I really appreciate Mr. Gaffney taking the time to do the Interview, i feel thier one of Americas best kept secrets, also if you haven' yet, check out my review of thier latest album
1. Thanks for taking the time to answer these Interview Questions, which member(s) of the band will be answering them?
Hi, I'm John Gaffney, bass player and founder of Sinister Realm.
2. Can you give a brief history of how the band started and how the name was chosen? I really like the name Sinister Realm!
Sinister Realm started around the summer of 2008. I was in a band called Pale Divine with drummer Darin McCloskey. When I left Pale Divine I had some songs that I brought down to them that they never used. Darin called me and said we should do something with those songs. We found Alex Kristof on vocals and recorded a demo. The demo landed us a deal with Shadow Kingdom Records. We added John Kanter and Keith Patrick on guitar. Keith and Darin left and were replaced by drummer Chirs Metzger and guitarist John Risko. Our first album came out in 2009, our second album "The Crystal Eye" was released in 2011 and now were just releasing our third "World of Evil".
As for the name. Anyone who has ever tried to come up with a band name knows how hard it is, it seems like every name in the world is already taken...haha. I was reading a magazine talking about power metal bands and it said that they typically like to sing about things like "Dragons and sinister realms". I thought Sinister Realm was perfect as it sounded very 80s metal and hard a darker supernatural vibe to it that I liked, to my surprise no one had used that name.
3. Has the lineup been pretty stable since the beginning or has it been a revolving door so to speak?
We've had the same line up now for the last two records and it is very stable. Our first drummer Darin McCloskey left because he moved and it was just to far for him to travel for gigs and shows. Our first guitar player Keith left because he had some other things going on.
4. Was it a conscience decision to play classic sounding metal or did it just end up that way due the vocal style or guitar riffs?
It was definetly a conscience decision. I'm a big fan of 80s traditional metal and it's my biggest influence so I always wanted to write songs that had that feel of say the first Ozzy albums or Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell" or classic Priest as well as other bands like Savatage and Mercyful Fate. I'm also a doom fan, especially Candlemass, so I like to throw that influence in there also.
5. Your musical influences are pretty apparent on this album, any influences that may be suprising? What would you consider some non musical sources of inspiration?
Well, for Sinister Realm my influences are pretty obvious I guess, the great traditional metal forefathers like Maiden, Priest, early Ozzy, Dio, Sabbath, Mercyful Fate, Savatage and Candlemass. I do listen to a lot of other types of music, for instance I'm a big fan of Dead Can Dance. I also like some black metal like Immortal, death metal like Death, Septic Flesh, Behemoth. So I listen to lots of different things but Sinister Realm is about traditional metal so I stick with those classic metal influences that I listed above.
Non musicial influences for me would be art and movies. From the art world I like Romantic era and Pre-Raphaelite era stuff like John Williams Waterhouse and John Everett Millais. I also like fantasy art. I'm a fan of 70s era horror movies with supernatural or occult vibes to them like Suspiria, the Omen and the Exorcist. Life in general is also a big influence as it's always full of surprises and interesting characters.
6. What would you consider your biggest milestone(s) to date?
Releasing three CDs of music that I'm proud of. Playing the Metal Assault festival in Germany was also really cool
7. Being in a band myself I know the frustrations of booking shows, has booking tours become easier with each album or is it still a frustrating experience 3 albums into your career?
It's always frustrating but the longer your around the more people you meet, the more connections you make and the more people want to help you out so in that way it's gotten a little easier. Nothing in life is easy though, you really have to do your best and try and take control of your own destiny. Good things happen to those who work hard, it's a cliche but usually true.
8. Any plans to tour for this album in the works?
Yes, we talking with some people and setting up some dates that will take us south of where we live into Atlanta, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland and probably a few other places along the way. We also hope to set some stuff up in the Chicago, Ohio area. Basically, anywere we can play.
9. Has the band played overseas before? If so where and how awesome was it?
We played in Germany last year at the Metal Assault festival. It was awesome! the crowd was great and the show was run very profesionally. It was the experience of a life time so I hope we get to go back at some point in the future.
10. How strong is the metal community where your from?
There's a small but loyal fanbase of metal heads in the north eastern Penssylvania area. There's a lot of good metal bands around here who all support each other which is cool. Metal heads tend to be like that all over, it's a tight community.
11. What venues in PA and surrounding areas would you recommend to any band touring in your part of the country? Which would you say was your favorite?
It's gotten tough around here lately, a bunch of clubs have closed recently. There's still some cool places though like Reverb in Reading Pa or in our town a place called The Gin Mill has a nice stage and has brought in some national metal bands. We recently opened for Diamond Head there which was a really cool show. BizR entertainment is a local agency run by a guy named Skip Horn who is very supportive of the metal scene around here, he puts on a lot of great shows and is a real cool guy who keeps metal alive in Allentown.
12. Who are some other bands to check out in your area?
MindMaze is a local female fronted traditional/power metal band that just put out a really great CD. They recorded Brian J Anthony studios, the same place we've recorded all the Sinister Realm albums. I played bass on a few of the songs on their CD. Power Theory is a great traditional metal band from the Philadelphia area who we've played with a bunch of times. Infernal Opera is a really cool band with a female singer that does a thrasy metal thing.
13. What would be the official beer or alcoholic beverage of Sinister Realm?
We probably all have our own personal faves, for me it's Yuengling Black and Tan and their Lager beer. Yeungling is a beer brewed in a town not far from where we live. It's a really good beer!!
14. I would like to thank you for doing this interview any parting words you would like to share with the readers?
Thanks so much for the interview and for supporting heavy metal. For more information on Sinister Realm visit and like us at www.facebook.com/sinisterrealm or www.sinisterrealm.net for general info. Grab the CD from any of the amazon.com stores or your favorite metal distributor and one last thing....Long live Heavy Metal!!!
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