{"id":15881,"date":"2016-04-22T01:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=15881"},"modified":"2016-09-18T09:18:04","modified_gmt":"2016-09-18T13:18:04","slug":"blowin-wind-with-savage-masters-stacey-savage-i-dont-want-to-be-told-hey-youre-good-for-a-female-fronted-band-id-rather-be-told-that-this-is-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=15881","title":{"rendered":"Blowin&#8217; Wind with Savage Master&#8217;s Stacey Savage: &#8221; I don\u2019t want to be told, \u201cHey, you\u2019re good for a female fronted band.\u201d  I\u2019d rather be told that this is a good band.&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Savage Master is a great example of a band that I very well could have missed had I even blinked just once.\u00a0 Flying way below the radar, the band was brought to my attention when they were tapped as the opening act for Christian Mistress&#8217; 2015 North American tour.\u00a0 I watch a few YouTube clips and kind of was ready to laugh them off until I saw them live for myself.\u00a0 The power, the energy, and the spirits of NWOBHM bands of old possessed this band they made me fan instantly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This year, Savage Master will release their second album, With Whips and Chains.\u00a0 These days, Savage Master is starting to become a bigger blip on the radar as word of mouth spreads about this Louisville based quintet.\u00a0 I recently had the opportunity to speak with lead vocalist Stacey Savage who was as sweet and kind as can be (unlike her prowling stage presence).\u00a0 We talked about the band&#8217;s plans for 2016, the influences of the band, and just what it was that inspired their visual image.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hey there Stacey.\u00a0 Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview!\u00a0 I really appreciate.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Absolutely.\u00a0 No problem at all, Don.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Savage Master recently did a show supporting Grim Reaper.\u00a0 I have to ask how that was?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh it was great.\u00a0 We played in Indianapolis with them and then we played in Louisville where we\u2019re from.\u00a0 Both shows were just awesome. It was a really good time.\u00a0 The people were really into it and I was just having a great time watching Grim Reaper play.\u00a0 They sounded great and they\u2019re really nice guys.\u00a0 When we played here in Louisville, Steve actually asked me to come up on stage and sing \u201cSee You In Hell\u201d with them.\u00a0 That was really, really awesome.\u00a0 It was amazing.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what was it like sharing the stage with a NWOBHM legend that is such an inspiration to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was just amazing and I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about it.\u00a0 I just kept replaying it in my head and watching the video of it.\u00a0 I was just really blown away.\u00a0 I would\u2019ve never expected that.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I was so psyched when I heard the big news about Savage Master teaming up with Holy Grail to do some dates.\u00a0 I did the most insane happy dance you have ever seen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] That\u2019s awesome.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait for that tour.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be a lot of fun.\u00a0 Right now we\u2019re getting ready to go over to Europe first so right now we\u2019ve got a lot on our plate before we get to that tour.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be a lot of fun.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is Savage Master\u2019s first European tour.\u00a0 What are you looking forward to going into this tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m really looking forward to playing Keep It True Festival.\u00a0 People are constantly telling me that the metal scene is much stronger in Europe, especially in Germany.\u00a0 We\u2019re actually playing a few shows in Germany after Keep It True so I\u2019m really looking forward to seeing the fans there.\u00a0 I just hear that every there is so passionate and that they have a good time.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to see the scene there.\u00a0 Of course I want to eat the food and see the landscapes while I\u2019m there.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there any particular cuisine that you are looking forward to indulging in?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m really not sure yet.\u00a0 I guess I\u2019m just going to go and see what presents itself.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gyXw8ctRhgQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yeah, just don\u2019t be one of those \u201cI\u2019m eating at a McDonald\u2019s in Germany\u201d kind of person.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Oh no.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t do it.\u00a0 I try not to even eat that here.\u00a0 Sometimes when you\u2019re on the road you get desperate but when we\u2019re in Germany, I\u2019m not going to be eating at McDonald\u2019s [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I first heard of you guys on the Christian Mistress tour last year.\u00a0 Did that tour open up some doors to bring you in some new fans?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I think it did.\u00a0 Probably a lot of people had a similar experience to what you had.\u00a0 Maybe they came to see Christian Mistress or High Spirits and didn\u2019t know about us because we\u2019re a younger band.\u00a0 Hopefully they liked us and had the same kind or reaction that you had.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>One of the things I love about Savage Master is that much like bands such as Christian Mistress, Electric Citizen, and say Blood Ceremony, you have managed to dodge the \u201cfemale fronted metal\u201d genre tag.\u00a0 Does that kind of drive you nuts when you see bands billing themselves as that or being called that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of complicated [laughs].\u00a0 Sometimes I feel like when I\u2019m listening to music I\u2019m in the mood to hear a female fronted metal band but at the same time, I don\u2019t want to go out and present myself that way because for me, I feel like, I just want to be a musician.\u00a0 I don\u2019t necessarily feel like I have to fit some kind of certain genre tag.\u00a0 I feel like people mean well by it but at the same time, maybe it can be limiting.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be told, \u201cHey, you\u2019re good for a female fronted band.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d rather be told that this is a good band [laughs].\u00a0 I hope that people are seeing it more open mindedly.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you feel that bands like you guys are striving to show that there is no need for that kind of a tag and that metal is just metal no matter what?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I think in a way.\u00a0 I definitely want to support other female fronted bands but at the same time, just being a good band is enough.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>You guys are from, of all places, Louisville, KY.\u00a0 That\u2019s the last place I think of when I think of metal.\u00a0 How hard is it being a metal band in Kentucky?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Well, we&#8217;re lucky.\u00a0 Everyone here really supports us.\u00a0 We do well whenever we play here.\u00a0 We always have a packed show but I think that we want the scene to get better here.\u00a0 It is growing though.\u00a0 I want more bands to pop up and I want the scene to grow stronger and become a part of the bigger scene.\u00a0 Here, you kind of have to like everything because there&#8217;s just much of any one style of metal here.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where did the visual concept for Savage Master come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We basically got it from the Mario Bava film Black Sunday where Barbara Steele plays this witch who has control over all of these executioners.\u00a0 I&#8217;m kind of like her character and I control my henchmen and make them play this music [laughs].\u00a0 That&#8217;s where we got that idea from.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What I loved about the visual aspect of the band is that even in a small venue it has an impact.\u00a0 Have you guys ever thought of expanding upon it to make the show a bit bigger?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh we definitely have.\u00a0 We always want to get bigger and better and we want to put on a bigger show.\u00a0 We hope that we can gather the resources to do that in the future.\u00a0 We just want to keep it getting bigger.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I could totally see you guys expanding on the live show as it already has this kind of Alice Cooper element to it already.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, sometimes I do have all these ideas of different things to do with it but it&#8217;s kind of a matter of making it happen and having a stage big enough to do it [laughs].\u00a0 Sometimes venues won&#8217;t even let you use a fog machine so you just have to work with it.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>For a band that has this kind of &#8220;gimmick&#8221; or theme, the songs and the performances are so strong on their own.\u00a0 Have you ever thought of doing shows without the costumes or do you just plan to keep growing on the image?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nah, we definitely plan to keep it up.\u00a0 I guess we&#8217;re kind of an older school of thought where we like a lot of classic metal bands where it used to be about the music and the show.\u00a0 They used to be hand in hand.\u00a0 At some point, people just stopped doing the visual element and then it got to a point where the visual element is looked at with skepticism.\u00a0 I feel like back in the 70&#8217;s and 80&#8217;s, it was like they were putting on a gimmick, it was like, they were putting on a show and the music still had to be good.\u00a0 That&#8217;s how I feel about it.\u00a0 The music, first of all, has to be good but we want to put on a show too.\u00a0 We want the full package.\u00a0 We want things to go back to when it was a show and the music was great too.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>The new album, With Whips and Chains is such a great album.\u00a0 Now that you&#8217;ve had some time to sit with it, are you happy with it or are there things you wish you would&#8217;ve done differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m still really happy with it.\u00a0 I think it&#8217;s definitely a progression from our first album, Mask of the Devil.\u00a0 I think we got the right line up and I feel like the songs are more fun to sing and perform.\u00a0 I still really like it a lot.\u00a0 It&#8217;s really strange when you record and album and you hear your own voice.\u00a0 I think, at first, you&#8217;re happy about what you did but there&#8217;s a part of you that doesn&#8217;t want to get near it [laughs].\u00a0 Like, the sound of your own voice can be terrifying but you get used to it in time and then you can actually listen to it more for what it is from an\u00a0 outside perspective.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Savage Master is about to hit the road in support of &#8220;With Whips and Chains.&#8221;\u00a0 What songs are you most looking forward to playing live off of the new album.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve played a few shows now with the new material but I really like, &#8220;Looking For a Sacrifice.&#8221;\u00a0 That&#8217;s a really fun one to play.\u00a0 That&#8217;s one the crowd gets into.\u00a0 &#8220;Ready to Sin&#8221; is another really fun one and the title track.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I&#8217;d really love to hear &#8220;The Path of the Necromancer.&#8221;\u00a0 That&#8217;s a great song.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I need to get my tambourine skills down before we can do that one live [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hell, I&#8217;ll just get up there and play tambourine for you.\u00a0 Maybe I can be a guest henchman!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] OK.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll see what we can do.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I hear a lot of the classic NWOBHM influences in Savage Master like Venom and especially Grim Reaper.\u00a0 Who else do you credit as some of your biggest influences?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, a lot of the NWOBHM bands for sure but also bands like W.A.S.P, Piledriver, I really love Acid, Warlock.\u00a0 We are always listening to music and we just keep getting more and more influences.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aside from the European tour and the US run with Holy Grail, is there anything else going on in 2016 that you&#8217;re really excited about?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re going to do some more touring after the Holy Grail tour.\u00a0 We just haven&#8217;t got the dates lined up quite yet.\u00a0 I&#8217;m\u00a0 just excited to go out, live on the road, and pretty much play shows every day.\u00a0 I love to see new places and meet fans.\u00a0 I&#8217;d really much rather be doing that than sitting at home [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>How hard is it to be the only female trapped inside of a van with a bunch of sweaty, gross guys?\u00a0 How do you keep your sanity?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] Well, luckily we all pretty much have the same mentality.\u00a0 We joke around like 13 year old boys.\u00a0 I think that when you&#8217;re in the van for more than a few hours you just start to lose your mind anyways.\u00a0 We get along really well.\u00a0 We just joke around a lot and listen to music.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6i8difnLJkY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stacey, what was it that got you in doing metal music in the first place?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, I grew up listening to classic rock because my parents listened to it.\u00a0 When I was in high school, a friend of mine let me borrow some CDs.\u00a0 I always wanted to sing and I just kind of latched on it and knew that it was what I wanted to do with my life.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was the first band you were ever in?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is actually my first band [laughs].\u00a0 I never did it before this.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If Savage Master could tour with any band, who would it be and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh man [laughs].\u00a0 I think Judas Priest would be the ultimate.\u00a0 I mean, you just can&#8217;t beat Halford.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you could do a duet with any metal singer alive or dead, who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[laughs] I think I&#8217;ve got to stick with Rob Halford on this one.\u00a0 That Judas Priest material, I listen to and sing along with that so much.\u00a0 It&#8217;s just some of my favorite stuff.\u00a0 I would love to sing with him.\u00a0 It would be amazing.\u00a0 I&#8217;d probably want to do some of the earlier material.\u00a0 Stuff like &#8220;Heroes End.&#8221;\u00a0 I also like some of their early ballads.\u00a0 &#8220;Dreamer Deceiver&#8221; would be really powerful and fun to do.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your favorite metal album of all time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh gosh [laughs].\u00a0 I don&#8217;t know that I can pick just one but right now I&#8217;d have to say Rainbow Rising.\u00a0 I love that album.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the most un-metal thing about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, I like a lot of 50&#8217;s and 60&#8217;s music.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>When you&#8217;re listening to the radio or your albums, what song do you just have to sing along with no matter how badly off key you are?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A lot of times when we&#8217;re on tour, we&#8217;re listening to the radio on the road.\u00a0 I&#8217;m supposed to be saving my voice for the shows but it&#8217;s really hard not to sing.\u00a0\u00a0 I&#8217;m actually a big fan of Black Oak Arkansas and that&#8217;s probably something my band mates don&#8217;t like to hear me singing along with [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>I want you to finish this sentence: If I wasn&#8217;t a musician, I would be ___________.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think I&#8217;d be an artist.\u00a0 I&#8217;d spend a lot more time focusing on drawing and painting.\u00a0 I really love doing that.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finally, Stacey, is there anything you&#8217;d like to send out to the fans and readers who are reading this?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I just want to say that I look forward to meeting as many fans as possible on the road and stay true to what you want to do.<\/p>\n<p>=================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stacey, thank you so much for doing this interview.\u00a0 It was great to talk to you!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Don.\u00a0 No problem at all.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more on Savage Master, head on over to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/savagemaster666\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/savagemaster666<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Savage Master is a great example of a band that I very well could have missed had I even blinked just once.\u00a0 Flying way below the radar, the band was brought to my attention when they were tapped as the opening act for Christian Mistress&#8217; 2015 North American tour.\u00a0 I watch a few YouTube clips and kind of was ready to laugh them off until I saw them live for myself.\u00a0 The power, the energy, and the spirits of NWOBHM [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[1420,1549],"class_list":["post-15881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-savage-master","tag-stacey-savage"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}