James Rivera (Helstar)
September 2008
The last time we spoke a reunion of Helstar was very unlikely. So how did that happen?
Well, the guys came out of retirement and they started playing in their bands before we were approached about this 20th year anniversary thing. That's just basically the simple fact of what happened. Until that point the guys had a complete retirement of music.
Did you think this would ever happen?
No, not really. They weren't musically active or anything. I didn't really think we'll ever play together as Helstar.
How did you put the line-up together?
Well, it was just basically and idea of a promoter in San Antonio that wanted the line-up to be the Remnants Of War line-up. And the reason for that was because of the 20th Year Anniversary of the record coming out. We ended up doing this show in 2006 and then once we got back together we realised that we got along very well and it was fun and we wanted doing more shows.
How did it feel playing together after so many years?
Everything went just so natural. It's like we've never really been apart. We were like the same guys that knew each other for the last 20 years. It's the same guys that we were back then but a little bit more mature. Everything felt good, everything was natural and the magic was back immediately.
Did you keep in touch with the guys over the years?
Not really. Here and there once in a while we kept in touch but not on a consistent basis.
Did you compose the songs for the new Helstar album together?
Yeah, we did. We basically got together and rehearsed together and did everything together for a change as usually we used to write a whole song by ourselves. This time we actually got together with everybody and we did it as a band this time. And also the weird thing about this that all the songs came together pretty quick. We didn't even have to try very hard. And everything is brand new on the album, there's no leftovers on it.
So all in all how much time you needed to round up this album?
I'd say if we put all the time together that we did work on the stuff off and on here and there then we probably wrote this record in less than three months.
Did you want to come up with an album that has the classic Helstar trademarks?
We wanted everything to be in the vein of Helstar and I think naturally everything we wrote came out that way. That's just the way we are, that's our style and that's what is in our blood. It's a natural force that causes us to write what we do, it's not like we gotta put a lot of thought into it.
And how about the sound of the album as far as the production goes?
We wanted the production just to be very ambient, very big sounding and heavy.
Could you imagine the classic Helstar albums with today's production?
Oh yeah, I think it's kinda what this album does. It's not that some of the songs so much exactly what we wrote but I think it's a good presentation of what Helstar would sound like today anyway if they did have that production.
What track are you the most satisfied with on the album?
That's a hard one but I guess I like the opening song The King Of Hell. I just think that it's such a strong song and then it just goes along with the whole cover. The story line of the song is very interesting. I think overall it's the song that we all really felt very very strong about as far as a theme, which why we'd all agreed almost immediately that it should be the opening track.
Do you plan to present the album live anytime soon?
Yeah, we have a tour lined up for January in Europe. There's quite a few German dates and Czech Republic but I haven't seen Hungary on it though. As far as the States we have a few shows for November and then we'll be doing some more stuff in February.
Changing of members was always a case for Helstar in the past. Do you think this line-up is gonna be a stable one?
Yeah, I think so. I don't see anything drastically ever going wrong. We are lot more mature now, we know what are the mistakes that we made before, so we are happy with the band they way it is. We wanna try to keep it together as long as we can. We are planning to put out new releases on a more regular basis from now on. We've got ideas for more records and when we get ready to cross that bridge we'll start writing again.
You have released an album as Distant Thunder four years ago. That band was kind of considered as the continuation of Helstar...
I think it was a good thing that we put that record out. Basically really that record did kick off the interest of Helstar just getting back together to begin with. I think it was very necessary that that record came out.
You were also involved with Vicious Rumours. How did you feel being in their ranks?
We did quite a bit together but I was more leaning towards wanting to do something heavier and darker. They are a little bit different as a band from Helstar. And once the Helstar thing started happening everything started to get so busy with that I decided that it was best for me to do my own thing with Helstar. But I really enjoyed my time with them. We did a great record and we did a lot of tours.
You also recorded two albums with Seven Witches back then. What was the reason you parted ways with Jack?
Same thing. It run its course. There was a time when we felt we came to a bridge where things maybe started to get a little stale. Jack started doing a bunch of solo projects but the funny thing you bring that up as we'll probably be doing another Seven Witches record again.
Are you going to concentrate on Helstar from now on?
I'm always gonna be doing something. Music is my life and Helstar is my primary band but anything I do I do with passion as much as I put into Helstar. It's just to keep busy and keep moving with music as much as I can. I do have a tribute band called Sabbath Judas Sabbath that I stay busy with all the time. We play with them pretty much all over the States. Tribute bands are pretty popular here.