Interview with Razer bassist Chris Catero

Razer’s bassist, Chris Catero enthusiastically discussed the bands newest CD, Dark Devotion. From the very first track, this CD has a radio single feel written all over it. Each and every tune could easily be heard on nearly any modern rock station across the country. This is a high-energy rock album and is packed with well-written, well-produced tunes. Resulting in a borderline commercial release that we can fully expect to hear played in regular rotation all over. The band has shared the stage with acts such as Shinedown, Five Finger Death Punch, Judas Priest and Jet Black Stare.

Since this is your first interview for PureGrainAudio. Can you give our readers a brief introduction to the band and how it all got started, that sort of thing?
Chris: The band started out pretty much after the demise of a Metal Blade act Wardog, Paul, Eric and I were all in. That was a cooler thrash band but truthfully, I was ready for a change of direction, probably more so than the other guys, so I kind of pushed us in a more commercial direction as I needed to break the narrow box the whole thrash thing had placed us in artistically. We then recruited a high school buddy named Jeromy Graves for the second guitar and started writing. In the beginning I was the singer as I used to split vocals with one of the guys in Wardog and was the primary songwriter but truthfully as we developed in Razer I just didn’t hear my voice singing the songs so we looked on a couple different occasions to find someone which seemed pretty fruitless as I had a definite idea of what I wanted for us. I really wanted to cross heavy music with a singer who had crazy R&B type chops but sounded right in a rock setting, sort of like crossing Steven Tyler and Marvin Gaye but who could deliver like Robert Plant over heavy songs… tall order right? Then right as I personally was about to throw in the towel on the whole thing I found Chris Powers online in an ad and thought to myself he had a killer voice. So we sent him a couple tunes we had been working on that we purposely had not written any vocals or melodies to audition guys with and what he sent back was basically what became “Never Understand.” As soon as I heard what he had done, I knew we had found our guy. After that it was just putting the time in together to develop the band to the point where we are now which took a couple years.

Now that your brand new CD, Dark Devotion is complete how do you feel about it? Are you satisfied with the outcome?
Chris: Yeah most definitely satisfied as a lot came together for us. We have grown to really understand and respect each individual’s roles within the band and that is when I think a band becomes dangerous in a good way – that is when the good shit is created. No egos, just everyone working towards the best stuff for the song. And at the same time we hit this stride we also hooked up with producer Chuck Alkazian who has been the missing piece for us as he made us sonically great which is something we hadn’t been just yet. Of course, there are always things you would go back and change but overall I think it is better than most all of the albums on rock radio today, so regardless of its financial success I am happy with it. Of course success is always welcome.

What was the writing process like for this CD? Did you guys all write together?
Chris: How long did it take? Yeah, basically this album was pretty collaborative as we all know what the strengths are of the individuals and were able to get everyone to pitch into the process. For the most part Jeromy and I are the main music writers while Chris and I are the main lyric and melody writers. Paul is just a super schooled musician and always comes up with great harmony parts and the occasional riff as well, same as Eric our drummer. So basically, the way things usually go down is Jeromy or I would come in with a riff or maybe even some full sections and we would start jamming on them with everyone throwing in their two cents. Trusting each others’ instincts are a pretty integral part of that and sometimes me or Jeromy would have to champion a part and really get the other guys to “get it.” In lots of bands that is not a simple task but with us there is that respect factor that allows for each of us to really get a vision across which actually has served us well as some of the stuff that was in question initially ended up being integral in the songs! The whole album took a little over a year to do as we had to do it in two batches essentially as we self-financed the album but it was worth it as we had a good amount of time to get perspective on things and make sure really every song was going to be good.

When you began writing this record did you have a preconceived idea of what you wanted the record to sound like or did that come about naturally?
Chris: It was actually a combo of both. We definitely had a vision of what we wanted it to sound like but as we were doing it, we let things come together in a very natural way based on our goal, which was to make this a very big radio rock sounding record that had heavy metal musicianship and quality. We’re not fans of the corporate radio rock crap you hear all over the place nowadays, without naming names I’m sure you can guess some of the bands I’m talking about. The songs are usually pretty vanilla and lame for the most part but the production is always so killer it makes those bland ass, regurgitated songs sound palatable so we really wanted to have that production but with rock tunes that had substance in the music. We wanted to “fit in” yet give listeners something more to listen to! Hopefully the album comes across that way.

How quick are you in the studio? Can you usually knock things out in a couple takes or does it normally take longer?
Chris: In the studio we’re pretty quick. All of us have a ton of recording experience and we have our own HD ProTools home studio, which makes it very convenient to record. We really work the songs out prior to recording so we have a very distinct idea of what we need to do with the drums and guitars. I record bass last for tuning purposes but also I am a very free flowing 70’s style bassist so I can also be very spontaneous when recording, jamming things to the groove which I think is also another facet we have that most radio rock bands ignore. We have the same approach with Chris’ vocals too. We have the main melodies all worked out but when him and I go to record we like to ebb and flow with his phrasing. Having been the touring bassist for Marty Friedman (the ex-Megadeth guitar god) for so long I’ve been spoiled in that he’s just a fountain of killer phrasing, and with Chris he’s definitely the vocal equivalent of Marty. There is really nothing he cannot do convincingly in the studio so we like to essentially jam out with his vocal delivery. For the most part there’s never anything sung “wrong” when recording him, it is just trying different things that may be more special than other takes. He’s a tremendously gifted singer.

Do you guys have to tweak your tones obsessively or do you decide on a suitable sound fairly quickly?
Chris: Being that I run the artist relations, marketing and product development at Krank Amps you can say I’m a little critical about tones! Truthfully, I try not to get overly obsessive. The real trick is finding tones that enhance each other and luckily, each of our natural likes in our individual tones happens to fit together pretty well. Chuck has the most slamming drum room I have ever recorded in and really great drum sounds are the key to a big sounding record and we had that straight away. So after that, really it is more or less laying down our basic tones then getting secondary guitars to fit in, luckily we have some good sets of ears in the band when recording so it makes it more or less go down fairly quickly so we can concentrate more on performances. Having good gear, from amps, drums, guitars, preamps, etc., makes our job easier recording for sure and at the same time provides a big sonic tapestry.

When you began to put this album together were you concerned at all about commercial success?
Chris: Well sure. This is a business for us and commercial success is what every band who wants to make music a living should be striving for ultimately. I know it’s hip to say you’re purely in it for artistic reasons but that’s very short-sided thinking – if you can’t make money making music then unless you’re independently wealthy you’re music career will be short lived. That is not to say one should not be an “artist,” that is what makes you strive forward and get into the uber-fucked up music biz, it is just people have to realize you have to be able to pay your bills while doing it. For us we pretty much have self-financed all we are doing so there is certainly a good amount of calculated risk involved… and when I say calculated risk, I mean that we went into it making a record that was true to ourselves but with the intent on it having the ability to be widely accepted by music fans. And so far we seem to be getting embraced!

Are there any contemporary or bands that you guys admire?
Chris: We kind of come from the old school, the Sabbath and Maiden, but we do like some contemporary bands like Bullet For My Valentine, Shinedown, stuff like that. If it has good songs and the guys can play then it’s probably being spun with one of us.

Do you have any concrete plans on how you will promote the release of Dark Devotion?
Chris: Right now we are hitting heavy on the online marketing as well as getting a great push from Sirius XM’s Octane. Soon we’ll be doing a bigger radio push as well as touring, all that is in the works.

How much roadwork do you expect to be doing this 2010?
Chris: Hopefully a good amount starting this summer. There are some plans being discussed so hopefully in the next month or so more dates will be announced.

Are you looking at any particular bands you will be touring with?
Chris: We’re doing some dates with Fozzy right now and that’s fun as the guys are really cool with Rich Ward being a good friend of mine. But we are not picky really. It’s all rock and roll out there on the road and we are down to play with just about anyone who will put up with us.

Any closing words?
Chris: Eat your Wheaties kids! And get the Razer record already damn it!  [ END ]