interview med Piledriver
What is the name of your band? The Exalted Piledriver. When we first came out in 1984 we were just Piledriver, then after we disappeared for a long while, and the internet and microwave cheeseburgers were invented, and when we decided to make the fans happy by coming back to do live shows, we saw that there were SEVERAL bands that now called themselves Piledriver, and we felt our return would get lost in all the clutter, so, we pulled out 'the exalted' from our song 'Piledriver' to help reinforce the mental link to our music and not any of the bands that stole our name in our absence. Just like all the 'Metal Inquisition/inquisitor/etc. variations of things we created long before they came along to steal and use them in our absence. Oh, well.. nice to know we've been an influence on metal.
Name of the band-members? I'm the singer, Ol'Piley Piledrvier, the guitarist with the rawkgod hairdo is Steve "Rev.Tom Cheapness" Macpherson. His brother Mark "Hank Momscraper" Machpherson is our drummer and resident licensed antelope repairman -just in case. There's also dude that we see in our peripheral vision who lends a hand playing bass for us, Ken "Steele MacFearsome" Gibson.
Where did you grow up? I was a 'navy-brat', so I moved all over a lot of Canada for most of my young life, going to 13 different schools in 12 years. Yup, I'm as Canadian as it gets... aside from my adult band-touring from one end to the other, I'd lived in a wide range of Canadaian environments that so many Canadians have not, nor will ever see. From where I was born in Moncton, NB. on the east coast, through Montreal, QC, Ottawa, ON, all the way up north in the tundra in Inuvik NWT. Back to the south-east in Aylmer QC, Nepean ON, Gatineau QC, Ottawa again, Montreal again, Toronto ON, and now back to Montreal. Phew!!! I get around, ha ha!!
How old are you? At time of this typing I have survived 51 and a half spins around the big fire.
Who started the band? A record weasel and a selfish musician. I was brought in much later to be the vocalist.
Where have you played 2012/2013?Montreal, QC, and Quebec City, QC. Not far from home. We don't get asked much, and when we do, they can't afford to even pay for our gas to get there and back, so we stay home with our jobs.
Where can people se you? At work, on rooftops and towers installing microwave antennas. Once in a rare black moon we can be found onstage somewhere.. but it's increasingly rare.
Do you have a web-site? Well.. there's the facebook Exalted Piledriver group.. there's myspace/exaltedpiledriver.. I had a dedicated site before but some hackers fucked me out of it.. so I don' t really bother too hard anymore.. fb and myspace and that crap is good enough anyway. There's also a work-in-progress that I call www.exaltedpiledriver.com.. it's not quite finished, but it's there.
What is the name of your best song? That one that goes.. DUNDUNDADADUNDADUNDADUNDUDNDUDNDUDNDUDNBATBATBATBAT. I'm sorry.. that' s like asking which fart felt the most rewarding.. which child will bring the most income in my old age.. it's hard to pick just one, really. I like Alien Rape far and away above all the others, though. The rest all suck balls in comparison.
What kind of music are you into? I'm into every kind of music that I can get into my ears. I'm a musiholic!!! I can find something good in pretty much anything.. even sticks and rocks in a blender are music to me. But, my FAVORITE music is an alcohol-fueled racing engine laying down the horses. Ooof!!! THAT gets me off.
Have you been on tour this summer?No. Sadly, we don't have a large enough audience still around to make touring financially feasible for us. It's very frustrating to have a massive reputation held and supported by not-quite-enough people. We do appreciate and love the love we do get, but, sadly, it doesn't put gas in the truck.
Do you have a planed tour anytime soon?ALWAYS working on it, but, it has yet to work out for us. We try. We try.. just no takers out there for us anymore.. we're a dying breed. We know we're no longer the heaviest, the loudest, the rudest, the sickest. Hell, many consider us a cheap joke. We know what we are, and we know there's just not that critical mass of support for our novelty-act to keep it afloat on the road. It has frustrated the FUCK outo of me for many many years.
Who came up with the band name?I had joined an already finished product, just adding my vocals to it. I'm of the impression it was the record weasel who came up with it... even the idea of a bondage leather'd and long-spike'd frontman.. I drew the initial sketch of him that the costume was made from.. but, the weasel had that basic idea down before I came in to flesh it out.
Who writes the songs?Due to the incessant lineup changes over the years, that would take a looong time to answer, but, safe to say 60% me 40% band-mates, if you were to average it out across all the songs on all the albums. Sadly for all of us, every record label deal is so fucked up that NONE of us are seeing any royalties. I'm a horrible business man.
what song do you play the most?Probably Sex WIth Satan.. or Metal Inquisition. Those two are the absolute MUST-PLAY songs of the night. And, I myself need to have Alien Rape in the show, always.
Do you play the same songs each performance? Well, since we don't exactly have days and days of material, we revolve the show around the bulk of the MI/SU songs, and throw in various 'new' songs for spicing/pacing, and our own enjoyment, cuz we know no-one gives a shit about them and they are just waiting for the next old song.
Have you realesed a album or single? Never. a single. 4 albums. Metal Inquisition, Stay Ugly, Metal Manifesto, Night Of The Unpolished Turd -LIVE.
Are you working on any new songs?Always. I have thousands in various forms of existence at any given time. But.. I never use them as is.. while I always prefer to write 'in the moment' for an album, I'm well known to dip in to my song-pool for parts and bridges, a chorus etc... if I'm forging along with a new riff and hit a creative cliff.. I think back, and look back, and there's often just the PERFECT little bit that I needed for that part, and continue on to the last brush-stroke and the song is doen.
