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Interview with Joey Vera
October 2007 by Metal Mark
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Bass player Joey Vera is perhaps most known for
his work with Armored Saint. He also played with Fates Warning and
other projects plus he has produced albums for other bands as well. I
recently interviewed him to find what he is up to.
What are you currently working on?
Just finished up a new record for DC4 (Jeff Duncan – gtr Armored
Saint). I Produced, Engineered and Mixed. Also, my new solo record A
Chinese Firedrill is being released on ProgRock Records through Ryko
so as a bonus, I’m doing experimental remixes for 3 tunes. This should
be out and available on November 6.
You have been doing mixing and production work
in recent years. How has this been and do find it to be as rewarding
as say playing on an album?
I’ve been into it off and on since about 1988 but I didn’t really
start learning about engineering until about the mid 1990’s. I have
always liked the process of making music. It’s not only interesting to
me but gratifying to see projects come to fruition. The challenges and
rewards are very different and I like both.
Over the summer you played bass at shows with
Armored Saint, Fates Warning and Nevermore. Is it difficult to just
pick up play with different bands like that or is it just a matter of
course for you at this point?
Well, as long as I have a little time to do my homework I can pull it
off no problem. It really does take some focus though, especially when
you’re asked to play an hour set and do it without a single rehearsal,
which was the case with Nevermore. Having been a player for so long
and been in so many different situations helps when it comes time to
do this.
Why do you think Armored Saint never became more
popular than they were back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s?
There are so many reasons and not a single answer to that. We got
caught in between genres of Metal for one thing. Thrash on one side
and Glam on the other. This created confusion within our camp which
led to poor decisions. In the end some of us wanted different things
from the band than others and we had many disagreements. Musically, we
didn’t really begin to become realized until Symbol of Salvation in my
opinion, But by that time we were 10 years into it and pretty tired of
trying to make it work. As history has been told, the Grunge era
killed Metal off for a while in America but we may have had a chance
to continue in Europe. But we couldn’t make it work. |
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What is your favorite Armored Saint album and
why?
Symbol and Revelation. I know that’s two but hey. Symbol because as I
said we finally got to a place where we found some of our own voice
and the record was the closest representation of what we sounded like
live. There’s a lot of sweat and tears in that record and I think it
shows. Revelation because it represents even more what we sound like
live. Tons of attitude in the recording.
How is the music business different for you now
than say twenty years ago?
20 years ago, I was only in one band and barely getting by. Now, I
have to be involved in many different aspects of the business in order
to “get by”. Could be just me but I think that in order to be able to
be a working musician, you have to learn how to wear several hats.
Diversify. Make yourself an asset to someone. Trust me, it’s feast or
famine. But I’m still doing it after 25 years. The business itself has
become much more of a disposable entity than before and because of the
information age, has made for some music fans with really short
attention spans. No one has any time to develop artists or let artists
develop. There are a few exceptions but mostly the business is
concerned with what flavor the kids like this week.
You have written and played with numerous bands
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produced and played live with different acts.
What have you not done in your music career that you would
still like to accomplish?
I’ve done some writing and recording music for a few independent films
and would like to do some more of that. Music for film.
Metal was big in the 1980’s when you were
starting in the music business. Then we all know that metal dropped
off in popularity in the 1990’s. This decade has seen a rise in
popularity and various sub-genres of metal getting more exposure. What
do you see the metal scene being like in say 10-15 years from now?
I’d be really surprised if we will talk about any bands that are
current and that will have careers such as Metallica, Slayer, Tool.
Pick the band you prefer from the following
pairs of bands.
Alice Cooper or KISS
KISS (pre 1980) on Monday, Cooper (pre 1980) on Tuesday
Dio or Ozzy
Dio on Wednesday, Ozzie (1st 2 records) on Thursday
Metallica or Slayer
Metallica on Friday, Slayer on Saturday
Megadeth or Pantera
Both on Sunday
Any regrets in your music career?
None!
www.joeyvera.com
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www.myspace.com/joeyvera |
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