Phil talks with Craig Goldy from Dio and Razor from Metal Knights about a variety of topics including Craig’s Destiny Bridge Program and new Metal Knights music. Click the play button below to listen.

Listen to “The Interview” Get the Flash Player to see this player.

I love the song "Why Don't You", which tells everyone to turn off the TV set. What inspired the song?

Simon: I wrote the main riff to the song and it was, may be surprisingly, inspired by listening many times to ACDC's 'Back in Black' album. The lyrics were written by Nicola and they depict the eternal struggle between men liking sport too much and the sexual needs of women.

Nicola's description: "Cricket is not as important as sex. Turn it off. Watch it later! Our bouncy tribute to why 24hour sports TV sometimes needs to be blown up."

StrangeA is selling several songs in various places on the Internet, do you think the Internet has helped, or hurt the music industry.

Danny: It has helped unknown bands and artists gain a wider platform and reach a bigger audience.

Nicola: It has possibly made record companies lazier, though, as it's assumed the next big thing will be found on the internet, with A&R people busily scrolling through various social networks. In order to get noticed, bands now have to do much more work themselves whereas, in the past, record companies would have provided more support and opportunity to develop a band. As a result, musicians are having to learn more about the music industry, which isn't a bad thing, as it helps to maintain ownership of a band's product.

Simon: It's a different approach and less of a risk for the major labels.

John:

Many people think it's just a matter of time before digital music distribution surpasses traditional, physical distribution, and the expert's advice is to get your music up on as many on-line distribution sites as possible. Why? Because most of these internet based distributors offer non-exclusive deals, so you can be present and accounted for on as many sites as you like. To keep things simple, though, it is advisable to source your distribution through one company only. We chose CD Baby as, at the time, they were recommended by our friends at Fame Games Radio, and provided the best distribution options for independent musicians (they take 9% and pay you 91% of all income from your music). Their network of digital retail partners includes all the majors: Apple iTunes, Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, Napster, Verizon etc. You can buy StrangeA MP3s from all these outlets.

It's always worth doing some research as, for example, Reverb Nation now provide digital distribution, where you keep 100% of the Royalties and ALL your rights.

With the decline in physical sales of music, many major labels are moving towards a model that takes a cut of everything. Would StrangeA consider signing one of these 360 deals?

Danny: Normally, record companies would just take a cut of the record sales, which would be generated from touring. With a 360 deal, you also sign away touring rights, merchandising rights-everything!

Simon: As a band, you should keep as much power and integrity as you possibly can.

John, you seem to be the poster boy for Social Marketing - using sites like Plaxo and eCademy - which are more for business networking, than for music. How has this helped StrangeA and would you recommend this technique to other Independent Bands?

John: We were invited to join both Plaxo and Ecademy by a radio DJ and club DJ respectively. Networks like LinkedIn and Plaxo seem more akin to profile directories, while Ecademy is a virtual community for successful entrepreneurs and freelancers.

Music industry people tend to use Plaxo. Some investment in gathering information can be useful here. For example, through registering with a site like hitquarters.com, you can find contacts for record labels, A&R people, producers, songwriters and publishers, some of which can be found on Plaxo.

Ecademy is a creative and dynamic environment - painters, complementary therapists & musicians can all be found there.

You never know who might show an interest in your music. A Business Consultant offered his services, adding value to the band becoming more visible in the music industry - honing our direction, budgeting, resources, having a clear & shared vision. Also, a studio engineer offered us some 'downtime' to record in a top London studio.

Business Networking can definitely be worthwhile as the potential to build contacts is huge. In addition, you can take advantage of internet feeds and hook up your sites to Blogger, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube etc.

I know I speak for a lot of StrangeA fans when I ask - Are there any plans for a full length record?

Simon: There are always plans for a full length album and we would love to get into the studio and record. We have more than enough material.

Danny: In fact, our first release will be the greatest hits platinum collection, box set, to be in the shops for Christmas.

Where is the one place you'd like to play live, and why?

Simon: I would love to play at the Brixton Academy in London. Some of the best gigs I've ever seen have been at the Brixton Academy (Sound Garden, Gomez, Elbow, Fat Boy Slim, Blur, Super Furry Animals, Foo Fighters).

Danny: I love the idea of playing at Madison Square Garden as so many bands I love have played there in the past (Metallica, Queen, Kings of Leon, Radiohead, Coldplay).

Nicola: Where is that place in Beaches where Bette Midler is rehearsing for her upcoming concert, but has to leave after receiving some distressing news about a loved one - it looks really nice!

If a group of the "Undead" came knocking at your door, and you could take only 1 instrument (one you didn't know how to play), which one would you bring with you to hide?

Simon: I'd definitely take a miniature 1920s piano, but I would need some assistance to move it.

Danny: I'd like to take a ukulele or banjo to learn and play, before the "Undead" turn me into a Zombie.

John: I'd take a beautiful wooden alto flute in the hope the "Undead" would take pity on me and give me my freedom.

Listen to "Why Don't You" Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Tell us about your debut effort, "Out of Your Element". Writing credits are to the band as a whole- how did you guys go about writing this record? What were the influences for the songs?

OSC For the Lyrics...some are heartfelt compositions, some are random topics. Biggest influences included people, events and undiscovered feelings. Writing style influence includes Eve 6, Incubus & Matchbox 20. As a musical perspective we are ear trained musicians as well as self taught. Some more influences include Mudvayne, Alter Bridge, and Nickelback. We are very open minded musicians and appreciate all types of generes.

You are currently looking for a lead vocalist. Some say the lead vocals "is the sound" and changing that can be detrimental, even though many bands have survived changing vocalists (Iron Maiden, Van Halen). What is the reason for the change (Scott is still in the band) and how do you think your fans will react to the change?

OSC The reason for the change/addition would be to explore and to see who else is out there that has a musical perspective of knowing more about the voice. We feel that having another person would increase more ideas to flow through out the band and to explore new grounds.

The music industry has had some tough times lately, mainly because the "record industry" doesn't seem to understand the concept of marketing in the "Internet age". What do you think of what's going on, and would you sign a 360 deal with a major label?

OSC We feel that the music industry will hopefully come around with a solution to internet downloads, etc -- but we are more about the music and don't necissarily just want a huge profit out of it -- though that would be great. We would sign to a Label if the right deal came upon us. All in all, we go out to stores to get physical cd's/materials by our favorite artist(s) to support them. When you buy a CD you get the whole package and appreciate more of the songs and quality is better sounding.

If you weren't in music, and you guys still had to work together, what would you do?

OSCWe would be into racing and building cars.

There is a demo of a new song floating around, are you guys writing a new record, and if so do you have an estimated release date?

OSC Yes, we are currently focusing on our music and writing new material. We are making sure our songs are the best they can be and we will also Self-Produce this upcoming album in our home studio. We don't have a release date yet.

Listen to "Circling The Drain" Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Please tell us about your new album and don't leave out any dirty little secrets about it!?

Mark: It was like an accidental baby really. We met to more just reconnect after a long time and played each other some music that we were working on. Meeting weekly at first, we helped each other to co-write a number of songs and thought it would be fun to make a demo of a couple. On Craigslist we located Paul Wohlstetter and went to see him at his little studio to play our music. Paul grew up in Brooklyn with a lot of great music around him that had been our early influence.

We came back the next week and were so impressed with what he had done with our rough versions. A great musician, with albums of his own, he had added some rhythm and keyboard tracks that suggested we could do more than acoustic duets with the music.

Bill's eyes started to spin like saucers and the idea of some lush production seemed quite possible and he located Kiva, a Canadian throat-singer on Craigslist. Paul socked the beats to what we originally though would be a Celtic-feel "Waiting for Catherine To Call"

So the album is a nice mix of organic and electronic sounds embellishing our songs, with some inspired moments on both the recording floor and the mixing console.

We all worked quite quickly together and came up with 8 songs completed. On the way to the studio one night, we decided on the last two songs and recorded them that night as stripped down acoustic numbers, relying more on feel than production. We were quite happy with the approach and plan to do the same on the next set of recordings.

Billy: As Mark said it was really just our idea to get together. The Divine Fire was ignited and we are really happy with our debut. We are about to begin our next project and hope for a release in the spring of 09.Really happy to have you playing our stuff and really rewarding to have seen how well in most cases it has been received.

You have done a couple of music videos for your songs, "Last Train Out"and "Didn't Even Get Your Name"do you have plans to create one for "Waiting For Catherine to Call"which has been voted as a favorite song on the Other Side show?

Billy: We thought it important to get video interpretations as it is a great medium to get your stuff out there to the masses. With a shoestring budget we were able to pull "Last Train Out"off. The lads did a great job for us and as young film grads were happy to get started in their field. Didn't Get Your Name was done with a cheapo program and just gathering some great film noir images. As far as Catherine being done as a video, it would need the real deal. As it was written after a dream one morning, which is another story, it is a must to conjure some spectacular light and archetypal imagery; as well it must be filmed in Ormidale Scotland. So we are waiting for help on this one, anyone out there?

Summer is winding down, but can you both share with us your most favorite summer vacation that you ever took?

Mark: As we have a really sweet summer in Vancouver, I usually stick around town in the summer and travel in the winter or spring. My favorite had to be a trip to Cambodia, bussing from Bangkok Thailand to the an infamous Cambodian border crossing, negotiating a bumpy ride, entrusting the driver to navigate through the darkness, clutching the back of an open pick-up truck for hours, arriving at a colonial river town. The next morning embarking on a 16 hour ride down a river inhabited by temporary villagers living marginally by the river.

The importance of water to our world being was clearly evidenced by the experience. The most compelling day I have spent in many trips through Asia was complete with mechanical breakdowns and multiple groundings as amazing life meandered past. Arriving in Siam Reap by nightfall, the following morning finding ourselves at a Khmer temple ruin, completely alone as though we had stepped back in time and were the first people to re-discover the place overgrown with trees and vines.

Billy: Without question it would be my lengthy stay in Rovinj the hometown of my love, a beautiful town in Croatia nestled on the Adriatic Sea and a short jaunt by ferry to Venice. Absolutely a delightful part of the world with warm people, a warm sea, great food and wine and a great way of life despite economic hardships.

Who writes your songs and where does the inspiration for the songs come from?

Mark:We both write the tunes, sometimes on our own and sometimes collaboratively. The writer who starts the song usually sings it on the recordings.

Being in the flow of life, observing people, society in general, hearing people's stories first hand, and travel. Most songs arrive by being unconsciously open to muse and finding something relative in real life that might be interesting to hear put to music.

My schedule lends itself to very short passages of time when an idea, a few words or a melody-filled phrase will pop into my head and compel me.

A phrase sort of gets massaged and another rhyme or line added to it while driving to and from work. I play harmonica while driving to work out melodies, writing down words while at stop lights. At home there all these scraps of paper that get sorted out best around midnight.

Billy: I don't think I have ever really had much luck sitting down writing a song. They usually come like a bolt of light. A melody, a catchy phrase, an image can be all that is needed to get the song rolling. I hear it in my head and sort of know where it's heading. Lyrics tend to work the same way and I just let them flow and worry about editing and fine tuning later. Stevie Wonder said"I open up my heart and hope my mouth follows"and that says it all.

Any plans for a tour? And if so where will you be traveling to?

Lots of interest has been expressed in having the Ormidales travel to Northern England and Scotland. A few people have welcomed us to come over your way to play some gigs. We would like to do this next spring if we can get some business sorted out with a promoter in the UK.The possibility is really exciting us these days

If you had unlimited amounts of cash would you change anything about the band?

Mark: Heck yeah, home base would be a delicious dilemma.

Billy: Yeah, let them quit their day jobs and buy everyone new sneakers.

From what I've read you have been inspired by many musicians, but when you were little and pretended to be a rock star who did you pretend to be?

Mark: I might have tried the windmill guitar strum a time or two.

Billy: Those four guys from Liverpool.

When you look back on working on your record what was the funniest thing that happened?

Billy: Well. in retrospect I guess it's funny. Every time Mark and I would head back home from our sessions usually about 11:00 PM. We would attempt to sleep but end up staring at the ceiling, eyes wide, and feeling like we had half a dozen espressos. As my better half was in la la land I had a most difficult time not waking her with my energy and buzzing. Generally it was three or four before I fell asleep only to be up at six. So as exiting as the year was making the album we defo lost sleep.

Finally, if you woke up to a world full of zombies tomorrow where would you hide and what instrument would you take with you?

Mark: I'd head for the hills above Manarola, and be strumming a Gibson arch-top, very quietly

Billy: Somewhere only I know, and a set of bag pipes. Back to the roots.

Had to add...
The enthusiasm of people in the UK and Europe are such a refreshing change. The reception that new music is given is nothing short of amazing. They really appreciate that sounds that are a bit of the beaten track. We have so many people send emails to our MySpace that connected with the music or really got what it was that we were on about in the songs.

Thank you all, we look forward to making more music for you!

Listen to "Mrs. Allan" Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Marq from Disonic on the Lighthouse Rocks Show
Get the Flash Player to see this player.