One of the strongest most recognizable voices in Metal throughout the years, if not THE strongest is James Rivera. His career is a rather large one, from Helstar to Vicious Rumors. And that’s exactly what I covered during my phone interview with James Rivera. I left no stone unturned and found James to be extremely accommodating , down to earth and very laid back as well. He shared insight on everything I asked him and then some...He is truly in my eyes a Metal Legend...But I’m sure if you told him that, he would laugh for sure, he’s as humble and genuine as they come. I tried my best to not get too giddy, when talking with him - remember I actually bought the original Helstar - Burning Star on cassette tape. And have gotten everything since. So in many ways It was a career retrospective as well as a trip down Metal memory lane. Here goes my conversation with James Rivera , I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did as he takes us on his long Metal journey :
SteveSaks: Hi James, It’s Steve from LivingForMetal.com, I’m basically the ‘Old School’ Metal guy there, and I just wanted to do a career retrospective from the Helstar days to Vicious Rumors.
James Rivera: Hi Steve, sounds great... thanks.
SS: What are some of your memories of recording the first Helstar album Burning Star and the follow up Remnants Of War?
JR: One of my fondest memories was Burning Star and of course that started my whole career, and now doing records nowadays and seeing how it’s really done and thinking back to that record and going...Jesus Christ! ...What a bunch of dumb kids we were..haha. We made that record for less than 2,000 dollars
SS: Wow, Just 2,000 dollars?
JR: Yeah, we did it in 2 days haha and the thing is the demo had already been a year old and we knew them like the back of my hand. Overall, that was one of my fondest memories of how we did it, and so inexperienced and did it all in just 2 days...Did all the vocal tracks in 1 Hour.
SS: You did all those vocals in one hour...damn..?
JR: I basically, They just ran the tape...and I ran through each song. Kind of a weird memory of it.
SS: How was the recording process for Remnants Of War and what memories do you have of that time period?
JR: Remnants? ...Now of course we went out to California, spent 2 weeks on it. Started getting like a ‘real record’. Good memories of that was being able to record it in California when the Big Metal thing was happening, you know. We got to experience how big Metal really was in LA, that was like the place to be at the time for success. Recalling going to backyard parties with like 1,000 people just for some band...haha!
SS: Wow..
JR: Yeah it was kinda weird, other than that one of my fondest memories was just recording it out there in LA when Metal was big.
SS: The next album from Helstar was A Distant Thunder, and contains the song The King Is Dead, would you say that’s the most popular Helstar song to date?
JR: Yeah you’re probably right on that one, that one and Run With the Pack . If you talk about the market...Europe... The King Is Dead , that’s our Beatles hit haha! If you start talking about San Antonio or Houston, Run With The Pack is our Beatles hit.
SS: What are some of your favorite songs from the Helstar days?
JR: Actually Run With The Pack is one of my favorites. It’s a song that just had the perfect hook and it’s just kinda ‘Anthem-y’ type of song. The subject kinda ‘move with the metal movement, come follow us ...Glorious kind of thing.
On Remnants I would say Angel Of Death, just because it’s the structure of it...it’s the kind of song that I like from other Metal bands anyways and it would catch my attention.
On A Distant Thunder ...probably my favorite song on there.... Winds Of War because it was the first song where I got to show another side of my vocal ability which is ballads and a softer singing style.
SS: I really liked the cover version of He’s A Woman, She’s A Man by the Scorpions. Who’s idea was that to put on that album?
JR: Mine and Larry’s ( Larry Barragan) Old Scorpions were one of my first influences.
SS: Next up we have Nosferatu the half vampire theme concept album.
JR: Yes, Exactly...Off of Nosferatu my favorite song is Baptized In Blood.
SS: Nosferatu was a great album and Baptized was my favorite too. Where do you find your inspiration for writing lyrics?
JR: It depends... A lot just comes from self, imaginative thoughts. Science fiction stories, the other of it is some reading research. If I’m very interested in a certain story, I’ll read, but I’m really bad about reading. I know most lyricist and songwriters, especially when it comes to Metal Mag Bands. I’ve been on tour with a lot of bands and I don’t know if it’s trendy?, but at least 3 out of 5 of them have a ‘thing’ for reading. Their big thing is reading books, certain kinds of books that are the topics of what the band is writing about.
SS: I know what you mean, kinda like Steve Harris from Iron Maiden writes?
JR: Yeah, I think that kinda thing started with Steve Harris, but I guess I’ve always wondered if it’s an inner desire? And inner want? And need? From this person, or is it just because it’s part of what a lot of the ‘greater’ people did. ”So I’m gonna sit here with my glasses and read books too.” Or is it a real passion? and they love reading and they love writing about it?
With me I’m really bad. I re-read books. It has to be something that entertains me and I’ll read the same book 5 times.
SS: I know what you mean, My favorite book is Dante’s Inferno and I’ve read that so many times as well.
JR: OK, Yeah with the Dracula thing. I got so into that, I read the novel Bram Stoker’s Dracula at least 20 times during the writing process.
SS: Yeah, And each time you read it, you discover something you missed the first time, or some hidden meaning kind of.
JR: What would happen is that I would get to the point where I had read chapter one 5 times that week you know?...Than I would skip forward and skip back. It basically has to be something that interests me. I’ll tell you what? A manual how to work a cell phone will definitely make me read that book! Haha! Overall my thing is not going to a book store and getting 10 books and changing them again next week. But back to the singers in Metal bands, I always wondered how many really do it because that’s what they really want to do?, or is it cos I want to fit the profile?...I don’t know?...
SS: Do you have a book you write your lyrics in? I’m sure there’s a lot of people curious about your writing methods and techniques?
JR: Well over the years believe it or not, which is probably one of the reasons I lose a lot of sleep at night. A lot of it is just locked up inside, and I have a bad habit of not writing it. But I remember it all now. Maybe it’s just better with age? I mean I can write 3 or 4 songs crunch time, that I’ll remember the night before. A lot of it is photographic memory. I’m trying to get out of that habit and getting to the point where I write it down on paper, but now what helps is I’ll put them down into my computer.
SS: After the Helstar days you continued to play in several local Metal bands for a few years. Then came back with Destiny’s End. What are some of your memories about that chapter in your career?
JR: That was a great project, A killer band. It was a very good comeback when the Power Metal thing was hitting hard again. It was an almost perfect re-invention of a millennium styled Helstar, or what people were expecting me to deliver anyways. Unfortunately, what the problem with the band was, and it’s something you can’t blame them on, but I think a lot of them were just a little ‘green’. Me, I was already doing that for 15 years and had a realistic idea of what it was like being on Metal Blade and what the tour was gonna be like. I think some of the other guys were expecting a lot more and a lot quicker. Yet, do they realize that on our first record. A complete 6 week tour with Nevermore and Iced Earth, even though it wasn’t a band. I already went down those days, but the first time around for them and a festival in Germany and then a tour in Germany. That’s more than most bands get on their first record.
SS: Well I think that had a lot to do with you singing and being involved in the project.
JR: Well yeah, I had already paved the way a lot for them.
SS: On the Transition record I noticed your vocals seemed much stronger and showed a different side to your style. I don’t know how you do it, but you seem to get better with age. What’s your secret?
JR: The style sometimes has a lot to do with the people you work with.
That’s a good question as far as my voice...well to be honest dude, I really don’t know? Well, part of it is I learned how to breathe properly, but I didn’t take lessons until after Burning Star, Burning Star is all natural. Of course, then I had some problems with my voice and it hurting, and not using it right. So I took lessons from an opera singer, and I worked with her for awhile but after awhile she said ‘there’s nothing else I can really teach you, you have the voice...you have the range’ All I’m gonna do is teach you to breathe right within and improve your range a little more and how to maintain the voice. She said those are the 3 keys and of course she sent me to a speech therapist. Believe it or not there’s a proper way to talk and it’s the same technique when you sing. A lot of times I don’t use it all the time, but when I think about it I will use the proper technique when I talk, but I didn’t realize it but it all had to do with that. So voice lessons to speech therapy, and I was like damn.... didn’t know it was gonna come to all of this, haha!
SS: Well I think it definitely paid off. I can hear the difference in your vocals from the Helstar days. Your voice is so much stronger and powerful these days.
And that brings us to Seven Witches, how did that come about?
JR: After Destiny’s End I moved to Tampa Florida for a little while, but even before that Savatage was on tour with Jack Frost on guitar, and he met me outside and was like “Dude, I’ve been looking all over for you, I have this new project called Seven Witches and it’s killer and I would really love for you to sing in the band.” Well, I gave him my information etc. Needless to say he wound up using Wade Black for that first album and tour, of which Wade blew his voice early into it. He wanted to fly me out there to Europe but it was to expensive. I don’t hear from him until 3 days before the Classic Metal Fest in Cleveland, and Jack and Seven Witches got picked to do the show. So he finally calls me and says “I’ll tell you what man, I’m gonna send a set list of 15 Seven Witches”...”Here you learn this, you come up here, you do the show with us AND we’ll see how it goes...” So I had 3 days to learn the songs, I go up there..we have 2 rehearsals with the band and the next day we do the show. That’s how I got the gig.
SS: Wow, and you didn’t have any lyric sheets on stage with you at all?
JR: Actually that show I did have to have, but out of the 15 songs I only needed 3 of them.
SS: That’s amazing. So, you recorded 2 albums with them and then you come back with your Distant Thunder project.
JR: Well after all these chapters took place in my life, and once the Seven Witches came out. Now we’re talking I’m moving further and further from my Helstar career. At that time I had at least half of the ‘James Rivera’ fans going “When are you gonna do another Helstar record? The style of music that we were use to you doing, that power progressive power metal that you started back in the day, that has a traditional sound and it has a signature to it.
Cos Seven Witches is great and all but that doesn’t have the Helstar style of music, and a lot of people didn’t care for the Seven Witches stuff to be honest, especially in Greece. They were use to the more intricate kind of music. To them Seven Witches was a cool straight forward power band, but with our favorite singer, so we’re still gonna support it but musically we could care less about it, you know? And they were honest that way. And I said “Yeah I can see where you guys are coming from, you guys want that ‘jiggy jiggy jiggy’...that crazy ‘scientist’ Metal.
But being from Helstar for so long and I, not having any ‘real’ original members... and I always thought that as far as doing a real Helstar record again it couldn’t happen until I had LB (Larry Barrgan) back in the band again anyways.
So the Distant Thunder project became the next best option. Eric Halpern had already been writing for me anyways, so we said we called the project Distant Thunder the name of one of our Helstar records. Very Helstar style, and it will safely deliver this Helstar record without pissing them off and going “well, it’s not Nosferatu”. So That’s how that ended up happening.
So it’s like if this doesn’t define the style of a new Helstar record for the ‘James Rivera’ fans, then I don’t know what will? It was a perfect scapegoat for it, and it worked. And when we ended up touring the promoters wanted to use the Helstar name for sales reasons. So that’s how Distant Thunder became Helstar.
SS: I just reviewed the new Killing Machine album, which I really liked, very heavy and excellent vocals once again. How did that project come about with Peter Scheithauer?
JR: Well, he wound up contacting me on the Seven Witches board and emailed me. So as that door was closing another was opening up. So we demo’d 2 songs. He loved it. He originally had a different line up, but eventually Dave Ellefson got interested and came aboard, then he got Jimmy DeGrasso on drums and Juan Garcia too.
SS: When was that recorded?
JR: Last year actually as we speak.
SS: You recorded that album with Bill Metoyer. He’s done a lot of work with you, is he your favorite producer to work with?
JR: Oh Yeah, by far. As a matter of fact I call him...There’s a term for him “ He is MY producer” haha!
SS: Is Killing Machine a side project basically?
JR: Well yeah, who knows what it can turn into later on? Everybody having their hands in so many other things. That it’s simply done as”Let’s do a Killer recording project together as a band called Killing Machine”...That’s probably the safest way to look at it.
SS: Did you write most of the lyrics on the album Metalmorphosis?
JR: I wrote all of them.
SS: So now that brings us up to Vicious Rumors. How did that come about? I can’t believe Brad Gillis is playing guitar with them now?
JR: Well, Brad Gillis was already there before me, and what happened was Geoff Thorpe lost the original band but started getting the original band back almost, but Mark McGee didn’t work and Geoff asked men ”What do you think about ’James Rivera’ singing with the band?” So, he sent me some music to see what I could do with it, but then he goes “Mark McGee is not gonna be involved. Remember I told you it was gonna be all original members blah blah blah, but I’ve got somebody else now with me in the band now,”..and was like “Who’s that?”...Brad Gillis.
And I was like whoa, and of course that got me even more excited.
SS: I’m sure you had the “Speak of the Devil” album he played on ?
JR: Oh yeah, so basically that’s how that turned into that. And basically they had been friends forever and Brad was looking to get back into Metal.
So I went down there in November and recorded the first 2 song demo at Brad’s home, of the new stuff I wrote for them and they were floored, Loved it, and we had a photo shoot the next day and the band was born.
SS: So are you still recording it now?
JR: I’m done with my vocals. They were laying down the last solo’s, and are starting to mix next week than they will be done.
SS: What can we expect from the new Vicious Rumors album, besides Brad Gillis’ amazing guitar leads?
JR: Once again I don’t know what it is about me, I always seem to bring a little darkness into everything I do, but well you know that’s my roots. The new Vicious Rumors is basically the Heaviest and Darkest Vicious Rumors album that they have ever done. And the band themselves, they are ecstatic . My opinion from them is that they are blessed and just very happy that I came into the situation and they think that’s what steered it that Dark and Heavy way even more so, and Geoff just had been writing heavier stuff. A good 80% of it is back to the traditional VR sound, the Carl Albert era spin on it, but then it goes to another era of Heaviness and Darkness which they have never done before.
SS: When is it coming out? Any touring plans?
JR: September. There might be a few shows here and there, but as far as a real tour we’re gonna wait for the record to come out. But we’ve already been in contact with a booking agent in Europe and they’re talking about something like 60 dates in the fall...It will be a big tour.
SS: So how excited are you about Vicious Rumors at this point in your career?
JR: Oh very, This is pretty much my primary working band now. I always have to have one of those and VR is may day job. Killing Machine or whatever else comes my way, they are the part time jobs delivering pizza, and they’re extra beer money haha! But VR is really the day job and the original Helstar is getting back together June 10th....Something I’m really excited about.
SS: Do you know if they will be taping the Helstar reunion show?
JR: Well the guy Robb’s MetalWorks who’s running the show is taping the whole thing, yes.
SS: Is the set list gonna be more songs than just the Remnants Of War album?
JR: Oh yeah, we’ll be doing one from every album after the ‘Remnants’ lineup and we will also be playing a new song as well.
SS: You guys already wrote a new song? So, are you practicing now too?
JR: Oh yeah, it’s rehearsal time for Helstar .
SS: OK to change things up a bit...Name 3 albums you would take on a deserted island with you?
JR: Wow, that’s a good one..hmmm One will be ‘The best Of Peter Murphy’ That’s my #1 right now and this point in time. 2nd would be Black Celebrations by Depeche Mode and 3rd, probably a greatest hits Iron Maiden cd. But I go thru phases, a month ago it was Sentenced a month before that’H.I.M.’, and if you asked me again I’d say Journey ’Trial by Fire’
SS: Favorite Helstar album?
JR: Probably A Distant Thunder
SS: Favorite TV show? For example I like the OC..haha
JR: HaHa, Yeah OK, I guess I would say ‘Nip/Tuck and The Shield cos they are both by that same whacky producer and are both on the sane FX channel.
SS: Anything else you care to add James?
JR: Hey I just wanna Thank you for following and believing in me for all these years, Jesus... you know.
SS: Yeah I’ve followed your career from the beginning, ever since I bought Burning Star on cassette.
JR: It’s people like you that are listeners, editors and reviewers that keep me motivated to keep doing, what I’m doing.
SS: Thanks so much James you covered everything, I appreciate you taking time to talk with us here at LivingForMetal.com and giving us insight into your whole career, thanks again.
JR: Hey Thank you too.