Priestess
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Priestess are a big band--not like Tommy Dorsey, they have a big sound, think Queens of the Stone Age meets Led Zeppelin. Their latest album is Hello Master and I got a chance to speak with guitarist/vocalist Mikey Heppner.

Buy Hello Master

Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you up to today?

Mikey Heppner: Not much. We’re in the mountains right now and we’re going to be driving all the way to Las Vegas.

DRE: Are you guys playing a show out there?

MH: No. We’re playing in LA tomorrow, but we have a long drive so we’re going to be driving 12 hours today. It’s pretty insane.

DRE: How is it being on a major label?

MH: It feels pretty good. The record recently came out so it hasn’t totally sunk in whether it’s going to be a huge deal or not. We’re just happy to be touring all the time.

DRE: What perks have you gotten?

MH: Well we don’t have to work day jobs anymore. We’ve been out on the road pretty much nonstop. We don’t have to worry about getting our bills and rent paid on time and stuff like that. We’re still really poor, but we don’t have to worry about day jobs anymore. That’s a pretty good perk.

DRE: What was the inspiration for Hello Master?

MH: The four of us wanted to make a good record. We’re all fans of music so we made sure we made it as good as we could song-writing wise, playing wise, production wise and that’s it. We’ve got thousands of influences, but really we just wanted to get together and do it.

DRE: What are your influences?

MH: They really cross the whole board. We listen to all kinds of different music. We like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, country music, punk rock, metal, prog rock, glam rock. We’re all over the place.

DRE: What’s Hello Master mean?

MH: It doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just a cool title.

DRE: So you guys aren’t into S & M or anything like that?

MH: No, we’re not. Sorry, SuicideGirls.

DRE: What do you think of the comparisons of Priestess to Ozzy Osbourne?

MH: I find it very flattering. He’s an awesome singer so it’s nice to hear that. I don’t try to copy his style or anything like that. It’s not an intentional thing. I just sing the way I feel. I think it’s cool. I’m happy that people say that. It’s very positive.

DRE: Was he a big influence on you?

MH: Yeah especially the years he was with Sabbath and stuff like that. We’re all big Black Sabbath fans.

DRE: How was working with producer Gus Van Go??

MH: He’s awesome. He’s really more like one of our best friends than a manager or producer or anything. He’s just an awesome dude. He really helped a lot on the record.

DRE: What’s been the biggest surprise for you since joining the label?

MH: After recording the record, all the record deal offers we got and actually ending up signing with RCA was pretty surprising. We weren’t really expecting that. We were expecting to just stay on an indie label and tour. Now we’re on a major, but we’re still going to tour and tour.

DRE: You guys have been described as the new stoner rock band. How do you feel about that?

MH: Well, we are a new band, right? There’s a ton of really good rock bands these days that are new and getting a lot of exposure and getting a lot of buzz and stuff like that. We’re just happy to be one of them because it’s a good time in music and it’s good to spend some time in the limelight.

DRE: Are you guys big stoners or what?

MH: No, not really. Moderate. We’re not wake and bake yet, but we have been. Back in high school I would’ve answered you differently.

DRE: How did Priestess get together?

MH: Three of out four of us were in a band called The Dropouts and a year into it we recruited Vince [Nudo]. So we’ve been together now about three and a half years as Priestess.

DRE: What happened with The Dropouts?

MH: This band is sort of the same band, we just changed the name and got a new drummer.

DRE: How did the three of you meet anyway?

MH: After The Dropouts I wanted to continue that band so I went to find three other guys, which led me to Dan [Watchorn] and Mike [Dyball], who are the current Priestess guys and another guy who played drums. We kept the name The Dropouts even though the songs are different. We just got together from knowing each other around town and just wanting to start a band.

DRE: What kind of sound were you going for?

MH: We just wanted to have a good band with good hooks and heavy riffs. We wanted to tour and play rock music all the time.

DRE: Do you feel like there was a lack of the kind of music that you guys wanted to do?

MH: Actually at the time when we formed there were a few really good rock bands in Canada. A couple of really good ones came out of Montreal. We were just another one of the bands in the scene.

DRE: Why do you have a tattoo of Maneki Neko?

MH: I’m a cat freak and I’ve always liked that particular image. It was only a matter of time before I got it tattooed.

DRE: What’s Montreal like in terms of the music?

MH: It’s like an artist’s city. There’s a lot of different music going on. It’s a small centralized city and everybody lives close by everybody else. It’s just a healthy music scene.

DRE: How was touring with Lemmy and Motorhead?

MH: That was pretty awesome. We didn’t do any crazy all night cocaine and tall glass of whiskey parties with him or anything like that. But we partied pretty good. It was definitely a hard rock tour. It was awesome.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Priestess/