I sat down for a little talk with Severed Fifth‘s one and only, Jono Bacon. Okay, we didn’t literally talk face to face, but there was a fair amount of sitting in front of our computers involved. No, you’re a geek!
Read on to find out more about the band, new album, Creative Commons and if cowgirl is better than reversed-cowgirl.
Dose of Metal: Let’s start this off with a bang: If you had to give up either music or computers for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
Jono Bacon: Boom! Frankly, I couldn’t give up either. Even if I was doing one or the other as a full-time job, I would still be interested in the other one as a hobby. Metal is awesome, so are computers.
DoM: Now that we’ve broken the ice, tell us something about yourself.
Jono: My name is Jono, I started Severed Fifth, I play guitar and do vocals, I like romantic evenings, long walks on the beach…
Iron Maiden: Your child might be next
DoM: How did you get into metal? Teenage angst? Got mad at the PC and needed a soundtrack to smashing it? My bet is on the latter, but you can give your own explanation.
Jono: I got into metal when I was about 9 years old when my friend ‘Froggy’ nicked one of his brother’s Iron Maiden LPs and brought it over to my house. We had no idea what it was, but just loved the artwork. We snuck downstairs and put it on my mum and dad’s record player and were blown away with what we heard. After that I managed to convince my parents to buy me an Iron Maiden cassette for my birthday (Somewhere In Time), and I was hooked. As I got more into them, I was fascinated with electric guitars and drums.
DoM: What does the name “Severed Fifth” represent? Does it have a meaning, or is it just metal (which is fine by us by the way)?
Jono: There is no firm meaning; I was trying to come up with a cool name, and had the idea of the fifth amendment being ripped in half. It pretty much came from there, but I have been totally open to other interpretations, and some people have come up with some pretty cool interpretations.
DoM: Regarding Severed Fifth, is it hard being the only one in charge of everything? Does it give you more freedom, or is it more restrictive in terms of ideas, since there’s only one brain in the band? Who do you seek out for constructive criticism?
Jono: Well, even though I wrote all the music to date and founded the band, since Jim, Ben, and Ron have joined up, it has really become much more of a band. The other guys bring all kinds of help – help to book shows, create flyers, handle our practice space rent etc. Although I started as Severed Fifth and the other guys always tell me I lead the charge, I want them to be part of everything we do, and they do an awesome job.
DoM: Much has been made about the live line-up for the band. Tell us something about it.
Jono: It is a great line-up. Chris Kontos (ex-Machine Head, now with Attitude Adjustment) hooked me up with Ben Gibbs on drums first, who is a stunning drummer. This was followed by an intro to Jim Adams who played with Defiance, and then we found Ron when Jim wrote on Facebook that we were looking for a bassist. Ron was auditioning for Annihilator, and was the final member to join the Severed Fifth line-up.
I feel incredibly lucky to have these guys in the band. All are incredible musicians, all have great experience, and importantly, none are assholes. I made it clear from day one that there is a “No Assholes” policy in Severed Fifth, and they are not just not assholes, but we have become a really tightly knit family of people on the same wavelength.
DoM: Did any of the band members have some sort of input on the new album (Nightmares by Design)?
Jono: When the band joined all the material was written, but there have been a little changes here and there to tighten and improve the material. Jim also recorded some solos on Nightmares By Design.
DoM: Are you open to the idea of collaborating with these or other musicians on future releases? We’d love to hear some live drums…
Jono: Totally. All future albums will be collaborative. As for Nightmares By Design, the drums were live, I played all the songs on drums live myself, but the drums are electronic which is why they sound a little more processed.
The band rehearsing 'Drill Down'
DoM: Does the drum question ever get old? Will the new album sound better in general compared to the first one?
Jono: Nightmares By Design is 100x better than Denied By Reign when it comes to drums, and in future we will be recording acoustic drums in a studio.
DoM: One of the specific things about Severed Fifth is that all the music is released for free under a Creative Commons license. Why? Since we (the staff) and most likely majority of our readers are ignorant and lazy, explain it so even the ones with the shortest attention spans could grasp it.
Creative Commons: Good stuff
Jono: It boils down to that I believe fans should have free access to the music that their fave bands create, and they can compensate bands for their work financially in other and better ways such as buying merch, going to live shows, and donating. I believe that freedom of access to music brings the fans closer to the band, and it helps the band as the fans can share the music and get more people listening to the music. Another element of the Creative Commons license we chose is that it allows people to remix the music, and I think this is awesome for using our music in YouTube videos, using it in other compositions and more. This helps our fans get the most out of the music, and spread the word of Severed Fifth.
DoM: But seriously, name the price you’d sell out for and never look back.
Jono: Hah, no price. We are totally open to record and distribution deals, and keen for people to invest in the band, but I want to maintain our approach to empowering our fans to have access to the material freely.
DoM: In case you sell out or become massively popular, what’s the one thing you’d use your fame for, which you can’t currently do or have?
Jono: More cowbell.
Seriously though, if we hit the big time I would want to use our popularity to spread the message of a better music industry driven by the model that we are using in Severed Fifth. For me Severed Fifth is not just about making awesome music, but also about changing the music industry from the inside out, and Severed Fifth being a good example that other bands can follow.
DoM: Do you know, without looking it up in your wallet or online, who’s on the $20 bill?
Jono: Erm, isn’t it the crazy president…Jackson or whatever his name was?
DoM: Speaking of things we (the high profile investigative journalists) don’t know, have you any idea who the current singer for Anthrax is?
Jono: Hah! I have been just as confused. Isn’t it the original singer, Joey Belladonna? I dig that guy. Awesome voice and full-on 80s thrash metal vibe.
DoM: Favorite One of The Big Four?
Jono: Tough question. I love Slayer and Megadeth, older Metallica is awesome, and Anthrax put our a few duds but have had an awesome career. I think my fave would be either Slayer or Megadeth, and probably Megadeth.
DoM: Favorite/least favorite metal stereotype?
Jono: If you mean stereotypes of what others think of metal, I would go for the fact that some people think metal “is just noise”. That is a 24 caret, government approved, fully insured crock of shit. There are some incredibly talented musicians and bands in metal, and it never ceases to inspire and amaze me how much creativity there is.
If you are talking about least favorite trait inside metal, I think the obsession with some bands trying to be controversial is getting old. When bands make their music more about the message and pissing people off rather than writing good honest metal, I just think it de-values their talents and their work.
DoM: Convert “metal” to binary code.
Jono: Jees, I have no idea. Really, no idea. Feel free to take my geek badge away from me….
DoM: What’s the one album (metal or even better not) in your CD collection you’re most ashamed of? We won’t make fun of you, we promise.
Jono: I have a CD that I picked up in a record shop in Birmingham for two quid which was a solo drum/percussion record from Anders Johansson, the drummer for Hammerfall. It literally sounds like a kid hitting a music trolley filled with maracas and percussion instruments with a baseball bat repeatedly. I love Anders‘ work with Malmsteen and Hammerfall, but that CD seemed a little too weird and random.
I do love some bands that others would see as embarrassing. I love Manowar, Bon Jovi, The Great Kat, Mötley Crüe etc, but whatever, great music is great music. 🙂
DoM: Our trademark question, which will one day bring the Dose of Metal editors a Pulitzer each: Cowgirl or reverse-cowgirl?
Jono: Cowgirl, all the way!
DoM: You’re our 3rd interviewee, how does that make you feel? You’re in some pretty good company by the way.
Jono: Feels awesome, thanks so much for doing it and supporting Severed Fifth. You guys rock! 🙂
Dose of Metal: Awesome
DoM: One last message to Dose of Metal readers.
Jono: \m/
Keep listening to metal and supporting metal in your area. Also, keep reading Dose Of Metal, it is awesome. 🙂
There you have it. If you enjoyed reading the interview (and I know you did), take a minute of your time and download Severed Fifth‘s new album Nightmares by Design, available through the interwebs since October 11th.
