This next interview is with another one of my all-time favourite bands, Crimson Shadows. I have been a longtime fan of the band after discovering them 6 years ago, and it's been great to see their rise to fame. With the upcoming release of their new album, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do a retrospective interview covering the band's entire career. This interview is with lead vocalist Jimi Maltais! Big thanks to him as he did a great job answering all these questions. Enjoy!
Skull Fracturing Metal (SFM): Hi guys! Congratulations on the upcoming
release of your fantastic new record on Napalm Records. Before we get to that
album, I want to start way back at the beginning. Crimson Shadows formed
seemingly out of the ashes of two bands, Swords of Scorn and Intensify. Can you
talk a little bit about how Cory, Ryan, and Greg met up with Jimi and original
bassist Sean McCaw?
Jimi Maltais: Thank you so much for the compliments and
for taking the time to interview us.
I could be mistaken but I think that we
were originally introduced to each other through the guitar player of
Intensify, Tommy Patey. He was dating
Greg's older sister and it was that connection that brought us together. Ryan and Cory would have campfire parties at
their parents place and invite all their friends down as well as being pretty
lenient with their friends bringing friends as well. I was brought to one of their parties by
Tommy and we slowly but surely forged our friendship from then on.
When Ryan, Cory, Greg and I started working
on Crimson Shadows material, we originally sent out ads looking for bass
players in the area that could keep up with the other guys. I ended up asking Sean (after talking about
it with the Crimson guys earlier) if he was interested in playing bass for us
and that's how the first lineup got together.
Jimi: At the time, it was about as accurate as
you could get. We hadn't found our
"sound" yet but we had a really good idea of what we wanted to
do. Say what you will about Dragonforce,
but we did (and still do) take it as a compliment when people compare us to
them. The main goal was to always just
create music that we weren't hearing in our scene. We are all big fans of the music coming out
of Europe and there wasn't any bands in the Toronto scene that were taking an
influence from that.
With the release of that first EP, all we
wanted to do was get our name out there and have something at our table for
people to remember us by. It was never
officially pressed anywhere. We made all
the CD's at Cory and Ryan's parents place by buying all the materials from a
local Staples store. We didn't want to
be one of those bands that plays shows, and has nothing at their merch
table. We made those CD's before we had
our first shirt printed.
SFM: Originally
I was under the impression that the EP contained only four tracks, but I was
later informed that you guys included a version of “Kingdom of Ale” as well as
a cover of “Valhalla” on the EP. How many pressings of the EP were? Were both
of these tracks included on every pressing after the initial one? I picked up
my copy at the Edguy show in late 2008, and that is the version with just 4
tracks.
Jimi: I honestly don't think any of us know how
many of those "bonus" CD's we made, but if i was going to have to
take a guess, I'd say that we only made about a hundred of them. We had a period of five years between those
EP's and Glory on the Battlefield so we wanted to have something to give to our
fans that was a little more and show them that we were planning to record the
new songs that we had been playing at shows around that time. Both of those songs were included in every
subsequent pressing of the album once they were recorded.
That's amazing that you were at that
show. That was the first big show that
we ever played. When we first started
out as a band, our goal was to open for a huge band that we loved at one of the
bigger local venues. I'm pretty sure
there is a video of "Kingdom of Ale" still on YouTube from that
show. My stage presence back then is
pretty cringe worthy but everyone has got to start somewhere. You should
probably check it out and have a good laugh.
SFM: Throughout
2008 and 2009, I noticed you guys formed a close connection with local power
metal band Borealis. In those two years alone, I saw both bands at the same
show 3 times, and Jimi went on to do guest vocals on the first track of
Borealis’ second album. Tell us a little bit about how you hooked up with those
guys? Is there any chance of a Crimson Shadows/Borealis show in the future?
It’s been a few years since we’ve seen one of those.
Jimi: We first hooked up with them back in 2007
and it was by pure fluke. We were both
playing one of those "pay to play" shows where the promoter gets you
to sell twenty tickets at $15 a pop and you're not allowed to play until you
give him the money. Even if you don't
sell all the tickets you're still on the hook. We were a young band and didn't
know any better so we did what we did to get our name out there.
When we originally saw them, they only had
Matt on guitar and had a female singer.
If people would say "Crimson Shadows is like Dragonforce" then
it wouldn't be a hard stretch to say "Borealis is like Nightwish". I
remember Cory, Ryan and I were watching their singer and said to each other
that "they need to lose the girl on vocals, and get another guitar player.
That guitar player has the voice of an angel, so he should just take over doing
vocals." Lo and behold, that's what they did. We still have a little inside joke that we
should have charged them for the advice.
We would love to do some shows with them
again and we consider them close and amazing friends to have. If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure they're
currently in the process of writing their third full length album. I'd love to throw down some vocals for that
if there's room for me on the album.
SFM: Also
in those years, you guys had a variety of great opening spots for huge power
metal bands that came through Toronto. It seems like the show that really
brought you guys a lot of attention was the Dragonforce show in October 2011.
Tell us a bit about the fan reaction during and after that show?
Jimi: That show is really the springboard to what
we are now. We practiced four times a
week and two sets per practice leading up to that show. At the time, that show was everything to
us. When we got on stage, we had some
fans in the audience but I think it would be a fair estimation that that maybe
only 10% of the audience knew who we were.
When we were done with our set, that place
exploded. It was the first time I ever
had people coming up to me asking for autographs and to take pictures with
them. Looking back on it, the experience
was pretty surreal.
SFM: Did
you guys get to meet Dragonforce? Did they have any feedback for you about your
performance and sound, since there are some strong similarities between the two
bands?
Jimi: Funny thing, but Ryan, Cory and I had
partied with Dragonforce in the winter of 2006 in Quebec City after a power
metal festival that they played with Kamelot.
I commemorated the event by getting "717" tattooed on my leg
which was the hotel room that we partied in.
It was the first time I had the opportunity to hang out with musicians
that I looked up to. When we were doing our load-in to the venue, Sam
recognized me and gave me a huge hug.
After the set, when we were all having a
smoke outside Sam said to us "You can definitely hear that we influenced
you but you guys didn't rip us off. You
took what we did and you made it your own." It was the compliment that I had been waiting
years to hear.
SFM: Around
this time, you released your first full-length album, “Glory On The
Battlefield”. I’m wondering if you can clear up the release date. Although I
had a ticket to the Dragonforce show, I was unable to attend, but I heard there
were copies available for sale at that show. Is this true? I bought mine from
your manager in November 2011, but I know the CD release show was in February 2012,
and that is generally considered the “official” release date for the album.
When was the album first available for sale/“released”?
Jimi: It was available for sale for that one show
and that was it until it's official release in February of 2012. We had been doing some promotion at the time,
and some flyering, letting people know that the new album was coming out. We
had a feeling that the fans of Dragonforce would love us, so we just released
the album for that one show and it ended up bring pretty profitable for
us. We used that money to rent out the
Hard Luck bar for our CD release show and ended up selling out the venue which
was a first for us as a headlining act in Toronto.
Jimi: We actually filmed that music video at a
show that was a few months after the CD release, as part of a promotion with AX
Media. They helped us film the official
video for "Lost in a Dark Forest" as well as the play-through videos
for "For the Glory of the Throne" and "Beyond the Mountain
Wasteland".
The reaction was out of control. We had made it public a couple weeks before
that we were going to film a live video there so people really brought out all
their energy. The response online was
also really good. It gives people an
idea of what to expect when they come to a Crimson Shadows show.
It is definitely up there with "Lost
in a Dark Forest" as a fan favourite.
When people look us up online, they will often go to YouTube and see the
official videos that we have released.
With the release of the new lyric video for "Rise to Power",
people are really starting to get into that one as well, which is amazing. We really hope everyone likes the new songs.
SFM: Your
first album featured a lot more vocals from Greg than the first EP did, but
he’s always been singing as “Kingdom of Ale” has been around for a long time.
When did you guys decide you wanted to incorporate more clean vocals?
Jimi: I don't think it was ever a conscious
effort to include more screaming or singing in anything that we did. It always falls back to what is best for the
song. Greg has an amazing singing voice
so it would be negligent of us if we didn't incorporate that into our songs. We are always concerned about the best final
product that we can make.
As Greg got better and better at both
playing guitar and singing simultaneously, we started using it more. It also really helps us stay with our power
metal roots to have a good clean singer, and now with the addition of Morgan on
bass, the chorus sections sound even more full and complete.
SFM: Around
this time, bassist Morgan Rider joined the band. He came from Vesperia where
Cory was also doing drums. How did the two bands get hooked up together?
Jimi: We originally hooked up with them because
just like Borealis, we were billed together.
Before Vesperia was a thing, they used to be called Bolero and they
played a lot of shows with Crimson Shadows.
They had a very viking/pagan/folk sound to them so our styles meshed
perfectly as support for larger acts that would roll through Toronto. Morgan also filled in for us as a temporary
bass player while we were searching for a replacement for Sean after he left
the band.
SFM: You
guys have had a few bassists over the years, and while all of them have been
incredibly talented, it seems like a bit of a position of instability for the
band. In fact, I even saw one Crimson Shadows show without a bassist (April
2011 opening for Cauldron/Holy Grail). What does Morgan bring to the band?
Jimi: It's funny that you mention that show. That was the first show we played live to a
click track and we just plugged in an IPod with the bass tracks and plugged
that into a bass amp with a picture of our old bass player on top of it. We still joke and laugh about that
night. We also took that show on four
days notice, but it's awesome to hear that you were there and saw that.
Morgan is the bass player that we've been
waiting to have since we started the band.
He is an incredibly talented musician, writer, and singer and he has the
right attitude that someone needs to be a touring musician. He is in it for the long haul, like we all
are, and it's great to be part of a team where everyone is on the same page
with their goals.
Jimi: That was an incredibly billed festival that
ended up affording us the opportunity to hang out and meet some amazing bands
that we wouldn't have had otherwise. Our
van engine had exploded the previous day so we rented a Uhaul cargo van,
crammed everyone and everything into the back, and made our way to
Halifax. That show/tour leading up to it
is the main reason we have fans on the East coast of Canada.
SFM: The
following year, you released the “Sails of Destiny” EP. Other than “Moonlit
Skies and Bloody Tides”, it seems like this marked a move towards shorter, more
concise songs. Was this a conscious decision, or something that just happened
naturally in the songwriting process?
Jimi: It was a conscious decision that we
made. We will always have long and epic
songs but it's pretty hard to film a music video for a nine minute song when
you're on a budget. We also found that
we lost the energy of the crowd when we played too many long songs back to
back. Our first EP in 2007 was only four
songs and I believe the length of the album was 28 minutes. Our new album has 10 songs and it's about 52
minutes. It should be noted that just
because a song is shorter, doesn't mean that we compromise the quality of the
song. If a song doesn't meet our
standards then it simply doesn't make it to an album.
SFM: Also
that year came the moment that really catapulted you guys to the top: the
Wacken Metal Battle. In the finals, both Crimson Shadows, and Vesperia were
involved. How did you approach this situation, knowing that potentially one
band could go and the other couldn’t?
Jimi: It was definitely a nail biter for
sure. The guys and I had gone to the
Vesperia battles for the first two rounds and we were happy for them because we
weren't competing against them at that time.
When Vesperia was tearing it up on stage in the finals there was a
moment that Ryan and I looked to each other and said "Well it looks like
Morgan and Cory are going to Wacken. I
guess it's just a question of who is going to go with them". In the end, we are all brothers and we
support each other in what we do and we were lucky enough to come out on top.
SFM: Once
in Wacken, you guys won the whole competition. Did you guys think after your
set that you had won? Who did you think was the best competition?
Jimi: There was not a moment where we ever
thought that we would have taken the championship. We were just enjoying every
moment we could spend at that amazing festival.
We had a conversation as our intro music was playing and we said
"no matter what happens after this, we're here and nobody can take this
away from us. We make the best that we
can after this and after we're going to drink and eat as much as humanly
possible".
The band after us was an incredible
technical death metal band from Iceland, and I was convinced that they were
going to win. I stood next to their
drummer for their entire set and my jaw was on the ground watching him. I'm pretty sure they were called Obsidian I.
SFM: I
went to Wacken in 2012 and it was truly an unbelievable experience. How did you
guys enjoy the festival aside from your set? There are obviously some metal
festivals in North America, but nothing of that grandeur. Do you think
something like that could happen in North America?
Jimi: Being at Wacken was quite simply (and
cliché) one of the best times of my life.
Metal in Europe is a religion.
Straight up. The food, the music,
and the overall atmosphere was something that is so hard to describe, other
than it being as close to perfection as one could get.
I do think it's possible to perhaps build
something up to that level in North America, but I genuinely don't know how it
could be done. Europe has such a huge
population and so many countries close together that it makes it a lot easier
for people to travel to festivals. If
you live in Europe, you can drive 15 hours and drive through four or five
countries. If you do the same thing in
Ontario, you'd be lucky to make it past two provinces.
Jimi: Winning the Wacken International Metal
Battle puts your band on the radar of every major label in the metal industry.
We received a few offers from other labels but in the end, Napalm Records
offered us the best deal for a new artist and we went for it. The people at that label are dedicated at
taking us to the next level and we couldn't be happier with everything that
they have done for us. I really hope we
can keep this relationship for years to come.
SFM: Your
new album, “Kings Among Men”, is set to be released in North America
on September 9. What can you tell fans about the upcoming album?
Jimi: In my opinion, this is the definitive
Crimson Shadows album. We have found our
sound and we have found what works for us.
Although you can still hear our influences, I don't know if it's fair to
say now that we are "Dragonforce with extreme vocals", rather than
just saying that we are an extreme metal band with power metal and melodic
death metal influences. We rerecorded
the tracks off of the "Sails of Destiny" EP but rearranged them as
well. We've got five brand new tracks
that really serve as a good indication of the direction that we're moving in.
SFM: One
question I have to ask (as I bring this up probably too often) is about the
song “Ruler of Mankind”. I recall Cory saying there was some sort of recording
issue during “Glory to the Battlefield”, which is why it’s not on that album.
Did it not make the cut for “Kings Among Men”? Will we see that song in the
future?
Jimi: Yeah, we had some technical difficulties
with that song even though it was recorded and completed in the studio. When we got the tracks they were corrupted
and the studio had deleted all the master tracks. We would simply have to rerecord everything
and that was not an option with all the time constraints and everything else we
had going on at that time.
When we were recording "Kings Among
Men", it did come up in conversation whether or not to include this on the
new album but with already having 52 minutes of material we made the decision
to put it on the back burner for a little more and showcase all the new
material.
We wrote "Ruler of Mankind" back
in 2009 and it still holds up today so never count it out that it won't be on a
future release. Maybe we'll keep it the
way it is, or we will adjust it like we did with the old "Sails of
Destiny" tunes.
SFM: At
your most recent Toronto show with Nekrogoblikon, Jimi mentioned that this show
was probably the last time we’d hear “Beyond The Mountain Wasteland” for a
while. Are the “Glory To The Battlefield” songs being retired?
Jimi: For now they are. This is our first major release and people
are going to be expecting to hear songs off of the album that they know which
will be "Kings Among Men".
When we get a little bigger and are able to
do some headlining sets, we will definitely bring out some of the older songs
for fans, like yourself, who know them.
For a while, we're only going to have a half hour set so we need to keep
it to the new tunes so we can push this new album.
Jimi: For our CD release show this time around,
we are going to be playing all of the new songs off of the new album which
includes a couple songs that we have never played live before. It'll be interesting to see how the crowd
reacts to tunes that they've never heard.
We are also going to be playing a couple songs off of "Glory on the
Battlefield" and then those songs will be retired for an indefinite amount
of time. We will also be offering people
the opportunity to buy our CDs and vinyl records three days before the album is
officially released online. People will
also be able to pick up their Indiegogo perks from us at the merch table.
SFM: You’re
currently raising money through an Indiegogo campaign to help get the band to
Europe to join Alestorm on tour. What I love about how you guys have done it is
that you’ve been extremely specific about the expenses you will incur to make
this tour happen, as well as the other money you have coming in. Do you think
this helps you raise money? How has the campaign been going so far?
Jimi: I think it helps us become more
relatable. Most of the time, people
think that when you're in an band that it's all groupies and getting wasted
every night and that's simply not the case.
This band is our business and we are the owners of it. We want to be completely honest with our fans
on our intentions. We're not looking for
a hand out. We are offering some very
special incentives, experiences, and merchandise in exchange for money. There is no part where we are just asking for
money and not giving something back in return.
I really feel that as the future of the music industry is decided, this
will definitely start to become a norm and as a fan, you know exactly where
your money is going and what it is being used for.
The campaign is going splendidly but we
still need your help so make sure you go
tohttps://www.indiegogo.com/projects/crimson-shadows-fall-european-tour-with-alestorm
and check out all the awesome things we have to offer.
SFM: What
is next for Crimson Shadows after the European tour?
Jimi: Tour, tour and more touring. We have to get our name out there, and the
best way to do that is playing in the towns of new fans while riding on the
coattails of bands that they already enjoy.
Hopefully Europe will put us on the map, and after that we will get some
offers for some more tours supporting some big name bands. We want to do this for the rest of our lives,
and although we have been a band for eight years, we are only just starting our
conquest on the global stage.
SFM: Is
there anything we haven’t covered in this interview you want to bring up? Any
last words for the fans?
Jimi: This is honestly one of the best interviews
that I have done in a long time and you've pretty much covered all the bases,
so thank you so much for being an amazing interviewer and doing your research
on the band. It really makes for a great
interview when we don't have to drone on about the same things that people ask
us over and over again.
For the fans, thank you so much for
everything you have done to help us live out our dreams of playing music for a
living. Since we were kids air guitaring
and drumming on our beds, being in a band is all that we ever wanted to do and
now we are lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity to take this band to the
next level. We have you all to thank for it.
If you ever see us somewhere, don't
hesitate to come up and say hello. We
love meeting you all and we always have time to stop and chat because without
you, we would be nothing.
SFM: Be sure to help out Crimson Shadows with their Indiegogo Campaign and like them on Facebook.
