Talking with . . . St. Madness
Interviewed 1/2/2004 by Brett VanPut
Interview with vocalist Prophet
Through the years of doing Transcending the Mundane, the best aspect has been finding people like St. Madness vocalist Prophet. He has become a good friend and is one of the nicest people you will find in the music world. His band St. Madness is one of the most underrated metal bands in the world. Over the course of four studio albums, including the excellent God Bless America, St. Madness has restored the faith of many metal fans. They have recently issued We Make Evil Fun, a compilation of favorite tracks and seven unreleased songs. Here is Prophet.
Why did you choose to put out We Make Evil Fun at this point in your career?
After my father died in February 2000, I went into a tough depression and after seven years of being in Crown Of Thorns/ St. Madness, I needed a serious break. The band members all decided to go do other things, musically and otherwise. In July of 2000, Randy Ax and I joined forces with Wiley Arnett (guitar player formerly of Sacred Reich). We founded a metal band called the Human Condition. Randy Ax stayed in the Human Condition for about a year, and then exited the band. We picked up Scott Twitty from the death metal band, Bludgeon as his replacement. The Human Condition and I wrote seventeen songs. Wiley is a great guy, and great guitar player. The whole time though, I was missing St. Madness. I guess you can take Prophet out of the circus, but you can't take the circus out of Prophet. In May of 2003, I called Vampierce Em and we were both expressing how much we missed St. Madness. We decided to come back home where Prophet and Vampierce Em really belong. We put together We Make Evil Fun right away, so people would know we are back. Now, at the same time we are writing the songs for the new St. Madness c.d. called Amazing Grace.
How did you go about choosing the songs which would appear on this compilation?
We chose fan favorites. Someone is always coming up and saying "I really like the record, but you forgot this song, or that song-.it was very difficult because we had over sixty songs to choose from. The c.d. is still over 78 minutes long. We Make Evil Fun is a best-of, but that's not all, it also has seven tracks that were never released on any St. Madness record. The unreleased tracks were songs that were either written or recorded with Dr. Frankenshred sometime from 1998 to 2000. We did the best we could to include songs that would give the listener the St. Madness experience, even if they've never seen us live. I wanted to give the fans more than just a best-of record. We found this incredible graphics artist, Eric McFarlane, and the artwork on the c.d. is bad ass. The more you look at the album art, the more things come out at you. He managed to do graphically what we do musically. St. Madness has always layered stuff into the music- Eric hid stuff in the art.
Tell me about the unreleased songs - are they new tracks or ones which for one reason or another did not end up on an album?
Most of these unreleased songs were already slated to go on the follow-up to Scare the World. The songs are as follows: Track #2 ("No Mercy"); Track #5 ("Rage"); Track #9 ("Dark Night of the Soul") Track#10 ("Wild Thing"). "Wild Thing" was a hidden track originally found on the God Bless America promotional cassette from 1998., and was never formally released; Track #17 ("Hey Joe"); Track #18 ("Evil Elvis"), and Track #20 ("We're All Going to Hell").
Looking back on your career, how do you feel about what you've accomplished with St. Madness?
I feel incredibly grateful. All I ever really wanted to do is be an entertainer and, because of the people who support St. Madness, I have been able to live my dream. I still have a lot more dreams to live and that will come when it does. Looking out in an audience and seeing people singing our songs with me is an awesome feeling like no other. I write lyrics often with the fans in mind, because I love singing with them.
What would you consider to be the highlight of your career?
In late 1997. John Baxter (Rob Halford's manager) approached me at one of our shows. Few people are aware that Rob Halford sang in Black Sabbath for a brief period of time. John Baxter said "I'm looking for a vocalist." I asked him why, and he said "to audition for Black Sabbath." I was floored. He told me that Sabbath had been auditioning guys for the previous six months, but didn't care for any of them. He told me that my performance on stage reminded him of Ozzy. He said "I think you would be a good guy for the job!" Mr. Baxter asked me to call him in a couple of days so he could try to set me up with an audition. When I called him back two days later, he said "You're not going to believe what happened. After twenty years, Ozzy is rejoining Sabbath." Of course, I was very pleased because we all love seeing Ozzy and Black Sabbath together, but it was also bittersweet because I would have loved the chance to audition for my favorite band of all time. Still, to even have a guy like that approach me was an honor, and it?s something that I will never forget. One of the greatest highlights of my career is one that might seem miniscule to others, but in 1998 St. Madness opened for a band some people might remember, called Black Oak Arkansas. They were (and are) a southern rock group that was an arena/ stadium band in the early to mid 70's. Lynrd Skynrd opened for Black Oak on their first major tour. When I was fourteen, I saw Black Oak open for Heart. Watching Black Oak's vocalist, the great Jim Dandy work the crowd was awesome. I thought to myself "I want to be like that guy!" Jim Dandy is one of the best frontmen I have ever seen in my life. In 1998, not only did St. Madness play a show with Black Oak Arkansas, but I got to party with Jim Dandy all night on our bus. Jim was a total southern gentleman. He's great to his fans, and there is no rock-star-itis in him. To this day, I still try to follow his example. Also, in 2000, the famous punk band Guttermouth did a remake of our song, "Sexual Abuse" (God Bless America/1998) for the Fearless Records release "Punk Goes Metal." This c.d. came out shortly after the death of my father, and it was just what I needed. I think Guttermouth's version of "Sexual Abuse" rocks. They really helped lift my spirits when I was having a hard time caring about much of anything. God Bless Guttermouth.
You are one of the hardest working bands, very prolific, and put on a great show - not to mention write great metal songs - why has St. Madness not become huge?
The fans decide who's gonna be huge or not. We have always enjoyed being an independent band, because we do make our records the way we want to. Things take time, and up until now, St. Madness had only submitted to Metal Blade Records, who turned us down in 1999. We had never actively sought a label deal with anyone to date, because we have been happy with Nasty Prick Records and able to do things our own way. We wanted to control how our foundation was built, which we have been able to do. Now, we find ourselves at a place where we need a label bigger than Nasty Prick Records, to take St. Madness to the next level. We are in touch with several labels right now, so time will tell. St. Madness has always believed in working hard for everything we get. We also want to earn the respect of metal fans all over the globe.
What does the future hold for St. Madness?
Vampierce Em and I are busy writing the songs for Amazing Grace. This next record will be heavier and fatter sounding than anything we've ever done before. We're still keeping lots of melody and hooks in the songs though. Vampierce Em left St. Madness in September of 1997 to spend more time with his family. He and I were the founders back in 1993. It is so great to work with him again. Vampierce Em is my favorite guitar player ever. His soul is alive in his playing. It is 100% heart, and no % tricks. Vampierce Em, to me, is like a heavy metal David Gilmore. St. Madness is looking forward to finding the right label for us, and touring. If a larger label doesn't present itself, then we'll do what we've always done- continue on with Nasty Prick Records. Right now, we are very focused on writing the best St. Madness record yet.
When do you plan to re-enter the studio to record a new album?
As soon as we have all the songs we want for Amazing Grace.
What do you make of the current state of America and the Bush administration?
I like George W. Bush much more than Bill Clinton. I love America. I believe that President Bush is doing what he feels is best for America. In the song "God Bless America" (1998), I told the world that, because of Bill Clinton (though he's certainly not the only reason) America would see "blood red, white and blue." Clinton failed to snatch up bin Laden when he had the chance so, when the terrorists didn?t get it done in '93, they came back September 11, 2001 and made sure they finished the job.
Do you have a favorite St. Madness album or time period?
My favorite St. Madness c.d. truly is We Make Evil Fun. My favorite time is now, because we are re-vamping the entire project. I love working on new material and stage shows. A lot of ideas are on the table. We realize that we have to do things bigger and badder than before, and we intend to do just that.
Final comments?
I would like to say thank you to Brett and Transcending the Mundane for giving us this opportunity to tell everyone what happened to St. Madness for the last three years, and where we plan on going from here. To all the metal fans out there, old and new- God bless you. Long live metal.
Discography:
2003... We Make Evil Fun (Nasty Prick)
2000... Scare The World (Nasty Prick)
1998... God Bless America (Nasty Prick)
1996... Spiritual Visions Of St. Madness (Nasty Prick)
1994... Loneliness Is Black (Nasty Prick)
Current line-up:
Prophet... vocals
Dr. Frankenshred... guitars
Vampierce Em... guitars
Randy Ax... bass
Dark Soul... drums
St Madness
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