Shadow Gallery

Some days ago we received an email informing us that SHADOW GALLERY will soon release their new album under the title "Room Five". So I took the chance and asked Gary if we could do an interview. Gary made us that honour, something that proves that Shadow Gallery are not just great musicians but  great people as well. My friend Paschalis, a big fan of the band, prepared some questions for Gary and now you have the chance to learn a few more things about their new album...

1. FIRST OF ALL, POINT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT, ACCORDING TO YOU OF COURSE, MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY UP TO DATE?
  • GW:  Oh, That is a very tough first question... Good for you.... This may be a cop-out answer but I think the most important moment is the next one... we always like to look ahead, and not behind us... There are no eyes on the back of our heads.
2.SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL WAITING FOR A SHADOW GALLERY TOUR. IS IT GOING TO HAPPEN THIS TIME?
  • GW:  It is really too soon to say, but at this time we are trying to    concentrate on finishing the record and we have another few weeks to do that before we start mixing.  I would say it is not likely we tour till we finish the album.
3.A LOT OF PROG BANDS HAVE SONG OR ALBUM SEQUELS. WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THAT? YOUR NEW ALBUM WILL BE A CONCEPTSTORY CONTINUING FROM WHERE "TYRANNY" LEFT US? CAN YOU REVEAL MORE ABOUT IT?
  • GW: Well, you'd have to ask a lot of bands that question, and then, I am sure you would get a lot of answers.For us, it is simply a matter of unfinished business. It is a nice tecnique to develop matters a bit, then leave them somewhere for people to absorb before hitting them with the next chapter.  We knew TYRANNY was complete into itself, but it is just a starting ground really. Those two people went on their seperate journeys just to find each other, and now that they have, their new journey, can continue together.    And Yes, The next part will pick up exactly where the last song left off, albeit there might be a short musical recap of the end of TYRANNY first.
4.YOUR NEW ALBUM HAS THE WORKING TITLE "ROOM FIVE". WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH THAT? I SUPPOSE IT'S PURE COINCIDENCE THAT THIS IS YOUR 5TH ALBUM. RIGHT? CAN YOU TELL US SOME GENERAL THINGS ABOUT THE ALBUM'S MUSICAL DIRECTION? GIVE US ANY INFO YOU CAN!
  • GW:  Well, Some of this must remain a Mystery for the time being.  Yes, It is true that this is the bands fifth studio album, but this is not what the album or the title is about. So in a sense, it is a nice coincidence. ROOM V is a place, a concept, an answer, a piece of the puzzle, a realization, and much more... more for you to figure out.
5.MEMBERS OF THE BAND ARE QUITE OFTEN GUESTS IN MANY NEW ALBUMS. WAS THERE ANY PARTICIPATION FOR WHICH YOU ARE PROUD OF? DO YOU HAVE A STORY ABOUT IT OR ANY COMMENTS FOR THE GUYS YOU HAVE WORKED WITH ON THOSE  ALBUMS?
  • GW:  Guest is a funny word, because I feel I know some of the people well enough to almost call them family. I am proud of any appearances I have made, not just from the playing perspective, but from the whole vibe of being a part of someone else's art.  I know how important it is for them, and my participation is an important factor to me, and so I try to give my all each time and make it       work within their musical world. There is funny irony for Mike perhaps, recently, when he played James LaBries characters FATHER on AYREON's "The Hunan Equation" album... When     not long before, James LaBrie (his character) played Mikes characters father on our 1998 TYRANNY release.Working with Arjen is always fun, because we love to bust each other and make things funny.  He just sent me some files, and next thing I know,     there is a Kazoo wailing around in the background, out of tune, along with the guitar parts, then other funny instruments that are not supposed to be there... but he was just getting me back, because when Mike abnd I were recording our vocals for the "HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SEE ME NOW" song, we left Arjen some funny messages on the vocal track near the end of the song... but we made them backwards, and we knew he would be able to reverse them to find the insult.
6.YOU HAD A COUPLE OF GUESTS ON "TYRANNY"AS WELL. ARE THERE SOME PEOPLE YOU WOULD LOVE TO WORK WITH IN THE FUTURE?
  • GW:  Well there are always people that we could  call, and that would be fun, but more often we try to find the right voice, or proper character to fit the mood, and the style of the song.  We usually have ideas from early on who we are writing the part for, but most of the time, it does not work out for one reason or another and we get someone else, and in the end, I always feel that the person we got was the perfect person for the part. NEW WORLD ORDER for example.... for a long time, I had those keyboard files saved to so many different discs under the working title of "ALICE  GALLERY" because we envisioned Alice Cooper singing it... Then when we thought that might be more of a challenge than we had time for,  and we changed gears, and I changed my title to "NEW WORLD DIO" because Ronnie James Dio was the next guy we were pursuing.WE thought we had it all arranged with his wife / manager, but when it came down to it, it did not happen, I am not sure if it was a scheduling thing, or they didn't get  back to us again, but now when i hear the song with DC Cooper, I am so happy we didnt use anybody other than him - He *IS* that character, even  if he wasn't our first choice.  (Also, we did not know of DC COOPER till that time)
7.MIKE BAKER AND JAMES LABRIE SEEM TO HAVE EXCHANGED THEIR "TYRANNY" ROLES (DYING FATHER - SON/FATHER-DYING SON) IN THE NEW AYREON ALBUM. IS IT COINCIDENTAL?
  • GW: Oh, I already answered this.  I did not know you were going to ask.It is coincidental as far as I know.
8.HOW DO YOU SEE TODAY'S PROG METAL SCENE? IS THERE ANY BAND YOU HAVE SPECIAL APPRECIATION FOR?
  • GW:  I like AYREON, both because Arjen is a friend and because it is top notch great stuff. It pisses me off that he wont thank his poor brother Gjalt though, and So I try to thank Gjalt whenerver possible, and I'd like to take this opportunity now to say THANKS GJALT! Someone appreciates you!!
9.WHICH DO YOU THINK IS SHADOW GALLERY'S BEST ALBUM (EXCEPT FOR THE NEW UNRELEASED ONE!) AND WHY?
  • GW: The one we will make in a few years.  I think there is still much maturing for this band to do, but I am immensely proud of everything we have done so far.  I do not get a lot of a chance to listen back to the older records, but I did play part of TYRANNY for the first time in a long time the other day, and I was impressed, and scared about how hard it will be to make another album like that, but I think we always strive to find a way, and do something new. It is hard to say a favorite, but probably LEGACY and TYRANNY, although overall I think Tyranny was the best record we have made - It is certainly the one we put the most into as a band.
10.WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE FUNNY CLOTHES I SEE YOU WEAR IN THE PICTURES OF YOUR FIRST ALBUM?
  • GW:  Well, would you prefer us to be naked? aha! suddenly the clothes are not so funny! It is part of the image and feeling of that record. I was not in that photo shoot, and of course wasn't around to comment then, but I kind of feel the opposite of how you are referring to it - I thought it was very cool... original and clever and theatrical, very much so, and it gave me a vibe to take the music with the same weight of seriousness, and I totally fell in love with that album... In fact,  one of my goals in producing LEGACY was to make it sound more like the carefree, and original sounding       debut album.  I have never heard any other record like it.  There are some obvious sonic issues for a variety of reasons, but to me, the songs hold up, and are emotional pillars of unique progressive songs.
11.YOU USUALLY TAKE THREE YEARS TO RELEASE A NEW ALBUM, THIS TIME IT TOOK YOU A BIT MORE. CAN YOU TELL US WHAT PART OF THIS TIME IS DEDICATED TO THE ALBUM AND IF YOU DEDICATED MORE TO THE NEW ONE?
  • GW:  Well, We knew this question would come up, and to make it funny, I really wanted to have this record come out 3 years later, like every other record, as if we planned it that way - but we never do..... But, my father died a few hours before I left to fly across the country to start recording drums, so everything was cancelled with a few hours notice, and it took months to schedule the recording event to begin with, so that pushed us back a few months, as I had much to attend to, and then get it all back in order... but when something like that happens, suddenly it doesn't feel so important to go record drums somewhere, whereas just before that, the events leading up to the record were consuming every minute of my life..   We also had some time deciding if we were going to make another record. We never stopped writing or being musians, or doing guest spots etc... but we had the whole magna carta deal to consider, then we decided to start shopping it around, because we had receieved  a lot of other interest from labels, and we had to see which ones were truely interested and which ones were just "talking" - we found some of each, but after a bit, we knew that INSIDEOUT was the only logical choice for us, and we had to go through contract negotiating etc... and all these things, we do ourselves, or if  it is not too bold to say,  I  handle for the band...  But this takes a lot of time... Otherwise, we are all busy working more than full time jobs.. At one point in making this record I was working 7 days a week, 105 hours a week or more and still trying to find time to record - I    eventually had to put 35 student/lessons on hold every other week, and cancel all other work in order to finish producing the record, and I am in the middle of all of that now, and we are still not done, and there is so much to do, but it will get done, and if it is 4 years after all that since Legacy, then So what. there is nothing I can do about that unless I make more money doing Just Shadow Gallery, then I wouldn't have to do nything else, although I love everything else I do as well! Overall, we are not dedicating much more time to this album than any other. It will be about the same I would guess. One billion hours.
12.YOU CAN SKIP THIS QUESTION IF YOU WANT: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT BUSH'S RE-ELECTION?
  • GW:  I have been working one billion hours on the new SG, so I don't have time to care about Bush right now.
13.YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST TECHNICAL BANDS OUT THERE. DO YOU THINK THERE'S SOME KIND OF COMPETITION BETWEEN PROG BANDS ABOUT WHO CAN PLAY THE MOST COMPLEX STUFF?
  • GW:  I don't think so.  Not with me anyway. I do get inspired by other great players, and that makes me want to play better, but it is not a competion. I am sure there are more technical bands than us. Most of the time we do not try to be techincal, it is just the way we naturally play or write... other times, we do try.  I can tell you for the instrumental THE CRUSHER, I was trying to write something big and grand, but I fell short - I wanted something much longer and crazier, and could have done it, but I moved onto working on the other songs, and let it end as I demo'd it.
14.THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE AND MAKE A WISH FOR THE NEW YEAR!
  • GW:   A big hell yeah thank you to the fans who are patient... our motto is "do it right, and make it last forever" and this comes at the expense of your patience, but it is who we are and what we do. Best wishes to everyone for an exciting new year!
Pasxalis "Elfstone" Mirmigakis
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