Name: George Thatcher
Country: Originally New Zealand
(1999-2008), now Australia (2008 onwards)
Age: 40 something
Position in your website/magazine: Managing
Editor/CMS Developer
Online since (year when your website went online): May
1999
Introduce you as editor and your website with a little
bio (year and how you started to write
reviews, possible previous versions and/or name of the website, more you want
do add): Hi everyone.
This is George Thatcher, Managing Editor of the glorydazemusic.com website.
We've been doing this pretty much non-stop since 1999. I think of the
current websites that are still around,
only Andrew McNeice's melodicrock.com and Dan Harding's Heavy Harmonies have
been around longer. GLORY DAZE started life off as HEART of the ROCK. Some of
the oldtimers might remember that brand. It went through several iterations of
design. Remember, the Internet was a moving feast of HTML and CSS back in those
early days. Content Management Systems weren't really in vogue back then, so
everything was done manually via hacked code.
By 2004, I had
discovered CMS, and made the move to storing all our content on a mySQL
database rather than static HTML pages. A great move, which made managing the
data so much easier. We changed to GLORYDAZE in 2004 as well, and have
continued unabated since then. My only regret is not being able to apply the
same amount of time to loading up content as I did back in those early days.
Currently, the mantra is all about work/home life balance. I must be getting
old.
If we go right back in
time, my reviewer/editor life started way back in 1983, where I wrote for a New
Zealand based fanzine called Kreshendo. My pseudonym there was 'Grim Reaper'
(lol!). Pretty strange considering I wrote all the AOR and melodic reviews for
the 'zine. Everyone else wrote about the heavier stuff. Some of those earlier
articles included Alcatrazz, Gary Moore, Honeymoon Suite, Foreigner, Bryan
Adams, Cobra, Wrabit, Ratt, Tommy Shaw, Dennis De Young, Crossfire (Belgium),
Jade and a bunch of other stuff of which the names escape me.
I've read a few
fanzines and news weeklies in my time. My favourite was the UK based Sounds
magazine, which I read religiously from my highschool years (1978) through to
about 1985, when it started going downhill, and replaced by the likes of
Kerrang, Metal Hammer, Circus, Raw Power and the mighty Metal Forces. After reading
all of those, I'd always hankered at writing my stuff under my own auspices,
but it wasn't until 1999 that this took seed, simply because the wildwest of
the Internet was so immature and pretty much in its infancy. Still, we've been
in operation for such a long time, our 14th anniversary is coming up to May 19,
2013.
I must put a special
shout-out to all the contributing writers and reviewers who have been a part of
my/our journey. GLORYDAZE is as much about those guys as it is about me. So, to
Eric A, Alun T, Luigi C, Lee B, Chris H, David S, Richard B, Kelv Hellrazer,
Reyno, and some of the older writing brigade such as Lee A, Jeff D, Marcus P
and Andrew E; and all the other guys who have helped along the way - a big cheers and beers! I've often wondered
what it would be like to have them all assembled together.. like down at some
local pub in the south of England. I'd book the place out! If I won Lotto
tomorrow, I'd send them all airfares (well, the ones outside of England at
least), and fly them over for a week, hopefully when there's a gig or two
happening!
Favorite rock styles (AOR, Melodic Rock, Hard-Rock,
Westcoast, Glam, Sleaze or so on): All of them.. lol!
Other music styles you like: Celtic,
progressive metal, instrumental new age, melodic trance.
"THE" band / artist that fully embraces your
tastes in music: Well, probably Journey, purely for their
longevity and inspiration through the Steve Perry years. I certainly have more
Journey albums in my collection than any other band, so I guess that about sums
it up.
Your personal TOP 5 of all times: Boston,
Strangeways, Toto, Michael Bolton (deserved success, even if he did change
styles), Survivor, and chuck in Kansas.
Your personal FLOP 5 of all times:
Europe, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, Quiet Riot (all flops since their
heyday, it must be pointed out). I never really thought that Manilla Road and
Cirith Ungol were flops either, despite everyone else saying otherwise!
Your biggest delusion in music (a crap album, a missed
interview, a bad concert you've attended, etc):
•
Eurovision Song Contest would be one.
•
I never quite got U2 and their music. Must
be an Irish thing.
•
Bands that should know when to hang up
their gloves but don't.
•
Farewell tours by bands only to reform not
long after (KISS anybody?).
•
The persistent rumour that Steve Perry will
re-enter music again.
•
That AOR was a really big genre back in the
day.. umm no.. it wasn't.
•
Turning the melodic hard rock scene into a
money-making scheme (hello Whitesnake!)
•
And the sad tale of woe relating to dead
rock stars.
Your highest point reached in music (a long awaited
interview, a meeting with one of your idols, results reached with your webiste,
etc): For me, there is no highpoint yet. We still keep
reaching for the stars.
Your most successful / favorite review: I
enjoyed the banter and shenanigans around the 2001 interview we did with the
late Don Lemmon. Fitness guru, entrepreneur, husband of porn star Asia Carerra
(whoa, he's a man after my own heart.. 2 AOR bandnames for a wife!!), and
supposed member of the mysterious L.A hair metal band White Diamond. It was a
very strange time, which generated chatter across our site plus melodicrock.com's
Noticeboard. It also hooked in the Norwegian band Winter Parade. I'm sure Per
Bjornar Riise has some interesting tales to share about Don.. but we'll leave
it at that.. it's well over a decade ago.. haha!
Your bitter regret about one of your reviews /
interviews: I wouldn't call it regret, but it sure was one of the
strangest. It involved the late Greg Guidry and a well known producer called
John Ryan (Climax Blues Band, Styx, son in law of the Frank L Hubbard, author
of Dianetics and many more). My email has never been more intruded upon! Back
in late 2000, I was threatened with legal action among other things from Ryan,
who certainly didn't agree with the basis of Greg's views revolving around the
production of 1982's 'Over The Line'. What a weird man that JR chap was. Not
long after, Guidry committed suicide in a Nashville house fire.
Your 5 most promising acts / artists of the
"new" generation: I don't know if there
will ever be one. You really have to look for something out of the ordinary to
stand out, and unfortunately in the AOR and hard rock scene, it all seems to be
cut from the same cloth. For instance, I would love for some band or good
songwriters to combine melodic rock with same trance styled ideas. You know,
like Armin van Buuren meets James and Tom Martin! Or Tiesto meets Erik
Martensson! Kimmo Blom's Boys Of The Band
is an example of a melodic rock band
doing something different.
Your vision for the next year about the music biz of
our music styles (possible death of the cd format, thoughts about digital
releases, evolution of rock labels, etc.): Well, piracy has
virtually killed off artists making CD's anymore. Pretty soon there will be
nothing left to pirate. The only way for artists to reclaim something from
pirates is to provide low quality audio
on CD (say 192 kbps or less), include some form of watermark stamping on the CD
itself, or go back to vinyl. Artists could have their music streamed at a
higher quality (with no offline or download option), and also to include the
audio equivalent of watermarks within tracks to make pirating less of an
incentive. We call it salting.
I like concepts such as
Spotify, iTunes (even though I don't use it) etc, and other online portals.
Problem is: it's worthless if you don't have a good internet connection, or
you're not online.
Also, I'm not entirely
certain that the business model for rock labels is a sound one. The margins
must be dropping through the floor, as returns diminish and costs continue to
eat away at profits. I'd like to see a return to radio, and keep music in the
cloud and out of people's grubby little pirating fingers. But it's too late,
the genie is out of the bottle.
Personally, I think
that crowd-sourcing is an option. This model seems to be a niche way to build
up an audience, rapport with fans, provide merchandising options other than the
music itself, and build some sort of future partnership for further ventures.
This model is proven to work, but does need some tweaking and attention to
detail as not all crowd sourcing options will be the same from one artist to
the next.
This is way of the
future, and also a way to bypass the trappings of major labels. I reckon it's
the way forward, and business is nowhere near setup to leverage its potential.
Hmm, now there's an idea!
Your personal suggestions for today's labels and
artists: In terms of record labels, definitely go for
quality. Sound out some people on the
Net that you trust before signing an artist up, just to get some pre-feedback
and opinion. Perhaps build some ratings questionnaire around a potential
artist. Validate your decision to sign an artist using the help of trusted
peers in the industry. Build a marketing plan around an artist, also do a SWOT
analysis, and see what the overall results will be.
As for artists? Read my
previous comment on crowd-sourcing.
Anything you want to add: Our
favourite sub-genres of rock are being marginalized by the day. It feels like
time is running out! As the Tarney-Spencer Band once sang.. 'No Time To Lose..
No Time To Lose'..
Finally, thanks to
Zorro11, Elena and the Charming Grace team for allowing this hack a few words..
humbly.. George
YOUR LIFE IN ROCK SONGS! (name one song for a
particular moment of your life)
The one that changed your life: More
Than A Feeling, Boston. Those guitars! That feedback wail.. that voice!!
The one for your birthday:
Mother Father - Journey
The one for the love of your life: The
Closer I Get To You –
Roberta Flack and James Ingram
The one for your beloved ones:
Heaven Help My Heart – Tina
Arena
The one for the best moment in your life:
Don't have one, hasn't happened yet.. lol!
The one for your worst enemy:
Killed By Death - Motorhead
The one which represents you and your vision of life:
Dreamweaver – Gary
Wright and Fly Like An Eagle –
Steve Miller Band
The one which helped you in your saddest moments: I'll
Be Over You –
Toto.
The "Rock Music Manifesto": The
Final Countdown –
Europe. Those parping keyboards gets me everytime.
The one to say goodbye: I
Will Remember You – Amy
Grant. There's something about that song always gets to me.
The one for your funeral: When
The World Comes Down - Magnum
