Hi Pete, how are you doing?
Pete Fry: Im doing great Juha, thanks so much for the opportunity to speak with you and your audience, its an honor!
Tell us about Farcry
Pete Fry: FarCry is a brand new band on the Kivel Records label. John (Kivel) approached me about doing something about 2 1/2 years ago and this is the end result, and just the beginning of what you will hear from us!
Your debut album High Gear is filled with fantastic music. Tell us about the album and your thoughts about it
Pete Fry: First of all, thank you! Were very proud of the release, and its great to hear people are digging it! When we were originally forming the band JK told me he wanted to put together an album that was as dynamic and powerful as Bon Jovis "New Jersey" something with a variety of vibes and emotions, and something for everyone.
The sound is huge on the album. So what are your influences?
Pete Fry: First of all, as far as the huge sound goes, I have to give that credit to Ty Sims, an AMAZING producer. Assuming youre talking about band influences (and not my personal influences), I think a few spins of the CD will give you some idea of our late 80s/early 90s influence, from Def Leppard, to Firehouse, to Winger and everything in between!
You have a song called Talk To Me on the album that the Norweigian band Hush had on their debut album. How come?
Pete Fry: We just really liked the song and thought it deserved another chance to shine. Ken writes some great material, what can I say?
Tell us about the your choice to do a cover of Meat Loafs Nowhere Fast
Pete Fry: I have to thank Mr. Kivel for this choice. Although I was quite familiar with this track I never would have thought to pick it for the album. That being said, after hearing the final version Im really glad we did it, in addition to being a very powerful emotional song, its also quite unique and adds something to the diverse nature of "High Gear".
There´s also a guy named Jason Pawlak that has written couple of fantastic songs to your album. Who´s that?
Pete Fry: I first spoke with Jace after John had brought a few of his songs to the table as candidates for inclusion on "High Gear". I was immediately blown away by the heartfelt lyrics and the killer hooks. Jace is phenomenally talented and a really nice guy as well. I look forward to working with him again for our next album.
The production is also very good, tell us about Ty Sims that has produced the album.
Pete Fry: The first time I heard Ty Sims was as the bass player for Bombay Black, another band on the Kivel label. In addition to liking the bands material, I always liked the production as well. The guy is multi-talented!
Are there any plans to play some live shows with this album?
Pete Fry: Absolutely, we have three confirmed, and hopefully more on the way. Heres what weve got...
July 17 - Maximum Capacity, Chicopee, MA, USA with Tango Down
July 24/25 - Dakota Rock Fest, Sioux Falls, SD, USA with Bret Michaels, Firehouse, Skid Row, LA Guns, Enuff Znuff, April Wine, Head East, Bombay Black, Tango Down, Talon, etc.
August 15 - Maximum Capacity, Chicopee, MA, USA with Dokken, Tango Down and Goodbye Thrill
Can you give comments on a couple of tracks?
Pete Fry: Absolutely, my pleasure!
- Love Won´t Wait: The first music I wrote for FarCry, Ive always been a sucker for guitar oriented AOR style riffs.
- Fine Line: Jace writes great tunes, and this is one of his best, very dynamic and Mark (Giovi) sounds like he was born to sing this!
- Heaven: An older tune of mine I wrote back in 1991, Kivel and I liked it too much not to put it on the album. Classic 80s power ballad material!
- Same Mistake: Actually my favorite song from Jace, the lyrics are really moving and actually get me a little teary eyed. A great story/song that cuts right to the heart.
- Have It All: Easily our heaviest tune, reminds me of Icon or Banshee. I had a lot of room to play with on the guitar solo as well.
Do you have a personal favourite track on the album and if so tell us why?
Pete Fry: It varies from day-to-day, but today its probably a toss up between "Same Mistake" for the reasons I mentioned above, and "Shes Crazy" just because I really dig Marks vocal harmonies in the verse and the simple driving nature of the song.
You have another great band called Rockarma that released a album last year. Is that band still around and tell us about it
Pete Fry: Rockarma is still around and is very much the passion of its creator, Damon Kelly. Unfortunately I am no longer involved with the band due to schedule constraints, etc.
Do you have other projects on the way that you can share with us?
Pete Fry: At this point FarCry is what Im dedicating 110% of my time to, but Im always willing to keep the door open for other opportunities.
I must say that 80s melodic hardrock seems to have a huge respons over there with many new and old great bands releasing albums. Is that something you feel the same about? How do you see and think about the music scene over there?
Pete Fry: Much, MUCH better than it was. I remember going through the mid-90s here and nobody even giving my band a second look, much less a listen. It does seem like its coming back around, and not just with my generation, but a whole new generation of rockers. I get friended on MySpace and FaceBook from people of all ages. I guess to some degree you can thank the "Guitar Hero" video games, but also the sheer accessibility of media through YouTube, etc. makes it easy for anyone to go back and check out just how awesome the music was back in the 80s/90s. For me personally its pretty damn awesome to go play a show and have a chance to talk with the people I grew up listening to, mind-blowing!
Have you been to Europe or Sweden? If so what´s your thoughts?
Pete Fry: Absolutely, Ive been to Europe several times, and Sweden twice (Stockholm and Malmö respectively). I love both Europe and Scandinvaia, in fact I just love to travel pretty much anywhere. I will say though, I am NOT a fan of salt licorice... lingonberries kick ass though, very delicious. On a more serious note though I really love visiting Europe and Scandinavia because living in the US, were such a young country. To us, history is somewhere between now and about 200 years ago. For you its several hundred or a thousand years, very cool stuff.
Have you been to any great concerts lately?
Pete Fry: The last one I went to was The Masters of Metal with Judas Priest, Heaven & Hell, Motorhead, and Testament... great show, amazing how good both Dio and Halford still sound after all these years. The bands were really tight as well, a great time was had by all!
July 11, Ill be seeing the Cult for the first time, so Im looking forward to that as well.
Sweden has a fantastic festival called Sweden Rock Festival that I think you music would fit just perfect. Have you heard of it?
Pete Fry: I have heard of it, quite a bit about it actually, Id love to get there someday, if not as a band then at least as a fan!
Can you name your 5 favourite albums right now?
Pete Fry: This is another one of those lists that changes daily, but this is whats been getting a lot of play lately...
Whitesnake - Good to be Bad
Hardcore Superstar - s/t
Shinedown - Sound of Madness
Johnny Lima - Livin Out Loud
Line of Fire - s/t
The summer is soon here, what beer or drink do you prefer in the summer heat?
Pete Fry: Beer is definitely my beverage of choice, my two favorites lately being Old Speckled Hen (UK) and Sierra Nevada (USA), but its getting warmer now so Ill probably be having a few Weiss beers as well...
Thanks Pete for taking your time for this interview. Is there something you would like to add or say to our readers?
Pete Fry: I would just like to say thank you to you Juha, especially for your patience waiting for me to answer your questions (those were some great questions my friend!), and also to your readers, its been an honor and a pleasure.
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