INTERVIEWS.

On the 25th of March, we completed an interview with the FULL STRENGTH webzine. We've posted the interview in full here for you to check out. If you'd like to see the interview in all it's glory, click the site's name above or just read the interview below....

1. For those unfamiliar with OTHERWORLD could you please tell them a little about the band?

STEVE ANDERSON, Bass : OTHERWORLD are a melodic heavy rock band, formed a couple of years back in Adelaide, South Australia. Without sounding like any band in particular, Otherworld's style leans more towards the traditional hard/heavy rock sounds of the 70's and 80's. Our main musical love's stem from the more traditional metal and hard rock styles and I felt a calling to have a go at it with band that suited more this style. I contacted Darren again who I had remained very good mates with (since primary school actually) and who was then working on solo material. He had released a solo EP named "Under A Watchful Eye" to good feedback and I asked him if he wanted to participate in a band structure again. He said yes so we set about creating OTHERWORLD. We recruited a mate of ours , Bob McHutton to fill the drum stool and set about searching for lead vocalists. We were looking for a vocalist that fitted the more trad style of metal/hard rock and due to the current style of bands doing the rounds this proved to be a very long and arduous task. After holding numerous auditions we eventually came across vocalist Ken Sinclair. During the whole waiting period we'd amassed virtually a set of material and when we got Kenny we set about fine tuning these so we could start playing live. After about a year or so of gigging we'd decided on about 12 or so songs that we wanted to record. We whittled this list down to 10, decided on a studio and set about recording "Monument To The End Of Time". This period turned into a total nightmare for the band, as we'd been convinced by the guy who's studio it was that he really had his shit together and it would be a smooth operation which we quickly found out was not the case. From start to finish the process took close on a year to finish and by this time we were mighty frustrated with the band even coming close to taking legal action. By the end of it all though we were relatively happy with the recording, although we look forward to having the opportunity to do another one as we feel we could achieve more. We've had songs featured on the KNAC website, MP3.com, MP3.com.au and the Melodic Rock.com website as well as airplay on JJJ and Adelaide's 3D radio. We set about promoting the CD over the net and sending it off to as many places as possible and continued to play more gigs. After our 20th show though, which was ironically our CD launch Ken decided to leave the band and we are currently looking for a new vocalist.

BOB HUTTON, Drums: Music that is heavy but with plenty of melody. I doubt anyone in Australia is doing what where doing at the moment.

2. Your debut album "A Monument To The End Of Time" has received pretty good reviews, are you happy with the feedback you have been receiving?

SA : I'd say we are very happy with the feedback we've been receiving from the metal/hard rock press and websites and such. We've had mixed reviews from people with more mainstream radio orientated musical interests but we are essentially metalheads so we really only pay attention to the viewpoints from people with interests in that style of music. One thing that has surprised me in a way is that our style isn't really considered "cutting edge" in today's climate yet the CD has been accepted rather favourably and not really been considered "dated" which is positive and gives us hope that general hard rock/ trad metal could be on it's way back.

BH: You can never have enough reviews or promotion good or bad when you're a band like us as we know we're pushing shit up a mountain so getting help from guys like you (FULL STRENGTH) is great.

3. Pretty recently lead vocalist Ken Sinclair left the band, how is the search going for a replacement and did Ken leave the band on good terms?

SA : When Kenny first joined the band he was really the first guy to come along that we felt could actually sing and hold a note and as there hadn't been much promise at all from any of the other auditions we snapped him up. Ken comes from more of a blues/party rock band background and while he did profess to listening to the music we were influenced by, we always felt he didn't quite grasp where we were coming from. He bought some material to the band that was slightly different from where we were coming from but we liked some of his material including a couple songs in our live set and recording "Two Worlds Collide" on the CD which was just about entirely his song. He also contributed nearly 50% of the lyrics on the CD. However as we didn't do every song he bought to the band, we felt he was beginning to feel as though we didn't like his stuff which wasn't the case. We just didn't feel it was suited to the direction from where we wanted to come from. After the CD launch at the end of last year we decided we really wanted to take the next step and really 'up' the professionalism of the band. We held a band meeting where evryone agreed to really knuckle down and try and rid the band of any negative influences that would stand in our way of trying to achieve this. We definetely didn't want to take the fun aspect out of things but I think Kenny saw it as undue pressure and decided to leave the band. Kenny is a great guy and really fun to be around and we wish him all the best, but we look at this as being our last real stab at an original band and will take any measures needed to move forward and maybe we wanted to get more serious than what he was really after. We are currently in the search for a new vocalist but if the process is anything like what it took to find Ken we are in for a arduous task although now we are starting to build a bit of momentum and get a few good reviews we are hoping it will be easier to sway someone our way.

BH: A very diplomatic answer Mr. Anderson!

4. Whats your opinion on the current Australian hard rock and metal scene?

SA : I think the Aussie scene has a few bands that can really hold their own against whats going on overseas. Personally I quite like Melbourne's Vanishing Point who I saw support Malmsteen in Melbourne and Perth's Black Steel for bands that are sort of in our vein.

DARREN WILSON, Guitars : We would like to play in some of the Eastern States cities as Adelaide has a non-existent hard rock scene.

BH: Coming from Adelaide, the heavy rock scene is crap! I just bought the first Vanishing Point cd because of the Malmsteen gig and I also like Pegazus.

5. What bands have had a major influence on Otherworld?

SA : For me it was Kiss, Maiden, Priest and more recently Dreamtheater. On a personal level it was Gene Simmons, Steve Harris and Billy Sheehan.

DW : KISS, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, Van Halen, all the great guitarists.

BH: I'm the old fart in the band so my fave's are Sabbath, Lizzy, Priest, Purple, Queen etc., and of later stuff I'm into Fates Warning, Savatage, oh the list is endless.

6. What do you hope to accomplish with Otherworld?

SA : Like probably every band out there we'd like to get signed to a label and be able to tour, as well as play our part in getting this style of music back up there where it belongs. At the moment though the more trad style of stuff has taken a bit of a back seat to the "Nu-metal" stuff, so we'd be very happy to at least get some level of distribution for "Monument...".

DW : To continue to release our music through a label or distributor overseas. We already have almost a full length CD of material. To take it from there and hope we get the chance to take it another step, with a tour.

BH: I would be more than happy to tour the world for bugger all if the chance came along.

7. What cd/s are currently in your cd player/s?

SA : In mine would be Dreamtheater's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" and still "Metropolis II : Scenes from a Memory".

DW : I've just listened to the new Dream Theater cd. I don't listen to a lot of new stuff.

BH: I love Bruce Dickinson's last two releases and Balance of Power who deserve bigger things.

8. Whats next for Otherworld?

SA : Hopefully we'll recruit a kick arse vocalist/frontman and get back gigging and record the stuff we'd been working on before Ken's departure as I feel it's a lot stronger and more of a progression to what we have done on "Monument...". Plus we'd like to head interstate for some shows and hopefully secure a support slot on an international bands Aussie tour.

DW : Probably not too much if we can't find a vocalist. Everything hinges on finding a frontman.

BH: Let's hope the music god's give us what we need.

9. Thanks for the interview and all the best for the future!

SA : Thank you Matt and keep up the good work with the website....very informative and up to the minute! Great stuff....Also please feel free to check out our website at: http://otherworldrocks.tripod.com