 Okay, here we are live on the metal voice and back again with us Les Binks former Judas Priest drummer Les Binks priesthood and wait a second. We got something else to add to that to your tag Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Less what's going on? Can you hear me? I can hear you. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just saying how you doing and good all good Very good. Yeah, still getting over the jet lag actually Okay. All right. All right, right Alan was supposed to be on he was having camera issues and microphone issues So he said he told us to to march on just just do the show without him. It's all good So Alan if you're out there There you go Let's let's talk about what happened here and we'll talk about what you're currently doing as well, right? Or maybe we should start off with some dates Les Binks priesthood Tell us about the next dates or what's up coming up next with your man? I'm taking a break right now for get Christmas out of the way. Okay. Not my favorite time of the year. No so things kick off again around about February next year some London dates Then there's a festival we're doing in Norfolk, which we've done a few years ago. We're back there this year. It's called Legends of Rock And also there's a thing we're doing other than Sweden next year. It's like a rock cruise thing that comes out of Sweden. Yes Few festivals throughout the summer but I'm also waiting to see what KK's band might be doing this. Oh Because there might be some guest spots for me on that as well I Haven't had any true dates yet, but I'm waiting to see what develops All right. So, you know what since you brought up KK. I'll get I'll ask you about this first album We last time we spoke first album was released by KK the whole COVID thing happened You I think you hurt your arm or your hand. Is that correct? Yeah, I had a wrist injury Yeah, you had a wrist injury. So that kind of kind of went away, right for the time being Yeah, it took several months to heal up, but it's it's they're all working fine now Good good. Happy to hear. Okay. So KK told us when I've interviewed KK a few times me and Alan interviewed him and He told us as he was kind of finishing the first album. He was already working on a second album So I'm assuming you weren't part of the second album. Is that it? Well, we I chatted to him about this and I Think there were problems Regarding Getting management sorted out and getting to a date set up. So he just decided to press on with album number two Now the thing is that there's another drummer involved in the band now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I I presume he's played on this album as well. Yeah, the only time that I would be involved would be through live situation as a guest performer So as I say until until there's some dates that are actually confirmed. I'll have to wait and see what develops there So just to clarify for everybody out there If KK goes on tour as KK's priest you've been offered some guest slots Depending on the situation, correct. That's absolutely right. Yeah, okay. That's good to hear. I'm happy to hear that actually I'm very excited about that. So hopefully I'd like to see you on more than just a few guest dates So and I'm sure everybody who's watching this would like to see you on more than just a few guest dates So let's push it so it could happen. That's what I say, right? What when you're playing with KK's sorry when you're playing with Les Binks priesthood What kind of set list can people expect typically? Well, a lot of it's based on the When we used on the East album So a lot of material from that Plus there are songs from Um the stain class album and of course The album for other album And also I do a few because when I joined the band I actually joined for the synoptic into it. Mm-hmm Hold on pause pause. There's Alan Alan. Can you hear us? First less couldn't get on then you couldn't get on I'm sorry to interrupt you less We're just talking about Alan What less is a sort of priesthood what what what they what they are currently playing in their set list Sorry to cut you off less. Yeah Yeah, well, I won't go through all all the songs. No, no, no But basically it's all from my era with the band. I know I don't I don't go beyond that So that's what you know That's what the the idea was I I kept getting asked by various people. Why don't you play some pre-stop whatever and Initially the band was just a one-off a bit like KK's band that was, you know Put together initially with with uh with remperors as a one-off situation and then developed into what it is now Um the same thing happened with uh with the priesthood band I put that together initially just for a one-off show Uh, but we had to you know go back and all the albums and I had to sort of listen to everything again Virtually relearn what I played on all that stuff um so Uh, we had to do quite a lot of rehearsals to get it all tightened to get it together So after after we did that one-off um You know, there was a lot of interest in us doing some more shows So I kind of spiralled a bit from that and um You know, it's still Still, I mean all the guys on my band are all working with other situations as well and um so Like I said, when you get really good musicians, they're always You know, yeah, and so I have to I have to contact everyone to make sure they're available before I can Commit to uh taking on uh shows Okay All right We also talked about Ellen about the KK's pre-second album if he was uh on it or not And Aless was telling us that it's kind of like, you know, there was another drummer involved But he will get some guest slots on KK's tour if he does it Yeah, I just want to put you up to speed. That's all I mean, you know, we interviewed you, uh You know a while ago, but a fan reaction to having you on the show was Huge less. I mean it was great to see That's nice. That's nice to hear All right, so whip it out. Let's see it And I mean this in the nice way Rephrase that whip it out You might want to rephrase that I think you're referring to this That's heavy, isn't it it is congratulations again the base of it's very heavy, yeah So, uh, it's good for lifting weights, you know, put some muscles in your arm or an assault weapon. Yeah But um, yeah a little souvenir from los angeles paperweight Who Alan unless you have a question first When you first got the call when you first got the call It's huge When you first got the call less Like how did it happen? How did who told you that? Hey, was it keke who called you? Was it management who called you? Was it the rock and roll hall of fame who called you? How did you get that initial call that you were going to be inducted? um, well, if you look back over the last um There were actually Three years ago. I think the band was nominated This is the third time that we were nominated Yeah, and the first two times we didn't get accepted So it looked like we weren't going to get in at all And then of course this year we did Um, so it was a case of third time lucky Yeah But I heard I heard about it through Actually a lot of it through the media, you know social media and things that Um, and I heard that involved me as well And uh, Dave Holland who's no longer with us um on kk, of course I don't see how they could possibly leave him out. He was such a Integral member of the band. Um, exactly and uh, how to get the whole thing started in the first place uh, so um, then then I got um I got a contact from the band's management And um, they put me in touch with the Rockville Hall of Fame people who were organizing that and uh, it just all sort of spiraled from there Okay I mean, you know those induction spaces speeches there were like six of you on stage I think it was the shortest in the history of the Rockville Hall of Fame, especially yours less I mean, you know, the brummies aren't known for for uh, you know being emotional or anything I think it was proven that night Yeah, well You know, these things always get heavily edited don't they? Mm-hmm. I think the show was originally supposed to be um Just over three hours that it worked for tv And I'm actually it actually went on for a lot longer over four about four and a half hours, I think and so they um Decided to make it longer as a result, but they still had to do a lot of heavy editing and um, you know We were pretty warned not to uh make long speeches because uh, you know, we had a limited time slot and um It probably wouldn't get um all aired. Anyway, if we went on too long So I deliberately kept it straight to the point And it's good you have because you know those long-winded speeches by some people right blah blah blah blah blah, right? Well, I think on a lot of these award ceremonies on people can rant on for ages, you know, and just what was everyone the tears, you know, so When was the last time you spoke to uh, the Judas Priest band as we know it today was that like I'm not sure if you answered this question before in the past with me now, but of course, I've known Richie for a long time before Join priests. We actually worked together for quite a while And I think I met and met and met him when he was about 22 Wow, and he was playing phenomenal then, you know and So, so I you know, I'm rich, you know, I live some in in Nashville So, you know, we used to live in London. Obviously one where he's from Uh, so I don't see so much of him these days and of course he's always on tour um, or whatever So it was good to see Richie again And of course the other guys in the band I haven't seen for many many years, you know I I was happy to see them all, you know, uh, we all we all got along great And um, we all enjoyed, you know doing the show together We had a rehearsal a couple of days before on a thursday to show and out on saturday So we had a rehearsal And we probably spent more time together then Backstage Um, and we actually did on the night because it was all a bit, you know, tactic on the night Yeah, so um, it was great the whole experience was all you good It was nice to have Richie on stage with you guys when you're doing induction speeches because you know He's been a big part of the band for the last what 10 years now easily Yeah, a lot of a lot of the fans, you know um, I just appointed that he wasn't inducted but it's not nothing to do with the band or You know, it's to do with the the way that the rock and roll hall of fame You have to been around a long time, you know, and I've been around a long time much longer than Richie has um So you have to you have to I think they go back about at least 25 years and you have to You know played on records and toured and uh, you know contributed to the writing and Generally to the the the band's success um So that's the way they decide on who's going to be inducted or not. Um, you know So it's nothing to do with the the band's decision. It's all down to the rock and roll hall of fame What about like for me tim ripper Owens. I mean, you know He helped the band survive through the sort of rough years, right? If it wasn't for him the band, you know, I'm not sure if it would still be around today, right? Those were rough years and he was on the five years. He was in the band Was there any feeling like I don't know maybe between you and other like he should have been inducted Like I I think he should have like I mean, I think I I understand the logic on one side But the logic on the other side, I don't know if it it makes sense All right Well again, it probably boils down to that 25 going back that 25 year period again It would have excluded him as well um so You know just just exactly the same situation that Richie, you know, it's it's nothing to do with us or the band or who It's all down to the rock and roll hall of fame the way they Work, you know, they set their own system up to serve themselves. So, you know, that's the way it goes Yeah, it would have been nice. It would have nice been nice to see tim. Um, I'm not like has it been 25 years Alan like since he was in the band I don't know midway do the math somebody get a calculator in the mid 90s. Uh, uh, no, maybe maybe just a little short I would think maybe But does it work on stage less with scott travis? I mean, how tall is that guy because Yeah, yeah, he's not the kk six foot two, but I mean, you know, you guys are Doors getting next to him it almost looks like, you know Yeah, he's he's a tall sharp. Yeah Very tall and lean And playing with it. What's your impression of him as a drummer? Being a it's great, you know We're we have sort of different a different approach to playing different slightly different styles but You know It's a probably the I'm not sure but it's probably the first time he's worked with another drummer And and and me too, you know, I worked with percussionists, you know congo players and things like that, but um never with a Another kip drummer Um, and also I think he plays a lot to a click track Even in large situations Um, and that the songs that were put together were a medley of three songs Yeah, and I think They've added to doubt the first one. I think Because we actually started with um You got another thing coming and then then went into, uh breaking the law And then living after midnight Um, and the the thing was we were only allowed Just over eight minutes to perform those so The only way to do that is to Work with a click track to get the timing right Uh, so that falls exactly within that timeframe um so I had I had to use Scott as my click track, you know And I the most important thing is that True to two drummers lock in together, you know um To be perfectly honest, you know those songs don't need to be played by two drummers, you know, but um On this occasion it was a special occasion um and um You know all seem to work out okay in the end. That's the main thing But what were some of the challenges doing it that way for for you? Like you said, you've never Particularly played it with another drummer and a kit before so what did you find a little challenging about that? Um, well it was such a short um You know, it wasn't like we were doing a complete show. We're just doing a very in eight minute slots So you're not going to get really into breaking out in a sweat So really all I was doing was concentrating on blocking in with um the scott and um You know that I let him set the time changes because he's working with a click. I wasn't and um Uh Yeah on the songs that we did Were you know in terms of the The drum tracks on that um a fairly straightforward rock tracks, you know, not too much in the way of double bass drums or anything like that And that was one of my questions what how do you find the music? Since you left the band like you said is straightforward rock Those are three songs that that prove that but whether your impression of playing those songs that are you know Technically you weren't in the band and I don't know if you've ever played them before so How did the music change for priests before before with you and after you? um well I think The the album they made after I left which is pretty still That was the album that contained um Some of the songs that we played, you know, um breaking the law and living after midnight um I think Those those songs in particular helped to break the band in America it's because The time I was in the band that was very important to get FM radio play in America for about about to break big and then When we got into the 80s, we had the emergence of MTV on that became a major platform for You know making or breaking a band So those songs became hit singles both in the uk and I think in America in America um and and and they're fairly straightforward rock You know tunes isn't it that they're not sort of speed metal or anything like that? um and You know, I I I I didn't I never really heard the whole the entire the album and its entirety um that particular album only the tracks that came off it um, then You know through throughout the 80s. There was the emergence of a lot of other uh Bands that were playing you know death metal speed metal thrash, you know, um So I think uh, you know the competition was changing uh, probably um The desire to get more. I don't think Dave Holland was particularly um Into using double bass drums, you know um If he if he did I never heard much of it um But I think with the emergence of all these other metal bands uh, they were getting heavier and The emphasis on double bass drums was becoming more apparent as well So after Dave left I think they wanted to um uh, they wanted a guy who He actually played a lot of double bass drum stuff and that's where scott fitted in right Was there when you first met the guys there must have been that awkward first few minutes, right? uh Hey everyone or maybe not or maybe not or maybe not everyone. It's me less Uh, I'm sure there was that a little bit of tension. I mean I couldn't see after those many years A hap or maybe it was a very a celebratory sort of uh, you know a feeling. I don't know Uh, not not in my case. Certainly not now um, I never had any Any particular problems is only only the guys in the band, you know um The problems I had was with the management that the band had back then Not not their current management, but the management that they had back then Uh, and within six months Of me leaving the band The management they had then Went into liquidation You know so Uh, yeah, yeah, you know, I didn't have any problem with the guys. So when I met them again It's good to see them all, you know, especially, you know, uh, you know glenn as you know Has had some health problems So It was nice to see him, you know, and the fact that he was able to get up by It's great Yeah, yeah And you know reading rob helfer's latest book, I mean You know being a fan since the 80s and seeing, you know, the dual guitars There's a little bit of surprise for me to see that Whatever, you know misunderstanding However, you want to phrase between ken and glenn dated back so far back according to rob Did you was that the same with your time in the band or is always that little competitiveness or friction between the two But the friction between what sorry between ken and glenn Uh, well, I think that's you know It's probably been all over social media and stuff like that You know, it's not something I particularly wanted to get into Absolutely, yeah You know, I I know ken Uh, had certain issues issues that he wasn't happy about but that's all been out in the open for some time um Whether whether that ever improves to the point where they get on again. I have no idea I remember reading in the like we were reading rob helfer's book recently and he was talking about Unleashed in the east, right? And uh, and I guess that's the time when you you know, you decided to part, right? It wasn't getting paid Yeah, yeah, you weren't getting paid and we talked about that last time we interviewed you Um, but I guess for my to my surprise in rob's book for Unleashed east when he talks about Redoing all the vocals I mean For the I mean, he says it, you know, he says it in his book I mean, did you know at the time that he was redoing all his vocals or that you were already gone from the band by then? um, well I I was asked to go and see the bands manager. There's a guy called Mike Dolan at the time And so I went into the office to see him. He said you want to discuss the bands, you know next move Because we just finished a long tour Yeah, and we were taking a break well earned break And normally what we would do Take some time off to start writing new material and get in back into the studio make the next album And uh, you got to remember that when you've been touring for several months at a time You just not a lot of the variation in the set that you're playing and So it's kind of good You know once you've finished the tour to take a break and start thinking about Creating new fresh material Uh, but um, the manager said to me the guys are all down at startling studios in ascot Uh, which is wringo star studio With tom allen was the first time that he'd worked with tom allen was producer And uh, he said they've been listening to the tapes from Japan Uh, and he said it all sounds really good and uh, he said we think that could be the next album Um, well, of course The first thing that entered my head was why the hell it was nine-byte done at the studio Alarm bells My opinion was irrelevant obviously, you know, um, so You know, it was all part of the the whole thing about being treated You know like a second a second class citizen, you know And um So The first time I heard that album or heard the the recordings was when the album came out on vinyl You know So the drum tracks Weren't altered. They're all exactly as they were played live So we've confirmed that your drums have not been tampered with right? I never entered the studio. Okay. All right, so I couldn't tell you what um You know what patching up was done Okay, I wasn't there to witness it all all I know is is that um I I I've listened to several times obviously and uh, to me it all sounds You know, just as we played it on the night. Um, I think I think Rob was entirely happy with his vocals on it because he had some kind of Throat infection or cold at the time So he wanted to patch up some of the broke. I doubt if he I doubt if he did them all He did them all apparently from his book and I mean correct me if I'm wrong, Alan He said what he did is he took the mic and he sang the whole show in one shot At least that's from my memory. I don't know if I'm correct It is less according to his book or Rob said that he did have a cold He wasn't happy with the vocals and and he kind of recorded them all So he didn't mention anything about any of any other parts being replaced or strictly his vocals Yeah, but the whole the whole sort of now did they punch in certain parts of his vocals from that recording? Perhaps right? We don't know Well, I don't know unless I was in the studio at the time. I couldn't really comment but um, you know When you when you say that you've Read on anything whether it's vocals or guitar solos or whatever Then you get accused of It's not it's not a real live album. You know, which is rubbish, you know, it's you know Uh, apart from I mean, there's very few live albums that any band has made That aren't uh, spruced up in in the studio To to make the best of them. Why would you you know? Um, so I don't think there's anything new about that um To me, it's it's predominantly all all live apart from money I think they've done with robb's vocals to improve on that Yeah, yeah, all right. Um And of course robb has um Met, you know, I haven't read those comments you that you just made About what he said in his book um, but um, you know if It sounds like he's not trying to uh, no he's a very and you know what hats off to robb for Being transparent, right? Yeah, and you know hats off the people knew but he kind of put Spoke a little more in depth about it like he Knew about it, but he said he ran the whole vocals for the whole show. He did him in one take live in the studio Now what did they keep and what they didn't they keep in the mix? We don't know but it's okay. He was transparent. It's all good Yeah, well, it's probably done to tom olem in the end. What you know, that's right. Yeah, it's producing it Maybe there was a couple of live moments that he sounded brilliant, right? They would have kept that right so It is what it is What else you got? No, I just uh, you know Congratulations again. Well deserved. Uh, I'm glad you were inducted Your time of the band was definitely just as important as anybody else's because you those are the stepping stones the leads like you said to the breakthrough in us and England with the FM radio and and So well deserved and Congratulations again. Thank you very much I I think less stained class is the fans Favorite 70s album from judas priest if we were to sort of summarize, right? Definitely the number one album From the 70s at least for me it is so yeah, um Well, when I was in los angeles for this, uh, this event There were a lot of fans around the hotel and uh, and you know They had masses of albums You know um And I think a lot a lot of us being re-released on vinyl. It seems to be a And in vinyl again Uh, so yeah, a lot of them had a lot of them had that album and um You know, I've read a lot of comments that people have made about it. I think you know, when you think about it the 70s priest the music was uh A different to You know, it's developed into Something even heavier later on I think um I mean the first few albums they made were a mixture of um So several influences, you know, it's a little bit of um You know Little bit of prog rock in there at some points um But You know, I'm prejudiced I I like the uh the earlier stuff, you know the stuff that we did You know Because I don't think um Um They write that sort of and that sort of style on it anymore Here's my last question to you. Um So, you know, you meet the band and it's it's a nice meeting with them. Did you have a beer with them? Did you hang out a little bit with them mix and mingle? I mean that was were you sort of reconnecting sort of in a sense, right that friendship and What happened there well The first time I met them On this occasion was uh at the rehearsal Which was at the venue On on Thursday before before the show And uh, there's some dressing rooms and whatever backstage So we we we we sort of that's when we actually had The most time together Um Let me think um, so there was you know, we had sort of different schedules, you know, put it like that So we weren't uh That was the only time that we had an opportunity to all be together at the same time Um, so it was very limited Hmm So it was like the kk camp with you and then the priest camp sort of like sort of separated in a sense, right? Like amicably. I mean, but I mean, you know, uh, it was sort of like Two groups that you're hanging with kk. I assume right well kk and I flew out together Ah, yeah, okay. Yeah, he threw a airport in London and we flew back together um But um The do you go to realize of course that uh, the band is actually was actually on tour Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes so we we I think glenn myself glenn and kk We had to fly over from the uk Yeah, just for the event whereas the others were coming from Other part of some other part of america where they happened to be on tour And you know Myself and kk were joining them just for that event uh, so you had The current lineup of the band as it is today and myself and kk Joining them for the robin wall hall of fame induction. Yeah um So as I say the only time we we had any Uh, you know social socializing or time together was probably uh at the rehearsal session all right And and my burning question that I have here is when you and kk flew back That beautiful statue is that was that in checked or was it held on to you in the plane? Did you but in baggage or you brought it on the plane as a carry-on? Did it have its own seat? What do you think about it? That's a good question. Alan put that in a suitcase And then a baggage handler gets on to it and you know the sort of reputation they have But I thought well this little bit at the top this little gold disc thing in the top It's probably the most fragile thing that would get broken So this all got wrapped up and bubble wrap and all kinds of stuff Uh, just to make sure it got home in one piece Which it did luckily enough so they mailed it to you. That's what you're saying It wasn't on it was on the flight with you it went in my suitcase Okay I I think you misunderstood the question. Did you bring it on the plane with you or did you did you let them put it In the baggage in the baggage section I went in with the baggage Brave man, brave man, but as I say it was very well protected I wouldn't I wouldn't have put it in as it as it is You know I'd be more worried about them losing it than anything. I would have just wrapped it in my you know underwear and socks problem Do you have any mu less do you have any new music? Are you working on any new music? Sorry, are you working on any new music? Uh, not at the moment. I'm taking a break over so close now to christmas And uh, you know, I just want to put my feet up for a while and uh chill out here, um, what would have been asked uh to to to make an album um and You know, I'll I'll wait and see i'm not going to sort of Go too far down the line to to commit to anything right now, but there's possibility So your rates have gone up now because your rates have gone up because you've been inducted. So it's good. It's good timing You know, it's a pleasure lesson. We're really happy for you. We think it's well deserved, you know to be inducted Along with priest. I'm really happy that they've included you and they've sort of Will you call it? appreciated your your your input into the band at that time period Yeah, I agree with you We I think we've had many inductees into the heavy metal hall of fame But I think this is a first to have somebody on the show from the rock and roll hall of fame. Yeah. Yeah, um Well, it's kind of a little confusing for people when they watch it because you know, there's a little it's called the rock and roll hall of fame If we had dolly partner this year, that's right And we had a man That's right. That's right. So it seems to cover a wide genre of musical styles Yeah, a lot of people say it should be called the music hall of fame, you know, just to sort of keep it simple Well, I think I think Judas Priest is only maybe the third metal band to to be inducted You guys stole the show that's definitely It showed that you know People are hungry hungry to see some real rockers get in right and you guys definitely stole the show If you ask me and maybe because I'm a metal that maybe I'm biased. I don't know but It's kind of like stained glass with you, you know, you're only gonna that's that's what you like, right? I mean, of course me too. I think you guys definitely I don't think dolly stole the show. I think you guys stole the show That's what I'm trying to say Maybe dolly and rob. Dolly's doing a metal album now. So yeah, yeah, apparently you influenced everybody that night That's right. That's right be good to hear dolly Making a metal album wouldn't you know But I think I think I need to get more metal bands into that. I think I think the first one was probably Black Sabbath Yeah They were inducted and then of course metallica Uh, Judas Priest. I can't think of anyone else the purple Scorpions, you know, I did a thing. I did a show in france With a priesthood band and it was with uh, Ian Pace Oh I'm one of the question. I did some interviews before before the show and One of the questions they asked me was a much competition between uh Judas Priest and Be purple in terms of uh, you know, heavy metal bands And I said, well Funny enough, I never really thought of um Dave purple as a heavy metal band You know So I mentioned this to Ian and he agreed with me Uh, he said no, no, he said um hard rock. He described it as hard rock band So, yeah, I think the competition between priests has always been with maiden iron maiden and Judas Priest, you know from That's always been the sort of Think about how Metal music came about the earlier bands like Led Zeppelin, you know, they they could sound really heavy and riffy and stuff, you know Yeah And yet they had a lot of acoustic Music But I but you know, you I said, I suppose a lot of people who are into metal music were probably like You know, Led Zeppelin too, you know uh Andy purple But when you think about the metal music today, there's certain bands that that fit that category. I think better than they do, you know Rob Reiner from anvil. He said I don't play heavy metal. I play swing with my drums, but really fast So it's so, you know, he goes, I don't play metal at all I just play swing really fast. So, you know, people think it's metal I mean, when you think of stained glass, it was probably one of the first real speed metal albums Not to say that deep purple didn't have any fast songs, but in that sort of Direction in terms of drumming, I would say I'm not sure were you playing double bass on a stained glass I don't remember if you were you weren't Exciter is the track you're thinking of Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah That has a double bass drum intro Exciter is a fast song. Yeah, pretty much all the way through the song. Yeah. Yeah A lot of people cite that as The beginnings of speed metal You know There are a lot of bands that came along afterwards metal bands are quite influenced by that album And that and that song in particular Yeah, but Yeah, but You know, when you're making a record, you don't you're not really thinking that far ahead You're not thinking is this going to influence anyone in the future. You started a genre and you didn't even know Well, you know you you just um That actually that came about that particular song Exciter just came about uh from a sound check Uh You love it. I was just um when we're getting the drum sound together and I just Uh got this idea in my head and I guess I just launched into Uh What eventually became the drum intro intro to Exciter and uh And then I stopped and and Len Picked up on it and he he said Play out again less, you know, so I did and um, and then he joined in with the guitar riff, you know and The song kind of developed from there on We didn't have a finished song of that point obviously, but um, that was how it all that was how that began That's the that's the bad thing about how they the sort of reference song writing, you know, they'll never look at the drum patterns They'll never look at You know, sort of the structure that that that led to the bigger idea as a sort of song writing, right? Like you kind of wrote that song, right? But I would think that you were credited in the sense that the traditional sense of crediting, you know, lyrics and melody, right? So that's unfortunate. Yeah Just the way things are Uh You know You you play every every member of the band plays an important part in in creating the song structure and And how the end result turns out um so I mean if you think of the guitar solos, um That's the guitarist's input on that song Yeah, since I wrote as you know, I wrote um beyond the realms of death I wrote that song Along with Rob, he wrote the lyrics come up with all the lyrics to it and the title but I was always impressed with the The guitar solo that Glenn came up with in the middle, you know um, yeah That added a lot To the song But he doesn't get credited for that You know, yeah song was credited to me and Rob Yeah, yeah, yeah, so quite often, I mean in a song like Exciter obviously the drum intro the drum part plays a strong role in the in in the way that the um You know the song is presented And uh under you know That was largely done to me in that respect but um it uh I'm not right. I'm not writing the melody and I'm not writing the lyrics, you know so, you know It's it's a joint effort No, no, I agree. I agree. Who's got a question for in our final, I guess few minutes here Who's got a question for less? I know there's people watching there's people texting in that i'm ignoring But who's got a question for less? That's really think of a cool question Um less I got I got one while we're waiting here. Yeah, you know, I spoke to numerous drummers and uh one of the main constant with the discussions is They're Ian Pace as a drummer. Would you like you said you you played with them in france? Would you like to comment on his drumming and his influence on the many drummers in the early 70s? Uh, yeah, I loved Ian's drumming on with Dave Perple, you know, um In fact, he was one of my main influences at the time. Mm-hmm when I started playing um You know, we've we've been through the era with the Beatles and stones and all that Um, but then then then you had then you had Jimmy Hendrix come along cream then Led Zeppelin, of course, john bonham has been You know one of my favorite drummers as well Ian Pace with uh with Dave Perple um So those in terms of the rock drummers those were the main influences that I had, you know um listening to those bands and later on um I got into um people like Billy Cobham Kemp and the jazz fusion kind of side of things But um the role there's so many phenomenal players out there and If you move from one Style of music to another Um, you'll find drummers doing something slightly different in each genre And so it's good to listen to a wide spectrum of music because yeah, yeah, yeah So from even though you might not wish to be playing in a band necessarily playing that particular style of music There are certain elements that you can you can uh take from uh say you know A funk band or whatever, you know and incorporate that into um into The rock side of things and or metal side of things um, and it gives you a much wider of a musical vocabulary To to pick to pick things out from Less here's a question from k-man does Do you know that you are mentioned in neil k's new book? I'm not even sure what you're mentioned as someone just wrote the question Neal k's been on the show a few times I guess But you have been mentioned in his book and I'm assuming it's a positive thing so Oh When's the last time you saw neil k? I don't know. I haven't I haven't I haven't spread any comments that he's made so I don't really know Have you ever met neil k in the past from the sound house? No, I haven't no, okay. I mean well apparently he wrote about you And neil's a pretty pretty cool dude, so I'm so I'm assuming it was some really positive notes I hope Be back to port does less ever be back to port-a-down these days. I'm assuming that's a place, right? That's called port-a-down Port-a-down. Where is that? It's a little town in county arma In northern arla. It's about 20 About 20 miles south of balfast Okay, that's where I was born and grew up there. Oh, wow. Okay Yeah, I don't know if you can tell from my accent I moved to london in the early 70s. You're kind of like it's a mix your accent's a little mixed there, right? So it's uh It's it's somewhere between british and irish Yeah It's probably mellowed out a lot more over the years Yeah, but um, yeah, so that's where I was from that's where I was from and I still have family there And so um, I'll usually Take a trip there. Maybe once or twice a year Just to catch up with with family and Touch base with everybody again All right, what does less drink for beers? Guinness It can't be irish and not drink Guinness So no murphys Murphys now, I'll have a murphys from time to time. Yeah Okay, what types of sticks from chris tag? What types of stick symbols drums? Do you prefer? Okay, this could be like a long answer here, but go ahead What type of sticks and Sticks symbols and drums. Do you prefer? Uh Well, I have my own sticks made by uh, the london drumstick company Okay, so they've they've been very good um So they make my signature sticks What shall I have here somewhere? This will work Yeah, look at that You can see those Hey, look at that those are my sticks the drums I've used over the years many different manufacturers money different drums I probably the things I have most of all are snare drums and get most drummers have Several snare drums to choose from each one of its own character I have quite a few solid shell six and a half inch deep No drums that are made from uh steam bent one piece one piece maple uh It's a the chap called johnny craviato There's an image of what you've heard of him craviato And uh, he's passed away now unfortunately, but he made some fantastic custom made snare drums And this company still exists today. They still still make them. So I've got a few of his which he signed inside um And I've played all kinds of drum manufacturers on all kinds of kits over the time when I was what What do you think about the snare drum on sane anger? That's a joke Metallica sane anger. What do you think about the snare drum on sane anger? It's like you don't have to answer that On the album sane anger by metallica I haven't heard it. Oh sounds like a trash can Oh, yeah, and somebody made a comment about the new album about the bass drum song I don't know. I haven't heard that other Yeah Frazier saying have you ever thought about doing a drum video? You know a drum video online, you know, like those drum video instructional videos um There's so many out there um And I've never done a a drum clinic either Oh, really, you know, um It's just um I'm more interested in playing with musicians and playing You know in a band setting um I know I'm nothing against anything like that, you know, it's just I just didn't feel right for me and for some reason Okay Now seagull saying would less consider writing a book Like an autobiography Um I have thought about it Um, so you never know I won't say I won't say yes for definite or no for definite It's a possibility. Maybe one day Okay, never say never All right on that note. We appreciate everybody's questions I we got as many as we could in there. I know there's a lot of statements a lot of positive stuff But we'll let you go less appreciate your time Uh And uh, congratulations. Alan. What do you have to say? No, congratulations again, and we're great to have you Think for the second time, right Jim? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Well, we'll have you again for a third time. We're gonna talk to you all again and good to see you all You bet there eventually Yeah, hopefully Talk soon. Thank you. Thanks less