Let me start with the most basic question - the name.  It has a nice sense of mystery to it.  How did you guys decide upon 'Midnight Syndicate' for your musical endeavors?
I came up with the name while conceptualizing the band in '90.  I knew I wanted to create a band that made these soundtracks to imaginary films and was really trying to come up with an appropriate name.  When I came up with "Midnight Syndicate" the whole idea of a mysterious syndicate that went by that moniker immediately sparked some images for me and so it felt like the perfect fit.

The new album, Gates of Delirium, seems to be a little more conceptual than the previous ones. How did you come up with the whole story behind Haverghast Asylum?
A lot of the inspiration for this album's music and themes came from researching the time period and actually visiting turn-of-the-century asylums.  It was a really scary period in mental treatment history and visiting the actual institutions instilled some pretty vivid images that definitely influenced my writing.  I also watch a lot of horror films so there were plenty of images from the cinema that worked their way in as well ("Bram Stoker's Dracula," "House on Haunted Hill," "Disturbing Behavior," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest").

King Diamond came to mind when I first put on Gates of Delirium, both because of the story and just the eerie vibe that it generates.  Was he an influence on you guys at all?
Musically, he is one of our largest influences.  Last year we had a great thing happen to us in regard to that.  We found out (while at a concert) that King and his guitarist Andy LaRocque had chosen Born of the Night and Realm of Shadows as the official pre-show music for the tour.   We had never contacted them before then, so that made it even more surprising and exciting.  Having our work recognized by one of our biggest musical influences was one of the best experiences on this journey.

How did you create all of the various sound effects used throughout the record?  And how about the wailing of the insane?
We had the pleasure of working with a very talented troupe of actors which really helped make the CD what it is.  In addition to being one of the featured voices, actor, Ted Neroda actually worked with me in the development stages of several of the sound effects pieces.  The project also gave me the opportunity to work with some talent from the band's past: Trishalana "Adelaide" Kopaitich was heavily featured in the films of our '98 multimedia concerts and Christopher Robichaud had previously worked with me as a lyricist and vocalist on our self-titled debut, as well as acting in the multimedia concert films and "The Dead Matter (1996)."

As far as the writing goes, it appears most of the compositions are done entirely by either you or Gavin.  How do you manage to keep such a consistent tone throughout the album?
Every once in a while, I'll think about that and be amazed that there isn't a larger discrepancy between each of our contributions to the albums. Fortunately for us, I think that Gavin and I are just on the same page with respect to the musical direction of the band.  It's really been that way since we started working together on Born of the Night and that's the key. Before we start writing for an album, we spend a lot of time fleshing out as many details on the world we plan to create so that helps.  Additionally, although we compose separately, we are continually playing tracks for each other during the writing process and making adjustments throughout to do what is right for the album.

How much time is generally put into writing and recording a Midnight Syndicate album?
I started writing for Realm of Shadows close to 11 months before it's release. For Gates of Delirium it was the same - although for that album, I pulled some asylum-based ideas I had developed back as early as the "Born of the Night" sessions.  Producing a Midnight Syndicate album is a long and very involved process which is why we are taking a short break after Gates.   We plan on releasing our next album in March of 2003, so we will start writing for it in January of 2002 with pre-production starting as early as September of this year.

When you are composing songs, do you just sit down with your gear and let it flow or do you usually have some melodies or ideas in mind before you even start?
It's a mixture, sometimes I will sit down at the keyboard with some images in mind and just allow the music to flow.  Other times I will be out on a nice rainy day or moonlit evening, get a melody in mind, and have to dictate it into my mini tape recorder for future reference.

The obvious comparison to your work is that of a movie soundtrack.  Do you have any particular favorite scores and composers?
Some of my favorite composers are: Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Wojciech Kilar, John Carpenter, Elliot Goldenthal, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner.  Among my favorite movie scores are: "Aliens," "Bram Stoker's Dracula," "Interview with a Vampire," "The Rock," "Halloween," "Gettysburg," "Rocky 1, 2, and 4," and "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" to name a few.

Have you actually done any film work yourselves?  If not, is that something you would like to pursue in the future?
I co-wrote and directed a gothic/horror feature called "The Dead Matter" back in 1996.  It had a good story but was held back by a lack of budget so I hope to re-shoot that someday.  There was also quite a bit of filmmaking involved in our '98 concerts and probably will be a good degree needed for our upcoming concerts so it's definitely in the cards.  As far as scoring goes.  We have received offers from several independent film companies and Universal Studios even requested our CDs for future consideration.  It is definitely something that I see myself doing in the future.  It's just that right now, Midnight Syndicate / Entity Productions is taking up most of my time.

Do you guys ever perform live?  Would you ever like to take Midnight Syndicate on the road?
We are currently developing a live show and plan to play out in 2003.

I think the most difficult element to Midnight Syndicate is the fact that, because of our style of music, we can't just walk into a bar or venue, set up, and start playing.  Making personal contact with your fans is really important to an artist and not being able to do that has been very frustrating (especially over the past two years).  Most bands that have been fortunate enough to see sales like we have, have already toured the U.S. and Europe.

Midnight Syndicate did do a show in March of 1998.  It was a multimedia concert to promote the first Midnight Syndicate (self-titled) album.  The concert blended original film, live music, computer animation, and theatrics. It was a very involved and resource-intensive project. So much so that it has really held us back from developing a new one.  Despite that though, we are currently developing a live show that we plan to take to select venues in 2003.  If for no other reason, we'd like the opportunity to meet and hang out with the people who have supported us over the years.

I was a bit surprised to learn that you are actually a big fan of metal.  Can you tell me a bit about how you got into metal and who some of your favorites are?
Most people are surprised to hear that Gavin and I are big metal fans and even more surprised to hear that bands like King Diamond and Black Sabbath, are big influences for the music of Midnight Syndicate.

Before Midnight Syndicate, I was a bassist in several heavy metal/punk rock bands.  I've also been doing a heavy metal show ("Mr.E.D.") on a Cleveland college station since 1990. Over the years, it's developed into more of a 70's/80's metal show since that is my favorite era of metal.  Some of my favorites are Kiss, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, White Lion, King Diamond/Mercyful Fate, Poison, and Manowar.  Even though I favor the old-style I do have some recent favorites like Rob Zombie, Rammstein, TSOB, and Theatre of Tragedy.  My new favorite is Nightwish. Unbelievable band.  Their last two albums are probably my favorite metal albums released in years.

The term 'metal' seems to get thrown at everything from Korn to Mayhem these days - what does it mean to you and how do you feel about how the scene at large has (d)evolved over time?
Heavy metal is still heavy metal, it just has a lot more subdivisions now. My only problem is when the media/radio programmers assume that one of those subdivisions (like hard-core for example) is indicative of the entire metal scene.  A lot of good bands get overlooked.

For me, I prefer more melodic metal.  I think the reason I am not into as much of the new, domestic metal is the lack of the melodic vocal style. There are fewer Halfords, Tates, and Stanleys, and more nondescript death, grunge, and rap vocals.  I don't have a problem with those styles at all, it's just that bands like that have to have incredible riffs and hooks (like Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power) to keep my attention through a whole set.   I really like the European metal scene.  It's still an arena for all of the different subdivisions of metal, allowing bands like Nightwish, Rhapsody, and TSOB, to really push the boundaries of the genre.

You also work as a DJ in your spare time - how did you get into that and tell me a bit about your current show?
The show is called "Mr.E.D." and it is on every Friday from 12noon-3pm on WJCU 88.7FM  (http://www.jcu.edu/wjcu) in Cleveland.  As I mentioned, it's primarily a 70's/80's metal show with the metal shows proceeding it focusing on newer metal.  In addition to the good ol' standard fare (e.g. Kiss, Priest, Maiden, Sabbath) I really enjoy digging through our vinyl collection and spinning lost classics (e.g. Alcatraz, Lucifer's Friend, Angel Witch, Saxon, etc.)

When I first heard Midnight Syndicate, I was a bit put-off by the somewhat generic song titles (this would have been circa Born of the Night).  Later on I realized this was probably intentional, in order to give the listener more room to create their own story based on the music. Is it important to you that people bring their own imagination to your music?
That is the single most important element to everything we do artistically.  Midnight Syndicate is all about stimulating the listeners' imaginations so that they can create their own images, worlds, and interpretations of the music.

Words, like music, can spark the imagination, so that is really the sole purpose of the song titles on our albums.   Always intentionally vague so as not to interfere with anyone's interpretation of the piece but enough to hint at something around the corner.

Realm of Shadows is still my favorite album of yours so far, as it just has the most intense sense of desolation to it - a truly chilling work of art.  Can you tell me a little about what inspired that particular record and your own feelings about it?
For that album, I really immersed myself in gothic/fantasy artwork and cinema - sometimes writing an entire piece based on a single picture or image from a film. I think we really captured the essence of what we were going for.   When people ask me for the most haunting of the Midnight Syndicate CDs, I never hesitate to recommend Realm.

You have utilized net sources such as mp3.com to help distribute your work.  How successful has that been in spreading the word of Midnight Syndicate?
I think mp3.com is one of the best resources out there.  Then you have great Internet stores/promotional sites like CDBaby that are also helping independent artists.  Since the beginning of Midnight Syndicate, the Internet in general has been a tremendous ally for us.  In my opinion, the most important tool for the independent label.

What is your opinion on the issue of Napster and other peer-to-peer sharing programs?
I wish they would regulate themselves like mp3.com does. The problem with Napster is that, despite what they say, they are out for themselves with little to no regard for artists.  Musical artists (especially independents) are already getting screwed by the industry.  If these sites really cared about the artists and wanted to help them out, they would at least allow the artists to choose which tracks are posted.  Give musicians some say as to how many and which of their tracks are distributed for free.  With sites like mp3.com, everyone wins.  The artists have control over the mp3s available and potential customers can listen to CD-quality tracks before they buy. Mp3.com even takes the next step and pays small royalties to artists for downloads which is certainly a fair thing to do.

You guys are one of the few bands to garner praise across the board, from electronic to goth to metal to more mainstream critics.  Have you actually received any negative feedback from anyone?
A while back, I think there was one critic out of Seattle that had mentioned that he didn't really care for our song titles in a review of Born of the Night but....  :)

No, fortunately for us, the press (especially on the Internet) has been very supportive.   No real negative feedback although we occasionally hear that some reviewers and fans would like to see us do longer tracks.  I feel fortunate that the reviewers in all of the different genres have been able to keep such an open mind to what we are doing.  Anytime someone does something different, there are always going to be those that want to shoot it down. Fortunately we haven't come across that much.

I guess, every band should expect at least one negative review of any album they release.  Fortunately, if it's only one or two reviews, then it doesn't lend much credence to those reviewers.  Almost all of our less savory reviews have come from one local entertainment weekly but we won Best Gothic Act at their reader-voted music awards, so in the end, you just have to accept that everyone has their own opinion and roll with it.

Do you have any special hobbies outside of music?  Or do you even have time for hobbies?
Not a lot of free time unfortunately.  When I do have time, I really like watching horror films, as well as playing role-playing and computer games.  I am definitely addicted to certain computer games.  If I sit down with a good Roller Coaster Tycoon or Baldur's Gate scenario, I could easily waste the day away...  extremely addicted.

What is next for Midnight Syndicate?  (I read somewhere a possible "industrial remix" album - I'd love to take a shot at doing a remix for you guys if you're interested!)
That would be great.  Yes, an industrial remix album is in the cards, although probably not in the near future.  Right now, we are taking a well-needed short break.  We plan to start on the next album in January.   We will also be working on ideas for the live show that will proceed that.  The industrial remix album as well as a dark-fantasy album are planned for release after that so there's a lot in the works.  I'm very excited to see what the future holds.