9/6/2001
An Interview with brothers Barry "Skullywolf" Waddell {guitarist/producer}

and Wes Edward Waddell {lead vocalist}

from Glenn Milligan, BA Hons CS

1. How did you come up with the band name?

*Barry - Seasons Of The Wolf was actually the title of a song that Dennis was working on. We previously were using EQUINOX for the name of the band. EQUINOX had been together for about 4 years but was falling to pieces in 1988. Dennis and I were the last survivors from that band, and really wanted, needed to change. When Dennis told me the title of this new song he was working on it really stuck in my head. I knew it was just to original to be taken by anyone. We both agreed that the wolf was one of earth’s creatures that really fit our views of how our music fit into the world. Also, the music we are making seems to be an endangered species. So, it stuck.

2. Who would you say are your strongest musical influences and why?

*Barry - Personally one band that really played a big part of my beginning as a musician was BLACK OAK ARKANSAS. People might find that strange. I was a hardrock’n country boy growing up in Virginia. There are so many other influences for us as a band. Hundreds really. But, to narrow it down to a handful I would say our direction in music is inspired by everything from late 60's, and 70's hard rock and heavy metal to the heavy metal of the 80's and early 90's. Bands like Steppenwolf, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Montrose, and Thin Lizzy definitely covers some of the older influences. Then we have Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Metal Church, and Ozzy. This is a very scaled down list. Outside the area of metal we listen to lots of obscure film soundtrack music preformed by artists and producers such as Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter, Michael Oldfield, George Romero, Dario Argento and the list goes on and on. The reason for our collective influences stems from the fact everyone in this band is very much into novels and films stretching back through the ages. Everyone in the band is age 30 and up. Music seems to have grown very stagnant, commercial and disposable through the 90's till now. There is not hardly any other artists now that come along to inspire us. Although lately there seems an increasing amount of bands that are beginning to tap into inspirations from the past. I think we may see a drastic change in how things get done in this business of music as well. Maybe, just maybe music will become art again instead of the heaping pile of crap it has become. hahaha I try to be optimistic, but it is hard when you catch a glimpse of some of the crap on Commercial Radio and MTV.

*Wes - I would have to say Black Sabbath / Ozzy Osbourne was my first influence. When I was younger my older brother, who happens to be Barry had his Black Sabbath collection going. I got a hold of his albums and the name alone Black Sabbath caught my interest. Sounded very intriguing to me. Before this I was listening to what ever they were playing on the pop radio stations. You know the stuff that a die hard metal head would call wussy stuff. When I heard Black Sabbath and then learned at the time that Ozzy had his own band I got a hold of his albums and his this inspired my interest even further by the theatrical and crazy-man personal thing he had going. Then on top of that as far as theatrics’ goes Alice Cooper was very inspiring to me. I shouldn't fail to mention that I was very much in to acting at the time and wanted to be a movie star. But hey, to be like Alice Cooper or Ozzy, I could write the whole script and act it out and everything. So here I am today, doing what I'm doing and pursuing what I'm pursuing.

3a. Do you have strong interests in sorcery, space and witchcraft since there are songs on the 'Lost in Hell' album which are strongly associated with these subjects?

*Barry - Now there is a question for my brother Wes. I'd say we dabble curiously in those subjects for sure. I particularly like most any subjects that provoke more thought process in the human species.

*Wes - I have always been interested in things that take us away from the normal hum drum days of our lives. This of course being closely related to the last question, is the reason artists like Black Sabbath, Ozzy, & Alice Cooper were interesting to me. Space of course takes us far away from this planet, exploring different territories is fun, of course you have to be ready to face the unknown so it can be kinda risky I suppose.

b. What was it that initially got you guys interested in these subjects?

*Barry - My interest comes mostly from books, films, and my daily encounters with the living dead. hahaha Film director/producers such as John Carpenter, James Cameron, Steven King, Dario Argento, and George Romero, are probably my top reason for the interest in Sci-Fi and Horror.

*Wes - My interest started with books and movies and then I took interest in some of it more spiritually. I've always been a skeptic however so I of course would have to closely examine things before for believing in them and taking on some spiritual belief in them. But just like if you were exploring space and you finally saw some creature from some other planet standing before you I think you could then believe it. This of course sounds terrifying at first to most but perhaps if you made friends with this being you've never seen before you could learn something new and perhaps hang out with your new found friend and have fun playing some alien game you've never played before. Something different for a change.

4a. How did you come up with the incredible cover for the 'Lost in Hell' album?

*Barry - Well, the Quilex as we call it. The spaceship. It is the band logo. On our first album we are accused to be purely an occult type band because of the wicked looking nature of the logo. A lot of people really had no idea what it was. So, on "Lost In Hell" I came up with a way to explain how we were feeling about our current position in the music business....hahaha "Lost In Hell", and make it clear at the same time that our logo is a spaceship design.

b. Did certain album covers influence you for the cover? Which ones and how?

*Barry - Actually no particular cover comes to mind as an inspiration for LIH. I do love all the bands that have used great artwork to present their records to the world. Such as the cover art for albums by Iron Maiden, Yes, Judas Priest, Blue Oyster Cult, and more. Cover art is very important to me. It gives the album a personality of its own and works to set a certain feel to the music within.

c. Would you have like to have issued it as a vinyl version - yes/no - reason(s) why?

*Barry - Yes. Most certainly, and as soon as we have the proper finances we may release a small amount on vinyl in the future. Finances is the main reason for it not being now.

*Wes - Oh, Hell yeah. I'm all for that. Release it on everything possible. You know already I'm for doing something different. Of course not to say that's different, but most definitely not the common thing right now.

5. Are there plans to re-release the original two cassette albums and demo cassette on CD in the future + the inclusion of the tribute album tracks (as I would love to hear them)?

*Barry - Actually the next release will probably be a collection of the best from those 2 cassettes and a few studio out takes left over from our 10 year history. We plan to make it a double disc. Most likely we will not include the Tribute album songs. We may wait until we have a couple other tribute projects and include a few more covers and then release a complete covers album. But, that is not something that will take place anytime soon. We would rather put all SOTW originals out there. The "Tribute thing" seems to be quite over saturated right now.

6a. Do you have jobs outside the band - What are they?

*Barry - I help co-produce a handful of other projects in our studio with my partner Dennis as the Engineer. It helps keep the mail going out and a few groceries coming in. I have put myself in a situation where I work mostly for SOTW as manager, producer, promoter, artist, and head cook. hahaha I would rather spend my time just playing my guitar and writing songs, but we got to have someone doing the business side of things for SOTW. My brother helps out with the business side and keeps the website updated. Dennis works a job in computer drafting. Chris works various side jobs and is currently a beach bum. Wayne works for a company called Security Link. My brother works at a record store.

*Wes - Yes I work as a Sales Associate for Transworld Entertainment, which owns many record chains such as Camelot, Specs, The Wall, Strawberries, Record Town, FYE, Maxie Waxies, Disc Jockey and others, as well as Video stores like Saturday Matinee. So I get to see what sad stuff people are buying these days, but hey it’s not all their fault, sometimes it’s all they are exposed to, with the *great variety of music they play on the radio (*sarcasm).

or b. is 'Season of the Wolf' a full time 7 days a week profession?

*Barry - It's heading there. For me it pretty much already is, and I'm working full time to make that reality the same for the rest of my bandmates.

7. Do the band members have a trained classical background - judging by the high standard of your ability? What are the backgrounds? How long have you been playing?

*Barry - I'd say that my brother is the only one in the band with any kind of professional training from theatrical productions.

*Wes - I have never been trained properly as far as vocally other than my brothers help and support. Theatrically speaking however I was in a performing arts program when I was in High School. I had some training in signing there as well but not very much at all. I was basically told I couldn't sing. In some of the musicals parts were cut out because I couldn't sing them or I just was cast in a part that had allot of singing, but hell I never wanted to sing some of that crap anyhow.

8. What's it like having two brothers in the same band?

*Barry - That is something that just makes it a special situation for any band. Definitely creates a bit more of a bond in the all round view from fans. The music and lyrics that comes out of SOTW is very effected by it. Without this it would not be the same.

*Wes - I'm not sure what it is about it that makes it cool. But I do like it. It makes it more family of course, and then everyone in the band I think picks up on that and wants to be part of it, making SOTW a type of family unit.

9. Is the next album going to be of a similar style to 'Lost in Hell' or has it changed at all - due to other influences?

*Barry - "Nocturnal Revelation" is the title of the new album and it's about 5 weeks away from beginning its circulation into the world. We are damned excited! We have spent and entire year making it the best it can be. I'd say it is a bit more up-tempo in a few songs. Also, we learned so much from producing LIH that it helped to make the overall sound quality of Noc. Rev excellent. There are many different experimenting into the New Age side of SOTW on the new album as well. But, the heavy metal and darker sound that is SOTW still there. My brothers voice is something unique and ties everything in. The keyboards are strange, and the guitar sound is not like all the other generic sounding bands out there.

10. What topical issues are the new songs concerned with?

*Barry - We usually stay away from political subjects, but we have 1 song on the new album "New Age Revolution" that I would say is a little bit political. Then there is a hooray! for metal type song called "Transmission". All the rest of the songs are Sci-Fi and Horror. A couple Steven King inspired songs titled Storm Of The Century and Dead Zone. And then there is a Marianne inspired song called "Starstruck". Marianne (Queen of The Dark) that is. She is the girl on the Witchfinder page in the "Lost In Hell" lyric booklet.

11. What are your favorite band tracks and why?

*Barry - My fav's are the ones that come off great live. The ones that really get people going. "October Moon" and "Victim Of Darkness" from our first album gets them going everytime. Also, "Electric Dimension" from the first album. One Land One King from LIH, and the titled track "Lost In Hell" The new album is fresh and full of energy and I really like them all. "Quilex" and "Magnetic Star" are my favorite 2 songs to play live. Oh yeah...Quilex. We wrote a song about our spaceship.

*Wes - I'm in love with Quilex. It's a song about our spaceship yes, and how lovely she is. I have a love affair with her. She's beautiful. But hey, I like other songs too of course. The title track of our new CD Nocturnal Revelation is another one that gets me all excited. But I have a different affair with every song.

12. Is a tour planned - if so - where and when?

*Barry - aaaahhhhh .. Touring. Extensive touring. Yes. This is something we are working for. We want so much to be able to go all around the world and play live shows in every country. It is the ultimate goal for us to create the kind of demand to financially support that situation. We have yet to accomplish this and all I can say is that we are working on it. Until then we are kinda stuck in our area. Unless of course we get to join in on a festival here and there. That would be cool.

13. Are there plans to release anymore live material as 'Land of the dead' was a great live teaser?

*Barry - Oh sure. We hope to make a complete live album once we do get material from a world tour. I wouldn’t expect that until a couple more years though.

Our new album is our 3rd album. We will most likely be in more of a position to put together a great live album after a couple more studio albums. That way there is more of a catalog therefore being a bit more demand as well.

14. How would you describe the live 'Seasons of the Wolf' show?

*Barry - Fans have described us as being everything from atmospheric and dreamy to flashy and exhilarating. My brother Wes, and I get pretty out of control with movement on most songs. We like to use a lot of stage effects and props as well. This is even more as reason why it is very difficult for us to do an extensive world tour right now. It comes down to that awareness thing again. We need lots of people to support such an undertaking.

*Wes - Well I try to take the audience to another place so they can feel very different and good for a change, feel as free as I do when I'm up there on the stage. I'm up there releasing all my passions and having some damn fun, I feel crazy, I feel in love, I feel angry at all the crap in the world, and I share that with them. Sharing things and ideas that may be different to them. Take them on a ride they've never been before. In the future I hope we can offer more and more of this to our fans. Some of this stuff takes money you know but for now allot of it is a feeling that we convey.

15. What record label would you love to be signed to and why?

*Barry - We own our own label Earth Mother Music. Honestly we don't give a damn about any of the major record labels now. They can all kiss our ass. We are 100% SOTW. The writing, the cover art, the production, everything. When someone purchases a SOTW album that is exactly what they are getting 100% from the band with no outside ideas or influences. Major labels, and even some so called Independent labels are notorious for wanting to stick their paws in the mix or something. I suppose that is another reason for our current inability to tour extensively. No outside label support. We welcome any label that wants to manufacture and distribute the product we have created. But, don’t even bother asking us to change this or that. We will tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine! hahaha

16. What bands would you most like to tour with that would turn thousands of people onto the band?

*Barry - There are hundreds of bands we would love to tour with. But, I really would like to see a good handful of great underground metal bands make a huge tour together.

*Wes - To play with Ozzy or Black Sabbath would be sweet. To play with Ozzy with Black Sabbath would be even sweeter. There are allot of bands I'd like to tour with however. I'm also with my brother on the underground metal band gig.

17. What great humorous stories do you have tell about the band ?

*Barry - Well..lets see. The most recent live show where my brother kept smacking his head into the hanging monitors. He was bleeding like a stuck pig but you couldn't tell because he also uses a bit of fake blood on a couple of songs. hmmm? I suppose that was more pathetic than funny. Then there is the time we had a huge Halloween party at this club called Draculas. We were having the costume contest and this really butt ugly biker chick came up and pulled her pants down. It was really a scary sight! Wayne our drummer fell out from behind the drums rolling on the floor laughing. I'm sure my brother can tell a couple funny ones.

*Wes - Well, I remember one in particular. At the time it was kinda frustrating but we had video taped the show so we got to see it afterwards, so it was kinda funny. We were playing outside at this place called the 301 Bomb Group. They had like a outside backyard, courtyard sorta thing going. They had this round fire place pit in the middle of where we were playing I would stand on top of it, go down inside of it and it was kind of a neat thing. We decided to set one of the guitars on fire at the end of the show. My brother throws it in the pit and I proceed to light it. Now this is after playing for over an hour and I'm sweating and the pack of matches is saturated and so of course the matches don't work to well right. Now people are coming up offering matches, I light one but the sweat dripping down my arms doesn’t help. So I finally get a piece of paper lit from a lighter that someone has and I lay it on the guitar. To get it going I pour lighter fluid on it. The fluid catches on fire and runs right off the guitar because of course the guitar had a finish to it. So for a minute there it looked like we had it on fire but it was really quite lame. What the hell were we thinking?

18. What has been your favorite performance so far and why?

*Barry - Damn* thats a tough one because I love them all. There were a couple of places that really sucked...and I can remember them. hahahaha But when it comes to all the others I think they were all the best. I love playing live man.

*Wes - I'm not to sure cause after this one gig we did I love them all. This one performance I'm speaking of was so horrible, and I think it mostly had to do with the soundman, made us sound like total garbage and the place that we were playing was all that hot to be sounding like shit. I couldn't hear a thing that was coming out of my mouth everything sounded like mud and of course this makes you feel really good about yourself right (sarcasm). So actually maybe that was my favorite because now it's over and nothing could be worse than that show. Knock on wood.

19. Any good groupie stories?

*Barry - Yeah... She is now my steady girlfriend. hahaha So, therefore to not incriminate myself I'll have to save that one for my brother. hahaha Our drummer Wayne could probably tell a lot more of them than us.

*Wes - Well never had a groupie as a steady girlfriend. I’ve had some that were friendly girls you know, but I’ve never tied my self down to one. I had one tie me up maybe. hahaha. But never got too seriously involved. Gotta save some room for more groupies.

Thank you so much for completing the interview and all your well appreciated help.

*Barry - Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of Metalliville's interview history. We appreciate all the support we can get man. Anyone that wants to contact us please by all means do. Email, snailmail, smoke signals, whatever man. We like hearing from the people directly. That is another reason we hate major labels...there is rarely any personal contact directly with the artists. arrrggg Major Labels suck!

I'm really looking forward to the new album!!!

All the absolute best -

DJ Ginge
Editor of www.metalliville.com