Jimmy Kay From Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to Ex Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing about his upcoming special guest performance with Ross the Boss Band at Bloodstock Aug 11 2019, starting a band with Ripper, the pros and cons of recording Defenders of the Faith.
Watch the interview here
When asked about his upcoming Bloodstock special guest performance with Ross the Boss band
“The idea of me being at Bloodstock was bounced around and somebody said if you’re gonna be at Bloodstock would you fancy playing a few songs. I said I’m not a solo artist. Then it was suggested to be a special guest with the Ross the Boss band, since they are a 4 piece and having another guitar up there would be ideal opportunity. ”
When asked if he is nervous jumping on stage after a ten year absence
“Absolutely not! It’s just like riding a bike, it’s not like I haven’t been playing the guitar since quitting Judas Priest. Once you have learned those chops and toured extensively over the decades its very easy to back to it. I am always up for a challenge. We will go up there and play Judas Priest songs but I am also open to any other suggestions. So I told Ross let’s just meet up and let’s set up a jam the day before and let’s see what we feel like doing. Maybe we can mix it up and bring something different to the table. The organizers also have extended the amount of time we can play which is great.”
When asked if he had any other opportunities to perform with another band on stage
“To be honest I was expecting at some point a willingness and an opportunity to step back into Judas Priest. You know how it is, things said in haste, a band is a relationship, like every husband and wife, every brother and sister. But I thought at one point it would be inevitable and I would re-enter Judas Priest and carry on where we left off but it’s proved not to be the case. So I have to accept that and just move forward. So I am looking forward to being a guest at Bloodstock immensely and I thank Ross and the band. One thing I like about Ross and the band they are full on metal, they are dedicated and it’s good to be onstage with people that not only think like me but who have played like me through the decades.”
Would he ever consider working with Tim Ripper Owens
“I love Ripper to death, not only is he a great guy, he is a great performer and great vocalist. He was not only instrumental but essential for holding Priest together through now that we call the Ripper years. Its just a question of picking the other musicians really. If I was to do anything I would have Ripper. “
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to Ex Manowar guitarist Ross The Boss about his upcoming performance with Ex Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing at Bloodstock on Aug 11 2019, his thoughts on Manowar’s Hellfest cancellation, the Ross the Boss upcoming album and tour dates.
Watch the interview here
When asked about how the Ross The Boss Band & K.K. Downing upcoming performance came about
” We have a friend of the band called Steve Goldby who runs http://metaltalk.net, he’s a really great guy he inducted me into the Hall of Heavy Metal History at Wacken. I go Steve you want to help me get press at BloodStock Festival in the UK for Ross The Boss Band and he goes all right, okay. All of a sudden Steve says K.K. Downing is his friend and I said he should come to Bloodstock and hang out with us. The next thing you know we were talking about asking K.K. to come play with us a few songs. Steve then goes that’s a fucking brilliant idea let’s do it. Steve makes a call, pitches the idea and says K.K. is really interested, so it’s going to happen.”
When asked if he knew why K.K. Donwing left Judas Priest
“I don’t know anything about what went down between K.K. and the band and I hope one day it could be solved matter. Fact it’s my ulterior motive to bring K.K Downing out and get him playing again and maybe back to where he belongs in Judas Priest.” I don’t know anything about what happened with him and Judas Priest it’s none of my business. It’s it’s sad that shit happens like that especially when things are so good. I love all the Judas Priest members I love Richie, I love Andy, I love Scott, Rob I love the band I love their music and i wish them all the best. ”
When asked how many songs they will be performing with K.K. Downing at Bloodstock
“We don’t have a ton of time we got like an hour plus so we will play three or four Judas Priest Songs with K.K. We just want K.K. to come out and get some love from the audience he deserves it, he’s a father of Heavy Metal. I know he’s a bit nervous but that’s to be expected but we will do everything for him to make him feel as comfortable as possible and let him play his guitar, let him do what he does. At the end of the day I hope that this gives them the motivation to get him back into Judas Priest. Glen is not there now and I think that K.K. belongs there now, if they could mend the fences. We’re not spring chickens anymore, life is too short at this point and I think that before someone goes or something tragic happens I would love to see K.K. back in Judas Priest. I would love to put some good vibes out there to him and so maybe there would be a chance that something could happen and I think the fans would love it.”
When asked if the Manowar Hellfest last minute Cancellation last month benefited The Ross The Boss Band
“I don’t want to get into the whole matter of Hellfest and Manowar. I wish it never had happened because there were so many people that were hurt by this, so many good metal fans from all over the world came to see them and only got their heart broken. t was horrible and I don’t get joy from that. I don’t want to rise in metal community from their mistakes, I want to rise because we’re great band. I don’t cancel shows, I’ve never canceled a show. It was hard to see that happen you know. Joey went there a year before at Hellfest saying how he’s gonna destroy the place and then they didn’t play. It’s not my business again I’m sorry for the fans I’m sorry that they got hurt I really am.”
When asked about the upcoming Ross the Boss band Studio Album
“We’ve got a lot of songs, we’ve got about 12 -14 for this record it’s going to be a March 2020 release and it’s going to be fantastic, I guarantee you. “
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to former Ozzy Osbourne,Uriah Heep Drummer Lee Kerslake on a live Youtube Chat.
Lee responded to Sharon Osbourne’s recent claims that Ozzy Osbourne was always a solo act in the early days and never a band called Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz. She said (Celebrity Access Encore) “It was never a band. There’s no way. It was Ozzy Osbourne.”
Lee also gave an update on his health, his upcoming documentary with new interviews with Kiss. As well an update on his upcoming solo album titled 11Teen.
watch the interview here
In regards to Sharon Osbourne’s recent claims that Ozzy was always a solo act and never a band
“First of all Sharon wasn’t our manager at the beginning, Don Arden’s son David was our manager for a time and he asked us what are we going to call the band? Then Bob Daisley said what about Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz? So they went with that. The whole team at the office said yes and that was before Sharon came over and took over as the manager. I have the recollection that we spent quiet a bit of time naming the band also I wouldn’t have joined Ozzy it is wasn’t a band. I wasn’t out of work. I was doing my own solo venture where I got a call saying you have got to join this band. So then I said I will audition them and they can audition me. After my audition was a success I said if we are a band then I am in. Then Ozzy said this band will never part. That is all I needed, was Ozzy the singer in his words saying we were a band and that’s when we started working. ”
When asked when Ozzy did his first tour of the U.K. on the Blizzard of Ozz , what was the band billed as on the tour, which started September 12, 1980
“Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz.”
When asked about his upcoming documentary and interviews with Kiss
“I had the most wonderful honour to see Kiss. We asked the band through my director, producer Tayla Goodman of my documentary. She got in touch with their manager and the manager said I just spoke with Paul and Gene and they both turned around and said without question anything Lee wants, he gets, we honour him cause he is a legend. The we had a long chat about the good old days. Also they let me go see their show in the UK and they treated me like royalty. Then we did an interview with them. I would also like to mention that Ian Paice from Deep Purple and Joe Elliot have also been interviewed for my documentary and now we are waiting to catch up with Nicko Mcbrain from Iron Maiden for an interview.”
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to TESLA‘s singer Jeff Keith. Keith spoke about the bands up coming acoustical album due possible in Feb 2020, their new album Shock and touring with David Lee Roth and Alice Cooper.
Watch the interview here:
When asked about their upcoming Acoustical album celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the five man acoustical jam CD/DVD
“It was been 30 years since we recorded the original acoustical album and this time we are doing it at the historical Abbey Road Studios. We had fun doing it 30 years ago and we had fun when we did it again just this last month. It was awesome, we did it live in the studio with a little audience there. I love when we do recordings live, they just turn the mics on and let’s go. The performance was also filmed so there will also by a DVD where they captured the band before, during and after performance, there will be some cool footage. ”
When asked about the set list in the upcoming acoustical album
“We will be doing some songs to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the five man acoustical jam, so we did 5 or 6 songs from the original album. Then we also added some of the songs we did off our new album Shock that we made with Phil Collin from Def Leppard.”
When asked if there is a release date for the upcoming Acoustic album
“From what I have heard, I think maybe in February 2020 but things can change.”
When asked about Jimmy Page from led Zeppelin complimenting the original Five man acoustical jam album
“That is true, I heard that from Brian Wheat who is good friends Jimmy Page and he said Jimmy was commenting on how great the album was and it was the first album from start to finish to be all acoustic, the whole show. ”
When asked about working with Phil Collin from Def Leppard their new album studio Shock
“Phil helped us with the writing of the new album. Phil also brought in his production experience that he learned from working with Mutt Lange over the years in Def Leppard. Phil is a fun guy to work with and he knows a lot. The band did try a whole new approach with Phil and we had a blast doing the album and the fans are loving it that’s what counts.”
When asked what it was like touring with David Lee Roth on the Eat em and Smile Tour
“I used to watch him every night man that guy’s the master of being a frontman. We got to hang out with David Lee Roth and talk with him it was fantastic. ”
When asked he learned from touring with Alice Cooper back in the day
“He was great, one night he wanted to meet us after the show and we got to go on his tour bus. It was like wow we are hanging out with Alice Cooper, he was a real sweetheart of a guy. It was great for a band like Tesla to start out and have all these opportunities to tour with the best and watch the best and learn from the best.”
When asked if there has been any issues with the trademark Tesla and the popularity of the cars
“No, it’s funny because somebody a few years back said hey did you name the band after the Tesla car, nope we named it after the inventor Nikola Tesla and so did the car company.
Issued in July 1990, TESLA’s stripped down “Five Man Acoustical Jam” was an instant success that coincided with the rise of MTV’s unplugged format. The set has since gone platinum in the U.S
TESLA is continuing to tour in support of its eighth studio album, “Shock”, which was released in March via UMe. The follow-up to 2014’s “Simplicity” was produced and co-written by DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen.
Upcoming Tour dates with Def Leppard
July 12 – Halifax Scotiabank Centre – Halifax, NS
July 13 – Avenir Centre – Moncton, NB
July 15 – Centre Vidéotron – Quebec City, QC
July 17 – Bell Centre – Montreal, QC
July 19 – Canadian Tire Centre – Ottawa, ON
July 20 – FirstOntario Centre – Hamilton, ON
July 22 – Budweiser Gardens – London, ON
July 25 – Bell MTS Place – Winnipeg, MB
July 27 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
July 29 – Rogers Place – Edmonton, AB
July 31 – Scotiabank Saddledome – Calgary, AB
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to Voivod singer Denis ‘Snake’ Belanger from the Canadian band Voivod prior to the band hitting the stage on June 30 2019 at the Montreal international Jazz Festival at Club Soda.
Watch the interview here:
Watch below the Brass Performance of The End of Dormancy video filmed and courtesy of Ginette Losier.
Snake spoke about being included in the Jazz Festival, their upcoming tour plans, a Voivod Documentary in the works, his evolving vocal style throughout the years, writing English lyrics, opening for Rush in 1990 and thoughts on David Grohl of the Foo Fighters who is a Voivod fan and friend.
When asked why the band decided to play the Jazz Festival?
“When the Jazz Festival asked us to be part of it, it was a bit of a surprise but it is understandable because what we are doing is music. Ok we do metal, punk, progressive rock, but at the end of the day, it’s music. Being part of the Montreal Jazz festival is a great honour as the festival is celebrating 40 years and Voivod is close by at 36 years years. Voivod has always been a band that goes over the boundaries so we fit in. The Jazz Festival sometimes includes artists who are not necessarily Jazz but they try to expand musically and for us it is an opportunity to do something different like bring a brass section on stage and incorporate it in one of our songs.”
When asked about the Voivod documentary that is in the works
“Originally it was Sam Dunn who started it a long time ago. I don’t have much information right now but it’s going to be about our career, so far which has been a long journey. The documentary will hopefully include footage from all of our line ups throughout the years. The documentary is still in the works. ”
When asked about transitioning from harsh vocals to clean vocals over the years
“When we started doing more complex structured songs like during the album Killing Technology, I started working more on melodies, it was a natural progression. When we did the album Nothingface I really started being more profound on working on my voice. Today my style is more of a combination of clean and harsh depending on the mood of the song. The music inspires the whole process.”
When asked about the progress on a new album by Voivod, the follow-up to last years album ‘The Wake’
“We’re are still at the beginning stages of a new album, we were putting ideas together while we are on tour but we never got back to those ideas because we have been so busy lately. When we were touring, we would go in the back of the tour bus with the laptop and we would lay down ideas. Not sure about the musical direction yet we will see how it goes. Our last album ‘The Wake’ was a good transitional album from our E.P. Post Society, we wanted to go further with the Wake and we did, the same musical direction as the E.P. but more elaborate and more complex. It is going to be tough to top ‘The Wake’, it will be quite a task but we will go with the flow.”
When asked about opening for Rush on their Presto tour in 1990
“Rush were super nice guys, I remember the first gig we were very nervous. (we played 4 shows with them) First night back stage there was a big bottle signed by the band saying welcome to the show, with flowers, chocolates they were really gentlemen. We had such a good time. It is quite difficult to open for Rush because their audience is critical but we well received.
When asked about his relationship with Foo Fighter’s David Grohl and Grohl being a fan of Voivod
” I can sometimes hear a little bit of Piggy’s chords in the Foo Fighter songs (laughs). I’m sure David is going to pop up somewhere on stage with us at some show on tour. Sometimes I just surprisingly bump into him at a bar. David Grohl is such a nice guy.”
Dan “Chewy” Mongrain, wrote an eight-minute arrangement for the brass quintet that joined the band onstage during the show for a special feature on “The End Of Dormancy” from VOIVOD’s. album The Wake
The Documentary is being Produced/ Director by Felipe Belalcazar who also Director/ producer of ‘Death by Metal’ last year
“The Wake” came out in September 2018 via Century Media Records. The disc was recorded and mixed by Francis Perron at RadicArt Recording Studio in Canada. The album’s artwork was once again created by VOIVOD drummer Michel “Away” Langevin
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice tracked down and did an in-depth interview with SAVIOUR MACHINE‘s mastermind, singer Eric Clayton. A man who went into hiding and has not done a major interview in 20 years. The two spoke about his new solo Album ‘A Thousand Scars’, an upcoming Saviour Machine album, his reasons for leaving and coming back into the music business, the Book of Revelation and it’s influence in pop culture, as well as his infamous good bye video message in 2009 plus a lot more…
Watch the interview here:
When asked why he disappeared for 20 years and why he decided to come back
“I’ll give you a synopsis, I was in a 30-year marriage and my wife and I were divorced in 2013. I then went to Utah and I spent three and a half years kind of resetting, finding my happy place again and just kind of seeing if I could go on and find a new way of doing what I do. I really needed a break man. I needed a break from everything and I really did kind of go off and disappear on purpose and a lot happened during that time but I can tell you this that Utah was a good train station for me. Then I ended up over here in, Europe and couldn’t be happier. I fell in love and moved over here to Germany. ”
“I have we’ve been working on a solo record for all about a year and a half now and during that time I realized I’m getting kind of antsy. I was retired for a long time. I was gone for a long time and literally out of music business for nearly 20 years. I think what happened was I was over here and I missed being on stage. So I thought I’m gonna put it back together over here and just go out and have some fun for myself and see if I still enjoy performing. So we did seven gigs towards the end last year and into this year and I just kind of fell in love with this new band I was playing with. And along the way the solo record that I’ve been working on for a number of years off and on, kind of came to the forefront and I realized that this is the band that I want to make this solo record with, so yeah that’s what’s going on. We played some great gigs and had some got wonderful responses from fans, a lot of support from classic Saviour Machine fans and some new fans as well. We had a blast and we just don’t want it to end.”
When asked about his new Solo Album’s lyrical content and musical direction
“We’re working on demos right now and hope to be in the studio by the end of summer. I would say the best way for me to describe what I’m working on is it’s really personal man, I know that’s vague. In Saviour Machine there was not a lot of personal elements in those albums, there wasn’t a lot of nuances or subtleties but the content was so bold and grandiose. However my solo record that I’ve been writing for the last few years it’s about life, the turns of life and growing pains of getting older and so forth. My heart is deeply connected to a very personal narrative at the moment and I’ve been writing the record about myself. From a lyrical and narrative side it’s a concept album, it’s called ‘A Thousand Scars” basically it’s a story of the of the wounds and the healing that kind of shapes the man. It’s a simple idea that in order to have a scar you know the wound has to have healed to some degree. It’s a record about those wounds and the healing of those wounds and a very personal story that goes back to my childhood and even right up until now. So I guess it’s my version of Pink Floyd The Wall.(Laughs).”
“From a musical standpoint I’d say well I’ve always tried to make the music that reflect the atmosphere of the lyrics on every album I’ve been a part of. I would say that the atmosphere of this solo album is quite appropriate for the content, it’s dark, it’s beautiful, it’s sometimes really really heavy and sometimes really kinda glorious and sometimes it’s sad. I’d say it’s probably the saddest record I’ve ever worked on. Obviously my brother is involved in the songwriting and kind of pre-production. I have a friend in Minnesota who’s done a lot of programming for me and helped me with a lot of these demos, there’s a lot of people involved. I’ve got a five piece band, my brother and a programmer, so that’s seven. Then I’ve got my co-producer who is a brilliant engineer, his schedule will definitely determine when we record and when we mix. I can make it official here Devon* Graves – (Psychotic Waltz) a good friend of mine is going to be my co-producer on this thing and make it sound all beautiful. It will be called Eric Clayton ‘A Thousand Scars’, music performed by the 9.”
When asked about the upcoming new Saviour Machine album
“Right now we’re calling it Saviour Machine 3 for lack of a better title, it’s a working title but for us, it is like making a third Saviour Machine record because it’s the natural evolution of Saviour Machine from one to two to three. It is a band album that comes from the band and very far away from the Legend project that was a massive opus that was a quite a Band Killer. The Legend project was a surefire way to destroy a band and it did.”
When asked if Saviour Machine will ever release Legend project Part 3-2 an album that was not officially completed
“There’s been a lot written about it and I wrote a book that I published about ten years ago talking about it. A lot of things that happened over the last 20 years that contributed to that record never being finished.There’s just no way that that album was going to be finished the way that people anticipated it would be finished, there’s too many legal things tied up with former record company. It’s one of those ugly rock in roll old stories and there’s no reason to rehash at all. Legend one, Legend two, those albums were released when they were completed and I’m very proud of those records and I’m thankful that people still give a damn about those albums today. Legend 3-1 was kind of an official release and Legend 3- 2 which was absolutely not an official release. The Legend 3 project was never supposed to be split into two records. I was pressured into doing that so in a nutshell I’ll just say this once and for all, Legend 3-1 that was released and was a pretty good solid series of demos. Legend 3-2 is a really bad demo of what that record was sort of sounding like back in 2002 and 2003.”
When asked about upcoming Live shows and record labels
“Right now I have not talked to any labels yet. I have recently partnered up with someone to begin looking into booking for next year a proper tour.
I’m not sure how far that’s gonna reach but I’d like to at least get to the States so that’s a possibility. As far as the solo album my goal is to have it out by the end of the year, I don’t know if that’s gonna happen or at least have a single or two or a couple of songs released before.”
When asked about his David Bowie project with his Brother Jeff Clayton
“We just did it ourselves. When Bowie died I was kind of profoundly moved by by how emotional it made me. I don’t think I was ever really sad about a celebrity dying but I felt a void and over the next six months my brother and I kind of talked a little bit and and we just threw around the idea of wouldn’t be cool if somebody somebody kind of went through like a decade of his music and recorded it as a tribute. But go through the most important decade in 1970s. We put together a little love letter, a song from each album one song from each year and put them put them together. That idea blossomed and by the end of the year we had a 12 tracks. During that Bowie decade project the guys from Saviour Machine kind of started coming around and saying hey you know if you need something we can help. And before he knew it halfway through the year halfway through the project we had everybody back from the band. By the end of it Saviour Machine was basically recorded the David Bowie record. We had so much fun doing it that we just thought we’d just keep going and make a new Saviour Machine album so that’s the connection. You can check out all the songs from the David Bowie project on Band Camp for free. Eric and Jeff Clayton David Bowie.”
When asked about his Farewell video to his fans in 2009
“I had a cancer diagnosis at the time. Worse than that I was taken 16 to 20 pills every day from Oxycontin, Percodan, Vicodin, muscle relaxers, Prozac and Xanax and I was smack dab in the middle of the U.S. medical system and basically every every doctor had me on something. I was on quite a cocktail of meds during that time. Thankful to say that though it all came crashing down in a weird way. I’m thankful to still be standing here and thankful not to be taking 16 pills anymore. ”
“The Video was a terrible thing to do to my audience and hey it really was not a kind thing to do because it probably worried people more than anything. It was too cryptic. It’s interesting that you mentioned that video because that was 2009 and that’s ten years ago and if I if I think about where I was ten years ago where I am today um yeah there’s a lot lot that’s happened in between brother. I’m thankful for the opportunity to speak with you and your listeners today and I really appreciate your time Jimmy it’s been good talking to you it’s been a great chat. ”
Saviour Machine is an American Gothic/ Prog/metal band that formed in 1989. They have released five studio albums and two live albums on Frontline and subsequently on MCM Music, distributed through Massacre Records. Saviour Machine’s music and lyrics deal with war, death, and personal introspection as it relates to prophecy and divine revelation
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