_CHICAGOSROCK: Tell me about the new lineup and what is new with Sacred Dawn since the last time we saw you.

LOTHAR KELLER: After the Gears album came out, both Brad and John were on their way out of the band due to various reasons. At that time we had been auditioning some drummers, so I got a call from David Shankle who told me that his drummer at the time was available, so we got in touch with Eddie (Foltz). We tried him out and he seemed to be the right guy at the time so we decided to move forward with him. We actually had a show booked in Minneapolis 4 weeks later, so he really had his work cut out for him. At that same time, John was also on his way out, so I'd been in touch with Mike (Mykull) discussing the possibilites of him coming up here (he was living in Florida) and our band's current situation. We went thru a transitional period where John agreed to do the shows we already had booked and that gave Mike a chance to come up, get settled and what not. We still had a number of songs that we had written for a new album. In fact, about half the album was already written by that time, but there were still a few loose ends to tie up with the songs so the writing-together process begun, a few new songs came out of that and we were able to have all 10 songs completed. That was pretty much it with that lineup. That process started in January of 2009. It was a long recording process.

MYKULL: Yeah, it took some time. We actually went into recording the album too early. We had the songs, but we didn't know them well enough. We played them out live so many times since those early recordings, and we just got tighter and tighter with every performance that we finally decided to go ahead and re-record them as we were then a much tighter band. That worked out well. For the next album, we'll definitely play them out a lot before we record them. It helps to learn from it because as you play them a few times, you start seeing "voids" or parts that aren't as interesting and you can fix that before going into the recording studio...

LOTHAR KELLER: ...which was really interesting when Brian (Kim) came on board (laughs), because the album had already been recorded! We met him at a Stratovarius show, and Eddie knew him from projects they had worked together in the past. He said we had a lot of common "likes" and that he'd probably be good for the band. So he came in, we gave him the material and said
"here, do what you want with it. We're not keyboard players, so we don't know. We hear things that we like but we don't really know how to do that with the band so do what you think would work...". That is pretty much what he did. We fell in love with it and brought a lot of depth and different elements to the music.

LOTHAR KELLER: There are in fact a couple of songs in which the lyrics had to be modified so as to put in context with what was going on and made sense. Wrongfully Accused was actually the one that initially set the ground work for it. So we then started looking at doing a serious concept album with that in mind. Joey (Vega) had a cousin or friend who is a writer and does stories and has a pretty strong background in that field, so once all the lyrics were written we gave him the stuff and he came up with this incredible story.

MYKULL: It was really great and the guy has an imagination second to none.

CHICAGOSROCK: You said that about half the album was written prior to the new additions to the lineup, and the other half was after that. How have the dynamics of writing and recording changed now that over half the band is new?

LOTHAR KELLER: Every musician has their quirks as to how they work. For the most part, -with us- I think everybody knows that whatever contributions they bring to the band are acknowledged. I even got a phone call from Brad about a month or so ago, saying that he was proud to have been a part of it even though he's no longer in the band. That is good to hear because there's no bitterness with anyone, we're in this together and it's not a one-man project anymore. The 1st album was predominantly myself and Marvin, a couple songs came from the Disciple 13 years ago and got re-worked. Sometimes there's a bit of "band drama" but it's been pretty good working with everyone.

MYKULL: For whatever reason, the chemistry between these guys has really taken Sacred Dawn to a darker place musically. I think that's a good thing.

LOTHAR KELLER: There was a review that we got which said the maturity level or where the music's going, has gone up. I take that as a compliment because it tells me the band is growing.

CHICAGOSROCK: I noticed audio imagery as I was listening to the new record, more than ever before. Was due to the concept material or is it a result of "new minds" in the creative process?

MYKULL: I think we were concentrating on putting our efforts into the song as opposed to looking at them like this is a "guitar song" or this is a "drum song". There are songs where I take a step back and play something really simple. We just tried focusing on the song.

LOTHAR KELLER: There are some songs that don't even have a guitar solo. By the time we got done with them, we forgot we hadn't written one and quite frankly, they didn't need them. Delirium doesn't have one, but by the time we were done with that one it was like 6 minutes long! It just doesn't need it.

CHICAGOSROCK: How do you see the new album as it is, fitting within the context of today's music in Chicago and/or the United States?

MYKULL: Well, that's a tough one! (laughs). I really don't think the [US] public will get it.

LOTHAR KELLER: Yeah, it kinda is..., I don't think so either. I think the problem right now is that they're a bit confused as to which direction it's going to head. There's a bit of a mismatch of everything being released over the past years. There's a lot of the same old 'same-old' formulas which is kinda what happened in the late 80s, early 90s with the hair metal and some confusion in what was coming out. You had people like Saigon Kick, Firehouse and then came the Nirvanas & Pearl Jams. That being said, I'm seeing something similar happening right now. It seems that every 10 years is when a cycle like that happens. The type of music this band has written, we kinda knew it was going to be more accesible by European markets. We're not blind to that and we're fine with it. We feel very strongly about the music we've written, particularly this album more so than worrying about if it'll get played on The Loop. If it is, great. We do have as in the previous album, tracks that are radio-friendly for the [US] public. So we'll see if it goes that direction. The length of the songs will be the main issue as most of them are 5+ minutes, but then again, there's radio edits (laughs).

MYKULL: In regards to the local scene, I think it would fit-in perfectly. There's some real talent in this area that I think has been ignored or largely overlooked. There's the guys in Mindwarp Chamber. Their new guitarist Mike Cerna is just phenomenal! I think for this area it's going to be a good fit.

LOTHAR KELLER: I think based on what I've read on European magazines, people are taking notice that there's a lot of bands like this coming out of the Chicago area which is interesting because you got places like L.A., Seattle, etc., that have their "sound", doom metal seems to come out of here well. This new album has some elements of doom according to comments I've received, so that plus the progressive and prog-power which there's a lot of bands that have popped up in the last 4-5 years makes it encouraging as people will take more notice with high-caliber bands coming out.

CHICAGOSROCK: How accurate is it going to be to reproduce what we hear on the record at a live show? Can we expect to hear it as it is recorded or will there be some degree of variations in the delivery of the material?

MYKULL: We just played a show and recorded some video to review afterwards and it's pretty close...

LOTHAR KELLER: Yeah, we never really know for sure. All we can hear is usually monitors, ...when we can (laughs)! I never hear my solos, hear no vocals so I watch the video to see if I played the right notes! For the most part the plan is to try and re-create at shows that we can, do the album from beginning to end. In cases where we can't, we'll modify it to where it fits. Elements like the beginning track for example, I think people will really want to hear and if we don't do that, they'll miss that and I don't think it'll sound right. As far as trying to re-create the music, we'll do a bit of modifying here and there to make things work within a live show, but in most cases we'll make it as true as possible. People always enjoy hearing our live performances so that's always a good thing.

CHICAGOSROCK: Will you be playing some of the old now classics?

LOTHAR KELLER: Oh yeah, we'll do the Iron Maiden technique of playing the album and then doing the classics and crowd favorites. Gotta do that!

CHICAGOSROCK: What are the plans for touring? Will you be staying primarily local or are you looking to branch out regionally?

LOTHAR KELLER: The plans initially are to play as many festivals, european opportunities or other international shows as we can. We know that's going to be our market so we definitely have our sights set on that. How we're going to handle the U.S. is the big question and our big struggle because of how the economy has been and it would dip into our pockets due to the travel expenses that would incur. The shows that have been set are strategically placed based on what makes sense and does not break the bank. So we are going to be doing heavy regional shows. Beyond that it's on a case-by-case basis. We'll make sure there's a string of shows on any given area just to make sure it's [financially] worth it. We're really interested in opportunities outside the country as I think those will be our best scenarios.

CHICAGOSROCK: Based on the band's past track record and seeing how the Chicago and music world is today, where do you see Sacred Dawn in the next 5 years?

MYKULL: We'll keep throwing the product out there and see what sticks...! That's about the best we can do.

LOTHAR KELLER: Well, we're obviously not doing this for the money, otherwise it would have ended a long time ago. I think right now, we're doing it for the music and trying to get the band as successful as feasible possible. We're in complete control of our destiny but it's just a matter of how much monetarily we can do to make it work. If an opportunity however comes up and somebody says they want to take it to the next level, we'll see what that is, as long as we're comfortable with it and doesn't compromise what we do. Some bands are strictly in it to make money, so they have to come up with a formula that works. In this case, we're not 20 years old anymore so for us it's more as to why are we doing this as opposed to just getting a quick buck, in which case we can just go play in a cover band. We're doing it because we like writing music and presenting it in front of people that want to hear it and that is more satisfying than getting a huge check at the end of the day. We hope people embrace it enough to where it continues the band. That's how we have to look at it and what keeps the band fueled.
We're not tied down to doing a particular genre. When asked the kind of music we do, -we're a mutt. We like some doom, some prog, thrash, some power, some dirty "cock-rock" (laughs), ...anyway, we don't like getting pegged down to just one thing on every album. There's too many styles out there and this, I think, shows the maturity level on the band on what we can take and make. On the next album we may even go on a proggier direction. We have enough flexibility at this point, especially with keyboards.

For additional information on the band, upcoming dates and other news, visit them online at www.facebook.com/sacreddawnmusic



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