No Bilbo, no Frodo, this is not the Old Man Wizard you Know! It is, however, a terrific rock band from San Diego, with one of the coolest names I have heard. I play World of Warcraft and of course enjoy the Lord of the Rings movies, so the mental image of some wise old wizard, strolling the countryside on some mysterious quest, prepared to hurl fireballs and lightning bolts evokes great interest. This band is worth your time; read on and listen to what they have to offer. Is it about wizardy, or setting a tone to prepare you for their music? Find out below!
- What does the name of your band mean to you?
“Old Man Wizard” was kind of a nonsense thing that a friend of mine said that I thought would make a cool band name. It doesn’t really mean anything. I was actually thinking of choosing another name, but the other guys liked it a lot and convinced me not to.
- What music and/or bands influenced you the most?
In the context of this project, I think I was trying to write Queen-style rock songs with spaghetti western melodies, delivered in the style of darker prog stuff like Opeth, and then make it work as a three-piece group. If I went song by song on the album…
Highwayman was influenced by the Death Rattle bit in the once upon a time in the west score (Morricone), the sort of bombastic rock riff you’d find in a song like Tie Your Mother Down (Queen), set to an up tempo Motörhead-style drum beat. The chorus was trying to be more like an old country ballad sped up.
If Only was pretty much trying to be a combination of ’39 (Queen) and Harvest (Opeth), with a Maybelle Carter style guitar break. The four electric guitar overlays were an afterthought, but I was probably trying to do some kind of If-Brian-May-was-a-member-of-Pink Floyd thing. The lyrics were written while I was touring with another band, about missing home and having fun at the same time.
Nightmare Rider was an attempt at early Mastodon meets surf rock with a more aggressive rock beat. I think I might still have a demo of that one with a growled lead vocal. The second half of the song was basically inspired by 70s prog rock. The whole song only uses six notes, also, I remember creating that limitation prior to writing it. That idea was inspired by one of Stravinsky’s ballets.
The Bearded Fool was really heavily inspired by early Hammers of Misfortune. It’s about as close as I’m comfortable getting to totally ripping somebody else’s music off. It’s the first part of a longer story that I’m continuing on the material I’ve written for a second album. (I particularly enjoyed this video, fun stuff)
Traveller’s Lament was inspired by a W. B. Yeats poem. The lyrics definitely came first on that one. I just sat down and played chords and sang until I had it right. The outro is pretty similar to the music at the end of the second Monkey Island game, but that was a total coincidence. Unintentional but fun.
Forevermore was influenced by a bunch of sludge stuff. The opening riff is very Black Sabbath. Hole In The Sky or something. The guitar solo was trying to sound like something from Deliverance (The Opeth album, not the film). The end of the song was influenced by the enormously cool orchestration of tremolo picking and singing the same melody over a driving riff, which I think I first heard in Muse’s Knights of Cydonia. Ghost Riders In The Sky on steroids.
- If you had to pick one song, what would be your favorite and why?
My favorite on the album is Traveller’s Lament, and if you’re just asking a general question, I’m probably somewhere between Temple of the King and The Gates of Babylon (both by Rainbow).
- How long has the band been together?
I think we started in 2011? I’m not totally sure.
- If you could speak to a young person that was considering pursuing a career in music like your group, what advice would you give them?
Don’t.
- What are the band member’s names and ages?
Kris Calabio plays drums, I think he’s 25 or so. Not really sure. Andre Beller plays bass, he’s older than me. Probably 29 or 30 by now. I’m Francis Roberts and I play guitar. 27. We all sing but I sing the lead vocal parts. I played harmonica and some synths on the album too. I think Andre did some cello in If Only, but that might have just been bass with a bow. My friend Minni Jo Mazzola played flute in Traveller’s Lament and sang a bit on a couple of tracks.
- If you had to classify your music into a genre, what would you call it?
Rock. Maybe light prog or proto metal or something if you want sub-categories.
- What are some challenges that your band has had to overcome?
Not having or making money is really the only thing. We’d probably be three albums deep and touring the world if we had rich parents or financial backing of some kind. It sucks that it comes down to that sometimes. Recording, driving, pressing records, and printing shirts are all pretty expensive, and if you’re not careful you’ll just lose tons of cash. You have to play out a lot and really hustle with merch if you want to make anything or at least break even .
- What makes your band stand out from all the other bands out there today?
I think we have a fairly brittle sound, which was done intentionally as a way to set ourselves apart from the hordes of thick, produced sounding stuff. We’re doing stuff that’s musically similar but coming at it from a more minimalist black metal or punk rock approach. We don’t really try to sound like anyone in particular when we sing, so the vocals seem a bit out of context within our genre. That probably sets us apart a bit. All things considered we’re just a rock band so we probably sound a lot like other rock bands.
- What would you like listeners to know about your band?
None of us are really into the same music, but we all seem to like the same video games.
- Do you do any covers and if so, who do you like to cover?
The only cover we ever agreed on was Feed The Birds, from Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews is one of my favorite singers, and that musical is untouchable. I think we did a half-assed version of Nowhere Man (The Beatles) at a show once, but we’d never played it together before. One of us started it and we all seemed to know it and we got through almost all of it.
- Do you write your own lyrics or is there someone outside the group that writes them for you?
I wrote all the music and lyrics. I recorded demos of the songs at my house and Kris and Andre learned the parts and played them better than me.
- Of all the places you have performed, which is your favorite and why?
I felt totally awesome playing at the Hemlock in San Francisco. Super intimate little place but holy shit did that room sound good. We did a few really fun shows at a place here in San Diego that’s no longer around called the Tin Can. Tiny room so it’d would sell out or at least come close every time.
Opeth’s name came up often in this interview, so if you are a fan of them, you may very well find yourself enjoying Old Man Wizard. I have not listened to Opeth up until this point, but Old Man Wizard has convinced me that maybe I should. Old Man Wizard’s influences from Stravinksy, Yeats and Julie Andrews, as well as Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Mastodon and Motorhead all speak to the diversity and depth of the music this band creates. While they may be “just a rock band”, they do have something unique and interesting to offer. Check out the video above and others on You Tube.
Old Man Wizard website. Sample music, learn more, and see all that Old Man Wizard has to offer.
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