Backstage Pass - Axemaster - Interview

ATP

For the record, who's answering the interview?

AXEMASTER

JOE: I'm Joe Sims, lead guitarist of Axemaster......
Geoff: I'm Geoff McGraw, vocalist and Rhythm Guitar

ATP

What is your band's name? How did you come up with that name?

AXEMASTER

JOE: When I was in high school I recorded a cheap demo on a guy's 4 track cassette recorder of a bunch of songs I had written. I wanted to make my own home made "release" but didn't want it to look like a solo thing, wanted it to look like a band did it, so I had to think of a band name. A couple years before I'd seen a headline on the cover of a hard rock magazine called Circus about Pat Travers that called him "the radioactive axemaster" and always thought that axemaster would be a cool name for a band, so I just went with that for the demo. About a year later when I started putting a band together to play my original stuff, myself and the drummer I went with thought of a bunch of names for the new band, and we couldn't think of any that we liked more than axemaster, so that was became the name and it stuck. By the way, I still have that Circus Magazine cover that I got the name from, I have it laminated and won't let it go for sure!!!!!

ATP

So who's in the band and what instruments do you each play?

AXEMASTER

JOE: Like I said, I'm Joe Sims, lead guitarist. My brothers of the axe are of course Geoff, Denny Archer is our drummer, and Jim Curtis plays bass.

ATP

How would you describe your sound. What makes you unique?

AXEMASTER

JOE: Well, basically the bottom line is that NO BAND is 100% unique or original, everything's been done in music in some fashion by some band somewhere. What you need to do in order to be called "original" in this day and age is to take those things and do them in your own way. That's where I feel we do have an advantage because everyone in this band has their own distinct style. Like when I play and write it's not difficult to know it's me because I've been told that I do have quite a unique sound and feel in my playing which shows through in my writing. That's the way I think we sound somewhat unique, which will show even more on our next album because the writing is now a collaboration of everyone where on our current album "Overture to Madness" I wrote all the music on my own. The other cool thing is that everyone's style meshes together PERFECTLY, like Geoff's voice sounds like it was made to go along with the kind of stuff I normally write. The basic sound of our music is a combination of the dark riffs and feel of doom metal and the agression and energy of thrash, with a little bit of traditional metal and NWOBHM thrown in.
Geoff: I do think Joe's approach to writing music is unique, and I tend a bit in that direction myself, off time counts and non standard patterns. I had a lot of fun writing the lyrics and vocals melodies to go with his music.

ATP

What bands have influenced each of you?

AXEMASTER

JOE: When I was young and just getting started, Kiss and AC/DC were huge influences, but you can really tell that I've branched out since then! Since I started doing this more professionally, it went from bands like those to Dio era Black Sabbath, early Savatage and Metallica, some Iron Maiden and Slayer. There are a BUNCH more bands that have influenced me to some degree and other guitarists like Michael Schenker and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Geoff: I have an eclectic musical taste, but once I found Black Sabbath there was no turning back, as far a the major influences go guitar the big 2 would be Tony Iommi, and I love Scott Ian's rhythm work. Vocally, although I don't have the range they do, Ronnie James Dio and Warrell Dane would be the biggest influences on me...especially lyrically.

ATP

How experienced are you on the stage, a virgin or whore?

AXEMASTER

JOE: Well, I have been playing guitar for over 35 years and been putting out releases for almost 30, man, if I was still ANYWHERE NEAR being a virgin there would be something SERIOUSLY wrong, I would be a metal hermit!!!!! Let's put it this way, I stopped being a virgin in both music and, um, every other way in the same year, and my ass has gotten around a whole hell of a lot in both, so the only way I haven't been a whore either way is that I haven't gotten paid (most of the time HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!)
Geoff: Like Joe I am a cheap whore, lol. I will play pretty much anywhere any time. On top of music I have also some some acting as well as having been a radio air personality/dj. The spotlight is no stranger.

ATP

How would you describe your shows?

AXEMASTER

JOE: We put in a lot of energy and always try to show the fans that we love what we are doing and love sharing the stage with each other. There are no gimmicks, we don't count on major big time stage effects, huge laser light show, or major stage props to put on the show FOR us. We are slowly trying to add different things to enhance the stage look and will continue to do so, but we will always remember that WE are the show, we would never hide behind all that stuff. We rock our asses off and make it clear that we are having a damned good time putting on a show for every one of the fans and always try to connect with them while we're onstage.
Geoff: Bombastic

ATP

Tell us about your favorite show and why?

AXEMASTER

JOE: Damn, that's tough because there are about 4 or 5 that I think of right off the top of my head that I could say would be my favorite. But for this interview, since it was recent and with this band, I would say it was the gig that we played early this last summer with Sebastian Bach. I won't go into MAJOR details, would be way too long. but when I got to the club it really looked like the night was gonna SUCK. There were a lot of fucked up circumstances that made us think that the sound might be all screwed up and that we would be playing way early to where we would not have much of a crowd (among other possible problems). But everyone took it in stride, we figured that no matter what the circumstances were, we were just gonna hit the stage, rock our asses off, have a good time, and not concern ourselves with shit that we couldn't do anything about. As it turned out, we had a really good sized crowd, and even with thee sound problems, the band played better than we have ever played and put on one a hell of a show. The crowd was so totally into it which made it easy to take our energy to the next level. Other than my having such a great time from the moment we hit the stage until the end of the night, I'm really proud of this gig in particular because we could have gotten all pissed at what was happening, got a bad attitude, and ruined the whole night. A lot of bands would have flipped out about what was going on, but everyone acted professional and didn't let the bullshit bother them. I'm proud of the band as a whole for everything about that night!!!!
Geoff: I think the "Night Of Pure Steel" was my favorite, although it was a small club we played with 3 of our Pure Steel Records brother bands. It was great and we all get along well, we all played a cover version of "Metal Gods" and it was a blast....although I would have liked a little warning that we were going to do it....LOL.

ATP

Tell us about your worst show and why?

AXEMASTER

JOE: Yeah, of course there have also been a couple pretty shitty gigs over the years. Basically anyone who has played for even a quarter of as long as I have has had a few of those, and if they say they never have, I call BULLSHIT! Anyway, I'd say the worst gig I was ever a part of was in around 1988 and actually didn't end up being a gig at all! We were playing in a town that I had never been to before but there was still a pretty big crowd and we were power-psyched to play. They announced us and I went to hit my first chord, nothing, no sound. So the other guys stopped while I ran back to my amp to find out what the hell was going on. Yep, the damned thing had blown before I even hit a single note! Then the crowd all started booing and yelling shit which was so messed up because, yeah, that whole thing was our fault, right..... Anyway, back in the old days I had a pretty bad temper so I said fuck everything, threw my guitar on the stage, and walked out of the club. Ended up walking for like 20 minutes, found a bar, and proceeded to get drunk off my ass. I'm just lucky that my girlfriend found me an hour or 2 later because I had NO IDEA where the hell I was hahahahaha! Damn am I glad I have my head straight now and would never do stupid shit like that anymore!!!!!!
Geoff: It wasn't with Axemaster but a band that shall remain nameless, but on top of techinical difficulties and band member broke every cardinal rule of live performance, and bad mouthed the club, crowd and the band while on stage. It all resulted in that members firing and just really really sucked.

ATP

Tell Us About Your Dream Show, who you'd like to play with and where?

AXEMASTER

JOE: My total DREAM show? Well hell, I will go all the way and create MasterFest and it would have to be played in Germany because the German fans have been so incredibly kick ass to me and Axemaster since I/we first became a part of the international scene. It's fucking bizarre to say this, but Axemaster would headline and the supporting bands would include Chastain, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Slayer, and we would have to include a couple of our Pure Steel brothers like Halloween and maybe Wretch or Sunless Sky. The one sad thing when even thinking about a "fantasy show" like this is that I can't include the the great Ronnie James Dio. What a loss his passing was and is!!!!!!
Geoff: Axemaster plays with Black Sabbath, Sanctuary or Nevermore (or both), Anthrax, Picture, Perzonal War, ...Oh good gawd I quit there are soooo many bands i would like to name.

ATP

Do you have a street team and how can you join?

AXEMASTER

JOE: We don't have a street team right now, but it's something we should look into starting in the near future if we can. Right now we do get quite a bit of help from fans/friends with spreading the word about us, but it's not an organized "team" that a person can join. Getting the time to put together and do the initial organization of an OFFICIAL street team isn't gonna be easy though because I always have so much promo work to do that sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in it! If any fans out there might be interested in starting or getting involved with organizing an official team, please get in touch. We can ALWAYS use any assistance from our fans/friends, anything anyone would be willing and able to do is ALWAYS greatly appreciated no matter how small of a thing it may be!

ATP

Do you have a record label and if not are you looking for one?

AXEMASTER

JOE: Well, I think Pure Steel Records has been mentioned a time or 2 here hahaha! They have been great to work with and have always done everything they said they would do, you SURELY can't say that about every record label! Unless something unexpected happens, our next album (and possibly more) will be released by PS.

ATP

What are your plans for the future, in a year, 5 years?

AXEMASTER

JOE: What I can say FOR SURE is that Axemaster will continue to put out new releases and play shows for many years to come. There are a lot of possibilities for both the near and more distant future, and there are several things we want and will try to do, but I don't want to go into details about things that are not yet for sure. What metal fans can be totally sure about is that this band is going to set up and do as many cool things as we can. We are going to keep being as active as possible in everything from shows, to promo, to writing/recording/releasing new material. So to keep up with what's going on with us, keep an eye on our website at www.axemasterofficial.com and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/axemasterofficial. All news will be posted on both! Geoff: Well we just released "Overture To Madness" and by the time this is published we will already be in the midst of recording 6 new tunes, more shows, more madness!

ATP

Finally, do have any words on what Arm The Pit means to you?

AXEMASTER

JOE: Hmmm, I guess my first thought off the top of my head would be that kick ass metal is the ammunition, you arm the pit with that ammunition and the pit explodes! I love arming it with tunes we play live like "Thirty Pieces of Silver" and a new one called "10,000 Pound Hammer" and watch from onstage and feel the energy!!!!!
Geoff: A great community of metal heads! Arming the fans of heavy music world wide with great tunes and keeping the heavy metal community strong, after all the pit is where we go to be one with those who really understand where we are coming from.