June 24, 2005

Telephone Interview

Shadow Gallery just released their latest album, Room V on June 7, 2005 from Inside Out Music.  Barbara had a nice telephone chat with Mike to find out a little more about Shadow Gallery and this incredible new concept album, Room V!

Barbara: For our readers that don't know about Shadow Gallery, can you give us some background info on the band, please?

Mike: We’re from Pennsylvania, eastern Pennsylvania we all live around the area of Philadelphia. We’ve been together for 13 years, probably a little longer but we’ve been making CDs since 1992.

Barbara: When this all first started in the early 80's you were in a band called "Sorcerer" which did cover tunes.  How did "Sorcerer" become Shadow Gallery?

Mike: We started “Sorcerer” about 1983, ’84 around there. Carl Cadden-James and I were in the band with Ron Evans and a few other guys. It was basically Ron Evans’ band and we played in clubs, we played out many gigs up until about like ’86. At that time we decided to record some demos and try to get a recording contract. We sent some demos out and got an offer from Magna Carta records, which was a more progressive label. They liked our one song where we had a flute in, it was a softer part of the song. They asked us if we could be more progressive so we started to write some different songs and basically Ron didn’t want to go in that direction and the rest of us did so we parted ways and we formed the band Shadow Gallery. At that time Brendt moved from Texas up to Pennsylvania and he joined the band and Chris Ingles was kind of around, here and there. So those were the four original guys.

Barbara: Room V was just released on June 7, can you tell us a little about this album?  How did the whole concept come about?

Mike: Well it’s a continuation of our album from 1998, Tyranny. Some time has passed and we got a new label over the past couple years here, we’re on Inside Out. We were originally going to write 3 new songs for our new album that were kind of a continuation of that story that we started on Tyranny. Different things happened here and there and we decided to make the whole album a continuation of Tyranny which is basically 8 hours after Tyranny leaves off, that’s where Room V begins and that’s basically the continuation of the main characters in that story.

Barbara: That’s interesting! How does it differ from your previous releases?

Mike: Well Chris Ingles wasn’t present on this recording and he was one of the original members like I said. He helped co-write some songs with Brendt Allman and he just had some prior commitments. He wasn’t available for the recording of this album, so that was different. Other than that not really too much. We actually experimented more with our previous album, which was Legacy. But this one we kinda went back to the roots of Shadow Gallery. Legacy was much more experimental, Room V is definitely back to our style.

Barbara: What was the production time for Room V?

Mike: Carl basically came up with the whole story. So I can’t really tell you exactly the timetable that he had. Like I said we had 3 songs that were originally just like a little trilogy that was gonna be on our new album. He might have had these things rolling around in his head since 1998, subconsciously I’m not sure. As far as how long it took us to make the album I would say about 5 months.

Barbara: Okay. Shadow Gallery has been around since the 80's and I can definitely hear the influence of that decade come through in the music.  What would you say is the biggest influence in your music now verses back when it all began?

Mike: Well we all have different influences. I don’t think as a band we let one influence overpower the many that we have. Basically each guy is so diverse with their influences, what they grew up listening to. But then we all have certain bands that we all like. I’d say Queen, Kansas, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd.

Barbara: All the stuff I grew up on.

Mike: Yeah, there ya go. I think we kinda followed that. I mean we don’t sit down and say let’s write a song like Pink Floyd or let’s write a song like Iron Maiden. Once in a while those little influences kinda pop out ya know.

Barbara: Yeah. Well what was the first concert you ever attended?

Mike: It was Rush, Styx, and Moxy at the Agricultural Hall here in Allentown.

Barbara: I know you sing for Shadow Gallery, but do you play any instruments?

Mike: When I first started out in high school I played bass for a couple years *laughs* when I blew my amp one day and the guys asked me to sing, I used to try to sing and play bass at the same time which was almost impossible for me, I don’t know how people do it.

Barbara: Yeah, I’m not that coordinated *laughs*

Mike: *laughs* I’m usually pretty coordinated but when it comes to that I’m not. I just ended up selling the bass and became a full time singer.

Barbara: It's hard to survive in the music industry, especially nowadays.  Shadow Gallery has been around for about 20 years, which is a huge accomplishment.  What do you feel keeps the band pluggin' along?

Mike: Well we do it first and foremost for the love of doing it. It’s for the art the style, it’s a labor of love. We all have regular jobs, we take our time making albums it really just comes from the heart. It’s almost like our hobby but we’re very serious so I guess you can’t say it’s a hobby. It’s more than music, I don’t know how long you’ve known of us but some interviews we’ve been doing people are just being exposed to the band so that’s a nice thing. It’s always nice to talk to people that know our history as well.

Barbara: Absolutely! You signed onto Inside Out Records back in November of 2004.  How is everything working out with the new label?

Mike: Oh it’s going great. They’ve been really super. We decided to go with them because they had a great reputation to begin with. We’ve known certain guys that are in the bands signed to their label including Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon. He told us a lot of good things about them and that’s who we eventually settled on. They’ve been really great. They definitely helped our band reach out a lot further. Much better promotion here and in Europe.

Barbara: That’s great.

Mike: Things have been going great for us. We’re really pleased.

Barbara: Good. From Room V, what songs would you say are the highlight of the CD?

Mike: I like the song “Torn”, that was the first one I sang for the album. And I like the song “Seven Years” because we had Arjen Lucassen guest star on it *laughs* He’s a really good friend of ours. Gary and I have both guest starred on his albums and we had him return the favor and he did a great solo, very inspired.

Barbara: Cool, for people who never have heard Shadow Gallery, how would you describe your music to them?

Mike: Oh boy *laughs* I’d say maybe a little bit of everything. I don’t like genres, like to be put in a category but I guess you would have to say it’s very progressive music with a classical edge.

Barbara: Describe each member of the band, including yourself in one word.

Mike: Oh boy, I need 10 minutes to think about that *laughs* Let’s see, Carl I would say hyper. Gary – determined. Brendt – Outthere is not really a word *laughs*

Barbara: *laughs* that works.

Mike: Joe I’d say solid. Me I’d say humble *laughs*

Barbara: That’s a good thing to be! If you were to be stranded on a deserted island for 1 year, and you could only bring 1 Shadow Gallery CD with you, which one would you choose and why?

Mike: I’d probably take the new one, Room V because I’m probably sick of hearing all the other ones.

Barbara: *laughs* Yeah you don’t want to be sick of it before you get there.

Mike: The other ones we’ve had for years now. It’s always nice to come out with a new product and up to this point I really haven’t been sick of Room V but it’s starting to get to that point a little bit.

Barbara: Of course you want to sell your latest CD, Room V. Let's hear your best selling pitch.

Mike: This might go against my humble answer *laughs*

Barbara: *laughs* Well you go for it!

Mike: Room V is…it’s really good, it was a lot of hard work. Every Shadow Gallery is a labor of love and we put our heart, our soul, sweat, blood, tears into it and we give it everything we’ve got for every CD. So I’d say buy it because of that. You won’t be disappointed if you give it a chance!

Barbara: There ya go! The internet has been playing a huge role in the music business.  How many members of the band are computer savvy?

Mike: Computer geeks? *laughs* I think everyone, I’m not sure about Joe, Joe is the one I know the smallest amount about because he’s from New Jersey and basically just our drummer. Everyone else yeah, they’re all computer guys. I’m probably the least out of the 4 main guys. We’re really hands on.

Barbara: Out of the bands around today, who is your favorite or favorites?

Mike: Alice Cooper is my main guy, always was, always will be. More recent bands I like Rammstein, System of a Down, some of the heavier newer bands like that. But yeah, Alice Cooper is my main guy.

Barbara: I saw Alice Cooper, I won’t tell you how long ago it was.

Mike: *laughs* Hey I’m not so young either, I won’t ask you, I’m no spring chicken.

Barbara: *laughs* It was like walking into a horror show, we were like 3 rows from the stage. I have to say that was one of the most incredible shows I had ever been to.

Mike: It was probably 1970 when my brother first turned me on to him. He’s putting out a new album just in a couple weeks so I’m really looking forward to that. Still going strong!

Barbara: Yeah he is! He’s awesome. Away from music, what are your favorite things to do?

Mike: Well I love to collect music, I love movies, I love collecting DVDs, stereo equipment but that all has to do with music. I like to camp, I like to cook, I like to stargaze, things like that. Video games once in a while my brother keeps me on my toes on that.

Barbara: Ok, last thing, message to your fans.

Mike: Well we thank everyone for the support throughout the years! We hope to meet everyone on a personal basis one day and spread the word!

Barbara: Ok, thank you for talking to us!

This interview was fun for me because so much of Mike's musical influences were bands I grew up on, it was like talking to an old friend. Best of luck guys!