BALANCE OF POWER

\r\n Balance of Power are a unique melodic – progressive metal band which has been around for enough years to have gained our respect and love. Their latest release Heathen Machine has been a hit in our country and this year they are filling us up on the story so far with a DVD release, which includes, DVD, live album and a compilation of their greatest hits. We discussed with Lionel Hicks, drummer, producer and founding member of Balance of Power about their new singer and their latest release but even more we discussed the Story Of Balance of Power. \r\n

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\r\nMetalzone: Before beginning to talk about Balance of Power, would you like to talk a little bit about your career before them?
\r\nLionel Hicks: Well, a band I was in for a long time in Germany was a band called Lady Luck. We toured extensively around Europe, unfortunately not Greece
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\r\n Metalzone: You haven’t been in Greece, even though this past August you were in Istanbul.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: That’s right we were in Istanbul for the Rock the Nations Festival which is really good cause we’ve never been to Istanbul before. If somebody invites us then we’ll come but so far we’ve never been invited. One day we’ll come to Greece.
\r\nLady Luck was the band I was most dedicated to before Balance Of Power. I toured extensively with them, we were actually in Berlin when the wall came down and that was kind of a memorable occasion for me. And I was in a band called Kid Wicked with Tony Ritchie who is also in Balance of Power, kind of a groove metal band, kind of like Extreme and at those days when Extreme were really popular in the UK. And we kind of jumped on that wagon on being that kind of metal with a groove edge to it. But it didn’t last very long because you know trend change and it was kind of an oldie thing that kind of wore off
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\r\n Metalzone: Well, the eighties are coming back
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Yeah, I hope so. That was the best decade for me.
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\r\n Metalzone: I think it was for metal in general.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: For sure yeah. That’s my roots. I grew up in the eighties, and the music scene was so much happening, such fun. Excellent time. It seems to be a return these days, on sort of traditional metal, not being grunge or alternative which is kind of refreshing actually. For an old boy like me….
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\r\n Metalzone: It’s good in general to go back to the roots and reinvent themselves.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: It’s not obviously nothing really repeats itself; it’s dressed up in a modern style.
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\r\n Metalzone: Tell me a few things about Balance of Power’s line up. There have been many changes in it the latest one being your new singer.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Most of the changes we’ve done are with the vocalists. Originally Tony Ritchie who is our bass player and our main writer, he was the original vocalist but we’ve had some problems with our record company in Japan, when we first got our record deal. We did the album and actually it sold really well but they suggested that we’d be better off with a singer with more of a higher range. Tony was sort of disappointed about this but he sort of took it on the chin and he said he sort of agrees with them, he continued to write for the band but at that stage he wasn’t actually in the band, because we got a new vocalist, but he continued to do the writing. He was man enough to write even after we our new singer Lance King from America and that went really well but then Chris Dale who was our base player, he was committed to his band, he plays with Bruce Dickinson, and also he has his own band called Sad Trick(?) and a tour came up to support Pink Cream 69 in Germany and Chris couldn’t make it so, Tony is a base player as well, it was sort of like a changing point a big turning point in the band. We couldn’t work with Chris Dale because he was too busy, and we said we’ll work with Tony, as he writes all the songs and he joined us on the tour, so well that we stick with that. Chris is still a good friend and everything was fine, he understood that it made sense as well. To this date he’s a good friend. Lance stayed for about three or four albums and we just had a falling out with him because he released our record on his own record label Nightmare Records, which turned out to be a nightmare for us. It was all about record sales and the sort of thing, we should never like mix business within the band. So we had a disagreement on the money level basically and we just couldn’t work with him anymore. It didn’t work out. We had to find a replacement for him which was John K who is actually from Greece. John K was our last singer, and everything was fine with him we thought we’d found the perfect singer but he had his own band called Biomechanical, and he decided to leave Balance of Power, because he just got a record deal for his own band, where he writes all the material, and he wanted to consecrate on that. He decided to leave but it was all kind of mutual. So we needed to find somebody else. We finally did, and we are in the works of our new album. And the replacement is a guy called Corey Brown and he is from the US.
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\r\n Metalzone: Any side projects?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: No, he was before in a band called Magnitude 9, which your listeners might know of. He is a very big talent. He’s got a great voice. He is obviously what Balance of Power demands, strong voice so we are all kind of excited because we are all fresh again. We have got somebody who’s committed.
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\r\n Metalzone: Do you think side projects are bad for a band? Does it steal away part of the creativity of the member of the band?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: To be honest it can be bad. Obviously through the years we’ve had experience of that. It’s hard to concentrate on several things especially musically. You’ve got to tour and write, and be enthusiastic. It can be difficult. But I know people who manage it quite well.
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\r\n Metalzone: It’s all about keeping the Balance
\r\n Lionel Hicks: (Laughs) Yeah, the Balance Of Power. Tony and Pete and I were in a band called United States of Mind that was great because it was mainly Tony’s song ideas and I produced the albums.
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\r\n Metalzone: You produce for Balance of Power as well
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Yeah I’ve produced all the Balance of power albums to date. That’s kind of my main role really. Because it’s a lot more hard work than it is drumming. Because the drumming sort of comes naturally to me, while producing takes a lot of effort.
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\r\nMetalzone: And it’s got a lot more anxiety that the drumming. What genre would you say you represent?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: It’s difficult to say actually cause we kind of fall between different genres. I think progressive, melodic metal would be the best description. We always definitely have strong melodies. We like to marry the two, we like to have some power and some interesting music to listen to but we always concentrate on the main focus is on the song. A lot of people are like us like Dream Theater, but Dream Theater are a lot more technical metal bands. I think that kind of makes us unique in a way. We play a lot of festivals and sometimes if we play in festivals where the bands tend to be heavier people sort of think we don’t fit in, we’re too melodic, and then if we play in an AOR type of Festival they think that we’re too heavy. It’s kind of awkward we don’t fit in
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\r\n Metalzone: Well you fit in our hearts that will do. Tell me, Heathen Machine was your biggest hit up to date.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Do you feel that was because it is your best album up to date?
\r\nYeah I think so. Personally I think so, yeah, we always try to make a better album each time, and obviously that’s what you try to achieve. Every album balance Of Power has done, I always feel it’s the best
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\r\nMetalzone: It takes you a step further
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Exactly, and I was particularly pleased with Heathen Machine because it came out so good cause we had a lot of anger at the time when we were writing it cause we were falling out without singer, and the writers in the band are the same. The singer has never been a part of the writing. Although we’ve lost our singer, and we were writing this album when were falling out without singer, so I think a lot of the album… That’s probably why we called it Heathen Machine cause we were angry about the problems, the money problems, that always get in the way of things, so I think the making of the album had a real message behind it. Anger and frustration was behind it and that’s why I think it was quite strong.
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\r\n Metalzone: Tell me about your DVD that’s out now
\r\n Lionel Hicks: The DVD was our record company’s idea. To shoot a show in Germany, so they shoot the footage from the show for the DVD, and we get so many fan e mail asking to get hold of our first albums and we thought why not put a compilation together as well, some of the best tracks from our previous albums, and it will be something you can get hold of in the market. In that way, not only will you have a DVD and a live album but also you get a compilation. Sort of like a history of the band and then we decided to put an interview and some backstage footage. Triple pack, live audio, compilation and the DVD with all its extras. Very interesting, thing that sort of grew out of nowhere.
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\r\n Metalzone: It feels like a natural consequence and it’s kind of trendy to release a DVD nowadays.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: We thought we sort of turned a full circle with the changes in the line up we had, why not sort of catalogue it, we’ve never done a live album, never done a DVD and we are really pleased with the way it comes out.
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\r\nMetalzone: Do you feel you’ve gotten the recognition you deserve?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: No actually. I don’t know why. Some people think it’s because we don’t have a big record label which is one thing because they can put more money in promotion and so on. But our record label Massacre supports always what we do and that’s not really a problem. I think that one of the reasons is that we are not 100% devoted to this because we all do other things. A band like Dream Theater or Stratovarious they go on the road constantly and it’s their full time job. For us we all do other things. I am a producer and I have a recording studio in the UK and one in the US and I am busy doing that. And the other guys do other things too. Unfortunately with this kind of music you can’t make big money and survive basically. We all love it and we just do our best for it but it’s more of a hobby than a living. So I think that’s why we are not sort of recognized more. It was really exciting to play in Istanbul because we were asked by the promoter out of the blue.
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\r\n Metalzone: What about your upcoming album?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: It is at very early stages we are writing at the moment, we haven’t really designed on the topics but we are very confident that it’s going to be good cause we are all very inspired having a fresh breath in the band brought by our new vocalist.
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\r\n Metalzone: Not any ideas about the themes
\r\n Lionel Hicks: We usually write the first few things and then look at them and see if there’s a theme and work on that. Even when we had the Book Of Secrets which was kind of a concept album for us. It wasn’t a concept album till we’ve written half the songs because of the book we were all reading. I think that’s the best way cause if you sit down and tray to write an album about a theme, from scratch, it’s hard to pick the theme and stick to it.
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\r\n Metalzone: Tell me something we usually ask all artists. How do you feel about the mp3 swapping over the internet? Do you feel abused?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Definitely. I know from the business, specially working as a producer in the recording studio, the hole thing really, is killing music in the long term. Although our best album to date is Heathen Machine, it’s actually sold fewer copies than our first albums. Although more people have it, many have got it for free. It stops us being able to spend more time and effort on an album because we get fewer rewards for it. The people have to pay for the music. There’s no other way of putting it. If they don’t pay and get it all for free, or copy it, or downloaded ultimately it’s like taking money out of the musicians pocket. And then they can’t afford to make a good album and if it carries on like this it will kill music, because musicians won’t get paid, or won’t be able to make an album because everyone will be expecting it for free.
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\r\n Metalzone: There’s an argument on that, that albums are very expensive.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Yeah, that’s true, and what should happen is the record companies, or distributors should cut the price of the records. But of course that never happens they are not gonna go down now. But that’s the realistic way to solve this. To get it a t half the price they are today, and it would still be better because people would buy them. What we get from our web site fan email all the time asking us to send them our lyrics. And I answer to that you got them in the booklet. All the booklets of our cds have the lyrics and they all come back and say well no I haven’t got a booklet because I downloaded it. They are fans of the band but they are not buying the records. It’s a real problem and unless something is done it’s gonna actually kill quality in music.
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\r\n Metalzone: Do you feel the metal scene is in a rising course?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Personally yes I do. Especially on the live shows. It’s hard to see metal rising on sales, but you can see that on the gigs. Much more people coming to see the bands.
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\r\n Metalzone: In that way downloading is kind of like advertising bands and albums…
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Yes, it’s correct but something has to be done to give back some finance to the people who create the music. And that’s the problem issue.
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\r\n Metalzone: Is there an album or another artist that you would like to work with or admire?
\r\nLionel Hicks: Many, anything I listen to and think it’s really good I‘d like to have been involved.
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\r\n Metalzone: What do you listen to?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: I particularly love Evanescence. Kind of a unique album. I love traditional stuff. I grew up with Rush. I love Rush and It would just be a dream come true if I ever had to do anything with Rush. Queensryche are one of my all time favorite bands.
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\r\n Metalzone: I think they are everyone’s do you think they will be able to repeat the success of Operation Mindcrime when they release Operation Mindcrime II in the near future?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: It depends on what it’s like actually. It’s gonna be difficult to repeat the success of the Mindcrime I
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\r\n Metalzone: It’s difficult to repeat any kind of success, in general.
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Always that’s going to be the classic album. For sure. However good the new one is. I am sure that will always be just a classic
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\r\n Metalzone: Where do you see Balance Of Power in the future?
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Hopefully still tuning up albums and doing shows, we’ll probably have to have our zeemer frames with us and wheel chairs because we will be too old. We’ll keep doing it. Like I said, it’s not sort of a business, it’s more of a hobby that we really enjoy, so while we still enjoy it and people enjoy the music I am sure that we’ll find time to do it at some level.
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\r\n Metalzone: A message to Metalzone fans
\r\n Lionel Hicks: Keep supporting bands like ourselves, who are not as popular as others, anyone that listens to Balance of Power and likes it just spread the word actually.
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\r\nHelen "Blackie" Michailidou
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