Northern Crown- In the cracks between the genres of Doom, Prog, and Rock n’ Roll, NORTHERN CROWN find a unique fit,as exemplified by forthcoming album In A Pallid Shadow. The band’s third full-length album will be self-released on July 3
Interview conducted on May 15, 2020
by Dan Locke
In A Pallid Shadow is everything that a real adventure should be made of – an epic struggle between good and evil, a terrifying personal dilemma, a brief moment of unexpected beauty, and a few good stories. Confident in their new rhythmic stride with groove-heavy drummer Dan Konopka of OK GO, the band melds guitarist Zach Randall’s signature writing, vocalist Frank Serafine’s distinct classic vocal grit and dynamics, and Leona Hayward’s penchant for assertive and beefy bass lines. One listen through the leading track, “Leprosarium,” and you may not catch the buried reference to John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” but you will feel the ten tons of metal slamming you in the face.
Dan Locke: How is the live music in Fort Lauderdale during the Covid-19 virus?
Zach: I can’t honestly say. We haven’t gigged in quite a while. I would say, though, that since Broward County has been largely shut down, live music is at a stop and probably will be until bars and clubs can be back at full capacity.
What is your upbringing?
Zach: I grew up in the middle of a cornfield in rural Indiana. My parents were both factory workers. It was a fairly humble beginning.
Leona: I moved around a lot — I’m nomadic. I was born in Michigan, lived in Florida, Alabama, and Washington. I was raised by video games and reading mostly, so…
Frank: Born and raised in San Antonio, TX by amazing upper-middle-class parents and family with a love of all music.
How did you discover music?
Zach: There’s lots of musicians in the family, my father included. He was in a band from the time I was very young until I was out of high school. I spent a lot of nights and weekends hanging out at their jam space.
Leona: Like I said above, I’m a nerd, so my first exposure that was impactful music-wise was video games. The ones that really shaped me were the original DOOM and DOOM II as well as the SNES game Rock N’ Roll Racing. Those games all featured licensed (In the case of rock and roll racing) or copied (in the case of DOOM) heavy metal. When Napster got big in 1999-2000, I went and discovered the bands that were responsible for those songs, Starting with Black Sabbath and went from there.
Frank: Listening to what my parents put on, which was everything from oldies and Motown to pop and prog rock. They’re giant Moody Blues fans, and they made one of me. Metal came later when I found out what the kids a few grades above me in school were listening to. Napster/Kazaa (for better or for worse) brought the European metal into my consciousness and it was downhill from there.
How did you start to write music?
Zach: My whole goal in picking up a bass and eventually guitar was to start writing songs. Pretty immediately I started trying to write songs mimicking my then musical heroes: Metallica, Edge of Sanity, In Flames, My Dying Bride, Iron Maiden, etc.
Frank: I wanted to be an audio engineer/producer since high school and found that I needed to write some music if I wanted to actually try recording it!
What made the band to go after the classic heavy metal sounds driven by bands like Black Sabbath?
Zach: We’re fans of doom metal, we’re fans of classic rock, classic metal and prog rock. I, personally, think those sounds still have a lot of territory to explore, especially with how we’ve merged it with some more modern elements.
Leona: Black Sabbath was my first band that I really got into, and one that I still listen to a lot these days. Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are the reason I play an instrument. No matter what I do, that influence is apparent.
Frank: Classic vocalists could turn heads from a mile away without padding themselves with multiple tracks, their voices were so captivating. I wanted to be like them!
Zach- you remember how you got your first guitar?
Zach: My first guitar was a used Squier Strat I got from a local music store in West Lafayette, IN
And do you still have it?
Zach: I got rid of it a long time ago. I do, however, still have my first new guitar. It’s a Samick Avion, which is a copy of a Les Paul Custom
Leona- Do you remember your first bass and how you got it? And what happened to it?
Leona: I played guitar for about 10 years before I switched to bass primarily. Early on, I figured I’d better have a bass to be familiar with and try to write basslines for songs I was writing. I got a good deal on an Ibanez BTB500 through my job at a music store. It was a really nice Japanese made one that I didn’t do justice to. I traded it towards another guitar somewhere along the line. Once I got into bass playing proper, I happened to have a Cort Curbow 5. I had that for a few years and then I upgraded to a Yamaha TRB6, which can be heard on just about everything I’ve recorded, from my stuff in Faethom, Northern Crown, Weaponlord, etc.
Frank – Tell me about your first performance?
Frank: It’s nothing noteworthy. Better to tell about my first real college band performance, as lead guitar/vocals for EX NIHILO. We were a very ambitious foursome attempting to do justice to 3 covers and an original song — Dream Theater’s “Overture 1928”, Symphony X’s “Serpent’s Kiss”, and Death’s “Spirit Crusher”, as well as our own “Draw Your Sword.” That was the only time I was super nervous, so I flubbed a lot of solos, but we banged lots of heads!
How the band did get its name?
Zach: In the early phases of the band, before Frank joined, all of the songs had sort of a psychedelic sci-fi theme to them. I asked the band members at the time to come to our next rehearsal with a list of possible band names. Leona showed up with a substantial list of names. She mentioned the name Northern Crown, which she got from the constellation Corona Borealis. Once I heard the name, I knew that was the right one.
Tell me about your upcoming album “In a Pallid Shadow”, which comes out July 3rd. Is that still the release date? Also, you had planned to include a vinyl release, which was paid for by crowdfunding. And now that is cancelled?
Zach: The album will be released via streaming on July 3. As of now there’s no physical releases planned. We actually never attempted a crowdfunding campaign. I did make a posting about it on our Facebook page but there didn’t seem to be any interest.
How has it been by adding Dan Konopka from OK Go as your drummer. What has he added to your sound?
Zach: Dan is an extremely talented drummer with a ton of subtlety to his playing. The groove and energy brought us to a new level as a band.
Leona: When Zach presented Dan as an option, I was instantly sold. OK GO is a fabulous band and I could (and have) watched all their music videos in one go multiple times. The opportunity to bring in someone from outside the genre for a fresh take appealed to me immensely so I was pushing to use him from the beginning.
What is your favorite track on the album?
Zach: ‘The Last Snowfall’ is my favorite track. If I were to point to a song that perfectly encapsulates the Northern Crown I envision in my head, it would be that song.
Leona: I’d agree with snowfall. This was a song that had been floating around since 2012 or 2013 primarily as an instrumental. It was too good to let it slip through cracks and I’m glad we were able to update it.
Zach: When we played live, Snowfall was our set closer. There was a fairly dramatic moment in the song where Leona and I were both soloing, me on guitar and her on a Chapman stick. Probably my favorite memory from the nascent days of the band.
How do you stay healthy while touring?
Zach: By not touring. LOL
How was Progpower USA? And do you think it will happen in Sept?
Zach: ProgPower was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with my two best friends, make some new friends and see some cool bands. I’m fairly certain it won’t happen this year and even if it does, I would be unlikely to attend even though I have a ticket.
Leona: It was my first progpower. I went specifically for one of my favorite bands, Galneryus, and it was pretty much a religious experience. I’d love to attend this fall but I honestly don’t think it’ll happen with the current events we have going on.
Frank: I met my wife at ProgPower back in 2013, and we go every year, so it’s been vital to our existence. Glenn & Jen Harveston, Mark at Play America, Milton, and all the ProgPower family are working so hard to make it happen if at all possible, so I won’t speculate — watch the ProgPower website and Facebook for news.
What are you feeling about streaming music?
Zach: I think streaming music is great for fans and as a means of distribution. It’s very easy and convenient to check out new bands and anybody can get their music out to the world. The downsides are that because of the ease of distro, there’s a lot of noise for
bands to get through and it’s not a sustainable business model for either the streaming platforms or the artists.
Leona: I love streaming music. I still buy CDs all the time to support artists I love, but I’ve found so many great bands through streaming. I also rely on my Youtube reccs pretty heavily as well, as well as some super nerdy friends to turn me on to stuff. Many people stick to what they listen to when they were in high school, but I’m very proactive in discovering new bands and new genres.
Frank: Streaming has always been the way I found metal and continue to find more. That said, going to live shows and buying merch are the most important things you can do to help the bands you like make money. I do plenty of that.
Digital vs. vinyl?
Zach: Digital is obviously more convenient. I love the sound of vinyl and I love the social aspect of having people over, going through albums, picking out what you’re playing next, etc. On a day to day basis, though, convenience wins out for me.
Leona: I actually prefer CDs. I started collecting them in high school so that has been my vice and it’s too late to change now. 🙂
Frank: I leave that argument for the audio snobs. Both have good points and bad points.
Any plans to tour?
Zach: The odds of us touring extensively are very, very low. I think festivals would be a better option for us. However, we don’t have a full live lineup, these songs would require a substantial amount of rehearsal and we don’t know how the COVID-19 situation is going to resolve.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you?
Leona: From another artist? Since the weather in Seattle is getting nice currently, it’s time for my yearly rotation of the first Boston album. That album has always sounded like summer to me, and nothing beats turning it up and laying outside in the grass or driving with the windows down. It brings up a time when we weren’t quarantined, so it’s a fanciful distraction.
Frank: ‘Seventh Sojourn’ from the Moody Blues starts out with a track called “Lost in a Lost World,” and it’s insane how relevant its lyrics are for 2020, though it was written in 1972, almost half a century ago.
How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
Zach: Artists are going to need to find new revenue streams. Successful artists tend to be very entrepreneurial so I’m interested to see what people come up with to sustain themselves.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
Zach: I worked from home anyway so there were minor changes in my life. I miss seeing my friends and my girlfriend, I miss going out for drinks and dinner. I have been using the time to write an obscene amount of new music, though.
Leona: I listen to a ton of music, lift weights, play Street Fighter and study Japanese.
Frank: I’m lucky to be fully employed and I have a one-year-old boy, so my time is split between good things.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
Leona: I started playing guitar again, which i haven’t seriously done in several years.
Frank: Attempting to teach my infant son how to throw the horns sign by showing him how the dragons in his book “Dragons Love Tacos” have horns.
Lots of people are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Are you planning to do something like that?
Zach: As I mentioned previously, we don’t have a full live lineup for the band. The songs tend to be pretty elaborate with layers of synth and guitar. I would say it’s unlikely
Leona: I’d love to do something like that but, geographically, I’m in Seattle and the rest of the guys are in Ft Lauderdale, so it’s not really a possibility. However, I love this trend. Some of my favorite concerts have been Lovebites, Scandal, Enslaved, and Night Flight Orchestra.
Do you think it will be possible to make a living doing concerts this way?
Zach: I think a lot of people are comfortable and enjoy streaming content. Nothing will replace the vibe of being in a venue for a live show, but I do think artists that figure out how to make streaming concerts special will be able to make money.
Leona: I’ve seen other types of artists make really good money by advertising their Venmo during their streams — Drag Queens and burlesque stuff. Some of those performers are making more than they made in tips in person. I think that if bands did that, there might be a market for it, but then again, that might dry up once the virus is over.
First it was an article in the New York Times, then Rolling Stones talked about it and finally Live Nation CEO said that concerts may not start again until fall of 2021. Do you think this could happen?
Zach: I don’t think we should expect to see major concerts again soon. We’re not close to the end of this pandemic yet.
Leona: Most of the big festivals I want to see have postponed to 2021 anyway so that seems like the way it’s going to go.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
Zach: I don’t think the technology is quite there yet. VR concerts could be super cool, though.
Whose cat is the official mascot?
Zach: Any cats you’ve seen in NC related pictures are mine. I have 4 and they like to hang out while we’re making music.
How do you see yourself in the next five years?
Zach: I try not to look that far ahead. I hope we are thriving, healthy and making even better music.
Leona: One day at a time, please 🙂
Frank: With a 6-year-old boy and wife at a Northern Crown show somewhere, beaming proudly.
Anything you would like to say in closing?
Zach: Thank you for taking the time to interview us. As an independent band, we rely on support like this to spread the word. Everyone, please stay safe, healthy, and strong!
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