Reconnect ‘n Ignite! Not only is this the title of Fate’s first studio album in 11 years, but the attitude the band is taking into their 40th year of existence. After a lengthy hiatus, founding bassist Pete Steiner has rebooted the cult melodic rockers, eager as ever to get back in the scene and reclaim their throne. We sat down with Steiner to discuss the making of this new album, his influences, and the roots of Fate. What more can we say? This interview “Won’t Let You Down”!
Greetings Pete and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Pete Steiner: I’m good, thank you! I hope you’re doing the same.
I’m doing fantastic. It’s been quite some time since we last heard from Fate, over a decade to be exact. What were you up to during this downtime, and when did this latest incarnation of the band come together?
PS: The latest installment here came together half a year ago. Torben (Enevoldsen), the guitar player and I, we decided that…for my sake, I’ve been playing a lot of stuff on Torben’s records. For instance, his solo albums. We thought that now the time would be to do some Fate again. Then, we contacted Per Johansson, the singer, and he was very enthusiastic. That was the thing that decided we wanted to do it. The long gap, where we didn’t do anything, I don’t quite know why. Sometimes, you just run out of energy. I don’t know. Dagfinn (Joensen), our former singer, he left the band and then the band sort of disintegrated. There was no particular reason actually.
Was the band playing any shows in the interim, or had you stopped playing live as well?
PS: No, we stopped everything.
Perhaps most noteworthy about Reconnect ‘n Ignite is the return of classic singer Per Johansson. What events led to him rejoining the band and how does it feel to have him back in the fold?
PS: Oh it’s been fantastic. Per’s a good old friend. Per and I have, over the years, talked about doing stuff. Not necessarily Fate, but other stuff. It didn’t turn out, but I’ve always wanted to do something with Per again because he’s a marvelous singer and a very good friend. He had a lot of stuff to do and a lot of things in his life, but like I said, then we decided, Torben and I, to contact him. Like I said, he had been contacting me over the years to do something and it didn’t happen, but this time we agreed that it’s time to do an album together again. Then, Frontiers was very interested *laughs*.
Considering my favorite album is Scratch ‘n Sniff, I totally understand why. His voice still holds up too! He’s got that soul to him. When you’re in the studio laying down those tracks, and he puts down those vocal lines, it must feel like the old days again.
PS: It is, and also, Per is a workhorse. He’s a very, very skilled singer. It’s such a joy to work with him. There’s a lot of little vocal things. You have to listen to the songs several times to go, “Oh, there’s something!” He’s doing a lot of very interesting stuff, and obviously his technique is brilliant, so he’s very, very good at doing backing vocals. It’s always a pleasure to work with Per.
From there, when did ideas start coming together for the new album? Was it around the time this lineup came together, or did you have some ideas beforehand?
PS: Torben and I were thinking, “What are we gonna do if it’s not gonna be Per?” We decided to contact Per and see what he said. Obviously, Per said yes. We didn’t talk about a new album before Per. Of course, we contacted Per because we wanted to do an album, but we didn’t really think about it before. The thing was to do this album with Per. That was our main idea.
Was there anything Fate did differently when writing and recording this albums opposed to past efforts?
PS: Yeah, maybe, because Torben, the guitar player, is more on the songwriter side than before. Otherwise, no, it’s like we used to do.
When it’s time to hit the studio, is it a collaborative effort, or will a member come in with their own individual songs and ideas?
PS: In this case, it was mostly Torben and I who brought the songs, but Per always has his input. He always contributes with a lot of stuff. It could be like, “What about doing a part here?” or this or that. Of course, every musician on a record contributes in his own way, but the form of the songs were more or less figured out when we started. It’s easier like that.
Reconnect ‘n Ignite largely expands upon the melodic metal sound introduced on the last album, 2013’s If Not for the Devil. Did the band intend to go with a heavier approach, or would you consider it a natural evolution of the Fate sound?
PS: Natural evolution. In the course of Fate, from my point of view, I’ve never sat down and said, “Now we’re gonna do this. Now we’re gonna make it a little more.” It’s always just what we feel like doing. It would be way too technical if you did it the other way around. This time, the songs just came up. We didn’t talk about if we should change anything stylistic.
A few of the songs on here, particularly “I’m on Fire”, “Children of a Lesser God”, and “Under the Gun”, boast a real Deep Purple flavor to them. Was Purple a big influence on you growing up? Furthermore, what other bands helped shape you as a musician?
PS: Oh, Purple of course. Made in Japan is still one of my favorite live albums. Purple, of course, and a lot of bands. Before that, The Who. Uriah Heep was a very, very big influence on me. I don’t know if you remember Gary Thain, their bass player. He was a big, big influence on me, and has always been. I think the way he played, the way he was in the music in Uriah Heep, inspired me very much. There was a lot of music back then, but of course Deep Purple.
It’s funny. Because of Made in Japan, I’ll only accept “Space Truckin'” if it’s the 20 minute live version on there!
PS: *laughs* Yeah, I totally agree! There’s something about it. I don’t know how many copies I’ve had of that album. Also, the Uriah Heep live album, the black and white one (1973’s Live). It was so important to me back then, and still is.
At what age did you pick up the bass?
PS: Oh, I can’t remember, but I can remember I heard a Beatles record. I can’t remember which one, and then it was The Who, something with John Entwistle, that drew attention to the bass. Normally, people want to play drums primarily and guitar. I can’t remember exactly, but it was definitely The Who and The Beatles where I thought, “Well, there’s something with bass.” Then, I got a bass for my birthday, which was a terrible one. You couldn’t play on it, but that’s how it started. I also play keyboard, but that’s because you do that.
Considering the giants of your youth like Keith Moon or Jimmy Page, I can understand why kids gravitated towards drums and guitar. For you, being a bassist, did you soon find yourself as an in-demand player within your scene?
PS: Yeah, but the thing is a lot of bands started in school. I started with a drummer who was in another class and a guitar player who was a class below us. Then, we formed our first band. That’s actually how I started, but years later, there were not that many bass players where I grew up. There’s a lot of guitar players and also keyboard players and drummers, of course. They are all over, so yes. Back then, it was also the music scene where I came from was more progressive. It was like Emerson, Lake and Palmer and stuff like that.
Next year marks Fate’s 40th anniversary. As the sole original member left in the band, could you tell us how Fate initially came together all those years ago?
PS: Oh yeah, that’s easy. It was in ’84. It was Hank Shermann, who had just left Mercyful Fate at that time. Hank has always liked melodic rock, in spite of what he’s doing in Mercyful Fate *laughs*. He decided he wanted to put a band together and do some melodic rock, so he contacted Jens Peter Meiner, at that time Jeff “Lox” Limbo, on vocals, Bob Lance on drums, and me, because we played in a band at that time that was about to split up. He contacted us and said, “Do you want to do a band?” We said, “Of course!”
Then, it went very fast. Hank then contacted some Danish record companies. EMI responded immediately and said, “Yeah, that sounds interesting.”, and asked us to do a couple of demos. We did, and they asked us for more demos, so we did. It was all mainly Hank’s songs, but then we started to collaborate. Then, we got the record deal, and the first record came out a year later in ’85. It was a weird thing to experience.
Those were the days when things like that did happen. Now, you’ll hear about bands grinding away for years, to no avail.
PS: Hank was very, very dedicated. He had the whole thing laid out. He didn’t write all the songs. I wrote some and Jens wrote the lyrics, but Hank knew exactly what image we should do, so he was very determined. The first album that it came together, it was totally his doing.
Are you aware if any of the songs on Fate’s first album were ever pitched to Mercyful Fate? I had heard he wanted to go that direction after Don’t Break the Oath, which is partially why the band split.
PS: I actually don’t know. I don’t think any of the songs or riffs on the first album, if that could’ve been Mercyful Fate material. I’m not sure. I can’t remember if he mentioned it. I actually think what he did here in Fate was something completely different, but I don’t know. It’s a good question!
Thank you! Back in the ’80s, AOR was extremely commercially successful here in the States. However, many euro bands of this nature struggled to break through the US market. Did Fate ever attempt to do so, or did the band feel better off keeping their focus on Europe?
PS: Well, we never did ever, but EMI did. We were on EMI for the first few albums, and they had the American label, Capitol. They released some singles, but I don’t think they did anything. I understand your question and I don’t know why. Of course, some European bands did very well, Europe for instance, but it was difficult at that time to go to America and compete with the American bands who invented this genre. It never came to be in America, but it’s not like I thought, “Well, we have to break in America.” That was not the main intention.
You’ve got a good point about Europe being the one band who did make it here. I guess you could throw Whitesnake in the discussion too, because the ’87 album was just so massive.
PS: Oh yeah, of course.
But like I said, I think about bands like Fate, Alien, FM: Bands who played the same style, but for some reason never caught on here. I appreciate your input on the matter.
PS: As to why, I think it’s because for European bands, it’s extremely difficult to break through in America. At that time, like I said, you had all those fantastic bands in America, so I think if you, as a European band, should have a chance in America, you have to do something different. Europe did well because they had catchy songs, a good singer, and a good image. Why we didn’t, I don’t know, but we didn’t really pursue it. I think you have to go for 110% if it’s gonna work at least a little bit.
Another anniversary that’s on the horizon is the 35th anniversary of Scratch ‘n Sniff. What are your favorite memories of recording that record and what songs off of it stand out to you the most?
PS: That was the first album Per was on, and of course, (guitarist) Mattias “IA” Eklund. Mattias was mind blowing *laughs*. He was so different in every way. I can remember our producer, Tommy Hansen. When he first heard Mattias, his jaw dropped down. He thought, “What the hell am I doing here?” I love everything about that record. Still today, it’s very fresh. It was really an old studio collaboration. We really recorded it together. Not the vocals, obviously, but Per recorded the live vocals with the band, so it was a very, very positive experience. We recorded it in a Danish studio called Jailhouse where you actually live also, so we were there and together all day long for however many weeks when we did that album. It was really, really great.
Looking forward, what does 2025 have in store for Fate?
PS: Well, I’m not quite sure. I hope we’re gonna play some live shows, but I’m not sure. You know better than anyone how the live scene has changed over the last couple of years after the COVID-19 thing. Actually, I’m gonna have a meeting with the guys here before Christmas and see what we find out. I suppose we might do an album, but I’m not quite sure, so I can’t say for sure. When it was decided that the album was gonna come out in the Autumn, we decided we didn’t want to do anything live this year. I’m certain we’re gonna aim for some festivals in Europe next year. That would be fun.
That season’s gonna be here before we know it. I feel like I blink and I’ll see the posters start coming out. I’ll think to myself, “Man, it would be nice to see something like that here in America!”
PS: *laughs* I know! Yeah, of course, but also, like I said, a lot of things have changed. Going touring is quite expensive these days, so there’s a lot of things you have to take into consideration today which you didn’t have to do five or six years ago, the whole financial thing. Let’s see. We’re definitely gonna aim for some live shows. I love playing live, so we have to do it.
The new Fate album, Reconnect ‘n Ignite, is available now on Frontiers Records. For more information on Fate, visit www.Facebook.com/Fatetheband.
Great interview. New Fate album is superb.