HYDROGYN vocalist Julie Westlake is featured in a new interview with RockEyez.com. An excerpt is available below.

Q: 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 (ex-MEGADETH). 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."

Q: How about James Lomenzo?

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."

Q: 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."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

The band's new album, Judgement, is available now. The line-up for the record is:

Julie - vocals

Jeff Westlake - guitars/bass

Chris Sammons - bass/vocals

Joe Migz - Drums

Guest Musicians

Jeff Boggs - guitars

Eddie Lance - keyboards

Dug Pinnick (KING'S X) - bass and vocals on 'Big Star'

James Lomenzo - bass on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Tracklisting

'Lost Reality'**

'Right Thing Now'*

'Alone'**

'Self Destruct'*

'Gold Dust Woman'**

'Medicate'**

'Big Star'**

'Gonna Getcha'*

'Too Late'**

'Don't Be My Judge'*

'Assault Attack' (European bonus)**

'Deadly Passion' (live - European bonus)**

'Candles Light Your Face' (alternative version - European and world bonus)*

'King Of Gunndore' (world bonus)

* produced by Michael Wagener

** produced by Jeff Westlake