadn\u2019t target in the past , Portugal \u2013 Spain \u2013 France \u2013Greece .These are the target-markets , Germany ,Belgium and Holland we\u2019re doing very well over there .That was the reason that we changed record label , we wanted to have a label that has better distribution out of Germany.<\/p>\n
6. What about Transiberian Orchestra ?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 When I’ ll go home I\u00a0 go to Universal to work in Beethoven\u2019s last night CD and see if it works as good as the Christmas stuff .Our Christmas shows sell out every year , we have TV Shows in America , we\u2019re doing very well in America but is mainly in the Christmas season. We\u2019re gonna work for this CD , then we\u2019re gonna tour for four weeks there and in the summer we are coming in Europe for festivals .<\/p>\n
7. Do you think that Transiberian Orchestra increases the fame of Savatage and make them known at mainstream music ears ?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so because Transiberian Orchestra\u2019s audience is different , it\u2019s a Christmas show. In the audience there are 84 years old ladies , there are old men. Savatage has younger audience , we also have audience from 40\u2019s and 50\u2019s , but mainly is the smaller demographical group but people who find out about Savatage and like the heavy kind of music , we grabbing them ! Note that many of Transiberian Orhestra fans are the Savatage fans , it\u2019s weird !<\/p>\n
8. You\u2019ve been in this job for so many years , what must musicians have to survive in the music scene ?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 To probably have another job, that\u2019s one thing, and the other is a very rich girlfriend !It\u2019s really hard to make a living from music , it took us 10\u00a0 years to make a living out of it .We were eating pizzas , butter and jelly sandwiches and we were living in horrible hotels .The entertainment business is very hard with rude people that making money out of it ,\u00a0 the best advice I can give to anyone is\u00a0 having something else to support you and your family when you are not making money from music . I own my business at home , I don\u2019t have to be in this band to make money , I have an air conditioning company ,I have people working for me when I am here and I don\u2019t have to worry about the band.<\/p>\n
9. Tell me your worst experience from the music industry\u2026<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Oh God ,there are a lot of those ! When\u00a0 I first joined the band on \u201cFight for the rock\u201d we did a show in Finland and we made a lot of money. These managers we had , showed up , they collected the money and they flew at home .They left us in London with no money to pay the hotel rooms but enough money to go to the airport , get the plane and fly home . We had to put the luggage in the middle of the night and in cars from friends and in the morning we told the hotel people that we would go for breakfast and then come back so not to hold us before we go to the airport. In the meantime the guys flew back in America with our money , we fired them but they fucked us!<\/p>\n
10. Napster and Artists , who is the good and who the bad guy?<\/p>\n
\u00a0 I think that Napster sucks! Napster is great for a band that doesn\u2019t have a record deal but bad for a group that wants to get its music at many people , they just get money from the professional\u2019s pockets ! I wouldn\u2019t be here if I found out that my CDS are given away , it\u2019s bad for me , why I have to travel all over the world for nothing ? I would do something else to pay my bills , it will kill the fucking music industry .It is good only if they offer samples of the CD , maybe one minute, \u2013not the whole CD ,this is a great idea. This is a great promotion tool , it can work out and it will work out . But if they offer the whole CD, the record companies won\u2019t put money for this because they can\u2019t get money from this , so if this will continue for ten years you will listen music ten years old because nothing will be released anymore.<\/p>\n
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