Patrick Kennison reveals how William Shatner ended up on Heaven Below’s cover of Rush’s “Subdivisions”

Patrick Kennison reveals how William Shatner ended up on Heaven Below’s cover of Rush’s “Subdivisions”

Heaven Below frontman Patrick Kennison (Lita Ford) and guitarist Nikki Stringfield (The Iron Maidens) were recently interviewed by long-time Sleaze Roxx contributor Ruben Mosqueda for KNAC. Heaven Below recently released a double disc covers album titled Rest In Pieces: A Tribute To The Departed.

Track List for Rest In Pieces: A Tribute To The Departed:

Disc I — Rest In Pieces:
01. We Will Rock You – Queen
02. Touch Too Much – AC/DC
03. Revolution Is My Name – Pantera
04. Down In A Hole – Alice In Chains
05. Motor Medley – Mötorhead
06. Ain’t No Grave _ Johnny Cash
07. Like A Stone – Audioslave
08. Hungry For Heaven – Dio
09. Crawling – Linkin Park
10. Somebody Put Something In My Drink – The Ramones
11. Desert Plains – Judas Priest
12. Don’t Change – INXS

Disc II — The Missing Pieces:
13. Major Tom _ Peter Schiling
14. Twilight Zone – Golden Earring
15. Heartbreaker – Pat Benatar
16. Closer – NIN
17. Pull Me Under – Dream Theater
18. Subdivisions – Rush
19. Out In The Cold – Judas Priest
20. Losers And Winners – Accept
21. Going To California – Led Zeppelin
22. (Tonight) We Need A Lover – Mötley Crüe
23. Nothing Else Matters – Metallica

Kennison was asked how Heaven Below ended up getting a special guest to do a spoken piece on the band’s cover of Rush‘s classic track “Subdivisions.” Kennison replied (with slight edits):

“What a great story. I’m blessed that I get to do studio work, there’s some great artists living out here in LA. A good friend of mine produced a cover record by William Shatner. My friend called me in to help lay down the guitar tracks and a guide vocal so that William would know where the vocal would go. So I went in, I did it, he liked it and then I got a call back asking me to come in to lay down some background vocals. By the time it’s all said and done, I’m all over Shatner‘s record. So, I see William in passing as we wrapped things up and he says to me, “Patrick, if you ever need a favor, don’t hesitate to call.” I was like, ”Wow! That’s really sweet of him”. So a few months later we’re talking about covering “Subdivisions” and I’m like, “Well, yeah, but who is going to cover the spoken part”? No sooner did I say that, it came to me: I could call William Shatner! Within an hour I had William Shatner ready to do the spoken word part on “Subdivisions”.

You can read the rest of the interview with Patrick Kennison and Nikki Stringfield by Ruben Mosqueda at KNAC‘s website.

Heaven Below‘s “Subdivisions” cover featuring William Shatner: