RAGINPIT MAGAZINE

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Cage vocalist Sean Peck and their new drummer Norm Leggio, who invited me out to their practice space in San Diego, California, located in the Blue Meanie Records building. During the interview several other members happened to chime in as they were all keeping busy getting ready for a practice session.

I’m here with Sean Peck and Norm Leggio of CAGE - heavy metal. First of all how’s it going with the transition - new drummer, Norm, just joined in September?

Norm: Umm, yeah, I think it’s going great. How do you guys think it’s goin'? (laughs)

Sean: I’m digging it. One of the best things about, being that we haven’t changed members much, there’s been 3 guys that's been in it for like 15 years. Anthony’s been in it for like what 8 years? And the old drummer Mikey Neil had been with us for 10 years, so that was kind of a secret to our success. You’ve got this group of people that helps with the chemistry and now that Norm’s in, you know, we always upgraded our members as we go along and legitimately. I’m not just saying that, so Norm’s bringing a whole new level of technicality, consistency, and thought process behind what we’re doing which is probably going to be really evident in the new stuff, whereas the other guy was just a raw talent type thing. So we’re excited. There’s a lot of new beats he’s bringing in that we’ve never gotten to do before which is gonna help us keep evolving.

So are you guys working on some new material then?

Sean: Yeah, that's what we'll be doing tonight, working on some new songs.

Norm: I'm really excited to write with these guys because usually when I've figured out songs, you do exactly what the other guy has done and I've never been in a situation or, this is the second time I've been in the situation where I've had to replace somebody and these guys are long time friends of mine. Mikey Neil's an old time friend of mine, and he's a great drummer, so I want to stay true to the great work he did with this band. What I was noticing as I was figuring out the songs, I was staying true to what he was doing, but all the sudden I felt an instant connection and chemistry with it. I started adding my own flavor, you know, little cymbal accents, that I'm known for doing with my previous work with Psychotic Waltz and certain tom fills that I've always considered my signature tom fills and it worked. I really took to the material quickly, I mean I rehearsed with them for two weeks and the next thing I know I'm in the mid-west playing with them. Now that we have a chance to write, the same thing is happening. I instantly have an idea of what they want from me, so I'm really looking forward you know, Sean has been throwing song titles at me and lyrical ideas and concepts and this album is gonna be a bad ass album. Not to mention I have some big shoes to fill and I want to top their last album because their last album, Hell Destroyer is fucking epic.

I agree.

Norm: It's epic and it's gonna be tough so I'm looking forward to the challenge and I know we're gonna do it.

Any ideas or specific direction you're gonna go with the new album, or where are you at with the writing process?

Sean: It always helps if we have a title or theme or something and I don't think it's been completely formulated all the way. I mean the ideas, that's kind of where I come in, the idea department. We've got some song titles we know were gonna be working with and it's not gonna be a concept record. I mean the initial idea was to just do a short sweet, old school, metal friendly album. As long as it's got good songs that can stick in your head that people can instantly grab onto, but still have the flavor of technicality and a little taste of the prog so that the shredders can get into it - as long as the songs are good, the rest takes care of itself.

(To Norm) Did you play at the last show these guys played at the Soma?

Norm: Yeah.

How did that show go? I know it’s an all ages venue, is that a little different than some of the big festivals you guys are used to playing?

Sean: The whole all ages thing here in San Diego has been great. I mean there’s just this whole new wave of kids that are showing up with their Sad Wings of Destiny and Judas Priest shirts and just fully, even though they're into the new death and thrash stuff, we go up in front of these kids and they're not used to this power metal presentation besides on an album or something. So we get in front of these kids and they’re just blown away, you know, it reminds me of when I was sixteen, fighting their way to the front, fucking banging their heads like crazy, stage diving. The Soma show was fucking awesome.

Norm: Yeah I thought we owned it that night.

Sean: We have these guys, (points to devil props) you can’t see them. We put these devil stage props up and the kids really dug that shit. As soon as we brought them out there they were like, “whoa, fuck yeah!” So they’re chanting Cage before and after and it was our first time ever playing Soma so it was an instant success.

Did you guys get a chance to check out some of the other bands that night?

Norm: Oh yeah. I was the one who booked that show, since I have a longtime history with Soma. Len Paul, the owner, when he first opened Soma back when they were on Union Street in San Diego, the very first local band he ever booked was Psychotic Waltz. So I go way back with him and the band Under the Stone and the band Narsil. Two of the kids who play in those bands used to work for me when I owned my record store Blue Meanie Records, so both are young metal bands that are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Sean: Yeah, there’s a lot of crazy, fucking sick 15, 16, 19 year old metal bands in town that are just ridiculous. We’re playing a show on Jan 5th with two of them, like one from each high school in north San Diego. They’re just phenomenal shredders and they bring a legion of kids. So the next thing we want to do is book a show with some 12 year olds! (laughs)

Where is that show at?

Sean: It’s at the Jumping Turtle in northern San Diego.

Okay, cool. Yeah, I remember when I was probably 12 years old and I had an older brother who was like, 5 years older, and he was into Priest and Dokken and Dio. You know, and there was always that gap when I was younger than him and I could just here the shit cranking out of his bedroom. He’s got the door locked, and I’m like, “come on, can I come in?” And finally there was that day when he let me in and then next thing I know I’m playing Dungeons & Dragons with him and finally get to check out the Judas Priest and Iron Maiden posters on the wall. (laughs)

Sean: Sounds like me, playing Dungeons & Dragons listening to Priest.

Yeah it was like an initiation kind of… so back to the new CD Hell Destroyer - a definite concept album. Where did that stem from?

Sean: Well, first we came up with the title Hell Destroyer and were like what’s more metal than that? Hell Destroyer - it's just bad ass. Everyone was like, “yeah, fuck.” So we were lucky we got that title early and I had always toyed around. On the Astrology album I toyed with the idea of doing a concept album, but we were already four songs into it and we would’ve had to rework and fit them in, so I said fuck it and bailed. Again, like I said, having Abigail by King Diamond or Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche, being like the quintessential benchmarks of what a concept album should be, I was like, “fuck this,” I wanted to reestablish what a concept album can be and we initially wanted to do a full comic book with the artist I had, but it ended up being what we call the first ever heavy metal graphic novel. I remember when I first got into metal, I wanted something where someone would just lose themselves in it for like two hours, in the music and the story, you know. I remember when I’d buy an album and I’d read every inch of every page, stare at it a million times and just rock out, so the booklet, you know not only does it have the music [lyrics], but it also has the interludes that go along with it and extra text that you read and the comics that go along, so it's like a full multimedia experience. Doing the concept album we had to make sure, first of all, what is the ultimate concept? Well, the ultimate concept is the battle between good and evil, the fucking end of the world, revelations, and apocalypse. A topic that’s been done over and over in metal but never in complete, exact fucking detail, so we wanted to tie in all this conspiracy theory stuff and follow revelations from the bible. Umm… add in a little sci-fi and fantasy where you see the battle on the cover and these demons come up from hell and they’ve got weaponry, kind of like a Gears of War video game or Hellgate: London type thing. Then we took it all the way - okay, here’s the end of the world. So then we got a hundred years past the end of the world, where people evolve and develop these psychic Christ like powers and evil is completely eradicated, but then of course we have the resurrection of the metal devil, so evil pokes its head up at the end. It’s a long album, but we wanted a concept album that would be like that. What if Judas Priest’s Painkiller was a concept album? No down time, no airy atmospheric pieces, it was just like one face-melter after another. We’ve gotten real good praise on the story and for the album being so long, but yet not boring, which is a real tough thing to do.

Yeah, I think the little interludes - the intro tracks kind of help lead from one song to the next.

Norm: I would have to agree. I mean I wasn’t on the album, so listening as a friend and a fan, I thought that was a key element.

Yeah, it kind of draws you in and I’m like, “okay now what’s gonna happen next?”

Sean: You now a lot of people were like “uhhh.” You know, they don’t like those things, so we had the idea of putting out the album without it, and then put out another version with all that stuff, but we were like," fuck it," we just threw it all on there, but you know one of the tough things about a concept album is to make all the songs flow together, sound good going in and out of each other, and tell the story. So it’s a bitch to make a really good concept album, but you know, we knew that Iced Earth and Judas Priest were both coming out with concept albums and Iced Earth was a similar concept. It was like an Egyptian end of the world kind of thing. We wanted to fire the first fucking shot and be like, “here’s the fucking standard. We know you bands are bigger than us but we challenge you guys to put something out at the same level."

Hey, that’s great for music. So did you write the material for the comic that was in there?

Sean: Yeah, I did the story.

Who did the illustrations?

Sean: Well Mark Sasso did the cover - he does all the Halford stuff and he did all the Dio covers, and then my buddy Forrest Butler has done some comics and I saw his artwork and, you know, I’m a comic collector and I’m real particular about my comic art. I don’t like it too cartoon or sloppy, I want it real fucking edgy and bad ass looking, so I loved his style. I started telling everyone about the storyline and everyone was like, “fuck yeah that’s bad ass, let’s do it.” So the more people I told about the storyline, you know Hell Destroyer is like God’s most feared battle angel, you know, and in the middle of everything that’s going on after Satan is killed in battle on Earth, he goes down into Hell and he’s like a power ranger, Godzilla size, and he’s just, “KRRRRRRRSSSSHH,” destroying buildings and shit and demons are just getting obliterated. We wanted to make gods forces more bad ass than all the satanic imagery that everyone else is doing, you know, try to take a different approach on it.

You mentioned being a comic collector, are there any comics you are into now ?

Sean: Well yeah, I mean I have a lot of comics. I was a big Marvel guy back in the day and Silver Surfer is like my favorite guy in that whole—

Norm: I, as well, am a comic book geek, and toy collector. As a matter of fact a lot of my stuff is up on eBay, so check it out. (laughs)

Have you guys ever checked out “The Invisibles” by Grant Morrison?

Sean: "Invisibles," hmm, no, I don’t think so. I started getting the one called “The Boys” which is completely over the top with these evil super hero groups doing cocaine and banging hookers…

Norm: Sounds like a good night out!

Sean: Yeah, it’s a fucking crazy comic, totally on the edge.

Cool, "The Invisibles" is kind of like these psychic battles against these massive corporate forces that are trying to mind-fuck the general public and The Invisibles are these guys trying to look out for-

Sean: Cool. Darkhorse? Or who makes it?

Darkhorse sounds familiar, but I’m not sure. Grant Morrison is the author and he’s had several different illustrators and stuff. So also, back to the album, I picked up some overtones of the current political situations in the album, at least with the Bohemian Grove reference.

Mike: Ooooh, you’re goin’ there aren’t ya? (Laughs)

Sean: Uuuuuhhhhh, well Bohemian Grove - when I discovered what Bohemian Grove was, I was just like “Whoa, nobody’s done a song about this yet?” It’s just so fucking metal. I took Dave on the website, I was like, “check this out,” and you know, they had Alex Jones who had snuck in with a belt camera. You know about that?

(Laughs) Yeah.

Sean: And you know, we’re like, “fuck, this is insane!” And so he had a song already and he always puts me on the spot in pre-production and he shoves the mic in my face and I gotta just freestyle. And we actually used a bunch of the stuff that I freestyled, and you know, the Bohemian Grove thing just fit in perfectly. You know the anti-Christ, that’s where he’s summoning/communicating with Satan, preparing for the big battle, and our hero actually gets killed in Bohemian Grove, and that’s how he becomes the Hell Destroyer, so he takes the Christ Hammer - you know, the hammer they used to nail Christ to the cross - that they saved for over 2000 years and defended, and he takes it into the Bohemian Grove and slays the anti-Christ there. So no, not a lot of political reference, but just a cool metal topic.

Was that actually your voice? I noticed in the end of that song there’s a really creepy background voice - was that actually you? Or did you use any kind of effect?

Sean: One thing I’m very proud of is that those are all my voices, no detuning, no harmonizers. They’re all my voice, with only reverb and delay, so as far as pushing the voice boundaries, me and Rick, the producer is like, “higher! Lower!” I mean I don’t know what else I could do or what other tricks I could pull out, if you listen to it, there’s so many fucking voices. He has a track of just the voices for the whole album without the music and he’s like, “dude, we should just sell this.” (Laughs)

And you guys are real hands on with production and stuff, right?

Sean: Yeah I’ve been in the mix on all four albums and really learned a lot and I’ve got a real good ear, so I’ll be like, “you hear that guitar squeak?” and they’re like, “shut the fuck up, you don’t hear nothing,” and then we play it back and isolate the channels and there’s like an “ehhheeeeeeehhhrrrrrr” and I’m like, “I fucking told you!” So yeah, I’ve been in there hands on and we always do a pre-production and we listen to it a thousand times, and then we’re like, “oh, there’s an open passage, put a lead in!” (laughs)

Cool. So I read that you guy have a live DVD coming out, or is that out?

Sean: Well, there’s one that was supposed to be out on iTunes from 2003 in Switzerland and the Astrology album, and we’ve got one coming from Monterey, Mexico, filmed in HD with some of the new Hell Destroyer stuff and there was just a fucking massive crowd. So hopefully we’re gonna package that with some other stuff. There’s all different ways we’re talking about redoing this stuff since we’re in limbo for a new label, so we’re talking about different DVDs and packaging, so something will be coming up.

Norm: I’m real anxious to do a live album, I’d like for people to hear me on this stuff, ‘cause I really love playing these songs and so I’d like to do a live DVD.

Sean: And it's one thing everyone says is, “fuck the albums are killer, but fuck LIVE, you’re just...” It's like there's a whole extra level live and I remember my favorite bands were like that. You go see Priest or Maiden and the albums were always phenomenal, but seeing them live, it was just so much better than the album and I guess we’ve got a little bit of that too.

Cool, and I understand you’ve got some other stuff up on iTunes now? I read about a previously unreleased album or something?

Sean: Yeah, the first album we ever recorded, now it's called, “Cage, the Lost CD,” and we have a bunch of stuff up on iTunes only, so that’s available, and I told you about our first two bands Crusher and Nomad, so we had some tapes and stuff we recorded. And then there’s the Hidden Sessions - just a bunch of pre-production tracks of stuff we never put out and a half-assed live one too. So for fucking hardcore Cage fans, save your Christmas money or get out your credit card for iTunes - Dave just walked in. You can get in on this Dave.

Dave: Okay.

What do you feed this guy? That’s what I want to know! (laughs)

Sean: Lots of oatmeal.

Dave: Yeah, and a little bit of protein.

Norm: (to Dave) Actually, you’d be proud of me, I’ve been sticking to - for dinner I’m having eggs and fucking steak.

Sean: We’re trying to get ripped like Manowar, I’m the only one who’s not keeping up my part.

Norm: You see I always worked out real hard, but now I’m in a band with him and I look like the little guy. Every band I’ve been in, I’ve been the most in shape and the big guy, so now I gotta take it to a whole new level.

Sean: We’re trying to eclipse Manowar in the muscle department.

Norm: Fuck yeah!

Dave: Come on.

Norm: Actually, I’m trying to out do Joey DeMaio and all the groupies, so I’m working really hard and diligently.

Dave: What’s it called - band babes dot com?

Norm: No, bandroombitches dot com, that’s my new website I’m launching, filmed right here in this room.

Can I be here to cover that also? (laughs)

Norm: Sure!

Anything else you want to throw in there?

Sean: Yeah, just one thing we try to do with www.cageheavymetal.com or www.myspace.com/cageheavymetal, you know we always try to answer our fans - anyone that sends us an email and says, “hey you guys kick ass!” We always write them back personally so they can feel a connection and we tell them, you know, “if you dig this shit, tell somebody, we’re still an underground band, so help us spread the word.”

www.cageheavymetal.com
www.myspace.com/cageheavymetal