Back in time for Sword

DAY

Thirty-four years after releasing an opus entitled Sweet Dreams, Sword is back. The Québécois quartet resonates a new discharge of metal. As if time had stopped.

Listening to III feels like stepping back to the late 1980s, when Rick Hughes, Mike Plant, Mike Larock and Dan Hughes were off to a good start with the albums Metalized and Sweet Dreams.

The group from Saint-Bruno had performed, at that time, as an opening act for Metallica, Motörhead and Alice Cooper.

“Rick showed up at my house with a box of cassettes of models that we had recorded over time. There was good stock in there. I reworked and updated it all. The original goal was to release a three-song EP,” guitarist Mike Plant said in an interview.

The idea of ​​relaunching Sword on an album was materialized after a series of concerts given in 2010.

“ At the Imperial Bell, in Quebec, with Annihilator, in 2011, the roof wanted to go up. It took us almost a week to come down to earth,” said singer Rick Hughes.

Maturity

The reactions were good and the Requests for new material have surfaced on the band's Facebook page. The three songs later became a seven-song opus.

III, says Mike Plant, is a logical sequel to the albums Metalized and Sweet Dreams.

“What has changed is the technology and the maturity acquired over the years. We worked together for the good of the songs, with less flying egos, without foolishness and without stubbornness. It sounds like a ton of bricks and the whole album knocks me down,” he said.

Returning to the past, Mike Plant mentions that the band, in the late 80, had experienced a certain disenchantment.

“It was tough. That's life. Priorities change and we each took our own way,” said the guitarist.

For III, Rick Hugues proposed titles for certain songs and lyricist Rich Eusanio was given carte blanche to write the texts< /p>

(I Am) In Kommand refers to assertiveness and living life without fear and without regrets, Dirty Pig addresses the abuse of power and trust and Unleashing Hell recalls the beginnings of the formation in 1986.

Glue

Mike Plant, according to Rick Hughes, is what allows glue to set.  

“Mike arrives with song ideas and he knows how to recognize those that come from other people. Mike is the leader of Sword,” said the singer.

For Rick Hughes, who has been a backup singer for several television shows and who has been seen in musicals, the sacred fire is still there.

“Music is in our blood. I can't imagine my life without making music. It's part of my daily life. This sting, it's been there since our adolescence and it hasn't changed, ”he mentioned.

Still able to push the note, the singer says he has been careful with his voice, for 20 years, in a sickly way.

“Guitar strings, when they are worn out, we change them, drum skins, when they are worn out, we change them. The vocal cords of the singer must not wear out. I take care of my voice because I want to sing until I'm 90 like Tony Bennett”, he dropped.

The formation wishes, following the publication of III, to attract attention and come back in force on the metal planet.

“Since the launch of the singles (I Am) In Kommand and Dirty Pig, we have received support from all over the world. We'll see what happens,” mentioned Mike Plant.

Sword will kick off 2023 with a tour. Stops are scheduled for January 14 at the Corona in Montreal and on the 15 at the Imperial Bell in Quebec.