TONY: I can say with certainty that we are ready and will play soon! This past Feb. 14th marked our 36th year together as a band. It didn’t look too good over the last few months. I developed a problem with my hands. I wasn’t able to move my fingers and thus didn’t play the guitar for 6 months. But through medical intervention I have that dexterity back. The guys and myself are rarin’ to go! And we’re working on some shows as we speak.

NINO: Please tell Al we said hello if you would! This pandemic has really put a lot of bands into hibernation… especially our scene here in Rhode Island and surrounding communities! Whether you’re in a cover, tribute or original band you play to entertain. That’s it! For us, we’ve never been about the money. We take pride in what we do with our music and the fact that even as we get older we still can kick some ass at our ages. But this virus has put a damper on everything. We haven’t gone away and we’ve been a bit quiet but we’re still alive and well! During this break we’ve been working on the next album and looking to book some gigs for 2021. The thing is that we miss the people that come to see the bands and hopefully restrictions will be lifted so the crowds will be able to come out again and see their favorite bands!

KATE: Tell me about your CD’s. Titles, inspirations, and meanings.

TONY:  As brief as we can condense all those years! 1987 (debut album entitled “Matthias Steele”) it was an ambitious effort for three young bucks out of Westerly! Only 38 minutes but just enough to get us noticed on the local scene. It started with requested radio play on college music stations like WCNI, WHUS, WRIU. This album introduced to the world Matthias Steele, a freedom fighter who was cast in the European medieval times. We portrayed his exploits fighting good vs. evil. Only sold maybe 350 copies but people still show it to me every now and then. In 1991 we released “Haunting Tales of a Warrior’s Past.” We had a bigger budget to work with and we spared no expense in the recording. Although the production of the album was a bit of a hanging point (some reviews were less than favorable there) the album did achieve very good press reception. We were going for a concept with our man Steele, telling a story book tale from beginning to end. And producer Peat Brock and myself poured a lot of ideas and textures into the record. It was released by Big Noise Records in Providence and immediately garnered attention and eventually became one if their best sellers. And to this day it appears to have a bit of a cult status around the world. A few years ago Peat Brock and myself remastered it with a slightly warmer sound and included that CD inside a double vinyl lp that we call “Haunting Tales 2.0″ which can be found at our label’s site (Minotauro Records). It had a different line up with John Erkan on guitar and James Jordan on drums. A year later we went back in the studio with Tony Ricci at Fat Trax (now Triad studios) and recorded the tracks Playing God” and “Question of Divinity” that appeared on Big Noise compilation Digital Graffiti. “Playing God” in particular received decent airplay on indie and college rock stations around the world. Phew! Where am I? Oh, so a couple of years went by and it’s 1994-95. We changed lineups again with original drummer Nino and gutarist Todd Gencarella (from the first album) We recorded a song “Cloudcover” written by Todd and it got released on Big Noise’ compilation Digital Mystery Tour. The song was a bit different for us as we tried to fit in with the now popular grunge scene that took over the 90’s. We even changed the band name briefly to Chainsaw Symphony because Matthias Steele was too associated to metal. Uggh! One of my regrets! It was then and there I learned for us to be true to ourselves and not try to sound like somebody else! Shortly after that Todd left and Nino and myself felt it was almost over. Enter Jami Blackwood. We held an audition for Jami after he and I discussed his interest in joining the band one day. He had always been one of our biggest fans. And that was that. We liked his attitude and forethought that he applied to his playing. So here we go again, now with Jami (who was a capable lyricist as well) we went on to record our third album “Resurrection”. The inspiration was there after my father had passed (thus the name). A bit darker and heavier we returned to Steele form only this time lyrically we ventured into world affairs and current themes. Later on we released “Question of Divinty” in which we turned towards a raw “one room” sound. Both Resurrection and Question of Divinity have held their own in sales and were released through Minotauro records and are available today. And that brings us to now…. We are in the process of putting the finishing touches on a new album release! It has been recorded but I can’t divulge much info yet. One thing I can say is that it has a fresh, powerful sound geared to a slightly polished sounding recording with effects and multiple instruments!

KATE: One of my friends and your fans calls MS’s style: “Dungeons and Dragons Metal”. Hahah. How would you describe MS to someone who wasn’t yet familiar with your band?

TONY: Well actually we would like to dial back the “D and D” connotation to our music. And what I tell to people these days that know nothing about the music is: Nino is a die hard Queen, Cheap Trick, Beatles guy. I am a big Rush, Raven, Trouble, King Diamond, Blue Oyster Cult, Jethro Tull guy and Jami is all about Metallica, Megadeth and Randy Rhoades. So put all those influences together put ’em in a blender and you’ve got Matthias Steele! Lol

Although we do try and avoid categorization!

NINO: Yeah, we’ve had some labels put on us over the years because of the style of the music or Tony’s vocals in some songs but in recent years I’ve been calling our brand of music “Old School Metal.” Because that’s what we based the band on when we first started. Everything is tossed in there! Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, King Diamond, Metallica etc. along with some obscure bands from Europe like Witchfinder General, Picture, Raven… the list goes on!

KATE: If you could only save 5 albums from a fire, which would they be? Let’s assume you already have copies of MS CD’s safely stored away somewhere.

TONY: Five must need albums

1 Rush – Hemispheres 2 Jethro Tull – Aqualung 3 Witchfinder General – Death Penalty 4 King Diamond – Abigail 5 Raven – Wiped Out

NINO: My 5 would be: Queen II because once they got into the studio fulltime they really explored what they could actually do with their ideas.. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper Cheap Trick – Heaven Tonight Queen – News of the World Panic at the Disco – Pretty Odd.

KATE: What’s next for Matthias Steele?

TONY: The questions are getting easier! Matthias Steele would like nothing more than getting the opportunity record and perform perform our original music to anyone who digs our brand. We are not in it for money. That would be apparent by now after 36 years. We get off on playing our music to be heard and enjoyed and our live shows to contain electricity and energy that won’t soon be forgotten. It’s our same formula years ago and continues to be a constant for us. Staying power!!!

NINO: Next on our agenda would be to finish this next album which is still untitled, play some shows as we typically do during the pandemic and continue to write, record and perform more music. There’s no slowing us down no matter how old we are! This is what we love to do and what we will continue to do!

KATE: So how can your fans get their hands on your CD’s?

TONY: Presently we are in pursuit of making our music more accessible. But for now some sure bets would be www.minotaurorecords.com or just simply reach out to us on Facebook. We each have a cache of Cds on us at all times. Of course at our live shows we always have them for sale. I’ve also seen them for sale on CD baby and even Ebay! Again this is an area that we are working on so we can reveal multiple outlets where CDs can be obtained.

NINO: We have albums that are currently available on CD and were distributed worldwide by Minotauro Records based in Italy. Haunting Tales of a Warriors past Resurrection Question of Divinity For anyone who wants to purchase one or all 3 they can go to the Minotauro Records website or message us on our Matthias Steele Facebook page and we’ll send them right out to you. $10.00 will include postage and handling.

So there you have it! A long-established and somewhat long-winded (haha) band giving us their candid answers to my probing questions. Matthias Steele apologizes that Jami was unavailable for the interview.

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To learn more about Matthias Steele, check out their website

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