Hello Richard! Congratulations on your new magnificent album “Dead Reckoning”!! We have named it the Best Album of The Month on Grande-Rock.com. You must explain to Grande Rock readers what Threshold are drinking to acquire all this inspiration!

R: Thanks, you’re very kind. I read an interesting comment on our band forum recently from a fan who thought that musicians must be unable to judge their work impartially or feel the inner sparkle that fans feel when they hear the music. I guess there’s some truth in it because there’s no mystery left for the composer once he’s constructed everything, the layers are already prepared and understood. But the truth is that the inner sparkle comes during the composition process rather than in listening afterwards. Music is always in my head, subconsciously or consciously revolving and evolving until something beautiful is developed and that sparkle appears. Sometimes a piece of music can take weeks or months before it’s fully formed,  because you’re looking to find that sparkle in every part of the composition, the melodies, the harmonies, the instrumentation, the structure and the lyrics. So what are we drinking? I guess the answer is music, non-stop music. It keeps you up at night, it clouds all your other thought processes, it becomes all-consuming to the point of distraction and frustration until every part of the song gives you a feeling of pure elation and inner peace, then you know the song is complete and you can finally put it down.

Truthfully, it seems to me that after a small slackening in the middle of your career the band seems to have accelerated with the two latest albums. Do you share this view, and why did it happen – or not?

R: It’s hard to stay at full speed all the time, sometimes it just takes a few disappointments and the energy can disappear. Each band member has his own journey to deal with so it becomes quite a complex dynamic. Moving labels for the new album certainly helped, it gave us a new momentum and spurred us on.

For some people three years of absence from discography (like yours) is a long time. I believe it is the proper time for an artist to come up with new ideas and work creatively. Bands that keep producing records every year seem to me to deliver factory-music, that lacks inspiration. Is your choice deliberate? Or did it just happen?

R: It just happened I guess, we got busy with other things. After we toured Subsurface I spent much of the following year working on the Farrah West project and Karl was busy at Thin Ice Studios recording other bands, so the time just drifted on. I guess that helped us to develop and change our style and inspiration a little and that brought a freshness to the new album, but I don’t think that should necessarily take as long as three years.

I bet that if I asked you how you feel about the new album, you would say it is the best you‘ve ever recorded J (which, in fact, might be the truth). So I would ask you what makes this album your best one (or among the best ones)?

R: Every day we’re working on our craft, our songwriting, our performance and our production skills, so I’d be very disappointed if we made a new album that wasn’t the best yet. Even though the time between our last two albums was not spent on Threshold, it was still spent in the studio with other projects and bands so our development never stopped.

In the review of the album I wrote that, in comparison to your previous monumental CD, the new one is heavier, more direct and “darker”. Would you agree? Do you spot any distinctive differences among “Dead Reckoning” and your previous works?

R: The album has a slightly heavier and darker tone but the lighter side of our sound still comes through, probably more on the second half of the album. Overall I think we’ve created more space in our sound without losing layers or complexity, that’s probably one of the main differences.

Since, Nick Midson parted ways with the band, I assume that there must have been some changes in the way you compose and orchestrate the songs….

R: Not really, Karl played all the parts Nick would have played, but obviously there’s a different sound when Karl plays both parts than if Nick had played one.

Will you replace Nick on a permanent basis?

R: That’s for Nick to decide, he’s free to come back if he wants to. In the meantime Pete Morten from Soliloquy will replace him on stage.

This time you return under a new label. Do you think this might be your access to larger audiences?? In general are you totally satisfied from your music company or you feel that you need more support from them ?

R: Nuclear Blast is supporting us well, so hopefully if everything comes together we will take a good step forward this year. Now we’re working on putting the right tour package together, that will also be an important factor.

I saw the video clip of “Pilot In The Sky Of Dreams” a couple of days ago and it was excellent. It’s really risky to make a video clip for a song that lasts about 10 minutes although I understand that has been some cuttings on the final result. Are you planning to release any other video clips? And if yes, which song will it be and when it will be released??

R: We cut the song down to just under four minutes, the label thought that song was the best choice for mainstream promotion. We’re very happy with the video, I don’t know if we’ll make another one yet. Slipstream would be an obvious choice for a second single but we don’t know yet.

By the way, how did “Subsurface” sell? Are you satisfied??

R: It sold well but I’m not satisfied because I’d rather we sold millions and charted in every country. I’m enough of a realist to know that’s unlikely for our style of music, but I’m enough of a dreamer to have that as my goal.

You have to give us the background of the collaboration with Dan Swano on the brutal vocals of the album.

R: It all happened quite quickly, one day we had nobody to sing these parts and the next day Dan had recorded them at his studio in Sweden and emailed them to us. We were running out of time because we had to mix the album, and all we had were my demo growls which were not really good enough. Clive Nolan from Arena walked into the studio and we told him our problem, we’d tried to get a couple of other vocalists but nothing had worked out. Luckily Clive knew Dan and emailed him, and Dan was kind enough to perform the parts for us and it sounds awesome. It was very much a last-minute event, it reminds me of when we made our video for Innocent. We had everything booked – the equipment, the film crew, the lighting crew – but we had no venue for the main shots. After weeks of trying we finally managed to find a venue only the night before we had to start filming.

And what about the Muse cover? How come you chose this band/song (I personally love them)? Are there any other new rock bands you fancy these days?

R: We looked at a couple of possibilities. The Muse track was a great song with a potential to be made a bit heavier to fit the Threshold sound, so we worked on it in between sessions to see if it would be something we wanted to release. In the end we were very happy with the results. I’m hoping to give a copy to Muse next month, hopefully they’ll like what we’ve done. They’re a very good band, I’m also enjoying the latest albums by Papa Roach and Within Temptation at the moment.

Since we came to this point, would you give us your top-favourite albums of all time?

R: Choices like that are always compromised by personal nostalgia so it’s never a purely musical decision. Right now I’d probably choose Queen – A night at the opera, Genesis – And then there were three, and Fates Warning – Disconnected.

How are things in Britain these days in the music front? I mean, when I studied there back in 1998 I could only find Oasis etc. on the shelves of the record stores. Do some “underground” metal/rock bands find their way to the shelves now?

R: Sometimes but it hasn’t really changed, it’s all controlled by big business.

So, does the band have any specific plans for the future? Any tour arranged yet?

R: We’ve got a lot of festivals planned but we’re still working on the main tour plans. Hopefully we’ll have something to announce soon, we’ll let everyone know on our website www.thresh.net as soon as it’s confirmed.

And some weird Questions now!!! Which kind of rock music do you prefer the most?

R: Something modern, heavy and powerful with complexity, melody and innovation. Somewhere out there must be a band that combines the best of OSI, Soilwork, Papa Roach, Mnemic, Linkin Park , Gary Numan, Dream Theater, Korn and Ark , and when I find them they’ll be my new favourite band.

If Threshold career was a movie, which movie would that be?

R: Lord Of The Rings, it’s a long journey but a worthwhile one.

Do you believe that internet has helped the bands to become more popular or has caused many problems?

R: It’s been a great help and was one of the primary reasons festivals like ProgPower started, but there’s no denying there are people who no longer expect to pay for music and that’s not good for musicians.

Which band do you consider that can take a leading part in metal music in the future?

R: I’ve no idea, it’s not always the best bands who become the most successful.

Which are the things that piss you off from today’s music industry?

R: National radio, it’s been totally ruined by big business.

Which is the most overrated band today?

R: I don’t listen to the radio anymore so I don’t know! Almost every band out there has talent and that’s why they got signed. If they’re lucky enough to be overrated and sell millions of albums then I wish them every success.

Imagine that your girlfriend/wife is selling your whole album-collection just to buy for herself an expensive ring. How would you react? J

R: I’d be surprised because she’s not like that. But I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, I think it could be fun buying them all again.

Well, Richard… those were my questions. Thx for your response…and above all thank you for the music!

R: Thanks.

by Alex Savatianos