 Interviews - On A Pale Horse
06-15-2005, 11:00 PM
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by Warren Riker
June 15, 2005
 One listen to On A Pale Horse’s latest offering and you’ll have no doubt that the Iowa-based corn-fed colossuses and Grammy-winning producer Warren Riker (Crowbar, Down, Santana, The Fugees, Michael Jackson, etc) go together like bacon n’ eggs. Setting up shop in a farm in the center of middle-of-nowhere Iowa, Riker and band took full advantage of a frozen-in-the-70’s studio which featured huge empty grain silos and an old wooden barn which doubled as organic echo chambers. To anyone that has heard the record, the result is HUGE. Hellride coerced Mr. Riker to pose a few questions to the OAPH boys - Josh Brainard (guitars), Jerry Spargur (guitars), Jeremy Easley (bass), Aaron Peltz (vocals) and Nick Svoboda (drums) - about their sordid experiences. And they happily oblige.
Warren Riker: Sooo… how does it feel to work with such an amazingly talented, spiritually uplifting, mind expanding and all around good-looking guy such as your producer?
Aaron Peltz: The best thing about the session was working with someone that understands the direction you're going for and in the end we got it done without having a lot of time to work with. Warren is one of the bro's now and that will never change. I can't wait until the next record.
Josh Brainard: Warren is the jam in my jelly roll. Seriously- creative and knowledgeable... fun to work with, down to earth. And he plays some mean ass Tony Hawk.
Jeremy Easley: Working with Warren was very interesting, but not nearly as stressful as I thought it would be. Most of the recording was more of a blood-rush most of the time. We experimented with lots of different ideas. Warren is full of new ideas. Some a lil’ scary. For expample: walking around through pitch-black fields while a cougar is stalking us, it was so dark you couldn’t see it but you could hear it dashing through the high grass. If you listen close to the album you can hear our lil’ experiments all over the place. We mic’d everything we could around juniors. Windmills, cornbins, cornsilos, haunted barns, lil’ ghost girls, and basically anything and everything we had a mic on at one time while we were recording. Warren opened up our minds and we looked at the music and what it could be this time around instead of rushing and just putting it on tape to have it done. His techniques are new to my eyes and all the ideas he had made our album so big. I can’t wait to do another album.
Nick Svoboda: Working with Warren was quite an experience. From being locked in our studio for two hot days in pre-production, to driving to the studio at ten o'clock at night and convincing Warren he needs to move to
Iowa and become a farmer, running into problems at the studio at un-godly hours of the night, cutting all drums tracks in one long, grueling day, buying a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of rum at the grocery store at 10AM, running snakes and mic's out to grainbins at 3 AM, and finally openin' a can of whoop ass on him while playing a little Madden '04. It was one of the greatest times I have had, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Warren was awesome. Our album will attest to that.
Warren Riker: Aaron, how many times did it feel as if your head was gonna pull a Michael Bolten and pop right off your shoulders whilst doing vocals?
Aaron: It was more like giving myself a hernia.
Warren Riker: Jeremy, how many Canadian cops did you get pulled over by while your producer to get more beef Jerky?
Jeremy:  Yes we were pulled over twice for looking stupid and maybe speeding just a little, but all was well and I almost made 20 bucks from Warren to drop trou on the side of the interstate in front of my van and just let my shit go. I had some a bad stomach bug that had been going around the band and the patrol man just pulled us over at the wrong time. We made the trip, got the beef jerky and secured the jerky in the car and made our way back to the states. An experience it surely was!!
Warren Riker: Nick, being the youngest and brightest member of the group, how is it that you have the least amount of hair on your head?
Nick: well, I think the question explains the answer. My brain is sooo large, that my hair folicles don't have room to grow. Or it could be that I choose to shave my head so I can look like my boy Telly Savalas. I'll have to check into it.
Warren Riker: Josh, if you were to become the next guitar player in KISS, what character would you be? (i.e. Peter Criss =cat, Ace=spaceman)
Josh: I would like to be the Grim Reaper in Kiss. I like to reap.
Warren Riker: Jerry, what do you think that black guy standing behind me the whole time I was cutting guitar tracks with you wanted?
Jerry Spargur: He wanted me to tell you that he is your real father, and he is sorry that you got screwed in the sausage department. Hang in there bro' it will grow someday.
Post-script from Mr. Riker: Making this record was an enlightening experience to say the least… everyone in this band rocks as hard as anybody I’ve ever worked with, and that includes Destiny’s Child… now go buy the record and bang your fuckin’ head!!!
 Purchase On A Pale Horse and Black is Not the Darkest Colour at the Hellride Music Superstore
Download a MP3 of Amplify The Circle
Read the Hellride review of On A Pale Horse and Black is Not the Darkest Colour
Visit the On A Pale Horse website at www.onapalehorse.com
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