Hi, AGE OF FIRE. First of all, are you safe during CV-19? What
is the situation in your area and what are your personal thoughts on this
pandemic?
Hey everyone! This is Greg from Age of Fire.
Thank you so much for asking. Yes, we are all currently fine and safe with our
loved ones. We have been observing the quarantine except for necessities. Life
has been in pause mode at the moment and adjusting to working from home. It
currently isn’t bad here in Central Virginia but it is to the east and north.
Don’t’ get me wrong, we have cases just not awful as many others are. Our
hearts go out to the many places we have seen where this virus has just been
devastating. As far as my thoughts on the pandemic, it’s a crazy thing to
witness. Some people are adhering to restrictions quite well and others don’t
seem to understand the science behind it all. I was in Europe the first week of
March and started seeing the effects happening over there. Grateful for the
time spent in Austria and Germany especially now in lock down. When this is
over, I hope we can better realize we are all on this planet together and be
more unified by our strengths than focusing on our differences.
Would you please introduce your
band to our readers who are not aware of your band and music?
Absolutely, we have Laura
Viglione on vocals, Michael Heck on bass and drums and myself, Greg Brown on
guitars. Michael Heck juggled a lot of balls for our past CD release, Shades
of Shadow. He recorded a bunch of it, mix and mastered as well as doing
bass and drums on majority of it. We had some guest artists on a few tracks as
well.
Give us a little insight into
the formation of the band. When and how did it happen?
Wow, it goes way back. Age of
Fire was formed in 1988 when I was just out of high school and my band broke
up. Everyone was headed to college but I was staying locally in South Florida
and going to college. I had a good friend introduce me to Jeff Osias who played
drums and we formed Age of Fire. We had another bass player for a while until
we were offered a chance to play gigs in theNew Jersey tri-state area and then
we got Clint Jacoby. We were mostly thrash at the time but over time we wore
collaborating more and the Age of Fire moniker didn’t fit. We changed the name
of the band but eventually disbanded in 1993. After we split I moved to
Virginia and focused on classical music, I still write and perform regularly.
Over the years I’d dust off my chops on electric guitar and realized how much I
missed it. Over just the last few years, I remastered and released our old demo
tapes. I had so much fun with this project I decided to do new music with a few
hired guns on drums and I played guitars, did vocals and played bass as well. That
was the Obsidian Dreams album, all instrumental except for 2 tracks. I
was blown away by the response and started working with Metal Coffee PR who
helped us get even more noticed and signed by Sliptrick Records. I was already
working on new music and in the middle started working with Laura and Michael.
We re-recorded the 2 vocal tracks from Obsidian Dreams, and wrote 2
more, the rest are all instrumental which became Shades of Shadow which
was just releases in February 2020.
At what age did you guys start
playing instruments? Since when are you into metal music?
We all started pretty young. I
started playing guitar at age 12 and by 14 I was performing and have never
looked back.
AGE OF FIRE recently
released "Shades Of Shadow". Tell us something about it. Walk us
through all the tracks lyrics and meaning.
Sure thing,
Track 1. Epitaph- Is a
short instrumental that starts off with orchestration, strings, French horn and
flute, there’s a free form electric guitar solo and the orchestration returns.
I love classical music and wanted to disc to start off with a little something
different for the band. I constantly try different things out. I don’t like to
keep it safe and surprise the listener.
Track 2. Time is Running Out- This is a nod to
the old thrash days. The only track with me on vocals. Arnaud Krakowka is on
drums.
Track 3.- Judgement Day-
This track introduces Laura on vocals. As I mentioned before this was
originally on Obsidian Dreams with me on vox but we redid the whole thing.
Laura shines on every track she’s on.
Track 4. Fairystones- I
love the band Nightwish. This was my attempt to write something in their style
but with my touch. I had a lot of fun doing this piece. Arnaud plays drums on
this track as well. This was the first piece that Michael and I worked together
on. It was great to bounce ideas off of him. I’ve been a solo artist for so
long, I missed the band collaboration process.
Track 5. – Shades of Shadow-
this is such a different piece for me to write, structurally and tone colors.
There’s piano, strings, synth and electric guitar weaving through until the
end. I know instrumentals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and demand a bit more on
the listener but that was really where my head space was during the writing of
this album.
Track 6. King of Aquilonia-
this was the first track where we tagged in Laura. I’ve wanted to work with her
for some time. When I first heard her on this track with Michael’s production,
I was like “OMG you guys have to officially join the band!”. This was our first
single and video for the album. Lyrically,
this song is based on the Conan writings of Robert E. Howard.
Track 7. High Speed Chase-
Growing up I loved the music of Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai. This track is
definitely a homage to them.
Track 8. Dual Phase of a
Lost Moon- This track has Steve Sanderson performing on drums. I’m a total
space nerd and this instrumental had some “out there” moments. I like to write
with an image in my head and try to score it out. I was picturing on ice moon
in distant space when I wrote this.
Track 9. Crystal Ball-
Lyrically this is a tribute to one of my all-time favorite singers, Ronnie
James Dio. Growing up in the 80s I loved his songs of dragons, rainbows and
magic. I wrote this song years ago and finally happy to record it.
Track 10. Mist at Dawn-
What I had imagined for this piece was a nice little outro. I sent some rough
tracks to Michael and he came back with this epic piece. I think originally it
was less than 2 minutes and now it’s close to 7. That’s all Michael, I do think
it’s a better ending to this disc.
How has been the response so
far by the listeners? Have you started working on new songs already?
We have been getting great
response from people and grateful to everyone who has reached out to us. We’ve
had a few ‘meh’ reviews and some great ones but reviews are subjective. I’m
glad people have taken the time to critique our work. But they are funny, what
one person praises another dislikes. Like all art, check it out for yourself
and make your own opinion.
We have started writing new
material. It wasn’t the plan but with the quarantine it seems like the most
logical thing to do right now. Shades of Shadow came out in February and
right when momentum was building the pandemic hit. We still have a lot of promo
to do for this disc and working on live shows. All rehearsals have been pushed
back until we can reconvene. We are also auditioning bass players as well since
Michael will be playing drums live (he did both in studio).
When and where did you play
your first gig? How was the experience of going live for the first time?
The year was 1984 at a party at
this town’s club house. My middle school band played. We played some originals
but also Scorpions, Metallica and Van Halen. I actually did a guitar solo with
a strobe light behind me and they pulled the lights off in the venue. Shredding
in silhouette. I guess I liked playing live since I’m still doing it 36 years
later 😊
What, according to you, is the
secret behind band’s success?
Perseverance. I think you just
have to keep going. It’s a marathon. With anything artistic, there are ebbs and
flows. I can’t stop making music, it’s what gets me up in the morning and
nothing compares to writing a piece and sharing it with others.
Ever had an epic fail moment
during a gig?
Of course. Tripping over
cables. Singing and the boom mic starts to fall. Showing up and bass guitar
neck split on way to venue. Even had a bass rig start smoking due to lights.
There really are so many.
If asked to differentiate AGE
OF FIRE from other bands in your country, how would you like to
respond to it?
Us. As with any band we are a
sum of it’s parts. We all have very different backgrounds. Michael and Laura
love stuff from the 90s and I’m more of an 80s guy. I love the shredders and
crunch of old school thrash. Laura also has a theatre background. Michael plays
guitar, bass, sings, and drums. He’s a one man band especially with his audio
skills.
Which bands/ artists do you
draw your influences from? Which are your favorite local bands?
Some of my favorite bands are
Nevermore and Nightwish but I grew up listening to Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden,
Dio, and Van Halen etc.
How do you guys
manage jobs and gigs? Also how often do you
guys gathering altogether just to fun?
Trying to juggle it all can be
tricky. We also have musical projects beyond Age of Fire, and we also have
families. I wish we could get together more often than we do. Especially now
with pandemic.
AGE OF FIRE is a very promising formation.
Talking of your future, 2-3 years from now, where do you see yourself?
As always, we are moving
forward writing more music, working on live shows and the next CD, can’t see
that stopping really. We’d love to hear from everyone reading this. Please
check out our website at Ageoffire.net, we have some t-shirts available for the
new album. Anyone can drop me a line at gregbrownguitar@gmail.com!