VMU: Hey guy how are you?
KJ: Doing really well, thank you.
VMU: Where are you from and who is the current line up?
KJ: I was born in Denver and have moved around/lived all over the U.S. I live in Seattle, WA (again) currently and I'm beyond happy about it. As for the current line up, there isn't one just yet. I'm scouting the musicians here to see who I can come up with for the upcoming tour and some of the recording as well.
VMU: How many releases have you put out and who produced?
KJ: As The Witching Hour, there have been two publicly released CD's, "Angels in Shadowed Blue" and the live recording from Red Rocks called "Crimson Glory Symphonies". I produced both of those and I'm producing the future release titled "After the Haunting Silence".
VMU: Were the recordings done digital or analog? (if comps what programs)
KJ: Both "Angels..." and "Crimson..." were all digitally recorded. The one that I'm trying to finish now ("After the Haunting...") is a combination of analog and digital.
VMU: How did the project form?
KJ: It was a creation from my big mouth, actually (hahaha). I had written songs on my own for my own entertainment for a few years prior but in 1994 while drumming with a band on their demo, they realized that they were short a song for it and I opened my mouth saying "I have a song I can give you". In reality I didn't but that night I came up with the song "Shocking". They liked it a lot and recorded it for the demo but never performed it live so I took it back and The Witching Hour was pretty much born from it.
VMU: Do you prefer live or studio recording?
KJ: It varies. Right now I'm so into the studio part 'cause I'm knee deep in the middle of it. But I'm sure in the next month or so I'll be so anxious to perform. Then after a while of doing that I'll be thinking of recording again. I can't nail down a permanent preference though.
VMU: Who all took part in the recordings for The Witching Hour?
KJ: Well, that depends on which CD you're asking about. For both there is quite a list of talented people and it could take up a ton of room to list. "Crimson..." had the same group of people on all of the songs except for the bonus track.
VMU: What was it like working with Celldweller?
KJ: It was great as I was a Circle of Dust fan and to find myself in the studio with Klay... It was more of dealing with being star struck early on. After that, it was a recording session, plain and simple, so that was my focus the rest of the time. I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity to do it. It was the same thing as when I worked with George Clinton too. Both were blessings.
VMU: You also recorded their 1st release with them right?
KJ: As far as I know they only have one release really. There's a 2-CD remix release but past that there's just the self titled release. You might want to ask Klayton about that though. I just drummed on a few songs.
VMU: Were all the drums on that CD real or digital?
KJ: This is a Celldweller question again. I don't know the particulars outside of what I recorded. I hear my tracks, I hear some drumming that Klayton did, I hear some programmed drums, etc. I don't know though. Again, you may want to ask him.
VMU: Could you tell us what other musicians and projects you worked with?
KJ: Well, a short list of bands/projects/artists would be George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, 24-7 Spyz, Celldweller, The Samples, Rorschach Test, Nina Storey, and a number of smaller independent artists. These people I either did drumming, songwriting, producing, co-producing, keyboards, background vocals, or any combination of any of that stuff.
VMU: How's the local music scene in your home town?
KJ: I'm not sure just yet. I just moved back here a few weeks ago so I'm trying to get settled and check things out at the same time. I hope it's as vibrant as it was 10 years ago. That would be great.
VMU: What do you express in your lyrics?
KJ: Well, it all depends on my mood. I don't sit down and say, "hmm, I'm going to write a happy song today" or anything like that. Usually, the music happens first and listening to the music normally inspires my mood and the lyrics. On occasion, the lyrics are parts of some random writings that I had done and sometimes they inspire the music. Whatever I write lyrically though seems to be from a personal standpoint for some reason, at least for now anyway. We'll see what happens in time. Maybe I can write some great ghost story that has nothing to do with me at all. That'd be pretty cool.
VMU: How do you feel about other artists expressing their beliefs in music? (Religious or political)
KJ: Hey, whatever turns you on. I don't form an opinion unless the person or band or artist doesn't have a clue about what they're saying. If they're just saying things to make themselves sound intelligent or whatever and they're clueless or saying inaccurate things, then I have a problem with them lyrically and I'll focus solely on their music. In reality, the music is the first thing that I focus on. Not on purpose, it just happens. If the music's cool AND the lyrics hit me in a good way too, I'm completely sold.
VMU: Could you explain in detail the gear you use?
KJ: This will be fairly long (hahaha).
As a drummer, I use Yamaha maple custom and beech custom absolute shells and their 900 series hardware. My cymbals are all Zildjians ranging in size from 6" splashes to 20" rides. Various models as I switch depending on the song/tour/artist. My sticks are my signature series from Pro-Mark and I use Attack drum heads (clear, 2-ply on the toms tops and clear 1-plys on the bottoms; 1-ply coated on the snare top and a thin clear on the snare bottom AND a 2-ply on the batter side of my kick drum and a thin black head on the kick drum front).
As for my home studio to write, it's all about my Macintosh G4 with ProTools 002 and Reason 2.5. There's some other gear like my old ESI4000 sampler, a Korg Triton rack module with a few expandable sound cards, a couple of the really nice compressors, and a couple of mono and two stereo tube pre-amps, and my trusty, 9000 year old SM-58 microphone. That's the long and short of it, really.
"There's still a strong movement for originality and artistry though so there's still hope."- Kenny James
VMU: Who are your musical influences?
KJ: Wow! Uh, well this is a big list too as they're influential to me musically and/or instrumental and/or just 'cause. Most old Motown stuff, Hendrix, Parliament/Funkadelic, the 70's progressive movement (Yes, Genesis, UK), Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Kiss, Nine Inch Nails, Meshuggah, Ice Cube, Cradle of Filth, Tori Amos, VAST, Sisters of Mercy, Mudvayne, Bad Brains, Black Sabbath, Public Enemy, Method Man, Afu-Ra, Jerome Brailey, Vinnie Coliuta, Dennis Chambers, Matt Chamberlain, John Bonham, Stevie Wonder, Al DiMeola, Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, George Michael, Slipknot, Chimaira, man...tell me when to stop, ya know?
VMU: Any tours in the works?
KJ: 24-7 Spyz are threatening to work with me again when they're done with their new CD which should be any time now, actually. Other than that, there isn't anything in the works that I know of, including with The Witching Hour. I think in time though there'll be something out there to somewhere. At least I hope.
VMU: How did you do the recording process live or 1 on 1?
KJ: That depends on with who and what recording you're talking about. As for The Witching Hour, it's usually me doing pretty much all of the instruments and vocals and then bringing in a person or two at a time to do special tracks, etc. For TWH's live CD it was, well, live (except for the bonus track). This new one will pretty much be me doing everything again and bringing in various people as I did on "Angels..." although I think there's going to be a song or two that I'm planning to be more live.
VMU: How do you feel about the mainstream music scene? (USA and overseas)
KJ: Here in the states it's based on what's already happened. Meaning, record companies are signing bands/artists that sound like whoever instead of signing originality/creativity. It's really depressing listening to the radio and not knowing who this artist is 'cause they sound like so and so. Even the songs songs sound like... Ya know? Ashlee Simpson sounds like Jessica Simpson who sounds like... That's in r&b, industrial, pop, rock, even in jazz. Overseas, so many of the people are focused on DJ's and drum and bass, etc. that it's hard to comment on. There's still a strong movement for originality and artistry though so there's still hope.
VMU: Any deals in the works?
KJ: I'm working with my mom on how I can pay her back this money I borrowed from her a while back but other than that deal, there's nothing in my horizon right now.
VMU: New recordings in the works?
KJ: Well, The Witching Hour is/I am working on the studio recording "After the Haunting Silence" which I want to have released by mid-June. On top of that, I'm putting clips together for a short DVD that's scheduled to come out in May as a pre-cursor to "...Haunting Silence". And, there's a couple of guys that are doing remixes of some songs from "Angels..." and "Crimson...". That probably won't come out until October or so.
VMU: Any advise to other indie bands?
KJ: There's so much to tell but in short, be patient and stick to YOUR game plan as opposed to the plan that others think you should follow. Also, don't look to labels as being the holy grail. Thanks to my experiences in the past I've only grown to realize that they're not the way. Your heart and your expression is the way. Stay true to yourself and DO NOT GIVE UP, regardless of what people tell you. It's your art, do it your way.
VMU: Do any of you own a home studio? (What gear)
KJ: Yes I do. Most of the gear for my home studio "Temple of Boom" I listed in an earlier question.
VMU: Thank you so much for your time!! Any last words?
KJ: Thank you very much for the opportunity. Come by The Witching Hour's website, drop us a line to say hello, etc. at (http://www.thewitchinghour.net). See ya'll on the other side!
VM UNDERGROUND
FEB 13 2005