 Here we are live with Herbie and of course Gus G and I'm napped I had to sit in the middle because we got we're basically stuck to the balcony of the corona theater tonight at munchie hall Gus Herbie I'm gonna try to squish back here that is a very nice uh background we have it is a very beautiful background at first and you know we're hoping they don't shut the lights down on us yep yep let's hope all right so look I wore my Gus G shirt so everybody sees yeah man see that represent yes represent I got my metal voice uh t-shirt with me I cannot prove that right now but it is in my suitcase I promise to God I swear to God I have it with me so all right let's talk about this and you guys feel free to jump in I'll try to like move them I'll keep it central the mic sure sure I'll pick it up hopefully yeah um last second this is the last second tour with dragon forest headlining yeah yeah I mean uh we were added on the tour like only what one and a half month ago yeah we're actually replacing a band called battle beast yep the Finnish bands who couldn't make it and uh we get the call you know I've known Herman Lee for like I don't know since the early days we our bands pretty much started out the same time more or less so we've been friends forever we even did the tour with dragon force back in 2006 Europe and UK so anyways see he reached out and he said can you do this or do you think you have time it's a short notice and you know we talked internally in the band we called the lawyer like do we have time to get visas uh we yeah because that's that's the thing you got to have visas for for the United States you know and um that was uh because it's a long process for that but somehow we did it exped expedited it expedited it I think that's the right word I'm not sure I think so too yeah so so we did that and we I mean Herbie literally Herbie he got his visa on Friday night and on Saturday morning we flew to Denver so I picked it up normally it would arrive later so I go to Berlin two times on Thursday to the embassy to pick it up there but they say no it's directly on the way somewhere and then the next day I go again yep and then I picked it up really in the afternoon go back home he had to negotiate with a courier company yeah yeah I just called that what would have happened if you didn't get through there was a plan me to do some instrumental stuff until Herbie could maybe get on the next flight maybe the next week and I would have done maybe some solo shows instead that was a plan all right second time in Montreal okay yeah second time in Montreal yeah okay but on tour with Gus uh on tour with Gus yeah with fire went the first time here oh I mean it's it's this was like I mean I mean I only stepped in two and a half years ago so so this is our first real tour together in terms of a set list what could people expect on a firewind set list on this tour I mean obviously we're you know we're direct support so we're doing a 45 minute set so we're trying to mix it up as much as possible but you know with a band like us we've had nine albums it's practically impossible to fit in material from nine albums into 45 minutes so we are covering a little bit of the of the latest record the self-titled record that came out two years ago because that's the one that we did with Herbie mm-hmm that's the latest thing that we were supposed to be promoting but you know we also at the same time throwing in a couple of obscure tracks because we're celebrating 20 years of firewind now yeah the first album yeah so we're doing something off that album we're doing some other stuff from uh uh premonition yeah things like that you know yeah all right so the best place Herbie that you've played around the world or I'm just gonna throw out countries and just give me a quick sort of analysis of what the audience are like and what it feels to play there Japan ah Japan is pretty cool the fans are kind of crazy and shy at the same time but I like to play Japan so Japan is amazing place and how's it different from Japan Gus to let's say the United States yeah very different very different I mean Japan is a totally different culture you know um like like Herbie said that it's it's it's uh I don't know it's hard to explain you know they're very shy polite very polite like they will clap and they will be very loud but in between songs after they're done clapping it's like ultra silence like you can hear a needle drop in the floor so Japan is like that you know and United States is also you know very you know loud audience and um and it's good we love playing the States actually um the store has been really good so far I have to say I missed playing the States it's three or four years I mean it's been nine years with firewind to be honest this is our first North America tour we've been doing nine years so Herbie have you played South America oh yeah many times I love South America these these guys in South America they're crazy they're completely opposite between the songs they're screaming making whoa whoa all the time so you can't go out of the venue they want to touch you take a t-shirt and all that stuff so they're they're completely crazy that's the craziest audience I ever had in South America what about like European countries a difference between let's say Romania and Italy um you know it depends where you go in Europe like the the Mediterranean countries they're I compare them a lot to South American audiences they like to sing they're more outgoing you know yes um they express themselves a bit more you know you go to northern Europe a little bit more you know reserved but still great audiences to play I mean you know it depends also in Germany which area you play German audiences are great um someone more quieter than others I don't know but in the end man like music fans are music fans all over the world music brings everybody together and that's the one common thing you'll meet if you have the opportunity to travel around the world it's pretty amazing like no matter the background political religious whatever the you know that everybody can feel similar things listening to the same music which is for me blows our mind always yeah all right so let's talk about new material new album after this tour we are we gonna start to record again I don't know maybe you're gonna get inspired on tour I don't know yeah I mean we are honestly I didn't feel like doing any new music before this tour because I was like well we gotta go out there you gotta love this guys we're trapped in the balcony yeah the flash the lights are flashing at least we have a light show yes yes yes so it's different that way yeah it's all right looks good looks good okay so I mean I mean there are no album what are we what are we looking at another firewind album a solo album I just did a solo album no I know I know but I mean another one yeah I mean I'll do more albums of course but uh we're talking about doing some new songs I've written some stuff and I want to you know I want to get Herbie's input when we go back home relax a little bit from this tour yeah take our time decompress and but I think this being out here now it definitely you know plants the seeds of new ideas and like okay this is what we could be doing next and this song works well because now we're testing the stuff that we wrote two years ago and now we're getting more ideas so I think we really needed to be out there and play before we went back because a lot of bands during the pandemic they were like oh screw this let's go back and make another one I didn't really feel like that so I think this is great that we're doing this like we don't know when and where and all that but I don't know we're definitely gonna start working on in the coming months Herbie so tonight yesterday night you were in Toronto today Montreal and I think tomorrow Quebec City right is that it right and then I'm just going from memory here then you start hitting the United States correct yes is that it that's it all right so we just want to prep everybody out there because there's people all across North America watch so oh yeah also arch enemy right yeah Alyssa you know Montreal yeah Alyssa is here yeah she's uh she's from Montreal and I've known her also from long long time actually the first firewind North America tour was together with Alyssa's a previous band the Agonist so we were both kind of like doing a date with Sonata Artica if I remember correct and that's where we met and we've been friends since then all right so a couple of last closing comments in German in German yeah oh wow oh wow okay hey yeah yeah all right no I don't want to talk about Greek I think you're better off speaking and I'm embarrassed so say something say something to the Greek people out there okay my mother and father watch by the way so they're probably saying oh all right thanks for everybody for watching I hope you could have heard something but it's okay we got to record it and thanks to Herbie Gus always a pleasure guys thank you Jimmy