Drummer SNOWY SHAW Talks About DREAM EVIL And The End Of NOTRE DAME

Nocturnal Horde recently conducted an in-depth interview with Swedish drummer/songwriter extraordinaire Snowy Shaw (DREAM EVIL, KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE, MEMENTO MORI, NOTRE DAME). Several excerpts from the chat follow:

Nocturnal Horde: Last year you choose to end NOTRE DAME. Why that decision?

Snowy Shaw: "There were several reasons leading up to that final decision. Our show at Metaltown festival last year was the first show without Vampirella, and it worked very very well. It was obvious that her priorities were elsewhere and I got sick of canceling more shows and ruining future offers that way. I decided to go ahead with a female bass player who also took over some of Vampirella's vocal parts, while I picked up the guitar or just sang the lead. On several occasions we have had other stand-in guys for Jean-Pierre and Mannequin behind the masks, before that, but replacing the sex bomb Vampirella was a whole different matter. In short the band was falling apart and there was not a lot I could do anymore to prevent it from happening. Mannequin had by that time permanently been replaced by Daniel 'Mojjo' Moilanen, but without Vampirella — no NOTRE DAME. I had been fighting Osmose for years, but by the time I finally was free and out of the contract, the damage was already done and I had already started to drift off into other musical directions long ago, so I decided to retire the whole thing and move on."

Nocturnal Horde: You are currently active in DREAM EVIL, how is it to play in that band?

Snowy Shaw: "With previous bands in the past it's been stimulating or rewarding in a lot of other ways, but I actually haven't had this much fun playing in any of the other bands before DREAM EVIL. I actually changed my mind and decided to join as a full-time member after the first couple of festival shows, just because we discovered we all shared the same sense of humour and had so extremely much fun together. Joining a band mainly for social reasons was a totally new thing for me. Everyone is a great musician, which means that we never have to rehearse much. For the last 12 months or so and due to Niklas' problems with his voice, there's been nothing but endless discussions, temporary lineup changes and so on. But let's not whine about that now, I'm so glad that Niklas and Peter are back in the family again, and we are stronger than ever and are currently preparing to get back into the studio to record the best album possible and to write a new chapter in the book of heavy metal."

Nocturnal Horde: Are you participating in other projects or bands besides DREAM EVIL right now?

Snowy Shaw: "I have a project with Mats Leven (THERION, AT VANCE, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, SWEDISH EROTICA) called S&M, and we've been writing some really cool stuff in a style that I'm very excited about. We both had been working on our own individual solo things before we decided to join forces and use put those plans aside for the benefit of playing together and using some of that music together instead. We sort of discovered how much we had in common by coincidence, when we tried to write some music together for DREAM EVIL, during a period when he was supposed to be the new singer. I have never enjoyed writing with anyone that much prior to this collaboration.

"Then I'm supposed to be on Joacim Cans' [HAMMERFALL singer] next solo album as the drummer and I will also handle second lead vocals and write some material. This could be fun. We've never worked together before although we've known each other for about 10-15 years."

Read the entire interview at www.nocturnalhorde.com.