 Jimmy K here metal voice look at this the metal voice shirts are now on sale Just go to a video description to find out on how you can purchase one You know Ronnie's playing multiple bands until the band elf, right? I guess we're actually at what point do you actually is it the electric elves that you go into it? No, no Back back in the day Ronnie. Well, you know Ronnie's earlier bands are like Ronnie in the red cat And Ronnie and the rumblers and he wasn't even the singer he wasn't even the singer in the original bands He just played bass, you know, there was a singer in the first band and all of a sudden. Hey, I can sing, you know Boy, could he really sing but anyways, he had a band. There was a band called Ronnie deal and the prophets That was like, you know the club band and at the time I was in a band called the Sindels, which I played drums I was a drummer in the band and my best friend With the guitar player and I think, you know, we started this thing when we were in high school So we were like, you know, 15 16 years old and But Ronnie's band was like the band, you know, it was the best band around and and they were doing, you know It was like back in the day when you did four sets in a bar, you know And all cover material and but Ronnie Ronnie's band was doing, you know, things like Delilah, you know, Tom Jones You know, all these big vocal songs like nobody else could do, you know all the top 40 songs, you know and And that's what made, you know, his band like the best club band around so one night One night they were playing at this bar in Cortland Small place and it was like on a weekday night like a Wednesday night I went down to hear the band and you know, they took a break You know Ronnie came over to talk and he goes, you know, we were in talk and he goes, hey But you know, he said you know how to play guitar, don't you because he knew I was a drummer And I had sat in with I had sat in with his band Ronnie the owner of profits before on drums So he knew I was I was a capable drummer and he said you can play guitar. Can't you and I said, yeah I can play guitar. Well, I knew like three chords on the guitar that my friend, you know The band I was in taught me, you know, because we used to sit around and he'd show me how to play I said, yeah, I can play guitar wine He goes well, our rhythm our rhythm guitar player is going to be leaving the band He said and if you if you want to you know, be in the band I'd like to have you be in there's the rhythm guitar player and I said no I'd love to and at the same time the drummer Gary Driscoll was going for his draft physical And he said if Gary feels this physical We're gonna need a drummer and a guitar player and he said you have your choice You could come in the band as a drummer because he knew how he how he drum And and you could or you could come as a guitar player, you know, whatever choice. So anyways Long story short Gary Field was physical and I was happy about that because I didn't I wanted to go in as the guitar player, you know and So over a period of a couple of months, you know, like I was only the rhythm guitar player So all I had to do is learn chords to the songs and play them and being a drummer, you know It was great great for me because you know a rhythm guitar player I think and I always thought through the years that a lot of these kids when they learn to play guitar You know, they're learning like daddy Van Hanwin leads, you know and Randy Rode and all these crazy scales and stuff But you know, I think it's more important to learn as a rhythm player first, you know, play the chords play the rhythms You know then then go to the leads But anyways, I was a rhythm player and so I joined that band when it was Ronnie deal and the prophets and we were a club band And we had the the lead player, you know, which the leads back then were pretty simple because they were all cover songs, you know And so we had Ronnie M bass and vocals. We had the lead player I played rhythm and Gary on drums and we were a club band that played, you know Trice, the night all these clubs, you know, and then Every yeah, everywhere we could all the colleges, you know, there was a lot of work back then for bands, you know We traveled around Connecticut, you know, Massachusetts, you know, up the upper northeast, you know, Canada once in a while And so, you know, we did that and then we figured let's we need another person in the band We need a keyboard player that so we knew this guy Doug Thaler who was, you know, went to college here And he ended up being Motley Cruz manager But he came in that we got Doug in the band as a keyboard player that he couldn't play keyboards He was like a two finger Keyboard player, but he could play guitar too, but we felt that he was we needed his vocal backing voice, you know And he did write some songs. So we got him in the band and then we had this we were playing in Connecticut we had a week-long Job there at this club and we decided to drive home the night after the last show And we got in a car accident and we were all in the van and the drunk driver ran into us and The league guitar player was driving our van. He got killed Ronnie and I ended up in the hospital in Winstead, Connecticut next to one another We look like zombies. I had a broken leg he Ronnie Ronnie's whole scalp got torn back He had over a hundred stitches in his scalp You know, it was really bad Doug Thaler's leg got crushed. He had permanent Disability, you know, all our equipment was ruined trash, you know, the van was trash, you know and Ronnie and I woke up in a hospital bed next to one another and We found out Nikki, you know, the guitar player had died, you know, we just started crying and you know We just figured you know Ronnie looked over and you know, we said to each other We're gonna put this back together and you said yeah, we are we're gonna put it back together You know and from that point on, you know, we we were in the hospital a week and then we went back home to Cortland and You know, it took months for us to recuperate. I had a cast on and Ronnie We I mean we look like Zombies because we were so black and blue our faces and everything and Ronnie, you know His head we shaved and he had all these stitches like a hundred and some stitches through his head but we put the band back together and At this point in time. I was the only guitar player so It was me Ronnie on bass We got this guy named Mickey Lee who was a keyboard player that we knew and Gary was the drummer and We started this and actually when Doug got out of the hospital. We brought him back in and on rhythm guitar and Doug was only and that that was the beginning of what was called the electric elves and And that went on for a while Doug was only in the band a short time His taste in music was just different. You know, it was like for us. It was like Led Zeppelin and the whoo and you know And all that British hard rock that was coming in and that's what we wanted to play you know small faces and stuff like that and Doug Doug was more like the Bee Gees, you know He liked smoother rock, you know, and it just didn't mesh, you know, so he ends up, you know leaving the band And and and went on to have a good career, you know of his own, but so after that we became the elves and the elves played and and the thing is with the elves we became like the most popular band around because When a new Beatles album came out, we learned the whole album And we play it live when the new Stones album came out We learned the whole album, you know and play it live and we do that we do them as medleys, you know the songs and So we became very very popular because of that and the reason why we could do that was because of Ronnie's voice You know Ronnie was capable of singing anything and singing it really well So we did that, you know for a while then we had You know, we started, you know working on original material and And and I you know, I wrote some songs myself. We wrote a couple songs like collectively a rehearsal I think Mikhaili and Ronnie, so I'm talking about the first elf album and We had an audition set up in New York with Clive Davis then was President of Columbia. I think it was and Roger Glover and Ian Pace from Deep Purple were in town and they were looking to produce a band So they came to the audition. We were just in a rehearsal hall in New York City. It was like Clive Davis and a couple of his execs and Roger and Ian were there and we we just set up and we played like four or five songs of our original songs and We found out the next day that we were getting signed to the label and that Roger and Ian were gonna produce us Yeah, and then We ended up going to Atlanta, Georgia to record the the elf album first album It was a studio called studio one Which then was a pretty famous studio because it was I forget it was a fairly well-known band that kind of ran that studio but anyways We recorded that there and that's when we became elf when that album came out and You know Ronnie and I did all the all the photographs for that album, you know, because I said, you know We haven't had one of us has to dress up like an elf, you know Make up like an elf, you know, we had those crazy ideas and But at the time photography was my hobby. I knew a lot about you know, I developed my own pictures I had a lot of cameras and stuff. So I said, I'm gonna take the picture and we're gonna dress you up Like, you know, we're gonna make you up like the elf and we went to Syracuse and bought Went to Syracuse stage and we bought like Face putty and you make up and all the stuff, you know, and we came back and we made these ears these cardboard ears we put on Ronnie's ears was makeup and made a pointed nose and Spray them up Yeah, and so we went out riding that day I remember it was a real hot summer day and we were driving around and we went out to the country and And I just took a ton of pictures because originally the album was supposed to be a fold-out, you know Like a double-played album, a fold-out album with a lot of pictures. So we had The one they used for the cover that was definitely gonna be there But we had another one that was we took some in the woods where I had Ronnie take all his clothes off You know, and he was in the in the in the shadows of the woods, you know And there was some great photographs, but the but the label never used them It was huh, do you still have those pictures? You know, I I did find I did find some old black-and-white negatives, you know, but I Think they they probably because of age, you know and being filmed They weren't that good anymore. But Yeah, there were some great photos that we sent we you know, we sent them all to the label You know because it was gonna be a double album and and they decided okay It's not gonna be a double album So all they used was the face shot and the back of the album was it was it was out in the country With a superimposed picture of the group over it so We were kind of bummed out because we you know took some great pictures out in the boonies, you know and You can see that one little picture on the back of the album Ronnie's got no clothes on He's off to the site in the side of the woods, but we took some great ones And that was that was the elf band, you know, and then so the cover is Ronnie I was sure if it was Ronnie or not or super. Yeah. Yeah, no because Yeah, I mean back in those days I mean they used to people used to mistake Ronnie for me and vice versa, you know because we were basically the same height You know we had the same lousy hair you know and We look like bookends, you know but Yes, people would say is that you on the cover is that Ronnie I said no that's Ronnie I said just look at the picture on the back. I said I got better legs in there, you know Do you have any unreleased jam sessions or unreleased material from the elf years of you Ronnie Jammin? Oh There probably is I mean, you know back then there was it was just tape, you know, you know cassette recorder You know, it wasn't like today where you can record or anything on your phone in the instant So they're probably there probably is so I got a ton of cassette tapes, you know Whether they're any good or not because you know tape deteriorates over years, you know It doesn't it doesn't last, you know So I don't I don't know like there might be but who knows if I if there was they probably wouldn't play anyways So so you get your big break you're opening up for purple now, right? Yeah, so when that album came out, you know because two of the guys in purple, you know produced it We were on tour with purple and purple at the time was probably the biggest band in the world I mean we were playing arenas. They weren't theaters There were arenas there were huge places and and and outside shows too, you know So we got to play, you know, we went from like a club band to playing like, you know You know arenas with deep purple, you know, we did our share of like, you know theater shows would like You know did you know some shows with your eye heap and stuff like that But you know with deep purple it was arenas, you know, and those were great great times, you know Was with Richie Blackmore and all the original lineup of the purple What'd you think of Richie Blackmore back then as a person? I mean, I know he everybody says it's difficult, right? I mean was he difficult? Well, you know The thing is like, yeah, I heard we heard all these horror stories, you know that you know Richie You know I'd thrown he threw groups off the opening acts off the tour because he didn't like somebody in the ban Or he didn't like exactly, you know, whatever, you know, we heard all these horror stories You know and the thing is like Richie was one of my idols, you know, I mean I idolized him It was like him Jeff Beck, you know, Jimmy Page all those guys back and Jimmy Jimi Hendrix, you know All those guys in that era of time, you know, that's why I like that's who that's what those guys were my inspiration You know, that's how I learned, you know, I'm not a great guitar player But what I can play is what I learned, you know, and what's inspired by those players So, you know, I was like to go on tour with a band that I idolized and a guitar player That was my idol, you know, I didn't know what was going to be like, you know But I remember the first date of the very first tour, you know And I'm you know on the stage and the crew was setting up the equipment and stuff like that And I thought I wanted to meet Richie, you know Because those guys those guys back then they had they all had their own dressing rooms, you know Richie had his and those guys you really didn't hang out together at all, you know, they they Roger and Ian did, you know, but you never even saw Ian Gillin until it was time for them to go on stage You know, he was on stage. He played the set and then he disappeared again. So it was it was weird, you know So I asked one of the crew I said Where's Richie's dressing room, you know, I want to meet him. They go, oh, no, no, you can't you can't do that You know, you can't bother him, you know can't do that. Come on. Where is it? So I found out where it was, you know, and I walked down the hall And I and I see a name on the outside of the door and I knock on the door, right? So he answers the door and I and I look in and I can see like, you know, candles burning and all that stuff Yeah, you know, so I said I introduced myself, you know, and you know, I didn't walk in the room I was standing outside. He just opened the door and I introduced myself and I said, oh, yeah, okay And I said well, I just wanted to ask you like one question and he said well, what's that? And I said I want to know like who your favorite guitar player is And he said well my favorite guitar player is Jeff Beck and I said well, you know what my favorite guitar player is Jeff Beck also I said, but you're my you're my second favorite guitar player and you know, I mean we hit it off fine But I think that Even even if I hadn't done that we still would have hit it off You know the band would hit it off fine with him because you know, we're easy to get along with you know We're gonna cause any problems or anything like that So I mean every night I would stay on the side of the stage, you know where he played and I would watch him play every night You know like usually usually when an opening the XC's the headliners, you know, they don't stick around You know doing their own thing, but I say every night I watched him play and Sometimes he would hand me hand me his guitar, you know and I would go tune it for him and I bring it back and So it was like a very very time you know and You know, he would break a guitar every night, you know, he'd break a static strata caster every night smash It was part of the show, you know, and he when he was getting ready to do that He'd look over at me and he go this is for you, you know, and then he then he'd like smash this guitar You know, so it was just so such a cool time. It was unbelievable. All right, so so then you exit elf, right? I'm not sure. I'm not sure how you exited why you exited but I just you know quickly on that Well, you know, I ended I left the band There was a lot of personal it had nothing to do with, you know Bad vibes with any of the guys in the band or anything like that I just needed to like I felt at the time and this is what I can remember that I hadn't done anything in my life Except being a band, you know from junior high in the high school. That's all I did was, you know I wanted to be a musician. I wanted to play in a rock band, you know, and it got to a point where You know, I was on stage, you know all these different places and I wanted to experience what the audience was Experiencing, you know, I wanted to be them, you know, I didn't I didn't I was always the guy on stage And I just wanted to do some different things in my life You know wanted to have some different experiences that I never did before I never had an eight-hour a day job, you know In my life other than even though being a musician is a 24-hour a day job So I left the band not under good, you know Not with any kind of bad terms or anything like that and I never and I never really thought it would be forever I thought it would only be for a short time, you know, and but The circumstances that we evolved from there You know with with rainbow and Sabbath and all that I mean eventually those things would have happened Anyways, you know whether I had left the band or not, you know And and that's just a normal thing for Ronnie's career to take off So, you know, there was never there was never going back to Elf because Elf became Non-existent anymore, you know and but that that's basically the reason that I left and I worked I want to work for You know, I worked as a carpenter for a couple months I learned that I worked with a Mason for a couple of months I learned that I worked with the Department of Environmental Conservation because I really love the outdoors I did that for like two whole summers, you know, and I learned a lot of different things and then I finally realized that like geez, you know, I Don't want to be a carpenter or you know or Mason or work for the conservation, you know What do I mean? I got to make some money. I got to make a living, you know So what what can I do that? I can do the best and make money and it's be a musician and that's how I formed the rods Yeah, but but at that point, you know Elf was already Done it gone, you know, because it was already rainbow, you know, it was already, you know, Elf was no more so there was no there was no going back at that point to You know what there was? It was only going to something different that was that ended up to be the rods and the rods I formed the rods only because only to like it wasn't like I want to form the rods and make records and go on tour and do That whole thing I only formed the band because I needed to make some money to live And I thought if I if I if I formed a band I could go out and play bars, you know And I could make 50 bucks a night or whatever, you know And and I could live on there and that's that's the only reason that band was formed was because of that And I want to see Carl Carl was playing at a band called Colacus at the time and I went to see him play with a what a great drummer I talked to him about starting a band and he said yeah, and then of course we went through a couple different bass players before Gary entered the picture And all of a sudden, you know, I'm starting to write songs Carl's writing songs, you know, we get this guy that's interested that wants to be our manager and Pretty soon we're making records and we're on tour in England. So Let me ask you so now you're on tour with England, right? Were you on the Aussie tour on the Blizzard of Oz tour in England or in the US? We played with him in the US Okay, so that's with Randy Rhodes in the US not not the Blizzard of Oz version of Aussie, right? And what a great band that was that was an awesome band. Oh, yeah, how many dates do you do with Aussie? When I'm not sure, you know, they were like spot dates, you know we do one or two here and then one or two there and But it wasn't like a solid tour. It was like spot, you know spots So it was a few dates, you know, but that band was it was an awesome band and Remember like the soundcheck when the band played, you know, how they're all great players and the thing with Randy Rhodes is is like Such a phenomenal guitarist But what you hear on record is only the tip of the iceberg is what he was capable of doing because When you heard him warm up backstage, it was unbelievable what he was playing. I mean, it was just incredible I had never heard anything like that in my life. I mean it sounded I just can't explain it, you know, so I Mean if he had been a little if he had not died, you know All this would have come out all the greatness and everything that you know, he was capable of playing eventually would have been heard But like I said, what you hear on Aussie's record is only the tip of the iceberg of what he could play He was an amazing guitarist. Did you get on the did you talk to him? Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah. Yeah, in fact, he lent us one of his guitar straps because I think Gary lost or so lost a guitar strap or something and And and Randy gave him here take this one, you know, it's like sort of regular Fender strap But I'm not even sure if Gary still has that strap or not. But anyways, uh, yeah No, they were they were great, you know, they were all great guys, you know, and great players and Aussie and I remember When Aussie went on everybody backstage had to like get in their dressing room Like in other words, they wanted the whole backstage area cleared When it was time for them to go on stage So we'd have to we'd have to get in our dressing room. But once they got on stage They take a drink We could you know, we could go out and we could We could watch them, you know from the side But they wouldn't let anybody on the wings of the stage, you know I'm talking about would stay down and Sharon would be up on on the side of the stage, you know, and she'd look down at me and she Flag me up and she'd come on up, you know, and I would stand and I would watch the show with her And you know, we'd say like two words because you couldn't talk And I said thank you and you know, I'd leave and you know, and I'm thinking like I always wondered like Why did she ask me to come up on stage, you know, and I think maybe she knew my association with Ronnie And no, it was just being a polite thing for her to do But I really appreciate it because I got to be on stage and watch the show But yeah, those were those were some good good shows to you. So you probably did the Aussie thing first You probably know better than me. I'm just guessing on the dates here Well the dates, you know, I can't remember the dates have that much, but I know we did we were in England for like I think three months because we Recorded from we recorded wild dogs there and then We went on tour for a month with Maiden and then we were there another month mixing the album So then we came home. But when we came home, we did like a bunch of Judas Priest dates Down in Texas. So you're with iron Maiden, right? And this is you're talking about the number of the beast, right? Bruce Dickinson's in the band. That's a number of the beast Yeah, what was the fan reaction, you know to the number of the beast Bruce being in the band I mean Paul Deanna was just in the band. He's not in the band anymore What was the crowd reaction to you guys opening into iron Maiden in general? well First of all the crowd reaction was great, you know for us and iron Maiden, you know They loved it and I remain had a great show with with Eddie, you know the beast walking around and Yeah, it was a great response. It were all good shows, you know, and we got great reviews You know, like the next morning we would always look for the reviews and the papers and stuff and And everybody they and us poke at great reviews It was a good. It was a good day. It was a very good Momentum for us, you know for the rods because you know our first album was out and it was doing really well And and that tour really Really gave us a lot of momentum Okay, and then you come to the US and tour with Judas Priest Yeah, oh my god, you guys have like this is like the ultimate tours So it was a screaming for vengeance. I guess it was screaming for vengeance. Yeah, right? I was screaming for vengeance Unbelievable. I mean, what was that experience like? That was awesome too because you know Again fans of Judas Priest and thing is like priest was very big You know, they were doing big halls and they had a big stage set up That's when they had that big aluminum like double They had amplifiers up on top and the amplifier down on the bottom and the drum roll way up high and you know Rob came out with a motorcycle was it was a big big show and Those guys are some of the nicest guys and Rob Helford is probably one of the nicest guys you ever want to meet You know, you know, he's truly the metal god, you know, I mean, there's nobody You know his his presence on stage as being a metal the metal god I mean, who's gonna who's gonna outdo that? No, you know, nobody is you know, but he's really a sweet Sweet guy, you know, he's really a great guy Nice guy and all the guys were you know KK Downing Glenn Tipton. They're all really nice guys It was it was a great experience to be on tour with them And here's another one a little tidbit you actually Metallica opened up for the rods and when was this? Oh This had to be probably 83. I would think I don't know. I think it might have been I'm not sure if it was before all this or after that some of that stuff because It was a look. I think it was a club called the Moore. Yeah In New York, I don't know. I think we did two shows with with Metallica opening up I can't remember and I remember them being a great young band You know kids being a young band being really good, you know And again that was quite an experience and of course that you know look at their history, you know, I Would guess it was 83 84 around that era. Yeah, you probably yeah, you're probably right Yeah All right, so I mean I know also there's a documentary on deal Have you I when he told me that they've started filming already user butler already his part Are you gonna be participating in this? Yeah, I already did They interviewed me. Oh god years ago like even a year or two after Ronnie died Wendy came to court him with them, you know some People that were filming and stuff when we went I drove him around I showed him like we're around he used to live and where he went to school and You know different sites around DOA and the whole thing and then I did an interview with them And I think Mickey Lee did an interview and a good friend of ours and big fan of Ronnie's on Ron Ray and Syracuse to Get an interview, but I know Wendy's gonna do some more current interviews With me because I just you know, I just started in New York when we're down there for the hard ram So yeah, she's she's working on that and that that's gonna be great because she'll be talking They'll be interviewing everybody, you know everybody that's that's alive That they had anything to do with Ronnie or played with them or get anything to do with them You know, we'll be in this documentary. So it should be it should be really great. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that too and Ronnie's lyrics When you sit and you listen to Ronnie's lyrics and you know today you see you get emotional Does it bring back memories? Are you a part of his lyrics sometimes or a family or you know that he was speaking to someone? Yes, I could yeah in the fact I was just talking to I did an interview actually One of the shows I can't remember which one in New York somebody interviewed me and asked a similar question about that and and yeah, because When I hear the lyrics, you know, I can I can relate to me You know like any song you can you can take the lyrics and you can relate them and sometimes in many different ways, you know Maybe ways that would suit your life, you know or an experience that you had But when I hear the lyrics, I I hear things, you know, that really relate to his life and experiences that I know about, you know, and Almost every lyric every song is that way And Ronnie had you know, he was a genius when it came to the words, you know, he was incredible He had an incredible mind, you know, so he had a way of like saying things. It was totally different, you know, and um, you know, I mean he Off the subject a little bit, you know, I mean I would go visit him and he would we would watch TV and we would watch, you know reruns of family feud And you know, I would be bored out of my mind, but Ronnie loved him because you know, they were asking questions, you know all these questions and you know And he would you know, he would it would challenge him to see if he knew the answers to these questions, you know And I know that when he when one of the contestants would get it wrong, you know, he would start swearing at him Oh, you're stupid, you know, that kind of thing But you know and the other thing is like with with his vocabulary, you know, like when I would go visit him You know, he would do crossword puzzles like every day. He would get the paper and And it was a ritual, you know and nothing really we didn't do anything until the crossword puzzles were done And you know as as the week as the week went on, you know, the crossword puzzles got harder and harder, you know and and bigger and bigger so You know, it was a challenge So that's why I think that his vocabulary and his way with words was such a genius is because he was so interested and so smart about you know things and And that that's what you know a lot of his lyrics relate to And the last question is his voice Is it basically from blowing or pacing himself while he was breathing playing the trumpet that he developed the way to breathe and to sing properly? I don't know, you know, I know that, you know, like I said, he was a trumpet player So there's a certain way you breathe when you play trumpet, you know, you're not you know, you know Because I played trumpet too and it's like you're not supposed to breathe from your from your throat or your mouth When you're blowing the horn you you do that from your diaphragm, you know And I think that you know, he might have learned that and helping him sing. I don't know I mean, I think the guy was just a natural. I mean he was gifted, you know with that voice and And that's just and the thing is, you know in recording and recording sessions, you know how it's like, you know Okay, do it again do again do it again, you know, I wasn't quite do it again It wasn't that way with Ronnie, you know, Ronnie would go in and he would sing it perfectly the first time You know and the only time he would do another take is if he wanted to do another take and try something different You know, it wasn't like oh, you were a little flat on that note. So I'm gonna do another one, you know Engineer didn't tell Ronnie when they were gonna do another one Ronnie told the engineer when they would do another one And that's that's basically the way it was and the engineers learned that right away Like the first five minutes the first five minutes. He was in the vocal booth, you know, you know You know, you know, nobody's telling Ronnie that you got to do another one You know, so if you do another take if you want to try something different, but he sang him perfectly every time, you know, he was just Just gifted, you know, just gifted incredible Ronnie could have been he could have been another Tom Jones Or an Engelbert Humperdink, you know, he his voice Was capable of singing those songs. He did sing those type of songs So he could have gone like the crooner root He could have been a solo singer and been a Tom Jones Saying those kind of songs or he could have went, you know, any way he wanted and he chose to go the rock and roll way You know, but he could he could have done anything His voice was so versatile and he could pull it off that, you know He could have gone any route that he wanted. You've become like the default ambassador of Ronnie in a way, right? Sort of like Yeah, be kind of because you know, I'm one of the only ones left, you know that that really have any kind of like history You know that that can talk about The years that are the older years, you know, I mean Nikki Nikki the other guitar players gone, you know And Doug had a little bit of an association with us for a while, you know, but he didn't go way back So, yeah, I guess so, you know and the thing is I could talk for hours and hours and hours and hours, you know One thing leads into another, you know You know what I'm saying, so it's like yeah, and I and I the thing is I enjoy talking about it You know, I enjoy talking about it because the people that asked me these questions want to know, you know They want to hear what I'm saying, you know, so it's like it makes me feel good because I enjoy Saying it and and hopefully it makes the people feel good because they get to hear it You know, they get to hear things about Ronnie that, you know, they might not have known otherwise, you know We're preserving his legacy. We're preserving it, right? You know, yeah, who knew that Ronnie did crossword puzzles. I mean Yeah, so so there you go. I mean, you know those kind of things so Anyways Yeah, I love I love talking about it So there we go the rods. Let's not forget about the rods brotherhood of metal was released on June the 7th on Steamhammer SPV go out and pick it up a must. I think it's probably one of my favorite albums this year I just love it. It's melodic. It's catchy. It's anthemic. I love your vocals, too You know, a lot of people might say well, he's not one of those screamers, but you know what they're laid back They're laid back and that's okay because you give me come from a generation where you don't always have to scream You don't always know. I know I know Thank you for being on the show. Oh god, thanks for having me I appreciate it anytime, you know, like I said, I Could talk for hours