 I think we are, you know, we are, we're alive on the metal voice and part two, again, with the Mark Stodaceae, I learned to pronounce your name properly, I learned to pronounce your name properly. You can say Storaceae, I'm used to hearing Storaceae. But I practiced. I practiced. In the USA it's Storaceae. All right. The voice, we'll just say the voice. That's it. And, you know, this time around, this time around, last time we spoke about the new album that was coming out, Storaceae, Live and I Live. But now we've actually heard the album and it's coming out soon, at least sometime in February in Canada, USA, but it's already out in Europe. So maybe you want to just explain that to everyone. Yeah. And I suppose a lot of people across the Big Pond have heard the whole thing already as well. So, and I'm really happy with the reaction, by the way. Thanks for all your nice compliments. I'm really happy I didn't let you down and I hope thousands of others will think the same. Yeah. So how did it get to the album? You mean, well, it's thanks to COVID actually, you know, something positive and everything. It gave me the time when lockdown started out to look into my drawers and files and come up with all the stuff I'd been collecting over the years and Live and Let Live is a song which was written 20 years ago with a friend of mine, Charlie Pricell, lives down the road here, a good guitar player, he's really into total, you know, and we wrote about 20 songs over a period of a year and a half when I was not in Crocus anymore. And then we reunited and that took me away from my solo stuff again. So then it took a while, you know, the whole thing goes back to 2008, 2009, when we reunited and released the Hudo album and started touring again, the Big Crocus reunion. And the last, it was the last round, unfortunately. But it went really well and especially 2019, the whole tour, festival tour in Europe, ending with the final concert in Zurich in the Hollandstadion, which is the holy ground of rock in Switzerland on the 7th or 9th December. And then it was like, I have been in Grand Canaria working with these two guys who produced a series for television called Sing Mine Song, in which there were seven musicians and seven singers and each time one singer had to sing six songs by the other guys or one of his own, rearranged and reproduced the way he liked it, you know, and the 7th song was always one of your own, so I sang Hellraiser as a tribute to Crocus and that came out during lockdown, this series thing, and it was very popular and people saw me in a different light, they say, because you know, I wasn't being the rock star the whole time. We really all came down to earth and talked about personal stuff and about our career and so on and so forth. So Mark, I'm going to stop you for a second. No, no, it's all good. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Did you say that it's done, Crocus? You guys can actually, and I'm just trying to change your gears for a second, is Crocus not coming, is it like done, it's over, it's finished, or are they coming to the, like, is it over? Okay, it's over in Europe because you've done your dates, but is it not happening now? Like it was postponed the Canadian North American tour, but now is that sort of finito done? Yeah. I think the last time we talked, I had high hopes and in the meantime, those high hopes have become quite dusty and have crumbled and I don't know what to think anymore, but I kind of lost hope myself. Everyone's gone in different directions and it's like, you know, what's going on? Nothing. So I'm concentrating on my stuff, my thing, I'm having fun and, you know, and I'm even planning on coming over things I'm being looked at now as we speak in the USA. Yeah, I'm happy about that. So Storace will be in North America, the voice of Crocus will be playing Crocus material, is that what the plan? In full, in full. Well, I'll be playing almost my whole album, Live and Let Live, and obviously that won't be enough to do a headliner gig, you know, it's only 10 songs, so I'm gonna fill the rest with Crocus songs, you know, and some of the songs, no covers, no covers, and some songs which, of Crocus, which I've wanted to do but never got the chance to do again because Like what? Name one of those songs. Name one of those songs. Midnight Maniac. Midnight. Oh, yeah. There you go. Look at this. This album right here. I love this live album because, because, yeah, hold on a sec, hold on a second, wait a second. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. So, and you know what, Mark, the only reason I'm sort of like changing subjects is because last time we interviewed, we went through the whole creating of the solo album, right? I just don't want to. It seemed like it was only like two weeks ago, but it was three months ago when we spoke to you. So things do change quite a bit in three months. So disappointed to see that Crocus isn't going to be moving as optimistically as we thought, but glad that you're coming over to North America, hopefully eventually so. But Mark, I'm even more excited that you're coming because you don't have the sort of the chains of Crocus. You could play whatever you want, right? Yeah, that's also nice for me, you know, I mean, I might throw in Long Stick Goes Boom because that's one of my faves, top faves, and I'll never get tired of doing that. But there's some other songs which I've done so many times and I'll be happy not to do them and do something else which I've been wanting to do. Hot Shot Heroes. Hot Shot Heroes. What do we think? I don't know. I don't know. Tokyo Nights. Tokyo Nights. I love it. Tokyo Nights. Wait a second. You're making your set list as we speak here. Anything off this album? I love this album, Mark. Heart Attack. I love Heart Attack. Well, they're screaming in the night, which is like one of my favorite songs, my lifetime favorite songs, so I'm going to have to do that one. And I'm looking forward as well with the new band. It's going to be really exciting and I hope now we'll get enough gigs to fill up a whole month and looking forward to that. But in the meantime, we start the package tour on the 18th of March here in Switzerland. It's a Swiss package. Yes. Yes. You know the band Gotthard? Yes, of course. Yes. The lead guitarist Leo Leoni, he's got a band as well called Corey Leoni and he's got a new album out and we're going to get together and tour, do a few dates, about seven to eight dates. And when you do those dates, are you playing crocus material mixed with your live? What are you doing? Well, not really. We've played two dates so far. We had the baptism of the CD and this legendary nice place called Mühle Hunzikum, try to say that one. The struggle was thoracic. That's right. I can't even say Stonacci properly. So anyway, we had a great gig there and my two kids came out with a platter and the drinks and my daughter held the CD. My son gave me a bottle of Prosecco and we did the bits and everyone was a great audience. And then we did the second gig, only two gigs so far, which was streamed internationally. Wow. It was the Balois session here in Basel. We played in this club where I had met my wife for the first time 33 years ago called Atlantis. So it was nice playing there again. And yeah, a couple of crocus songs, yeah, one of them's Midnight Maniac. I love Midnight Maniac. It was a big song in Canada. It was a big song in Canada, yeah. Even in the States. I mean, the Blitz album went gold and it was right after Headhunter, yeah, exactly. And yeah, there's a couple of great songs on that album and it was even released as a video and was up on MTV, like on, you know, what do they call it, high rotation or something like that. I love that sort of chord, you know, I just love that sort of harmony guitar, sort of arpeggio I guess, kind of, and it's just picking away, you know, that's a great. It's got that drive, you know, I don't know where Fernando got the idea from, but it definitely was a great idea, you know, it's kind of going up and down the scales. I'm going to ask everybody here what song they would like to hear you play live from Crocus. Of course we want to hear the new album, but let's hear it. I'm saying one guy saying playing the outlaw, Cecile saying hot stuff, hot stuff, which is my suggestion, hot stuff, you like hot stuff really from the change of address album. I got it right here somewhere. I got love to suit you, babe. Guarantee hard luck heroes. It's hard luck heroes, right? Hard luck heroes, hard luck heroes. That's a great song. Hard luck hero. Yeah, yeah. That's a great song. Yeah. We wrote that with the what? Are you getting like a radio frequency? No, no, no. It's my head is buzzing. Oh, look at this. Here's I'm going to read them off. Okay, Electric Circus and with Rich Hall says Russian winter. Hey, that's a great tune. Russian winter. Oh, Russian winter broken hearts. Yeah, cold winds in the dark. I love it. Everybody rocks. Everybody rocks. Axe attack. Everybody rocks. That's from the Blitz. Down the drain. What about down the drain? Another one I'm doing is to the top. You know. Yeah. Great song. Yeah. Be a real beefy gang. Cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo. Gang, it was that top. Yeah, Greg Adams. Greg Adams is saying everybody rocks. Where's everybody rocks from? Everybody rock the Blitz, the Blitz, the Blitz. Yep. Yeah, that rock the nation too. The fans here are speaking. They're telling you what the setlist needs to be. Oh, you have them in your ear. Well, no, no, they're they're sending, they're chatting. They're they're they're sort of texting, they're texting. I see. Okay. Yeah. Live and let live. Come on. Let's talk about the new album. I've been waiting here for how long now. You guys, you guys are reminiscing. Well, okay, we know about the history because that's what we talked about last time, right, Alan? Okay though. Yeah. So let's go into the songs. I love the new song. It's a great way to open the album with live and let live is a good message too for these days. Especially. Yeah, it fits actually for any any day. There's always some something worth singing that song for. Unfortunately. And for those of you out there, you know, it's not it's kind of like a hybrid hybrid crocus album where there is some sort of crocus vibe. But there's also a little more, right? Well, I have more freedom because there's not the crocus straight jacket if you like, you know, no boundaries. I mean, that's what that's why people do solo albums so they can spread their wings. Take these broken wings to fly again, you know. And yeah, it's it's it's nice, you know, live and let live is is also it's got that nice drivey riff, which could remind you of Midnight Maniac, but has nothing to do with it as a song. And it was based on the lyrics, which came first, you know. And what else? Yeah, then there's that kind of southern rock, groovy, the second song high on love. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Steel guitar there. I wrote that slide with Adrian Fisher from Newcastle. He sent me the music. I picked that one up. And yes, it's got that slide guitar. The guy did a did a great great thing on it. And all the guitar was played by a studio musician who is actually not on the road with me in the band because because he had contracts, he signed with other acts, you know, so I've got someone else who's really great, great replacement, you know, Tourie Vicky. And he's out with me live now and will be coming to the USA as well. So looking forward to that. It's great. High on love for me. It's it starts out kind of like could have fit on a hardware album. And then towards the end, I'm like, well, I could have been on Dirty Dynamite, you know, it just got a real cool vibe to it. Yeah. Yeah. And yes, and a nice story there, you know, it's, it's got, you know, special kind of lyrics where I kind of explain the fact of anybody who who is a traveling from a traveling salesman to a traveling musician, you you end up with all the temptation around you because you're lonely. It's easy to get hooked, you know, and then you're in trouble and, you know, morally or maybe financially later on. You know what I mean? So it's a kind of subject which is a common subject which not many like to talk about. And so it's a bit of an exposure there. And I've been through it. So I learned my lesson. And no, it's a great song. It's a great song. It definitely is. It's a lady of the night. Lady of the night. Kind of a darker kind of a dark feeling to that one. Yeah, that's a really good song. Yeah, well, you know, it's tuned down one whole note. And so see, that that's why it's so dark. The music is dark. It starts with an explosion, you know. You know, it's it's it's got this great groove. And this was also another song from which came from Newcastle, you know, from Adrian Fisher. And the boys immediately swallowed it up, you know. And I only gave them the demo of what Adrian sent. And what I do is just I put rough vocals and rough lyrics over it. And we took it to where it should have gone in the studio. And a great message and a great message, right? Yeah, well, the message is it's, you know, we were in lockdown and and I thought, wow, what a job. What, you know, it's like a dedication. All the health workers have, you know, whether it's it's the police and police women or or the guys driving the ambulance and the guys who go pick up the the the the new infected people, you know, risking their own lives. And and then especially the nurses, you know, and in the middle of a night, it's it's the night nurse, you know, I was imagining actually Florence Nightingale, you know, Lady of the Night. And I did a similarity to that only instead of them being war victims, you know, which needed 24 hour attention. I'm thinking of the COVID guys that need to be turned over and you have to check the equipment if they're still breathing and whatever they they do. The agony of the guy going through this plus the love he's feeling from from this maybe one nurse just to romanticize it a little bit, you know, and then he gets well and he looks into a brave new world, thanking his lucky stars, you know, it's like what we're doing right now, you know, we're it's beginning to ease. And we're looking back and thinking a lot of people who caught caught the infection or the disease or virus. They they all said, in all interviews I've seen they all said, I wished so much that I had gone and taken the jab, you know, instead of trying to be the hero, yeah, I don't need it, you know, because I went through hell, I didn't think I was going to live through it, you know, so he goes through that and then looks at the sun coming up and walks into the sunset with a smiley. That was like the second video off the album that people can watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm really thankful for this for my partner, Joseph Sutter. So we call him Seb Sutter. He's this film director who approached me to do the documentary of my career, which we actually started last November, because we were also blocked, you know, through COVID, no traveling and stuff. We flew down to Malta where I was born and grew up and started singing at the age of 14 with my first band. And so we went down into that first rehearsal room, which is today an Italian pizza restaurant. Hey, Mark. I'll have a grub up. But actually, it was closed when we went. So we had the freedom of, you know, doing what we wanted to do in there. And it's overlooking the sea, you know, literally, the waves are lapping under the window, you know. So it's a nice place and quite sentimental journey for me. And so we got that. And actually it was Seb who he volunteered. He said, you know, we're not working on the documentary, but I want to do your first videos. He first did the short series of trailers, just announcing that the album is coming and so on. Then he did Live and Let Live, you know. And I didn't know what was coming. He said, turn up at this place then, you know, and I turned up and saw this huge wall of LED. And then the whole thing came behind it, you know, the big storagy logo, all new stuff. So I got really excited seeing it for the first time that big. I said, wow, it's larger than nice. And with the flames and stuff. And I have Charlie on there with me, Charlie Price, whom I wrote the song with. So it was really fitting because I didn't have to band by ready yet by then. So I invited Charlie and he came with flying colors and a shitty eating grin. So happy to reunite just for the video, you know, it was it was fitting, you know, it really helped. It was nice. And the second video just was just released, right? Is it out there yet? Yes, it's out there. Yeah. The first Live and Let Live and the second one is Lady of the Night. Lady of the Night. They're both out there. Yeah. And those were made by SEP. Good job. Cut Heart. Cut Heart. His company's called. Yeah. Great. Just a quick hello, Gabriel says hello, Mark. He says hello, Mark. Hi. How are you doing? I like the Broken Wings is another strong song off the album. I mean, it's got a kind of a dead daisies feeling playing. He was I mean, it's just got such a groove to it's really a pleasure to listen to. Yeah, yeah. It's, it's also got that heavy riff, which I love. It was very inspiring. And I kind of, you know, there was so much energy in the music. This, this was an idea which came from Cyril, guitar player and Massimo, you know, the guys that I met in Grand Camaria. We, we worked on this series together. Yeah. And they came up with, with five of the songs on the album. And this take these broken wings. You know, I, the music has so much energy in it that I could lay back, you know, I'm very laid back on that, that one. And letting the music doing the talking, leaving gaps and stuff. It's a kind of less, less is more attitude on that one. And the deep, deep song, deep words in it, you know, that could have been a crocus song. No place to hide. When I was listening to that one, it's amazing. You know, I'm thinking about the early crocus, your voice on the early albums, and your voice on this song in particular. How do you still do it? You sound as strong now as you did back then. Um, I really don't know. Maybe it's the coffee. No, I, you know, I'm always, I can get pretty hyper, you know, I'm an energetic kind of guy, except, you know, and when my, when my heart starts pumping, you know, I was always told by various doctors and so on that I have a sportsman's heart, you know, so I pump a lot of red stuff through the veins, you know, and that helps, of course, to get the energy going and hit the notes. But then you have to be careful of when you're going with such power on this little, little vocal thing here with those chords, the muscles and everything that you don't burst anything or screw anything up, because then you're like, you're done for months, you know. But I don't know, I, I, one, you know, one of my motos has always been, never take too long a break if you're a singer, you know, it's the same thing like with other, lots of other things, you know, maybe a tennis player or a football or whatever, if you, if you lose that dribble, you lose the ball. I'm talking about soccer and so on and so forth. So I like to stay in touch with, with my art and I give it all I've got in the right place. And I guess that keeps me on that level, but I'm not on the same level I used to be like on one vice at a time. There I was like hitting, oh, my pitch was really high there, but I was younger and my voice, my voice was the kind of thinner. And even on the headhunter album, I'm boy up there and soaring high as an eagle and landing on my two feet, you know, finding the rhythm, coming back in and going, you know, how, how can you, how do they say nowadays, I hit the, I hit the floor running. But just the texture of your voice, you know, it's so similar. It's, you know, we're all aging and that you tend to lose it a little bit. But I mean, listen to that song and it's like, three, four years ago, you sound that, that like you did back then. Thanks. Well, that's, that's nice to know, you know, we hear ourselves slightly different, you know, when, when they first told me, I sounded like Bon Scott, I said, what? No way. You know, Bon Scott sounds like me. All right. No, you know how it is when, don't you remember the first day you ever heard your, your own voice on a recorder? And he said, why is that me? I sound so strange and most people don't like it. Neither did I. So it took me a while to overcome that and accept the fact that, you know, yeah, well, because it resonates in our heads and we hear it different than the way it goes out, I suppose. Whoa, whoa. Who cares? I don't care. Main thing is, main thing is that I enjoy singing because it really gives me a buzz, you know, when, when everything's functioning as it should, it's like, you know, fine tuned and everything. And I'm going for notes and I'm hitting them and, and having a good time. I'm sitting on the rhythm and see the band and enjoying themselves. So it's like, I'm in heaven. It's like, nothing can pay that, not, not, not the biggest yacht. No, you know what I mean, not the fastest car. Something else. It's, it's you're in your own body, you know. And my, my second favorite song off the album is Don't Want to Go. It's a great ballad. Great. I love the guitar solo on that one. Yeah, amazing. The way he hit it, he, he tried about nine times. And then when he did that one was like, we all got goosebumps. That's the one, you know, it was amazing. Yeah, it was amazing. And, and that song, you know, when I first played it to my wife and my daughter, you always have to play balance to the girls first. They, they had tears running down their eyes. Don't want to go faster than the light. You know, if it's like, even, I don't know how that line came, you know, don't want to go faster than the light. The road to ruin lies in darkness. You know, it's far faster, faster than the light. It's like, I'm going to go on a limb and say, that's your best ballads and screaming in the night. Thank you very much. It's, it's just a fantastic song. My ears can't believe that. Thank you very much. You're going to get more than a beer when we meet. Two beers. No, you could have any whiskey you like. Love over money, you know, that's got that once been twice try feel from it, you know, especially in the chorus there. That's a very 80s 80s. That's a very, very 80s. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's kind of, you know, not exactly a boogie, but it's getting there. And yeah, we have to have a song which is like a good time on core song to play, you know, when you come back on stage and you don't want to be too serious anymore, let your hair down, let the whole band do a solo, you know, that's like we break it up in the end, you know, everyone does his solo and it's because it really gets you on your feet and it's repetitive, you know, and it's amazing. It's just one of those songs which just came and, you know, it's a serious subject, you know, love over money. Yeah. And it has to do with all the greed today, you know. It's like a party song. It's a party song but with a serious message in it, you know. And that's also a little bit romantic and stuff. There's a long story behind it, but yeah, it just hit me straight away. It came from Cyril, you know, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down. I even think it could have been a Springsteen song, you know, maybe arranged slightly different. We have a request here, Mark. Quick little interjection here. George wants to know, can you sing screaming in the night a little bit? In the corner of a valley, we took her by surprise. The sound of steel rang loud. Above the battle cries, what I found her lying lifeless. I got through her home. I picked her up and held her hand. And I swore to be avenged. Scream. I can listen to you all day. I can listen to you do this all day. All right, keep going. Side two. I need a pastille. Well, yeah, I mean, to be fair, when you talk, it kind of burns the voice, you know. Yeah, you know, I get more tired when I talk for an hour than when I sing for two hours. Wow. I don't know. My favorite track is definitely Paradise. I love that closing track. What? That's your favorite, your favorite track. I thought the other one was your favorite track. Really? Hey, you're a West Coast man. West Coast. You know, I'm a big fan of Saturday Haver, and he's doing this whole thing about beaches and drinking and tequila, and it kind of just right into that. You know, you're singing about paradise. Is that your idea of paradise? Well, yeah. Like, get on the bike or whatever, camper, cabriolet, whatever, and head to the beach over the mountains, down to the beach, meet your friends, start the fire going, you know, surf board or whatever, snorkeling, scuba diving, whatever, you know, and then when the sun goes down, you enjoy the sunset, and you're with your friends, there's some music happening, maybe live, you know, take the guitars out and stuff, and smoke a reefer, and get in the mood, I don't know, pina coladas, tequila, margaritas, whatever, wine, and just get into, have a party, you know, under a full moon, you know, and that's my epitome of joy, you know, that's how I like to enjoy a party, you know, it's like on the beach and then go skinny dipping, and we used to do all that in Malta, where I grew up, you know, when I was still a teenager, and so it's stuck in my mind, you know, and at night, the water, the sea, the Mediterranean is warm, so you can swim, you know, it's great. Yeah, that's, I love it, but I didn't think you'd pick that one up as your favorite. I think the lyrics are universal, and it's just got such a relaxed feel to it, just such an enjoyable track to listen to. Yeah, I think it's kind of a happy end feeling after all the messages and politics and romantic stuff, which is like more serious, and then you end up, it's like, you know, it's a good way to... It's a good closer. It's a good closer. To close, you know, you close with a smile on your face. Exactly. Yeah, I agree. Mark, so a few people texted, what happened? I mean, we've heard this story so many times from you, like the ACDC audition in the early days, maybe just quickly, quickly, fast, fast, just say that, a few people are asking. People always ask, were you, one person says, let's clear this up once and for all. I've heard a lot of rumors about ACDC when Bonds got passed away, sadly, and you were asked to join. I mean, you want to just tell people that fast. Well, I wasn't asked by ACDC. I was asked by this production manager who was up in Birmingham in England, this big production company building all these backdrops and stuff for various bands, including Crocus and Lightshows, you know, and they brought our Lightshow down to Solaturn, which is the birthplace of Crocus in Switzerland. And this guy, Steve Dockx, he was the CEO of the company. He came down because they had this computerized lighting desk, which I've never even seen in my life before, you know. And he took me to the sign and said, would you like to audition for ACDC? You know, because I'm very close with the guys and I said, Steve, I'm too happy with Crocus. These are my new buddies and we're going places. And I don't want to change my horse in the middle of a race. It was like, thanks, you know, and that's it. So it was an offer. It was just an offer to audition, not to join the band. No, no, no, no. I guess I don't know if the other guys knew anything about it to tell you the truth. You know, I don't know what's behind it. And in retrospect, about 10 years ago, Steve told me, you know, you did the right thing. Money isn't everything. You know, I mean, you know, history, you know, then when you listen to Brian Johnson, what do you think of him as a vocalist who took over? I love, I love Brian Johnson. I was sad to hear that he was having engine trouble. You know, he's always driving with his voice. And I'm glad he's back now and things are getting back to normal. You know, it's great. You know, it's sad. Always sad to see a singer or whoever, other musician have a problem having to give up, you know, I'm using in years, you know, I've been using in years now for a few years to protect my my hearing. But my hearing's been screwed up since since a young age. Because a singer always stands in the middle of a stage in front of a drum set. And sometimes there's no no room to go away from those symbols. And the symbols, the high pitch of the symbol is what kills your ears. Oh, wow. Another text says, have you cleaned? Have you guys made peace, you and D Snyder? We've talked about this too. But just fast fast. Have you made peace after all these years? Yeah, you made have you broke bread? Well, I've always made my peace. In fact, you know, I was on this tour, and Rock Meets Classic with other, you know, like with Ian Gillen and, you know, John Wetton. And, you know, it was like these big guys. And at the end of that tour, we were supposed to play one concert in Vokken with this whole orchestra, the band and everything. And I was thrown off because D Snyder came into headline. And, and he said, I won't do it if Storace is not thrown off, you know, what a mother fucker. I wanted I wanted to actually I was looking forward to asking D if we could go to the side and have have a beer. And so I could maybe apologize and say, Hey, let's bury the hatchet. It's not worth it. It's a few hundred dollars worth of clothes, which your wife, whatever we didn't accept. We didn't like those clothes. Sorry, stage clothes. And it's as simple as that. I don't know what else what had happened. I was not in the room when, when this thing happened, you know, so I don't know if there were any dirty words spoken or the attitude in which things were said. But I don't think it's worth, you know, like going to the grave carrying a burden like that. You know, I'm, you know, I would just say the D night right now if D was watching, what would you say right now? Hey, hey, D, I'm looking forward to meet you not to get in into into big arguments. We know the whole story. But I think now we're mature. We look forward. You love your wife. I love mine. And let's just sit down and I don't know. Move on, move on in life. You want to move on, leave all these negative burdens behind, you know, heal, heal those broken wings. Yeah, exactly. I like that. Hey, Mark, you remember the group Kicks is just into Steve Whiteman a couple of months ago. He released his solo album, right? He was a part of Kicks forever. Now he's got a solo album. You have Tony Martin, there was a Black Sabbath. He's got his solo album. So, you know, what is your expertise? They were saying it's a bit of a struggle. It's a bit of a labor of love. We're not expecting to make a lot of money. What's your expectations for this album? Well, it is a labor of love. First of all, otherwise, because all the responsibility falls falls upon you, you know, you're the guy. And all the whole organization and even financial responsibility. In my case, I don't have a record company behind me. But I have a great manager, Rolly Egley, and he's actually the drummer of Tee, you know, the progressive band that I started out with back in the 70s, did three albums with the producer of Scorpions. And yeah, financially, it's just 50-50. And we're happy with the reaction that the albums been getting so far. And as I said, we're looking forward to a tour. The band is great, great musicians. And we just hope it's going to grow and that we can go places and have even more fun. And Crocus has left a vacuum behind, which I'm not trying to fill with Crocus songs, but I want to contribute new material. This is the first album. And I'm looking forward one day doing the second one. But first, I want to have some fun with this round. And just hopefully, you know, COVID will go away now forever. And we can do what we want to do. And enjoy doing it. Yeah, we'd love to see you in Montreal, you know, in Montreal, Canada. It'd be great. I'd love to. I don't even know. Alan, when was the last time Crocus even played? Eighties? In Canada. Yeah, eighties, 1980, something, five, seven. Yeah, yeah. With Accept, maybe? I don't, Grim Reaper. Was that the tour? Grim Reaper, Accept, and Crocus? I can't remember. The Blitz, I think it was the Blitz tour. That's what it was. Or maybe even Heart Attack. It could be Heart Attack. I think we played this small club somewhere called Spectrum, maybe. Spectrum, Club Soda. Or Toronto. Maybe you played Toronto. Maybe you played the Massey Hall or something. I don't know. All I know, we've discussed this before with Mark, but I saw you open for Def Leppard's first major headlight tour, Piramania. Gary Moore opened before you. And guys, Mark is one of the greatest frontmen to ever be on stage. You got to check him out if Storace comes to your town. Thank you. You could say Storace. Well, no, we're trying to do it right. Mark, Cecile wants to know, can you ask Mark if he had any bad experience when they were signed to MCA? A lot of acts have said MCA was a terrible, you know, a label to be signed to. Yeah, I mean, I mean, nothing much really happened, you know, and everything was blamed on Grunge. And here we were touring. I mean, Fernando and I had never stopped since I joined in late 79 for metal rendezvous and I carried on, on and on and on. And this was 1988. And I was slowly burning up, burning out with all the psychological games and negativity within the band as well, between band and management. And then we end up with this record company, which for me was like anonymous, you know, I don't remember anybody from there. Oh, you know, and I was happy to to leave the band and call it a day after that heart attack tour. That's all I can say, you know, and when I look back now, I think hell, that was a great album and we had some great songs on it. Yeah. 699. They were getting harder and harder to find as your career progressed throughout the 80s, maybe that's one of the reasons why so have the backing of the record company. I think they all started to lose faith in hard rock and heavy metal. You have Iron Maiden there behind you. And I remember we played up with Iron Maiden in New Orleans. And we didn't sell out the hall. Yeah, this is the largest hall, the big round one. Oh, yeah. In New Orleans. And it was only like half full. And I remember we were sitting there eating seafood with with Iron Maiden guys. And yet the atmosphere wasn't so happy. You know, business wasn't as great anymore. What year was that? What year was that? 88. 88. Yeah. Wow. With Iron Maiden, with Iron Maiden, it must have been the 90s with Iron Maiden, like when things were sort of going. Or maybe it was the start of the waning waning out. But I remember that vividly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So that's all Brian. That's all Brian's. You know, did you ever when you're making change of address, did you like say, you know what, guys, maybe we're going the wrong way here? Was there any sort of, I like the album, but at the time, right? Yeah. Did you like, did you second guess yourself or what you're saying, guys, we got to do this? Or what was your, what were your feelings? I think there was too much hairspray and color, color, stage clothes, and the music wasn't crazy enough. And it's kind of got toned down. Everything got too polished. And for me, for me, this was a difficult time. We had, we had everything ready, though, that, you know, the songs and everything we were in the studio in LA. And staying, we had these apartments and kind of rhythm going, the band was recording, and then I got this phone call, my dad was in hospital, had a stroke. So I left the following weekend and flew down to Malta to see him. And yeah, and spent a week there. And there was nothing anyone could do. And returned to sing the album, you know, like, like I came back had a two day rest. And then went in to sing change of address, you know, so the parts I enjoyed most were the bluesy parts, you know, the, the more melancholic parts and bringing up a lot of aggression was kind of a little difficult to do. But, but the songs didn't even really ask for, for that kind of headhunter kind of songs. It's a different, different cup of tea, you know, and it was trying, trying to be more commercial, really, which, which really didn't fit. And somehow we were guided up the wrong alley, you know, that's the way I felt. And there was nothing much you could do. You know, because every, everyone was like, like following blind, a pipe, Piper, with the bags of money, you know, that's the way to put it. You know what I mean? Of course. And because, because that, that was a huge budget behind that, you know. And, and of course, when you get in 20 off the top, you know, then you want, then you follow the pipe, Piper. And but, but everyone, you know, it was like management booker and record company. And, you know, and then there was the band. And, you know, I just, I missed those beefy guitars, you know, and but then the album's released, right? And then it kind of like goes up, then it goes down, like really fast. Was that was disappointing? Like after all that money spent, all the sort of band dynamics, yeah, was, was that like sort of like, guys, what did we just do? Like, why did we do that? Like, I mean, yeah, yeah, well, what can you do? It's, it's like, the shit hits the fan and, and it's, it's, it's done, you know, and best thing you can do is do a better album. But the, the problem is you lose a lot of your hardcore fans, because they kind of take it personally, you know, but, you know, but when you look, when you compare to bands, even Queen or ACDC and ELO, that's like even the Beatles, you know, they have bad albums, bad albums, in my opinion, maybe you would think that's a good album that I think is a, was a bad album and the other guy things, you know, but, but actually, but to put it, to put it in general, we, we went out of our normal, you know, we put on the wrong boots that day. You put on sandals, that's what happened really. Yeah. And it was raining outside. So things got really messy. Yeah. But, you know, I, I guess lesson learned and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you and everybody else at the time, then not only Crocus, but all the bands were sort of getting glossy and hair spray and getting more commercial. Yeah. So I mean, we should never have jumped on the bandwagon, you know, on that one. Already the video, you know, burning up the night. Yeah. It was amazing, you know, but what's done is done. That's right. That's right. You know, the good news is we all like Midnight Maniac. That's the good news. We still want to hear it live. So that's a, I'm going to tell you, for us in Montreal, that song was played on the radio non-stop, non-stop when it came out. I have all of my members. And I literally just saw Ballroom Blitz on TV the other day. They were showing hair metal. I think they called the hair metals show and they were playing Ballroom Blitz. Holy moly. Crazy video by, I think, Martin Cahan, his name was. And that was, it was crazy. The idea he had. So, yeah, I just want to wish you the best. The best on the new album, the best on the new tour, and the best on coming to North America. Thanks a lot. I'm looking forward. So we got live and let live. Everybody go. It's coming out exactly what day, do you know? Ooh, I didn't make a note here. So sometime this month it's coming out, right? Sometimes in this month in February, I know that much. Yeah. I'm not sure if it's the 20. That's okay. It's coming out very soon. I know that much. If you look on my Facebook page, you know, dot com dash Mark Storace or on my new website, Storace.ch, you can always see what's coming and what's going. Perfect. All right. Thank you so much, Mark, looking forward to see one tour. Okay. Thank you guys. I'm looking forward and fingers crossed that everything goes as planned. Two beers for Alan. Okay. We'll talk soon. Great album. Congratulations again. Thank you very much.