The Metal Voice’s Jimmy Kay talks to legendary DJ Neal Kay in an exclusive live interview about the rise of Iron Maiden & NWOBHM. These stories and more told in Neal Kay’s new official biography by author Stjepan Juras with a forward by Iron MaidenSteve Harris.
Neal Kay shows and explains the tape, “This is the original Iron Maiden Demo Tape, with the date, on the top. This is the tape that Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) gave to me at The Bandwagon. It’s the tape I used to take around the recording industry to let them hear what Maiden were. (1978). That’s the one and there aren’t many left. Steve has one I have one and maybe a couple of others. I know this thing is priceless, that I understand. But it is a direct family heirloom to me and it’s more important to me than any gold album. This is what started something immense, truly wonderful, you don’t get anything better than that. That is the tape that did it. “
Co-Founder of Quiet Riot Kelly Garni recently spoke to Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice on June 23, 2022
In the chat Garni spoke about the highly anticipated and recent re-issues of the rare Randy Rhoads era Quiet Riot 1 & 2 (via No Remorse Records), He comparing the sound quality vs the original recording and how impressed he was with the new packaging.
Garni also spoke about growing up with Randy Rhoads, the rivalry of Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen, as well as being replaced by Rudy Sarzo when Quiet Riot 2 was released and who he considers an original member.
Quiet Riot was founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni.
Quiet Riot is the self-titled debut studio album, it was released exclusively in Japan on 2 March 1978.
Quiet Riot II is the second studio album, released in 2 December 1978. As with their first album, it was a Japan-only release.
The Metal Voice recently interviewed singer Nathan James of the new group Iconic which features Michael Sweet (guitars), Joel Hoekstra (guitars), Marco Mendoza (bass), Tommy Aldridge (drums), and Nathan James (vocals), ICONIC will release their new album ‘Second Skin’ on June 17, 2022 via Frontiers Music s.r.l.
Watch the full interview below.
When asked if the 80’s sound on the album was intentional “I think we were aware that we wanted something that showcased everyone to the best of their ability and the music in the 80’s did that, it showed you how amazing players were and how amazing singers were. We wanted this band to showcase their talent and that we could write good songs.”
When asked if the band intends to perform live “When we did the two days of the photo shoot in LA we had such a wonderful time and we talked quite openly about the idea on how fun it would be if this actually makes it to the live arena and give it a proper go, so we will see, hopefully that will happen.”
When asked if this is a one off project or if it will continue “I have already signed for a second option, so if Frontiers do decide do another option I am already in. I’m guessing it’s the same for everyone else, we will see. The label will want us to tour if the album is a success, fingers crossed. A live performance would be great, picking songs from everyone’s repertoire how great would that be, it would be a lot of fun.”
Michael Sweet, known for his work as guitarist/vocalist for the legendary heavy metal band Stryper and his solo work, with his instantly recognizable voice and guitar style is really a name that needs no introduction to the hard rock faithful. Joel Hoekstra, currently of Whitesnake and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, is one of hard rock’s premiere guitarists, whose fretwork is regularly praised and admired. Marco Mendoza’s resume really speaks for itself (Thin Lizzy, Black Star Riders, The Dead Daisies, Journey) and the legendary bassist shines, as he always does, here. Tommy Aldridge, currently of Whitesnake, has also played with Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, and Black Oak Arkansas, among others, and is considered one of the great hard rock drummers of all-time. And handling lead vocals is none other than Inglorious’ Nathan James, a young man whose vocal style is a fitting, proper descendent of rock’s vocal legends of the ’70s
Saga guitarist Ian Crichton, Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Robert Berry (3; Emerson, Berry, Palmer) have joined forces to form new prog supergroup SiX By SiX.
The trio will release their self-titled debut album on August 19 via InsideOutMusic/Sony Music. Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke with Saga guitarist Ian Crichton and Saxon drummer Nigel Glockler about this new band and their plans.
When asked about the musical direction of this new album “We are a mixture of Prog and Rock and with the three different guys. Robert was playing with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. Nigel who is playing with Saxon and I am with Saga, it’s like three different worlds and it’s made a really interesting Prog Rock thing. I think we have come up with our own style of Rock really. We made our own Sandwich. When we started writing, things just came out. I didn’t consciously sit down and specifically try to write one way. I was just writing. I would send Robert my ideas and he would send it back and that’s how it really worked, the songs just developed that way. The music is heavier than Saga but having said that the album takes you on a pretty nice journey so there are a lot of different feelings, places, styles that we come up with. There is a lot of moods on the record, it’s not all one heavy thing or light thing.” – Ian Crichton
“As Ian says it’s definitely Rock cause all of us have Rock in us. All of us three come from completely different backgrounds and styles of music we are playing and Six By Six is the result.” -Nigel Glockler
When asked if they are planning to tour the album “We want to tour, the whole plan is to take this out, I am really excited about the fact when we can do it, I’m really looking forward to it. ” -Nigel Glockler
When asked about potential setlists if the band plays live “Well we have a few songs that didn’t make the record that we really liked, we would probably present those too. A show would be an hour and a half long we can do all kinds of stuff to the material we have, stretch out some parts.” -Ian Crichton
Tracklisting:
“Yearning To Fly” “China” “Reason To Feel Calm Again” “The Upside Of Down” “Casino” “Live Forever” “The Last Words On Earth” “Skyfall” “Battle Of A Lifetime” “Save The Night”
For The Metal Voice Former Anthrax singer Neil Turbin does an in-depth interview with ex Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland. Poland talks about the early days in Megadeth, his time after the band and working on new projects today. Watch the interview below.
When asked about the recording budget on Megdaeth’s first album and where the money really went “First of all when we got any money it was in Dave’s (Mustaine) account, we got a per diem, we got 100 bucks a week. This myth that the first record was spent on drugs is bullshit. We only had about $6000 or $8000 to make a record and we made it in a couple of weeks and drugs aren’t that expensive. We weren’t even that far gone then. Also if it wasn’t for Cliff Culteri I wouldn’t have gotten solos on the first record. He asked Dave (Mustiane) to give me solos because I wasn’t going to get a bunch of solos. I thank Cliff for that, Rest in Peace. Even Peace sells I think our budget was $26,000 but we were in really nice studios, we still had our $200 a week that we lived on.”
When asked about his time after Megadeth “I was bussing tables from midnight to 10am at Denny’s after I left Megadeth. I would be bussing tables on a weekend and some guy would go, dude your Chris Poland (Chris laughs) and I would have to go yeah I am. It is so weird because he just looked at me like what the Fu*k are you doing here? I would just say hey man I got to eat, I got to pay the rent. When you think about it today it is pretty crazy because Megadeth was beyond gold, Peace Sells was really like a train and here I am bussing tables in the middle of the night at Denny’s. (laughs)”
When asked if he made the right decision in leaving Megadeth “It was just meant to be, it got to the point where, it was time, it wasn’t working for anybody anymore so. Who knows what would have happened if I stayed in the band. It was probably best that I didn’t.”
When asked about the relationship with Dave Mustaine today “I haven’t spoken to Dave not since the ‘The System has Failed’ (2004)
When asked if he would ever consider going back to Megadeth “I don’t think so. If Dave did a solo thing maybe but I don’t want to learn all those Megadeth songs (laughs).
When asked about the new David Ellefson and Jeff Young new collaboration and if they reached out to him ” I am doing a thing with those guys in November 2022 in Chicago.”
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to Primal Fear’s singer Ralf Scheepers. Scheepers talked about the re-release of the bands debut album, his days in Gamma Ray and stories about Helloween and the Halford tour.
Ralf Scheepers was asked if Helloween every approached him to sing with the band and he said, “I heard they were looking for me (when Kai Hansen wanted to step back as singerl ) but I was still in my band and as a young kid 16-17 years old starting with music. Being with my family starting with my daily job I was not mature enough to decide those things to move to Hamburg and start as a musician. They never really asked me, I just heard they were interested. Kai was the singer back then with the ‘Walls Of Jericho’ and they were looking for a singer because Kai was the guitarist and wanted to concentrate on one instrument. I heard they were interested in me but that came later( meaning he found out years later.”
PRIMAL FEAR will release a deluxe version of their highly-praised self-titled debut album from 1998 — remastered by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios, Denmark and including three bonus tracks as well as an extended booklet featuring liner notes and many photos from the band archives — on July 15th, 2022 via Atomic Fire.
The album that contains guest appearances by Kai Hansen (guitars; HELLOWEEN, GAMMY RAY etc.) and Frank Rössler (additional keyboards) was originally recorded at House Of Music Studios, produced by founding member Mat Sinner, supported by Tom Naumann and Ralf Scheepers, and engineered by Achim Köhler. The iconic artwork was designed by Stephan Lohrmann who also cooperated with PRIMAL FEAR for their latest studio album and other parts of their back catalogue.
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
