by Vpower
The Band: Stevie McLaughlin
Country: Ireland
Answers by:
Stevie McLaughlin (all instruments &
songwriting)
The Irish guitarist Stevie McLaughlin is known
for his riff attacks with the Irish metal band, Sandstone. Now, in order to
live out his full musical sphere this talented guitarist has recorded his first
solo effort ‘Toy Empires’, hard rock and heavy metal to the bone seasoned with
some progressive influences that reward his sound with great taste and variety,
highly enjoyable. Moreover, he is in charge of all duties in this debut album and
his effort actually pays off. We have had this very interesting chat with
Stevie, enjoy it!
Hello Stevie, Toy Empires is your first solo
album, when did you take the decision to kick off your solo career?
Hey
Alberto, I’ve always recorded songs in my home studio, some songs are intended
for use with my band Sandstone and some songs I record purely for the pleasure
of creating something. My family and friends have always encouraged me to
release some of the songs I record, but I was never sure that it was good
enough. In particular I was self-conscious about the vocals. So when I finally
found the courage to send my album to Sandstone’s label LMP I was surprised and
excited by Limb’s enthusiasm for the album and he offered me a deal which I
gladly accepted.
Stevie McLaughlin is known for being the
guitarist in Sandstone and Ironheart, how do you plan to balance all that work?
How active will be your solo project?
I have not
decided yet how to approach this. I am no longer in IronHeart, I decided that I
was spreading myself too thinly. IronHeart are a fantastic band and they
deserve a full time guitarist who is fully committed to the band. I will
potentially be touring again with Ripper and we could possibly add my solo band
to the roster. But it’s all still up in the air. I’d love to tour the album and
if and opportunity arises then it will happen.
Cool! Of course, in Toy Empires the guitar
duties are over your shoulders, but I was positively surprised by your skills
as vocalist. I don’t mean you are a supervocalist haha but you do a good job on
the micro, we all know great guitarists that ruin their albums singing along…
Yes I was
unsure of my vocal ability, and very nervious of the reaction it would recieve.
But it is my life’s passion to write and record songs and I do believe there is
some extra emotion embued on a song when you hear it being sung by the person
who wrote it.
I have made
a conscious decision that my fears will not define me, I love making music and
will make music for as long as I can, the creative process is my favourite
thing in life and the buzz you receive from working hard at something.
Have you counted with some collaboration in
other positions as drums & bass?
I did
everything on the album myself: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Drums (via
electric kit). I also recorded, mixed and mastered the album and even designed
the artwork. I wanted this to be a solo album in the truest sense of the word.
Amazing and hard work all the way. How long
have you worked in the building of these songs?
It is hard
to say. Some of the songs have been around for years and never intended to be
part of any solo project, maybe future songs for Sandstone. But once I began
tracking the final songs for this album and got inspired and wrote a lot of
extra songs. A lot of them appear in the final album. So it’s about a 50/50
mixture between old and new songs.
Being a solo artist is better or worse than
playing and composing with a full band?
Both ways
of working have their advantages and disadvantages. I love the camaraderie in a
band and collaborating on songs can be very rewarding and often produce results
that are greater than the sum of the parts. It is a lot more fun working as
part of a band. But at the same time you can work faster on you own and even be
a bit more self-indulgent. So I like both approaches.
Is there any concept behind Toy Empires, as
related to the good cover artwork or something like that?
The
original idea I had for the album sleeve was a guitarist standing with his back
to us facing an open road alone. This is how I felt when I finally found the
courage to record and release my solo album. Then there are references all over
the artwork to the lyrics of the album. For example the scare crows are for the
song Straw Men and there are burning oil fields and apocalyptic scenes for the
song Memories of Eden and so on. I feel that artwork is very important for
setting the tone of an album, because I am of the age where I grew up listing
to vinyl and gazing in amazement and the wonderful artwork that came with LPs.
As far as
the album title goes, I think there is an underlying theme in the album about
my relationship with my music and how it can sometimes come into conflict with
my real life and sometimes augment life when I am following my passion. When we
make music or start a band are we building Toy Empires?
I have a
lot of personal reasons for some of the images and metaphors on the album but I
would sort of prefer if listeners decided for themselves what it means to them,
I feel that in being a bit cryptic in the lyrics it opens things out to allow a
more personal interpretation of things.
Talking about the songs in this Toy Empires,
firstly I will call the attention on the diversity in the track list: heavy
metal, hard rock, power metal and even some progressive touch
Yes I
agree, I am a bit all over the place style wise. However I won’t apologise,
because I feel there are 2 main reasons for this. Firstly, I don’t have any
intention when I write songs, I don’t have a audience in mind. I’m not trying
to fit into a genre or sub genre. I just write songs for the sheer pleasure of
the creative process. Sometimes I feel like writing a simple hard rock song and
sometimes I feel like writing a complex 10 minute prog metal opus. I follow my
musical instincts and desires. Secondly I try as much as possible to blend all
the eclectic styles that influence me, but I love hard rock, tradition heavy
metal, thrash metal and prog, I could never honestly decide that I will
exclusively deal with one of these styles at the expense of all the others.
If I have to mention some great songs I would
say the progressive rock of Depletion and of course the metal pandemonium you
unleash in Memories Of Eden
Of course I
am very attached to all the songs on the album, but I do believe there is
something special about Memories of Eden. Maybe because it deals with an
emotive topic that is close to my heart. In the song I imagine what future
generations would say to us if they had the chance. How they would challenge or
shortsightedness and selfishness when it comes to how we left them to deal with
the environment and a legacy of dept. So I get angry in this song and I think
that's what drives it. This is one of the oldest songs on the album, I have
been writing it on and off for a long time. Depletion is one of the songs I
talked about before that was written at the last minute while the album was
being recorded. I thought it had a really haunting melody and I had to include
it. It’s one of those very special times when a song goes from an basic idea to
a completely finished song in a matter of hours.
The inspiration of the moment. Other songs as
Apocrypha and Toy Empires have a more modern approach, with some groovy style
which is not so much my taste but you always deliver some great riffs and
outstanding solos that make that every song counts in the album
I think all
of us have been disappointed when we hear a song on the radio and like it and
then buy the album only to find it is the one good song on the album. It feels
like you’ve been cheated and that record companies are just trying to milk you
for cash. I never want to be seen in that way, I want all my songs to be
special and I work very hard on every detail. I am a pretty unknown artist and
if someone buys my album, then I’m aware that they chose to buy my album
instead of buying something from a more well known established act. So I want
people to know how much I appreciate their support and want to go out of my way
to make sure they get their moneys
worth. So I won’t release an album until it is perfect in my mind, if that
means I only do a few and they take a long time to finish then that’s fine. But
I will not release anything until I feel it is complete in every detail.
Something that is truly and utterly confirmed
when you listen to Toy Empires, no cheating here. And talking about riffs, some songs deliver
great powerful riffs, something we had already tasted in your other bands, how
do you work on that? Kind of a trade mark?
Thanks, I’m
very happy that you like my guitar work. Of course the guitar is my main
instrument and my number one passion. I try to make the guitar parts count.
While I love shredding, I love melodic emotional playing even more, so I always
try to make sure the guitar parts are serving the emotional narrative of the
song. If the song calls for total nuclear grade shredding then I will take joy
in providing that, but when it just requires a few notes in the right place I
also take artistic pleasure in that.
No need to talk about the great solos you
include in every song, you have a big feeling for melodies
Thanks
again, you’re making me shy with all these complements about my guitar playing
LOL. I am from Ireland Ireland
So, with this great debut you feel exhausted
for some time or you plan to continue your solo career with new albums in the
future?
I am not
exhausted at all, I am filled with ideas already for the next album, and I feel
blessed that I am in a place in my life right now where I have the time, good
health, and motivation to carry on doing the thing I love most; making and
recording music. Currently I’m working on a set of videos for the album and
hopefully I will continue to be lucky enough to make music for a long time to
come.
We will pay attention to those videos. Any
chance to see you playing live these songs? In that case you would sing also or
you would hire any vocalist, say for example Ripper Owens with whom you have
already played?
I guess
there will be another Ripper tour coming up soon, and I hope to be involved in
that, but nothing to announce right now. I would like to sing the songs myself
live if I get the chance and I have a pool of great musicians who have already
offered there services for a solo tour should the opportunity arise. Here’s
hoping it comes together because I’d love to take this out live.
It would be fanatstic indeed. Thank you very
much for your attention Stevie! And congratulations for your great debut
Thank you
for your high praise and interesting interview.
For more
info on TOY EMPIRES go to www.steviemclaughlin.com
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