Tag: Judas Priest

‘Tuesdays’ with Ania – New Single, Video Celebrate Escaping Manic Mondays

Every Tuesday, Ania breathes a sigh of relief.

The Los Angeles heavy metal singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso slowly exhales after getting through another manic Monday.

“I’ve found that most people are tired and angry on a Monday. By Tuesday, they seem lost and ready to procrastinate again. I make it a point each Tuesday to escape a bit and visit a local hiking spot to get through the rest of the week,” said Ania Thomas, aka Ania.

Ania appropriately celebrates her favorite workday and weekly nature jaunt through a thrash-tastic new single, “Tuesdays,” now available on all streaming platforms.

Boisterous Black Sabbath-esque electric guitars, galvanic bass, propulsive drums, crashing cymbals, fuzzy synths and delicate strings instantly release inner workplace tensions and rejuvenate weary minds throughout the 4.5-minute therapeutic banger.

Ania calmly sings, “And the road, and you climb some more/To find that one path about you/Still shines down on you/Are you forgetting it?/Climb, climb to get to the road you once knew/Where it shines down on you/Stairs are up the way, you know.”

“I think ‘Tuesdays’ bring a sense of relief by sharing a positive message, especially through the lyric, ‘You’re gonna find a way.’ It’s all about wanting to see a light at the end of the tunnel and staying positive while living through our current times. For me, nature has always brought a sense of healing both physically and mentally,” Ania said.

“Romantic and transcendentalist poets created a movement in which freedom and emotion were favored over intellectual growth. True inspiration is beyond our human reasoning and intelligence can only take us so far as people. There is more to life than just intelligence, including freedom of self-expression, intuition, inspiration and the pursuit of truth. It’s really a matter of taking care of ourselves in a spiritual way.”

Along with director Joseph Cordova, Ania beautifully conveys the spiritual power of nature in a compelling video for “Tuesdays,” which features breathtaking overhead shots of Los Angeles’ Runyon Canyon Park against a hazy city backdrop. A gold pocket watch slowly dangles in the video’s opening sequence to symbolize the gradual passage of time in an isolated world.

“Joseph and I went to one of my favorite places that I regularly visit whenever I feel down or need a break from the world. It’s my favorite hiking spot in Los Angeles,” said Ania, who climbs throughout the hills while shredding her green Ibanez.

“We used a pocket watch because I wanted to show the concept of time and how it’s always running away from us as creative people. At the same time, it’s also a social construct. It took us a year and a half to finish the video due to complications from the pandemic, but finishing this project proved to me that you have to keep going in spite of what else is happening around you.”

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Highly Combustible – Heavy Metal Supergroup Spirits of Fire Releases Searing Self-titled Debut Album

Spirits of Fire’s Chris Caffery, Steve DiGiorgio, Tim “Ripper” Owens and Mark Zonder

Spirits of Fire knows how to rekindle a heavy metal flame.

The heavy metal supergroup is reigniting fans with the release of their highly combustible self-titled debut album today on Frontiers Music.

Together, Tim “Ripper” Owens (vocals), Chris Caffery (guitar), Steve DiGiorgio (bass) and Mark Zonder (drums) fuse 11 scorching tracks that blaze an invigorating musical trail heavily influenced by Judas Priest, Savatage, Testament and Fates Warning.

“To get a chance to do this record was really special to me, and to work with somebody like Roy Z., who I have always considered to be one of the good, really modern minds of heavy metal, it was just a win-win thing all the way around to have this going and to get a chance to make these songs,” Caffery said.

With the help of Frontiers Music, Caffery teamed up with longtime pal Owens and new friends DiGiorgio and Zonder to form Spirits of Fire in August 2016 and recorded their debut album with renowned Los Angeles-based producer Roy Z.

“I’d say there was about a year in the writing process before we went into the full recording process of it. Then, just because everybody’s on different schedules, it took about another six months to get everything finished, to get the guitars, bass and vocals and everything done, it was finished completely by the beginning of April 2018,” Caffery said.

Spirits of Fire album artwork

In November, Spirits of Fire released their first single, “Light Speed Marching,” a turbocharged heavy metal anthem featuring electrifying guitar solos, pounding drums and surging bass lines. The band also met in downtown Los Angeles last summer to film the video, which features a fast-paced performance in a hot industrial underground setting.

“I was the one who put my foot down to have ‘Light Speed’ as the one that was going to get the video because it’s got a longer guitar solo,” laughed Caffery, who also performs as a solo artist as well as with Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. “I thought it mixed together the instrumental music a little bit better, and it went through Ripper’s voice a little bit better.”

In response to the success of “Light Speed Marching” Spirits of Fire also has released two explosive follow-up singles, the victorious, ready-for-battle masterpiece, “Stand and Fight,” and the personal ode to darkness, “It’s Everywhere,” to spark attention from the heavy metal music community. The band also plans to release a video for “It’s Everywhere” soon.

“There’s a lot of different metal and a lot of different tones in the music on this record,” Caffery said. “I really like ‘Temple of the Soul’ because it comes together in way that I really enjoy the band musically, or when you look at something like ‘Light Speed Marching’ and listen to Ripper just using his full range, there’s a lot of different things that I like for a lot of different reasons.”

In addition to their three powerhouse singles, Caffery admits the band’s signature and self-titled track, “Spirits of Fire,” best captures the feeling, inspiration and approach behind their music. It beautifully weaves the album’s 11 tracks together and provides an intimate look into the band’s musical soul.

“I remember when I first wrote the ‘Spirits of Fire’ song, I took something and added a short description of a character into a thing that was talking about something in a positive way,” Caffery said. “The spirit of fire is the most powerful of the good spirits, so when people would be looking to summon spirits to get rid of evil, they would call for the spirits of fire. That was the most badass, powerful good spirit.”

Luckily, the band remains in good spirits with the release of their debut album and hopes to play festivals later this year to support it.

“I’m hoping this develops as a band so people will want to hear us more and turn around and say, ‘Hey, there’s a week of shows that this guy wants you to do in Brazil with Spirits of Fire,’” Caffery said. “That’s the type of thing I’m looking for, the main things I’m gonna find out or what’s going to happen once it gets out there.”