In this interview, I was able to catch up with frontman-Tim McDonald & guitarist-Keith Smith of the Tennessee based Heavy Metal band Oblivion Myth.
(Jacob) It's so good to finally be having this interview with your band:
(Jacob) So, can you give us some insight into what got you involved in the music industry and what is the ultimate purpose of the band?
(Keith) God blessed me with the passion for music and I’m giving it back to Him. I’m very blessed to be in a band, creating music, performing live, glorifying God, reaching people, and pointing everything in my life to Jesus. Those are the things about being in this band that matters the most to me.
(Tim) Like most teens I dreamed of being in a rock band, specifically a heavy metal band. My roots actually include the old crooner/western singer Frankie Laine, Ann Wilson from Heart, Freddie Mercury, some non-metal things, but when I started listening to Judas Priest and was amazed by Rob Halford’s something-close-to-4-octave range I was hooked. I knew what I wanted to do. So my bedroom started to become my rehearsal studio and I’m sure my parents were driven crazy :)
The ultimate purpose of the band is to fulfill our life’s mission and the entire reason the Lord created us in the first place: to bring souls to Jesus through music, and we as metal musicians are very much like the apostles in Matthew 10:16 (Thousand years!), we are going out among a metal crowd that is exposed to so much negativity and evil, and we offer them something entirely different. And we know we have to be as mild as doves, we don’t hit anybody over the head with it. But wise as serpents. We know we are opposed by the Enemy who wishes us to fail and we encourage each other when one is under attack.
(Jacob) Who was the founding member(s) and when did the band officially form?
(Keith) I started Oblivion Myth in Palm Bay, Florida back in the Fall of 2002 with some friends down there and the band didn’t officially take off until I reached Nashville by the end of 2005. The first OM live performance was in Miami, in Little Havana at Churchill’s in May of 2005.
(Jacob) Can you shed some light on where your band's name came from and what is the meaning behind it?
(Keith) I like big interesting words. That’s why I have a song called "Knightserrant". I found it by reading dictionaries and thesaurus’ looking for cool interesting names for bands and titles for songs. In 1988/1989 I had a band called Knightserrant, and the original version of "Knightserrant" was written back then. The name, Oblivion Myth, came from my interest in words and how they look together. I was making album covers in photoshop and I had a list of words. and then, it came together, and sounded cool, and looked cool. I wanted something that sounded like a progressive or power metal band. The meaning behind the name of the band came later, realizing that the lyrics reflected my faith as well as everyone in the band. We believe in God, Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the Holy Spirit is a gift sent from God, good and evil are clearly present in this world physically and spiritually, the enemy wants to destroy us, there’s a real heaven and hell, eternity is real, oblivion [nothing] is a myth.
(Jacob) What brand of instruments do you all use and why do you prefer that specific brand over another?
(Tim) I prefer Shure microphones and wireless systems. They are high quality and simply don’t let you down. There are other good brands, but this is my jam. I’m currently using a Beta 87A, a condenser mic that is a pretty big step above the basic SM58. It’s very crisp.
(Keith) I use Ibanez guitars with DiMarzio X2N humbuckers and the Audality M1 Advanced Wireless Guitar System exclusively. I’ve been playing Ibanez guitars since 1997 because I find them comfortable to play and they sound great for metal. The M1 Advanced Wireless Guitar System by Audality is a great wireless system with strong signals without any tone loss. https://www.audality.io/m1-guitar-system
Some of my favorite players play Ibanez guitars such as Steve Vai, Alex Skolnick, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Kiko and formerly John Petrucci,…So I’m a big fan of Ibanez. I also play a neck-through 1989 Royal Blue Charvel 550XL which I used for the “Thousand Years” music video... My guitars are….1987 black Ibanez RG550, 1996 black Ibanez RG550 [tenth anniversary] used for the “In Your Arms” music video, 1999 magenta crush Ibanez MIJ RG7420 7 string, 2017 white GRGR120EX, 2018 blue lagoon burst Ibanez RGA7420FM 7 string, 1990 Blue Charvel, used for the “Thousand Years” music video.
(Jacob) Do you all have any hobbies outside of music that help to rejuvenate or inspire creativity within your music?
(Tim) I’m a big MMO gamer and fantasy worlds and themes, Tolkien, etc., definitely inspire my creativity in some respects. But in a way that’s kind of what I used to be, before I joined OM I was in a band that was starting to write Christian-themed songs and I discovered that taking bible stories and writing songs about it was extremely fun and satisfying.
(Keith) I enjoy all six middle earth films by Peter Jackson. I enjoy reading the bible and from Tolkien. I love film scores, soundtracks and classical music.
(Jacob) Are there any artists that have played a part in influencing the members of your band along with your band's sound?
(Tim) My primary influences are Judas Priest, Queen, and over the last decade I’ve been a huge European Power Metal / Symphonic Metal / Opera Metal fan. Bands like Kamelot, Lost Horizon, Rhapsody of Fire, Therion, Nightwish, Twilight Force, Dark Moor, and more recently I’m a huge Battle Beast fan. They’ve had 2 supernaturally great vocalists, Nitte Valo and Noora Louhimo, who are some of my all-time favorite singers. I guess they grow them on trees in Finland…
(Keith) KISS was the first band I got into back in 1976. Bands, musicians and composers that followed were Yes, Pink Floyd, Queen, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Deep Purple, UFO, Boston, Kansas, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Randy Rhoads, Van Halen, Journey, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Mozart, Paganini, Back, Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Mussorgsky, Berlioz, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Exodus, Joe Satriani, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Symphony X, and a ton more.
(Jacob) What is the biggest problem that you've had to overcome as a band?
(Tim) Lineup changes are a big setback, because you’ve got to train a new member on all the songs, and that takes time. There have been a couple of instances of having to say farewell to people for simply not sharing the vision and that’s unfortunate. When you finish the project you’re tempted to go back to those people and say, “you know, this could have / should have been you on this recording, and that’s a shame” but I think they know that inside when they hear it, no need to say it.
(Keith) First, lineup changes. There’s been 20 musicians total since 2002. This current lineup has been since May of 2019 with Chris, Ryan, Bob, Tim and myself. This has been the most solid lineup in OM’s history. Second, the enemy of our souls is relentless and there’s been many battles and obstacles to overcome. The five of us pray together at every rehearsal. The devil does not want us to make music to glorify God and praise Jesus, so the fight for our lives is very real.
Spiritual warfare is imminent. 1 Corinthians 16:13 "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong."
(Jacob) Can you go into some detail about your musical direction on your 2020 release 'In Your Arms'?
(Tim) The pitch this time is that every song is a different style of metal, and I do think that’s obvious to the listener. During some of the recording phase the movie Bohemian Rhapsody was out and Queen was going through a big revival, and Keith and I were listening to a lot of Queen. They’re famous for tackling ‘styles’ and so I think some of that mentality rubbed off on us. In the movie they tell the producer when they’re pitching the “A Night at the Opera” album that it will have “something for everybody”. And I think we took that approach, but in a metal sense.
(Keith) Tim had more of the direction to “In Your Arms” this time around. I wanted more of Tim’s writing on this album since there was two songs and one rewrite from Tim on the last album. I’m looking forward to album 4 where we have more contributions from Ryan and Chris.
(Jacob) Do you feel like you achieved what you set out to accomplish on your latest project?
(Tim) Yes and no. It’s never finished. You just walk away from it and say it’s time to let the baby be born. But I think everyone hears things they wish had been corrected - we could spend another year on it- but we have to get a product out the door, and knowing when to say “when” is important.
(Keith) I’m very satisfied with “In Your Arms’. It’s the best recording I’ve ever been a part of. Living the dream.
(Jacob) What is your favorite song to perform and why?
(Tim) on this new album I think I probably enjoy singing “Love Child” the most because I think it’s one of the best choruses I’ve ever written. Very triumphant and I really like the melody. It’s a special song for me. There are several songs that kind of speak about a perfect version of yourself, and kind of stepping forth in glory, e.g., “and you will see another Me arise, and I will let the love child in me shine”. I think we all dream of that.
(Keith) "Heirs To The Throne". I play my 7 string! It’s a ton of guitar work, several solos, long pieces of music. A goal I have in life is to write a song that’s more than 10 minutes long. I want to achieve a 20 minute epic. I love the whole album.
(Jacob) Was there any special or funny moments during the recording process of the album?
(Tim) Lots of special ones as this is quite a labor of love and we’re blessed to be doing it, also fun to include your friends as guest stars and strengthen the quality of the music with more voices and talents to make it richer. I really enjoy ensemble and “supergroups” like Avantasia and I’ve tried to introduce that into the Nashville Metal scene. Funniest moment for me was when Keith was learning the guitar melodies and harmonies that kick off “Another Life”, there was a bit of a pause that was eluding him for a moment, and I took a really funny cell phone video of me and Curtis (the recording engineer) singing it for him over and over until it clicked. “Ba badda ba ba ba BAH BAHHH” lol.
(Keith) The "Another Life" melody was pretty funny. Another one was a drum fill for Bob where we were singing “I will fix my car, I will fix my car, yes I will!” for the song, "Thousand Years". And, Bob really had to fix his car at the time.
Thank you for your time and thoughtful responses to each and every question. I am excited about this release and am looking forward to hearing more from the band in the future.
(Jacob) It's so good to finally be having this interview with your band:
(Jacob) So, can you give us some insight into what got you involved in the music industry and what is the ultimate purpose of the band?
(Keith) God blessed me with the passion for music and I’m giving it back to Him. I’m very blessed to be in a band, creating music, performing live, glorifying God, reaching people, and pointing everything in my life to Jesus. Those are the things about being in this band that matters the most to me.
(Tim) Like most teens I dreamed of being in a rock band, specifically a heavy metal band. My roots actually include the old crooner/western singer Frankie Laine, Ann Wilson from Heart, Freddie Mercury, some non-metal things, but when I started listening to Judas Priest and was amazed by Rob Halford’s something-close-to-4-octave range I was hooked. I knew what I wanted to do. So my bedroom started to become my rehearsal studio and I’m sure my parents were driven crazy :)
The ultimate purpose of the band is to fulfill our life’s mission and the entire reason the Lord created us in the first place: to bring souls to Jesus through music, and we as metal musicians are very much like the apostles in Matthew 10:16 (Thousand years!), we are going out among a metal crowd that is exposed to so much negativity and evil, and we offer them something entirely different. And we know we have to be as mild as doves, we don’t hit anybody over the head with it. But wise as serpents. We know we are opposed by the Enemy who wishes us to fail and we encourage each other when one is under attack.
(Jacob) Who was the founding member(s) and when did the band officially form?
(Keith) I started Oblivion Myth in Palm Bay, Florida back in the Fall of 2002 with some friends down there and the band didn’t officially take off until I reached Nashville by the end of 2005. The first OM live performance was in Miami, in Little Havana at Churchill’s in May of 2005.
(Jacob) Can you shed some light on where your band's name came from and what is the meaning behind it?
(Keith) I like big interesting words. That’s why I have a song called "Knightserrant". I found it by reading dictionaries and thesaurus’ looking for cool interesting names for bands and titles for songs. In 1988/1989 I had a band called Knightserrant, and the original version of "Knightserrant" was written back then. The name, Oblivion Myth, came from my interest in words and how they look together. I was making album covers in photoshop and I had a list of words. and then, it came together, and sounded cool, and looked cool. I wanted something that sounded like a progressive or power metal band. The meaning behind the name of the band came later, realizing that the lyrics reflected my faith as well as everyone in the band. We believe in God, Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the Holy Spirit is a gift sent from God, good and evil are clearly present in this world physically and spiritually, the enemy wants to destroy us, there’s a real heaven and hell, eternity is real, oblivion [nothing] is a myth.
(Jacob) What brand of instruments do you all use and why do you prefer that specific brand over another?
(Tim) I prefer Shure microphones and wireless systems. They are high quality and simply don’t let you down. There are other good brands, but this is my jam. I’m currently using a Beta 87A, a condenser mic that is a pretty big step above the basic SM58. It’s very crisp.
(Keith) I use Ibanez guitars with DiMarzio X2N humbuckers and the Audality M1 Advanced Wireless Guitar System exclusively. I’ve been playing Ibanez guitars since 1997 because I find them comfortable to play and they sound great for metal. The M1 Advanced Wireless Guitar System by Audality is a great wireless system with strong signals without any tone loss. https://www.audality.io/m1-guitar-system
Some of my favorite players play Ibanez guitars such as Steve Vai, Alex Skolnick, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Kiko and formerly John Petrucci,…So I’m a big fan of Ibanez. I also play a neck-through 1989 Royal Blue Charvel 550XL which I used for the “Thousand Years” music video... My guitars are….1987 black Ibanez RG550, 1996 black Ibanez RG550 [tenth anniversary] used for the “In Your Arms” music video, 1999 magenta crush Ibanez MIJ RG7420 7 string, 2017 white GRGR120EX, 2018 blue lagoon burst Ibanez RGA7420FM 7 string, 1990 Blue Charvel, used for the “Thousand Years” music video.
(Jacob) Do you all have any hobbies outside of music that help to rejuvenate or inspire creativity within your music?
(Tim) I’m a big MMO gamer and fantasy worlds and themes, Tolkien, etc., definitely inspire my creativity in some respects. But in a way that’s kind of what I used to be, before I joined OM I was in a band that was starting to write Christian-themed songs and I discovered that taking bible stories and writing songs about it was extremely fun and satisfying.
(Keith) I enjoy all six middle earth films by Peter Jackson. I enjoy reading the bible and from Tolkien. I love film scores, soundtracks and classical music.
(Jacob) Are there any artists that have played a part in influencing the members of your band along with your band's sound?
(Tim) My primary influences are Judas Priest, Queen, and over the last decade I’ve been a huge European Power Metal / Symphonic Metal / Opera Metal fan. Bands like Kamelot, Lost Horizon, Rhapsody of Fire, Therion, Nightwish, Twilight Force, Dark Moor, and more recently I’m a huge Battle Beast fan. They’ve had 2 supernaturally great vocalists, Nitte Valo and Noora Louhimo, who are some of my all-time favorite singers. I guess they grow them on trees in Finland…
(Keith) KISS was the first band I got into back in 1976. Bands, musicians and composers that followed were Yes, Pink Floyd, Queen, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Deep Purple, UFO, Boston, Kansas, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Randy Rhoads, Van Halen, Journey, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Mozart, Paganini, Back, Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Mussorgsky, Berlioz, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Exodus, Joe Satriani, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Symphony X, and a ton more.
(Jacob) What is the biggest problem that you've had to overcome as a band?
(Tim) Lineup changes are a big setback, because you’ve got to train a new member on all the songs, and that takes time. There have been a couple of instances of having to say farewell to people for simply not sharing the vision and that’s unfortunate. When you finish the project you’re tempted to go back to those people and say, “you know, this could have / should have been you on this recording, and that’s a shame” but I think they know that inside when they hear it, no need to say it.
(Keith) First, lineup changes. There’s been 20 musicians total since 2002. This current lineup has been since May of 2019 with Chris, Ryan, Bob, Tim and myself. This has been the most solid lineup in OM’s history. Second, the enemy of our souls is relentless and there’s been many battles and obstacles to overcome. The five of us pray together at every rehearsal. The devil does not want us to make music to glorify God and praise Jesus, so the fight for our lives is very real.
Spiritual warfare is imminent. 1 Corinthians 16:13 "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong."
(Jacob) Can you go into some detail about your musical direction on your 2020 release 'In Your Arms'?
(Tim) The pitch this time is that every song is a different style of metal, and I do think that’s obvious to the listener. During some of the recording phase the movie Bohemian Rhapsody was out and Queen was going through a big revival, and Keith and I were listening to a lot of Queen. They’re famous for tackling ‘styles’ and so I think some of that mentality rubbed off on us. In the movie they tell the producer when they’re pitching the “A Night at the Opera” album that it will have “something for everybody”. And I think we took that approach, but in a metal sense.
(Keith) Tim had more of the direction to “In Your Arms” this time around. I wanted more of Tim’s writing on this album since there was two songs and one rewrite from Tim on the last album. I’m looking forward to album 4 where we have more contributions from Ryan and Chris.
(Jacob) Do you feel like you achieved what you set out to accomplish on your latest project?
(Tim) Yes and no. It’s never finished. You just walk away from it and say it’s time to let the baby be born. But I think everyone hears things they wish had been corrected - we could spend another year on it- but we have to get a product out the door, and knowing when to say “when” is important.
(Keith) I’m very satisfied with “In Your Arms’. It’s the best recording I’ve ever been a part of. Living the dream.
(Jacob) What is your favorite song to perform and why?
(Tim) on this new album I think I probably enjoy singing “Love Child” the most because I think it’s one of the best choruses I’ve ever written. Very triumphant and I really like the melody. It’s a special song for me. There are several songs that kind of speak about a perfect version of yourself, and kind of stepping forth in glory, e.g., “and you will see another Me arise, and I will let the love child in me shine”. I think we all dream of that.
(Keith) "Heirs To The Throne". I play my 7 string! It’s a ton of guitar work, several solos, long pieces of music. A goal I have in life is to write a song that’s more than 10 minutes long. I want to achieve a 20 minute epic. I love the whole album.
(Jacob) Was there any special or funny moments during the recording process of the album?
(Tim) Lots of special ones as this is quite a labor of love and we’re blessed to be doing it, also fun to include your friends as guest stars and strengthen the quality of the music with more voices and talents to make it richer. I really enjoy ensemble and “supergroups” like Avantasia and I’ve tried to introduce that into the Nashville Metal scene. Funniest moment for me was when Keith was learning the guitar melodies and harmonies that kick off “Another Life”, there was a bit of a pause that was eluding him for a moment, and I took a really funny cell phone video of me and Curtis (the recording engineer) singing it for him over and over until it clicked. “Ba badda ba ba ba BAH BAHHH” lol.
(Keith) The "Another Life" melody was pretty funny. Another one was a drum fill for Bob where we were singing “I will fix my car, I will fix my car, yes I will!” for the song, "Thousand Years". And, Bob really had to fix his car at the time.
Thank you for your time and thoughtful responses to each and every question. I am excited about this release and am looking forward to hearing more from the band in the future.