The Metal Exiles
Interview with Jeff Easton

Titanium Black are a new band out of New York that sound like they have been around years. Imagine if Queensryche, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden got together to record a CD, this would be the result. I recently had the chance to speak via telephone with the singer, Terry LeRoi about the debut CD and what it took to make such an incredible album. The following is the result of that conversation. When this CD is released, I suggest you the buying public check this great CD out.

Phone interview with Terry LeRoi of Titanium Black

Jeff Easton: Tell us about Titanium Black and who is in the band.

Terry LeRoi: Let me introduce the band and I will explain how it came together. We have two guitar players, John Matthews and Dave King, with Robbie Spagnoletti on drums and Aaron Worden on bass. These guys have all been in bands, played with each other but never formed a band together. Even though the band is new, we all know each other and have been friends with each other. The way this record started, I wrote these songs and I decided to do a demo with them. I thought my songs were worthy of a great producer so I sent my demo to Michael Wagner. The better the producer, the better the sound, the structures of the songs. Michael loved the demo and called me up to ask what else I had. We set up an appointment for me to come down and talk to him and talk about the possibility of doing a record. I said I did not have a band yet so he told me to send all of the songs that I had so I sent him around 50 songs and had him pick the best of the best. He picked what is on the record; I knew we were on the same page because he picked what I wanted on the record. They were the most recent ones within a 3-year period; it is a very diversity, a lot of emotion.

Jeff: If you did not have a band, who helped fill out the demos?

Terry: I did the demos with some of these guys. Robbie is a studio drummer and I would go up there with my guitar and play on these songs. Then I brought John up and as these guys kept coming up, this is how the band came together.

Jeff: When did you start doing the record and what kind of influences did Michael have on the band?

Terry: Here is what Michael wanted to do. Once we decided to work with him, he said, "the first thing to do is pre-production, I do not want to have an idea of what we are doing I want to KNOW what we are doing". It saved us a lot of time. He came to up state New York for two weeks and we put him up in a hotel. We then rented a rehearsal space for two weeks, working 6 days a week. A lot of song structures stayed the same, but he did trim some fat off some of the tracks. If we were playing too long, he told us exactly that and said to shorten the song to get to the point. Those are some of the things we talked about with him. When you are trying to convey an emotion in about a 4-minute time span, you can get lost in riffing.

Jeff: Well, you lose the feel of the song.

Terry: Yes, you lose the feel. So we focused totally on the emotion of the song/record. It was like this 10 hours a day. It was like songwriting boot camp.

Jeff: If you are going to be sent to boot camp, he is the producer to do it. He is such a great producer.

Terry: Yes, he did my some of my favorite records of all time, one being Balls To The Wall. The record, insanely enough, took seven months, no one does that anymore. It was going to be about 2 and a half months and we were going to do about 12 songs. As we went along Michael fell in love it, we fell in love with it, so we just went with it. It shows in the finished cd. It also took seven months to do it because there are two records. There is the stereo mix and then we recorded it in total 5.1 surround sound with an extra track that will be released after this one comes out.

Jeff: Yes, the press release reads that this will be the first heavy metal cd to be recorded and released in total 5.1 surround sound.

Terry: Yes, people say that there are other albums in surround sound but they were originally recorded in Stereo, but this was recorded from the ground up in total 5.1 surround sound. It might be released on SACD Hybrid.

Jeff: I love the way the CD sounds.

Terry: That is good to hear.

Jeff: Well, the moment I slipped it in my cd player I was blown away by the sound and the way it was produced. Michael did a very good job.

Terry: We were happy that he liked it enough to put his name on it.

Jeff: Lets talk about the songs.

Terry: Sure.

Jeff: My favs are Cracks Of Light, Miles Away, Handful of Lies, Rain and Deep. I love the strings in Deep. What do they mean to you? Lets start with Cracks Of Light.

Terry: Well, every song means a lot to me and every song comes from the heart. I do not want to ruin the meaning for anyone but Cracks Of Light is about relating to other people. Looking for a way out, peace, the answer. I felt like when I was writing that song I was crawling around in the dark and every once in awhile there would be a shred of light and I would grasp at it. This is good imagery for metal and I felt I could really use it. I was trying to get this Texas Chainsaw Massacre where someone is chasing you in the farmyard and you are hiding in the root cellar.

Jeff: When I listen to the song it has this desperate, hungry feel to it, like you just want out. I love it.

Terry: Yeah!

Jeff: To go along with the songs, lets talk about your vocals. You have impressive vocals. How long has it taken you to get to the stage you are at now with your vocals?

Terry: It has taken a long time to develop that. My influences are Halford to begin with as he has the widest range of any vocalist. He has the clean, the grit, and every word he sings in a song has conviction behind it. It is all personal taste but I love it. My other hero's are Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Tate, and Bruce Dickinson. I will even go into great singers like Meatloaf, Mickey Thomas, Steve Perry, people like that. Those were the things I heard on the radio. You take all of these influences and everything comes out in your own unique style. When I started writing these songs, I really changed my vocal style. In one of the first bands I was in everything was super high and in another band I, everything was super low and I had to learn to mix the two so I did not hurt my vocals. I learned to build up strength over the course of time. My favorite records all have vocal diversity, which is why I love Rob Halford. You do not know what's coming. Will the song be riding on the wind where everything is super high like Screaming For Vengeance or will it be his mid part like Bloodstone or will it be grit like on Grinder.

Jeff: Or will it be sinister like on Ripper?

Terry: Yes, Ripper!! Or even Night Crawler, off of Painkiller, I think it is Painkiller.

Jeff: Yes, it is Painkiller.

Terry: So for me it is ear candy listening to that. I want people to listen to the record and not be bored with it. There is diversity in it. This is was what I do.

Jeff: When you write, do you write for your voice or do you just write? Your voice sounds so desperate and hungry.

Terry: There are a couple of things to go with that. I know where I like to sing. Most of the songs, you will notice, start low and they work up to something.

Jeff: I noticed that on Cracks Of Light and Bleed For You.

Terry: What I like to do when I am trying to hack out a riff, I play around with the melody pattern. There are very few songs that have words ready. It is more about a feeling; it all starts with a feeling. Like with Cracks Of Light, a feeling of being lost and desperate. It starts with chords and I start humming a melody. When I get locked into a pattern I like, even if I do not have words, I know where the song is going to go. So when I am humming the melody and there are no words, I play with that vocally. I will sing it high, even with no words or I sing it low. (Meaning the melody)

Jeff: Well, all the singers you have mentioned have been able to sing or scream very well, you took after good performers. As far as the cd goes, it will be out in March, the songs are killer. Lets talk about touring and promotion for the record. You are on Great Dane Records in America. Are they prepared to put you on tour in America to support the record?

Terry: They are prepared to put us on the road in America and Europe as well. I am in a partnership with this label with some industry veterans. Namely Joe Boland, who has worked with Richie Blackmore, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nazareth to name a few. I have the people that have been around for a long time to work this record; we will get it out there.

Jeff: As far as America goes, do you think you guys will fit in musically?

Terry: Here is what I think about that. There is never a substitute for a good song. It does not matter if I take a metal song and play it on an acoustic or a piano; a good song is a good song. People will get it; they will hear the honesty in the songs. There is a lot of diversity in this record. I feel that we could go out with a different number of bands with this record.

Jeff: Priest is on tour next summer

Terry: I would take that tour. I would take Maiden also.

Jeff: Maiden is back out this January.

Terry: I would take the Dio tour.

Jeff: Dio will be back out this coming summer.

Terry: Yeah, I know. Queensryche would be another good one.

Jeff: I do not know if they will be out next summer, they did a lot of touring this past year. As far as Europe goes, you guys should sell truckloads of records.

Terry: You think so?

Jeff: You have all of these bands that do so well there, all of these power metal bands will be touring and you guys would fit in so well. By the time this record comes out, you guys should be in a great position to get some great tours. The Europeans still love this stuff.

Terry: Sounds good to me. That is the scene over there. Bands like Hammerfall, Manowar, all of them. Whatever it takes to get the record out there we will do it.

Jeff: Have your people set anything in motion as far as the promotional thing goes?

Terry: My people are behind this; we are tied to the right people to do this. It is just a matter of releasing the record and jumping on. We are going to try and break this in Europe and the U.S. and I am ready to go either way.

Jeff: So you have the record coming out and preparing to go out and support it. As far as the future going past this, do you have plans for a second record? Is there material ready for it?

Terry: Yes, there will be a second record. I feel good enough about the ideas that I have and I know I can sit on them. This will be a band effort with writing these songs so there will be a different feel.

Jeff: I appreciate the interview and good luck with the record and tour! Thanks for checking out the site and thanks for the compliments on it!

Terry: Thank you!

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