By Penelope Vlachopoulou and John Vidiadakis

Chris, let's start with Leger De Main... many people don't even know a thing about this group, so could you introduce it to us? How would you describe its musical style?

Well, Leger de Main's musical style is usually classified as hard progressive rock by retailers and magazines. I suppose that is as accurate a description as one could hope to get but of course we hope that our sound has something more original to offer than a lot of other bands writing in the same style. We really try to go in directions musically that other bands are not exploring. I hope we are somewhat successful.

Leger De Main have Melissa Blair as the vocalist. Why did you choose to put a woman behind the microphone? Is she into prog rock/prog metal at all, or does she prefer something different in music? What are the specific elements she brings to the group's sound?

Well, Melissa is really into the more serene sounds of Loreena McKinnett, Stevie Nicks, October Project, or perhaps Sarah McLachlan than she is into prog rock. She grew up listening to Marillion, Dream Theater, Yes, Rush and Fates Warning but she is more into the pop music side of things these days. She is a great vocalist for us though as her lyics I find particularly interesting and thought provoking. Neither myself or Brett writes lyrics so it is very important that she has that ability. Also, I think that she brings a balance to our more technical sound the music has. She tempers the complex and adds that "emotion" that we may not be able to 
bring to the songs.

One thing someone can notice immediately, is that her lyrics are really deep and emotional. What do they mean to Leger De Main, and which lyricists in music do you consider as the best ones?

This question is probably best directed at Melissa but I will try to answer. I am a big fan of Melissa's lyrics and as I said in the last question she may be considered the most emotional element in Leger de Main. We are proud of her and thankful to have her in the band. She is influenced by more spiritual facets of life and enjoys the poetic approach to writing lyics. 
Marillion, Rush, Fates Warning and Dream Theater all have influenced her lyrical approach. There are probably more artists that she would claim as influences but that is all I can offer.

I have recently read that Leger De Main have hired a permanent keyboardist, John Gratto, is that so? What affected this decision of yours?

John Gratto is a great composer, keyboard player and lyricist but he is not part of Leger de Main. Unfortunately it did not work out adding him to the band. However, we are working together in another band called Anakin Tumnus and we have a CD due out soon. There are samples on our web page. The music is the most "progressive" of our releases and his piano playing is a real addition. If you enjoy Echolyn or Jethro Tull or Yes and King Crimson you'll probably enjoy Anakin Tumnus.

I've also heard that Leger De Main never play live. Why is it so? Do you maybe feel that too many live gigs can prevent you from being inspired to make quality music?

No, not at all! I wish we could perform our music in a live setting but the truth is that we have never been able to find additional members for the keyboards and bass guitar to allow us to perform. Musicians in our area are not so interested in prog rock and the rehearsal time it takes to work up the complex arrangements. We would play live if we could finish the line-up but after about 6 years we still can not find other musicians to play with.

Let's go to RH Factor now...Do you consider RH Factor as just project or are they of equal importance to Leger De Main?

RH Factor is only a "project" now. In fact it was the first prog band I was involved with. We had a huge resemblence to 80's Rush and people who like Rush always seemed to really dig RH Factor. We have one CD out and that is probably all we'll do. It is out in Japan on Marquee / Avalon records and here in the USA on Progressive Music Management. It has sold pretty well 
since its release in 1998.

Your self titled album came out some years ago, are you heading for a new release yet? Is there any new material?

If you're refering to RH Factor,...no, there is no new material planned for release. Leger de Main is also on break while I work on a few other projects. Everything I am working on now is in a similar style, perhaps a bit more adventureous or complex but still really progressive musically. That is my goal I guess,...to keep pushing the limits of my compositions. I am always 
conciously trying to leave one style behind and introduce new and fresh musical elements in my new writing.

Although both Leger De MaiN and RH Factor are prog bands,there are great differences between them and you are responsible for their sound. Which "side" of Chris Rodler do RH Factor cover?

In general, I am responsible for the musical direction of the projects that I am involved with. Also, I suppose there are "different side" to my musical personality but it is not a matter of simply calling on one or the other sides. In this case it is simply a case of developing a more extended musical vocabulary over time. When I was writing for RH Factor my main influence was Rush and you can hear that in the music. However as time went on and I heard bands like Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Al DiMeola, Brand X, Yes, Genesis, Marillion, etc, I added those influences in my writing as well. And Leger de Main is the result of that growth. Now my writing would extend even further to include what I've been listening to over the last couple years. Perhaps a lot of Avant Garde music like Henry Cow, Mike Keneally, Zappa, and fusion music too like Kenso, Michael Manring, Firemerchants, etc. It is an evolution that will hopefully never end. It is the joy of discovery really.

How is it to work with your brother, Brett, all the time?

Well, Brett and I have been playing together for about ten years now and I value his compositional chops and command over meter and tempo to the point where I find his contributions irreplaceable. He's the perfect match for my style or writing. We just finished recording the drum tracks to two new CDs and he is taking a brek to persue other interests he has like weight training and Karate'. He's been playing for me for ten straight years and he deserves a break to to a few other things. I'm sure he'll be back soon enough.

You have been responsible for the production in the two Leger De Main albums but not for the RH Factor,despite the fact that you have written almost all the music.Why is that?

To be honest, I do not excel in the area of music production. I can write some decent riffs and i have no shortage of original ideas but putting the together or arranging them to form a complete song is my weak point so I rely on others to help me out with that. Kevin Hultberg is a natural producer helped make our music cohesive. For Leger de Main I had Brett help me with the arrangements. He is talented at coming up with original ideas and song structures. I still do the engineering for the most part but that is changing too as I am just in need of a more professional sound. It is just so expensive to go into a commercial facility but that is what I am doing for the next CDs we're working on.

Is Kevin Hultberg working on other projects?

Oh yes, Kevin is still very active in the music scene here but he has chosen a less progressive music to write. In fact, I just finished recording drum parts to his songs a few weeks ago. He has a solo CD coming out soon. He is really into Elvis Costello, XTC, David Bowie, Sting and Peter Gabriel and his music reflects this. Even though the music is not progressive I really 
enjoyed working on the CD with him. Playing drums is something that I dearly love to do but I am nowhere near as good as Brett so I only drum on more mainstream releases.

After all, what do the names "Leger De Main" and "Rh Factor" mean?

Leger de Main is French for "Sleight of Hand" or "magic" I guess. RH Factor I just thought was a cool name. It is a medical term you know as in blood types and I thought is would be great because of our names R= Rodler and H= Hultberg,...hence RH Factor.

There are some more projects you're involved in, I recall now Klang, Quest and Anakin Tumnus. Could you give some more details on each one of them?

Quest is progressive band we used to gig with years ago with RH Factor. I have stayed in touch with them over the years and become really good friends with them. They had a live tape that I just remixed and they are going to release. They are really influenced by Rush And Yes. KLANG is a project I just wanted to do and just do the most off the wall, crazy, complex 
music I could come up with. I love bands like Watchtower, Sieges Even, Spatic Ink, Finneus Gauge and I heard their CDs and though that it would be great to try and write a listenable album of really wild complex music. That will be KLANG. And Anakin Tumnus is really melodic and rich yet heavy and forceful too. Lots of piano playing in a more upbeat rock sort of way. Very Yes-ish in a lot of places but with 90's attitude. This is my favorite project I've been involved with so far. I think it will be appealing to the proggers.

Andeavor is a totally unknown band, despite the fact that they consist of veteran musicians of the underground scene. Tell us some more things on how was it formed. Could you describe us the process by which a song of Andeavor is formed?

Andeavor is comprised of musicians that are from around Erie but they have no idea that there was a progressive metal scene going on around the world. Most people just concentrate on their town you know? But I saw them playing about a year ago and was really impressed and asked if they would consider adding keyboards to their sound. They liked the idea and I joined the band as their keyboard player and recorded an album for them. It was released last August and has sold very well. In fact it is my most successful release since the first Leger de Main CD. Andeavor played POWERMAD '99 and that helped get the name out in a good way as out
performance was pretty solid. The band is in the process of writing for the second CD and the music is really happening and gelling now.

The musical style of Andeavor is rather similar to Rush and Fates Warning in my opinion. Which other styles and groups can be found in Andeavor's music, and what kind of influences does every member bring to the group's sound?

You are pretty accurate in your description of Andeavor's influences. The guitar player, Steve Matusik writes all of the music for Andeavor and his biggest influences are just that, Rush and Fates Warning. He also likes Dream Theater and Queensryche quite a bit but I'd say that Andeavor is our most dirivitive band. However, that soesn't seem to be a bad thing or limiting 
because in this case people seem to like the familiarity of our sound.

Would you consider your work as progressive? Do you think the term "progressive" refers to a specified style or does it mean something more general to you?

To me, Progressive is a style or genre of music. I don't mind the category because in my opinion and for my personal tastes everything I seem to enjoy the most or the music that most moves me is considered progressive. Anything really creative sounding people usually associate with "progressive". That is o.k. for me. I would consider all of our bands to be working within the bounds of modern progressive rock. i have the deepest respect for those bands trying to do something out of the ordinary and bands that are pushing the bounderies.

What do you think on the progmetal scene worldwide? Which is the most pleasant thing for you from the scene and what annoys you most?

Well, there are certainly two distinct schools of thought about this question. I am so grateful and really happy to see the prog metal scene booming and prosperous in the 90's but with its success has come the mass signings of every band in the world that play any for of prog metal. There are a lot of great bands though! I like almost all of them but it is a bit crowded right now but i think that problem is much preferable to having only Dream Theater and Fates Warning to choose from:) I embrace the scene with open arms. That is the reason Andeavor is able to exist along with all the other bands. The only annoying part of the scene today is the sound is becoming less original due to everyone being inluenced by the same bands. It 
is o.k. though.The great bands seem to find a way to last. Italy and Germany seem to be 
especially popular places for prog metal right now.

Which artists would you name as your influences? Which are the albums thatyou have listened to the most in all these years, and what is the thing you find so exciting on them?

I have such a large CD collection it is difficult to name just a few CDs that I love but I'll try. Marillion's "script for a Jester's Tear" is really terrific. The songwriting is what influenced me with that one. Not one particular player. The lyrics were great too. Fish was a master on that first 
CD. Dream Theater's "When Dream and Day Unite" was very important to me. I heard that CD when I was in college and I phoned my Brother and told him I found a band that sounds like Rush SHOULD sound in '89! That album is spectacular and I still like it the best of any of their CDs. I really like Images and Words, Change of Seasons and Metropolis 2 too. Thank God for their new CD! Fates Warning's "Perfect Symmetry" is a masterpiece with Mark Zonder adding the technical drumming that was a lost art at the time. "a Pleasant Shade of Gray" also is a modern influence. King Crimson's "Thrak" CD is also awesome and very influetial. I love this band's interply. Put on a set of good headphones and listen to this CD for endless hours of discovery. There is so much going on with layers and layers of guitars and drums and Stick. A 
near perfect CD. Rush's Hemisphere's CD is great. Finally a few final ones are October Project CDs, Tori Amos CDs and Sarah McLachlan CDs. All of them are worthwhile and very well done. They are true modern artists in my opinion.

Tell me some more things about Progressive Music Management...how is it going worldwide, and what's your relationship with this record company? Also, would you prefer to work for a bigger label or do you prefer the current situation?

PMM is the company I founded to promote the releases I am working on. It is just great to be involved in the promotion and sales and business side of things too. I am doing alright with the releases but I would love to start getting larger licensing deals with companies like Inside Out or Musea or Zero. Currently we are distributed in the USA and Europe as well as ASIA. The 
RH Factor CD is on Avalon Records in Japan and hopefully other releases will be picked up by larger labels in the future.