By Martin Popoff
Drama has always been part and parcel of running the good ship Steel Prophet. And now America's best power metal band (Steve Kachinsky takes umbrage with that term, as does every power metaller it seems) has a new season of soap operas to deal with, namely, the loss of two members, vocalist Rick Mythiasin and guitarist Jim Williams, just after launching Unseen, a fetching steel experience with a name that is hopefully not prophetic in itself.
"OK, Oh man (laughs). Do you know anything about him?"
That's the good-natured response when Steve is asked what exactly went down with Rick.
"Because some people know about him, and have met him, and they don't have to ask questions like that," laughs the lead Prophet. "Unfortunately, when people don't know him, and I have to answer it, I'm at the fine line of not wanting to dog him out. How do you tell the truth, without making him sound really bad? Let's see. What do you want to know about? Do you want know about the drugs, the lying, the cheating, the stealing, the almost burning down places I rented for him, the cops coming and making everyone get on the ground because he's hearing voices like someone is trying to murder him? I mean, what do you want to know about him? We finally fucking had enough. It would make a fucking fine novel. It got to the point where it was like, 'OK, sorry dude.' I mean, the final straw was when he got an advance from the record company of $1000 that was supposed to pay for his accommodation and food for two weeks to record and he showed up on my doorstep with no money and needed to stay at my place and for me to buy him food for the whole studio experience. And I was like, I knew this was going to happen, I'm fucking through!"
STEEL PROPHET - And Then There Were Three... Page 2