Skip to main content

Bringing The Darkness To The Light, July 6, 2026

Show Headline
Bringing The Darkness To The Light
Show Sub Headline
Guest, Patrick Gagliardi, vocalist for STORM FORCE

Bringing The Darkness To The Light with Catherine Nadal

Patrick Gagliardi on Hard Rock, Truth, and the Long Road Back to the Stage
Guest, Patrick Gagliardi, vocalist for STORM FORCE

From Drummer to Front Man

In this episode of Bringing the Darkness to the Light, host Catherine Nadal welcomes Patrick Gagliardi, vocalist for the Canadian rock band Storm Force. Patrick explains that his musical life began not as a singer, but as a drummer at around age twelve. Because his early bands often struggled to find a vocalist, he began drumming and singing, eventually moving fully into the role of lead singer. He traces his path through early bands, cover projects, and different musical styles, while emphasizing that hard rock was always his real passion.

Family Music, Niagara Falls, and the Hard Rock Path

Patrick describes growing up in a musical family near Niagara Falls, Canada, with brothers who played guitar and sang, and a mother who had once been offered a chance to sing backup for a touring band before life circumstances changed her path. He says he was the family member who moved most strongly into hard rock, becoming the “black sheep” musically. His influences included bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Triumph, April Wine, Aldo Nova, and other classic rock and hard rock acts that shaped his understanding of performance, songwriting, and stage presence.

Greg Fraser, Storm Force, and the First Album

Patrick explains how he connected with Greg Fraser, guitarist from Brighton Rock, whom he had known since childhood through his brother. The two had once worked on a song called “Saviour” many years earlier, but schedules prevented the project from moving forward. Around 2018 or 2019, Greg reached out again, Patrick went into the studio, and Storm Force began to take shape. Their first album, Age of Fear, was released in January 2020 and received strong reviews internationally, but the COVID shutdown soon derailed touring and live-performance opportunities.

Songs of Support, Gratitude, and Escape

Catherine and Patrick discuss several songs from Age of Fear. Patrick describes “Breathe” as a song connected to depression and the importance of support, framed through a relationship where one partner helps lift the other through darkness. Catherine connects that message to mental health awareness and the importance of support systems. Patrick then explains “Because of You” as a positive relationship song about achievement, gratitude, and strength through another person, while noting that some listeners interpret it in a religious way. He later describes “Dirty Vegas” as a pure party song about nightlife, celebration, and the kind of fun that may come with a few regrets the next morning.

Surface Tension and the Development Years

The conversation returns to Patrick’s earlier band Surface Tension, which he describes as melodic hard rock with some heavier edges. Active in the early-to-mid 1990s, the band toured Canada, opened for Canadian acts, and gave Patrick crucial experience as a performer. He says those years taught him how to manage a band, handle time on the road, command a stage, and become a front man. He also reflects on the shifting musical climate of the 1990s, when grunge changed the industry and affected many hard rock and melodic rock bands.

Building Big Sound With the Right People

Patrick discusses the collaborative and production side of Storm Force, including the importance of band chemistry and mutual respect among musicians. He praises producer Darius Szczepaniak, explaining that Darius helped make the band sound big, contributed symphonic and keyboard elements, and remained the natural choice for the second album after working on the first. Patrick also mentions guest musicians on the new album, including keyboardist Ray Coburn, keyboardist Mike “Benny” Bedrosi, and cellist Margaret Maria, who contribute additional texture to the band’s sound.

Truth, BraveWords Records, and What Comes Next

The interview closes with Storm Force’s upcoming album Truth, scheduled for release through BraveWords Records. Patrick says the title track is not tied to any specific political leader, but is a fictional story about people rising up when someone takes advantage of a country. He describes it as a song about revolution, while making clear that Storm Force is not primarily a political band. Patrick also discusses plans for social media, videos, possible shows, festivals, and select live dates rather than a large tour. Catherine thanks Patrick, BraveWords Records, and Michael Brandvold, then closes the episode with Storm Force’s song “Truth.”

Bringing The Darkness To The Light

Bringing The Darkness To The Light with Catherine Nadal
Show Host
Catherine Nadal

"Bringing The Darkness To The Light" Radio Show

Hosted by Catherine Nadal, certified psychic medium with the Forever Family Foundation speaks about life events, music, spiritual and paranormal experiences and grief. Many of the shows will feature her friends in the music, entertainment and psychic business. These interviews will focus on their life careers and personal spiritual experiences. Tune in to learn, laugh and experience.

BBS Station 1
Weekly Show
7:00 pm CT
7:55 pm PT
Monday
0 Following
Show Transcript (automatic text, but it is not 100 percent accurate)

NOTE: (automatic text, it is not 100 percent, contains music which affects transcript accuracy)

Speaker Identification

Speaker 1 - Announcer / Prerecorded Show Voice: Identified by the opening and closing show announcements.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Identified from the show introduction.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Identified from the show introduction, the interview context, He is described in the transcript as the vocalist for the Canadian rock band Storm Force.

 

Speaker 1 - Announcer / Prerecorded Show Voice: This is Bringing the Darkness to the Light with Catherine Nadal, professional psychic medium. Today's guest is Patrick Gagliardi. He is the vocalist for the Canadian rock band Storm Force.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: It is a pleasure to have you on.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Thank you. This is very exciting. I was reading a lot about your band, and I was listening to what I could find on YouTube. I'm really very excited because I do not know your band very well, so I want to know all about you as a musician. I also want to know how this came together, because I know you are new to BraveWords Records, right?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: That's right.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: All right, good. So tell me how you started your career in music.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Like most musicians, I started out pretty young. I started playing drums when I was twelve, actually. I was not a singer at all. I played in a lot of bands, played drums in high school, and all that stuff. The biggest thing was that we could never find a singer, so I started drumming and singing. Eventually, a couple of years later, I hooked up with a band and just became the singer. I still drum occasionally, but not very often.

Then I became a lead singer. I had a band in Canada called Surface Tension, which was an independent heavy band in the early 1990s. We toured Canada and had some fun there. After that, of course, I did some cover bands and had fun with all kinds of different varieties. I have been in a disco-funk band. I have been in all kinds of bands, whatever you can imagine. I have been in a country band. But my passion was always hard rock.

Ever since I was a kid, I was a fan of bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath. Thinking back on those bands, I think a lot about the way they wrote songs for themselves and then just hoped the world liked them. They were not really the kind of bands that said, "We have to write a hit. We have to knock this down and get a hit." No, they were going to write what they liked. I feel that is what we do in Storm Force. Not that things cannot be a hit, but we write them because we like them.

Fast forward many, many years later. Greg Fraser was the guitar player from Brighton Rock in Canada. They did very well. They had a few albums, a couple of gold albums, and they were nominated for the Juno Awards numerous times, which is like the Grammys in Canada. He connected with me after Brighton Rock kind of broke up, and he said, "I want to do something new."

The funny thing is, we were working on a song about twenty years ago called "Saviour," which is actually on the new album. Back then, it just did not work out because of schedules or whatever. Then in 2018 or 2019, he reached out again. He had something he was interested in. I went down to the studio, we knocked out a few songs, and then he said, "Hey, you're in." I said, "Yeah, I'm in. Let's do it."

So we got a few other musicians and started recording the first album, which was called Age of Fear. We had some good success with that and some great reviews on that album. We loved it. We were super proud of it. Then we said, "Well, let's do another album." The intention was to do the album a year later, or two years later, then it became three years later. I started feeling like we were Boston and it was going to be ten years later, but no, we knocked it off in six years.

That was mostly scheduling conflicts. I am the lyricist, so I was not always inspired with lyrics. Eventually, I completed my part, we completed the rest of the parts, and now the album is coming out in August. It is called Truth, and that is most of my path.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Wow. You said a whole lot in very little time. I want to go back to when you were young, because I interview a lot of musicians and sometimes I get a lot of different backgrounds. Some people grew up in very musical households, and other people did not.

When you said you were drawn to the drums, a lot of guys are. Then they automatically go running to the guitar. Was your family musical, or do you feel that you were kind of on your own in that process?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: My family was definitely musical. We were not like the Jacksons, but we would have New Year's or Christmas Eve gatherings. My brother would be on guitar, my other brother would be on guitar, I would be playing drums, and I have another brother who sings. He currently sings in a band. We would perform for the people at the parties. So it definitely was musical.

I definitely moved into hard rock, and they were not hard rock at all at the time. I was the first one to go that way. I was the black sheep of the family going with hard rock.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Were your parents musical? You are saying your brothers were, but were your parents musical?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Not my father. He is a golfer. I like to golf a lot, too. My mother actually was a singer. From what I hear, she was very good. I heard her much, much later, and she sounded pretty good. But I guess when she was young, maybe fifteen, she was offered a chance to sing backup for a band and tour Canada. Unfortunately, back then, she got pregnant at fifteen by my father, so she got married, and that was the end of that dream.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Oh, wow. That is really interesting. Since you said your brothers referred to guitar, and you were the one who went down the rock path, are you the youngest?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: I am the youngest.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Were you growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, around that time?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Mostly the 1980s. I was born in the 1960s, but the late 1970s and early 1980s are when I really started getting into music. I forgot to mention that my brother was a drummer. He had a lot of natural talent, and I will tie this all in: he played drums with Greg Fraser from Brighton Rock, who is the creator of Storm Force, in middle school. My brother played drums, and Greg used to sleep at my house. I was just a little kid.

My brother played drums and was very good at it, but he lost interest really quickly. He was into it for a couple of years and then did not do it at all. Now he sings in a band, but he only started singing again twenty years ago. So he totally left music and then came back. That is how I met Greg Fraser. I was probably nine years old when I met Greg, and he was probably twelve or thirteen.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Oh, wow. So your circles have been small all along. Interesting. What part of Canada are you from?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: I am from Niagara Falls, about an hour from Toronto.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: So you are actually on the New York side?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: The Canadian side.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Okay, so you are very near Buffalo.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Oh, yeah. I have absolutely been to Buffalo a million times, and I have been to New York a few times, too.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Very cool. It is interesting because we are probably very close in age. Growing up, one of the biggest influences I had, and I do not play any instruments, was Kiss, Kiss Alive!, and the whole influence of Kiss. Even just watching how they transitioned, they had action figures, dolls, everything.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: They were good at the merch.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Exactly. For me, that was really my introduction to what would be considered rock, because we were hearing music all around us, like Deep Purple, and the kids in the neighborhood would get a guitarist. But to really follow it, to be a fan of music, it was more like Van Halen and Kiss and all that stuff. So that is cool.

I want to talk about what you said earlier, that you are a lyricist. When you were growing up, a lot of times when I meet songwriters, they felt that when they were younger. Sometimes people find they can write lyrics from a personal experience. Sometimes people can write from a bad experience, and from a good experience too. But most people feel the emotion through a bad experience. When did you really feel that you had the ability to link all those words together and create a song?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: I always liked creative writing. Even way back in grade three or grade four, I was always writing stories. They were more stories than lyrics. Then early in high school, I started probably somewhat out of necessity. Someone had to write the lyrics, so I wanted to do it.

Greg is actually a fan of this too: having your singer write lyrics if he is capable of doing it. If he is going to sing those words, he has to feel those words. If it is something I have written myself, maybe it is going to mean more to me on a personal level.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: That is interesting. We talked earlier before we started the recording, and we talked about playing some music during the show. Three of the four songs are coming from your first album with Storm Force. The first song is "Breathe," and that always reminds me of Pink Floyd with that whole thing. So tell me a bit about "Breathe." We are going to have the opportunity to play that during the show.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: It is personal, but it is based on the idea of depression, I guess my view on depression. It is about getting someone to help you and having a good circle. In the song, the format is more lover-based, like helping each other rise up and get past the issues you have.

It was not based on me personally, but I know many people, and I can understand depression. I cannot fully understand it because I have never had it, but I can see how something can completely affect your life. It is always good to have support. Instead of a therapist in the song, it is the person's lover helping them, lifting them out of the doldrums and lifting them out of depression.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Wow. I really appreciate that explanation because mental health is really on the rise, along with concern for people and how they are handling mental health. More importantly, there is the question of who is really supporting people who are going through that.

There has been a big push for people to understand that there is a hotline, at least here in America, called 988, which is a number people can call to notify someone that a person is going through something or that they themselves are going through something. It is really there to let people know they are not alone.

Like your song, you said it is more of a couple relationship, which I find really great because it is usually the couple relationship where sometimes people say, "Well, I just cannot do it anymore." They are having a hard time supporting the person. They are having a hard time staying in that situation. They find it easier to work longer hours because it is the same thing day in and day out.

I really appreciate that your song shows there is support within the close-knit circle of the person who is going through that. Wow, it is really interesting. We are going to play "Breathe."

[Music segment: "Breathe" by Storm Force is played. Full song lyrics are not reproduced in this transcript.]

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: I also wanted to bring up something you talked about earlier. You were in a band early on called Surface Tension, and that was what you considered your most established band before Storm Force. What was that band like? I am not familiar with it. Was it rock? Was it heavy metal? What were the basics of that?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: It was a Canadian band. I would say it was similar to Storm Force in a way, at least in that genre: melodic hard rock, maybe slightly edging on heavy metal. It was a great band. We never got there, obviously. That is why you never heard of us. We did have some conversations with some record labels, but by the time interest had grown to where we maybe could do something, we kind of broke up. So that ended that.

But it was still fun, and I cut my teeth that way. I got out there on the road. We did tours of Canada, three- or four-month tours. I owe a lot to that experience because that is where you learn how to manage a band, how to manage your time, how to get on stage, how to put on a good show, and how to be a front man. Those were my development years. That is what developed me into being able to do this. It was a great band and an awesome chapter in my life. I loved being on the road too, because there were always some cool experiences out there.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Around what time was Surface Tension out there?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Surface Tension was around 1992 to 1995, I would say. Around there. Maybe 1992 to 1996.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Wow. The music timeline is very important in my interviews because a lot of people forget that music really changed around that time.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: It was a pivotal time.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Yes, it was a pivotal time in music. We went from the 1980s hair bands, and we were kind of sliding into Guns N' Roses, and then all of a sudden the grunge movement moved in on the whole world, not just stateside.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Absolutely.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Some people felt the grunge period helped them in some way. Most people feel the opposite. Tell me about touring with Surface Tension. What bands were you touring with? Were they all Canadian, or were you hooking up with bands coming from America when they were in Canada?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Mostly Canadian, for sure. I am trying to think if there were any American bands, but mostly Canadian. There might have been an American band here or there that I am just not thinking about.

We did a lot of opening slots back then, obviously, for artists like Lee Aaron, Kim Mitchell, and Coney Hatch, that kind of thing. They were pretty big at that time. I cannot think of an American band because, obviously, we stayed in Canada. That was where we were, and it was easier at the moment. Because we never reached that level of success, we were unable to get Van Halen to take us on tour.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: That I understand. But it is interesting because Canadian bands that were big then, some of them are still big now. I have friends in Aldo Nova. They have been playing out for at least the last four years. I also just recently saw Triumph. They came through New York City.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Oh, yeah. Did you get to see them?

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Yes, I had to see them. They also toured with April Wine, another amazing Canadian band.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Incredible. April Wine was very big in Canada. Very big. I believe they got some success in the States, but they were very big in Canada. As a kid, I knew no different. To me, they were huge. They were just like Kiss. Obviously, they did not reach that level, but to me, Nature of the Beast was like, "Wow, what a killer album this is."

All three of those bands - Triumph, Aldo Nova, and April Wine - were really big influences. I actually have a song right over my studio here from Never Surrender. Triumph is my all-time favorite band. They were incredible.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: They still are. They added Phil X, who I know, and they added some current musicians. It is just amazing how they all fit in so perfectly. I really hope that is not the end of Triumph.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Me neither. I did not get a chance to see them this tour, but I wish I would have. I saw them back on the Sport of Kings tour. They were awesome.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Lucky you.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Very good.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Wow. Those bands were really a big influence on me. I want to go back to Surface Tension because, as you said, you had the opportunity to develop yourself as a front man. A lot of people look at the singer of a band and say, "That is the front man." I am sure early on you realized what works and what does not, because the audience is usually staring at the singer for most of the concert. Early on, did you start to say, "Okay, I really need to tweak things," and now do you look back and say, "Look how far I have come"?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Absolutely. One thing I will say about myself is that I was always fearless on stage. It came naturally to me. That was not a problem. I was never that nervous guy standing in front of the mic going, "Hello, we are Surface Tension." That was never me. I was screaming at the audience from when I was about fifteen years old.

I always looked at my idols. When Destroyer came out, that was huge for me. Paul Stanley was the approach to speaking to a crowd. It was a scream. He was always yelling at the crowd. He was never going, "Hey, how are you guys doing?" That influenced me to take that approach. I definitely scream at my audience.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Great. Tell me about "Because of You," the second song.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: "Because of You" is interesting. Some people take a different interpretation. I did not actually write the lyrics to that one. That is the one song on the album where the lyrics were actually Greg's. It is not a support song in the mental-health sense. It is more about, "Because of you, I can do things well."

A lot of people have interpreted it, or maybe misinterpreted it, as a religious song. A couple of friends said, "Hey, man, you guys should give this song to Stryper. They would kill it." First of all, Stryper is awesome, so they would kill it. It is not a religious song, but if you look at the lyrics in that vein and keep that focus on religion, you could say, "Wow, this sounds like it is talking about Jesus." But it is more about a relationship in a positive way. Everything I achieve is because of you. We do great because of you.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Wow, that is great. Okay, so we are going to play "Because of You" now.

[Music segment: "Because of You" by Storm Force is played. Full song lyrics are not reproduced in this transcript.]

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: There are so many things in a band that people on the outside do not realize. Bands are really kept together with the glue of the band, and that glue is the relationships among the band members.

How did you feel when you were touring with Surface Tension and then years later had the opportunity to be in Storm Force? I am sure the two bands had different personalities or different work dynamics.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Obviously, my first bands were more location-based. They were based on who I went to high school with. "I like that guy. He is a good drummer." They became friends, but not all relationships are forever. I still have friends from that band to this day. Sometimes you also have a friend where you like the guy, but it is more of a business relationship.

With Storm Force, we all get along really well. We live not too far from each other, maybe an hour for some guys, so we try to get together as much as we can. It is always a pleasure. We really enjoy each other's playing, and I think there is a lot of mutual respect for everyone's talents. There are some great musicians in this band. The guys standing beside me and behind me can play. They can really play, and we get along great as well.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: That is so great. Just to get an idea, when was this album put out?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: 2020 was the first album. That is a story in itself. There is a COVID story in there somewhere.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: That's right.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: We released the album January 24, 2020. Right away, we got some great reviews from overseas - Europe, Scotland, Poland, France, all kinds of different places. As far as what people thought of the album, things were looking really good. Great reviews. Lots of great comments.

Then we had a couple of little show offers where we were going to do this or that. Nothing concrete yet, because we had just released the album in January. Then March 13 hit, and that was the end. We just could not tour. Every opportunity was kind of taken away, which is a bummer. But it is fine. It is a blip. Life is a bunch of blips. Some are good blips. Some are bad blips.

That is the way I look at it. COVID kind of ruined it for a couple of years, but it did make us get back to it and start writing songs again. I know it took forever, but there is always something open at the end. We are hoping with this album those trends continue and we can get out there and play some shows. We did play a few, but only around here.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: I thought it was interesting because when I saw the date, I was like, "Oh, there is another COVID story." There are so many COVID stories, and of course at many different levels of bands. It was the only time I remember that there was almost a paintbrush across everyone. At every level, everyone was affected the same. It did not matter if you were Paul McCartney or Storm Force. You were all getting the same treatment when that was going on. Wow, that is amazing.

Tell me about "Dirty Vegas." That is the third song we were going to talk about from the first album.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: "Dirty Vegas" is just a party song. Everybody knows Vegas is a great place, and what goes on there. That is what "Dirty Vegas" is about: staying up all night, drinking, partying. It is a really good feel-good song. It is about having a good time, maybe doing some things we regret in the morning, but having a great time.

[Music segment: "Dirty Vegas" by Storm Force is played. Full song lyrics are not reproduced in this transcript.]

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: All right. That first album is called what again? Tell me the name of the album again.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: The album is called Age of Fear, and that is because it is one of the songs on the album. It is being re-released under BraveWords Records. The streaming is going to be out through us. BraveWords already released it on their streaming and Bandcamp. It will be coming out on Apple Music. I think it just got published today, so it should be out there tomorrow or the next day.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Okay, great. Your new album, when we talk about the song "Truth," which is what we are going to end our interview with, the name of the second album is Truth. That is the title track.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Yeah.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: I was reading that the song and the album Truth will be coming out August 14. Is that correct?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: That's right.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Good. Tell me about the other songs, since we are only going to play one.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: There are several songs. I was also reading that you have a couple of sit-in musicians on some of them.

There is a song called "Between the Lines," which is kind of a love song, but it is a fast song. It is about a relationship. We had our guest keyboardist, Ray Coburn. He played for Honeymoon Suite, which you have probably heard of. He has done some stuff with Supertramp, or the singer from Supertramp. I believe he lives in New York now, actually. He did all the keys for that song, and he did an awesome job. There is some great work in there.

Then we had another guy, Mike Bedrosi. We call him Benny. I play in a couple of fun jamming bands with him. He got in there and did some keys on some of the other songs. We also had a cellist, Margaret Maria. She did the cello on "I Wasn't Finished Loving You." Awesome job.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: That is really great. It is very interesting. I was also reading that your debut record was recorded at Hamster Cage Studios and produced by Darius Szczepaniak. Do not ask me to say it. There is no way I can say it.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: It is Szczepaniak. I always forget it too, and he has told me: Szczepaniak.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: I am just going to miserably fail on it. He is affiliated with Brock Corros, Sum 41, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Big Sugar - wow. Tell me about working with Darius.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Darius is an awesome guy. He was working or recording at a studio called Phase One in Toronto. Phase One is a pretty historic studio for Toronto. A lot of big bands have recorded albums there, and he was the engineer there. When we did the first album, he was a great fan of Greg's from Brighton Rock, my guitar player in Storm Force, and he offered to be our guy.

We sent him rough mixes, and he would mix them. He does charting for symphonies and stuff like that. He will create symphony-style music. On the first album, he actually did some keys, like symphonic parts, on some of the songs. On the new album, I believe on "I Wasn't Finished Loving You," he did some keys and symphonic parts too.

He is an incredible player, and the guy knows how to make a band sound big. It sounds great. When we decided to do the second album, we said right away, "There is no reason to go anywhere else." He has moved studios now, and I do not remember the name of the new studio, but now he is doing movie scores and more of what he loves to do. He loves to record rock bands, and he loves to make movie scores. That is what he is doing now.

He finished the new album for us, which was super nice of him because he had a lot on his plate, but he always took time to get our mixes down. They are always great. Sometimes you go into the studio and you get a mix and you say, "I do not like it. Change this, change this, change this." When he first hands you something, it is like, "Okay, I maybe want this changed, but other than that, it is great." He is just really good at what he does.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: That is great. That is really amazing. Good to hear, and good for you.

I want to circle back to the song "Truth," which is also the name of the album. Tell me about that song, the lyrics, and how that came about for you.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: That is a great question. We are not a political band, not in any shape or form, really. We pretty much just want to have a good time. But you cannot help but be affected by the political climate of the last few years.

That song is a fictional story. It is not about your leader. It is not about our leader. It is just about when someone is taking advantage of a country, and the people rise up against that person because they do not like the way he or she is doing things. That is what "Truth" is about. It is basically about revolution.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: Wow. Very good. I wish you the best with Truth. Thank you so much. I do want to thank BraveWords Records, and I want to thank Michael Brandvold for sending you my way. It has been a pleasure to interview you, Patrick Gagliardi from Storm Force.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: That's all right. You got it.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: I am sure a lot of people stumble over your name, right?

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: They absolutely do, including my relatives.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: It is interesting. Tell me about your social media and where you guys are going to be playing.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: Right now, I have nothing to announce yet. We are just in the planning stages as far as dates. I know there is a planned date around here, around our area, in November. Once the album comes out, we are hoping to get some more offers.

We are definitely not going to do a large tour. We are more going to do a show here, a show there, a festival, that kind of thing. Anything is open, but that is probably more the direction you are going to see us go: do some great shows, get out there, and play. That is part of the reason we did this album and the last album, just to have some fun, do some great shows, and get out there and play. We are looking forward to it very much this time, and there will not be another COVID, so we will be there.

Of course, we are on Facebook and Instagram. We have a TikTok channel now too, so we are putting some stuff up there as well. YouTube, of course. I believe we have a visualizer video coming out for the first track in the next couple of days. We plan on shooting an actual video for probably the third single. We are still deciding which song that is going to be.

Speaker 2 - Catherine Nadal - Host: All right, great. It has been a pleasure to speak with you. We are going to roll out with the song "Truth" from the album entitled Truth. This has been Storm Force. Thank you again, Patrick.

Speaker 3 - Patrick Gagliardi - Guest: You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

[Music segment: "Truth" by Storm Force is played. Full song lyrics are not reproduced in this transcript.]

Speaker 1 - Announcer / Prerecorded Show Voice: You have been listening to Bringing the Darkness to the Light with Catherine Nadal, professional psychic medium, Dream Central Station, LLC. Audio editor: Al Hemberger at The Loft Recording Studios in Bronxville, New York. This is WNEW 102.7 FM Radio.