Shortly after the debut album release by Reverence, MetalMouth caught up with Bryan Holland for a short interview
MM: Thanks for talking the time out to discuss all things Reverence related for the MetalMouth readers.
BH: Absolutely, its my great pleasure. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today.
MM: With nwobhm icons Tokyo Blade you were involved in an established, successful band, why did you choose to leave them?
BH: I definitely experienced some great times touring and recording with Tokyo Blade, it will always remain a special place in my life but ultimately I have to be happy with what I’m doing both musically and with whom I’m working with. Being in a band means having to work closely with your bandmates and I found working with our other guitarist absolutely a miserable experience, having to deal with his constant narcissistic egomaniac personality I simply couldn’t continue to function within the band, so I chose to leave and make my own band with bandmates who are my friends and are normal down-to-earth people.
MM: How did the lineup come together?
BH: I found Todd Michael Hall, who also fronts Jack Starr’s Burning Starr, on Myspace on New Years Eve 2010 my management contacted him the next day and coincidentally he lives only a couple hours away from me, so we agree to partner and soon after began writing for a new album. After demoing a few songs I contacted Frank Kruckel my bassist in Tokyo Blade and played him the new material and he signed on immediately. After recording the album Frank had to bow out so we recruited Todd’s bandmate/bassist in Burning Starr, Ned Meloni.
As for Doc Killdrums, he is the original drummer of the legendary band Savatage, I have known Doc for 17 plus years and had played with him many times before. Doc and I had always wanted to play together and this was the perfect opportunity. With the music we were writing we knew we needed a second guitarist, so once Doc was onboard he suggested Pete Rossi from Pittsburg’s Sanxtion. We tossed the music back and forth to each other via the internet, which worked well finalizing the demos before heading into pre-production rehearsals and then into studio.
MM: How did you come up with ‘Reverence’ as the name for the band?
BH: We were really stuggling trying to come up with a name for the band, we wanted something that would have a deeper meaning yet describe what we were trying to accomplish with our music. My wife happened to suggest the name Reverence, which she took from Todd’s lyrics in the first song we wrote together called ‘Revolution Rising’, there’s a lyric that says “Bow down in Reverence, bow down in fear”. We felt immediately that this name fit us perfectly as our goal was to create music that recalled the glory days of classic metal that we revered.
MM: How would you describe Reverence‘s sounds?
BH: I had a specific sound I was trying to achieve while writing our first album. I really tried to channel the classic metal sounds, vibes and influences of Judas Priest, Queensryche, Dio and Savatage. Pete and I worked really hard to add a lot of texturing and layering with the guitars, so much that we specifically tried to never have us both playing the same thing during the songs, meaning Pete is usually playing and octave or harmony to my main chords and riffs, etc which really fills out the sound of the guitars and makes it more interesting to the listener. We also wanted to bring back the dual guitar team mentality, like KK and Glenn from Priest or Wilton and DeGarmo from Queensryche, we often swap solos mid song and play a lot of harmony solos together.
MM: With the history of established, successful bands associated with the members that form the band such as Tokyo Blade, Savatage, Burning Star etc, do you feel that there is extra pressure upon you for Reverence to be successful?
BH: Maybe a little bit in that we have to try to be ourselves outside of what the fans may hope or expect we will sound like. So far we’ve been very pleased with all of the great reviews and overwhelming fan reaction which has been far beyond what we ever expected. Of course we’ll have to comparisons to Savatage or Tokyo Blade but in the end we just have to be ourselves and hope the fans like it and I believe we’ve succeeded in winning most of them over.
MM: You have just released Reverence’s debut album ‘When Darkness Calls’ through Razar Ice Records. Can you tell the MetalMouth readers a little about the album?
BH: Our album is 11 tracks of full on metal that will hopefully take you back to the early 80‘s glory days of metal with a nod of influences to Judas Priest, Queensryche and Dio. If you miss metal songs having a screaming vocalist, blazing guitar solos and relentless riffs wrapped in big catchy choruses then you don’t want to miss our new album! How’s that for a sales pitch, haha!
MM: What are your favourite tracks on it?
BH: Thats a really tough question, I think my favourites change weekly…‘Revolution Rising’ has a special place in my heart because its the first song Todd and I completed, we knew we were on the right track with that song which set the tone for the rest of the writing of the album. I really love the solos I was able to capture in ‘Phantom Road’ but ‘Too Late’ has some really great haunting and heavy guitar parts that I really love too, I think if I had to choose, I’d pick ‘When Darkness Calls’…this week, haha.
MM: How do you think the album compares to your earlier releases with the likes of Tokyo Blade or Arrest?
BH: I really think Reverence is a totally different beast, to me Tokyo Blade has more of an Iron Maiden sound and vibe but Reverence is more of a Judas Priest sounding band. I also believe we have a bit of a modern sound mixed in with our classic vibe and feel so I think we’re a bit more current sounding than TB. But really there’s no good comparison as we’re a completely different band and with this lineup its a different mix of chemistry and writing than what any other bands in each of our pasts has done, we just have to be ourselves and I think our sound is very genuine.
MM: Besides the album release what else do you have planed for the rest of the year? Do you have any plans for a UK tour?
BH: We had a UK/European tour scheduled for November but had to pull off due to some contractual issues so we have rescheduled that tour for next year and have US dates planned and some already confirmed for late this fall and next year as well. We’re also beginning to write for the next album throughout the holidays which I will assure those who are fans of our first album, our second disc will continue where that one left off and will be even heavier!
MM: Are there any up and coming bands out there you would recommend keeping an eye on right now?
BH: I really like a band called Holy Grail, these guys are the real deal, you can hear it in their music, they’re straight up metal and also have a bit of a classic meet modern sound. Great singer, great guitarists, strong songs…I think they’re a band to watch for down the road.
MM: Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to your fans?
BH: I just want to say thanks to you and everyone at Metalmouth for your interest and support of Reverence. I’d personally like thank all the fans and press for their unbelievable support and loyalty we’re really looking forward to getting back out in front of everyone.
Please check out our various links below, ‘Friend’, ‘Like’ and ‘Follow’ us for all the latest info. We have a few videos for everyone to chec out for the songs ‘Too Late’ and ‘Bleed For Me’ with another video is to be released in early November.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reverencemetal
Website: http://www.reverencemetal.com
Twitter: @ReverenceMetal
