Hailing from the big apple, New York City, Tower are a band that will certainly put you into a state of shock with their unique and electrifying sound! Guitarist James stopped by to give thenwothm an insight into the bands vibrant history and what is in store for 2023!

THE NWOTHM: Hey there please introduce yourselves to our readers at thenwothm.com !

J: What’s up! We’re Tower (James & Zak on guitar, Sarabeth on lead vocals, Philippe on bass, and currently featuring Keith on the drums) hailing from New York City. We’ve been around since 2015 and have 2 albums and an EP out. We’ve gotten a lot of publicity and plays thanks to the NWOTHM channel. You guys rule!

THE NWOTHM: How did Tower come about and is there any interesting story behind its formation?

J: Sarabeth and I (James btw) had a Dio cover band in 2013-14 and she eventually wanted to do original music. She started Tower with Zak before I was involved. I was burnt out at the time, I had just put in my notice to step down from playing live with Deceased and was reluctant to start a new project. Some of the original Tower personnel didn’t work out, so I was asked to come around and see what’s up. Glad I did!

THE NWOTHM: What inspired you to come up with the name Tower for the band?

J: The tarot card!

THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about the band members of Tower and an interesting fact about each of them?

J: I’m a construction worker, Sarabeth sang Mariah Carey at the Apollo Theater, Zak grew up in Washington State and his dad built they neighbourhood they live in, Philippe is a French national, and honestly we don’t know much about Keith yet. But a few weeks ago he drove up from Philadelphia to rehearse with us and see Heavy Temple in Brooklyn and when we came out of the gig somebody had left a huge bag of fresh bagels right outside his car. Like, several dozen fresh bagels. It sounds made up but it really did happen.

THE NWOTHM: Your sound is very unique! How did you decide on your musical direction and what influences from the past have helped you carve your sound?

J: Thanks! I guess coming off the Dio cover band, it was natural to stay in that vein of heavy metal. We’re influenced by classic metal of course, but also pop, Italo disco, doo wop, R&B, classic rock, middle eastern stuff, anything that’s memorable. It all turns to metal in our hands.

THE NWOTHM: What do you think of the vinyl/cassette resurgence in recent years and the part its playing in the heavy metal scene ?

J: It’s great that people want real albums to physically own and listen to. Vinyl was already out of style when I was growing up, so this is the first time I’ve seen people buying new releases on vinyl as a sustained, regular thing. I really do think our last album sounds best on vinyl compared to the other formats. We’ve had some independent labels print tapes and I love them the most because that’s how I grew up listening to music. My collection as a kid was all tapes. Big thanks to Tapes of Terror and Ironbound Records for helping us out on that end! As far as its part in the scene, metal seems to go hand-in-hand with being a collector, like sci-fi or other niche markets. It’s a matter of pride for some people, a way of showing you give a shit. Sales of physical product are the only thing that keeps a band going in an era when it’s impossible to make money streaming. Paying admission to a show, buying a shirt, a patch, an album, whatever it is, is the best way to directly support a band. Without it there would be no scene to speak of.

THE NWOTHM: If you could go for a beer with anyone from the past or present, dead or alive who would it be and why?

J: What would you want to ask them? Keith Richards, to learn the secret of eternal life

THE NWOTHM: How would describe the nwothm/heavy metal scene where you are based? Any stand out bands?

J: There’s a good scene in the city! Metal shows usually pack out. We’ve got some killer venues here like Saint Vitus and Brooklyn Made. For locals, I like Shadowland the best easily.

THE NWOTHM: How do you go about writing lyrics for your records and where do you gain inspiration from?

J: I only started dabbling in lyrics on the last album and I have some for the next one too. Inspiration comes from anything that moves us personally. Could be political, emotional, pure entertainment, whatever. Sometimes the music itself gives off a vibe that you want to match lyrically and you go from there.

THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us more about your first release ‘Tower’ and the stories surrounding the writing and recording sessions for that record?

J: Sure! It all goes back to Memorial Day Weekend 2015 when we demoed our first three songs, Flames, Mountains, and Hold On To Me. Our very first drummer Joey Bouchard played on that demo. We went through a few drummers that year and we lucked out when Justin Sherrell joined in the fall. By the end of the year we had some more originals and wanted to get back in the studio to document what we’d accomplished. At first I only wanted to record the songs we hadn’t done yet, like Elegy,Tower, and Party (Ready to Roll). But Justin wanted to do all the songs in our live set, and that’s how it ended up being an 8 song album. Justin played on everything except Hold On To Me, which we ended up using the original version with Joey because it had a more lively feel.

I’ll never forget the day we commenced recording: January 24, 2016. We booked this date in advance but there ended up being a major blizzard that morning and the night before. We weren’t sure we would be able to get to the studio at all, which was in New Jersey. We met at Port Authority anyway hoping for the best. Eventually the buses resumed service and we were able to leave. Once we got off the bus we had to literally dig ourselves a path in the snow to get into the studio. Then as soon as we plugged in to start getting sounds, I was noodling away with my head down and I looked up to see everyone pointing at me and looking really worried. I was like, what the fuck? So I turned around and saw the amp billowing smoke about to blow up!!

Damn near burned the place down before we even started. We’re always well prepared when we go in to record, so the album was done pretty quickly over the course of a few weekends. We finalised mixing in March and pressed it to tape just in time for our first tour. Jeff Filmer engineered and produced the album. Afterwards he ended up joining Tower on bass for a couple of years.

THE NWOTHM: You released ‘Tomorrow and Yesterday’ In 2019! How do you feel that record evolved from your first release?

J: We broke up during a bad tour in 2017 and reformed a few months later with Jeff Filmer on bass and Claire Vastola on drums. This version of the band had a different feel mainly because half the lineup was different. The EP was comprised of two old unreleased songs and two new ones. The new songs, Run For My Life and Leaving Today, had a more raw approach I think. We were just happy to be back in business and ready to rage. The others, Misery and Dead or Alive, were recorded with the first album lineup during our first attempt at a second album. Two more from that session, Race With the Devil and Crying, became available as bonus tracks on CD and cassette formats respectively. They’re all out of print now.

THE NWOTHM: Your most recent release was ‘ Shock to the System’ back in 2021! Can you tell us more about that record and any tracks you would want to highlight to new listeners?

J: Things were initially going great after the release of the EP! We got snatched up by Cruz del Sur Music and were expected to deliver a follow up within a few months. Blood Moon had been around a while, we’d been playing it live with Jeff and Claire since 2019. We were playing Metatron too but just at rehearsal. Then, once again, we had to deal with being sidelined when the whole world took a very extended break for covid.

By the end of 2020 nothing seemed to be moving forward so Claire left the band to focus on school. I’d been jamming with a drummer called James Jones for a different project that never got off the ground, so I asked if we could try some new Tower stuff while we were at it, and that’s how the ball got rolling on Album #2. I’d demo ideas with him and send files back and forth with Sarabeth and Zak. Before we knew it we had ten songs written and ready to go. We only rehearsed the album twice as a full band before hitting the studio, then tracked and mixed the whole thing in 10 days. Sasha Stroud did an amazing job as engineer and co-producer. The best one for new listeners is definitely Blood Moon! If that scream in the beginning doesn’t hook you, forget it, throw your laptop out the window and never listen to us again!

THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us more about the artists behind the artworks?

J: The first two covers were photographs. The first album was shot at Wings Castle in upstate New York by James O’Brien, who sometimes goes by Paco and has a band called The Slashers. We shot our video for the song Run For My Life at the same place. The burning boot on the EP was shot by Kelsey Henderson, who I’m not sure had photographed anything like that before, but it came out great!

The cover for Shock to the System was put together by Morgan Jesse Lappin. He specialises in collages. At first we had no idea what we were going for as far as artwork, so I showed the band the piece of art that became the cover just as an example of what he could do. We thought about commissioning something special, but ended up using that piece titled Eternity in Seconds at the last minute because it made sense instead of scrambling to do something else.

THE NWOTHM: What have been standout shows from your career? Any fond memories from previous shows/tours?

J: The best show was our last one before lockdown – the Metal Assault festival, February 15, 2020 in Wurzburg, Germany. It was our first time in Europe and still the biggest crowd we’ve played in front of. We’ll be forever grateful to Oliver Weinsheimer for inviting us! Before that, we had some great gigs in the Pacific Northwest supporting the first album. Since Shock to the System came out we’ve been getting better and better shows. Legions of Metal, Stormbringer and RPM fests were all amazing. Our show opening for Sumerlands and Eternal Champion this past November was probably the biggest venue we’ve played in the States. We closed out the year headlining the Fall From Grace fest in Milwaukee which was another killer gig.

THE NWOTHM: Do you have any exciting touring plans for 2023? Any big shows of festivals you want to highlight?

J: Yes we do! We have a midwest tour in March where we’ll be playing Hells Heroes in Houston, Texas. You can find the tour dates and info for all the shows on our social media. We also have a European tour being booked right now for September. This tour will feature the Pyranean Warriors Open Air fest in Torreilles, France, and the Stormcrusher fest in Puchersreuth, Germany. It’s taken a long time for us to get a proper tour in Europe but we couldn’t be more excited to finally do it!

THE NWOTHM: Will Tower be writing/ releasing new music in 2023?

J: You better believe we already are. If all goes well we might be able to do the new record between the March and September tours, but if it doesn’t come together then, then after September definitely.

THE NWOTHM: Where can people check you out on social media and buy your music/merch?

J: We’re on Instagram and Bandcamp as Towernyc. We’re also on Facebook, Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, and who knows what else, if you type in our band name. If anyone has trouble finding us just type Tower Shock to the System and everything should come up.

Bandcamp: https://towernyc.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TOWERnyc

THE NWOTHM: Any thing else you would like to mention to our readers?

J: Let the metal flow! Peace!