 here we are guys live on the metal voice again a second time and this is a wow man we went from lee curse lake you know to his sort of legacy to a johnny's azula pat alan i mean wow i mean our heroes are just passing one by one you know it's it's so sad the statement today that was posted by alan the statement by ricky's azula right ricky's azula his daughter posted on facebook and i'm not going to read this all the world lost a true legend our dad lived a life as as fast hard heavy powerful and impactful as the music he brought to the world his passion and persistence fueled the careers of arguably the most influential metal bands and industry greats of a generation the soundtrack to all our lives you pat and alan and me and this this is the soundtrack and and you live in jersey and we live in montreal so i don't know alan what do you remember from johnny well i i mean you know when we first heard the news we had we knew we had to do something so this is a little bit the spur of the moment i'm glad pat was able to join us of course uh for me i mean you know we had right here in montreal i was there at least once a week every friday night if not more we had the bonsai records who licensed a lot of the albums from mega force you know that looked familiar or excited or was distributed by polygram here in canada but rave and of course crazed management executive producers john and marsha's azula um so that's how i was introduced to john and marsha at mega force records through the license to bonsai they run out of a local record store here the largest metal store in all of montreal and like i said i was a regular there and we were able to pick up all these releases and of course the uh yes there is this sounds is uh there it is the lightning which uh this is we've got a few minutes here i actually had autograph we actually met metallica including cliff burton autographed down at rock and stock i mean we froze that day it was minus 40 with the wind the celsius and these guys were drinking at the hotel they finally showed up and we finally got to meet our heroes without like that rock and stock slash bonsai records pat what was your um i guess it was the last time i guess maybe your early recollections of johnny you know you went to the flea market you were there at rock and roll heaven right i was i was there from the beginning yeah and uh it was an amazing place and they just did such an awesome job and it was so cool you know to be a teenager and have a place like that right i mean how cool is that yeah um like you walked in there it wasn't like a big store or anything right it was a flea market right flea market yeah from there that was the the the sort of the catalyst right that exploded the whole metal scene on the least on the east coast right started the whole thing yeah yeah and uh you know i am i am just i'm really at a loss for words i'm just so upset i mean johnny did so much for us and it was a great honor to induct him in marcia a few years ago into the metal hall of fame and of course metallica inducted them and uh it was just such such a great honor truly deserving and they worked so hard the nice thing about it is that they loved what they did and they're responsible for so many can you imagine without them think about it for a minute me and now me and alan's basically our youth is like there's nothing there it wasn't for them right i mean imagine the metal scene not only today but back then and he was the good music he had the bad music in la but this was like the good stuff right this is like the oh yeah it was like you know and what i love about the metal community what we were doing here in montreal you were doing in new jersey you know everybody was doing the same thing like it's like the saxophone song right where were you in 79 you know you're standing in line at your local record store so we were all living the same thing back in the back in the 80s doing the same thing and again it unimaginable if john and uh marsha didn't have the passion and and the guts the cahones to do what they had to do because that took money to do what they had to do and like you said they were running a flea market and look at the empire that they they built so and i think what's even like i mean his wife marsha died what like a year it's been a year right last january last january wow and it's almost to the i wouldn't say to the day but it's close right it is and and he was just absolutely devastated when she died and i know how much he missed her and uh it's just it's just really heartbreaking he made me laugh he made me laugh he was it's such a wonderful both of them john and marsha he made me laugh just such a wonderful human i was i was interviewing him and i just i like to point out the the cool fighting moments i was interviewing him and as a minute this was in california at the metal hollow and you can actually see it at least parts of it i'm holding my papers because i can't remember anything right so the questions and he's reading my questions as i'm asking him because well what do you got there what do you got there what do you got there i don't like that question take that out i don't like that one and i couldn't do the interview set the cut cut cut and you know he had that sense of humor right he was astute he was astute and pat i remember the story that you told me you know you're going man it's so difficult to put it all together it's a lot of work right the metal hall of him year after year and he goes you can do it if i can do it you can do it and you know it's motivating right you should have been a motivational speaker johnny oh unbelievable just yeah and and and he was always there for us and uh and i'm extremely grateful for that and they're just going to be both of them john and marsha are just going to be missed so much marsha when we heard that that was just devastating as well yeah yeah yeah yeah but and then going back to pat's point some people writing in like they've never discovered merciful fate it wasn't probably for you know mega force you know the metal the metal lineage would not be there without them yeah yeah yeah jenny if you want to let's say let's even say metallica got signed by somebody else right yeah that aside the lineage would still not be there without johnny and marsha just so far reaching and i recommend any everybody go pick up his book i'm assuming it's still out there to truly understand you know he risked it all like venom was sleeping in his living room right venom and the bands that were sleeping in their house because they couldn't put him up in a hotel and he was breaking these bands and i'm sure lips and and raven and the guys you know all the bands and even from overkill to testament all these east coast well more or less east coast bands you know from canada all the way down you know they owe them a lot you know for putting him on a map and even riot you know riot played a alan at the halloween there was the halloween event that they had they had riot anvil and i can't remember the other band i'm at a loss of words too it just happened so it's just so everybody's sending me messages calling me and saying you should do something you should do something so here i am it and well we could read everybody's comments kenny saying rest in peace and kenny if you want to jump on and say something you're more than welcome to because i know that you were around that area kman says mega force records is absolutely huge for metal i'm sure if it wasn't for john i wouldn't be the merciful fate i am today and kenny says i went there a few times we drove from queen so that's a long drive i guess uh jill says rest in peace john what guidance he gave um i don't know if you guys want to add anything else to that um just a big part of our youth like that we're saying right so yeah and even now i mean still yeah yeah yeah i'm sure you know chuck billy is you know he's gonna he's got a lot to say about this and you know again lips and raven who they'd be very good friends with over the years right came out saying how many bands as john directly responsible for metallica venom raven anthrax merciful fate grave digger from germany i don't know about grave digger i'm not sure maybe i don't know if you guys remember that or not but over come for sure but was it johnny did i think what johnny did was for raven it was the um live at the inferno right that was the album right yeah because the rest were offered neat neat records and britain i think yeah yeah but this one is is definitely i mean craze managed right old bridge new jersey that was right here martin john zezula executive producer so that's right pat you went to the old bridge uh what do they call the old bridge uh oh right that's it the old bridge but you you were there you passed by all the old folks there that now they're older right they're not the young party animals that they were right and they were also at our event when we did the uh the little get together for the last haul showing the video uh the old bridge militia was nice enough to to show up and hang out with us yeah it was great it was uh you know johnny was such a part and more sure we're such a part of new jersey too that's irreplaceable being here being locally it just and launching all of that from here you know from my home from my hometown it's just amazing so you'd go in right to the the flea market it would be what the johnny what do you got this week what's wrong absolutely and a lot of you know i think i think greg walls you know the the original guitarist of anthrax you know he said it was you would expect like this massive record store but it wasn't it was just you know you know a counter and but it was gold the records were gold right these were these like the albums you wanted so there was so much of a a charm to it we'll say a charm to it when were you first pat were aware that when metallica came to to town there in new jersey he was trying to watch everything and signed them oh right right when it happened i remember like yesterday i remember the whole thing i remember them being here i remember the whole thing like it was yesterday i remember when they were recording when you know yeah i'm sending i'm sending um kenny because i know kenny um he uh you know he went there he experienced that whole rock and roll heaven experience and so i'm gonna invite kenny to jump on if he can and if anybody else wants to sort of like say a few words when i when i called him once he goes jimmy every time you call me it sounds like you're interviewing me why do you talk like that he was too funny he was a funny guy man he was really funny and i guess we all don't know what happened right i didn't even know he was sick i don't know i don't know i don't happen at all anyways so anyways kenny i know you're out there i know you want to share some thoughts jump on if you can okay um connection rock says they left a great contribution in boosting the career of many bands with mega force long live the patriarchs now that they are together in heaven am i pronouncing that right patriarchs that's what they called uh yeah yeah chick well said well said chick eastwater says the fun days raven anthrax and metallica tour joe clifford says as metal fans all my life i recognize the contribution rest in peace johnny thanks for bringing great music to us so there you go um and just just think about the other careers that he did with maria yeah and eddy trunk so yeah so when you think about that that's another aspect too so you had mega force and then eddy trunk was he grabbed him because he was a dj right and he put him as okay eddy now you're vice president was that it he made a vice president he goes okay eddy guess what you're vice president and you know eddy walks in and he goes where's my desk you're standing at it you know something like that his kitchen or something i don't know uh hold on let me grab kenny kenny the man on the street oh here he is there's the man kk himself hey kenny how you doing guys can you hear me yeah perfect all right kenny i thought of you you know i think of uh i think when i think of new jersey i think of pat when i think of new york i think of kenny thank you thank you and you know just like you and pat you know sort of we're all the same age you know um what are your recollections back when back then okay now we you know i can remember hanging around the music building where anthrax was and i never met metallica there i met scottie in there a couple of times when i was younger and they told us on eight street kenny and uh no no not the one of the one in queens the one in god jamaica oh yeah i played there too yeah yep yep yep um my uh my sister's uh one of my sister's older boyfriends uh gave me i inherited the room from him for about two or three years there it's a lot of a lot of good bands came through there but i remember scott telling me about this rock and roll haven't a long time ago or somebody that in their crew would and we would drive off there and it was a good hour and a half ride for us but you know if you really wanted that would that's the place to go get metal on the east coast at the time it was johnny was amazing uh i was just he he was such a nice guy jimmy you after you hooked me up with him at the book thing i went over to the i talked to him and got the shout-outs from at the book review uh when he did it live at the cutting room in new york well i was there he kept in touch with me and it was amazing like when i got covid last year he called me on thanksgiving weekend just to talk to me and see how i was feeling and then he did the shout-out for us which was very nice and he always kept in touch every couple of months i get messages and it was nice he was a good guy i'm going to miss talking to him once in a while even though i met him later on in life but i was supposed to be sending him this i had two copies of it and i couldn't find the other copy it's buried somewhere in my other room so oh wow i'll have to give that to the uh metal mic and i think johnny really liked me because i really thought highly of him you know i really really thought and he knew i really thought highly of him and he just i like you jimmy i like you i really like you a lot why do you always sound like you're interviewing me when you're talking to me that's what he's always saying that to me all the time um so i just want to tell you guys kenny and pat and this is kind of from mine and alan's perspective so what happened was johnny started mega force and what he did was he started working with a guy in montreal and michelle meese yeah yeah he started working with and we had our own sort of rock and roll heaven but it was more of a record store called rock on stock he worked with michelle in montreal and everything he had at his store he would sort of either import to that guy or he'd get him to import it and then he would bring the same bands that you guys had anthrax metallica and the rest of them and they would sort of come to montreal because we're not too far away from each other right so there was always that connection but he told me never met michelle he never met him though he didn't like him but he never met him so that's our connection so in a way all four of us were connected in some sort of historical manner in some way or another Kenny wow Kenny were you at the the show with riot anvil on halloween and i what's it called again it just escapes me no i forget no i was not at that one no he bought a lot of bands to lamoz he had some kind of a deal with lamoz and brooklyn and i think every band like he bought venom over here i'm almost positive he bought anvil down to the states yeah he did he did and he mixed them up with metallica would open up for these guys and rave he bought rave and all of us definitely yeah i used to go to lamoz and catch a lot of those shows tt quickplay there are a lot too and when we what i was surprised to read anvil the the book that they released was when they were in between labels and they got drafted dropped by lebbers and creep and they wanted to sign with johnny but they were going more of a bond jovi root and johnny and it just destroyed the crowd and and lamoz and he's like you broke my heart i'm not i'm not signing you and it got him created some fiction according to the book between him and live for a long time but it was the right decision because i think anvil they were going down the wrong path according to their friends at that point and i also and i also remember you know look at it like kill him all it was under johnny's guidance that album right he risked it all he put all his money on the line he got uh carl kennedy to uh it was carl right i think no did he engineer it or i can't remember who produced that um i didn't he produce it who produced it alo did you have to him all there he engineered he might have engineered it yes he produced the anthrax stuff and then you know sort of he sees kind of the band a lot of success he sort of exposed the band he got them on tour on his dime the band you know gets rid of the lighting even more success and then he kind of lost them and i think it really it really affected him right you know like his his baby sort of grew up and had the success but you know he lost him when they signed to electro that at the roseland ballroom that night yeah that's it anthrax them and rave and all three bands got signed that night yeah yeah says paul cruchillo was the kia producer kill them all producers so yeah i think carl was the uh the engineer on that but i could be wrong yeah that's pretty much it is if you guys got anything else to say uh about johnny i'm pretty shocked i'm even kenny have you found out any anything else uh other than uh his daughter posting that he passed no nothing all right pat i just want to say thank you to you because we just me now and just did uh you know an interview with taylor goodman who produced uh lee's documentary and you know you preserve lee in the metal hall of fame and you also had the foresight and the brilliance to induct johnny's azula you know into the metal hall of fame and um that's what it's about you know that's it's it's inducting the right people for the right reasons well if anybody deserved it it was he and marsha that's for sure yeah yeah pioneers pioneers oh no two ways about i guess no and again just interviewing taylor goodman for the lee curse lake documentary i mean it's a labor of love and and what you do pat with the the metal hall of fame the only hall of fame that matters by the way that's right that's right you know it's a true labor of love we all gotta appreciate all your hard work and everything you do for that so kudos as always well thank you for that too and and thank you to taylor for uh unfortunately our dear friend lee is no longer with us either lee curse lake and uh you know that was just horrible as well and lee was such a great guy and uh you know i know taylor just did the documentary and you know we all just have to stick together nowadays especially nowadays yeah well you know the metal community it seems like so many forces if you think about it try to separate us that whole metal community between the music not being there right uh not too many clubs yeah fortunately um just some shows that you know some of the larger places and and amphitheater some things like that okay but that's true scene of course is gone and then we have co vid and no touring so it seems like everything is always trying to come in between metal and its fans but the one thing is we're still all there behind the scenes we're all connected it's like one big family and nothing can come in between that well is that that good stuff yeah and you know and again that's one of the reasons why we started the show is to let people know when these bands are in town because the budgets are so small they've set it on many shows guys would come and go you didn't even know they were here because there's no radio promotion there's no record promotions anymore and and you're like oh i would have gone this evening if i had known so that's one of the reasons why we started the metal voice the decade ago was just to get make people aware that these bands are coming to your town that they are still and also the albums were being released we like allen i didn't know sax and came out with a new album but now we have a conduit to tell people that they're coming out with a new album right and what a great job you guys do and thank you if it was a few a lot of things would not be here yeah so thank you very much congratulations to both of you for all the hard work that both of you have done and kenny we don't want to leave you out kenny the man on the street in new york our new york correspondent kenny man you're everywhere i did get to run around at the metal hall of fame this year where you had that was good yeah if you do it in jersey i'll be back yeah well you know we're looking at next year um of course depending on covid and everything well this year actually in june now that uh you know some things are switched around but uh we're working on it good i'll be here to say i hope raven gets a nomination this year well there we go we're lobbying we've got some raven lobbying it already started i'm pushing for merciful fate nothing to go on so there's a surprise all right well i just want to say on my end that i am so grateful to johnny and marcia and yeah they also put us in in their book which is just such a huge honor for me and i am just so appreciative and the world lost such a great person today and he will be missed by fans absolutely by the bands and of course myself yeah same here man same here uh a kind shrewd businessman with a great sense of humor and never give up never give up all right guys hey thanks for jumping on there was a bit last minute but we needed to do this dedication so thanks pretty much for coming thanks guys