I wanted to do this interview for many years! Probably since I discovered "As Darkness Reigns" about 15 years ago. Everything about this album and the band was intriguing: the name (before that I knew only one Prodigy — that techno/electronic/whatever shit that was everywhere in the late 90's), the fact that two memebers of the band played with Iced Earth, and of course the music — intense, sophisticated, powerful, with top notch vocals. And there was almost no information about these guys! Then I befriended Kent Smedley (the mastermind of Prodigy) and Willian Wren (the singer), but it turned to be the same story: I decided I could do the interview any time. (I missed so many interviews because of this foolish way of thinking.) Then Kent's life became a nightmare because of issues within his family (more on that below) and William sadly passed away. Finally I took courage to ask Kent for an interview and he was so kind to say yes and to wait for a few month before I would find the time to complete my list of questions. I'm glad I did that and am thankful to Kent for his full and honest answers. Here you go!
Could you tell me about your family? Was it your parents who wanted you to take music lessons, or was it your own will to play guitar?
My mother was always there for me, every step of the way, on my musical journey. She has been a constant source of support my entire life. I don’t know how many thousands of dollars she spent on musical instruments and lessons for me, but it was all greatly appreciated, and I could never have done so much with music without her. I remember when I was 10, I had been playing guitar for six years and singing for about four years at that time. In my music class in school, one of my friends sat down and played the piano. It blew me away, and I went home from school and told her. Immediately, that same day, she went out and bought me a piano and set me up with lessons. She bought me so many guitars I have lost count, including the main guitar that I played with Prodigy/Oracle; which I still have to this day. For my graduation from high school, she actually bought me a Marshall stack, which was phenomenal! She also bought me a very expensive Yamaha piano for graduation as well. I could not have asked any more from her, she always went above and beyond. She was, and is, a very amazing person and I love her very much. My father was a very accomplished trumpet player. He also played guitar, and I am sure that is one of the things that influenced me to play. I’m sure he would’ve been very happy to help me as much as he could with music, but he died when I was quite young. But it was definitely my burning desire to learn music, as well as I could. At the age of 4, I began learning to play the guitar properly, and to read music. I also joined the choir, and began singing at my school in the chorus when I started elementary school.
Do you remember your music teachers? Were they good/kind persons? Sometimes they can be really savage and destroy any desire to play guitar or sing.
My first formal music teachers were vocal teachers who directed the choirs and choruses I sang in, and they were very encouraging. I had many Guitar teachers, who were all very encouraging and helped me tremendously. James Chandler was the biggest influence on me for Classical Guitar, along with Dr. Stephen Robinson and the great Christopher Parkening. I studied Jazz Guitar as a kid with Gary Starling at Jacksonville University, the later with the great Jack Petersen, founder of the Berklee guitar program. I also studied classical piano, beginning at the age of 10 with Rebecca Hodges; and I ended up studying with the principal keyboardist for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Ileana Fernandez, for many years.
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| The Smedley brothers |
My relationship with my brother when we were young was very good. Our father died when I had just turned 7, so it was just the two of us and our mother trying to find our way in the world. It was a very sad, difficult and confusing time. We were very close.
Could you tell me about your experience before Prodigy? Did you play in a school band, any cover bands who had residence in night clubs etc.?
I played in quite a few small groups from the time I was in middle school through high school. When I was 17 years old, I joined a band playing in clubs four or five nights a week. The money back then was pretty good for a kid. During this time I was constantly writing music and continuing to try to improve as a musician as much as I could.
Playing clubs four or five nights a week was a great school for a 17 years old boy I guess. So what lessons about playing, performing and work ethics did you learn at the time?
Playing so much taught me a lot at a very young age. Stage presence was very important and it became natural for me after continual gigs, night after night. Being thoroughly prepared and having the music down was instilled this way also. But honestly, playing other people’s music every night made me want to create and get my own music out to the public. I definitely did not want to be a cover band musician on a permanent basis.
How did you discover heavy metal music?
I think I was around eight years old that I started listening to Metal. Black Sabbath and AC/DC at first, then later on Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I also listened to a lot of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. I remember playing and singing along a lot to these bands. It was a lot of fun, and a fantastic learning experience. Some of the most important influences for me as a Metal guitar player were Randy Rhoads, Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Al DiMeola (jazz fusion, but an incredible shredder, regardless), Vinnie Moore, and Tony McAlpine. There were definitely many other players that I admired and learned from, but that would probably take this entire interview to talk about them all.
Was Jacksonville back then a good place for a metal fan? I mean, were there radios that played metal, shops that imported metal records, venues that allowed local metal bands to perform original music etc.?
When I was a kid in Jacksonville, most of the radio stations were playing classic rock and Southern rock. I really loved the band Boston, they had amazing vocals and huge guitars, and that appealed to me greatly, and they were played constantly on the radio here. We had to listen to Zrock, which was an AM radio station, to actually get Metal on the radio back then, but a lot of the music stores had Metal records and there were a lot of concerts that came through with Metal bands. When I saw Iron Maiden on the Piece of Mind tour in Jacksonville, it blew me away! Local bands usually had to rent out a warehouse or club to perform. Some of them played gigs at their band rooms, with a full PA and light show!
Speaking about metal bands, there weren’t many heavy metal bands in Jacksonville in the 80’s or early 90’s: Leather Nunn, Apostle, Prowler, Inferno — that’s all I can remember from the top of my head. Were you friends with them? Or were Prodigy a lonely child so to say?
I became friends with all of those bands, I always thought they were great, and was glad that there was some kind of a scene here at that time. Leather Nunn was already an established local band when I was a kid, and I got to know them all quite well. I even played in a project with their singer and bass player at one time when their band was going through some sort of upheaval. Apostle were an inspiration for all of us. They were devout Christians who could shred Metal with anyone. I became good friends with their singer/guitarist Matt Harding, who produced "As Darkness Reigns" for us. Prowler played some of the same local clubs that we did, and were closer in age to us. I ended up becoming great friends with one of their guitarists, Jamie Harris; we used to hang out quite a bit together. Sadly, he died awhile ago, and I didn’t have a chance to see him for a few years before that due to what was going on in my life at the time. He was one of the nicest and most talented people I have known, and I miss him.
Now let’s speak about the birth of Prodigy. When did it happen? Was it you, Brent and Kevin Reid (bass) from the very beginning? Or did you have other members?
In the beginning, it was just me with my songs, trying to find great musicians to play with. The original drummer I was working with was fantastic; but when my brother became available I started working with him, and made plans for what became Prodigy. Bill came into the fold long before we had a settled bass player, but we continued to press on without stability at that position for a while. We had a rotating cast of bass players for a long time before we settled on Nick Tirone. He was a great guy, a very good friend, and a very good bass player. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out with him. About 1 month before we went in to record “As Darkness Reigns” we got Kevin.
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| Promo picture with Nick Tirone |
Who came up with the name Prodigy which means “highly talented, genius child”?
I believe I came up with the name for the band, but that was so long ago I really can’t say for sure. I just knew I wanted a name that would project the image I was striving for. I was very into Nicolo Paganini, Franz Liszt, Randy Rhoads, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Al Dimeola, Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Horowitz and many other virtuoso musicians, and wanted to have a band that could achieve that level of excellence. The name seemed like a perfect fit.
Years later you had to change your name due to possible issues with the British band The Prodigy. You tried out Legion and Threshold and eventually became Oracle. But were you discouraged? Was your original name important for you?
Yes, the original name was very important to me, so it was definitely a bummer to have to change it. I really did not want to change it, and tried to work with our label to prevent that from happening, but in the end I was overruled. We tried to come up with something that had meaning for us, and Oracle seem to fit the bill. We basically tried to make the best of the situation, and I guess the name grew on me after awhile, somewhat.
In one interview you said that all the songs of Prodigy were written before William Wren joined the band, and so there were no vocal lines. How come that? Did you consider Prodigy as an instrumental combo back then?
I had written basically all of the music for the album when I was between 17 and 19 years old, but it took a while to get a whole band together and get it sounding the way I wanted it to. I always wanted to have vocals, and at that time, I was mainly focused on playing guitar and moving the band in the direction I wanted it to go. I had sung a lot before all of this, but I was more interested at that time in guitar playing, so the search was on to find a vocalist.
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| Kent Smedley and William Wren |
Bill actually came over to my house, we were rehearsing there at that time and had already been through several auditions with different people. I had heard about Bill and was interested in getting him in for an audition. I remember speaking to the singer for Leather Nunn, who was a friend of mine at that time, and he encouraged me to go after him. When Bill auditioned, I could tell right away that we had a great chemistry with the music, and we both wanted to get to work on it. So I basically had all of this music, and he had a fresh palate to work with. We both felt like our arrangement ended up working pretty well.
Prodigy’s music is very complex and I guess you rehearsed like insane for ages before you went to the studio. Could you, please, share some stories and memories about those days? How often and where did you rehearse?
Yes, we had incredibly intense rehearsals. I would basically work out the songs with the drummer, my brother, then bring in whichever bass player we had at the time and get all of the music ready. We would then record a rough take of it, with all of us playing, to give to Bill who would take it and create his parts. We rehearsed in bedrooms, warehouses, office spaces; any place would do. During this time, we also tried to play live as much as possible, testing out the songs, and getting them together, as well as we could. We probably rehearsed an average of four nights a week. In the end, we were a very well oiled machine with the material for "As Darkness Reigns". I remember one of the rehearsal rooms we had was a huge warehouse here in Jacksonville, Florida. It was incredibly hot most of the year and the main part that we rehearsed in did not have air conditioning. We used to rehearse for as much as we could before we took a break and then ran into the office that had air conditioning to try to cool off. A lot of times we didn’t make it back out into the main part of the warehouse as it was so nice in the air conditioning. I was determined that we would find a rehearsal space with air conditioning after that, but it took some time, because we were very loud when we rehearsed, of course. Eventually we were successful in finding something that worked much better.
And of course, it is interesting how you worked on the music. Was it always you who brought riffs and made arrangements? Or were other guys also allowed to change parts of the songs and bring their ideas?
I don’t think it was a matter of not allowing the other guys to be creative, I just already had the songs, and had a defined direction for the music, and they seemed happy to work that way. They definitely contributed to creating the overall sound that you hear on the songs, and the attention to detail in each of their parts is due to this dedication. I would go through the entire tune with all of the guitar parts, and work out the basic feel of the drums with my brother. Only after this would I bring in the bass player and show him what was going on. I usually had all of the music, including the guitar solos, finished and worked out, so I could just show the guys when I needed them to play. They then took this and made it sound fantastic. After we had everything pretty much worked out, I felt comfortable presenting it to Bill for him to work his parts out. This is basically how it went for every one of the songs, I think we just got in a groove and were used to working that way. It seemed to be a great system, so nobody really felt the need to change the way we approached things with the music.
I would say some of the best memories would be hearing the songs coming together in the studio bit by bit, hanging out in the studio parking lot listening to the latest mix with everyone, and the deepening of our friendships during this incredible musical journey together. The creative part of being in the studio was amazing, so many new possibilities to explore sonically. We were all still pretty inexperienced in a big studio, but really had fun and nailed it. Working with Matt Harding was fantastic! He was awesome, getting the best out of all of us. It was so great having Matt working with us, all I had to do was tell him what I needed and he made it happen. His attention to detail, and being on top of every facet of the recording was amazing; he completely took the stress off of all of us, and allowed us to focus completely on giving the best performances that we could with the music. Matt was an amazing and very talented person, a great friend, and I miss him dearly. One of the most difficult things was that we had to record extremely late at night, and at hours that were not that convenient because it was so expensive; it was probably the least fun part of the whole experience. Many times we would have to jump in the studio after having just recently played a gig and record as much as we could before the next gig. This was how we were able to pay for the album, and thankfully, the studio let us pay them as we went, instead of in one big lump sum at the beginning. And I have to say our sound engineers were fantastic to work with, even though the hours were long and irregular. They definitely made everything run very smoothly and seamlessly, and I am very glad we worked with them!
Could you provide some examples of Matt Harding's input to the songs on "ADR"? Did he offer some arrangements etc.?
Matt was our go-between with the studio heads. He smoothed everything out and made sure we were all comfortable and had what we needed. He was almost like a manager in that respect, and we were all grateful to have him. Matt did not have any input on the songs or their arrangements, that was already set well before we went into the studio. I had a definite version of how the songs should go, and we held to that. His recording knowledge became incredibly important to all of us, as we were new to working in a big studio like that for an extended period of time. Without Matt, I’m sure things would not have run as smoothly.
”As Darkness Reigns” got positive reviews in some European magazines and secured you a deal with Massacre Records. Were you happy with this label?
I think the Massacre Records deal was good for us; they got our music out in Europe and Japan, and I was negotiating with them to get our next album released in the USA also; unfortunately that album never happened. Andy Siry from Master Records was incredibly helpful in getting us the Massacre Records deal. He was acting as a distributor for the album before we got the deal with Massacre, and due to his efforts, we got their attention. I am eternally grateful to Andy for his belief in our music and everything he did for us. It was challenging to promote the album and get a lot of press back then, as there was no real Internet presence and we were relying on magazine and phone interviews for most of the publicity. I remember many times having to call European magazines, or having them call me; the phone bill was pretty incredible for a lot of it, but was definitely worth it. It was very difficult to measure exactly how much interest there was in what we were doing from here in the USA, but we could tell there were some very dedicated fans, and we really wanted to connect with them.
We needed higher resolution art for Massacre, and with the name change to Oracle, felt like we should have something the was more related to our new name. Although, I felt the concept of the original artwork was more relevant to the title of the album; maybe it could have been redone more professionally and with better quality? I don’t know. So many things seemed to be out of our control once we got the deal with Massacre. I think the album cover might have been one of those. One thing that was a little frustrating at first was that Massacre wanted to completely remix the album; at first, I was not really for that, but after hearing what they did with it, I found some things were better, but I guess I was probably used to the old mix that we had. In retrospect, both mixes work, I think the guitars probably sound a little bit better in the mix Massacre did, but I think maybe the overall mix might have worked better with the one that we had originally. I do like them both and I am glad that with the re-release, people can hear both of them. And they also kept both covers for their respective mixes, which was very cool.
Did you have a manager or a booking agent who handled your business?
We never really had a professional booking agent/manager. I was hoping we could find one when the second album was released, which unfortunately never happened. We did have several people that helped us book gigs at different times, and we tried working with a management company to help us negotiate the terms for the second album and potential tour, but that company did not work out for us. We definitely needed help, but didn’t know where to get it. At this time things were getting more difficult, as everyone was expressing great disappointment that we had not achieved more with what we had already done. I think they were skeptical that much would change with a new album, especially considering the new trends in music that had overtaken the United States. It was a very difficult time for our style of music here, I’m not sure what it was like in Europe, but it was my hope that it would still be good there. Everything in the United States was very fickle, and people were following whatever trends were being pushed on them musically by the media; a lot of the bands playing our style of music broke up, or tried to change with the times, which was nothing I was interested in doing.
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| The band during the Orlando days |
At some point the band moved to Orlando, Florida? When and why did it happen? And why didn't it work out?
The Orlando move was supposed to help us focus more on writing and growing the band. It was in 1990. Brent was dead set against it, I was not convinced it was a good thing to do; but Bill insisted that we had to move, and Kevin agreed. Brent ended up cutting all ties with everything in Jacksonville, and moved completely to Orlando, even though he didn’t want to. I was down there most of the week, but came back to Jacksonville to keep my music teaching position two days a week because I was not convinced it was going to work. Bill never moved down, and was hardly there at all, even though he was the most insistent that we had to move there. The entire experience was expensive, and a great waste of time, although I did make some great friends down there. We moved back probably about eight months after the initial move to get there. It was a pretty difficult time for us. All of that time, energy and money could’ve been spent more productively.
Why did Kevin Reid quit the band after the recording of “As Darkness Reigns”?
Bill actually quit first, with Kevin quickly following him. I think they were both disillusioned by the whole situation with not getting as much out of the "Aa Darkness Reigns" release as we had hoped. We were working on new material for the next album, but did not get to the point of properly recording anything. It is easy to lose faith when you have been struggling for so long, and don’t really see a light at the end of the tunnel. I was working on securing worldwide distribution and a European tour for our 2nd album, but it all fell apart with Bill and Kevin leaving.
Kevin was replaced with James MacDonough. How did you find him? What kind of a bassist was he comparing to Kevin?
I had known James since we were kids, I helped him learn how to play bass when we were young. He happened to be available, and was very experienced playing with my brother, so it was a natural fit. James and Kevin are both fantastic players, they each have their own styles and are incredible to work with. I was very fortunate to go from one monster Bassist to another!
Prodigy opened for Megadeth and Doro. What do you remember about those shows, Dave Mustaine and Doro Pesch? Did you share the stage with some other established bands?
The Megadeth show was amazing; huge crowd, great sound, and just a lot of fun the whole time! Playing with Doro was great, it was a smaller club in Jacksonville Beach and was just amazing. It was a great experience to be able to do those shows. In addition to those two shows, we played with so many other people that it is hard to remember them all. We played with Pantera, Annihilator, Yngwie Malmsteen, Vicious Rumors, Trixter and many others. It really seemed like things were coming together for us during that time.
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| Brent Smedley |
In one interview which you did in the 90’s you mentioned a second album. What happened to it? Did you use any ideas on your latest album “Awakening” which you released in 2020? And why did the band split-up eventually?
We started recording the second album around 1994 I believe. I had a complete studio set up and we were demoing the album with James on bass. I spent over $10,000 at that time getting the best recording equipment that I could, and I learned how to use it and was ready to do whatever it took to get the best recordings I could so that we would be prepared to go into a big studio for the second album once we had everything nailed down. Before we could get to doing a proper recording, my brother joined Iced Earth, with James following soon after. It was a really difficult situation for me at that time, as I was trying to finish this album without them, and Bill lost interest soon after. I had gotten him interested in at least singing on this release and seeing what would happen, with no strings attached on his end; but once the other two left, I guess he felt like it wasn’t going to go anywhere. At that point, Oracle was basically over. On that second album demo, I had started not only writing all of the music, but some of the words and vocal melodies as well. I felt very strongly about that material, and I used the song “Immortal” on the Eternal Odyssey album because it was one that I had completely written, and it meant a great deal to me both lyrically and musically. In the end, I think the band split up for a variety of reasons. The music scene here in the United States had changed dramatically with grunge, and I was not interested in participating in that scene. My brother and James were both involved with Iced Earth, and that apparently was not going to change. And Bill just didn’t seem to be interested anymore, I guess I could not blame him for that. I wanted more than anything to continue, to release another album, and find a way to tour and properly promote it; to really build the band and the awareness of our music. It was very disheartening.
It’s interesting that Brent and James MacDonough later joined Iced Earth. How did that happen? Have you ever been asked to join this band as a guitarist?
My brother joined Iced Earth first, while I was still actively working on the second album demo. Apparently he went down to Tampa and auditioned for them without telling me about it, and then announced he was going to leave to go on tour with them. This caught me completely off guard, and needless to say I was not very happy about it, but what could I do? That was the point that I should have probably just moved on and pursued what I was going to do with the Eternal Odyssey album, but foolishly I did not. James, joined later when Iced Earth needed a bass player. Who could blame him? I was offered the gig as the lead guitarist in Iced Earth, but I did not take it due to financial considerations at the time, and the fact that I still strongly believed in the music I was trying to finish. I was also asked to join Annihilator when we played a gig with them in Jacksonville Beach, as they had just lost one of their guitarists; I turned this down also because I believed so strongly in what we were doing with Prodigy/Oracle. In retrospect, perhaps I should have reconsidered.
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| Oracle circa 1990 |
Have you ever regreted your decision to shut down offers from Iced Earth and Annihilator? Would you accept them knowing how things with Oracle turned out? Were you ready for the career of a full-time musician?
At different times, I guess I have regretted turning down those two bands, but at the time I felt like I was making the right choice, because it really seemed like I would be able to succeed with Prodigy/Oracle. I guess I was probably being naïve at the time, but it certainly didn’t feel like that in the moment. If I would have known how difficult things would have become, yes, I am sure I would have at least taking the gig with Annihilator. I may have taken the other one in time, if the touring and financial situations improved for Iced Earth. I was definitely ready to do music full-time; to write, record, and tour extensively. That was the dream, and that was the goal, always.
Metal-archives.com state that the band was reunited in 2003 under the name Odyssey? Is it correct? If yes, who was in the band and did you try to write and record anything?
Odyssey was actually a totally new band. It was initially just going to be a three-piece with me playing guitar and singing, a bass player, Brian Grovenstein, and my brother on drums. After a while, I also had a rhythm guitarist, Shawn Johnson, come into the band. I did write the music for this band, but we never got to the point of recording it. The whole project was very short-lived, unfortunately. I was pushing to try to get something serious done with this group, but once again, my brother left for Iced Earth, and it was just so frustrating that I let it go.
In 2019 you and Brent reunited in Eternal Odyssey. First of all, what have you done musically since the break-up of Oracle? And secondly, what motivated you to come back from the absence in 2019?
When Oracle broke up, I decided to continue to focus on creating music and playing and singing in as many different types of situations as possible musically. I was the lead singer for several melodic metal bands. I played guitar in a classical guitar quartet, The Riverside Guitar Quartet here in Jacksonville, and the jazz fusion band Acoustic Collective that did an album. I have played countless gigs as a solo singer/songwriter doing acoustic work, and as a classical guitarist. I also worked on writing a lot of acoustic songs that felt authentic to me, and in the same spirit with what I had done before with Prodigy/Oracle, but in an acoustic setting. I have also consistently taught music, which has provided a stable life for me and my family no matter how crazy everything has been with the music business. I have never lost the desire to create, perform and to try to bring some beauty to this world with my music; that was my main motivation to come back to Metal after so long. I had missed it dearly and very much wanted to be back. I genuinely felt that I wanted to share the music and the messages I had in these songs with the world; that was my burning desire and continual motivation to get the Eternal Odyssey album released, no matter how difficult my life had become.
I had a definite vision for the music, and everything kind of fell into place perfectly for me with Awakening. It was a labor of love, and I enjoyed each moment of creating the album immensely. I put my heart and soul into that album. With how challenging and unpredictable my life had become, it was very difficult for me to even imagine trying to get anyone else involved in the project. The guitars and the singing were things that I was going to definitely do for the album, and after listening to what was there, I felt that I could create the perfect bass guitar parts to go along with it. Despite the fact that my personal life was incredibly difficult at the time, I found solace in creating and recording the music. It was my refuge, a place I could find comfort and peace I had hopes of touring extensively for "Awakening" in the United States and Europe, and was willing to do whatever I could to make this album successful. Unfortunately, problems at the label, and with my brother, caused this to be impossible.
I must say you have a pretty damn good voice! Did you take vocal lessons? And how did you manage to keep your ability to sing so high over the years?
Yes, I had vocal lessons when I was younger. It helped me tremendously. Before Oracle, I was singing all of the time to bands like Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche, Judas Priest, and many others. Unfortunately, I kind of let it lapse when I was putting together Prodigy initially, and was just focusing on the guitar end of things, which made it difficult to continue when the band was falling apart later on. I started singing seriously again around 2000, and this helped me to gradually get back what I had lost by not doing it for so long. I feel like taking care of yourself physically, and singing with proper technique is the key to maintaining range and power for any singer. Vocally, I was always very influenced by Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, Geoff Tate, and then later Tony Harnell from TNT. Those guys set the bar so high it was amazing, really pushing the limits. They did for vocals what a lot of my guitar heroes did for the guitar.
In our personal conversation you called the album “Awakening” the strongest material you’ve done. Could you explain your point of view, please?
When I decided to do the album, “Awakening”, I wanted to make sure that I took care of every detail of the music. I wanted the strongest songs, the most powerful lyrics that would be heartfelt and touch people, and I had to have an incredible performance in every area on the album. I have never been more proud of anything that I have ever done musically in my life. I guess the important thing for me was to know that I gave it my all, and did the best I could after being out for so long from releasing music in the Metal genre, which is where my heart is, and always will be. I was willing to do whatever it took to see this album to completion, and to hold true to my vision for it.
I know you’ve been through a lot over the past few years. Did it influence the songs on “Awakening”?
Yes, I know that everything I have been through in my personal life has greatly contributed to and influenced my music. In December 2015, my oldest daughter was in a near fatal car accident in California. She was in a coma for two months and never regained full consciousness. We did everything that we could to care for her for over 5 years, and sacrificed everything that we had to try to bring her back to us. She finally succumbed to her injuries and died in January 2021. During that whole time, I also lost many family members that I loved very much, and my best friend to suicide. All of that weighed heavily on my heart as I continued with this project, but it also fueled the fire that helped me to press on and continue, even when I felt like I couldn’t go on any more.
The album came out on resurrected Combat Records, but I have a feeling that it was ultimately unnoticed. What happened?
I had high hopes for working with Combat records, as they seemed very interested in the album. I met with the head of the label, and Dave Ellefson from Megadeth who was part owner of the label, several times before it was released, and I was assured that it would be promoted well. Unfortunately, the label had severe financial difficulties, among other problems there, and things just did not turn out the way I had hoped. I attempted to do a tour in the United States upon the release of the album, but it became increasingly more difficult with my brother. He had decided once again to go back to Iced Earth, and make that more of a priority than what I was trying to do. I attempted to continue with a new drummer, and things were going well, but the combination of the Covid pandemic and the declining health of my daughter before her death made everything increasingly more difficult at that time. I was attempting to put things back together in a big way in 2021 near the end of the summer, when my middle daughter died unexpectedly from a fentanyl overdose in September 2021. At that point, I felt like I was cursed, and needed to put some space between me and the world. I have never felt so much profound pain in my life. Perhaps we have to suffer so that we can appreciate how precious this life is. I just felt so much loss in such a short period of time. My heart was completely broken. It still is. I would very much like to continue on with Eternal Odyssey, that is where my heart lies, and I feel drawn to it. I currently have the rough demos for the next album, I just don’t want to release anything until I know it’s going to count this time. It was so painfully difficult and unfulfilling the last time. It almost feels like Awakening should be re- released properly somehow, after not getting any support. If I can find a suitable way to do that, I would jump at the chance. I guess I can dream.
You mentioned some problems with your brother during the period of "Awakening". Was it something personal between you two? Or was he just busy with other things?
The problems with my brother are pretty complicated, deep rooted, and long lasting. I will say that I wanted to do the Eternal Odyssey project with him because I felt it would help him during a very difficult time in his life, and he promised me he would not let me down; unfortunately, he did. And not for I the first time obviously. I don’t want to go into the gory details, because he has had continual problems with a lot of things that have affected his relationships with everyone in his life, including me. I just wish he could get his life together and keep it that way. It has been very difficult for me in dealing with him for a very long time. I wish things were different.
In 2018 “As Darkness Reigns” was re-released on vinyl by some Circle of the 111 Vinyl Saviours. Was it official release?
No. I did not find out about this until well after it was released. I was not contacted, and it was not official in any way, as far as the band was concerned. But I appreciated the fact that people still really wanted to hear this music, that is the most important thing after all. At that point, I realized that it might be good to find a reputable company to do a proper re-release of "As Darkness Reigns". I really felt bad when many people contacted me telling me about this release, and how expensive it was that they could not afford it. Apparently it sold out very quickly, and some people were trying to sell this re-release at a very high price. At that point, I knew I had to do something about it.
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| William Wren and Kevin Reid |
I was completely stunned when I found out that William was dying. I had not been able to see him for a few years due to the situation with my daughter; her care was all-consuming, and the little time I had free was spent on the Eternal Odyssey album. As soon as I found out I called his sister immediately, but he was already in the hospital and had lost the ability to talk. He died while I was on the phone with her, as she was telling him what I was saying, and he was able to acknowledge he understood. It was devastating. His family could not even have a proper funeral for him at that time due to the Covid restrictions here in the United States. It was terrible. We had hung out quite a bit from about 2009 on, and were still good friends. His heart had been damaged from when he was younger and had cancer, the treatment had caused problems that could not be fixed as he got older. In the end, there was nothing that could be done to help him. When I think of him now, I think of his great friendship, and how at one time he was willing to take on the musical world with me. He was a dear friend, and a great writing partner.
In 2022 tboth versions of "As Darkness Reigns" (original and the one Massacre did) were re-issued by Cult Metal Classics. Did you like how it turned out?
I was contacted by Cult Metal Classics to do the re-release awhile ago, I believe they had heard I was looking for a good company to handle it properly. They were very professional and excited to re-release the music. After hearing the disappointment from so many fans about the previous unauthorized release, and how expensive it was, I wanted to make sure it was done properly this time to give everyone a chance to hear this music again. I felt that they did a fantastic job with everything. I still had the original master mix of "As Darkness Reign", so they were able to release the original mix on CD, along with the one that Massacre Records did. They were very meticulous, and took their time to get the best possible product. I could not be happier with their attention to detail and the finished product. I’m just so happy that people still love this music and want to hear it!
I know that without William it wouldn’t be the same, but have you considered a reunion of Prodigy/Oracle for selected shows in Europe?
I have not considered doing any sort of reunion, I don’t think it would be proper without Bill. I wish we could have come to Europe and played everywhere people would love to have seen us at. Sadly, it was not meant to be. That is one of the great regrets I have about everything surrounding the band. I really felt that if we could just get over there and play for everyone, it would make all the difference in the world. We had a phenomenal live show, and I felt we could hang with anybody, which we proved every night, with everyone we played with.
If there is anything you would like to add in the end of the interview, you are very welcome!
Thank you for taking such an interest in me, my music, Prodigy/Oracle, and everything that we did. It is so amazing that people still love our music; sometimes it makes the day worth living for me, pushing away the darkness. Just knowing something that we did so long ago still means so much to so many people is an indescribable and unbelievable feeling that I wish I could share with everyone. If anyone would like to contact me at any time, I would love to hear from you! You can always reach me at kentsmedley.com, or you can email me at admin @ kentsmedley.com. And I would also love for anyone who is interested to check out the Eternal Odyssey music, that is where my heart is now. In my darkest times, just the thought of our music meaning so much to you all has kept me going. I really appreciate and love you all very much. Thank you so much for helping to give my life meaning and purpose. Lots of love to you all, always… Kent
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