Presto Ballet

Ex-Metal Church creator and guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof's Presto Ballet is a memorable walk down '70s prog rock lane. Combining the best of Kansas, Styx, ELP and Yes, and using real Hammond organs and Mellotron's, the band create true prog rock with a modern edge that helps keep this type of music relevant in 2010.

As an alter-ego to the thrashing riffs of Metal Church, Kurdt, a product of growing up as a musician in the '70s, has nurtured his love for this type of true, human-sounding organic rock. He has created a sound that celebrates the love of music of this time period. Being a fan of all kinds of rock and metal is what is so gratifying about Presto Ballet.

What many people may not know is that Kurdt is also the soundman for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which kicked off their Beethoven's Last Night Tour 2010 on March 25th.

Speaking from his home-studio outside of Seattle while laying down bass tracks for the new soon-to-be released Presto Ballet album, Kurdt spoke about Metal Church's termination, his love for prog rock and the new Presto Ballet record.

Metal Mayhem: Most people are usually surprised when they hear that you are the guitarist for Metal Church, and the mastermind behind a prog rock band. With Presto Ballet being your alter-ego, can you explain where your desire for this style of music comes from?
Kurdt Vanderhoof: It basically has to do with being a musician growing up in the seventies. As a small kid, you start hearing stuff like Rush, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Kansas, then you also hear Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and everything in between. That's what was happening then when I was an aspiring musician. The whole metal thing was a natural thing with the youth coming out of the punk rock which I did for a number of years and then did the metal thing. This is what the Vanderhoof Project kind of morphed into and I was just going to play the kind of music that I like to hear that I don't hear coming out anymore. After a couple of albums of that, it turned into the Presto thing and I went down a road that I've never been down before, which really challenged me as a writer. Now I'm just happy as can be that it's actually working and there's a neo-prog scene. So this is where I'm going to be for a while.

MM: I grew up loving bands you cite as influences. Both Presto albums have that organic sound you get while listening to "Tales From Topographic Oceans" or "Grand Illusion" and the like. Explain your desire to record in the old-school manner using analogue synthesizers, real Hammond organs and Mellotron sounds.
KV: That's exactly why I do it that way. It has to be digital because that's just the way things are now, but I still use my tape machine and just use the computer as a tape machine replacement. The computer isn't playing any instruments, we're just using it to record through it. All the keyboards and everything are the real deal. It's somebody playing a real Hammond organ, it's a real Mellotron, Minimoog and Oberheim. Same thing with guitars ... no modelling, it's a mic in front of a Marshall cabinet. Those are the things that make it sound like rock music. If you start using all this digital stuff ... it's great and fascinating and it's wonderful for what it is, but it just sucks the life out of it. It's not rock 'n' roll, and I just don't like that modern way, the perfection of it, it doesn't sound right to me. Drum machines ... if all the drum tracks are all perfect, I get a back ache. It's not suppose to be perfect, because it's human, that's what gives it its charm. That kind of thing is extremely important to me, so when I'm making records, it's crucial for me to put those elements into the recording.

MM: How do you feel about ProTools?
KV: Pro Tools is fine, it's just the way things are now. The digital thing is allowing me to make records in an actual physical faith that I probably couldn't before. I wouldn't be able to make a record without actually building a building or renting a building. Now I'm just working out of my house, I built a small studio in my garage. So that's been beneficial, in that respect, it's great. Pro Tools is something that is fine if you use it right. So much of the modern pop stuff is so perfect and computer-generated that it's just not real. Because you can edit everything perfectly and make it perfect and fix everything and pitch control correction and everything on vocals. To me, it's just not right, the advent of digital has a lot of benefits too, but those kind of things are the downfall of it.



MM: I supposedly witnessed the last Metal Church show at Rocklahoma 2009. So straight answer, is Metal Church done?
KV: Right now, yes. Metal Church is something that will always be around in one form or another and will always be something that's very near and dear to my heart. What happened was, trying to keep that thing alive ... I really wanted to spend time developing Presto, for one thing. But, when we were trying to get out there and tour, and do what rock bands do, it was really getting difficult because the people we were working with ... our booking agents ... we weren't making any money to make it possible to do it and the offers we were getting for places were shithole places and it just wasn't fun. We couldn't get anybody to work with us that was worth a shit. We basically didn't have management. SPV at that time was going under and they weren't getting us any help and the records were barely getting out ... the last one ("This Present Wasteland"), because they were bankrupt. So we said, "Let's just call it quits." If something changes and someone calls us up for some decent shows, I don't think for a minute that any of us wouldn't do it. If I'm busy doing something or if Ronny (Munroe) is doing something, then we can't, but it just got to the point where it wasn't any fun. And if you're not making money, and I don't do music for money, and that's never been the way I've done things, but if it's not fun and it's not getting anywhere, then let's put it down for a while. And if it comes around where we can play some decent shows and everybody's available, then sure, it might happen again. But right now, I'm concentrating on Presto Ballet.

MM: Speaking of Presto Ballet, can you tell me about the new album in progress.
KV: We finally have a solid line-up and we're going to be gigging this summer. We're going to be setting something up in the UK with the big prog resurgence that's going on over there. We definitely want to make a presence over there as soon as we can. The album should be out the end of June or first of July. We hired a "real" keyboard player. We have a new bass player, the rest is the same, myself and drummer Bill Raymond and Scott Albright on vocals. I think it's going to be more focused than the last album but still the same approach, but this is going to be a band that's able to play live now. It's not just my little side project anymore.

MM: With you and Scott being the two remaining core members, where do you see Presto Ballet heading, career-wise?
KV: It's tough to say, because I didn't think for a band like Presto or any of that kind of stuff would even really have a market for it, but it is getting pretty big, especially in Europe and the UK. Fans of the new prog scene. New fans that are frustrated with the quality of music that's coming out. There might be actually a career for us! I believe in the band and the music and if we get out there and deliver it live, we might actually be a bunch of old guys that still have a career. We're certainly not going to get rich, and that's not the reason we're doing this, but the fact that there's people that want to hear this kind of music, that's really encouraging.

MM: I'm not sure, but has Presto Ballet played any live gigs or done any long-term tours?
KV: We actually played our one and only show at CalProg in '08, and that's when we embarrassingly had to play with sequenced keyboards because the keyboard player I hired to be in the band, turns out, he couldn't play. So we started rehearsing for CalProg and we found out he couldn't play this stuff. So we thought we couldn't play the show because he couldn't play the stuff. And we were offered to play CalProg a couple of years prior to that after the first album, and the drummer and bass player totally flaked on me and we had to cancel. We got offered to do it again and there was no way we were going to cancel again. So our very first gig started off with me coming up to the mic saying "I'm sorry!" So the first Presto gig started off that way, we did the show but it worked and it was fine. But we thought, "Imagine what it would be like playing this stuff with a real band when we got our shit together." So that's been pretty inspiring to keep this going and get the right members to take it to the next level.

MM: You're a well-rounded musician; a writer, guitar player, keyboard player and producer. Explain the feeling you get from your creative side of music.
KV: Myself and Bill, our drummer, is helping me with this new album. I can wear all the hats, but I really don't like to, because it's really hard to keep perspective on things, so if I can bring someone else and their opinion that I trust, that helps me a lot and usually the product will end up better. The feeling of creativity ... what else is there? That's why I still do what I do and still intend on doing it until I die. It's my passion. Be it prog, rock, metal, punk or whatever, I just love it. That's all I think about, and have since I was six or seven years old. So nothing has changed in that respect except the industry has certainly changed. I don't see myself ever stopping. The feeling is fulfilment, the accomplishment of writing something you like to hear, making a record of stuff that you've written. There's nothing to compare to it, I'm really blessed to make a living at this. To wake up in the morning and say, "I'm going to play my guitar today!" That's really awesome! So I'm very grateful in that respect.

MM: Did you create your own label before releasing "The Lost Art of Time Travel?" Was it because of the current state the record industry or did you want total control over your own music?
KV: Initially, it's because of the state of the industry. The whole thing of waiting to get a record deal and having record companies putting out records and hope that they do a good job. The fact that that's the one good thing about the industry being upside down right now is that the artist can start your own company and put out your own record and use the Internet. Granted, you're not going to sell a gazillion records anymore because you don't have the money to put into it., but you don't need to. If you're lucky to make $1off every sale, if you're putting it out yourself, you might make $6. You don't need to sell 100,00, you could sell 10,00 and still make a couple of bucks, depending on how much you spend on making the record. That was my initial thing in the process of how the industry is going now. I'm trying to get all the Metal Church catalogue back and the remasters and I want to put that on my label as well. I just want to be in control of what happens with it. It just seems the right thing to do and just try to get a good distribution deal.

MM: Any last words, comments or plugs you'd like to get in?
KV: Start buying vinyl everybody. Vinyl will save the industry, and besides it sounds better. The new album will definitely be out on vinyl and I would like to do vinyl versions of the first two albums. If anybody is interested in Presto, let's put together some shows, any bands out there that want to play at the "grass roots level," let's get together and do some gigs.

Website: http://www.prestoballet.com

Article and Photo's by Kelley Simms