PG: Hi Francis! Tell me a little bit about Old Man Wizard; what do you do? Who else is involved?
Francis: We're a band. I write the songs and Kris (drums) and Andre (bass guitar) play them. I try to keep up. All three of us sing, but I sing the most.
PG: You recently released a video for Traveller’s Lament. How has that release been received?
Francis: People seem to like it. A few of my friends can't watch it without laughing, just because I'm in it. I didn't really mean to be in it myself, but it ended up just being easier to make that way.
Francis: I hadn't heard of them when I wrote this album, but their video for Sacred Marriage definitely took part in inspiring the content of the Traveller's Lament video. I'm definitely a fan, so some future material might be musically inspired by them. At the time of writing I was inspired by the early albums of Queen, Rainbow, Motörhead, and Jethro Tull. I also have trouble escaping late 90's/early 2000s Opeth (particularly My Arms, Your Hearse, Blackwater Park, and Deliverance), and I went out of my way to incorporate some ideas I got from Ennio Morricone and Igor Stravinsky. Lyrically, I get ideas from books that I read (obvious lyrical references to J.R.R Tolkien, H.P. Lovecraft, and C.S. Lewis exist, and less obvious inspiration from people like W.B. Yeats and Tove Jansson) and games that I play (I got the idea for Nightmare Rider from an AD&D book, of all places). So yeah, I listen to a lot of European music.
PG: What’s the best compliment someone has ever given your music?
Francis: I've had a few fans tell me that I wrote their favorite song. Not just from my band, like, out of all of the songs they've ever heard. That's the biggest compliment I can imagine getting from anyone, really.
PG: It seems to me (maybe I’m out of the loop?) that a lot of bands aren’t really making music videos. You’ve already released one and have a second ready to go. Why have you decided to go this route?
Francis: Music videos are usually more trouble than they're worth (with perceived value being promotion). They also usually aren't very cool. I'm mostly trying to do stuff I'll enjoy looking back at. Speaking of which, we've already shot four videos. Keep an eye on the YouTube channel to keep track of those as they are released.
PG: It seems like the Traveller’s Lament video and the new video for The Bearded Fool are a lot different…Traveller's Lament is more of a story and The Bearded Fool is really over the top and silly. Why did you take those directions?
Francis: We wanted to do very different videos for each song. I don't know if we'll get around to doing all the songs, but we have ideas for them. I love campy metal cliches (almost as much as I want an “If you don't like MANOWAR, fuck you” back patch) and I love bad spell animations (Watch the original Conan the Barbarian and look up “Dragonstrike” on YouTube for examples), so it made sense to do The Bearded Fool video like that. I also love a lot of the gloom/prog/folk stuff associated with the black metal scene in Scandinavia and Finland lately, and I was going more for that vibe with Traveller's Lament. We also shot a video in the style of a cheesy horror flick, and a very regular and average looking video of us playing music on my porch. The only thing we're really trying to avoid is a “serious” performance footage shot that involves lip synching. So I guess we're just trying to go in every direction all at once.
PG: I know you see a lot of Renn Fairs touring with The Dread Crew of Oddwood. What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve ever seen at a Renn Fair?
Francis: What are you talking about? Nothing bizarre ever happens at those things. ;-)
PG: What was your first concert experience? (Attending or playing!)
Francis: First concert I actually chose to go to was Ozzfest 2004. I hadn't heard of Judas Priest before then, and they instantly became one of my favorite bands. I still remember thinking that the lyrics to Electric Eye were “I'm made of metal, I suck it clean...” Looking back at it, I also feel pretty fortunate to have seen Black Sabbath playing with Ozzy AND Bill. Some of the other bands that year were pretty rad, but Priest was definitely the highlight of that event.
PG: I think Highwayman is my favorite track on the album. Do you have a favorite? Do you have a favorite Dread Crew track?
Francis: My favorite song on the album is Traveller's Lament, but I think my favorite moment on the album is the outro in Highwayman. Favorite Dread Crew track is probably a tie between Petty Theft and Oddwood Saves America.
PG: When do you think you create your best work? Is it the same for Old Man Wizard and the Dread Crew of Oddwood? How do your crush writer’s block?
Francis: Watch John Cleese's lecture on creativity. He does a better job explaining it than I do. As far as writer's block...just don't force something out if it isn't there. A good solution will come with time.
PG: What movies/music/books are you enjoying in your spare time?
Francis: I'm currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, but I'm not very far along in that endeavor. Apart from that I've been reading some of Robert Howard's Conan stories and I just finished George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin. Also re-watched some Monty Python movies and a delightfully stupid 80s sword and sorcery flick called Deathstalker. Lots of topless women and hilarious fight scenes in that one. Music...I'm always listening to King Diamond and Queen, and lately I'm finding myself going back to Van Halen more often than people reading this probably want to hear. The new In Solitude record is fucking phenomenal, both of Orne's albums constantly find their way into my ears, and Ghost (BC) also regularly impress me. I'm still convinced that those guys are trying to be funny behind their absurdly “serious” facade. I'm listening to the Final Fantasy Tactics OST while I'm writing this, though, because I can't concentrate on anything when I listen to music with singing.
PG: What are the future plans for Old Man Wizard?
Francis: We're going to try to put together a functional way to tour. I also wrote a rough draft of another album or two, so we'll get around to recording those eventually. The more successful we are, the faster it happens, but I'm sure we'll get around to it no matter what. In the present tense, keep an eye on the YouTube channel to see the music videos as they come. I'd love to eventually put together a high-production live concert video, but that's further down the road. We're also talking about doing a video game. All of this stuff takes a ton of temporal and financial investing, so we can really use all the help we can get at this point. If anyone reading this thinks they can help, don't hesitate to get in touch. We aren't famous enough to ignore you.
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