Moncton heavy-metal band Tempting Tragedy is set to launch their sophomore record Descent Into Madness with a show tonight at Moncton’s Manhattan Bar and Grill.
Formed about six years ago, the members of Tempting Tragedy were co-workers before they were band mates, uncovering a mutual love of music that helped develop them into the band they have become.
“We initially had formed a band to jam,” keyboardist Denis Guitard says. “Marty had brought in a demo tape of his music for me to hear and soon after, I had suggested that I could play keyboards for him if he was looking to get a band together. Before long, we had a couple of other guys lined up and things went from there.”
While their 2007 debut CD leaned more towards the dark, brooding influences of Type O Negative, Tempting Tragedy guitarist-vocalist Marty Surette says the songs on their new record are closer in spirit to the modern rock genre.
Along with their band mates Fernand Brideau, Steven Basque and Ray Leger, Surette and Guitard say the group’s newest songs began to take shape after the release of their first record.
As the saying goes in the music business though, you have your whole life to write your debut record and then two years to write the follow-up. Both Surette and Guitard agree that the process of writing new material has only gotten easier with the passage of time:
“Songs weren’t exactly pouring out of us after the first record was done but it seems like once we got over the initial hump of getting new material started, the songs came fairly easily. The more we wrote, the more comfortable we were with writing,” Surette says.
“We didn’t necessarily feel any pressure to follow up the debut in terms of time,” Guitard continues.
“Writing a record is going to take the time it takes. So many bands are intent on getting radio airplay that their records have two singles and the rest of the record is filler. We treasure quality over quantity and wanted to steer clear of putting filler on our record, no matter how long it took the songs to come to us.”
With each of Tempting Tragedy’s members holding down full-time jobs and some having families, the group isn’t necessarily able to pick up and leave on a full-scale tour at the drop of a hat. That doesn’t mean however that the group is resigned to not giving their upcoming record its due promotion.
“I think it is more realistic for us to plan mini-tours through the Maritimes and letting the music lead the way,” Guitard says. “If the demand is there, we will be more than happy to play based upon that.”
Article published in November 19, 2010 edition of the Times & Transcript