Hello
people. We had the pleasure to speak with the new Greek artist Peter Rock and
he told us some interesting things so… here they are!!!
Hello people. A few deays ago we had the opportunity to speak with Andreas Papadopoulos , guitarist on the Greek band “Serenity Broken” and we thank him for this interesting interview.
So here it is :
Hello there ! I want to thank Enemy Of Reality's guitarist Steelianos for answering to my questions. He talks about the band's upcoming tour as Therion's support among other stuff .
It is an interesting interview so.. here it is and hope you'll enjoy it !!!
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Chili (Beggars) 
Dimitris Ravikakis (Dope Default)
First of all i want to apologise that took me so long time to upload this article but i had some personal issues (they are solved so we are back in track).
You can also read ,if you are interested in, part 1 here : http://metalhall.blogspot.gr/2017/08/greek-artists-talk-to-michael.html
and part 2 here : http://metalhall.blogspot.gr/2017/10/greek-artsts-talk-to-michael-part-2.html
Above all i want to thank Bass player Chili of the Greek stoner band Beggars and the performer Dimitris Ravikakis the also Greek band Dope Default that were so possitive to answer my questions . Thank you guys and wish you the best! So...
Here are the questions :
Hello there! I'm so glad that more Greek artists were so possitive to participate to my project so here it is a part 2 and i thank them so much for that!
I hope to enjoy it!
The artists that participated this time are the following :
Thanos Gountanos ( BAiLdSA , modal4)
Maxi Nil (Jaded Star)
Read more...
I hope to enjoy it!
The artists that participated this time are the following :
Thanos Gountanos ( BAiLdSA , modal4)
Maxi Nil (Jaded Star)
Little Tonnie (The Big Nose Attack)
Nick Michalakakos ( Dark Nightmare)
Hello there! Recently i decided to create a project. A few questions that would be answered by many Greek artists(As many as possible!!) . I was glad that most of the artists i asked to participate to my project were more than possitive and i thank them so much!!
The artists that answered to my questions are the following :
Iliana and Steelianos (Enemy Of Reality) :
Lia Hide:
Alexandra Misalilidou ( Quadrus) :
Jon Galanakis (Quadrus) :
Andreas Papadopoulos (Serenity Broken) :
Read more...
The artists that answered to my questions are the following :
Iliana and Steelianos (Enemy Of Reality) :
Lia Hide:
Alexandra Misalilidou ( Quadrus) :
Jon Galanakis (Quadrus) :
Andreas Papadopoulos (Serenity Broken) :
GOD IN A CONE is based in Athens, Greece and formed less than 8 months ago.
Hi everybody! I had the pleasure to talk with bassist Nick Michalakakos, of the Greek metal band Dark Nightmare (from Grevena, Greece) who gave us an interview and we thank him for that!
DEF LEPPARD has announced to their official site that their long-awaited new studio album will be released on October 30, 2015.
The debut single from the album is entitled “Let’s Go," a thunderous arena rock track.
Iron Μaiden have released a new album (The Book Of Souls) and all the band members have given many interviews.
Bruce Dickinson in a recend interview was questioned about his new solo album.
Before he reveals his future plans he told the story behind the first song of The Book Of Souls, his own If Eternity Should Fail.
In an exclusive interview with their hometown Birmingham Mail, Black Sabbath guitar legend Tony Iommi explains why this has to be the band’s final tour.
"Five minutes in the same room with Agnus(Agnus Young) and i will be back in band", said ex AC/DC's drummer Phil Rudd in a recent interview.
Volbeat's frontman Michael Poulsen in a recent interview on Seattle's radio station KISW 99.9 talked about the musical style of his band.
Accountable Beasts is the ex-Black Sabbath's drummer Bill Ward's third solo album. It was released as a digital download on 25 April 2015, 18 years after his previous solo album, When the Bough Breaks.
Reini of Austria's Stormbringer.at webzine recently conducted an interview with vocalist Devon Graves (a.k.a. Buddy Lackey) of Psychotic Waltz, the reunited cult early 1990s progressive metal band from El Cajon, California. You can now watch the chat below.
Read more...
Guitarist Dan Rock recently rejoined Psychotic Waltz. The group, whose lineup now includes all five original members, will embark on a European tour as the support act for Nevermore and Symphony X in February/March 2011.
Psychotic Waltz's current lineup is :
* Devon Graves (a.k.a. Buddy Lackey) - Vocals
* Brian McAlpin - Guitar
* Dan Rock - Guitar
* Ward Evans - Bass
* Norman Leggio - Drums
Commented Devon Graves: "I am blown away by the response over [the reunion of] Psychotic Waltz. I am really looking forward [to it]! In the meantime, please don't overlook my other band, THE SHADOW THEORY. My intention is to be in both bands for the future. Enjoy THE SHADOW THEORY while Psychotic Waltz writes the new album. You have time."
Psychotic Waltz's last studio album, "Bleeding", was released in 1996. Scott Burns engineered the effort, which was mixed by Dan Rock and Woody Barber.
In the years that followed Psychotic Waltz's demise, Rock recorded two instrumental albums with his project DARKSTAR. In the meantime, Norm Leggio and Steve Cox created the band TEABAG, while Buddy Lackey launched his own group, DEADSOUL TRIBE, where he performs using his real name, Devon Graves.
Psychotic Waltz's current lineup is :
* Devon Graves (a.k.a. Buddy Lackey) - Vocals
* Brian McAlpin - Guitar
* Dan Rock - Guitar
* Ward Evans - Bass
* Norman Leggio - Drums
Commented Devon Graves: "I am blown away by the response over [the reunion of] Psychotic Waltz. I am really looking forward [to it]! In the meantime, please don't overlook my other band, THE SHADOW THEORY. My intention is to be in both bands for the future. Enjoy THE SHADOW THEORY while Psychotic Waltz writes the new album. You have time."
Psychotic Waltz's last studio album, "Bleeding", was released in 1996. Scott Burns engineered the effort, which was mixed by Dan Rock and Woody Barber.
In the years that followed Psychotic Waltz's demise, Rock recorded two instrumental albums with his project DARKSTAR. In the meantime, Norm Leggio and Steve Cox created the band TEABAG, while Buddy Lackey launched his own group, DEADSOUL TRIBE, where he performs using his real name, Devon Graves.
John Doran of The Quietus has posted a track-by-track review of the forthcoming Mastodon album, "Crack The Skye". Read it at this location.Although Mastodon's new album, "Crack The Skye", is a conceptual piece in the same vein as the band's previous releases, it is not about air but "ether." "The whole story has little to do with what the album emotionally is really about," clarifies Dailor. "But everything in the lyrics and the story is metaphors. We wanted to stick with elements and we wanted to do the 'ether' record. Ether is what the soul is made out of and it took a few months to connect all the dots."
Dailor goes on to explain the "Crack The Skye" concept: "There is a paraplegic and the only way that he can go anywhere is if he astral travels. He goes out of his body, into outer space and a bit like Icarus, he goes too close to the sun, burning off the golden umbilical cord that is attached to his solar plexus. So he is in outer space and he is lost, he gets sucked into a wormhole, he ends up in the spirit realm and he talks to spirits telling them that he is not really dead. So they send him to the Russian cult, they use him in a divination and they find out his problem. They decide they are going to help him. They put his soul inside Rasputin's body. Rasputin goes to usurp the czar and he is murdered. The two souls fly out of Rasputin's body through the crack in the sky(e) and Rasputin is the wise man that is trying to lead the child home to his body because his parents have discovered him by now and think that he is dead. Rasputin needs to get him back into his body before it's too late. But they end up running into the Devil along the way and the Devil tries to steal their souls and bring them down…there are some obstacles along the way."
The title track, "Crack The Skye", features vocals by Scott Kelly of Neurosis. "We heard Scott's voice all over that track," Dailor says. "It's really Neurosis-sounding and then when it became the title track, in particular vocally and lyrically it had a lot to do with Skye so it made it even more perfect that Scott would be doing the verses on it just because he is very familiar with that tremendous loss, suicide, stuff like that…"
The album, due out for release in March 2009, is a dark conglomeration of musical as well as conceptual layers. "'Crack The Skye' means a number of different things," Dailor offers. "You'd probably get a different answer from the other members of the band as to what the meaning of it is and I can also come up with three different ones. The main one for me would be (that) Skye was my sister’s name and she died when I was 15. She was 14, she killed herself and it changed my life. When we started working on the material, I knew that Brent was coming from a deeper place musically. He was shaken up from his accident in Las Vegas, was traumatized by that and I think that has a lot to do with the sound of the record. He is pretty emotive with the guitar and from that depression he was in came a lot of that material — kind of slow and spaced out, real psychedelic. I could see that there was something a lot deeper going on so it was the perfect opportunity lyrically to dig a little deeper myself into some demons in the past and I'd never really gone there before; you know, it's a touchy subject. But I felt that with the songs being the way they were that it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of some stuff myself… the 'Crack in the Skye' is the moment you realize that that person is gone."
"Crack the Skye" was recorded at Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta and was produced and mixed by Brendan O'Brien, who has previously worked with Velvet Revolver and AC/DC among others.
"Crack the Skye" track listing:
01. Oblivion
02. Divinations
03. Quintessence
04. The Czar
I. Usurper
II. Escape
III. Martyr
IV. Spiral
05. Ghost of Karelia
06. Crack The Skye
07. The Last Baron
Review by John Doran
'Oblivion'
The first track on Mastodon's fourth studio album begins with an ominous sound indeed. The tri-chord has formed the basis of classic metal since time began (well, the late 60s anyway) and the opening of 'Oblivion' links us back to the canon via Slayer's 'Dead Skin Mask'. It feels like it is making the bold claim: you're going to be listening to this album in ten or twenty years time. Perhaps it is true that great art is born out of periods of intense upheaval and uncertainty - two things that Mastodon have had in spades since the release of their last album, Blood Mountain on Warners. After appearing at MTV's Video Awards Show in 2007, frontman Brent Hinds (guitars/vocals) ended up in hospital after a brawl that reportedly involved Shavo from System of a Down and the musician William Hudson. Whatever the story (the band have refused to talk about the incident), after a life-threatening brain heomorrhage Hinds was lucky to recover sufficiently to be able to record this album. Add to this that the fact that the band have been operating recently as a three piece after the other guitarist Bill Kelliher had to go back to Atlanta with that most musicianly of disorders, 'exhaustion', and you get a picture of a real rock & roll band - for better and for worse. Anyway, some of this dynamism seems to have crept onto this disc, as if by unstoppable osmosis. However, on the evidence of the first track, their experiences have made them more considered rather than angry or wild. There is an exciting and vital solo by Brent, which seems to say, 'Fuck you, I'm better, this thing didn't touch me.' But as a whole, this is certainly more restrained than anything off Blood Mountain. Surprisingly enough, the band whose name came up when I initially heard this record was Soundgarden.
'Divinations'
There is a staccato introduction on what sounds like a ukulele and the kind of proggy, folk metal with Eastern tinges that System of a Down specialize in. As we all know, Mastodon is all about Brann Dailor's drumming - as great as the other members are - and if his stick work took a back seat on 'Oblivion' it is right out at the forefront here, where it should be. He is in fact in Buddy Rich vs Animal of the Muppets with a side helping of Dave Lombardo and spirit of John 'Stumpy' Pepys. And if you don't know who he is then you shouldn't even be reading this. The shredding on this track is a lot more far out. It's as if they've done a classic underground album (Remission), they've done a classic death metal album (Leviathan); they've done a classic, let's-throw-everything-into-the-mix album (Blood Mountain) and now they're going for a classic popular metal album. And if on 'Oblivion' they sounded slightly like sulky teenagers who actually would sooner be doing anything else, by 'Divinations' it sounds like they've warmed to the task entirely.
'Quintessence'
Yet more mod-prog, post SOAD, tuneful complexity. Simplistic MUSE arpegios are smashed apart and then reassembled in odd forms and shapes as if to unsettle the listener while simultaneously rocking them. But persevere with it and this is an oddly beautiful song punctuated with bursts of (Dave Grohl-period) Killing Joke ferocity. Satisfying bass riffs play against complex finger tapped passages and once again they break open the Satanic voice effects pedal that they first started to mess about with on Blood Mountain.
'The Czar'
i) Usurper
Apparently this song was inspired by little black lacquer boxes that the band bought while on tour in Russia. The theme extends out of the lyrics and into the sonics given that it has a sombre, totalitarian feel and a hint of Eastern European folk to it. This is not a million miles away from being a reach-clench-press-fist-to-chest power ballad and as Brent tells the listener to "runaway, don't stay" while warning of "assassination", you can't help but wondering if this was one of the first songs written in the sessions for the album when it was rumoured the album was going to be about the mad monk, Rasputin - who was certainly a usurper in the Tsar's court.
ii) Escape
A grinding art-tooled riff comes on like Opeth and ramps up the heaviness. This is awesome groove metal that reminds you of that terrible bit of the 90s when everything in mainstream metal was shit apart from the sheer brilliance of the riffology of Pantera and Tommy Victor's playing in Prong.
iii) Martyr
OMG!!! The intro to this song, with loads of multi-tracked close part harmonies through loads of effects is really reminiscent of 10cc's 'I'm Not In Love'! This is a very classic rock friendly section and it's not just the vocal harmonies but the windswept, 'November Rain' style solo as well. There are a lot of prog references on this album and I'm not talking 'trendy, it's alright to own up to listening to this prog' but Yes, Rush and King Crimson style prog. But this song . . . well, it's only a gnat's chuff away from being like Marillion and that won't do. I can't work out how I feel about 'The Czar' and I'd be surprised if another 28 listens made the situation any clearer.
iv) Spiral
Gentle, icicle shattering percussiveness gives way to power metal riffola. To call this section pseudo-classical is to do it a disservice. It has all the sense of occasion of Ravel; all the depressive grandeur and bombast of Mahler. The section works fine on its own but I'm starting to wonder - is to much of this album progressive, neo-classical metal? Where are the tracks for those who want to raise the horns and rock until their balls drop off?
'Ghost of Karelia'
Well, this song certainly redresses the balance somewhat. It has the signature Mastodon sound of roiling drum work that boils like a rough sea with thunderous and clangorous riffage that sounds like two mighty ships firing their canons at one another, with the incongruously delicate hooks, lightly picked over the top. Even though they've obviously become an entirely different beast to the one that released Leviathan, this is probably the most hook and tune filled thing they've done to date.
'Crack The Skye'
A squall of descending arpegios lead into to some banging Ride The Lightning style riffage but - and I realise I'm going to get keel hauled for even suggesting this - is it just me or does the fact that the vocals switch between sweetly melodic, furrow browed sincerity and apocalyptic, raw throated bellowing, sound a bit . . . erm, emo? Moving swiftly on . . . [So you're saying a song by Mastodon, that features Scott Kelly of Neurosis on vocals, sounds "a bit emo" are you? There's nothing we can do to help you now - Witness Protection Scheme Editor]
'The Last Baron'
This may start off as a chiming low bpm number but its full 13 minutes leads us through an ever changing landscape of post metal texture. If the start of the album showed a band who were slightly unsure of their task to deliver a complex, prog-metal album to a mainstream audience, they certainly end with fire in their bellies. As a dyed in the wool fan of the band I've got to say that my gut feeling is that I'd sooner see them dealing in more post hardcore death metal, meting out anvil heavy breakdowns like, for example, 'Blood and Thunder' or 'Battle At Sea' or 'Slickleg'. This said, I'm also aware that you can't be the sort of person who just wants bands to continuously repeat themselves, to be the person still wanting Reign In Blood, 24 years after the fact. As it is we have one of only two bands (the other being SOAD) delivering relatively complex and heavy music on a mainstream stage and seen in that context their new album is, by and large, a success.
Michael Fischer of KNAC.com contacted an interview with Uriah Heep's lead guitarist Mick Box. Uriah Heep at the moment are touring to promote their new album "Wake The Sleeper".KNAC.COM: Hello Mick! Top of the morning to ya mate!
BOX: Yes indeed Fish. Well... it's becoming evening over here in England and it's raining cats and dogs.
KNAC.COM: Well, then should I say "Bottom of the evenin' to ya then mate!"
BOX: ( Laughs) Yes, it's a "Bottom of the day!" ( Mick says that as he's probably gazing into the bottom of his empty pint glass needing a refill for this interview ).
KNAC.COM: If it's gloomy and raining... that's a beautiful day if your from England huh?
BOX: Yes, indeed ( Still laughing )
KNAC.COM: Where are you originally from?
BOX: I am from a town called "Walthamstow' in the East End of London England!
KNAC.COM: My ex-wife was from London... Tottenham.
BOX: Oh that's my team! The Tottenham Hotspurs!
KNAC.COM: Cool. Your a big Futbol ( Soccer ) fan?
BOX:Tottenham Hotspurs indeed! I supported them since a child. They are a hard team to support and our trophy cabinet is pretty bare but hey I stick with them through thick and thin. We did win a trophy recently and you would have thought we had won the world cup, come on you Spurs!
KNAC.COM: So what's new with Heep?
BOX: We have a new record out called Wake The Sleeper on Universal and we're ready to tour Europe this Fall. It's gotten great reactions from everyone, so we're very pleased with that. We're looking at now trying to put an American Tour together now. We'll maybe do the House of Blues in mid January or February 2009 and come across with a real strong package. So we're really vibed.
KNAC.COM: "Wake the Sleeper' is how many albums for Heep?
BOX: Twenty one I think?....I go a little dizzy counting!
KNAC.COM: Chicago fans would love to see you again.
BOX: Mate, Chicago was home for Uriah Heep for many many years.
KNAC.COM: Fan's praise your live record from 1973.
BOX: That's a real live record though as well! ( Laughs ). That's one of those rare things these days where we actually record it on the night. And mix it and put it out without any touchin'.
KNAC.COM: That's when people actually did all their vocals without all the digital cookie cutter recording today.
BOX: Yeah, we don't do any trickery at all. As it was, is the way you hear it.
KNAC.COM: In two years, Heep will have been together four decades?
BOX: It will be indeed... Yeah forty years, It's unbelievable isn't it? I mean I became a musician for life. Little did I know that forty years of that would be in Uriah Heep. Hey, I've been blessed. It's been a fantastic roller coaster life.
KNAC.COM: I think it's great your keeping the band's legacy alive.
BOX: You know, we lost a couple people along the way with our vocalist David Byron and bass player Gary Thain. And one of the reasons of keeping the band going really (pauses) was simply to keep the legacy of what they left behind so people could still be inspired by it. That was one of the reasons and I really proved my point. Because people write to me and say, "God what a great vocalist and bass player they were!"
NOTE: (David Byron the original lead singer of the band Uriah Heep from 1970 to 1975. He was removed from the band after Return to Fantasy due to his problems with alcohol. Ten years later he was found dead from a heart attack at the age of 38 on February 28, 1985. Bassist Gary Thain was with Heep from 1972 to 1975. He was plagued by ill health, drug problems, and was hospitalized after being electrocuted on stage cancelling their remaining US and UK Tour Dates for the Wonderworld Tour. Shortly after the bands departure, Gary was found dead in his flat on December 8, 1975 from a drug over dose.)
KNAC.COM: What was it like to play with Gary Thain?
BOX: He was fantastic player, and he was really in tune with everything. He was the first bass player that had those melodic bass lines. He used to fly about all over the place and it just fit the music perfectly. He just had the knack of doing those things so beautifully... and effortlessly as well.
KNAC.COM: He had a lot of Jazz influence?
BOX: A bit of everything. He was very in tune with so many genres of music. He was right up there. Fantastic player, and a great person. Real great individual. He's one of those guys, if you met him... you would never forget him. It would be a special moment.
KNAC.COM: He was electrocuted on stage?
BOX: Yes in Dallas. It was very unfortunate and Gary was quite a fragile individual at the time and we had to stop the show. We did go back and play a free concert to make up for it and we received the key to the city. It was 3rd October 1975. It did not mean much because I have not had even as much as a free drink in Dallas since receiving the award.
KNAC.COM: Your keyboard player Phil Lanzon and yourself wrote most of the material for the new record?
BOX: Yeah, we're a good writing team. We've been writing now for a number of years. We're just very comfortable with each other as writers. We move very quickly to so it's never boring. And we're very pleased with the results we've been having lately. It's just balls to the wall rock music really. Good honest rock music that Heep's been known for with melodic songs, a decent lyric and all the trademarks of Uriah Heep like the Hammond Organ and the wah-wah guitar. And five vocalists because we have five people that can sing. So harmonies are a very big part of what we do. So we're very proud of it. I think it's the album the fans have been waiting for awhile. It works on all levels really.
KNAC.COM: Your song off your first record in 1970 Wake Up and Set your Sights has really come full circle with the war cry theme hasn't it.
BOX: Yes it is quite amazing isn't it how these things go round in circles like that. The song "What Kind of God" from our new CD is getting the same comparisons in regards to war.
KNAC.COM: Heep was doing the big harmony vocals long before bands like Queen?
BOX: Oh absolutely yeah. I can remember touring America and one guy called us the Beach Boys of Heavy Metal. It made me laugh. We've always had that harmony thing. That stood us out apart from all the other bands that were around at the time when we came out you see. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath all had one vocalist and then Uriah Heep had five. So that stood us apart. Because in the sixties, harmony was used very very sweetly, and melodically. And we started using it almost as an instrument. And that kinda turned people onto emulating us really.
KNAC.COM: Your first couple records are heavy with vocals.
BOX: It's one of those things that you know, your trying to find your feet. You trying to find out your own trademarks and own identity. And the harmony thing was one of those big factors for us.
KNAC.COM: Did Spinal Tap ever pay you a royalty for stealing your image?
BOX: (Laughs hysterically) Well let me tell you a story. No! (Laughs) I don't think there is a band in the world there isn't a bit of Spinal Tap in. I think they're fantastic!
KNAC.COM: You were doing "Jazz Odyssey' long before Derek Smalls? (Bassist Spinal Tap)
BOX: Well, I heard through the business Derek Smalls was more the bass player from Judas Priest. And if you look at the similarities there, it very well could be. I've heard these rumors who it's all about. One minute it's Iron Maiden, the next minute it's us, the next minute it's Judas Priest. But the honest truth is, there's a bit of every band in there. (Laughing) Without foul. I don't know band who hasn't been lost backstage in Cleveland.
KNAC.COM: Heep all sing... and Tap all sing. Coincidence?
BOX: (Laughs) Yeah, there is a similarity.
KNAC.COM: Austin Powers should pay David Byron a royalty for stealing his image too?
BOX: (Laughs) Absolutely! It just shows you what a strong image it is for it to be emulated like that.
KNAC.COM: Bands don't dress up and perform anymore. Everyone just goes out in t-shirts and jeans.
BOX: I'm afraid we've lost all the characters in the world Fish. It's a real shame. It's gotten a little generic hasn't it in that regard. You haven't got the "Bowie Spiders From Mars' thing happening. Or any of those T-Rex's of the world and stuff like that. It's gotten to be like you say, t-shirts and jeans hasn't it.
KNAC.COM: It's a performance. Do you think bands have gotten lazy?
BOX: The presentation is great when you get it right.
KNAC.COM: Your "Magicians Birthday Reunion DVD" from 2001 was quite impressive. Safe to say Bernie Shaw is definitely the singer for Heep?
BOX: That's absolutely brilliant. Well the thing is, when we got Bernie about twenty six years ago in 1986. We've had other singers since David's death like John Lawton (Lucifer's Friend). When we went out and toured with Bernie for the first time, fans came up to me bar none in every country saying "At last! Now we have the Uriah Heep singer!' It was unbelievable. Bernie has the capabilities to sing from all the songs from 1970 up to today. He's got that range to his voice. We did some acoustic shows recently with Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) and people like that. We kind of stripped everything down, an occasionally on those old songs. It was almost like I could almost close my eyes and it would be David singing. It was quite spooky. It gets that close. Apart from having his own identity on some of those old songs, Bernie really hits the nail right on the head.
KNAC.COM: He handles David's vocal material with respect.
BOX: Absolutely. He's very respectful of that as well.
KNAC.COM: What was the writer that said about David's vocals on Salisbury? His vocals sounded like a Danish Fjord. The sound of someone falling into the Fjord on a cold day.
BOX: (Laughing) It sounds like a car starting up! (Laughing) Like "Uh, uh, uh!" That was David you know. He had that vehicle that was wonderful... and it was controlled. He could really do it well.
KNAC.COM: Your second record "Salisbury' from 1971 was the first time I ever heard Uriah Heep. It really changed the way I viewed progressive rock.
BOX: Salisbury is the Dark Horse in our catalog. People come out and say what a great record it is.
KNAC.COM: I heard the first song "High Priestess" and was thrown for a loop.
BOX: There's some vibrato for you... and high harmonies!
KNAC.COM: Do you have a funny story from that record?
BOX: Recording the guitar solo live for the song "Salisbury" was quite funny. It was the first time I had been in a studio back then with real orchestrated musicians. We were all reading dots, or tad poles on A4 I call them. The symphony musicians (Brass and Woodwind) were all sitting in the back of the studio recording their parts... and they could hear the click of my wah-wah getting ready to go for the solo. And soon as I ripped into the solo... Every one of them threw their head phones on the floor! (Laughs) I had to play these three really lengthy solo's with all that turmoil going on (Laughing). conductor John Fiddy tried to get them all together to come back in. So it was a great album for all those memories which was done absolutely wonderful.
KNAC.COM: Who was the song "Simon the Bullet Freak" about?
BOX: Simon was just a name that fit the lyric at the time taken from out imagination.
KNAC.COM: By your fourth record "Demons and Wizards" in 1972. You were doing drop D guitar tuning and sorcery themes long before other bands?
BOX: Yeah, we actually hit on the formula almost by accident really. We were just writing lyrics in a very mystical way you know. It then it just so happens at the same time we found Roger Dean. And he kind of married the cover of Demons of Wizards with the music for the first time. We used to just do the music and then just go and find a cover. But this time it all sort of developed together, Roger listened to the music and came up with that artwork and it was tremendous. It's quite iconic now days because it's one of those that has revered through the ages as a great piece of artwork. It just all came together... all very very quickly. And we knew we had something special because we captured everyone's imagination by writing lyrics like that.
KNAC.COM: Demons and Wizards is a big fan favorite.
BOX: That was the album that took us on the world stage. And we're playing fifty three countries now. Probably a lot of that is because of that album.
KNAC.COM: Were songs like "All my Life", "Sweet Lorraine", or "Stealin'" written about any girls in particular?
BOX: Not really. A lot of that was just imagination you know. No particular female involved.
KNAC.COM: "Bird of Prey" Sharon Osbourne?
BOX: (Laughs hard). Now your getting into some ground! (Laughing). A good fit, I have to say! I have to be honest.
KNAC.COM: In 1975, I heard you fell off the stage on opening night in Louisville for the Return to Fantasy Tour and broke your arm?
BOX: It was crazy! We had all black carpeting on stage because it's what David wanted. Normally we had the lighting truss and the crew would always tell me every night "The lights here, so when you run out Mick.. you know where to stop.' This time they didn't! It was the first night of a long tour and I ran straight out off the stage and crashing into the orchestra pit. (Laughing) Which couldn't have looked to clever. I dislocated my left arm. Half way through the show, the crew brought back a nurse from the hospital to come look at my arm mid show. She snapped it back into position. I thought,"This is painful!" We had a bottle of Remy Martin Brandy there so I thought..."Doctor Remy will help me." I was going though that cognac like water! And by the end of the show I was a bit wobbly on my feet and low and behold... When we went for our stage bow at the end of the show... I bowed to far and fell straight into orchestra the pit again!!! But this time I broke four bones in my right arm. So I hit that deck twice (pauses) and it was just terrible.
KNAC.COM: "Return to Fantasy" should have been called "Return to the Emergency Room?"
BOX: (Laughs) Yes indeed. The next night we played Detroit Cobo Hall and it was all just unbelievable. They were giving me three injections a night through various stages of the show. But sometimes they couldn't hang around. So they give me a boost. I'd have to delay the show while I came back down to earth. (Laughs) Honestly, I've never enjoyed the light show so much in my life! (Laughing) But it was a bit of a tough run to do, but I did that for about three months. I had two casts a day. I would go on at night and play the show... and my right arm would swell up, and break the cast. I would have to go straight from the show to the hospital afterwards and put a new one on. I'd wake up in the morning and the swelling would be gone down... and my arm would just be there flapping in the wind. Go have another cast done. It was a constant three months of hospitals. I never want to go thru that again. (Chuckling). Well, we didn't cancel any shows and we managed to get through.
KNAC.COM: You were definitely improvising to play.
BOX: Oh yeah, I was cutting the cast away with scissors to make it comfortable and gaffing the pick to my right hand. We tried everything we could like put a lot of gain up on the amps so I could do a lot of left hand string stuff. It was an interesting ride.
KNAC.COM: Maybe your cast could be an option for Mick Box on the Guitar Hero Video game?
BOX: (Laughs) Why not? The original cast!
KNAC.COM: Producer Max Norman used to do live sound for Heep on the road. He told a hilarious story about your late singer David Byron falling and sliding across the stage on his duff in the rain. He said, when he got up... his white out fit had a huge dark stripe down one side to the laughter of the band and crew.
BOX: Yes David was very skunk like. These sort of things happened all the time. When we did "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" Rock TV show. David came out (after sampling a little bit too much of the Amber Nectar in the dressing room) and tripped over and impaled himself on the bass drum in the first number. He had to sit there and finish the song. I give it to him though he did pose away like nothing had happened.
KNAC.COM: Did you ever toss a television off the "Rock n' Roll Hyatt" on Sunset Blvd?
BOX: We did some crazy stuff, but didn't really do that. In all honesty, we were away from home for nine months out of the year. And the last thing you want to do is trash your room because you gotta live in it. We did a lot of stuff like throw a couple mannequins into hotel swimming pool and then watch a thousand police cars show up because they thought someone had drowned. Little things like that. Never our own abode. (Chuckles)
KNAC.COM: Heep and Frank Zappa were the only bands to ever to use a Kazoo on a record?
NOTE: The Kazoo is a simple music instrument (membranophone) that adds a buzzing timbral quality to the players voice when one vocalizes into it. The Kazoo is a type a mirliton - a device which modifies the sound of a persons voice by way of a vibrating membrane.
BOX: Indeed. In the solo of Magician's Birthday. Yeah, that was our drummer Lee Kerslake. He did a fantastic job too I thought. In fact the first take, when we just tried it out as an experiment. That was the one I wanted! But nobody pressed the record button. That was the most fantastic Kazoo solo I ever heard in my life, but it ended up pretty good anyway. That first run he did, I was falling on the floor laughing, it was fantastic.
KNAC.COM: Kazoo's were hot for about one year.
BOX: (Laughing) I'm surprised it was a year!
KNAC.COM: So who really did the ranchers daughter?
BOX: (Replies) "Done the ranchers daughter?" (Laughs). (In his calm british voice) I think we all did...one by one! (Laughing) That's the honest truth. (Still laughing).
KNAC.COM: And you sure did hurt his pride.
BOX: (Laughing) And I hurt his pride indeed!
KNAC.COM: What was higher in 1975? The bands bar tab? Or your shampoo bill?
BOX: (Laughing) Definitely the bar tab every time! We certainly shied away from the hair spray thing. (Still chuckling)
KNAC.COM: Do you have a Wah-Wah Pedal in your kitchen, or bathroom at home?
BOX: I have it personally installed in every pair of shoes I buy! Um for two reasons. One the height problem is I love the sound of it when I walk. (Laughing). You know it's part of my guitar style and sound. So I don't use it in the typical sense where the Wah-Wah (He makes a "wah wah wah" sound) is going all the time. I use it more as a tone bend. With the power of our band, you know and go to take a lead break on a single note, your up against it. So if you can find a tone where by it just sits on top of it, and it can be heard. That's basically the way I use it really.
KNAC.COM: It's vintage tone.
BOX: Absolutely. Yeah, I don't like all the new fangle dangle ones with all the different knobs on it and stuff where you can make a Cappucino out of it. It looks like a coffee machine. Just the straight forward one for me mate.
KNAC.COM: Where did you guys buy those cool platform shoes in the 70s?
BOX: There were a number of places but most people went to Kensington Market or Camden Town Market. Hey, they were cool then but now?
KNAC.COM: It's really great to see all your music being re-released on CD, and concert DVD. "Wonderworld" and "Sweet Freedom" are now digitally remastered.
BOX: There's a whole remaster thing going on. I would hate to see them all disappear. There seems to be a resurgence in it. So Oappy days really.
KNAC.COM: Guitar amps have gotten really processed. Do you still plug straight into a Marshall?
BOX: That's all I do, and all I ever want to do. I don't like all that processed sound. I don't think it makes the guitar sound like a guitar.
KNAC.COM: Do you believe your sound comes from your fingers?
BOX: Absolutely. I think that's the way it should be all the tone and everything else you know.
KNAC.COM: Do you still play your signature "Black Beauty" Les Paul?
BOX: No, but it's my all time favorite. I've retired them because I have a new signature Mick Box Model Guitar made by "Dot On Shaft Guitars" made in Canada. They're beautiful guitars. I get a lot of guitars like the Black Beauty type and put them down the next minute and go "No it's not for me." This particular one my guitar tech set it up and said "Just try it.' I said "O.K., I'm going to try two numbers tonight and then get ready to give me the other one." I had it on for one month and said "This is sounding really good!" (Laughs) It's a mean machine, I love it!
KNAC.COM: What do you do when your not on the road with Heep?
BOX: I've been managing Heep for the last twenty years. I sort of relinquished that to a guy named Simon Porter who was my PR guy back in the day. He also manages another English based band called Status Quo. Now I can stop being a typist and start playing guitar. Plus I have a little seven year old boy that keeps me busy. So you know there is a point and time I just take off the rock n' roll hat, and put on a dad's hat and have the best time of all hanging out with my son.
KNAC.COM: A "Little Heepster."
BOX: A "Little Heepster" indeed!
KNAC.COM: Are you getting better with age?
BOX: Well, you know I never look at age as a disadvantage. I just look at I'm doing what I did when I was eighteen now. And there's no reason to stop doing it. If your enjoying what you do. To be honest... you don't ever retire from the business. The business retires you! If there is no audience... you can't go out and play for anyone. We're lucky enough we have a great fan base through our website, a solid world wide touring base and everything else. We have all of the above and can continue working no matter what.
KNAC.COM: Do you hear Hammond Organs in your sleep?
BOX: It's a very versatile instrument isn't it and I love it! It's capable of doing all the romantic cool quiet stuff, and it can be as aggressive as you want to make it. Much the same as the guitar to be honest. In terms of that.
KNAC.COM: I'm bet Ken Hensley hears your guitar amp in his sleep?
BOX: (Speaks humble and slow) I can only hope so. (Laughs)
KNAC.COM: Do you have any Mick Box Survival Tip's?
BOX: Survival Tips? Um (pauses) I think believe in yourself is very important. Because you know it's one door up to another, until it slams in your face... until the belief is... that it will get you thru to the end. Other than that, you have to have degrees of discipline. Everyone likes to party, and do all that fun stuff. But you've always got to think of tomorrows show. I think discipline is very important.
KNAC.COM: It's easy to lose your focus on the road partying.
BOX: Exactly, it certainly is. There's a time to go out and have a laugh, and a time not to. And smile mate! Keep smilin'! If your happy in what you do then there's no better place to be. Somebody asked me about my guitar style, talking about me coming from the 60's blues thing that was happening with John Mayo and Eric Clapton. When I actually started playing guitar, I was a jazz guitarist that moved straight into rock. I gave the blues thing the complete miss. And they said "Why is that?' I said "I was too happy to play the blues.' I was having the time of my life (Laughing). Why am I going to try and get depressed and play all those blues lines?
KNAC.COM: You can play blues all night, but only actually listen to it for fifteen minutes.
BOX: Yeah, I couldn't go that route. I think being in a happy frame of mind is the best frame of mind you can have.
KNAC.COM: You could start 'Appy Mick's Box Company and slip Heep CD's inside the boxes you sell?
BOX: (Chuckling) Sounds like a plan to me.
KNAC.COM: One last question! If I win the lottery, will you come play my party?
BOX: (Laughs) Absolutely!
KNAC.COM: I want to get up on stage and jam with you guys like "Jeff Spacoli" in Fast Times at Ridgemount High.
BOX: That would be brilliant mate!
KNAC.COM: It's been really fun talking to you Mick.
BOX: As you my friend!
KNAC.COM: Go "Tottenham!"
BOX: Ah, we're going no where. (Laughs) We've still got a lot to go for.
KNAC.COM: Hey, the "Tottenham Hotspurs" still smoke the "L.A. Galaxy.' We'll trade you David Beckem and Posh Spice for a couple cases of Guinness?
BOX: (Last Chuckle) Indeed, brilliant mate!
KNAC.COM: Good luck with your new record. We all look forward to seeing you on tour... and speaking for "Heepsters' everywhere "Long Live Heep!' Cheers Mick!
BOX: Thank you KNAC and Fish my friend... and 'Appy days! Cheers mate!
Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited conducted an interview with Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing on May 6. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow. Jeb: Do you consider Nostradamus to be a masterpiece?
KK: We said it is either a masterpiece or just a piece! It will be one or the other. Did you get to hear the record today?
Jeb: I just finished listening to it a little while ago.
KK: Can you evaluate it on one listen?
Jeb: I think so. I had heard the title track on the internet.
KK: You heard one song before and then you heard the whole record. When the song that you heard before came on did you like it more? I think melody is more meaningful when you hear it twice – that’s the rule of thumb and I will tell you why: How many times when we were kids did we hear something on the radio and go, "That sucks." Then you hear it again and again and you start to think, "That’s not a bad song" and then you realize it was the song you thought sucked. I am just curious about it because it is a lot of information to take in all at once.
Jeb: It is going to take some time to digest it as a whole but my whole focus was to listen to this album today. I got it right away. I could see that it was the chronological history of his life. It wasn’t just an album of the prophecies, instead it was more about the man.
KK: Apart from throwing "The Four Horsemen" in there — which we couldn’t resist doing those elements because there are so many dramatic elements in there. The rest of it was about the man and the roller coaster that was his life.
Jeb: How much did you know about Nostradamus?
KK: Zero. It wasn’t too difficult to learn about him. Our manager printed a few things up for us to look at. When you start seeing things like he requested to be buried standing up then it gets interesting. He wore a medallion around his neck that had a year on it. The people that dug him up, when his body was exhumed, saw the year on the medallion and freaked out because it was the year they dug him up. The second time he was dug up was by soldiers who drank wine out of his skull. They got massacred on their way home. He also dabbled in metal by mixing metals together – he probably was getting high off the fumes. I am not saying I am a believer but he had a lot of really cool metal content in his life. It was quite a journey and a challenge for us to do. The emotions are really there. We have put our emotions into our music before but this is just a lot more in depth.
Jeb: Is it different writing about him because he was a real person?
KK: I think that it has added strength because you are documenting a person with a strong personality. Whether you believe or whether you don’t, one thing is for sure and that is that he became very, very famous and he is still famous. Every now and then you get these people like Nostradamus or Einstein who stay famous forever. The more we got into his life we found that he was very relevant to the music of Judas Priest. We have delved into fantasies before like "Blood Red Skies" or "Sinner" and that is our fantasy world but with Nostradamus there is more of a substance there. I think that gives it more validity and emotion.
Jeb: Musically, Glenn Tipton and you played a lot differently that you have in the past.
KK: We have never played this much acoustic on a Judas Priest album. It was actually joyful to get our teeth into something like this from a musical point of view. We felt we had more licence to push the boundaries. We wondered if we could pull this off with mixing Classical and Metal. Rob said this, and I shuddered when I first heard him say it, he said, "Judas Priest are going to do the first, in the history of Metal, the first ever Metal opera." I am thinking, "Wow, we had better get to work."
Glenn and I had some of the very first synthesized guitars in the early ‘80's. We were able to create just about any sound we wanted by converting an analog signal to a midi signal. We pulled the old equipment out of the closet and there were a lot of pops and squeaks and we looked at each other and said, "We had better fucking go get some new gear." We have guitars now that are totally geared up and ready to go. Things moved on in the world of technology and we were able to use that technology to make choir sounds and orchestra sounds. The classical elements of Nostradamus’ time were now there.
We thought that this could give us a bit of longevity. We are all headed to our sixties, you know. We thought we would like to create a record that our fans could really sit down and listen to like we did in the old days. We wanted to give it that amount of intensity just like I did back with albums like Electric Ladyland. That album may not have been considered a concept album by a lot of people but it was sure as hell conceptual to me. It took me to another planet.
I think Glenn actually said this to me when we were in the studio. He said, "I wonder that when people create these great albums if they know it is that great when they are doing it." The chances are that I doubt they do, really. You don’t know until you put it out into the marketplace. I think timing is very important. I think some of the Judas Priest records we did were too early and some of them might have been too late. Painkiller may have been premature. Having said that it was a bit responsible for the new movement. We started touring with five tracks off that album and by the time we finished we were playing two. It was a bit of a hard sell, that album. When an album has been around for a decade then it becomes a classic. It is the same with a band. You don’t get to be a legend until you have been around for a million years. You can be an overnight success but you can’t be an overnight legend.
Jeb: The songs "Nostradamus" and "The Future of Mankind" really see the band playing heavy.
KK: They are the last two songs and we wanted to go out with a bang – or maybe a bang, bang [laughter].
Jeb: After three plus decades of writing solos with Glenn how are you able to keep it fresh, keep it for the song and keep from repeating yourself?
KK: That is a very good question. I think every song within itself has a uniqueness about it. The vibe is kind of different so you have to just let yourself go creatively and put something that you think is right for that piece. Hopefully, you end with something that is just right for that song.
Jeb: On "Future of Mankind" you go into harmony and you drop out and you go back in. Are you so well versed with each other’s playing that it comes easy?
KK: Personally, I just love that sort of stuff. Like you say, it was nice to do some classical stuff without being classical virtuosos. We were more virtuosos on the fast solos. We used a lot of harmonic minor scales for the classical stuff and it was nice to be able to use those scales. When you rip it up in the fast solos, you are using natural minors and blues scales. It was nice to use different, darker sounding scales on the classic moments.
Jeb: The song "Alone" should be a single.
KK: That is the dilemma. What do you release? We would like to get people to go from buying the single to buying the entire record. When I was a kid, I remember it was frustrating waiting for your favorite bands to make a new record. You would be the first in the Que and you would grab it and run home. The record was much more joyous. It was a treasure. Now people go, "Priest’s new album is out. I will sit down at the computer and download it and check it out." That defuses the whole fucking thing.
We have the artwork and what you have seen is just a portion of it. We are doing a forty-eight-page booklet on one of the versions that is available. The lyrics are all laid out on what looks like parchment. I used to love double gatefold albums. You would look at the live shots and imagine them standing there playing them. You would read back to front on the entire album. We have done that sort of thing with this artwork. You will regress back several centuries back into the world of Nostradamus when you see it.
Lots of people put out an album and hit you right between the eyes with each song. They want you to get it and they want to pound it into your head. I call it music to break glass to. Look at all the artists on these walls. [KK points to a photo of Jessica Simpson but does not recognize her]. That is music to get a stiffy to [laughter]. There is music to get high to and music to drive fast to and music to make love to and music to jerk off to. There is also music to rock out to. When you are in the car, you put something on that will get you through four hundred miles. You might choose some Ozzy, Priest and ZZ Top. There is music to go to sleep to and music to wake up to and music to get into the shower to.
Jeb: What kind of music is this music?
KK: Some off the songs, individually can be good driving songs or whatever, but the entire piece is something to drift off to and go into another world. The listening experience can get you as high as you can get without actually smoking something.
Jeb: On Angel of Retribution, Priest tried something different with the song "Lochness". Some said, "Brilliant!" and some said, "What the fuck is this?" Was there any thought when doing Nostradamus that if you didn’t get this fucking right then it would be horrible for Priest?
KK: Sure, that enters your mind. People often talk about our younger fans and that we should do something that is more modern. We have a lot of younger fans but we have a lot of older fans as well. It is a great consideration as far as I am concerned. The older fans, I am talking about me and lots of other people, will say, "Thank fuck somebody has made a record that has a lot of meaning for me." If you make a movie then you want all the ingredients leading up to a great ending. You watch it in its entirety and you don’t dissect it. Someone might think that the beginning was the best because some guy got his throat slit or they drop a guy off of a building but that is not the whole movie.
It will be a great day in hell, or heaven, when we are able to go out and play this think in its entirety. Rob can play Nostradamus and we can be in character as well. I think it would take this experience to a different plateau. We have been very innovative and versatile in our career but we still have a ways to go. It is still going to be down to the fans acceptance. This album is fucking full of melody. We are telling the fans that it is okay to be melodic.
Jeb: I told Rob that it is great that a Metal band has made such a musically valid album.
KK: That is exactly what we needed to do. That is the big reward for us, successful or not. One thing is for sure, I don’t think anybody has done anything like this. It has got it’s own life. Nostradamus, as intriguing, mysterious and as metal as he was, is the vehicle we chose to deliver this musical piece to the world. We could have used a total fictional character of our own making but it does not have the same substance. You can go to the library and actually look up this man and decide for yourself about his legend.
Jeb: Last one: You are going to have Tony Iommi on stage with Heaven and Hell playing before you every night. Does that make you nervous?
KK: That is another one of the rewards you get in life. Make no bones about it, I feel that Priest and Sabbath – Tony and I are riff mongers from Birmingham. We certainly have written some riffs between us. It is going to be an honor and it is going to be great. It will be a full on Metal evening.
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Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited conducted an interview with Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford on May 6. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow. Jeb: When I first heard that Priest was going to be doing a concept album on Nostradamus I thought, "How are they going to pull this one off?" I have to admit, you pulled it off. I just finished listening to the CD five minutes ago and I am almost speechless.
Rob: It is an enormous amount of information to try to consume on the first listen but I think even in that first moment things pop out and grab you right away. You have twenty-three song titles but thirteen songs are the bulk and the other titles are segues into the other songs. Each of those thirteen tracks are very distinctive and full of melody and great hooks. They are full of the things that we know we have got to do; they are instinctive for us to do as well. That was always in our mind when we started this long, two-year epic of putting it together. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t get distracted or lose the plot. We think we’ve got it. We have really accomplished what we set out to achieve, which is to tell his life story in an entertaining, interesting and exciting heavy metal way.
Jeb: Your manager, Bill Curbishley, actually had the idea.
Rob: Bill came to see us at the end of the Angel of Retribution tour in Russia. We sat down to discuss what would be the next move for the band. Bill has been in the business for as long as we have and he has had pivotal success with Priest, the Who and some of the guys from Zeppelin. His mind is always thinking of where we could possibly go next. He said, "Look lads I know you have had great success with Angel of Retribution and now you can either go back into the studio and do another studio album or you can really take a gigantic step and do something great. Do the concept record you have been wanting to do forever. You have this opportunity to have a great story."
You can do a concept record about anything, really. But if you have a man like Nostradamus then the possibilities are endless. He came up with this idea and we immediately said, "Brilliant." We took a couple of weeks break and then Glenn, KK and myself sat down at Glenn’s house for our first day of writing and we were off.
Jeb: Did you have to do a lot of research on Nostradamus?
Rob: We did. For me, as a lyricist, it was important to get as much information that was needed. It was my job to pick out the highlights of this man’s life and to tell a story in sequence from when he first realized he had the ability to make visions to the very end where he passes away and crosses over.
We got books and I watched TV documentaries. He was a real man. He wasn’t a fantasy figure like the Painkiller or the Sinner. We knew he was a well-documented individual and a lot of people had an insight already. We stayed true to the cause and although we have artistic licence, we have not veered that much away from the facts.
Jeb: Nostradamus actually made some money off of his visions.
Rob: Originally he practiced in medicine. He was from a Jewish family and there were a lot of animosities from the Catholic Church to the Jewish people at that time in Medieval Europe, five hundred years ago. His family converted to Catholicism, not because they wanted to but because they didn’t want to end up dead. It was just a horrible time. He enrolled in a medical university. He got expelled. From the moment he became an adult he was always facing adversity.
He discovered astrology and horoscopes and that is where he was making the money. He did that for most of his life. He made his cash from meeting with the Queen of France. She heard about his horoscopes and was intrigued with that. She summoned him to Paris and he was afraid he was going to get his head chopped off. Little did he know that she was a fan of his work. Once he was in the royal court a lot of his troubles went away but to get to that point was a very difficult journey. He was making money doing these horoscopes but at the same time he was having these nightly visions and prophesies alone at night in his room.
Jeb: As I listened to the album I thought you did a great job of putting emotions to what Nostradamus was feeling at these different stages in his life.
Rob: On a human level, he went through a lot of things that we all can relate to. He had acceptance and rejection. A lot of people didn’t like what he did much in the same way some people don’t like Metal. He was banished into exile and he lost his wife and children to the plague. A lot of terrible things happened to him. We thought it was important to get that human part of the story and still have a great time with the prophecies like the Four Horsemen and Death. We mixed it up. We could have just done all the prophecies but then it would have been laborious. We wanted to give more of an insight to his life and as a listener you can kind of know what he went through.
Jeb: A biographer for a book will do so much research and writing that they will have a feeling as to what type of person their subject was. What is your take on what kind of person Nostradamus was?
Rob: If you believe in clairvoyance and psychic people then you know it is a great gift. It also has to be very difficult to deal with. You would ask yourself, "Why is this happening to me? Am I going crazy? Why have I been chosen?" At the same time he embraced it. He kept documents of everything he was experiencing when he would go into these trance like states. He kept it initially for himself because he knew that some of these prophecies were very difficult. He actually put them down in riddles and rhymes and abstract forms. Even now you have teachings of Nostradamus that are being reinterpreted. I don’t know what to believe. I am thankful that we have such an interesting man to talk about and I think our fans will feel the same as well.
Jeb: Vocally you are all over the place. When you think of Halford, you think of "Judas Rising" or the song "Resurrection" and that Halford boom. I noticed you sing in many different styles. "Lost Love" is a different type of song for you. You were really challenged on this album.
Rob: I love going into character. I love to become these painkillers and sentinels. I like to go into that world and it is a great opportunity for any singer to embrace that. Glenn and KK would also change their guitar tones to fit a certain sound or feel. Ian and Scott would play the bass and drums differently to convey what needed. This was a terrific experience for me because I could show off everything I have learned over the last thirty odd years. I sing in every range and I sing in Italian and I sing in French; I do a lot of crazy stuff.
To keep your attention for an hour and forty minutes – we hope that is how people will listen to this. We want people to listen to this the same way people listen to Tommy, Operation Mindcrime or Tubular Bells. We don’t want it to be tedious. We want people to be excited about what is going to happen next. If you have a favorite movie then you look forward to seeing certain parts over and over again. It is all a big picture experience you try to get across. I had a blast using all of the vocal things that I do.
Jeb: Scott’s drums are not as out front as they are on other Priest albums.
Rob: Balancing this thing was a little bit of a nightmare. You have an enormous amount of information. You have to treat a concept album differently than a normal studio album. You just try and work your way through and push it forward or pull it back a bit. It is part of the complexity of putting the thousands and thousands of bits of recorded information in sequence.
Jeb: Were the segues harder to write than the songs?
Rob: Only in that they needed to do the right job. We said from the get go that we didn’t want to do a song and then have five seconds of silence like a normal studio album. We needed a continual flow to keep the whole thing connected. The very beginning of the record is to get you focused and listening – it prepares you mentally for the first song "Prophecy." You then move onto the next cut and you have to think "How are we going to make this connect?" You have to try to not give too much away. It is a set up really. When you watch a movie, the camera will set up the scene – it is like that. Everything had to be really thought through.
Jeb: Detractors of Metal and of Priest would have loved for this to come out one dimensional and make Spinal Tap references. Is there some satisfaction to make such a valid piece of music that goes beyond Metal?
Rob: I would agree. We are anticipating the crossover moment. This can reach people who may have never thought of listening to Priest. This can go anywhere. We have already talked with management about when this goes through its release cycle that we can pass this over to special events. We can have other interpretations. I would personally love to see this done in a classical opera format or instrumentally by a symphonic orchestra. You can only do that when you have a conceptualized musical event.
I know what you are saying. We have never really been directed by stepping outside of ourselves or worrying about what people might think of our music or what their reaction might be. We are Judas Priest and we make Judas Priest music. All of our fans are rabid and passionate. It is natural to get some push back. Some people think that Turbo sucks and some think it is amazing. Some people think Painkiller was the best thing that this band has ever done. It is like being a sports fan. You have your favorite team and all the players and sometimes they play great and sometimes they don’t play as well. But they are still the same team and they are still aiming towards the same destination. It is natural to get opinions, attitudes and speculations. You have to let that go or you won’t have any inspirations. You have to do it for yourself. It is not really a selfish endeavor but you are looking after your own needs and wants as a band. We are lucky enough to have millions of fans that generally agree with what we do and they love the Metal that we make for them.
Jeb: What challenges will this present when you play live?
Rob: Whatever we do in terms of recording we know we can translate into the live performance. Everything that you hear on Nostradamus can be created live in some form or another. They are all basically Metal tracks – they have the drum, bass, guitar and vocals and then you have the other embellishments around it. However it turns out in a live performance it will be recognizable.
Jeb: You have an hour and forty minute story. Will you play all of it?
Rob: We will play it in its entirety. That will be another first for us as we have never done anything like that. It is going to be incredible. We are going to have a big stage show with a bunch of audio and visual. Priest is famous for theater. The lights and costumes are part of our life. We are just going to turn it up a notch and take it to another level.
Jeb: Angel of Retribution was the reunion. Does a project like Nostradamus bring you all closer together?
Rob: Only in that this is a different endeavor. I think the satisfaction is to look at what we have done. Glenn, KK and I, as the primary writers, could only do this because we are reunited. Scott and Ian also do great work in the studio and on stage. We had all the right ingredients and we had a lot of fun. Angel of Retribution is a great album but I think that Nostradamus is above and beyond anything we have ever done before.
Jeb: As I got to the end of the album I turned to my friend, Ron, and said, "A Metal band has made a valid musical statement."
Rob: I think that in the world of concept albums this will became a classic. It will get that status in the future. It could be five years from now but it will get there. The album has a complete life of it’s own. Nostradamus is unique and special.
Jeb: Do you feel his life has parallels to Metal music?
Rob: That was the joy, wasn’t it? We have this man who was an alchemist and who lived in a magical time with all the swords and the shields. Depending on where your heart is at you can say it is cliché but it is just perception. We feel Metal fans embrace this time period of five hundred years ago, Medieval Europe. There were a lot of magical things that were happening at that time. It was a very Metal time and he is a Metal man. You couldn’t really do that with many people who have lived through history. There is a very small amount of individuals who have maintained that kind of connection to the modern world. It is a brilliant opportunity to cover his life.
Jeb: You also have the Metal Masters tour.
Rob: We got excited about this. Before we had the Metal Masters idea we just planned on going out with some friends like we always do. The industry is still in a state of flux. The last ten years have been really turbulent. There was a really interesting piece in the LA Times the other day that talked about how all talent is going out in package deals whether it is Kenny Chesney or Motley Crue. I think that is great because we have a real set up here for real Metal Heads. If you are a true Metal Head then you want to see Testament and you want to see Motorhead and you want to see Heaven & Hell and you want to see Priest. You don’t want to show up halfway through. This is a Metal magical moment and we are thrilled.
Jeb: You have Lemmy, Ronnie James Dio and Halford.
Rob: The Three Tremors so to speak. I trademarked that name because I really want to do something with three vocalists and call it the Three Tremors. We have not even talked about this but Ronnie would be a great one. Geoff Tate would be great. We will wait and see. There is so much to do. The longer you are in the Metal world the more there is to do. I have been in the Metal world for thirty-five years.
Jeb: Judas Priest and Black Sabbath are the two bands that every Metal band looks up to.
Rob: It is great. It is a wonderful feeling. If you had told me when I first grabbed the mike for Priest that over thirty-five years later I would be sitting in the Sony building talking about Nostradamus then I would have thought you were crazy. Life is a wonderful thing and I am extremely grateful, as are all the members in Priest, for the fans. We could not have done this without the fans constant support and their inspiration to make another record. It has literally been non-stop. We don’t even think about when or where it is going to end. There is more Metal for us to make.
Jeb: You also have a new business for your other bands called Metal God Entertainment. How are you going to find the time?
Rob: I am able to separate the two. I am fortunate to have the solo endeavors. The important thing is that they don’t bump into or clash with Priest. You just grab life by the balls and squeeze them and get everything that you can out of them. There is nothing worse at the end of day then having regrets and wishing you had tried this or that. If you can continually satisfy your dreams and ambitions then it is a wonderful feeling.
Jeb: The solo endeavors were actually the reasons you left Priest the first time.
Rob: The contractual aspects had me having to serve a Leaving Member Clause. Since that moment came all the confusion and difficulty. Painkiller was a great record but we had a difficult time coming off the Reno trial and we had a grueling tour. We should have taken a couple of years off. We should have said, "It has been great. Now we are going to chill. See you in a year." That is the turbulent life of rock n’ roll.
Jeb: Back to Nostradamus. The first CD really took me back to parts of Sad Wings of Destiny.
Rob: I can understand that. If you are a Priest fan like yourself then you know everything about the band. Some people think Sad Wings of Destiny was a concept album, although it wasn’t. There is a flow and there is a wonderful feeling you get from listening to the album from the beginning to the very end.
We put three decades of Priest into Nostradamus. In a sense you have the entire life of Priest in the album Nostradamus. We could have made Nostradamus twenty years ago but I don’t think it would be anywhere near as valuable and important as it is now. You need to take all of your experiences and all of the hundreds of songs you have written and all of the thousands of hours of recording and millions of miles of travel and have them all play a little role. They make you confidant enough to tackle this type of project. We never knew it was going to be a double CD. One day we looked at the clock on the ProTools and we said, "My God, we are at seventy minutes and we are nowhere near the end." We just said, "Fuck it, we will know when we are done." We sat back at Glenn’s place one day and we listened to all the rough demos and we said, "That’s it. We are done. Now lets get into the real moment and record it." Writing was a blast; we had so much fun writing the music. Then you have to go into the replication mode of the recording studio.
Jeb: Are you going to be involved with the stage set?
Rob: We all are. We are all directly immersed in that. We have a pretty basic stage set for the upcoming tour. The big moment will be when we play "Nostradamus." We will pull out all the stops for that one.
Jeb: You won’t be able to play the entire album on the Metal Masters tour will you?
Rob: No, it is not practical. We have been away from our fans for a couple of years and we want to get back in front of them and play our Metal and our Priest classics. We are already looking at the list and trying to find songs that we have never played live before and songs that we have not played for a long time. It is crazy as we have over two hundred and fifty songs to choose from. It is overwhelming because all of them are great. You have to put a list together that is entertaining, exciting and leaves everybody satisfied.
Jeb: Someone is still going to be saying, "Why didn’t they play this one?"
Rob: I know, I know. It is mad. Priest fans would have us on stage for six hours.
Jeb: Before you go, we need to talk about the artwork for Nostradamus.
Rob: The same person did this as did Painkiller and Angel of Retribution [artist Mark Wilkinson]. He is an amazingly talented guy. We knew what we wanted from the get go. We wanted a figure of Nostradamus. We went further and we have a wonderful forty-eight page booklet that has all the lyrics. We are doing three limited edition vinyl editions. You can get a super deluxe package where you get the three vinyl pieces, the two CDs, the forty-eight page book and the poster. You can also just buy the straightforward CD jewel box case. We are mixing it up because of the state of the business. It is great for the fans to pick and choose. You can get it from iTunes or you can pick and choose between the three physical packages.
Jeb: Priest fans would buy it if it was in a cardboard box.
Rob: I think the super deluxe edition may already be sold out. We want to maximize the event as we will never do anything like this again. You ask yourself what you can do that embraces the huge adventure of the music. We could just put it out in a box but then it is gone. We think it is great to have the book, the poster and the vinyl. You can do whatever you want. It is really getting the most out of the release. It is like going to a sports game. You can buy a hat or you can buy a hat and a shirt and some boxer shorts. Hmm, Nostradamus boxer shorts... not a bad idea!
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