Interview: Mike Lepond of Symphony X and Mike Lepond's Silent Assassins

Mike Lepond should be a name that requires no introduction. Not only is he bassist in legendary Prog Metallers, Symphony X, but he is also the spearhead in his own project growing in notoriety, Mike Lepond’s Silent Assassins. Symphony X themselves are purportedly in the studio recording their follow up to 2015’s Underworld, but I thought this interview with Mike would focus on Silent Assassins, a band which you will definitely hear more of and about in the future. Here’s what he had to say:

Mattowarrior: What inspired the project, what kinds of sounds are you wanting to get across with it? 

ML - I had always been known for being a progressive metal bass player, but the truth is that my heart was always with the classic heavy metal bands of the 1980s. I wanted to show my fans where my roots came from and release a record in this genre. In addition, I have a love for Renaissance music and I infused some of that folky style within the tracks.

Mattowarrior: How did you find the band that plays on the album? I'm familiar with Alan Tecchio from Hades and Watchtower on both albums, and also, Metal Mike Chiasciak from the first album- How did you connect with those guys?

ML - I am very blessed to live in New Jersey, USA because both of those talented guys live right here and within 30 minutes drive from my house. It's also the same for my bandmates from Symphony X, Michael Romeo and Michael Pinnella. Because of this I could actually sit in the studio with them and produce the best sounds possible. With the exception of a few guest singers, all the musicians were from New Jersey or New York.

Mattowarrior: How are the songs written, do you write them on bass first or do you prefer writing them another way? I noticed you do a lot of the rhythm guitar work on both albums.

ML - Although a lot of the intros and middle sections are written on bass, I primarily write the bones of the songs on guitar. I'm not the best guitar player but I can play well enough to write riffs. I play all the rhythms on the albums and that saves me the time of teaching a guitar player all the parts. Michael Romeo helps me with any ideas I have for orchestration or drumming. 

Mattowarrior: I noticed on both albums, the bass is mixed prominently in the fashion of Joey Demaio, Steve Harris, or Lemmy. I find this to be refreshing in the wake of, of how the bass has seemingly (sadly) been pushed back to some extent in a lot of modern metal after perhaps (arguably) being more prominent again in rock and metal in the nineties.

 ML - I agree with you. With the exception of the bands you mentioned (and I would add Sabbath), the bass on most metal albums is very low in the mix. Guitar sounds these days have too much low end and it squashes the bass. I was not gonna fall into that trap. I made sure the guitar tones on my two records had less low end and more mids so the bass could pop out nicely. We need to be heard as we used to in the 1970s.

Mattowarrior: Back to the first album- where did the idea of redoing the two Seven Witches songs come from?

ML - I had written those songs for Seven Witches but I did not like how they sounded in the final mix. I felt they were great tracks and the album did not do them justice. Michael Romeo (recording engineer) and Eric Rachel (mixing engineer) brought new life to those tunes and I was able to hear the full potential. Sometimes you can have great material, but if you don't work with the right engineers, it can ruin the project.

Mattowarrior: One of the things I noticed about the new one, is it reigns in some of the straight out thrashiness of the first album (while no less aggressive really) and goes more for a power/traditional and even progressive sound at times. Was this something consciously sought after or did it just kind of flow that way?

ML - I am a lover of thrash metal and I was really feeling that for the first album. When I began writing for Pawn and Prophecy, I wanted more fast tunes but I wanted to keep the songs sounding fresh. I didn't want it to sound like I was just rehashing the same ideas over and over. I wrote stuff that was fast but I tried to keep the sound growing and progressing.

Mattowarrior: Are there any plans of bringing Silent Assassins to the live stage at all?

ML - Finally, after five years I have decided to hit the stage. On December 22, 2018, we will play our first show ever at a venue called "Dingbatz" in Clifton, New Jersey, USA. Alan Tecchio on vocals. Dan Prestup on drums, Lance Barnewold on guitar, Tony Stahl on keyboards and of course me on bass. This night will be very special for me and I invite all people from that area to attend.

Mattowarrior: Thanks for doing the interview, any last words, and where can we hear more about Silent Assassins?

ML - Thank you for the well thought out questions. We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. Just search the band and you can find us. You can buy our music basically anywhere as well. Thank you!

(Also a special thanks to Donna L. for making this interview possible)

You can check out more on Mike Lepond’s Silent Assassins from the following links:

Radial Site: http://radi.al/PawnAndProphecy?fbclid=IwAR1GeVb2Jim-lod2qBaTMmXhjbWp_-c_SafC1QDuO_Rkdj6Ges8jHuMLO8o

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikelepondssilentassassins/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pawn-and-prophecy/1311709413?l=en&app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/54YeMFwGthixgLWyTJMml1

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Prophecy-LePonds-Silent-Assassins/dp/B077BGQR1X?tag=theorc-20