MACHINES OF GRACE guitarist Matt Leff has checked in with BraveWords.com correspondent Deb Rao to discuss the distribution of the band's debut release in Canada with Loudtrax and upcoming touring plans.

Q: Matt, what is new in the Machines Of Grace camp? I know you just released your debut album. Any touring plans in the works yet?

A: "Right now Jeff (Plate, drums) is out with TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA. They are on their first ever spring tour. He wraps that up toward the end of May. So that will leave us June through October to go out and play as much as we can. Right now we are looking at some different opportunities. We are just waiting for the right one to come along and we will jump on it."

Q: Tell us about the recording process for the debut album from Machines Of Grace. I know most of the songs were early WICKED WITCH songs. What you were aiming for in the studio when you were re-recording the songs? I really like the arrangement with the power ballad vibe going on throughout the album and great melodic vocals. The sound reminds me a lot of the 80's but with a modern day twist very crisp and clean with not much over-dubs.

A: "When we first started re-visiting all the old material the first thing I wanted to do personally is try to make these songs sound as current as I possibly could. Really the last thing I wanted to have happen was for someone to listen to the music and instantly think, 'wow this sounds like it is 20 years old'. So I sat down and took a good long look at how the songs were put together and they sounded like and really tried to make them as modern as possible but still staying within the song's original vibe."

Q: How is the distribution of the CD going throughout the country?

A: "We just started working with Loudtrax through Canada. It was just released in Europe through SAOL, which is part of CMM. The sales are doing pretty well now that we got distribution in Canada and in Europe. The last very big part of the puzzle is to get out there and play live in front of as many people as we possibly can."

Q: What inspired you to get Machines Of Grace back together again? Did you feel there was a re-surgence in 80's metal and it was the right time to relaunch the band?

A: "Yes and no. We kind of saw that going on but I don't think that really a major force behind our decision to go ahead and do this now. Honestly, Jeff and I had been speaking about doing this for years and years. He had some free time, it kind of seemed like the market was right for this time of project. Jeff got on the phone to Zak (Stevens, vocals) and Zak was excited about doing it. So it all just kind of came together."

Q: How has the music industry changed since back in the day? How has downloading affected record sales these days?

A: "Obviously, it has changed a lot. Our experience with it digital downloading is fantastic in regard it gives a lot of people access to music that would not have had access to it. But on the down side, there is a lot of illegal downloading that goes on. Obvious everybody does that. The unfortunate side to that is, we spent a lot of money on this project bringing it market. It is more challenging trying to recoup that money with all the downloading that is going on. It is not something that is going to go away. It is kind of a necessary evil I think."

Q: Is there a video in the works?

A: "I would think so. Again, it kind of comes to the availability to Jeff and Zak. We all kind of agreed that this summer and fall will be our time to do all kinds of things like a video and get out on the road and do some live playing."

Q: How have Machines Of Grace evolved since the Wicked Witch days?

A: "It has changed quite a bit. The core is still the same. I think the music is a little bit less metal today than it was back then. I think a lot of that has to do with the production and the way the record was mixed. I brought in a lot of different guitar sounds that I didn't use back then. I brought acoustic guitar on the record. Which I never did before. I think that really gives the whole record kind of a different sound. Maybe it softens things up a bit. We spent a lot of time tweaking the arrangements as much as we could. Trying to make each song as much as we possibly could. We cut out a lot of the filler that used to be there. Hopefully, we were successful at all of that."