As the 1980s glam metal band Cinderella sung, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone. For Montreal hard rock/stoner metal quintet Paradise, the lure of playing hard driving, powerhouse, balls to the wall rock music again was too much to resist. And for fans of the band – fans of Canadian rock music in general, it’s a welcome return to for a band that had been out of the scene for a decade and a half.
Paradise has reformed and unleashed new music for the first time since George W. Bush was president of the U.S. Not many bands can not only return to their creative roots, to their passion and to their brand, but do it in such a compelling and crucially badass way that bandleader and lead guitarist Frank Kelly, and bandmates Fred Kelly (bass), vocalist DL Black, guitarist Fred Crew Grrr and drummer Mat Hias have done with their new album, simple entitled, Paradise. It was released in March through Vega Musique.
Not allowing the grass to grow under their feet, the members of Paradise have chosen to keep the creative momentum going. Since they can’t play shows in the current pandemic, they’re writing and recording new music for a follow up to the new release, according to Kelly.
“it’s been disappointing for sure. We had dates booked, things like Canadian Music Week and NXNE. And then we were touring through Ontario and Quebec a bit, but most of our dates were actually outside North America. We had shows lined up in France, Portugal, Spain, we even had a week in Brazil. But all that’s down the drain now. Yes, we’re disappointed but I have been working on the next album, so it’s almost done. We been busy with a lot of the business side of the music business, getting the new album finished and out there and talking to people like you in the media,” he said.
“We know things will come back, it’s just a shame because we had been out of the business for a few years and had good reason to really want to hit the road and play lots of shows to remind people who we are.”
The new album is the band’s third, but first since going on an extended hiatus in 2005 not long after the release of the album Hotel. Their debut, Rock Anthropologists on the Kon Tiki Voyage was released not long after their formation in 2002, and with the first two records, it appeared that perhaps Canada was going to be producing a new masterful metal concoction. But the vagaries and vicissitudes of road life, and the concomitant vices and ills came into play, sending the band into a spiral.
That there was a reunion at all, albeit with new members surrounding Kelly, is a tribute to Kelly’s own resilience and to the fanatical devotion to the Paradise sound by new vocalist RL Black.
“For the listeners, the main big change is the vocals with Blackie doing an amazing job. I used to do all the vocals but now we have Blackie. We have known him for years and he actually did some background vocals and was always around the band. The guys in this band and I actually put another band together, that was kind of more of a Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie thing – more on the industrial side. But it was too complicated to play live with all the computers and keyboards and stuff. It was the same lineup that ended up reforming Paradise. We wanted to go back to using real amps, real guitars with real effects,” Kelly said.
“We decided to go back to being a rock band. But Blackie came back with the argument that since we had two previous records out, let’s just bring back Paradise and that he would be the singer instead of trying to start something new. He thought it would be fun. So, it’s a relaunch and a reintroduction. We had a little success back in the day, but it was never really that big, so it didn’t really matter that much to go back to it with a lot of new people. I came out of my hole some years ago and we’re back into it now. You know, when you play music, you can never really quiet. Back then, we toured a lot and being young and stupid we did a lot of abusing of substances and a lot of stuff happened. I went in another direction. I moved to a little small town to build motorcycles and be alone, and basically that’s what happened for a while. But the way we are doing things right now, it feels like a whole new band and a whole new adventure.”
Like any good young, hungry garage band, the early version of Paradise wrote and recorded their albums at a breakneck pace, over a short, but intense period of time, maximizing their studio time to cram in as much angst and energy as they could, which translated into music that was seeped in insistence and emotionally raw chemistry.
“For the first record, we founded the band, came up with the name and recorded everything in six weeks. For the second album, it was pretty much the same thing. We were back from a tour and were asked to do another record, and that one was pretty quick as well. We did it within a month. So, everything was always so fast, and we never took the time to really enjoy it. On this new one, we took a little more time, because nobody was out there waiting for it and nobody was asking for it to be done by a certain deadline. Yeah, it was more fun in that way because it was more relaxed,” said Kelly, adding that although time has passed, the essential musical and tonal elements have remained pretty much the same for Paradise.
“It’s always been hard to put it in a specific style because there are so many influences in there. You can hear the straight ahead rock influence, you can her the stoner influences, the metal influences. We’re kind of always on the edge of everything. So, we’re never quite completely stoner, we’re never completely metal, we’re never quite completely hard rock. We like songs, and we focus on those songs. We like riffs and catchy hooks and I think that’s the main thing for this band. I do most of the writing for the band, and sometimes bring in a co-writer and it usually starts with the riff and the vibe. The riffs and the drive of the song kind of set the stage and then the melody and lyrics come later.”
Kelly then talked about a number of the songs on the album.
“Straight From Hell was actually the first song I worked on for this comeback, if you want to call it that. We thought the title was funny because the band seemed to be coming straight from hell, even though we’re called Paradise. So, we kind of played around with that language without being too disrespectful. And I think as the first song, it really sets the heavy tone for the whole record,” he explained.
“For Who Do You Wanna Be, I had this really bluesy riff, more in the ZZ Top style and we weren’t sure if it was going to work because it was more kind of pop sounding. But we still were able to keep it heavy. I think it’s very accessible and I think it’s one of the best songs on the album. I wouldn’t call it a softer song, but it’s got that southern vibe to it on some of the riffs where you can kind of hear the Billy Gibbons influence. I thought it was just a cool song, and that’s why we kept it on the album.
“And Free in Exile is kind of related to that song, although it was more metal, but also has some blues elements. I come from the blues scene originally and it was something I never did before with changing the key for this song. I think it works.”
Returning to the theme of getting back on the road once the restrictions related to the Covid-19 scare are relaxed, Kelly said he can’t wait to bring this new incarnation of Paradise back to Ontario in particular.
“I want to come back to Ontario so bad. We had loads of fun back in the day playing places like London, Kitchener, Toronto and a lot of cities where I just loved playing. So, I hope this goes away fast so we can get back on the road,” he said.
For more information, visit www.paradiserockband.com, www.facebook.com/paradiserockmtl, or www.instagram.com/paradiserockmtl.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
