Canada's legendary frontman-behind-the-skins Dan Beehler (ex-EXCITER drummer) has resurfaced once again with his BEEHLER project - the band also featuring former Exciter bassist Allan Johnson along with guitarists Sean Brophy and Scott Walsh. In a worldwide exclusive chat with BW&BK;, Beehler opens-up about the band's surprise announcement that they will be appearing at Germany's Headbangers Open Air Festival and of course the creation of new material. And yes, North American live dates are in the cards later this year.

On the phone from his Ottawa, Ontario home-base, the 'Heavy Metal Maniac' is excited to be back behind the riser and looks forward to hitting the stage late July in Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany.

"It did come up rather suddenly," Beehler explains his resurfacing. "In the fall, I was approached by all of the guys in the original Beehler project about possibly releasing some of the old stuff we had recorded - we have about ten songs and all kinds of different things. We started talking about and Scotty wanted to release it, Brophy wanted to do some new songs. It took a lot of talk and I listened to a lot of stuff Brophy and Johnson had written. Scotty and I had been working on some new stuff too. We have about ten songs on the go now. When I heard the riffs and stuff I thought 'this is heavy, this is cool.' I I said, 'if we are going to release this, I don't want to just release the old stuff, we should do a half n' half thing with new tunes and put the old stuff on as bonus tracks. People are still scrambling to get that old stuff and it would be a great package to release. This went over a few months and into the new year we started working on new material. All of a sudden out of the blue, we were asked to do the Headbangers Open Air show and we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get the ball rolling. We agreed to it and we're in rehearsals now and back doing the old Exciter stuff which is great. And hopefully we'll record the album in the fall."
"The old material is actually a couple of demos," the singer/drummer continues. "There was the first demo with the 'Violence & Force' track on it that was pretty much live off the floor. That's great bonus material for the album. We had a track called 'Psychotron' and 'Draggin' The Swamp'. A few live things from the rehearsal hall. But I didn't really want to release something with tracks that were five, six, seven years old. 'This is Dan Beehler's big comeback' - I've listened to those old songs, but I wanted to come back harder and heavier. Now with the new material we are doing, we'll be able to do that. This all happened before the festival was even confirmed. So we thought this would now be a good starting point - get the album out and play some more live shows after that."

So why the absence from the music biz after launching the Beehler project in late 2002?

"I was going through a lot of personal problems in my life, a lot of emotional, family stuff. Also with the band, sometimes we were on the same page and other times we weren't. Now that I look back, we were going through a lot of growing pains. Because of all of that, it clouded what we were really doing. Now that I've had a chance to listen to those old demos, and some of the live tapes, I was like, 'oh my god, this was pretty cool. Think of what we could do now!' This time around everybody is on the same page. The new material we are going to record is a lot heavier and I'm a lot happier with it. I like that old stuff, but I wanted to take it to another level. I think the new stuff is going to do that. Like I say, we're over the personal problems now, we have a fresh start and the guys really believe in it. And they really believe in me. Sean Brophy and Scotty Walsh pretty much picked me up, put the sticks back in my hand and gave me my confidence back when I thought it was all over. They just said, 'look, you can do it.' I really credit them for bringing me back."

At one point in time ANNIHILATOR's Jeff Waters was in the picture. Does he have a role with the band behind-the-scenes these days?

"Not as a producer at this point. Scotty has his own studio and I'm sure we'll be doing it with him. Jeff did the rereleases of the Exciter stuff, but this time around - he's always a phone call away and I talk to him almost every day. He's so helpful and he's always there for us. It's great to have him around."

You've thought of Germany - howzabout North America?

"Once we do this festival, whether the album is out or not, we'd like to do Montréal, Toronto and Ottawa. Just get the ball rolling that way - do the album and take off. Whether we sell it at our website or we get a record deal, it's all up in the air right now and it's all talk. We've been in rehearsals and things are starting to tighten up - as you can see I have no voice now, cuz I blew it out this week. We're very excited. I think since there's this big '80s metal surge, we're hitting at the right time. A lot of people still want to hear that old Exciter stuff and it's fun to play."

Everybody wants to hear this legendary Exciter material from the voice that created it, but people are still wondering, will we ever see a full-blown Exciter reunion? Any contact with John Ricci (original Exciter guitarist)?

"It's still the same as the past. We don't talk. He's does his thing and we do our thing. It's cool that way and maybe it should stay that way. There's never going to be a reunion. This is the closest thing we will ever get to a reunion. So we gotta do it while it's there. I haven't really heard John's new stuff. I know they have a new singer and they are out there. All the best to those guys, but we'll just stay separate - that's the safest way."

(Photo: Ottawa's heavy metal maniacs: Allan Johnson, Dan Beehler and Jeff Waters)