{"id":1465,"date":"1986-10-01T00:00:17","date_gmt":"1986-10-01T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2012-02-18T02:19:16","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T02:19:16","slug":"feature-white-wolf-mf20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-white-wolf-mf20\/","title":{"rendered":"WHITE WOLF – No Strangers To Danger (MF20, 1986) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHITE WOLF – No Strangers To Danger<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nDave Reynolds<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 20 (1986)<\/span><\/p>\n

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White Wolf (l-r): Loris Bolzon, Cam MacLeod, Don Wilk, Les Schwartz and
Rick Nelson<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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If I\u2019d only been able to stay in the US for a couple of weeks more I\u2019d have been able to lig with White Wolf members Cam MacLeod (guitar \/ vocals) and Don WiIk (vocals \/ keyboards) in the spacious offices of RCA in Manhattan, rather than making conversation with \u2019em over the transatlantic hotline. Such is life eh?<\/p>\n

From Edmonton, Canada, White Wolf are currently watching the sales figures rise for their recently released Endangered Species<\/em> album, the band\u2019s second, and it\u2019s doing very nicely for them. Cam: \u201cOh, in the States it\u2019s doing well; it\u2019s climbing really well in the Billboard charts. As we speak, it\u2019s currently at number 154 and that\u2019s not bad for an album that\u2019s been out for only six weeks. I\u2019m happy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video for the single cut off the LP, namely \u2018She\u2019, appears to be enjoying some good airplay from what I\u2019ve seen of it on MTV and U-68\u2019s \u2018Power Hour\u2019 in New York. Cam: \u201cYeah, that\u2019s good. The video\u2019s based around the girl who likes to get everything and if she sees something better she\u2019ll go for it. I actually prefer the video for \u2018Shadows In The Night\u2019 from our first album better though!\u201d<\/p>\n

What made you decide to record Endangered Species<\/em> in Holland? Cam: \u201cWell the cost wasn\u2019t any factor. Being over in Europe we had more of a relaxed atmosphere and a place that had much more of a feel; in Canada it\u2019s too choppy. Our producer, Shell Schellikens, wanted us to go there because he knew the studio, so that\u2019s another reason. It was a very good learning experience for us and we actually recorded far more songs than those that made the album. We wrote 40 songs and recorded 20. I think we\u2019ll be playing some of the unreleased stuff live as there\u2019s a couple of really good songs in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to admit that I was pretty disappointed with Endangered Species<\/em>, considering the band\u2019s debut album Standing Alone<\/em> (released in 1984 after delays caused by name changes \u2013 the band were called Warrior at one point) was so good, employing a gutsy, raw, metal sound aided with some good use of melody \u2013 check out stuff like \u2018What The War Will Bring\u2019, \u2018Night Rider\u2019 and \u2018Trust Me\u2019 for example. Endangered Species<\/em> seems to be a step back into the \u201970s, material wise at least. Cam: \u201cOur first album was really a demo tape, recorded over a three year period done in two sessions with two different producers (Jack Richardson and ex-Hammersmith man Dan Lowe). That album did have a much rawer feel to the production. There are \u201970s influences on our second album, we grew up then and that\u2019s definitely where our influences come from, but I think it\u2019s got a very \u201980s production.\u201d I\u2019d have to agree with him there, maybe!<\/p>\n

So how did the first album do? Cam: \u201cIt hit 180,000 in the United States, went Top 20 in Japan and did fairly well in Canada. We reached number 143 on Billboard with very little airplay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you see the cover art it got blessed with here in the UK?! Cam: \u201cYeah, we hated it. We couldn\u2019t believe it when we saw it. The US branch of RCA rejected that, it was pretty disappointing to see that it came out with that horrible, sickly looking cover in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think RCA in the UK cared anyway, they never do with hard rock acts, unlike RCA in America who have achieved considerable success with our favourite form of music. Sign up some more eh?<\/p>\n

So, at this point Don Wilk comes on the line to have his say. Wilk is pretty much the band\u2019s frontman (the rest of White Wolf is comprised of Rick Nelson \u2013 guitar, Les Schwartz \u2013 bass and Loris Bolzon \u2013 drums), having been with the outfit since its inception six years ago. \u201cNone of us have recorded with other bands,\u201d says Don. \u201cWe all started together, although I was offered a job with Streetheart a couple of times.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how do White Wolf compare live to on vinyl? Don: \u201cIt\u2019s pretty close. Obviously there are certain things that we can\u2019t reproduce live, but most of it we can, vocally for instance. I think we\u2019re a lot heavier and raunchier live, the songs can become more direct and forward. On our second album we cleaned things up a bit compared to the rawness of the debut, but times are changing and the raw element in music isn\u2019t really there anymore in the studio. We\u2019re happy with Endangered Species<\/em> and it gives us room to move, to help to bring the band on to the next level. Catering for a radio sound is very important these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

I do tend to agree on this point because in North America radio airplay is usually the medium that makes or breaks a band, unlike in Europe where the radio is far too pop-oriented, so it\u2019s rock magazines that do all the pushing.<\/p>\n

Currently, White Wolf are preparing for what Don describes as \u201ca major US onslaught\u201d, planning to tour for a least seven to eight months, intending also to visit Japan where they have built up quite a following. RCA are also negotiating on getting the band to tour as support to one or two major bands, although nothing as yet is being confirmed.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s any indication that White Wolf are intending to sell-out to make it, then I can assure you that it\u2019s not so. Both men feel proud of being in a heavy metal \/ hard rock band and express a lifelong desire to play support to Deep Purple one day. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t mind supporting Dio, the Scorpions or Def Leppard either,\u201d says Don. And on the subject of selling out he says: \u201cwe\u2019re sticking to our roots and those are hard rock bands.\u201d Glad to hear it.<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 20 (1986)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WHITE WOLF – No Strangers To Danger Dave Reynolds Metal Forces, Issue 20 (1986) White Wolf (l-r): Loris Bolzon, Cam MacLeod, Don Wilk, Les Schwartz and Rick Nelson If I\u2019d only been able to stay in the US for a couple of weeks more I\u2019d have been able to lig with White Wolf members Cam […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-white-wolf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4268,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions\/4268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}