Banophernalia.com throws out nineteen questions to Brent Handy and Alan Sandifer, the brains behind Project Damage Control. Given how serious this whole project appeared on the web, I was a little unsure of how to approach these guys. Do I go for broke and be my usual self, or do I try and come off as a professional? Turns out I could have gone for broke - some of our off line correspondence was truly frightening (in a good way). Oh well, next time I'll let these guys have it with both barrels!

If you have a hard time telling who was answering the questions, welcome to my world - I was double teamed by the guys and have no idea who said what. They really were of one mind about this project!

Hang on kids, it's time to begin.

projectdamagecontrol.com | banophernalia.com reviews

1. What possessed you guys to spend so much time and effort on a project that musically is pretty much past its commercial expiration date?

PDC: Thanks for assuming that we have brains. As the bio on our site details, we started to remaster old recordings. That morphed into PDC with added guest artists. PDC is for those people who like the rock of the 70's, 80's. If you want the same five chords, drop D tuning and no guitar solos, then buy Nickleback. We want to reach the Christian and non Christian that listens to secular radio, because Christian radio "sucks". Can we say sucks?

If I said no would you stop? If it helps you can put a finger in each cheek and pull then say "Pirate Ship" when referring to Christian oriented radio. I find the term "Christian radio" offensive, as it implies an inanimate object with no soul can be saved. We all know Christian radio is beyond redemption.

2. The liner notes to Project Damage Control list off a bunch of guys who recorded for the project, but seem to be absent from the final product. Where'd they go?

PDC: Home hopefully. Nah. We tried to keep everyone in the loop. Unfortunately some of the guys had availability issues, or an unwillingness to go beyond the original sessions. Again, this thing went from one Saturday afternoon to a year before we knew it. As this thing evolved, we solicited the help of others. It was great before. Now it is a different kind of great.

3. So you lined up Louie Weaver from Randy Matthews old band to play drums. That's pretty cool. I've read that he tracked most of the album, but some of the work didn't make it to the final mix. Since he was a hired gun, why not get him to play the way you wanted in the first place?

PDC: Louie played with a little band called Petra too. You might have heard of them. They have sold a few more records than us. We had Mickey Mouse incarnate come in and play whatever the heck he wanted to. We were pretty set on some of the song's directions. It wasn't a matter of making Louie play like a drum machine, which a guy is tempted to do. We just wanted Louie to play like Louie. We used what we could, and had enough raw tracks left for a couple more records. Gee, does that make us old saying "records"?

Not so much as talking about your collection of 45's.

4. John Schlitt. Why John? Were you guys ever tempted just for fun to mispronounce his name?

PDC: I think Alan called him Ron once. I think Brent called him Shawn. There is a joke floating around on a Petra messageboard that Louie got Schlitt-canned. Can we say that? That's not very nice, eh?

No it's not nice, but it's pretty freakin' funny. Can I say freakin?

5. I remember hearing some early buzz about the project when it was announced that Louie was going to be lending his chops. A couple of comments were to the effect of "How the mighty have fallen." How weird was it timing wise for you guys to be pairing John and Louie even virtually on this project?

PDC: I am not so sure Louie fell. He got a head start on his new career before Petra did. Louie and John were and are cool with it. They know our intentions and the timeline of events.

6. How hard were you hoping that Jekyll and Hyde would be huge? This would have boded well for this project, as musically this is pretty similar. Given that it pretty much tanked did it make you wish you'd use a different singer? Like oh, Carman or Bill Gaither?

PDC: We thought that it would stand on it's own musically, because it is a rockin' record. But it was too little, too late. The damage had been done. The name Petra became poison to radio and retailers for many reasons. Now Petra is calling it quits, and everyone wants to buy in now. What a bunch of crap. Can we say crap?

Now, to answer the question, it didn't matter. Petra is not reaching our target audience. We got John, and that's what we wanted.

(I'm thinking it might be a good idea to put together a list of acceptable words at some point)

7. You both refer to yourselves as co-producers. Come on, how did this work? Someone had to be in charge. Did you guys do the rock paper scissors thing to break a tie?

PDC: We both think that we are the boss when the other isn't around. Seriously, we have no reason to have one person in charge. We have differing abilities and responsibilities. We both like the same music, and have the same goal to strive for.

8. Who was responsible for tuning the acoustic guitar on "New Jerusalem"?

PDC: No one.

(I knew it!)

9. I'm not trying to focus in on John's vocals, but it seems like you guys took an interesting approach to tracking. At times it's like he just mailed in his contribution, and then there are times he belts it out of the freakin' park. Case in point: The lead of track "Dreamscape" has the feel of a one take place holding vocal track. There's no real power, and there are no textures, backing vocals. It's just kind of there. Then you get a cut like "Liar" which is a full on riff fest and features one of the best Schlitt vocal performances he's ever laid down. What was the deal did you guys just run out of time and budget and went with what you had?

PDC: Thanks for the compliment on "Liar". We will pass that along. We were in a time crunch. John came in at the last minute and saved the day. He did the tracks in a day and a half. We could have over produced it. We asked John for backing vocals. He thought that most of the songs didn't allow for them. He was right.

10. Wayne Howard - the songs he penned are very emotional lyrically - how hard was it to listen to these and maintain any sort of creative objectivity knowing the story behind the lyrics?

PDC: We never really listen to Wayne. It's kind of like those Charlie Brown voices. You know, the Wah, wah, waaaahh, wah, wah, wah. Wayne would call Alan's voice mail and sing song ideas, or they would get together and write with the acoustic. Then Brent would completely mess that up hoping to making it rock harder.

11. Speaking of Wayne, you mention in the notes that he sang from a wheel chair, what happened to his contributions?

PDC: They are on the non-USA releases. Seek and ye shall find.

(Hmm, I don't live in the USA, and I couldn't find them. Must be looking in all the wrong places)

12. Guitars. This album features a veritable wall of sonic sludge, and I have to admit there are some very tasty bits through out. The credits list no less than three lead guitar players. Who did what and how did you decide who got to go nuts on a certain track?

PDC: We recorded all of the guys in four takes or less. We had them come in, listen cold, and then rip what they felt. Knowing the player's tastes and styles determined which tracks that they would play on.

13. How do you plan on getting this out to the public? I know I've taken a couple of low shots, but on balance this will definitely appeal to fans of Petra's harder material, as well as those who miss riffs and still think the mullet is a maligned hairstyle.

PDC: It's out. Wesscott Marketing (the Billy Graham people) distribute to stores in the US. GoGlobal Entertainment (former Word Records people) distribute to the rest of the world. We are currently in eight foreign markets. Of course we can be had legally or not on the internet. All of the major ISPs have us (iTunes, Sony, CDBaby, etc, etc).

We have a website: www.projectdamagecontrol.com, a Blog: www.projectdamagecontrol.blogspot.com, are on www.myspace.com, etc. Come by and buy. Please? Tommy needs an operation.

Have you guys thought about a Labour Day telethon?

14. Rumour has it that J.K Rowling is working with Mel Gibson to put out a side project called The Passion of Harry Potter, where Draco Malfoy gets to beat the living Schlitt out of young mister Potter. Any comment?

PDC: Harry Potty always makes a big splash.

15. What's your favorite moment on the album and why?

PDC: The last note. John screaming on "Liar" is pretty special.

16. In terms of new music out there today, what have you listened to lately that made you go "Wow" I wish I'd thought of that.

PDC: None of it. It is so dumbed down and assembled for a demographic that we would never thought we should do it. We could have just to make a buck, but what's the point?

17. What does the future hold for the project, or was this a one off?

PDC: Stay tuned. This music is making a come back. Bell bottoms were back as flared pants. Next come guitar solos.

18. How would you define success for this project?

PDC: We can listen to it still. Sure we can make a list of woulda' shoulda' coulda's, but we still like it. Hopefully, someone will have found something meaningful or enjoyable in it.

19. Finally, is there any truth to the rumour that you guys are working on songs for the next Veggie Tales movie?

PDC: We are working on recutting "We Are The Grapes of Wrath". It is a VERY heavy death metal tune, with John singing like Ozzy Osbourne. Very killer. The next song will feature David Lee Roth singing "Oh Where Is My Hair Brush".

Oh boy, sounds like someone will be doing some damage control for a while.

My thanks to Brent and Alan for playing along.

Jevon the Tall
banopernalia.com
December 2005