Tag: Tom Phillips

CRUZ DEL SUR MUSIC To Release Ex-TROUBLE Singer ERIC WAGNER’s Posthumous Solo Album, ‘In The Lonely Light Of Mourning’

Enrico



Cruz Del Sur Music will release legendary former TROUBLE singer Eric Wagner’s posthumous solo album, “In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” in March 2022.

Recorded at Alpha Sound Services and Aardvark Recording, “In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” was completed and delivered to Cruz Del Sur Music a month before Eric’s untimely passing. Initially scheduled for a November 2021 release, Cruz Del Sur Music — in cooperation with Eric’s manager, Mike Smith — agreed to move the release date to March 2022 to give it the attention it deserves.

“It has been a great honor to have the chance to work with Eric,” says Cruz Del Sur Music owner Enrico Leccese. “He has been a reference in my life since, as a fan, I bought his TROUBLE albums back in the 1980s. I must give WHILE HEAVEN WEPT’s Tom Philips 100 percent credit for Cruz Del Sur Music being able to release Eric’s solo album. Eric really put all himself, his passion, his deepest emotions and his skills into this release. I must also thank Mike and Ron Holzner for the extremely mature talk we had after Eric’s passing. His loss has been a tragic event and we hope that this album gives justice to his career.”


The solo endeavor — a long-time goal of Eric’s — serves as a fitting testament to one of doom metal’s most respected voices. Eric tapped former TROUBLE/current BLACKFINGER drummer Dave Snyder to help him assemble the album’s eight cuts. Along the way, Eric brought in some of his favorite musicians as guests — including past and present members of TROUBLE, BLACKFINGER, THE SKULL, LID, PENTAGRAM, DEATH ROW and PLACE OF SKULLS.

“In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” travels down Eric’s hallowed, familiar doom roads, flanked by melancholic acoustic guitar arrangements. It makes for an album of color, depth and heaviness that will please fans of Eric’s work. “I’d say this album is an amalgamation of TROUBLE, BLACKFINGER, LID and THE SKULL,” says Phillips. “There’s a little bit of each all swirled together. Basically, there’s a little something for everyone!”

“He was excited about the songs,” adds Snyder. “He and I worked on this project for a little over four years. It took that long, mostly because we did it over the phone. Either he would be in Chicago or New Mexico, and I’m in West Virginia, so I’d send him demo riffs, and if he liked something, he’d give me arrangement ideas, and I’d re-demo to fit his vision to place the lyrics. I already miss the process of working with him! Before Eric left for the last THE SKULL tour this summer, he told me about the record and said, ‘It jams. I’m turning it into Cruz.’”

Smith says that if Eric was ever going to do a solo record, it would need to involve the people he’s worked with — and some he hasn’t. The wealth of guest musicians explains why he was particularly excited about having a “family reunion” that tapped into nearly every era of his storied career.

“We have guests representing every band Eric has worked with over the years, and even extended family member @Victor Griffin, which really brings things full circle,” says Smith. “This was not the original plan by any means, but as the process started to unfold, it became apparent that this was exactly how it should be. How it was meant to be.”

Eric’s THE SKULL and former TROUBLE bandmate Ron Holzner, guests on the album. Ron says “In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” was “more personal” to him than his BLACKFINGER and LID output, two albums that enabled the frontman to work outside of the boundaries of TROUBLE.

“The LID record [1997’s ‘In The Mushroom’] was a break from Trouble and his first tastes of freedom. The BLACKFINGER records were more of a sideband to express himself differently than THE SKULL. It’s been a long journey lyrically for Eric and his story was coming towards the end. He sensed his time was short. The new record was his career coming full circle, in a sense. He included musicians from all his records and never intended this record to be a band. It was more a solo record than anything he ever did before. He needed to share his journey since this record was to be the end — he was contemplating retirement. The new THE SKULL record would be the epitaph to his story.”

Eric’s untimely passing this past August left behind a musical legacy that has influenced countless bands while providing comfort and solace for those impacted by his lyrics. Alongside CANDLEMASS, TROUBLE is arguably the most impactful post-BLACK SABBATH doom band. Their first four albums are undisputed classics, making Eric the solitary voice for the downtrodden and disaffected. 

“There’s no doubt that he will be rightly remembered as one of the most iconic voices of metal —  not just doom metal considering he had the power to traverse anything he sang over from psychedelic to somber, from acoustic tenderness to bone-crushing metal,” says Phillips. “Of course, he’ll always be tied to the legacy of TROUBLE and thus, considered by nearly everyone — including myself — as one of the founding fathers of the doom metal genre. But for those who knew him, we’ll also never forget his laid-back personality, sense of humor and ‘Eric-isms.’ It’s a staggering and totally unnecessary loss, but he lived by his own rules and spent 2021 doing all of the things he loved doing the most, so there’s some solace in that.”

“He did what he wanted, said what he wanted, lived like he wanted and wrote what he wanted…his way,” says Holzner. “He touched a lot of souls with his life and death.”

“He was a friend to everyone he met,” adds Snyder. “He always would hang out with fans and, through his music, helped a lot of people through tough times, including myself. His lyrics were always thought-provoking and his voice was one of a kind. When you heard it, you knew it was Eric Wagner! Ultimately, his legacy to me is his work with TROUBLE. I am eternally grateful to have been close to him at times, to have finished this record and to have worked with what many call the ‘Godfather of Doom.’”

“Eric was a dear friend, and I miss him immensely,” closes Smith. “This solo album became so much more than we initially expected, and I hope fans will be able to listen with open hearts and realize how lucky we all were to have Eric in our lives. 

When Eric and I signed off on the album back in July and delivered it to Cruz Del Sur Music, Eric said something I will never forget: ‘If this were to be my last one, it’s a perfect final chapter to the story.’”

“In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” track listing:

1. Rest In Place

2. Maybe Tomorrow

3. Isolation

4. If You Lost It All

5. Strain Theory

6. Walk With Me To The Sun

7. In The Lonely Light Of Mourning

8. Wish You Well

WHILE HEAVEN WEPT’s ‘Vast Oceans Lachrymose’ Lineup To Embark On ‘Farewell’ European Dates

Enrico

In early 2015, WHILE HEAVEN WEPT mainman Tom Phillips had to regrettably pull the plug on the band’s European tour in support of their latest studio album, “Suspended At Aphelion”. The decision led to Phillips’ unexpected retirement from the metal scene, effectively putting the revered doomsters on ice. However, Phillips and his bandmates have long sought to make amends to the European crowds who have so strongly backed WHILE HEAVEN WEPT over the years. Now, as 2018 draws to a close, the most recent incarnation of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT that started with 2009’s classic “Vast Oceans Lachrymose” will play its final shows together on a run of European dates that begins November 16 at Germany’s Hammer Of Doom festival.

“I agreed to do these shows to give everyone else — the band members, our fans, even myself some closure, especially since the last tour was cancelled,” says Phillips. “The other aspect is the circumstances and priorities of the musicians involved are simply not aligned with what an actively touring band requires anymore.”

The “Vast Oceans Lachrymose” lineup — rounded out by bassist Jim Hunter, vocalist Rain Irving, second guitarist Scott Loose, keyboardist/harmony vocalist Michelle Schrotz and drummer Trevor Schrotz — have been holed up in a Virginia rehearsal room putting together a setlist that is not only representative of the latest era of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT, but the band’s storied past as well. According to Phillips, some of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT’s most memorable shows have taken place on European shores, including their 2010 appearance at Hammer Of Doom alongside Irish metallers PRIMORDIAL, which was not only Irving’s third show with the band, but also where the “Triumph: Tragedy: Transcendence” DVD/live album was recorded.

“We’ve always had a great time sharing the stage with PRIMORDIAL,” he says. “I think we’ve played with them more than anyone else in our history — and that’s always been such a great insight into the scope of melancholia and epos. Of course, we’ve also had the great honor of playing with heroes, family and upcoming bands who have gone on to become some of the biggest names out there like ALCEST and GHOST. Most of all though, it’s connecting directly with the people who really care about what we do and again, that’s what these upcoming shows are really about.”

The shows will offer another treat for fans — a limited-edition shirt commemorating the 30th anniversary of the band. “It’s an exclusive design by Gustavo Sazes, who has done the covers for our last couple of albums,” says Phillips. “There’s quite a few layers to the design and it definitely correlates to ‘Fear Of Infinity’ and ‘Suspended At Aphelion’. Personally, I think it turned out amazing and while it does represent our 30th anniversary, for now, it will be available exclusively at the concerts.” `

While these European dates signal the end for the “Vast Oceans Lachrymose” era of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT, it does not mean the end for the band. Phillips says there is an entire album of unfinished material that sits between “Fear Of Infinity” and “Suspended At Aphelion” in which he may look to finalize at some point.

“In the end, I’d started on a solo project prior to being involved with the WALPYRGUS album [2017’s ‘Walpyrgus Nights’], but with the WHILE HEAVEN WEPT shows coming up, I haven’t even looked at that again. But for WHILE HEAVEN WEPT, as long as I’m breathing, WHILE HEAVEN WEPT exists, even if the lineup changes for the nth time or we are strictly DIY on a small, independent scale. Only time will tell. For now, it’s time to commemorate a milestone and the end of an era!”

 

WHILE HEAVEN WEPT 2018 European tour dates:

November 16 – Hammer Of Doom, Würzburg, Germany
November 18 – Temple, Athens, Greece
November 24/25 – Dutch Doom Days, Baroeg, Rotterdam, Netherlands
December 7 – Under The Doom VI, LAV Lisboa ao Vivo, Lisbon, Portugal
December 8 – Madrid Is The Dark, Madrid, Spain

WHILE HEAVEN WEPT’S TOM PHILLIPS ON WALPYRGUS

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We are very grateful to Tom Phillips (While Heaven Wept) for sharing these words about WALPYRGUS.

“I wanted to take a moment here to shed some light on my whereabouts, what’s been going on, and why for the first time in 17 years I’ve become involved with something other than While Heaven Wept.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve discussed what I’ve been doing musically – two years in fact – and now the time has finally come to reveal what has been going on: in March 2015 I was just beginning work on a solo project when I was approached by Scott (Waldrop) about tracking some keyboard parts for the debut album of Walpyrgus, which I was more than happy to do even before hearing the new material given our long history, plus it was an opportunity to put the instrumental arsenal I was building up through its paces, and I was eager to do something in light of recent events involving my own band.

The songs arrived one by one, each being more enthralling than the previous and it became very clear that Scott had a lot of ideas given the extensive notes and rough drafts in demo form. It was also very clear that – in my opinion – these were among the very best songs I’ve ever heard coming from my old friends… needless to say I was “in”, full stop. I was totally free to interpret the ideas any way that I wanted to and thus I was able to truly express myself, in turn impacting the arrangements of songs in the same way that every musician involved has.

That’s the thing about Walpyrgus: EVERY member of the band is responsible for making these songs what they are; everyone brought their skills, personality, and “A” game to the table – and the performances are both real and inspired…organic…not Pro-Tooled or forged in any way, rather the kind of music that everyone involved loves playing, the way we’ve done in our respective bands all our lives.

It was not lost on me or Scott that 20 years prior we co-founded the now long-running Twisted Tower Dire, yet that original configuration ultimately was short-lived due to both copious amounts of alcohol and the necessity to express other things musically on a much more personal level – you all know the rest of that story – but the point here is there’s always those “What If?” questions that remain. You know – like “What if the original line-up stayed together…” and so forth…and it’s not often that “second chances” actually turn into second comings…now we actually had the opportunity to dive into that parallel universe to answer some of those questions for ourselves.

Anyway, with this in mind, my role evolved over time from creating/performing/recording the keyboard parts to engineering other recording sessions to the deep editing of various tracks finally reaching a stage where I was overseeing the entire project with full “carte blanche” – and those of you who know me are cognizant this means a lot of hyper-detailing, holding ourselves to the highest standards, etc – so it should come as no surprise that this lead to additional recording, re-recording, mixing and re-mixing…but it’s not just my usual manias; the fact is it was decided that we’d stop at nothing to fully realize Scott’s vision successfully, without cutting corners, sparing no expense (aka “WHW style”) – and I absolutely took that aspect to heart. I personally felt the responsibility to deliver in every role I served so as to insure the end result was not a watered-down version, an approximation, or some outside producer’s vision, instead “the album he always wanted to make.” I believe now that we have achieved this. When all is said and done, It’s truly been an honor to work with my buddies Scott, Jim, Jonny, and Charley – each of whom kicked ass in their own right on this one – bringing this to life, and involving Kevin and Gustavo from the “WHW team” made it that much more gratifying for me. It was a no-brainer to re-align with Enrico and Cruz Del Sur Music as well considering the direct ties to TTD and WHW, along with albums in the same vein from our mates Slough Feg, Widow, Bible Of The Devil on the label. Call it a homecoming if you will.

I’ve been involved with every aspect of “Walpyrgus Nights” perhaps more so than with any of my own albums – I mean like those, I know every note and detail intimately – yet, in this case my hands were on the console, twisting the knobs, adjusting faders, zooming deep into the waveforms – I’ve literally heard these songs hundreds of times…and what I wanted to convey here is I still LOVE them; it should speak volumes that I actually still want to hear them absolutely fucking cranked and truly enjoying every freaking minute of them after hearing them more times than I can count. And THAT is what mattered to all of us the most – satisfying our own ambitions for this record and hearing exactly what we wanted to in the end – on OUR stereos. Call it self-serving if you want, but I sincerely believe that this enthusiasm, this heart  translates to tape – and can only hope that everyone else out there feels that through their own speakers. \m/”

Tom Phillips

April 4, 2017