White Wizzard Exclusive Interview w/ Erik Kleiber

by Adam Warner – 2009

 

Hey Eric, how are you doing?
We’re just hanging out in New York City.

How did you guys come together?
Well I was the last guy to join the band and I found out about them through Craigslist. I was really impressed with the band and when I saw their video on their myspace page it really drew me in. So it’s been a couple months and being a fan of the band and now teaching their songs to my students. I looked at where my life was and I thought that I should really go for this. And I thought that by that point they would have found somebody but as fate would have it they didn’t and so I did a YouTube audition and then flew out to do a live audition… *yells* Hey Wyatt, Jon found you right? Through the internet? *Wyatt responds* Yeah. Jon was doing some searches for singers and found him that way. He knew of a guy in a band at the time called something like November 88, and Wyatt was in a band just called November so [Jon] found out about [Wyatt] by chance; and it worked out. Wyatt recorded some songs with him in December, a couple months before I came into the picture. And Jesse is our drummer and Chad is the guitar player and they’ve both been living in the LA area for a couple of years.

So where did the name White Wizzard actually come from?
Well I heard Jon talk about that after I came into the picture and I don’t think that there is some grand story about it, I think it’s just that the name sounded good and it was a diplomatic decision at the time. There’s obviously a lot of classic metal references in White Wizzard just referring to Gandolf or any of the wizards from fantasy stories.

So are any of you actually into Dungeons and Dragons or World of Warcraft or any of those games?
Not so much World of Warcraft but Dungeons and Dragons… all of us played Dungeons and Dragons as kids growing up.

But do you still do it?
No, I do Mafia Wars on Facebook.

You had mentioned earlier your students, are you still teaching or is that on the back-burner?
Oh absolutely. On Sept 12th I start at the Guitar Center Studios in Woodland Hills, CA and I’m very happy about that.

So are your shredding skills self-taught or were you schooled?
I went to the Atlanta Institute of Music, so I’m not that cool. I don’t get to have the story of ‘I taught myself… it came from the Gods’ yeah no, I took lessons and I’m thankful for it.

White Wizzard is known more for its traditional, old school metal feel. What do you guys categorize your style as?
Well I think traditional metal is a great label of the music itself. I think with the new album, to me personally I think it’s a bit of a detachment from the first EP. These guys recorded some new music a few weeks ago and to me it’s a bit more raw. I don’t know what the new album is going to be called yet, but it has a rawer feel, like Di’Anno era Iron Maiden. In my opinion the first two [Iron Maiden] albums had a little bit more of a raw feel and I think there’s going to be a similar change in the sound when this new album comes in which should be early 2010.

How was recording on that?
It was really fast; we didn’t have too much time, we had to crank it out. Most of Jesse’s drum tracks were first or second takes, I mean literally [Jesse] recorded it in like 4 hours. It was really fast and we didn’t use a Click Track which gave us a little bit of a different touch. Once again I think it gives it a little bit or a more classic sound to it rather than having… you know how nowadays everything is copied and pasted ProTools this and that, so this gives it more of a real feel. It made doing the guitars a little more difficult. It was really fast, very true, very organic, I know it’s a cheesy cliché word but it really was. I think it sounds great and they’re going to finish up the vocals in a week. They’ve been working on the vocals in secret, I haven’t even heard the vocals myself.

Uh-oh!
Yeah, we had to put this together really fast. When we first came out, the first month or two was just learning the set and getting that down and playing some shows, some sporadic shows here or there; get the live package together. And then all of a sudden it was like ‘ok guys, you’re going to be in the studio in a month and a half’ and Jon already had the songs written. [Jon] presented them to the band and we made slight alterations, I have never been in such a high pressure situation as far as writing goes. But at the end of it all, it turned out amazing; better than I thought it would. I also wanted to add that Ralph Patlan [Producer] helped out a lot. He didn’t get a chance to produce in the sense that he didn’t get a chance to help write the songs or re-structure anything. What he did for me personally, cuz I had to do all the guitars in three days for three 12 hour days and so much material he just really helped me to stay focused and deliver the best performance that I could.

Are there any tracks that may surprise the White Wizzard fans? There aren’t any power ballads on there, is there?
Absolutely not! No power ballads allowed!

Sometimes bands like to throw in the little curve ball and make the fans raise an eye brow.
I think we’ll save that for album number 3. I will say though that I think it has a different feel, we’re are a new band and so that’s going to happen anyway. Everyone approaches from their own way, from picking to how Jesse drums and etcetera. Just wait till you get the album and you’ll see what I’m talking about. But it still keeps with Jon’s vision of what White Wizzard is in the traditional metal tuned 440, standard tuning.

Tonight you guys are doing a pretty amazing show and you’ll be sharing the stage with the legendary Ross the Boss. How excited are you guys for that show?
We’re absolutely stoked! I’m still trying to wake up, I took like a 2 hour nap when we got here [Brooklyn, NY]. I just got up off the floor from sleeping, drank a few coffees, did a few interviews and then do the sound check. I’m interested to what type of gear we’re going to be playing on. We’re just going to go out and kick some ass. I’ve never been to New York City either so it’s a lot of firsts all wrapped up into one.

Do you have any sight-seeing planned?
Well we thought we were going to get back on Sunday, but now it’s looking more like Monday. So Sunday will probably be the day for that.

So especially for tonight, there are some fans who may not have heard of White Wizzard before, what can people expect from your live show?
I think it’s going to be a short set that is straight to the point. It’ll be high intensity, it should be entertaining and the energy should be up. Hopefully people will be pumping their fists and banging their heads.

So is there any kind of full blown tour on the horizon for you guys?
I sure as hell hope so.

So nothing formal yet.
Nope, nothing formal. There’s some talk of 2010, doing a European tour but they’re all rumors. I’m the type of guy that talk is cheap; but it really should be the next step. Not to put too much pressure on it but I think that tonight is an incredibly important night and that Earache is going to be judging us severely tonight so we better kick some ass.

Speaking of Earache, how did you guys get affiliated with them?
When they recorded the album [High Speed GTO mini album] and they did the video it gained a good amount of underground buzz; people really noticed it. Have you seen the video for GTO?

I have, that’s probably one of the more over-the-top, amusing video’s I think I have ever seen.
I thought so as well. I remember being drawn into it, the story and I love the effects. I’m so used to videos being about a band just standing in front of a warehouse, a hard cold environment… it’s boring! Between the demo and the video they just created an underground buzz. The timing was perfect and Earache came along. It was a lot of luck that they actually got discovered; it doesn’t happen to many bands.

I think the big thing too is White Wizzard is bringing back the genre that has almost been, I don’t wanna say forgotten, maybe overlooked.
No, it’s been purposely snuffed out. A lot of people still don’t understand this type of music but I think the whole environment has been over-saturated with extreme metal bands. I love extreme metal bands but like I said it’s over-saturated. People are finally ready for a different outlet and this is an outlet that has been shunned for the past 10 years at least. It’s time for it to come back and also let’s not forget the games Rock Band and Guitar Hero, the kids love to play the traditional metal bands; those are the bands who made the biggest impact. It’s proof that there is a market for it too.

That’s just it; the big thing with traditional metal is like we were saying it’s all about the storylines. I mean look at Iron Maiden, there is no bigger metal storytellers than Iron Maiden. It’s not just a song start to finish and spew out the normal stuff, it’s truly listening to the stories and where’s the adventure going to go.
It has an uplifting element to it as well rather than having a dark depressing theme that it’s the end of the world. A lot of traditional metal heads are all about overcoming challenges; which people get into and it’s inspiring. But fantasy book are really cool too!

And it’s good to have that change of pace in your music too, you don’t want angry music 24/7. Listen to some good party metal too!
Yeah, like I said when we play live we plan to give an upbeat energy to it. So it pumps you up, it fires you up; I mean hopefully it’ll make you bang your head and raise a fist. There are some kick ass riffs in this stuff too; more than enough stuff to bang your head to.

So in closing, have you guys had any transvestite hooker adventures lately?
No transvestite hooker adventures lately, they’re all over the place in Hollywood though. After we play some more shows, I’ll let you know how the transvestite hooker regime has been going.

We’ll have to do a follow up and see how that growth is coming along.
Yeah, we’ll do a video blog and give some visual evidence as well.

Oh I’m sure people would love to watch that!
*laughs* It’s just another way to make some money on the side.

Aright Erik, have a kick ass show tonight and we look forward to having you guys in Minneapolis!
Absolutely Adam, talk to you later!