Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently conducted an interview with current, Warlord ex Fates Warning Drummer Mark Zonder, who currently joined the Graham Bonnet Band.
On why he recently joined the Graham Bonnet Band
“Giles Lavery (Dragonsclaw, Warlord) wound up managing the band (Graham Bonnet) and it came to a point where they (Graham Bonnet Band) were going to record two songs for a mini E.P. and Russ Ballard was going to write one of them. Giles though it would be a good Idea if I played on it, and when we started rolling along I noticed how the band was progressing, one thing started morphing into another and it sort of happened.”
On the new Graham Bonnet album
“There will be a brand 11 new Graham Bonnet band songs that no one has ever heard before a lot of working titles, ‘The Dance’, ‘Rider’ and in that package there will be a bonus disk you get, 16 Graham Bonnet’s hits re-done by the current band covering , Alcatrazz, Michael Schenker Group, Graham’s solo songs, Impellitteri and Rainbow.”
On the Warlord Live in Athens 2013 re-issue
“The good news it will be coming out hopefully within the next 6 months in Blue ray as well as 6 additional bonus tracks, and a couple of live things from the drum kit.”
On whether Warlord will continue to tour and record
“As far as I’m considered absolutely yes, to all the questions it sort of at this point up to Bill Tsamis (Warlord Guitarist) he’s got me a couple of new songs that I have worked on so we are kind of working on new material. It’s a slow process but Bill is writing. If someone called tomorrow and said hey you want to play a festival I would be there tomorrow, Bill would be there tomorrow. Yes but I am not sure of the time frame. “
On his memories on the recording of the pleasant shades of grey which is being re-release
“I will never forget as you can tell record there was a lot of electronics going on, that I was sort of in charge of, Jim Matheos and I put together. It wasn’t really done on a computer those days that technology wasn’t developed, it was in this big machine that I had from this company and it was a sequencer and sampler. I will never forget I go to Jim’s house and we would sit there 8 hours a day , programming and I will never forget one day we had it all going and we haven’t saved it yet and we accidently kicked the power plug.”
On his thoughts for not of not playing on the last Fates Warning Album
“I didn’t lose any sleep over it was my decision to leave. The real story is I didn’t technically quit the band. I felt like the band was sort of grinding this live thing out over and over again. The real story is I called Jim and said I can’t l do the live tour anymore; it’s not working for my life style. Basically what I was told if I can’t do the live thing I can’t be in the band and out I went.”
On his opinion of Bill Ward not participating on the Black Sabbath’s Final tour or final show
“I can’t speak for Geezer Butler and Toni Iommi and what is going on you would have thought they would have done everything possible to have him on tour just because he is ¼ Sabbath. It’s not like he is a replacement guy. He was 25% of that band. So yes I would have said they could have should of tried to have him. But we don’t know the inside story.”
“I can understand if they are not going to have him on the whole tour but bring him out as a kind of puppet, promotional , big marketing campaign for the last show. I can see how that can piss him off. That is totally being taken advantage of. Ok you are not good enough for this part of it. And we are not only talking financial but stealing away from him the joy, the reliving of the doing that last tour that will stick to everybody forever. But yes you would want him there.”
Watch the whole interview here:
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