Tara’s Secret was a well-hidden secret of the melodic rock sound that was revealed to us a while ago. Three members of the band, Craig Chapman, Richard Beardsley and Johnny Trowbridge, were more than happy to answer to some of our questions and all we can say is that you should definitely check out Tara’s Secret…you will embark on a mesmerizing journey with their music!

Interview: Sakis Nikas

Rockpages.gr: Craig, Tara's Secret is a fairly unknown name here in Greece. Would you like to introduce the band (the main points, at least) to our readers?

Craig Chapman: Well, there’s 5 of us for starters – Johnny Trowbridge (lead vocals), Richie Beardsley (lead guitar, vocals), Craig Chapman (Guitar, Keys, Vocals), Dave Deaville (Bass, Piano, Vocals) and John ‘JT’ Thomas (Drums, Vocals) and we’re based around the North Midlands in the UK.

The band formed in 2003 with the aim of writing our own rock anthems, being big fans of bands like Van Halen, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Journey, Thunder and countless other stadium bands.  Since we started out we’ve had a couple of line-up changes but we are stronger than ever, playing our music live and looking forward our next album.

Rockpages.gr: "Vertigo" is your second full length album. It took almost three years to come up with a brand new record after the debut "Tomorrow The World". What has Tara's Secret been doing in the meantime?

Craig Chapman: “Tomorrow the World” was our first proper studio album, but there is a much sought after demo album called ‘Spectrum Wheel’ that we recorded in 2004. After recording ‘Tomorrow the World’ we lost 2 band members a few months later so Tara’s Secret was put on hold until we could find the right people to replace them. With Dave and JT on board we sat down and looked at the direction of both the band and the next album.

Johnny Trowbridge: We wrote about 20 tracks for ‘Vertigo’ during 2008/09 before we went into the studio for pre-production. We co-produced the album with Mark Stuart and Sheena Sear at M2 studios – home of UK classic rockers Magnum. We had also recorded ‘Tomorrow the World’ there and knew what kind of sound we could get for ‘Vertigo’. After looking over various label offers we decided to form our own label, Blackcat Music, since then it’s been non-stop... 

Rockpages.gr: When someone listens to the album, it is instantly evident an influence by all the 80s melodic rock acts. Do you agree and if yes, which ones would you consider to be among the most influential on Tara's Secret sound?

Richie Beardsley: We tried to balance the old with the new. Yes our influences do come from a lot of 80s bands but there is also that modern twist in there. We all listen to different things. Craig could bring the classic rock influences of Rainbow and Journey, I could throw in some Dokken and Van Halen and Johnny would add things like Shinedown and Daughtry. So it is not all just 80s rock found in a Tara’s Secret song, the songs might have their roots there, but we layer the music so its in your face with a big 2010 production. We wanted a more focused collection of songs that captured the essence of our influences as well as have a modern feel to them, also decided on having a more guitar, driven sound with a unbelievably strong rhythm section behind it.

Craig Chapman: We tried to capture some of that 80s good style rocking with an upbeat vibe, but we also wanted something a little darker at times. On songs like ‘Rock n Roll Beauty Queen’ and ‘Vertigo’ that have a moodier feel you can’t become Journey, you have to think more along the lines of Nickelback.

Johnny Trowbridge: Like Richie has said, we are big fans of 80s rock music like Van Halen, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi etc but there is so much great new music out there to get influenced by as well. That’s the beauty of music.

Rockpages.gr: "Promises" could have easily been the ideal hit single of a FM radio station of the 80s. Tell us a few things about it...

Craig Chapman: Well thank you and given that Journey are all over our charts again, why not have “Promises” on today’s radio too? I guess I wrote most of this one and I’ve always liked the Rainbow & Bad Company style songs where the music stops and the drums fill the gaps, so that was a starting point and the lyrics are more or less part 2 of our song “Final Regret” on our last album ‘Tomorrow the World’. JT plays a lot like Cozy Powell who played with Rainbow, so I probably reacted to his style of playing when forming the rhythm of the song too. Johnny sings his heart out on this and we all had goose bumps in the studio when Richie started putting in those almost Egyptian lead lines near the end, in the studio. It’s definitely the most retro song on the album.

Rockpages.gr: You also have a duet with Sue Willetts on the wonderful ballad "The Last 2 Know". How did you end up working with her?

Johnny Trowbridge: I didn’t write this song as a duet, it was just a really nice ballad. But when I started looking at it again I thought that maybe doing it from both sides of the relationship would be great. The only problem was I didn’t know who I could get to sing on it. We had played a few shows with Dante Fox and I always loved Sue’s voice, so it was then I knew that she would be perfect. Sue came to the studio late one afternoon and just sang the song like she had been singing it for years. It was quite a moment.

Rockpages.gr: The production is crystal clear. Did you work overtime in the studio to achieve that sound and do you think that it is vital for a band to put an extra effort on the production?

Johnny Trowbridge: We all felt that the production had to be as important as the song writing. You could have written some amazing songs but if you don’t focus on the production side of things as well, people won’t listen. Once we had recorded the tracks I spent days going through them with Mark Stuart (Producer) and other members of the band to get the balance just right. We shaped everything from guitar and drum sounds down to how much reverb should be on the Cello. You can’t rush these things, I even took tracks home to listen to them, only to go back into the studio the next day and remix the whole song!

Rockpages.gr: How difficult is it to be a British melodic rock band in 2010? Does England fancy rock bands anymore and how different is the whole situation nowadays in comparison with let's say the 90s?

Craig Chapman: Even back in the 80s, The Power Hour (UK rock videos show) was on TV at 3 o’clock on Thursday morning, so the music media tried its best to hide rock away in the corner somewhere and still does. It’s a hard slog and needs an endless stream of cash and the right mates to break anything these days. The internet helps us reach more people worldwide, but they won’t all come to the same show.

We were album of the month in Argentina and have Chrysalis shipping our album to Japan and then we play a couple of local pub gigs – its all upside down to be honest, so if that’s how its going to be, we’re going to have a ball regardless, but it’s a good job we don’t do this for the money. We’re booked on Z Rock this year with Wigwam and Paul Laine and we’ll play at the Rock & Bike Festival in July with Bad Company on the bill. None of us were in big bands back in the 80s, so we’re having to build our contacts as we go and its definitely an “old boys club” out there !!.

Richie Beardsley: You have to remember that we are playing within a genre of music where all the main bands were huge 20+ years ago and no-one recalls their formative years, just the glory days. Vertigo has now put us on equal footing with many of these bands through its awesome reviews across the rocking world, but in reality we’re still finding our way in this business, so we really appreciate having guys like you Sakis, emailing us from countries we’ve never played in with awesome reviews and interview requests. It really makes it all worthwhile – them goose bumps again !!

Rockpages.gr: Who is Tara and what's her secret?

Craig Chapman: We’ll never say! Seriously, it’s a spooky background, Tara’s Secret is the covenant between witches and also was the name of a Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode – or so Johnny tells us!

Johnny Trowbridge: But if you think you know what Tara’s Secret really is then please let us know!

Rockpages.gr: Who thought of the album cover? It's absolutely representative of the whole album vibe...

Johnny Trowbridge: I have to put my hands up for that. I designed and put together the artwork for ‘Tomorrow the World’ so the guys gave me the same challenge again for this album.  I started thinking about the whole concept of how it should look way before we even recorded it. I knew that the front cover, booklet and back cover had to be as good as the songs on the CD. Our title track ‘Vertigo’ tells a story of freedom, love and the open road, so I tried to capture all of that on the front cover. 3 months later I had the basic design and built from there. Our good friend Ian Harvey took the band photos the day before the print deadline and he did a wonderful job. Maybe on the next CD I will do something that does not involve Girls or roads! Anything but starships and moon deserts will do for me !! We have portrayed a really earthy vibe throughout the album, with songs about people and their emotions and the cover captures that perfectly.

Rockpages.gr: Craig, I know that you are a big fan of Aston Villa Craig. Will you ever win the premiership?

Craig Chapman: That would be nice, but I guess our billionaire isn’t as rich as the other team’s billionaires! Maybe he should start investing in local rock bands too?