 to the metal voice. Yes, once again, the man, David Elveson. What is going on, Dave? Man, it's all going on. Having a good time. Tons of stuff going on. All right. That's, that's what we're going to ask you. It seems like, man, there's, how many bands now that have the Ellison brand on it? I don't know, five or six that I know of. Well, the good news is, the good news, Dave, it's October the 7th. It was released, I guess, two, three weeks ago, vacation in the underworld, right? On rat, rat pack records. And I got to say, before I put it on, I was saying, oh, here comes again, another project. Here we go again. But I was really seriously blown away how good it was. And I'm sure you're getting a lot of feedback like that. Yeah, it seems to be that. And I think we felt that way before it left, you know, and meeting before it left the studio, before it left our hands, and went out into the public to hear it. I think it's a really good record. And, you know, honestly, it's, we've been sitting on it for about a year, waiting for it to come out. You know, we finished it last year, by the time we contacted Joe, got the deal in place, which is pretty easy, that part of it. But then, you know, ramping up, manufacturing, you know, there's so much stuff that was ready to come out, you know, these COVID releases, you know, these quarantine albums that have been coming out, a lot of people working on a lot of stuff, you know, vinyl manufacturing plants were backlogged with Adele and Madonna and whoever else was jamming up the runway with huge orders of vinyl. You know, so, you know, that's just the reality of it. And, you know, the way RADPAC did it, they wanted to, you know, and they advertised a bundle, they wanted the bundle to ship all at once, not just the pieces of it. So I respected that for them as a fan. That's how I would like it, you know. So, you know, and look, everything that I'm doing, I'm trying to make sure that it's quality work. You know, I mean, I think your last year, 21 started with the Lucid. And I think that was a, you know, a strong record, you know, really good quality, great material throughout. I tipped my hand a little bit to show everybody what we're up to with DIATH. Now that's signed to Napalm Records. So again, same thing, that's sort of bubbling away in the background. And, you know, we just went out and did the Kings, you know, the Kings of Thrash tour this last week. And I think, you know, the whole idea of those four shows was to prop that up, show the world what it is. I think people were excited, interested, inquisitive. Now they know. So there's more to come with that. And then, you know, the Ellison Soto record, which, you know, again, is very near and dear to me as a creative work and something that I'm super proud of. And that's why we went to Italy about a month ago. And we did the three shows because Jeff had caught him in a moment before he got busy in Trans-Siberian Orchestra World and everything that he's got coming up here. And I was like, Hey, you know, if we can't do a gig in our own zip code, we'll go halfway around the world and see how that works. So, you know, and that's what we do, bad musicians make music. So, you know, and honestly, guys, I don't look at any of these things as projects, you know, I don't, I'm not just like, Yeah, sure, put a bullet in the gun that's fired. All right, another bullet, another gun. You know, I don't I don't do any of this stuff like this. You know, I, when I get in the room with someone or, you know, in this case, the virtual room, because it was during quarantine that we did this record, you know, this, this record is as important as anything I've ever done. And once it comes out, you see how it's received schedules provided if we can go do more with it. Or if we want to go do another one, another make another record one day. You know, there's a lot of variables that go in into that. You know, we're not 18 fresh out of high school, ready to take on the world, we're going to dedicate our lives to this because, you know, it's us against the world. And, you know, we're at a different point in our lives. And so to make music is just as much of a passion for all of us. There's just other logistics and things that come into play. And that's the reality of it. So to me, every one of these is its own standalone thing. And the successes and the Republic response kind of determines the future of where they go from here. So you cast your line out into the lake and you see what you reel in afterwards. Yeah, is it a tire? What is it? Is it a fish? Is it a tire? Yeah, exactly. What is it? It's a tire iron. Oh, what the hell, you know. Yeah, but, you know, it's, again, it's, you know, I think there's this mindset of like, oh, he's doing too many. It's like, says who, you know, I mean, fuck, I dedicated my whole life to one band for, you know, for almost 35 years I dedicated to that. And, you know, that's more than half my life. So it's like, if I want to take another car out for a drive around the block, I'm entitled to it. You know what I mean? And I'm not just doing it because I'm bored and I'm not just doing it just to say the hell with it. I'm, you know, again, I'm passionate about these things. Do you miss that aspect though? Do you miss it though? Like being part of, you know, a group and that's sort of more consistent where then you could do side projects versus, you know, look, haven't, you know, it's funny. Me and Mike Portnoy talk about that, the big gig fix, right? Having the big gig and he got the twisted sister gig, you know, which kind of fell in his lap. You know, I said, Hey, it's fun to have the big gig, you know, you're out doing all the big stuff and all that. You know, it's funny for me, because I had some people, a couple of things have come my way and people go, Oh man, you'll be back on the big stages, you'll be playing the big gig, it's like, but since when was that the benchmark, right? The benchmark is, do you like what you're doing? Are you invested in it? You know, because, you know, and there's nothing wrong with taking side man gigs and going out and filling in and doing things. I've done it and I probably will do it again. You know, I'm not opposed to that at all. I tend to be a guy. I guess it's just kind of maybe my more entrepreneurial mindset. I've never, I really haven't been much the side guy, like I play bass for money. You know, that's just not, it just hasn't been how it's come to me in my lifetime. You know, and you know, I grew up on a farm. My dad was very entrepreneurial, farming is very entrepreneurial. It has seasons just like the music business does. So I think to me, maybe I sort of applied that same thing to music is I'd rather live in a house that I built, you know, than living in a house someone else built, because I know where the bathroom is. I know where the bedroom is. You know, I know where the coffee maker is. You know, I built the house and it's kind of done to my specs. And I'm like that with bands, you know, that I like building houses with my friends, so to speak, the musical fortress that we're putting together. Look, some of them work, some of them don't, you know, some of them could have worked. That's the fishing analogy that Alan said. Again, we're making music, man. I mean, it's, is it good or not? Do people like it or not? I mean, it really, and just as importantly, do I like it? Do I enjoy doing it? I've, I've been in some bands that there were some times I really did not enjoy doing it, you know, and I'm going, what the fuck? Like what is this my future? And you know, I call it golden handcuffs, you know, it's paying your mortgage, it's paying your bills, you're fucking entirely unhappy, you know, you hate people you're in the band with, you know, and I think anybody who's been in a band for more than two minutes can agree with that because we've all been there, you know, and sometimes we get into certain gigs and we go, God, I thought it was going to be this. Maybe I'm been a fan of it. And then once I'm in the room, I go, Oh my God, I didn't sign up for this at all. Like what the hell, how do I get out of this? You know, and that's no different than any buddy taking a job at any fricking accounting firm or a law firm. That's what I was just about to say. Car dealership, you know, that, look, You're just about to bitch about our jobs right now. No, just kidding. Yeah, please. Just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. Yeah. So again, you know, it's fun. I always go back to the word play music. So it should be fun play music. But when music becomes a, you know, a job, a business, an industry, well, you got to approach it like that as well. So it's always finding this balance of going, that's a great example of that, right? Like, you know, he's got WET, he's got trying to Siberian, he's got a solo career. So, you know, yeah, okay, there's nothing stopping you guys from not coming back and revisiting this, although you might go and do other things in the meantime, right? 100%. I mean, look, Andy, my guitar player, you know, with the group, we have a whole album already written. You know what I mean? It's like, we just, you know, when I was in Europe, we've already been sentenced to do each other. We got together at his place and down in Verona went through, you know, it's funny with the Italians, the picture of the hotel is like, okay, first we eat. Like, all right, so we go eat. You know, in America, it's like, we must start now, right? Because we're very disciplined and regimented and everything's about productivity because it's the American way, right? You get over Italy, it's like, ah, let's eat. All right, we have some coffee. Now let's go get some desserts. Oh, these beautiful rolls with this, you know, so I'm like, God, now I'm stuffed. And it's like, Andy, are we going to go to the studio? Yes, we will get there soon, you know, and then we get there. And the funny thing is, by the time we got to the studio, we basically went through six songs in like an hour and a half. I'm like, maybe there is something to the Italian way, you know what I mean? You make music last and you make it quicker and better. I don't know, maybe this is the right way to do it. So, I have fun working in these other cultures outside of America. You know, Dieth is based in, you know, in Europe. Our singer, Galerme, he's Brazilian, lives in Portugal. We base the band out of Poland. And I love working, you know, with these different cultural attitudes and mindsets. Obviously, I'm born and raised American. Bands I've been in have been American. And I got a little taste of it when I worked with Max Cavallera, you know, because he being Brazilian, you know, that there's, sometimes there's different flows and tempos to these things that I appreciate when you get into different situations, excuse me, different situations to work with different people like that. I just want to know what the writing process, you know, we're talking Elyson, Soto, Vacation and Underworld. How did, you know, how did the writing come about? And your involvement in the writing? Yeah, no, for sure. Well, so Andy Martin-Jelly, you know, I brought him in when I was over in Europe doing some bass story, some solo shows that I was doing, probably 2018. And he put the band together for me to just kind of walk in and plug and play. And that basically essentially is this band that would then play on the Elyson Sleeping Giants record on some stuff played on, and then we toured that a bit in 2019. And then 2020, we did the Elyson No Cover record. And so this band, you know, very much was the kind of a house band for that. And so Andy, in a large way, became really my musical director. You know, I could sort of send things to him, send ideas to him. He could sort of, he's got the patience to sit at, you know, it's funny, over here in America, we were largely Pro Tools dominant. Over there, it's Cubase. It's a different platform, but it's all, you know, digital audio workstation. Yeah. So Cubase is very dominant over there in Europe. And so he just throws everything in Cubase and he kind of organizes it, keeps track of my ideas and kind of outlines things. And I always invite him to collaborate. And, you know, sometimes my idea might be a little too 1992, and he makes it a little more 2022, you know, can make it a little more modern, which I like, because he's a younger guy. So I like that. And so, you know, as we rolled into 2021, we were starting to write this material that would become vacationing underworld. And he encouraged me to reach out to Jeff for the vocals and to, you know, have a new collaboration with somebody. And by the time we, you know, Andy and I were essentially sending our stuff to Jeff first, he was kind of just singing our stuff on it. And he said, he goes, you know, look, I really don't want to, I said, this is going so well that I, he said, I'd rather this be more of a collaborative idea than sort of you sort of hiring me to sing. I said, great, it's music to my ears because I think, I think we'll get more done and it'll be more of our record if it's not just sort of me paying a singer, you know. So I'm glad he had that kind of all for one one for all mindset with it. And and we just, you know, we joked about we love on the back like the Van Halen records, all songs written by Van Halen, you know, like it's we're all in, right. And and that that was the mindset. So then Jeff, you know, really started to collaborate more on the I mean, certainly he was always there with vocal melody stuff, but even on lyrical and just saying, you know, Jeff, I want to hear your, I want you to be part of the story, not just me and Andy writing lyrics. So that that really turned the corner and it became our record. And are you guys going to tour? I mean, is this a tourable record? It's certainly tourable. That's why we started in Italy, because the band, our band essentially that recorded this is in Italy. So it's the real band, you know. But knowing Jeff's got TSO coming up and and I, you know, my schedule is a little bit more flexible. I've got things than I'm doing, but I could find little windows in there. You know, the realities of touring are very different, you know, America. It's a very different world to tour in. Are you going to go out as a support act, you know, go out and support anthrax or Black Label Society or one of those kind of tours, you know, now you're out for six weeks. And, you know, it's you're going to be first of three, are you willing to sort of accept that what that is? Obviously playing the large crowds and that kind of cool thing. And I'm just using them as an example. It was never a tour that was that we discussed, but using it as an example to go out with friends or, you know, do you go out on your own and play a little 500 seat rooms on your own and kind of be your own, you know, kind of start from scratch. So, you know, those are kind of the realities of this. And, you know, I'm always game for doing it because, you know, I love gigging. I love playing, you know, and especially with my friends and to our fans. So to me, I love doing it. It's just a matter of, you know, kind of finding this moment in the schedule to do it. So we'll see what 2023 has in store. And like I said, you know, Andy and I are always working on new material and, you know, getting some things kind of teed up. And, you know, with the success so far, people really seem to like our sound. So that's kind of the, you know, the thumbs up to say maybe we should maybe we should swing for another one. So we'll see what how it turns in the new year. I would definitely hope there'd be a second. I mean, what I like about this sound, you know, you listen to stuff like vacation in the underworld, which is very, very heavy. And then you got something like out of the blue, which is literally out of the blue. I mean, something that really stands out on the album. Where does this come from? Well, then the reason and you're thinking, wait a second, now we're getting into like super melodic metal ish sound, right? It's really it's got a and then there's thrash, right, right at the end. So yeah, thrash or some bass like rise to rise to win, right? That's like some serious bass tuning that there's some bass line there. Yeah, it's it. I kind of thought maybe Jeff Scott soda would have been a perfect fit for this, you know, new group you have, you know, the kings of thrash, he seems to fit well in the thrash mold, too. Well, he does it. It's funny with him that, you know, as we were touring Italy, he said, he goes, you know, I'm kind of the most unmetal metal guy there is, as he's referring to Queen and Sam Cook and Motown and, which, you know, was great for me to, you know, be working with a singer who's so known to us rockers and metalheads as his metal guy. And yet in his mind, he doesn't consider himself a metal guy, you know, because to him rising force with Inve, that was about 40 years ago, you know, so that was like a lifetime to go to him. He's done so much other stuff that has not been metal. And I told him, I said, dude, you know, in our world, like you are the fucking metal guy, right? And like Andy, that's why Andy hit me. He goes, dude, over here in Europe, I mean, come on, I am a Viking. I mean, he is the reigning fucking king of power metal. I mean, over here, because Europe, there's a big power metal movement that I'm a huge fan of. And, you know, and Jeff, he's like the Elvis of that whole thing. Yet in his mind, I don't think he views it like that. So to me, this record was bringing Jeff back to kind of probably where the, you know, three of us on this call would agree like, fuck, that's the Jeff Scott soda we grew up with. So to me, I'm kind of proud that we kind of put him, placed him back as the crown jewel in the middle of our genre for us. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with all that, man. Whatever happened to a KK's priest? I mean, you know, it's funny today. I just said him an email because it's his birthday today. So happy birthday, KK. I don't know what this is coming out, but you know, KK's steel mill, right? There was you were there, right? You're playing along with them. And then suddenly it had momentum. He comes out with an album. Did you ever get that call saying, Hey, Dave, you know, we need a bassist here? Or if you have nothing else to do. Well, it's funny, you know, KK and I were friends on the painkiller rest in peace tour back in 1990. That was where we connected. Of course, I'm a huge fan of him. I mean that cover of Unleashed in the East is forever bold and in my mind is just the quintessential fucking heavy metal rock god, you know. So and I just love the guy. We got along well. And so it's funny because I hit him. It was 2019. I was coming through on the Ellison solo tour and we're promoting the More Life with Death book. And I just we've been talking on the phone and emailing and I hit him. I said, dude, can I do a signing at your venue? And he said, sure. And he said, would you want to join me? Because his book had come out not maybe in the same year, I think, right? And I said, hey, you want to come up and jam a tune? Like you want to play live enough for midnight or something? And it just very, it goes right. Well, I'll see, you know, I'll consider it, you know. And and then next thing, you know, I have a friend here in Phoenix that was working with KK on some building project stuff. And that's kind of how we got reconnected. And his name is Todd. And he goes, man, he goes, come on, we got to make this happen. So he goes, I'll fly Ripper over. So next thing you know, we're putting a band together, you know, and then Ripper's in the mix. And we do a phone call, me and Ken and Ripper and Todd. And I think Ripper brought up, he goes, dude, why don't we get Les Binks to play drums? I'm like, dude, Les Binks, are you kidding me? Is he still around? And he goes, oh, yeah, he's got his little cut man thing. He does great. I'm like, come on. Like, so we're fucking recreating on Leash to Meese, right in front of my eye. And I'm just like, fuck, I can just die and go to heaven. Now, this is going to be the best, you know. And as it turns out, I guess Les and Ken had been friends, but they had not played together since the Unleashed in the East album. And I got the backstory from Les, we were having a curry down the street from the steel mill. And he told me the whole story about how he was this Sideman musician and him and Simon Phillips were kind of the guys in London getting most of the calls. Simon had played on, sadly, as a destiny. They're sin after sin, right? So Les is in the band, they did staying class, they're doing a hellment for leather tour, which is the Unleashed in the East live album. And I guess they walked in and saw a remote truck and microphones and, you know, like, well, calls management says, hey, new album, I got to get paid more. You know, it turned into one of these things. And I can talk about it in his book, that's where they had the falling out over it. And it wasn't really so much the band, I think it was kind of more management. And that was the end. He played on the record. And, you know, that was, that was the part of the plays. We interviewed him about a year ago and he told us the story. Yes, you know. Yeah, he told the story. Yeah. So, you know, so I'm sitting with Les, having a curry here and the whole thing after we had just soundchecked it, or we had just burst and run through the tent and go, fuck. Like, I mean, I'm such a Judas Priest fan, you know, I mean, Kiss and Priest. I mean, they're maybe made in three bands that are just, you know, my, my fucking be all end all. So I'm just sitting here getting this history and, and I'm just going, what a, what a moment that between, you know, me, just knucklehead wanting to do a book signing. Suddenly we were putting the band back together and we're getting ready to go on stage the next night. And I'm just, we're in the room and we do a little huddle and kind of, you know, the dude huddle before we go on stage and football huddle. I'm just going, man, this is the first time Ken and Les have played together since Unleashed in East, my favorite album ever, right? And, and it's happening tonight because of this, we're all bringing it back together. And it was just such a great moment of reconnecting friends, musicians, you know, I'm just the fan in the room, rippers there. We know rippers story of course, the priest and, and, and it's just, it was just magic, man. I mean, it was literally fricking capturing lightning in a bottle, man. I mean, it was just unbelievable at the moment. So obviously we wanted it, if you wanted it to keep happening, you know. Yeah, yeah. If you got the call, would you go back? Of course. I mean, I was, it was never, look, that was just, that was just basically I played my show. I literally ran upstairs, changed the t-shirt, did the huddle, went right back down stage and then played it all night and tuned his great songs. I mean, a little, I played two concerts that night, my Ellison solo, band, and then, then with, with KK and the guys. And, and as we came off stage, we walked upstairs and, and, you know, I was going, God, I said to Kenny, go, I would pack your suitcase, dude. I think there's going to be calls for this. I think we're going to get more of this. And then, as I continued through South America, my solo tour, man, I mean, every city I landed in, they were like, welcome to Peru, David. When can we book you and KK? I mean, just like, it was like, when? Photos ringing in Japan. And so, and, and, you know, I think, I think I would, I was so happy. I would assume like you didn't take that gig when you did the album and because of Megadeth, right? Now that you're free of that commitment. Sure. Yeah. Well, and KK knew that KK is like, look, David's busy in Megadeth, and I said, listen, well, yeah, of course we've, we've got stuff going, of course. But I said, I said, I told him, I said, look, I do have these windows of time and, you know, he wanted to be free to go to just kind of do his own thing. You know, that was not, that gig was not formed to create KK's priest. KK's priest formed out of that once, once, I think, you know, and I'm proud to have been a brother and a friend to KK to go, come on, dude, you're not done. Like you may have retired from Judas Priest, but you ain't fucking done playing guitar. You're a rock star until the day you die. Get the hell out here and let's play. You know, and I think he wants to just see him on stage. He was just lit up. I was like, yeah, man, that's, that's my rock star right there, you know, and, and that's why we'll forever be friends, you know, just from that alone is just knowing that, you know, as that's what we do. We get on stage, we rock and people are happy. The fans are stoked. And, you know, so for him to form KK's priest is his own creative vision. I think you needed to do that. He needed a record that said, hey, you know, I'm not done. I'm Judas Priest too. As we all know that, but I think for him, he needed to just state that. And, and so good for him. He did it and it's cool and there'll probably be more. And, you know, so there, there it goes. The answer, of course, I'll play with KK anytime. I love the guy, you know, and I love playing with him anytime we can. I just finished the Rob Halford second book, Biblical, and he was saying how that album cover for Unleashed East, they all just went down to local theater, set up the lights. That's why there's no drums in there. Because they just forgot to take pictures. Because less quit before, I don't even know what we're supposed to say anything. Yeah, no, he did. He walked away. He quit. Yeah. Yeah. Over that discrepancy, over the, you know, over the, again, like it sounded like it was more with management. And it was sad, you know, it was bummer. Spoiler alert, Dave, Rob reveals everything about recording that album in his new book. Spoiler alert. All these other biographies, I mean, as a fan, I do. But, you know, like some people say, I live it. I don't need to read about it. Well, you know, when I read them, and I read all, in fact, I just finished Eddie Van Halen Eruption, the one that Brad Tolinsky and Chris Gill wrote. And Brad gave me a copy of it at NAMM last year. And I mean, I fricking savored every word of that. I mean, you know, Van Halen, okay, four bands, Iron Maiden, Jews, Breeze, Kiss and Van Halen, right? So there they are. And I mean, I didn't want the book to end. I was just literally savoring every word of it. And, you know, what I realized is, on some level, we're all in the same band. We've all been in the same band, the dynamics of the personalities, the crash and burn, the drugs, the this, the that, the, you know, the money, the whatever the story is, on some level, we're all in the same band. And it's kind of the same personality types that make up these groups. And so, you know, I enjoy reading them to just confirm, okay, I'm not crazy, you know, we've all been, you know, lots of times people ask that because, you know, I work with my friends and my friends all happen to be pretty famous too, because we all grew up together. I mean, one time we weren't famous, we were just dudes getting started, you know, and then our careers have done well. And so we call each other to work on stuff. So when I read these books from, you know, Rob is a friend, a neighbor lives here, at least part time in Arizona, in Phoenix. So, and, you know, it's so when you read these books, you're just kind of like, oh my God, they did that too. Oh my God, they had that fucking manager that did that. Oh my God, I can't believe. Then the drummer did this. Oh my God, you know what I mean? It's just like, it's just, we live a parallel universe in most of our bands. Is the Kings of Thrash, you know, how serious is that band? I mean, Chris Poland, I guess, kind of Chris Poland, well, Jeff Young, especially, right? How serious are you guys to make, I guess you're writing music now, right? You're going to record a record? Is that it? Yeah. I mean, actually, we're mixing the tracks that we recorded at the whiskey. I got the shirt even too, well, but no, but we, our last show that we did, you know, the idea was to just do four shows, which started out of San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas and the whiskey in LA. And it really built to a crescendo because people were excited. They wanted to see what it was and then now they know. And so we recorded and filmed the whiskey show and there's a ton of great fan footage out there. So we're mixing that and editing that and considering what the next step is with that. At the same time, Jeff and I have written and demoed up four songs. And we did that earlier this year, actually. So we've got both existing content and new songs that that we have. And I mean, look, Jeff is, I gotta tell you, man, he is, he is all incredible. You know, this guy's incredible. And I hit the workload that he did, man. I mean, he was learning guitar parts from freaking three guitar players, you know, and, and his, his skill level is incredible, of course. And, you know, I just invited Chris and it's, you know, funny thing when I had the idea to do something like this, which was about a year ago after I appeared at the Chiller autograph, Chiller Theater Autograph Show October 21. And I always knew the killing is my business record needed to be played live. And I presented it when I was in the band. It kind of got half saluted. And then it sort of got dismissed. And I'm like, man, I'm telling you, that fucking record is, that is the sleeper called classic of the catalog. And it deserves its day, you know, in front of the crowd, you know. And so to me, that was kind of like a life mission. And the other record is so far so good. So what, because those two, you know, they especially so far kind of fell between P cells and rest in peace, which are the obviously big celebrated records. So I actually called Chris, I said, dude, we should run out and play killing in P cells. And we had a good laugh. And he called me back an hour later, he goes, Oh my God, I don't think I have the energy to do it. There's no fucking way. I've got an home record. I got this. I said, listen, we'll see how it comes. If it ever swings our way, we'll do it. So as Jeff and I got reconnected through the Nick Mensa documentary back in January. And then went to the studio and started writing, put these tracks down. Then in May, got the call to appear at the ultimate jam night, but distribute to the big four that they did. He and I got on stage and played. What do we play? Darkest Hour, Mary Jane and P cells, I think. That's really what confirmed my idea last year that yeah, this needs to happen. And Jeff was so excited because, you know, he got he got he got a raw deal, man. You know what I mean? He did a lot. He did a lot. Like I've watched interviews with Jeff and we've Chris Polans has been on this show and he's kind of given his explanation of, you know, how it all went down. But what were your recollections of Jeff Young in and out of the band? So he came in brought in by Jay Reynolds, who was my dear friend. And I had recommended him to, you know, as the guitar player for the band, because we were close and we were hanging and me and Dave and we all got along. But we realized pretty quickly that this was a gig of a of a nature that Jay was not. That's not where his skill set lies, right? He's just a different kind of guitar player and it became pretty apparent as we got into it. So he knew Jeff and he called Jeff for assistance. Well, eventually we just called Jay or Jeff to come in and lay down. What initially was these four solos for was it Mary Jane, Dark Stour, Liar, and Hook and Mouth? Well, now that I've been part of this Kings of Thrash process and and now see how much work Jeff did. I mean, he played he played guitar and I think pretty much every song as well as all the acoustic guitar work you hear on the record, he did all that. He did an incredible amount of work and I told him, I said, dude, I gotta be honest with you, dude, I kind of I did not know how much work you did. I thought you came in and just sort of blew four solos and that was it. I think at the time, I don't know, the drug use maybe this seems like time flies a lot faster, right? Well, and plus the record was moving along and we're on a schedule like this. We got to get this thing done. I mean Penelope Spirits is in there filming Dark Stour. It's part of a documentary. There's a film coming out. There's a tour coming up. We got our deadline with Capitol Records. I mean, by the time Jeff got there, it was like, dude, we got to frickin get this shit moving. We got to get to work. And Jeff's, I mean, Jeff's skill was great. You know, he was not on drugs as rest of us were and he worked very efficiently. He was very aware. And Jeff was not a drug. I mean, you know, by nature, when it's around you partake, of course a little bit, but, you know, he was not a junkie. He was not a druggy. And it just came to pass that, you know, that lineup wound down. I mean, look, I was the first guy to go to rehab back in back. We played Donington in 88. And he left, from my understanding is because he was a druggy, right? Because he didn't want to be around that environment, at least my understanding. Yeah, it was pretty toxic. I mean, it was, it was, it was dark and and honestly, I don't remember who left, fired, whatever. And it doesn't even matter. Who cares? It doesn't matter, you know, that, that whole era had to end, right? The drugs, the dope, just the MO of all of it. And it got rebooted and reconfigured by mid 1989, when our, when Ron the feet came in to manage us, we brought Nick Menza in. And that was the reset, you know, that eventually became Rust in peace. And, you know, then the rest is history. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm really happy that you reunited with Jeff Young because he is a huge talent. That's what I'm trying to say. He's an incredible talent. And you know what he, look, first of all, he's doing the work, you know, he's not phoning this in, he's not just showing up saying, Hey man, I deserve, he's not any of that. And I mean, this guy is so detail oriented. He's so into the process. You know, he's, he's all about analog. He's like, dude, we're analog creatures. That's why digital music sucks. It's why it doesn't resonate with people because we're analog, you know, and I mean, he's like way deep into just kind of the mechanics of music, you know, and, and he spares no time or expense getting the best quality results. And, and I mean, he put the time in on this thing, man, was I was off doing some other things. I'd go to LA, we'd rehearse, we'd tighten things up. I knew parts of songs in a way that it's, I would fine tune details of riffs and stuff. And I mean, he was, he whipped everybody into shape and ran a tight ship and got that thing tightened up and sounding as good as it does. So, you know, he's, he's deserving of all the credit. And we were joking with you earlier about all the bands and, and you know, I'm listening to this album and I come across on YouTube a video of a cover with you and, and, and Jeff with our good friend, Rick Hughes, doing a cover riots sort of meticulous. I mean, what's up with that? So funny. Yeah. Thanks for mentioning that. And we got introduced to sword Rick Hughes's band back on the P cell store. We had a Canadian sound man will introduce us to him. So we'd listen to that song stoned again all the time. That was, it was like the theme song of the P cell store. And I think so. Yeah. So what the metalized out is fucking great, man. It's such a great record. So then became friends with Rick in, in recent years. And, and as we were recording and writing the Alison Soto records, I came up with the idea. I love riot. I love that song. I said, why don't we do this? I think it's a good fit for us. We did it. I said, let me call Rick kind of do a duet. You know, this was again, keeping in mind this was quarantine era where everybody was doing these one off collaboration, you know, iPhone video kind of fucking four square videos, you know, and like this. So we did. Yeah. Yeah. So we did. And, and we pushed it out. And, and like Jeff said, he goes, I think this is a good way to kind of tip our hands that we're working on something. And again, people seem to really like it. And it was a cool song. And, you know, that just that it kind of kind of tip the handle. Like, this is pretty cool. And there's probably more where this comes from. Well, stay tuned, Dave, because we're going to meet with Rick and the whole band. And they're coming with their third album after X amount of years. And we're going to be interviewing them soon enough on the show. And excited to hear their third album, though. Totally. Dude, those guys are quality work, man. They look great. They sound great. They've taken care of themselves, you know, and in fact, actually, you know, they'd be probably the best band to play with. You know what, actually, I was going to say that you guys together as a sort of package. Yeah. Wow. Would that be phenomenal? Because you're like, you're like metalized. I mean, you know, here's a band that comes out of Montreal, two little albums, right? The second one where maybe it was even hard to find back in the day. What makes that first album so special? Because it is like a cult classic. You're referring to metalized, right? Yeah. It had a great sound. It's funny. It sounded big, almost like a hair metal record, right? And Rick, the way he's saying, had kind of this malice, wasp. It was big. It had a big sound to it, right? And I referenced those singers because they had big vocal sounds, right? And the production quality was really good. I mean, you Canadians, let's face it, I'll just kind of, as a broad stroke, the quality of what you do is always a cut above in my opinion, you know? It really is. The quality of the recordings. I mean, everything from Rush to Loverboy to April Wine, more recently, Nickelback. I mean, the quality of stuff is at this point, you know? And Nickelback has made great records. Fuck that. I'm not down with anybody who makes fun of them. Fuck now. Those guys, SilverSideUp was a great record. I loved it. I thought it was a super cool album. Say what you will about the rest of it. But, you know, they're quality product, you know what I mean? So, but again, I was a Big April Wine fan. Harder, faster. The one before that with Roller and all that stuff. I mean, I love that. First glance. Yeah. You're talking about my top four now. It was used to be Iron Maiden, April Wine, Van Halen. I can't forget. Triumph. Triumph. And triumph, you know? I mean, exactly. Like, and of course, look, for me, it all started with Randy Bachman with not Brad Joe Bachman, turn it over. I mean, that's the downbeat for me. We wouldn't even be having this conversation if it weren't for your fellow Canadian Randy. So, which is, you know, which is, which is great. So, and his son Tal, you know, it's when he and Tal became buddies and I love that first record that, or I guess that one record that he did. But the song, She's So High, super, super great record. Okay. Back to sword. Yes. That's right. That's what we started. So, sword, sword three is coming out. I'm going to plug sword, sword three. You've heard sword three. I'm sure you've heard it. Please plug it. Please, by all means. Yeah. It's coming out and we've heard it. I know Alan's heard it. We're going to go meet Rick and the boys in Montreal at their jam room this weekend. We're going to go do a whole big metal voice plug. The original band. The original band, right? I mean, yeah. Well, please tell them hello. And by the way, let's not skip Exciter since it's on your t-shirt because that was the killing of my business tour was Exciter on God. What was the record? It was Long Live the Loud or? No, no. It was Before Long Live the Loud. It was a violence. Sorry. Heavy Metal Maniacs. Was it or violence and force? Heavy Metal Maniacs was the first one. Yeah. Yeah. This was 1985. So I think it might have been violence and force. Yeah. Yeah. Violence and force. Yeah. I just remember they had that great song they'd play every night, Pouting Metal. That was so fucking good, man. Off the set. I've got, I'd literally, no matter how drunk I was after the killing is my business show, I'd go outside and I'd always watch them and play Pouting Metal, man. It was such a great, great. And they were, you know, look, they were, they were the headliners and, you know, they were, they were a step or two above Megadeth and they kind of showed us the ropes a little bit. It was, it was a great tour. And this being the metal voice, we have, of course, we have to mention like we try to get in every show Anvil. That's right. Love Anvil. Just because you have to. Right. Love Anvil. It's in our contracts. It's in our contracts. Lips is great. The band's great. What I want to say, I just forgot my train of thought. We're talking about swords so much. I couldn't remember. I know. Okay. Let me switch to Exciter. So that's right. Kings of Thrash. Lost my train of thought. Well, I'll say this, I'll say this, you know, so the two guitar players, and really three because Chaz, our singer, is a fantastic guitar player. And I mean, is Chris Poland part of that Kings of Thrash as a sort of member, or is he just sort of just jumping in as a guest? He is a member and he's performing whenever we can have him. And I say that because he does have a day job at home. He's got his family and he was very clear. He just said, look, to go out and kill it for six months on the road, I'm not going to be able to do it. I've got some other responsibilities. But I love this. I think it's super fun. And you know, to watch Chris's just aura light up because, you know, he left the group and he went off and did this other things. He's been very happy with home and doing that. You know, as we all know, he's really a terrific fusion guitar player. And his fusion playing inside of a metal context, like I'm killing and P cells is what really made him shine, made the group shine, right? And I tell you what, man, when you're even at the sound check or at the shows, man, when Chris plugs in, he plays one note and all heads turn, you go, what, who is that? I mean, he still hasn't man. I mean, he's, Chris is one of the greats in the level of Eddie and Jeff Beck and fucking, I mean, the greats, you know, Randy Rhodes, he's, he's that guy, one note. And you know, Chris is in the house, you know, and I think that's what makes the Kings of Thrash, the three guitar players on the stage, you know, including our singer Chas, it, everybody has a place. And it, and it really, it, it just is a really great chemistry. You know, at the metal Hall of Fame, when Chris Pollan played alongside with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, you know, you just hear, he's at that level. He is. He is at that level. And like you're, he's, and we're talking about like just a few years ago now, he is, that's how good he is. And people need to know more about that. Right. I think he's gotten better over the years. And, and I don't know what it is. Look, he's obviously taken care of himself. He's healthy. But his touch on the guitar, there is something about the way he touches the instrument. And, and I've worked with other great artists like this myself, but if there is something about, it's almost like the person fades back and some entity channels through them and the notes come out. I mean, it is such a blessing to be, to stand next to that and watch that happen because it's truly magic, man. And it's beyond human. You know what he said on the metal voice? He goes, what a great line he goes, I was busting tables and, you know, while peace sells was out there and so popular, but I was still busting tables at Denny's. And it's kind of like, it shows you that no matter how much success you have, you know, you just couldn't, you know, get over that hump of quitting the day job kind of thing, right? Because it's tough, the music industry. That's what, that's what the message is. Well, and, you know, Chris made a hard turn, you know, he, he's, you know, he's talked about it, but he got clean, you know, left the group, got clean, you know, went out and played bass for the circle jerks in a van, you know? And he always joked, he goes, here I am playing bass for the circle jerks traveling in a van and being more money than being on Capitol Records and mega depth. That's the point. There you go. That's it. The point, right. And so Chris has had a very diverse career. I mean, he's just, he's a great bass player. I mean, man, that guy, he would pick up a bass, any bass in the room and, and again, Jaco pastores would just channel through this guy. You're like, what is with this guy, man? I mean, he has just plugged into a freaking aura outside of our universe. It's incredible. All right. I think, is there anything else you want to plug while we're at it? I mean, have you heard the new mega death album? Like, what are your thoughts? Of course, I played on it. I played on it. Did it miss that, that Ellison touch? You know, I heard bits and pieces of it as it was being put together. Obviously, you know, vocals and lyrics and things like that. You know, I do not own a copy of the new one, nor will I. And, you know, honestly, once I was let go, I moved on and I didn't look back. I, you know, again, I'd already performed on the record. I was pretty upset. I was pretty upset. Well, I think a lot of people were, you know, and, you know, but for me, it's like, all right, well, move on. I've been here before. I've been out of mega death months before, you know, everything worked out fine. You know, I think the difference was this time, the first time I had only done mega death for almost 20 years, you know, so when it ended, it was a pretty abrupt, you know, you know, the plane fell from the sky pretty freaking hard, you know, for everybody. This time, you know, I was prepared for it, you know, and the transition, I mean, look, we didn't work very much in the last five years. I was in the band anyway, you know, that out and took almost five years to get it together and get it out. So, honestly, I'd been already working on a bunch of other stuff. I'd been doing Ella's Solar Records, playing on other records that worked with Al Jordan's industry, I wrote books. So my creative thing was really up and running in motion. So it's kind of like, well, one gig went away. Oh, well, next move on, you know, and I didn't, you know, didn't, I don't have time to sit around and get all buttered about it. I just fucking moved on, you know, and, and, you know, that, that I think kind of just keeps me positive and moving forward. And, you know, I think what we're doing with Kings of Thrash is, you know, we're honoring the legacy in a way I'm kind of trying to keep my arms around the legacy and keep it kind of pulled together because it's all of ours to share. It belongs to everybody. It's not just anyone person's legacy. We were all there. We all created it. We're all part of it. And, and you can hear it, especially with Kings of Thrash, you go, my God, there it is. Like, that's the sound. And especially to bring in a couple of new guys like Fred Aiken on drums and chas and guitars, you know, they're young. They appreciate it. They support it. And, you know, I'm grateful that the fans, you know, you know, are there to support it. I listen to them. I hear what the fans are asking for, you know, and, and I, and I, I tried to get a bunch of those songs in the set for the last five years and it just didn't happen. And I'm like, well, I know the fans want to hear these songs, you know, fucking, I'll go out and play them with my friends, you know, and we'll have a great time doing it and we'll have fun and we'll make fans happy. And at the end of the night, that's the ultimate high five. Well, I think the idea of sword and David Ellison or Kings of Thrash or Ellison and Soto, I think that's the package. That, my friend, is the package. Your mission, my friend, is to put that together at the rehearsal. So this weekend, I'm going to tell, we're going to talk to Rick. We're going to get him on the horn. It's going to get you on the horn. And I think something magic. Make it happen. Dude, you're, you're, you're the, you're the, you're the man maker. Let's do it. Yeah. The dreamer. Alan, we're dreams. The dreams are made of. Oh, actually, I wanted to ask you this since we have you. What do you remember from the time of the early stage of Megadeth when John from Agent Steel was in the band? Do you remember that, that period? And then of course, Juan Garcia, who's now in body count in a band called Abattoir, who he took up north with us in San Francisco when we debuted the band. Uh, yeah, John, John was, you know, we were trying to find singers. So 1983, we were looking for guys and the other guitar player, you know, we had played a little bit with Jim from Dark Angel. Once Carrie King came in, that kind of sealed that. Carrie really understood the music, you know, he felt it. He knew it. And then, you know, I remember it was New Year's Eve. We were downtowners. I drive by it now all the time on the I-5. It's called the Brewery. It's, if you're driving south on this side is the Brewery. On that side is General Hospital. Like, you know, the TV show like L.A. County Hospital. It's the Brewery in the County Hospital. And we used to rehearse in there. There was a guy, Curly Joe, he was in a band on Scotty Brothers Records. He had this rehearsal place. It's where we rehearsed. We'd wrote a lot of, a lot of tunes there. And we were waiting for yet another singer to show up. And he flaked out. And I remember Dave took a sheet of music and he taped it up to like the mic stand or something. I think there's a picture of us, actually, if he was singing, right? And it was like chosen ones or something, right? And he sang and we ripped through the tune and, you know, he almost passed out because he was trying to breathe and sing and do this whole sort of gymnastic thing that you would do playing that, singing that. And, and I mean, I was just like, dude, that was fucking awesome. You know, and he was looking at me like, fuck you. I hate you. You're crazy, right? I said, no, dude, I'm telling you, that was, that was the shit. I said, you're writing the stuff. I said, no one's going to understand this, because I watched Dave try to explain it to other singers. And, you know, most of these guys, you know, they come in with coiffed hair and scarves and you're trying to be, you know, some sunset strip kind of singer. And it's like, man, you're just, you're not going to get this at all. This is, this is not a pure alley. And so, you know, for Dave to sing his own story and to tell his own story and sing his own words, it was the only way forward once, once he sang it was obvious, at least to me. And so, you know, he, he, he bit the bullet in the singer. And, you know, and I learned a lot from that because, you know, the truth of it is, is one thing I learned from Dave singing is it doesn't matter about the vocal gymnastics and how wonderful of a singer you are, it's about can you convey the story and can you deliver it with conviction. And that is one thing Dave could always do, you know. So, you know, now as I work with other singers to be it, be amazing, Jeff Scott Soto, Vin from Sponge and Lucid. I mean, these are guys who, you know, they tell a story through their voice. They're kind of like voice actors, you know, it's, it's, they really deliver the goods. All right. Coming at you like a bullet, we've got Ellison Soto vacation in the underworld. I highly recommend checking it out. It's a great album and we're anxious to see a second one somewhere down the road. That's for sure. And we should say the day before tomorrow, right when you thought it was going metal, it kind of went a little proggy there with the violins and the vocalists and it's just going off in all directions, but it's still maintaining that metal sort of root. It is. And you know, thank you for mentioning that song. That's one that's kind of near and dear to me. We do our homework here, David. We do our homework. I know. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. We don't just say we listen to it a few minutes. You wear black t-shirts in your metalheads. That's right. And we're in our fifties. Okay. Yeah, exactly. Well, and it's funny because with that song is that I even now I listen back to it because I just kind of listened to the record as a fan now, myself. I just put it on and go, all right, do I still like it? And I do. And that's a track that I always get. I'm kind of astounded at how developed the arrangement is and all of the layering of the instrumentation. And yeah, I hit up my friend Giada who sings with a great power metal band called Frozen Crown over in Northern Italy. And because it just needed, it needed the male-female counterpart. Kind of like a Broadway thing. It's sort of a story. They need almost like an opera. It needs to be told through the story of the male-female vocal things. So yeah, it was nice to just take all the limits off. Because sometimes you need a lot of the thrash record and it can only be this and it's got a sound. It's got to be within this box. This record was not any box at all. And I think that's why it came out so well. Like I saw the name Hercules and I go, wait a second. Are these guys going all sabbaton on us here? But it's just sort of like a bass, sort of like, it's a little instrumental, right? It is. It's just a little instrumental. In fact, I was just playing it in the studio. I was recording bass to one of these songs. I forgot which one. And I just started playing it. And I, John Acolino from Icon, who you guys probably are aware of, he has a killer studio here in town. So I record there all the time. And I said, John, give me a click track. Right there. He pulls click up and fucking hit the red button right now. I just want to record this. And it was just an idea. And I didn't know what to do with it. I sent it to Andy and then he added all the guitar swells and these things, a little keyboard thing on it. And I'm done. Andy's a great guitarist too. I got to say, right, Alan? Andy, that's some very, a nice tone to his guitar as well as some nice memorable solos. He's a real ferocious guitar player, but he's also a textured guy. He's an educated musician. So he can, he can pretty much do anything, you know? And yeah, no, he's, he's great. I mean, he sits up there in the, in the category of the league of guitar players I've been blessed to work with in my career for sure. And I think we kind of gone through everything here. We talked about the Kings of Thrash. We talked about KK's Breeze. We talked about Sword. We talked about Ken. We went all over the place. Our favorite Canadian bands. Came all the way back to Italy. Yeah, Italy. That was awesome. It's like a geographical musical, historical showcase right there. That's right. All right. Dave, it's always a pleasure to have you. Always welcome at any time to be on the show. And again, we're just spoiled to have you again on the show. Cool. Thanks, Alan. Thanks, Jimmy. Say hello to Sword. Yep. See you each other soon. We'll do. All right. Bye. Have a good holiday. Thanks. See ya. Have a good one.