The New Czars will release their debut album, Doomsday Revolution, September 14 on Samson Records. Members of The New Czars have worked with influential musicians across the music spectrum: Alice Cooper, Lita Ford, Bootsy Collins, Buckethead, Reeves Gabrels, Bruce Dickinson, Puddle of Mudd, Courtney Love, Pink, and others.
Now it's time for the band--singer/guitarist Greg Hampton, bassist Paul Ill and drummer David "Chilli" Moreno--to do things on their own terms.
Produced by Hampton, Doomsday Revolution also includes contributions on the six-string by Adrian Belew. "His sensibilities for progressive and weird music and bizarre pop stuff are certainly on par with my thinking," beams Hampton about the living legend. "I rang him up and we decided that he would contribute some things to it."
According to Chilli, the sessions were "A lot of fun. Greg let us do what felt would work for the parts, and let us tear it up as well. I can't complain. A lot of producers don't let you set up more than a four piece kit and a couple of crashes, which is fine for the right application. But this was balls-to-the-walls rock & roll. Keith Moon meets John Bonham with Christoph Schneider, combo 1 super-sized!"
About the formation of The New Czars, Hampton explains, "It came about when I finished Alice Cooper's Along Came A Spider, Lita Ford's Wicked Wonderland and Science Faxtion's L.O.A.F. albums. Over the course of recording those three releases back to back, unique ideas started materializing. I had become closer friends with the owner of Samson Records, who like me, has very eclectic tastes in music. I had originally anticipated them being more soundtrack-type instrumental songs, but the progressive ones took their own direction musically--with some of the things I had envisioned. I actually approached Paul Ill first, before I approached anybody, because I wanted to do something that would be more progressive. Even though Paul has played and written with Christina Aguilera, Pink, Courtney Love, etc, he is extremely versatile and that guy can go toe to toe with the heaviest rockers."
A consistent record from front to back, several specific tracks stand out for Hampton. "I really like the stuff we cut with Chilli and Paul together: 'Time Stops' and 'Don't Watch Me.' On some of the instrumentals, I was able to stretch out on my guitar playing. 'Desperate' was a real challenge, because originally, it was a sprawling seven-minute piece, and I had to edit it so it was cohesive. That was probably the most difficult instrumental to turn into a song with vocals, but it really turned out to be one of my favorite songs."
And where does Paul Ill see the band going in the future? "I look forward to the band playing live, and we're all excited about doing the next record with everybody in the room at the same time. I really regret that I didn't get to play alongside Adrian Belew when he was at the studio. Maybe next time! I was incredibly honored when Greg asked me to play on the New Czars record. What started as me being hired as a session bass player evolved into becoming a full-time band member, which I quite like."
Hampton is willing to juggle his busy schedule to make room for The New Czars. "We're going to do a lot of viral video stuff. We cut 24 songs, so we definitely have enough for another album. It's hard to look that far in the future. It also depends on everybody else's schedules. I'm going to continue working and producing other bands. There's a lot of stuff I want to do, perhaps dabbling in film scoring, as well."
