The story of "Pieces of Eternity", Chris Szkup's new album, is a long and complicated one - longer than what we have time for here, but the fact that it exists at all is quite an achievement from all those involved, as by the mid 2000's, Chris had all but abandoned the idea of it ever happening, partly due to a high unemployment rate ("I didn't have a spare cent for years, so no chance of hiring a studio" notes Chris) in his native city of Hobart, Tasmania, and also partly due to the right team for one reason or another not being able to be assembled. A subject which some of his songs cover, sometimes humorously poking fun at the whole thing. Come 2005, Chris's older brother Mathew had heard a demo called "Innate Self Destruct", and had told Chris that "we HAVE to have that song recorded, I know the place to do it, I'll play drums, and I'll even pay for it if I have to"!!! This was the beginning of the idea of a solo album coming back to life, and it absolutely would not have happened if not for those words from Mathew, or "Skube" as he is more widely known. Skube has proven to be that in music as which he is in life - a brother, lending his talents on not only drums, but also guitars, vocals and production ideas, and a genuine enthusiasm for the music - something which was a major missing factor in the folks Chris had been trying to get the album together with in the past. Since that fateful day, Chris has been flying in and out of Hobart to record with Skube, Dale Brewer on bass and Stew Long at Red Planet studios, all of which were essential to this thing happening - especially Stew. "His attitude, and not to mention technical prowess have been something we simply couldn't have done without - and that's not to say that everything you hear is spliced together and we hardly played two notes or anything like that. But Stew is simply one of us - he likes similar things, has a similar attitude etc, so if we had some wacky idea like tribal chants ("Tribal Eat Pop Slop"), or simulating the old clunky Deep Purple kinda organ sound by running a cheap Casio into a cranked distorted Marshall ("To A Scream"), or even orchestral timpani kind of drumming by flipping the kick drum around on it's side and playing with mallets ("Magical Occurence"), most people would probably tell you that "you can't do that", whereas Stew would say "cool lets do it", and usually know exactly what we're thinking with the idea as well. It was a real pleasure and I look forward to working with him long into the future", says Chris. Now onto the album itself. The first thing that should be noted is that it's a diverse listen. If you don't like the first song, maybe try the second, and so on with the third and fourth etc. Notes Chris: "One thing I've been put off by in modern music is that the albums have 12 of the same sounding tracks. You might get a few cool songs, but by the end of it the thing is very old. What I wanted to do was go back to how bands like Queen made albums in the 70's - you'd get something really heavy, next to a piano waltz, next to a blues song, next to a folk song etc. That's a lot more exciting for me. Some people will say that kind of album doesn't flow very well, but I think Pieces of Eternity flows fine - every song definitely sounds like us playing them, but we do branch out a lot from track to track". Indeed they do. It features a couple of nods to new age legend Kitaro ("Magical Occurence", "Tribal Eat Pop Slop"), some heavier tracks reminiscent of Chris (and Skubes) days in metal band Jigsore ("To A Scream", "First Blood"), folk music ("October 22") and even some light hearted chord strumming fun reminiscent of The Traveling Wilburys ("Soundtrack" - a sarcastic comment on top 40 morning radio). There are more suprises in store with those who may have heard Chris's music in the past, the main one being that he is now on lead vocals. This another story in itself. "Hey I know I'm not Freddie Mercury or nothing, but who is!! In the past I tried working with a lot of singers who for whatever reason either didn't show up or ended up flaking out on the thing. While I'm not Fred, at least I turn up"!! Of note also was that all along the way, Chris was writing his own vocal melodies for his music, slowly coming out of his shell enough to croak a note, then two etc. "In the past I would make a demo, playing the melody I wanted the singer to sing on lead guitar because I was so shy about it. It seemed natural that one day I'd be actually singing, and the more and more times it didn't work out with them, the more the idea of me being the singer appealed". Another suprise, is the cameo appearance of Chris's good mate, Clint Reid, supplying some extra lyrics on "Innate Self Destruct" and "Lost Soul". "Clint would send me these writings, and said I'm welcome to use any of it in music if I so desired - being still on my L plates as a lyricist, I was very much up for the idea. The tracks he contributes to, I definitely had words going for them, but they just weren't quite right until his bits were there - they really inspired the songs and tied them all together, and to have someone on the songs who I consider a brother, along with my actual brother was really something special". It remains to be seen if the Szkup / Reid writing combo will team up again in the future, but we can only hope so!! "I'd certainly love to do some more stuff like that" says Chris. And so, now you know a little bit about the process behind the album, I hope you will dive in and enjoy, Chris Szkup's "Pieces of Eternity"!!!!