Fresh Acts: The Alien Blakk<br>STALKERs Fresh Act - August / September 2006 - STALKER MAGAZINE inside out of rock´n´roll

The Alien Blakk
STALKERs Fresh Act - August / September 2006

Basically it doesn´t quite fit putting THE ALIEN BLAKK into the category “Fresh Act” because all the bandmembers have perhaps too big names and too much of experience already.

How about a certain Mr. David Ellefson on bass? Doesn´t that ring a MEGA-big bell? Mr. Craig Nielsen used to drum with Flotsam & Jetsam ... and then there is THE ALIEN BLAKK mastermind Joshua Craig Podolsky himself.

A regular on the pages of esteemed magazines like Guitar World, Guitar Player and Guitar One, he worked with Rob Halford, Coolio, Christina Aguilera as well as members of Fear Factory, Testament, KISS, White Zombie, Whitesnake, Megadeth, Flotsam & Jetsam, Adema, Murderdolls, Fight, Methods Of Mayhem, Stuck Mojo, Halford, Powerman 5000 and Cypress Hill, just to name a few.

And THE ALIEN BLAKK, a predominantly instrumental project, just released their debut album "Modes Of Alienation". Produced, written, arranged and recorded in three different locations and mixed at Steve Vai´s "The Mothership" recording studio by Joshua Craig. Clearly a reason for a short STALKER interview with Mr. Podolsky:

The last time you were engaged in band projects was in mid-90s ("Black Art" and "FiNGeR", 1994-1997). How come it took such a long time for you to form this band?
It took a long time because the players and personalities had to be right. Not everyone can work with everyone.

How did you meet the guys?
I have known Craig because I had jammed with Flotsam & Jetsam when they were looking for a guitarist many years ago, and he asked me to do work with him on a Megadeth Tribute CD! David I had met when I was playing with Coolio way back then and we hit it off.

Your biography is pretty exciting, as a songwriter, producer and session musician you worked with so many different people, your style ranges from Latino/Reggae to HC Metal, so how do you define the TAB style?
“Frank Zappa meets Meshuggah...” I define THE ALIEN BLAKK style as an eclectic mix of expressive “outside” and obscure melodicism, to be honest (if I had to put it into words).

Well, the official definition concludes: “... only the ear can describe”... What inspired you to make music in first place, where do you see your (musical) roots, what´s your goal you want to achieve with THE ALIEN BLAKK?
My father was my biggest inspiration for me to succeed at doing music. My musical roots are James Hetfield and a few other guitarists, and my goals are to bring my way of playing the guitar to as many people as possible.

Recently you played with Rob Zombie, Bad Religion and Cypress Hill in the States; so how was touring so far? And are you also coming to Europe?
Live is a great opportunity to really stretch these songs out. We had an offer to go to Europe, but it is not an easy thing with a new situation as many people must assist with the finances. The plane tickets alone are 1000 Euros each, plus accommodations and a bus, a driver etc. It´s a lot, but if anyone reading this is interested in having us over there, contact: joshua@thealienblakk.com

Are you now mainly focused on this band?
I am writing the next ALIEN BLAKK release as we speak, but if something cool ever became available, I would go for it.

It seems you do pretty much everything yourself (producing, distributing etc), so are you looking for a deal now?
The disc was released, but the label had some issues I guess, so yes, I am looking for another deal... again, JOSHUA@THEALIENBLAKK.COM is the contact for us.

Recently the Metal scene in Europe seems to have a Thrash revival, what´s the situation in the US?
More commercialized or just plain Death Metal with un-explainable lyrics, or whatever that crap is they mumble on top of a decent piece of music.

Did you hear the story about the Finnish Horror Metal band Lordi that actually won the European (Pop) Songcontest?
Nah, but cool for them for breaking thru.

So what´s your opinion about TV formats like that, or like American Idol? Would you do stuff like that, e.g. writing songs for them?
I have...

What was the biggest success or the biggest failure in your career so far?
No failures because everything is a learning experience; and the biggest “personal” success was the release of this recording, “Modes Of Alienation”.

Finally, I know it´s a stupid question ... but as a kid I planned to study nuclear physics...
are you somehow related with Boris Podolsky* involved in defining the EPR (= Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen) phenomenon?
Actually, yes.

At least that leaves me speechless for now... check out:

www.THEALIENBLAKK.com
www.JOSHUACRAIGPODOLSKY.com

* From Wikipeda: Boris Podolsky (Борис Подольский) born 1896, Taganrog, Russia - died 1966, U.S.A), was a Russian physicist. Working with Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen, he conceived the EPR Paradox, which stimulated debate as to the interpretation of quantum mechanics. In 1933, Podolsky and Lev Landau conceived the idea to write a textbook of electromagnetism beginning with special relativity and emphasizing theoretical postulates rather than experimental laws. This project did not come to fruition due to Podolsky´s emigration from the Soviet Union. In the hands of Lev Davidovich Landau and E. Lifshitz, the outline they produced became "The Classical Theory of Fields" (1951). In the hands of Podolsky and K. Kunz, the outline became "Fundamentals of Electrodynamics" (1969).
Author: Klaudia Weber, photos: The Alien Blakk
Date: 2006-08-14

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