John K: I had discussions with Earache about the production of the album. I told them that I was looking to work with somebody who has knowledge of good old-school mixing because I’m not really sold on modern productions. They sound too cold and separated. And Cannibalised was going to be totally in the opposite direction; I wanted valve-driven sound this time around and to hear the room on the drums. Chris was excellent to talk with. He made me feel very comfortable when we first talked and agreed pretty much on everything. I realized that most of the things I wanted production-wise were because of what Chris has achieved, so it was a case of letting the man do what he does best!
How was he to work with?
Fantastic. He not only listened to what the band needed direction-wise, but he also made me feel really welcome. It was great working with him. We worked a lot on the album, and I am very grateful for all the hard work he put into it. I have to say he has totally converted me in to a valve-maniac. Can’t beat the valves, man. No amount of digital technology can replace them.
Is it difficult, especially in a live setting, to transition between harsh and melodic vocals?
It’s fine now. But I have to say it took me quite a while to get used to it. I started singing in a Maiden, Priest, Queensryche style and carried on like that for many years. But when I started Biomechanical, I realized that the world had changed vocally. I decided to integrate growls and it did take me a very long time to get used to it. I now feel very comfortable on stage, but as I said it took me a while to get used to it.
You were recently interviewed by Bruce Dickinson on his radio show. How was that experience?
It was incredible. I am a huge Maiden fan. I never had the chance to meet any of them and meeting Bruce was awesome. I went there with our guitarist Chris Van Hayden. Bruce was really cool with the band and he told me about his son and how he is a Biomechanical fan. That was just surreal for me, dude. Here is the guy I grew up with, listening to his music, knowing about my band! That was just awesome. We went on to do the interview and halfway through Bruce said to Chris, ‘So, Chris...I hear you are…were…a pilot?’ and I was like ‘Oh crap!’ They couldn’t stop talking about damn airplanes, dude. It was hilarious. I was pretending to understand.
I had no idea what the hell they were talking about, but I was nodding anyway. After the interview we were hanging around and it was great seeing Bruce’s passion for flying. It’s like it keeps him alive, man. It was also weird hearing Bruce talking about the flight and stage plans for the Powerslave tour. I was a huge fan in the Powerslave era and was great to have this discussion. After things turned more surreal as Chris, Bruce and I walked to the underground. It took me a while to shed the contagious energy the dude had. Awesome stuff.
You’re doing some European dates soon. Do you have any other tour dates scheduled? Any plans of coming to North America?
We are working on a tour as we speak. We wanna come to the US. Will have to see how things go.
How did you get started in music?
I was really interested in playing the keyboards when I was a kid, and started singing when I was about 14 or 15. Musically, I was self-taught until I was 19 or 20. I wanted to get into film music very seriously, so I knew I had to learn everything there is to know about composition, orchestration and instrumentation. I was always interested in these things, but I never had the chance to study them. That was until I met my teacher Themis Roussos in Athens. The guy is a monster of harmony and his teacher was taught by the classical composer Paul Hindemith, so he had masses of knowledge to pass over. That’s something that I was very grateful for. I worked really hard because as I said I wanted (and still want) to get involved in film scoring and the only way to do that is to have a deep knowledge of composition and instrumentation/orchestration. Otherwise you won’t survive the process of film scoring. It’s very hard and very cutthroat.
Was there a song or album that inspired you to want to perform music?
Powerslave made me wanna pursue the dream of being in a metal band
Who are some current artists you admire?
Meshuggah and Strapping Young Lad.
What’s your all time favorite metal album?
Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime. Not a damn weak song on this album. Incredible. It was also orchestrated by Michael Kamen (RIP).
