|
|
JUDAS PRIEST CONTINUES to uphold the grand tradition
of heavy metal, but Rob Halford, the band's former vocalist, is off exploring
an entirely different musical universe. His new band, Two, is even more
adventurous than his last outfit, Fight, incorporating elements of industrial,
techno and pop within its blaring guitar grooves. Credit largely belongs
to Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and producer Dave Oglivie (Skinny
Puppy), who imbued Two's debut album, Voyeurs (Nothing), with its high-tech
grind. We recently sat down with Halford and guitarist John Lowery to talk
about musical experimentation, spirtuality and the joys of melodic vocals.
| MAXIMUM GUITAR: How did you hook up with Trent Reznor? |
Rob Halford: I was at Madri Gras [in New Orleans] a couple of years
ago and a friend drove me past his studio, so I decided to stop by. He
gave me a tour of the place, and I happened to have a cassette of demos
that I was working on, so we popped it in the stereo. The whole time, Trent
sat there in the corner with his knees up and his head in his lap listening
intently. A few weeks later he called me up and asked me if I wanted a
deal with Nothing.
| MG: Was that what you had hoped would come out of the meeting? |
HALFORD: No, it really came out of left field for me. It's funny
because Trent can't stand heavy metal and I've never been a fan of industrial
music. To be honest, I haven't got a clue why Trent reznor decided to work
with me.
| MG: What were you aiming to do with Two? |
HALFORD: I wanted to see what would happen when my different heads
were involved with one project. The idea was to sit down and write some
cool songs on acoustic guitar, then give them to Trent and Dave Ogilivie
and see what developed musically.
| MG: The guitars on Voyeurs don't sound like your average industrial metal clamor. |
JOHN LOWERY: I wanted to make things very different and perculiar.
I used a seven-string guitar and tons of pedal effects. I also talked into
the pickups and looped certain guitar noises we made by banging spoons
and knives on the guitars. A lot of the stuff that sounds like keyboards
is actually me tapping with my right hand and playing bass notes with my
left.
| MG: What were you doing before you [John] hooked up with Rob? |
LOWERY: I've been making a living as a studio musician since 1989.
I've played with Ozzy Osbourne, kd lang, Lita Ford and Salt and Pepa, to
name a few, and I've done TV background music and commercials. I'm totally
psyched to finally be in a band full-time, though.
| MG: Where did the name Two come from? |
HALFORD: I was thinking about the very simplicity of things like
black and white, negative and positive, yin and yang. It takes two opposites
to achieve a real balance and two people to make a relationship.
| MG: On that note, Voyeurs strikes a musical balance between meldoy and dissonance, more so than any thing you've done in the past. |
HALFORD: I've come to the realization that I don't have to keep screaming my lungs out to make a point. The human voice is a remarkable instrument, and hopefully people will hear me to do things on this record that they havn't heard me do before.
LOWERY: We wanted to write stuff with huge sounding hooks like Oasis
or London Suede. I'm a sucker for that stuff.
| MG: Have you heard the new Judas Priest album, Jugulator? |
HALFORD: No, Someone sent me the "Bullet Train" song, and I listened
to that, but I think it would be unfair to have an opinion based on one
song.
| MG: Well, you've heard the band's new vocalist, Ripper, who was hired from a Judas Priest cover band. What do you think? |
HALFORD: I can only say one thing: There was only one Elvis.
