Behind the Scenes at Wacken: Crimson Glory Talks Festivals, Touring, and Prog Metal Evolution

0:04 Hy you have done two censure. See wow for you. Young this is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio and I'm here with Travis. Wills Jeff Lords of Crimson Glory. Nice here on Holy Ground. You made it to the Holy Ground. Have you guys ever played walking before? We have never played valking before. So wow, I'm a real treat and personally for me a bucket. List right because it's like the biggest festival in the world exactly.

0:48 How about for you? Yeah, I mean this is great, this is fantastic. It is totally huge. It's like bigger. It's even bigger than I imagine. Same for me, Like I do festivals all over the US, you can Europe and I do Healthest every year. So as I'm flying over, I'm like, I know, it's the biggest one thing, is it? Can it really be bigger than that? Much bigger than the Healthest. Because health Fest is huge. I've been here for four days and I still haven't seen it all. It's that big. Oh It's it's over stimulating for sure. Right, It's like, oh my god, it like never ends. You're just walking and walking at somebody I wanted to do an interview at like this stage that's like a forty minute walk and I'm like, well, I have an interview this time, and this time I don't think I'll be able to make it that far, you know. And what was it like, like the whole experience at walking that you've had.

1:48 I'm still trying to process it. I'm glad that I took some video. Actually I took a small clip from the stage, and man, it's been so great, So I feel absolutely fulfilled. We put on a great show U and the fans loved it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm more or less reader what he's what he's saying. Excuse my voice a little bit of horse. But uh yeah. It was a great stage and the crowd was just totally they were going nuts, totally into it. It truly gives the definition of being the holy ground because like this audience here, they come from all over the world, all walks of life, for one purpose to unite in a community of rock and metal, and they don't care about any of the gatekeeping that, like you stolways happen. It's like you're just there and they love you that you're here. On the Holy Ground to perform for them.

2:54 Oh yeah, oh yeah. And like I said, I mean they've been like super in super kind and everybody is like all the stage hands and stuff have been like super gracious. It's so good to hear. Yeah. Yeah, we've really enjoyed ourselves. Oh and the food, it was amazing. I was gonna ask about that because other artists are telling me about catering. I'm like, you gotta be shitting me, because like in the States, some of it's not so good. You know, the States, they totally drop the ball when it comes to catering. They drop the ball when it comes to take care of their artist. Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, they could learn a thing or two, a lot lot more than two on how to treat artists well.

3:42 And we've always known that Europe is like the place for festivals, but until you experience it, you just don't really understand. And I think taking care of the artists is the most important thing, because if you're stressed out at loading and soundcheck and you're not going to being fed, it's not easy to put on a good show. No. No, I mean you know, we basically we we came in. They brought us from the hotel that we were at, and they brought us right up to the stage. We went up to the stage, pulled our gear plugged in, and we did a line check and did a one song to make.

4:28 Sure all the levels were fine. And you know, they they listened to our needs and got our sound dialed in and like I said, just super accommodating and really cared about if everything was okay for us and so that we could go up there and have a great show. And they did. Man, I never heard of maybe it happens. I've never heard of an artist being picked up at the hotel and brought. Straight to the stage like that. Like that, that's going above and beyond totally. Vakan has her own line of shuttles at say Vawkan on the side. And they pick up all the artists. I guess they keep them at one or two different hotels and they pick us up and then they'll you know, take us back.

5:15 Yeah, so great. And I heard about the catering, like they have like unlimited steaks like what last bad I overview, they just kept bringing us more steak. Steak's a little too heavy for me. But yeah, they have a long line of different food. See, I had the curry chicken soup and it was amazing, the pulled pork, the chicken. Yeah, everything was so good. Even the food outside. I've had two of the best meals I've ever had a festival here at Vadkan, Like you know, because you know how it is in the States. It's almost like fair food.

5:55 Yeah, big failure on on the States. That's it's it's a shame it is because that's why vokins so big. Yeah, it's why it's so successful. Yeah, white sells out year after year. Yeah, you have to take care of the artists first. That's my opinion. I think you are the reason people come to this festival or any festival, and so you might as well make the. Experience the best. It is absolutely one story from both of you, because they're probably different, maybe not good or bad in your whole musical journey, that sticks in your mind most what would it be, Well.

6:39 You said good or bad? Yep. I think Hell's Heroes was a good It was a good example of a that's like one of the first outdoor festals we played with you in the band, right, yeah, is it the first one? No? No, outdoor first outdoor show wasn't it. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, I guess it was. So that was a good one. So and about about that experience would be on our way here, we had delays coming out of our own state, Florida in Tampa. I'm in West Palm, you're in West Palm. Cool. But anyway, so we had to wait like six and a half hours to get to get rebooked on another flight. So then you have the six hours on top of the eight hours.

7:20 You know what I'm saying. I do fly abroad, I do totally. And I was at Hell's Heroes. Yeah, and for a small festival, it was running pretty well. I have to say, yeah, you know so yeah, and that makes it even worse, right, Like it's already a long flight, it's already six hour time difference. Now you're going to tack on another six and a half hours, right. Then a train ride on top of that. We were looking at like sixteen seventeen hours. Of just getting here, yep, yep. So but we pulled it off. I mean, and like like we've been saying, they've been very accommodating here.

8:01 It makes it easier, right exactly, Like after all that, you can go ah, because that would suck if you get here and load into big issue and soundtracks a big issue topped on all that. So it's like you get here after all that bullshit and then you go, oh, okay, it's good now. So now what comes next for you guys over the next year in its entirety, Yeah, meaning like music, you know what you have going on that you want to talk about. Just more shows, like what we're playing in Greece tomorrow, right, Nice and Greece, we're playing in Crete, then we're playing progu Uh where are we playing in Atlanta?

8:49 Yeah, we've got We've got playing. Progbouer in Atlanta, and we got four. More shows here in Europe and that's the end of the run. And and then after that then we've got prog Power then three more two more shows after that in the States, and then after that we'll start doing touch ups on the the new album. I mean, me and Jeff have been writing the next album and we're about four songs in and uh, I got a few touch ups we want to make and and then after that we'll continue writing more for the album. Nice and how will the album be different than other albums?

9:33 And as the artists, I. Can't really elaborate it on too much of this. There might be some surprises. I liked surprises. Well, it's a new lineup, so I mean, yeah, yeah, it was like we were a little bit apprehensive when we put this, when we put this out, the new album out, because you don't know what's gonna happen. Yeah, you're trying to you're trying to top Transcend. It's more or less those are like tops. According to fans, that's their favorite album, and we're just trying to bridge the gap between that album and what we're doing now. And you kind of want to do something different a little bit too, because if you try top that album but you do it the same, it might not have the impact. And like you evolve as a musicians.

10:22 You can't really you can't really recreate an era exactly. You can capitalize on some of the musical elements that you established when you like, if you're considered a pioneer of that style, which I guess we are of the prog metal kind of pioneers of that totally. But yeah, so you just you keep elements of what you did and you add and you just do something more contemporary, more you know, innovative you try to be anyway. That's what I'm thinking, Like, you got. To keep mixing it up because as an artist, if you're not challenging yourself, it gets too boring. I say it all the time, Like you have to evolve, you know, you have to, especially when you get better at your craft. You don't want to still pay the same things as when you weren't.

11:09 You know, playing for years, you know type of thing. You want to use the expertise and the talent that you've you've acquired since then. Right. I love your shirt, by the way, that's the coolest shirt ever. It says for did you really for the for the audience? It's kind of like a movie rating, and it says PM PROG medal for intelligent oience is only that's my favorite part right there. And it says may contain unorthodox song structure, long songs, technicality, use of nonstandard time signatures, and meaningful lyrics. That says it all that is that that should be a crypto short.

11:52 Thank you for reading it because I never knew what it said said medal, that's all I remember. That's all you cared about, right, But you know what it is true because I think prog metal is probably one of the most intelligent types of music and types of metal, because it's like you go through this journey. Unfortunately, most of the listening population doesn't give a flip about that exactly run you know, they don't care if it's thought provoking or not, as long as you know what I'm saying, as long as they could shake their ass to it or whatnot. Some of my favorite songs kids wouldn't listen to today because it didn't get to the part they wanted quick enough, Like I think it should tell a story like even you take like you take an album like Dark Side of the Moon. How can you just listen to a few seconds of that and get the idea? And I think that's the same for any prog medal. You know, is there a band that you've never played with that you would like to play with?

13:00 I've never I've never really given that much thought. Honestly, Well, there you go. I think you've done it all right. I would probably like to play, but nevermore. There are plenty of bands that come to mind for me, Symphony X, you are sure who, No, we haven't we play it. We'll show I was the show with the curve Na looking in Sidney that I don't know. I know they're no longer around, but I mean fates warning.

13:44 Let's see. Joey is a good friend of mine. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for many years. I'll tell you a funny story. When I was fifteen living on the Sunset Strip area, I was good friends with them, and me and my bro we went to Joe and we went to and the whole band and we're like, hey, they didn't have merch yet. Hey, if we make T shirts and pins, can we sell them at your shows? And we'll give you fifty percent And he's like sure. So now you fast forward many years and I was doing an interview with him, which is different than most because like we've been friends all these time, and he's talking about how I was the original merch company and he goes, but I'll tell you something you don't know, and he goes, you know that famous shirt of a picture of Lars. He's holding guitar.

14:33 He's like fifteen years old and has an armored Saint shirt on, and it's like all over the internet. I'm like, yeah, he goes, that's your shirt. I'm like, you're shitting me, and he goes and he still has it. I'm like, I don't even have it. He goes neither why And then like a month later, I interviewed Lars's kids and I didn't talk about it in the interview, but after the interview, basically I asked them and they're like, yeah, he probably that's he has a whole closet full, oh wow, of everything he's ever had in his whole career. So I'm like, that's pretty wild. Maybe I'll have to go knock out the doore and say, hey, give me my shirt back. But anyway, you guys killed it here at VAKIN and I'm glad I got to talk to you, and I hope we see a lot more of you at these great festivals and everywhere else. And as Kindred Spirits from Florida, and thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man.

15:31 Thank you, thank you very much for this opportunity. You got it. This is Travis Wills from Crimson Glory. You're listening to Pipeman on W four cy dot com. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man. I'm w for CUI Radio.