How
could I introduce Ron Holzner for those rare folks who don’t know
him? His debut was on Trouble’s album “Run to the Light”
(1987), he started Debris Inc. with Saint Vitus’s man Dave Chandler
(2001), he played in doom / thrash band Earthen Grave (2008-2014),
and also in Place of Skulls and Novembers Doom.
Since
2012 his main passion is The Skull, the band that featured 3
ex-Trouble members at the start – Ron himself, singer Eric Wagner
and drummer Jeff Olson. The Skull released their last record, the
self-titled EP about a year ago, and as I heard that they've worked
on new stuff, I’ve used this chance to ask a few questions about
these rumors to Ron.
Hello
Ron! Thank you very much for the time and energy you found for this
interview. How is it in Chicago? Christmas and the cold come hand in
hand, aren’t they?
Yes,
Its very cold here in Chicago…You’d feel Right at home!! HaHa.
Christmas usually is not too bad… Its goes downhill fast
afterwards.
I
can’t avoid this question, and it’s pretty straight. There were
rumors few months ago that The Skull will write material for a new
album, but you spent a really lot of time playing gigs here and there
this year. What is your progress with new release?
Lothar
and I have started the riff writing part months ago, we have a lot of
stuff to go through…. We start up the song writing part next week.
Its like doing a puzzle... going through the pieces and see what fits
together. Once we get a couple songs rollin, we will listen to stuff
Eric, and Rob sent to us to work on. We will send our stuff to them
and see what they can add. Then Eric can start writing words and
melodies. We hope to record late Summer, early Autumn.
“For
Those Which Are Asleep” is brilliant album, but almost 3 years
passed since its release, and The Skull’s lineup changed a bit. So
what can we expect from new The Skull?
The
New Skull?? Ha, the same but different!! Lothar, Eric, and I have
been the heart and soul of the Skull… always have been and always
will. We will just do what we do and have always done. The members
may have changed, but the vision has not. We want to rock, and have
fun doing it with people we want to jam with and want to jam with us.
The new record will definitely be a “Skull” record!
Jeff
Olson left The Skull a couple of years ago. What were the reasons of
his departure?
Oh
Jeffy boy….Ha. Jeff works at a brewery in Maine called Allagash…
he’s got a dream job, making and drinking beer all day AND getting
paid to do it!! The Skull was gonna start touring more and become
more of a working band then we were and then Jeff got a promotion at
work…. So, Jeff chose wisely to stay with the dream job.
Ex-Cathedral
drummer Brian Dixon did accompany The Skull on the European tour in
2016 and Steve Hanford of Mayhem helped you on the USA tour. How did
you solve all these problems when is the time to hit the road?
What
problems?? Ha, you chose the right people for the job and they
prepare like the professionals that they are… We rehearse a couple
times and away we go… easy! Steve was from Poison Idea by the way…
By
the way, didn't you ever think how much of Trouble did you take with
you into The Skull? I guess that most of Trouble's features were
already transferred into “For Those Which Are Asleep” and then in
The Skull EP, but how do you see these differences?
Well….
“For Those Which Are Asleep” had 3/5 Trouble and the EP had 2/5
of Trouble. We are who we are and are the same people (only older and
hopefully wiser), with the same musical background… it is what it
is. You always carry your past into the Future…. you can only
change what influence it will have, but sometimes you cannot!! Ha-ha.
The
Skull – The Longing
How
does your work in studio nowadays differ from the way you recorded
songs in ‘80s? Do you have some personal equipment which you keep
for years? And how often do you update your equipment?
Personally,
I am more involved with all aspects of the music. Eric and I produce
the records. I over see the whole recording process. In Trouble, I
was told to shut up and play the bass.
Musically,
I still play the B.C. Rich Mockingbird I bought in 1980. I have
changed speakers in my amp a couple times….
Some
old bands have a lot of followers today which copy their sound and
the very conception preferring dark topics for their lyrics with
texts of occult, drug abusing or horror movies. I guess that it is
right to say that the lyrics in Trouble and The Skull usually tell
about person having hard times with inner struggle and some spiritual
growing. Why do you think it’s difficult to find such message in
modern doom metal as it seems natural to this music? And what are
your favorite topics in rock / metal songs? Fiction ones or something
more realistic?
Eric
writes the lyrics for the Skull and Trouble…. I personally do not
really listen to lyrics much, never really did…I am a music kinda
guy. Most lyrics are hippy dippy mumble jumble bullshit anyway. I
like good melodies over dark music. Geezer did write some good lyrics
in Sabbath.
This
year The Skull played a lot both in States and Europe, how does it
feel today to be in such demanded band?
We
were busy, weren’t we.. Ha-ha. The Hard work and dedication really
paid off. It feels great!! Really rewarding!
Don't
you think that the real recognition came a bit late for the genre and
it's bands?
I
don’t know…. I just am very happy that this kid from Chicago is
still writing music and playing around the world to people digging
what I am doing1! I truly am blessed!
How
could you compare your work on your first album with Trouble “Run
to the Light” and for example The Skull's “For Those Which Are
Asleep”?
Wow,..
uh. I know a hell of a lot more now then I did back then. I know the
value of well placed notes , and holding back and not over playing
ha-ha.
So
was it difficult to go into the studio for the first time with
Trouble when you worked over “Run to the Light”?
Absolutely!
I was in the band for like a week... we had to break into the
rehearsal place (they locked it because we didn’t have the cash to
pay that month). I jammed with Dennis (the drummer) 2 times. Never
jammed with the whole band prior to recording the record… It was a
trip.
Trouble’s
self-titled album which you recorded in 1990 seems to be a kind of
core album in band’s discography. How do you value this material
today?
It’s
a masterpiece! I really enjoy playing the songs from this record. We
prefer to play the older songs in The Skull because they fit better
in what we are doing…, but we always throw a couple off this record
in the set. We are talking about doing a couple different ones on the
next tour.
You
recorded “Trouble” with Ric Rubin, how do you think – how much
of his part in the success of the album?
His
part was HUGE! He tore the shit out of all our songs and we had
(Bruce actually) had to rewrite the whole fuckin record. We learned
how to arrange songs better and how to write a heavy good song. We
learned Producing and new recording techniques.…
What
do you remember the most from that record-session?
Ha,
going to San Francisco and seeing Angle Witch and partying with
Metallica… Ha, actually, that was before we recorded. We recorded
the basic tracks in the famous Sun City studios in LA…. A wonderful
religious experience!!
Ron,
I'd like to ask you about “Manic Frustration” and “Plastic
Green Head” albums. The band recorded both in times when grunge and
modern metal stuff slowly started to bury the traditional metal
scene. How did you work over these albums? Did you take in account
the situation in music underground on that moment?
Trouble
and The Skull never really paid much attention to what was the latest
trend of music going on out there…. We listened to Priest,
Sabbath, Scorpions, Alice Cooper… stuff like that going up….They
are and always will be our influences… Maybe like, 20% of our
stuff inadvertently gets affected by what’s going on around us.
You’re
saying about influences of environment on 20% of material you wrote
as the band. Did the energy, the feelings you put in Trouble differed
from album to album?
Life
changes year to year and so do people and their experiences…Well
people really don’t change. Everyone is effected by what’s going
on around them….More bullshit that you have to deal with in life.
What
do you see as Trouble’s biggest attainment on the“Manic
Frustration” album?
We
didn’t break up doing the record, ha-ha…. ugh, well. The pressure
from the label and management was getting greater to write a radio
song… Its hard to get the right mix of heaviness ( witch this
record did not have) and radio friendly. It was starting to get more
psychedelic hippy fuckin heavy rock. We rocked it as best as we
could. Most of the songs are really good.
“Plastic
Green Head” was the last album you recorded with Trouble; do you
have some special memories about it? What are most memorable facts
about this record you could share?
I
fuckin hated it. I really did not like the direction the band was
going in… I’m glad all the lighter fluffy songs did not make it
to the record. There are a few good ones on it. It was a bad time
really…..
What
was most difficult part of being in Trouble? And what was most
rewarding experience of being in the band?
I’ll
put it like this…. Being from the band Trouble was much better than
being in the band Trouble. That’s all I can say.
12
years ago you had Debris Inc. project with Dave Chandler himself, did
you ever think to return to this collaboration?
Oh
hell No!! Ha-ha! The whole idea was to get Dave out of retirement and
playing the guitar again and doing St. Vitus like he should. Job
done!
Look,
there are three big influential doom bands in States: Trouble, Vitus
and Pentagram. You spent a damned lot of time in the first one, you
did record the album with Dave of Vitus. And you were in Victor
Griffin's Place of Skulls for a brief period. What do inspire you to
put your efforts and time so actively in developing this form of
music?
Ha,
I also played on Victor’s En-Graved record…. The Doom Metal
community is a family and the musicians are brothers. We all know
each other and frequently interact.
Ron,
why did you disband Earthen Grave? The band was pretty fresh and
successful, it would be cool to have few more records under this
name.
Our
guitar player, my partner, and the heart and soul of Eathern Grave,
Jason Muxlow quit and up and moved to Texas…. end of band. We have
talked about doing another record recently…, so lets see what
happens.
You
did sing in Earthen Grave and Debris Inc., don’t you want to return
to vocalist’s duties in another project or your occupation with
bass in The Skull is enough for today?
Ha,
What I did really wasn’t singing….I’ll stick to my day job!!
Backup vocals once in awhile is all I really need to do.
Ron,
you're in business since 1986, how does it make you feel? How does
your vision of this music... how does the concept of doom change from
your point of view?
The
thing is… In Trouble, we did not call what we were doing “Doom”,
neither did Pentagram or Vitus. We played heavy rock, or in Vitus
case… Slow Punk… Ha-ha. What we were doing eventually was called
“Doom”. We have always wanted to play the Heaviest music that we
can, and we will continue to do that. If it is Doom that we are
playing, then we will play it heavier, nastier, and better than
anyone else!!!
Words by Aleks Evdokimov and Ron Holzner
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