LOCHINVAR
LOCHINVAR is a band who released a
great pure melodic hardrock album some time ago titled 'It came
from the 80s'. An album which will please anyone that lieks the
80s sounds of LITA FORD, HEART, VIXEN... The band also released
an experimental pop/rock CD, but happily this was an one-time
only project. Now the band is hard at work on releasing a new CD
filled with melodic hardrock. Time for me to let them share their
story with me. I did the interview with main members Paula, John
and Brett about the past, present and future.
Please tell us about LOCHINVAR?
Paula: The band was founded in 1987 by me, Paula Blade, and
a dude named Steve Rabeler. I named the band after a poem
by Sir Walter Scott, the same writer who wrote Ivanhoe. It
was one of my favorite poems. After Steve left for New
Jersey, I searched for someone who was a great collaborator and
excellent musician. In 1989, I met John Walker, and he was
perfect for the style I was into then, and he was searching for a
great singer and collaborator as well.
John: I had lit out on my own after my previous band broke
up, and recorded 5 songs with a drummer friend of mine without
vocals. I pretty soon realized that I sucked as a lead
singer, so I took the tape and started looking around for a
vocalist/lyricist/songwriter to finish the songs up. I
tried a bunch of people, but nothing clicked until I met
Paula. The fact that she was a woman was a bonus as far as
I was concerned, because it made things sound a little different.
Paula: Musically, we were perfect for each other....
John: But personally, sometimes we drive each other
nuts! I think it's what makes us great collaborators,
there's a little tension between us that makes things
interesting.
Paula: When people have as much passion for music as we did
(still do), it can be pretty volatile! When we get on stage
together now, it's one of the most dynamic things I've ever
experienced, and that has never changed. John left the band
in 1991 due to artistic differences. I stumbled around and
tried to keep going, and I did for a while, but it wasn't the
same without John. There were a few mediocre versions of
Lochinvar playing the Dallas/Fort Worth circuit until 1992, when
I met and fell in love with Bret Blade, guitar
god/poet/Renaissance Man. My idea of the perfect love, and
a great guitarist! We put a real version of Lochinvar out
there in 1992, and soldiered on with original drummer Gregg
Schmidt and a revolving cast of bass players. About the
time we started burning out on things, Bret and I were asked to
join a prog-metal band called Vigl-Annie - we were hired guns
brought in to make the band a sensation, so that's what we
did. That was a great 2 1/2 years where all we had to do
was show up, play, and get treated like rock stars! A
no-brainer! In Lochinvar, we wrote everything, advertised,
promoted, booked, etc., etc., so this was like a fun-filled
vacation. But Bret was having to rework all the guitar
lines to make them sound right, and I was redoing all the lyrics
and melody lines anyway, and we just got tired of it.
John: After I left the band I put a three piece together
called Bad Dog. That fizzled out in '94, so I went back to school
to work on my MBA. In 1995, I somehow got Paula's address
and sent her a Christmas card, just to say hello. We hadn't
spoken in almost 5 years by then. I wasn't even sure if
she'd remember who I was!
Paula: John sent me that Christmas card in 1995, and that
was it. I had missed John and I was dying to see if Bret
and John could mesh musically as well as personally, and they
did. I felt like I was given Christmas! It was a
dream come true for me to play with John again and having Bret by
my side, it was family. It felt right.
Was LOCHINVAR your first band?
Paula: No, it was probably my fourth of fifth band. I
was in a band called Shades of Grey, it was a Fleetwood Mac,
Heart, Jethro Tull type thing. That was the first real band
for me.
Bret: My first band was called SEVEN. We played
progressive heavy metal, half original, half covers.
Kreator, Metal Church, Testament, that type stuff.
John: I was in several bands before Lochinvar, but nothing
particularly memorable. The last one before Lochinvar was
called SnoWhite, it was your basic glam cover band with some
originals thrown in. I think we did one gig.
Your debut CD 'It came from the 80s' is
very 80s based Melodic Rock, which bands inspired you?
Paula: Heart mostly back then. Also Dokken, Warlock,
etc. I listened to everything from classical to downright weird,
I still do.
Bret: Laaz Rockit, LeMans, Ozzy, Savatage, Dokken, etc.
John: Priest, Whitesnake, Blue Murder, Dokken, and Gary
Moore. Throw King's X, Rush, and Kate Bush in there too.
You also released another CD but
that one consisted of experimental 90s poprocksongs, why was
that?
Paula: One of the songs, "The Raven" was the
first song ever written by me. It had a sentimental appeal, and
the metal scene in the states took a nosedive. After John
and I reunited, along with Bret, we all agreed it was time to try
something different. Alternative was hitting hard and
heavy, we needed to try to find our niche again. We love
hard rock and metal, but there was no market here in the states,
and we wanted to see what worked and what didn't, so we put
together Knight Songs. "The Raven" was #2 behind
"Driving Force" at one point, both on the charts and
kicking butt! If you don't experiment and try new things,
you won't grow as a musician. It's funny that "The
Raven" was put in the category of experimental 90's
pop/rock,
the song is 20 years old!
Bret: I feel the same as Paula, people were searching for
something different, so we were.
John: We can do a lot of different things, we've never
suffered for lack of material in this band. Things were
really pretty screwed up in the states, and we didn't see where
we fit in. So we tried something a little off the wall just
to get our bearings. In hindsight it probably wasn't the
best move, but it seemed right at the time, and we learned a
great deal from doing it. Actually, a lot of the reason it
sounds like it does is because at the time, we didn't have a
reliable drummer and we were doing a lot of shows as a trio, just
acoustic guitars and vocals. So we were going with that
sound.
So your next release will be a
return to the melodic rocksound of your great debut...
Paula: Yes, there seems to be a demand for it and it will
be fun to bring metal back.
Bret: Yes, it will be melodic but with a harder edge.
John: We're pretty decent guitarists, I think we want to
show that side of the band a little more this go-round.
What are the plans for the next
coming months? Have you written any new songs, please tell us
about them?
Paula: I'm going to finish my two solo CD's I've been
working on simultaneously. After that's done I'll write
with John and Bret some new material for Lochinvar. Bret
has some ideas he's working on, and John has some ideas, plus we
have finished material that will definitely go on the CD. It's
very melodic but heavy stuff that our fans have come to expect
from us. We'll release the CD in late summer, if everything goes
right.
Bret: My plans are to stay in the studio and write new
stuff for the next CD. We have written some new material
that has a bit of a bite to it. We've grown alot as
musicians in the past few years, and it's going to be great to
get the new stuff out to the people.
John: My wife and I just had a new baby daughter on
February 1, so I've been spending most of my time thinking about
other things besides the band! I have a couple of new tunes
I'm working on which are along heavier lines. Hopefully
we'll be able to bring in some new influences to keep it fresh
for us.
Thanks for the interview and
good luck in the future!
Paula: Thank you Gabor, for the opportunity to talk with
you - you've been very kind!
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