MUSIC CON TEXT INTERVIEW 12-10-12
Reverence is a modern power metal band drawing influence from classic power metal acts from the 80’s and 90’s. Reverence features members of Savatage, Tokyo Blade, and Burning Starr.Reverence guitarist Bryan Holland was able share some time with Music Con Worldwide. Music Con Worldwide is honored to present Bryan Holland!
MC: Thanks for sharing some time with us Bryan. We’ve been able to speak quite a bit over the last year or so about Reverence. I remember listening to the demo versions on facebook before the album was released thinking about how great this album would be once it was released, and it did not disappoint! The album is titled “When Darkness Calls” and is available now. Will we see a Reverence tour in support of this album in 2013?
BH: Yes indeed, we already have some shows booked in Europe and here in the US to support the new album in 2013. We’ve been very fortunate with all of the fan and press support, its truely been humbling. Hearing how much the record takes people back to the glory days of the metal heights of the 80’s has been very powerful to us we had no idea that the album would have so much impact and connection with people but its a wonderful feeling that all of our hardwork has reached so many people in a positive way.
MC: You and I are both huge fans of the Tampa, Florida band Savatage. I actually found out about Reverence when searching for an old friend on facebook, Steve “Doctor Killdrums” Wacholz, the original Savatge drummer. How did you hook up with Steve and what is it like now being in a band with someone that you’re such a fan of their music?
BH: Doc and I have been close friends for nearly 20 years, we had always wanted to do something musical together and Reverence was what brought us together. Most people don’t know that I had actually approached Doc about joining me in Tokyo Blade but he declined, citing that TB wasn’t heavy enough, which he was probably right and waiting until Reverence was brought to life appears to have been destiny.
When I decided to build a new band, I used early Savatage, Judas Priest and Queensryche as part of the blueprints in my mind of what my perfect metal band would be. So when I was writing, I used Doc’s style and sound as to how I laid out some of the songs and I knew Doc was exactly what our music needed.Since both Pete Rossi (Reverence’s second guitarist) and I are massive Savatage/Criss Oliva fans, its been a real dream to write, record and share a stage with Doc in Reverence. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t really cool for me to look over and see Doc in my band playing my music.
MC: We can’t do our first interview and not bring up Criss Oliva, original guitarist of Savatage. Can you tell us about his influence on you as a musician and what other guitarists helped to influence your sound?
BH: Yes indeed, Savatage and specifically Criss Oliva was a great influence on my playing when I was younger. Criss to me was criminally underated, he had such an original tone and style, its amazing to me how the mainstream guitar magazines back in the day managed to overlook his massive talents. Being such big fans of his we tried to keep a bit of his style alive within Reverence, not trying to copy him but to put little touches of Criss’ style and choice of notes in say in a solo or riff while keeping our own identity. But I was also influenced alot by Rik Emmett and Randy Rhoads too, those are probably my top three favorite guitarist but I was also really into Michael Schenker, and the twin guitar styles of Downing and Tipton from Priest and even Gillis and Watson from the early Night Ranger records. Pete and I tried reall hard to incorporate those styles into Reverence, blazing solos, harmony leads that trade off with a touch of Criss Oliva!
MC: You are known for your previous work with NWOBM Legends Tokyo Blade. You recorded several studio albums and toured Europe with this amazing band. Can you reflect for a moment about the fans in Europe and their genuine excitement for rock and metal and give a comparison of European fans vs. American fans in regards of their support for live music?
BH: Well the fans are as different from one place to another, even within Europe the fan reactions are different from Greece to Sweden to Spain. Some fans prefer to stand and just watch every note we’d play while others are total headbangers just soaking up the energy. In America, the market is very different, there isn’t honestly much market for a metal band hence us always touring Europe and I think thats because the US fans are very fickle and have very short attention spans with lots of distractions with facebook, Xbox, Youtube, etc. people hardly go out to shows anymore so many bands simply can’t tour the States, whereas in Europe the fans are a bit more attached to something once they like it and they tend to they stick with it much longer.
MC: You found a great vocalist in Todd Michael Hall from Jack Starr’s Burning Starr. How did you guys meet?
BH: I had actually goten off the last Tokyo Blade Euro tour in November of 2009, I knew that I was done with TB and decided to just sit back and give alot of thought as to what I wanted to do over the holidays. By X-Mas I had decided that I wanted to go into a heavier more power metal direction than Tokyo Blade ever was which meant I needed a really strong vocalist, frontman and a good writing partner plus someone that shared my vision for the band.So on New Years Eve of 2010 I got onto Myspace and just did a search for metal vocalist in my area and Todd popped up, I listened to a couple of demos he had on his page. What I found was a guy that fit perfectly with what I wanted, he was a great writer and a great old school style vocalist. I contacted him a few days later and never looked for any other singer, he was the guy I knew I needed! Todd only lives a couple hours from me so we got together shortly thereafter I found he was looking for the same kind of style band to create as me, we got a gameplan together and started writing. After getting a few demos done we then went to the other guys to bring them into the ranks…I completely believe it was fate that I leave Tokyo Blade, partner with Todd and the guys to make Reverence.
MC: You have been able to form a band, record an amazing album, build a brand, and have gotten Reverence a lot attention from the media. What promotional tools have you found to be the most useful to help you accomplish this, any tips for other artists out there trying to figure it out?
BH: I think social media has been a huge asset for us, its taken an enormous amount of time, energy and money to make, push and promote the Reverence brand from nothing into something. Its taken a small team behind the scenes to make it happen and work on getting things done because no band does it all themselves, they get all the spotlight but it takes many others doing thankless jobs to get the band there, its no different for us.I would recommend to anyone trying to do what we have done, to use any social media outlets you can, most are free or very inexpensive and simply work it night and day, that coupled with a tireless ambition to win and succeed is what it took for us. Of course its an entire package too besides just great promo, you have to deliver on the music, artwork and countless other smaller things to make a package that people are drawn too and want to support. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to do many of those things with lots of determination behind it to bring it all to life.
MC: You have some awesome merchandise available on your website including hats, T-shirts, buttons, guitar picks, stickers, etc. How important is merchandise to your band and what have you found to be the most popular items? What is your favorite item?
BH: Thank you, we have tried hard to make sure we offer quality products in all that we do and I think that shows. Really the shirts is the most popular item, we have a few more selections coming out soon too. In reality I think the merch has been one of our weaker spots that we need to put alot more time and direction into so I really plan to make sure we do that very thing in the new year. Probably my favorite items are the new shirts coming out with the album cover, very very cool and I hope the fans will really like them and wear them with pride.
MC: Bryan, thank you so much for your time, we certainly appreciate it. We hope that we will see you on tour soon and especially hope that we will have some USA dates to attend!
BH: Thank you Jerry for giving me the opportunity to spotlight my new band and our music, we hopefully will be able to attend and perform at the upcoming Music Con show.
Be sure and check out www.ReverenceMetal.com and the amazing music videos for “Too Late” & “Bleed for Me” off their debut album “When Darkness Calls”
Reverence’s Official Video’s from “When Darkness Calls”
“Too Late” http://youtu.be/B4GzT_geBKM
“Bleed For Me” http://youtu.be/IjZ9QOKzGVg
RN: reverbnation.com/reverenceofficial
FB: facebook.com/reverencemetal
Web: reverencemetal.com
Twitter: @ReverenceMetal
MUSIC CON WORLDWIDE – http://www.facebook.com/musicconvention
