1. Hey, Inertia Island. How is everything going? (just call me Patrick)
Pretty good, considering the current state of the world.
2. I must be honest, every time I read the label “Power Metal” I feel some kind of rejection. Sorry, but that is probably the only subgenre with which I don’t match. I find it too “sweet”(I call it “fru fru”), but when listening to “The Laser Sunrise” I found more Speed and Old School Heavy Metal influences in your music, which got my attention. Why do you label the band style as Heavy/Power Metal?
Honestly, I wouldn't use the term "Power Metal" as my first choice to describe the music. It's really more what I would call "Neo-traditional metal" or "Neo-trad" for short. The term
simply means old school metal combined with new elements - which is more or less what the album is. But that term isn't available on many websites like Bandcamp where they have meta-tags, for example. So I had to kind of go with what tags were available to advertise it - and there are in fact some power metal elements to some of the songs in my opinion - just not in the sense of bands like Dragonforce or anything like that. It's more about a pace, or a certain type of rhythm that has a bit of power metal influence to it. But like you pointed out, the music on "The Laser Sunrise" has more of a traditional heavy metal and thrash sound than anything else. There are other modern elements that I add into the mix of course; keyboards, acoustic guitar, and there are some modern drumming techniques as well.
3. I found Michelle’s voice very similar to Kimberly Goss’s one (Sinergy is probably one of the very few Power Metal bands I like). What are your influences, Michelle?
Michelle's vocals are very much influenced by singers like Sebastian Bach, Geoff Tate, Jani Lane and Lzzy Hale. She also has influences in other styles like Whitney Houston, Charlotte Church, Steve Perry, Robert Plant, Anne Wilson, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Cornell, and David Coverdale. Plus, when it comes to bands she is really into Def Leppard, then Skid Row, Queensryche, Warrant, Disturbed, Megadeth, Soundgarden, pretty much 70s hard rock, 80s rock, early 90s rock and occasionally pop rock, pop music, classical, country.
4. “The Laser Sunrise”, “Skylift”, “Hijacking the Mothership”, “Earth is a Quiet Place”, I must infer there is some kind of flirtation with extraterrestrial topics? What are the band’s lyrics about?
There actually are no songs about extraterrestrials! That might be something for the future........LOL. But I'll give you a brief summery of what some of the songs mean. “Skylift” is basically about the frustration of being stuck in a small town when you're a teenager, and wanting to do anything to get out of it. You get sick of the same boring routine, the same people, the same dull places, and it becomes almost like an everyday battle inside your head. You feel locked into to this mediocrity, or a system that you don't want to be part of. It's about never being satisfied with where you are, and always wishing you were somewhere else. Some of my favorite artists have written songs about this - and I could totally relate to those feelings when I was younger. So I wanted to write about that - because I always connected to those feelings when I was a youth, and still relate to that mentality in some strange way. "Skylift" is simply a word I used to describe an escape, or a way out.
“Hijacking the Mothership” is actually a song about the corruptness of the American school system, and the way our government tries to run and ruin the lives of our teachers. My own mother was a teacher in the school system, so I'm echoing some of her feelings from the stories she's told me about what goes on. The government basically makes teachers out to be the enemy, and they are not supported by their craft or creativity, or their ability ot teach. They are supported by test scores and numbers, and if they meet government standards. It's an unusual title for an anti-government song, but there you have it.
“Earth is a Quiet Place” is about a documentary I saw once called "Life After People" which detailed what earth would be like in the future, when humans finally go extinct. The large majority of songs with lyrics are usually about relationships and people, so I became fascinated with the idea of writing a song, that had no people in it. I was describing what our planet might look like after we're gone - with all of these rusty buildings with vines growing up around them, and rusted cars and vacant highways sinking back into the earth.
5. Your debut was released during the most difficult time the world had to endure because of the pandemic. How difficult was it for the band to promote this first son of yours? What was the response by the part of the media and metalheads?
Well, in terms of promotion - my initial plan was to do a lot, right out of the starting gate. But the thing is - I am also an acoustic guitarist, and that's kind of been my main thing and how I've made some of my income the past 20 years. But a few years ago, I got back into metal again - big time. I grew up playing many different styles, and metal was one of them. I eventually got into acoustic fingerstyle playing - and went down that road for many years. I didn't pick up the electric again until sometime later. It all started with simply putting the strings back on my old Ibanez, and just playing around with some riffs. Then one riff led to another, and then eventually led to some songs and writing lyrics. The next thing I knew, I had an album on my hands - with no drummer and no singer. I originally wanted to do the vocals myself, but I do not sing metal very well - so I found out about Michelle - and she just blew me away from the very beginning. She had the voice I was looking for. And then someone connected me up with the drummer - Lleyton Brainard, who was only sixteen at the time of the recording. He did the drum tracks in about two
weeks. Pretty amazing.
So I had originally planned to promote the album over social media - but with my acoustic work, it's very tough to promote that - AND a metal project at the same time. And the price of advertising has gone up through the roof, so I'm trying to figure out what my next move is. To really get your first metal album off the ground, if you are unsigned - it takes a TON of work, like a fulltime job almost. If metal was all I had to concentrate on, I could probably make it work - but for now, I just have to do the best with what I have.
I have gotten some great feedback from other metal fans, and the response has been very positive. I also had some agency in England contact me, but I wasn't sure how legit they were, so I passed on them. You just have to navigate your way through stuff like that.
6. Have you been working on new material? If you had, is it your near future plans to get in the studio again?
I'm always working on new ideas. The plan for the near future is, record a short EP this next year - maybe three to four songs. That way, it diffuses a lot of the pressure I would normally feel to record a full-length album again. I'm cherry picking some of the best material I have, and I'm going to narrow it down to about three or four songs. I plan to release it as a digital EP - with some digital artwork to go with it, just like this past album. In the future, hopefully we can get more listeners and keep growing an audience - and release another full-length album. For now, I'm just really excited about making new music.
The first album took me almost 4 years to complete, with me writing everything - arranging guitar, keyboard, drums, vocals and lyrics. And a lot of it was in my spare time, although I was working almost full-time on it there at the last. It really took a lot out of me, and after that - I just needed to get away from it for awhile. But I've got some new ideas,
so we'll see how well it turns out.
7. I was checking the band’s Facebook account in order to know a little more about you, but I found very little but some memes and some other stuff. Is humor important for you? In what measure do you think it is good for you as a band and people?
Since we do not perform live - at least for now, then I keep the Facebook page directed towards cool metal news, or memes - and of course advertising the album here and there. Humor can be important if it connects with the audience in the right way. Obviously, my music isn't meant for humor - it's serious music, but as a person it's good to keep things light-hearted - especially during these crazy times.
8. Americans have a kind of tradition which you call “New year resolutions”, are there any of them that you dedicated to the band and music? Can you tell us about them?
In America, “New year resolutions” has kind of grown to be somewhat of a joke, considering that most people do not follow through with them. But if I have a New Years resolution, it would simply be to keep on being creative, and not give up on the musical and promotional side of things. Which is what I've been doing all along anyway, so it's pretty safe to say that I will probably do it!
9. Thank you very much for the time and willingness to answer these questions. Is there anything else you would like to say?
No problem, and thanks so much for taking an interest in Inertia Island - and my music, and lyrics. Thanks for keeping metal alive, and thriving!
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