On the new single 'Night of the Witch' from the new album Titans of Creation

Eric: I'm surprised the record company went with that one as the first single. I'm happy about it because it's one of the faster, heavier songs from the album. I also sing part of the chorus, Chuck (Billy) calls it my 'witch' voice.The album is a fairly diverse record, it's got some moodier melodic songs and plenty of fast heavy ones too. We worked with Andy Sneap again, he's a real professional, I think this record's production is some of his best work yet. The mix is just extra heavy and crisp, I think fans are going to really like it.

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On how Pepper Keenan ended up coming back to the band

Woody: "We’ve been hanging with Pep even through all that time. We were doing some 3 piece C.O.C., the early stuff like harkening back to the early 80s. We’d do shows and he’s in another band, Down, and they’d be doing the same festival so Keenan would pop over and we’d play some songs together on stage. We’ve pretty much been chatting this whole time just waiting for the right time to pounce on it. It wound up that this was the right time. We’ve been out on the road together for the last year and a half to two years and just discovered that it was gelling and...

On the upcoming tour of Australia taking place in April 2020

John: Yes, I'm super excited. We are all very excited. Actually me and my wife are coming early to just come hang out for a few days and just relax and enjoy Australia. We're super, super excited.

John: Well we're doing, we are going to record the shows in Australia because I'm working on a live record and called "Live Invasion". We're going to do all the songs from "Invasion" and record then you'll hear a bunch of stuff. And we do this really cool long medley of 60 riffs and it's going to be a very special show. I think people are going to be super exci...

On the health status of Stryper guitarist Oz Fox who was hospitalized after a seizure and found to have 2 lesions on his brain. And what it was like to tour as a trio without Oz Fox...

Oz is doing better, he's been on a really healthy diet and doing a lot of things holistically that are really good for him. He is still feeling good, there are still questions that are unanswered with what's going on because a biopsy hasn't been done yet and a surgery hasn't been done. There are still a lot of variables and unknowns. He is in a good place right now, doing well and feeling strong. It was interesting touring without...

How the last tour of Australia in 2018 went and about the upcoming tour in which Ross The Boss will playing "Hail to England" in its entirety...

Ross the Boss: It was a smashing success, my friend, it really was, and made so many good friends. I met so many people that had been wanting to see me since 1982. What can I say? It was great. I mean, we had great shows. We can't wait to start it and can't wait to do it again, because the band just gets better and better. What can I say? We're working on a new record. The last record came out last April and it did fantastic. We're going to do the Hail to England tour, t...

Listen to the entire interview!

Are you looking to playing Southern Slaughter Festival in Sydney and Melbourne next month?

Jonas: "Definitely, Australia is always a treat, and this being the first time for Bloodbath will make it extra exciting, I believe."

Other capital cities are missing out on this run. Do you think you may return to play more shows in the future?

Jonas: "I hope so. Death Metal needs to be spread far and wide for all the sickos out there."

How does playing in Bloodbath compare to playing in your main band? (Katatonia). Is it about getting back to your roots?

Jonas: "Very different, especially since I don’t have to be the frontman...

About the new album Necrophaze  (out on September 27th via Nuclear Blast Records)  and on how he got so many special guests including Alice Cooper and Cristina Scabbia...

Wednesday 13: "The special guests were just kind of something that came along in the process. it wasn't anything we had figured out beforehand, it was just kinda ideas we came up with during the recording process. Most of these people that are on the record with the exception of Cristina (Scabbia) are all people I know or have a relationship with. Fortunately Alice Cooper has been a big supporter of Wednesday 13 and Murderdolls since we tou...

Reflections on touring Australia with The Aristocrats back in 2016

Bryan: Yes, we enjoyed that tour, it was great for The Aristocrats to finally get down to Australia. It's not easy for a band like us to get down there and make it work, we are very grateful to the people at Thump Music who helped make it happen and all the great fans that came out to see us in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Those were the 5 shows that we did down there. Of course there is some great music going on in Australia, I'm friends with some of the Karnivool guys, especially Jon Stockman because I was so into the bass so...

On the new album "Project Regeneration" featuring previously unheard vocal tracks from Wayne Static...

Tony: “It started with five demos that Wayne had done shortly before his passing that he had given to a producer friend of ours, who then gave them to me after Wayne had died. Only one of the songs had Wayne‘s vocals on them, and the rest were just rough demos. We started out with that, and then original and longtime producer, Ulrich Wild, turned me on to three songs that didn’t make the ‘Start A War‘.

So we kept Wayne‘s vocal performances, reworked the music, and so we had four songs with Wayne‘s vocals on them....

On the new album "The Great War" being based on World War 1...

Pär: The timing was absolutely right, coming up to 100 years since the ending of WW1, so this was for a natural thing, time to do it. 

On whether every band member is interested in World War history...

Pär: Everybody is not as interested I would say, but me and Joekim are the two main ones that are interested. Maybe we were not that much from the beginning but it is something that grows over time now that we've been more exposed to interesting stories and reading more and more. For sure from the start we had some interest but I've always been a fan...

Levi:
First off, I'll just ask you a few questions about the tour that's coming up in Australia, that's in June. It's called "83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff", and it's a spoken word tour. Can you tell people what they can kind of expect if they're going to come to a show?

Eric Bischoff:
If I had to sum it up, it would be one part crazy comedy, and the other part, really interactive and informational. The wrestling industry, by its very nature, is over the top, bizarre characters, unique personalities. The stories that we all have to share, those of us that have been in the business, and lived the life behind the s...

To fully understand the context of this interview I recommend listening to the audio linked below.

Here a few selected highlights from my chat with legendary Australian comedian Steve Hughes 

Why Steve Hughes decided to become a stand-up comedian

Steve: I was in bands for years and years from the 80's up until the 2000's. I was always funny, I used comedy to distract myself and make others laugh, I remember when we were really young in the 80's, I remember one day listening to "Hell Awaits" by Slayer and "Bonded By Blood" by Exodus. And we sat around listening to those albums and then we listened to Bill...

The new album "I, The mask"

Anders Friden: It was recorded between February and May in LA last year. Me and Bjorn went over and we worked with Howard Benson and his team once again and you know, we didn't have much with us, on us when we came to LA. We said we're gonna start from scratch and see where it takes us.
And we never have huge plans, honestly when it comes to our music...it's coz we don't write on the roads, we never really have and therefore I think all the Albums sound a little bit different from each other, even though it still sounds like In Flames. The only thing we talked about for this one, coz...