PHEAR Talk Insanitarium Debut - "This Album Is Not Really Market Driven; It's Got A 'Screw It' Attitude"

Singer Patrick Mulock – who once fronted Eidolon with former Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover and ex-Megadeth/King Diamond guitarist Glen Drover – along with two of his former bandmates in Rampage (guitarist Tyson Emanuel and drummer Chris Lewis) make up the Mississauga-based Phear. Guitarist Graham Stirrett and bassist Chris Boshis round out the line-up. BraveWords scribe Carl Begai recently spoke with the group about their origins and their new album, Insanitarium. An excerpt from the in-depth conversation is available below.

On Phear’s traditional old school metal direction…

Chris L.: “I think Phear and Rampage are one and the same. The music is still a culmination of Patrick, Tyson, and I as we collaborated on all of the songs. In fact, a number of the songs were also co-written by ex-Rampage guitarist Rick Reid as well, so the Phear music still has a Rampage feel to it.”

Patrick: “This album is not really market driven. There are a lot of longer songs on it. We write what comes out, we like it, we hope you like it. Let’s face it; art is all subjective. One person’s symphony is noise to someone else. It’s got a ‘screw it’ attitude.”

On garnering attention outside Canada…

Tyson: “I would love to perform anywhere of notoriety on a bill with other great bands. Wacken anyone?”

Graham: “It seems we have been getting attention outside of Canada – interviews, radio snippets… It would be nice to play somewhere like Europe.”

Chris: “We’ve receive a lot of requests from fanzines, webzines, radio shows from all over the globe to preview and air our CD and our music. It has exposed us to North America, Europe, and South America. The ball has just started to roll for us.”

Patrick: “Peahr is getting radio and media attention from all over the world .and the response has been awesome! We have not heard from any record companies as of yet. Then again, we have not approached them either (laughs). We are going to play live in Canada first and then decide what opportunities are abroad. I look forward to those opportunities.”

Stay tuned for more Phear, coming soon.

Phear released their debut album, Insanitarium on May 22 via Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby. Check out their new performance video for the song “Heaven” below:

Insanitarium consists of 12 songs (+1 bonus instrumental track) and features the following guest musicans – Glen Drover (Megadeth, King Diamond, Eidolon), Bjorn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork), Stan Miczek (Harem Scarem, Honeymoon Suite, Sass Jordan), Jon Howard (Threat Signal), Travis Montgomery (Threat Signal), Kelly Kereliuk (Prismind), Rick Reid (Eclipse Eternal, Rampage), Omar Ales (Harem Scarem), Mark Ferreira, and Basia Lyjak.

Check out the artwork and tracklisting below:

Insanitarium tracklisting:

“Regan’s Dream”
“Don’t Scream”
“Fallen”
“Heaven”
“Delusions”
“Proud”
“The Drowning Man”
“Until You Die”
“Motive’s Unknown”
“Bloodline”
“In The Name Of”
“Sea of Lies”
“Snap”

Phear have also debuted the video for “Don’t Scream” below:

“Reagan’s Dream”featuring Jon Howard from Threat Signal: