• JESTER MOON IS A BAND WITH MEMBERS THAT HAVE GREAT STORY IN THE HEAVY METAL GENRE. THOUGH THE CALLENDAR SHOWS THAT WE ARE IN 2003, THIS GUYS HAVE STILL THE ROMANTIC INTENTION TO PLAY 80'S HEAVY METAL WITHOUT BEING MISLEADEAD BY ANY TREND. ALSO WITH THIS INTERVIEW I LEARNED THAT "GRAVEN IMAGE" ARE MORE THAN ONE BAND. ANYWAY, EENJOY THE INTERVIEW...

• BVP: Our lead guitarist Vido Sinn and drummer Preston Hatch were in BANGIN MOON, Preston joined forces with my bass player and longtime friend Alvin and myself (Bryce Van Patten: lead vocalist/guitarist/keyboards) in PIPE DREAMS.  I joined BANGIN’ MOON and drug Alvin and Preston back into the band with me to eventually become JESTERS MOON.

• VS:  The name BANGIN’MOON was brought to the band by former vocalist Dan E. Hurtz. After Dan’s departure from the band it was pretty well unanimous that we didn’t want to continue under that moniker.  We did want to have some continuity with the new name but weren’t quite sure how to do so.  Eventually Alvin created a long list of MOON names and JESTERS MOON seemed to have a nice ring to it.  Also it was the only one we could all agree on.

• BVP:  A lot of times the themes just come to me out of frustration or deep personal pain. If you read the lyrics to ‘No Clue’ you can see that I’m pissed about the “get a life” advertising that we are bombarded with day and night here in America.  It’s always “be a dental assistant”, “be a court reporter”, be a “corrections officer”, be a whatever!  Everyone has to be something and fit into their little space in society.  The other thing is if you are up late at all the ads shift to”find a date”, “call this girl”, “get a life, you loser!”  Other times I write songs to get rid of things that are bothering me, for instance ‘Devils Eyes’ and ‘User’ were that way.  What gives me the strength to carry on?  Being able to create and play the music that I love.  I really don’t give a rat’s ass about what’s supposed to be a current or popular style.  I do what makes me happy.  If you like it, great! If you don’t, don’t listen to it!  Pretty simple.

• VS:  Since we have our own recording studio we were able to work through trial and error, trying out different things at our liesure.  We kept working at it until everyone was pleased with the final production. As for composing the material, the songs were written during rehearsals over the last year and a half for the most part. The actual recording process took about 3 months of session work to complete due to much experimentation.

• BVP:  You know, we were able to get a live feel by tracking live to the drums and then adding other production elements with overdubs.  As far as the mix goes, I did 90% of the mixing myself and was always making sure that everything was there to be heard.  Some people feel that the vocals are a little low in the mix, but to me they seem just right.  In pop music the vocals dominate everything else.  In metal it needs to be very heavy guitars and drum & bass rhythyms.  The vocals are there, but they don’t overpower the other elements. As for an eighties sound; we were recording with lots of Marshall amps.  No drop D tunings or alt-metal styles for us.  This was all intentional.  If I could change one thing on the album I might bring up the vocals just a hair, but maybe not.

• BVP:  Matt and I have been friends fo many, many years.  I was working with the WILD DOGS as a drummer in the early 80s.  Matt has been working on several projects at MIBMusic Studios and one day I said “Hey Matt! Want to be on a track with me for our album?” He was only too happy to oblige and did a fantastic job as always.  Matt is a great vocalist/musician who can play almost any instrument quite well. He is also working currently with Dr.Heathen Scum of the MENTORS on a project called ‘The Church of El Duce’, which is being recorded at MIBMusic Studios.  We plan to have Matt doing a solo tune on an upcoming compilation CD this summer for MIBMusic.  You can get WILD DOGS and DR. MASTERMIND CDs at our online store at http://maninblackmusic.com

6.SOME MEMBERS OF THE BAND PLAYED IN OTHER METAL BANDS WHICH I CAN SAY I ADORE LIKE BANGIN' MOON (I HAVE THE MOONTANG CD) AND GRAVEN IMAGE (THE "NO REST FOR YOU" IS A SONG THAT I LISTEN TO EVERYDAY). CAN YOU GIVE ME SOME MORE INFO ABOUT THOSE BANDS? WHY THEY HAVE DISBANDED AND HOW MANY ALBUMS OR DEMOS THEY HAVE RELEASED AND IF IT'S POSSIBLE TO BE FOUND SOMEWHERE
NOWADAYS?

• VS:  As for GRAVEN IMAGE, I believe we are talking about two different bands. When I was a freshman in Highschool I played guitar for a local band in Bend, Oregon by that name.  We were all influenced by BLACK SABBATH and KISS, but our music ended up sounding like FOREIGNER meets TOM WAITS. It was sent out worldwide and some people found it interesting, but it’s a far cry from the metal we play now.

• BVP:  Another recording you might want to check out is PIPE DREAMS, a band that Alvin, Preston and myself made up in the late 90s.  You can get the BANGIN’ MOON CDs and the PIPE DREAMS CD at our online store.  I was also involved in a couple of metal bands in the 80s; BABYLON, HOLY TERROR (the Oregon based band) and EGYPT.  We’re are planning an archive CD of the best cuts from these bands to be released later this year.

• VS:  Well we did go through a lot of problems, and it was tough to stick it out at times, for those who don’t know, this is how it went.  As BANGIN' MOON, the band had come a long way. Having some initial success and airplay in Europe with the first album BLINDED, then I joined the band and we soon followed up with MOONTANG, a five-song disc that was punchier, better produced and better conceived. Though we were still receiving good press overseas and airplay for the single BURNIN' FEELING, the line up was in for another change. Then singer, Dan E. Hurtz had decided to call it a day and was quickly replaced by vocalist/ keyboard player Bryce Van Patten (who played keys on the track "Departure" off MOONTANG). We struggled through about 6 months of searching for a drummer while Preston was off on another project. Jeff Johnson played with us for several months but was unhappy with the rhythm section and moved on. Preston came back, and all was well again. Playing locally and struggling to put together a new album, we searched for one more piece of the puzzle. Enter Alvin on the bass, having played in bands with Van Patten since high school, he seemed the natural choice.  Finally, it seemed as if we had  solid line up, and a five-song demo was recorded in summer of 2001 including new versions of BURNIN' FEELING and MY WORLD. Ready to begin work on a long over-due full-length album, we had one more trial to endure. Long time guitarist and founding member Michael Suter left due to personal reasons. Bryce switches to guitar/vocal duties, still adding keys on certain tracks and the band is reborn in its newest incarnation JESTERS MOON.  I feel very strongly that our present line up is the best it’s ever been and everyone has truly earned their position in the band.

• BVP:  I’ve never considered quitting metal. This band has always had lots of promise and it was all-worthwhile to keep working until the lineup was perfect.  I believe that things usually happen for a reason Never quit! Never surrender!

• VS:  BLACKTHORN was another band I helped create in the Central Oregon area.  From 1984 through 1995, the band managed to record three demos: ‘Thorn In Your Side’, Social Damnation’ and ‘Signs of the Blackened Cross’, as well as perform throughout the Pacific-Northwest.  I am still in contact with the bandmembers and we often talk of recording a full-length album chock full of doom and destruction.  This will have to wait though since I have a full plate with JESTERS MOON.

• VS:  It’s true some bands support those ideologies, but Black Metal to me is tales of doom, death and destruction.  It’s like an ear splitting horror show, and it’s a lot of fun to play when you’re really pissed off. I wrote my best black metal when I was really angry about something.  I think it’s a release for whatever blackens the heart of the writer.

• BVP:  I can tell you that even though I get really pissed about a lot of wrongs and inequities in this world, I think that hatred is the biggest waste of energy in the world today.  I don’t have time for petty hatreds, they consume the soul.

• BVP:  A JESTERS MOON show is all high energy metal, blazing guitars through Marshall amps and screaming vocals. We play some BANGIN’ MOON as well as PIPE DREAMS songs.  We sometimes will throw in some BLACK SABBATH or JUDAS PRIEST.

• BVP:  I’m not sure what’s changing,  we see a lot of the younger crowds getting into BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST and MEGADETH.  But the radio stations (at least on the west coast)  seem to just play shit like LINKIN PARK and LIMP BIZCUIT.  We’ve received some airplay locally, but for the most part the stations are run from corporate headquarters in California that want to push Disney/rap metal.  I hear it’s getting better in the midwest and east coast though.

• VS:  To me a world without music would be like a world without sunlight.  I feel music in it’s many forms is an essential part of ones sanity.  In a world without music I would become a warrior to bring music back.

• BVP:  That would be a bleak landscape indeed!  I can’t imagine it!  I supose I would have to invent some kind of music.

• BVP: It would be transformed back into classical music again but with heavy drums.  Most of the great metal comes from classical music anyway.  It’s easy to picture Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in Dm with killer metal drumriffs.  You could have an army of acoustic guitars and screaming operatic vocals.  No problem!

• VS:  If our music were an emotion it would be very bipolar due to all the frequent mood swings.

• BVP:  If it were a painting it would be like something from Salvador Dali or Escher.

• VS:  Can I have Britney Spears but without her singing?

• BVP:  Who’s idea was it to create rap music? And can that person have never existed, please!

• VS:  I have a library full of things I’d like to change, but my one wish would be to eradicate world hunger and disease.

• BVP:  I still have to go with no rap music ever existing.  It’s simple; no rap music= no rap metal!

• VS:  JESTERS MOON – Disorder in the court!

• BVP:  That’s a tough one, let me think.  ………….hmmmmnn……how about ‘BAD MOON RISING’

• BVP:  I don’t think so, except where everyone can buy our CD.  Log on to  http://maninblackmusic.com and you can purchase all of the albums we have mentioned.  If you can’t go online, call your CD shop and tell them to carry our CD.  Or you can buy through the mail, for a catalog please write to: MIBMusic, 6433 S.E. Rhone Street, Portland, Oregon 97214, USA. We look forward to playing here soon and will keep you posted.  Also, look for a compilation CD due out this summer from MIBMusic featuring a couple tunes by JESTERS MOON as well as bands from all over the globe.  Remember, Metal Never Dies!!!   BVP