 Do you struggle with your religious convictions and the songs of your past, like ball crush or a fistful of diamonds, after like a beast? No, because that's all part of the growth period. You have to, everybody does that. Anybody that really comes to faith, it's all part of the growth process. So like I said, it gives you contrast, you know, and I don't mean to go into a biblical analogy here, but you're literally going from the dark to the light. But that creates that contrast, and from a writing perspective, it really is a kind of a cool thing because it gives you a different way of looking at things. So it enables me to get into more in-depth ideas that, you know, hey, as a songwriter, how many times or how long can you write songs about your girlfriends red high heeled shoes before it starts to get a little mundane? Yeah. So, you know, it's nice to have a fresh perspective. Apparently three albums, right? Yeah, well, you know, that's interesting you say that because that's pretty much what it was, you know, but that was, it was all a band that, you know, I've said it many times. By the time we reached that point, at the end of the third album, that was a tired record done by a very tired band. We'd been on the road for three years at that point. We'd done a record and a tour, and a record and a tour, and a record and a tour, and you literally, you don't know who you are when you come off of that. I mean, I've told this story many times, but, you know, it always bears repeating. We got home from the inside the Electric Circus tour, and I, it was the first time I had had a chance to get a house, and, you know, things that normal people do, right? So I moved into this place, and so I needed to establish myself where I was, and I needed a bank account, and so, you know, got all that going, and, you know, my local branch, and I went in one day to get some, some money, and so I went in, I was standing before the teller, and I had my checkbook, and I wrote out the, you know, the amount of the money that I wanted, and I got to the date, and I wrote the month, and the day, and when I got to the year, I froze. He, you know, he could tell something was right, and about 15 seconds, which doesn't sound like long, but that's an eternity when you're standing in front of a teller and you're not doing or saying anything, and he realized I didn't know what year it was, and he says, it's 1987, and I said, oh, same, you know, and I finished writing it out, went on my merry way. I heard Angus Young tell that same identical story a few years ago, you know, so I'm not the only one that's experienced that. I mean, you literally don't know what year it is, you know, because when you're on the road, it's a grind at best, and, you know, one day blurs into the next, you know, we make the joke that every day is Friday for us, because, you know, from the audience's perspective, that's really what it feels like, feels like a weekend all the time. So for us, days don't have names, and they don't have feelings either. Like, you know, when you get to a weekend for the average person, Friday feels like Fridays, Saturday feels like Saturday, you know, and Sunday feels like Sunday, you know, that those days don't have feelings like that for us. It's just, is it daytime or is it nighttime? You know, you have a tour manager and a thing we call a day sheet, and the day sheet's posted, you know, it's in the buses, it's in the hotels, it's backstage in the dressing rooms, it tells you where you're supposed to be, what time you're supposed to be, you know, and literally your day is mapped out by that day sheet, and that's what we go by. And when I'm off the road, I refer to it as hitting the wall a thousand miles an hour, because you wake up, you'll be in your bed, and for the first week, I open my eyes and I think to myself, where am I? Because I'm in unclear surroundings. And then I think, okay, where's my day sheet? I don't have a day sheet. You know, you become institutionalized, you know, and you literally, somebody else is doing the thinking for you and telling you where you're supposed to be and all that. And it takes a while for you to realize, I think I'm on my own now. I need to do this for myself. Maybe I'll call my assistant and have them bark some rules at me for a while. That's why I'm married, Bellachy. That's why I'm married. Oh, that's what it is. She takes care of, like, what am I going to eat? What am I going to eat? Well, I guess you're right. Your lyrics are always so current, and with everything that's going on, I mean, they're talking about UFOs in the Congress and they've got wars happening all over. What's your feelings on the biggest threat to humanity these days? I don't really know. You know, one thing I learned when we were making the first album and I went in the studio one day and I was the first one there of the band and the engineer was in there and he was the kind of guy that, you know, you always, you know, had a joke going or something like that. You know, pretty bubbly personality. Well, he was, he was really quiet this Sunday afternoon when it was about one o'clock and finally, after about a half hour, you know, I just said, Hey, man, what gives, you know, it's like, you're not you. He says, I got a phone call this morning. Marvin Gaye was murdered last night. Yes. And I did not know that he had done two records with Marvin Gaye. And so we just sat on, you know, I knew he just needed to vent. And so we talked for about an hour. We didn't work. I just let him talk. And one of the things that came out of that conversation, he says, you know, Marvin, he did not make records that was not him. He said he always made records that reflected who he was at that moment in his life. He didn't worry about what was going on in the charts, you know, or what was hip and cool at the time. You know, he was just making a record that reflected who he was at that moment. And boy, when he said that, you know, that just that branded into my forehead. And I thought that is the most true way to make records. What I didn't even know at the time is that's what we were doing on that first record. You know, it took me years to understand that's what we had done. But I made a note of that, that as I was going to go forward, that's what I was going to do. I was going to make records that reflected who I was when I told the story about, you know, being in the bank a minute ago. You know, that was all part of that process. I had to become re familiarized with who I was because I didn't know who I was. You know, I needed time to think about who am I now? You know, we'd already been around the world two or three times at that point. You know, we had done things and seen things that, you know, we were completely different people than we were before we did that first tour. But it's happening at light speed. And you don't realize that you're changing and you're growing until you have a chance to stop for just a minute and you, you wake up and you realize, I am nowhere near the person that I was. You know, you talked about, you know, the red high heel shoes and those songs not being written anymore. That's why, because when you, you finally, you come to that realization, you know, I am not that person now. You know, I'm somebody, somebody different. I've grown doesn't mean you've necessarily changed into the point where you're unrecognizable, but I think people fear the word change. A lot of times because they think you have to give up something to change. I mean, you can, you could still stay the same and add on to who you are. You know, that's growing, right? You know, so that's certainly what we were doing. And when I came to that conclusion, that's where headless children came from because I had changed to myself, unrecognizable. And it took me six months, you know, to really get a grip on that. And when I came to that realization, that's why the lyrics so radically changed because I had changed. And if I'm going to do that, if I'm going to make records like Marvin said, that reflect who you are, that's the only way you can do it because if you're going to have a real career, you know, like, and I'm talking 20, 30 years or more, if you're going to have a true career where you're going to take that audience on a lifelong ride, the only way you can do that is if they feel like they know you intimately. And the only way you can do that is through the lyrics. And that means you got to crack your skull open and let them come around and walk inside your head barefooted to discover everything that's there. And that's the only way they're ever going to feel intimate with you. And if you don't do that, you will never take them on that lifelong ride. I mean, you can be, you know, like a pop band can do things or they're just making singles. That's making records. That's not that's not really being an artist. I'm not knocking it and I'm just saying it's different. But if you're going to do something where you're going to try to have a true core audience where they think they know you and feel they know you, that's the only way you're going to be able to do it. You know, I have people come up to me all the time, you know, walking down the street and they'll start talking to me from a perspective like they know me already and I'm always at a disadvantage because I don't know them, you know, but they do know you because of those lyrics and they'll just pick up in the middle of of a conversation like you'd been talking for an hour already. You know, so and that too is another thing that, you know, catches you off guard. But it's because of writing those lyrics from that perspective. You know, it's funny you said that because I got an issue here of Heavy Metal Heroes from June 1986 of Wasp and the interviewer asked you what, you know, what about the violence in your lyrics? What about the songs? And you responded to them. Hey, the only thing that matters is these songs, how they sound to me. And if you know, I wrote them and if they sound good to me, that's all that matters at the end of the day. So it's funny how all these years later it's the same. Those things end up being like a diary, you know, and your life becomes an open book. And so the things you say early on, you know, they can, you know, you come back and you compare them against who you are now, you know, and it's interesting. But the lyrics also do that because you look at what you write on the first couple of records, and then you look at what you write later on and you say, oh, wow, look how my thinking's changed. You know, and that's really the beauty of, of again taking that audience on that lifelong ride because you're comparing notes with them with every record that you do. You say, well, here's what I'm thinking now, you know, and I've changed, you know, and I'm thinking this, you know, and it gives them a chance to compare it to their own lives, you know, to see if, you know, if it's something they can relate to. So it's a, it's a pretty cool process. Like I said, it ends up being kind of like a musical diary. I'm dying to know. I'm a huge Ace Freely fan, a huge Ross fan. What was the connection back in the day with you and Ace? Can you clarify that? Yeah, we were just kids. I mean, it's, I met him right around the time the band got started. And, you know, just, it was just one of those things that you, more of a meeting of the minds and you develop a friendship because they're kindred spirits. And so it was really, it was no more than that. And, you know, we've been able to maintain that friendship for, for many, many years. Were you guys in the same gang or like, you guys were really young, right? You guys were really young. Warriors. I can remember, let's put this way, I can remember him and I collecting Coke bottles to cash him in for a deposit and going and buying 25 cent beers at happy hours. There you go. So that, that gives you an idea of how far it goes back. So speaking of the new album, I mean, Michael Sweets, a great fan of the show. He's a, he's a great guest. He's supported us since the beginning here in the Metal Voice. And he said he would love to do any type of collaboration with you. So he's waiting by the phone. Sure. Okay. Um, what about, we spoke to Doro also and she told us the story of how you nursed her back to health. She was, uh, I think it was 84 or 85. She was really, really ill. And she, I guess she didn't have a dressing room. She had nowhere to stay and you kind of carried her into the dressing room and sort of nursed her back to health with orange juice and whatever the case was back then. Well, I mean, she's painting me to be, you know, eligible for some sort of humanitarian award. You know, the kid was sick. You know, it's like you, you look at it and hey, as a singer, you know, you relate, you know, to them, you know, if you get the flu or you get a cold, you know, it's going to affect your voice pretty badly. You know, for one singer to another, hey, you're going to take sympathy on them. You know, so it's just, you know, we did what we could to try to, to get her back up to speed. And obviously she made it, you know, the rest is history. Yeah, maybe I'll send her a bill. And I guess the last question is, are you getting tired of people asking you about backing tracks or front tracks or whatever tracks you're playing live? No. Well, why? You know, because, because we're in this age where people are getting lazier, right? And they're just there, you know, without their laptops, they can't perform, right? And that's the age we're in. I've heard that, you know, I, not to say that it's your case. Let's say that that's your case. I'm just saying that's kind of where I understand, you know, I don't really go watch that many bands. So I really don't know what's going on out there. The conclusion that I came to was this, you know, up until about five years ago, you know, we did everything. It was literally a four piece band. What you heard is what you got. And I came to the conclusion that we did the anniversary tour for the Crimson Idol even brought in all that orchestration. And I stood in the middle of the room and I listened to that in rehearsal for the first time. It was like an out of body experience. I mean, it was unbelievable. And I remember thinking, I've never heard this sound like this other than the record. And I thought, this is what I want to, from now on, I want this, I want it to sound exactly like the record. When you listen to a record like Live It Leads, The Who, that's a rock band doing a three piece musical version of Tommy, you know, or some of the earlier songs, it's great for what it is. But it doesn't sound like Tommy. What they do now with all the pieces that they take out, those records sound, or those performances sound like the record. And so you have to make a decision, you know, as an artist, what do you want that performance to sound like? Now as a singer, I take a lot of pride in what I do. You know, when you've been given a gift like I've been given, most singers I know want to show that thing off and I'm no different. You know, so yeah, that's me singing out there. But as far as, you know, any other orchestra tracks or backing vocal tracks, I'm sorry, there's just not enough of us on stage to make it sound like that record, it's impossible. So again, the artist, the individual artist has to make the decision of what do they want to sound like when they go out. And from that first time, like I said, I stood in the middle of the room and I listened to that orchestration. It blew me away. And I thought, this is what I'm doing from here on out. Now I know why the who do it, you know, are the bands like that? They want them to sound like the record. I'm just, you know, I'm glad that you're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, that rehab is going well. I mean, thanks for, you know, all the critics that were wrong saying wasp will never be able to do a North American tour and it was sold out, I think, well in advance. And we're just anxious to either hear the new album or see you guys live. So, so I'm hearing this, I'm hearing this in less than six months, you'll be back on stage, right? There'll be a new album 2020 for it. Are we in 2020, 2023 now? 2023, right? Okay, we're in 2024 new album, hopefully, and you can pick up the seven savage boxed deluxe boxed 2,000 copies available worldwide, but it's limited. A 60 page booklet, posters, numbered certificate, did I leave anything out? I think you got it. I got it. And it's also half speed, right? How do they phrase it as it was? Well, when they do half speed masters, that's the actual what we use to make the press copies from in the factory. In some other words, it is the closest thing to the original recording you're ever going to hear. It's the final product that we make that goes from the multitrack down to what's called a half inch master. And it's a pristine copy. Yeah, and only 2000 copies to boot so. Right. And I've seen the videos of the LPs. It looks beautiful. And we thank you very much, Blackie, for being on the show. Well, thanks, guys, for having me. I really appreciate you taking the time. All right, have yourself a wonderful day and we'll talk soon. Thanks.