Archive for the ‘Band Members’ Category

Many of you already know about Scott and Dan returning to the band. It seemed like a slam-dunk, and that everything would be simple.

Yeah, that didn’t exactly go as planned. Dan and Scott were completely out of the music scene after their original departures. Neither had been in any sort of band, and in fact Dan hadn’t played much at all during his absence. It was a surprise to all three of us (James, Dave and I) how well both did in their auditions when we took that into account. We assumed it would be pretty easy to iron things out and get back out playing, oh, say in August.

Well, you can probably see this coming – while both of them have worked very hard, the combination of crazy summer scheduling and working through the bumps of two talented people learning how to be in a band again delayed our re-emergence a bit more than we would have liked. To paraphrase a great frontman I saw recently, we regret this – but we are back now.

You can catch the first two of many shows to come on either Sep. 29th at the Sunset Lounge in Hagerstown, MD (with Doom Syndicate, Cammo Shorts and Heimdall), or on our return to Monthly Metal at Balls Bluff in Leesburg on Oct. 6th, with our brothers in metal Pharaoh in a rare U.S. show, as well as Trihexyn and Death Penalty. Details can be found on our shows page.

In the spirit of The Old School, we’ve also decided to re-release 1998′s “Ascension to Eternity”, our long-out-of-print second album (and the last one to feature both Dan and Scott) via Bandcamp’s “Name Your Price” option. You can get it free – which we’re fine with – or you can pay what you think it’s worth, here. Enjoy it, and hopefully this whets your appetite for the new music coming towards the end of the year. We’ll be featuring several songs from this one live (along with the “Trinity” and “Control Issues” material, of course). This album contains some of my personal favorites from the Division catalog, and I’m looking forward to dusting some of them off and showcasing them again.

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Every musician has influences. That person that made you want, no, need to pick up a guitar. The vocalist with incredible range and power that you just have to try to achieve. The drummer with the sick fast feet, you sit down at your kit and start playing faster and faster until you get it.

But can you explain who influences what in you playingsingingdrummingwhatever?

Me,  I’ll divide it as best I can:

Power:

• Ronnie James Dio.  He had a truly commanding voice it made you listen, yet with exceptional         control  and emotion
• Bruce Dickenson:, “The Human Air Raid Siren” ‘nuff said
• Matt Barlow: Dio’s diametric opposite, where Dio has this command and control over his voice, Matt is the wild raging storm, full of raw passion and emotion. When he sings it’s from the heart and soul a voice that can bring you to tears one minute and tear your head off the next.

Presence:

• Dio again, going back to that commanding quality.
• Rob Halford, You can tell it’s him at the first note.
• Geoff Tate, again like Halford there is no mistaking that voice,

Emotion:

• Warrel Dane,  he tells a story with his voice in every song, listen to “The Obsidian Conspiracy”  he runs the gamut from mourning to pure unbridled hate and never misses a note.
• Geoff Tate, “Gonna Get Close  to You” is one of the creepiest songs I’ve ever heard, and Tate nails it.

Range: lets call this “the range I want (or wish I had)”

• Midnight (RIP),  Crimson Glory’s enigmatic front man, regularly danced in the middle to high soprano range.. I’ve hit the high notes in “Azrael” exactly once.
• Eric Knudson (Eric AK),  Flotsam and Jetsam’s resident screamer.. “Doomsday for the Deceiver” is another song that I would love to be able to hit consistently.
• Rob Halford, I think he may have the widest useable range of any singer in heavy metal.
• Chuck Billy, probably the lowest unaided (no pitch shifting) voice in metal.  Chuck has a lot of power in his bass/baritone range and it rumbles in like an earthquake  (“PREACH!!!!!”)

Diction/Pronunciation:

• Listen to anything by Crimson Glory or Queensryche and you’ll hear it

I’m sure there’s more, if you’ve heard me sing and think I’m dead on or way off, lemme know

Discuss

Sas

— Division is coming, prepare for war.

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For those that have been long time fans of Division, the obvious question is “Where did I go for ten years”? It’s a somewhat complex question, suffice to say that “life got in the way”. I missed the band almost the day after I left, but I knew that I couldn’t turn back at that point.

There were some attempts to get something going, but the chemistry was never there: Chemistry, it’s the reason Division works and has worked for as long as it has. So I moved into other things..

I had always stayed in contact with Mike, I got to know Dave and James over time I have known Nick nearly as long as I’ve known Mike. and knew that Division was in good hands. Meanwhile my life took me in a couple of different directions, I achieved my Black Belt in Taekwondo, competed in the same for about seven years. I became one of small group of Adobe Certified ColdFusion Developers, most importantly I became the father to a beautiful blue eyed blonde haired little girl name Mackenna (yes.. you can be Metal and still gush over your kids).

I also was diagnosed with acute Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, this had been with me my entire life and had shaped much of it..

..and I had moved to Raleigh, NC.

Cut to fall of 2011, One divorce, second wife, one kid and one convoluted move back to the DMV. I get an email from Mike… “Nick is leaving”, “How would you feel about auditioning?” I had really thought Nick was in it till the end and honestly I was a little unsure, because I hadn’t done ANYTHING band wise in a very long time. Mike added, “This is not a walk – in, you’ve got competition bring your A-Game”. Two auditions later (the first one suuuckkked.. never try to be something your not) and here I am.I have come back to a band that is more mature, and focused than ever.. this may very well be Division’s strongest lineup.

For those that are the “Nick” era contingent, I am the voice on the first two Division releases: “Paradise Lost” and “Ascension to Eternity”. I am a traditional Metal vocalist in the Rob Halford, Geoff Tate, Ronnie James Dio tradition. I will try my best to do right by Nick’s legacy with Control Issues, but still making them my own. The Trinity material is a different story, much of that was written while I was still in the band, so you may here some very different takes on it.
What does the future hold? Division is focused on one thing… being the best..
Our new material is raw, angry and very “in your face” without sacrificing the high standards that we set for ourselves..
Division is coming.. prepare for war..
… Scott

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