 Welcome to the metal voice. You know a real special guest the guy I've wanted to have on for a very long time Been following the band agent steel for many many years John Cyrus, what's going on John? Hey, thanks for having me on Yeah, good to be here Some cool exciting news You're working on a new album correct Yes There's a go find me page for the new album, which is cool, right? So fans can get involved Um, I'm gonna ask you about the new album and then we'll kind of dive into a little bit of the history of the band And your beginnings if that's okay with you Sure sounds good So first of all, uh, tell me about the new album, you know Where you're going with this? Uh, when do you expect to release it? And uh, you know all the information about it You know that you can't in terms of federal sound direction ETA Yeah, well, um ever since uh We finished up work with some Some new talent that I just stumbled upon in 2020 Um, this this last album Uh, no other gods before me Um when Even before it's release. I thought, you know, well, you know You know, we're we're up against some pretty heavy hitters nowadays because there's so many bands out there Um, it's the competition is incredible. I mean, I don't consider a competition because there's so many, you know There's so many great new bands and so much talent. So It's all about, you know, diversity and uh, I guess whoever You know comes on if they want to recreate, you know, some Some sound in it from the genre You know, that's that's cool, but it's all about being original. I guess Is where it depends on um You know the future of Of of the uh outfit Um, but you know, yeah, there's just it's a lot of bands And you can see that there's, you know, the the festivals you got the the big guys, you know, the head haunches of people that have You know stayed that've been resilient and stayed on You know the mega debts and uh You know hate breed and you got all, you know, the standard bands that have stayed with it And have been lasted the test of time and then you have a hundred other bands That you never heard of so, you know, based on that sense of overcrowding um I mean considering the overcrowding I thought that um, we might you know, I'm if I was going to do another age steal album they would have to be something that was unique and stood that and and somehow was able to stand up to the um The uh, how would I say this the the legacy of the early albums? Well, yeah, well what not uh, no actually I was thinking outside the box as far as that. Okay. All right Yeah, yeah, I was thinking I was thinking I you know Nowadays, you know just if you compare for example exodus Which is one of my favorite bands of all time gary holds an incredible guitarist, you know great stand-up guy and everything um If you compare, you know some of the first albums even bonded by blood and you compare The the latest albums or you know the albums he's made in the last 10 years I mean the guitar work has evolved incredibly I mean, it's still great music bonded by blood is just Ultimate classic album and that started exodus Journey that's you know blasts so long and you know, but the evolution of gary's Guitar work and his songwriting um and the band's overall skill You know in the evolution that you know during that journey is really Of there's a wide there's a large gray area between That first album and the material that he's been making the last 10 years and even the latest album so If you're gonna be there and you're gonna stand up to You know if you're gonna be able to cut the mustard um And even if you're somebody that's got a name or you know somebody that's you know the megadeth or whatever um You're gonna have you know basically that's what you're up against. You know i'm saying so it's like Any new bands that are part of that 100 Band shuffle that comes on these festivals that nobody's ever heard of that. There's some great talent there and there's some You know others that I don't know. I haven't seen them all so So I so I thought with Well, I thought with no other gods before me. I thought you know, I need to go a notch above I need to do something That I need to come up with something that is going to put me in a category where Um, there's an evolution there. I didn't want to make you know, in other words, actually, you know Basically what I'm trying to say at the end of the day here um or at the beginning of this interview is that um exodus isn't going to make Isn't going to re-record an album like just like bonded by blood in 2023 They're they're they've continued to evolve. They've got there's new recording technology now. There's different equipment um, nobody uses um uh, the uh, the old audio the old, um uh, real system, you know, the Yeah, exactly. But yeah, it's just all everything's done digital There's all kinds of advanced technology that's coming out every day, you know with pro tools and uh There's a lot of editing that's, you know, incredible. It's stuff that just resembles pure magic That's done by even the basic, you know, not engineer who's who's got his line of work together that Wasn't available even to a max norman maybe back in and the 80s, you know Where he could get a great sound, you know, with you know, and then you got the heaven and hell albums and stuff has just resilient you know, um sound but I mean, it's just Deep and it's the sound is Wide Because it's a wide sound as opposed to nowadays. Everything's more compact because of digital and it's um It's less, you know There's a less there's it's it's not as as roomy as it used to be but at the same time Nobody's making albums like heaven and hell and bonded my blood anymore. That's a good engineering wise production wise So I needed to do something that was different with no other guys before me So I think that I you know, it came out pretty good in my opinion I think it's one of the best agents steel albums now. Yeah, the thing about the new album is is that it's It's going to be more raw. It's not going to have as many it's not going to be as you know effect based as nor the gods was because um The material itself was written in a very raw format The the the songwriter that is the main songwriter that that compiled most of the material is very Old school as far as his his sound and and his writing It's not much room there to really make it really You know high tech space spacey really effects wise, you know, it's it's going to be more raw It's going to be more like uh mad locus rise and so to say The p but at the same time, there's a lot of ambience. There's a lot of you know, tempo changes and he's an incredible guitarist and You know, yeah, it's just like uh, Nikolai the guitarist. I had another guy performing. He's an incredible talent and You know great guy on top of it and it was great working with him and You know this in this situation with the new album, it's even more Um, it's going to be more even more unique, but it's it. Yeah, it's going to be a surprise because There's a lot of material there that's um Actually a little darker than all the other agency albums. Um, there's some material under the resembles Let's say, uh, you know a 20, you know More like uh 2023 Merciful fate or um, oh nice, you know Yeah, so yeah, there's going to be some different kind of things on there and some subject that Definitely darker than than the other albums Including no other gods. So yeah, we're where are you at sort of in the recording process? Is it you're just have the songs they're recorded the songs you're at the mixing stage Like what stage are you at on this new new album that we're talking about? The songs. Yeah, they haven't done for a while for over a year But um all the material all the basic tracks that were recorded. Um It's been patched in and then recorded by different, you know, it's recorded by different engineers, um That have actually used amping in the studio to you know, recreate the the some of the guitar sounds and um It's all basically done uh, except The you know, I've gone through different mixed down phases Where um, you know, I thought well, let's try to add some more effects But then an engineer that I work with suggested that I I um add less effects You know that make it more raw and just overall just more, you know More 80s old school so to say but um I You know, the yeah the vocals are are pretty much done. There's some things I do over Because I keep coming up with different ideas and I think you know I wasn't able to do that with no god. There's kind of in a rush situation because of a Of a plastic head You know the the label they were in a rush to get it out. So Um this time, you know, I'm going to take my time and I think I'm going to make sure that everything I'm going to be you know go over all the um details and if there's things and I'm going to just I get mixes and I kind of Meditate on it and then I leave it for a couple days and I get back to it and I listen to it again And I see I hear things that I think could be done better And um, you know, I flip flop a lot about it But I I want to make it as perfect as possible as far as the vision that that I had For you know, it's for the final product. So Uh, which you know changes a lot So I'm just trying to make it better and better as I as I go along and that's and that's the reason for the go fund me too because it's been difficult to um To land a label for its release because there's um some strange things going on out there um in You know the scene or the industry whatever you want to call it that uh, it just seems like there's some opposition for uh releasing Another agency album or for having released one at all even no other guys before me in 2021 There's just seems like I don't know exactly where it it comes from who is involved But you know call it conspiracy theories or not Or whatever you want to call it. Definitely there is some some form of conspiracy for if you want to call it an opposing cabal Of some well pure Asian steel fashion, right? What are you gonna do? Yeah, well, you know, I think this time it's coming from It could it could be coming from It could be anything from It could be peers to uh Some you know Some politically correct or you know politically correct group that is stern in their philosophy and they think that I I'm just My thinking is just too far outside the box because I've mentioned this in interviews that were uh published That were interviews in in in text In magazines not like this audio interview And I think that there's an incredible hypocrisy That is alive In the metal music industry today You know, um, I don't even know if I should go there But I would like to talk about this because I was thinking about what I should talk about during this interview and I'm kind of go You know kind of just sprouted some wings here. I'm like flying in between all the trenches like if he's ever seen the You know the the exorcist to the heretic a long time ago that it was a second exorcist Lotus at the lotus lying my friend Exactly and you got the the locus flying in between all the all the the canyons and and all the The mountain canyon rock, you know mountainous rock trenches in between In the mountain where the the priest had You know Try to lift up this african boy all the way to the top to keep him up there A couple months for the exorcism and then the locus comes and he you know He gets on the locus. Somehow he's surprised with them and he shows them all these different places So it's like I keep looking around and seeing everything that's going on and I think That everything that I'm seeing That there's an incredible You know contra contradiction hypocrisy that was claimed by a um a group of of musicians or you know the of some some cabal that's You know that maybe we see or we don't see maybe they're not the guys on stage playing that have crusaded since the you know the onslaught of venom and then merciful faith and slayer with the kind of um more um the the the the I wouldn't say darker because you know, but you know, they would call it that but You know a different philosophy and alternative to Religion and especially christianity is and use and its use the the use of that philosophy in through lyrics and attitude and And through metal bands and the metal industry in general um, which was supposed to be we are the um campaigners or we are the crusaders of free thought of free thinking Not restrictive and not and thinking outside the box in You know being able to stimulate Thought and attitude in in an occult way In in a darker way in complete rebellion towards organized religion And which means everything goes and a lot of these bands were inspired like slayer Jeb Hanuman for example by the punk era. So it was like punk with an intelligent kind of Creepy eerie, you know euphoria Added to the lyrics and the attitude and the album covers and all that which I thought was very cool You know being i'm not a devout religious person at all, you know, i i'm more agnostic if anything, but um I do believe in that something exists, but it definitely If there's any kind of energy or power out there, it's definitely It does. I don't believe it has an intelligence It is just an energy and the energy has to be that energy has to have a vehicle through which it is directed Through which it is manifest. So Just you know, just to say that real quick I think what you're trying to say here. I think what you're trying to say correct me if i'm wrong here I'm just trying to sort of summarize this you're trying to say freedom of thought Or freedom of speech has been Compressed and locked down. Is that what you're trying to say? Well, no, yeah, the hypocrisy. Yeah, exactly But in what I want to say is the the hypocrisy comes into play that this group or this Click or cabal or whatever um The death metal the darker because there's death metal that's like punk that just talks about, you know That just where the lyrics are about just hating society or Disliking your your neighbor or whatever, but no when it comes to like The darker elements that have been used as a not a gimmick But you know, most of it is gimmick, but there's very few serious people that are involved in that it's just usually like you know imagery or The gimmick or whatever that's used to make it more interesting that's following a trend that started with venom and then Slayer merciful fate at kind of at the same time But merciful fate came a little a little bit earlier than slayer even though slayer was developing as a club band at the time um that they claim That we are they think outside the box of especially outside the box of organized religion and and or the razor fist the metal bands like um Um, but I can't believe I forgot the guy's name this band's name saxon. Um and also Uh in opposition to the attitude and objective Of whether whether they had a girlfriend or not or whether they're a pissed off society because all the girlies were going over the hair bands that also not following the the attitude and You know the trend of The glam bands the girl girly band the hair band guys that are drawing all the girlies. Okay, so they were outside that box Which means that hey everything goes where the hypocrisy lies is that I believe That it's evolved to become a dictatorship So, you know, you got like a group or a system or a government or as in America a political party that comes in and says and says Hey, we're completely liberal and uh, we like horror movies and we like uh, the darker elements of Psychology and religion and so everything goes, you know, as long as you're not like as long as you're not a serial killer Or you're not robbing banks and you're not shooting old ladies or killing children Everything else is cool and the darker you are you're welcome to join us So we don't care what you say, you know It's freedom all about and then later You see that this government comes in and after a couple years or a decade or two You know, there's this guy that creates um, you know dance music, you know, uh electronic music a dj and he's mixing You know, uh african-american singers or people of you know women of color that sing kind of bluesy with um you know heavy metal guitar and and jazz drums and um You know, they come along and say no, this is wrong. We're only classical music is the only way This is you know, we can I get you. I get you But we're gonna you know i'm saying so what i'm saying is i'm thinking outside the box and no other guys before me You know, I come out and I say hey, this is all cool and everything and it's interesting and I think you know Yeah, it's stimulating the darker elements of philosophy and the religion that you believe in or you know The philosophy you believe that stimulates you and you think it's cool to use as imagery and lyrically Um, it's more creeping in here and it fits more it more fits the aggressive attitude of metal and everything then You know, you know, even though I think sax is a great man And it's one of my favorite bands of all time, but if you think it's more interesting and more creepy and stimulating Then then you know the razor fist the metal bands like sax in or you know The girl here bands that only talk about you know banging underage girls in the backseat of a car Um, so you guys yeah, that's what you guys are doing is cool. I'm into it but why is it wrong if I say hey um Everyone is going to face the inevitable moment at some point in life in their life whether it's later sooner or too soon You know, um that where you are going to disincarnate You are no longer going to be whatever intelligence is it is in that body that that you're speaking through You're making your music through that's dealing with your mom and dad your cousins through or your best friends and that people are looking at and seeing If you're not catatonic That that energy is going to leave that body that that's Whether it's an in there or just your your physical brain or whatever you want to believe um It's not going to be there in eczema in some day at some point In your existence here on this time and space that you're living in the the flesh and in this world of And this arid wilderness of steel and stone um, it's going to go somewhere and nobody has ever proven and even given a glimmer of a laboratory factual evidential conclusive presentation or even a formula a video or any kind of laboratory evidence of Exactly what happens and where you go once that energy that is you whatever it is that speaking and thinking and talking When it Disincarnates from your body because medically it has proven that you are automatically seven ounces Underweight every single human being on the planet the minute your heart stops and you stop breathing You're what automatically seven ounces Underweight and there's no explanation. It is in it is not laboratory Calculable it's not Science and medicine doesn't know why what it is that automatically is seven ounces Underweight where whatever it is that's there that they can't diagnose or You know that can't they can't see on some kind of a You know captive meter of some kind of they don't know what it is Where what it is and where it goes whatever maybe it's your energies. You're intelligent So nobody can say where you go nobody can Determine nobody nobody has ever come up with any evidence that there is a superior being in the universe Some superior power that you know controls us all and controls everything It's a great architect that has created all existence That exists before time and space as we know it has ever existed and will exist for eternity And we are all at the mercy of this incredibly you know This this great power force or intelligence that people believe is god and that it's all just and right and rewarding if you're good and destruct you know Punishing if you're bad Nobody can prove any of that and that that that this energy this being even exists Just as much as no one can prove that there's a satan or negative power that some negative being whether it's you know interpreted as The the the lucifer in the bible that was cast out of heaven because he believed that he was better than god that god was a A nip wit and that he was just you know Not up you know not up to the jones's in that he was more intelligent more beautiful And he made better music and all that that can't that certainly can't be proven and when somebody can produce You know a laboratorial evidential Video or some kind of laboratorial evidence, you know really proven scientifically that you know that there's a satan That he comes out like a huge monster come to breathe and fire or that he there's you know, it's uh You know Al Pacino and John John a bit of pause you right there, okay? Sure pause you right there That's why I wanted to talk to you because I like your deep thoughts, you know, they align with the way I kind of think, you know, I just like to think about everything I'm gonna jump around a bit if it's okay with you I was reading a post You know in your years in mega death and I found this fascinating that this piece of history sort of It's not really discussed much, you know, and maybe you could touch upon that I'd love to hear about it. You know, you're sort of time singing with mega death And uh, david elson or the two daves, right? Sure, so so you're there. I know they're look look i've talked to mustain I've talked to elson not about this, but I've just talked to them in general And I just find that this This kind of this piece of history just kind of gets glossed over quickly, right? But I know there's more to it than that And maybe you could talk about when you first sort of started working with these guys and how that played out well um They were regulars on the la circuit um Well, they started to to be to play a couple shows out here in there They put together the first band after david was out of metallica um They you know, um, they knew Juan Garcia and me they knew um, they you know did go around and see all the local bands, you know, just to hang out and Have a place to go and shoot the shit or have a beer or whatever and um So they you know, they they saw all the bands they saw everyone from, you know, like rough cut To the more, you know, the more posy bands like rat and then You know them sure they've been to few many motley cruise show, you know club shows and um They just as much as they like the heavier bands like avatar, you know a really cool band. I was in um with some awesome guys Mark Caro guitarist is incredible Genius virtuoso for the time and always will be and uh I was just you know, it was i landed a job with that band, you know From an ad in the recycler. It's a local newspaper in la where you know, if you're a you know, it's like Bands seeking vocalists vocalists seeking bands, you know guitarists seek Bands or whatever you could that was where you put together you made contact with the local musicians in Southern california to audition or you know to audition for or You know bring people to audition for you, you know, if you're having your own band and so yeah, you know, I I played guitar many years and uh for You know strange reasons. I want to get into I had to put the guitar away for a while and uh You know, I sold I had a lot of nice equipment. I had a lot of Charvel guitars that were custom handmade, you know for me and I had two marshal stacks and a lot of you know Pedal gear, you know had a lot of Nice, you know pedals, you know effects and everything and I just sold everything and I had you know after I bought what I was You know what I sold everything to buy I saw all my guitars. I saw my marshal everything. Um, sorry about that and uh Um, I had 80 bucks left and I bought a sure a sure microphone You know that was my first microphone because you know, I was to drive around with my friends, you know going to you know going to Play going to rehearsals or or club shows where we're in my friends always to say, you know, I used to put on Judas priest or you know, even sacks and I used to put on bands and I like rush And I would sing along To uh that at that time cassettes at a cassette player in my car and they would say wow man, you know, I don't want to You know, I hope I'm not offending you but you know, because I know you're the guitar man You love guitar live breathe a neat guitar 24 seven 365 and uh But you know, you're singing I mean you can sing right with the I can't believe you're singing with these guys, you know, you're wow, man, it's You know, you can hit those notes and you can you're singing all the all the octaves and everything you You ever thought of being a singer, you know, and I thought hey, man You know, I say and one of my best friends that I always used to go out with you was, you know I pick them up. He was my roadie basically my guitar roadie and guitar tech and everything and He said, you know, I don't I hope I don't offend you but I guess you're singing even better than your guitar playing man, you know I pulled the car over I said get out of my car I was just kidding. I thought, you know, are you shitting me man? He said no, I swear, man I maybe you do it because you just got used to it singing in the car driving here and there but You got it. You got it down brother, you know, and I was like, uh, okay, man Whatever, you know, but so, you know, I auditioned hundreds of singers in LA From the good the bad the ugly everybody and I never found a singer that Could sing, you know, my lyrics and Sing the parts, you know to the songs that I'd written Um exactly the way or even close to the way I imagine that that the vision that I have for the the vocals, you know to be worked And uh, that's why I thought hey, I'm just going to give it a go I'd never rehearsed a vocal. I just sang along with the sets and in my car And I'm when I bought that $80 mic, you know, I auditioned for Abitur and that's where Dave mustain first saw me I think uh and um, he knew Juan Garcia and uh You know, Juan went from being roadie of Abitur to the guitarist in Abitur Because I brought him in that way, you know, that's another story. Um I met Juan, you know I auditioned when I auditioned for Abitur and he was one of the There was two roadies they had that were the set, you know, godfather roadies for Abitur And uh, I met him out in the parking lot and he gave me a good You know confidence coaching before I went in, you know, just do it this way This is the way they like it try to do these songs this way and don't do the lemmy song with I heard your demo Don't do the lemmy song too much like Halper do the lemmy song It looked like lemmy, you know, because they did uh face of spades It's one of their covers they played and uh You know, and then we became friends and then they had a guitarist that wasn't very dedicated And he was flaky. He was in another band. I think it was in a some hair band actually So a lot of Abitur shows He didn't he didn't show up to he said, well, you know, I gotta move sit this one out guys I'm sorry. I'm playing with my other band. So they were always frustrated With the guy and then Juan knew all the songs he was, you know He had a half Marshall stack and he had a bc rich and he practiced a lot And he knew all the Abitur songs just you know Because he liked the band and he was you know, he knew he had some covers down He played the basic priests made and stuff and uh, he said I really want to be in the band John I don't know how to come up, you know approach these guys I'm their roadie and I'm their friend and maybe they even you know I don't think they're ever gonna accept me as a guitarist, you know What do you think, you know, I I played some some stuff with them some rehearsals But you know, I said, well, let's get you in there man. So we wheeled his his uh His Marshall down the street, you know as half stack I helped them, you know, re-rolled it literally down the street and you know, sidewalks at that time They didn't have a lot of those handicap Dips, you know, where yeah, that's like smooth for wheelchairs and for people that are um you know You know their handicap people and stuff that you know have a hard Difficult time the wheelchairs of you know, they have crutches or whatever It's hard to get around they didn't have those so we had to pull it lift it up and You know, he was carrying the guitars. They said let's switch. Let me carry the guitar You pull the marsh a little bit my back's kind of giving in So we got him there. He did the first rehearsal and then uh The guys were saying yeah, you know, but once, you know, he's good You know, he's practiced rehearsals before but we got a The first show would Slater come in two weeks too soon And uh, Dave Mustaine's gonna be either checking out, you know, he's a friend of ours and uh You know, of course, we're opening for Slater. It's a big show. So I don't know if Juan's ready You know, he's not a professional guitarist. He plays good But I said, well, you know what guys since you only got two weeks once my friend now We've gotten really close. So if Juan doesn't play this show You're gonna have to find soap another singer and I don't think you can do that in two weeks So I got him in from roadie to guitarist and he debuted with me Opening for slayer. So he kind of owes me his guitar future in a way. You know, I'm not that's just kidding Juan's a great talent Without with or without me. He never met me. He'd be just as far as he is. Maybe, you know, yeah He deserves to be worried. But that's the where he started out as a guitarist. I helped him out You know, and so he's done so much for me and he helped him We worked so hard at the beginning of the band's Histories that it just that's far overshadows Me, you know, debuting him as a guitarist His work was incombrable to nobody would have gotten us as far as we had if it wasn't far as all all his hard work You know sitting at phone booths and for hours and hours talking to new york talking to combat records, you know All kinds of weird But yeah, Mustaine and Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellison that all they were a team They were like sigmes twins. They were always out together. You never saw him. You never saw Dave Mustaine without Dave Ellison anywhere. I've never seen him as many years. I see him in LA and In the day and you know, those guys were having a hard time. You know, I didn't know it They were um, you know, they stayed in my house With with me and my you know, my parents house for a while And uh, because they were you know sleeping in their van And I only found out after I joined the band, you know, that they were um, because they they mentioned something kind of like In secret and they were kind of whispering sitting in the front seat I was in the back of the band and driving me home after rehearsals They picked me up and driving home And they were saying yeah, you got the soap back there and yeah, I just got a fresh bottle of it We got to get to the beach before we got to be up earlier because the police when they come by if they see us They were showering at the beach in the morning. They were sleeping in the van I said, hey guys, man. Are you serious? I have what I just heard. No, no, no You guys don't need to stay at the beach stay at my house. Are you guys crazy, man? We got an extra room there because no, man We can't do that man. You're like your parents and everything we can't impose that's why we didn't ask you No, no, no, no you I'm insisting now. You guys are staying at my house Let's go and we can we can write there and everything. It's we don't have to do Was the band called mega death at the time? Of course, yeah, it was mega it was called mega death and uh, you're rehearsing with them That's what you're saying and they're staying at your parents house, right? Yeah, yeah, all right That's the way it was and uh, yeah, they love my mom and My mom used to say yeah, it's a it's a pleasure having these boys here. These are really good boys Well, yeah, they are really nice guys are really they're really polite and very respectful of my family. They never you know In fact, I didn't even see them in the heavy party mode. I mean, whatever they did it They didn't do it around me and they were staying at the house. They'd go out sometimes But they weren't out all night for three days They wouldn't come back with like, you know black circles in their eyes, you know Lombarding or anything. In fact, I never saw him in the heavy heavy party You know, I've never seen I've never seen them do hard drugs as long as I was in the band rehearsing with them I've never seen them do hard drugs and all these You know their history that everybody was so shocked to eventually learn about if you weren't around them in those days I've never I never saw it. I did they were just super super sweet guys Really nice guys easy to get along with Dave was not dictatorial like people say he's really Very cool stand-up guy very easy Acted very normal. I've never seen him You know falling down drunk or you know, they they'd go out in the vans in rehearsal They knew I didn't like the smoke. So they'd go out and do a couple bong hits once in a while But they weren't you know, like, you know, I got to have a Plastic tube attached to my nostrils and I you know, I have to have a bong attack on my lips John during rehearsals and everything. I you know, if you can't take it, you know What songs were you doing in rehearsals? Like what were you practicing like the killing is my business material at the time or not? There was some material that was outside of that. Yeah, that was I had some stuff that I was writing some lyrics to their to their material that was kind of merciful fate like I was kind of going through a dark period in my life at the time and I really love merciful faith And king diamond and yeah, and I thought yeah, this is a cool band to kind of add some of that kind of Element and I had a song called into the abyss that was really cool. I love that song and You know, it was and Dave even he said, you know, hey this a little bit creepy, you know, john I think Dave's always been kind of you know on the lighter side. He's always, you know, he's he's a heavy guy He's one of the he writes some of the heaviest music ever, of course And he's the rift master Emperor, you know and everything and he's just a heavy guy, but as far as philosophically and the whole ambient and You know the being attracted to that darker element of metal Um, it was in Dave. He was kind of creeped out about it So he was kind of he didn't say much but he was almost kind of looking at me like yeah Do you really want to do that with that song? I mean, you know, we kind of like the stuff you did in abattoir and He's you that's why I like you john you're kind of like You know like the on the lighter side You're kind of you're not the guy raises his fist the metal and you're not the guy who's gonna tease your hair and You know put lipstick on in a sailor's hat and sing about girls So I thought but you're not the guy who's singing about satan either And I know you're not singing about satan in this song You're not literally saying satan this and satan that but it sounds kind of creepy, man It's a I wouldn't be sometimes that close my eyes. I think maybe there is king in the room here You know, so I thought you know, so I thought um, well Dave maybe you know And and I he he's always been kind of like a christian kind of guy not a christian so essential, you know Like like he like he became like He was you know Initiated in two later And when after I wasn't at the band later years when that helped him I guess get off his his drug addiction and everything and you know, god bless him for that Yeah, absolutely How long were you in the band like rehearsing with them playing with them? Did you perform any shows? um, no, we never did any shows unfortunately, uh It was a quite a while maybe almost a year, you know, and uh Yeah, it was awesome. I mean every rehearsal just felt like I was looked at them You know, Dave the two daves playing behind me and I was singing and I thought And then you know, the the drummer was incredible Dijon Carruthers at the time. There's um an african-american drummer That was just an incredible talent and a super nice guy. In fact, he was the one that motivated them to follow through with their wanting me in the band because um, I had already had agent steel Uh kick started at that time Even before I joined megadeth and you know, it it it all started by them seeing me in abattoir And then they saw they knew I was an agent steel. They came to an agent steel rehearsal or two And uh, then it started, you know, they came they brought me aside You know, they said they they called me aside at a rehearsal in Santa Monica Where there was a pool rehearsal place in the day at an agent steel rehearsal and they uh And they said hey, john, you know, you you ever think about joining us I mean agent steel is a cool band and you know wands are super cool guys are buddy But you know without wanting to you know, bring any harm to anyone and step on anybody's toes You know, you might be able to be in both bands and I said, what are you guys talking about? He goes, well, we'd love to have you in a megadeth. I think that that that would give us a shot at definitely You know, that would be one of our greatest hopes And of of stepping over metallica of crushing metallica is if you were the front man That we that would give us the edge that we need to put us in You know in a in a category Beyond metallica More in like the the maiden and priest category. So we were just just devastate Whereas if I'm you know, if I was singing for example, day was saying to me Just like that you're saying to me, you know, you know to tell you the truth singing gives me a headache Give me a sore throat. So I could never imagine it But unless we get you as a vocalist not some other guy, you know, some unknown or some other guy that sings more like aggressively and more, you know Of course With your clear singing in the in the high notes and everything like howlford Singing some in megadeth that would do it. We would be instant Celebrity we just and we could crush metallica. There's no way james could compare with you vocally the range wise, you know and everything and uh I was shocked to hear, you know, I was like they were pitching me Say what you should think about it, you know, and then one came out, you know There's a parking lot you hang out in between rehearsals and everything and then one got a little suspicious That something was going on that they pulled me aside to talk to me and I didn't think it was very serious I thought maybe oh, maybe these guys You know, I it's so it's so um Uh, it's such a privilege that these guys, you know, like my singing and they like what i'm doing and Um, yeah, there was like no words to describe how I felt I felt like a star right then, you know, that these guys have even considered talking I think they would have nailed it. Yeah, I think it would have been amazing I mean, do you have any recordings from those rehearsals? You must there must be some tape recordings of some sort I wish I did i'm maybe they recorded something or dijon recorded something but I don't know. I don't know where they would be. I wish I had something because That we we were kicking ass every night. I mean, it was incredible. The rehearsals were just super You just were you doing like last nights and killing is my business and the skull beneath the skin Like were you doing the material that eventually appeared on the first album? Yeah Yeah, four horsemen Yeah, but yeah The mechanics. Yeah, and I had all different lyrics to it. I had all all the different lyrics, you know, according to my The way out, you know The subject matter that I write about and there was a lot of stuff about aliens and UFOs all kinds of creepy stuff too It was more creepy and the darker than the agency old material and uh, you know, yeah I was writing like you're gonna be abducted and you know, they're gonna They're gonna give you a you know an anal probe. No, I didn't go there, but you know, they're gonna Needle into your neck and they're gonna you're gonna see your past and your future I had all kinds of really heavy lyrics that you know alien in the alien concept Tradition, um that I never use an agent stealing so it was lighter It was more like a crusade for you know, there's hope aliens are gonna help this evolve as a race So we don't blow ourselves up in nuclear war in the future What was the agent steal concept more more so to say lyrically but with the mega death when I was in mega death I use more of a you know, no the aliens are gonna bring they're gonna abduct you bring into their spaceship and they're gonna tear you apart Yeah, it was kind of a different attitude. I would have liked that. I would have liked that I would have liked that. Who was the guitarist for mega death when you were in the band You know, I brought a friend in because they would they needed the guitarist, you know, and and Dave always said, you know Um, I I would like to have someone in that's more flashy than I am So because you know, they you know metallica he's always thinking about metallica But and he knew that his stuff was flashier and more You know riffy and more jazzy. So He knew he had an edge. He believed he had an edge and I think he's an incredible Yes, legendary talent on guitar and songwriting. So You know, I love metallica too. I love their material. They're one of the greatest metal bands ever Um In the head they started the great heavy riff master kind of stuff They went beyond iron made Judas priest is more melodic and just the heavy metal Original metal gods, you know, of course, but metallica took it a notch beyond and uh Then everybody was influenced by that more aggressive faster Uh tempo genre of metal because of metallica But mega death because dave had been kicked out of the band was in the back You know in the back line not getting a chance to show You know his how fast he could sling his gun So, you know, he was always very excited. I was very energized about yeah I'm gonna blow these guys away man. My stuff's jazz. You're riffy riffier and just more unique You know, I said I absolutely agree your stuff is unique in comparison to metallica metallica was awesome too But you know, yeah with and then with me with my vocal um work in there it is going to be incredible And uh, so he was always, you know, wondering what on that mission It seems like from when you're telling me he was on that mission to like crush metallica Even at that stage, right because I guess he just got thrown out. Is that it? Oh, man Oh, he was you could see his face would light up and he would just He would suddenly get his fingers were tightened up and he'd start Moving his fingers when he talked to you Like like, uh, even if he wasn't holding a guitar and at any time he would just glow He would just you know, it was one of like one of these B horror movies, you know, where the alien You finally figure out that your your friend that you're out camping with, you know um On the boonies that he's possessed by an alien his eyes start glowing and fires start coming out of his eyes, you know, that's how he would He start acting when he when he talked about competing with metallica that he had You know a curve ball ready for them that they would never You know expect and that if they think that his material was the material that they kept that they released that got him To to where they were, you know, selling That he they hadn't seen nothing yet that he had that the new material he was going to come out with was just going to They were just going to either quit or they were going to be ashamed. You know, that's how he talked He was like very confident and very positive. I love james and lars. I love those are my brothers forever, but They got some they got they better prepare, you know They better put their heads between their Between their legs and kiss their own asses. Goodbye because i'm just gonna talk to carol off the stage I was to tear the world apart. Yeah You're rehearsing you're confident how many nights a week you're rehearsing rehearsing about for a year Like two three nights a week. Oh, we rehearsed a lot at first. Um, it was at least three or four nights a week Um, they were very dedicated these guys. I mean they live breathe the need to stuff if they're not You know planning You know engineering plotting songs and you know, we we we sat after rehearsal a lot of times we'd go to denny's or There's a place on sunset boulevard la I don't even know if it's still there. It's called ben francs And uh, they used to like go in there instead of denny's somewhere by the you know the beach or something Is because uh, there was a lot of girls like a lot of uh Hairband girls that would that would go there to eat After like some show at um the rainbow or i mean that's not the rainbow, but uh What is that place? Uh, I used the whiskey. Yeah, but there's another place that reduced priest even played In the 70s not the trooper or two, but there was another place I forgot what it was called. There was a little bit deeper into hollywood Where it had a vapor. It was a bigger venue No, that's nowadays. I think that this I don't know if this that was later in There's an there's an actual place. I saw a poster for it the other day and I remember that place I played there when I was I had I played guitar And I had my band we played there. Um, I forgot what it was. Yeah, it's all right. It's all right Yeah, these guys they would go there, you know to meet girls because they knew that a lot of Cute girls would hang out at that band frank's on sunset late into the night because it was 24 hours and They could meet girls there and actually they did they sometimes they'd meet girls there because you know the you know Dave, you know, Dave mustang jr. Has everybody called him and Dave include They you know, they look good. I mean they even though they were a heavy band, you know, they played Faster than hell and uh heavy as metallica and beyond They they If they wanted to if they put gel in their hair, you know, and they wanted to be which they would never do And they never have and they never will but um if they wanted to look that way they could they just look naturally good with their hair You know greasy and straight, you know, but they look good, you know And uh in the girls like them, you know, a lot of girls like them They were popular, you know, even though they were a heavy band and uh, they kind of treated the girl Like yeah, you know, I play heavy music I'm not as opposed or shit that you listen to but you're cute We can be friends anyway and the girls will say yeah, you guys are pretty cute for a heavy band You know, so they met girls there and uh, so we'd sit around, you know, and we'd shoot the shit We talk about new songs new song ideas and just about life in general and they'd you know As we were talking sometimes their eyes would You know their head would kind of move sideways and they kind of look past my head talking I mean they look at the girls in the background and see if they could get someone To look at them, you know, which they always did get some interest. So yeah, I mean we hung out and uh besides just rehearsal So it would kind of we became kind of pretty close friends in that in that sense of the word and uh It was a great experience man. I loved it. I mean the music was kick ass These guys were awesome incredible shredders and every night felt like Wow, you know if I was on stage in the los angeles forum with these guys It would be no different than this rehearsal room. I would always think that I would always like kind of feel like smiling within myself With these incredible shredders and back to me just headbanging and playing incredible riffs that i've never Never seen before i've never seen any band that i've ever been in or that i've ever seen live in la Or anywhere and subconsciously you did influence them you did influence them subconsciously because rust and peace with I mean their biggest album is you know the alien, you know Yeah, you know the theme of the alien still sort of lurking around there on that album, right? So There was you subconsciously influence them All right, I think that Dave Yeah, because you know dave's a very intelligent person He's a he's a genius. So, you know, he's he's he's even in the day. He's open minded to a lot of Intense subject matter. He was it wasn't just the guys like yeah, man. I just want to play metal It was rock and roll the guy's very intelligent thinks about political issues society and always analyzing stuff and You know in a calm way. He's not like a radical guy about you know, yeah But you know i'm an alt writer or i'm an extreme liberal or anything No, he was always kind of centered and he always just analyzed everything. He's very intelligent about analyzing everything. So he he did You know, he came what happened was that one day I was so involved with an ages deal that I started pulling back And not going to rehearsals as much. We started just becoming more distant They were always looking for me sometimes I'd come home And they'd find they'd gotten a place, you know eventually And they weren't staying with me my parents anymore and sometimes I'd come home and they'd be there again I thought well, are they moving back in you guys are welcome here? But you know, they say no we're waiting for you john. We thought what happened That you know, we had rehearsal the night and I was like, oh, shit. I forgot man It was kind of like a white lie, you know, I'd have to always come up with a white lie about, you know Man, I forgot no where have you guys been you know, we're we had been looking for an apartment We got a place finally and uh, they kind of knew what was going on I was drifting away Because I was more interested in agent steel as me and mohan were very very close friends and I was so involved with that That I wasn't really interested in in continuing mega that they kind of knew it So with before being day of the way he is very self-confident of and you know, very self-directed um, I think he decided that um He was going to make the first move before I did so that Historically, he could always say yeah, we let john go instead of john quit So one day I came home and my mom was kind of really sad because she really liked them And she she helped she went she goes come over here. Look and she picked up a manila envelope From the kitchen. She said look the the boys brought this over Dave the daves They gave it to me and they were kind of almost crying, you know Dave mustain especially was really sad And uh, dave ellison was very apologetic and he said hey, you know Is john here? No, she said no, he's not here guys want to come in. He said no not today Um, can you just give him this envelope? um Because I give him a copy of my lyrics all the time they had copies on and uh And he said can you just give me we're returning his lyrics because we have to let him go because um It's hard to explain. We love him. We love john. He's become our friend and he's a great singer and We know that he's you know developing the agent steel thing right now and wands are are Good friend too and we don't want to stand their way. But the real reason is is because After a lot of thought I don't know if I it's kind of creepy for me My mom this is what my mom told me anyway that dave mustain. I actually told her this It's it's a little bit too creepy for me. I'm more into like the punk political You know in society kind of like a personal life experience kind of lyrical concept And I don't know if I can really go with this alien thing. It's not only creepy It's it's even more creepy than the satanic stuff. It's kind of weird I don't know if I want to you know campaign megadeth Based on this whole alien thing and you know and and just besides that You know, I don't want to stand any the way of agent steel I don't want him to have to decide between megadeth and agent steel So we're letting them go tell him we love him and he's always welcome To rehearsals or are you still our friend? You know hope doesn't take this as a As personally like a gesture of you know, it's cutting off their friendship or anything um, so you know And he just left the envelope and with my lyrics were in it with my mom And uh, I my mom said, you know, I was really sad. Why did you do this to the boys or whatever I said? Why can't you just write like why couldn't you write stuff? I was really Looking forward to you being in that band. I love those guys. They're good boys and They really like you john and everything like one everything. So I said, yeah, well, that's just the way it goes, man You know, I'm gonna do this agent steel thing. It's my own band Me and wan and chuck and uh, we're just gonna campaign this alien thing all the way to the hilt It's new Let dave do let david do his political stuff Like I want to go through the whole agent steel sort of history later on in part two if you're okay with that Sure, let's go back to the new album, right? When do you think this this album will be released? well, it sometime this year the what i'm thinking of doing is um since there's a lot of you know, it just feels like i'm I've been blacklisted and I don't know where it's coming from, you know, I I know that um, you know, some people say that it wan doesn't want me to continue With agent steel because he feels like he worked on it for so long And even being on me in the in the era where uh bruce hall was the singer They made those three albums that were that were awesome. You know those three albums they made That I didn't sing on But you know some people have a theory. There's different theories going on out there Um, but I don't believe that one has always been he's always going to be you know One of my number one best friends, you know, I love wan. He's an incredible human being an incredible musician His guitar workers evolved incredibly. He's You know a master guitarist now in comparison to when he first started which he was already great He's a natural talent, but he's so awesome nowadays and so he's an incredible guitarist nowadays He's evolved and he's so humble and body cow. He's a great. Oh, yeah Oh, yeah And you know all the stuff that he's done You know, he's helped played on different, you know sad and different session work and everything and played different bands helping out and everything but um a lot of people think that um That you know, the theory is that it's wan. You know, he has contacts. He knows a lot of people um, and he's very well liked in the industry and amongst the peers and You know, he's made a few moves, you know, you know In in the shadows and maybe not directly campaign and gone on youtube and says stop John don't let him continue agent steel agency. It shouldn't be what should not be without without me and bernie and After what happened to bernie. It's kind of sacrilegious to continue agent steel Um, no, I don't believe that's wan's position. I don't believe that he's involved You know in any of some of that kind of campaign against me Um, but some people think it is, you know, like an old friend of mine that knows the two of us from way back, you know um I'm not going to mention who he is by name But he is you know determined to convince me that that is the one is doing all of this Black listing me in the industry and amongst the peers so that nobody supports me and it's almost impossible You know, I'm kind of like uh, uh being put in the position where I'm kind of like the edward snowden of heavy metal You know, yeah, so, uh, you know, the only place I can do is take a secret flight to Moscow and be subjected to the You know tyranny there or you know live in the states and be dissected, you know live, you know, but um You know, that's what you know, it it to to be honest That's what it seems like so but it's not wan involved It's something going on out there that um, I think it's you know, I don't know Some people say it's an ex manager of mine That was kind of an older guy to begin with in the back of the 80s and he's gone bonkers and He's stealing all my royalties and now he's passed away and But I was looking at the other side, right, you know one went on without you, right? So it's kind of like the same thing, you know, like, you know He went on without you with those three albums and you probably weren't too happy about that, right? Now you're going on without him. So, you know, it's the same sort of argument, right? Yeah, well, you know, um, I I kind of authorized after a while I thought well, you know, these guys are my friends and I'm not Doing anything right now at the moment So I kind of authorized the use of the name for those three albums But I didn't expect not to receive anything though. I thought that they would give me something They would throw me some kind of percentage, but they never did but it's okay, man I mean, it's you know Shit happens and I didn't really expect in any way But you know, I didn't I didn't expect them to you know To continue and they didn't and we did the reunion. We got back together and I wish that had worked out, but no, no, I mean, it's uh You know, I I've invited Juan to come on Even before the nor the gods album I invited him to come on if he ever wants to come on the door is always open to him If he you know, of course the agent steel would never would never be the same Agent steel no matter what kind of lineup I got if I got you know, steve i and kerry king to play And uh, you know You know Uh, the paul bostoff is one of the great My it's one of my favorite drummers of all time. It's not even dave lombard. I mean, I love dave He's awesome, but paul bostoff to me In my opinion is the greatest slayer drummer ever I mean he's somebody's incredible jazz progressive You know all kinds of like actual music Being he's like leading the music in the one one of my favorite slayer albums a diabolos and musica It's one of that's my favorite slayer album and it's so outside the box and paul bostoff is an incredible talent on that album It seems like he's Lee in the way like he wrote the songs the guys are playing with him It's just so progressive, but also so heavy and and raw and and dark and it's incredible, but um, If I put a line to line up the other like that it would never compare to a lineup Where Juan was involved because me and Juan I thought we're like the jaggers richard Richard's combination, you know, it's just like we can do our own thing And we you know, we can sell, you know Couple albums and we can reach some kind of you know recognition and success But together we sell out 80 000 cedars every night, you know, I'm saying that's symbolically speaking I don't know if we'd reach that kind of status So but the door's open to him that he's always welcome to play a solo to write a song to come in and just Play a rhythm or to join completely and you know, I would follow his lead He's got so much experience much more than me in the in the business and he knows so many You know incredible He's all the peers support him. Everybody likes Juan. He's a great guy So the door is always open for Juan to come back into the band if I you know, whatever i'm doing with the band That's very respectable. So very respectable. That's good. I'm happy Yeah, well, that's the way it should be, you know, I My commitment to our friendship is not Friendship is not something that is limited by time and space and the length of years He's and so, you know, his commitment to the band and what he's done for me He's been there for me in the toughest times of my life Um, so it goes beyond just music, you know, he's just a wonderful friend He's a great friend to have because if you need a friend, that's one of the kind of people He's the kind of friend that'll be there and he'll jump in front of bullets for you if you need it So Juan's always in, you know, as we have like two minutes left here There's a picture of you with the sort of like alien christmas tree. What is that? What's that image? No, it's all metal. It's all um some Like gold platelets and um Uh, silver, you know, true sterling silver and all metal you know It's all metal objects that were put together and a robot sort of Shape was made from just all metal objects whether it's forks knives plates Platters um everything metal that you could imagine um was put together and a kind of robot was made that's called um the warrior of peace and uh A friend of mine. Yeah created that and it's energized. It's this this person's a very special person. Um, he I can't explain right now in the couple minutes what he does but We'll talk about it next time. Okay Yeah, no and he created that robot So i'm standing taking a picture in front of it because very few people were ever privileged to take a picture in front of that Kind of robot or you know statue that he created with all those metals and those metals are all bent into each other they kind of You know this if you look really close you can see They're all bent in um very unique shapes some of them like flowers and bent It's pretty cool. It's impossible to do that with machines. Yeah a machine cannot do that By the time I shared I shared you the picture. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah No, go ahead. I I shared the picture of the ufo that I saw With you. I'm not sure if you saw that or not, but i'll talk about that next time I I picture Yeah, yeah, so listen the new they're go find me page. I'm gonna end off with this So the new album is is almost complete Go find me pages up to help support the album to get it completed, right? And out there you're telling me that there's gonna Yes, yes, I'll put that link there too also The new album should be released in 2023 right as the date you're kind of aiming for correct Right. Yeah, I'm gonna release songs, uh, you know clips before that and see if some of these idiots in the That that are running these these metal labels nowadays, you know Can get some courage up after they go see the wizard that The coward like the cowardly lion he needs to go see the wizard first But we can get the courage to do something substantial and If any of these idiots can step up to the plate and then maybe They can you know drop a call to one and get on come in and play a couple solos or write a song or two Add it on and we can add on to it. Um I think they can make a few bucks, you know rather than going after a lot of these unknown bands, you know That maybe they're not as talented or they don't they don't have a following They don't have you know the following we have so that's what I want to inspire But I have to fund it myself and unfortunately and nobody's supporting me on that and I I haven't won the lot Oh as much as I still as old as I am I still have hope that someday I may get that winning ticket and uh Same year same year. You're not alone my friend So I got to fund the album if the fans want to hear something The finished product that eventually a label if they're intelligent If there's they can you know if the cowardly lion can finally see the wizard they can step up to the plate to um To make a deal with me to release and distribute the album until then I need to fund it myself if the fans want to hear It's completion. Um, they got to help me out with it. That's just the way it goes or else It's just going to take an eternity to get it done Just with you know considering the if I want to use my my job my salary To pay for it, you know, it's going to take a couple hundred years, but um, yeah, I gotta run Thank you so much. We'll do a part two. I'll keep in touch with you And uh, you know everybody out there go hit that find go find me page and support agents deal and john John Cyrus my guest appreciated you really appreciate it been a pleasure my friend. Thank you