Location: Ke Me Meo club / Argelato (Bologna) / Italy
Interview date: 03/28/2009
Exciter are legendary Canadian thrash/speed metallers from Ontario. They’re a pioneering band whose arrival on the scene had a major influence on the rise of a whole host of thrash metal bands around the world, and with that on the growing popularity of this style within heavy metal. We caught John Ricci (guitar), Rob “Clammy” Cohen (bass) and Rick Cherron (drums) completely by chance as they arrived at this year’s third Play It Loud festival, held in the small town of Argelato near Bologna, at the Ke Me Meo club to be exact. The guys, who made no secret of being in great spirits, had no problem taking some time to talk. While we were chatting by the entrance to the backstage area, a black wave of fans gathered behind us, waiting to say hi to the band. It was a wonderful moment…
RockLine: How did Exciter end up playing here tonight, and are you tired from the long trip?
John: We get lots of offers to play in this part of the world, mostly for one-off shows like tonight’s festival. Last year we played in Spain , Germany , Bulgaria, Greece, for example. Tonight here at Play It Loud in Italy is our first show in Europe this year. We get invitations from pretty much all over the world, directly from local promoters. As for long flights like the one we had today, we’re used to them and they don’t give us any real trouble, so here we are tonight, totally ready to play heavy metal!
RockLine: Is there by any chance a month-long European tour in the works with some other band? Is anything like that developing for Exciter?
John: It’s basically the same story. It depends on the offers. But we’re definitely thinking about it all the time and we want it badly. A three, four or five-week tour of Europe would be awesome. We just need an offer. Someone to invite us. For Exciter all options are always open in that respect. Europe is our strongest market, so our goal is to appear on European stages as often as possible.
RockLine: And how does the Canadian audience, your home crowd, receive Exciter? What’s the situation for metal back home?
Clammy: It’s very “thin.”
Rick: Basically, there’s no metal scene in Canada at all. Every band that comes from Canada and plays heavy metal is pretty much forced to play shows outside of Canada to get any recognition. They just don’t get any chances in Canada. So I can say there’s no real metal scene at home at all. We’re lucky that we can play all over the world.
RockLine: Why do you think that is in Canada?
Clammy: To be honest, I really have no idea why. Interest comes in waves. There are years when nothing moves, then a run of years comes along when they pick bands and help them with promotion and shows, and then everything goes totally quiet again. It all happens in waves, with no continuity, no consistency. Right now the winds for heavy metal at home are at the lowest point possible.
RockLine: You’ve got a new singer, Kenny, and you’ve released a new album, “Thrash, Speed, Burn”. How did Kenny land in Exciter and how did he get involved in making the album?
John: Kenny actually contacted us. Friends told him that Exciter were looking for a new singer online and encouraged him to join us for an audition. Kenny’s from New York. He came to the audition and it went really well. We were really happy with his voice and took him into the band. The songs for the new album were basically already finished by then. We had to tweak them a bit because of Kenny’s singing style.
Clammy: Luckily Kenny has a similarly twisted sense of humor to the rest of us in the band, ha, ha, ha….
RockLine: Kenny’s a singer who can hit extreme heights with his voice.
John: Yes. That was exactly the point, the basic requirement when we were looking for a new singer. Mostly because of Exciter’s past, our earlier work. Our fans are used to high Exciter vocals. So far Kenny has turned out to be a perfect hit for us and his voice works great in Exciter. I also have to mention that right after we released the new album, there was a huge wave of interest in Exciter. I can’t remember interest like what we got with “Thrash, Speed, Burn” in the last 20 years of our career. We’ve also received a lot more invitations to play in Europe, more reviews of the new album, more articles about Exciter popping up in various media. We really did something good. Our new album has some outstanding moments!
RockLine: I assume you’re full of energy now. Are ideas for the new album already taking shape?
John: We’re always full of energy, and of course we’re already writing new material for our next studio album. You know how it is with Exciter. From record to record we try to sound even more extreme, extreme, extreme…. In Exciter we’re not big on experimenting, but we always try to get an even more extreme sound on the new album than the previous one had. For example, lots of bands that don’t have big success start thinking about changing something in the music, polishing the sound, changing the style,… all in the hope that it’ll open the door to more chances to play on stages. In Exciter’s case, a move like that would undoubtedly be wrong.
RockLine: My general feeling is that interest in thrash or speed metal is growing again in Europe right now.
Clammy: Yes. Crowds in Europe are discovering thrash metal all over again. What’s more, I see it’s on the rise and there’s lots of interest in it everywhere except North America, where we come from.
RockLine: Are there any festival shows in Europe coming up for Exciter this summer?
John: Nothing confirmed yet. We usually get invitations two months before the festival dates. But there are plenty of options open for Exciter in that case. For now, we’re still waiting on invitations.
Rick: Next month we’re playing a festival in Mexico. And there’s a chance of an Exciter tour of South America this September.
RockLine: I’d like to ask you some more personal questions…
John: Like what color underwear I’m wearing?
Clammy and Rick (laughter)
John: Want to see?
Rick: No, no… thanks a lot, ha, ha, ha…
RockLine: What I had in mind was for you to tell me what inspired each of you to become a musician?
Rick: When I was a kid and in a bad mood, out of sorts, my parents would often sit me down in front of the radio where music was playing. That calmed me down, so they both got peace and quiet from me, sometimes for hours at a time. When I was seven I said I wanted to play, and my parents drove me to drum lessons. From there on all I remember is drumming and drumming nonstop. When I was younger I’d practice even four hours a day. The first bands that won me over were Kiss, then Judas Priest, then Iron Maiden. My parents were literally going nuts from my constant pounding on the drums. Now they’re very proud of me.
Clammy: For me, I can say music is the most important part of my life. It was completely natural for me to grab an instrument and start learning to play. In my teens I started practicing guitar. I’m basically a guitarist, I still play guitar today. I switched to bass totally by accident, when I was playing in one of the bands before Exciter and we were looking for a bass player to join us. I bought a Rickenbacker bass and said I’d play bass for a while until we found a real bassist. It worked out great in that foursome, so everybody wanted me to stay on bass. The whole Exciter thing was crazy luck for me. I was seriously lucky. I’ve known John for a very long time. So one day he called me up and asked if I’d join the band for just one show in New Hampshire, because two and a half weeks before that gig Exciter had been left without a bassist. I agreed and asked John to send me a recording of the songs Exciter were going to play at the show so I could learn them. I played my part, everybody was happy because the show went great, I said see you later to the guys and told them that if they ever needed a bassist, to give me a call. A year later John calls me, I was right at work, and he says: “We want you to join the band!” I was in immediately. Actually I answered that I still had to talk it over with the guys in my band, but right after John’s call I’d already decided to say yes. Truth be told, I’d have been stupid to turn down an offer like that. For as long as I can remember I’ve been drawn to heavier music. When I was eight I discovered Kiss. It was fantastic to be part of the thrash explosion of the eighties, which I was a fan of as a teenager, and then to get the honor of playing with all those bands that created it. Of course that’s still the case today. That joy.
John: I was always drawn to the heavier side of music. It was a natural evolution, as far as I’m concerned, that I started playing guitar. I was always a devotee of the classic metal bands from the seventies. When Exciter first hit the scene, we shocked everybody. There simply weren’t any bands like us on the scene back then. What’s funny is that we were just trying to imitate the sound and style of the seventies bands. But when we wrote the music, it sounded totally unique and special. We were very surprised by the success of our first record. We never dreamed we sounded so different from all the other bands and at the same time so fresh. As the years rolled on for Exciter, we stuck to our tried-and-true stylistic and sonic formula. Today we play the same music stylistically, only we’re even noisier. I think our fans really appreciate that, as well as the fact that we haven’t experimented much with our style throughout our career. I’ve always been inspired and driven forward by more aggressive music. Aggression in music is really my first choice.
RockLine: When you played at Metal Camp in Tolmin, Slovenian metal fans were really blown away by your show.
Rick: Oh yeah, I remember. That was really cool there.
John: It was actually funny when they put us on that little stage. It fired us up even more to give it everything we had. It was really good because the crowd was closer to the stage too, so real energy built up between us and the audience during the show.
Clammy: People were practically “hanging from the trees” watching us, ha, ha,..
Rick: Yeah. There were trees. Everywhere.
RockLine: So the short-term goals for Exciter are a new record,…
John: Yeah, like I said. Record a new album. More aggressive than the last one, even noisier and heavier, and above all, even faster. And enjoy every moment of what we do. We’re also constantly on tour. So enjoying all of this is very important, because you never know when the moment will come that these opportunities we’ve been given are no longer there. That’s why we strive to live in the present, as it unfolds moment by moment, and to embrace it fully.
RockLine: And one tickling remark about tonight’s show. Are you at all afraid of Jag Panzer tonight?
Clammy: Afraid?
Rick: Why would we be afraid of them? We’ve already played together with Jag Panzer.
John: They’re super cool guys. We’ve been hanging out together for two days now, since we got here. Great company.
RockLine: Tonight’s definitely going to be a crushing experience at Play It Loud with you guys! I wish you a great show.
John: Definitely. We’re looking forward to this show. Thanks to you too.
Clammy: Thanks. If you have any more questions, send them to us by email, no problem, anytime.
photos: Milan Krušič
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