PEGAZUS

Can you start off by telling us a little about how Pegazus was born, and why Pegazus continues to exist?

The band was originally a project that my brother Robbie (drums) and I had been working on since around 1989-90. It was so hard around that time to find the right guys that wanted to be a part of a True Metal band so we played around in other bands doing Metal covers, while in the meantime we still worked on Pegazus material in the background. It’s wasn’t ‘til late 1993 that we came across our first vocalist Justin Fleming and bass player Dave King, this I guess is when Pegazus officially became a band, and soon after we were rehearsing the original material that I had been writing for the band over the years. The main reason that we decided to create Pegazus was because Robbie and I have always, and still are to this day, been huge Heavy Metal fans of the Real Metal from the early ‘80s NWOBHM era. To this day, this is the music we are still listening to in large doses on a daily basis and nothing gives us more pleasure than playing what we totally have lived and breathed for years and to have so many people appreciating what we do... that is so cool!

What is the symbolism behind the Pegazus, and why does Pegazus choose to incorporate this creature?

The mythological horse Pegazus was originally the idea I got from my high school days because it was the symbol for our school in a shield, and since those days I knew that it was going to be the name of this band. It has such a strong and powerful feeling around it which is something I personally have believed that Heavy Metal is about... “The united force of Heavy Metal fans, together as one!”

When you formed Pegazus, did you see a particular niche in modern Metal that wasn’t being fulfilled?

We’ll, I’ve never personally been blown away with much of the new Metal music from the ‘90s and I wasn’t all that interested in it either to be honest, but I wasn’t the only one who felt like this. I was, and still am, listening to my favourite bands and albums from the ‘80s. This to me was such a great era where there were so many great mind blowing bands and albums. You could listen to anything from Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Dio, Ozzy, Deep Purple and it all has that original Metal sound about it. These days most ‘90s bands’ albums sound over produced with computers playing the drum tracks most of the time and practically everything else. We are just happy to plug in and really play with the True Raw Power of Real Heavy Metal, whether it be in the studio or cranking it up live. After all, there are still so many classic Metal fans out there like ourselves who are in need for bands like Pegazus.

The Pegazus debut live performance in 1994 broke the venue’s attendance record I believe.

Yes it did, and what a night that was! There was something like 300 people all crammed and squashed inside this little venue that was supposed to hold no more than about 200 and in they kept bringing them. It blew us away ‘cause we totally didn’t expect it to be like that for our first show because all other local original bands on the scene around that time were only pulling in anywhere from 10 to 50 people.

A few successful gigs later, the Pegazus debut self-titled album was recorded... in only six days! Was this a positive aspect, helping with spontaneity and so forth, or was it more of a hindrance recording in such a short time period?

It was a bit of a hindrance at the time because we didn’t really have the money to record for as long as we might need and there was always a huge amount of pressure involved to get everything done in that short time, but I think in the end the album turned out to be great and a good experience. It also brought us a lot of rawness and spontaneity from the band which is something that I like a lot from Metal bands’ recordings! Besides, it only cost us $600 to record and that’s all!!

How was the debut album received by the Metal-buying public? I believe the album entered the ‘Metal Labyrith’s Top 10’...

It sold really well throughout Melbourne, putting us into the Metal Labyrinth Top 10 album charts for about 17 weeks. That was another thing that really blew us away but at the same time it was a great indication to us that so many Metal fans out there also believed in the band so much and that was a great feeling and a positive look on the future! To this day we are still selling hundreds of copies of the first album overseas and the reactions to it have always been really great.

Following the release of your self-titled album, Pegazus played two gigs at the Palace Entertainment Complex in Melbourne to crowds in excess of 1000 people. That must have been a great experience.

It’s totally wild when you are backstage getting ready to go on stage and you can hear the audience yelling out in their hundreds. You walk out on stage, the crowd is now much louder, the curtain opens and it’s total Metal mayhem right to the end... fucking wicked!

Two video clips were produced for the first album, namely ‘Pain Is My Friend’ and ‘Our Father And The Holy Ghost’. How did these eventuate?

In early 1995, we were in touch with a friend of ours who now produces the ‘Metal Warriors’ video magazine and it was then that we were asked by him to do the two video clips for the songs, which were also to feature on his first video magazine along with many other Melbourne Metal bands. That was the deal I guess, he did the two clips for us at no charge and he got to use them on his video mag.

It was around this time that your vocalist Justin Fleming decided to leave the band. Was this split foreseeable/inevitable?

Justin was having a few personal problems at the time and they went on for a good half of the year. It was he himself who came to us after a band rehearsal and explained that he was in a different frame of mind music wise ‘cause of his problems and he personally suggested that he should leave and let the band carry on without him. We respected him for his openness about the whole situation and to this day we still regard him as a very good friend who was also a very important part of this band’s history.

After Justin’s departure, Pegazus continued on as a three piece, with yourself taking over vocals. What was that experience like?

I used to sing lead vocals and play guitar in a three piece band called The Boys In Black for a few years with my brother Robbie and a different bass player. We used to do Metal covers by Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metallica, Nazareth, and Thin Lizzy, etc... so it wasn’t a really awkward episode for me to take over on lead vocals for a while. I was the only songwriter in the band at the time, so singing the songs that I wrote was pretty okay and cool and the audiences at the shows really enjoyed the slightly different Pegazus look of being a three piece. We played around in this format for about 3 to 4 months, and then found new vocalist Danny Cecati. Anyway, it was time to get back into the natural and normal swing of things but the three piece moment was fun!

In May 1996, new vocalist Danny Cecati joined the band. Had he previously been in other bands with any member of Pegazus?

About a month earlier I received a phone call from Danny asking me about the lead vocal position, so he came to our last gig as a three piece and it was there that we talked and discussed things and it’s then that Danny really showed that he wanted so much to be a part of Pegazus. Then as you already know, he officially joined the band in May 1996. He never actually was in any other band with members of Pegazus, but we did know each other over the years in the Melbourne live scene from playing in different bands that played and frequented the same venues a lot. I think we’ve known each other though for about 4 or 5 years before he joined the band, and in the past when I was forming Pegazus in late ‘93, he was first approached to join, but he too had difficulties to deal with so it wasn’t possible and I think he is still pissed off with himself about not joining Pegazus in the first place!

Shortly after, the now-cult tape sampler ‘Metalbound’ was recorded. Was this done mainly to showcase the new Pegazus line-up?

It was recorded and released exactly for that purpose, for the band’s current and newer fans to have a sample of a couple of new songs that would feature on the new album ‘Wings of Destiny’, with the new vocals of Danny being heard by many for the first time. We also recorded on the B-side two of our favourite covers that we had been playing at live shows, they were Black Sabbath’s ‘Symptom of the Universe’ and Judas Priest’s ‘Victim of Changes’. These were put on the tape for the die-hard Pegazus fans and most of all ourselves!

After a few more live performances, Pegazus once more entered the studio to record the second full-length album, ‘Wings of Destiny’.

We entered the studio in March 1997 with a bigger and more comfortable budget to record the best album we possibly could for about $6000, which to many is still not a professional recording budget, but we were three unemployed guys out of four with a strong desire and little money, and this amount was like having a million dollars! We were so determined and in the studio for 15 days this time around and we had a great time recording with less stress and pressure than the first recording. I think it shows on the finished product, we knew so much this time from our first recording experience, so it was a great step of learning and growth for the band.

Shortly, you decided to send a copy of ‘Wings of Destiny’ to Nuclear Blast Records in Germany. Also could you tell us a little about why ‘Wings of Destiny’ was released with two different albums covers?

After we finished recording and mixing the album, we didn’t get to master it ‘til around August ‘cause we didn’t have enough money, and then it took us ‘til November to do the CD booklet layout and album cover because again we had difficulty coming up with the money needed to do all this and the pressing of CDs. It was due to a very close friend of ours who believed in the band so much that he instantly offered us to borrow the money to press 500 copies, so that we could have it out on sale and to start shopping it around for a deal. Time was running out and Christmas was approaching and we really thought that there wasn’t going to be many opportunities for us and we were even offered to have it released by a small distribution company in The Netherlands, so we were going to go with that, then shortly after the New Year, I got a phone call from Nuclear Blast and they were completely blown away with the new CD. They wanted to instantly sign the band to a six album deal and after many, many weeks of negotiations, we finally settled on a very good deal which we were both very happy with. The one and only thing the label did not like about the album though was its original album cover, so after many talks we decided to have it released with a new album cover, but only with a design that we were in full control of designing and that is why there are two versions of the album available. It will never happen again though! Besides, the Australian pressing has been very popular and in high demand with the die-hard Pegazus fans and collectors overseas.

Being signed to a major label like Nuclear Blast is a major accomplishment for any band, especially one from Australia.

Well, we too were very surprised to be getting a call from the label because usually it’s the other way around with the bands calling them and having to try and get a break like that, but we were very fortunate I guess and probably in the right place at the right time. We are so rapt to be on one of the world’s best and most happening Metal labels and it’s also great to have been noticed the way we did from an unbiased view too. After all, when we started this band, Heavy Metal was considered dead and old fashioned by many and we just ignorantly stick to our guns, believed in ourselves and what we were doing and now finally an opportunity has come our way, probably for all the hard work we have put in over the years. One major thing we are real proud of is the fact that while there were also many non-believers in the beginning, at least we never jumped on any bandwagon or current trend.

Early 1998, the first Pegazus tour of Europe commenced, including some major festivals with the likes of Dimmu Borgir, Savatage and Blind Guardian.

Well, it wasn’t actually early ‘98 but more like August when we first went over to Germany to play two of their major Metal festivals. The first one we did was the Wacken Open Air along with the abovementioned bands and about another 50 bands over the two days (Friday and Saturday). It was the greatest experience playing to about 25,000 Metal fans on the main party stage. It was the coolest! With also being big fans of Metal bands ourselves, we got the great opportunity to see Savatage, Blind Guardian, Doro, and Warrior live. The next show we did was the Rockhard Festival on the Sunday where we played on the bill with Savatage again and also Stratovarious, we even got to hang out with the Savatage guys all day and chatted about the good possibility that they may even consider coming to Australia to play in the future... let’s hope!

At the Wacken Open Air Festival, you had to play back to back sets after a late cancellation. What happened?

Our original and only scheduled show was for late afternoon Saturday and on Thursday night just after arriving in Germany, we were asked by our label if we would like to play on the Friday as well as the Saturday because one of the bands who were supposed to play on the Wet stage in the tent cancelled. I don’t know why they did, but we took the opportunity to do the show as a warm up for our show on the bigger open stage on Saturday. It really turned out great for us doing two shows at Wacken ‘98.

After Pegazus returned from Europe, you got word that you were requested for a full-scale European tour with Hammerfall.

Well, we were only in Germany for about a week and a half to play at the festivals, and then as we got home we were soon after informed that we were requested to be on the Hammerfall European tour which was to commence in early October and last for about 4 weeks. At the time we were originally going to start work and pre-production on new songs for our next album, but this was something we definitely weren’t going to pass on. We only just recently came back from this actual European tour and it was totally awesome, travelling throughout 7 countries, being Germany, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and The Netherlands, and playing 21 shows within 24 days on the road. The crowd reactions and responses were totally mind blowing and never will we forget our first touring experience of Europe with the great expectations of playing there on a regular yearly basis!

What’s in store for the future of Pegazus? (What else is there?!?)

We are now in progress on working on the new songs for our next album, which we will be recording here in Melbourne around April ‘99 and maybe even mixing and mastering it in Germany soon after. The label is expecting to release it around July/August with a European tour to possibly take place from September/October. Depending on the success and album sales from the next release, the label is also highly looking at us touring Japan, the USA, South America and Canada late in ‘99. This is something that we are now totally striving for, to reach the True Metal fans all over the globe as far as we can possibly go... where no Australian Metal band has gone before... the Twilight Zone!! Ha Ha!!!

Any last words?

We would really like to truly thank all the true Pegazus fans and Metal fans around Australia who have totally believed and supported us and continue to do so! We will proudly continue to do what we believe in and do for the greatness of Australian Metal well into the future and many, many years of the new millennium. ‘Long Live the Australian Heavy Metal Invasion!’ Best Wishes and Metal Forever!!!