Interview: “I Legion”s Fred Riverin

Interview:  “I Legion”s Fred Riverin 

Metal outfit I Legion from Quebec, Canada (and quite honestly, every other continent you can think of) released their sophomore album Pleiona on September 11, 2015.  The album features eight tracks of hard hitting metal, soaring solos, chugging riffs and a slew of guest musicians ranging from Bjorn from Soilwork to Angel Vivaldi.  I had the chance to head north to Quebec to speak with founder/guitarist/composer/overall ass kicker of I Legion, Fred Riverin.  It was great to hear catch up with Fred again and hear his insight into collaboration in the digital age, the guests he’s gotten on the album, and just great to chat with him!  Check out the interview below:

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John Kiernan:
As I Legion, your first release Beyond Darkness was your first venture into international collaboration for a record.  What differed between this collaboration process for Pleiona than for Beyond Darkness?

Fred Riverin
This time it was really easy to work with the original lineup guys (Chris/Mutiny Within,  Jon/Threat Signal, Bjorn/Soilwork) as we all knew how it has to sound and how to proceed. Things went smoothly with them.

On the other hand, I chose to include a lot of new guests on Pleiona, and to be honest it was really an hell to manage and keep track of everything. Of course this is almost a “freelance” collaboration for these artists, so I’m not always on the top of their priority list, which is fine. But as I’m leading the whole thing, I had the bad job of always “harassing” them haha! And having that much guests led to multiple delays. That’s why the album took so long. Do I regret it? Not at all, I would do it again for sure, as they’re all on the top of their game on this second album.

John Kiernan:
Even with those delays, the musicians you chose obviously gave this release a lot of attention.  Chris, Bjorn and Jon were the main vocals on Beyond Darkness, but Pleiona has an even more varied vocal roster!  How’d the new vocal cast such as Viky Boyer and Dalay Tarda come into the fold for Pleiona?

Fred Riverin
I stumbled into Viky when someone suggested me to use the ex-Karkaos singer, Veronica. I check it out but it wasn’t why I wanted. Two weeks later the band announced a replacement with Viky and they posted a demo with her on vocals. It took me one listen and I was floored. I instantly reached her and it began from there!

About Dalay, well it happens that Hugo (Rise To Fall guitarist) is a fan of the band. We chat about music and stuff a couple of times during the year and we keep track of our projects, as I’m a big fan of RtF too! During one of these chats, I asked him if Dalay would be interested to sing a song. He told me to send him a message, which I did. He accepted right away and 2 months later the song was completed!

John Kiernan:
They add a great dynamic to the record, Viky especially brings a new flavor a la The Agonist to the record.  What was the thought behind composing music for Pleiona from Beyond Darkness? Your newest release seems to have developed more creative variance song to song.

Fred Riverin
Yeah totally! Some were shocked by Viky vocals at first, as they aren’t what they’re used to hear in their typical metal bands. But in the end, her presence do all the difference.

Music for Pleiona has been written over almost a 2 years lap, which I think is the reason why the music is so diverse. At first I didn’t want to fall in the same mold as Beyond Darkness, I had a few styles I wanted to explore. And it seems to work out!

I wanted to do a real ballad for so long. On BD there is A World So Black, which could be called a ballad, but it was still very metal. On Pleiona (title track), I wanted to go all acoustic.  Obviously, Nate Rendon keyboards add a whole new dimension to my music. Without him the album wouldn’t be the same and would sound less impressive.

John Kiernan:
Yeah, the keyboards were a welcome surprise on Pleiona!  With I Legion being a collaborative project with members all over the globe, do you perform/record all of the instruments that you perform (guitar, bass, drums, if I remember correctly) in your own studio or where did you record the album?  Did all of the other guest musicians record their parts and their respective studios and send you the tracks? I find this new advent of international collaboration interesting!

Fred Riverin
I recorded my parts, which are guitars, bass and drums (midi ones I have to be honest haha) in my apartment thru a Focusrite interface. As Jon Howard only needed the DI and raw tracks, I didn’t need an huge setup. As long as my raw tracks were well recorded and edited, we were good to go!

Other artists recorded at their home or at a friend’s studio. No one went into a REAL studio to track their parts. Well Jon, Chris, Sebastian and Sabine tracked at their home, which are real studios too (Woodward Ave Studios, AudioWorks and Slaughter’s Palace).

And yes once they were done, they sent me their tracks, which I forwarded to Jon. And just a little insight, I love to listen to listen to there raw cuts with vocals only. And I must say that Sabine Scherer vocals are the most impressive vocals I’ve heard in my entire life. They are beyond this world!

John Kiernan:
Now, I’ve scoured to find the definition…what does Pleiona mean?

Fred Riverin
Pleiona is the real name of a friend of mine. I met her at a turning point of my life, and it kinda shaped the album theme too. She’s a kind of girl “who’s too hot for you” and her parents named her about Pleione, a girl in the Greek mythology. I really liked how it sound, plus I had good ideas for the album theme. So I went with that !  Mercyful Fate has Melissa, Europe has Carrie….well I have Pleiona haha!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleione_(mythology)

John Kiernan:
Listening to those raw tracks can be inspiring . I’ve heard raw tracks of Chris doing vocals, I’ve been absolutely blown away.  It can truly highlight a person’s flaws or brilliance!  On top of the stellar vocal cast, you’ve also compiled an array of creative and virtuosic guitarists for guest solos from Andy James to Angel Vivaldi to Yiannis Papadopoulos.  Many of them have returned for the sophomoric album, how is it to hear the project evolve from their solos on Beyond Darkness to these new ones?

Fred Riverin
Only Angel is back on Pleiona. Andy was supposed to do a solo but his dropped during the process.  On BD, I did a lot of guitar solos, maybe 8 or 9. I’m not really good as a soloist, and I felt I needed to leave the place to the professionals. There was so much people I wanted to work with, like Paco for example, which I keep wanting to play with since a lot of years.

So having that much talented guitarists allow the album to sound way more interesting, as they add their own flavor to the songs. The album sounds more diverse once again, as these parts weren’t wrote by the same guy who wrote the song!

John Kiernan:
These next two final questions I think are standard for any artist LOL!  What’s been the craziest/funniest fan experience as it pertains to I Legion?

Fred Riverin
Unfortunately I don’t have any crazy fan story! I’m not recognized at all here and I’m not doing shows. No crazy shit happened to me with a fan.  But I am a crazy fan tho, I guess some artists could say some funny stories about me haha

John Kiernan:
Are there any plans for shows in Canada, the US, abroad?  I feel confident that there would be many people willing to bring this project to life and to stages across the world.

Fred Riverin
There are no plans at all for shows. I know people would love to see it live, but even if I’d bring everyone I’m not sure we would fill a venue. It’s pretty hard to sell shows these days, ask any artist and they’ll tell you about it.  I guess if we had the chance to play in a festival this could be interesting. Let’s say, if Soilwork, Threat Signal and Wearing Scars are all on the same bill, it could happen!

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Check out I Legion‘s latest release Pleiona here:
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