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DRIVE, SHE SAID : "Pedal To The Metal"

DRIVE, SHE SAID -  and the forthcoming release of 'Pedal To the Metal' the anticipated new album featuring Mark Mangold (American Tears, Touch, Michael Bolton) and Al Fritsch. The creative rock flame was ignited once again after a performance with the Firefest version of Touch in Nottingham, UK in 2014. That creative desire and destiny intersected when Mark got an email from his old friend Serafino from Frontiers. Mangold, a renowned keyboardist, and his creative partner in Drive, She said, the amazing singer/multi-instrumentist Al Fritsch, then started talking with the Frontiers label about releasing new music. This was even more special of an event than a regular signing as Drive, She Said was the first proper artist that was signed to the label back when it started. The result is Pedal To the Metal, an album that “We tried to write as if we were again in the 80’s/90’s, with the benefit of time and modern recording techniques". Find out more about their debut album and the songs. Here's:  Mark Mangold & Al Fritsch

Your forthcoming album is to be entitled 'Pedal To The Metal' can you explain the meaning behind this?

MARK: "Pedal" refers to the gas pedal in a car and putting it down to the "Metal" means gunning the car and pushing the pedal all the way to the floor. Going all the way that's always been a theme for the band in my opinion.

AL: Flooring it, all or nothing. It's also a song we opened our live shows with back in the day, but never got to record until now.

How long have you been working on the album?

MARK: We started around february. Wrote the songs in a week or so and then took ten months to record and mix them ha ha.

AL: Writing is always the easy part, but then you need 9 months to obsess about it. (ha)

Kindly tell us something about the writing process and what you're trying to capture.

AL: It's a spontaneous act, capturing ideas and assembling them into a song or a lyric. There's magic in it, it's great fun.

MARK: The writing process is fun, sparks flying, something we love to do. We simply wanted it to be over the top, extreme and infectious in a good way. Too much is never enough

"In ‘R Blood", what's it all about? Keeping it real?

MARK: In 'R Blood is really a song to the fans of this kind of music. For us it's almost an obsession, it's in our blood. But on a more direct level it's asking, with all the negativity and bs so rampant these days, how is the person being asked remaining positive and keeping love alive. The lyric sums it up when it says: "They try to kill me They try to murder me But you're on top of the world. How you keepin your love alive?" ie. What's your answer for staying positive remaining a loving person as opposed to getting dark and jaded and the answer is "it's in our blood". It is I think a mantra for this age we live in and it is a struggle and yet very important to do that to enjoy your life.

Tell us something about "I'm The Nyte". Not your ordinary kind of title?

MARK: Oh, thank you. Well it's actually not "I'm the nyte". It's "Im the Nyte" which is short for "I am the night" also "instant message the night" ha ha. But thats up to you. If you read the lyrics and imagine the guy singing it is a vampire then it all becomes clear. It's about putting something ugly, ie. the verse, next to something beautiful (hopefully) the chorus. It was alot of fun putting this all together. He is the "one" tonight...

Lyric-wise, is it the work of pure inspiration, fantasy, or the harsh reality?

AL: Inspiration comes from everywhere, from a passerby's conversation to a dream you had last night. All fair game.

MARK: If you are talking about the entire album I would say it's all of the above.

How come you decided to record the vocal duet on "In Your Arms" with Fiona? Longtime friends? (love Fiona by the way).

MARK: Well we actually wrote the song years ago and I was listening to old songs to see if there was anything that we had forgotten. When this song came on I was blown away as if I had never heard it. I couldn't believe we or Fiona had never recorded it. So we did.

AL: Fiona's been D,SS family since the beginning. Just love her, and honored to share a song with her.

What kind of equipment are you using in the studio? Are you in up-to-date or old school?

MARK: These days it's all Mac. Modern techniques though happily it was mastered analogue by probably the best mastering engineer in Sweden and one of the great mastering guys on the planet, Mats Lindfors.

AL: Analog will always be awesome, but you can't justify the time and cost. Now, I can record a vocal in my car if I wanted. Pretty convenient.

What's the secret behind a good production?

MARK: Wow well it's complicated but in the final analysis I would say make it the way you visualize it. That may require some technical knowledge, of you and/or engineer if there is one. It's also about how you can communicate to the technical geniuses, if there is one, how you visualize it. These days and at these budgets it's difficult to actually record with those geniuses. But ultimately the instruments and boxes and plug in's are all tools to help you achieve what you are visualizing. Drive, She Said has always had a vision and way of approaching things. Sometimes we have not been able to achieve it, which is frustrating, and probably one of the reasons we waited till we had the tools and budget and people on board who could help us achieve our vision.

What advice would you give to melodic hardrock beginners who are nervous about Drive She Said and their music?

AL: It's been 13 years since our last full album, and THEY'RE nervous? (ha). The one thing I'd say to any beginning musician is play what you want and be yourself.

MARK: What does that mean. Please don't be nervous we don't wanna hurt anyone. Only our instruments. :)

The main difference between working together in the late 80's and today? Everything has changed?

MARK: Of course the gear analogue as opposed to digital. Now many things are incredibly easier. If there is a smaller budget, as in many of these melodic metal records, the musicians are often doing their parts at their own studios (which requires them to be engineers and have good gear as well). Then they send the parts and it's a bit of a challenge to make it all sound cohesive like we are all in the room together. On this record, some of us actually were on some of the songs but most not.

AL: The isolation of modern recording is what's most different to me. Years ago, you were most likely to be in a studio with other people, trading ideas and reactions, even if it was just you and an engineer. Now we're all in our own foxholes, faces glowing from the cold, white light of our lonely computer screens. (ha). Different, indeed. Mark and I will even occasionally do sessions via Skype so we can react realtime. New world.

Did you find it difficult to balance it all (the music) and pleasing old as well as new fans, and yourselves?

MARK: That was certainly the challenge. To be in the world of our first record but not to clone ourselves or be generic. There are so many bands who have mastered and keep regurgitating (is that too strong ha ha) this kind of music and we went back to the attitude that we started with years ago, which was to try to write hits (or you wouldn't get a deal) and have an original sound (or you lost your self respect ha ha) and have as good a performance as we could possibly muster. No one needs to hear another cloned Foreigner or Whitesnake (or even Drive, She Said) song for the 1,000th time. Having said that we did intentionally tip a hat to some previous songs and the firefest Touch band with the song "Touch".

AL: Our longtime friends and followers are the best, of course we want to make a record they want to hear. We know they want the vibe of the early stuff, and we tried to go there. We also made a couple left turns here and there to keep it interesting, some hyper modern moments. I think it's a pretty good balance.

You're obviously crazy about cars? (considering past and present albums and titles). Any favourites and are you the proud owner of any classics?

AL: In the early days, I owned a string of the worst cars you could imagine. The thought of the DSS spaceship/steering wheel that could go anywhere and never break down was so appealing. But yeah, I'll take a Cherry Red 1970 Chevy Nova, if ya got one!

MARK: Would you call a 1998 Jeep Cherokee a classic? If so by all means... it's red.

What's the true story behind your moniker/name. Who (she) said Drive and why

MARK: I've forgotten ha ha. Umm again it's about postive energy. Drive like the kind that motivates you. And a friend suggested "She Said" so we went with it. Forward motion.

AL: I think the words "Drive, She Said" captured an image for us at the time - motion, speed, motivation - and a little sex. I still have no problem with any of those things.

If there's anything you'd like to add, say, please do

MARK: Thanks. Yes, I guess finally I would just thank the amazing and talented people who added their performances to this record. Their names are many, and on the credits of the album, and it was fun and a kind of reunion it all collide again to do another Drive, She Said album. In a way that is what its all about.
Mark Mangold & Al Fritsch

Interview by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
Photos from the press releases... 

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