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July 24, 2008 |
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Glen Drover
December 8, 2004
By Tony Antunovich
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There is no doubt that MEGADETH have made a huge comeback in 2004! With a brand new album, a brand new lineup, the metal legends have just completed the first portion of a successful North American tour. One of the chosen recruits is Canadian axeman extraordinaire, Glen Drover, who for the past decade or so has been doing his metal duty in EIDOLON (with brother and current MEGADETH/EIDOLON drummer, Shawn Drover). In September 2004, Glen's many years of hard work finally paid off when he received the call to join MEGADETH. Quite frankly, Dave Mustaine could not have chosen a better man for the job, and if you were present at any one of the MEGADETH shows this past fall, you would have witnessed first-hand what I'm talking about. Enough said.
I recently spoke with Glen Drover via telephone from his home in Ontario. During our conversation, we talked about how he landed the MEGADETH gig, the first-leg of the "Blackmail The Universe" tour, the progress of the new EIDOLON album, and what lies ahead in the future, among many other topics. I've said it once and I'll say it again - if you have never heard about this talented musician before, you will now. So without further ado, allow me to present to you Canada's very own Glen Drover.
So looking back on the first leg of the tour, how did it go?
Everything was set well. It was great because I don't think any one of us really expected it to be that good. Not only just being that we had a sold out tour - nine out of ten - if not ten out of ten shows - were sold out. I think there were only one or two on the whole tour that weren't sold out, and they were pretty much sold out anyways - and just the reaction from the crowd. You know, we do a meet and greet after each show - every single night. The response from all the fans has been completely overwhelming. We were kicking everybody's ass.
There is definitely a chemistry with this lineup. None of us really knew that was going to be the case, of course, but once we started it was evident that there was something there and things were sounding really good right off the bat. We just brought that to the stage and things came together really, really quick - from just getting the music down to the performance, and just the whole package. We're trying to deliver that smoothly. So, it didn't take too long. Yeah, we're all really happy. It was a really good tour and it's just the beginning.
That's good to hear. I can tell you right now that your performance at the show in Vancouver was just amazing. I was totally blown away and still am. It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen and it was a real pleasure covering that show. I knew you guys were going to kick ass. Shawn was unbelievable! I couldn't believe it. He hit every single note. There was not one mess-up at all.
Yeah. He's always been very consistent - one of the more consistent and dependable musicians I've ever played with. I knew bringing him in was not going to be a problem and Shawn hadn't even had any road experience - never even toured before. We did our one off festival in Europe and this and that but never went on a tour. This was his first tour and it had been like he'd done that for a long time. He's just a natural.
You, James (MacDonough), Shawn (Drover), and Dave (Mustaine) all did an awesome job. How has it been working with Dave?
It's great! He's been really, really cool to us. He just treats us amazing and it makes us work harder because were being treated with respect. He's very appreciative and thankful because of what we can do but also because we're working hard to make it as best as possible and he acknowledges that and appreciates it and he shows that appreciation, which is really cool. So, it's been great! We're all really happy.
Well, I'm happy for you, Glen. I really am. When I first heard the news about you, and then Shawn, joining MEGADETH I was just stoked. I'm really happy for you guys. You guys deserve it.
Thank you.
It's the truth. You guys work hard. Seriously - you are one of the most underrated guitar players in metal as far as I'm concerned.
(Laughs). Well, we really haven't made a huge mark with our band. We sell a few thousand and there you go. So, we haven't really made a big mark with the band. I was with King (DIAMOND) for a short period and then we did our stuff. We've been doing our stuff for a long time but we're slowly working up that ladder, you know. Without doing the touring and all that stuff, it's a slow, slow climb. But we're happy with what we've achieved so far with the little playing that we've done.
Playing live you mean?
Playing live, yeah. Exactly. It's all good. We're all really happy. We're very appreciative of whatever we get. That's just the way we are. That's part of our nature, I guess. I've been so lucky because I've done the KING stuff and now I'm doing this - we've been doing our stuff and put out several albums with a bigger label and we're continuing that. Now we just signed a new deal and we're doing a new album, but the priority is MEGADETH right now. But we're still working on a new album, so. I already have all the drum tracks here. It's a question of starting to record, which is coming soon. I've been home for a week and a day, so I'm just trying to settle in and trying to get back to a normal sleeping pattern, which I think last night was the first night where it was a normal sleeping pattern and not getting up at four in the morning and going back to sleep and taking naps in the day.
When you're touring, you're all over the map as far as sleeping goes. So, I'm just starting to kind of get into some kind of a normal pattern. Before long, I'll be getting into the guitar tracks for that and slowly getting going. I already know most of the stuff because we've already done the demos for it, which is the first time. Usually we don't demo; we just record and work along the way. We really work hard on the songs and then just get it to where we want it and move on. But now, we've actually demo-ed a lot of the stuff, so I pretty much know what I'm getting myself into once I start the process. It just makes it a little bit easier.
When can we expect the new EIDOLON to be out?
I have no idea. It's really hard to say. I plan to get all my guitar tracks done before I leave to go to Europe. That's one thing I want to have accomplished. And then the bass - well, I don't know what's going to happen. We might get into some of that, but I'm thinking more realistically of probably getting into that while I'm home after Europe. Between Europe to whatever we're doing next with MEGADETH, I think I'll probably tackle a lot of the bass at that point. Then once the bass is done, we'll send the tapes to Norway so Nils (K. Rue) can start his process. But it could be.... I don't know - it's tough to say - the end of summer maybe!? But that's just a guess. Really, your guess is as good as mine at this point because it depends on the MEGADETH schedule and what we're doing and all that kind of stuff. I mean, we HAVE to get it done because we're under contract.
We have to get the album done but it's not going to be done when they originally wanted it, which was the first of May. So, it's not going to happen then, but probably realistically at the end of the summer - maybe into the fall. It's okay. There's no rush anyways. We want to get it done properly. We're working with a new singer now, so who knows? We could get some tapes and there might be some problems and then we have to redo this and that and.... who knows what's going to happen!?
Congratulations on acquiring Nils by the way.
Yeah. He's a really good singer.
Yeah, he is.
He's definitely our best singer by far for sure at this point.
I would agree. I'm not going to get into it, but I thought Pat (Mulock) was a definite upgrade from Brian (Soulard).
Oh yeah. There's no question. We made some mistakes along the way, unfortunately, but when we started doing this - recording - in '94/'95, you've got to remember at that period there weren't really a whole lot of singers doing this kind of stuff at that point. It's only been in the last few years that all these people are starting to surface because there are people getting into it. But around that period, there was nobody really doing it that much. There was definitely hardly anybody here. So, we met Brian. He was very young - really heavily influenced by what we were influenced by.
He did okay on "Nightmare World" and some little things here and there, but for the most part he definitely wasn't on the same level as we are. Then we got with Pat, who was a much stronger and consistent singer, but then he lacked stage presence, he wasn't a good frontman, and lacked emotion in his voice too. We were happy with him. He did some good stuff on "Coma Nation" and "Apostles Of Defiance" I have to say. He did a good job on those albums, but we just needed more of a natural guy with more experience - with real feel, a good sense of what to do musically, and good live presence and performance. We've seen PAGAN'S MIND, so we know what he can do live.
I totally agree with you there. What can we expect the sound to be like? Is it going to be like traditional EIDOLON?
Yeah. Well, there's only one fast song on the album - like the speedy old school type of stuff that we usually do on every album. There's one song that's like that, which is great. It's actually one of my favorites. But there's some proggy stuff too. There's a longer song on there - it's about 13 or 14 minutes long, which is a bit more adventurous and more proggish. There will be a little bit more keyboards here and there, but there's still a lot of real heavy stuff. We did the drums in Sweden this time, so that makes a little bit of a change for the production. But that's okay because we don't want every album to sound exactly the same. So, that should be really interesting. It's going to be heavy - pretty much the same kind of idea, but maybe a little bit more progressive here and there than most of the other ones we've done - but not overly. We never do it that much, but it's a little bit more than what we've done before.
So the fast track - is it going to sound something like "Demoralized"?
No. It leans more towards - it's not like "Coma Nation", but it's that kind of style - what we call the "polka speed metal" beat, you know?
Yes.
It's that style more so than "Demoralized". But we try to mix it up. We've got a little bit more slower stuff; a little bit more mid-paced; some more aggressive fast double-bass drum stuff. We try to mix it all up so that everything doesn't sound the same and I think we've got a really good balance of a lot of stuff. We have a lot of music. There's like 75 minutes worth of music. The album won't be 75 minutes long. It might be somewhere in between 50 and 55 (minutes), so there will probably be a song or two that won't make the album, but that's just because we like to do it that way - having the very, very best songs. There might be one song that might not be working because of vocals or something stupid, and it's just not jiving for whatever reason. So, we just pick the very, very best and have the best flow and the strongest album because it's better to do that than to put all the songs on it and have a couple of songs that are a little weaker, you know.
Other than doing the guitar tracks for the new EIDOLON, do you have any other plans between now and when you head over to Europe?
No - just relax; have a good Christmas; do some of the recording and just hang out - nothing really special going on at all. That's the way I like it (laughs). There'll be enough excitement going on in February, you know.
Yeah for sure! Is there going to be another North American tour after Europe?
It's possible, but I have no idea. All we know is that as we go along, the European thing is now set in stone. What comes after that - who knows!? We'll see - possibly Japan. I think we might be doing that, but it's up to Dave (Mustaine) and the schedule and how it's all going to work. We find out basically when you find out - when it's all set in stone and it's put on the net - we find out about it as well and then go from there.
I'm sure the Japanese fans would love to see MEGADETH in their country.
Yeah. We've definitely talked about it so it looks like it's a possibility, but I can't really comment too much because I don't know.
How old were you when you first became interested in playing the guitar?
I was about 9. I started because my older brother played guitar at that time. He still plays a little bit to this day but not much. When I was really young, he was playing in the bars with his dad doing rock and country stuff. He always had a guitar kicking around, so I always had a fascination with music since I was very, very little. So I got into the guitar thing and it just kind of went from there. He showed me a couple little songs and I went from there. I started really seriously playing when I was about 10.
Did you take lessons?
I had a little bit of training, but not much. Most of it's just been by ear and common sense, which I've fortunately been given a gift to be able to do that.
Do you read music?
I can read but I'm really bad at it because my brain and my eyes don't seem to get in sync. But I know how to read because I teach. I don't teach so much now, but I've been teaching for a few years. What I do is more "street level" teaching. It's what I call more of a modern approach.
That's a remarkable gift, Glen - to be able to play as well as you do by ear. To me that is just amazing.
Thanks! Everybody's got something, you know. I've been lucky to have the common sense, the feel, and the soul to be able to do all these things.
Dave made a comment about your solos matching Marty's (Friedman) to the "T". I can tell you when I watched you playing your solos on stage, I was just blown away.
Thank you.
I think the whole thing just fits together perfectly. When I watched you guys on stage, you seemed to be really connected with one another and your rapport with the crowd was just awesome.
Yeah. It's more fun that way. To be honest with you, I find it boring if you don't.
I think you had really good command over the crowd (in Vancouver). Would you agree with that?
Thanks. Well, I try. It was a fun show that's for sure.
The Vancouver crowd loved it.
Yeah. You could tell. It was a fun night; it was a good show; we played well. I thought it was one of the better shows. When we're all on top of our game it's pretty good.
Hopefully the European leg of the tour is going to be just as successful.
Yeah. It should be pretty damn good. It probably might even be better in some ways because we'll all be rested up and have our batteries recharged.
Yeah, and more preparation time too. Shawn (Drover) only had 5 days really.
Yeah. He needs to deal with his problems with his legs, get better and be ready. He's dealing with some issues right now, which we're hoping are going to be okay.
Is he okay?
Yeah. He's fine - he's just got some problems with his legs. He's got really bad shin splints and water in the knees and stuff. So he has to get all that stuff dealt with. However he does it, he just has to deal with it.
It was an honor to meet Dave (Mustaine). I've been a MEGADETH fan since '85/'86, so it was great. He seemed really tired though.
Yeah, of course.
You guys played for what.... 95 minutes?
Well, it's close to two hours. Not only that, but there's the meet-and-greets every night. There's just not a lot of sleep. But it doesn't matter how tired he is or if he's not feeling well. It doesn't matter. He's always there, and that's a really cool thing because some people are like "Ah screw it! I don't care about meeting anybody tonight." He's not like that. Not matter what, he's there all the time and he talks to EVERYBODY. He's great that way.
I think it's a great fit. It couldn't have happened better than it did.
Yeah. Thank you. It's definitely a good thing happening, which we're all happy about.
So, I guess Dave will be relaxing for a while too.
Yeah. We're all doing that right now.
Do you have anything you'd like to say to the MEGADETH/EIDOLON fans?
Because we're new in MEGADETH, thanks to all the people. There were so many people that came up to us at the meet-and-greets and people that we met that really liked the shows and were really pumped about the whole thing - and all the compliments. Thanks to all of those people - and EIDOLON fans - thanks to those people that have supported us.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Who knows!? I don't really even think about that, you know. I've always been like.... just take it one day at a time. I can be like "I hope this or that will happen." The day before I got that e-mail about the MEGADETH thing, my life was different. Then all of a sudden a fan recommends me for trying out, and within hours I was already a consideration before I even had time to think about it. Everything just changed. Then I got the gig and my whole life has been turned around. So, who knows!? I mean, this could carry on for a while. Ten years - I don't know, but who knows where this is going to go - where it's going to lead!?
I would say one thing for sure is that I'll probably still be recording. I'll have a studio and I'll be recording either our stuff and/or other people. I've always liked doing that and I've been building the studio for a long time. I'll probably be buying a bigger house before long and I'll build a BIG studio. I have a decent-sized one now but I'll have a big studio at that point - take over the whole basement type of thing. I'll probably be doing that - I can't see myself straying away from that - and I hope to be healthy and everything else.
If anything, people are certainly going to find out more about you and your brother (Shawn). It will be putting you more on the map for sure.
Yeah, for sure. There's no question about it.
Glen, I really want to thank you for taking time to speak with METALEATER. I really appreciate it. You, MEGADETH, and EIDOLON have our support.
Great!
I really wish you nothing but the best for the future.
Thank you very much for all that. All the stuff you guys do helps us in a major way. [FIN]
» Official MEGADETH Website
» Official EIDOLON Website
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