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VII Gates - Fire, Walk With Me (Song by Song)



With: JJ and Mick
Conducted by: Undercraft
Published: 07.04.2004

Band profile:

VII Gates
Album info: Fire, Walk With Me


01. Bounded by Hate
02. The Saviour
03. Seconds Left To Live
04. Under The Crossed Bones
05. So far Away
06. Tormented
07. Love Bullet
08. A Dark Room Of My Mind
09. Like A Rock
10. The Madman Inside

1.Bounded By Hate:

JJ: About all endless conflicts around the earth, where both sides just blame the other about things, and take that as a opportunity (!) to keep on fighting. Strange and sad mentality really.

Mick: First of all, I would like to explain my way of thinking about drums: you're not a great drummer just because your name is Neil Peart, Deen Castronovo or Mick Tucker(r.i.p)... But these guys know how to use their kit in each song... With feeling! A lot of my inspiration comes from the oldschool drummers, like Cozy Powell, Mick Tucker, but also today's Jeff Plate (Savatage)...What do I want to say? I think that if you play the drums all day and suddenly finds out that you're in the top 5 in your town and can be compared with... let's say one of the better drummers from Germany... it doesn't mean anything if you can't play a simple rockbeat.. like anything from "Slide it in". (A great Whitesnake-album) But, of course.. if I were that talented like Uli Kusch for example, I would probably be a very happy drummer...but only for the sponsorship! (nothing bad about Uli, he is really great in every way!) I still would be playing old school kickass drums in VII GATES............
Bounded by hate: A song were i think you can hear what I mean... The intro? not very much to say... but after that? simply rockn roll exept from the piece after the discobeat... no overambious drumming... Just listen to that tom-tom thing after 4.20! A funny thing about the "discopart": Our producer did nearly throw up his McDonald when I played it the first time... And told me to play some fast double bass drumming instead of that "silly Travolta thing", but i didn't made it! Have you ever seen a grown-up metal producer crying?? We have!!! But today he thinks its very cool... maybe some day he will buy the new Weathergirls remix????

2.The Saviour:

JJ: About one of the characters from a very popular book. But I wont tell you which one! But I guess that this lyric would fit a lot of persons and happenings in some way.

Mick: When i played in band called Mucate Jib, we were reahersing in a basement under a building that often was hired by some guys from Chile who were playing their folk music, and we used to make fun of the melodies/beats of their, and played after them (we called it "kvintboogie", I have no translation for that word)? But today im not making fun of it... These days I'm playing it in "The saviour"... Here's a example again with the drumming... someone wrote once: "After hearing that intro I was expexting to hear double bassdrums... but out came a single one 'n that was nice!" I guess i could play it with doubles, but it wouldn't be the same thing at all anymore!

3.Seconds Left To Live:

JJ: Story about a (innocent) man who are about to be lynched by an enraged mob. Don't about a specific event, but this is probably something which had happen a lot of times during our time on earth, and every time is one too much? It's also about the danger in judging someone too fast.

Mick: To be honest... I never thought Basti would write a killer song? but here's one? true kickass, where I can do my thing!!!

4.Under The Crossed Bones:

JJ: Definitly the oldest song on the album. I don't remember exactly when I wrote it, but it was at least a year before I moved to Halmstad, so probably around 5-6 years. One of the first heavy metal songs I wrote at all, actually (I haven't been into that all my life, to be honest? Can you forgive me?). I was very influenced by the typical german power metal by the time I wrote it, so the first version had a lot more of double bass drumming and that stuff, but we took them away, added hammond organ and a few other things, which made it to a much better song! In our opinion of course? The lyrics comes from a movie about pirates (big suprise?), called "Cut throat island".

Mick: A song that had a lot more drumming from the beginning, but when we first recorded it the producer told me not to play "that much"... Just play like Cozy would have... It wasn't funny at all, cause I thought it would be boring. And I still think there could be more "bits n'bobs" in it. So i did put back some fills and told the producer to go and visit the toilet for about 5.29?

5.So Far Away:

JJ: Our contribution to the incredible amount of "loosing love"-songs out there. But I guess it's a very important subject to people, and it's probably something most of us have been through.

Mick: Always when I play a ballad, I want to do more than neccesary, 'n thats why this song always has got a lot more fills when its played live... Someone (the drummer before me) always tells me what is "modern drumming"... that you cant play like that 'n that, just because its sooo old...Well, what does he know? one thing is for shure, he's not in the band anymore! Anyway... He thinks this hi-hat thing (the "Pssst", when you open the hats) is sooo old and sooo much like an amateur... My absolute oppinion is that this is whats needed in a lot of songs today... and you will hear more of it in VII GATES,thats for shure!!!

6.Tormented:

JJ: A variant of "The madman inside" (in lyric context, read about it below!) which we can see happen in some schools (or, sadly, in most schools, but maybe not this brutal all the time). In a lot of different ways of course! This is not based on a specific event, "pure" fiction.

Mick: Definitly a song were I can use my type of drumming... That beat before the progressive thing in the middle, that ends with the china? Kicks ass!!!!

7.Love Bullet:

JJ: The thin line between love and hate, and some peoples need of being in control.

Mick: Love Bullet is now a great song... But there was a time when I didn't wanted to play it... Just couldn't find the magic in it... again a song were some of the beats were changed in the studio(while recording the Madman demo).
This is also a piece that I could kill Rob for...playing live and he's in a hurry, can be very dangerous... I wont say that its a fast bassdrum in the intro, but imagine if he's in a hurry meeting some of his girls.....(of course I could play with doublebasses, but then it wouldn't be any sport,eeh!!!)
Note: "his girls", I'm not talking about daughters o something like that!

8.A Dark Room Of My Mind:

JJ: The idea of the lyric came from a book, but I just can't remember neither the title or the author. Actually, this is again dealing with what people might do, being pushed over their mental limits.

Mick: Since I'm a great fan of a certain Rush drummer (two choises, guess who!), I always liked this tubular bell thing (got any leftovers in the closet? Gimme a call!) I wanted to use it for real! So,here it is... a present from me to you!
The song then?? Well, I think it is one the most progressive songs we recorded? nice one! Almost like a bottle of Smirnoff Cranberry a hot summernight... Ha!

9.Like A Rock:

JJ: Basti wrote it, it's about his philosofy of life.

Mick: The only song I'm not having any personal feelings for... I just do the thing on my Pearl chair... sorry Rob! But maybe it's like the Love Bullet syndrome???

10.The Madman Inside:

JJ: I have this theory that every single one of the people on earth is capable to do anything. But it takes different levels of pressure to make them do whatever it is? Well, this song is slightly based on that theory. The music just happened, if you know what I mean? Started with the intro, and everything went on pretty naturally? Of course we changed a few bits here and there during the rehearsals and recordings, what's work at home might not always work in the studio.

Mick: Often when you hear a song (in a band, and I've been in a couple), you can say that this song has been written just because something "has to be done"... But the most of JJ's songs hasn't that kind of feeling, not even if it took him about 20 min to put it together (Amazing!!!)The madman inside has been a real kickass piece right from the beginning, even if we have changed it a bit here 'n there... Think I can easily say this is one of the greatest to play... Maybe a bit hard to play live, not that it is a difficult song to play, but to play in right tempo... You see the song is recorded with, I think, three different bpm:s, (BPM=Beats per minute, a way to measure the tempo in music) in four places, just to get the right feeling! Again a oppurtunity to use the tubular bells, and also timpani for the intro... just wanted to say that.. I dont want anyone to think its a syntheziser and a big floor tom!
Last thing.. If you ever thinking about stop playing drums... Dont! It's not everyone that is this lucky to find a perfect band after 9 years without skin beating... On the first jam session... Im a child again!!! Cheers everyone! For comments, mail me at mick@sevengates.se





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