After years of debating Priest or Maiden, old school metalheads were silenced last year by a band who took the best qualities of both bands and reinvented them for the new millennium: Traveler. Led by the powerhouse vocals of JP Abboud, they quickly became the leading band of the so called NWOTHM (New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal). That said, I like to believe traditional metal never went away and Traveler transcends this label. They’re just an excellent metal band. Period. We had the chance to sit down with Abboud to talk about the band, being pigeonholed into these very labels, and the Priest vs. Maiden debate. “Rock n roll never dies!”
I know all of the members of Traveler have played with significant metal acts over the last decade. How did the band form?
JPA: It was cool man. Right from the ground up, I got to be in on what was happening with Matt (Ries) and this band. Actually, it’s the first band I founded from the ground up with somebody. It’s Matt’s baby first, but it’s the first band I’ve gotten involved with from the founding. That really lent itself to us finding our sound really fast. To answer your question, he just called me randomly. We’ve crossed path several, several, several times, all over the place. We’ve played shows together, played fests together. Matt and I knew each other.
It was just a quick phone call while I was working with some old bandmates of mine in Detroit, Michigan, on a project called Finality. That has different people with them now. They’re still going, but this was a one off show. They were old bandmates of mine from the 2000s in a band called Shadow Self. We were a power metal band that opened up shows at Blondies in Detroit all the time. We opened for Paul Di’Anno once and that was a lot of fun.
Was Paul cool?
JPA: It was really cool. I was in the front row and he was asking the audience for drugs. I was like, “I’ve got a BUNCH of weed.” He says, “Oh, well I appreciate it, but I’m not about the green. I’m more about the white.” He’s a man who’s pretty straight up about his vices. He’s not dishonest. I guess in that book, The Beast, he’s dishonest, but from what I’ve seen of him in real life, he’s straight up.
That’s wild.
JPA: I’ve seen the guys that played with him, Icarus Witch, since. I just saw them last year with Traveler at Legions of Metal III. Smoulder played after us and they were lovely to see as well. But then there was Icarus Witch who was Paul Di’Anno’s backing band for that tour in 2009.
Anyways, Matt called me while I was working with the band from the previous story. This was December 2017. He said, “I got three songs and a new band idea, don’t have a name.” We just started working from there.
How does the band approach songwriting? Is it a specific formula of “This member does music.” and “This member does lyrics.”, or is it an open approach?
JPA: Matt riffs. We riff. He writes lyrics. I write lyrics. Sometimes Dave Arnold had some input as well, specifically for “Terra Exodus” from the last album. Everyone can contribute. It’s a very serious thing because so many bands that we’ve been in have done it wrong. The right way to do it is you don’t stifle anybody’s creativity. You don’t stifle anybody’s fucking mojo. If you get together and you’re lucky enough to have a sound that works, and we feel like ours is working, you always create the circumstances for the perfect vibes. Everyone locks into place. When Traveler really works, that’s how it works.
When the debut album came out last year, it seemed overnight everyone was talking about Traveler. For me, it was the album of the year. Were you surprised by the reception?
JPA: I really appreciate that! Thanks! Yeah because…I’m no young soul at this point. We’re all 30ish. Toryin (Schadlich), however, is our young buddy. He’s 23 years old and killing it on the leads. We’re a band that’s been in bands before. We’ve done the whole thing, so to suddenly get this attention was very surprising and very welcome. We’re really grateful. It’s pretty cool. It’s already becoming a thing. We’re working on our third album and it’s got this family reunion vibe. Even though I’m stuck in the U.S., we’ve got this good feeling like, “We’re coming together doing the third Traveler. Hellyeah! It’s that time of year.” It’s a good feeling. The reception is something I’m really grateful for at this point. Considering what’s happened this year, how everything is falling apart, getting to the stuff we did up to that point, even that I’m grateful for.
While most bands wait a couple years before releasing a follow up, you guys struck while the iron was hot and released Termination Shock this April. Were these songs that had been being worked on for the debut or were they all brand new?
JPA: It was just like I was saying where we just got together and worked on the next one. We had riffs, riffed on the riffs, and there you go. Also, we had Jean-Pierre Fortin from Deaf Dealer, who wanted to write a song for us. He even contributed one and that’s “STK”, which is a fucking scorcher. My part is okay. I’m talking mostly about the guitars and the drums.
One thing I noticed about Termination Shock is the inclusion of progressive elements, particularly in “Diary of a Maiden” and “After the Future”. Could you tell us a bit about this?
JPA: I think Matt had an odd time signature in mind for “After the Future”, before it goes into 4/4 as the song progresses. “Diary of a Maiden” came off as more cinematic to me. I felt like I had to write lyrics about a cool movie. It’s 4/4, so I can’t say that it’s a waltz, but it does have this feel to it that felt danceable to me. I’m just thinking of people in period wear. There’s that movie that was out that year that I saw from two different plane rides on tour, The Favourite. That’s what I ended up writing the lyrics about. Even though we’re still definitely a stripped down, raw, five band, it has that cinematic quality that you’d associate with a lot of progressive rock. My listening diet is mostly progressive rock these days, so those influences are definitely creeping in. But it’s not just like I’m proclaiming to do it. The thing about Traveler, the “not stifling the other guy” theory, is that you don’t have to overuse an idea. So it doesn’t become some contrived thing like “It has to be this sound from this time.” No, it’s what I’m doing now.
And it works!
JPA: Thanks!
You’ve played some pretty high profile festivals and gigs. Which show has been your favorite so far?
JPA: For me, it was last year’s Keep it True. It was my favorite performance ever, even though I went so hard that I maybe teetered out just a little bit at the end. It was personally satisfying for me because I had played the festival two other times and it didn’t go as well. That room is a hard room to carry sound in. If you’re not carrying well, people are like, “Oh whatever.” We were very lucky. The guy who works for Judas Priest and Saxon was working sound that time. He liked how our guitar players sounded. He boosted them fucking great and did some cool stuff when I would outro a song. He just seemed to know where all the marks were without having ever met us before. It was so cool that he took that time and enjoyed the set. For those reasons, it was a great memory.
Earlier you mentioned Legions of Metal. That was the show I saw you at. First, that was the most packed I ever saw that room that early on. Second, the only band the whole weekend I’d put over you is Cirith Ungol. I was just blown away by everyone singing along and going crazy. It felt like we’ve known you for years, when in reality, you’ve only been together for a few years now.
JPA: That was a warm reception. Now this segues into something. Europe was a lesson in reality on how long we’ve really been together. We went to Europe this year before the unfortunate things happened. We were like, “Yeah! Alright!” But the reality is we’ve got work, gotta hit the bricks. We definitely got back into grind mode. A lot of the riffs on this third one are super mean. We’re going blistering fast.
That’s always promising to hear.
JPA: We have more material than ever this time. When you’re doing a tour, there’s the day to day of “We gotta really hit this right. We gotta really do this right.” Then it all falls apart and you’re in this apocalyptic situation. You realize you’re with a good crew. Everyone’s acting real strong and not too shabby. We handled it real well and took care of the problems. A lot goes into that when a tour falls apart. Even with the cancellation that just transpired (referring to the 2021 Riot City/Traveler tour), we still made sure we were square with everybody. It’s important.
When can we expect a new Traveler album?
JPA: I really don’t have an answer. Like I said, it’s a good feeling because it’s that time of year. It’s become a tradition of its own. At the same time, we were doing the club circuit in the UK and France and Germany. We were making lists of all these different things that we were gonna work on and do next. It was just this greater wealth. That’s not to say wheels were spinning with Termination Shock. They weren’t. Termination Shock naturally flowed out of us. In this case, there’s just lots of riffs. It’s like a garden of riffs.
You also sing for Funeral Circle and Gatekeeper. Are there any upcoming plans for these bands?
JPA: I’m not sure. Gatekeeper is Jeff Black’s band primarily. As far as I know, they’re doing pretty well. They’re working on the next one. I think they might both be the singers on it, Jeff and the new guitar player Adam (Bergen). That’s the way they’re doing this next one. Funeral Circle is long gone, but there’s a band that sprung out of it. Me and Graham (McGee) from Spell have a prog rock band called Syrinx.
I meant to ask you about that. Is that a one off project or can we expect another album?
JPA: The album is not a complete album necessarily. It’s an old demo that’s noisy from 2015, but the last four songs are fully produced. It’s kind of got an inconsistent feel between the two sides of it, but I don’t know how else we’d release it. It’s very experimental music. We only have one rule in Syrinx and it’s not to be derivative. It’s not even necessarily trying to challenge yourself in a self flagellating way. It’s more just being sick of being pigeonholed. Everybody ends up being pigeonholed all the time into whatever genre this, whatever genre that. Syrinx was a thing to take out those frustrations.
I can’t finish this interview without asking the age old question: Priest or Maiden?
JPA: Do you want the complex answer or the easy answer?
While we’re here, let’s hear the complex answer.
JPA: Okay. Judas Priest is my favorite band, but Iron Maiden has outlasted them and I can’t admit to the opposite of that. It’s just a fact. Priest is the seminal creative force that defined lots of things in heavy metal obviously, but Maiden stayed more true to their core sound and have been something that everyone’s been astonished to see for 40 straight years. Priest’s reunion was kind of patchy. Maiden’s reunion was just *makes explosion sound*. They came right back. So to answer your question, Priest overall, but Maiden for the last 20 years.
JP, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Having been a fan since the day the debut came out last year, it was long overdue.
JPA: Thank you man. I also wanna thank the guys in Traveler for sticking with me through these times. It’s really fucking cool.
For more information on Traveler, visit their Facebook page @travelerheavymetal.