Priestess

Priestess are a Canadian hard rock and metal band from Montreal whose style incorporates hard rock, traditional heavy metal, alternative metal and stoner rock.

As the Dropouts (up to 2003)
Mikey Heppner attended Vanier College in Montreal to major in music and find other Frank Zappa fans like himself to start a band with. He found no one suitable for the job; he described the people he met there as "all elevator jazz geeks" and became discouraged about being able to form an experimental band. Heppner discarded his experimental rock goals entirely after being inspired to form a punk rock band instead; a friend he met at Vanier named Olivier Corbeil took him to see a punk band in concert, which enthralled him so much he formed the Dropouts with Corbeil, Tim Fletcher and Dave Hamelin to partake of the same high energy he saw at that performance. Heppner wrote "really simple Ramones-type of songs" for the group while the other three achieved gradual fame in their side project, the Stills. Heppner had no lasting ambitions for the Dropouts, who only recorded a demo, but after the Stills left the group for New York City in 2003 to continue on their own, he felt surprised by their success. He changed his musical goals and decided to reform the Dropouts, this time hoping for a more serious project in the vein of Tricky Woo (and their resemblance to Deep Purple and Black Sabbath).

Future guitarist Dan Watchorn, who also moved to Montreal to attend college, was inactive musically when Heppner asked him to join the group. After hearing a demo of songs Heppner had been working on, Watchorn agreed to join, and Mike Dyball auditioned for the band with an unnamed drummer (who left a year later and was replaced). Heppner discovered Vince Nudo when the latter played a concert with another band in the club at which Heppner worked as a disc jockey, and Heppner was impressed by his performance. Recalling the performance, Heppner asked Nudo to join the Dropouts once their second drummer was fired three months later. Heppner felt certain he had found all the right people for the group when their first jam session with Nudo resulted in a new song. By this point, the band still called themselves the Dropouts; they would not take the name Priestess for another year. The new name was chosen only for how "heavy" it sounded, but it led to the misconception that they were trying to be a heavy metal band (a claim they have repeatedly denied), and Watchorn has explained that it also leads some concertgoers to think they are "an all-female Judas Priest cover band".

Early years as Priestess (2004-2007)
The band's debut album, Hello Master, was produced by the Stills' producer, Gus van Go, and released on October 18, 2005 on Indica Records in Canada. After its release, the group admitted to being dissatisfied with its sound; Heppner described the album rather apathetically as "just the recorded version of twelve of our songs", and as "a really weird sounding album [where] everything is so tight and really produced". Critics took note of the album's hard rock style, sometimes to point out that it was not terribly unique; some criticized the classic rock-influenced style on Hello Master as being repetitive and stale, while others enjoyed it for that very reason. Comparisons to Black Sabbath were frequent, as were others to AC/DC and even Motörhead (even though Heppner has never been a fan of Motörhead, who ironically would take them on tour). Hour magazine specifically pointed-out that the comparisons to Priestess' spiritual ancestors actually proved the band were trying to pay respect to their musical roots instead of claiming a unique style. Heppner was somewhat taken aback to learn of the impression critics were under; he noted that the album sounded "pretty modern" to him and the group did not consider the record to be a metal one at any point during its creation.

To promote the album, Priestess committed to a regular touring schedule which saw them frequently being selected to support more well-known acts. Motörhead took notice of Priestess and made them the opening act on several dates in Canada in 2005 before the release of Hello Master. RCA Records noticed the group and signed them in January 2006, becoming their label for all territories outside of Canada, remastering Hello Master and releasing it internationally, beginning with the United States on June 13. After the Canadian release, the group spent early 2006 supporting the Sword, Early Man and Dinosaur Jr.in North America, and spent much of the rest of the year in the US with bands such as GWAR, Nashville Pussy and Black Label Society. Their schedule continued well into 2007 as they traveled with Mastodon in the US and made their first appearance in the UK supporting Megadeth for several dates.

The single "Lay Down" was included in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which elevated the band's profile drastically. Enthusiastic about the success of that game, Heppner has stated he believes Guitar Hero and such games to be perfectly valid ways of finding new music, noting that his first exposure to Black Sabbath was through the Super NES video game Rock n' Roll Racing, and Vince Nudo has given the genre credit for its potential to expose younger generations to classic rock. Another single from the album, "Talk to Her", peaked at #33 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 2006. Priestess were voted Montreal's heaviest band by readers of the Montreal Mirror in 2006.

As their busy touring schedule left them little time to write new material, Priestess only began work on a follow-up album in the summer of 2007. Heppner began writing things that were inspired by listening to progressive rock in his youth, which he felt made the work he created too esoteric for his bandmates to enjoy. When he did show them the material he was working on, they instead loved it, and as a whole began adding minor progressive rock characteristics to their sound in an effort to challenge themselves.

Prior to the Fire, dispute with RCA and departure for Tee Pee Records (2008-2011)
Priestess' second album, however, was constantly impeded before, during, and after recording. All throughout, RCA debated with the band over whether any of the songs were worthy of being singles that could sell the album substantially. RCA first delayed the beginning of the recording process trying to force them to write more songs, then delayed the album release by asking the same thing again, which the group refused. The production process itself was plagued with problems that prolonged it, as any producer hired before David Schiffman quit the project and after recording had begun in Los Angeles, the police forced them to change studios to avoid noise violation penalties.

Because of the disagreements, Priestess were relinquished from their contract with RCA and allowed to release the finished product, which was completed in the fall of 2008 and became Prior to the Fire, on another label - a compromise for which the band still respect RCA. Tee Pee Records, who had approached the band in their early days before they decided to sign with RCA who offered them more money, subsequently signed the group and the release finally occurred. Indica Records waited until the band had an international label before releasing Prior to the Fire, and released it in Canada on October 20, 2009, while the international release occurred early the following year. David Schiffman's more-relaxed approach to recording led to a sound for the record the band were more satisfied with; his production style was summarized as "[being] about recording it and not fucking with it", avoiding such studio tools as click tracks or editing, resulting in a record that more closely mirrors the band's live sound than Hello Master does. They have also expressed feeling more comfortable being signed to Tee Pee than to RCA.

The album was critically well-received, though some reviewers did not view the stylistic departure from Hello Master favorably. Rock Sound compared the group to Thin Lizzy and Baroness in a positive way, but Pitchfork Media declared the album could not compare to a record such as High on Fire's Snakes for the Divine. Other reviewers concluded the long wait between the group's two records was worth it.

In spite of delaying concert plans due to their inability to schedule recording dates, Priestess continued to tour ceaselessly after finishing the album, making a Canadian tour with Bison B.C. in November 2008, and touring the US again in the spring of 2009 with GWAR and Cattle Decapitation. Following its release, the group performed with such acts as Early Man, High on Fire and new labelmates Naam in North America, and Bigelf in Europe and the UK. A music video for "Lady Killer" was released on February 4, 2010.

Attempted third album and hiatus (2012)
Priestess had planned to embark on a tour of Europe in the spring of 2012, including a concert at the Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands. Without explanation, these plans were cancelled. They had been working on and would have released a new album by that time, but no announcement has been made regarding a third Priestess album since then.

On September 3, 2012, after a long period of silence (which he attributed to issues for all the band members he was not at liberty to discuss), Heppner posted to the band's Facebook page via his own account to explain that the band lacked confidence in the material being recorded for their third album, and elected to simply “let it happen naturally”. As of late 2012, the band are on hiatus, and members have engaged in side projects during the downtime. Heppner has formed garage rock outfit UBT (formerly Uncle Bad Touch), and during a feature on UBT, Planet S Magazine noted the “rumoured demise” of Priestess. Vince Nudo became the drummer for Kurt Vile’s backing band, the Violators, and has also formed Frères Lumières, a film-scoring group, with bandmate Dan Watchorn. Mike Dyball has been playing bass guitar for metal band WetMetal.

A third album is still in the works.

Members

 * Mikey Heppner - Lead vocals, lead guitar  (2003–present)
 * Dan Watchorn - Rhythm guitar, backing vocals  (2003–present)
 * Mike Dyball - Bass guitar  (2003–present)
 * Vince Nudo - Drums, percussion, backing vocals  (2003–present)

Singles

 * "Talk to Her" (2006)
 * "I Am the Night, Colour Me Black" (2007)
 * "Lady Killer" (2010)