Interviewed by Brian Rademacher
Date: November 2010

Julie Westlake: Hi Brian, Julie from HYDROGYN!

Brian Rademacher: How’s your day going so far?

Julie Westlake: It’s going good we had a show last night and we’re heading back and grabbing some lunch right now.

Brian Rademacher: Ready to go?

Julie Westlake: Sure!

Brian Rademacher: Let’s start off by the picture on the front cover of the new release and congratulations on the new CD "Judgment".

Julie Westlake: Thank you very much we appreciate it. We were trying to come up with an idea for the cover shot and we talked for quite a while about what the album title would be and we came up with "Judgment." In this industry and in everyday life we are always judged in general with everything we do. The way we work, the way we dress… you name it! That’s the one thing with a female fronted band, a lot of people judged our music not only for our music but for my appearance and the way my image is portrayed and that all started when we did the first album "Bombshell." Actually I’m wearing the same outfit we used for the cover of "Bombshell" and kind of roughed it up a bit to make it look like I’ve been judged.

Brian Rademacher: Let’s get into some of the recording. You started with different members and then things fell apart. Were there any problems with member’s egos?

Julie Westlake: (Laughing) I wouldn’t say "egos" between other members. We didn’t have any issues with any other members except Jeff Young. We only knew Jeff through an acquaintance (Michael Wagner) because Jeff and Michael had worked together. So they started talking and were interested in being in HYDROGYN and we thought this could be kind of cool. We thought he had some kind of name for himself and thought it would be good to have him in the band and have his name on the album. We didn’t think it could hurt anything so we brought him in and he actually stayed at our house for five months while we were writing and recording. We had most of the material done already and he came in and brought three songs. I co-wrote two of the songs with him. I guess Jeff, to be nice as he possibly can be, and I have a really hard time with arrogance and people being disrespectful and I had a really hard time biting my tongue with this situation. Needless to say, there was an arrogance musical difference in style. Jeff hasn’t done anything in the rock field since MEGADETH. When he came into HYDROGYN, we weren’t willing to change our style. We are very open to other people and we co-wrote many songs with other people on this new album and the songs he brought were really out there and not even close to home with the HYDROGYN style.

Brian Rademacher: How about James?

Julie Westlake: We really never got to meet James personally. We talked on the phone and things like that. James was brought in… we had a bass player who tours with us but Jeff Young mentioned bringing James Lomenzo with him. To tell you the truth, I think it was one of those things with Jeff Young’s obsession with (Dave) Mustaine and the fact that Lomenzo had just been fired from MEGADETH. I guess he thought it would be cool for two members of MEGADETH to be involved with HYDROGYN and have Lomenzo come in and play bass. Lomenzo was hired to play on the album. He’s a very nice person and a very good bass player and I have no issues with him. We knew from the beginning it wasn’t going to be a situation where he was going to be a member of the band and we knew when touring, since he is a great bass player and having a name, he would have opportunities elsewhere. We were open to the idea if he had a chance for him to play some shows but he had other things ahead of him. Lomenzo’s a great guy and great player… I have nothing negative to say about him.

Brian Rademacher: Didn’t you think that both of them wouldn’t fit the mold of HYDROGYN since they are both so heavy? Even I, when I put the disc in, was really thrown off by "Lost Reality". For me, I didn’t even think that track should have been on the album because it didn’t fit the HYDROGYN character. I thought that track was way over the edge compared to other HYDROGYN tracks like "Right Thing Now" which is amazing.

Julie Westlake: Yes, you’re right! I think we wanted to do something different… with every HYDROGYN album we want to do something different. Everybody has their own ideas and own opinions in what they like. I even got a text this morning from some friends of ours and they said "Lost Reality" is our new favorite song and we played it six times and we love it. We want to show diversity and of course we added our bass player Chris Salmmons. I prefer the songs "Right Thing Now" and "Alone" which I feel is more of the HYDROGYN style but again, we can reach into that "metal crowd" and throw something out there to catch people’s attention just to show we can be diverse. I come from a country background and I think I’ve come a long way from that style. I really enjoy doing different things and challenging myself vocally. With Young and Lomenzo and the bands they were in, even though they were heavy, that’s not necessarily what they bring to the table. Jeff is more into the classical stuff and world music and we were really open to what they had to bring in. Lomenzo didn’t bring in any songs, just Jeff Young and it really wasn’t so much the songs, it was his choice of solos that really didn’t mesh well with what was going on in the songs.

Brian Rademacher: I’m not saying "Lost Reality" is a bad song, I’m saying if you put that on a DISTRUBED album, it could be a hit! It just threw me off because it’s such a big change from HYDROGYN music. I’m sure it would and a little history… that song along with "Self Destruct," we worked on with a band called TRIGGERSOUL and also SUFFER… they’re bands in our area. Jeff Westlake and I produced an album for them and after the album was produced, their guitar player died. Gregg Reeves and Aaron Row wrote those songs. They are just killer songs and we wanted them to see the light of day. They were just very heavy tracks and people weren’t going to expect that from HYDROGYN and that made us want to do them even more.

Brian Rademacher: I haven’t seen too many reviews out there yet and we haven’t reviewed it yet because we just got it. But I see people are enjoying it as 1500 copies were sold in the first week?

Julie Westlake: Yeah we were actually shocked and had no idea that our drummer came in and his friend called him and told him the album hit billboard’s Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart at #10.

Brian Rademacher: Was that surprising for you?

Julie Westlake: Yeah because we had no idea. We’ve been so busy getting the show ready we really haven’t been paying attention. But that was really exciting.

Brian Rademacher: Do you read your reviews?

Julie Westlake: Yeah, the other day I was reading a review and I’m sure there are more out there and more to come. Most of the sites send us the links for their reviews.

Brian Rademacher: With a negative review, do you try to change something in your next release, do you by bypass it or does it harp on you?

Julie Westlake: Really you have to bypass it because everyone has their own preference and opinion. There are bands out there I don’t care for but that doesn’t mean they’re not a good band because they are selling thousands of albums. When people do an album they should do an album of what they want to do and that means not everyone’s going to like it. People can be very harsh and I’ve learned to look past that. If someone has an idea or some constructive advice I’m all ears.

Brian Rademacher: Your first two albums I feel were much more commercial then "Judgment" is… was the writing approach any different?

Julie Westlake: When we did "Bombshell," and as I mentioned, I come from a "country" background, that was the first album I ever recorded and we did a demo right before that called "Best Served With Volume" and that’s what we used to get to Michael Wagner and we did a lot of songs off that album. But coming from country and going in and doing the rock stuff, vocally you have to grow into that because it’s challenging. I think with each album we got heavier but I think we had to do it that way for me vocally.

Brian Rademacher: Most of the posts I’ve been reading of late about HYDROGYN has to do with "sex that sells" in HYDROGYN. How do you compare people looking at you as a sex object and not to your vocals? I listened to the album and thought the vocals were great but others say, "you can’t sing… but you’re good looking!" What do you feel when you read comments like that? I mean, you ARE sexy as Hell on that black and white photo on the inner sleeve!

Julie Westlake: There are a couple things that go through my mind… one is that people will say something about my boobs and image first before they even hear the music and a lot of that I brought on myself. I’m not going to complain about that. I’m not going to say they are not even listening to the music and all they are doing is looking at my boobs. Even our record label wishes that people would comment on the music instead of my big boobs but you know what, the image I have is what I created but I am a very casual, very simple down to earth person. That is not how I dress every day, that is my stage image. People say a lot of things… like Blabbermouth is having a field day! Oh my God! I did an interview with a paper close to home and one of the questions was "What is one of the challenges of being a female fronted rock band?" My answer was, that being in the music industry, it has to be my image! Even dealing with weight usually with a female is about your image. Even as bad as that sucks, it is what it is and I made the comment in the interview and I even said, "Nobody wants to see a fat chick waddling around on stage." and every other comment on there says I am fat and ugly and my pictures are photo shopped! But others on there say, "But I love Anne Wilson! (Laughing) I can’t friggin’ win, so I just go with it. I have what I have and I don’t hide it and I won’t hide it and I don’t care what they say. They need to come out to a HYDROGYN show. They never met me in person… I don’t care. Blabbermouth is for the "Blabbermouths!" Let them continue I guess as long as they’re talking it’s a good thing.

Brian Rademacher: For me, I think your boobs are beautiful on the front cover but I like the Black and White inner picture much better… that is sexy!

Julie Westlake: Thank you

Brian Rademacher: I think the Black and White picture with the men’s white shirt is excellent!

Julie Westlake: Sometimes I think people don’t get it when we do these covers. I want the cover to portray the title like with "Deadly Passions," me coming out of a casket or with "Bombshell" and me looking like that. I always want the album cover to portray what the album’s about.

Brian Rademacher: All the photos of you guys look as if something is wrong with ya! The photo of you coming out of the casket is amazing! But you’re right, people don’t get it because they think if you look a certain way in a picture you are always like that. I was checking two of the HYDROGYN video logs about the album and you’re dressed simple and you still look beautiful. What is your goal for this album?

Julie Westlake: One of our goals is to focus on the US and we have a big Europe base now and did two tours over there now. With this album, we really want the opportunity to tour the US. We have a few dates in the US before the end of the year and then the holidays. Next spring we are looking to really pick it up and tour and hope to hit the billboard charts again.

Brian Rademacher: What is it exactly like touring with a female in the band?

Julie Westlake: It’s always interesting. Most of the guys have been in the touring band for about four years. We are like one big happy family, but being the only chick in the band, it’s really not bad. We’ve been traveling and we stay in one hotel room to save money or whatever the case may be. We have a really good time wherever we go. They are a really good group of guys.

Brian Rademacher: When the tour is long, do you get tired of the dollar menus?

Julie Westlake: (Laughing) I’ll tell you what, when we are in Europe, I like to eat and I like buffets. I tell everybody when we go to Europe the food is not too good and once we get off the plane back to the US we head for Golden Coral as soon as we land.

Brian Rademacher: What are your hopes for the future?

Julie Westlake: I have big hopes for HYDROGYN. We have been at this for a long time and have a lot invested. We put a lot of money into the band and we would like to see some of that come back and use that to really do a tour. We did some touring but to REALLY tour and get out there, you need the money. This is not something we want to do part time. We want to do this and get out there and meet new people and see where this can go.

Brian Rademacher: Do you ever think about having children?

Julie Westlake: All the time, it something I want but I want to make sure it’s not a time when we are going to be on the road a lot. I don’t want to have to drag them all over the country and things like that. I think I have a few years ahead of me for that, I hope I have kids before I go to pot! So to speak… I am also really big into adoption and that is always an option for us in case I’m too old trying to be a rockstar. If I’m too old, I’ll just adopt a few dozen.

Brian Rademacher: Is Jeff really protective of you out on the road?

Julie Westlake: A lot of people ask me, "Is it really tough being out there with guys hitting on you?" I’m surrounded by four big brothers. I mean, if we are in a club, I can pretty much handle myself and if we get an obnoxious drunk guy, I can usually blow him off instead of having a confrontation with him. Jeff does well on the road. He understands and is not the jealous type. But, it happens and it happens to him too. We were recently at a show and this chick was all up in his face and had her hands up his shirt and I was like "oooohhhh!" (Laughing)…We all get it and it’s part of the business we laugh it off and go on.

Brian Rademacher: Julie, it’s been great once again and I would like to again congratulate you on the new album "Judgment." Would you like to say anything in ending?

Julie Westlake: Sure I would like to thank you for taking time to do this interview. Keep an eye on our website www.Hydrogyn.com. Hopefully we will be in a city near you so you can come out to a show. I think in March/April 2011 we will be in the New York area BB Kings and The Donkey.

Brian Rademacher: Thanks a Lot… bye bye