Liege Lord’s brand of power metal is back after 25 years
Liege Lord 2013 (above, from left to right): Danny Wacker, Joe Comeau, Matthew Vinci, Frank Gilchriest, and Anthony Truglio.
Liege Lord is one of those great metal bands that never got the recognition it really deserved. Perhaps it was the fact that the band’s first album, Freedom’s Rise, debuted during the entire thrash metal explosion of the mid-’80s, followed by the pop/glam metal inundation of the late ’80s. Major labels weren’t really looking for power metal bands like Liege Lord, or even traditional metal bands, for that matter. But Liege Lord had a strong following, and kept it, even after its disbandment in the early ’90s. European festivals wanted to book Liege Lord to appease fans’ requests. Finally, in 2000, European fans got their wish: led by vocalist Joe Comeau and guitarist Paul Nelson, Liege Lord performed at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival in 2000. It was only a small taste. Years later, founders Matt Vinci (bass) and Anthony Truglio (guitar) got involved. Now, Liege Lord is getting back in the groove. The band has fully reformed; reissuing albums, touring and recording material with new members Danny Wacker (guitar) and Frank Gilchriest (drums). If anything, Liege Lord sounds as fresh as that first album back in 1984.
Original member and bassist Matt Vinci answered the following questions for Powerline:
Liege Lord is an unique name for a metal band. Names of metal bands can be infantile. This name had some thought behind it. It sounds mature, intelligent… more importantly, it doesn’t sound dated. It’s better than the previous name of the band: Deceiver. What provoked the name change in the first place?
Matt Vinci: We were just kids playing covers of our favorite bands. Judas Priest was a favorite. Deceiver is a Priest song. When we got serious and began writing music, I came up with the name Liege Lord which is a medieval term for a follower paying homage to the lord or leader.
When did the band officially break up and why?
Vinci: We began in 1984. By 1989 we were still in the stone age with technology, no internet or any devices to explore and communicate. So I had no real handle on what kind of impact the band was having across the world. We were getting a lot of mail from Europe, and some from the states, but we knew we had very limited distribution of our music from all three record labels we had worked with [Iron Works, Metal Blade, Black Dragon]. The product was not out there, no promotion for it. So in our home town in Connecticut it just seemed like we were getting nowhere. My musical tastes were changing, grunge music was right around the corner, and power metal seemed like it was going way underground and it it did. So we called it quits.
[pullquote_right]Liege Lord is a medieval term for a follower paying homage to the lord or leader.[/pullquote_right]
When did the reformation of the band start to take place? Why now?
Vinci: The band was asked to play the Wacken festival in 2000. But myself and founding member Anthony Truglio were not in the right place to get it together. The band performed with replacements for us, and Paul Nelson on guitar with our singer Joe Comeau. But in 2013 the Keep it True Festival offered Liege Lord the headlining spot for their huge indoor festival in Germany and the timing was right. I for one had not really played in 25 years and realized how much I missed it. We replaced Paul Nelson — who is now with Johnny Winter — with a great player Danny Wacker and a great new drummer Frank Gilchriest, along with Joe and Anthony it just sounded right so we will continue.
The new members of Liege Lord are very talented. All anyone has to do is see them live. How did you find them?
Vinci: Danny and Frank are both from New Jersey. Frank played with Virgin Steele, The Good Rats — just to name a couple. Danny played with New Blood Revival. They answered the phone calls from us to audition when we found out about them and it worked perfectly.
Joe Comeau’s voice seems as strong as ever live. Seems like he took care of his voice over the years? Do you think Joe will still draw strong comparisons to Bruce Dickinson?
Vinci: Not sure. It’s 25 years later and his voice — although strong — is a little different. He’s a professional musician. He has played with Overkill, Annihilator … He has another band, DuskMachine, and he takes care of his voice.
Were the Maiden comparisons of the past fair? Do you think that helped promote or hurt the band?
Vinci: I don’t think we got compared to Maiden that much. I wrote a lot of songs on the bass and it has that influence. Joe’s voice gave a nod to Bruce, for sure, but Anthony’s songs do not sound like Maiden at all and Master Control does not sound like a Maiden album in my opinion.
Which album do you think best represents the band?
Vinci: Master Control. That’s where everything fell into place. Most mature songwriting, best vocal performance, and engineered and produced by the great Terry Date, who has worked with Soundgarden, Pantera, just to name a couple.
Your debut, Freedom’s Rise, was one of the band’s best albums. Any thought of re-releasing a new version of the album with Comeau on vocals?
Vinci: We have talked about the possibility of a B-side type of thing with a new song — and maybe an older song — with Joe on vocals. That might happen.
The band has been categorized as Power Metal. Do you like that term? It was never really a successful genre.
Vinci: I guess that’s what it is. People that like metal know the difference between power/speed/thrash/glam, whatever. They make a choice on what they like, some of it, all of it. It’s their choice just like any other style of music. Is it a successful genre? Well, I think it depends on how good the songs are, and what type of distribution the music gets.
Were you ever disappointed / surprised the band wasn’t signed by a major label during metal’s heyday in the ’80s?
Vinci: Disappointed, yes. It didn’t have to be a “major label,” just some promotion and distribution and some tour support would have gone a very long way. We toured with Anvil and Candlemass but we needed more than that. With out all the things I mentioned, you can’t expect to have huge success.
Heavy Metal has always been alive and well in Europe. What were your thoughts about the experience of playing there this year?
Vinci: We were very happy to be in a situation where fans of the music did not forget. They were waiting to see and hear the band and that was huge. If Europe is the place to get that experience, and we are able to go back to more shows and festivals, then we will do more of and plan to.
Any new material on the horizon? If so, what is the songwriting like now?
Vinci: We are writing new music now. It sounds like Liege Lord. People that know the music will be surprised that we took up where we left off with obvious changes here and there because all music must change a little in order to progress.
What about a boxed-set of past material? Fans love reissues, especially boxed-sets done creatively with unreleased tracks and bonuses.
Vinci: There will be a box set of all three of our old albums with a dvd extra of some live music and some insert booklet information as well. Look for that by the summer of 2014 and new music by that fall/autumn.
Liege Lord’s recent performance schedule includes:
Sunday, November 3, at 4:00pm, all ages
Dingbatz
Clifton, New Jersey
Concert at St. Vitus
December 14 at 8:00pm
St. Vitus Bar, Brooklyn, NY
Visit Liege Lord’s Facebook page.
Saw them twice in 2013 and it was a magical experience! Metal has returned!