• Perry: I play guitar and handle the vocals in Falcon. From ’97 to ’00 I was in Destiny’s End. Played and wrote on both of the D.E. albums (TRANSITION and BREATHE DEEP THE DARK) and then I helped form Artisan with Mike Bear (bass/vox) and Ana Greco (guitar/vox). Greg Lindstrom, who was in Cirith Ungol from the beginning (late ’71 or so) until ’81), plays bass, keyboards and a bit of guitar for Falcon. Greg’s an amazing songwriter and musician, and I couldn’t have asked for a better guy to help me make Falcon a reality. Greg can be heard playing bass, keys and guitar on Cirith Ungol’s FROST & FIRE (’81) and SERVANTS OF CHAOS (a demo compilation). Darin McCloskey is the drummer of Falcon, and he also plays drums for Pale Divine, a doom metal band with lots of ‘70s influences hailing from Pennsylvania.

• Perry: Honestly, Nick, I hate trendy music. For that matter I probably hate anything trendy, whether you’re talking clothes, movies, books, art or whatever. I prefer to make up my own mind and not be force fed any shit that someone else feels I should be consuming. Sabbath was a great band. I love them, but there are also tons of bands that were around in the same era who I dig just as much. What made me choose the early ‘70s heavy rock style? Well, I’ve been playing super fast, technical metal for most of my life as a guitarist. The thing is, though, Nick, what made me start playing guitar in the first place was listening to heavy ‘70s rock. Back then it was common bands, but later I got into the obscure ones (Budgie, Trapeze, Hard Stuff, etc.). Guitarists like Joe Perry, Brad Whitford and Angus Young blew my mind when I was just getting into my teens. Like 11 or 12... And that love has stayed with me through the years. A lot of people have only heard one facet of my playing, ‘cause I really didn’t throw any bluesy licks or solos into Destiny’s End–or with Artisan for that matter. But I love the raw, heavy and psychedelic heavy rock approach. There’s just something about the axework of Leslie West, Scott Gorham & Brian Robertson, Randy Holden, Tony Bourge, and that whole crowd that moves me. The playing has real emotion and soul behind it. I’m afraid a lot of the stuff I hear these days is devoid of feeling. Too overprocessed, overproduced and just plain lacking in the emotion department.

• Perry: Well, Darin lives quite far away from me and Greg, but we get along great, keeping in touch by phone, email and instant messages. Greg is a total pleasure to work with musically—and just an all around cool person to hang with. I’ve jammed with a lot of people, and you know when it clicks and when it doesn’t. Falcon has only played together as a full band for 3 practices, and in that time we could all see that the three of us CLICK. Greg and Darin are two of the most incredible musicians I’ve ever played with—and that includes the folks in D.E. and Artisan. I get to jam a lot with Greg, seeing as we both live in L.A., and I always look forward to it.

• Perry: There’s a full album worth of material. What you don’t hear on the Falcon demo are Greg’s old (previously unrecorded) Cirith Ungol tunes “Half Past Human” and “Show You All,” not to mention my Falcon originals “Castle Peak” and “Careless.” Actually, we may shuffle some of the songs around and put them on a second Falcon disc instead. We also play the old Ungol tracks “High Speed Love” and “Route 666.” I’ve got tons of tunes up my sleeves. “Careless” and “Future’s in the Past” are Falcon originals that should see the light of day on a second release.

• Greg: In November, we’ll be spending a week at Chris Kozlowski’s studio Polar Bear Lair in Maryland recording  8 or 9 songs for our first album. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll have a “real” FALCON CD out next spring.

• Perry: It’s definitely much harder to sing and play guitar at the same time. But it really depends on the song. Some songs just have a very steady rhythm that lends itself to being sung over. It’s not entirely new to me, ‘cause I started doing some backing vocals in Artisan a few years ago. Of course it’s even more difficult singing, as opposed to growling, while playing. But I prefer clean singing over growling—whether it’s the music I’m playing or listening to. (Except Death, one of my all time fave metal bands) I just started singing seriously last year, so I know I have a lot of work ahead of me. I’m not the best singer by any means, but I’m trying to improve a bit. Why didn’t I want to bring in a singer for Falcon? I’m keeping Falcon down to a power trio because it both fits this style of music and works better for me personally. The less people in the band, the less bullshit you have to deal with. The more people, the greater the chance you’re gonna have to deal with drug and ego problems. Thankfully, I can count on Greg and Darin, ’cause they are very down-to-earth. Plus, it’s always a struggle when someone else (a vocalist) is interpreting your lyrics and doesn’t understand or agree with what they have to sing. So, I’m free to write whatever I see fit to in Falcon. And as far as Greg’s lyrics? I respect him as a songwriter and lyricist, and his songs on FROST AND FIRE are among my all-time faves. They speak to me on a personal level. We’ve got a real connection there.

• Perry: I quit D.E. for several reasons, but most of it boiled down to what usually fragments bands. Personality conflicts between the members. I wish the guys the best of luck with their current bands  and projects, of course. I worked well with some of the D.E. guys, but it became pretty clear that me and James don’t belong in the same band together. As far as I know D.E. has disbanded. Brian and James are in Seven Witches, Dan is gonna be working on a new project called Crescent Shield with Michael Grant from Onward and I’m not sure what Nardo’s up to. I’ve just recently left Artisan. I played my farewell show with them on September 14th at the Whisky in Hollywood supporting Cathedral. The Artisan folks are my friends, and I’m really hoping that they can keep going and find another guitarist. Mike, Ana and Justin have been really supportive and cool about my decision to quit. Believe me, it wasn’t an easy choice. They’re friends, and you don’t often end up in a band situation with people who you get along with so well. Why did I leave Artisan? No bad vibes or drug problems there!!! I bailed because I simply HAD to focus the majority of my energy and time on Falcon. I feel so fortunate to finally be playing the music I love in Falcon that I simply can’t ignore it. My taste in music is world’s apart from the rest of Artisan. While I still dig some fast, technical progressive metal, I’m not as crazy about it as I was when I was younger. But the 1970s heavy rock influence only continues to grow stronger as the years go by.

• Perry: The word “side-project” makes you think of something that’s only temporary and not a priority, doesn’t it? Which is why I’ve never used the word “side” when I talk about Falcon. Falcon is something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time. It’s a huge part of my music diet. I can listen to early ’70s style heavy rock every day and not get bored of it. The fact that Darin lives 3,000 miles away obviously means that we can’t play together as a band very often, but I do get together with Greg about every other week—sometimes more often. You mentioned “free time”... I really don’t have much free time. Ha! I mean, I work a full-time job and have a life. When you subtract those 50 work hours out of the week, there’s really not much time for music, is there? I wouldn’t be doing anything musically unless my heart was 100% into it. And Falcon is where my head and heart are at right now. A lot of the material I’ve written for Falcon is old. Sometimes I’ve rearranged stuff a bit, but not too much. Falcon tunes are never forced, and they’ve always been easy to write. It just seems like they flow out.

• Greg: When I was in CU and going to college, I used to think I was really busy, juggling school work, a part time job in a music store, and playing in the band. HA! Like Perry mentioned, balancing 50+ hours a week of work, family commitments, civic commitments, fixing up my house, etc, etc, doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for playing music.

• Perry: I’m gonna say it again, because I can’t say it enough: Greg Lindstrom is the coolest. And I’m not just kissing ass there. Greg’s not only one of my biggest music heroes, he’s a friend. Always very easy to talk to and very realistic about things. It’s not every day that you get to collaborate with the guy responsible for writing some of your fave songs. “What Does It Take,” “Edge of a Knife,” “A Little Fire, “Better Off Dead”... The soundtrack of my life, man! I wasn’t even old enough to know who Cirith Ungol was when Greg left, but... they lost a huge talent when he quit. I’m just floored that Greg actually chose to play again 20 years later with Falcon. Okay, I’ll shut up now. Greg?

• Greg: I graduated from college and started working as an aerospace engineer in 1981, just before “Frost And Fire” was released. We kept playing some local clubs in Ventura and LA, but it seemed to me that we really weren’t going anywhere. I had hoped that releasing the album would open some more doors for us, and we got some great reviews (as well as some shitty ones), but I kinda felt like we were stuck in a rut and I was getting burned out. Remember, I had been in CU for almost 12 years by this point. There weren’t any musical differences or personality conflicts, I just felt it was time to move on with my life. In fact, one of the reasons that I switched over to 2nd guitar and brought Flint in to play bass was to ease the transition for the band when I left. I’ve concentrated on my engineering career since, but I never stopped playing guitar and writing the occasional song, and never stopped listening to heavy rock! But there is very little likelihood of a CU reunion, I’m afraid. Even though Rob (Garven) and I are still great friends, he’s become very bitter about the whole business side of music making, and he hasn’t touched a drumstick in 10 years. His Ferrari 308GT4 is his passion now! And Tim (Baker) and Flint have shown no interest, either. So I think it’s best for CU to rest in peace.

9.THE SONG "SHELOB'S LAIR" IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE ONES
ALONG WITH "ON THE SLAB" AND IT REALLY BROUGHT TO MY MIND CIRITH UNGOL. IS THIS SONG A ENW COMPOSITION OR IS IT A SONG WRITTEN FOR CIRITH UNGOL THAT WAS NEVER RELEASED AND IS NOW REARRANGED?

• Perry: “Shelob’s Lair” is one of Greg’s Ungol songs that was never recorded beyond an instrumental rehearsal tape. Neil Beattie, the first Cirith Ungol vocalist, used to sing it live, but I had absolutely no reference to go on vocally with the tune other than a few cues from Greg as to what was the verse and chorus. I especially dig Tim Baker’s higher early vocals (like on FROST & FIRE and the demos), so I kinda went for that vibe. Threw in a little early Iggy Pop attitude with it too. “Shelob’s Lair” is my fave song on the demo, by the way.

• Greg: “Shelob’s Lair” was written way back in 1975. In fact, it’s the first song in my book of lyrics, which now contains about 40 songs, and only 15 of those have been recorded and released, so we have quite a bit of a backlog of songs to work off! Our first singer Neil Beattie wasn’t a great singer, but he was a great showman. When we played “Shelob’s Lair” live, a giant black widow spider would lower down from the ceiling and attack Neil in a mock battle. That big plastic spider scared the hell out of more than a few people (especially the ones in an altered state!)

• Perry: Yeah! Pale Divine. I’m a huge fan of the band, which is what made me even think about working with Darin.

• Darin: Well....Pale Divine has been together since '95. Basically it's doom metal w/ lots of heavy 70's and early 80's influences. We take huge influence from the likes of Trouble, The Obsessed, Pentagram and early Judas Priest.There are certain aspects of the Pale Divine sound that are very similar to the music of Falcon (one of the reasons I'm enjoying being a part of this project) so it isn't exactly a big stretch or me to be playing this kind of music with Perry and Greg. We released our first full length CD last year titled "Thunder Perfect Mind" on Game Two records and in Oct. we will begin laying down tracks for the follow up "Eternity Revealed" which wll be released by Martyr Music sometime around early 2004.

• Perry: What production? It’s a demo. Period. That’s why it’s not being sold by distributors and doesn’t have a slick package. The drums really suffered on the recording, ‘cause we were under less than cordial recording conditions. There was only one mic on the drums!? I recorded the demo on Greg’s Roland digital 8 track. Darin and Greg gave me a little bit of input when I was mixing it down. See, the thing is the basic tracks for the demo (rhythm guitar, bass & drums) were recorded in about one and a half hours at an hourly studio the third practice Falcon ever had. The overdubs (vocals, guitar solos and a wee bit of keyboard) took another few hours spread out over the next few weeks (and then I mixed it). There are definitely rough spots, but it’s just a demo. Personally, I love the raw, live feel of the old 1970s recordings. And I won’t let Falcon be ruined by someone coming in to overproduce us. But, yeah, there are lots of things I wouldn’t have let fly if this was for an album. I wish there had been better equipment to record the demo with, but I’m just happy that we got it done—and did it quick.

• Perry: The demo was sent out to many labels and zines. And I really have to thank each and everyone of the zines (including BEHIND THE VEIL) for the support. I never expect folks to like everything I lay my hands on. A lot of positive words (reviews) have been flowing in, which is just really a relief. You know, we tried our best in the very brief time we had to put the demo together. Haven’t really heard much from any labels yet, except The Miskatonic Foundation. Rich Walker (hail, Metal Bro!) usually doesn’t like anything groovy and ‘70s influenced, but he’s been pretty outspoken about digging Falcon.

• Perry: Thin Lizzy... An immortal, classic band. One of those groups who have more commercial tunes sometimes that I still love. It’s just a real shame when such a talented musician like Phil Lynott dies, especially when its drug related. “On the Slab” is just really a cautionary tale against addiction. Phil gave so much to the heavy rock world in his brief life, but he could’ve given more. It’s just so sad. The same goes for Jerry Fogle of Cirith Ungol. I really look up to Jerry as a guitarist. He’s a huge influence on me. What a fucking lead player!!! But Jerry’s demon was alcohol... If only the world had been a little bit more kind to him—and more accepting of his strange brand of music.

• Greg: I don’t know when or if I will get a chance, but it’s still a goal of mine to clean up and release some more old Cirith Ungol tapes that have some incredible playing from Jerry. His name should be right up there with Tommy Bolin and Randy Rhoads.

• Hmm. That’s one of the weirdest questions I’ve ever been asked. You made me think a lot with this one. It’s hard to answer this one without coming off as some kind of egotistical freak, ya know? I don’t think anyone would bother dedicating a song to me. But if they did, I suppose I’d like it to be an epic song (long) with a bit of clean or acoustic guitar (dark) and also plenty of heavy rockin’ stuff. Perhaps something along the lines of an old early Rush song. What should it be about? I don’t know... Maybe they’ll call it “Strange Traveller,” and talk about the different twists and turns I’ve taken in life from writing to music—and back again.

• Perry: Well, I guess I’d have to say Jerry Fogle. I never got to meet him, but I really do idolize him. I’d probably ask him what his favorite bands and songs of all time were. I’d probably ask him tons of questions about the gear he used and stuff. What made him start playing guitar, etc. I’ve had the incredible fortune of getting to meet a few of the musicians I most respect... Greg for one. Rob Garven, Chuck Schuldiner, Randy Holden, John Perez & Lyle Steadham from Solitude Aeturnus, Tim Calvert, Wino, Garry Jennings, etc. And then there’s Randy Palmer (from Pentagram and Bedemon). I got to ask him tons of interesting questions. I used to talk to Randy a lot. We shared a lot of common interests, but we never got to meet before his life was cut short by tragic car accident. Even though we never met face to face, I feel like I got to know Randy pretty well. Hardly anyone knows who Randy was, but I was just blown away by the Bedemon stuff (to say nothing of the crushing ’70s incarnation of Pentagram). Even on the shittiest quality recordings, I can still hear an enormous amount of actual feeling in his songs. Maybe they’re not progressive opuses, but I still fuckin’ love them.

• Greg: I would like a chance to say goodbye to Jerry, because I only spoke to him a few short times after he left CU. Maybe get him to play one last solo… And I’d like to buy Phil Lynott a drink, just to thank him for the incredible music he made.

• Whoa... That’s a heavy question. I don’t know if I’ve ever pondered that one. And I can assure you I’ve questioned some pretty heavy things in my time. My answer for this one is another question. “Was it a creature who created the universe?” I’m not a religious person.

• Holy shit! That’s another heavy question. Was I prepared for it? No. An emotion? I guess awe... a felling of mystery or wonder. If it was a painting I think it’d be a weird landscape with lots of deep valleys and steep mountains with twisted rock formations. Some light, but also lots of dark blue and violet. Sort of to signify the dynamics.

• Title? I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to get at there. Hmm... Guitarist, songwriter, lyricist, journalist, and uh... fledgling vocalist.

• Perry: Well, you did ask a few really hefty fuckin’ questions, and I don’t think I can add anything to that. Hmm... What’s the answer to the riddle of the universe? I haven’t a clue.

• Greg: I’d just like to say thanks to Perry and Darin and all the CU fans who have encouraged me to get off my ass and play some serious music again!