From Cyprus to Wacken: Speak in Whispers Talk Metal, Growth, and the Power of Festivals

0:04 Hi, you love unto Here's true wow for you your This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio, and I'm here with Andreas. And Andreas from Speaking Whispers Nice. I can't believe you found me at the holy ground of valking. We met last year Bloodstock. You found me there. I think you're stalking me personally. I don't want to take praise for that, but maybe we are. It's possible. You wouldn't be the first, except usually it's females. I prefer them stalking me, but bands are safer. I don't think you get to choose your stalkers. So this is what you get.

0:54 You get us, Yeah, exactly. So were you part of that whole crowd. Running in the infield just to come here for an interview? Did you see that? Were you out there for that? Oh my god? It was insane like as you know, I do a lot of interviews, yeah, and a lot of festivals. This reminded me of only one festival, and it was in nineteen eighty three in the US called the UTS Festival. There were three hundred thousand people and they opened the gate and everybody ran in like cattle. Trampoing each other to get to the front. And well, so I just happened to be out there. I didn't I've never been here before. I didn't do it on purpose.

1:36 I happened to be out there, and this is what I saw it. Maybe you could do the play by play on it. Okay, yeah, yeah, we could commentate. I'll fast forward to the good part. Let's get to the good part. Okay, here we go. So that's whyfield open yet. Yeah, I'm on the I'm in the infield. But they're out there the people that can't come in. And then there's there's see these scary greeters over there, okay, the. Media trying to get pictures from everyone, singing, Yeah, they're the scary people. And then there's like dressed up as monsters and stuff behind them. Okay, they're the better looking. They're the better looking one. Yes, yes, yes, so you'll see there's see them. Yeah.

2:17 Oh they're all in amazing. I don't know how they're fucking in costume. Man, Florida is so fucking hot out there. I was dying and I live in that every day, and I was dying. I mean, we come from an island where we hit thirty five, thirty seven all year. Round, and this for us is quite hot as well, right, okay, so you gotta wait for it. So first they play a little bit of music pumped you can't really hear. But then as soon as you hear Ace of Spades, you know it's on. It's a good engine song. Yeah, it is a zone. So Ace and Spade's gonna come here, it comes coming soon. They're all chanting out there in German. I have not an idea what they were saying.

2:58 What is the security doing there? Can they stop people from rushing in? I mean, oh no, they're gonna let them in like cattle. Okay, yeah, they're not stopping that. I had to jump out of the way, man, Like I was standing there doing this filming and when they came, I had to jump out of the way. Now, now watch what happens. It's coming. It's coming soon, dude, dude, dude. A lot of people waiting in line, my man, the Ace of Spades. The last time I saw a line like this is when McDonald's first opened in Cyprus. That that's funny because in uh in the States, my ex father in law he lived in this little town called Woodstock, Virginia. It's probably smaller than than Voking. And uh, they had a ticker tape parade when they opened the McDonald's there because that was like the biggest thing ever happened in town. But these people like they're they're ready to go, man, and they're chanting in German. I don't even know what they're saying. Say fucking good crowd, man, I mean, crowd. Unbelievable what these founders did with this festival from one little festival and the first main here we go, it's going down. See they just opened and move out of the way to security. It's like, see how I had to get the hell out of the way.

4:23 I mean, they have zero regards for human life. No, they trampled me, you know, like it's worse than a marsh pit. This was like it's an all with death five point zero. And then there's another one on the other side. And look at that that shit smell. That's like some sulfur shit going on. And then down yeah, exactly, let's knock them out before it really get crazy. And they're on the other side's doing the same thing. So it's like the insane. Let me tell you something, I walked around this saying, I even covered the whole thing. I was so hot. I thought Hellfest was big till I got here. Dude, this is massive. I mean I couldn't believe it, and I mean you can.

5:09 You can even see it on the smaller stages, like on the Wet stage and on the head Banger stage where we played. I don't even know where those are. It was the same thing. Man Like, as soon as they opened the gates and they let people in, they poured in. It was crazy. That's the thing. I think. There's so much, so much people attending this festival that every single stage, big, small, regardless it gets it gets a good crowd because it's just so massive. I'm just so impressed that these people that founded this festival so with probably not even the sizes of this press ten yeah, and built this massive thing that the whole world knows about. Like everybody I know in the stakes knows about Vodkans in the it's the holy grounds man.

5:58 We're on for thirty five years. Yes, crazy, thirty fifth anniversary. Can you believe that? And I think I think they told me this was the first like metal festival, true metal festival in Europe probably. Yeah. I mean I didn't google that, but I'm pretty sure that's accurate. I mean, did you see that there's like an area with for the veterans only, So there's people that have love the nineteen nineties. They get this special spot where they're last by CUE and it's their own like VIP veterans section. It's got a scien saying veterans section, and it's for everyone who believed in this from the very start. And I think that's like golden because you're giving people something back. It's like you believed in us, now you get special treatment, and.

6:39 That's I think that's that's glorious. That's beautiful, totally one hundred percent. And did you walk through Vakan Village. Oh you gotta check that out too. It's cool you go back there. First of all, that's where all the gourmet food and shit is. Yeah, okay, that's the good food. But you have like these little villages. It looks like like ancient village is with tents and like it's like it's something to see for sure. It's never ending. Man, I got lost like three times today. It's just insane. It's huge. Listen, I was not feeling confident when I drove in that I was gonna ever find the Press ten. Okay, I had no clue where it was, and most people didn't either, because usually at festivals, none of the people at work know where to Press ten is because that's supposed to be like secret even on the map. Yeah, okay, but oh my god, like it's just I'm I'm glad I came to the holy ground there, and it was it was some serious travel to get here, Like I didn't sleep for twenty four hours. Three planes and I layovers that were so close. I'm both layovers that I and the opposite ends of the airport that I was like running through the airport if you ever you might not have but used to be before you know, he got caught being stupid. Oh J Simpson, you see the

8:09 Hurts commercials, he's running through the airport. I've seen those. Actually, I was renting from Hertz here in Hamburg. I had to run through two airports, just like OJ Simpson, with like a fifty pounds backpack on my back, and I barely made it. Like the first stop was Atlanta and that's a huge airport, Like you have to take a train to the other side of the airport and then I got to Amsterdam, which I got Amsterdam a lot. I forgot how big that airport is massive. I had to catch my layover flight and I literally it was the opposite end. I thought it was gonna never end. And literally as I got up there, the last bust to the plane was leaving, and I was like, oh my god, I made it. But see that's proof of the holy ground of voking made or I got here and.

9:02 Like your story before, like if the shuttle didn't come pick us up from our tents to take us to where we were supposed to play the backstage, that there was no way because those like I said, those things are not on the map. Now you open the application, you on the map. Obviously it's not available for everyone. So we would there was It's gonna be no way. Would have found the way to get there about ourselves if nobody would drive us there. I'm going to prove your point my first interview today, I was worried about, Oh, it was gonna be late, try and find it. They were late. They were like thirty minutes late, maybe more. Why because when they reached out to me to try and find out where I am. They were at the wet stage. I don't know how far that is, but I know it's far, pretty far. Yeah, okay, we came here by shuttle. Yeah, I don't know how they got here, but all I know was they had to do some work to make this interview. Maybe if I was the artist, I'm a bit fuck it.

9:59 No, I think everything is worth for a conversation with the pipe man man. Well, that's true, that's true, everything's worth. But I love that you say that, like, that's what I That's what does it for me, not everything else. When artists tell me how much fun it is, because fuck, if I were an artist with some of the interviews I hear, i'd want to slip my throat, to be honest. Not here though, but other festivals that have influencers as interviewers. Yeah, but that's not that's that's different. You're you're a You're an interviewer exactly. Radio guy. Well that's what I am, you know, And these influencers, god bless them, but they're the it's all about me. I'm a it's all about you, Like my job is to make you look good, some harder than others to do with okay, But you know, you know why it's hard for others than me is because you gotta find out what people want to talk about.

11:07 Don't talk about what you want to talk about. You don't give a shit what I want to know. You give a shit about what you want the audience to know about you, and to. Avoid the I mean, sure people want to know some kind of history of the band. But those are available everywhere, and we all look that. You could google that. I ask Alexa that, yeah, yeah, we're not. Here to narrate Wikipedia or something. Yeah. I always used to say that at festivals. Is like I'd say two things. One is, I'm not gonna ask any stupid questions like how you get your band name. Two is, I'm not gonna ask you anything out of Wikipedia unless I know it's bullshit, because then we could dispute it and make fun of it. But other than that, like why do people ask questions that have already been answered that us ours have to answer ten million times?

11:57 And also a conversation like this, you actually get to know who I am more than learning about where speaking whispers comes from. You get to know me as a person in and dress as a person the way we talk the way we converse with. You exactly, and you know, I want to know when you grew up, Where did you grow up and what did you do for fun? Oh? What did you do for fun? Andreas? No, I mean we grew up basically, we grew up together, me and him. We've been we've been. Like friends since yeah, like two three years old, and that's freaking cool. We've started our music journey together. We've been Our first band was together when we were like twelve fourteen years old, and since then we've been in the same projects, like continuously, until we've reached this point where we've made something that's serious and we found other musicians that match our vibe and our wavelength and yeah, we're here.

12:59 So my question to you is knowing each other as long as you do. Did you have to do like James and Laws and go to therapy and make what people think it's a crappy album just to get back and get friendly again. Uh not yet. I actually like saying anger like everybody hates on it. It's great. Actually, it's just that fucking snare man. Oh yeah, like the drum thing. But like I love Invisible Kid and I kind of monster there's a good song. I love Frantic. That's my my favorite on the album. Now, that's classic Metallica. But yeah, what the hell did he do? Is snare? I have no idea. It just sounds like a keke like a beer keg. Yeah, it's like it's weird. It's a weird creative choice. I mean different. Yeah, I can judge.

13:44 I mean I'm not metallic. I mean they're where they are, so they probably did what they thought was better. I could judge those at their first show ever, so you know you covin. Yeah, I had to go through all their bullshit, the Black Album, Saint Angel and sant Anger like it is. Yeah, it is funny though, when I like the Black Album now, but when the Black Album came out, me and my friends that were the like first twenty five fans that went to all their shows religiously or like fucking posers sell out. But it grows on you. It listen, Nothing Else Matters is one of my favorite songs ever. And that's like a mellow song but it's really good and James digs deep in that song and it didn't even want that to be a song.

14:29 I think it's it's also like I can't imagine, like for someone growing up and going through Kill Them All and Ride Lightning, that hits different. But you know, as the years go by and then you listen to you're like, it's still Metallica though, I mean it's still the continuation of what it was before. It's just obviously people grow, you change, you experiment. Something's backfire with the fans, some things don't. Something's the you go back to after twenty years and you're like, actually, that shit's good. You never know what's going to hit the fans, especially if you have core fans like Metallica do. But you know, I think a good band should always investigate new paths, new creative paths, because if you just sound the same for every single album, then yeah, the fans might love it because they're like, yeah, they have their sound, but then you get sick of it.

15:11 Well yeah, I say that all the time. Like I heard Ali say in an interview when they were giving him all that shit for changing up out bring me a Rise and sounds, He's like, why do I want to write the same song and the same record over and over again? Yeah? And I agree with that. If you're an artist, you want to first of all, you want to grow in your craft. Second of all, like you want to experiment and do other things as you go along, because otherwise, yeah, you're bored. And especially for bands that are like ten years plus of being a band, like you grow as a person, you change, and you cannot put a recipe in your songwriting.

15:51 It has to come from somewhere deep. If it's I mean, especially in this kind of music, if you're fake, the fans can't tell yeah you know, and it gets stale. So totally you have to keep and you're all going to write the same shit as you're fifteen or sixteen. Like perfect example, Joe from the Vandals, I've interviewed him a couple of times. We came and became friendly. He knew there was one question I went and asked that every media person asked. So he brought it up in the interview and he goes, and don't ask me. When the Vandals are writing new music, nobody wants a fifty year old write in punk rock songs and like, Although some people would argue with that, the point he's making is the whole point punk rock was yours, this angry teenager against the system, against the government against everything, and you may not think that way at fifty.

16:44 The thing is, I agree with that, and like, I don't think that because the bound is still active and they're hitting sixty maybe even some of them do. You don't necessarily need to write new music. People are your fans of what you've done. So if you hit like a creative block where you're like, Okay, I'm too old to even think about writing music or I'm not inspired anymore, just play what you've done already. I don't think people mind. Yeah, you've worked, you're asked for for forty years. How many bands do that? Like when the last time certain bands put out an album? You know, Yeah, there's no need after certain for me. I mean, I don't know how people don't Why I hear the new shit? Yeah, you know, like they like what they like, Play the hits, that's what they want. I mean, if you're.

17:25 At that age and you're still playing, that means you've reached a legendary status nodowns of the people. So there's no need to put out anything new unless your creative. Juices are still flowing like you were twenty years old, and I do think seventy two Seasons was a good album. I think hard Wire that was a great comeback. When I first heard Hardwirre that song, I'm like that kill mall Metallica. That's the thing. Their creative juices came back. You're gonna hear the writer's block. That's fine everybody. It happens to everyone, and in all kinds of industries, not just music, you know, films, writers, television series. Some people you hit it. Sometimes you hit a book where you're like, damn it, I can't think of anything good.

18:08 Take a pause, or you're so stuck in the pattern, like I've experienced that. Because there's certain things I used to do in interviews I don't really do so much anymore because there's a couple of reasons. One is I'm like, well, what if people are listening to these interviews and they just hear me saying the same shit. Second is like, I've interviewed so many bands so many times now I get worried that I say the same stuff with the same band and they recognize it, you know, So you got to change it up so that doesn't happen. Yeah, but I'll have a question for you now, isn't the person you can interview me. I'm interviewing Pipe main now. So don't you sort of react to whoever's in front of you though? So absolutely yeah, So the interview can never be the same.

18:53 And I do more than just react to what you say. If you've noticed, I look at imoved, and so I look at body movements. I look at tattoos. Even I pick shit out that I know they're gonna want to talk about, you know, like with tattoos, when you pick out one of their cool ones, they always are like feeling, they're smiling that you're talking about that because they have some thing about it, and I I tell you the story. So what I've been thinking the whole time is what wrong? What was wrong with that tattoo that got removed? It wasn't removed, just unfinished. Oh guys like it looks like somebody did laser to remove it and they're not done.

19:35 It's a really old tattoo. But you know, I'm one of those guys that I can never finish anything. I just keep starting new ship and I'm I'm I'm trying to finish everything all at once and then everything gets left like unfinished. So what which are the tattoos? Do you really like, Oh my god, why did I fucking do that? My my my favorite is my fun piece I want gay as. I'm like, oh, that's badass. You should have been standing out there when the crowd was coming in with your shirt up, like you look like the other ones. Son. No, but that's why we keep him topless on stage. Say, there you go, Like, and people are probably like focused on that. They're like, oh, is he evil? I don't know.

20:20 I mean he gives up a bit of a menacing presence. No doubt, no doubt. It's good to look evil on stage, So that's why you dress him up when he's off stage so people are not scared. Yeah, there you go. And it's also it's kind of like, you know, Guar have interviewed them a few times with and without their costumes. I've told them literally straight out, put the costume back on. You look a lot better. That's what you expect to see, right Yeah. Yeah, And you know, even though I'm doing audio interview, I'm interviewing heavy Soaurus and they email me because it's in the audio, They're like, well, we dress up in as Diosaurs. I'm like, well, fucking bring it on. I can paint the picture. They don't.

21:05 You know, Radio is, you know, theater of the mind. You create the visual, okay, and then it's actually cooler than when they actually see it, you know, because listen, you look at some of the stuff that some of the top radio people did. If they do video that are like shock jocks, it ain't funny when you can see what they're doing. Like I used to do bits on my show before we did video, like where I would go pick and pretend that I went and picked up off the off the turnpike in Florida, went the homeless people with the cardboard signs and brought them in the studio to interview them. And then I would play both roles like I would interview and then I would answer nobody knew. But if you have video on, they're gonna know. So paint the visual. Ruin's the magic. I'm gonna paint them as you know, scarier dinosaurs than they are.

21:57 They'll probably come up looking like lovable dinosaurs. I'm gonna paint them like they're gonna eat my freaking head off. You know. Sometimes that's better. Man. It's like when you're reading a book and you can picture in your mind, what what all the things describing is? Yeah, and then you you can see maybe if you if that book gets made into a movie. Then nobody likes the movie. When I read the about first, because you have a load of the rings. That's really think the lore in in your in your mind, and then you always get disappointed. Yeah, because you're allowed to let your imagination go. And that's key, you know. So I have a very important question.

22:39 How come your gauge is bigger than his? You mean the ear gauge? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm trying harder. Okay, there you go. I definitely the right answer with Ben, because I'm bigger and I don't mean heightwise. Hell yeah. And I stopped at one point because it is kind of fucking painful. I was like, yeah, I'm gonna give it a break now because I've had enough of pain. I only had one piercing my left ear and it was a girl. It's always a girl, and I was a teenager and she goes, let me pierce your ear. I wanted to bang her, so I'm like, okay, And she took her ear ring, every ear and the potato and that was it. She put the potato behind my ear and went, you know what, though, it's still I can still slip an earring in it, and I've been worn one since I'm like eighteen. You know, she did a good job. Fuck go into these piercing places. Just do it yourself, unless it's your nose. My daughter found that out real quick. Yeah, my youngest daughter. She asked again, No, its piercing. I thought she was too young to do it yet, so I said no, Yeah, Well it gets better.

23:55 I'm sitting in my bedroom and one day she comes in my bedroom cry and I can see that the nose ring halfway in, and she's like, yeah, I tried to do it myself and it won't go through and it stuck of it. And then I'm like, okay, I'm taking you to a professional now, because at this point you gotta do it. Might as well do it the right fucking way. Kind of beat him, Join him right. Listen, funny story about my earring. I'm a jew. I want to talk about how stupid teenagers are. I had long hair and I had a dangling upside down cross. My hair used covered all the time. One day, it's in California, Santa Ana winds, which are really strong winds pushed my hair behind my ear and my dad saw it, and he was pissed because I even asked him about game that pierced first, and he was like, over my dead body, now I'm wearing an upside down cross, which he doesn't know there's a difference between upside down and the right side up. So he starts yelling at it, and I said, dead serious. I wasn't even joking, but dead it's an upside down cross. It's not about Jesus or Christianity. I'm not going against my religion. It's about Satan. Ye saved it, but well, because Jews don't believe in Satan anyway, so I'm thinking that will work. No great save manat I know, right, Yeah,

25:31 And then I did other stupid stuff like I used to take fish swivels and hang them down this length of my hair. I would put anything in that fucking I. Used to do the same, like because uh, there's mandatory military service in Cyprus and I had all a peer since young and obviously I didn't want to take him out for two years because then I'd have to redo them. So I do. I do the fishing line, which is like see through, so I just spent two years with like lines of fishing line in my ears, just trying to get by the military service without losing my piercings. I'll go a step further. My son in law he had a gauge and he would join the military. He basically took something and ripped up his ear so it was so it would heal back together. So he like he tortured himself to get it closed, and that was the only way to do it, and then he got into the military. Not as that was fucked up. Me on the other hand, when it was time to join the military, I'm like, I'm not fucking cutting my hair by that. That was my reason for not joining the military.

26:34 Why I cut my hair? That's how you know you're hardcoreing up for the US military. Though, I give you. If you went into the trouble to cut your own ear off just to get into the military, then I mean you can't do anything exactly. Okay, So I have to ask you a question, by the way, and it's like one of those stupid things that people like you get annoyed by. But uh so I have to ask you. Yeah, you're in Greece, cypress, Okay, Greek. Yeah it's close. Yeah, yeah, very okay, So. Do you know Audre Lagoo? I'm doing this because like people do that today. Oh you're in Florida? Do you know so and so?

27:21 Do you know that it takes me twelve hours to drive my door's house on the opposite side of Florida Prize? Would you be I actually knew her though, That would be fun. She is an artist, though, and I would have laughed. That's why I wanted to bring it up. I mean, that would have been good if Oh yeah, maybe I do know her. And I did that on purpose because most Americans wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Cypress and Greece. Yeah, I mean I think, well, probably Americans don't really know geography. But that's why I'm Europe. They know their own thing. They know the fifties and fifty one states. No, it's fifty. But we have Puerto Rico too. It's not officially at stake, it's just someplace we own. Yeah, that's like like other place. Holy, we never leave anywhere, Okay, we go, we stay forever, and we take ownership, including this country. Like what the fuck? We got bases all over this country? You own half of it a bottom point exactly. Both of my kids were stationed in Germany at one point, you know, and I'm like, it's kind of weird like that these people let us be here, you know, with our military.

28:26 Same as Cyprus, I mean, because we were under British rule and then they left in nineteen fifty nine, but they still have two military bases. So it's like, oh, if you. Own something, then on your way out, I'll just keep a little part for myself. One time, I was driving and my daughter was stationed in bomb Holder, which is this little old German town, like nobody would ever know in America where that is unless they our military. And as I as I was driving there, I still had a ways to go and I need a gas bat and I was in the middle of nowhere. So I hit the GPS and it directs me to a gas station. The gas station that directed me too, was on base in Kremstein, and I was like, I did drive up and they're like, but it says the gas station is here, we need gas. Yeah, Like they were not happy with me. Try to drive up to the gate. You know, I'm American, Let me in.

29:28 I'm American. Let me in now. It's the same as when I go home from here. I can't get into my own country. It's so fucked up right now. Like the last time, which was only last month, I had to go back home. It's funny we keep talking about immigration, okay, but all the people that were non citizens went to the front of line and walked right in. I had to sit online for two hours, and then they asked me ten million questions, why are you here? Well, look at my license. I live here, okay, but what are you doing here going home? Like are you fucking serious? You're asking me like, it's kind of fucked up right now.

30:10 We have I don't even know what we're doing over there. Okay. That's why I'm so happy every time I have to leave, and when I get home, I'm there for like thirty seconds. I'm like, get me back out of here. I spend like half the year not living there. Because you should move to Europe, man, I believe we would love to have you over. I'm all ready, it's already on my radar. I've I come here for like on the off season of the festivals. I'm kind of an idiot. I live in Florida, where all the snowbirds go. I live there during the hot time, and during winter I leave and go live in the Netherlands for two months, and then Denmark where it's freezing.

30:50 So you experienced bad weather all year round. Yeah, exactly, because then I'm going, like during the summer to the UK as pie polar weather. I would love in the UK, but I don't need anything else, anything else bipolar in my life, especially weather. Okay, at Bloodstock, listen, I have to put my hoodie on for one interview, take it off for the next interview, put it back on. Experience all four seasons in one hour. I hate having a pack to go to the UK, because I packed for winter and summer, and then even going to the festival, I pack in my bag. I'll wear shorts or jeans, depending on how it starts out, put the other in my bag, put a thermal in my bag, key boots, hoodie in my bag. Always listen over there, like download especially.

31:41 Always have to have two pairs of shoes with you. Oh yeah, because a lot of times I come over this direction and I'm getting rid of one pair at least. When I did grass Pop, I literally ran out of three pairs. I had three pairs two years ago. I wasn't thought a grasspop. I lost a shoe. I lost three pairs three I found in this store bought a pair of like, oh fuck, I got a buy bear. Luckily there was this store and they I got that big warehouse that the big warehouse place. I'm like, I still have those boots now, I mean no shoes now. I actually like them, but it was like I would have never bought them. I don't even know the brand like it. I didn't care at that point.

32:24 I was just walking out and my foot got stuck in mud, and then I tried to pull it out, and I was like, I have no shoe on. I'll tell you what too. Like my psychic power was working overtime because last year I was gonna apply for vokking and I decided not to and love what happened. I remember watching him going, oh, thank god I didn't go, because that was sucked and this place is too freaking big to deal with that. I've been at festivals in the state where literally I was knee deep in mud like that bad and I pulled my foot out and I shoot income with it. That was the last time we did there. Are two festivals we did there. They moved a venue after that, because you used happen every year one festival half of it got canceled, the other one completely. And it was the year you're ready for this.

33:16 It was the year Slayer came back and they were headlining. Now I'm like, fuck me, what, Like I'm hanging out like no, I want to see Slayer fucking open this festival. Back up, man, Like, what kind of metal shit is that You're gonna close it down by a little you know, mud holes and shit. Come on, embrace it. Download. I almost fucked myself up pretty bad this year cause we got evacuated from download. I've been evacuated like so many times this year I can't even stand it. I did Rockville in Florida, evacuate three out of four days. I had forty two interview scheduled, fourteen got canceled a couple of them in the middle. The best was do you know the band's psycho stick? Yeah?

34:04 Yeah, okay, we got the code read during that interview. That was the funniest shit ever. They just start freaking out and they're right, hold on, and we didn't leave, like they're telling us leaving we're not leaving, We're not leaving, and they're like, they were so fucking funny, and we did finish the interview amazing. You know, a music is hilarious. It would be the only thing that would have made better is these mics, are you know their metal? If while we were sitting there, the lightning came down struck both mics, that would have been better if we were interviewing Metallica though, for Ride to Lightning. Yeah, and if someone was there just a snipe of picture, yeah, okay, And so now I want your opinion.

34:45 Yeah. So the guy that hads this band on my shirt, who I met the first Metallica show ever when he was actually in Metallica. You know, he always talks about how he wrote Ride the Lightning and he put it on the Fine No album. Do you like Metallica's version better? Do you like Metallica's Dave mustayin version better? Or do you like Dave Mustay and Megadeth version better? I think that it's a great, like, you know, complete the cycle kind of moment. Yeah, totally, because that's the beginning of his career, in the end of his career. Yeah, obviously, I don't want to go through the whole dispute of the Metallica and Mustay situation, because that's that's been played.

35:26 Out to me exactly. I think that both versions have an equal gravity in the history of metal itself. It's I know, obviously it's not the end of metal that Dave Mustain is retiring, but he has been a huge part of it. And I think this was a great, great, full you know, uh finish for his career. I loved it as a sentiment. I do think obviously that he's passed his prime vocally obviously, but I mean, I'm not gonna judge that the sentiment. That is personally, yeah, I think it killed him, but he never knew how to saying anyway. I'm not even saying that bad way. I'm saying that because one of my best friends is Dan Spitz, original guitars for Anthrax, and he was friends with Dave, and when Dave got kicked out of Metallicy, he said that Dave said, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know. I sing and Dan told him, don't sing. Talk now you listen to Mega Death. What does he do? He talks sings, you know.

36:28 But I mean, he's a tough thing to be compared with James I exactly James is. It's he's one of the best I've ever did this at least at least my personal opinion. And now I have a trivia question for you. What does he do that makes him the best fastest downpicker ever? I think? I mean, I saw an interview that is the way he holds. Three three finger hope. Yeah, yeah, makes so much sense because I remember when I was playing guitar door like this, I kept dropping the pick. But with that you have it tight and you can put something serious.

37:10 But even with that man, you can never match the speed and the precision he does. Even after what happened to his arm, Like mad props for James after that happening and still killing it on the guitar like that. And if you listen to like, there's like a lot of isolated guitar tracks from early albums and he triple tracked everything so left right centered guitars and they all sound identical. And it's tape. You know, it's not edited. It's yeah, he recorded it and you hear it back and you're like, holy shit, this man, this man can do what everyone now does with editing.

37:51 He could just power through it. But what's interesting about James is in the beginning, when Mustane was in the band, he hit in the back. He did he was not a front man. Even though he was the frontman, he was like really shy, and he didn't come into his own until after Mustaine was at a band. I think when Tallica Win never survived with Mustaane in the band, not because of a vain talent. Three people with that much ego is never gonna work. You know, if you look at the outcome, instead of having one band out of the big four, you ended up with two, yes exactly for everyone exactly. And you know, it's like another song. To compare Mechanics to Four Horsemen. Mechanics was the original version. I like both.

38:41 I like both. They're both cool. I think I like the lyrics better and Four Horsemen and Mechanics, But I mean they're both. They're like two different songs even though they're the same song. You know, we got two great thrash bands out of it, so much metal history out of it, And you know, I think, despite of how it happened, which was obviously bitter and sad, I think the end result. Was had to happen. Yeah, I had to happen. But I do say that. You know, back then their name was Alcoholica, so you must be a real bad alcoholic to get kicked out for alcohol and Alcoholica. Like I think about that all the time because I used to be at those parties with them and it was prey out of control. But it was in the eighties. We don't have proof, no social media, no phones, no internet.

39:37 Thank god, there's no proof that I was in the eighties, okay, because it's not good. Okay, And oh that's what I forgot to bring it with me today. That's what I was going I should pull out right now. Are you gonna be here all weekend? Yeah? Okay. I actually I can show you something. I'm my phone. I don't know if I pulled this out at Bloodstock for you, No, No, I think we had a very very different conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'm gonna show you my battle vest from the eighties. Cool, it was before these pre made ones like you had to do it yourself. Do you still have it like to back at home? I had, no, I have it at the hotel. I use it sometimes in interviews I think I didn't bring it today because there's nobody that I was interviewing that would get it and like get us into it, Like I don't use it all the time.

40:31 But I'll tell you who really geeked out about it, and I'll show you Winston from Parkway Drive. Okay, Oh yeah, he totally geeked out about Like the whole interview ended up him just going over my battle vest. And there it is, and you can see the wars it's been in. It's practically white, like from the years of like Washington, I never washed it. He never washed. That's got fun, it's got blood on it. The past are ripped up, like when I knocked out my teeth fall apart. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm not gonna fuck with it, Like, look at it. He's gonna pull it up. Look at that that you could tell like if anybody wants to not believe I've been in mash pits, look at my fucking battle vest. What you had on the left side. Is that one of the original muster of puppets one. I think it's before Master. It's a jump in the fire one. Whoa dude, just like he was freaking out. He's like, I've never seen a logo like that.

41:30 They never did a Devil Shit. It wasn't devilshit was jumping the fire, you know. And Slayer didn't even have a patch yet. So I bought velvet lettering and ironed it on. And they thought. People in La thought I was a gangbanger and that was my gang name. One. No, no, this is before Master Puppets even came out. This is like right as Kill, mall came out some of it before, Like I I drew on there. You have to come back and see me over the weekend and I'll bring it in and some kind of a hole of fame, I'm telling you. And dude, I drew all the logos on there, and there's like punk metal, like there's bands that don't even exist on there anymore.

42:14 Exodus the original Exoss logo I drew on there, not the one you know of the original one when Kirk was in the band Nice. And how about that Kirk has his own band and he leaves his own band to join Metallica. He had to know something, but didn't he work out better for both? I think it did for it. He had to know something, But I do know that for a fact because they all, you know, all the bands that that group, they all knew Metallica was something special and was going to go somewhere they weren't going to go. They all knew it. And that's from their own mouths even now, you know. So maybe that's why he did it, you know. And then just it's so weird, Like I saw him with Bob McGovney before Cliff Burn, you know, and so it's so weird to be how it all transpired. It's like they manufactured the perfect band, is what they did, you know, kids and Kirk. They brought in Kirk balanced because he didn't have ego, you know, like Dave had too much ego.

43:21 Kirk was like, yeah, I'll go along with Lars and James. I'm cool with that, you know. And so that's like you guys, you guys are the James and Mars. Yeah, you can't have egos clashing in a band. No, I mean James and Lars they both have big egos, but for some weird reason, they're not clashing there. They have one mind. They have their own side of who's who's in charge of what. But there was a time in the eighties that there was talk of kicking laws out of and for real, all right, that really happened.

44:04 For us, Like obviously we're a tiny speck in the metal industry right now today. Yeah, after your Vadkan performance, let's hope this now like you're gonna be like the biggest band on the planet. I mean, and we do hope we have a career in this. But I think there's still like a part of us that we are proud of what we're doing. Don't get me wrong, but there's a little a thing back of our head saying, calm down, You've got so much work to do, and you need to work harder, and you need to keep working. So our motive is to always just work hard. Let's let's hope at some point that we're big enough that we can have egos. But yeah, that's that's which comes first, the ego or the big like the chicken or the egg.

44:47 I think I think this is a great question, actually, because I think if your ego comes before you actually make it, that's a bad thing. But if your ego comes because you've actually accomplished something, then you're kind of justified, right, I mean, you've done it. Yeah exactly, and you're usually, and I dick about it. You know, ego is something people tolerate because your art is good, your music is good. If you have the ego and you don't have the music, then there's no reason for people to tolerate the ego exactly. And you know what I find. So I have three tiers for bands they interview. There's the icons, there's the new bands, and there's the ones in the middle that either they didn't make it up there but they're not down there, or they had one hit twenty years ago and they're still like living in that world. Okay, the icons, they're cool as shit because they have no clue to their icons. That's why their icons, because they're all about the music. They weren't about becoming a rock star. They were just about the music. The new bands, you know, they're rising, they want promo, they're cool, they don't have any ego yet. It says middle that have the attitude like I'm God's gift to music and sorry you're not.

46:08 Yeah, and the. Status in the ego should be a byproduct of the music. Not the other way around. Yeah. It's kind of like I like to compare how Americans are. There's wealthy Americans that live on farms with rusty pickup trucks and you'd never and wear overalls and you'd never know they're multimillionaires. Then there's any others that wear five thousand dollars suits, drive a Ferrari and they can't afford to pay their rent on their apartment status, and that's big in Florida. It's that saying where if you if someone's a millionaire, they'll let you know, but if they're a billionaire, you'll never know. Except for the guy that acts like he's a billionaire but just goes bankrupt all the time. I refer to him as resident Rump. I'm gonna steal that one. That's great, right, you know. And I can't get in trouble by AI try and go through my podcast finding you know, somebody making fun of him, you know, like a I won't pick that up, you know, and it fits perfectly, And you know, I shouldn't be saying shit because he lives like fifteen minutes for me. I have to pass him to get to my studio. That's the real I salute him, though every time I passed the studio. It's not like this guy salute though, it's the good kind. Yeah, it's just called it the good kind. It's the kind like

47:39 at least Ronald Reagan Way went to ran in di speech and did yav's, which means the same thing as the sign that I give when I'm going by. He acted stupid, so he insulted all of Iran, all the regime, not the people, but the regime. But he always did that. So yeah, I swallow on her face and everybody's clapping. Meanwhile he's telling the ayahtola, you know, go fuck yourself. But here we are again, Yeah, here we are again exactly. Oh my god, what the fuck? Like, maybe it's true you can write the same music all this year's later, because all you have to do is take songs from the eighties, substitute the names, and it still applies. What the fuck is wrong without as humans? It's gonna say.

48:23 The thing is, you know what the teachers in schools that say learn from history, don't repeat it, and yet we end up doing the same thing. Over in history always repeats itself. Okay, this is good. This is gonna blow your mind. So the Spanish flu, the original pandemic, came out the same time as this pandemic one hundred years before. If you read the newspapers from then, same thing. Everything that happened and everything in the media was the same. What happened after the pandemic, the Roaring twenties. That's kind of what we're experiencing now because all the rich people are getting much richer. What came after that, though, is what's scary. You know what came after the Roaring twenties, right, the Great Depression? And you know, like the way economies are going now, inflation all that. Guess where we're heading.

49:20 I guess we have to prove the Great Depression wrong. It wasn't that great. You will prove them was great? Did I tell them better Depression? Right? Did I tell you at Bloodstock my cure for all the world's problems? Go for it? No? You have? Ah? Okay, so it could be vaking. But one music festival that the whole world is required to attend, except the political leaders. They won't get a risk band, security won't let them in, and we just have one big wall of death and mash pit and work out all our ship because listen, the marsh sort of like the Perge, but with music and not even hurting anybody, because we don't really hurt people in the marsh pit, of course not man, but we get all our shit out. Like I can't tell you how many people on the streets I knew that they are safe now because I went into marsh pits and then kicked the ship out of them.

50:21 We used to be a house band for a venue PAKA in our hometown in Larnaca, and we did this monthly shows where we also played originals and the covers. We called it like angry music therapy session. Yeah, come here, mash headbang go home. You know, the greatest therapy. You get all your anger out. Obviously, like you said, nobody gets hurt. Someone's on the floor, you pick them up, but you get all your your shit out and then you're you're a calm person again. Exactly. That's why instead of arguing, picking sides, attacking, name calling, go in the pit, work your shit out, and then we could all hug each art. Is what happens at the end. All these tough dudes are hugging each other after just mushing. It's the solution. Fuck the guns, fuck the wars, fuck the political leaders, fuck all the bullshit.

51:16 Let's take over with one big wall of death and marsh pit and that's it. I think we should start a campaign Mush for peace. I mean, I'm down. I'm your first supporter, man, I'm in for it, you know. And you know what, now that I've been to the Hallway Ground, now I know where I want this festival because I don't think there's any other festival that's big enough to hold it. Yeah, we may may need to expand a little bit for eight billion people, but sure it's no big deal. That big deal. Well, there is one festival in Austria that like is free you know that way, and it gets like a million people. And this one like that, the biggest free rock festival in Europe. It's the one. It's Poland Rock and Poland Free Festival as well, over a million and one point five times there. It is easy, man, I'm calling them up, call him up. We could have multiple we could.

52:05 Have one in Poland, one in Austria and one in German. Well, I'm sure if we get all the people in the world, that's gonna be you know, they're gonna unite. It's gonna be one exactly, you know how the other is like four pits And then it all turns into one. So we could have a marsh pit like three through three countries, like one big circle pit through all the borders. And instead of shuttles, we can have like flights from one stage to the other. Exactly there you have the machinerup playing. Oh yeah, catch the flight at eight exactly there you go. We gotta make this happen. I'm with you, man picking up. I really wish he was a better person. We could have him spend all our US taxpayer money on that instead of renaming the airport where I live.

52:48 Well, there's there's a trillionaire I think in your country. Maybe we can ask him. Yeah, but he's a fucking asshole. Okay, I'm not talking to him at all. I think I'd rather talk to residents rump before Elon Putts. Anyway, you know, what are you gonna do? So how are you going to top Vodkin now as a band? Like, well, how you top this? But by coming back on a bigger stage? I think there it is. I think that's that's the I mean, there's definitely more festivals that we want to go, I mean big or small. I mean we want to hit them all like Pokemons catch them all. Yeah, you could play there's another thing we could do.

53:31 You could play poke ball. That's what it is, right where you go all over and like you find the Pokemon men in all the different festivals at the different areas. Like my son annoyed me as a grown adult in his thirties. We're driving around Germany and he's stopping everywhere to find these stupid Pokemon Like do that on your own fucking time. I want to get over there. But did he find any? Yeah, then we'd have to stop somewhere stupid, And I'm like, dude, I need to get the Vadkans stop already. It's fun right here though, Well there you go exactly. You know, So what else do you want to tell them about your band? Because we hardly even talked about that.

54:20 Uh yeah, I'm sure you can catch our show that we just had here at Vadkin. It's gonna be on the official live stream. They're probably gonna post it on a voking TV at some. Point, or or get yourself a DeLorean and go back time back in time. To say the right option, you know. Follow us on social media. We are working on our album right now. We're gonna hit the studio when we go back. Hopefully we're gonna have it done by I'm gonna say early next year. Probably hit some festivals, summer festivals next year. If things go well, we might hit a town near you. Just if you like our music, bug your own promoters and ask them to book us. So yeah, nice, Speaking of DeLorean, funny thing is is, there was just an announcement at another festival I covered in the States called Riot, theess that there's a new band, the debut of a band playing there. The person who formed the band what he had a whole list of demands, their funniest shit. But one demand was that bitch the golf cart in backstage. He wants a Dolorean to go to the stage. Guess who it is. It's Captain Jane's t Kirk of the Enterprise William Shatner at ninety five, just started a heavy metal band.

55:39 Oh dude, dearous, dead serious. I am dead serious, said Kirk himself. Yeah, and hold on, give him his chair back. You sorry, you've been stealing other people's Give them their fucking chair back. Why do you do that? I know I told you to, but I told him not to, but he did it actually begged. That's not to but I was adamant. So anyway, what else do you want to say about your band that they need to know except they need to buy your fucking merchant. They can't listen to my. Show Merch Online, which is gonna be available next week because we just got brand new stock and we haven't been able to work it on on our pan camp page yet, So give it a week.

56:27 Well, well, by the time the interview can't hand out. Yeah, it ran out of stock because you're sold out at vaking. Okay, tell he did run out of stock. Truth, we did run out of stock, and we printed the new design. We didn't want to reprint the old one. So that's took a bit of time. We got it now and it's gonna be available next week. But I don't know when you're hearing. This interview, so it'll be soon be next week. Some time, okay, So we'll be out by the time you hear this. There it is, so yeah, I head onto our merch side and yeah, order anything you want. You get a personalized message as well, because we're the ones that's sending the. Merch personally to hand deliver everything. I'll come to your door. Do you use like a horse and buggy. Yeah, yeah, we do the old school way, like paper like you know they used to do paper rouse on the bicycle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we just use it on key because it's very Serpriot like.

57:16 I love it. Listen speak of that. You know you're in Europe. When I was walking around and I saw there was a parking lot for bicycles, you would never see that in the United States. No, No, Europe is very bicycle friendly. US people are too fucking lazy. They don't even want to walk from stage to stage much less right ride their bicycle somewhere. They all need the electric bikes. That's not exercise, dude, get a motorcycle, be a real person. And the very like you know, entitled with their bike lanes. Oh yeah, they're to walk on the bike lane. You hear the bells coming fit me. But yet they have no problem going on the sidewalk where I am, where I fucking elbow, I'm back into the bike lane. I'm a cyclist. I'm just gonna stay out of the conversation. I'll tell you what. That's why I love the Netherlands. Man. I watch it's freezing cold, out and he's Dutch. Just get up and go to work, and they're just like smiling, and I'm like, that's bad ass, this man.

58:14 Netherlands is not a straight you know, it's not a straight country's full of hills. Yeah, they drive like the bicycle. The ride is a one year yeah, and they go uphill with one year minus five degrees going to work smiling. I'm like, what the fuck are they on right? Amazing? Well, I mean they are well, I mean yeah, they are a numsterdown So so you know what. I had a nice long break, the only one of the day between interviews, and I used it for this and now I have to actually end it because I do actually have to go to another interview. Yeah. Man, we really appreciate you, man. And that's all right. I couldn't eat that whole thing anyway. Like in the States, you pay twenty dollars for a little slice of pizza, I paid thirteen euro fourteen euros and this thing was huge.

59:00 That's another excuse for you to move to Europe. I'm telling you, I have my passport on me at all times if I need to make escape, because I think I'm a Jew. The next thing happened in my country is concentration camps. Okay, and I'm out. I'm moving to Germany to get away from the concentration camps. I'm just telling you that's a juxtaposition, right, you know. I mean, like, oh my god, it's it is pretty sad. But I love it here and I love vaking, and I love you guys. I'm glad you stock. I'm glad you stalked me. I'm glad I was on my break and we got this taken care of. Look he even has a star David over here. It's hidden in the lines, it is, Yeah, I can see it. It does look like a star David on there. So see, you're my kindred spirit.

59:54 Yeah. I guess we'll run into you, or we will stalk you in another festival next year. Yeah, I'll be at Bloodstart next week, so we'll get in neice that one this year. Yeah, well then you're fucked next year. I got I got another one coming up. I got Rockklahoma coming up and Labor Day weekend. That's a fun festival. Then I have Louder than Life after Shock, oh busy man, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I bet I started in March, like I have the longest tour ever for festivals. Like, I know, I don't even get a break. I didn't even sleep yet since I got to Germany. He's a break. When you're doing that life, you get fun. It's so much fun. My youngest story. I'll bring her sometimes festival. Halfway through the first day, She's like, Dad, I don't know how you do this every weekend. I'm done already. I'm like, we you mean you're done. I was here four hours before you.

1:00:41 You mosied in, like after sleeping all morning, I already did ten interviews. You know, you are like a do a soul battery man. Like the my son in law, We're at this festival a couple of months ago and my son in law tells this girl I'm with. She goes, He goes, there's two things you have to know about Dean. That's my real name. Don't tell anybody, okay, and nobody can keep up with them. And he'll make sure you know it and that nothing is bored true. Okay. I Like, after I do what my ten or whatever interviews today and I'm done, I'll be out there wandering the whole holy ground. I want to touch my feet on every part of the Holy Ground before the end of the night.

1:01:30 If we see you at any point doing this weekend, we'll buy you a beer. Find me in the find me in the pits, in the pit, look in the. Pits in the in the mushpits of piece, the mashpit of peace. That is it. That's where we have to end it right there, because you know what you guys are the epitome of what a band should be, and what metal should be and what ma washing should be. Thank you so much much. And next year we'll see on the main stage at Bocket Nice. Sure hope, So man, sure hope. So thanks once again for stalking me and being on the Adventures of pipe Man. Thank you, pipe Man. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of pipe Man. I'm w for CUI Radio.