 voice today on the show. First time, David DeFay from Virgin Steel. How you doing? And of course, Giles, my buddy. Greetings. Greetings. Nice to be here. Nice to be here. Alright, so the good news is there's a new album coming out. It's coming out on June the 30th on Steam Hammer SPV, the passion of Dionysus. Yeah, I should Dionysus some say Dionysus. I say Dionysus. I say Dionysus. You know, David, you don't make it easy for people who are like pronunciation challenged. In Greek, it's Dionysus. So that's how you pronounce it. So it's you. Yeah, yeah. See, yeah. All right. Okay. And oh, I guess like right off the bat, you know, congratulations. It's been eight years. Eight years. No, it actually it's been eight years since the nocturnes of Hellfire damnation elves. It was actually only almost five years now. We released a lot of people don't know this. But in that seven devils moonshine box that we did, there were three brand new records in there released all at once. So it wasn't quite eight years. We did a lot of other things besides that. Yeah, but that's not like a lot of people think that's all just old stuff because we did the Book of Burning reissue and hymns to victory. So they kind of like went over everyone's head, unfortunately. So it's my job on this on this Dionysus Dionysus record to correct that the record straight. Well, it's again, like, like every virgin steel record, this is not something you can just this is not an AC DC record where you can just chuck it on a couple of times and get a pretty good feel for what it's all about. It takes many listens. You got to dig into the lyrics, everything I don't have a physical copy. I've got the promo. What can you tell what can you tell us about this new record, the concept musically? Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Well, Dionysus is a character that I've always enjoyed for a long, long time. As far as I can remember. He comes with the wine. He brings relief from trouble and whatnot. But he also has a dangerous element which I really enjoy because too much of the wine and you can become murderous and humanity goes out the window. So it deals with this dual nature. And it also deals with mainly the idea of freedom and restraint. And is there room in our society for the letting go aspects of our nature, the wild side, you know, one of the names of Dionysus is the is the God of letting go. So science has concluded that even rats need escape from absolute reality. So if rats certainly do, I think we do. So I'm a firm believer in that freedom to go nuts if you want. But with great freedom does come great responsibility. So the record deals with these sorts of issues. So this is a loose concept, right? This is this is not like a concept album in the sense that part one, part two, it's a loose concept following this sort of structure or this idea. Well, it is both. It also it also discusses when Dionysus goes to Phoebes to punish King Hentheus for not allowing his worship there and what goes on. I mean, it relates back to what I just said, but it has you know, there is sort of a through line, it should follow on the other side as well. But that being said, and it deals with dwellers where one thing on the surface is what you're looking at, you see one one item. But then it's also has its whole or opposite meaning at the same moment. So there's that going on. And this that story is what I just said. But there's also another underlying story as well, which the listeners that work out for themselves with what that actually is. I keep it, you know, keep it keep it fake so that you don't tell me see your own life. Even on like House of Haters, right? And any, any album we're dealing with, I'm always also speaking about what's going on on the street today. current events was going in my life as well. So this it's all related. Right, right. What about so I see the I'm going to pronounce it. It's a pronunciation thing. You're the githi sin, the githi Samhain effect, which is the garden, the olive garden, right to the Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I can't pronounce it, but it is where Jesus sort of like was sort of where Judas came to him, and and sort of rat him out back to the rats, right? So ratted him out and he's off to be crucified. Is that exactly what you're talking about? Or is it a loose kind of thing there? Here's what's going on on the record also. There is Dionysus Jesus that Jesus is the last in lines, Ronnie James deal in a long line of dying as a resurrecting God man. So what I've done on the record is I've cross pollinated and synthesized all the various myths of the dying resurrecting God man because they all are speaking about the same being basically same idea starts with Osiris, Adonis, Mithra, etc, etc. So yeah, so I use that gets him any as the opening because that's that starts with the great betrayal. I want to direct it to start with the trail. And the God is angry. And he's out for blood and vengeance and so on and so forth. So I use that because that I thought people could immediately Oh, relate to that understand that even if they know nothing about Dionysus, it worked for this for this story. Right, a lot of reading there, Dave, you do a lot of reading. I mean, Joel, we're scratching our head. This guy reads a lot. Meanwhile, we're reading comic books. I mean, you know what I'm saying? Well, I discovered the theater. I discovered myth through the theater. My father was a producer director and actor of page, you know, and he was doing a Greek tragedy. And I thought, wow, this is amazing. So I started reading. And as I started reading, that led me to reading about history that led me into paganism, the cult and so on and so forth. And yeah, I'm a student of all. All right. So what are the what are the plans to get out there and support this record? It's been a little bit of it's been a while since the last version still live shows, correct me if I'm wrong. And yeah, I've seen I've seen some announcements for some new dates coming up. Are you planning to kind of hit the road in a very substantial way or just keep it kind of special events, festivals and such? We're going to be working towards a more substantial they're out there touring. Yeah, we're doing one offs for a while. Now we're doing Crete in Spain, August. We've just we've just got news that looks like Italy in November will be on. And we're looking at the dates for Greece and Germany. So it would be putting it all together. It will be a longer and longer slog as we go. I am trying to make it work for all the other members of the group for the live situation because not everyone has the freedom that I've got to go and just you know, I'm just going to run off on an airplane and shut the door and come back a year later. It's a little different. So I try I want everybody to be with me because it is a family thing. I love the guys and I want it all to work out for them as well. So we're going to accept us with them. Right. What about the US and Canada? I mean, it's I remember back in the day, you guys, you know, did the tours and I'm in Montreal, right? I remember you guys coming here. I mean, about 85 maybe was it 85 you came here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did it. And we I'd like to do it again. So yeah, sure. Why not? That would be actually easier because we go for the weekend or whatever come back and so on. But are there I guess my question is are there plans for a US or North American dates? It's been a long time. Yeah, plans are afoot. There's nothing I can say that's etched in stone yet, but I am building towards that. I'm speaking and you know, we're negotiating and trying to make it all work. Yeah, but we will we will we will visit. It's my it's my it's my dream to so we'll do it. Cool, cool. There's been a lot of I mean, I guess going back in the last 10 15 years, a lot of reissues repackaging of the catalog and and you know, quite brilliantly really, is there any more plans for anything like that? Or do you feel that the catalog has really been kind of minded about as much as you possibly can with bonus material and and things like that? Yeah, for the bulk bit is is done, I think out there. I think that the label does want to do the black bacchanalia. They want to do nocturnes and they want to do the first two reissues again. So I'm sure I'll be involved with at some point. Yeah. And again, I will add new stuff to those records. We never just do one disk. It's always like, you know, forever of stuff. So yeah, you know, if we're going to do it, we'll do it. We'll be the other ones. Yeah, right. Virgin Steel and Guardian. Yeah, that's I was going to say the same thing you were going to say. Go ahead, Jal, sorry. Well, I was just going to say it's been it's been pretty cool to be a Virgin Steel fan this last it feels like the last 20 years, we've had more stuff than ever, because there's been you know, such as such as this and you've got about four billion bonus tracks on every single one, which is awesome. Even the even the light, even the likes of Exodus Nightmare Theatre, we've got like, it's like a three disc set with different remixes. Same with this original sin. You know, if you're into Virgin Steel and the extended, you know, family approach, it's been it's been awesome. Cool, man, I'm glad you're glad you appreciate that. Yeah, well, we're maniacs. I'm probably the main maniac, because, you know, if you give me a reason to be creative, I'll do it. We can reason to write something. I'll write. I write, even when there's no reason to write, I have an abundance of stuff. While I was writing the Dionysus record, I was also what's the next record after that and the record after that. So just keep going. Just keep going. I'm writing. It's like, if I don't write, I'm like, I don't know, destroying the neighborhood or something. I have to, I have to do it. It keeps me grounded. Well, that's good. I mean, that's good to hear because you hear a lot of people like, I think it was Roger D'Altri made a comment the other the other months. He said, you know, what's the point of writing and releasing a new Who album? No one buys them anymore. But, you know, a lot of people were saying, but isn't that what you do? Be creative, write music, release it, regardless of whether a million people listen to it or a hundred thousand people listen to it? Yes, that is my reason for getting up in the morning. I'm more so than being a singer or a player. It's being a writer. That's what I do. That's what I need to do to, you know, get through my day and make sense of my world and those who are in it. Yeah. So, I don't, it doesn't matter to me. You have one. Well, I agree with that, Dave. And I think Ian Gillin said the same thing. He goes, I don't care. You know, that's what we do. We release music. That's what we create music. We create albums. That's what we do. And that's what we are. And we'll continue to do that. So, hats off to you on that. The first two albums, Virgin, Steel and Guardians of the Flame, do you have the masters? Are you going to remix these guys or have they been remixed? I don't think they have, right? No, the first one was able to do some remixing with what was left of the original master because it did get a little, you know, shot over time. But Guardians, yeah, I actually baked the headshift, baked the tapes and baked the actual tapes in the convection oven for digital domain. So, I could actually remix that record if I want to and if I've got the time to do it. Yeah. I may do that as part of the reissue when we do it. I would like to actually do that. We'll see. Like I did with Vision, I gave the original mixes remastered and I did brand new mixes, the barbaric romantic mixes, when we put that out, which I liked a lot better. So, maybe that might go that way. Yeah, that was, I thought that was great. I loved those remixes of that record. I thought that was, you know, an improvement really. I mean, I thought it made it even better. I thought it needed it because when we did it, I was not really happy. That was the first album that we had tracked in our own studio and then we brought it to the studio where we normally were. And the guy who was the engineer, lovely guy, he's a friend of mine although, but he didn't really give it the time of day that it needed there. I think he was the looks that we hadn't done it there. So, yeah, he needed a second visit. Are the lines of communication still open or have they been over with Jack Star? Maybe he could contribute something or in the future? No, no. I haven't spoken to Jack and of God. It's been like at least 20 or years or more. I haven't spoken to him. You guys are two type A characters, I think. You're just, he's got a vision and you've got a vision and is that what it was at the end of the day? No, it wasn't that simple. There was some other issues along the way and we had actually remade and did a few things. I ended up doing production on one of his albums, No Turning Back. And we ended up getting together and doing these things that we call the sacred demos in the 90s after somewhere around the marriage era, you know, in that point. But then a few other things went on that I really didn't like and so we didn't speak or work together, you know, after that. I have no, you know, ill feelings or like that. I'm just, you know, we've moved into the direction and that's so long ago and, you know, I was, I don't know if everyone knows this, but I was working with Edward before Verdenstiel. We've been playing together since like 15 years old. So I'm like, people bring that up. I'm like, you know, the guy, you know, was in the band for two records. I wish him well and whatever he's doing. But I'm not really interested in going back there. I've got Edward is really like perfect for what I'm doing. You know, he's really amazing in that. I'm not saying you think bad about Jack, he's great at all as well. But Edward, like, he doesn't need to have written the song to want to give it his all. Like I remember when I wrote, for example, I wrote I Will Come For You and I played it for him on the piano and he was just like excited beyond belief to just want to do the riff and be, you know, beyond it. So that's for me, as a writer, that's that's a gift. I mean, it's beautiful that he's like that. And, you know, and personally, we get along very well. So it's a, it's been a win-win situation. So it fits well. That's what you don't want to say. It just fits well. Yeah, there's no need for me to, you know, to go to go back into ancient times. Right. I guess you can say, you know, but I wish Jack was the best and whatever he's doing. I don't know what he's doing. I don't really follow him. It's not a slight. I just don't really follow much of a lot of things. I'm just too busy doing my own stuff. You know, so I miss a lot of things. You're writing an album a week. You're too busy writing an album every week. I'm listening to rough mixes. Is that good? How's that sound? What's that all about? So, tell us. So, okay, we got Edward Persono on this album, right? Who else is on this album? Joshua. Joshua. And of course he's what, he does guitar as well. Is that it? He plays, he's like our seven and eight string guy. He plays, he likes those instruments. Well, Edward is the sick string guy. Okay. And Josh is also done on the road. He's done mostly bass. He's also played seven string on gigs as well. Yeah, but on this record, I played the bass. Yes, Josh just played some bass on some of the records. He did some bass on Book of Burning, a few bits here and there. Usually it's down to like me and Edward doing the bass, but these days it's mainly me doing it because I really enjoy doing it more than he does. He likes doing it now and again, but I love doing it. The, you know, it's going back to the catalog a little bit. I mean, Virgil Steele has been so many things over the years stylistically and, you know, right up to what you're doing today. Is this the direction you see the band continuing to go in or is anything fair game direction-wise? Could we potentially get another life among the ruins type of record, like a rock and roll record, or is, do you feel the style of the last two records is kind of the sound of Virgil Steele right now? I think, well, the next record is probably more in the vein of Dionysus like that. Maybe it's, it's a bit more gobbled. But that remains to be seen because what songs are actually going to be on it from my various collections of songs that I'm writing will remain to be seen. But I think it'll be safe to say that it'll be more like the new album that's coming out. We did a little bit of revisiting that life among the ruins sound on some of the songs on the harvest record. So, you know, there may be some of that in the future because I like living there. There is, this would be probably the third thing out after Dionysus. I've written some stuff that's maybe more, sort of like that in, that's not necessarily so much, but maybe the way it would be presented on record because I've written some stuff that's could be very stripped down like the first second album kind of a thing, you know, which doesn't necessarily want having the extra like choirs and all that sort of stuff. It's written for that other sort of style, but it's still bomblessly heavy. So, this happens when it's actually fully tracked and whatnot. I just sketched with the piano, you know, like a few weeks ago. So, we'll see how it ends up. Cool. Cool. Going back into the catalog, Age of Consent, when you look back in today's world versus the day when it was released, right? I mean, the world has changed, right? I mean, could an album like that be released today, or is it? I guess that's my question. I would release it. Yeah, you're that daring, okay. Absolutely. I say good for David because that's a kick-ass record and the world needs more kick-ass records like that. That's what I say. Cool. Yeah, I mean, I don't know because the record, when we first issued the record, I didn't like the running order because they really wanted to go for like that sort of like, I guess that was the era of Jovi and Malie and Rat and all that stuff and so they tried to make it more like, you know, on the wings of the night and that sort of thing, you know, right forever. So, when we reissued it, I was like, no, no, it shouldn't like this. Open up the Burning of Rome and let it roll, that sort of thing. And then I added those extra songs like Perfect Mansions and Serpent's Kiss, which are the really sort of like boosted the oomph of the record. So, that was nice to have done. Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think that's kind of become the definitive version of the record as the years have gone on and, you know, it's actually rare to bump into someone that doesn't know that version. You know, they go, you showed them the original version and they're like, wow, where are all the songs? You know, so it's kind of cool how, I mean, again, I do think it's an important part of the conversation when I do say the catalog because you have reinvented and almost George Lucas style, you know, you've reinvented some of the older records in a good way. In a good way, yeah. Well, thanks. I really appreciate that and it's nice to notice that and it's, I want to sometimes, is it going this way or head or people can't explain when I get this kind of feedback. I know I'm on the right road with that. That's, you know, that's because as I said earlier, I'm really a writer so I want, I want to, I want to just kind of, if you give me to be creative, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take it. That's why I'm, I'm breathing, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing, yeah. Tell me about, tell me about the early days, like, so, you know, I know you've talked about this before, but a lot of people haven't heard it, like the Metallica and the Queen's Right complements in the early days of, you know, how they sort of, you know, were, I guess, motivated, I don't know, were inspired, maybe that's the right word, by, you know, your music in the early days. Well, deep fan letter from Metallica, all those years ago, they liked Children of the Storm from the hairstyle. I think they probably were aware of it from the use metal volume who wrecked that it was on, the Mike Barney thing, that, you know, those ages ago, because they, I think, they were on it as well. And Queen's Right, we were working with a distributor when we were doing the first record called Dutch East India Training, and they then formed the label called Mongol Board, and we did Guardians with them in the States. But the Queen's Right management, and those guys, they were aware of us and heard the record, and they were wrote a very nice, I think, actually, we introduced them to Dutch East India, which then put out their EP. I think that's what happened. So that's how far it goes back, right? That goes back to, like, right before they released their EP, correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think we had heard, like, what they had, whatever it was, oh, yeah, these guys are great. Yeah, sure. That's cool. Yeah. Cool. Well, man, I, you know, we've covered a lot of ground in a very short space of time, you know, and it's obviously, we could get into a whole ton of different, you know, topics and things like that. We could go through every single album, but you ain't got the time. But I think it's great. There's a great new record. It sounds like there's a lot more music, you know, on the horizon. There's a lot of stuff people can delve back into, including, like, the five-disc, correct me if I'm wrong, was a five-disc box set that came out a few years back. There's probably a lot of stuff that people can still discover. So that's, that's great. You know, it's like the catalogue just keeps on presenting new opportunities for fans to listen and to jump on board. So, um, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And now, now, now there's live shows on the horizon too. Live shows and also some more videos. The lyric video for the opening track was that came out two days ago. And I've actually done, we've done, like, a few more men still clip video for that as well, which will be released when the album is out. And there are a few other videos for the album that we're, we're working on getting out there for the week that more, a little bit after when the album is finally released. Maybe there'll be another movie-style documentary thing like we did about the Gothic Voodoo album and The Visions of Eden and the Seven Devils box set as well. So we like, we like the visual front. So there'll be more things going on. And I don't want to wait too many years before the next record comes. I'd like to get the next record out within, like, two years if we're able to do it because the music is there. It's just a matter of just, okay, we'll be just going to dive in and just do it. And, uh, I'll sing it all. And, uh, I've actually got some vocals on some of the stuff. So, yeah, it's, it's won't be that, that, uh, typical, what always takes the longest is the mixing because, and the mastering because to hear it one way in my brain in my head and then try to bring that out into the light of day and the dark of night is always the tricky bit. And I'm always like, it's not right yet. It's not right yet. And then I go back in there and, uh, I'm relentless about it. And that's the time I, I, I, I have my, my passion, my suffering. But I am relentless. So I get it. I get it. Yeah, I keep going until, uh, until I'm able to, get closer or proximity to that. It's never exactly what I hear, but it's, it gets closer. David on the last note in one sentence described the sort of musical direction on this album to the people who don't haven't heard it, I guess. Okay. Sure. I would say it's a barbaric romantic epic style record in the, uh, tradition of records like House of Atrius and Victus and such. Uh, but with another, uh, another string to the bow edit. Yeah. Another few more arrows in the, uh, quiver goes in another direction. I think it's, it's, uh, it's maybe the most violent record we've done, both, uh, lyrically, musically, conceptually and definitely vocally. You know, I, I did approach, I mean, I always approach each record, like the last song I'm ever gonna sing, each one. But I really threw caution to the wind and no, had no regard for life, limb or, or functioning the next day on, on any of it. So I just wanted to just really nail, nail something that, uh, made Dionysus come alive and make the story breathe, you know, and show his, uh, is, uh, his passion, his passion, his anger, his love, his hate, his everything. All right. On that note, the passion of Dionysus out June the 30th on Steam Hammer SPV. Thank you very much. David Defeit and Charles. Thank you brothers. Appreciate you. Thank you so much. So much. Have a great end. Be well. Okay. Bye bye.