Anglo/Italian melodic metal band Power Quest made a big splash last with their debut album 'Wings of Forever'. Having garnered rave reviews and performed an incredible set at Bloodstock, the band got down to the task of creating the all important follow up. Steve Williams brings us up to date.

The songs on Neverworld display a wider variety than those on your debut, Wings of Forever. Some of the songs could even be described as 'classic rock'. Was a this a deliberate move on behalf of the band?

"No, not at all. The songwriting process is never contrived on our part. There was just more natural variety in the material that was written this time round. I've always been a big fan of 80's hard rock, having been a teenager in the 1980's, so it's not suprising to me to hear those influences cropping up on a Power Quest record. I guess that it would be a suprise if people were expecting Wings of Forever part II though. I think it's important to keep evolving as band and see little point in just making the same album over and over. Songs like "Edge of Time" and "For Evermore" are such fun to play and it also breaks up the furious pace of the set and gives Gav a chance to catch his breath a little. I was also keen to explore the progressive side of the band this time round and the result of this are tracks like "Lost Without You" and "Well of Souls". I think the blend of power,prog and hard rock works really well together and it's not something you hear every day."

What were the main differences in making this album compared with your debut?

"I think the main difference was that we were much better prepared for life in the studio. We had made better demos and of course everyone knew each other that bit better too. I should mention Andre Bargmann's drumming on the Neverworld album. Although Andre is no longer in PQ, he did a fantastic job on the album and Gav has a lot to live up to there....hehe! Of course we had a few more guests appearing on the album this time but generally our working method was the same as for Wings of Forever...just better organised. Thanks again to Karl Groom and Clive Nolan at Thin Ice studios. These guys are fantastic to work with and great blokes to hang out with afterwards. I really think this good relationship has a lot to do with the album coming together as well as it did. I should also mention Sam Totman, who contributed some rhythm guitars and solos to Neverworld. In and ideal world...it would be great to have Sam in the band permanently but of course he is very busy with DragonForce these days."

The album was mixed at Mastertone this time, rather than Thin Ice. Has this made much difference in your opinion?

"I think the mix turned out really well. The only problem with mixing at Mastertone was that we couldn't actually be there to oversee things due to not being able to get the time off from the day job. Pete Coleman did a great job though especially on the vocals which sound awesome. I think sometime a fresh pair of ears can be a good thing as I think you can get too close to an album sometimes and you just need that different perspective. There are always minor things that you think 'Oh...I wish we could have done this' but it's very easy to be overly critical. Having said that, I think Karl did a great job with the mix on the Wings of Forever album as well."

The band members are really spread across the whole world, from here in the UK, New Zealand and Italy. How does that affect the writing for the band?

"It doesn't affect the band at all to be honest. Steve Scott,although he is from New Zealand and visits home for few months every now and then, is based in London so it's really only Alessio and Andrea who are based abroad. We tend to write individually anyway, so it doesn't really matter who is where at any particular time. We then bring the songs to the other band members (usually via demo tapes) and they can input their ideas for solos, arrangements etc. People do say to us that perhaps we are not a band because we don't live in the same town and rehearse twice a week etc but to be honest we achieve more learning all our parts individually so that when we do come together it is full steam ahead. Even for the guys in the UK (Gav lives in Hastings, Steve in London and myself in Southampton) it's not like we all live round the corner from each other so it's pretty difficult to rehearse anything other than weekends."

And being a keyboard player, do you tend to compose on keyboard, rather than guitar, which would be quite different for a 'power metal' band.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm sure the majority of power metal bands compose on guitar rather than keyboards but bands like Sonata Arctica and other bands that employ a heavy dose of keys probably compose on keyboards as well as guitars. I play a bit of guitar myself which is handy every so often but piano/keyboards are a much more natural medium for composition for me. Some people have criticised the band for being too keyboard heavy to be a power metal band and I can understand that not everyone likes keyboards in their metal but as a keyboard player and a songwriter it is the natural way for me. I'm certainly not trying to be more or less "metal" than anyone else. I just try and write songs with strong melodies and hooks within the melodic metal realm."

It was interesting to see Sabine Edelsbacher (from 'Edenbridge') performing a duet on the album. How and why did you get her involvement? One of the Japanese bonus tracks is a version of 'When I'm Gone' that has Sabine singing all the vocals. An interesting, and quite a brave idea. What was the thought behind that?

"I was looking for a female vocalist who would compliment Alessio on the song "Lost Without You". I've been friends with Lanvall (Edenbridge guitarist and mainman) for a couple of years and I suggested the idea of Sabine guesting on our album to him and he thought it would work well. Sabine herself was very keen to be involved as well and it was great having both of them in the studio for a couple of days in July last year. On top of her parts for "Lost Without You" she had come up with an alternative melody for the ballad "When I'm Gone" which seemed too good to be wasted. Obviously we wanted Alessio to sing the version on the album proper but we decided that Sabine's vocal version would make a great bonus track for the Japanese market. I'm really happy with the way both versions of the song turned out and it was certainly a different experience producing different versions of the same song. It was a real pleasure working with Sabine at Thin Ice and hopefully we can work together again someday."

You've said next album won't be until next year - is this because it takes so long to write the required amount of songs, or is it all part of the bigger plan?

"None of the above...hehe! To be honest the main reason is that Thin Ice studio isn't available until January 2005. The studio is becoming more and more popular year by year so you really have to get in months in advance with your booking. The studio is only about 90 minutes away from where I live, so not only is it a great studio but it is also very convenient. I still work a full time day job Monday to Friday and as a result time is at a premium! The 6 month gap between the Japanese and European releases of Neverworld has kind of thrown a spanner in the works regarding scheduling, so now the Japanese market are ready for a new album in the autumn of 2004, only 6 months after the release of the European version. In some ways it is frustrating as I find that the writing process isn't really that time consuming, to be honest it is a very enjoyable part of being in a band. In terms of content, we probably have an albums worth of material all ready written."

Do you have a specific idea for the sound of album #3?

"I think the songs we have written so far for the next album are a logical progression from the Neverworld sound. I'm keen to explore further the fusion of power metal with the 80's hard rock sound, plus a hint of progressive rock/metal. I expect to have a larger selection of material to choose from for this album and I hope that, as on Neverworld, we'll see the rest of the band coming to the fore in the writing stakes. Ultimately we will be looking to make a melodic metal album with plenty of catchy melodies and solos! There will be a development of the lyrical style as well. Some of the songs on 'Neverworld' were starting to move away from the fantasy-type lyrics and this will be developed further in the future."

Has the coverage you are personally getting from Power Quest opened up any new creative avenues for yourself and do you have ideas which you would like to follow?

"Absolutely! I've had a number of offers to work with various bands and artists over the past 12 months but unfortunately I don't really have the time to dedicate to anything other than Power Quest, primarily due to the aforementioned day job. There's always the mortgage and bills to pay...hehe! So it's really a case (for me at least) of balancing home life with Power Quest. At the moment I'm totally focussed on Power Quest and, although I have a number of ideas/projects I wouldn't mind pursuing in the years to come, I don't think any of these will come to fruition in the immediate future. There are number of musicians who I would like to work with, given the time and opportunity, such as Tobias Sammet from Edguy, Timo Koltipeto (ex-Stratovarius) and Steve Harris (Iron Maiden). Keyboard-wise it would be a privilege to do something with Jordan Rudess, Derek Sherinian and Jens Johansson. All those guys are awesome musicians!"

There has been quite a few concept albums released over the past few years. Have you ever been interested in writing such a piece, using different artists/performers?

"The thought has certainly crossed my mind, although I don't think I would want to do it as a "rock/metal opera". This has been done quite a bit over the past few years, possibly the best example being the Avantasia project. If Power Quest were to explore this area further I think it would be cool to do it with just the band and maybe a narrator type character. Whether any of this ever materialises is another thing entirely...hehe! We had a number of guest musicians appearing on the Neverworld album (Karl Groom, Clive Nolan, Sabine Edelsbacher, Richard West, Sam Totman and Julie Laughton) so I think we will be focusing more on the 5 band members on album #3, with perhaps just one guest appearance."

You played at Bloodstock last year, and the reaction from the crowd was amazing. How did you feel about that gig - especially as how you lost the 2nd guitarist only days before - and are there any plans to bring in a new 2nd guitarist?

"Bloodstock was an amazing experience for the whole band, particularly as it was only our 5th gig together. Considering the lack of a 2nd guitarist and also that Gav Ward (drums) had only had 2 weeks to learn the set I think the whole thing went brilliantly. The crowd reaction...well you couldn't ask for more could you? We didn't want to leave the stage to be honest! The band looked and felt really at home on the big stage and it was great to be able to watch the other guys from behind the keyboard. Hopefully we can play Bloodstock again in years to come. The whole week on the road was a great experience for the band and I think it helped us gell even more. As for the 2nd guitarist, well we have no plans at the moment to bring in another guitarist. A lot of people commented on how mature the band sounded with just the one guitar so it may be that we will stick with the current configuration permanently. Certainly for the live shows in 2004 that will certainly be the case."

What are your plans for playing live this year?

"Well, we will be on tour in June with our friends Intense and we will playing in London, Hull, Bradford, Pontypool and Southampton. We will be joined in London and Bradford by Humanity, in Hull by Infobia and in Southampton by Anti Trust. Should be good fun! Then in September we are due to play a couple of shows with Threshold...one in London and one at the Classic Rock Society in Rotherham. You can check out all the tour date info at our website www.power-quest.co.uk Beyond that there is nothing pencilled in on the live front and I would imagine that by Autumn time we will be fully focussed on getting ready to record album #3. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the time goes by!"

What was the reason behind Alessio cutting off all his hair?

"Well it came as a bit of a bolt out of the blue to me as well mate...and to the rest of the guys. I have no idea as to the reasoning behind it, I guess you'll have to ask him yourself, although I did hear rumours that he might be regretting it now... hehe. I'm sure the girls won't be too disappointed! At the end of the day it's all about making good music and it doesn't really matter whether your hair is long, medium or short ... after all it hasn't stopped Rob Halford and Ralf Scheepers has it?"

Of all the albums which have influenced you in the past, which one would you most liked to have played on, and why?

"Always a tricky question this one. For me I think there are a handful of albums that really stand out as having been significant for me and they are Iron Maiden - 'Somewhere in Time/Number of the Beast', Dream Theater - 'Images and Words', Van Halen - '1984/5150' and Labyrinth - 'Return to Heaven Denied'. I think if I could have had the choice of playing on any of these then I would probably choose either 'Somewhere in Time' or 'Images and Words'. I would love to replace the guitar synths on 'Somewhere in Time' with real keyboards and a touch of orchestration. I think it's an awesome album already (and highly underated) but I think that would make it absolutely huge. 'Images and Words' has some incredibly melodic keyboard and piano work and it would have been something to be the one who had come up with those parts....even after 10 years and more I think that it is the best Dream Theater album."

And a final message to the fans...

"I'd just like to say thank you on behalf of the whole band to everyone who has supported the band so far. We have had so many emails, letters, posts on our forum etc from people saying how much they love the Neverworld album and how much they enjoyed seeing the band on tour last year. I'd also like to say thanks to all our fans around the world who despite being thousands of miles away are still massively into Power Quest! Maybe one day we will be able to visit places like Japan, Argentina, Korea, New Zealand and the US to say thank you in person. Of course, thanks to you and Fireworks magazine for all your support over the past couple of years and also to Powerplay, Rock Hard, Metal Express, MelodicRock.com, Metal Covenant and all the other great magazines and webzines who have been amazing with all their support and encouragement. Hope to see you all sometime soon!"