Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice interviewed Kurdt Vanderhoof from Thrash legends METAL CHURCH. Kurdt spoke about the meaning behind the lyrics on bands new upcoming album Damned if you do, his brief encounter with Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich back in the early days, and how the band still has not recouped their expenses on their first few albums.

Watch the interview here:

When asked how their new upcoming album is different from the last album Xi in 2016

“The recording process was pretty much the same I would get everything ready, then Mike Howe and I work on vocal melodies. Then we work on the demos, then everybody else in the band comes in and puts their stamp on it. That was our process and nothing was really that different from last record. I intentionally wanted it sound old school because it is also coming out on vinyl and we wanted to produce it for the vinyl. I kind of shy away from the modern digital sound of modern metal records cause everybody is doing it and they all sound the same. ”

When asked about the meaning behind the lyrics on some of the songs on the new album

Revolution Underway- This song has a lot to do with the social political climate of the world especially in America where a lot of people are waking up to a lot of the corruption and the lying in an era of fake news, so there is a lot of waking up to the reality of whats going on.

Monkey Finger- That is a song about when you run into people that like to blame other people for their problems, playing the victim and they point their fingers at everybody else for all their own problems which are there own fault.

By the Numbers- That song was about all the numbers we have to deal with everyday, bank accounts, passwords ,logins, credit cards, etc.. all these numbers that control your life.

The War Electric- That song is about the how divided the world is and how we are are fighting everything that is online

Rot away- That’s a heavy metal song (Laughs)

When asked about his connection to Metallica’s Lars Ulrich back in the beginning days of Thrash

“We actually never played together, that was one of the rumours that started sometime ago that he was one of our drummers but that was never true. I was living in San Francisco trying to start the band and I ended up meeting him and he had just come over from Denmark and he was planing to go to LA. All we ended up doing was party and hang out and just talk about being in a band. But we were friends before he got to L.A.”

When asked about if the band was still in debt for the first few albums

“After certain amount of time on a major label like Electra you find out how the business works, which in our particular case it was not working in our favour, you learn the definition of the word recoup. And then you realize there is no way you can make any money unless you break big like Metallica but until then you are operating in Debt and you will never break out. Everybody gets paid first and the band gets paid last. I have the publishing which are not much money but no other royalties. We are still in debt on the first few albums. Not only that but it’s tough to find out how much debt or profit after all these years. They send statements that you can’t read unless you are a lawyer, so I just wrote it off. Your in debt for tour support, your in debt for videos, your in debt for everything and those are the reasons why I really like the new music business, there is more good about the new music business than there is bad. It’s more direct artists to fans and us old guys can still have a career.”

Metal Church’s 12th full-length studio album, “Damned If You Do”, which will be released on December 7 via Rat Pak Records. The album will also be available in Europe via Nuclear Blast and Japan via King Records.

“Damned If You Do” track listing:

01. Damned If You Do
02. The Black Things
03. By The Numbers
04. Revolution Underway
05: Guillotine
06. Rot Away
07. Into The Fold
08. Monkey Finger
09. Out Of Balance
10. The War Electric

METAL CHURCH is:

Mike Howe – Vocals
Kurdt Vanderhoof – Guitar
Stet Howland – Drums
Steve Unger – Bass
Rick Van Zandt – Guitar