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 I know I'm going back a while here but what was
your opinion of Powermad 2000? You performed their under your previous band name ATTACKER. That, unfortuantely, has changed.
Greg, change is good. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I'm glad it happened in a way. So that issue is now put to rest. Oh man POWERMAD 2000 was great! I absolutely had the
best time. The bands were great and the staff was very professional and easy to work with. I knew we were gonna do good but I did not expect the reaction we had gotten.
Although it's true that the crowd had dwindled down for the Sunday event, but the way we saw it, the ones that stayed were definitely there to see us and I'll be
goddamned, they were so into it! I tell ya, it's gonna get even better for us now.
Has VYNDYKATOR started working on any new material?
The cd itself will be titled "Heaven Sent From Hell". We've completed seven songs thus far! I have titles for all but one, believe it or not - ”BLOODSTAINED GALLOWS,”
"FLIGHT OF THE WOMBAT","CHROMIUM UNDERGROUND", "ROT IN THE CHAMBER," "WRECKING BALL," and "MR. MURDER" we will also be covering "DECEIVER" by Priest. In
terms of songwriting, it still holds the same writing elements as my previous works from my past bands. It's definitely much heavier material. All five of us are
contributing and all five of us will get credit. This is definitely a band offering. Now in terms of sound quality, I think that it's right up their with "Jugulator" by Priest, "Necroshine" by
Overkill and "Holy" by UDO. Vocally I'm more aggressvie than ever although the high notes are still their. I think that vocally, it's a nice mix of what I've done with both
ATTACKER and SLEEPY HOLLOW. You ought to know Greg you saw me live, what did you think?
Awesome! I was lucky enough to see you guys three times, and each show was better than the last. I can only begin to imagine what you guys sound like now.
Thanks Greg. Coming from you that means a lot to me.
When still planned to be released under the name Attacker, the album was going to be self-titled. Why “Heaven Sent From Hell” now?
Oh that's simple. This is a fresh new start for the band. The slate has been wiped clean. When the album comes out, you'll understand exactly why we named it "Heaven Sent
From Hell".
Were there any other titles that almost made the cut?
Positively not.
Before signing with BATTLE ZONE was there any interest from other labels? Do you think you would ever sign with, for example, Metal Blade again if they offered?
From what I've been told there is quite a buzz about us. However, I think that in this stage of my career, it wouldn't be feesable to jump to a big label just yet because the
reallity is... VYNDYKATOR is new to A LOT of people. I think that it would also hurt our growth pattern because we would easily get lost in the shuffle. With a smaller label,
there is an opportunity to stay on top of things at all times. Don't get me wrong, we're not stupid, if an attractive offer came our way, we would take it under advisement but if it
appears to be too good to be true, we would have to consider the pros and cons and if the cons outweigh the pros then we're better off where we are until the next big
offer comes along. In the meantime we have the freedom to perform when we want to, arrange our own interviews, stay in touch with our fans, write the next album at our
own leisure, which we're doing now, because we want to put out the best music possible, at our own pace, without the pressures of some suit hovering over us like a vulture
because when that happens, the FANS get cheated while the suits get rich and more importantly, the music would suffer and sound rushed. We also want to a keep a close
working relationship with our lable representatives and we have that freedom with King (Fowley). At this stage of the game, it would be the safest bet to place.
Tell us a bit about the VYNDYKATOR lineup.
Well I'll give you what we call in wrestling "the tale of the tape". On Guitar we have Billy Pena, who has been playing
guitar for 15 years and was previously in a number of bands, including THE OMO'S, KEVORKIAN HOUSECALL, HAIL and KILL (Manowar Tribute), and PSCYHODRAMA. Next we
have, on Guitar as well, Rob Oriani. He's been playing guitar for about twenty years mostly in cover bands so this is his first original band and I have to tell you, he's extremely
talented and a very good songwriter. His contribution to the writing process will be most valuable. These two guitar players add an incredible layer of crunch to the
VYNDYKATOR sound and they're an excellent guitar team as well. New to the band. on Bass Guitar we have Steven D. Ratchen. He was in the bands TRINITY, DOMINION, and The FRIGID EARTH and is currently in ALCHEMY X. He's awesome! Finally we have, on drums, Mark Mari. He, at one time, bashed the skins for early eighties Power Metal
legends SNEAK ATTACK who gained world-wide popularity on the now legendary compilation album "Born To Metalize' which was released on MEGA-FORCE RECORDS. That album also featured HADES. At the height of their
popularity, SNEAK ATTACK were the support act for the infamous "Kill 'Em All For One" Tour which was headlined by RAVEN and METALLICA. He adds a lot of power to the
VYNDYKATOR sound. Overall these gentlemen are great friends of mine and they're strong supporters of the cause, brother!
Were they fans of your music before joining?
Yes and they still are, I'm proud to say. I think it shows in their playing. This line up is quite an array of talent. I can't wait to put out the new stuff! It's really heavy! Their
enthusiasm is contagious, their playing is aggressive as hell they're truly fans of Metal!
 Any chance that Sleepy Hollow will come to light again?
Considering what has already happened with the other band name, positively no. "A Legend Retold" was re-released and now is comlpetely sold out! It was distributed through OLD
METAL RECORDS and it was the labels final release. It was an exclusive limited edition vinyl release with a press run of only 500 copies. Anyway, I think that the EP did quite well.
The EP contained all new artwork, lyrics, liner notes that were written by my good friend Matt Coe from Snakepit Magazine and, quite obviously, the music. Five tracks in all.
In my opinion, OLD METAL went out with a bang. Also on the Sleepy Hollow front is the upcoming release of "The Rise and Fall" which is a "best of" offering combining both
the "A Legend Retold" along with the historic self titled "Sleepy Hollow" album from 1990. "The Rise and Fall" will be available worldwide in October of this 2001 on HEAVY
METAL HEROES which is a division of the popular UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY label from Italy.
When will the full-length be released?
It was supposed to be out in August but we decided to push it back and King agreed to it, so it will be released in December.
Any plans to make a video? Not that MTV would play it...
Videos? I think that our music would lend itself quite well to videos but I really don't see that happening at all.
Do you think VYNDYKATOR will do any kind of tour in support of the release, or just the occasional show?
VYNDYKATOR will not be a touring band, that is for now at least. Our appearances will mostly consist of festivals and of course we'll play locally in our area. I'm confident that
the album will do very well without the support of a full tour. I say that because when you got King (Fowley) on your side, NOTHING can go wrong. Besides that, I love the
atmosphere of a Metal Festival because you can reach more people in one day as opposed to breaking your back touring. You go up, bang out the set and go home knowing
that you satisfied your audience. We’ll be making our live debut at POWERMAD 2001 at "The House Of Metal" Tall
Cedars Venue in Baltimore, Maryland on August 17, 18 and 19 and we’ll be doing a string of shows in October and into early November in order to promote the album. We're also
negotiating for a string of festivals for next summer (2002) which will hopefully, God willing, begin with a trip to Europe so that we can play at the Bang Your Head Festival
in Germany and then we'll culminate the whole thing at POWERMAD 2002 here in the states! We'll probably have the second VYNDYKATOR album out by then. These are, of
course, long projected possibilities so right now we will do nothing but concentrate on releasing "Heaven Sent From Hell".
 You were involved in the wrestling industry for a
while, correct? What was it you did?
I was a ring announcer on the independent circuit. I did that from 1992 to 1998. During that period I was also a broadcaster for El Maximo De Lucha Libre (Ultimate Pro
Wrestling), a spanish language wrestling show. I worked for The World Entertainment Network which were the prime distributors of that show. It was seen in many of the Telemundo Network affiliates
around the world. It was a great experience for me to be in the wrestling business. I also learned a little bit about the broadcasting field as well. I'll probably go back to that
some day but for now, the music business occupies a lot of my time.
Are you involved in it at all these days?
No sir not at all right now. But when I do go back, if ever, I would like to work for a bigger group like maybe ECW if they ever come back again which I really hope they do
becasue it's truly a great promotion. Who knows, maybe with my involvement in music and the experience that I already have with the wrestling industry, I might have a
really good chance some day. Maybe if they decide to do a Spanish version of ECW I may even be a shoe-in! But until that time comes, it's VYNDYKATOR full time for me.
Was there a point in your life where you thought you were done with music altogether?
Oh absolutely, especially when the band name situation went down but that's all behind me now. Fortunately, the band, my family and friends, the fans and especially people
like you Greg have helped me keep it together. I never dwell on the past. I'm looking foward to a lot of great things with VYNDYKATOR, everything is looking up brother!
Are your kids metalheads in training?
Greg, you should know that you can never, ever be trained for Metal, you're born into it! My kids love what I do. My
oldest son is a huge fan of Judas Priest! "Ripper" Owens is his favorite singer. As a matter of fact I was once a 'show and tell' subject for my youngest sons class and his
teacher freaked because, realizing who I was, years ago, she saw me over at L'Amour when we played with Fates Warning and she told the class about the show and what a
great time she had. So now my youngest son is like the class hero (ha,ha)! Life Rules man!
What kind of metal are you listening to these days? Any bands from the old days that you think still "have it?"
There's only one "kind" of Metal and that's Heavy! Bands like ANVIL, RAVEN, SAXON MANOWAR, EXCITER, PRIEST, MAIDEN, JAG PANZER absolutelystill have it! I'm also into
bands like OCTOBER 31, MYSTIC FORCE, HAMMER FALL, ETERNAL GLORY from Germany, METALUCIFER from Japan, WYVERN from Italy, UNDER FORGE from Poland and countless others.
What do you think of Halford's return to metal?
It's the shot in the arm our genre desprately needed. It's great to have him back! "Resurrection" a great album by the way. I also can't wait for the live album he's got
coming out!
 I know you don't really want to dwell to much on
the subject of ATTACKER, but out of curiosity, does a recording of "Battle" with Jimmy Schulman's bass tracks exist and, if so, what would a dedicated fan have to do to get his hands on it?
I have a cassette copy of that but with all due respect to Jimmy (Schulman) I won't put it out unless he gives me his full consent plus I have to be considerate of the remaining
original members. Let's face facts, that's his hard work on there and I'm not one to exploit things. Lots of people have asked me for the tape and even offered money for it.
Those people want the tape only because he plays bass for HADES and in their view it would make for nice a collectors item. Well like I just said, I'm not going to try to cash in or
exploit the good name of HADES. I have to much respect for them and besides "Trapped Within A Time " is on the BATTLE re-release so that should be good enough.
Besides, that's all in the past and I am glad to put closure in that particular part of my life.
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