Having begun their musical journey in 1994 as Godspeed [on Atlantic Records -- toured with Black Sabbath, Dio and Cathedral] the band renamed themselves Solace in 1997. Solace' signature sound resonates with heavy, dark riffs and immense grooves, and their much acclaimed debut album, "Further" is an amalgam of Sabbath-style metal and a Hendrix meets Soundgarden brand of heaviness. Recorded and produced by guitarist Tommy Southard and Eric Rachel, Solace latest effort, the highly anticipated "13", changes the landscape a little bit. The band added more of a New York hardcore feel to their playing, and the vibe of "13" is more classic metal than stoner rock or doom, although several tracks have some heavy psychedelic undertones. Roadburn's Luciano Gaglio talks to Tommy Southard about Solace' ever evolving musical leanings and his collaboration with underground-legend Wino. Solace' "13" is out on Meteorcity. [note: Luciano has done the interview before Solace embarked on a US tour with Spiritu's Jadd as a replacement for singer Jason]. Words | Luciano Gaglio Tommy, Solace's first album, "Further", was released almost 3 years ago. Why did it take so long for you to release a new record? "It's a long story and for many reasons. Personnel problems. We have had many different drummers. Eight I think. There were other internal problems with members not getting along, but mostly because I started a family. I have two sons that take up a lot of my time. As much as I love music and need to play music, nothing comes before my family. Nothing." It seems like Solace is a cursed band, because of the various line-up changes and the continuous problems with singer Jason. I think it could have been frustrating at times, but you always believed in it... "I think that there will always be a form of the band. At least as long as I am playing music and I don't think I will be stopping any time soon. I had always thought that this was the perfect band for me. When I heard what we were creating musically it was as near to the perfect band in my head that I had always wanted." "Rob and I made a pact a long time ago that no matter what else we did musically we would always be in Solace. So even with everything that has gone on with the band and all the troubles, I believe in it enough to go through all the torment." Solace was born from the ashes of Godspeed, a band that released an album on Atlantic and toured with Black Sabbath and Cathedral, among others. Many years have passed since then, and I guess it wasn't easy to switch from a major label to underground labels like Meteorcity and Listenable... "Not a problem at all for me. In fact I seem to enjoy doing things this way, on my own terms. Being on a cool label like Meteorcity gives us that freedom. I play music for myself so even if I wasn't on a label I would still be playing. I fact a feel pretty lucky to have to opportunity to even make records at all." "There are a million people out there trying to make records and not all can. So to be able to make records and even have people like those records is just amazing. The only thing different is that Meteorcity isn't putting us on a tour bus or buying us gear. But ultimately those things that seem so cool up front come back and bite you in the ass because you have to pay for them one way or another." "Besides I think I'm playing the best music of my life right now so as long as it is getting out somehow it's OK with me." By the way, it's not a common thing for a heavy rock band to release an album on a label like Listenable, usually dedicated to extreme metal. I suppose they get in touch with you after listening to "Further..." Yes, they contacted Jadd at Meteorcity about the band because the owner Laurent was a fan of "Further". I think it's cool that a label that primarily does death metal type music was into our stuff enough to put out music by us." Solace has it roots firmly in metal as well as in doom, hardcore and heavy 70's hard rock. I'm curious to know if you're still familiar with today's metal scene or are you inspired by metal acts from the past? "There are bands out there that I dig that are current but it's certainly not the shit on the radio. I don't walk into a record store these days and buy to many CD's that are on the shelf. Most of the CD's of current bands that I listen to are bands I'm friendly with or bought at a gig, or traded Solace stuff for. I just don't have the time or money to get all the stuff I would like to hear." "Most of the music I buy these days is from a time long past. I'm big into vinyl so I buy a lot of older stuff. Everything from NWOBM and hardcore punk stuff to doo wop and old surf rock. So Solace as a band isn't really looking at current music and say "we have to do this". We jus do what we do. What is inside of us. We couldn't try to copy someone if we tried." Let's talk about the new album, the highly anticipated "13." Has it been difficult to come up with new songs after the great response "Further" got? "Not really, like I said we just do what we do. It's not rocket science. It's big dumb rock'n'roll. We just turn up our amps drink beer and go. If songs take to long to write we just scrap them. We have a ton of songs. "We already have enough for the next record and it could be another double record. We really don't worry about what people think about our stuff. It's great that people dig it certainly but we didn't feel any pressure to out do Further." I've noticed that on "13" you also tried to expand the sound you offered on the previous release by adding some extra touches; for example, the harmonica on "Living Sickness/Burning Fuel", and the interventions of keyboards here and there. Do you think you could develop these aspects of your sound even more, in the future? "I'd like to. I don't want to limit the sounds we can use. I don't know if we will ever get a permanent keyboard player or tambourine player or guy playing skin flute! HA! But why not use those things at your disposal while in the studio? I think we can expand on those things further." I suppose you wrote most of "13" in 2000 and 2001. If it's so, I wonder how your next album will sound, since "13" includes new ideas. Could it be described as a transitional album? How is Solace' music changing, in your opinion? "It's hard for me to explain that. Because I don't know how or why our music changes, or even if it does. Like I said we just do what we do. There are preconceived notions as to how we should play our music. Whatever we write that everyone in the band likes we go with it." "We don't have a formula or a set way to do things so everything is open. That makes it possible for us to do or try anything we want. But were not aware of any change. That is up for others like your self to decide." "Common Cause" features Wino of Obsessed /St. Vitus and Spirit Caravan fame on vocals and guitar, and I know that you composed the song just for him. Please tell us how you got in touch with him and how it worked in the studio. It must have been great to play with such an underground legend... "Shit yeah! Wino is a legend and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know shit! We were lucky to have some friends who knew him. Mainly Frank Wombat. We got the tape of the song to Frank who got it to Wino. Wino liked it enough to say he would sing on it. So we went in and basically recorded the song with the same arrangement that was on the practice tape with no vocals." "Wino drove up to New Jersey and laid the vocals down and played some guitar. It was awesome. Being a fan from way back in the day it was pretty damn cool of him to do this. To think that Wino digs the Solace stuff enough to come jam with us is right up there with opening up for Black Sabbath for me!" "13" includes two covers, "Forever My Queen" by Pentagram and "With Time" by Agnostic Front. Really two different tracks that in your hands sound like original Solace songs. Is there a particular reason behind the choice of playing these tracks? "We basically did these songs because we like them. They are two of my all time fave songs. And even though they are songs from two very different type bands they somehow fit. A.F. are the godfathers of N.Y. Hardcore and Pentagram are basically, other than Sabbath, the kings of doom. But somehow they aren't that far off the mark from each other. "I think it was also a way of saying look man you can dig doom bands and punk bands. You don't have to be into one or the other." Apart from Jason's personal feelings evidenced in the lyrics' content, I'd say that Solace's music deals with personal issues on a more subtle level, because of the dark and/or raging atmospheres you convey in the songs. Do you believe in the music's healing power? Does your music bring you "solace"? "I don't know if our music brings about healing but it does help us to vent. We get out our frustrations through our music. None of us were born with silver spoons in our mouths. We had to struggle to get everything we have. No matter how small." We all work hard. We pay the price. We have to bow down to the man daily. It isn't always a fun existence. That is where our rage in our music comes from. In order not to go berserk we get our pissed off feeling out through our music. So in a sense our music helps to bring us solace. Talk about this topic, a title like "King Alcohol" sounds autobiographical... "Certainly you could make a case for that title being autobiographical bit in reality it was taken from an interview with Bill Ward. He was talking about his alcohol abuse and how King Alcohol had a grip on him. We knew exactly what he was talking about." The cover art for "Further" was painted by Wes Benscoter, who worked with Slayer and many of the bands on Relapse. This time you chose an unknown but amazing artist, Paul Vismara. I guess for Solace it's important to give the fans a piece of art to watch while listening to music... "As a kid I was drawn to records with cool covers. The first time I saw "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" or the first Iron Maiden albums I knew I wanted to hear what was inside those records. As a kid I would buy records based on the covers. I like that twisted look that old metal albums brought to the table. Ok, some of them were god-awful but the goods ones really struck a chord in me." "So we tried to have covers that you could look at and automatically be interested in what kind of music was inside. We also wanted stuff that was a bit different than what most of the stoner type bands were doing." People talked about Solace as a metal band, a stoner band, a doom band, a heavy-psych band... What's the truth, in your opinion? Maybe it's in the middle? And what's your opinion on genres and classifications in music? All of the above. We blend all those elements to make Solace. Although I don't really agree with a lot of music classifications I understand that they are somewhat needed. How else is someone going to try to explain how a band sounds or what they are like." In any case, Solace had often shared the stage with stoner/doom bands of all kinds, playing at festivals dedicated to this genre and recording songs for stoner compilations. But the stoner rock phenomenon never exploded, and it's still a pretty underground thing. Why that, in your opinion? "Maybe people should stop trying to sound like other bands from the past. Try something new. There are a lot of really good bands out there now but a lot of not so good bands as well. "I'm not saying that we are above anyone on the stoner rock food chain but at least we try to do something a little different. Maybe we succeed, maybe we don't, but we try." "We are not trying to sound like Kyuss or Monster Magnet. We are jus trying to be Solace. Even the better bands of this genre are maybe a bit too odd or heavy for the MTV generation." "Even the heavy bands that are on the radio are of a pop music type. I mean I like the Foo Fighters but it's just heavy pop music to me." "There are no "Snowblind" type riffs being thrown around in today's popular music. Queens of the Stone Age had a pretty big hit. That album was a pretty good indication that bands can do some really great music, still be under ground but still be popular. I hope more bands follow. But not just try to sound like Queens. Do it on your own terms." What's the best compliment you received from press? And which was the one that really got on your nerves? "That stuff doesn't get on my nerves. I understand that not everyone is going to like our stuff. If everyone did then I would be worried. I think the best review, which wasn't really a compliment, was when someone said that just by listening to our music they knew that we all smelled bad! Now that's awesome! And any time people compare you to Ozzy-era Sabbath is a compliment to me. "Some people said that when "Further" came out it was a scene altering record. I didn't really see it as such but it was nice to see someone felt that way! "13" has been released on vinyl through Italy's Beard Of Stars. Are you a vinyl lover and collector? And why? Tell us about your recent findings and the albums you would like to add to your collection... "I begged for "13" to come out on vinyl! I'm a big vinyl freak. I have waaaaay too many records. I have no room for them anymore. I have been buying tons of old rock n roll 45's from the 50's Rockabilly stuff. Elvis and Bill Haley. There are so many records out there that it is insane. I'm trying to get a copy of The Obsessed's "Lunar Womb" on vinyl bit it goes for way to much money." "I think vinyl sounds better. Record are bigger than CD's. They look cooler. Nothing used to beat when you would get a new record when you were younger and you just hope that when you got it home and ripped it open that there was a poster inside or a picture of the band. CD's just don't have that same vibe. Vinyl is just cooler!" You're involved in the Gallery Of Mites project, together with other well-known heavy-psych musicians of the NJ area... "This is the brainchild of Tim Cronin and Jon Kleiman of Monster Magnet/Ribeye Brothers. I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute to it. There is some pretty cool stuff on it. It's very garage like mid to late 60's kinda MC5 punk type shit going on. It was pretty much all of the cuff stuff that I did." "I showed up at Jon's house with a 12 pack of beer, plugged in and went for it. I think some of it shows the 12 pack too! But that is the beauty of it. It's raw. There is a cool thing that I did where Ed and I are both playing lead at the same time. I'm kinda hitting some nice low register notes while Ed Mundell does his typical screaming lead work. It was a spur of the moment thing but sounds pretty cool." "All the guys that participated are talented guys from our area. Mike & Jim are from Lord Sterling, a band that should get more notice. Stu is from Halfway To Gone. Dwayne is from Black Nasa. and Phil & Joe from Magnet. All these guys were involved." What about your new project, Robot Dicks? "Robot Dicks is a new band I am in with Rob, the bass player from Solace/Godspeed; Timmy, the old drummer from Godspeed; Quinn Macatasney on bass [yes, 2 bass players!] and Tim Cronin of Monster Magnet/Ribeye Brothers on vocals. It's kinda of a cross between what Godspeed was and what Solace is with a much more punk feel to it. We're actually looking for a 2nd guitarist too! It's a big evil mash of noise."