Pyro: Chris, thank you so much for the opportunity to have a chat and pick your brain. On behalf of the staff and readers of PyroMusic, thank you.
Chris Porcianko: Its not a problem man, thank you very much for the support and interest it is always appreciated.
Pyro: The last time we spoke was months ago at Metal For The Brain which was a fantastic event, enjoyed by all. Since then you've released 'Embrace The Silence', studio album number three for Vanishing Point. Although it's over a year late, it's great to finally have it see the light of day. For those that aren't aware, what took so long getting the album out for public consumption?Chris Porcianko: It was a culmination of factors as to why the album took so long before it was released, its not as easy as just getting an album done and having it in the shops shortly after unless you are a major act, for us we had Danny leave the band at the start of the song writing sessions for the album and on top of that we had differences with our previous management as well as record company, they saw things way differently to the way we saw things, so in a way it was the a "musical differences" situation [laughter].
We found ourselves trying to get songs done with all the outside interferences which was a little hard yet we pulled through and when Leonard stepped in to be with us during the whole process it was quite easy and the bulk of the album was written in 5 or so months.
We went back to Palm studios to record the album with Endel and it was great yet at the same time we could not just book out 2 months recording time because there are so many bands that have recorded their albums since we recorded 'Tangled In Dream' there, so in a way it was hard because we like to go in there and get things done yet on the other hand it was a good chance for us to go over the songs and look for another label, so in a way it did take a long time yet at the same time we had to make important decisions at to what we were going to do regarding the bands future.
Since we recorded 'Tangled In Dream' we have also toured Europe twice, so it was a situation after paying off loans for touring as well that we had a chance to save our own money and finance 'Embrace The Silence', we are pretty much our own now and it feels good to be a major part in our own decision making without having outside influences which don't care or don't know making hollow decisions for us.
Pyro: How has the initial reaction to 'Embrace The Silence' from both fans and the press been?
Chris Porcianko: The response to the album has been awesome to say the least, we didn't know we had that many people who liked our music in the first place [laughter], actually overall the response worldwide has been excellent and from the reviews and interviews we have done it has been great, we are pretty happy with the way it has been going and received, we have done so many interviews for this album its crazy, so if that's an indication as to how it is being received then its very positive.
Pyro: I'm sure it is. Now, by my count, there are exactly 10 seconds of possible music left vacant on 'Embrace The Silence'. The 13-track epic takes the cake as the longest (non-experimental) album I have ever heard. Was it an intention from the beginning to write a mammoth record or did things turn out that way?
Chris Porcianko: In a way yes and no, I think that we really wanted to give our fans something that is value for money considering the time between albums and no in the fact that we didn't really pay much notice to them time of the songs, we just went with the flow as we always do and just wrote an album that we are happy with.
We pretty much do things our way and although the album did become a tad long we don't regret the way it turned out, some of the reviews have mentioned the fact of the length and see it as a downside, yet I see it as a perfect way to give fans value for money and in a way thank them for their patience and support over the years.
Pyro: Did any songs needs to be refined to constrain them to the 80-minute limit of audio CDs?
Chris Porcianko: Yes, one of the songs was cut short and that was Embraced, it actually had a guitar solo in it that I played that really I felt the song could do without and the guys after discussion felt the same way, so that was the only part of the album that was cut shorter, apart from that the rest is as it is.
Pyro: I have no doubt Vanishing Point are planning international tour dates to support the release of the album. Europe can't get enough of you guys. You've played Wacken, something not too many Aussie bands ever have, or ever will do. What's the latest on some overseas shows?Chris Porcianko: Well, we were just about to go overseas in September in support of the album but unfortunately at the last minute the actual support slot on one of the tours was filled, so we missed out but we are confident that in the near future we will be back over in Europe and hopefully other continents as long as a promoter/promoters wishes to bring us out there, its not easy to just turn up there and all of a sudden have a tour, in fact in Europe it doesn't happen like that at all, its better to hook up with an agency and do it the proper way which unfortunately does cost a lot of money and logistically speaking is a nightmare, yet the rewards from touring with a big band are endless and awesome.
Pyro: Yeah. I think that there are thousands upon thousands of potential fans in both Japan and the US. Is it a realistic possibility Vanishing Point will make it to either country to support 'Embrace The Silence'?
Chris Porcianko: I'm not sure about America, for sure we would like to go there and tour or play at some of the festivals, but to be honest with you we haven't received any solid indications or sound responses from any of the promoters there which is hard for us considering we know that we have fans there and we would love to play there but it would be financially suicide for us to just go there and hope for the best without any proper representation or tour.
We have received a few emails from supposed promoters asking for promo cds etc, but apart from that we haven't even come close to anything to warrant the prospect of getting there which is hard for us because we have always wanted to go there.
As for Japan, we really want to go there and have been hoping just like America to go there for a long time, the album has been received very well there and its a good possibility that we will maybe make it there for 2006, we made it to number 2 on their metal import album charts for which month I don't remember, only to be beaten by Leaves Eyes who got number 1, so we are pretty happy with that and it looks promising.
Pyro: Have you been happy with the way that Dockyard1 have handled distribution and promotional duties of the band internationally? It certainly seems reviews are popping up all over the joint.
Chris Porcianko: Absolutely. The work those guys put into bands is awesome and thats the reason why we chose to go with Dockyard 1, they are very experienced in the metal scene and have a wealth of knowledge as well as a fresh attitude.
Pyro: That's great to hear. With the support of a new label, how likely is the release of one or two single or EP releases stemming from the full-length?
Chris Porcianko: Not likely for this album, maybe for the next, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it and see what our label want to do as well, it really is too early to say.
Pyro: Fair enough...and what are the chances of Videos being created for any tracks?Chris Porcianko: Not this time, we actually had discussions with a cool video guy here yet we decided to not do it this time as it is way expensive to do a clip that is of decent quality, we are planning in the future to do a clip for our next album.
Pyro: Sonata Arctica included a cover of 'Two Minds One Soul', originally on 2000's 'Tangled In Dream' on their latest record. How did you guys find out that the cover was happening and what was everyone's reaction to the news?
Chris Porcianko: I received an email from Tony a while back and he mentioned if we were cool if Sonata Arctica could do a cover of 'Two Minds One Soul' in which we were ecstatic that they considered doing a cover of a Vanishing point song, so after sending his an email back saying that we would be honoured and that they have our blessing, he emailed me back saying "thats great, because we already did it" [laughter] in which we were totally blown away in every positive sense imaginable.
They are great friends of ours and they are a great band with a huge fan base worldwide so for us it was an honour and a great opportunity for people to hear of our music who otherwise would not have known what we sound like, they did our song justice and still to this day I consider it as one of our highlights that a band of such high caliber did a cover version of one of our songs. I can't praise Sonata Arctica enough, next time we see them the drinks are definitely on us [laughter].
Pyro: Going back to 1997 for a moment. I was in my final year of primary school. Vanishing Point has just released 'In Though', you debut album. It obviously did pretty well considering it completely sold out and hasn't been available for some time. The question that everyone wants to know, when will it be available again?
Chris Porcianko: Well, this is a first and you are the first to know about this, 'In Thought' will be available again next year remastered and it will have one or two additional film clips attached to it as well, we know that it has been sold out for a while and especially in Australia is has been long out of print, so yes it will be available again soon.
Pyro: Bloody. Awesome.
I'm grasping at straws but there's no harm in asking this... Dungeon recently released their debut studio album (1999's 'Resurrection') which was pretty much completely re-recorded, re-mixed, re-mastered and re-packaged. It really breathed new life into old songs. Because of the delay getting 'Embrace The Silence' out, hopefully you have had plenty of time to work on new material so is it a possibility that you would consider doing something similar? If not, would we be looking at a direct re-release, same master, same art, new label or would any surprises be in store?
Chris Porcianko: Our old albums will not be re-recorded, we thought it was a good idea and in many ways it has worked very well for many bands to do this, but we really want to concentrate on future albums and just try to do our best, I think it takes away from a nostalgia point of view when a band re-records an album which was done years ago, of course it can come out killer but on the other hand sometimes the original element that made one go "fucken 'ell, thats killer" could be lost as well, its a tricky situation.
To be honest with you, we don't have our own home recording studio so we don't have that luxury, we wish we did but unfortunately for the time being we really just want to focus on our current album and the albums we will be recording in the future.
Pyro: It was quite some time ago that I was on your official website reading member bios. Certain members of Vanishing Point seem to have very quirky senses of humour. Do you lads get up to much stupidity and prank-pulling while on the road?Chris Porcianko: All of us in Vanishing Point are stupid and crap comedians with a very immature sense of humour which borderlines utter rubbish [laughter], only kidding of course, yeah I would definitely say that we like to have a laugh and take the piss out of ourselves sometimes, you know there are only so many hours of the day when you can be serious and not laugh at yourself for something stupid you have done or said.
I look at life in some ways as a complete b-grade movie, the more crap it gets the funnier it is in some ways.
Pyro: On a more personal note, how's life as a married-man treating you?
Chris Porcianko: Its going really good man [laughter] thanks for asking, actually my wife has been into metal music for years and her brother is Rick who used to be in Earth and now is currently in a cool band here called The Deadly, so in a way its a metal family [laughter].
I'm lucky that my wife understands my stupid sense of humour and actually likes the music that I play so its a good thing and I'm proud of the fact that Simone is going to be singing in her own band in the future, she has a great voice, when I get news of it I'll keep you posted.
Pyro: Cool. At some point in the future, is a DVD a likely possibility? It's a bandwagon you've yet to jump on and I'm sure plenty of fans are hoping for a fix of Vanishing Point footage to tide them over until their next chance to see you live or hear the follow-up to 'Embrace The Silence'. I'm aware of a number of low-budget video clips made for past songs and a little live footage that has been shot. There will be plenty of opportunities to film more as you tour to promote the album.
Chris Porcianko: When we get more footage we definitely will do a dvd release in the future, for the time being I would say that its a little premature, yet who knows, we are always filming stuff and we have a lot of footage from the past so we can never say never on this.
Pyro: I'm wondering how far into the writing and recording process you are for a fourth album. There was a period of at least 12 months there when 'Embrace The Silence' was done but unable to be released so I am hoping and assuming that the opportunity was seized to work on new material.
Chris Porcianko: In the time that we had 'Embrace The Silence' finished and sitting there ready for release we were pretty much pre-occupied with all the business stuff that we had to go through, plus we were looking for a label, so that was the main focus at that time instead of writing new songs, if we were to have tried to write new songs in that time God knows how they would have come out, we definitely were not in the song writing frame of mind I can tell you [laughter].
We have, since the album was released, written a few new songs which sound pretty killer, so we are slowly getting into that mind-space now, so far three new songs are written which are close to completion and we have many ideas for at least another six or seven songs, so we will see what happens, the new songs are coming along really well and we are all happy with them so far
Pyro: Any ideas on a rough time-frame or date you'd like to release it?Chris Porcianko: Not sure, if it will be a 2006 release, its too early to tell man, we will see what happens, we may have to go into the studio earlier than anticipated or we may have to wait until the studio is not booked out fully, so far we have the studio booked for the second half of next year for recording, but as you know with this industry it may be sooner, I can't say because I really don't know.
I know that we have a good deal with Dockyard 1 and we have signed a contract for another 3 albums, so we have happy and busy times ahead.
Pyro: Has a title been decided upon?
Chris Porcianko: Not really, there's a couple of titles we have spoken briefly about but nothing concrete as yet.
Pyro: That reminds me. What was the reason behind the title change for 'Embrace The Silence' which was originally named after its second last track, 'A Life Less'?
Chris Porcianko: We simply thought that 'Embrace The Silence' sounded better and had a better meaning to it which really signified the time we were going through all the uncertainty and with so many things going on that were kinda negative, we really just wanted peace and to do what we want to do and that is to make music instead of contract fodder to keep someone else happy.
Pyro: Can Aussie's look forward to a tour at some point in 2005?
Chris Porcianko: We haven't really done a tour here in Australia, yet we have played may places and we are confirmed to play in Sydney 3 times in the next 6 months which is really cool for us because its been a long time since we played in Sydney, actually the last time we played in Sydney was in 2002 with Edguy, we are playing the Under Raven Skies fest coming up and we have a show that we will be letting everyone know in January 2006 plus what seems to be the first ProgPower Oz which we are really excited about which I think is happening in February 2006.
Pyro: Yeah, I'll be at Under Raven Skies and ProgPower Oz. Are you expecting the crowd to enjoy Vanishing Point at Under Raven Skies, considering the mixed lineup?Chris Porcianko: Well, I hope so [laughter], its gonna be a cool day and we have received many emails from people telling us that they are excited that we are finally getting back up to Sydney, so we hope all goes well and we are just gonna get up there and do our best
Pyro: What are the chances you'll get to South and Western Australia?
Chris Porcianko: We have already played Adelaide and we will try to get back there again in the near future, we had a lot of fun last time for our first time in Adelaide, so for sure we would like to get back there, as for Perth we don't know yet, nothing is concrete but there is some talk of us going there in the near future to play.
Pyro: On to more general business for a moment, what's been getting a good hiding in your CD player lately?
Chris Porcianko: I've been listening to the latest Leaves Eyes which is really cool, Kreator's 'Enemy of God', Josh Groban's 'Closer', the latest Secret Garden and Behemoth's 'Demigod', generally I like most types of music as long as it isn't rap, r&b and radio pop.
Pyro: I'd like to also know if you (or the rest of the band) ever take the time to listen to Vanishing Point albums purely for the sake of entertainment, rather than from an analytical perspective during the writing, recording and mixing process?
Chris Porcianko: Sometimes we do for our personal cringe factor [laughter], to be honest with you I think I have listened to 'Embrace the Silence' a lot because of the time frame in between its completion to its release date, but apart from that I rarely have a chance to sit back and listen to 'In Thought' or 'Tangled In Dream', why, I don't know.
Pyro: Black Majesty vocalist John Cavaliere lent his voice to Vanishing Point on the opening track of ''Tangled In Dream'', 'Surreal'. Silvio returned the favour on Black Majesty's 2003 effort 'Sand Of Time' appearing with John on 'Colliding Worlds'. Is another vocal collaboration between the two a possibility for the future? I believe both tracks were among the strongest on their respective releases.Chris Porcianko: John been a great and close friend of ours for years and so have the guys in Black Majesty, I really don't know if there will be another collaboration in the future, its pretty much Silv's call, John and Silv have been Bro's for years so who's to say if it will happen again or not, it's really up to them, as for me I don't mind as I think that John in a fantastic vocalist so either way its all good.
Pyro: 'Tangled In Dream' absolutely blew me away the first time I heard it all those years ago. I don't think a week goes by that I don't listen to it at least once or twice. The album hasn't become even the slightest bit stale. Few albums I have ever come across have maintained such freshness after literally hundreds upon hundreds of plays. Something really struck a chord with me on ''Tangled In Dream''. Words cannot do justice to the way I feel about it, it's really a one-in-a-million record. Looking back, what is your personal favourite Vanishing Point album?
Chris Porcianko: Oh shit, really, man mega thanks for that man, that was pretty cool to hear, I really don't know what to say other than thank you for your support and I'm glad that you like the album so much.
For me because its fresh for me it would definitely have to be 'Embrace The Silence' as my personal Vanishing Point favourite because we played the songs from 'Tangled In Dream' live to death [laughter], but I do sometimes when playing songs from Tangled or 'In Thought' say to myself "yeah this song is cool" but that all too rarely happens because I'm most of the time trying not to stuff up what I'm playing during the song [laughter], its really hard for a musician who creates and plays their own music to really analyse their music so long after it has been completed.
Pyro: Do you have one or two favourite tracks?
Chris Porcianko: I really like 'Season Of Sundays' and 'If Only I', but then again I like 'Embraced' and 'Hollow', man its hard because I really enjoy all the songs that are on 'Embrace The Silence' [laughter], ask me in a years time when I've played it over live many more times [laughter].
Pyro: Hah, I will do. Anyway, it's about time to wind this up. I just want to ask you some final questions about Under Raven Skies which is happening this weekend. What kind of set list can we expect? What songs will you be playing, and/or which albums will they be from?
Chris Porcianko: We will be playing songs from both 'Tangled In Dream' and 'Embrace The Silence' this time, unfortunately we wont have much time to play any songs from 'In Thought' but we will play them next time around, mainly we are focusing on the latest album so a majority of the songs will be from that, we really want to use out time on stage wisely and sometimes its hard to chose from three albums of songs, thats the way it goes I guess [laughter], next time we are up in Sydney we will be playing longer.
Pyro: What's the merchandise selection going to be like?
Chris Porcianko: We will have both short sleeve and long sleeve 'Tangled In Dream' shirts there, as well as 'Tangled In Dream' girlie tops as well which are going quick, as they say, once they are gone they are gone [laughter]. We will also have new 'Embrace The Silence' short sleeve t-shirts and girlie tops available as well.
We will have our cds there for sale as well.
Pyro: Are there any bands playing that you're keen to check out?
Chris Porcianko: I'm really keen to check out all of the bands as I think there's so many new bands playing there that I have not seen live yet or even heard, so I will be there the whole day and looking forward to it and doing my dough at the merch stands as usual [laughter].
Pyro: That's it Chris. Thanks for your time, have a great week and if you have any last words, go for your life. I'll see you Saturday.
Chris Porcianko: I'd just like to thank everyone out there who has supported Vanishing Point and been patient with us, we know it took a long time for the album to come out and we know it has taken a long time to get back to Sydney, so this weekend we will at last fulfill our promise to get back there and we are excited as hell.
A big thankyou goes to yourself and all the staff at PyroMusic, you guys have always supported us and for this we are eternally grateful.
- Pyro
