NEVERMORE's JEFF LOOMIS Discusses Addition Of STEVE SMYTH To Band's Lineup

Abrasive Rock recently conducted an interview with NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Abrasive Rock: You said that [new guitarist] Steve [Smyth, ex-TESTAMENT] had some input [in the new album, "This Godless Endeavor"] then?

Jeff Loomis: "Yeah."

Abrasive Rock: So he just jumped right in and took some charge then.

Jeff Loomis: "Yeah, he did actually. Number one, a lot of readers and fans probably know that we've gone through quite a few guitar players in the past and it's not a negative thing. We just really needed to find the right person to fill the shoes as a second guitar player. Basically I asked Steve to join the band a while ago and it was just a perfect choice because a lot of the demos he was doing for us, the songs and everything that he was writing really fit into the style of music we were writing, so we were really happy about that. We're just two guitar players that really inspire one another to play the best that we can on a piece of music, so he was the perfect match and I guess we're just proud to say that we can announce him as the fifth and final member of NEVERMORE [laughs]."

Abrasive Rock: Killer!

Jeff Loomis: "Yeah [laughs]. Finally!"

Abrasive Rock: So has this changed the dynamics of the band? You mentioned the songwriting has changed now that there's more input [from other band members]. Have you noticed any other changes?

Jeff Loomis: "Well, NEVERMORE has always been one of those unpredictable bands. Nobody really knows what we're going to pull off next, but I think Steve really adds some of the old school thrash element to the songwriting process, which is really cool. I mean, the guy used to play for TESTAMENT, so a lot of that probably rubbed off. It just makes for a lot of different sounds on the record. There's a lot of different elements of speed metal, death metal, of course the NEVERMORE ballad trademark songs we do and stuff like that, so really the listener probably has to give the record a few listens before they can really soak in all that is going on. But yeah, Steve really adds a lot to the band as a whole as far as writing the different styles that we've always done in the past as well."

Abrasive Rock: Also, back with "Enemies of Reality", you had Chris Broderick [JAG PANZER] do a few live shows. What happened with that? How come he didn't work out?

Jeff Loomis: "We just didn't think he was the right person to fill the shoes in the band. He's such a great guitar player and everything, but we were just looking for something a little different. We've actually known Steve before we knew Chris, but Chris was pretty much just available at the time to do the shows. Everything is still cool with him, I still talk to Chris all the time. He's still having a great time in JAG PANZER. Number one, we want to thank him for filling in a lot of the festivals and a few of the shows that we did here in Seattle, we just thought that Steve fit a little bit better into the band."

Abrasive Rock: I actually caught a few of those shows with both the CD Release party [for "Enemies"] and the TYPE O NEGATIVE gig, so you guys had a few chances to be on stage in a live setting with Chris and also with Steve. This may be somewhat of an unfair question, but what do you think are the main differences between Steve and Chris are? Not slagging either of them, but what are the differences and how did you feel playing with each one?

Jeff Loomis: "God, that's a really tough question man because they are both such good players [laughs]. Had to ask a hard one, didn't you?"

Abrasive Rock: [Laughs] I try!

Jeff Loomis: "I would say that they are both really technical players, but I think we were just looking for a lot of the old school thrash element in Steve's playing. In a way, they are both schooled guitar players, but Chris is, technically-wise, pretty advanced, but the songwriting was what we were looking for and I think Steve had more of the songwriting technique that we were looking for in this band. We weren't really looking for someone that was a shredder from hell. We were looking for someone who could write a good song too, and the songs we heard from Steve fit more into the style of NEVERMORE."

Abrasive Rock: So do you think having Chris in the band, and again, this isn't meant to be a negative thing, but while it would have been a shredding album obviously given his talent, it just probably wouldn't have been the same NEVERMORE sound you were looking for, is that accurate?

Jeff Loomis: "I think so, yeah. Once you're in a band for ten years, you kind of come up with a formula for how you write and things like that, and we were really searching for someone that could add to that element of the way we did things. Steve was more of that person for us."

Abrasive Rock: …Which you guys took care of with the remastered version of "Enemies".

Jeff Loomis: "Yeah, to make a long story short, really what happened was we were at the end of our recording contract with Century Media, and Century Media really didn't know if we were going to re-sign with them or not, so they gave us a very small budget with that record. [It was] small enough to where we couldn't use Andy Sneap. We had to find a producer that was readily available in the Seattle area, and that person was of course Kelly Gray. About three quarters of the way through the recording process, we noticed that it just wasn't sounding right. The separation wasn't there for all the rhythms that were going on. So basically the album got released and we got a lot of bad feedback from the fans on our website, so we did something about it. We got the master tapes back from Kelly, which actually took quite a while because I don't think he wanted us to remix it, that's just the way he was at the time. Legally, they weren't his. They were owned by Century Media, so we eventually got them back, but we started noticing there were things missing [Laughs]. Like, a vocal part missing, a guitar part missing, so we had to actually go back into the studio in Seattle and redo a few things, mostly vocal stuff, then we handed everything over to Andy Sneap. Basically he just took the blanket off the mix and re-EQd everything and made it sound like a proper NEVERMORE record. Listening to it now, it sounds like night and day. There's a big difference and it made the fans happy. We weren't out to cheat our fans or anything so they could go out and buy another record. It's only 5 American bucks to get the remix [from Century Media] and I think if you're a big enough fan of a band, you are pretty much willing to do that."

Abrasive Rock: I actually haven't had a chance to hear it because I've been trying to get my hands on it through a local record store, which for some reason there is something with their distributor that they only have the old one and I know they were trying to phase out the old stuff. Do you know if there's been any problem with distribution?

Jeff Loomis: "Well, we thought that they were going to print a lot more copies of the newest mix, but from what I found out they only printed about 20,000 or something like that, so I don't know if they are actually sold out of them or if they are going to reprint some more or what. It's funny that you mention that because I went to Silver Platters the other day and they still had the old version in the Nevermore section, so I am not really sure if they are going to reprint a bunch more or not. Hopefully they will because it's still in demand."

Abrasive Rock: My understanding was that they wanted to completely do away with the old version and make the remix the only one that was available.

Jeff Loomis: "That's what I thought was supposed to happen."

Abrasive Rock: But as far as that goes, I've heard great things about that one. It doesn't seem like it was so much a songwriting problem as it was production hindered the album. Whenever we saw you live, it was great!

Jeff Loomis: "That's kind of the sound that we wanted to pull off because that's how we play live and how we sound live, and it definitely wasn't [the sound we got]. It just sounded very nasally and there were actually some spots on the record where it was distorting and we were like 'My God! What's going on here!' It's one of those things that you can't look back on, but now I can actually sleep right at night knowing there's the remix out there and it sounds much better. We basically had to come back and redeem ourselves with a brand new album and I think we did a good job on this new one. I think the fans are going to appreciate this album."

Read Jeff Loomis' entire interview with Abrasive Rock at this location.