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S A V A G E .....M E S S I A H

Another great new UK band that has emerged with the release of their debut ‘Spitting Venom’ is London’s very own Savage Messiah, pioneered and fronted by Dave Silver, a man whose talents and ambitions are setting him on his own one man quest in the footsteps of the first great ones like Dave Mustaine and Evil Chuck (Schuldiner)!!

-Shan Siva

Ok, lets start at the beginning Dave, so would that be Headless Cross your first band or does your career go back further? Pls tell us about your background as a musician and what motivated you to form a band (cos clearly its something serious that has gone beyond a 'passing phase').

Yeah, Headless Cross could be considered my first band. Although I started playing in bands when I was around 14 so I had a few years of basically learning how to play guitar! Bands formed essentially from the pool of musician that was available to me at the time so it was just mates from school. And then later in about 2003 we put together Headless Cross. And then a few years later we managed to get ourselves reasonably well known in the UK. I honestly don’t really know why I wanted to be in a band other than I really enjoy writing songs and playing music.

Some people might say that its a tall order to want to front a band before you've cut your teeth as it were (I'm not one of them btw, if ya want it then go get it and don't let the bastards put you down) but have you always had an idea of what you've wanted in a band?

Yeah that’s an interesting point of view. I think you just have to follow your own path and accept what happens and try and make the best out of any situation. The whole “band leader” thing was never something that happened consciously and I definitely don’t think of myself in that way. Certainly in Savage its not working like that, we’re very much on the same page. In truth though all I’ve ever really wanted is to play with 3 other great musicians who are completely open, honest and have the ability to communicate as adults, nothing more, nothing less.

As a young (?)musician, how do you manage to overcome the common band hassles i.e. bad management, dodgy promoters, band problems etc or is it a 'my-way-or-the-highway' scenario?

Yeah, well most of the time you just have to grin and bear it! I’ve never had a my-way-or-the-highway policy, not with anyone; I’ve always been very open to other people’s suggestions and ideas. I suppose its worked like this, I spent 3 years dictating in HC what I felt we should be doing to become known, and to a degree it worked, but the band split up! So I spent the next year compromising on basically everything and trying to be ridiculously diplomatic and we lost all momentum and the band split up!! So I realised what’s the sense! In life we have the choice who we surround ourselves with, and I’ve been a little bit unlucky in that respect in the past. Don’t get me wrong I’ve played with some very talented musicians, however to be part of a functioning unit you need the right attitude as well.

In terms of your songwriting has there been anyone who has influenced you either musically or in terms of the way in which they approach song writing?

Yeah I have loads of influences, from the metal stand point its bands like Judas Priest, Savatage, Queensryche, Kreator, Nevermore, Testament etc…from the approach to writing, its pretty old fashioned really, anyone of us write a bunch of riffs then we work on it as a band and try and formulate an arrangement. Then its all about vocals! Quite straight forward I suppose. When it eventually gets into the studio though is when it becomes a song, because you get to put all the little extra bits and pieces that make it interesting. After that you just figure out the best way to make a live rendition.

I noticed that the recording line-up for "Spitting Venom" is different to the current line-up so how did that come about? You didn't sack em did ya....?

That was due to the circumstances that I was in at the time. I don’t think you could say I sacked anybody. In fact I think there’s only ever been 2 people I’ve actually asked to leave the band. I’m no big shot who goes around firing people! As far as I’m concerned if you lay out your expectations and people can’t make that commitment its no big deal you both just move on. However people always slate you afterwards I suppose it’s about saving face, which has never been my concern, I’m about music but people are always ready to believe the worst. So in the ‘Spitting Venom’ situation it would be more accurate to say that I disassociated myself from people I considered to be very negative and from a situation that I found to be far more hassle than it was going to be worth. I was working on the record alone with the producer Andy (initially as a HC record) and the whole thing took 5 months. One guy vanished after 3 days of recording the other after 3 weeks and then it all turned sour. I didn’t understand their mentality, so I moved on to something better that’s proven to be killer! And as the new band we selected the best songs and released them under the Savage moniker and there you have it!

How much touring has Savage Messiah done to date and whats been your biggest gig so far (seem to think its Bloodstock)..?

We rehearsed up a set for 3 months and then spent 3 months gigging and we notched up 12 shows and 2 acoustic gigs. We were quite lucky with all our gigs as both attendances and reactions have been really good. It was just about building really, and then we’ve had a little bit of down time over Christmas and now everything’s getting rolling again.

Does "Spitting Venom" define the Savage Messiah sound or would you say its still evolving and therefore in a state of flux?

It would be impossible for Spitting Venom to define our sound; we’re still a very young band! It’s merely a good cd that I’m proud of and has helped us get our feet off the ground, what we do next is going to be far more important to the development of Savage Messiah. And for the new cd that we begin work on we have some truly killer stuff. We’re going to keep an open mind musically and see what happens!

What's your opinion of the current UK metal scene? I personally don't think its anywhere near the days of NWOBHM and why do you think for such a big metal market the UK is lagging behind in terms of bands...?

Personally I think things are getting better. Obviously there’s the whole thrash thing that’s happening right now which has seen some cool bands arise. Although to be honest I’m more about thinking what we’re gonna be doing, and the next steps for us.

Lastly whats next on the cards for Savage Messiah?

Well we’re going to begin recording a new cd, again with Andy Faulkner. Also we’re gonna step up the gigging and do out best to play as many shows as we can. Although in the UK you have to be a bit careful with gigs, you have to make sure they’re well selected because it’s the kiss of death for a band playing too many un-rewarding shows, we’re also looking into possible European dates as we’ve had some interest there too. We want to raise our profile as well, so we have a few things in the pipeline that all being well could be very exciting! Whatever though, its going to be a year of Heavy Metal - of that I have no doubt