 And thanks so much to the Heavy Metal Hall of Fame. Heavy Metal music is the music that made me love music. First love and I have too many awesome metal memories to mention. What's going on John? We're here and we're very excited to induct Ripper Owens and the Heavy Metal Hall of Fame. I'm going to call him a first ballot Hall of Famer. I mean we're into sports and I think it's unanimous. I always say, well I won't say that because Ripper will get mad. He was here at the very first one playing with the DO Disciples. And the event has really evolved into something that people are, it's really respected and it's a thing now. Last few times you're looking around the room at who's attending and you're like, this is a thing now. Jimmy Kay's here from Canada. So I'm stoked that I'm here for the year that Ripper gets in. So we're here at the Metal Hall of Fame with the amazing Regina Bernali. Looking fabulous Regina, how are you? I'm pretty good. So here representing the Quiet Riot Legacy. Legacy of Frankie Bernali and Quiet Riot. I just wanted to ask you what's going on with Quiet Riot now and anything that you have as far as footage or any plans for any kind of, I don't know if there's anything with Frankie that might be possible. Well I mean I'm working on things, nothing that I'm ready to announce. The band is always touring. They tour, tour, tour, tour, tour. So check out the website and look at the tour dates. They're near you, go see them, go bang your head and kill the noise. In your area, coming soon. And we were bowling partners. Remember? Yeah. Rock Ferrani, we were bowled on the same team. And you did really well, so I was impressed. I think you beat my score. My buddy Neil Turvin right here. Yay! My buddy. Team Huns. Yes, exactly. Without a T. From Hammerfall, of course, Chris and Pelletary right here, buddy. Bring him in. Chris and Pelletary, come on in. So we'll just go around the room here, alright? I just want to go around the room. I'm saying, Chris, quickly, what are you up to? Jimmy, we are finishing the new record. It's going to be done probably in about four months. Alright. There you go. We have any titles or anything like that? Can't tell you that yet. Alright, so we're waiting on that. How about this? How about this? He can't tell you. Tell me about this. The musical style of this new album. It's heavy. Paul Bostoff from Slayer is playing drums on our record, so it's a little bit more aggressive. We work with Mike Platnikov, we're produced, and he's worked with everybody from ACDC to Enflames. So it's a little bit more aggressive, you know, but still a lot of the crazy, you know, the shredding stuff. That's what we need, that's what we need. That's what we need. What keep? Shredding. Hammerfall. Let's see, I'm trying to think when the last record you released, a year, year and a half now? That was in February 22. Wow, Time Flies. Time Flies, yeah, it does. So what are we doing? We're working on some new music with Hammerfall. I'm actually here in Los Angeles right now recording vocals for the new album. Everything is done in the drums-based guitar department, but I can't really record in Sweden, can I? I mean, weather sucks. It's too cold to sing over there. Yeah. It's got a tour coming up, right? Yeah, that's true. You want to remember back in before COVID, Neil jumping on stage with you at the whiskey, right? That was a while ago, yeah. That was a while ago, Neil was out. It was a great honor, and Joachim had the idea. I mean, I'm like, he says to, Joachim says to me, hey man, you want to sing a song with a band? I'm like, which band? Hammerfall. Holy crap, you're the singer. What do you mean? And then he's like, well, yeah. I need you to break, you know? I need my IT break. Then he's like, okay, I'll be glad to sing with you, Joachim, but I mean, you know, you're the singer. So then he's like, no, you don't understand. I want you to sing it. I'll watch. I'm like, excuse me, you're the singer. You got to sing it. He's got a great voice. He's got a great voice. And he really, he fucking killed that song. Guys, I see a power group right here. That's Joachim. Super group right here. It's not easy singing Hammerfall. But that was the release party we did over the whiskey for Dominion, and we invited a couple of friends to just share a stage with us. And hey. That was so cool. You all fucking killed the song. So when can we expect a new album about? Later this year? All right. After the summer. So late summer. But 2024, right? 2024, yes. All right. Oscar. Oscar, get away. I'm like the shortest guy in the room. Oscar, happy birthday. Thank you very much. I just want to say anything you want to plug about the new album or anything else, tours? Well, yeah. I don't know what you guys talked about already. Right. So yeah, we're going on tour in the U.S. in May with the Camelot actually. So it's going to be at four weeks maybe or something like that. Five. Starting, the tour starts at the end of April. We begin. We join a little bit later. I feel like I need a stool. Yes. To stand on, right? One of those stools. I thought it was some different kind of stool. Joel Hoekstra from White Snake and Accept. And he's got a solo album last year, right? And TSO. TSO. Transseparate Orchestra, yeah. You guys just finished doing a whole tour with TSO. Yeah, just wrapped up the Transseparate Orchestra tour. And really just kind of diving straight into writing the next Joel Hoekstra's 13 album. And I have a Revolution Saints album coming out February 9th, called Against the Winds. Dean Castro-Novo from Journey, singing and playing drums. And Jeff Pilsen from Foreigner Playing Bass. Obviously, you mentioned filling in with Accept. I'll be filling in for their guitarist fill. For the South American tour and for the European festivals. So got that going on. I'll be doing acoustic duo gigs throughout the year with my friend Brandon Gibbs. On the Monsters of Rock Crews, right? Monsters of Rock Crews in addition to tour in the U.S. And we're going to do a U.K. tour at possibly Japan later in the year. Congratulations. So, you know, just trying to keep it going, brother, you know? You're like the busiest guy on the planet pretty much in the music business. One of them. How do you do it? I just try to do something productive every day to move forward. Whether that's, you know, virtual teaching, doing interviews, writing, recording for people, whatever that may be. So, yeah, I mean, that's kind of what it boils down to. I don't take days off. And I know your work ethic, Joel, because we did one show in Romania not so long ago, last year. And we were there rehearsing until like midnight and then back the next morning at 10 o'clock. But I mean, I just saw how hard you were working. And I just, something tells me that that's what you do when you, no matter what you're doing, you put that kind of effort in. Because when you're learning songs or, you know, French time. Yeah. I mean, I think that you get back what you put into it with music. So, I think I'm not big on the work ethic thing for whatever it's worth. Sometimes, you know, that's detrimental to mental health where you, you know, you lose your mind. Yeah. At the same time, it's really good for your chops playing all the time and working on it. And it's good for being able to succeed and like be able to build a career. So, you know, I'm one of the generation who kind of came around after you could sell a million albums when you were 21 years old. All my success kind of happened later in my life. So, I don't take it for granted. I just try to work hard. Well, congratulations on all of your success and all of the great things you're doing. You know, being here at the Metal Hall of Fame and, you know, all of your tours and album, your album, your solo album sounds great. And it's just a pleasure, you know, a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk to you today and enjoy the NAMM show. Tell me what's going on in the deal world. What do you have going for us? We have the book. We have the movie. Great. Well, we have our rock for Ronnie coming up on the 19th of May at the Warner Center. We're going to have a really fun time. We've got great people to advertise. So, we're going to have fun. Book, another book maybe, or is there anything else coming down the pipe? Records coming out, record day. We have stuff on BMG, stuff on Warner's. There's always going to be something coming down the pipeline. We're working on working on deal deciphering, it's going out again in the summer. Okay, good, good, good. Well, it's cool. You know, Wendy, thank you so much. Always a pleasure talking to you. Always keep us posted on what's going on, okay? I want to thank my beautiful wife, Vicky. She's helping me learn the game. Oh my goodness, the last couple of years. And I want to thank Jimmy K. here, which is a little girl, making this happen for me. I really appreciate it. I'd like to thank, you know, all the fans, who have supported me. And I want to thank my family and my friends who supported me also. Mark Lopes, and we're here, Metal Hall of Fame. And thank you so much, Mark. It's a pleasure to catch up with you. Absolutely. And taking the time to speak with the metal voice and myself. And so, Mark, of course, just did an amazing album with Metal Church, and you guys were ready to tour it. Well, we did tour it. Oh, you did tour it? Yeah, we did tour it. Actually, you have been touring it. Yes, yep, yep. And you've been doing overseas Europe shows in the U.S. It's just that you were going to do another tour, is what it was. Yeah, we were supposed to tour all year. Unfortunately, you had to be postponed, canceled for health issues with Kurt. Right, right. Yeah, unfortunately, but, you know, we've got to be healthy first, and make sure he's okay, so we can do it again, you know. Yeah, well, we're not teenagers, so we've got to take care of it. Yeah, I know, kidding, right? We've got to take the car back to the shop and fix it up. Yeah, exactly. And Kurt's a great guy. Oh, he's awesome. Yep. And so, how soon do you think, you know, he'll have enough time to get it together and get back in shape? And obviously, that's a lot of rehabilitation. Yeah, I mean, I don't really know. I couldn't tell you. It's too early to tell, you know. Well, hopefully, everything goes well for him. Yeah, I hope so, too. And that he can heal up and get strong and get on the road again, or at least play some shows, start doing that. Yeah, exactly. Yep. I mean, I'm just speaking out of the sense of, like, the fans, you know, they're hungry for metal church. You're right in your cycle. Yeah, it was definitely a lot of momentum going on, you know, so it's definitely a bummer. But hey, it is what it is. It is what it is. But you guys are sounding great and also, Stet, good friends in your band. Yep. And Steve Unger, I'm playing with him tonight. Oh, God! Oh, you're going over to do that? Yeah. All right, I'm going to have to go over there. Yeah, they put them on, at the last minute, they got on the same song. So it's pretty cool. Oh, cool. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So, yeah, so tell me about the difference, I guess, for you, because you have Let Us Pray. Yep. And then you have... Ross the Boss. Well, Ross the Boss. Yep. And then you join metal church. And how is that, you know, how is your vocally, how is that a differentiation for you? Because obviously, you know, it's a different chemistry, different group of people. Only have to do songs from three of the most iconic vocalists, you know. So it's, you know, not an easy task, you know, and I have my own style as well. So, you know, try to be obviously, you know, true to the source. But, you know, also kind of give my own flair to it. So, you know, but for the, you know, some people want to hear it exact, you know. Traditionalist. Yeah, you know, just got to, you know, do what works for me. You know, I'm the one that has to do it. Yeah, you got to be the one. Exactly. So, yeah, I mean, it's been, you know, a challenge and, you know, it's definitely, I was just starting to get my stride. You know what I mean? That's, you know, with the metal church stuff because, you know, it's not something you can just do. It takes a little while. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, I was like trying to tell people, I'm like, you know, you can go and rehearse to your blue and your own, you know, rehearsal space. But as soon as you hit the stage, it's a whole different beast. You know, you know. It's not like a switch you just turn on. You have to kind of... Yeah, it's like a baseball glove. Right. There's so many different factors that go into it. So, you know, it's definitely something you have to get used to and grow into, you know. So, you know, I'm glad, you know, we just did the Australian tour and it was totally awesome. So, at least we, we ended that all on a great note. So that's always good. Congratulations. Thank you. And, you know, so now, you know, now I'm going to be doing some more raw stuff. We go to Australia in March. We got some European stuff in the summer. We'll probably add a bunch more now because now that I have the time because we want to show what was going on. I'm going to do another record. I'm going to finish up the Let Us Pray record and, you know, whatever else I can find to do. Make some calls and, you know, I like to work. So... I'm sure you'll be busy. I hope so. I hope so. Thank you. So, we'll see what happens. And we wish the best for, you know, for Curt to heal up. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Mark. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. Absolutely. It was a pleasure, my man. And you're a great singer, man. So I really enjoy what you did with Metal Church recently. Thank you so much. Thank you, man. And of course, all your work. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. It's a big role. Like, you can go there. They might watch his face and grab their cars. So what do you think about Ripper being inducted since he's here? What thoughts? I mean, the three tremors. Easter one. I met him on the jugulator tour where everybody that was watching the show was just going, our minds were so blown away by how he was just killing it. And that was a really important time for Metal, because Metal was at the bottom of the barrel. Yes. And I remember grabbing a tape at a tower record that said free heavy Metal and had bullet train on it. And we put that, dude, we wore the shit out of that. We're like, whole, you know, because we were still dying for heavy Metal. And then here comes this tape. I think jugulator was a super important album to come out at that time where, man, we needed an injection of that. And, you know, I still listened to, he said he was going to sing a Buctors tonight, but I don't know if he's going to. You know what? Are you going to be playing any more Ripper era during your KK's pre-store? We will eventually. Probably not yet because we got to get proper rehearsals in for it. So this next one's not, I just talked to Ken a while ago. I said, we got to put one-on-one in there for sure. Oh, yes. So right now, I think, so I think next time when we start doing the festivals this summer and more touring, when we get back to the steel mill and be able to rehearse there properly, we'll probably, probably add some. I like it. I like it a lot. So we're going out. And you went to Cage. No, we're going out in Cage. Yeah, we're going out in a week. Oh. We cage opening for Ripper. Oh, nice. Yeah. And his setlist is killer. He's got Hell is Home and Scream Machine and Burnin' Hell and one-on-one. One more shot. Glory. Oh, yeah. When he will cry. When he sent me the setlist, I'm like, oh dude, is this like April Fool's show? This dude's serious. Cage is going to play and we're going to leave the band up on stage and they're going to be his backing band like they are in the three tremors. So we're excited about that. And the KK is preasing, though. I'm the biggest KK's preasing. No, look at that. Right there, right there. You've got to show it right there. I got the shirt. I got the underwear. And actually, I'm the biggest striper fan right here. The songs are great though. I mean, I'm not just saying that because we're friends. I totally dig the music. That's my style, man, like Judas Priest. You know, KK Downing was one of the creators of Heavy Metal. Yeah. So you put those songs up against, you know, all these other people that are trying to be successful in the genre now. And these albums are going to stand the test of time. I love the first two albums. All right, on that note, catch Cage and Ripper on tour together. Texas. We're in a week. No, Houston, Laredo, McCallum, and San Antonio. Nice. It's always a pleasure. All right. Congratulations. Thank you, guys. The Metal Boys. Yeah, so we're over here at the Metal Hall of Fame with Joachim Kahnz from Hammerfall. And I don't know if you guys know, but Joachim is a wine expert. He's a certified sommelier. Is that the right name? Yeah. Sommelier. Sommelier. I'm not French, so. No, neither am I. I'm from New York. It's a horrible, weird name to say. Sommelier. I'm not from Somalia, but I know my wine. Well, you know, you could be, and then you could be like a sommelier from Somalia. No, you've been on tour for 27 years. They don't have any wine there, do they? Not the last time I checked. They might not have all the brands that you hope for. You're a champagne guy, too, aren't you? Yes, mainly champagne. I have my own champagne. It's sold out now. Wow. I did like a thing with champagne now, of course, in France, because otherwise you can't call it champagne. That was released five or six years ago. So what are some of the best champagnes that you've tried? Because I mean, that's not a question that a lot of metal people would know. No, but I think one of the ones that people unfortunately can't afford to drink, that's crystal. Okay, crystal. Crystal is always number one. Krug also up there, extremely expensive, unfortunately. And then you have a couple of more, but crystal is what I prefer. What about this Rothschild, that's another one? Yes, but they're new in the champagne industry. They kind of bought a champagne house and named it Rothschild. But they're more into the red wines. What about Dom Perignon? Dom Perignon is... Problem with Dom Perignon, you need to buy the bottle and just forget about it for like 20 years. And they're like, oh, look at this, a bottle of Dom Perignon. Oh, nice. Because the acidity is so high, so it needs to rest. That's why it's important to talk to an expert about wine, because this man knows this stuff. And if you buy a bottle of champagne like a non-vintage, there's no year on it, just drink it. Take your sword, saber it, and drink it. That's so cool, man. That's how you do it. Well, thanks for the tip. Thank you. We had to ask. This is like wisdom. Wine and champagne wisdom.