Read Part I HERE.
Dead Rhetoric: Let Us Prey combines a lot of different sub-genres within metal, did you ever have any concern as to if this would be confusing to grab an audience?
Lopes: That’s a really good question. At first I didn’t care, then I started a care- and then when I started to care, I decided I can’t care. If you do that, then you are not being true to yourself. That was the thing about Let Us Prey that I wanted to be most important- be true to thyselves. I love black metal, power metal, hair metal- you name it and I love it. If I can put it together and it works, then awesome. Is everybody going to like that? No, because you have your purists- and there will be backlash from that. I can sit there and put a Maiden record on, a Cradle of Filth album on, and a Ratt album on- and be content with all of it. If I can make a song that has elements of all those three bands in it, why should there be any rules? The whole sub-genre thing is what’s ruining a lot of the scene, because it’s stupid. To me it’s all metal and there shouldn’t be any kind of rules. Hence the reasoning why there are no more Iron Maiden’s, no more Judas Priest’s, no more Metallica’s, I could keep going down the list because there’s no longevity. I don’t want to hear Master of Puppets for ten straight years on every album. Some people say ‘Iron Maiden will never make another record as good as The Number of the Beast’. Well why do they have to? They already made Piece of Mind. Then they made Powerslave. So I don’t think this makes any sense. I think variety is the spice of life.
Dead Rhetoric: It makes me laugh because a lot of people that get into bands are afraid of these acts willing to expand and take risks once in a while. They get comfortable with a certain niche and they just want the band to churn out the same thing again and again…
Lopes: I had a huge fight with someone online about this… In Flames is a perfect example. Colony is one of my favorite all time In Flames albums. The last album… I love Siren Charms. People lost their shit on that. It’s a great record in itself- of course it’s not like Colony or Whoracle, but they’ve already made those records. Think about it- you are an artist and you’ve been around for over 20 years. Do you want to go through the same thing all the time? I can understand why people sometimes get bitter- if Iron Maiden decided they wanted to play polka, we’d all lose our minds- or if there were no gallops or triplets, we’d be upset. At the same time, Iron Maiden comes out on their new album with “Empire of the Clouds” – they never did that before, so there you go.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your thoughts on the New England metal scene overall – who impresses you most and what changes would you make to improve things overall for all parties?
Lopes: I think the scene is great, there are a lot of great bands. That’s a tough one, I don’t like to play favorites. I think everyone is working hard. My friends like Dead by Wednesday, Death Rattle, Carnivora are great bands, they are always working hard DIY stuff that’s inspiring to me. Especially because I’m kind of the new guy coming back into the scene. They are the guys going out on the road and doing it, that’s admirable. The other night Nightbitch, I like them a lot because they were different- they reminded me of a Danzig meets Deep Purple type of thing, that’s cool.
The scene, the thing about the scene. It’s growing from what I can tell, it’s hard for me to tell with this generation of it. Going to Ralph’s Diner in Worcester for instance, that was really cool- I hadn’t been there for years, and there was a good support system. Justin’s shows in RI- Dusk, Firehouse 13 are starting to pop up. I haven’t been up north but I hear Sammy’s Patio is doing some good stuff too, you have the Wreck Room in New Hampshire. Are there cliques? Yeah, but I’m not into that thing. As far as improving it, my big thing is don’t let anybody do buy-ons, some venues with their buy ticket bullshit, that’s killing it. Oh, you want to open up for Machine Head? Great, here’s a thousand dollars in tickets, go? What- it’s two weeks away? I’ve had that happen to me a thousand times. It’s different when you are selling tickets for your own show, supporting yourself by doing it as an advanced ticket sale. When you have to pay out of pocket out of an already losing money proposition to begin with, definitely not the way to go. I think you should put quality shows on but don’t oversaturate it. If you are playing every other week in the same area, you are oversaturating it and nobody’s going to care. You have to make things an event – I think that’s key. Where everybody wants to go. No different than when Slayer or Maiden are coming to town- it shouldn’t matter the level of bands, every show should be like an event type of vibe.
Dead Rhetoric: Where would you like to see Let Us Prey in terms of a career in the next 1-3 years? Are you fine with staying on a self-financed, independent basis or if you are seeking a record label, what expectations do you have to make things worthwhile?
Lopes: World domination! (laughs). I’m not going to lie, the sky is the limit. I might as well go for it all, we are already doing the self-financed thing, we paid for the record, we paid for amazing artwork, we are into this for a lot of money. Do I care about making it back? Don’t care- it’s an investment in myself. Labels- I will go to anybody that will take it and believe in it and get it out to the world. We are talking to a bunch of labels, management, and booking people from all over the world and seeing what can we do to take this to the next level. I don’t want to do anything else in my life but play metal. I don’t care if I have to play in six cover bands to keep Let Us Prey going, I will. Whatever it takes. It’s going to sound weird, my only reason to be is to play. That’s where I am at peace, that’s where my drive is. I have more fire now than when I was a kid- I wish I knew then what I know now. I want to work with the best people in the business, good people, honest people- a good team of people. Keep building, I’m not looking for any shortcuts or handouts.