Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice recently spoke to QUEENSRŸCHE co-founder and guitarist Michael Wilton at this year’s M3 Rock festival on May 4, 2024.
In the chat goes over the early success of QUEENSRŸCHE in the early years and the writing, recording and the making and their classic E.P. and The Warning.
Excerpt from interview ” I was 19 years old and we had been as The Mob (band) and playing metal songs at place, playing Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Tigers of Pan Tang etc…We were into that because at that time you know the radio was just playing pop stuff and we were young and we wanted to hear metal. So we got to the point where we said well let’s try making our own music and we just started jamming together and got a tape recorder and just started recording ideas and putting things together. We had the four songs that were on it (EP) and other songs that didn’t make it. It was just trial and error. We had these ideas and we decided you know we’d like to record them at a proper studio.” Michael Wilton
For The Metal Voice Kenny Kessel recently spoke to Mark and John Gallagher from the NWOBHM band Raven on April 27, 2024 in New Hope, Pennsylvania at John & Peters club.
When asked about their third album ‘All for One’ “This year is the band’s 50th anniversary, this album is 41 years. We came out with this album and it made an impact and in some ways we are still competing with this album, we are up against that history of that record. For us ‘All for one’ made a little bit of a first step into the USA. ‘All for one’ is a seminal record, that third album. it’s really a stamp of who we are and that is not taking anything away from our other albums. And of course it’s the title track, All for one, one for all. It’s like we are connecting with the people who come to see us. We are all kind of together. I still look back fondly on this record. We’re doing a box set for this record. It’s going to be a little bit of everything but it also includes a lot of rare stuff that’s beyond what’s on this record.”
When asked about seeing former Raven drummer Rob ‘Wacko’ Hunter for the first time in 35 years. “We never talked to Rob after he left for 5 years. Then I had a business thing come up, got him on the phone and we were on the phone for 3 hours. It was kind of nice to reconnect with Rob (recently on this tour). We picked right up where we left off. It has been 37 years since I have seen him.”
When asked about Raven Having The Same Song Title As Metallica ‘Seek & Destroy’ on 83′ Tour “Yeah we did laugh about it. We never heard either one’s (song before). All we heard from Metallica was No life til Leather (demo). I just remember hearing like, ‘Hit the light’, ‘Whiplash’ “
The Metal Voice recently spoke Metal Queen Lee Aaron about her new covers album TATTOO ME which was released April 26, 2024 via Metallville.
She also spoke about the cool scenes in her classic video Metal Queen and her thoughts on the moniker the Metal Queen.
When asked how her thoughts on the moniker the Metal Queen “I guess I was the first to coin it but it’s kind of become a ubiquitous phrase to define women that perform harder Style music. I guess it’s a good thing. So it’s never going away, that’s what I’ve learned. So I’m at peace with it. At a certain point in my career probably more in the late mid to late 90s when the media with the advent of grunge they just did an about face. Music is cyclical and it does that where they were just like say oh sorry you’re associated with big hair music or classic rock or anything to do with the 80s. If you had released albums your career fell off the edge of a cliff in the 90s. It wasn’t just me. It was all of those 80s bands. So I went through a phase in my life where I felt a little bit pissed off about being defined completely by that moniker and I didn’t want to play the song in my set. I was just like this is killing me right now but it was killing everybody right? However in later years I have been able to talk a lot about that song because I get asked about it consistently because again the lyrics were about feminine empowerment or empowerment in general. And I’ve got to explain the song and the narrative of the tune was really about pushing back against that 80s sexism with women and men completely controlling and running the industry. We had to fight. The handful of us that were doing hard music in the 80s were women. We had to fight for every scrap of credibility and respect that we received. Not only on the musical front but also in the boardroom with the suits And having the opportunity to talk about that now I think has completely reframed not only the name of the moniker but the tune and what it stood for as well. So I you know I’m actually happy to happy to be called that now.”
Eighteen albums into her career, AARON has written, recorded, and produced music achieving gold and multi-platinum sales. Recognized as one of Canada’s top rock vocalists, she’s also made forays into jazz, blues, and even opera, receiving numerous awards and accolades and, most recently, a 2023 induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame.
Alan Dixon from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently interview Armored Saint Singer John Bush and Bassist Joey Vera.
In the chat the two gave an update on their up and coming new studio album and the bands documentary. Plus went into the band’s legacy.
The band is currently on tour with Queensryche.
When asked about their upcoming documentary Armored Saint – A Band of Brothers “A movie was made by a friend of ours who we’ve known a long time who’s been a fan of us for a very long time Russell Cherrington, he’s from the UK. He completed his vision this movie and he’s still looking for a home for it as in terms of distribution. I haven’t heard anything about where that’s going to be but apparently it’s getting very close. Obviously the place for it (film) is in streaming services which is where most people watch things anyway. It (documentary) was part of a circuit of the film festivals last year so some things out of that have resulted in him getting closer to finding a home for it. So hopefully we know something in the next couple of months.” John Bush
When asked about the new upcoming studio album “Yeah we started writing, we have about five to six songs done. It’s sounding cool, it’s just more growth. We kind of go a little slow, we probably should have a little urgency just cuz you know our ambition is to get a record out next year and that’ll still be 5 years after the last one, which seems to be our Pace. So we have to work hard to get it done by next year but it’s gonna be cool, there’s always progression and growth with Armored Saint. We know what the foundation of the sound of the band is but we always are trying to expand on that and push ourselves. I said this before so I’ll say it again. Heavy metal can almost be borderline conservative because people say well that’s what they want (fans), so I’m going to give them what they want. Well that’s safe to me .We try tp put a little Edge in there and little twists just so fans aren’t going know what they get, cuz then it sounds like 10 records that sound like themselves. And the bottom line there’s no way that you could say Armored Saint record sound the same. “John Bush
When asked about the musical direction of the new music “I don’t want to put too much of an emphasis on it because it should be a natural organic development because once you start making this intended sound then that’s a problem and you’re getting methodical about it and then and then it probably will backfire. I just think we kind of feel like the sky’s the limit and we could do anything we want. ” John Bush
“Speaking of the music, It’s always a stamp or or a snapshot as to where we are at that moment when that record was recorded or made or written. Maybe it’s a good thing, we have a 5-year period in between because if we made it every single year it (the music) would then start to blend into one another and they might all sound the same, Each record we make is not vastly different but they’re different from each other. No two records really have the same vibe or sound something about them is their own Island and so that is that’s kind of like a subconscious goal for us is to have have on every record. Also we recorded a single in January and it’s coming out this June 12th (2024) on Metal Blade Records and it’s a digital only single. It also has a video that we shot for it and it’s really cool. We did a cover of a Four Tops song we are huge R&B fans. We just thought again slightly outside of our comfort zone but things that I think we can handle and as a group we have the ability to straddle that line of heavy and funky and groovy at the same time. John killed it with the vocals the track came out so good, so we’re stoked about that coming out and I think it just shows another side of us that’s maybe not so serious. We had a lot of fun making the video it came out really really cool we’re looking sharp. ” Joey Vera
Armored Saint – A Band of Brothers had it’s world premiere in the band’s hometown of Hollywood on Tuesdayf May 2023 at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, CA.
The film celebrates the 40 year career of Armored Saint and the 50 year friendship the band have shared from school in El Sereno, a Los Angeles suburb.
Many friends of the band have given interviews, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich from Metallica tell tales of their early days touring, Scott Ian of Anthrax talks about seeing Armored Saint in 1985, Queensryche members Eddie Jackson and Todd LaTorre talk about the shared history. Key music industry figures and producers, A&R men, roadies, record label executives and family share thoughts and stories about the band’s 40 year history.
Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice recently interview Living Colour’s singer Corey Glover about his new band Sonic Universe featuring guitarist Mike Orlando (Adrenaline Mob) bassist Booker King and drummer Taykwuan Jackson. Their new album entitled ‘It is what it is’ which will be released on May 10 via earMUSIC.
Glover also spoke about some of Living Colour history.
When asked about Sonic Universe guitarist Mike Orlando “Mike is one of the best guitar players I’ve ever heard in my life hands down. I say that with some Authority because I’ve worked with some of the best guitar players there are to know. But I have to say that Mike Orlando is one of the best that I’ve ever heard in my life. He’s the best at what he does in my opinion.”
When asked what is the difference between Living Colour and Sonic Universe “I think just in terms of themes, it’s not as socially bent as it is emotionally bent. There’s an emotional thing about this particular record.”
When asked about the musical direction of the new album “It’s sort of a combination of Mike’s (Orlando) sort of thing he’s done with Adrenaline Mob and the stuff he’s done with his own solo work and some of my work. Whatever I bring to the table from in my discography. So it’s a bit of a combination of both of those things.”
When asked if SONIC UNIVERSE is going to tour “We’re gonna go on the road as soon as we possibly can. I got lots more work to do with Living Colour and we’re making a new record so when I am free, which will probably be in the fall, we’ll go out and see what’s out there for us to do.”
When asked when Living Colour is going to release a new studio album “Probably 2025. We’re not even close to done, we’re still in the phase of what this is going to be. So it’s going to take a minute before we get it to where we wanted.”
When asked about the Living colour song ‘Open Letter to a Landlord if it is more relevant in today’s world than what it was back in the 80’s “Absolutely, it’s much more relevant now than it was then. It was more about Gentrification than anything else. And to know that idea still pervades and is and has been weaponized in certain cases. It’s still a part of this whole thing.”
When asked about the issues in the past between In Living Colour television show and the bands name “Yeah well basically before the show had even been greenlit to go on network television the Producers had called us and asked us if we wanted to be a part of it and we politely declined. And we thought because we declined the use of the name that they would change that and they didn’t and fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it the show became a big success. Its success sort of made some sort of confusion in the marketplace and when you say Living Color they think oh you took up from the TV shows like no we were around before the TV show, this is not about the TV show. These aren’t jokes and we had something to say and we wanted to be taken seriously with what we had to say. We negotiated and made some sort of concessions and they made some concessions and you know the TV show is a classic and I think Living Color is a classic so let’s call it a day.”
When asked if Living Colour will be doing a documentary “We’re planning on doing a documentary, we’re just trying to figure out where we’re going to do it and how we’re going to do it and what we’re going to talk about. “
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Voivod Drummer Michel “Away” Langevin.
In the chat Away spoke about what is needed to finish the long awaited Voivod Documentary film ‘We are connected’. He also spoke about what stage the band is in regards to the next studio album plus info on the lost Voivod album.
When asked about the upcoming documentary “It’s (documentary) has been in the works for quite awhile. It’s tens of thousands of dollars to make a movie so it takes long. We had a very successful first Kickstarter ( fan donations campaign) that allowed us to move forward. Now we are trying to have a (movie eidtion) cut for the summer festivals. The version for the physical release will be longer but we are trying right now to do an edit for the summer festivals. It’s really the last stretch where Felipe Belalcázar (producer) is doing some animation with my art. It is the final stage but we do need some money to finish it up since it is self produced (self financed). We tried our best to get money from the government (film grants) but we had to self finance it. The fans into Voivod are also really loyal and they are helping finance and we are also trying to supply goodies whenever they contribute. It’s going to be a movie financed by people who are into Voivod which is truly fantastic.”
When asked about any upcoming studio album “We all synched up with Logic Pro so we can work on it on tour in hotel rooms or in the tour bus and also build individual parts at home. But it is really when we get together in rehearsal space when it morphs into Voivodian material. Right now we have very basic templates for maybe 10 songs, I think. So whenever we get together to rehearse the next tour we also try to jam new material. We just got off the tour with Prog which was amazing. So we are going to take a couple of weeks break and then start working on this album again. I can’t really say how it’s going to sound right now. The good news for us is we are writing a very intricate album right now and winning Junos so it’s a good indication that we are on the right path.”
When asked about the unleashed Voivod Album “There are demos of an unreleased album. It was supposed to be produced by Steve Albini (Nirvana) but the band split up. THe demos are there. I am really hoping to release them on the Eric (Forest) years. It’s 12 songs. We got disillusioned after a while. I think it was at the end of the year 2000 that we decided to disband. Eventually we reunited with Snake and got Jason Newsted involved. “
ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY:
* The movie will be subtitled in Quebec French (as well as Standard French, Spanish, Italian)
* Some of the Voivodians interviewed include Zach Blair, King Fowley, Tom Warrior (Celtic Frost), Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), Tobias Forge (Ghost) and Dan Swanö. The team also interviewed Terry Brown (Producer), Glen Robinson, Jason and Eric. (24 interviews)
* The theatrical cut (running just over two hours) is shorter than the “extended cut” that will come only on the physical release, with disc extras
* There currently are film festivals who are interested for 2024.
WHY CROWDFUNDING?
* Film grants in Canada have a set criteria for the type of material they are mandated to fund, unfortunately our project does not fit the current criteria.
* Thanks to Voivodian support we had a very successful first campaign back in 2021 and it allowed us to film the rest of the interviews, complete the edit and begin post-production.
As a token of our gratitude, Voivod is offering limited-run, premium T-shirts, each featuring unique artwork by the legendary Away, in collaboration with Felipe.
– Chewy’s Shirt: A rare ink drawing from ‘The Outer Limits’ era in 1993, previously unseen and now brought to life.
– Snake and Rocky’s Shirt: A 2002 ink masterpiece featured in the booklet of the self-titled 2003 album.
– Away’s Shirt: The iconic Mercury symbol, inked in 1997 for the ‘Phobos’ booklet.
VOIVOD have launched a new Kickstarter campaign to help them finance their official documentary film.
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
