It’s hard to believe that is was just over a year ago that I had a marathon four hour chat with Paul Logue and Mike Eden to discuss the self titled debut album. With ‘The Second Coming’ due for release on 24th October it was time to get the boys together again on Skype and get an update. “Would anybody have foreseen that a third record is pretty much already written?” began Mike. “When you look at how long it’s been since we’ve been around, we’ve done three releases in 14 months (including the USA only acoustic release ‘Seven Deadly Sins’). Some bands sit around for five years to make another record, but we figured strike while the iron is hot, or lukewarm in your part of the world (laughs). We just do what we do and we’re glad that some people get it.”

I noticed that the other guys seemed to be more involved in the song writing for ‘The Second Coming’ and I asked chief songsmith Paul if he was moving towards a more collaborative approach. “We wanted to show people that we had enough in our own locker without bringing in outside writers,” he explained. “There are no egos in this band anyway, except maybe for Mike – and his is big enough for all of us (laughs). With the first record it was a case of any decent song made it and it didn’t matter who wrote it. That was proved when we included the Evidence One song “Eyes Of The World”. It is me who primarily comes up with most of the ideas, and when you’re writing an album’s worth of material it can be a lot of work for one person to take, so I look at the others getting involved as a blessing to be honest. To be able to give the songs out to guys like Pete (Newdeck – drums) and get some quality top notch ideas back makes my job a hell of a lot easier. Of course there were some contributions that didn’t quite come up to what we felt was the Eden’s Curse defining sound, not that they were bad songs or anything; they just weren’t suited for us.

Once again there is the obligatory spine chilling Ferdy Doernberg ‘Intro’ which leads into ‘Masquerade Ball’. “Yeah, we’ve renamed him the Intro guy,” said Paul. “He contributed a lot of keyboard arrangement ideas and for getting the ultimate mood setter he is just unbelievable. It’s actually quite an exciting stage for me with each album when I go to Ferdy and give him my usual drunken four lines of “here’s what I thought of when I was taking a dump” (laughs). I’ve done it twice now and to use one of Mike’s lines – “he’s like Fed Ex, he always delivers”! The Intro in the first song is extremely important for us; it sets the tone for the rest of the record. Being our “sophomore jinx” album, we needed to make a statement the equivalent of a size 12 to the knackers. I just gave Ferdy the theme of ‘Masquerade Ball’ and had no idea where he would go with it.”

‘Masquerade Ball’ is my absolute favourite, and when I hear the gunshot, and the line “take off your masks and get down on your knees” I have a vivid picture in my head of me pointing a multitude of weapons at every mother f**ker who has stabbed me in the back during my life. I was interested to know who Paul had in mind when he wrote the song. “That song is a double bass driving, decibel deafening, defiance dance with the middle finger standing loud and proud in the faces of the rats, roaches and leeches who dare to call themselves music professionals,” he said, as I visualised him spitting blood during the tirade. “All I was guilty of doing was trying to get the best deal for my band, and if people don’t like me because I wouldn’t sign their bullshit record contract for bullshit change, then so be it. The song is a tongue in cheek reference to those people. I’m sure everyone will be able to identify with that song and think of someone in their life who tried to put them down or didn’t like to see them succeeding. Actually, my mother-in-law says when she hears the song she visualises the couples at the Vienna ball, with their masks on, and I asked her if she saw a guy in a Camo Stetson and long hunting jacket standing in the corner with a bow and arrow. Maybe in our live shows we’ll have Mike coming to the side of the stage and taking aim!” (For the uninitiated, this is a reference to the Motor City Madman - the three of us are huge fans.)

‘Man Against the World’ is the obligatory ballad, featuring some beautiful piano work from Ferdy, and Tony Harnell’s vocals blend really well with Mike’s as they possess a highly compatible tonality. The idea behind the song came from Paul’s brother who had differing views from him on recycling. “It is the first song I ever wrote on piano,” he said, “and it gets the hairs up on the back of my neck when I hear it. Not that I believe for one minute that we’ll ever change what’s happening; it’s more about if we all do our little bit, we might be able to make things a bit better.” Speaking of the distinctive vocal stylings of Tony Harnell, with the knowledge that David Readman wouldn’t be available for ‘The Second Coming’ as he had with the debut, Paul went trolling through MySpace for suitable vocalists to see who would fit best with what they wanted. Even though Mike thought he was on drugs at the time, he sent off an email to Tony on the basis of “if you don’t ask, you don’t get”. In the meantime, Mike had been speaking to Rob Rock, but he had a lot on his plate at the time and was unable to get involved. There were also budget constraints to consider, but when the chips were down they were as flexible as possible to accommodate Tony Harnell’s schedule, which he appreciated, and at the end of the day delivered an outstanding performance. “David Readman is a great singer,” said Mike, “and I consider him to be in the top percentage of singers in metal, but he’s a busy guy. Change is good, though, and ultimate change is better. We can’t say whether Tony will be on the next record. Who knows, I might decide I want Ronnie James Dio on the next record, and people who tell me it’s impossible just make me want to go out and make it possible”.

Anyone who knows the band can probably take an educated guess as to who ‘Just Like Judas’ is about. “Obviously we’re not going to say who it is, but in a nutshell the song is about being let down and being betrayed,” explained Paul, “and I mean people I have worked with in the past who just don’t get the bigger picture and insist on going for a quick buck”. Staying with the Judas theme, I’d heard on the grapevine that they had been often mistaken for a Christian rock band, and I wondered what religious connotations they’d had to deal with. “Yes, there are people who think we are a religious band, believe it or not,” said Mike. “Hell, I’ll be Stryper or Kerry King, it doesn’t matter; I’ll be whatever you want me to be if you like our music and want to buy it!” “I don’t know how people confuse us with a religious band even though we have quite a religious concept for a couple of albums,” added Paul. “Somebody asked me if the debut was a religious concept album and I wondered had they actually ever listened to the lyrics of ‘Stronger than the Flame’? If that was a religious song then all I can say is Moses is still applying the cream. We’ve all had our own fantasies about going into a burning bush, but come on!!

In the previous interview, I’d asked Paul if he intended to develop the theme around ‘The Bruce’ further, especially to the part where he kicks the English in the arse. He had also mentioned a collaboration with Carsten on a Bruce concept album. Alas, it is not to be this time around. “I guess back then it was a piece of inspiration,” he explained, “and by the time we got to doing this album we had forty songs, but nothing about The Bruce. The concept idea has been going slowly; Carsten has been talking about doing a story board, and we’ve written one or two tracks and put some ideas forward. We also did some co-writing with a keyboard player in Italy, but it’s been a hell of a busy year for all of us, really.”

In the TV Mini Series called ‘The Second Coming’ the Son of God gives the world five days to write a third testament or face judgment day. I asked Paul if we would be seeing a third Eden’s Curse album in the very near future. “I can give you an exclusive and tell you it will be called ‘Trinity’ “, he replied. “We had that title when we spoke to you last time,” added Mike as Paul continued, “I had about four or five concrete songs already written. I was considering a concept album but I didn’t for fear of being chased out of the city with a burning cross. I’m very fearful of going down the religious route, judging by the number of questions I had to answer recently on one of the religious message boards!”

The next song I was keen to hear about was ‘Raven’s Revenge’ and this sparked off a lengthy debate that ranged from the current state of the industry, the part the internet plays in it today, the so-called journalists who sell promos on Ebay and the steps that artists need to take to prevent their work being stolen. “I don’t care if they sell promos on Ebay, unless it’s an Eden’s Curse promo,” Mike began. “Then I have a problem. We go after people that upload our music to torrent sites and steal intellectual property that took months of our lives to make. We lost around £20k in download sales because of what happened last year. Anyone that says they don’t know about the legalities is a liar. Ignorance is no defence. ‘Raven’s Revenge’ is all about those people. I’m not going to work my ass off for someone to steal my work and give it away for free.” “When you add the numbers up, it’s some serious sales,” continued Paul. “That’s why we’re still negotiating a tour, and why we’re not touring at the moment.” “As far as the internet goes, I hate it because it has helped to destroy the best bands,” added Mike. “I just heard that Metallica’s new album is being sold in Italy in record stores, yet Lars and James did everything they could to keep it under wraps. Within 24 or 48 hours the torrents are going to be running like crazy. Another band screwed, another band ripped off.” “On the other hand,” reasoned Paul, “if you look at the part it played in Eden’s Curse, we have embraced it in a way. The four of us wouldn’t be sitting in four different countries talking to each other right now without the internet. It’s a great promotional tool, apart from the whack jobs on MySpace, that exist. Thank God for a “deny” button!

I was about to get onto the subject of the artwork, when Paul announced he had a surprise for both Mike and I. It seemed that Thorsten Koehne had just signed onto Skype, and Paul was in the process of inviting him in to the conversation. “Wow, this is going to be an exclusive, Dawn,” said Mike. “This is special because it’s the first time we’ll have done an interview with Thorsten involved.” The next voice I heard was Thorsten’s saying hello, and Paul explained who I was and what the interview was for. “Wow, I love Fireworks magazine,” he said. “Paul sent me a copy; it looks amazing!” I hastily scribbled down a couple of questions specifically for him, and came back to the question of the artwork. As the promo hadn’t come in an official cover, I hadn’t had the benefit of seeing a full sized version yet so my first question was why does the angel look like Rambo and why is he holding an Easter egg and a chicken? When the laughter, including mine, subsided, Paul took pity on me and sent me a link to the full sized artwork, which is spectacular, and in fact the angel, who is NOT Rambo, but is a lot angrier than Rambo, according to Mike, is holding an apple that has had a bite taken out of it in one hand, and a ball of flame in the other! “We always give Thomas (Ewerhard) a concept for what we want, but AFM rejected the first version, so we had to come up with a completely new one,” explained Paul. “We initially had quite a dark disturbing version which is going to make its way to the inside of the booklet. In fact, I’m going to send you that one as well.” “Be prepared,” warned Mike. “It’s very dark, very different, and AFM shit their pants when they saw it. They flipped out. Then we decided we couldn’t waste it so it ended up in the booklet. Try not to fall off your chair when you see it.” All I can say is when I saw it I commented that it would sit well on any black or death metal album. It is truly chilling and, as Mike put it, pretty hardcore stuff and explains in one picture everything about why the world is so fucked up.

I’m all for shock value, and the last thing that Eden’s Curse fans would expect to see is some of the images on the original cover. The new cover has the same concept, but with a slightly different view. The sky is opening up, and something is coming through. The angel doesn’t like the way the world is running now and he ain’t happy about it! “Ferdy didn’t like the new cover, and wanted to know why Jesus had wings,” laughed Paul. “I had to explain that it’s not Jesus, it’s an angel, and he’s pissed off!” “I had a whole different idea when I heard the album title,” quipped Thorsten. “I thought it was a scene from a porn film!” Since we were on the subject of the CD booklet, I asked if they had any comments for the guy on the Melodic Rock message board who said they looked like a bunch of biker mates. “I have three words for people who judge a band based on looks – kindly fuck off”, said Mike. “Bottom line, don’t judge the book by the cover, because that’s what happened on the debut as well. I told Burrn magazine in Japan that you can’t base rock’n’roll on having long hair. Rob Halford and Joe Satriani sure don’t need long hair to rock.” “I just thought it was funny,” added Paul, “and Pete is a biker so he found it hilarious. The closest I get to a bike is a Raleigh Chopper. You should have seen the bunny hops I did on it. In fact, the lady at Burrn magazine commented on Thorsten’s longer hair style and asked us if that was allowed in the band!” “Speaking of looks,” he added, “we were doing our photo shoot, and trying our best to look metal next to Ferdy. Then Pete would tell Thorsten to try to look a bit gayer! I can tell you it’s something when you see a six foot five bald tattooed man with a laptop bag and a hand to the side mincing through an airport terminal.” “He does it in front of people,” groaned Mike. “I wanted to crawl under the table. You can’t take him anywhere!”

On the Eden’s Curse website there is some video footage that was recorded during the making of the debut album. There is also some “making of” footage for ‘The Second Coming’ but until such times as they play a live show and have it professionally recorded, it is unlikely to see the light of day, which makes it even more galling that they were cut from the Firefest bill, as they had signed up to have a DVD made of their show. Not only that, but they were going to pay extra to acquire the masters. I know how I personally felt when I heard the news, but I wondered what Mike’s take on it was. “I was really looking forward to it,” he mused. “Eden’s Curse would have rehearsed for a week beforehand and done a couple of warm up shows to make sure everything was done correctly. At the end of the day the organisers had a festival to run and a particular bill to put together, which part of me understands. They booted off some bands and sadly we were one of them. It’s unfortunate for the people who wanted to see us. Personally I think it was a mistake; I think we could have added something, and a lot of our fans say the same.” “We will have our opportunity at some point,” he added, “but somebody somewhere needs to spin the fucking bottle, bring the devil out of the can and take a fucking chance on us. We won’t disappoint, given the chance. We’re not even trying to make money; just cover the basic expenses! And that goes out to everyone, the record labels as well. This band is going to get on the road soon or there will be bedlam. I want to see how loud Eden’s Curse is compared to my last band. We were loud to the crowd, but on stage it was like Rush, very quiet, almost like studio conditions. I want to hear just how loud we can get.”

Just as with the debut, Mike made the trip from Chicago to Germany to spend a week recording his vocals at Dennis Ward’s studio. This time, however, there was no dusty hotel, no dirty cutlery, and no arduous train ride around the German rail system. “Yeah, this time I got in a taxi who took off at 240 kph along the autobahn scaring me out of my mind,” he laughed. “Expensive, too, but compared to six or seven hours of hell on a train I’d rather pay the money and get there in ten minutes instead. I was a little apprehensive when I went to his place last year. The first four songs were fine, then people wanted to change things, nerves got frayed and we were on a tight time schedule. This time I was more used to the way he works. We don’t always see eye to eye, and I don’t talk politics or world affairs with him, but he knows exactly what to do with Eden’s Curse. It was easier this time because I knew what he expected and what he wanted. Some of the songs went by so quickly that at one point I asked Paul if he was sure we weren’t rushing it. Then I got to thinking you can do something a hundred times over and it still won’t make it any better.” If Mike had had an easy ride on his way to Germany, going back he wasn’t so lucky. In Dublin airport he was mistaken for a terrorist and asked to “put your hands on the table in front of you and take everything out of your pockets.” As if this wasn’t typically Irish enough, they thought his IPod was a triggering device. He was lucky to get on his flight, but was helped by an obliging flight crew who held up the departure time by twenty minutes.

I was keen to find out what was their proudest moment in making ‘The Second Coming’ and Mike, as ever, was first to jump in. “I’m proud that we were able to do a second record, and there will be a third, but you just never know what’s around the corner,” he said. “For me it’s one word: quality,” said Paul. “We improved the quality in all areas, in every factor that was involved, from the artwork to the photos, the songs, the production, the backing singers; we have upped the ante and I’m so proud of all the guys involved who have taken my songs and played out of their skins.” At this point I brought in Thorsten who had been waiting patiently and was hopefully not too lost in translation. “I think I improved my guitar sound,” he replied. “The sound is way better than the first album and I took some more time over the solos. The first album was just me basically shredding away and not thinking so much about what fits the song, and I was just trying to show off, but this time I tried to get away from pure shredding and just tried to play more to the song.” “To confirm what he said,” added Paul, “the night we recorded the vocals with Dennis, he said fuck me what a guitar sound, I won’t have to do much with that.” “Yes, I was glad when I heard that,” replied Thorsten. “When somebody like Dennis Ward says that, it’s a huge compliment.”

Now that I’d got him talking, it was time to find out some more about the modest Maestro and asked him to start from the beginning, from when he first picked up a guitar. “I started when I was 11 years old. A friend of mine at school played guitar and he brought some Queen records in. I hadn’t heard any rock music before that and I was totally blown away by the sound of the guitar. 'Now I’m Here' was the single. I totally dig the song, and I was hooked from then on. I just like the sound of the electric guitar, it’s the most powerful instrument that you can find. Brian May was the first guitarist I really got into, with his guitar sounds and his style of playing. He plays for the song and he plays the exact notes. Anything that he plays really fits, and that’s what I try to do. It’s not about speed or anything. I dig Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen and the whole eighties shred era, but my main goal is not to play fast, but to play well. There are plenty of fast guitar players around, but very few who play really well. I am a fan of great players like Jake E Lee who really have the tone, and people who know how to play good rock guitar, like John Sykes and Randy Rhoads.”

As an Irish rock fan I couldn’t let him get away without a question about Irish guitarists, and I asked him if he was a fan of any … alive or dead? “Oh for God’s sake put her out of her misery and say Rory Gallagher,” came Mr B’s voice from his position in the armchair! “I was just going to ask you … is Rory Gallagher Irish?” enquired Thorsten. “Of course,” was my stunned reply. “Oh I love Rory Gallagher, and Gary Moore too.” With this comment, he had been instantly elevated into my top ten favourite rock guitarists! And then the armchair voice asked “how about Vivian Campbell,” and that sparked off a 45 minute semi-serious/semi-hilarious discussion on the Northern Irish idiot’s recent press antics. More discussion on guitar techniques led to a story that Mike told about Jesse James Dupree (Jackyl) asking him if he knew if there were any hoes in the town, to which Paul responded “can you imagine trying that line in Glasgow Barrowlands? The reply would be hang on and I’ll get you a bucket and I’ll bring the car round in a minute!” Much more hilarity followed, with most of the content not fit for public consumption, and after three and a half hours, everyone reluctantly signed off as there was the tiny issue of work to go to the next morning!

Despite the naysayers, Eden’s Curse are back spitting fire and venom and ready to take on the world with ‘The Second Coming.’ Since the successful debut they have raised the bar even higher and the result is a stunning platter of finely crafted songs, superb artwork and production, with the calibre of playing even more outstanding than before. Here’s hoping they finally receive their just desserts and their loyal fans get the chance to see them live in the not too distant future. Keep up to date with all things Curse related on www.EdensCurse.com and www.myspace.com/edenscurse and on your way home from Nottingham on the 27th October, nip into HMV and pick up a copy of ‘The Second Coming.’ You won’t be disappointed.