This is bringing the darkness to the light with Katherine Nadal, professional psychic medium. Today's guest is Ben Jackson, the guitarist for the eighties band Crimson Glory. It is a pleasure to have you on, Ben. Hey. My pleasure to be here.

Thank you so much. You know, I am a big fan of your music and I am a very big fan, you know, the eighties. I am an eighties chick and I'm very excited to have you on. Of course, I don't know your career as well as you do and I know your fans know all about your music and all about your band, but I always find out there's always these little stories that have never been told before. I hope we get to some of those.

I'm excited. I was referred to you by Michael Branvold. And also, I know that your music is being promoted by Brave Words Records. So there's a lot coming up for your band. So just right out the gate, tell us what's going on for Crimson Glory.

I know you have a lot of dates coming up starting June 12 all the way through to the end of September. Yeah. Right. We we definitely had a very busy and active comeback since we returned to the scene a couple of years ago. We first started out releasing a new single, a song called Triskadecke, we released that song at the same time that we announced to the world that we were bringing the band back because we had been gone for quite a while.

So the immediate response for that single was very good. People said it sounded like classic Crimson Glory and, you know, then we told everybody also about the two new members we have and Travis Wills on vocals, Mark Borgmeyer on guitar. Since that single came out a couple years ago, we just been out playing festivals in Europe and getting out there, stretching our wings again, letting everybody hear the band live and get to meet the new members, and things have been going really well. So now since that single came out, we've completed a full new album, Chasing the Hydra. It's out now on Brave Words Records, getting stellar reviews.

So we're quite happy about that. And as you just mentioned, we have a full summer of festival dates. Starts up this Friday in Spain, so we're really totally amped up to get over there and do that. We head out tomorrow night. Yes.

You know, it is very exciting when the bands are making a comeback because the fans really haven't gone anywhere. The fans have always stayed. And with technology and the way music is listened to now, Bandcamp is really a very big friend to the musicians. Yeah. So it's like a one stop.

Everyone can go to Bandcamp and kind of check it out there. So I know that you've done a lot with Bandcamp. So what has been your experience with Bandcamp? We just did a live listening party last Friday with that, and it it went pretty cool. We had a lot of fans on there that were chatting directly with the band and asking questions and so it was nice.

It's interesting with Bandcamp because like what you just said, the fans have an opportunity to speak with you directly. That to me has been really a lot of feedback that I've gotten because even with this interview and all the other interviews that I do, just the small video clips sometimes it feels very interactive. And this is something that I find in current music, especially even now when you go to a concert. There's a lot of opportunities to meet the band beforehand, which many years ago, I don't remember that ever really being the case. You had to be really picked out of the crowd.

Right? Yeah. I remember that too, going to shows when I was young and just wishing there would be some opportunity to meet one of my idols, you know, but there was never a chance, you know. It was very hard. Usually when we do our concerts over in Europe, we have some sort of a signing session and during the day or or maybe something right after the show where the fans can come and hang out with us over by the merch booth and just like, you know, take pictures with us and hang out a little bit.

We don't charge extra for that stuff. We're just we make ourselves available to meet with fans and hang out. Yeah. It's so important. Those are the best meet and greets, especially when the fans don't feel like they're being taxed financially on it.

That's cool. I wanted to go back in time, know, when we go back into the history of Crimson Glory 1983. I mean, I could literally remember where I was in 1983 and probably you do as well. Let's talk about the beginnings of Crimson Glory. How was it really formed?

I know you're one of the original members, so you probably have the whole scoop. Yeah. We started in the in the early eighties and the band was a band that was already sort of going with the drummer Dana Burnell and I, because we we had our first couple of bands that we formed in high school, and the two of us had played together already for a couple years before we started recruiting in the other guys, like John Dranning, Jeff Lords, and Midnight that would make up the lineup of Crimson Glory. Yeah. As you mentioned, it all started happening right around '83 when this band was just five young guys that all kinda went into high school in the same town.

And, you know, after playing cover songs and just kinda learning our instruments and our craft by playing local parties or or little clubs doing, you know, our favorite cover music of our favorite bands. We only did that for a short time, actually. And then we we made the self realization that, hey, if we really wanna do anything with this long term, we gotta play our own music. We gotta write our own music. So let's let's ditch be in a cover band and and just switch right now and just ride and go somewhere with this.

So we we began doing that, writing and demoing some songs, and then we we started doing that quite young when we were all out 18, 19 or so. And that was our our ambition to just become an original band. Yeah. It's really cool. I think you guys started out in the Florida area.

Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. We're all from the Sarasota, Florida area. Yeah.

We all went to high school here in the same town. So what was the scene like for doing heavy metal music in Florida in the eighties? Was it really big or were you guys like one of the few? Because sometimes the music scene is really big in certain areas of a state. We had our pretty good scene here.

I mean, I guess it wasn't like, you know, you hear a lot of bands form and they say, well, we gotta move out to LA where the scene is where we can, you know, maybe get signed and and get something happening. But because some states just don't have anything, you know, going on. But Florida was pretty good back then around, you know, Tampa, which isn't too far from where we live in Sarasota. Tampa had a pretty strong music scene, and there were a lot of bands, that were playing metal and doing the thing that that we love and around that time. And guys like the, you know, the band Sabotage came out around that time in the early eighties, and and they're still around today and they have a tremendous following.

Other bands were around back then such as, I don't know, Power Surge. Trying to think of a few. So many of the death metal bands that are big and the and the death metal scene came out of Tampa too, like Death and Morbid Angel and Deicide, so many. So we we had a pretty big scene back then. Rocks Gang was another kind of glam metal band that was kind of on the scene.

And it was fun back then in the mid in the early eighties because there was many many cool rock clubs to go to and metal clubs, and it was the height of the eighties, you know. Metal was pounding. Everybody was loving it. All all the girls were out there in their little miniskirts and high hair, and it it was just a it was a really cool time. But so so, we had a pretty cool scene here in Florida.

Very cool. So when did Crimson Glory actually make it big? Like, being offered and, you know, really feeling like we're taking this to the next level? Probably around '85, you know, we were doing demos up at Morris Sound Recording in Tampa, which is where Sabotage recorded their first couple albums. And we found out about the Morris Brothers and thought that was a place we should go record.

So we did some demos up there. Right after we did our first five song demo at Mora Sound, we got a guy named Dan Johnson from Dunedin, Florida, who had par records at the time. He he took an interest in the band and signed us for our first album deal. By '86, we completed this record and released it on par records here in America and on Roadrunner records in Europe. And it came out October eighty six.

I can't remember the date. I think it was October 20. It really took off rather quickly. You know? All the metal magazines in Europe were writing reviews on this new record by this strange band wearing chrome masks.

And suddenly, there was just a big hype around Crimson Glory all over Europe, and it it really took off rather quickly. Yes. It must have been very exciting because you guys were all very young. What did you feel? Was there a large support from all of your families?

Or were they thinking, you know, this is a huge risk? You know, I always find it curious. You know, what were the parents thinking back then? It seemed like they were all thinking, you know, pretty behind us, you know. I think they just, you know, whatever you guys love, you know, we support you.

We all had pretty supportive parents. That's cool. And the reason why I bring it up, is because I've had several conversations in the past reminding people about the eighties, because I was, you know, really active in the eighties. And I remember how people like Dee Snider, you know, they literally had to go down to Washington DC and fight for the right to keep music. And it was a big scene back then where they wanted to do a lot of censoring and shutting people down.

And that really kind of Yeah. Brought a lot of attention to parents. What is really being put out there and what are our kids getting involved in? So that was around the same time that you guys are getting That do remember. Yeah.

Exactly. I remember these these times, yeah, where Dee Snider became pretty outspoken on on music rights and all that. And there was even that incident where Judas Priest had been taken to court because somebody's child committed suicide, and they were trying to, in some way, hold Judas Priest accountable for a song they had called Beyond the Realms of Death. It was there were there was a lot of that going on back then, like you said, with censorship and people trying to question, you know, is is heavy metal dangerous or something? And, you know, obviously, it's not.

It's just an art form. It's music. Exactly. And it's still alive today. So music and that's one thing I always find about music is it's the bands but it's also the lyrics and back then they were thinking the lyrics were working against the kids you know in a negative way but as we find now it's almost a three sixty where there's so much attention to mental health and that the lyrics of these songs are actually helping people through their mental health.

So it's really taken like a totally different turn where music is actually a form of therapy, you know? Absolutely. Quite different from the past. Yeah. It has been for me.

Yeah. The the artists I love and grew up on and music is therapy. So many times when I'm down, I listen to something, it lifts me up. You know, it just and I've had people I've met, friends and fans that have said our album was just huge part of their life when they were going through something rough, and and they just spent like a solid year listening to it, and just how it just really lifted them up and out of something bad. So it it is amazing the power of music, what it can have on all of us.

Yes. But that's also like positive way. Exactly. But it's a huge compliment to the band to feel that it's not just putting out music, but it's changing lives. And that's something that income can never equal.

You know, when you feel that you've really changed somebody's life, there's not enough money in the world that could equal that feeling. So that to me is really a huge compliment to you. Wow. I wanted to ask you another question because we have a lot of young people that listen to the show. How did you find yourself holding a guitar?

Did you feel drawn to it or did you feel that, you know, somehow you just stumbled into it? I was drawn to it. I think I just as a very young child, I really liked music and I listened to everything, you know, from the Beatles to Iron Butterfly and any other vinyl records, Santana, anything I get my hands on, you know, I just really liked music. And I mean, as like a a seven or eight year old kind of young kid. And then, you know, when I was 10, I was really interested in playing the drums, and I wanted to be a drummer, and it was kind of my first instrument that I wanted to pursue.

But after a couple years, the feeling passed on the drums and I really wanted to play guitar. So around the time I was 13, I picked up a guitar and just kind of started learning things and took it from there. But I I I knew before I even got the guitar. I mean, I I wanted it for quite a while. It's something I wanted.

I've thought about it. I dreamt about it, you know. I love hearing that because a lot of times kids that feel that way don't know where it comes from. And sometimes their family is not musical. So it kind of freaks them out.

Like, why am I attracted to this guitar? So was anyone in your family musical? Yeah. My dad was a a really good jazz piano player, and he had a baby grand in the living room. I still have it now in my living room.

So growing up, he was always playing, you know, after work. He'd get home from work and sit at the piano and unwind for a couple hours just playing songs, you know, things like I remember him playing Satin Doll, that jazz song, and just he was just so good, and it was always enjoyable to listen to him. So I'm sure it influenced me into loving music because my parents both they love music, and they had vinyls, and they were always listening to music. If they if my dad wasn't playing the piano, they had records on, you know. So it it was a musical home for sure.

That's so great. Yeah. And I also find it interesting that he was playing jazz on the piano. A lot of times people don't realize how complex jazz really is. So to be growing up, to be brought up almost on jazz, almost expands a child's mind even further than just listening to whatever's contemporary of the time.

Would you agree? Oh, yeah. For sure. So many interesting elements to jazz and the sounds and chords and everything, and, I enjoyed it. Very good.

Listening to him play that type of music and listening to the records that he would listen to, I I was always nice. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about your bandmate and friend Midnight. I know he has passed now, but it's interesting to hear how you met him and what his personality was really like outside of just being on stage. Midnight was a guy that we kind of the last guy to come into Crimson Glory.

We already had all the musicians in the band, Jeff, John, Dana, and myself. And we we had gone through another singer when we first started out that didn't work out. We we finally said, well, we we need to look for a new singer, who can we get? And it just happened that this guy Midnight was a high school mate of ours, and he was dating Dana's sister, our drummer. And Dana said, how about how about my sister's boyfriend Midnight?

Maybe we'll check him out. He's a good singer. And but Midnight was mostly known around for playing, like, acoustic guitar and singing, like, more folky songs and stuff like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin songs like Going to California and stuff. I mean, Midnight was that guy that when me and all the guys in the band were playing heavy rock and heavy metal, Midnight was over there playing soft acoustic ballady or mellow songs, but everyone around knew him that he did that. And he he would play sometimes at local parties.

You know, he'd be seen out on Siesta Key, a beach here that's popular. He'd be out on Siesta Key playing his guitar, you know, just this guy with this acoustic guitar. So we thought we'd we'd bring him in and try him in our band because we knew he had a beautiful voice, but we had no idea what he was as a vocalist and and where he was gonna take it, you know. Because he fell right into the whole heavy metal thing, you know. We were saying, hey, we're doing this song by the Scorpions, or we're doing this song by Iron Maiden, or this song by Deal.

Can you try singing that? And so he did, and he just blew us away. We just said, there we have something with this guy. We knew he was very, very special. So, you know, he did join us at that stage when we were young and still doing cover songs.

So we got to learn about how he could sing by listening to him cover other artists. But it was shortly after he came into the band, as I mentioned before, that we decided to just go fully original. You know, another interesting thing about Midnight is when we met him and he went to high school with all of us, even in high school when we were all, like, 16 year old kids, he he was already going by the name Midnight. Every everybody called him that at school. Everybody did.

I mean, for the first couple years I knew him, I didn't even know his real name. So it's not something he just adopted later on as the band got, you know, closer to putting out a record. Maybe I should come up with a stage name. It wasn't like that. This was just his name.

Even when he was a kid, everybody called him midnight. So Did anyone ever find out where it kind of originated? Yeah. He used to tell the story, I've even heard him tell it in interviews that he lived out in California for a time when he was a young teen. And he said he met a girl out there that was a little older than him, and he palled around with her for a few days or so.

And she ended up giving him this nickname midnight. And he said that, sadly enough, right after she gave him this nickname, she had an accident where she was driving along one of the highways along the cliff sides over there in California and went off the side of the cliff and wrecked her car and passed away. So he he would tell the story a lot when he was doing interviews. People say, how would you how did you get your name? And he said, this girl gave it to him.

And then quickly right after she gave him the name, she died. And so it's a little bit of lore. You know? Yes. Yes.

That's kind of insightful in some way. Yeah. Because the way you describe him and before he joined your band and walking on the beach, he seemed so light. And the nickname midnight sounds so dark. You know?

It's like, it's very insightful. Like, she saw something in him that other people didn't. It's kind of interesting. Well, he he had light and dark in him for sure. You know, he was a very colorful man with a lot of character, you know, a very infectious laugh, and Wow.

Hard to talk about him sometime. I know. I understand that. And I also was very touched because I didn't realize that you all had gotten together and had done a memorial for him of some sort where you kind of all got together to remember him, but also to play music. Do you do you wanna touch on that a little bit?

There's a festival that happens in Atlanta every year for so many years now, twenty plus years, called Prague Power. And it's a a lot of great Prague metal bands come in from all over the all over the world and play this festival every year. So, the following year after midnight, sadly passed away. The promoter, the main man up there, Prague Power, Glenn Harviston, got to talking with us about maybe bringing the band up there to appear at Prog Power and do a tribute show, tributing Midnight. Because Crimson had a a big following, sort of a bit of a legendary following in the prog metal scene, and Midnight did too.

I mean, he's he's a very very loved and remembered guy. So so Glenn up there said, why don't you guys come up and do a prog power appearance and tribute your friend? So the thing that was amazing is that there were many other bands playing there that weekend. It was a two day festival. And all the different singers from all the other bands came up and sang a song with us, a midnight song.

Each song we had two different singers come up and and sing together on one Crimson song. And then the next song we'd have those guys would leave the stage and two other guys would come up and sing the next song. And we had, like, 17 or 18 different singers come up during this long set we did, and and these are all really great singers from great bands that were all there to do their thing, and they came up to be part of our tribute show. So it was so special, so memorable, so glad we got to do that. So nice.

That's amazing. I want to make sure that we mention your new music as well, but also to touch on that, you know, as the years went on, you've had different singers. I know Todd Tore had been a vocalist with you at one point. So I know now he's in Queens. Right?

So I mean, band has just kind of unfolded and just evolved over time. Tell me about how it sounds now with your current vocalist. Oh, how it sounds, I I really feel is that we've really gotten back to our original roots. We sound more like the first two albums Crimson Glory than than the band sounded in a long time Because the first two albums were, you know, the original five guys with Midnight. We had really developed a sound.

The third and fourth albums were a little bit experimental. The third album was a sort of experimental album that some of the guys in the band went in a slightly different direction, and and Dana and I weren't part of that album. But then the fourth album saw my return, and then we had a new singer named Wade Black. And he did a fabulous job on this album. The fourth album was called Astronomica.

And it was just but he was quite a bit different than Midnight. He had his own sort of approach and way of singing and doing things, and it was, you know, maybe still left the fans questioning. The band sounds so different with this guy. It's kinda hard to to grab, you know. I don't know.

But with the new singer we have, Travis Wills, he sounds more like Midnight than than Wade did or more than than Todd Latore did. He sounds he has his own style and his own voice, of course, own footprint on what he's doing, but but he has the ability to tap into some of the the essence of Midnight and the way he sang, probably more so than those other guys that stepped in after Midnight. So even though they were great, way black and toddler tour, I can't say enough great things about these guys. Great singers, great friends. But the guy we have now, Travis Wills, just really he he feels like the right guy for the band, and we could just feel it.

He he sings the old material of Midnight so well in the new album. Like I said, there's little nuances and essences of of Midnight's style in there that he brings in, sort of like tipping the hat to Midnight, you know, and it's it's really nice. Right now, I just think we sound better live than we've probably ever sounded in our career because Travis is a great live singer. He he hits the, you know, he hits the pitches very well at all the shows. He's very health conscious, and he's just he's just out there doing a great job.

That's so great. Tell me about the first song we're gonna discuss, Red in the Sun. Oh, it's a it's a very heavy one from the new album. It's a song that was written by Jeff Lords and Travis Wills, and a cool song to make the first song on the album because it just had the excitement, the the the heavy element, everything going for it. Usually, when when you pick a song to be the first song on an an album, you know it's got strength, you know.

So it's just I think it's a badass song. We love playing it live. So go ahead. Let it rip. Hopefully, hopefully, everybody loves it.

It's the opening track. Alright. Good. Here is Red in the Sun. This is so exciting.

I'm really looking forward to hearing about this tour. There's only like three dates in The US and unfortunately, you're not in New York. I want you to come to New York. I love to. Yeah.

Exactly. I see dates in September for Atlanta, Georgia, Minneapolis, and Madison, Wisconsin. So that's cool. Yeah. So we'll see how that tour goes.

Maybe they'll expand some US states, and I'll get to see you guys. Oh, yeah. I'm sure it will. I'm sure it will. That is so exciting.

Tell me about your song Chasing the Hydra because I know you said that's similar to the titled album. Yeah. That's the title song from the new album. It definitely has a lot of that crimson glory stylistic element to it. The guitar riff that opens the song is kind of purposely crafted after another song of ours, Red Sharks from years ago.

Not the entire song, but just the opening riff. It's just kind of a little hint to, like, here we are. It's Crimson Glory. You know? So chasing the hydra comes right in with a guitar riff that just immediately tells everybody this is Crimson Glory.

And the song just barrels on with just a power and and vengeance, like like we thought. Like, we like Red in the Sun, we had to have a powerful song for the opening song. We also thought, well, the title song has to be a banger too. So Chasing the Hydra is one of the songs on the album that doesn't really have mellow intros or interludes or outros. It's just pretty much powerful, just heavy metal from top to finish.

Very awesome high high range vocals by Travis that really, you know, set the tone for the Crimson Glory style too and cool lyrics. It's just we're really proud of Chasing the Hydra. It's really a fun song to play live too. That's great. So we're gonna play chasing the hydra now.

You know, it's very interesting when you reference tipping the hat to midnight sound and stuff. There's so many conversations I've had with people where over the years they say, that really brings me back. Music is tied to a lot of memories for people. It's so great Yeah. To It's so great to hear that some of these songs are reminiscent to the way you originally put them out with a little bit of a like, a hint of the way it used to be so that somehow it's recognizable in a kind of a reminiscent Yeah.

That is so great. I think it's it's quite it's it's a little more than a hint. I think we really kinda set out to write some songs and and even stylize the music so it sounds very similar to our first albums, even the second one primarily. And and, you know, of course, the album has production, some some more progressive elements than the first two albums. A lot of varying changes in the songs, time signatures, and things like that.

We've gone a little a little far with the progressive element, which I like. But the album definitely sounds a lot like Vintage Crimson Glory, and it's nice to hear the fans say that, like, wow. It it sounds like you guys did. I mean, as soon as I hear it, I everybody seems to be pretty on the same page that it really it's really bringing them back. That's so great to hear.

I wanted to move on to hearing about your song Broken Together. I originally came up with the the riff and and showed it to Jeff and Travis and said, have a song idea. I demoed a little bit of piece of a music, and then they took it from there and and just kinda put their twists and turns on it and wrote wrote a bunch of parts in with it, and they actually just turned it into a really cool piece. It was a collaboration of all of us. And broken together starts out with more of a mellow acoustic guitar part that that Travis wrote, that that very initial piece.

And then when the whole band comes in, it has the trademark kinda Crimson Glory harmony lead thing going with a a melodic kinda rhythm behind it that just sounds like classic Crimson Glory. That that's the part I added to the song. And it's just it it really kinda is one of those songs on the album that it's a little more mysterious and deep than some of the others that are just heavy bangers. This song kinda takes you to a more emotional place with a a mellow beginning, another part in the be in the middle that sort of breaks down and gets mellow again. A lot of people have pointed it out as being, like, one of their favorites or top couple of favorites on the new album because they say it.

It really to them sounds like old Crimson Glory. So I'm super happy that everybody saw that, that what we tried to do is give them some real classic sound of Crimson Glory. That's so great. It's amazing. We're gonna play Broken Together now.

Before we discuss one of the last songs that we picked out, I wanna be able to ask you one quick question. Out of all the songs when you go to play them live, which one are you personally like, alright. I can't wait. It's coming up. Like, do you have one of those, or do you equally love all of them?

Are you are we talking about all of songs you're talking about? Days. Like, well, yeah. I would have to say the album. This coming tour, because you have so many songs in a set list.

And a lot of times, you know, that's what the fans say. Like, what was the set list? You know, I have tickets, that kind of a thing. I have to say, you know, out of all all the classic songs from the first two albums that we play, and and we could see how much people enjoy them. And and they never get I never get tired of playing them.

They never get old. You know? So I enjoy playing all that material that we did on the first two albums. But right now, I I think I get a little more excited when we pull out and do a couple of the new songs from the new album because it is it's fresh and it's fun, and and the songs are really good. They're hooky and they're fun to play live.

You know, they really they really translate live well. So currently, we're we're doing Angel and My Nightmare live, which is a lot of fun to play. We're doing Beyond the Unknown, probably one of my favorite ones right now to play live. Pearls of Dust is the one we're doing from the new album Live. It's probably one of the heavier songs we've we've had in our career and really a lot of fun to play live.

So I'm really getting the most, I I think, enthusiastic right now about playing the new songs. So before we go into the next song to discuss it, just remind the audience how they can contact you. Social media, band camp, all of that because we want them to be directed towards your music. Yeah. Crimson Glory has our own official Facebook page, Crimson Glory on Facebook.

We have our own website called the official crimsonglory.com. You can see, you know, there's always a lot of stuff through bravewords.com that's that's you know, all the information on Crimson Glory you need is through our our Facebook page, our website through brave words. There's plenty of content there if you're looking for information on the band where we're gonna be playing next. Very good. Yeah.

So now we're gonna talk about the song we're gonna roll out the interview with, and that is Armor Against Fate. Yeah. This is a really cool song. It was another one written by Jeff Lourdes and Travis Wills, and I really like this one a lot. It's got a really hooky lyrical part where where Travis says, the tapestry of time, fate weaves its threads, the past we've left behind, the things we've left unsaid.

To me, it kinda makes me feel like it makes you look back and just things you've done, things that maybe mistakes you made and you thought maybe if I wouldn't have done that, this could have happened. But but really, we we really can't change too much once things have happened, you know, in life. It's kinda like, as it says, you know, there there's a certain amount of fate that that's involved, and the song's called Armor Against Fate. And I just think the lyrics in it are pretty poignant, and and they always make me sort of reflect on my life, my past. And I think it's really a cool song these guys came up with.

I love playing it too. It's a lot of fun. Wow. I really love that about the lyrics. It's probably touching a lot of people.

I know it just touched me. So thank you again for doing this interview. We're gonna roll out with armor against feet. Thank you again, Ben Jackson Thank from Primitive and you. You're welcome.

Your bright You have been listening to bringing the darkness to the light with Katherine Nadal, professional psychic medium, Dream Central Station LLC. My audio editor is Al Hemberger at the Lough Recording Studios in Bronxville, New York. This is WNEW one zero two point seven FM radio.