Q: where abouts are you located?
J: Toronto.

Q: Where's the Dream Theater stuff located out of?
J: well, 2 of the guys live in Upstate New York, and then 2 of the guys live on Long Island.

Q: I've had your album on a lot lately, it's a bit of grower for me because being a simple rocker it's a little more for me to digest, but a lot of things stand out - like the first track, "Sacrifice" stands out.
J: Yeah "His Voice" is a very cool one for me because lyrically it was a very personal situation, and Sacrifice is very cool song, "Slow Burn" is very cool as well, and "lace" is very cool for me too.

Q: Now you did quite an interesting concept for songwriting on this album, you guys didn't actually get together, sit down.....
J: The only time we got together is when we started laying down the bed-tracks at the studio. And that's why originally i was a little apprehensive about the way we were going to approach the compositional part of the project, and musically. So I said to myself 'I'll give it 3 weeks and see what happens!' - within that time-frame. And within a week i that it was going to work because when i first started working with Matt Guillory - we wrote 3 songs together, and then i wrote 4 with the guys in Shadow Gallery. That came together really nice, and then i wrote 2 songs with Trent Gardner. But the fact that we were going to be sending tapes back and forth via Fed Ex, that was new to me, I had never written like that in the past, I've always been in the same room with someone or been out with 1 person in particular, and actually work with them right at hand. This way seemed very detached. We didn't know if we were going to lose the chemistry and all that stuff - which seems to come when you're in person with people. But it really worked, and i think the reason it worked was first of all i had a lot of ideas going into this, i made it very clear to the writers from the get-go - like sending them tapes of ideas, and then getting there feedback, and them sending me their ideas, and putting the whole mish-mash together. That way, i think everyone's ideas were very strong, and it did have some sense of direction and focus. So, that helped.

Q: I assume you play guitar then?
J: No, no i don't. What i do is i carry with me all the time a little minny tape recorder, and i get ideas, and whether it be a lyric or a melodic idea - i either talk the lyric i have or i just hum in the melody, or even a riff, and then i go back and listen to it, and i expand on those ideas. And that's how i piece my stuff together. I find that when ideas come to me [believe it or not] is usually when I'm driving around - that's usually when ideas come to me, or when I'm walking, or if I'm exercising. So that's why i have it [recorder] on hand. And then i also find that when you wake up in the morning or in my sleep - that's when ideas come. It's got to be on hand because you can't really recapture it. I know a few times i caught myself without it, and i could of kicked myself - 'cause it didn't come back later, but i knew it was a great idea.

Q: Are the lyrics on this album all your's?
J: No they're not all mine. Matt wrote a bit, and Carl Cadden-James from Shadow Gallery he wrote a bit, and that was it.

Q: Why a solo album? Is this something you've been wanting to do for a while, or is this because you guys do a lot of side projects in the band and all that??
J: No, with me [since we were speaking about that in the previous question], because i have a lot of ideas, and you can only get so many ideas on to an album like with Dream Theater because everyone has ideas, not everything gets on there, right!? And the same for everyone else in the band. You have ideas, and everyone else has ideas, and you pick from those and see what makes the most sense and what you want to represent you at that time. And I had a lot of ideas. But to be honest, i wasn't really thinking at the time when i was approached through Peter Morticelli and Mike Varney, and they called me one day when i was in Philadelphia and said "we'd really like you do a solo album.", and said "Let me think about it, because I know i eventually want to do one, but whether i want to do one right now, I'm sure." So when i got back i said "yeah - let's go for it!". And then i started thinking about people i wanted to write with, and aside from that i already had, pretty well, in mind - people who i wanted to be the players.

Q: How did you actually go about gathering the guys you have on this album? Was that through people you know, or is that with people putting you in touch with them?
J: I personally got in touch with them. Mike Mangini - the drummer, used to be with Extreme and that, and Dream Theater back in '95, did a festival with Page & Plant, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Black Crowes, and Extreme. At the time I was hanging out with Mike Mangini and Gary Cherone, this was when Extreme was still together back in '95, and i got along really well with Mike, and Gary - they were really nice guys. But i remember watching Mike on stage and i thought "wow - this guy's a terrific drummer!", and we kind of hit it off on a personal basis, so when it came time for this I called him up and said "hey Mike, I'm doing a solo project, are you interested in playing drums?" and he said "yeah - count me in immediately!" And at the time he was working on the new Steve Vai album, and he said he happened to be working with Mike Keneally, who was also working on the Steve Vai album. So i said "Have Mike give me a call if he's interested in playing guitar on this.", and Mike Keneally called me the very next day and said "yeah - I'd love to do this if you want me to do this.", and i said "absolutely!", and then from there - i don't know if you're aware of Mike Keneally's solo band "Beer For Dolphins"!? [Q: No I haven't]. Well, Mike used to play with Frank Zappa, so his solo project was very much in that vein, very much Frank Zappa, very provoking. Anyway, I knew that from hearing Beer For Dolphins I really wanted his bass player - Bryan Beller because he was a very mature, very melodic driven bass player, instead of showing how many notes he could play he had a more mature experience and very fine tuned approach or sound as a bass player, so i really respected that, and one thing i said to everyone before i got into any of these songs and when i started to bring this music to the players, I said "Look - all the music on this album has got to be very groove oriented; it has to be very rhythmic. I want it to be first and foremost a hard-rock album, and then with a lot of feel and interesting things going on in a progressive sense here and there throughout." So everyone was very much aware of that. So instead of everybody trying to get more self involved and showing their chops, I said "No - you gotta stay very groove first, and then we can add a little spice here and there, when it's necessary." And these guys pulled it off. Matt Guillory, who i also wrote 3 songs with, and who i wanted him to play on the whole album because i think he's a terrific keyboard player.

Q: Would you consider yourself more of a rocker or a more of a prog-artist type?
J: Well, a lot of people ask me that same question when I'm doing Dream Theater interviews, and they go "what do you consider Dream Theater?" and I say "well, first and foremost everybody thinks that of the progressive side of Dream Theater, but when you get down to the core of Dream Theater, it is a rock band." We are a rock band that i think, fortunately, have been noted for our complexities and our technical abilities, which obviously are going to bring in a very lush progressive side of things. And it kind of makes us stand out like a sore thumb, but that's a good thing. But you know we're a hard rock band, and so i would consider myself or Mullmuzzler a rocker - if you wanna say that.

Q: You have Terry Brown on this thing, I'm a Rush fan, and i know so are you.
J: Yes - absolutely!

Q: How much of an influence did he have on you, as far as the way the album came out?
J: Well, he was the engineer and he did mix the album. And I brought Terry in, everything else was pretty much done - the songs were already written, everything was pretty well recorded, except there were a few things that we threw on when i was recording my vocals. I brought Terry in when it was time for me to start recording my vocals, and the reason i brought him in is i knew he had incredible experience, and he was a delight to work with the first time i met him when I sang background "Life in Still Water" on the album "Parallels" by Fates Warning. Anyways that's was the first time i had met him, and that was back in 90 - 91, and i felt that he was a very cool person, but the best thing about it was that he made me feel very comfortable in the studio. And that's really important because when you're in the studio it can be a very high stress environment, so you need somebody to kind of keep a balance - a cool air, and a calm air happening within that environment, and to make it a little excitable at times. So that's why i brought him in, because i thought it'd be really cool, and he could be the objective ear for when i was singing instead of it being anal with myself, i like to have someone else tell me 'yeah that sounds great' or 'that's the mood, da da da.....'. In fact i enjoyed working with him so much, that i brought him to my vocals for the new Dream Theater album. Have you got that yet?

Q: No i haven't yet , but have read a lot of good talk about it.
J: I think it's our best album ever, definitely!

Q: Did you go in to this with any kind of concept, anything you kind of modeled it after - any other albums or bands where you said "this is where i want to be."?
J: No. It was a style that i was writing at the time, and i wasn't trying to be anything but what i was passionate about at the time. Those songs are just the reflection of what was really important to me musically, at that time when i was writing that album. I wasn't trying to be anything similar to Dream Theater. I wasn't trying to be so completely different to Dream Theater or trying to mold myself after anything else I like out there. I was just trying to write what i thought be a very strong and powerful album, and it was obviously going to stem from a lot of the ideas i already had musically, and then collaborating and working with these other writers with their ideas, and seeing what we could piece together. It seems to have come out pretty well.

Q: You got quite a bit of variety on it with the Hard rock stuff and the acoustic stuff on it. What do you lean towards more?
J: Well, you know what Kevin, I think that once you hear the new Dream Theater album, you know i find that I'm constantly growing as a musician, and one of the most important things is how i get along with people - this energy within from when you're writing with people and when you're actually playing the music with the people, and it's really important to me; I find that as time goes on that it's the interaction with the others that really make it a learning experience for yourself. And i find more and more now that I'm trying to show people all my sides as a vocalist - the emotional side, the feeling, the taste, and obviously the ability of what i can do. And that comes from singing since i was 5 years old, and studying opera for 4 and a half years. So, I'm always looking for ways that can make me a more well-rounded musician. I mean, one of my favorite vocalists - and he never ceases to amaze me when i listen to his recordings, is Freddie Mercury. I just think that the guy was absolutely incredible! Another guy is Steve Perry, and Nat King Cole [believe it or not] was just incredible as a vocalist! But that's what's important to me - to show people all the different sides of me as a vocalist, and to see that it's not just one-dimensional. I think it's multi-dimensional, and i think that's what keeps things interesting, and makes people appreciate a vocalist, because let's face it the vocalist's job is to convey to the listeners, no matter what their prime or first language is, they should be able to send through the melody and the vocalist what is trying to be said. And i think that is any singer's job, it's universal, regardless of what the language barrier might be.

Q: Did you have a lot of stuff as far as leftovers, or did you edit out a lot?
J: yeah, i think i got out all my ideas, but i think since then I got a lot more. [ha ha] Whether i go in and do another one, right now my focus is on Dream Theater, and we're starting our next World Tour November 8 over in Europe, and we'll be out for maybe a year - year and a half, so maybe when Dream Theater's next world tour starts winding down I'll start working out if i want to boot back in and do another Mullmuzzler or maybe something else.

Q: Where did the name come from?
J: The name comes from just the whole experience of putting it together, and just how insane it was at times, and so i started thinking "OK this is a very absurd situation, let me think of some hybrid word that somehow supports that", and not to mention lyrically what i thought was being said, you know the whole breakdown in communication that seems to be a problem in today's society. There's a lot of oppression, and people don't necessarily express themselves fully, and they keep a lot of things in, and i think that's one of the reasons for all the crazy things going on. So i started thinking what word describes this, and then i thought 'Mull', and then a Muzzle is to gag or stop talk , so i started thinking "what the hell - let's put them together and then come up with a description". So i actually came up with the word, and then i described it as what i thought it should be described as.

Q: What else are you doing as far as promotion for this album?
J: I've been doing for interview for this since August, and I've been doing interviews all over the world [ed - lists a number of countries!]. And a lot of journalists ask "are you going to take this on the road?.....are you going to come and do some shows?", and basically no because as far as the schedule it's impossible. It just conflicts with the Dream Theater situation at this point. But maybe, and Magna Carta has told me they want me to go back in and do another one, and if i decide to go back in and do another one, then maybe i could coincide it so i could go out and do some select shows here and there - which would be cool, a lot of fun. And i know I'd have a blast on stage with these players; they'd be a riot to play with.

Q: Now you guys are starting Europe, what do you think of the state of progressive rock and the fan base over there compared to over here? Because i know over here a lot of scene just sucks totally, so....
J: The US is a little better, I mean like the last album sold over 200 Thousand - 250. And we also went Gold in the States - this was with "Images....". But, granted you are correct - in Europe, and in other parts of the world, South America, the South Pacific rim - those places are rabid for progressive music, they're so in to it, it's unbelievable! So yeah. But you know it's very interesting that i find when we're playing down in the States that the fans are just crazily into it as anywhere else in the world. And the same stands for Canada. Obviously myself, being a Canadian I would love to see a little more recognition up here, and I know there are a lot of progressive heads, it's just that a matter of being noticed and getting some recognition. Maybe this album will be the album!? I mean, it took Rush a few albums before everybody started turning their heads, so we'll see what happens. I would like to see North America more in to , and i know that the people are out there that are into this type of music, it's just a matter of timing in the industrial sense as well.

Q: Have you got any radio play this way with this album?
J: Oh yeah! You wouldn't know it in Canada, but i just got e-mail today - "#1 added" on most rock and metal rock radio down in the States. The first single is "Home" from the new Dream Theater album. It's getting great response. We're really excited. And there's just a really cool buzz because when we did that whole secrecy thing, so it's created a really cool thing, you know! But now everyone's talking crazy about it, and it's something else. The reception from the journals worldwide has been just unbelievable! And I don't say that lightly because it's been overwhelming. But then again, we were really excited, and we knew we have something here that we're ecstatic about, and we can't wait to get out on the road, and start touring it. It's a concept album, so what we'd like to do is get out and play the album from beginning to end, and really set it up in a big production sense. When we go over to Europe we're going to playing in front of anywhere from 3000 people a night to 10 000 people a night, and usually in the States it's about anywhere from 1500 to 3000 a night, so it's a little different.

Q: You do a lot of the 'tribute' stuff, a lot of other side stuff for Magna Carta. How did you get involved in all that?
J: They call me up. [ha ha..], and say "hey we know you're really into Queen, would you like to do a couple of numbers..", "we know you're really into Rush...or ELP....." and that's how it happens.

Q: The Rush one was great!
J: Yeah, thanks. But that's how it happens. And i get a lot of phone calls, not only from Magna Carta, but you know it just gets to a point where you have to start saying "No", because then it gets to be a little bit too much, and there's a bit of a cheese factor coming in. So you got to say at some point "Look - these are the bands that I'd want to be a part of because they were just so incredibly inspiring to me" and then you got to take a step back and go "Hey - you know as much as I'd like to do it, and i see the kind of money that you're offering me...", ya know - there's got to be a sense of integrity there, especially with yourself.

Q: I see on a lot of the tribute albums there's a lot of the same people on a lot of them, and you get to wondering if people are doing it because they like the band they're doing or ......
J: For monetary reasons. I know, but you know what? For me to speak, i really don't know what the other people's reasons are, but I'm sure that there's got to be some of them that are , because Hey - the green buck is a very lureing element, isn't it!? But yeah, when I've sung on these songs for these tribute albums, it's been a lot of fun. The ELP - i had a great time doing that stuff, it was amazing, and Terry went in and mixed it, which was great.

Q: Coney Hatch, I gotta ask - what was your association with them, your time, and what you did and that!?
J: That was pretty wild. Before coming into contact with Coney Hatch, i was in a band called "Trance", from Toronto. I had been in a band, and in Trance we did Zeppelin, Foreigner, Pat Travers, Johnny Winter, Deep Purple -- which is really crazy because now I'm managed by Deep Purple's management! But anyways, what happened was we were doing this club in the northern part of Toronto called "Twenty Grand West" , and we used to do a few Deep Purple numbers like "Highway Star", "Space Truckin", and "Child In Time" in particular; and i guess one night when i was there and i was wailing away on stage Steve Shelski, and Paul Marangoni - who was the new drummer for Coney Hatch at the time, they saw me, and they were freaked out by it. So, they got in contact with me, and called me up, and i went and auditioned, and at the time i was only about 22 years old, and they asked me to come in the band.

Q: What year was that?
J: That would've been '86. At the time their latest album was "Friction", and I guess they'd got rid of Carl, and they wanted me to come in to the band. So i came in to the band, and I was in the band for about 6 - 8 months. And in that time we recorded demos, and did some dates here there and everywhere on the Canadian area. And then at that point, i wasn't happy; i didn't see anything coming from it from Anthem Records - they were just procrastinating on getting us into the studio. There was a little bit of friction going on with myself and the guys, and I mean - we're all friends. When i left it was very amicable in the end. But at the time i was only 22, and i had a bit of a 'head' on me, and i was a little bit cocky and this shit going on. So it came to a mutual split. I wanted to go - they wanted me to go. So I left, and at that point, that's when i got in to "Winter Rose", i put together with Rich Chickie - who was the guitar player.

Q: You said you did demos!?
J: Yeah, i did demos with Coney Hatch, absolutely.

Q: How much stuff?
J: There's probably 10 - 15 songs on the demos. I don't even have a tape anymore. I bumped in to Shelski and Andy Curran about 3 or 4 years ago, they were at a show, and those guys - they have those recordings. And they said "Oh do you want a copy?", and I said "yeah! let me get in touch with you and you can get me a dub", because I've lost my dub since. And yeah, I'd love to go back and listen to that stuff.

[*Talk ensues about Carl Dixon, Andy Curran, Coney Hatch......]

I had a good time though, i really did. I learnt a lot from those guys. It was just another level for me to learn from, and i was young, and that kind of prepared me for later on.

Q: Are you familiar with Uriah Heep?
J: Oh yeah! Absolutely - David Byron! He was an incredible singer! Incredible! And it was really unfortunate the way he went down, but hey....! You know who actually introduced me to that band first, was Mark Waddell - who was the guitar player in Trance, and he was a HUGE Uriah Heep guy, and he started playing all their albums for me, and i was flipping out. I had heard maybe the odd song here and there, and then i started listening to this stuff and i was going "Holy shit - these guys are great!" It's incredible how many people you can say that name to and people don't know who they are.

Q: Are a lot of guys in your circles familiar with them?
J: To a certain extent, yeah.

[*Talk ensues about Uriah Heep......]

J: What did you think of that stuff after Byron?
Q: I've liked all the singers they've, or most of. I like "Firefly", and "Innocent Victim" i thought is great.

J: I'll agree with you that they were all good singers, but they didn't have the same soul. He had that feel; he had a charisma, i guess you could say, that was just unattainable by the others. As get as they were in singing - technical sense, he was more the real deal. It was just very sincere coming from him.

[*Talk ensues about latter day Heep.....]

Thanks and Good-byes.

Interview Conducted October 1999
Copyright Kevin J. Julie.