Interview with

AGENT STEEL are one of the most kick-ass speed metal bands EVER! One of my favorite bands,they released the album I named my first webzine,Unstoppable Force,after. Their records are truly classic examples of how to play harmonious speed metal,with awesome musical arrangements,the vocals of the one and only John Cyriss (and recently a truly awesome singer by the name of Bruce Hall...truly in a class by himself),and stunning axework. If you don't have anything by this band,you better get the fuck out to a store or a mail order company and start purchasing.

With an up-coming album due out soon,guitarist Juan Garcia was kind enough to answer my questions about the band,and I feel that this is one of the best interviews I have ever done. Read below,dig into it,then get the albums if you haven't already...you won't be disappointed.

Interview by - Chris O'Brien (RUSH OF POWER WEBZINE)
*** USED WITH KIND PERMISSION ***

1-When did you start playing guitar? What made you decide that you wanted to play heavy metal music?

I Started playing guitar when I was in High School. When I heard bands like KISS, SCORPIONS, and BLACK SABBATH it influenced me to want to learn how to play the guitar.

2- Where you in any bands previous to ABATTOIR? What made you decide to join/form ABATTOIR? Was ABATTOIR well received in the L.A. Metal scene at the time?

JUAN: ABATTOIR was my first real band; I was a roadie for Mark Caro and him and Mel Sanchez asked me to play rhythm guitar. I also bought a "Dean Flying V" guitar off Mel Sanchez (ABATTOIR) bass player. We use to play lots of cover songs like SAXON, JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN, RIOT. ABATTOIR became real popular quickly; we opened for bands like WASP and METALLICA.

3-How many songs did ABATTOIR write before you played gigs? How long did it take to find the right line-up of the band to perform and record with the band?

ABATTOIR was playing gigs when we were a cover band and then we started writing originals. One of our first originals was written by Me and Mel Sanchez called "Screams from The Grave" for Metal Massacre volume 4.

4-How did you get onto METAL MASSACRE 4? How did John Cyriss join the band? Were you aware of his band SCEPTER at the time?

Juan: We had just finished recording a 2-song demo with Bill Metoyer producing (at the time Metoyer had just finished recording the first SLAYER album). We started getting airplay on KMET Mighty Metal Hour show and we submitted the demo to Brian Slagel and he got us on the Metal Massacre Vol. 4. We were looking for a new singer at the time and we had an advertisement out looking for a singer and John contacted us.

5-How long was John in ABATTOIR before he left to form AGENT STEEL? How long did it take for Steve Gaines to join?

John was in the band like 6 months and then he went on to form AGENT STEEL. Steve Gaines demanded to be the singer for ABATTOIR after John left. we liked Steve's determination and drive so we auditioned him and he sounded solid.

6-Were you surprised that Combat Records showed an interest in ABATTOIR? Why did they decide to release the "Vicious Attack" demo as an album? Were you alright with that decision? Would you have liked to re-record those songs for the record?

Combat records showed interest because I submitted the demo to them and at the time they had picked up MEGADETH and they really like ABATTOIR. We were alright with the decision to release the "Vicious Attack" demo as an album because that was all the money we had to work with; Combat offered some more money for us to record a few more tracks and mix down the whole record.

7-How did you join AGENT STEEL and leave ABATTOIR? Was it hard to leave ABATTOIR behind? Were you pissed that you played guitar and wrote half the songs on the album,but your photo and name weren't credited on "Vicious Attack"?

What had happened was that Jon Zazula was out on the West Coast to check out MEGADETH (at the time Megadeth was in a bidding between Megaforce and Combat). So Jon Z (owner of Megaforce) was checking out MEGADETH rehearse and ABATTOIR just so happened to rehearse in the same building as MEGADETH, and Jon Zazula walked by and heard a few ABATTOIR songs and liked ABATTOIR but he said to me....I just signed a band called ANTHRAX, so I am not interested in ABATTOIR but why don't you think about playing rhythm guitar with Dave Mustaine in MEGADETH. So I rehearsed once with MEGADETH we jammed "mechanix" (Four Horsemen) and it sounded killer!!! but I had a hard time leaving ABATTOIR to want to play in MEGADETH. So I decided it was best to get away from ABATTOIR and the whole MEGADETH situation so I teamed up with John Cyriis and got AGENT STEEL rolling. I was a bit pissed at the time that ABATTOIR remove credits from the "Vicious Attack" album because I worked so hard not only on the songs but getting the album signed to the Combat.

8-Had you heard the "144,000 Gone" demo before joining with them? How fast were AGENT STEEL signed to Combat Records after you and Kurt Colfelt joined the band?

Yeah, I had heard the demo on the radio and it reminded me of IRON MAIDEN so I knew then that I had to write songs with John Cyriis. Me, and Kurt solidified the line-up and Combat was into it.

9-Was "Skeptics Apocalypse" supposed to be a full-length album? Were you surprised that the album was as well-recieved as it was? What do you think set AGENT STEEL apart from ABATTOIR as far as song writing went?

"Skeptics Apocalypse" was suppose to be an Ep but Combat provided us with more money to make it an album. I knew AGENT STEEL was gonna be popular because we were working hard; specially with the press in Europe. Also the songwriting differed from ABATTOIR quite a bit; AGENT STEEL had interesting lyrical contents with the whole alien/UFO theme which I really enjoyed.

10-Did AGENT STEEL tour for this album? Did the band play Europe? Who were you touring with? How was the band recieved live?

We did shows with SLAYER, POSSESSED, DARK ANGEL, EXODUS, METAL CHURCH and the response was good and to us that was a good sign because AGENT STEEL was quite different than all those bands. People respected AGENT STEEL, then we toured Europe with ANTHRAX and OVERKILL, we also did shows with KING DIAMOND and HELLOWEEN that's when things really started to get big for us.

11-What made Kurt decide to leave? How long were you the solitary guitarist before Bernie Versailles joined? Did you want to be the only guitar player in the band at any time?

Kurt and John got into disputes, and no I never wanted to be the only guitar player. We looked for a replacement for a longtime before we found Bernie

12-How soon after Bernie joined the band was the "Mad Locust Rising" EP released? Why didn't AGENT STEEL concentrate on making a second full-length album instead of taking these songs and making the EP?

At the time we needed time to work with Bernie so we decided to go with an Ep first and then tour some more before Unstoppable Force.

13-Why did George Robb leave the band? How did Micheal Zaputil join? How long after he joined did the recording begin for the "Unstoppable Force" album? How many songs were written before he joined?

George Robb was replaced by Mike Zaputil, basically AGENT STEEL was looking for a more precised bass sound and Mike provided this (nothing against George) but Mike was very professional and had a tight bass sound. 3-4 months after Mike joined we were in Florida recording Unstoppable Force with Jim Morris at Morrisound Studios in Tampa.

14-How did AGENT STEEL's song writing process work?

In the beginning John would show us a riff on guitar and we would work around the riff and we would build from there. John wrote all the vocal melodies and about half the music with everyone else contributing. John also had finished songs that he wanted us to play like "Taken By Force" was written when he was in Scepter.

15-What made the band decide to record in Florida when you guys were from Los Angeles?

We wanted to get away from Los Angeles to concentrate on the music without distractions, and Morrisound studios provided this for us.

16-What made you decide to start touring before finishing the recording of "Unstoppable Force"? Did you play any of the songs from "Unstoppable..." live on these dates? If so,did the songs go over well with the fans?

We got the offer to Join ANTHRAX and OVERKILL on tour with major endorsement from Metal Hammer Magazine so we decided to go on tour and finish the album after the tour. We did play a few songs live from Unstoppable Force before the release of the album and the metalheads really got excited about the new material.

17-Why was the release of "Unstoppable Force" delayed?

Because of mixing schedules and change of mixing producers. We were gonna have Randy Burns mix the album, but we decided to go back in with Jim and Tom Morris and finish up where we left off.

18-What's the cover for "Unstoppable Force" supposed to be,actually? Is this the artwork the band wanted for the album?

The album cover is the bottom of the ocean floor (actual photo of the Bimini Atlantis region of the Bermuda Triangle) and it was airbrushed with lasers to make it look like an UFO was breaking through the ocean floor (well at least that was the concept of the album). The concept was good and that is what we wanted. I think now that concept would of been better projected on artwork with the advancement of technology but for the time it was what we wanted.

19-"Unstoppable Force" is one of the best albums I have ever heard,in my honest opinion. How were the reactions to it when it finally saw the light of day?

Thank You, I think Unstoppable Force is a break through album for metal in general it covers a lot of ground as far as songwriting. We were heavily influenced by IRON MAIDEN and a bit of QUEENSRYCHE at that time. The reaction was tremendous, it was the second biggest shipment of albums by a record company next to METALLICA's "Ride the Lighting" in Europe.

20-What happened with Capitol Records and their interset in the band? Why did John decide to re-locate to Florida? Did you want to move to Florida to continue the band?

Capitol wanted to sign the band, and they came down and we showcased; they offered money and our management turned it down, but Capitol said o.k. we will sign you after the new year because we just signed MEGADETH. So we said o.k. we will wait until the new year and sign the deal, so everyone was happy. Then, what happened in the next few months changed a lot of things. John wanted to move to Florida and we were all cool with it, so him and Chuck went first, but then the more we thought about it the more we did not want to move to Florida. We decided to stay in Los Angeles and told him o.k. we will rehearse here and we can come together for tours and recordings, but it just did not work out and he replaced us all except Chuck Profus.

21-How long,after you left AGENT STEEL,did you form the band EVIL DEAD? Are you a fan of the EVIL DEAD films? Did you try to re-join ABATTOIR after leaving AGENT STEEL?

after AGENT STEEL i took a break and Mel Sanchez contacted me to do a side project so we were both into horror movies and EVILDEAD became the name for the band.

22-How long did it take EVIL DEAD to get the deal with Steamhammer and record the "Rise Above" ep? How was EVIL DEAD a different band from ABATTOIR and AGENT STEEL ?

It did not take long at all to secure a deal. EVILDEAD was more hardcore and thrash without melodic vocals that was the major differance.

23-How long did EVIL DEAD last? How many albums did the band do? Why did the band call it quits?

We did 2 studio records. "Annihilation of Civilization" "Underworld" the "Rise Above" Ep and also a "Live From the Depths of the Underworld" Ep. At the time death metal was real popular and thrash was dying out so we went as far as we could.

24-What did you do between the time that EVIL DEAD disbanded and AGENT STEEL was re-vitalized? Was it hard to reform AGENT STEEL?

I played in a band called TERROR and released an album in Mexico on Culebra/BMG. The music was similar to EVILDEAD but in spanish. I also played bass with Chuck Profus in a punk band. Somehow we met up with Bernie and he told me that AGENT STEEL was still popular in Europe that we should consider reforming, I gave it some thought and we decided to set up an rehearsal and it sounded amazing! AGENT STEEL sounded great like we never missed a day.

25-How did you find singer Bruce Hall? Did you choose him because of how his voice contrasted from that of John Cyriss?

Bernie found him and we auditioned him and his voice was different than Cyriis but similar at times.

26-How long did it take to write "The Omega Conspiracy"? How much of the album was completed before Bruce came in as the singer?

It took about a year, only a few songs were written when we reformed. The writing process went smooth.

27-When the album was released,were you worried about a possible backlash because Cyriss didn't sing on it? Why did you guys decide to carry on as AGENT STEEL instead of using the name AGENTS OF STEEL?

We knew there would be a backlash because Cyriis was not involved but that's o.k.. We did our best to keep the AGENT STEEL tradition going and you cannot fault us for that. Originally we were gonna be called AGENTS OF STEEL which I think is a great name, but Candlelight records who signed us wanted us to use AGENT STEEL and then we put thought behind it and thought; well IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST continued without Paul DiAnno, and Rob Halford why can't AGENT STEEL at least try to continue without Cyriis?

28-How was the album percieved when it was released? I,for one,thought it was excellent.

The reviews were good, some people would of preferred Cyriis on vocals but once they got use to Bruce they were fine with the fact that AGENT STEEL had turned a new page. You got to understand when we reformed we had no idea where Cyriis was and even if we found him we had no idea if it would work out.

29-What can you tell us about the new album "Order of the Illumaniti"?

To be honest, I think it is one of the best albums I've ever been involved with. Everything from the songwriting and performances and even the packaging is a step above anything we've done. With all due respect to our previous workings this is a superior record