Photo: Justin Roszkowski
Niche power metal mavens love American acts like Fifth Angel and Riot who released some classic records during their careers – and that’s what we have hear with this musical project / collaboration in Cleanbreak. James Durbin is a powerhouse vocalist, Mike Flyntz wields mighty guitar riffs and lead breaks, Alessandro Del Vecchio provides bass, keyboards, and backing vocals while Nicholas Papapicco rounds out the band on drums for this second album, We Are the Fire. Assembling some experienced songwriting talent behind the scenes ensures a high-quality final product – hooks abound from stirring anthems to heartfelt ballads and everything in between.
We reached out to James via Zoom to catch up once again on all things related to Cleanbreak. You’ll hear his thoughts on what makes this record different than the debut, specific elements that pushed his abilities and range, what it’s like being a part of the Frontiers Music roster now five plus years, lessons learned being a part of the music business for so long, what’s been on his music playlist as of late, and the importance of intentionality to his career.
Dead Rhetoric: We Are the Fire is the second Cleanbreak album. Outside of the differences behind the rhythm section personnel, where do you see the significant differences or improvements that were made between this set of material and your 2022 debut album Coming Home?
James Durbin: I was just listening to it. Hot take – I know you are supposed to like your newer stuff better. Personally… for all intents and purposes, this is a Frontiers produced supergroup sort of album project band. I’m not necessarily going to call it a band – it’s an album that features myself and Mike Flyntz as the talent in creating this. The songs were written, the songs were delivered, we learned them, and we performed them. With the first Cleanbreak album, I had more stock, I had more investment. We got to do music videos, we got to actually meet each other. And I also got to contribute some songwriting to it.
I had submitted a few songs and compositions for this one, which were not included. It is fun though, because I do contribute material for Durbin and the other things I do. It is fun to get stuff like “Warrior’s Anthem”, the first single, getting to interpret that source material and think of how I can make this my own. Which was quite an enjoyable part of this album making process – probably the most enjoyable part. From a genre difference, this one has more orchestral power metal vibes to it.
Dead Rhetoric: Is it harder for you to be an interpreter, being that you are a songwriter and musician yourself? How are you able to put your own stamp on other people’s material?
Durbin: No, I think it’s easy. It’s a lot easier than having to write (material) yourself. You are writing it, you are figuring out what it is, you release it and then go, oh shit – I would have sung it differently now. When you have time to live with it, when you are learning material, you listen to it, and you are unattached to it. You are learning it as it is, then you figure out different inflections, maybe change things here to make it more melodic. When I was recording this, I was listening to a lot of Foreigner and listening to Lou Gramm live. How he is able to do the runs in some of those songs, change the melody slightly from what you were used to hearing on the radio when you hear it live, I took some of those kinds of influences.
Dead Rhetoric: Have you always been impressed with Foreigner and the range of Lou Gramm? I grew up on that band – not just being a fan of the top radio songs, but the deeper cuts on their albums… I put him up there with Steve Perry as far as abilities…
Durbin: Steve was the master of melodies; from what I have heard he would stick a little closer live to the recorded version of the songs for Journey. Lou would just go off. It was exciting – maybe it had to do with the cocaine (laughs). That could make him put different runs in there. Lou Gramm all the way. I think Lou can be better – then I hear something by Steve, and I go oh my god. Steve Perry, it’s the range that just baffles me. And the note choice. With Lou, it’s the soul. He is more in that Steve Marriott sort of place. His vocals are just underrated, and such a powerhouse, he had such control over his voice in his prime. It’s a beautiful thing to go back and hear these artists.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s it like working with such seasoned artists as Mike Flyntz and Alessandro Del Vecchio in this capacity? Does it make your job easier or harder given the expectations song to song to achieve the best performances you can muster?
Durbin: I think it’s easy at this point. They are seasoned, but I’m also seasoned. I’m a grizzled young vet. I’ve been doing this non-stop for the last 15 years. The majority of that is in the public eye. I just do what I do. There is a lot of effort. When you are trying to record this kind of music, you have to put in 110% effort to get that performance, you are performing for your fans, and you are performing on something that is a studio album with a studio band. I don’t expect anytime soon we will perform these (songs) live together. With that said, you need to have a great impression, and everybody brought it. If that’s the only place you are going to hear this, it’s the only place it’s going to live, and you have to make sure it doesn’t suck. We try our damnedst to make sure it doesn’t suck (laughs).
Dead Rhetoric: Which songs do you believe on this new record took on the greatest evolution or transformation from the initial demo stage to what appears on the final album?
Durbin: Hmm. I’d have to look at the track listing. “Warrior’s Anthem” for sure. “Love Again”. There was another one… there are a couple of songs that are kind of ballad-esque. “Love Again” I tried recording that like ten times on ten different occasions. It was the first song I started recording, and I think it was the last song that I recorded. I couldn’t get the emotion that I wanted. It’s a beautiful song, it reminded me of Muse in a little bit of a way. I really wanted to get that drawn out, Freddie Mercury-like pull in the vocal that isn’t forced but just feels like the words are longing for love again as a prayer, as a hope. To get that to be authentic, I had to be longing for a good vocal take. I was impressed hearing that song for the first time, yeah – I get to sing this! I’m stoked. I sing so much stuff, the same over and over. With my Durbin material, I’m writing it, but I’m living it by what I’m capable of. It’s really nice to get something and get something unexpected. This is beautifully written, and I can’t wait to sing this. For that one to be the hardest one to get right, it was something I’m very happy with how it ended up.
I use my voice so much these days – I’m gigging every weekend, it’s always a different thing. I don’t know if I’m going to be singing for two hours straight, for three hours straight on my own, one of two singers or one of three singers, if that is going to be yacht rock, 70s rock, Journey or Foreigner, pop / rock. There are different variables of where my voice is going to be during the week, and I have the studio time. So many of these songs – on “Warrior’s Anthem” the middle section, there’s a guttural sort of thing where my wife was like, ‘are you okay’? You are going to kill your voice if you are going to do that. I knew what I needed to get the perfect sounding take of this – and then I don’t have to ever sing it again. I need it to have the most force and guts. I popped myself huge when I figured out the high stuff in that song – that happens nowhere else in the song. That’s when it’s fun to interpret – I can take a whole verse and change the melody of things.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you enjoy being a part of the Frontiers Music roster at this point in your career, now that you’ve done a couple of albums with both Durbin and Cleanbreak?
Durbin: I definitely know what to expect with it. I have really enjoyed it. I’ve gotten full creative control of what I want to do with Durbin. It’s like being independent, except they pay you. And all of the advertising, marketing and distribution. Like with anything, when you are working with or working for someone else, there are things that you like, there are things that you don’t like. I’ve been independent before, there are things I would enjoy doing on my own. There are things to explore. But it’s been a great almost five years with Frontiers. As a solo artist with a solo deal. Before that when I was with Quiet Riot, they were with Frontiers. I never really talked with the label, but I met with everybody in Italy in Milan for the Frontiers Rock Fest – where we filmed and recorded One Night in Milan with Quiet Riot. It’s definitely been good – getting to do two Durbin albums, two Cleanbreak albums, a spot on Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall album, and a spot on an Alan Parsons record.
Dead Rhetoric: You mentioned in our previous Cleanbreak talk that you end up doing a lot of musical deep dives with blinders on. Any particular deep dives of note around the metal spectrum or outside of it that have captivated you as of late?
Durbin: Yeah. I’m buddies with Les Carlsen from Bloodgood, so I’ve done deep dives on Bloodgood. I’m getting back into Backyard Babies. I have loved them for about fifteen years now, and I hadn’t listened to them in quite a while. The self-titled album from 2008, People Like People Like People Like Us from 2006. Some Toto, “99”, “I Won’t Hold You Back”, “Patiently” from Journey. What else? Some of the newer Stryper stuff. David Bowie, I hadn’t really gotten him before. With music, I understand it’s a certain time in a certain place. It depends on what you are influenced by and what you are into. I’ve been loving the rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I love music. All my latest listens are MGK, Stryper, Bowie, Edgar Winters, Barren Cross, Hallas, Bad Company. I love metal, but overall, I just love music.
Dead Rhetoric: Does it give you hope as Michael Sweet possesses a great range this deep into his career for Stryper?
Durbin: Yeah, personally I like where his voice is now, for my ears more than where he was when he was younger. And their songwriting is so great, they’ve got such a great lineup. Everyone is contributing, they are super heavy. I played an 80s Christian revival heavy metal festival in Versailles, Ohio a couple of weeks ago with Les from Bloodgood. I opened the third day, solo acoustic, did some Barren Cross, Bloodgood, and Stryper all acoustic, and that was a ton of fun. I received some nice reactions. People have asked me for years to cover Stryper, it would be so cool if you covered them. Digging down past the obvious choices, I would pick something from a 2020 album, I’m going to cover my favorite song. It’s from Even the Devil Believes, “Blood From Above”.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you view the evolution of the arts in current times versus the period when you were growing up going to school with music theater in your background? Are there any words of advice you would offer the youth of today in terms of pursuing their musical, theater, or fine arts dreams based on your experiences?
Durbin: The thing I’ve learned is, if you want to do it, just do it. That’s the kind of thing I was talking about concerning being with a label versus not being with a label. I have different songs that I’ve written. I have songs about my hometown that are beach, coastal pop rock, really super personal songs, and I really want to put those out. Those would just be under James Durbin. I’d be into writing and releasing country songs under a different name. I’ve got a traditional metal band with Durbin. And power metal with Cleanbreak. I did a Judas Priest cover song with David Ellefson that will come out at some point. If I’m playing something, writing something, and it feels good, if I have any possibility of releasing it, you make a way.
You have arguably one of the biggest hip-hop artists make a country album. You have a big pop / rhythm and blues artist make a country album. Country singers will make pop albums, anything in between. Genre doesn’t matter. The only people that limit genre are hardcore fans. The only people that say ‘you aren’t true metal’ are hardcore fans. That’s being a passionate fan. As an artist, you try to make something cool that you like and then other people say that sucks. The people that inspired you in those bands tell you, ‘I love what you are doing – you are amazing’. Wait, what? I’ve met all the bands and musicians; they are the coolest and most humble people. You know that there is no faking the thing. If you are struggling out there to do the thing, you are not a poser.
Do what you love, do what you want to do. If one person enjoys it, that’s more the reason to keep doing it. I do this mentorship thing at my son’s high school, and I’m telling these kids… my son has a YouTube channel, and he makes animation content. There were a few (videos) that were getting 5, 10, 20 views, and he made this one that got 40,000 views, and it boosted his subscribers. Then he made another (video), and it got 1,000 views. Views are views, that is somebody taking their time out of their day to view things, let alone subscribers. It helps the creator be a creator. Just keep creating and don’t get in your own way.
Dead Rhetoric: Now that you are in your mid 30’s, if you could look back and give advice to yourself during your twenties, what areas do you think you would have concentrated on more that would have been beneficial to your well-being and career?
Durbin: Bet on yourself. Being in so many different bands now, I probably would have encouraged myself to be in more bands then also. Because these bands were available. I could have bought a house a lot sooner. But also, be careful of what you wish for. I thought I wanted to be the singer of an established band. I thought that this would be easy. I thought that that would be quick money. And enjoyable work. Boy, was I wrong! (laughs). But it taught me a lot. What I wanted to gain is wisdom. Most large morsels of wisdom are gained from failure. It doesn’t have to be your own failure. It could be from people around you, just listening to others or asking questions. Questioning answers. That mostly…
Being intent. It wasn’t until after Quiet Riot for me that I finally heeded my wife’s own wisdom and her begging me to write down my intentions. I’ve had the same intentions written out on my computer, taped right at eye level in my studio for the past five years. I, James, will and intend to have financially successful tours with an easygoing band. Not specific to anything. And that ended up being James Durbin, unplugged, The Lost Boys, Tainted Love, Metal Street Boys, and five or six bands that are actively performing. This keeps me busy and keeping money in my bank account to pay my mortgage. We have multiple concerts booked every month; with Quiet Riot, we had maybe one concert booked a month. That’s not enough to sustain a family, let alone yourself, living in the state of California. I don’t have to be playing in front of 2,000 people every night. That doesn’t check all the boxes. If I know that I’m taking care of my family, my mortgage and bills are going to be paid, all the necessities are taken care of, without taking on credit card debt to live the dream, that’s not living the dream, it’s making nightmares. I don’t need to worry about that.
If you do what you love, and love what you do, turning your love into your work, you don’t want it to be work, you want it to be fun and enjoyable. Let me entertain and be lifted and fulfilled by the people around me. I share my time and energy around these people, and it is just that. Everybody in these bands is fulfilling, I tell them all the time I am grateful and thankful for them. What more could I ask for, except more of the same.
Dead Rhetoric: Always curious to know how you see the current state of professional wrestling as we are near the end of 2024 between all the major and minor promotional companies? Did any of the big moves surprise you behind the scenes as far as streaming services get involved in the pay-per-view / broadcasting rights game?
Durbin: It’s definitely an interesting go. Nothing is really surprising these days. If anything, I’m more surprised that AEW hasn’t done just yet, they seem to be working with Max to stream their pay-per-view content, but it’s not exclusive. I wonder if you’ll have to pay an extra premium for Max, or if it’s all included with the service. I enjoy wrestling – I am one of those hardcore fans, and I treat it like that. I have friends that work at both companies (WWE and AEW), I know people that work at both companies, and free agents, and at indie companies. I enjoy what I enjoy. There is a lot of good out there. There is meah too in both places, but there is plenty of great in both places. That is wrestling. Some of it’s technical and old school, some of it is high flying, some of it is blood gushing. It’s there for everyone. I like variety. They wouldn’t be doing it if somebody didn’t like it.