BF: Things are good - thanks for asking! YES - Myself and the band are very pleased with the response that 'Commencement' has been getting. You are correct that the material that makes up this CD is the material that would have been the second Sentinel Beast album. The material had always stuck with me, even after the group disbanded. I actually got out of music totally for a while after that but when I started getting back into the music the 'music in my head' started to surface again. I decided that this material needed to see the light of day - and set a goal to find a band and get the material recorded.

PM: How did you recruit the band?

BF: When I got back into music, I knew I wouldn't be able to play metal right away, at least not the way I used to - so I figured I'd try to play blues because it was safer. I had put a blues band together that included bassist Eric Mauriello. We did our blues project together as well as a couple of other projects, and when the itch to record the old Sentinel Beast material came to be, Eric was ready and very willing to accept the challenge. We had used drummer Ed Klinger for some of the other projects and he also welcomed the opportunity to take part. We spent quite a bit of time just working on the music before we started to look for a singer. I see a specific question about Anthony below, so I'll give some more info on him when we get there.

PM: Eric’s 7-string bass! Is this his usual playing instrument, or was it used to enhance the single axe attack?

BF: Eric could open his own music store with all the instruments he has! The custom built Conklin 7-String bass (Bass-Of-Doom as he refers to it) IS his main axe for this band, but it isn't his most extreme bass. He also has 'ROY', a custom built Conklin 8-string bass, with 36 frets. He definitely made use of the extended range capabilities of the instrument, in both directions. There are times on the CD where he'll add some very cool 'high harmonies' or double certain lines in a high octave (sometimes even higher than my guitar!), and there are other times that he uses the Low B string (with a hipshot that can tune it to Low A at the flip of a lever) to add an extra touch of 'brutality' to some tunes. There are actually two guitars on the songs, both played by me - with the exception of a couple of guest solos played by Mr. Chris Caffery (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra). Sentinel Beast always featured dual guitars, so it was required for the material to sound right. I'm glad to say we've recently added Jose Cardoso as second guitarist as we get ready for some live shows, and as we work on some brand new ALL ORIGINAL material for a full length CD.

PM: Anthony’s vocals are pretty much perfect classic US metal. How did you know of his talent?

BF: Yeah - we really like Anthony too; I guess we'll keep him - LOL! Actually, since we were planning to record Sentinel Beast material, when we started looking for a singer we initially were trying to find a female singer. We checked out a lot of girls and found many that were good, but none that had what Debbie Gunn had. Then as we thought about the future of the project, we realized that once we achieved the goal of recording the Sentinel Beast material, that we wanted to still continue as a band working on all-original material and that a male vocalist fit more with our plans for that. We found Anthony on an internet based musician referral site and only heard a couple of brief clips of his singing, but we liked what we heard and had him come down to audition. We recorded his audition. As we listened back we realized he was Singing; no screaming, no cookie monster stuff, but actual SINGING - and we knew we found the right guy!

PM: I guess you had been in contact with Debbie Gunn prior to this release, for permissions, etc (although it was your music and Debbie’s lyrics on a couple of tracks). did she or other ex-members of Sentinel Beast have any input into the arrangements with you?

BF: I had an old rehearsal tape of the original Sentinel Beast rehearsing the material and for the most part I had the guys stay as close as possible to what was on the recording musically, while still adding a little of their own personality to it. An example of this would be Eric adding some extended range bass in parts as mentioned above. When I spoke to Mike Spencer as I started the project, I had the feeling that he was concerned about how well some 'strangers' would do at playing the material. As we started getting things together I sent him some recordings to assure him that we would definitely represent the songs in a way that he would approve of. The only songs that we used Debbie's lyrics and melodies for was 'One Man's Cry' and 'Where I'm I'. For 'Forbidden Territories' and 'The Phoenix' we kept the titles only, and Anthony wrote his own lyrics and melodies - quite different from what Debbie had done with them. 'Fate Of King's' was a total instrumental tune when Sentinel Beast was working on it. Anthony penned his own lyrics for that tune as well. Both Mike and Debbie said they were pleased with how the material came out. Actually, Debbie has a new line up of Sentinel Beast and they will be recording HER versions of 'Forbidden Territories' and 'The Phoenix', so fans will get to hear what those versions sounded like.

PM: How did Chris Caffery get involved?

BF: Eric had come to know Chris first as a fan of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, then Savatage and then of Chris' solo project. Eric was also producer and sometimes co-host of a podcast called SCeNeDRiVeR on which Chris was a guest when he was promoting his 'Pins and Needles' CD release. Eric has a philosophy that 'the worst thing someone can do is say no', so when we started recording the album he decided that he'd ask Chris to take part. I guess if the worst thing someone can do is say no, the best thing they can do is say YES, which Chris did. We've thanked him again and again and again, so I guess we'll thank him once more here!

PM: The artwork – it’s very metal and very good! What was the concept behind this?

BF: Thanks. We actually self-released the CD originally with some very basic artwork. When Iordan at Stormspell approached us about releasing the CD on Stormspell Records he asked how we'd feel about some different artwork. He sent us the illustration that you see on the new cover. The art was done by Dimitar Nikolov and we thought it was great as soon as we saw it. The art was something that Iordan had 'on file' and he felt it worked really well for Fischel's Beast. At first Mike Spencer thought that the 'creature' in the illustration looked a lot like the cerberus (three headed dog) that was part of the Sentinel Beast 'Depths Of Death' album. If the creature does have three heads, the third one is almost impossible to see!

PM: What are your favourite tracks to play?

BF: Actually the stuff that's 'currently' the most fun to play are songs that don't have names yet! It's the new material!! A lot of people are asking what the new material will sound like and are wondering if it will sound like the old Sentinel Beast material. I think it will have a lot of the same energy and elements - but it will still obviously be new - while still being what I guess some people would call 'old school'. It will be fast and fierce, pedal to the metal, fist pumping, horn raising, head thrashing metal (any other cool adjectives we should add?), and Anthony will again SING on the songs; melodic, understandable lyrics. We like to call the genre 'progressive speed metal - with a splash of thrash'.

PM: What have you been up to since the break-up of Sentinel beast in the late 1980s?

BF: There was a period of seven years after I left Sentinel Beast that I had some 'very interesting' what I'll call 'adventures'. If you're interested in the story we detailed it previously in a recent interview we did for Lords Of Metal (you can find a link on www.myspace.com/fischelsbeast). In retrospect, I may have gone into too much detail! Once I arrived in New York (around 1996) I started getting back into music - and started on the path that led me back to metal and to the point in 2007 when I decided to 'give birth' to FISCHEL'S BEAST. We got the group together, rehearsed, rehearsed and rehearsed a little more; then recorded. Since the release of the CD we have been doing a lot of promotion - and as mentioned in the start of the interview, we are very pleased and even humbled at the favourable response the CD has been getting. We also put a line-up together for live shows which includes Jose Cardoso on 2nd guitar and has Lev Weinstein on drums. After the birth of his 2nd child, drummer Ed Klinger departed to spend more 'quality time' with his family.

PM: Any regrets not continuing Sentinel Beast (even though it would fold in later years)?

BF: I always thought that Sentinel Beast was a great band (of course I may be biased). The 'Depths Of Death' album is remembered by many people even to this day. I feel that Sentinel Beast could have done very well and been very successful had we stayed together. As for the band folding, it wasn't like we were together one day and then not together the next day. The break up came slowly and in pieces. As we were starting to work on the second album Mark Koyasako was now part of the band (replacing Greg Williams). Bassist Mike Spencer was the first one to leave; when he departed to join Flotsam & Jetsam to replace Jason Newstead who was leaving F&J to join Metallica. Most of the band was a bit shocked by this move. Drummer Scott Awes was depressed by this also. Scott was a great drummer but many of the ideas for his parts came from Mike. I myself was a little relieved by Mike's leaving. Mike was a bit controlling and I felt with him gone that myself and other members could now have more musical input. We replace Mike with bassist Manny Bravo and we keep working on material and even did some shows with him. After about 7 months with Manny I decide to leave the band (again), and I found my own replacement (a local guitarist named J.J Frazier) before I left. Debbie Gunn kept working with this new line-up for about 6 months and then she left to join Zno-white. That marked the end of Sentinel Beast.

PM: Having lived on the east coast for a number of years now, what are the differences in the music scenes between the west and east coast, if any? As a Brit, we sometimes see America as a “promised” land when it comes to metal and gig going in some respects.

BF: I find it interesting that you refer to the U.S as the 'promised land' for metal. Ironically we feel that Europe is 'THE HOLY GRAIL'! The land where metal still really lives on, in places like the U.K, Holland, Spain, and especially Germany. As for the 'east coast / west coast' issue, I don't think that's where the real difference in the music scene is, I think it's more the year that makes the difference. Back 'in the day' (the 80's when Sentinel Beast was in it's heyday) each coast had it's 'premier' venue to play; on the West Coast, one was Ruthies in the Bay Area which saw performances by the likes of Slayer and Exodus (on some of those shows Sentinel Beast shared the stage with them), and the East Coast had classic clubs like L'Amours in New York. The clubs would often be full regardless of who was playing there. You just went to the club knowing you would see great bands. The scene now is quite different. For example. I recently went to a metal night featuring 4 bands. One of the bands (who shall remain nameless) has been around since the 80's and has 7 albums out. The event was held in the back of a Mexican Restaurant and there were less than 100 people there.

PM: What kit do you use live and in the studio (guitars, amps, etc)?

BF: I assume you're asking about my guitar gear. In the U.S. we use 'kit' to refer more to drums and usually use 'rig' to describe guitar stuff. I had gotten out of the music scene totally for a while and had sold my electric guitars. When I decided to get back into playing I got a Schecter 'traditional' style strat. A couple of years later (I think around 1991) there was talk of a possible Sentinel Beast reunion and I bought a second Schecter. This one was more of a metal style guitar as it had a thicker, heavier body and a humbucking pickup in addition to two single coil pickups. That guitar is still my main guitar to this day.

BF: As for amps I have always been a MARSHALL guy. I've owned and played a variety of MARSHALL heads; a JCM800, a modified plexi (a Super Bass 100 modified to become a Super Lead) and a JCM900. I've had a variety of cabinets as well, including vintage cabinets with original greenbacks and newer cabinets. For the rhythm guitar tracks on the CD I used a combination that consisted of two half stacks; once consisting of the Plexi into one of the new cabinets and the JCM 900 into a vintage cabinet. I would use a Framptone A/B box to switch between amps or in some cases uses both simultaneously. I also used a 'Variac' and a 'Hot Plate' which let me run the amps at high output and keep the volume at a 'reasonable' level. I also have a few effects that I regularly use - an MXR Carbon Delay, a Keeley modified Ibanez Tube Screamer and a standard Crybaby Wah Pedal. For leads, on the CD we also used some 'studio magic'. I have to call it magic because I'm not sure of exactly what was done! We did use live amps but we also used some 'plug ins', and some outboard gear. I suppose I'm like every other guitar player in the sense that I'm always still looking for that 'perfect sound'. Do you think that's what the U2 song 'Stiill Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' is about?? We're about to start doing live shows and my live rig for that will consist of my MARSHALL JCM 800 into a 4x12 'reissue' cabinet.

PM: Do you endorse any manufacturers?

BF: Not yet, but I am willing to consider any offers anyone wants to send my way! I did send a promo pack to Schecter Guitars but I didn't receive a reply from them. Our bassist Eric Mauriello does have endorsement deals with CONKLIN Custom Guitars and GHS Strings.

PM: After this wonderful release, I understand you guys are in the studio working out things for the next record. How far into process are you and can we still expect a pure classic metal attack?

BF: We actually covered this a bit earlier, but we started working on new material pretty much as soon as the CD was done. We wrote a lot of material, and then we started weeding through it to find the best stuff and putting other stuff on the back burner. We'd let Anthony hear things we were working on and we found he gravitated best to the faster, thrashier stuff - so we would do more writing in that vein. I think the people that liked the 'COMMENCEMENT' CD will like the new material. It is still what I guess some would call 'traditional' or old school. It will have many of the same elements that people seemed to like, but of course this is NEW material so it will sound a bit more current than the material on 'COMMENCEMENT'. One of the things we can say for sure is that it will not have any screaming or cookie monster vocals, Anthony will once again actually sing melodic and powerful, understandable lyrics! We hate having to put labels on music but we like to think of our sound as 'Progressive Speed Metal - with a SPLASH of Thrash'.

PM: How do you adopt the writing process? Is this something you do together as a band, or do you come up with, say, music first and add vocal lines afterwards, etc?

BF: I'm sure every band is different, but for us it's always been that the music is written first and then Anthony puts the lyrics to them. Sometimes Anthony will look over his many notebooks of lyrics he has written and may find that a piece of music seems to really fit well for one of his compositions. Other times he may live with the songs for a while and let the inspiration come thru to create something entirely new. At that point we'll get together to tweak anything that may need to be tweaked to make all the pieces fit together just right.

PM: Are there any European tour plans? I would love to see you guys live, whether it be in the UK or in Germany.

BF: As we mentioned earlier, we think of Europe and especially Germany as THE HOLY GRAIL for metal shows and we'd LOVE to play there. It seems the crowds there still have an incredible passion for the music and really support bands once they become fans. We have been contacting many management companies and promoters and we're really hoping we can get on some of the many HUGE Metal Festivals like Keep It True or Wacken. We know that for a 'new' band with only one CD out, this may be a tough thing to accomplish, but perhaps my link to the Sentinel Beast 'history' can help. Debbie played the 'Keep It True' Festival with her new line-up of Sentinel Beast, maybe on the next one we can have BOTH bands play. That would be pretty cool! And who knows - maybe we'd try to get together for a song or two.

PM: Finally, I always like to ask this, can you give a message to your fans?

BF: Everyone always asks for some 'last words' and we always say... THANK YOU - for the opportunity to spread the word and for all the positive feedback and reviews we've been getting on the CD. We'll be keeping the sites (myspace and Facebook) updated on the progress of the new material. We're really looking forward to getting out for some live shows as well. THANKS AGAIN!!

Sincere thanks for your time, best of luck and keep it metal!

For more on the band check out http://www.myspace.com/fischelsbeast

Interviewed by Paul Maddison

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