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April 2001
When I heard that Omen had reformed in 1996, I was
absolutely delighted. The band’s first three records, released back in the
early and mid-80s, are certified metal classics, and Warning of Danger is
truly one of my favorite records. But the album produced by the 90s version of
Omen was ultimately disappointing, with a modern sound that strayed from the
epic, melodic metal that the band offered on albums like The Curse.
I was relieved to learn that Omen guitarist Kenny Powell was unhappy with the
"new Omen” and that he wanted to get back to the classic metal sound of the 80s albums.
Now, armed with a new singer and a burning commitment to old school Omen metal,
the band is back to what they do best: creating brilliant epic metal for the legions
of Omen fans worldwide. Kenny took some time from his busy recording schedule
to talk to me about the band’s history, their return to metal glory on their forthcoming record, and the bright future that is ahead for these metal warriors. Read on to learn just about anything you ever wanted
to know about Omen!
Into the arena...
 You’re recording your new album now, right? How’s that going?
Yes, we’re in the middle of recording Eternal
Black Dawn right now. Let’s see, as we speak, drum tracks are fairly
well finished, bass tracks are finished, and I’m working on rhythm guitars. I’m
trying to get back to doing something that I can really be proud of and
something that’s a little bit more original Omen.
Back to the old school?
Yeah, back to the old school, because the old school
was pretty damn fun, you know? It’s pretty easy sometimes to get
caught up in trying to be cool or trying to be "now," and sometimes you just
have to do what you do best. You’re better off, and I haven’t done what I do
best, really, since The Curse, as far as I’m concerned.
I can see that. That record was the pinnacle probably...
It was for me, because we had a nice budget, we did
most of the record at Capitol Records, we had 48 tracks. I wasn’t really
rushed, and I could sit down and really work on my guitar playing and the
songwriting. That was probably the pinnacle record for me, for sure.
The record sounded great. You and Bill Metoyer worked on
that one together.
Me and Bill were bros, and we may try to bring Bill
out to mix this new one. It depends on finances and time constraints. We’ve
talked a couple of times, and if the point comes where we’re ready to mix and
he’s not in the middle of something, we’re going to fly him out and try to mix
this thing together. I’d really love to work with him again.
So you guys are doing the record in your own studio. That’s a
pretty nice luxury to have at this point in your career.
It is a luxury, and it’s taken several years to evolve
it to the point where it’s starting to turn into a pretty cool little studio.
After this record is done, I’m probably going to start recording some other
bands.
Would you produce them yourself?
Yeah! I love producing. Sometimes I think I love
producing more than playing; it’s a whole different thing. I’m a lot more
relaxed as a producer, sitting there and being objective to the whole overall
thing. When I’m just playing, I’m a lot more hyper and I’m not as objective.
There’s probably a point at some time where I might get heavily into producing,
but I still want to play for a few more years. We’ve been writing the cool
stuff that’s…well, I’m not going to say it’s going to sound exactly like
Battle Cry, but it’s more technical and it’s more musical and
more of that same theme. Might have a little more crunch to it, might be a
little crisper, but I think the old fans are really going to like this thing.
Great! More of the old style!
Yeah, more of the old style, not letting anybody else
telling me what to play, and just playing. I guess I’m a little more of a dick
on this record! [laughs] Because I tried to compromise for two or three
records, and I can look back on it, the last 10 years or whatever that I
played, and I’m like, "Y’know, when I was a lot more headstrong…" I’m proud of
those older records, and I didn’t really know if anybody else really cared about
the damn things, you know? And I’ve started to see lately that there are people
out there who are like, "I grew up on this" or "I still listen to it everyday,"
and it’s like, "Whoah!" It kind of reinforced my thoughts of what kind of music
I should be playing.
Why do you think that old the old Omen stuff is so enduring?
Because those are classic records in a lot of circles, particularly Europe...
Oh yeah, Europe…I was shocked, because I didn’t know.
We never played Europe when the classic Omen lineup was together. We were
supposed to go two or three times, and little piddly shit knocked us out at the
last minute. So I really had no clue until we went over in `97 with the Reopening
the Gates record, and all of a sudden every night at the bus there are
50 or 60 kids with everything from demo tapes of stuff that I forgot I ever
wrote to every record. And young kids, 18- and 19-year-old kids were like "Omen
rules!" And I thought, "Wow, I didn’t waste all those long nights in the
studio, writing songs and eating Top Ramen. Somebody actually did care."
Have you got a record label lined up to release Eternal Black
Dawn?
We’re not quite sure what we’re going to do yet. We’re
going to finish it on our own, and then go for the best deal. It’s not going to
be a problem getting a deal. There’s a couple of things that we could
definitely do right now, but last time we didn’t really get the record out in
the U.S., it was a European-only thing. We’ve talked to Metal Blade a little
bit; there may be a possibility of going back there. Whatever we do, I want to
make sure there’s distribution in the U.S. and in Europe.
 And you toured Europe briefly in support of Reopening the Gates.
That was when you were on Massacre Records.
Yeah, we went with Fates Warning. I think we did about
23 shows. It was a cool tour, and we had a great time. It was great to get over
to Europe and see all the kids, all the young kids who had Omen records. It
tripped me out! Like I said, we were supposed to go twice in the 80s, but
little technical things knocked us out, so it was a long time coming. I wish I
could’ve gotten there a lot sooner.
Did you have a tough time deciding what to play when you were over
there? I know you wanted to promote the new record, but the old stuff...
Well, we started out playing about half of the new
record, Reopening the Gates, and about half old stuff. But after
fan reaction, it took about three shows to where we were playing 80% old stuff
and 20% from the new record. And I understand that...I mean, if I go see some
classic band, I want to hear the songs I grew up with. So I really understand
that, and it wasn’t really a problem.
Did that influence your decision at any point to make you think
"Well, I like this new aggressive stuff, but the older stuff is really
cool...", that the old stuff was what you wanted to be playing?
It didn’t influence my personal decision, because I
really wanted to do the classic sound. I’d been a little more compromising [on Reopening
the Gates]. My son was singing, he was a young kid, and he was into a lot
more newer-sounding stuff. There was a little more of a compromise to try to
write songs that everybody felt good with. I personally wanted to make the
record as Omen as possible, and [playing the old stuff on the tour] just
reinforced that for me. It was time to decide that I needed to find another
singer. I mean, he’s my son, and I love him, but he needed to go his way and I
needed to do what I wanted to do. So I found Kevin (Goocher, vocals) and he’s
totally into the classic Omen sound, and that’s what we’re going after now.
 And Kevin can handle all the old stuff? Maybe not step into J.D.’s
shoes, exactly, but...
Before we even gave Kevin a permanent spot in the
band, I brought him in and we didn’t even work on new material. We worked up
about 10 old songs and just played an unannounced local gig, because I didn’t
want someone that couldn’t handle the old stuff. So before it was a permanent
thing, we just brought him in and said, "OK, here’s the old stuff, let’s see if
you can do that." And when he pulled that off, then I handed him some new
music, basically writing the same way I always have, which is writing the music
to the song and then letting the singer come in and finish it off. And he was
stellar at that. I gave him four songs and asked him to come back the next
night with one, and he came back the next night with all four of them! I think
he’s going to be perfect for the band.
So is that the way you wrote songs on the early albums...you did the
music, and would you do the lyrics as well?
Well, on the very first Omen record, I wrote lyrics to
a couple of the songs. A few of those songs were originally Savage Grace songs.
But I’m not really that comfortable being the lyricist. I mean, I can do it,
but it’s just not my forte, and it’s so stressful for me, because I don’t want
it to be stupid [laughs]. Like "Oh he’s writing the lyrics? Well, those suck!"
So with the traditional Omen, on the first three or four records, we would
write the music and then I would hand the tapes over to J.D. (Kimball, vocals) and
he’d come in with lyric ideas. I would always tweak `em, I always have an input
on `em, but I prefer to work with somebody who’s going to handle their end of
that, as long as it’s in the vein of what we’re doing.
Right, there was a medieval flavor to a lot of the lyrics.
Exactly. And I’ve usually got my hands full. I’m
usually producing or co-producing, and on the last record and this one I’m
full-on producing and engineering. So I don’t really need to be trying to write
lyrics and play guitar and produce and engineer. I had to
do a lot of that on the last record, I had to write a lot of lyrics and stuff,
and it didn’t really turn out to be a very fun experience. It was a little bit
too much of a load.
I think it’s often good for the singer to write lyrics, since he’s
going to be carrying the vocal lines.
Right. You want him to do something that he’s comfortable with.
So you and Jody wrote most of the music for the first few Omen
albums?
Typically Jody wrote about one song per record. Well,
actually I wrote almost all of The Curse at my mother’s house. We
had just come off tour and I went to my mother’s house in Oklahoma and sat on
the front porch with my red Charvel, unplugged, and wrote 95% of the music for The
Curse, with no amp. I just sat there and picked it out, then we went
back to L.A. and we worked up the tunes, and then J.D. came in and we did the
lyrics. That’s generally how it worked: writing the music and then giving it to
the singer.
Is that the way you’re handling Eternal Black Dawn?
Actually, we had written probably over half of the
stuff for this record musically before we hired Kevin. We were looking for a
singer, so we just started writing music. We brought in two or three guys and
looked at them, and Kevin definitely had the most traditional Omen sound. He
really seemed to be into it, a hard worker. That’s what I wanted to find,
somebody who wanted to put out the same kind of effort that I was.
So did you put out an ad or an open call for a vocalist, or did
you just go to a couple of clubs and say, "That guy would be good, let’s steal
him."
Well, we didn’t put out an open call at all, because I
just didn’t want to deal with all that. I’ve been around Dallas, and I’ve seen
a couple of singers in bands around here over the years. We tried this other
guy, Matt (Story). He had a great voice, but his work ethic wasn’t really that
heavy, and I really didn’t want to get back into being the person that had to
write the lyrics again. And we’d known Kevin forever; he’d been around in bands
around Dallas. So Andy (Haas, bass) said, "You know, we really need to try
Kevin." I didn’t know, but we brought him over and I was blown away. I mean,
he’s not Geoff Tate, but his voice is great and he’s into the traditional Omen
sound. He’s more of a Dio type of voice, with a little bit of J.D. thrown in
there. I don’t think anybody’s going to be disappointed.
You recorded a few tracks with Matt Story on vocals, right?
Yeah, we did a couple of tracks for this Iron Maiden
tribute thing, and Matt sang on one of those. Matt has a great voice and he’s
still a close friend, but his job was taking up so much of his time. It was
going to be like it was on Reopening where I would have to try to
write lyrics and melodies and stuff, and I just didn’t want to go through that again.
 What Iron Maiden tune did you cover?
We did "Murders in the Rue Morgue," and Jason McMaster
from Dangerous Toys sang on it. He’s an old friend of mine; I’ve known him
since the early Omen days. We see each other occasionally. Actually, we didn’t
even see each other for that. We recorded the music and sent it down to him in
Austin, and he did the vocals and sent it back. But I see him from time to time
when he comes through town, and we’re old friends from the old L.A. days, we
used to hang out together then.
So this was after Watchtower, because they were from Texas, too.
Yeah, that was early Dangerous Toys, right around
their first record probably. But Jason’s a good friend of mine, so he sang
"Murders." It was a low-budget, quickie thing, but it was fun, for sure.
And you recorded a track called "War of the Gods" with Matt Story
on vocals. Was that a one-off thing that got released nowhere, or is that song
going to be released anywhere?
Actually, it ended up on that Maiden tribute. What
happened was, everybody did a Maiden song and then an original. So that’ll be
the end with it; it was a one-off thing.
Oh, I didn’t know that song actually got put out.
Yeah, it was a two-CD set on a really small label. [Twilight Records 1999]
Well, there are so many Maiden tributes out now, it’s hard to keep
track!
Exactly! [laughs]
What was the title of the one you were on?
I think it was Maiden America. It was a
fun thing, and it was kind of an interim there where we weren’t really doing
anything, so it kind of got us back writing again.
So how did you get signed up to do the project in the first place?
Actually, one of the bands that was on this label—and
forgive me, but I don’t remember what the name of the label is right now, it’s
been a year and a half—but one of the bands had done a couple of Omen songs on
their first CD. I don’t remember if we got in touch with them or if they got
touch with us, but we started talking through that, and they said, "We’re doing
this Maiden thing. Do you guys want to do a tune on it?" And we said, "Sure!"
I know that Sacred Steel did a cover of "Battle Cry."
Yeah, I think that’s the band. I mean, don’t hold me
to that…it’s been almost two years. I don’t even know if I have a copy of the
CD anymore. But it was flattering for sure; it was the first time I’d heard
anybody cover an Omen song. It was cool. I had the CD at one time, but I don’t
know what happened to it. They didn’t do a bad job on it.
OK, so the new Omen lineup includes you and Kevin, and you’ve got
Andy Haas on bass, from back in the Step Child days.
I’ve been playing with Andy for over 10 years now. It
doesn’t seem like it; time flies by. He was the first person I hooked up with,
and me and him formed Step Child together. Yeah, I’ve been playing with him for
about 11 years now.
 You did a couple of indie CDs as Step Child.
Yeah, we did actually, and we did real well. We did
product of our own and sold it to distributors. Actually, for a point there, I
was making more money than I did when I was in Omen. The stuff sold well, and
we got some regional radio play. We were pretty much out on the road every
week, four or five days a week.
Did you keep it local when you played out?
Well, we kept it regional. We did Texas, Oklahoma,
Kansas and Louisiana. I had a good time in that band. The music didn’t really
turn me on, but I had just come out of the big breakup of Omen. I was kind of
depressed about the music business in general, and it was a fun band. I had a
good time, but it got to the point where I was like, "Well, this is fun, but I
really would like to go back to playing by myself." So I decided that we were
going to spread ways and that I was going to put the Omen back together, and I
never really thought about playing with anybody else but Andy. We’ve just been
close friends for so long, stood by each other through thick and thin, and it
never crossed my mind to use anybody else but him.
Who’s on drums for this record?
Rick Murray, the same guy that was on Reopening
the Gates. Rick was a little reluctant about the old sound, but we
pounded it into him! [laughs] We just kept making him play the old stuff over
and over again, and I think he’s playing a whole lot more like traditional Omen
on this thing. Like I said, Rick and my son are younger and they’re both into
newer-sounding stuff, Pantera and stuff like that, and I probably compromised a
lot more than I should have on the last record. But Rick has stayed through it,
worked on his playing, and worked on playing more in the style of what we were
doing before. I think the European tour helped a lot, when he saw how much
people loved the old stuff. He’s played really well, and he’s cut some really
good tracks on this record.
Continued...
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