 are in the metal voice in the dungeon, the rock and roll dungeon, with three of the four members of Sword, Mike Plant, Rick Hughes, and Dan Hughes. So we're very excited, we're doing the show today to promote the third album after all these years, number three. Yes, sir. And okay, so what do you guys have been doing since you've unleashed Hell back in 86? Where do we start? Well, a lot of different things. First of all, we have 10 children amongst the four of us, so that keeps us pretty busy. Right? We did our job raising them. Do you want to show the album? Of course. It would be a good time. Look at this beautiful album cover. Sword three. The three of swords. Hot off the press, it's still warm in my hands. Okay, so what is this? What is this talk about? New old stock. New old stock, well. We're looking for material for this album. We went back in the songs we made back then, and there was a lot of, because the way we used to do things in those days, we'd like write and record a demo of a certain number of songs, then we'd go see the record company, then they'd have a listen and they kind of have a say at, no, not this one. No, yes, this one. So all the knows we just threw out, you know, and we just work on it. Focus on the yes. Yeah, right. But after listening back to the knows, it was some good stuff there. So we just took what was the best. It's just taking it as a skeleton. Just taking the bare bones. The best out of things and rewriting new music around it and new lyrics and working on melodies and I guess that's what you could mean by new old stock. So the bare bones were there in the 80s or would have been written and then now you've just brought it up to. Right, right, right, right. Because this part, this riff is good. This riff sucks. We'll change that and but it was hard work though. Yeah. So again, it's coming out of massacre records. It's coming out on the 18th of November, I believe. So why now? Why after all these years? Well, when we came back, so to speak, when we did a few shows in 2011, 2012, something like that, and then we opened a Facebook page, sword Facebook page, and a lot of people subscribe to it, you know, and a lot of the comments where we'd like to hear some new material. Sure, yeah. So that's when it was decided that we'd, well it was first decided that we would put out an EP with just three songs and that turned into a full album. Why not now? Yeah, why not now. And then factor came into play, you know, just for the, when we went to Germany to do the shows, you know, the enthusiasm of the fans was such that we felt it. If there's so much, you know, a nice enthusiasm about the band when we are live, it's probably the same for new material. The House of Rock. House of Rock. So it's in an undisclosed location. How do you know you're at the House of Rock? There's a banner, Led Zeppelin banner as you get in. That's how you know. And right after that, you get the rolling stock. But wait a second, when we unleash the Quebec flag here, this is backstage. This is metal. This is like, come backstage, guys. This is, this is metal. And look at this. This is like pure metal here. Look at that. Look at that. Wow. So this is what it's really like. That's how this is where I forged my trophies. Because you saw it, I like old cars. I know. I saw you making, I saw you making an Oscar before for yourself, an Oscar. All right, let's go visit. Let's take a look around. All right. Tell me about the memories, you know, backstage. So how long you've been here, first of all? This is the House of our manager, Rich, Rich Charter, well-known, well-known figure and figure in my trophies. Rock and roll thing, Janice, Jimmy. These are your influences, right? This is Colonel Tom Parker here. Or the Malboro man, I'm not sure. I don't know. He's just, he's a presence. Let's just say that. He's a presence. Have a good day, sir. Okay. So here we go. We're walking around and this is where we, we do the sword thing, right here. You know, we have to revisit your past a bit before we talk about three, but metalized. Dave Ellison says, hi, by the way, we interviewed him earlier this week and he remembers that album. Rick spoke about metallic and listening to you guys at Soundcheck and they wanted to hear you guys because they were listening to that album. That album for me has become like a cult classic. Everybody knows it exists. Everybody loves that album, but it wasn't one of the top chart toppers at the time. But it's got this cult-like status. Dave Ellison was saying because the sound was big. I asked him why he has special memories of metalized. He said because the sound was big, the vocals were big. Why do you think that album still stands out in everybody's mind all these decades, decades later? I don't know. Maybe it reminds them of their youth. I couldn't tell you because personally, I'm speaking for myself now. I'm sorry guys. I don't think it sounds very, very good this album. You know, but I know that's not the case for people say it fucking sounds great. Okay. Okay. I think the sound on this one, the new one is very good. Yeah. Let's talk about that. I mean, you're like a quadruple threat, right? Great guitars, songwriter, video producer and record producer. Wow. Anything else that I missed anything? Schofer? No, father. Riffmaker. Riffmaker. The album is all about riffs. The riffs are crazy, man. This guy is probably because he's left-handed. So that's the tome, tome I own. I kind of grew. I don't know what it is, but man, it's... Yeah, us left-handers, our brain works in a different kind of way. I don't know. I couldn't tell you. Maybe I'll leave my brain to science when I die and they can figure it out. So when he brings such a riff, such good music to the table, myself, I have to find some vocals, some melodies that are going to interact with his riffs, not work against them or compete against them. It's got to be both... Interwoven, kind of complimentary. It's always been the case, I think. I'm not lying on Sweet Dreams and on this album. Yes. But I was just talking to Rick and Dan before you joined us. I mean, I went back and listened and metalized again and listened to you since it came out. But it just sounds... I like the sound. I thought the sound does really... The bass stands out, the guitar stands out. Everything was very well produced on that album. And I mean, yourself as a guitar player, what were some of your influences or might still be your influence? Well, when I first started, it was... I was 13 and I guess Kiss hit me hard. Being a 13-year-old comic book reading young man, Kiss really blew me away and then start emulating that. And then you progress, right? I went from kiss to rush. That was a big... That was a jump. And then you get your own sound eventually, right? So... Yes? Yeah. But there's a lot of people I love. Jimmy Page, Beatles. But when we're talking about more metal kind of things, I think my favorite guitar player is Randy Rhodes. Oh, really? Yeah. Randy Rhodes was big for me. And when I was figuring out solos for this album, I was thinking a little bit, Randy, what did Randy do? Oh, really? Wow. Yeah, you know. But it comes out, it comes out in me, but there was a little, some influence there for sure. For sure. I mean, for a guy that did basically two albums that the effect he's had on guitarists ever since. 25 years old. Yeah, he burned like a master of flame, yeah. But we used to jam on Blizzard of Oz and Diary of a Man-Man because we started as a cover band doing their own stuff, you know, because back then that's what they wanted, the bar owners. So we, the old repertoire, remember that? Yeah. Suicide Solution, Diary of a Man-Man. So, yes, he got the licks, you know. So, he was 25 at that time. So, this is a good school. The school of bars, you know, and doing that, it's not a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll. That road is a good road. It's a tough road, but that's what. Compared to a... It gives the gar, the gar, nothing in the voice. The gar, not whiskey. The whiskey and smoke filled the rooms. I believe they were smoked back then. I have a friend who's a guitarist and his voice has never been the same because he played in so many times in those bars back then with all the smoke filled rooms and... For us on stage it was the smoke machines and all that stuff. So, it was tough. It was a tough way. We were young and we, you know, we didn't mind it that time. Young and restless. We were learning how to be a working band. Standing, you know what's the lyrics? Standing proud? No, but it goes back to your point. Yeah, the voice or the American idols of the world, they're not putting in their dues, right? I mean, coming up through the bars like you guys did, that gives you credit, that gives you experience on how to handle stuff on a bigger stage, I mean. Oh, yeah. Well, that's the way you have to do it. There's no shortcuts. That scene doesn't exist anymore, you know, all those bars and back in back in those days, we were touring where you're doing Chabroc, Quebec and then we were touring and then we're just making a circuit and we were rolling, rolling, rolling and they were planning a place to play, but it's not like that anymore. No, no, no. And getting the publicity, promoting that you're in town, that's why we do the show, right? Just let people know what's coming out and try to drive as much interest as possible because sometimes you don't even know if bands been there since they've left, right? This is Dan's room, Maroc's space. This is Alan's neighbor before we heard. We understand this is Alan's neighbor over here on the wall. Mike Clarke plays bass. Yeah. And right there, this is good friend. What's your name? I don't know. Greta. Greta. Like the band. Greta Bandfleet. Okay, so wait a second, hold on. Here we go. Here's, this is a cool little poster here. This was back in the Verdun auditorium, right? It was. But now that's before Cliff died because look at the date and he's on the poster. So quickly tell me the story about the Metallica. Like you're on stage, you're doing sound check and what happened? Yeah, we were looking forward to meeting the guys, you know. So the first show we were, I think in Montreal. Were we in Montreal guys for the first show with Metallica? Where were we? Anyways, we were doing a sound check and as we were sound checking, we turn around and I see Lars and James on one side and on the other side, the rest of the band, the rest of Metallica. So I go, wow. So I tell the guy stuff, so we could salute them, you know. And as we tried to do that, they go, no, no, no, finish the song, finish because they knew our material. Do you remember what song it was? I think it was the end of the night. Remember, we talked about that the other day. Yeah, the end of the night. So we picked back right where we stopped. We said, okay, let's go. Have they called you ever since? Have you met them of anything like that? No. No, we did that like on the tour with them. Or you're not taking their calls. If they're called, they're not taking their calls. No, not at all, man. We'd love to have a call to receive an offer to go do some more gigs with Metallica. It'd be a perfect blend. Because now they're going with Raven, they're playing with Raven in Florida, and they're kind of going back to sort of the roots of it all, right? The 80s sound. So who knows? Yeah, who knows. And then Megadeth, there's a connection with Megadeth too, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, Dave Mustaine, I know he liked the album. I know Dave Elson, we've talked about that. He loved the album. We got lucky, man. And the way it happened, the story was told, is that the Karang magazine editor was doing an interview with Lars Yolrich, and he had his Walkman. At that time, people had Walkman with the cassette. So just before he left the interview, Lars asked him, what are you listening? I'm curious to know what's in your Walkman. And he goes, oh, it's Ben from Montreal, and he gave him the tape. And we finished touring with them. See, you never know. Whatever's in your Walkman could lead you to success, right? Exactly. Okay, here we go. What about the drummers? Influences for you, girl? The first one for me and Rick, the first albums we used to listen is Led Zeppelin. So for, of course, John Bonham for a lot of the drummer is an influence. But in the metal, you know, Lars is a great, I think he's a great drummer. Lars Yolrich is a great drummer. And, you know, lots of people are, I don't know why, but I think Lars is great. And, you know, in the metal, Nico McBrain is a great drummer. You know, there's plenty of them, and, you know, there's plenty of good drummers, you know. It's a tough genre for drummers, that's for sure. Yeah, yeah. Easy kind of music to play for drummers. That's why Lars and Carmen have to see our great drummers, you know, all those guys. Tommy Aldridge is still doing it in the 70s. Yeah, Tommy Aldridge is one of the greatest, you know. And vocalist, I mean, you could probably list 15 vocalists that influence your style in it over the years. From Elvis to, I don't know, man, pick it. It's very large. I love music. I love all types of music. I love Johnny Cash. I love, I love Dio. I love all types of singers. I listen to new songs, and if the singer comes and grabs my attention, sometimes it gets me going, man. It gets me going. So how do you guys get signed to Aquarius, and why Aquarius out of all the record labels back then? I mean, you know, they were local. We were lucky. I think we were lucky that we were doing a demo at this place, and some guy came to do pictures, and he knew a guy from Aquarius. He said, well, I'm going to bring this guy. And it didn't take long. We signed with that. That's just the word about it. Yeah, just, you know. And what are your thoughts? I know Miles Goodwin, I mean, they were the stable of Aquarius back in the 80s, April Wine. He said they just couldn't push the U.S. market. They didn't have the in and the U.S. market. Is that something you guys encountered on both records? Of course. Of course, because if you're back then, if you were in a metal band, if you were from Montreal, you had two strikes against you because all the bands from California or the U.K., you know, they were getting the attention. So it was for sure that it was tougher if you were from Quebec. But then again, look at Voivod. They did really, really good. I don't think it's much of a Quebec thing that it is a Canadian thing. That's well said, yeah. How many bands can we name, right? Yeah, to the taste of dinner, it's Canadian, you know. Yeah, if it's Canadian, sometimes it's harder. But then again, we have some very good Canadian bands, get some rush, I might mention. Def Dealer back in the day with you guys. There's another one that's kind of a hidden gem that's out there. So let's get into some of this. You got the video for Dirty Pig came out. And what's the response? Is that based on anybody or? Based on anybody in particular, no. It could be about anybody who was in a certain position of power and abuses. It could be somebody that's bullying you, somebody, some corporate thief. It could be a banker or your print high school principal. Anybody like that can be a dirty pig to you. Oh yeah, we all went into a few people. We weren't really thinking of anybody in particular. I mean, the lyrics are great on the new album. I mean, any time you can work the word feces into a song is a plus, I think. But how is it easy for you to write lyrics? Well, for that, exactly that word and that phrase, which is brilliant. It's our good friend Rich Eusenio, who's credited on the album for writing the lyrics. So basically we worked as a team where Mike was the main song writer and when it was time to record the drum, he was there with the bass player to make sure that they weren't complete, that they were interlocked with the guitars. And when it came to the vocals, he came to me and said, Rick, you got some great melodies on what we had before. So let's work on that and let's go get somebody that's totally bilingual. And it's got good penmanship and it's a good friend Rich Eusenio. You want to pick up from there? Yeah. Well, he wrote most of the words, most of the lyrics. It was based on the way he worked was I made him listen to the original demos. So we'd have Rick's melody. Okay. So yeah. And I had written down some of the old lyrics as well. And they weren't even, it was just, how do you call it, working words? Yeah, there were working words. Yeah. It was some yaw. Scatting or anything just to fill the space. Some was that. Some was real lyrics, but they weren't not that good as what we have right now. Go ahead. So I remember having quite a few meetings with him. There were some titles that we liked, but even in some cases, there was a word in the title that we liked. I said, could you keep that? Try and keep that in. But he did a great job. I think the lyrics are really cool. Well, I'm going to get right to Unleashing Hell because that song, I mean, there's always denim and leather, Hungry Days of Deep Purple by Deep Purple. This song is right up there with the Unleashing Hell brings you right back to 86, Montreal, the whole scene. I mean, hats off to you guys. That song is my favorite on the album. And really just, I relived my youth through that song. So you really took me back to. You have to know something. Thank you very much. You have to know something about that. Is that the guide? Like I said, I wrote all the melodies. The guy that wrote the lyrics was hanging around the band back in 86. He's a good friend. He's always been around us that time in 86. He was a big time man. Yeah, because he knew what he was doing when he was writing because he was there. Already we're a friend of ours. Oh, that's great. I mean, there's so many years. I took my chances. We go from the party atmosphere of Unleashing Hell to a little bit of isolation and depression loneliness in that song. So you guys really covered a wide spectrum on the album. Yes, yes. That's what's so cool about metal is that the subject don't have to be about the personal struggles and love and hate and relationship. It can't be about anything, anything. So took my chances. You know, it's, it's, we say in French, take nothing at the foot of the letter. Some people will read the letter. And when I sing it, you know, they will understand it their way. Right, right. That's what's so cool about metal. You can interpret it all. Yes. Based on your own experience. Definitely. And have your own interpretation yet. Here we go. Okay. So this we've established as a drum kit, right? And here's all the Marshall stats. This is where Mike Plant does his magic. So this is very highly confidential because you cannot even film the knob. Because as you can see, it's not. Yeah, you don't want to know the tones. You don't want to know the secret tones. This is sword's recipe right here. Don't show it. Here's metalize. Here's the poster. Look at the guys. Young, young, young, young, young bucks. You know, this, this is like a statement. If you stop drinking, you'll save money. You know, another band that stood out and I asked them the same question at the time. Kony Hatch was a similar band coming out of Toronto. They made a fourth album, maybe five, six years ago, Time Fies, you know, and we asked them like, how did it turn out? You know, how did it success? There was a little bit of non-starter with them because there was no touring involved. There was no promo really. It was just for the fans' sake and for them to get together, get in playing. So it sounds a bit familiar. But what are your plans for the future? Oh, plans for the future. Well, we're going to put out this album first. That's a good start. I have a little tour of Quebec in January and maybe do some other videos as well, thinking about that. Which hat do you have on now? A video hat? Your director? Pardon me? Right now? No, I'm just a guitar player. A cold ice pack after last night, mate. But we're going to wait for offers, you know. It would be nice to have a little tour of maybe some gigs in Europe. Yeah, that would be nice. Maybe states as well. Let's take the opportunity to have a little section in French, okay? Oh, yes, that's right. We're going to take the opportunity to invite the people who are listening to the interview, who are from Quebec, three rivers in Germany. Germany, yes. Germany, Quebec, three rivers in Montreal. The fans, it's coming. We're going to be on the date, pretty sure. So if you don't want to forget, go home. Because it's coming quickly in January. It would be a nice gift, actually. Oh, yes, yes. And women, it's your men. Very nice metal. Logo, buy the tickets for the party. And that's it. We can say Roussin Agne. So you were talking about... I think, yes, Rick was just saying, great Christmas gifts with a metalhead in your life. Get these tickets. They'll probably be sold out. I mean... 14th of January, Corona, 15th of January, L'Empereal de Québec. 20th in Alma. Yeah, and 21st in 20 of Yacht. Right. It was getting quite popular. A lot of bands are playing there more and more. Nice venue. Yeah, okay. And I mean, again, the four original members, how often does that happen? Especially 30-some-odd years later. Everybody's alive. Yeah, that's the most important thing, yeah. That's what happened when in the same van you have two U's and two Mike. Yeah. You got the pair. So you don't break that. And you know what the thing is, is Mike, the bass player and Mike are really old friends. They know themselves before they knew us. Okay. They're really close to Mike. The double Mike's. So you always kept in touch, is what I'm hearing. Pretty much. And now it's... it was just a good time, like you said, to release a revisit. Yeah. Revisit and release the third album. So, yeah, I mean... Everybody was in... was okay to be on this project. And... Kids were going up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now that the kids are gone. Left the house. We have plenty of time. And they don't want to see dad playing in the band or going to be at the shows. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course they... Yeah. We did a... Every month you all. We did a show... I had you my job. Yeah. Your daughter was on the side of the stage with my daughter. Yeah. Yeah. They're sort of t-shirted and everybody was happy. The kids are kids. They just... Kids are alright. They're odd by looking at the elder metal that's going on there. Elder metal. Elder metal. You're going to get a t-shirt written. Elder metal. Yeah. Oh, that's the sword. That's the sword. I'm like a clown right now. I'm acting as a clown. That's the point. I'm always a clown and now I'm making you act like a clown too. All right. So, we... Motorhead. Yeah. Motorhead. Do you have any motorhead stuff around here? No. Any poster? Motorhead poster? No. No. No. All right. So, motorhead. I mean, you know, quickly, you toured with Motorhead in the U.K. What tour was it? What album was it? What was it? It was in 89... No, 87. Sorry. 89, 87. Man, I mixed up. It's okay. And it was for the Rock and Roll album, Motorhead's Rock and Roll. And the thing is, is that we toured the U.K. It was like 27 shows and 35 days. So, not only did we tour with Motorhead, but we kind of hang around with Lemmy. He took us under his wing, big time. So, we'd get, let's say, to a day bar in Scotland. Edinburgh. Edinburgh. I was going, where's that? Where is that? Yeah. He would take us out to the local bars and show us, you know, that it's rude. He would show us it's rude. So, it was cool. Fun, fond memories of Lemmy. This guy was a real deal. He was Rock and Roll. He was exactly the same all the time. Yeah. All right. So, let's, let's continue. Okay. Here's the pedals. We don't want to know the configurations of those. Yeah. Right? Or we might get in trouble. And, yep. We like tight knit spaces, you know. And I didn't know we're getting catered today here. The metal voice, as we took over, we got catering. The manager. Rich. Come here, Rich. The manager there. Quick little, maybe off, I'll say, or I'll come off. Here we are, over three decades later. And I think the demand for this album is going to be equally as strong as when you guys launched in the 80s. That's a great album. We show it again because the cover is just so nice. I mean, everybody been listening to it. Highly recommend this album. And I just want to thank the guys from Sword here. Unfortunately, Mike wasn't be able to be with us today, but he's here in spirit. And I love you, Mike. We, yeah. Maybe next time. Maybe next time. Maybe we'll do it in one of the shows. So yeah. So thank you for joining the metal voice today. Excited Sword after all these years back together with the third album, Mike, Rick, Dan. Thank you. And thanks to you guys. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us in their back cave. Yeah. The House of Rock. Don't tell anybody where it is. All right. On the last note, here we go. I know Alan showed this before, but there we go. There's the album. Look at that. Did you say on the last note? On the last note. Okay. On the last note. Okay. Here we go. Here comes the piano. We got it. We go cut. That's it.