Interview with War Within Vocalist Mark McKinley
By Mick Michaels
COSMICK VIEW: Hello, Mark! Welcome to The Cosmick
View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it is
greatly appreciated.
CV: How would you describe the type of working partnership War Within co-founders Louis and Jeff have? Is there a certain synergy they share?
MARK McKinley: Louis and Jeff have been friends for many years. They kind of came up together and thereās definitely some history with them. I know theyāve been playing in bands together for a minute, so they are familiar with each otherās styles and habitās.
CV: How would you describe the type of working partnership War Within co-founders Louis and Jeff have? Is there a certain synergy they share?
MARK McKinley: Louis and Jeff have been friends for many years. They kind of came up together and thereās definitely some history with them. I know theyāve been playing in bands together for a minute, so they are familiar with each otherās styles and habitās.
CV: How would you describe the band's unique writing style? There is definitely a bucket load of influences that come to mind, but yet a very distinct style at the forefront.
MK: Wow, where to start. So, initially when Craig and I came into the band there were like 3 or 4 tunes already written complete with lyrics and melody. I learned them as they were at the time to see if it was even going to work with me on vocals. Once we all felt pretty good about it, I felt like I needed to make the songs a little more personal, so I re-wrote the lyrics and added my take on the melodies. Everyone appeared to like what I did so I think that gave us confidence moving forward that we could write well together. Craig and I also brought a couple songs with us that the guys wanted to incorporate into the set, so they learned the parts and we made it uniquely War Within. With the addition of Lloyd, and I think with Lloyd being much younger, the sound has started to evolve into maybe a little more of a āmodernā vibe?, to me anyways, and to some of our fan base as well, as Iāve been told.
CV: Is songwriting and composing a joint effort among all the members of War Within or does everyone work independently to bring specific musical and lyrical ideas to the table?
MK: Great question. Itās really all over the place if Iām being honest. It might start with a riff that someone brings to rehearsal and we start working on a rough arrangement, or someone might be inspired over the weekend and demo a whole song and send it out to see if anyoneās vibing on it. If Iām feeling something, I might mumble a melody or something Iām hearing in my head, but I almost always spend time with a rough copy at my studio and struggle through it until it sounds like something Iād stop the radio to listen to, then it gets shipped to the guys for their thumbs up or thumbs down.
CV: Because of such an eclectic and rich range of influences and backgrounds among the band members, the mixture has given War Within a distinct musical voice. How do you see what you do musically compares to or contrasts with other band and' styles from the LA scene?
MK: I donāt know really, never given it much
thought. I donāt really follow the LA scene personally. I donāt think itās a
conscience thing, I mean I grew up in it, but now that Iām thinking about it,
the bands that I gravitate towards, at our level, are bands like FLAW and
Saturate, both from Kentucky, HIM from Finland, Mastodon from Atlanta, Clutch
from Maryland, Red Fang from Seattle. Of course some of those bands have seen
some success in recent years, but I have been following / listening to them
since they were playing their ālocalā scenes. The bands that weāve been
fortunate enough to play with in the LA area are solid; theyāre doing what they
do very well. But to me, if youāre not
careful, itās very easy to get stuck in the āLA sceneā and never really get out
of it. And again, if thatās your thing, God bless you, kill it. Speaking for
myself, thereās so much more musically if you take the time to search for
it.
CV: If you had to give an example of who War Within most sounded like, which band would it be?
MK: Oh boy, LOL. Well, one comparison that
weāve heard a lot would be a combination of Godsmack and Queensryche? LOL, I
guess. With every group of songs we have there would probably be different
comparisons I would think. Anywhere from 80ās metal to maybe some garage / doom
stuff and the brand new stuff that Lloyd is bringing has a hint of Alter Bridge
to it causeā thatās probably what heās listening to right now. And the great
thing is that you take all those ingredients and mix āem together and you get
War Within.
CV: Does War Within identify itself with a particular genre type or style? How would you define the groupās musical texture?
MK: Haha, we have this conversation a lot as
a band. You know, I really hate being associated with a genre but I get the
need for people to do that. So, probably some 80ās metal influence in the
earlier stuff that I tried very hard to cut with some modern vocals, thereās
some weird garage / doom stuff in some of the songs, rock and roll, heavy rock
for sure, thereās a ton of blues in some of the songs. I love melody
and movement, so I try very hard to include those elements whenever and
wherever I can. If I hear that a section is going to the obvious place or
starting to sound like a particular style, Iām very cognoscente of it and will
do my best to take it to the not so obvious place. Thatās what creating
something new is all about. Most people donāt want to go to an amusement park
and ride the same ride over and over. Every ride should be new and exciting and
keep the listener excited about whatās about to happen next.
![]() |
Add caption |
CV: Mark, who are some of your personal musical influences? Who would you say really inspired you?
MK: Iām originally a guitarist, been playing
my whole life. Iāve always loved listening to great vocalists as well but never
thought Iād ever be a vocalist. I grew up listening to Motown, R&B, Funk,
Disco, New-Wave. It wasnāt until I was around 12 that I heard Queensryche and
said WTF? That was a game changer for me. I was a music video kid growing up so
when I saw and heard āQueen of the Rycheā for the first time in 82ā, yeah, that
was it for me, Tate and DeGarmo forever, LOL. At least until about 92ā when I
saw Stevie Ray Vaughan and the video for āCold Shotā, that was pretty life
changing for me. Changed my whole thought process and introduced me to Blues
and ultimately Jazz. All of these elements are in everything I do, thereās no
getting around it. Thatās why I always tell people that theyāve got to expand
their library and listen to everything at least once. Thereās so much
information out there for musicians and you start to realize very quickly how
similar these genres really are and what makes them different.
CV: The band is currently in the studio working on a new release. When can fans expect it to drop?
MK: Weāre trying to finish up tracking for a
couple songs. Itās hard with everyoneās schedule, but once those are finalized,
itās onto the mixing process. I think weāre all hoping to have something
finalized by this summer.
CV: What can listeners expect from this new release? Any material being included that fans haven't yet heard?
MK: Absolutely! Weāve got 4 new songs that
weāve only played a couple times live and we just wrote a 5th one
over the weekend that brought a smile to everyoneās face so Iām almost positive
it will make onto the CD.
CV: When working in the studio, how does the band translate that live intensity, which War Within is known to deliver, to the controlled environment of a recorded medium? Have you experienced any limitations?
MK: Itās very difficult. Our tracking process
is very limited on this CD in that weāre not able to track live as a full band.
Weāre having to track individually and try and still capture that intensity.
Itās hard
CV: The acoustic guitar work and melodies on both "Sleepless Dreams" and "Shores of Jupiter" are dynamic. In recent years, many Metal bands have shied away from using acoustic interludes and over-layering in their music. Why do you think that is the case and was having acoustic guitars included a conscious decision on the band's part?
MK: I think the āMetalā scene went through a phase
where adding an acoustic guitar automatically meant you were trying to write
another āEvery Roseā or āDead or Aliveā type power balled or you got lumped
into the old 70ās 12-string sound like Triumph or Zebra, not that thereās
anything wrong with that per se, but nobody was using the acoustic, IMHO, to
create anything new and exciting. It wasnāt until like 94ā when bands like
Nirvana and Queensryche (both from Seattle BTW) stripped their songs down and
performed them on MTVās āUnpluggedā that I think bands were like, hey this is
pretty damn cool, you know. Then you have a band like Days of the New come out
with an edgy, hip kind of acoustic thing and then Tantric in 97ā had tons of
acoustic as part of their sound and things started to change a lot. Then fast
forward to 04ā and you have a VERY heavy band like Seven Dust come out with
āSouth Side Double Wideā and all bets were off at that point. Everybody and
their mother was stripping down their sound. It was very much around that time
that I started playing A LOT of acoustic guitar. Everything I wrote and write
to this day starts with acoustic and then translated onto electric but
sometimes the parts donāt always translate very well onto electric so those
parts would get tracked acoustically. But ultimately the stamp of a great song,
again IMHO, is if you can strip it down and get the same chills when playing it
acoustically. Acoustics are surprising very āMetalā, LOL, listen to a band like
Mastodon and pay attention to how they use their acoustics, itās everywhere and
if a heavy strung detuned guitar is Metal enough for Mastodon, itās Metal
enough for me, haha.
CV: What can fans expect to experience when coming to see War Within live?
MK: Itās simple, I want to write solid,
āhookyā songs that arenāt too long or boring and that arenāt over anybodyās
head. I want people to feel like theyāre a part of this thing, thatās it right
there. I want people to be a part of what weāre doing. Iām doing it for them; I
donāt need to do this for my ego. I donāt want people to think weāre yelling at
them, LOL. I want and need people to come to the stage and interact with us and
us with them. I always tell the crowd: the more energy you give us the more we
can give you. And when the crowd gets involved is usually when we have our best
and most intense shows. There is NOTHING cooler than a group of people youāve
never met reacting positively to something you and your buddies created. And so
far people seem to really enjoy what weāre trying to contribute to the scene.
CV: Mark, how would you describe the typical War Within fan?
MK: Loyal! I mean, thatās it in a nutshell.
We expect our fans to be brutally honest with us and let us know if something
weāre doing sounds pretentious or lame and believe me, they do! LOL, and thatās
totally cool causeā guess what? Ultimately, theyāre the ones youāre trying to
impress if you want an audience. If you want to play to an empty room to feed
your ego, knock yourself out, itās not for me! I want War Within fans to feel
like they can come talk to us, hang out, give us their opinion and help us grow
as a band and maybe one day they can say, hey I noticed you did that thing I
told that one time. How cool is that?!
CV: What's next for War Within?
MK: Try and get this CD finished and work out
a new set for a House of Metal show weāre doing at Maloneās in May, I believe it is. Continue to write new material, nothing
worse than playing the same songs at every show, boring. And just continue to
grow as musicians and hopefully as a band.
CV: Thank you again Mark for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. I wish you all the best and continued success.
MK: Thank you so much for even being
interested enough to ask me. It means a lot to me and the guys that anyone
would even take the time and ask us about this little thing weāve got going on
up here in the HD. To all our fans and prospective fans, come check us out when
you get a chance and I promise weāll give you one heck of a show! PEACE!!
Check out Mark and War Within at:
Official: http://warwithinhd.weebly.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/warwithinmusic/
MBM Music LLC: https://www.mbmmusicllc.com/the-mbm-musician-network/war-within
Check out Mark and War Within at:
Official: http://warwithinhd.weebly.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/warwithinmusic/
MBM Music LLC: https://www.mbmmusicllc.com/the-mbm-musician-network/war-within
Like The Cosmic View on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/TheCosmickView
My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.
www.facebook.com/TheCosmickView
My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.
Comments
Post a Comment