CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN

JACK STARR'S GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME

FEW MONTHS AGO I HAD THE LUCK TO DO AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID DEFEIS. NOW THAT I ALKSO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE AN INTERVIEW WITH JACK STARR, I THINK THAT THE CIRCLE IS COMPLETED. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW ABOUT JACK STARR'S NEW ALBUM AND HOW ARE HIS RELATIONS WITH DAVID AND MANY OTHER STUFFS. GO ON AND CHECK THE INTERVIEW.

1. HELLO JACK AND CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR NEW ALBUM. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU DURING ALL THESE YEARS OF ABSENCE? WHAT MADE YOU COME BACK?

Hello Nick, Thanks for all your interesting questions and now I will try to answer them. First of all I am happy to be back and playing metal, what happened is that sometimes when we are on a road, there are detours and obstructions and we have to get off the road and for me I had to get of the road for a few years but now I am back on track. What made me get back is that I missed the great feeling I get playing metal

2. TELL US A FEW THINGS REGARDING YOUR NEW ALBUM. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO COMPLETE IT? ARE ALL THE COMPOSITIONS YOURS? ARE THERE ANY COMPOSITIONS WRITTEN IN THE PAST AND RELEASED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME?

The new album took about 2 months to record and yes some of the songs had already been written Conspiratos Sanctos and some were brand new like The Flame that Never Dies

3. YOU HAVE COOPERATED WITH SOME WELL KNOWN MUSICIANS. COULD YOU PRESENT THEM TO US AND TELL US IN WHICH BANDS THEY USED TO PLAY? ARE THEY SESSION MUSICIANS OR FULL TIME MEMBERS?

The guys in my band are well known to fans of classic metal,but I picked them because I am friend with them and they were in my band Burning Starr , Joe Hasselvander the dummer was in Raven ,Pentagram and Cathedral plus he also makes solo albums that sound very evil and scary, we call him the Godther of Doom because of his love for that type of music The singer Shmoulik was in the band the Rods and also in Picture, he can sing great and like Dio he is not too tall but he has a very big voice!! The bass player Ned Meloni was with JoeLynn Turner and also a band called Funny Money which is the band for the singer of KIX a band that was very popular in America Ned is a great bass player and lives in Florida and that is where we did our rehearsing and recording.

4. YOUR NEW RELEASE SURPRISED ME POSITIVELY! I THINK THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD EXPECT TO LISTEN FROM YOU AN ALBUM IN THE VEIN OF VIRGIN STEELE, BUT INSTEAD YOU RELEASED AN ALBUM CLOSER TO BANDS LIKE RAINBOW, DIO AND THIN LIZZY. DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS? DID YOU PAY TRIBUTE IN A WAY TO ALL THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN AN INFLUENCE TO YOU? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THERE STILL EXIST PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THAT KIND OF MUSIC?

Yes this album is influenced by the music that was around us when we first started to play and that is why there are inspirtations from great bands like Deep Purple and Thin LIzzy and I love the old metal and I think that a new gerneration will love it too because it was good music.

5. IN YOUR SONG “UNDER A SAVAGE SKY” I READ THOSE BEAUTIFUL AND SO MEANINGFUL LYRICS “GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD, TEACH US OUR DAILY LIES, MAKE US AFRAID AND THEN WE’LL BEHAVE”. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT MOST OF THE THINGS WE LEARN IN SCHOOL AND WHAT OUR GOVERNMENTS TELL US ARE LIES IN ORDER TO MANIPULATE US? DON’T YOU THINK THAT THE U.S. PEOPLE WERE DECEIVED IN A WAY FOR THE REAL REASONS BEHIND THIS WAR AGAINST IRAQ?

As far as the lyrics to Under a Savage Sky I am happy that you understood what I was trying to say about the 'thought control that schools and goverments try to enforce,it seems to me that the purpose of school should be to make people educated and have their own opinions regading the type of society that they wish to live in, instead of that school tries to make little robots of everyone, In America it is working most people listen to the same music and like the same movies and there is very little choice if you like Heavy Metal people think you are a misfit or and outcast and they are afraid of you because you are different ,so my answer is that all goverments lie because they want to control and the only way to change that is to be educated, and have an open mind.

6. SOME YEARS AGO I HEARD A VERY GOOD NEW, THAT YOU WOULD COOPERATE WITH DAVID DE FEIS ONCE AGAIN. I ALSO LISTENED TO A GREAT SONG THAT YOU HAVE COMPOSED BACK THEN “RAIN OF FIRE”. WHAT HAPPENED AND THIS PROJECT NEVER CONTINUED? HOW ARE YOUR RELATIONS WITH DAVID NOWADAYS?

Thank you I agree that Rain of Fire was great and it was fun working with Dave again, unfortunaltely the world of business and money stepped in and stopped us, What happened is that wrote 4 songs in 1997 and Rain of Fire was one the others were The Choosen Ones. Hellfire Woman and The FInal Days , I called up my old friend and bandmate Dave and I asked him if he would sing on it and he said yes and another friend of mine named Mike Capuano who played drums and owned a bar said he would finance the sesion ,so we went in and recorded some great songs and Dave said that if I give him 50 percent of the credit for writing the songs he would try to get me a deal with a label at that time I did not know about the internet and I did not know that I could get the deal myself, also I though that I was forgotten and that nobody would want to hear it and that only if Dave presented it than we could get a deal , so i agreeded to give Dave songwriting credits on my songs and he said he would try to get a deal, later on I found out when I was shopping my new songs that he never played the Sacred Demos for anyone!!! and of course I did not get a deal., that is until I recorded new songs and had nothing to do with Dave!!! In my opinion David Defeis is evil and yes I know he doesn't seem evil like bands like Cradle of Filth or Marilyn Manson and he doesn't sing about Satan ,but this is what makes him dangerous ,he seems like a nice guy like someone you would trust but he only cares about himself, I am happy that my new album is doing great and that some critics including the one from Goldmine have said that it sounds more like Virgin Steele than what Dave and the boys have been doing , that is true there is no Virgin Steele instead there are Dave Defeis albums that he calls Virgin Steele!!! I think that it is ironic that i am receiving emails and letters from Virgin Steele fans who are thanking me for playing the real music of Vs again. One day a few months ago I was reading the Sanctuary forum on Virgin Steele an some fans of the bands were talking about a rumour that DAVE would make a solo album, and many of the messages said the same thing "why should he make a solo album when he writes. produces. sings and plays on these albums that he calls Virgin Steele, how would it be diferent? But that is enough on Dave, in life everyone gets what he deserves and that includes Dave Defeis who thinks he is King and to quote the song Under a Savage Sky "kings will come and kings will go the mighty will fall so low!!! " I hope Dave is listening...

7. IN MY OPINION YOU WORTH TO OBTAIN MORE FAMACITY THAN SOME OTHER METAL MUSICIANS BUT YOU ALWAYS GAVE ME THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU WERE AVOIDING PUBLICITY. DON’T YOU THINK THINGS ARE A BIT UNFAIR TO YOU?

I never try to get publicity or press and I always prefer to stay in the back ground and let the music do the talking I hope now that more people will hear my new music and that is why think that it is important to give interviews, if you beleve in your music then you should let people know about it as far as fame my feeling is, its not important how many fans I have but the quality of my fans, if I have 2 fans in the whole world and they really love my music and they understand it and it makes them happy then I have suceeded if Brittany Spears has ten million fans and they like her because she is on tv and has a big label selling her songs to kids like coca cola ,this is not success because these are not real fans they don't understand that they are being manipulated by the media .I am happy that i have real fans that don't care if i am in a big magazine or if I am on the radio, all they care about is that I make good music and that I am honest with them and these are two things that I will aways be. I will not change my appearance or guitar style to be popular, I will be who I am because that is all I can be and all I want to be I am not Korn I am not Limp Biscuit I am not Yngwie ,I am Jack Starr and I would just like to be able to make my music and reach people and If I can do that, then I am a sucess. I respect great bands like Manowar because they stay true to themselves, and their fans and they don't care about the latest trends and who is cool this week, Manowar can teach us all a lesson about being true to our Metal roots.

8. THERE IS SOMETHING CONTRADICTORY IN THE U.S. ON ONE HAND YOU HAVE EXTREMELY PROMISING AND GOOD BANDS AND ON THE OTHER HAND IT SEEMS AS THE FANS OVER THERE HAVE LACK OF METAL EDUCATION, THUS THEY FOLLOW EVERY TREND. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS HAPPENS? HOW DIFFICULT ARE THINGS FOR A METAL MUSICIAN IN THE U.S.?

Heavy Metal is dead in the U.S it is very difficult to play anywhere especially in the state of New York where I live, As I said earlier Americans like what ever they are told to like and right now MTV and Radio is telling the kids to like RAPMUSIIC and that is what they are buying, I think it may change because Rap has been popular for 20 years now and music changes every 20 years Metal and Rock will come back in America but I am not waiting I am making the music I love NOW!!!!!!!

9. HAVE YOU LISTENED TO ANY NEW BANDS YOU FOUND INTERESTING AND YOU’D LIKE TO COOPERATE WITH? IF YES, WHICH ARE THOSE?

I would love to work with Rhapsody they are a great new band but if I could I would love to collaborate with Pavorotti and make a rock opera and I would like it if Joey Demaio would play bass on it, that would be quite interesting.

10. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?

The emotion is love and pride in one self as well as the belief in the human spirit and the painting would show this.

11. WHICH IS THE SILLIEST/FUNNIEST THING YOU DID IN ORDER TO WIN A WOMAN’S ATTENTION?

I had to kiss a raccoon to make Sharon of the Woods happy

12. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL BACK IN TIME, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHAT WOULD YOU MISS THE MOST FROM OUR TIMES?

I would travel back in times to the days of Napoleon when woman would show their breasts in public , also I would like to go back to the Viking days so I could conquer different lands but I would miss my electric guitar.

13. YOU ARE GRANTED ONE WISH. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?

My one wish would be to have a thousand wishes

14. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?

I would ask the creator of the universe "why are you sitting in my throne" am just kidding! I guess that I would say Why all of this and what is the meaning of Life and why is Keith Richards still alive after all the drugs alchohol and partying with the Stones for 50 years

15. WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR BAND’S CAREER THIS FAR?

The title that I would give to the bands career is climbing the mountain"

16. THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION?

My final words to you the reader is to thank you for your suport thru the years and Keep the Metal Burning, Jack Starr

NIKOS "William_Kidd" PARASTATIDIS

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws