Most people don’t consider the drummers to be the most charismatic people in the world. But when you are Snowy Shaw you’re the exception to the rule. I guess when you have to share the lime light with people like King Diamond, Messiah Marcolin and Hank Shermann, you either sink or swim. And swim like a fish he did. Not only is he a kickass drummer and songwriter. He is also one of the most unique heavy metal personalities out there and he was nice enough to let a heavy metal nerd like myself ask him some questions about Dream Evil and even see what else he is up to.

We put Them Sluts! on ice about two years ago, it’s likely I will use some of the material I wrote for it but that we never got to use but I doubt we’ll ever pick it up as a unit again.

A couple of months ago I started a brand new project together with singer Mats Leven
( Therion ex Yngwie Malmsteen, Abstract algebra, Treat, Krux, Swedish Erotica etc) that we’re both very very excited about. So far it goes under the working title S&M.
It turned out we share the same influences to such an extent that it’s almost scary and working with this team we both feel is so easy going and enjoyable. Prior to this I haven’t had that good experiences co-writing with people. With most people I’ve worked with in the past we share common ground with a certain music style or a few couple of bands that we both like, but with Mats it’s so different, we understand each other completely and can easily refer to a quite varied repetoir with everything from The Sparks, Plastic Bertrand, Abba, AC/DC, Manowar, Sweet, U2, Nazareth, Rammstein, Bowie, Uriah Heep, Accept, Dalbello, Candlemass, Queen, Laibach, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Gary Glitter and Kiss of course, among many others.

Before we met we both had our separate individual solo things in mind with tons of material more or less recorded but will now use some of that stuff in S&M since we now have decided to join forces.

The main reason I changed my mind and joined as a permanent member is because we had so tremendously much fun together basically. That and that I would contribute with material and ideas in general. Gus is probably the best guitarist that I’ve ever played with and Fredrik is definitely the worst! ha ha. But on the other hand he’s a fantastic engineer.
I really like Gus´style especially since he stopped copying Yngwie and “grew up” which he did surprisingly quick considering his young age. He has that kind of Michael Schenker quality to his solo playing, like when you listen to boring UFO songs and when the solo comes, suddenly a new dimension opens up like the grey clouds scatter and the sky is all filled with sun shine. Quite laughable hippie-like comparisons I suppose but it’s true, at least I felt that way when I listened to his own band Firewind. They are all great guitar players indeed, but Denner has something special that moves me.

Things are going well, I’ve got a couple of bigger job offers but I won’t reveal any names til they are a 100% confirmed. You can check most of the bands I worked with out on my site www.snowyshaw.com then there’s a link to White Trash Inc.

 Can’t think of such an exceptionally great combo that would draw my attention in the metal world though, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart maybe?

Dunno, it seems to be a common idea that the drummer and bassist should be a tight unit and have some sort of bond. To be honest, I’ve never cared much about or made much efforts trying to play tight with the bassplayer in particular, I guess I just take for granted he’s a competent musician and that he’s able to follow me, I play lead drums you see (lol) . Sharlee and I were probably like thick and thin, just because we grew up together sharing the same musical ideals and he’s got a great musical ear. I’m constantly making jokes about bass players because I think in many cases they’ve chosen that instrument because it fits their low profile personality or because they were the least good guitar player. The bass players that I like, I like for other reasons, such as being a great song writer or strong personality, like Joey DeMaio, Peter Steele, Gene Simmons, Steve Priest, Phil Lynott, Leif Edling, Blackie Lawless, Nikki Sixx and Steve Harris. Maybe not Sid Vicious, but you see what I’m saying, right.

peace on earth – death to false metal