“Well, technically that is untrue although I know that is the word that is going around in press releases. Fact of the matter is I've done full pressings of all of my Planet Gemini releases and a couple of Cauldron of Fuzz albums. Wicked is the first release on an actual 3rd party label. Before I released everything under Gemini Records and later WoeconstrictoR Records. It was all done with my own finances and they are pressed very professionally with lyrics and full colour artwork. I'm sold out of most of my older albums with the exception of SuperGod[t]DevilMan and Wizards Blood, which is currently available in most fine online music dealers. I did very large runs of these two albums because the others that I pressed ended up selling out on me. So, I should be good to supply those other albums for a while. I think it's awesome how the release of 'Wicked' has made these other albums in demand again. I will say this though psycheDOOMelic made this so easy for me that I regret not getting in touch with them sooner. I've always been very weary of having a 3rd party getting involved in releasing one of my albums. I've been in talks with many labels over the years. In previous dealings with other labels they always wanted me to change something. Take a song out, change the tracklisting, change the NAME of the album. That wasn't going to happen. psycheDOOMelic got it right! They basically said ‘Do what you want because YOU are Planet Gemini and you know what you want people to hear from you’. The result is ‘Wicked’ and I couldn't be happier with the release. The music, the layout it is all still done by me just like the other releases. I had a good friend of mine (renowned Heavy Metal Journalist Martin Popoff) do cover art this time around but, even that was tweaked by me a little bit in terms of colours and shadings and whatnot. I take a big hands on approach to Planet Gemini. I am kind of a control freak because it very much is my brainchild, my mindscape and very much my passion. Wicked is basically a journey into my completely dark and demented headspace. But, yeah it's been thirteen years (1997) since I took the name ‘Planet Gemini’ the material for our first demo was written all the way back in 1994 so some of the music is even older it's so crazy how time flies!”
Yes, indeed! Maybe you tell something about the time before PLANET GEMINI. Have you always been a one-man-show?
“No, not always. PLANET GEMINI started out as a duo. My very good friend Josh and I decided to make PLANET GEMINI out of a band we had when we were teenagers. The band was called 'Black Knight' and we played a lot of shows in the New England area in the early 90's. When the drummer ended up leaving the band Josh and I decided to do our own thing and write some songs. I was fascinated with the advent of the internet. Josh and I ended up buying a bunch of recording equipment and started putting up some demos on a webpage way before there was a myspace, napster, mp3.com etc. We got a really good response from that and as time went on we let it grow further and further. It always astounds me how things have changed. I am 33 now and if you would have told me when I was 15 that I would have worked with a member of Black Sabbath and Trouble I would have thought you were crazy. I owe a lot of it to the internet. That's why I always gave away my music as well as selling it. Fact of the matter is that I would rather have someone singing my songs than buying my CDs. Don't get me wrong the support is awesome and it really helps to have albums that actually sell so that labels will actually continue putting out my stuff. But, my style of music is not for everyone. If I wanted to be loved by everyone I would play a more mainstream style of music. Musical integrity is what it's all about to me. If I wanted to be famous I would be playing pop music and selling my songs to soulless corporate media outlets, who could care less about music and passion and just want a catchy chorus and a glossy image. Fuck image - that's why I don't put pictures of myself out there, I don't use my full name on my albums. It's not about all of that. It's all about the music.
Josh was awesome because he was the same way: He never wanted to use his full name he was totally cool with very little to no pictures and no last names. In 2006 Josh left the band to pursue other life ventures that didn't involve music. We still talk from time to time and believe me, he is as close to me as family. It was such an honor making those first few albums with him. We really had a blast in the old days and somewhere along the way people started taking us serious as musicians. I don't think Josh was ever ready for that. There was a lot that made Josh bow out. I think that after Cauldron of Fuzz 2 Josh's heart just wasn't in it anymore. I basically wrote all of Cauldron of Fuzz 3 and a lot of Wizard's Blood. By that point Josh was just showing up to throw bass on demos. He'd give 'em to me and hope that I would approve it and if I didn't he'd get annoyed and try again. Josh was a very good player and he understood very much what I wanted him to play. But, in the end it got down to the point where the dude was stressing out over it. For Josh, PLANET GEMINI was about sitting down, hanging out and hacking out tunes. For me, PLANET GEMINI was this painting. It was dark and emotional, about power and triumph. It was more than just two dudes jamming. It was about the e-mails I was getting from people, who told me that PLANET GEMINI was being played by them daily. I would get e-mails from people telling me about their problems and how PG helped them cope with it or get through things. I'm not saying that Josh's perspective was wrong but to me. I wanted my music to mean more than that.
My music is dark but it is done from a place of power and positivity. I always get a lot of people, who tell me that my music is very angry. Well, to me anger is therapy. We all need an outlet to release it. That's what "The Beast on Your Back" is all about. If it wasn't for me screaming at the top of my lungs into a microphone, who knows where I'd be right now. Music is beautiful because it carries so much emotion. One of the major comments I get when people review my music is people using words like 'Soul, Emotion and Passion'. I don't have to tell people how emotional my music is, people who really listen can hear it. It carries through the notes in this swirling dark symphony that I try to create. It's almost magical how we can put so much power into a guitar riff or how our voice can carry grief, anger and power. It truly is a gift a that I wish more musicians would explore, because sometimes I listen to some of these bands out there and their music feels so dead. The writing is decent and the notes are all in place. But the performance is lacking.
Personally I try to make my albums feel as powerful as a band performing live. I've had guitar takes that were structurally perfect but they just didn't have that emotion in them. So I would delete them and start again. I would keep takes with mistakes in them over perfect takes that felt robotic. When I record PLANET GEMINI material it is at extremely loud volumes. The vocal tracks are recorded over loud music not in some booth with headphones on. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs and I'm pushing out every once of power I possibly can. I like to think that it really does make a difference in the final product.”
Your vocal style and guitar play remembers me of Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) and stuff at some points, less of Candlemass and Trouble as it is often said. How about your musical roots and idols, what are the main influences for the sound of PLANET GEMINI?
“I was actually quite the heavy metal snob growing up. If it wasn't metal, hard rock or maybe classical I wouldn't even bother listening to it. I basically grew up on Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Judas Priest. My guitar playing was greatly inspired by Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, John Christ and so on... It's funny that so many people make the Zakk comparison to my guitar playing because I've never been a big fan of Zakk. However, I'll take it. I mean, he is a phenomenal guitar player! I always found his sound a little heavy on the fx. I also think he over-uses the pinch harmonic a bit. But, I mean that's his style. Few people have it and to be honest whenever I hear Zakk on a song I KNOW it's Zakk. So that speaks volumes about his identity as a player.
My vocals were very much inspired by Ozzy from the Black Sabbath Sabotage era, as well as Halford from the Painkiller era and Dio. I'm a huge fan of Ian Gillan's melodies. I think that I took a lot of his style in terms of the way his vocals sway. Also, I love Eric Adam's (Manowar) vocals. For as cheesy and borderline goofy as that band is they wrote some killer music and man can that guy sing! Of course my favorite vocalists at the moment are definitely Halford, Dio, Gillan, Adams (Manowar), Chritus (Terra Firma, Lord Vicar), Lowe (Candlemass, Solitude). I like singers that actually sing, Not just moan out vocals with no power.
As I grew up and developed more as a musician I started listening to Jazz a lot. Now, I pretty much listen to everything. I love funk music and some of the great gritty New Orleans blues/funk/jazz bands. I can listen to stuff like "The Meters" all day long. I like the groove, it really is something that is missing from a lot of heavy music. Everyone is so worried about being heavy that they forget the idea of music is to move people. Not bore them to tears with the same riff for 156 bars. Again, to each their own I suppose but I never really got into stuff that was THAT repetitive.
I like bands with originality. It's hard for me to list them all but really in terms of metal I tend to listen to the more "Power Metal" side of things and very rarely do I listen to anything new. I'm finding it harder and harder to find new doom metal bands that I can get into. I like Gates of Slumber's new stuff a lot. But, I fear if I listen to that too much my next album will sound like a poor man's Gates of Slumber.. hehe It's a compliment really. They do what they do so well and I really think that they are one of those bands that deserves a lot more attention. I've always been like that though. I think it's the same with any artist really. If you surround yourself with something it kind of becomes a part of your project. I try to steer clear from stuff that I feel might get entangled in my creative web so to speak. There's a lot of doom metal bands out there that tend to drink from the same cup. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between some of them. Bands like Gates of Slumber and Argus are really doing their own thing. The Argus stuff to me is more good old fashioned heavy metal than doom. But, some would say the same about my stuff. I never really cared about genres. If you want to call me a polka band I could care less as long as you're listening to the music. So I guess I'm saying look out for my next album... Black Polka Doom, hehe!”
There's nothing bad about Polka at all, and as I am open minded towards new Doom sub-genres it could indeed be very interesting, just surprise me. I have read that "Wicked" is somewhat like a special edition CD-album, please tell us about this!
“It's a collector's edition because the original version of Wicked was put out on the internet for free in 2008. This is a completely remixed, remastered and really just an all around revamped version of the album. The artwork has been tweaked a bit and it's in a very classy 8 page digipack. The booklet has stories about creating the album as well as some pretty cool artwork. I really tried to make this as personal as possible. I realize that a lot of people have downloaded the album. But, this is really something special for those who want to support the project and own something a little more special from Planet Gemini. This isn't just some tacked on pressing for the sake of pressing it. When I talked with the folks at PsycheDOOMelic about what we should do for the release I was basically green lighted on everything. This is for the person who wants to have a little bit of a glimpse behind the curtain.
I added 2 bonus songs on there. One is a song called "Fal From the Sky" which is a track that was written and recorded with the other songs from the album. It fits well but it well but there was a bit of an annoying distortion on the snare track of the original recording. It is still there but I tried to mask it as much as possible and make the song fit with the collector's edition. The 2nd bonus track is "Rise of the RedGod" which is a song that I actually wrote in 2009. I wrote it for the Classic Rock UK magazine. It was a track that I did really fast and I was actually quite stunned at how much the lyrics were talking about "Grim (My God of Red)". Especially because Grim was written in 2006. But, really Rise of the RedGod could have easily been the song to follow Grim on the album. It just all came together so well. I love the album ending with "Eden" because it is so haunting but, in this case I thought that the original album should stay in tact and that the bonus songs should be a little bonus at the end. Love em' or hate em' they are kind of rounding out the experience well. One important thing is that I don't feel like the 2 bonus songs are just tacked on. I feel like they both have a very good place on the album and while Fall From the Sky might not be the opus that "The Deadly Sleep" is, it definitely adds that upbeat aggression that I like to touch on. All in all this album is THE definitive Planet Gemini experience at the moment. It's selling very well and I'm very happy with it.
That is really one thing that I am so proud of with Planet Gemini. I have never done anything with my music that I am not satisfied with. Even when I was offered some decent deals to compromise I always maintained Planet Gemini's integrity. Really you can say whatever you want about PG but it is the purest music that you'll listen to in the sense that; it is basically a direct line into my head. Sometimes some of the stuff that comes out of it is scary but, all in all I don't think it would feel as "real" any other way. A true artist always tries to balance on the wire between insanity and genius and while I don't consider myself to be a technical wizard. I think that I can paint a picture quite well with my music. Whether it be a soothing landscape or a hellish abstract that's totally up to the listener to decide.”
Could you imagine to play live or even to go on tour some day, as you have indeed enough material for a headliner show?
“I get asked that a lot. It would require the right musicians with the right attitude and commitment to putting on a good show. I wouldn't just want some "Sit in" players I would want people who actually could throw in some ideas about how to perform these songs live. I've been asked to do many festivals in the past and even was asked to play on a couple this year. But, I just can't imagine doing a show unless I have a good, well rehearsed band to play the stuff. It would have to be a totally different experience than listening to the album.”
Sure, but have you already been looking for those right musicians at all or is it more a problem of arranging duties, which you have been doing alone most of the time ?
“I own and operate a recording studio so new musicians are not hard to come by. I've worked with some great players in the past but, really it's a matter of commitment not delegation. I have had offers for other bands members to come sit in on a set in the past but, again it's more important to me that the music is played the way I want it to be. I'm not going to go out there and just half ass a set. Fact is people that want to see Planet Gemini live probably know the material fairly well and I wouldn't ever want to deliver anything but a perfect product.
There was a point in 2007 where I had some friends coming in every week and we were just jamming Planet Gemini tunes. It was so weird to hear everyone play my parts. The drummer was far superior to me in terms of ability but, groove is very important. The guitar player was astounded at how messed up my style of guitar playing is. I play very strange, I was never taught guitar formally so I bend the hell out of my strings and do chords that don't really make sense sometimes. So when you get a player who is used to playing Iron Maiden type stuff... it's just going to cause chaos hehe. It was awesome though. We easily had 1 hour of good material. Church of Madness, DevilMan, Song of Servants, A Time Before Time, Flicker, Preachin' to the Choir, Demonic Wall, Moondancer, Minus and Take Me Home. All songs kind of weaving in and out of each other and adding moments of improvisation in between. If there was ever a time I would have been comfortable accepting a gig it would have been then. But, alas things come up and schedules get busy and whatnot. So, we don't jam anymore. I'd love to though. So maybe somewhere down the line. I'm not a tough guy to work with really I just take my music very seriously.”
Without doubt, you're kind of hot-blooded musician, which we will hopefully see on stage with a full PLANET GEMINI line-up some time. Please tell us about your work in the studio, the bands come and gone etc. I guess there's mainly Metal and Doom stuff recorded?
“You'd be surprised. I've produced a couple of stonerrock bands and some hardcore/punk stuff but, for the most part I've never recorded another doom project. I'd love to but, it's just never came up in this area. I'm kind of picky as to who I produce. I have to have a little interest in the artist or the musicianship going into the project. It's a long process. Usually when a band approaches me to record I check out their myspace page, listen to their music a bit. Then if I decide it is something that I am interested in getting involved with I try to either see them rehearse or play live. It gives me a feel of what sound they are trying to get, how things should be mic'd and recorded. What vibe they are trying to portray and so on. From there we have a sit down with me and the band and we discuss what is best to achieve their sound. Specific things like "Will the drummer play to a metronome?", "Would you like to record as a live band". My studio isn't really a place where people just come in record an album and leave. It's an experience. We spend time on their work. The way I see it is that these guys and gals are going to be listening to this album for the rest of their lives. I try to make it everything they want it to be.
I've never recorded an orchestra, that's really something I'd like to do sometime. It doesn't have to be a huge thing. Just something epic. I've done some indie movie soundtrack stuff with some friends and I've done lots of voice-over work for DVD's and whatnot. That shit is boring as hell and quite frustrating but, it pays the bills and makes me able to afford to buy more studio gear so who am I to complain?”
What are your future plans for PLANET GEMINI, guess you will continue the collaboration with Mark of PsycheDOOMelic Records, and write tons of new songs?
“Well, right now my studio is a revolving door with a lot of bands coming in to record. I am going to try to take some time over the next month or so and get in to polish up some demos I've been working on. I have already talked with Mark about doing a 2010 Planet Gemini release. Probably in the summer as I will have a little more free time. I'm very excited to release another CD with some of the newer material I've been working on. One thing is for certain it will be heavy I can guarantee you that.”
I'll take you at your word an thank you very much for this interview! Any last words?
“I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has listened to and (or) supported Planet Gemini in the past. A thank you to zines like DMF and others who really bust their ass to get this type of music some exposure. I understand that sometimes it feels like a thankless job but really if it wasn't for the hard work of people like yourself people like me would go relatively unnoticed by the Doom Metal community. We (the bands) owe so much to the loyal following of this style of music and really it means the world to me that there are people out there who will promote real music just because they love it. Not because it is trendy. So please continue to keep it real and thank you so much for your time.”
text: Mo)))urner
fotos: H
