 What's happening everyone? This is Neil Turbin and you're watching the metal voice and I'm not taller than you He's taller than me. No, I'm not. This is Doug Pinnock from King's X Over my head. I hear music music music Over my head and I'm not drinking I Well, we could have a drink as a show. We're rocking we got them and you're my dear friend And I appreciate you Doug so Well, thank you, man, and it's just an honor to be here with you today. I've been waiting to interview you I wanted to Do this at the Griffith Observatory? Yeah, maybe we'll get there sometime because they got this cool little thing going on Who knows if they let people in there anymore? Maybe just people that know Tesla Then they got the fake Tesla even most that's the fake Tesla. Yeah, there's a real Tesla and then there's like Everything that came after I'm stuck with Elon. It's like Led Zeppelin and everything that came after you know Yeah, it's true because there's a lot of fake Zeppelins And we have one right now. That's out there and fake Zeppelin I just wish they would write some good songs and I would follow them. Well, you know, we're not gonna name their name We don't have to worry about that right shitty songs. There's some great There's some great bands from Japan to play Led Zeppelin. How about that? Listen to them some amazing songs and that's a problem. You can sound like But can you write a great there was a there was a band out of Japan That moon a takahaguchi from loudness played on the album It was Zeppelin remember that guy and it was Zeppelin songs was a good fucking jam and throwing it down mark There's mark. All right. He's busy. That's all right. We got an interview anyway mark smooth up in Yeah, he's smoothing up. I got a mother Hey turn that shit down man. I'm trying to listen to fucking Led Zeppelin So anyway, like I wanted to talk to you about King's X and I wanted to ask you about, you know You also did the work with Lynch and and also Ray Lucia. Yeah, that was awesome. Yeah Tell me about that. Well George is just he George is George Everything about George that you think about and everything you've heard about him. It's all true and he's a he's just a big ball of Emotion and creativity and George is searching for the tone and oh, he's always searching He's never stopped searching and um, how about your tone? And are you searching for what would George? George just brought so much to the table, which is so cool and rated to and we all we all the thing about KXM is And I don't know if any bands do this or not But we we said the prerequisite is no one tells anybody what to do Nobody critiques anyone whatever you put down whatever you come up with we will make it work Interesting, and that's what I love about those four records. There's three records. Sorry. Um, it's because I had nothing to do with it It's just I just put my part in there and put my vocals on it and I loved what they did and it was a lot of fun So we're talking about KXM flow Flow yeah, you're flow. It's all about flow and it's all about no ego That's the problem a lot of a lot of people want it their way no no bully no boss Nobody telling anybody no corporation telling you what you're what underwear you got to wear It's all about trust, you know, I mean those two guys have our seasoned musicians that know what they're doing So why should I tell them? Why don't you do this? Let's try this they know and they're giving me what they give And I'm going well. I'm just gonna play what I play along with it and make it work I mean this is fascinating to me Doug for two reasons why number one because you have a lot of experience and you know That's valuable to everybody and number two I mean there's something that parents can learn because because it does work like that You can't control a dog. You can't control a cat let alone kids or children You can't tell them how to be or what to do or what to play and it's the same for musicians It's like you're trying to constrain someone in like a horse and they're stable and say like don't move Like don't move I'm trying to take your photo like don't move like I mean people will say that But you know what sometimes you got a move like the Rolling Stones. That's that's the way I see it You know you got a move you got to move And you know, but you got I have to be honest with you You know when I write songs I write it the whole thing everything about it And so when people do the songs that I wrote I wanted me to do it like I did it You know, so there's a yeah, I think you have to just understand the difference Sometimes you collaborate with people and make this great music And then sometimes you have something that you've created in your head And you need to find the people that want to go along with what you've created and enhance it the best way They can with the way they feel you interpret it So there's several different ways to make music and all of them are are legitimate Can you tell me about dog man, I want to know dog man. Yeah, Ty wrote dog man He said I want to write the baddest riff I ever came could write and he did dog man is like the brief is like Are you fucking kidding me? you know, you know when he wrote that song and we had just our manager had left us and we It was a tumultuous experience and when he left us He left us with nothing but a name a manager did and so we had to find new management We had to find new everything and Ty took on the That the chore of doing that and as a result of it dog man the lyrics It's all about him dealing with all the shit He had to deal with to get keep Kings X going because we we had someone who took care of everything and then he left Well, thanks for filling in the part that MTV and VH went left out. Yeah, fuck them MTV And and and then well, you're from Texas originally, right? Well, no, I'm from Chicago Chicago Yeah, we lived in Texas King sex moved to Texas in 1985 We were five years in as a band and we moved to Texas. So how did Gretchen go to Nebraska though? How did it go? How did she end up in Nebraska because that's the name of the album Jerry wrote Jerry wrote this story Jerry's fault. Yeah, he wrote this story about a girl who went to Nebraska and he told this whole story And it was so cool that we thought let's just call the record that that's awesome And then we put a story his story in the record The album at the time vinyl people God that was so long ago. Tell me about your influences dog You you're a big Jimmy Hendrix fan. No, just not a little bit me We're flying the family flying the family stone Ray Charles because I've seen you play Jimmy That's only Ray Charles made his staples. Oh, yes Staples my girl you Jackson my hell. Yeah, I'm oldest shit. Okay, but your old school. Yeah, I'm old schools Well, the people take me back before that who we're well in the 50s in the 50s. That's all I had You know, there was no there were no Beatles in the 50s Take me back to the rock and the influences that are maybe Chuck Berry I'm a little Richard is like. Yeah, he's a god. He's a ripping and tearing He's ripping and tearing and he's treading this kind of flamboyant ground that at that time It does take me back to Jimmy because he did play with right well We'll see in his band as a hired see when when little Richard was doing his thing That was really tab good golly miss Molly. No, no no the way he looked okay acted the makeup He was he was that that whole androgynous Prince kind of thing, you know it back when everything was puritanical back in the 50s You know where the Christians who were like really hard on anything and so little Richard was like really stepping out So it was the work of the devil back. It was a work of the devil It was all about Satan and then with Jimmy Hendrix came along and then Prince came along and I'm watching all these motherfuckers You know what I'm going well, let me Good pretty you know, and it was what I you know, they were in a big inspiration But you know rock and roll came along with Zeppelin came along and said fuck all that shit So what's the metal or the harder band that really kind of took you sugar? Oh really? Well black Sabbath is still one of my favorite bands the whole fucking world, but my sugar took me to a place where math groove Math math and groove okay, it's two things that don't happen very often Because a lot of the gent dance the math, but they don't groove. I could care less about you know Give me a make it. Can I dance to your fucked up man? My sugar I can wow I can fucking dance my ass off to my sugar, and it's fucked up and the grooves are spectacular any other bands that are Inspiring you or that that stick out to you today that that we're you know our notable There's no bands that that that are inspiring anymore today to me because I've heard this about everything that there is everything else It's just regurgitation, but there's there's a band called vola. I love them And there's another band called sleep token sleep talk sleep token sleep token. They are like take the most Just really How do I put it? slow emotional almost boring Music and then it builds and it builds and you invest in it And it's all of a sudden it goes into a place where it's so brutal that it takes your breath away Then they can come back to this simplicity that brings tears to your eyes So you know i'm going to go listen to them you need to and vola. Yes, and I have I have another question I don't want to keep you for a long time because I respect your time and we just played a concert here You played today here playing rock for ronnie It was fun. I love ronnie ronnie is amazing. I miss him. I miss him too, and it's been too long I wish we could just beam him back in I knew him we toured together I remember here's a cool story I would watch him play every night for the first three nights I'd stand aside a stage behind the pa and watch him the fourth night I walked out and there was a stool sitting there behind the pa And he comes up to me right before he goes on and says your stool so And I sat down and I watched every night with this special stool that he set there for me And I said to him I said you amaze me every night. I said you are flawless You blow my mind. He said I have to sing in front of dove pinnick So I have to be good And I'm going oh my god You know because ronnie james deal when I first heard long live rock and roll. I wanted that voice I heard that tone. It's like you brought soul to metal No one has brought soul Vocals to metal like ronnie james deal and then haven't no one has done it since We have all these math singers now. They're just saying notes Where's the harmonics? Where's the beauty? Where's the soul in it? It's just it you know, I miss it. I miss a lot of the heart In the new music nowadays now not don't get me wrong I'm not going to cut the music new music down because kids are doing what they do They're emulating what they feel and they're speaking to their generation So I cannot discredit that but as an old ass motherfucker I miss a rica That influence in metal I miss the the the old school But you know, that's the way it is and that's where it's going to be. So don't hate on me. It's all good That's that's so amazing dug and I really appreciate you sharing Your insight, you know in that way because That's that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about I mean, I really appreciate your experience and your knowledge because it's so valuable To all the musicians out there listening and all the people that are you know That are buffs for king's x and that are fans and also, you know Just fans of great vocalists like ronnie james deo because the story is amazing But there's some other stories and there's some other knowledge that you have that I know Because we've talked we've talked late night. We had you know, we're hanging out. I was abducted when I was three You were what I was abducted abducted by who aliens when I was three from from east l.a. Were those kind? No, no What the kind from new york in the east villager? No, no No, I was three from canada. No, I was three three and you remember when you were three Oh, yes, I remember several things when I was three. I remember I have this brain that just remembers things that were out of the ordinary I could relate I was three the reason I know I was three is because my mother was still living with me And my mother left me when I was three. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry So I remember Coming back into whatever it was that I had experienced and she was there And I was in her lap crying and I remember it was dark outside And that's the last I remember of her for years But um, I was sleeping and this person came to my room and he had long blonde hair and he was very tall Not like me. He had long blonde hair. He's very tall. Nope. It wasn't and he had a robon And he had a silver belt wrapped around it and I remember he was very tall I would abduct iron maiden beer if I could bless your heart and he had these sandals on He had these sandals on that were wrapped around his leg And I remember going out the back door and going up. It was very bright outside Even though I had been just walking up and I remember it was like, it's like, wow, it's so bright And we're going up and I at that point I realized something's going wrong that going on that I am not into And I remember I tried to get away from this being and being being this person a being It's like that like rice and beans like no person a person Uh-huh, and I let go of the restaurant. No, you can't get no beans. No You're going to keep me out. I'm going to stay on focus I'm just drinking And he uh and I let and I pulled and pulled and I finally I remember I let go of He let go of my hand and the next thing I remember I was in my mom's lap He held your hand. Yeah, he grabbed my hand. How many fingers did he have? I don't know like et No, he was a normal person. Was it like a dinosaur with fingernails? Here's my point I'm just trying to feel my point. It was my point. I used to think that I was I was just crazy and it was stupid But when I was in my 40s, I was watching ancient aliens and they were talking about the four alien races That supposedly people have I have uh have communicated with people have been inducted These are the four aliens that they talk about inducted into the rocket roll hole. Yeah Inducted into what a fuck what I thought they let me finish. Let me finish. I'm sorry. I'm sorry And so I thought they only like aliens so they showed the aliens And the one alien was called the Nord and that was the alien That I remembered see before that I thought I was just dreaming and it was bullshit But 40 years later I see the being that came to pick that took my hand and I went up into the skywood So that's why I believe that I was abducted because according to if you put it all together It totally makes sense because it did happen Anyway, I don't know the outcome of it But I do believe in aliens and I do believe in all that So so let me just ask a question real quick and I'm not trying to be rude or interrupt You can be rude I I just try to I just try to keep people entertained because you know, they're watching and you know, they could laugh once the Well, if they can't laugh at the truth and fuck you they could laugh at themselves because they might want to ask questions So I'm trying to ask their questions So I'm thinking about what would what would be some questions people ask So you so so they didn't induct aliens into the rocket roll hole of fame, but I think they do I think that's where they get those choices Because they they didn't pick iron maidens. I don't know what the fuck's wrong with them as for the rock hollow fame They induct aliens They induct aliens But our but the question the question is Doug is it interdimensional? In other words, we're talking about vibrational energy, right? So different frequencies like in music Or are we talking about interstellar? So that's my question. I don't know if it's interstellar or intervibration I know that both exist in in my mind and I think they all have a valid Place in our belief system and I think that there are people that can actually Say that this happened happened to them Because the reason I say this Doug is vibrations very strong since you're a baseman and you are the vibration It's more than vibration. Everything vibrates. That's a lot. You know, when I when I see the mountains I get a goosebumps because even the mountains give me a feeling a vibe that I feel I mean, I feel everything. You know, it's it's kind of scary. So would you would you consider yourself? Hypersensitive or a critical thinker or would you say those things? I think I'm both. Okay. I'm hypersensitive Because I'm hypersensitive. I had to become a critical thinker to make sense of all the things that I felt Because I feel so much and there's so many explanations to what I feel And in my ignorance of not knowing The whole scope of things and I can make up whatever I want to in my mind and make it work for me So I think that I feel and now I want to analytically make sense of it So so do you think that people that are not critical thinkers people that are keep it simple, you know Kind of folks that just you know, they don't they don't want to be bothered with Details. They just want to go to the surface and and watch the news and you know, just stay very Very not go deep. Do you think that they can understand what you're talking about? Do you think they can relate? I say to those people, that's where the fun is Stay there and have a good time Fuck all the rest of that shit because at the end of the day, you're gonna die And whatever happens happens. So all this shit that we're going through doesn't fucking matter anyway So do what you can to have the best life that you can and enjoy your life because the rest of it don't Don't give a fuck about that shit. Don't give a fuck about trump. Don't give a fuck about biden Don't give a fuck about all that shit because at the end of the day, it's still going to be here They're still going to do the shit that they do and nothing's going to change Only thing that changes is in your mind. Can you deal with this shit and get on with your life? And the corporation still owns you no matter who you know, no matter fucking what No matter no matter what you thought you voted for before it was All we do is work and make money Just enough to get what we want. That's slavery. It's fucking slavery And here's the most awesome woman. I just have to say hi to wendy Wendy just got to come over for one minute one minute. Just a big hug This is wendy deal. Thank you. Thank you for celebrating ronnie and thank you for putting on rock for ronnie. This is amazing We're just interviewing Doug He's such a oh my god, he's such a talent He's always there he's always there for us always always Thank you. Yeah, he's there for us all the time folding everything. He's always there Thank you, sweetheart Thank you, wendy there. I'll let me get them for you Thank you, wendy Now that's the awesome wendy deal Here at rock for ronnie We have Doug pinnick and I want to be respectful of Doug's time because he just performed today. Yeah, exactly And we could pick up, uh, you know in this conversation on on part two another time We can always but I just have one question regarding the um The incident that happened when you were three What did the person look like that you said in nordic you said like jesus really the american version of jesus He had blue eyes. He blonde hair long blonde hair I thought it was jesus growing up in the christian family To me it was okay jesus came and something happened and I came back You were three. Yes. So did you speak did you did you talk? No, we never talked We didn't talk I remember several things when I was very young. I remember my greg grandfather when he died I was one and a half And I remember crawling the floor looking for him And I remember my aunt's living room was green and the floor in the in the funeral was at my aunt's house And I sent mention to my mom that and she goes. Oh, yeah, I used to crawl the floor looking for grandpa Or pa we called him because he used to pick me up and rock me in his chair So what i'm saying is anything that tragically happened in my life I remember There's several things in my life that I remember other than that there's I mean, I remember from third grade to seventh grade. I don't remember i'm second You know, but there's things that you remember and I always believe that if a tragic thing happens in a child's life they remember that because it because There's a disturbance in the force And you remember that you're forced to remember that last question doug Because I want to respect your time John's zula marsha's zula mega force records you were signed to them And you played for mega force records. I was signed to mega force back in the day I love your band Thank you So tell me about your experience with john's zula marsha zula how that came about real quick And you know what's so cool that marsha loved us johnny wasn't interested in it since marsha was just She loved king sex and she wanted us on that label and she pushed and she pushed and she convinced johnny That we were something that that they should Work with and they signed us and without them, you know, we might not Have ever been heard johnny has no pushover. No johnny was no pushover and we um We had sent demo tapes out to every major rocket label and they all turned us down And I remember a friend of mine who played with amy grand He played drums for her and he said doug what are you doing? And I and I sent a friend of mine who sent him A demo tape of us and he says and he says so what's going on with the band? I go nobody wants us. He goes, why don't you check out this label called mega force? They're not what you sound like they're a thrash band, but you know, they they're thrash label, but they might like you Literally, this is what happened um I mentioned it to our manager sam taylor and sam sent them a demo with his name on it Now they were getting cassettes every day tens and twenty of them and they would throw them out the window because they were Shit, you know, or they didn't like them. They might have been good, but they didn't give them a chance But when she got the tape of king's ex, she saw sam taylor's name on He was and she knew a guy named sam taylor. She goes. Oh, I'll listen to it So that's a day that that's the day she listened to it But if it wasn't for that name She would not have we would never have gotten a record deal. Thanks to sam taylor and that's a day that no thanks to Yeah, sam taylor sam taylor and that's the day that that king's ex went from from little richard To mega force records holy smokes rock and roll Thank you, dawg. You can't plan that. Thank you dawg. You don't plan this. We love you, man Thanks for everything, man We're gonna pick up this conversation in the future Okay, part two is coming What's happening everyone? This is neil turban. You're watching the metal voice. Yes, you are He's the cat and this is the man the one and only Marco Mendoza. How are you? How you doing? I love marco. Thank you, brother. Let me do it What about the people that showed up today for a great cause amazing amazing. It's not a beautiful thing, man You know, uh for quite a few years. I won't boast, but I used to get the call and unfortunately I was busy Things are changing now. So after the pandemic I'm here. I'm leaving in two days. So worked out. I'm glad to Where are you going? Where are you headed? You're flying out on a tour? I'm off to france. Yeah start your tour Europe France spain your solo band with my solo band new direction It's the name of the last album that came out last september of new direction And the one before that is uh, viva la rock nice target mighty music and uh, check it out marco mendoza.com So marco, we go back a few months. Yes, we do I don't I remember. Yeah the one month that I was at uh lax and I was standing there and then bobby brown walked by and then tommy lee and nicky six and The guy that I wanted to meet was you marco mendoza's. Yeah, because Blue murder. Yes, john sikes. Oh my god. That's my favorite music. I mean, I love I love what you do and I saw you at lava lee. Oh my god with joey heredia and uh, rena to neto And uh, you know, you're you're doing superstition or uh living in the city. Yeah So, how's that go? Uh, what do you mean living in the city living in the city? Yeah, living for the city living for the city I'm boy is born In hot that missus city Surrounded by For what it ain't so pretty See and that's why I love you marco because you just we go like on the spot and you're ready to deliver Oh, yeah, yeah, that's that's you and I grew up with that music and and and you taught me that because I watched you and I'm like man This guy is an mvp like it's not just about bass playing. It's about a performance and singing and a whole thing That's very kind and that means a lot. That's like michael jordan type shit. Yeah, but you know what it is Without getting too deep into it. I enjoy what I what I do I really do it now might not be the best singer the best bass player You're pretty fucking amazing. I'll tell you i'm very comfortable in my own skin And I love to perform under any circumstance under under any capacity Because we're blessed. It's a gift, man And as long as I don't forget that it's gonna come out It's gotta shine so marco tell me about your childhood and tell me about coming up in the music because you know In my opinion, you're a prodigy. You're someone who had it young and you you you know, you're just doing what you did before Yeah, well, thank you for the next level I grew up I grew up in tijuana to south of or to san diego and my grandmother came in to care of us Before the music starts my my parents separated so she came from mexico city She brought a piano so she was a piano teacher and I was six seven years old She had a bunch of students and she started teaching and that's where I gotta give her a lot of credit That's why I learned how to appreciate music She was doing concert classical stuff And I I learned to love the music right under say she she taught me how to listen to it and get inside the harmonies And the melodies and appreciate it all in all so so after that, you know I started I got a guitar an acoustic guitar and started goofing around and we got the abbey road album And that was it my brother and I went We got lost in the music. So so let me get this straight. So you came from tijuana. Yes, originally. Yeah, and you played in journey. Yes So that's how it works, right? You go from tijuana to journey Yeah, um get fast forward give or take a few things a little. I mean, that's reality. Yeah Well, yeah, that's how it is and I really believe in this amazing if you really believe in who you are Will you bring and you enjoy it? I think at the core of it if you really enjoy it and you love it It's going to shine and the people outside like you you have that people outside see you man And you're digging it boom you bring them in and that's what it is. That's the bottom line. So um I still believe in in the music the music business It's changing. Yeah, but I don't get yeah the world is changing and the music business as well But I I have to keep myself in check because I didn't start playing music Because of the music business I had no idea what that was I started playing music for the music and to this day I still I have a favorite saying that I say music is its own reward sometimes you got to look at it that way It's about good music that music plays itself man. We got to pick this up again. Marco. I know you gotta go I want to respect that Thanks so much for everything