 And I think, I think they're upping that. It might be pushing more towards the foot of snow. Geez. Yeah, or Easter. So, well, I think it's, we do live in the northeast. And I tell you, I like the snow, you know, for the first month or so. And then after that, it's like, you can, you can, you can take it, get it out of here. But man, I don't mind it for a while. Oh, what do we got here? What are terms of temperature? What's the temperature like? What are we at the minus zero? It's zero. So what do you like? Zero Celsius, which is 32 Fahrenheit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's a good day. Yeah, this is unbelievable. One way you can look at it, you can look at it this way. You don't need a freezer, right? That's it. You put all your, you need to stick all your, Yeah, yeah, strange enough when company comes over in the winter, not in these times, but in general, you could just pack, you know, the beers and all that stuff in the backyard, you know, in the balcony. So it's very cool. All right, wait a minute. Hold on. Wait, you guys, you guys don't drink, do you? Well, I try not to drink. I try not to drink. Well, good. It's been known to happen. I got a problem, so I try not to drink. So, I got you. Allen on the other hand is another story. Allen only lives, Allen lives probably like 10 minutes from me. And are you guys one of those couples not saying you're not saying, are you two of those guys that live close to each other but never really see each other in person? Yeah, exactly. Pretty much. Of course, of course. We're literally a fifth, well, maybe a 20 minute walk and a five minute drive. I'll never forget when Tracy, Tracy Ferry was our bass player. He moved from Nashville to the Cape, which is 15 minutes from my old house. I thought we'd see each other every day. We used to see each other more when he lived in Nashville. We never saw each other, you know? Life gets in their way. Strange enough. Michael, when we first did this show like years ago, when we first started it, it was there was no zoom, right? Yeah. There was no zoom. So Allen would come over and we had to physically film it and or get you on Skype or get you on the horn, you know, somewhere or another. So he had to come over all the time. But now it's like zoom has made us all lazy. You don't have a choice. Dude. And look, we got to do our own makeup now and everything. It's crazy. You know, I forgot my eye patch. Tell everybody about your eye. How's your eye doing? Okay. Is this where? Yeah. Tell us about the boat you bought and, you know, the skull, the skull flag and all that. Dude, well, you know, my eye, it's interesting because I've always been told by eye doctors that I have issues with my retinas, thinning of the retina hereditary. I'm nearsighted. I just found out, googled and found out in my old age that if you're nearsighted, you're more susceptible to retinal detachment. So I never knew that. And sure enough, my retina detached. I was just at Disney World with my wife. I took a step off of the curb and it was instantaneous. I saw like a gray curtain over my eye, my vision, and millions or thousands, probably, of specks, flashes of light. And I said to Elise, okay, something's going on. So when I got home from that trip, I got checked and I had to have surgery. And they did the whole nine yards. Mine was more severe. I've got a scleral buckle, rubber band around my eye, a bubble in my eye. They did a vitrectomy, removed the fluid, put new fluid in, all sorts of stuff. It was quite extensive surgery. And I had to do the face down thing for two weeks. That was the toughest part. Wow, wow. Yeah, that was tough. And then you're telling us before we started driving is painful. Like, right, trying to park? Well, it's just scary, you know. I have a lot more compassion for the elderly people that are on the road driving who have a tough time seeing, you know. It's like, man, it's tricky. It's tricky driving and it's scary as hell. Pardon the pun. And especially at night, like, you know, if you're going through this, don't drive at night. Stay out the road. So I was sitting there over the holidays and I decided to put on, I got a new set of speakers and I said, what better way than having an acoustic Michael Sweet in my basement here all alone. And I realized, Jesus, it's been too long since we had you on. And I'm glad we're able to have you here on the Middle Voice today. Yeah. Hey, man, you know what? It's anytime you guys have me on, I'm thankful. And if anybody wants me on anything, I always just kind of bow my head and think in a humble sort of way, like, why? Because I'm, you know, I'm just another guy, you know, I'm a regular dude. No better than anyone else. And so people want to talk to me. I find that fascinating and quite incredible, to be honest. So it's great to be here. To me, the most exciting thing or the exciting news is Striper new album. What's this? Like, so you put a post and then it gets picked up everywhere, right? So, okay. Tell us about the Striper new album. And then we'll take questions from people too and try to answer some Michael Sweet questions. Well, you know, the options for the new album were to postpone it because of my eye, you know, because I've got a long road to recovery to be able to see out of this eye. So I'm going to be wearing a patch for a while, you know. And I realized when I started writing the album, just, you know, two and a half, three weeks ago. It's a lot more difficult to play as well, you know, your perception and hand placement where that falls on the guitar neck and everything is off a little bit. So it's hard to coordinate that. And, you know, I decided like, you know, we're not going to put the album off because that just makes no sense for too many people. It's not just me that's involved. It's many people that are involved here. And it's going to alter everyone's plans and schedules and whatnot. So I just made a decision like we're going to push on and do it. And we're doing it. The guys fly out in two weeks. We start rehearsals on the 25th of January. We start recording. We're going to rehearse two songs and then go record them. Then rehearse two songs, go record them. We're doing a little different this time. But, you know, I'm doing it with an eye patch and so be it. And so what? And it's going to be cool. And maybe it'll be a little bit more metal because of the eye patch. Who knows? Pirate metal. I don't know. The last couple of albums have been pretty metal, so. So what's it going to sound like? So what are you rooting some songs? What's it going to sound like? Where are we going here? Are we going back to soldiers or we're going to hell with a devil? What are we doing here? Last album? If you mix a deicide with Slayer with Man of War, that's what you're going to get. No, I'm only kidding. And I get the same question every time. Man, I tell you. What's it going to sound like? Where are we going? Are we going here? Are we going here? Are we going here? Are we doing this? Well, I think what it is. What are we doing this? Where are we going here? Keep going, keep going. And you know, here's 1985 where I bought this. So what are we doing here? What are we doing here? Tell us. Well, okay. The last album you held up, 1985, that's my, I think everyone knows, that's my personal favorite classic Stripe of Album. And for many reasons, there's something about that album that's very special for me. And I always go back to that album when it's time to do a new album. Mm-hmm. I always start listening to Soul Journey of Command a little bit and try to somehow recapture a little bit of that energy and that raw power. But yet I also want to incorporate something new. And that's usually with the grooves and the riffs that are written and whatnot. It's going to have, this album's got its own signature already. I can tell you that. And I don't want to compare it to like Guns and Roses, but it's got a little bit more of that raw groove oriented. And again, that's the only thing that comes to mind. Swagger, swagger. Is the word swagger? That's a great word. Yeah. But yet it's metal all the way, but it's got a little more groove to it. And you know, like, you know, Motley Crue, Dr. Feel Good. You know what I mean? It's a little more groove that just kind of makes your head do this. And so many songs are just really, they're making me pretty darn excited. It's really cool. All right. And when are you going to release this? Do you know what's a timeframe? Well, we'll turn it in mid-April. If all goes well. Let me just, I just got to hold on guys. Are you there? Yeah, we're here. We're here. Here we are. Don't you worry about it. Let me plug in my power and then I won't get the low battery signal. Anymore. Okay. We're good. Yeah. We're through a Marshall amp now. Why don't you put your phone this way? Can you put your phone this way? Yeah. You want me to turn it sideways? Yeah. Because I think there you are. There he is. There he is. How's that? That better? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Good. As I was saying, it's really exciting how everything's coming together. And it's going to be released probably. It's going to be turned in by mid-April. And if I had to guesstimate a release, I can't say for sure and finalize that. But I'd say end of the year, definitely, maybe October, November of 2022, this year. There you go. Just in time for our top 10 list of the time was great. Man, I tell you, I mean, I always hope that we make your top 10 list. We may not. Who knows? Who knows? Who knows? You're on our good side. You're on our good side. I have to admit. So I put this on today. It'd be great, too. So Michael, I put this on today. And what's the first thing I noticed between this and the last album? Which one was it again? That was even the devil believes. Even the devil. Getting confused here. Getting old. I know. Well, no. Hey, I don't believe you're getting old. Okay, so these two. And what's the difference? This is like a heavy album, isn't it? Your albums keep getting heavier and heavier. But this is what I noticed about soldiers. There's more space. There's a lot more space and ambiance. Is that a correct way to say it? Yeah. I think the reason for that is there's a lot less overdubs. Soldiers is, like I said, more raw, more live feeling. Almost as if when you see the band live, that's what you're going to hear. You know, there weren't crazy overdubs and stacks. The background vocals probably had the most. But, you know, nowadays we get into things like adding drum samples with the kick and the snare. Back in those days, it was just the live snare and the live kick. There were no samples incorporated, you know, things like that. Guitar tones were usually one track of my rhythm, one track of Oz's rhythm. Now we do two tracks of my rhythm and two tracks of Oz's rhythm. To hell with the devil was that way as well. More overdubs. And then back in those days as well, there was a lot more effects involved. Room delays and natural rooms as well. We try to make things a little drier these days so it's not so 80s sounding. You know, that's a dead giveaway. You're going for that 80s vibe when you start swimming them in reverb, you know? Yeah, yeah. All right. And speaking of soldiers, you're doing a listening party. We won't talk about the album now because I know you want to save it for the listening party. So what's that all about? What do you think people jump on? They talk about the album? They listen with you? Like, what's going on here? Yeah, man. I mean, what we do, we started our own Patreon page. Okay. And it's Patreon.com slash Striper or Stripe. I'm not sure. I'm probably screwing that up. That's probably not right. Do you know what it is? I don't know what it is, but somebody, I'm sure, they could look it up very easily. They just put it here. Okay, well, we've got a Patreon page. And people can join up on a monthly basis and do just a monthly payment, like a subscription fee or do an annual fee. And there's three tiers, $7, I believe, $17, or I could be off. There's three different tiers, three different levels. But, you know, if you join up, anytime you want to check out a listening party or something cool like that, you could pay just the $7 and come and join us for the night. And then, you know, head out. You don't have to stay in. But it's a cool way to help and support the band on our downtime because of COVID and everything. And we do some interesting things. We do these listening parties where I go through the whole album. I tell stories that people have never heard before, talk about the way we made it, the way we produced it, the way we wrote it, and any other things that happened or transpired during that time. It's really cool. All right. And I played a record, of course. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Alan. I was just wondering, you know, every time we interviewed you, we got this famous album that you're doing with Joel Holkstra. Is there anything coming down the pipeline? Man, I love Joel. I wish I could do 100 albums with Joel. There is. We still haven't done that Michael Sweet, Joel Holkstra album yet. But we just did an album called, I can't give the name of the band yet, because it hasn't been announced. Okay. But it will be very soon. But it has Tommy Albridge on drums, Marco Marcello on bass, and it has Nathan James on vocals. Myself on more so rhythm guitar and a couple of duet vocals and background vocals. I do a couple solos and then Joel Holkstra on guitar. And it's killer. I'm flying out to LA into February to shoot a couple of music videos for that. So that's a super. We talked about that last time. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's finally, it took a while to get done, but it's finally done. And it's really cool band. And, you know, it throws you back and takes you back to the old white snake. Well, the 87 white snake days, you know, more of that kind of style and production. And it's really cool. How's it not singing? You know, do you feel like, you know, maybe, you know, you're a singer, right? And somebody else is singing. You're kind of like, you should do this. And maybe you're right. I gotta tell you, we gotta take a backseat, right? You gotta take a backseat. It's not easy. Well, I'll tell you the truth. Being a singer, and I'm sure every drummer and guitar player and bass player and keyboardist will argue with me on this. And that's fine, understandably. But being a singer is the toughest job in a band. And the reason why is because you're at the mercy of your health. So if you are a singer and you get sick, you can't sing. If you're a guitar player and you get sick, you can still play. And that's what I mean by that. It's very intimidating and it can play games with your mind in an intense way to the point where it can, it can wreak havoc on you, you know, and your, your moods and, you know, you can, it's like a, like a ride up and down an emotional roller coaster ride. When you get sick as a singer and you got to go out there and perform, you're doing five big dates in Brazil, you fly, you land, you wake up the next morning and you can't talk. You've got a sold out show that night in Rio. And you can't perform. And it's this intense, it's just, it's a struggle. And I think that goes for any singer out there. I don't care who you are. And that's hard for some other guys, musicians to understand, but, you know, so that's why I'm saying all that to say that it's kind of nice to not be the singer. Yeah, yeah. Once in a while, yeah. We've got some questions here. I'm going to throw them out. There's some funny ones and some serious ones. All right. You ready? Sure, I think. You know, Michael Sweet, this is from Laura Mendez. Michael Sweet, what is the secret to your beautiful long hair? My beautiful long hair. Well, I'll tell you. I like that question. What is the secret? Me and Alan are wondering. I wake up every morning and I spend the first hour of my day dipping my hair in hair oil. And I hate it. And then I take a two hour shower and steam my hair for my hair only. No, you guys, there's no secret. Olive oil. No, there's no secret. I mean, the only advice I could give is I try to get a haircut every two or three months so it doesn't get too scraggly. Like at the end of the night, I use a good shampoo and conditioner and try to take somewhat good care of my hair. But I mean, I don't sit around and call me my hair looking at it in the mirror, you know, if that's what people think. Striper shampoo and conditioner. That's the next merch. Does it look like that? Like I do that? As you can see. It's good. It always looks good. All of it. All right. Austin wants to know, do you cut your sandwiches diagonally or horizontally? Most definitely diagonally. Especially peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Those have to be cut diagonally. And then all others, it's if I'm in a hurry or not. You know? Yeah. All right. Alan, do you see any questions there? Deep interview. I got more. I like the fun. I like the fun stuff. Like you can't always be serious. I've got one. Michael, Michael's always asking us what we're listening to. And being a guitarist and a singer, I wanted to know what the fifth, eight years fifth on Richie Cutts, if you had a chance to listen to that and your feelings on that. Buddy, I'll be honest with you, man. And I haven't, I haven't listened to that album yet. I haven't even watched the video. I haven't heard one song and which is surprising. Because I love both of those guys. And I respect both of those guys immensely. So it's very odd that I haven't, out of curiosity, gone to YouTube and even watched a video or anything. So I haven't heard it, but I will do that. And you just reminded me to do that. I think you'll enjoy it. I'll give you my views, but I'm sure it's stellar as is everything that those guys do is, right? Well, how about Iron Maiden there in your album? Have you heard it? It's been very polarizing, very polarizing. I have. I've heard, I've heard most of it. I haven't listened to it from start to finish, but I've heard most of it. You know, here's the deal. I mean, it's made it. I don't dislike anything that they do. I mean, I might not like some songs as much as others and some albums as much as others, but I still like it because I'm a fan. And I feel the same way about Van Halen. They released those two singles with David Lee Roth. I didn't love them, but it's Van Halen. Exactly. I was just happy to hear something from Van Halen. And I thought, oh man, cool. So it's made and they're legendary. They're one of the bands that influenced me and will always hold a special place in my heart. So for that reason, I think it's a good album. I think it's a really good album. And considering the fact that you take their age into account and how long they've been doing it, it's pretty amazing. It is. Me and Alan, we voted at number one this year. It was number one for us this year. Amazing. Yeah, yeah. It was a late bloomer for me, but it made the list. So, yeah, yeah. But Mike M, one of the comments that Mike M is, you know, the last five Striper albums have been the strongest of the discography. And I think, you know, we don't see that with a lot of bands from that era where the strength of the albums are as strong as the recent Striper albums. Well, man, you know, the people that give us the time of day and put aside, you know, all those preconceived ideas about the band or won't listen to us because we sing them out, God or what have you, and they won't listen. They won't check us out. Those people get it. And, you know, people like you guys, you actually listen to the albums and you can hear, if you have ears, you can hear that there's been a progression with the band. And I think a good progression. And it's certainly, we are consistent. Love us or hate us, we're consistent. And we always try to outdo ourselves. I don't know if we're doing that or not, but we try. And it's really, it's a bummer to see some comments online from time to time from people saying, oh yeah, now I've never even listened to those guys, nor will I ever. They sing about God or whatever. I just think, wow, how sad, you know, because you guys are missing out on some good stuff. Yeah. But it's surprising that this is still happening decades later, like almost two decades later. I thought we'd be past that and just let's enjoy the music. And let's, you know. No, I don't think we're past that. I think there's people out there that are that, unfortunately they're that shallow and they just can't let themselves get past something like that. I mean, I'm a Christian guy and I would blast Priest and Maiden and sometimes, you know, sometimes even slayer way back to the day, you know, we blasted. Hey, let's check this out. Whoa, wow. And I wouldn't ever say, I turn it off. I'm not listening to that. They're singing about the devil. No, I don't want to hear it. You know, it's just a weird mentality, such a strange mentality. And if you just put that aside and just listen to the music, you might actually like it and get something out of it and say, well, you know what, dang, I don't know why I wrote these guys off, but they actually have some cool songs. And I mean, I don't know. Maybe I'm just, maybe I'm blowing smoke here. I have no idea, but that's what I feel. Right. Does, do you think it limits Striper also in sort of the business sense where, you know, Maiden's going on tour, you know, maybe Striper could have opened up for them or Priest is going on tour. They could have opened up for them. Do you think it's that sort of box has limited the band? A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, a million percent, if I could say that. And I only know that from experience. We have reached out without naming names over the years to management, to bands, to labels and put our name in the box to open big tours. Yeah. And we've been shut down. Unbelievable. Hundreds of times. Like, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, that Christian band? Hell no. Over and over and over again. And now, and I say this humbly, I don't know if it's because they're afraid that we'll blow them off the stage or if it's because, you know, they just hate God that much. I don't know. But then you see all these other bands getting opening spots left and right. And we just keep doing our thing. And it doesn't stop us from doing our thing and thank God for that. We've been able to rise above and continue on as a band, a ministry, a business and a brand. But it's again, really sad. You know, it's been a lifetime of that. And it's like, again, don't pull out any violins and play them for me. You know, it's not about dwelling on it and being sad, but it's unfortunate because it's just the name of the game, man, for us. But you would think with the strength, like you guys are still recording. The albums are getting, I would say better and better every release. And yet they'll take a band that hasn't played together in 20 years, but they were popular back in the 80s and let's just throw them on. No material or anything. It's more of a nostalgia thing compared to a band that's vibrant and recording and still releasing music. It's unbelievable. You know, Michael, I just want to say something. And I think this was one of your posts on social media a while ago. When they had that Motley Crue, Def Leppard, you know that hair metal stadium show gig that they were doing that got postponed? How Striper is not there is just shocking to me. It's right, Alan? I mean, what do they call it? What was that called? You mean the stadium tour that's going to happen coming up? It's still going to happen, I think, this year. And again, when I said we'd blow them off the stage, I meant that in a humble way. I meant that in a way that Striper works harder than any. We work our butts off. And we take this very serious. And, you know, we get shut down all the time, but whatever. You know, I would say to that, Jimmy, you know, it's the higher ups that ride us off. You know, when you hear a band say, oh, we don't have me saying a matter, it's like, yeah, yeah, they do. You know, I have complete say in who opens for this band. If I wanted a band to open for Striper, it'd be done like that. If I didn't, it'd be done like that. So that's really, you know, that's just not true. I would only go as far as to say, I don't know. I mean, we're not on their radar. Or if we are, they just don't have an open mind because we're that Christian band, you know. Well, God, no, that yellow and black, those bumblebee guys, you know, that sing them out. There's a bumblebee right there. Yellow and black. I mean, that's the reaction, man. And, you know, again, you guys are just two regular guys that love metal. And you, it doesn't cause you to, you know, close the door on this band. You know, you just, you listen to Striper because you like what we do. And you turn it on and say, I like the sound of that. And it's really sad that more people didn't think that way. But it's, that's the way it is. Well, the reality is how I got into Striper and now I know this story. I've said it a hundred times. I listened to Venom and I was listening to King Diamond and then I had to like sort of balance things off because I thought I was going to go to hell. So I started putting on Striper. Oh, man. It made me feel good. But over the years, yes, to your point. So you actually listened to Striper based on, which is cool, based on the miracle con and fear. He was looking for that balance. Yeah. The balance in the lyrical content. Because I put on King Diamond, Melissa, and I don't know if you know the album. And after, you know, as a young kid, I'm like, what the hell's going to happen to me now? But I kept playing it. I couldn't stop. So I go, maybe I'll put some Striper on. This way, God can have a balance with me. And, and, you know, it won't all be bad. Well, you know, here's the thing. I mean, most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time, you know, mainstream music. You know, so what I mean by mainstream, you guys know, all the bands that aren't Christian, you know, their stuff usually is done at a higher level. And usually that's based on, there's more money involved. And they have a higher budget to make a better quality album, a better quality video and all that stuff. Same goes for movies, Christian movies versus mainstream movies. Striper was one of those few bands that had the same budget. You know, when we made The Devil, we had the same budget Motley Crue had. A lot of the other Christian bands had 10 grand to work with instead of, you know, 200,000 or 300,000 to work with. So we were very fortunate and blessed to the degree that we can make albums that sounded as good as Motley Crue. And you know, sometimes even in the production sense, even better than Motley Crue. You know, that's to everyone's own opinion in their ears. But I'm just saying, I've compared, I'm one of those guys as a producer, I compare stuff and listen to stuff deeply in the mix and the production and stuff. And I can say that, that that's a fact, you know, not all their albums, some of their albums. We were one of those bands that would compete with all those other bands. And maybe that's why you could listen to us and say, yeah, I'd like this too, you know, because it was at a higher quality level than if you had listened to maybe, you know, Aaron Cross or, you know, another Christian band back in those times. Well, I mean, you've told us this many, many times sort of cut you off. Whereas the Christians, the hardcore Christians, they would cut you at the knees in a sense. And then the mainstream media would cut you at your knees in a sense. So like you had really nowhere to go, but just the fans themselves, right? The infrastructure wasn't there. I mean, and you've, and you've actually done really well. Because Pat's saying here, I'm a big fan of Molly Crue and I'm a big fan of Striper, but over the years Striper put out more albums than Molly Crue ever did. And Lord willing, we'll put out even more. You know, there's no signs of slowing down. Yeah, man. I mean, definitely we get it from both sides. There's no question. And still to this day, you know, if I post a picture of me having a little bourbon or a cigar, I don't do that to antagonize people. I do it because I'm enjoying the moment. And you know, if I'm celebrating my, my bass player, my brother and bass player's birthday, Perry Richardson, and he's smoking a celebratory cigar, and I'm smoking one with him and I take a picture. I post it, not thinking. I'm not sitting there thinking, oh man, this is going to really cause a lot of grief. I'm just happy. And in the moment, and I'll post it and people will just go crazy. You know, Christian, Christian people will say, oh my God, I'm burning all my striped problems. I'm selling them now. I can't believe you're smoking a cigar. This is unbelievable. Did Jesus have wine? Last time I checked, the Bible. Didn't he have wine? And he celebrated when he had wine. I think it was okay. I think you're good with the alcohol there, as long as you love it. Well, I always say, I always say as long as it doesn't control you, whatever it is in life. That's it. If it becomes your God and it controls you, that's the problem. Smoking a cigar or having an occasional bourbon, if you can control it, it's not a problem. If you're an alcoholic, covering, I get it. You don't want to drink, nor should you. I totally understand that. But man, it's just, I think people will be surprised when people get to heaven someday. Those of us who make it, I think we're going to be really surprised at how it is and who it is. In other words, I could totally see myself sitting down and having a bourbon with Christ, you know, and that'll probably be all over Blabbermouth and people will be in typical Blabbermouth fashion. Michael Sweets says he's ready to have a bourbon with Christ. I mean, because for me, it's not about getting drunk. I don't drink bourbon to get hammered. I'm not swigging the bottle. I'm just, I like to taste the bourbon. And I enjoy it and sit there and I'll take a little sip and, wow, I can taste this and that and this and that. Same thing with the cigar. That's occasional for me. But that's what I mean. You know, it's the heart you do it with. And that's why I see myself maybe having bourbon with Christ or maybe having a smokey cigar with Christ or a glass of wine with Christ. And some people might take that as blasphemy. I don't mean it that way. There's nothing wrong with celebrating life. There's nothing wrong with that. Right. Here's a philosophic. And I mean in the nice sense. I don't mean it in the sort of crazy sense. So Frank Gilchrist, he wrote this and he sends me a message and he said, and this is, I'm just reading this. Okay. Yeah. This is more of a philosophical question. Alan, you'll like this. Frank, let me put on my, let me put on my thinking cap. Put on your thinking cap. You already got it on. Sorry. Okay. I would like to, I'd like to probe the philosophical landscape. And he's coming from a very kind. He's just talking philosophy here. The devil like disease, famine, war, poverty, earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes are part of God's creation. We don't understand why such terrible things exist. But we have no choice other to accept them as part of God's plan. Therefore, when we reject and denounce the devil, aren't we to a certain extent rejecting and denouncing God? Mick Jagger, sympathy for the devil, right? Can God forgive the devil? And I think that is the room in Christianity to forgive the devil. That's a big question there. It is a deep question. Certainly, much room and then some in Christianity to forgive each other. No question about that. And I think the devil can use situations and use people. Well, except then, again, people can believe what they want to believe. So if someone does something where they go out and they murder someone else, and it's just everyone's there in shock, and it seems like it was really just an evil act and the way it was thought out and planned, I feel like maybe the devil might have been involved in something like that. That's what I mean by that. Can we forgive that person? Yeah, absolutely. We can forgive that person. The devil himself, according to the Bible that I read, there's nothing in there that really states that we're supposed to forgive the devil or that in the end, he will be forgiven. But maybe there's something else to come that I don't know about. You know, who knows? But I would say in my mind, in my heart, that I don't know if that's doable or something that we can expect. But then again, I'm just basing that on what I've read in the Bible. No, so it's a good question. I really thought that's why, and he didn't want to, he didn't come across, Frank didn't say it in a mean way. He said it in a more of a philosophical way. No, I understand. My answer to that would be no. But again, that's my perception. That's what I get when I read scriptures about the devil and God talking about the devil and things to come for the devil. I'd say no. All right, Alan, what else you got? Just go back to the touring we spoke about earlier. Is logging on to a big tour doing the larger barns something that isn't ticing for you or is it the theaters? Like there's lots of bands that releasing music currently if it's a UDO or Saxon come to mind where they're quite comfortable in the theater settings and growing that from the smaller club going up to the theaters. So if you had the choice to your druthers, what would it be? Man, I love playing theaters. I really do. We've been over the past few years playing a lot of clubs, you know, doing a lot of club venues, smaller venues, 1,000 capacity or a little less. It's really nice when we get out and we do some festivals and you're playing to 10,000 people or 12,000 people, but theaters are really special because they're so plush. They're so well made and nice and clean and just beautiful. Oh yeah, acoustics are great. Dressing rooms are great. You know, everything is just like, wow. The catering's great, right? So theaters are really nice and that's the dream to do like a theater-only tour. Go out and do 30, 40, 50 dates in theaters. But again, you're stepping up to the higher capacity to 3, 4,000 people, right? 1,500 people. So usually it takes a package these days to, you know, make that successful. Again, it's difficult for Striper to put together packages these days because not a lot of those bands that we spoke of, you know, seem to want to want to tour with Striper or do much with Striper. So it makes it difficult. Usually we have to go out headline and take on a local opener or something like that. And it's hard to pull those numbers for just us in a 2,000 or 3,000 capacity room. Back in the 80s, no problem. Now, a little bit of a problem. But if you reach out to a younger band, what would they ever happen? They say, well, no, we're not going to tour with Striper. They're a Christian band. Well, the opportunity. We've reached out to bands younger bands or up-and-coming bands and that and we have had quite a few openers over the years that that's worked out. And it was killing. It was awesome. But, you know, bands like Skillet, you know, we've done a few shows with Skillet. And it, you know, they're a great band. Really cool. They're obviously very popular. And they hold their own, man. They're really good. And we thought, hey, what about a Striper Skillet show? Reached out to their management from what I understand. I reached out to John on John Cooper, you know, who leads the band in message, messaging and whatnot. And you just don't hear back. And it just doesn't happen. And for whatever reason, you can only assume, like, well, okay, try that. Move on to the next. And some of these shows would be killer. The fans are missing out because some of these shows would be just so amazing. So amazing. I would like a King Diamond Striper just to reminisce of my youth. You know? I mean, if you think about it, it'd be interesting, right? It'd be amazing. It'd be amazing. I mean, or even if you, you know, if you want a better fit, you know, some people would say, oh, that's not a good fit, but that would be cool. What about Striper and Priest? There you go. That's it. All right. I mean, if you listen to Striper, I don't think there's a better 80s metal band. Then Striper, who would fit in as an opening slot for Priest, better. And there are bands, obviously Queens Right is doing an opening slot, and they're a great band, and obviously they fit great. What I mean by that is Striper was heavily influenced by Priest, and you really hear it on some of our songs. And maybe that's why they wouldn't want to have anything to do with us. I don't know. But I mean, Maybe you got to go to KK's Priest. Maybe you got to go to KK's Priest. Maybe I'll give you a shot there. Oh, how about this? So Brian saying, Michael Sweet, would you ever do an album with Todd Latori, who was a friend of our show here, of Queens Right? Now, maybe it could be the Heaven and Atheist tour. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, obviously, you guys know how much I respect Todd and, you know, how much love we have for one another. I don't know if we'd ever do an album together. But then again, I'm doing an album with George, who's also a proclaimed atheist, free thinker. But I just, the thing that might make that difficult doing an album with Todd, since he's a singer and a lyrical, he writes lyrics, and it might be the issue of writing lyrics. You know, with George, I write the lyrics. And George does the music. So that's kind of easy, in my opinion, to pull off. George doesn't necessarily like the lyrics. He actually came to me once and said, why don't you let me write the lyrics? And I'm thinking, well, then what? So you'll let me play all the guitars? Okay, sure. Let's do it. And, you know, we got to do a little bit of a funny debate with that one. But my point is, I write the lyrics, he writes the music. With Todd and I, it might be more of a situation where we would both be writing lyrics. And that's just polar opposite theory and, you know, beliefs being written out into lyrical form between the two of us. That could be like a, you know, that, I don't know if that will work. It could be a whole concept album right there, Michael. This might be an opportunity here. If you make it a concept album and you come at it from both angles, then it certainly could be. I think we got something going here. I think we got something going here, Alex. You could take something like that the Broadway. Look, I love you really could, right? We could get Sebastian Block to be a part of it. We could get, and I'm being serious, we could get so many different singers to be a part of that. Obviously Todd and myself with maybe Kip Wing, I'd get guys that I think still have their voices, you know, guys that can still sing that can go out and deliver. It would be important. But you never know, man. You guys are bringing it up right now. Who knows? It could be real. Todd on the horn. What about this whole? Oh, Todd just texted me still live on that. Well, I was going to ask you this as I text Todd back. Yeah. What about this whole journey thing? This whole journey thing with Arnell and, you know, as the singer. I mean, what do you think? And I mean this in a very respectful way. I was going to go see a journey before COVID hit. Yep. With Arnell, because I think he does a great job. But Jeff Scott Soto, you know, he brings something else. I would have been great to see him continue a journey. Well, I mean, what are your thoughts on all that? Well, here's what I think about it. Jeff is, I think one of the most amazing singers of our time. And I love Jeff. We've used Jeff on our albums and we're buddies. We go way back. You know, Jeff came out and sang at a Striper show back in 85. Magic Mountain. I mean, we go way back. But Jeff, I get when Neil says it wasn't a good fit. I understand that. And I could only compare that to me in Boston. I wasn't a good fit for Boston. And what I mean by that is I didn't sound anything like Brad Delt. Jeff doesn't really sound anything like Steve Perry. Jeff has his own thing. He's soulful and not that Steve's not. Steve's very soulful. Just Jeff has a little bit more of a gritty style and delivery, a little lower range. Just a little different tone. Arnell sounds like Steve Perry. Yes, his enunciation and what not is different. But he's, he especially when they first found him sounded exactly like Steve Perry. And he still does. And I love Arnell. I think Arnell's a perfect fit. He has sometimes when he's struggling and I'm going to want to talk because I have many times when I'm struggling. It's hard. The road beats you up. And you know, especially singers that when you got to deliver every night and you're flying and you're performing, flying, performing, the voice gives out. Nothing you can do about it once it does. And I feel for Arnell when he has off nights because I have him too and it's terrible. But man, I love Arnell. I have nothing negative to say about the guy. And I get, I get frankly, I get pissed off when I hear people back on him. I'm just so tired of the negativity and these, these people that bag on other people and they're just sitting at home doing nothing. You know, and these guys are out there working their butts off and, you know, they've been given a gift and an opportunity and all other people can do is mock that. It just, it just infuriates me and I want to defend people and Arnell is an amazing singer and an amazing person and he deserves being in journey. You know, again, I was going to go see Arnell in journey and I think he does a great job but I would have also liked, I would have liked to see what Jeff Scott Soto would have brought to the table if he continued, you know, writing, which maybe would have been a different spin to it all, right? That's all I'm saying. No, you're, and I understand that and it would have been, but you know, you're probably in the minority. I mean, my whole life I've been in the minority. I think most people, like Gary Chiron, dude, that guy is amazing. Amazing frontman and singer in person. Kill, so talented, but probably not the best choice for Van Halen, you know, and although some, some people might think he was the best singer that was ever in Van Halen, the majority would probably disagree with that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, fair enough. By the way, Todd Lattori sends his best. He's watching right now. Tell Todd, if Todd is watching right now, tell Todd, I'm giving him a big, a big Italian kiss. Todd, how are you brother? I send my best to you too, dude, and we got to catch up. We've texted each other many times. We have not spoken because he's so busy and I'm so not busy. And we will talk soon though. I love you, brother. Thanks for watching, man. Okay, he's laughing right now. He put a little happy, a little laugh face and he's blowing you a kiss. What, once this album is released, do you plan on touring it or? Well, I mean, yeah, of course, we planned on touring even the devil believes and we didn't get to it. We got knocked off of that pedestal real quick and man, we thought for sure we're going to go tour this like no other album than we weren't able to. So now we're making a new album and our plans are we have a lot of shows and that's the good thing. The authors are coming in like we haven't seen in maybe 10 years. Great. So the floodgates have opened. We're getting tons of offers. People want us, which is really exciting and go figure incredible. And we're excited to get out there and tour but at the same time, we're a little apprehensive and I don't want to say scared but nervous maybe is a better word because we got to go out there with COVID, you know, and nowadays you're seeing all these tours go out and canceled because one person gets sick and you know, that's it. It's really a tricky, difficult thing to try to balance. And I'm amazed TSO, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They've been both east and west coast made it through the whole tour. It's like I'm saying to myself, how did that happen? Right. Because no other tour has that I'm aware of. It's amazing. Yeah. I mean, Oz Fox too. I mean, how's he doing? I mean, that is a consideration, right? He's recovering and there's COVID out there and the last thing he needs is COVID, right? So. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Oz, believe it or not, is doing great. He came through both surgeries like a champ and really is doing fantastic. Did not lose much of his skill in terms of his left hand, being able to play. He did lose his hearing in one ear. So that's obviously the negative. But it's okay. You lost your eye. So it's all good. We're going to balance. I mean, if we joke about that, I've been joking about that. I've been joking about how, you know, I'm getting older. He won't be able to hear me and I won't be able to see him and we'll be better. We'll be happier that way. And it's a joke, but we laugh. You know, I'm trying to, trying to laugh through it all because we've gotten beat up, man. I'll be honest with you. We've gotten beat up over the past few years, in other ways too. And my brother's having shoulder issues and probably needs surgery on the shoulder at some point in time. We're all getting older, man. It's like, but you can either let it get you or you get it. You don't, you can't just lay down and say, oh well, it's over. It's never over till it's over. And you know, I'm alive. I'm breathing and someone out there has something far worse going on with them than I do. So I could sit here and cry over my eye or I can keep making music and I'm going to keep making music. What about the documentary? What's going on there? This is like a never-ending documentary. I remember we were talking about the documentary three years ago, maybe? I know. It's been on the back burner for maybe even four or five years. It's been something that's been presented to me over and over again. And I've always kind of put it on a shelf because I wanted it to be special. I didn't want to rush it. I didn't want to just do it because it was the time to do it. I wanted it to be done right. You know, and to do it right, you need the financing. You need the backers. You need the people and the machine behind it. I feel like we started that ball to rolling with the fundraiser project. We just did Kickstarter. Mm-hmm. And we broke some records and just miracles happened with that. Over $220,000 raised. And we didn't even expect $100,000. So that was incredible. So now we have the funds, and we're going to reach out to some other folks and backers and the right team to put in place. And once we have that over the next maybe two, three, four months, we're going to start actually filming. We've got some footage already. And it's going to take a few years. It's not going to be quick. We want it to be powerful in telling the history of the band and telling the stories of the fan. You know, it's going to be a combination of both. So when people are watching, they're moved by it. They're not just going, wow, that was cool, man. That was electrifying. I really dug that song. I'm really dug. I didn't know that about the band. And they played at the whiskey. And it's not going to be just that, but it's going to tell stories about people that were suicidal, addicted to drugs, you know, dying of cancer. You know, all these people we've talked to who by listening to Striper, their lives were altered and changed. And that's according to them, not me. It's pretty amazing. We're going to hear some of those stories. And I think that's what's going to be really moving and very powerful. You know, I remember Lips told me the same thing with his documentary. He told me in Alan that it was a hope, you know, sort of like you can succeed when all the odds are against you. And he told me that people in the hospital with cancer, it gave them that spirit to go on. So that's why it worked. I'll tell you, bro, it's really easy to, try not to get choked up here. It's really easy to get caught up in our world and my world being music, music, music, music, music, music. And to forget about the real people out there in the world, you know, that are hurting, that are sick. And for me, I've always wanted what I do to be about that. I'll leave it at that. You know what I find really amazing? And I don't want to choke you up more, but how people who are sick ask you to bless them or say a prayer for them, which I find remarkable. It's unbelievable, man. I mean, we performed in Mexico for the first time, believe it or not, a few years back, right before COVID. And we did five shows there. And this gentleman came to the show and asked us to pray over his friend. And they brought his friend in. He couldn't get out of the bed. They brought him in on a stretcher. Wow. And he was sick with cancer and couldn't really do anything. So we all went and prayed over him. That's what he wanted. It wasn't forced. We didn't say, hey, we're going to go pray over you. He wanted us to pray over him. So of course we wanted to. So we went and prayed over him. And that was probably the most special moment of that tour for me. And I'll never forget it as long as I live ever. Yeah, that's pretty nice. And that's what it's about for us. That's why we do what we do. I mean, obviously we love music. We've been given abilities and gifts and talents and all that stuff to do what we do. And that's great. A lot of hard work, a lot of practice and everything. And we love it. I love plugging in and cranking an amp. Nothing gets me going more than that. Plugging in and you could see the smile on my face. And I could sit there for an hour doing that. Here in the chug, I love it and love music and performing. But man, nothing is more special than when you meet someone whose life is altered because of your music. It just, it gives you chills and touches you in a way that you can't understand until it happens. It's so powerful and so touching and just amazing. And I feel like we've got a lot more lives to touch out there. And so to do so, we've got a lot more music to make. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's great. I can't wait to hear the new album when it's released hopefully at the end of this year. And again, Patrick Frost wrote in, it's my request every time we speak. You got to make it a Montreal. And I got somebody else backing me up here. So Patrick Frost wrote that in on the comments. It's been like, I think it's been like eight years we've been asking him. But it's so funny because the last time you came to Montreal, I was actually in your neck of the woods down in the Massachusetts. So it's like, geez. Listen, it's a promoter. That day is going to happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That day is going to happen. And not only are we going to actually get to hang out and we perform when you guys see us and all that stuff, but we're going to actually make time to go and have dinner and go break bread together and have a moment, you know, have a cool moment together other than just seeing the band and hearing the music. But I'm looking forward to that. That's going to be awesome. Yeah, us too. So I guess let's recap. All right, new album, Striper album. You're saying it's going to, it should be again, we're not committing here. Sometime in April, you're hoping it'll be completed. It will be completed in April. And the reason why I say it will be is because we start rehearsing at the end of April for a tour. How many songs? How many songs on this album? 10, 12? 11 songs on this album. Okay. That's what we're talking about. Are there any lyrics about God on this album? Give us a teaser. Give us a teaser. Come on. Any lyrics about God on this album? Of course. I will say this, the lyrics already are being written in an unusual way. And I'll leave it at that. There's a little different spin to some of the lyrics, you know? And musically speaking, like I said, the spin is the groove. There's a little bit more groove-oriented stuff going on with the drums themselves and the guitar riff going against the guitar playing off the drums. And really feeling cool, man. There is no official piano acoustic ballad on this album. There are a couple of songs. Yeah, there are a couple of songs that I consider ballads, but more I consider It's Over My Lover Boy one of the best ballads of all time. It's like that's a rock guitar ballad. And the ballads that we have on this album are more like that. Okay. I want to ask you actually one last question. Did you ever see, did you see Randy Rhodes play back in the day in Hollywood when he played in Quiet Riot? I saw Randy play, but I didn't know anything about who they were. And this is way back at the Starwood, way back in the day. And I was sneaking into the Starwood when I was a teenager, when I was 15, 16 years old, and I wasn't supposed to be in there. And I had, don't tell anybody this, but I got some fake IDs back in those days. And I'd get carted and pull it out real quick and say, okay, yeah, you're good. And I always looked a little older than I was, so I passed for being old enough. So I got to see some of those bands, but I didn't really know. I wasn't that familiar with Quiet Riot at the time or Randy especially, but I got to see obviously yesterday and today many times. And they became one of my favorite bands at that time. And man, they blew everyone off the stage back in those days. Leonard Hayes, when you saw him in his prime drumming, whoo, man, no one had a foot like that. With one foot double bass, killing it. Phil Kenmore, just all of them, Joey Alves, Damon and Kenny of course, one of my favorite bands of all time. So I got to see them a lot. I never saw Van Halen, which is odd because I had the opportunity to as well, but I never saw Van Halen back in those days before they broke, could have. You must have seen like Wasp. Oh yeah, saw Wasp. Saw Wasp a few times. I left when he started flinging out meat. He pulled out some raw meat. I said to Oz, I'm like, dude, there you go, and we left. I wasn't into that thing, but I always thought they were a killer band. All right, on that note, thank you so much. Thank you everybody for watching. It was a pleasure. I like our sort of our loose interviews. It makes it a lot more fun than those typical. Absolutely, man. You guys do a killer job. And I just want to tell you, I'm very, very, very happy for you guys to see the numbers just went up and all the fans and subscribers and people that you're getting to come around metal voice and what you're doing. God bless you guys. That is awesome. So happy for you guys. Thank you so much. And of course our love for Striper since we're kids, right? Now, listen, when you guys reach five million subscribers, give me a call. I'll give you a call. Are you still going to remember me? You keep making your music, Michael. That's a long way from that. But we're a long way from that. But you never know. Man. You never know. Maybe we'll do some reaction videos. Dude, you never know, bro. It could happen much faster than you'd ever realize. And just keep believing. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep working hard. And that's all you can do. And people will come. If you build it, they will come. They will come. Yes, yeah. All we have to do is charter a plane down in Mexico and vape and party on the plane with no mask on. And we'll hit that five million. I don't, did you see that? That was the article today in the news. Oh my gosh. I don't know if you saw that or not. But anyways, all right, be well, be safe. We look forward to some new music and everything else that you're going to be doing. You guys are awesome. Look, have a great new year. And this is going to be, I hope and pray that this is a better year for everybody. And I think it will be. And until next time, you guys take care of yourselves. Please stay safe and healthy and happy. And I hope you guys dig the new Striker album. And even if you don't, just lie to me and tell me what you do, OK? It's number one. That made me hurt, Michael. Always a pleasure.