Former EXCITER Guitarist JOHN RICCI On His New Band POWERRAGE: 'I Wanted To Move On And Try Something Different'

In a new interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series, former EXCITER guitarist John Ricci spoke about his new band POWERRAGE in which he is joined by bassist Todd Pilon (formerly of WITCHKILLER),vocalist Jacques Bélanger (who previously sang on three EXCITER albums: "The Dark Command" [1997], "Blood Of Tyrants" [2000] and "New Testament" [2004]) and drummer Lucas Dery. POWERRAGE's debut album, "Beast", which will arrive on April 24 via High Roller Records. The LP was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound and it features artwork by Mario Lopez.

Regarding how POWERRAGE's formation came about, Ricci said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, after [I left] EXCITER in 2018, I just wanted to take a break from everybody and everything, 'cause after decades of dealing with certain situations and traveling and all that kind of stuff, I just needed to get away. But I've said many times, Todd, our bass player, kind of encouraged me to speed it up a little bit and put a new band together. So, Todd and I were the first two of the lineup. And then, of course, we needed vocals. So Jacques Bélanger, who played on three EXCITER records, I called him up and asked him if he was interested, but I told him, 'It's not gonna be EXCITER number two.' I just wanted to move on and try something different, but without losing the essence of what EXCITER was or what I'm about. And he was totally into it when I contacted him. So I did tell him the vocal style was gonna be a bit different from the way he normally sings. And again, he was okay with that. The toughest thing was the drummer, trying to find the right drummer. So we did try drummers, but for one reason or another, they didn't work out. I had an ad out for a drummer, and we got a call from Lucas, who's our drummer now. And I liked his attitude on the phone, when he called me. So, to me, the attitude is 50% of if it's gonna be successful or not. So we gave him some songs. He came down to our rehearsal hall right here, and he passed the audition. So his background is not really an all-out metal drum style — that's not what his roots are — but he did adapt very, very well to what I wanted and what my vision is. And he bought a bigger drum kit — more of a heavy metal double-bass kit, and et cetera, et cetera. And then I got really deep into the songwriting."

Speaking about "Dark Wings", which is the first single from Beast", Ricci said: "'Dark Wings', actually, was a later song that I wrote. It wasn't in the initial batch of the songs that appear on the album, so it was almost like an afterthought. But you were mentioning before that 'Dark Wings' sounds aggressive and brutal, [and] because it's partially frustration on my part after 40-plus years of trying to play in a band and be successful. And there was a lot of times where EXCITER was held back for one reason or another. So all that frustration is coming out in my new songwriting. So that's probably why that 'Dark Wings' song is right in your face. It doesn't spare anybody."

On the topic of the overall music direction of "Beast", Ricci said: "When you hear the whole album, it's in the same vein as 'Dark Wings'. The album has 50% slow, doomy-type songs, and the other 50% is very high-energy, thrashy, fast songs. So it's a nice balance. But I tried to write these songs from a very original point of view. I didn't wanna follow a formula, a heavy metal songwriting formula. I was trying to sound as original as possible because there's so much competition today than there was in the '80s… It's hard not to get lost in a heavy metal market. Concert promoters and managers and record companies have such a great choice of who they wanna sign to a deal. How are you supposed to stand out? All these great shredding guitar players and a lot of great vocalists too."

The second single from "Beast", a song called "Dragon Man", is tentatively due to be released on March 23.

While Ricci and Bélanger were both members of EXCITER, John wanted to make one thing perfectly clear. "Well, with this band I didn't want to be another EXCITER," he said in a press release. "It was time to move on. Even though EXCITER was based around my guitar style, and it was a successful formula, I wanted to start from scratch and start all over again.

"Starting over and not depending on your past accomplishments is definitely a very difficult task but I feel confident enough I can make it happen," he continued.

It's hard to pin down, but listening to the eight songs on "Beast", you will get a large dose of very heavy, early doom/death metal, as well as some classic EXCITER and also a lot of early MERCYFUL FATE. Asked if this description makes any sense at all, Ricci said: "Yes, I agree with you about the comparisons you mentioned. Doom influence yes, EXCITER classic riffing yes, but MERCYFUL FATE influence? I would say that was not intentional. It was just the way I envisioned the vocals; it was a coincidence."

"When it was time to record the album, we decided to do it the same way as the preceding two-song demo," continued Ricci, "live off the floor in our rehearsal studio. My longtime friend/producer Manfred Leidecker and engineer George Henderson set up a mobile studio and recorded the music, but the vocals were recorded in Manfred's studio (under a more controlled environment). The album was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound.

"I wrote everything on 'Beast': music, lyrics, melodies," Ricci explained. "POWERRAGE is 100 % my musical vision. All eight songs are brand-new — no rehashed riffs from my EXCITER days."

"Beast" track listing:

01. Dark Wings
02. Cremation Damnation
03. Dragon Man
04. Haunted Hell
05. I Torture I Kill
06. The Devil Is Screaming
07. Damned And Cursed
08. The Black Mass

More than seven years ago, EXCITER bassist Allan Johnson spoke to The Metal Voice about the September 2018 departure of Ricci. The guitarist has since been replaced by Daniel Dekay, who has previously played with DIEMONDS. Asked why Ricci decided to once again exit EXCITER, Allan said: "Well, that's still somewhat of a mystery. We haven't seen or actually spoke with John since it happened. We got back from our Singapore gig, and we started some e-mail chats back and forth, and John just said he's kind of getting fed up and he wants out. Dan [Beehler, drums/vocals] and I were actually quite surprised about this. First thing I said was we've got shows next year — tentative shows; nothing concrete — a couple coming up. They start to filter in quite quicky this time of year for 2019. So John said, 'You and Dan can go ahead and do the shows without me.' And that was pretty much it. He didn't give a solid reason why. I don't know what he meant by 'fed up,' but he said he was fed up. I confirmed with him. I said, 'Are you sure about this?' And he said, 'Yeah, I'm definitely out.'"

Ricci previously left EXCITER in 1985 following the release of the band's first three classic albums — "Heavy Metal Maniac" (1983),"Violence & Force" (1984) and "Long Live the Loud" (1985).

"It's funny because the first thing I said to Dan when I contacted him [to let him know John was out] was I texted him and I said, 'Guess what — it's 1985 all over again,'" Allan said. "And he said, 'What? What?' Like, what's going on? It's funny — it's like déjà vu. [In 1985], we came back from a U.S. tour and John said, 'I'm out. That's it. I don't wanna do it anymore.' And we were, like, 'Well, we've got a Germany tour. What do you wanna do?' And he said, 'Do it without me.' So back then, we got our old guitarist, Brian McPhee, from a band that Dan and I played with before we were in EXCITER. So it was like total déjà vu. Only this time we have an opportunity to do things better than we did back in '85. And by having Dekay onboard, I think we're gonna definitely do that."

EXCITER's latest album, "Death Machine", which featured Ricci as the sole remaining original member, was released in October 2010 via Massacre Records.

Ricci, Beehler and Johnson reunited as EXCITER in 2014 and had been playing sporadic shows until John's latest departure.