The Metal Crypt - The Three Tremors Interview

Interviews

Interview with vocalist Sean "The Hell Destroyer" Peck
Interview conducted by Luxi Lahtinen

Date online: December 27, 2018

The original idea for The Three Tremors—featuring Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, and Geoff Tate—never materialized for a number of reasons. When vocalist Sean Peck was on tour with his band Cage opening for Judas Priest on the Jugulator tour, he suggested the idea to Tim "Ripper" Owens and the seeds of The Three Tremors were planted a second time.

Long story short, Sean "The Hell Destroyer" Peck (Cage, Death Dealer, Denner/Shermann), Tim "Ripper" Owens (Charred Walls of the Damned, ex-Judas Priest, ex-Iced Earth, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen), and Harry "The Tyrant" Conklin (Jag Panzer, Satan's Host), joined forces as The Three Tremors not only to play a couple of shows here and there but also make an album, which is set to be released on January 18, 2019.

The Three Tremors tested the waters in Europe and the tour was a success. More shows are being booked, so be sure not to miss this extra-special opportunity when they hit near you.

Sean Peck was kind enough to tell The Metal Crypt more about their future plans so let's unleash him from his cage (no pun intended).

Luxi: Good day, Sean! How's life in the land of "America first!" these days? ;o)

Sean: Ha! So far so good. The economy is booming, people are coming out to metal shows here in droves, the fourth Avengers movie is coming out and superheroes and nerd shit rules the land. A great time to be alive!

Luxi: Indeed, it is. Anyways, for starters, can you tell us when the first seeds of The Three Tremors were set in the ground? Whose idea was this project originally?

Sean: Well, it was about five years ago. I was thinking about how the original idea never materialized. It was just a heavy metal urban legend. I thought it would be a way to fulfill the prophecy, so to speak, and bring it to life. It has taken five years, but we have completed the vision and brought this to life. It is not just an album but a live touring band.

Luxi: Are you disappointed that the trio of Dickinson-Halford-Tate never went on tour together to do this much talked about The Three Tremors thing?

Sean: Yes, I think the heavy metal world was deprived of what would probably have been something amazing. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are responsible for putting me on the life path I am now on, so it is a shame it never happened. That is the reason I wanted to make it happen. That and the fact I knew it would be kick ass once we put this line-up together.

Luxi: All of you are very gifted vocalists, of course, but I was just wondering whether you also had some sort of a bucket list of other singers available that you at least were considering recruiting for this project?

Sean: King Diamond and Midnight from Crimson Glory (aka John McDonald, R.I.P.). Actually, Ripper and Harry were my first choices. Based on the 17 shows we did and the album that resulted, I made the right choice. I am just glad they both agreed to do it.

Luxi: How did Dave and Casey (for guitars), Alex (for bass) and Sean (for drums) all join the band?

Sean: The backing band is basically my long-running band Cage. At first, we had a bunch of people that were going to contribute but we decided to keep it in house. There were multiple reasons for that. We knew just making the record was going to be tough, so we wanted a streamlined process where we could record it and write it all locally. Also, the Cage crew writes great heavy metal songs and between the three of us we were able to put together a fantastic batch of songs. Having great metal songs was the first priority when it came to the Three Tremors master plan.

Luxi: Your debut album is set to be released on January 18, 2019. Each of the "three tremors" sings on every song. Was it easy to decide who would sing this or that part in a song and in which order?

Sean: Each guy sang the entire album and we took pieces from each performance and put them together the best we could. I listened to each performance and made out a blueprint and Dave and I surgically put them all together in the hopes it would sound good. I think the metal godz blessed us and the thing came out great. Performing it lives, we made some adjustments to the plan. I wanted to make sure it did not sound like a big mess and the voices were distinct.

Luxi: Did you only write the 12 songs for this record or was more stuff written and composed?

Sean: Yes, there is a lot of leftover stuff, but we wrote these songs for the Tremors album exclusively. We are already talking about a second record and probably are going to release the individual versions of the album since each guy is so good on their own.

Luxi: Was one of your main goals to make an old school and straightforward sounding heavy metal record that would bow as much in the directions of both the NWOBHM and old school US heavy metal?

Sean: I don't know if that was a main goal but that is just our writing style, I guess. That is the kind of music I love and same for Ripper and the Tyrant. We all love these songs and have a great time performing them live.

Luxi: Do you feel that you exceeded your expectations with this album?

Sean: Yes, I am really happy with this record. Normally I am very nervous about it being good enough but now after playing these songs live to a bunch of metal heads who had never heard them before, I know they are awesome ha!!! The reaction to them was fantastic and the mix and mastering came out great, too. I am sure fans of powerful metal singing and classic heavy metal mixed with speed and thrash will love this thing!

Luxi: You have played in 10 European countries, doing 17 shows in all and the reception was overwhelming. Did it surprise you that your shows turned out to be so successful in Europe?

Sean: Yes, most of the shows had a strong turnout and even at the few that were lighter in attendance, the people absolutely loved it. A lot of people came up to us afterwards saying they were very skeptical of how good the show could be but afterwards were convinced this is a super special metal performance. We did not have the album for sale yet obviously, so it was kind of weird to tour without a record, but it ended up being a really cool way to advertise the album. We had a couple of shows that were canceled because the venues closed down and we booked make up shows at the last minute that ended up great! One sold out even though it was booked like six days before the show went down.

Luxi: Which cities or countries were the most successful stops for you guys?

Sean: Cyprus, Greece, Copenhagen, Holland, and Belgium were very strong! We only played one show in Germany so next time we need to pound them, and we plan on hitting a lot of the countries we missed the first time around.

Luxi: On this tour, you played all the songs that will be featured on your upcoming debut album with some cover songs from Priest, Cage, Jag Panzer and even Beyond Fear. Was it obvious that you would play some covers of the bands that all of you have some history with?

Sean: We made the plan to do it that was as it only made sense. The focus was our original album, though. I made sure we played only the best Priest songs; "Painkiller" and "The Sentinel" and "Burn in Hell" off of Jugulator. The crowd went nuts when we busted those songs out, of course!

Luxi: As the tour was a success for you in Europe, do you believe you will return to the Old Continent in 2019? Or is it too early to say? If you do, do not miss the Scandinavian countries next time, OK? ;o)

Sean: Yes, we already have plans for that and yes Finland and Norway will be on the list. We tried to do them on the first run, but it did not work out. In Sweden, we did four shows, so we covered them quite heavily.

Luxi: I noticed that you are working on a US tour for the spring. If I am not completely mistaken, you also want to bring this The Three Tremors concept to as many countries as possible, as long as it's financially reasonable for you guys to do, right? Are countries like Japan and/or Australia, for example, already calling The Three Tremors' name perhaps?

Sean: Yes, Australia and Asia including Japan are already being booked. South America and Mexico are being booked. We plan on being very active with the Tremors live show.

Luxi: Do you believe there will also be some continuation for this extraordinary project? I mean, can we expect to get a follow-up album from The Three Tremors?

Sean: Yes, we are already talking about it. We will probably start writing after the US tour. In the meantime, we plan on releasing the Ripper, Tyrant, and Hell Destroyer versions of the record next year, so look out for those.

Luxi: One last question and then we are done, Sean. What can your fans expect from The Three Tremors in 2019?

Sean: An insane album release on January 18th and massive amounts of touring. You need to see it live, there is nothing like it at all in metal today.

Luxi: Thanks so much for your time, Sean, and all the best with all of your future musical endeavors as well. The last words belong rightfully to you, so be my guest ... ;o)

Sean: Hail and thanks for the interest. Please keep in touch with us all you metal freaks reading this and tell everyone you know the Three Tremors are coming to take over!!!

Other information about The Three Tremors on this site

Review: The Three Tremors