Is the Eden's Curse upon us?  Paul Logan and Michael Eden speak out

Eden's Curse are now making a name for themselves, with the release of the bands debut album which was self titled and released in 2007, that album was just the start of a very strong friendship between Paul and Michael which is still continuing to grow even stronger today. The band released their 2nd album titled 'The Second Coming' in 2008, which received some promising reviews world-wide and with the release of their acoustic release 'Seven Deadly Sins' the band are looking forward to a promising 2010 with more releases to follow. With a successful tour earlier this year in 2009 with Firewind and Stratovarius the band are about to embark on their own UK tour shortly. I managed to have a chat with Paul and Michael to find out what the band have been up to since the last interview. Here is what they had to say.

So what you guys been up too since the last interview? Also how successful was the debut album for the band?

(Both) "Well it's great to finally meet you Jason, after our long time on the phone last time haha!! (M) Well the debut album was good enough for us to do a second album, it actually did better then we expected and the 'Second Coming' album did a lot better actually."

From the debut album, which songs from that album stand out for you and why?

(M) "I think the song 'Judgement Day' is my favourite because it delivers a message to the bad guys and there are a lot of bad people out there that I can relate too. Also Paul has dealt with some bad people in the past, so we send a big middle finger to those people. There are a lot of great tunes from the debut album such as 'The Voice Inside', which people still want us to play to this day. It's rather difficult for me to find a really good song that I like the most. I like them all really, and I don't think you can have Denis Ward produce an album & have any bad songs on the album, it has to be quality. I really like the lighter songs of the band, and I always have and were going to bring those songs into the set in December when we come back to the UK. I also like the songs from the last album like 'Signs of your life', 'After the love has gone', 'Eyes of the world' which is the heavier side of the band. 

(P) "Well I like the song 'Fly away', because it's the style that kind of like within the band and it's slightly more modern than the Hard Rock element and it was also the birth of the double guitar sound we have now and with the keyboards and we carried that on the 'The second coming' album.  We liked the way that it came across and the public loved it, we needed the heavy riffs with the melodic choruses and I remember a former singer of mine telling me that it was too melodic for the riff."

Is it difficult for you guys to rehearse with Mike been in the U.S. & you in Scotland?

(M) "Well the band is based in 5 countries technically, I live in the U.S. and if we lived in the U.S. as a band we could not get any respect locally and I think that and to rehearse it's a pain in the ass. You have to fly a long way to do it, and I have to be in the UK days ahead of the band because of jet lag, but for the rest of the band they don't need to come as far as I do from the U.S., so it's really tiring for me to re-ajust to the different time zones. Before a tour we get together for a week and rehearse near Pete's house for about 8-9 hours a day and it is a lot of hard work. We rehearsed our asses off yesterday with our new keyboard player Alessandro Del Vecchio (Edge Of Forever / Moonstone Project/ Glenn Hughes)"

What happened to your old keyboard player Freddie (Axel Rudi Pell)?

(P) "Well he was fired, I really don't want to go into it that much, but after 3 years we were fed up with him try to integrate with everybody within the band. For us we could not have somebody within the band who was not a team player, and in the end we made a conscious decision to get rid of him, it was his attitude and behavior but I don't want to bad mouth him off, I hope he doesn't do the same with us."

So how did Jay Parmer become the 2nd guitarist within the band?

(P) " Well Jay had been in the band at the start of 2009 when he started rehearsing for the tour in May with Firewind and Stratovarius and he had known me for a couple of years and we talked for a while about it. We need a 2nd guitarist after the albums were recorded to give it that extra power live, and bringing Jay into the band has really worked for us. I have a good relationship with the other guitarist Thorsten were they both rehearse with web cams and it really does work between them. Jay actually teaches guitar lessons over web cam, so he is use to this sort of thing. It was technology that brought this band together. We all have good studios at home so it's not hard for any of us to work together by the internet. In the studio you have a clock and time is running out for you, but in your own studio you can really take your time and get it right."

So it's pretty easy for you guys to record via the internet then or at least work things and ideas out?

(M) "Yeah it is actually, all the guys know what they have to do and we are all professional about it. You can't really get it wrong and then give it to Denis to record. If we are not happy with anything then the guys have to do it again, but like I said we know what we have to do and we do it."

Are you happy with the way AFM Records are looking after the band so far?

(M) "All the record companies are very entertaining, they all have a job they need to do and the U.S. label put the band on the road, he believed in it enough for him to put a great deal of money into it and put the band on tour. He now has the t shirt design tattooed into his arm so he is not going anywhere and his wife and him is very supportive of the band. The Japanese label 'Spiritual Beast' are great, and we have never played Japan yet as it is very expensive but we hope to go in 2010. We are going to be busy and we can't do it all, and AFM have been fantastic towards us with the press and we are in every major magazine that I grew up buying when I was a kid like 'Burrnnn' magazine in Japan and we do like 80-90 interviews between radio and printed magazines and webzines. (ED: Have you been on the Bruce Dickenson radio show here in the UK?). Well Bruce hasn't had us on the radio show yet, were working on that. Bruce has played songs from the 1st and 2nd album, but we would like to have a interview on his show in the very near future."

How successful was the tour with Firewind and Stratovarious for you here in the UK earlier in 2009?

(P) "It was fantastic, we played every night on the UK tour and with each night we just got better and better, the crowd loved us. The show in Glasgow was awesome, my family were there and the crowd went crazy, even before we played a single tune. We played a warm up show in a little bar before the tour and when we played in Wolverhampton we were a little nervous because we wasn't sure how we would go down with the crowd. We had never played as a band before then, so it was nerve wrecking but still enjoyable. We got great reception each night on the tour. That tour was a great and the whole point of the tour was to raise the band profile in the UK and we did just that. Firewind are a great band, we had a blast with those guys."

How do you compare the 2nd album to that of the 1st album & is there any songs from the 2nd album you like and why??

(M) "It's a totally different vibe, but it's still Eden's Curse, it's melodic, its Hard Rock & and it has some Metal in it and its something we wanted to present to the fans. The 3rd album with be a mixture of the 1st 2 albums with brand new elements that have become the new band with Jay and Alessandro and it will be everything that you expect. The people who don't give a shit will not be disappointed. I like the song 'Masquerade Ball' as it also send a message. There is a lot of assholes in the world Jason, we have run into a lot of those people some were from record labels, some were from retail stores, and people get in my way and I'll knock them fucking down!! If they get in Paul's way he will do more then me haha!! I much prefer the lighter material of the bands music, I like songs like 'Signs Of Life' and 'After The Love Has gone'"

(P) "I like the song 'Sail On', because its a very commercial song but we were slightly worried  when we played in on the Stratovarius tour but we played it at the warm up show and it worked out well so we talked about adding it to the UK tour and we did. It was the most requested song from the fan base that we have here in the UK. We were concentrating on the heavier songs for that tour because of the line-up."

What will the title of the next album be then?

(M) "Well the new album will be called 'Trinity' and the artwork will be done by the same artist who did the last albums. We are re-releasing the 1st 2 album on vinyl as double albums with never seen before artwork on the girl on the cover. We are also doing a live DVD which will be a compilation."

Will the next album be darker with the music to entwine with the title 'Trinity'? Do you have any new titles for the next album?

(M) "I don't think the next album will be darker, I think it will sound like the 1st 2 albums. We only have 1 title for the next album which is called 'No Holy Man' which was co-written with Alessandro, one with Thorsten called 'We Claim', one called 'Jerusalem Sleeps' which is 7 minutes song. Dennis will be producing the next album, he is a great to work with but can also be a pain in the ass as Mike and him clash sometimes, but he is Mike pain in the ass haha!! "

So why did you decide to release an acoustic E.P. titled 'Seven Deadly Sins - The Acoustic Sessions'?

(P) "Well we did an acoustic E.P. and now were doing a 9 song UK collection CD for the forthcoming UK tour in December which will also include some live bonus songs, demos from the 1st 2 albums included on this CD."

Moving on, how important is it for you to be playing the Bloodstock festival?

(P) "Well the whole point is to get the band profile lifted. We are not disappointed that we are not playing the main stage, we are just happy to be part of this fantastic festival. We would like to come back and play the main stage, but it's up to the fans and the promoter really. Its about spreading the word and I hope more will come to see us live."

Do you have anything to say before we finish this interview off?

(M) "Yeah thanx for the interview, it's nice to finally put the face to the voice finally."

(P) "Yeah check out the website www.edenscurse.com there is lots of info on their about the December tour and we will hopefully see you there."

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