We’ve all heard that old saying that when one door closes, another one opens. In some cases, it takes a while for that other door to open, so you can’t just stand there waiting for it to happen. Let’s take former I Am Ghost lead singer Steve Juliano for instance. After that band called it quits and Steve found himself a bit burnt-out with music, he began pursuing other ventures, thinking that music would be the furthest thing from interesting him again. Then, out of nowhere, that door leading to music opened and Requiem was born.
The band, consisting of Steve on lead vocals, Jacklyn Paulette on guitar, Finn Stobbe on bass, Ryan Heggum on guitar and screams, and Rick Siegfried on drums, recently released their epic debut album entitled The Unexplainable Truth. Although modern and fresh in its sound, that album is a throwback to when albums were an entire piece of art from beginning to end. Although relatively new to the music scene, the buzz about the band is really beginning to grow and we decided to sit down with lead vocalist Steve Juliano and find out what convinced him to give music another shot.
I’ve always thought that requiem was a really cool word and I’m guessing there’s probably some symbolism in using it for the band’s name.
Steve Juliano: Oh yeah, there definitely is some symbolism with the name Requiem. In 2005, I was in a band called I Am Ghost on Epitaph Records and our first major release on that label was called Lovers’ Requiem and we had a few more after. After we disbanded and I started this new project a few years ago, I obviously didn’t want to take the name I Am Ghost and use it, but I thought Requiem would be kind of cool because it still hints at my old project. Another retrospect is the fact that a lot of music that I usually write definitely has a lot of remembrance for people that I once knew, like a love lost or friends or family members who are no longer around because they passed away. So, it just felt right to call it Requiem, which obviously means song for the dead. I also really liked that “one word band name” thing like Queen or KISS and something that would capture the imagination with just that one single word. It’s also a very old and powerful word in Latin, which I thought was really cool as well.
So, how was the band formed?
After I Am Ghost split, I honestly was not really interested in doing music ever again. Before I Am Ghost, I was as animator in LA and doing that for a long time. Then, with I Am Ghost, we toured over 300 days a year for five years straight and it was awesome because I got to see the world. I got really burnt out and after the break-up I just needed to get away for a while. I moved back to Santa Cruz, I started my own graphic design company and started doing art, but I started missing music again. I started hanging out with some friends from high school who were doing music at the time and it really just happened by accident. We met up and jammed just for fun, but the songs were really good and it started to become fun again and brought back this whole new passion.
I’m sensing that the whole fun aspect of it was a key part in getting you involved again with music on a bigger scale?
Oh yeah, it definitely was. I mean, when I first started out in bands back in high school, we weren’t signed and we were doing it for the fun of it because there was this excitement and passion there. Then, with I Am Ghost, we got signed and became part of that monster and realized how things can be. It was really cool, but it became more about numbers and how many units you sold and the turnout at your shows. In the first year it was exciting, but then fun seemed to be taken out of it slowly each year after that to the point that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I wasn’t even sure of Requiem would get signed, but we were a few months ago to a really cool label and since I’ve done this before, I kind of knew what to expect this time around. I don’t think that I was really ready for that with I Am Ghost.
What can you tell me about the songwriting process with this band?
I’m the lyricist in the band, but I don’t write the music; I let the band do whatever they like. I definitely have my say on the producing aspect, but I’m not one of those guys who has to write all the lyrics or anything. Basically, if someone in the band brings me something that they’ve written and it sounds good, then we’ll work it onto the album. I’m open to anything and we’re a band that definitely works together, especially on this new album. We didn’t have any songs when we started on this album, but we sat down in a circle in Finn’s house with just our acoustics and said let’s write an album. So, we took it from there and it was a really fun process that we’d never done before.
It’s funny that you said that because I was going to mention to you that I thought the feel and flow on this album really was a throwback to when bands wrote entire albums and not just a few singles with filler in between.
I appreciate that and thank you for saying that. You know, when I was about eight or nine, I grew up on musical theatre and I was in several off Broadway plays. I was in Tommy and played young Tommy, I was in Chorus Line and so many others, so I grew up in that whole epic bigness of music and the whole story being told from beginning to end. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with I Am Ghost, but Lovers’ Requiem was a huge opus with an orchestra, violinists and a choir, and it was a pretty epic rock opera. We didn’t want to go too epic with this new album because I didn’t want to alienate people. I learned from Lovers’ Requiem that because even though it was great, there were a lot of people who just didn’t get it. This album is still kind of like a rock opera and it follows a story, but it’s more relatable this time. I’m not talking about vampires and demons, but more about stuff that’s happened to me over the last five or six years and people that I’ve lost. I’ve lost quite a few friends and family members over the last few years and I’ve been to a lot more funerals than anyone else in my band.
It sounds like the writing process on this new album was somewhat therapeutic for you.
You’re absolutely right about that. You know, I went from doing I Am Ghost each and every day and then it’s over and done with; I ended up being lost for a few years. Although I didn’t want to do it anymore, I didn’t know my place in the world. I mentioned in an interview recently about the recording process in the studio when we began this new album and my bass player mentioned that he loved the recording process, but I told them that I absolutely hated it. It’s probably the worst time in my life because I to go in a room and sit and write about my life, which is very dark. It’s a really tough process for me especially on songs like “Where the Hell Did the Romance Go” and “The Crown.”
This album really incorporates so many different elements that fit together to form this complete musical puzzle and you make it work. I’ve heard other bands attempt to do something similar and it sounds a bit disconnected. Your voice is so melodic and rich and you counter it with the screams from Ryan (Heggum) along with some nice vocal contributions from Jacklyn (Paulette) as well. There are also the aggressive riffs, the epic choruses and a lot of depth to your songwriting.
We love the fact that we can appeal to masses because we can get onto a metal show and kill it, then get onto a punk show and kill it or a pop show and kill it. That’s kind of a hard thing to do now because a lot of tours and shows are kind of closed minded. We all have such diverse backgrounds that we bring to the table, but we all really love the style that we’re doing and that’s pretty rad. We didn’t really purposely set out to write an album like that. where we felt like we had to add those elements to each song, but it just kind of happened. When I brought in the lyrics to ”Sticks and Stones and Her Lovely Bones”, which is our first video and single that the label’s pushing, I thought that the band might be bummed because it was our first pop type song for the album, but they were all pretty stoked about it.
REQUIEM – Sticks and Stones and Her Lovely Bones (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
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You’re also incorporating a lot of different elements visually as well.
Yeah, we want people to come to our show and be wowed and think that it was pretty rad. It’s the music as well as the imagery, and it’s everything from our clothes to our makeup to the smoke. You know, it kind of sucks that bands don’t do that kind of stuff anymore. They show up in their street clothes to perform and I’ve never really been a big fan of that. The showmanship seems to be long dead in a big part of the scene that we’re in and I’m not really sure why that’s happened.
What kind of tour plans do you have?
We’re in the process of trying to line some stuff up in February and we’re also being considered for the Warped Tour next year. We definitely have to get out there and tour to support this album, so now that we’re more legitimate, meaning that we’re now signed to a label, that will come together. There are people returning our calls and emails now that we’re signed who weren’t before, so it’s weird how that works; I guess now they’re suddenly interested.
Steve, it’s definitely been a pleasure talking to you and we wish nothing but the best for you and the band. I can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store for you. Do you have any closing words for our readers?
The album’s pretty much out everywhere now including Amazon, iTunes, Best Buy and Walmart. We’re still a very new band and we don’t even have any tour history yet, although that will come next year. There are people who are still finding out about us and we appreciate people like you who want to talk to us because we’re still kind of under the radar a bit. Our guitarist just recently got endorsed by Schecter, our drummer is endorsed by Pearl and our bassist by Ernie Ball, so that helps to draw some attention to us as well. So, if you hear about us and you really like us, please tell a friend and help us get the word out.
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