Diamond Head are one of the greatest bands out there. One of the most interesting ones to come out of the NWOBHM movement, one that has hardly ever given in thanks to Brian Tatler being a determined guy that likes to play his guitar. Well it’s no wonder that Metallica idolized them so much early on and have covered a $hitload of their songs... make no mistake. After a long time out of the public’s eye, but not away from the stage, they are indeed returning with a new eponymous album, a new singer (Rasmus) with the same cool attitude and great songs. Read on to find out what Brian & Ras, have to say about all this…
Hi Brian, I’m glad we’re given the chance to talk about Diamond Head and your new studio release in genera! So Diamond Head returns after quite a hiatus, (at least studio-wise) with a new an eponymous album and a new singer. Firstly how did you get ahold of Rasmus, last time I checked you had Andy from ML, singing for some shows, so give us a bit of a background on him.
B: Who the hell is Andy from ML? I passed this onto Rasmus…
R: As general background I grew up in Denmark and was raised in a home of rock and classical music blaring out the stereo. To be honest I don’t recall all the music my parents played in the house, but it was the introduction to Queen that kick-started my interest in music. As I got into my teens I started listening to bands like Soundgarden, Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine and of course Metallica. I started getting serious about doing music when I decided to study in high school (2000-2003) and kinda went from there. I was obsessed with playing guitar and practicing. I would literally play until my fingers bled and then patch them up and keep playing. Vocals weren’t my obsession then at all, but it was definitely my strength and the route I eventually followed.
I travelled to London in 2005 to do a bachelor’s degree in Vocals and Performance and got very obsessed with vocal technique. I studied every style from jazz to rock and also got into composition and production. After my degree in 2008 I really didn’t do much for a couple of years besides teaching myself more about production and recording techniques and occasionally doing the odd session work and gigs. For a short period I played bass in a folky singer/songwriter band and at some point also played lead guitar in a metal band though I really wasn’t good enough to play metal at that speed. Between 2011 or thereabout to 2014 I found myself working more and more in production and writing with other artist. I composed music for a musical theatre show and produced an album for a singer/songwriter artist. 2014 well that’s when I got a phone call from Brian asking about auditioning and recording my vocals to a live desk track “To Heaven From Hell”. I guess they liked it cause I’m here now and we have a great album coming out and tons of positive feedback.
The last album came almost a decade ago and while some people did quite like it (us included) most people seem to have a weird concept about “Diamond Head” having sold out, ever since “Canterbury”, which sounds kinda daft, as there might have been lighter songs but it was never “hairy” commercial stuff… even the lightest thing you‘ve ever done is like the hardest Def Leppard never did! So to what do you attribute all that criticism?
B: In hindsight I think Diamond Head should have been more consistent, we kept experimenting and we did alienate some fans. We did not realize what we had with that debut album and tried to change too soon IMO. Our management and later on our record label would suggest we write hit singles as a way of getting us onto the radio and TV. We liked to write long songs, “Sucking My Love” is 9mins 30seconds, “Am I Evil” is 7mins 40 but no good for radio, they wanted 3 minute songs with a big chorus for a 7” single.
Speaking of which Universal did put out some box and compilations in the past few years? Your comment on those? Were you asked/involved?
B: Yes I was. I helped compile “The Diamond Head Anthology: Am I Evil?” (2004) The “MCA Years” (2009), “Live at the BBC” (2010) and “Am I Evil?: The Best Of Diamond Head” (2013) I also provided liner notes and some personal photos. Universal is a good company and they like to do things properly. I have had a working relationship with them for over about 15 years.
How did you come up with the idea to simply call the album “Diamond Head”? Bands usually call their debuts after their name. Is there any special reason for that?
B: I pinned a big sheet of paper to the studio wall with “Name This Album” written across the top, we all wrote suggestions on it but nothing quite fit. A lot of the suggestions were stupid or pretentious. In the past one of the albums’ song titles has doubled up for the album title but in this case nothing felt right. Eddie suggested we call it “Diamond Head” and after thinking about it for a while I thought it was a good idea. I thought hey The Beatles, Genesis and Metallica have all had self-titled albums that were not their debut so why not. It’s also a very strong statement of intent. Diamond Head are back!
Can you indulge a bit on the lyrical themes on the album? Quite a few songs seem to be socially driven, like commentating on current issues?! Who wrote the lyrics and with were you thinking doing a song like Wizards sleeve?
R: The album lyrics have various themes, but is in large focused on social society, political and environmental topics. The whole album was written with our Diamond Head brief in mind so the lyrics had to have a certain feel and be rich with imagery. There are tons of metaphors in the lyrics that we will leave to the listeners and readers to figure out or decide for themselves.
“Bones” and “Silence” both talk about the impending self-destruction of mankind. “Bones” refers to the birth to or existence of Mankind and to the impending self-destruction, which is hanging on the edge of no return. “Silence” talks about this impending end and the disgrace that we could have made a change in time to stop the cataclysmic events that we are creating with our greed and in our twisted understanding of true wealth and purpose. “Silence” is the aftermath of our worst nightmares and human mistakes.
Songs like: “All the Reasons You Live”, “Shout at the Devil”, “Set My Soul on Fire”, “Blood on My Hands” and “Our Time is Now”, all talk about fear, sacrifice, courage, hate and anger towards the various systematic control of the public. Each song has a different story and is complex in its own, but all in all turn to the same core subject. There are so many crazy and horrible things going on in the world today and these songs try to speak about the emotions of the public. What is needed and that all in arms we are stronger. The people should never fear the system. The system should fear the people.
“Diamonds” was written as a homage to the Diamond Head legacy and all the great songs that inspired and thrilled fans and bands alike. Even though Diamond Head didn’t become galactic in status you cannot ignore the talent and musicianship and what it did for the listeners and the next generation of musicians.
“Speed” and “Wizard Sleeve” both talk about lust and sex. “Wizard Sleeve” was a kind of nod to “Sucking My Love”.
I wanted to ask you since this was rather unclear at the time, are you currently going on without a record company? Or do you have someone distributing you? Are things sort of going into a phase parallel as in those NWOBHM days where people would do their own productions and hope to get picked up etc?
B: Diamond Head was an entirely self-funded album, myself or the band paid for everything. Rehearsals, recording, mixing, mastering, artwork and manufacturing. Then once we announced its release and started taking pre-orders a company called Dissonance Productions heard the album, liked it and got in touch. They thought we fitted in well with their roster of bands and offered to release the album themselves. A deal was thrashed out and we signed to Dissonance in February. They are working very hard and the profile for the album has shot up. We are getting some incredible press, some of the best of my career. Diamond Head have always believed in do-it-yourself. You cannot wait for someone else to do it for you. You make your own luck.
Did you actually went into a hiatus or were you just not particularly active in the last decade?
B: Hiatus that’s funny. The band has consistently toured including three tours to the U.S. Released studio and live product. Guess we weren’t on the “it” radar. I thought the shows with the big four may have triggered something. Diamond Head has never stopped being productive.
Did you have in mind to release a new studio album at some point or Rasmus was the one that made you reconsider some things and finally starting writing some new material?
B: Once Ras joined the band I thought we should try and write some new songs. Ras is Danish but lives in London so it’s just a train ride up to the Midlands. Since 2007 I kept writing new material for an album project but it didn’t happen and I am glad we did not try do another album over the internet. I gave Ras two CDs with forty five pieces of music. He went through them and selected songs he liked and songs and ideas that sounded the most like Diamond Head. We then all went into a rehearsal room and began working from my demos, making the songs sound good with the whole band playing them.
Past singers… and Rasmus. Out of the 3 guys and any session ones, which one do you like the best – why did Sean and Nick depart (in the case of the latter was distance the deciding factor?)… Any chance of doing some?
B: A difficult choice as they are all good. Rasmus has the best range and technique I have not heard him struggle or sound rough at a gig or rehearsal yet. Sean, on the other hand, was a naturally talented singer but had no training and did not know how to look after his voice, it often sounded dry and we cancelled a few gigs over years because Sean lost his voice due to Laryngitis and even Pharyngitis. Nick also has a good voice and was a strong guy, he managed to perform at every show on a 17 date US tour. The reasons for departure are; with Sean I had to sack him as nothing was getting done. I have bent over backwards to keep Diamond Head going and in the end Sean kept throwing up obstacles. I figured life is too short to keep waiting for him, nothing was happening. Nick and his family immigrated to Australia in 2008 and it became increasingly expensive and complicated to keep flying him backwards and forwards for gigs.
With this new guy, who’s not a Brit, do you expect to play more now? Any concrete touring plans? Any hope for a Greek date? I remember that there was talk about a Greek show some years ago, but it sort of didn’t happen after getting pushed back a couple of times.
B: Rasmus is Danish but has been living in London since 2005. We last played in Greece in 2006, we played in Athens and Thessaloniki, its real shame that we have not been back since. We keep trying but it has not happened yet, maybe next year?
You‘re the sole survivor from the original lineup… what keeps you going on?
B: It’s quite simple, I love music and I love playing the guitar. I am very lucky to still be able to do this professionally after 40 years. Many people give up their dream when success does not happen quickly, I never did. I am very protective of Diamond Head as a band and a name, it’s enabled me to experience lots of things all over the world that most people never get to do.
Why do you think success (in a major way) sort of eluded Diamond Head? I doubt if many bands had the level of “patronage” by people like Lars, Mustaine and Iommi and still things didn’t really happen for you…
B: Diamond Head managed to screw it up long before Lars Ulrich became famous. By 1985 it was pretty much all over for Diamond Head, we had lost our record deal, we had no money to pay any wages and the band split apart. We had bad management and instead of picking up the pieces I think Sean Harris began to concentrating on a solo career. What Metallica has done for Diamond Head is give us oodles of credibility and generate royalties for Sean and myself as the songwriters of “Am I Evil?”, “Helpless”, “The Prince” and “It’s Electric”. We had a bit of a comeback in 1991 – 1993 but it soon became unworkable again. There are huge differences between Diamond Head and Metallica, back in 1986 Metallica were undertaking 9 month tours whereas the longest tour Diamond Head have ever done is 5 weeks. We never even toured the US until 2011.
Do you feel that the plethora as well as the “devaluation” of music and the disassociation from a medium has made the people more apathetic and less involved/passionate about music?
B: People all over the world still love music with a passion. It’s easier to get hold of more music and gives people a choice as to what they want to listen to, not just fed product from a few big radio stations. You can now discover new bands or old artists without you actually having to but the record.
What do you think the future holds for you? More albums? Any retirement plans (hope not)?
B: We have already started talking about doing another album. 2016 will just fly by so we will make a start as soon as we can. I have a few ideas to try out in rehearsal. We would like to get over to the US again either later in the year or early next year. There are still lots of places Diamond Head have never played.
How much of a boon has the case of Metallica covering quite a few DH numbers proven and how much of a holdback… “ie oh those guys that did those 2-3 songs Metallica cover – uh I prefer them ‘tallica versions?” – that attitude?
B: It’s been all positive, how could the biggest metal band of all time covering four of your songs be anything other than mega? If people prefer the Metallica version then that is their choice, I prefer Nazareth’s version of “This Flight Tonight” to Joni Mitchell’s original. It’s no big deal, doesn’t bother me.
Time for our “weird questions”!!! How did you come up with the name Diamond Head initially?
B: I had a poster of the 1975 album “Diamond Head” by Phil Manzanera. I cut the name out and stuck it on my bedroom wall saying to my bandmate Duncan Scott “That would be a good name for the band”… Duncan agreed and that was it. We tried changing it a couple of times to things like Silver Scepter, Firebird or Cobra but went back to Diamond Head as it seemed the best option.
If you were a god for a week what would you do?
B: It’s a small “g” so I don’t know how much power I would have. I would try and rid the world or horrible diseases like cancer and HIV.
What are those things that you do not like in the music industry nowadays?
B: I am not happy with file sharing, I think it devalues music. 30 years ago you had to make an investment in an album. Nowadays you can give it a quick listen on Spotify or something similar and not buy it unless you really like it. Also a lot of bands sound exactly the same; I remember when all bands sounded very different to each other. They would strive for originality now it seems to be “copy a band that are already successful”, so there are 100,000 bands that sound like Metallica. Having said that, why aren’t there a 100,000 bands that sound like Queen or The Eagles, they have sold more records?!
Best 3 heavy metal albums of all time?
B: 1) Led Zeppelin – “Physical Graffiti”, 2) Deep Purple – “Machine Head”, 3) Black Sabbath – “Master of Reality”.
Which do you consider to be the best music era of all time & why?
B: For me it’s the 1970s most of my favorite bands come from that ear, it’s when I first got into music so it’s bound to be. A lot of the artists were different from each other and were original, now I see a lot of bands that sound like other bands. Look at an artist like David Bowie, there is nothing like him around now. Rock was fairly new in the 1970s now its forty years old and a lot of the territory has been snapped up. The main thing you need is good songs and a good singer, I used to think all the members of a band were equally important but I now realize that the singer is no1 that is what my ear is drawn to.
Is the “free downloading issue” the main reason why the music industry has taken the downhill or there are others, more important reasons for that?
B: It has made a huge impact on the money that a record company would usually make and thus be able to fund new bands etc. A generation has grown up expecting music for free and it’s not free, it cost a lot of money to make an album why should you give it away? Other services are not free. You have to pay for food and fuel, why not music?!
If you could travel to the past or to the future, what choice would you make and why?
B: I guess I would travel into the past, I would like to see Jimi Hendrix or The Beatles I would also love to meet William Shakespeare and tell him that he is a genius and his work will be loved the world over for the next 400 years.
If you were to cover some Metallica tunes – like 3-4 which ones would be your selections?
B: I would cover “Harvester of Sorrow”, “Cyanide”, “Blackened” and “Through the Never”. To my ears all those songs sound great. My favorite Metallica song is “One” but I could not improve on their version.
If your wife sold your album collection or guitars, to buy an expensive ring, how would you react?
B: I would go fucking tits. My wife Rachel knows me well enough not to try something that stupid!!!
Thx so much for taking the time to do this interview Brian. Say anything you feel like saying before we close this interview. Thx for the music dude! Take care!
B: I hope you like the new album “Diamond Head” by Diamond Head and get the opportunity to see the band live soon. (i.n.: See all the tour dates here...)
B: Who the hell is Andy from ML? I passed this onto Rasmus…
R: As general background I grew up in Denmark and was raised in a home of rock and classical music blaring out the stereo. To be honest I don’t recall all the music my parents played in the house, but it was the introduction to Queen that kick-started my interest in music. As I got into my teens I started listening to bands like Soundgarden, Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine and of course Metallica. I started getting serious about doing music when I decided to study in high school (2000-2003) and kinda went from there. I was obsessed with playing guitar and practicing. I would literally play until my fingers bled and then patch them up and keep playing. Vocals weren’t my obsession then at all, but it was definitely my strength and the route I eventually followed.
I travelled to London in 2005 to do a bachelor’s degree in Vocals and Performance and got very obsessed with vocal technique. I studied every style from jazz to rock and also got into composition and production. After my degree in 2008 I really didn’t do much for a couple of years besides teaching myself more about production and recording techniques and occasionally doing the odd session work and gigs. For a short period I played bass in a folky singer/songwriter band and at some point also played lead guitar in a metal band though I really wasn’t good enough to play metal at that speed. Between 2011 or thereabout to 2014 I found myself working more and more in production and writing with other artist. I composed music for a musical theatre show and produced an album for a singer/songwriter artist. 2014 well that’s when I got a phone call from Brian asking about auditioning and recording my vocals to a live desk track “To Heaven From Hell”. I guess they liked it cause I’m here now and we have a great album coming out and tons of positive feedback.
The last album came almost a decade ago and while some people did quite like it (us included) most people seem to have a weird concept about “Diamond Head” having sold out, ever since “Canterbury”, which sounds kinda daft, as there might have been lighter songs but it was never “hairy” commercial stuff… even the lightest thing you‘ve ever done is like the hardest Def Leppard never did! So to what do you attribute all that criticism?
B: In hindsight I think Diamond Head should have been more consistent, we kept experimenting and we did alienate some fans. We did not realize what we had with that debut album and tried to change too soon IMO. Our management and later on our record label would suggest we write hit singles as a way of getting us onto the radio and TV. We liked to write long songs, “Sucking My Love” is 9mins 30seconds, “Am I Evil” is 7mins 40 but no good for radio, they wanted 3 minute songs with a big chorus for a 7” single.
Speaking of which Universal did put out some box and compilations in the past few years? Your comment on those? Were you asked/involved?
B: Yes I was. I helped compile “The Diamond Head Anthology: Am I Evil?” (2004) The “MCA Years” (2009), “Live at the BBC” (2010) and “Am I Evil?: The Best Of Diamond Head” (2013) I also provided liner notes and some personal photos. Universal is a good company and they like to do things properly. I have had a working relationship with them for over about 15 years.
How did you come up with the idea to simply call the album “Diamond Head”? Bands usually call their debuts after their name. Is there any special reason for that?
B: I pinned a big sheet of paper to the studio wall with “Name This Album” written across the top, we all wrote suggestions on it but nothing quite fit. A lot of the suggestions were stupid or pretentious. In the past one of the albums’ song titles has doubled up for the album title but in this case nothing felt right. Eddie suggested we call it “Diamond Head” and after thinking about it for a while I thought it was a good idea. I thought hey The Beatles, Genesis and Metallica have all had self-titled albums that were not their debut so why not. It’s also a very strong statement of intent. Diamond Head are back!
Can you indulge a bit on the lyrical themes on the album? Quite a few songs seem to be socially driven, like commentating on current issues?! Who wrote the lyrics and with were you thinking doing a song like Wizards sleeve?
R: The album lyrics have various themes, but is in large focused on social society, political and environmental topics. The whole album was written with our Diamond Head brief in mind so the lyrics had to have a certain feel and be rich with imagery. There are tons of metaphors in the lyrics that we will leave to the listeners and readers to figure out or decide for themselves.
“Bones” and “Silence” both talk about the impending self-destruction of mankind. “Bones” refers to the birth to or existence of Mankind and to the impending self-destruction, which is hanging on the edge of no return. “Silence” talks about this impending end and the disgrace that we could have made a change in time to stop the cataclysmic events that we are creating with our greed and in our twisted understanding of true wealth and purpose. “Silence” is the aftermath of our worst nightmares and human mistakes.
Songs like: “All the Reasons You Live”, “Shout at the Devil”, “Set My Soul on Fire”, “Blood on My Hands” and “Our Time is Now”, all talk about fear, sacrifice, courage, hate and anger towards the various systematic control of the public. Each song has a different story and is complex in its own, but all in all turn to the same core subject. There are so many crazy and horrible things going on in the world today and these songs try to speak about the emotions of the public. What is needed and that all in arms we are stronger. The people should never fear the system. The system should fear the people.
“Diamonds” was written as a homage to the Diamond Head legacy and all the great songs that inspired and thrilled fans and bands alike. Even though Diamond Head didn’t become galactic in status you cannot ignore the talent and musicianship and what it did for the listeners and the next generation of musicians.
“Speed” and “Wizard Sleeve” both talk about lust and sex. “Wizard Sleeve” was a kind of nod to “Sucking My Love”.
I wanted to ask you since this was rather unclear at the time, are you currently going on without a record company? Or do you have someone distributing you? Are things sort of going into a phase parallel as in those NWOBHM days where people would do their own productions and hope to get picked up etc?
B: Diamond Head was an entirely self-funded album, myself or the band paid for everything. Rehearsals, recording, mixing, mastering, artwork and manufacturing. Then once we announced its release and started taking pre-orders a company called Dissonance Productions heard the album, liked it and got in touch. They thought we fitted in well with their roster of bands and offered to release the album themselves. A deal was thrashed out and we signed to Dissonance in February. They are working very hard and the profile for the album has shot up. We are getting some incredible press, some of the best of my career. Diamond Head have always believed in do-it-yourself. You cannot wait for someone else to do it for you. You make your own luck.
Did you actually went into a hiatus or were you just not particularly active in the last decade?
B: Hiatus that’s funny. The band has consistently toured including three tours to the U.S. Released studio and live product. Guess we weren’t on the “it” radar. I thought the shows with the big four may have triggered something. Diamond Head has never stopped being productive.
Did you have in mind to release a new studio album at some point or Rasmus was the one that made you reconsider some things and finally starting writing some new material?
B: Once Ras joined the band I thought we should try and write some new songs. Ras is Danish but lives in London so it’s just a train ride up to the Midlands. Since 2007 I kept writing new material for an album project but it didn’t happen and I am glad we did not try do another album over the internet. I gave Ras two CDs with forty five pieces of music. He went through them and selected songs he liked and songs and ideas that sounded the most like Diamond Head. We then all went into a rehearsal room and began working from my demos, making the songs sound good with the whole band playing them.
Past singers… and Rasmus. Out of the 3 guys and any session ones, which one do you like the best – why did Sean and Nick depart (in the case of the latter was distance the deciding factor?)… Any chance of doing some?
B: A difficult choice as they are all good. Rasmus has the best range and technique I have not heard him struggle or sound rough at a gig or rehearsal yet. Sean, on the other hand, was a naturally talented singer but had no training and did not know how to look after his voice, it often sounded dry and we cancelled a few gigs over years because Sean lost his voice due to Laryngitis and even Pharyngitis. Nick also has a good voice and was a strong guy, he managed to perform at every show on a 17 date US tour. The reasons for departure are; with Sean I had to sack him as nothing was getting done. I have bent over backwards to keep Diamond Head going and in the end Sean kept throwing up obstacles. I figured life is too short to keep waiting for him, nothing was happening. Nick and his family immigrated to Australia in 2008 and it became increasingly expensive and complicated to keep flying him backwards and forwards for gigs.
With this new guy, who’s not a Brit, do you expect to play more now? Any concrete touring plans? Any hope for a Greek date? I remember that there was talk about a Greek show some years ago, but it sort of didn’t happen after getting pushed back a couple of times.
B: Rasmus is Danish but has been living in London since 2005. We last played in Greece in 2006, we played in Athens and Thessaloniki, its real shame that we have not been back since. We keep trying but it has not happened yet, maybe next year?
You‘re the sole survivor from the original lineup… what keeps you going on?
B: It’s quite simple, I love music and I love playing the guitar. I am very lucky to still be able to do this professionally after 40 years. Many people give up their dream when success does not happen quickly, I never did. I am very protective of Diamond Head as a band and a name, it’s enabled me to experience lots of things all over the world that most people never get to do.
Why do you think success (in a major way) sort of eluded Diamond Head? I doubt if many bands had the level of “patronage” by people like Lars, Mustaine and Iommi and still things didn’t really happen for you…
B: Diamond Head managed to screw it up long before Lars Ulrich became famous. By 1985 it was pretty much all over for Diamond Head, we had lost our record deal, we had no money to pay any wages and the band split apart. We had bad management and instead of picking up the pieces I think Sean Harris began to concentrating on a solo career. What Metallica has done for Diamond Head is give us oodles of credibility and generate royalties for Sean and myself as the songwriters of “Am I Evil?”, “Helpless”, “The Prince” and “It’s Electric”. We had a bit of a comeback in 1991 – 1993 but it soon became unworkable again. There are huge differences between Diamond Head and Metallica, back in 1986 Metallica were undertaking 9 month tours whereas the longest tour Diamond Head have ever done is 5 weeks. We never even toured the US until 2011.
Do you feel that the plethora as well as the “devaluation” of music and the disassociation from a medium has made the people more apathetic and less involved/passionate about music?
B: People all over the world still love music with a passion. It’s easier to get hold of more music and gives people a choice as to what they want to listen to, not just fed product from a few big radio stations. You can now discover new bands or old artists without you actually having to but the record.
What do you think the future holds for you? More albums? Any retirement plans (hope not)?
B: We have already started talking about doing another album. 2016 will just fly by so we will make a start as soon as we can. I have a few ideas to try out in rehearsal. We would like to get over to the US again either later in the year or early next year. There are still lots of places Diamond Head have never played.
How much of a boon has the case of Metallica covering quite a few DH numbers proven and how much of a holdback… “ie oh those guys that did those 2-3 songs Metallica cover – uh I prefer them ‘tallica versions?” – that attitude?
B: It’s been all positive, how could the biggest metal band of all time covering four of your songs be anything other than mega? If people prefer the Metallica version then that is their choice, I prefer Nazareth’s version of “This Flight Tonight” to Joni Mitchell’s original. It’s no big deal, doesn’t bother me.
Time for our “weird questions”!!! How did you come up with the name Diamond Head initially?
B: I had a poster of the 1975 album “Diamond Head” by Phil Manzanera. I cut the name out and stuck it on my bedroom wall saying to my bandmate Duncan Scott “That would be a good name for the band”… Duncan agreed and that was it. We tried changing it a couple of times to things like Silver Scepter, Firebird or Cobra but went back to Diamond Head as it seemed the best option.
If you were a god for a week what would you do?
B: It’s a small “g” so I don’t know how much power I would have. I would try and rid the world or horrible diseases like cancer and HIV.
What are those things that you do not like in the music industry nowadays?
B: I am not happy with file sharing, I think it devalues music. 30 years ago you had to make an investment in an album. Nowadays you can give it a quick listen on Spotify or something similar and not buy it unless you really like it. Also a lot of bands sound exactly the same; I remember when all bands sounded very different to each other. They would strive for originality now it seems to be “copy a band that are already successful”, so there are 100,000 bands that sound like Metallica. Having said that, why aren’t there a 100,000 bands that sound like Queen or The Eagles, they have sold more records?!
Best 3 heavy metal albums of all time?
B: 1) Led Zeppelin – “Physical Graffiti”, 2) Deep Purple – “Machine Head”, 3) Black Sabbath – “Master of Reality”.
Which do you consider to be the best music era of all time & why?
B: For me it’s the 1970s most of my favorite bands come from that ear, it’s when I first got into music so it’s bound to be. A lot of the artists were different from each other and were original, now I see a lot of bands that sound like other bands. Look at an artist like David Bowie, there is nothing like him around now. Rock was fairly new in the 1970s now its forty years old and a lot of the territory has been snapped up. The main thing you need is good songs and a good singer, I used to think all the members of a band were equally important but I now realize that the singer is no1 that is what my ear is drawn to.
Is the “free downloading issue” the main reason why the music industry has taken the downhill or there are others, more important reasons for that?
B: It has made a huge impact on the money that a record company would usually make and thus be able to fund new bands etc. A generation has grown up expecting music for free and it’s not free, it cost a lot of money to make an album why should you give it away? Other services are not free. You have to pay for food and fuel, why not music?!
If you could travel to the past or to the future, what choice would you make and why?
B: I guess I would travel into the past, I would like to see Jimi Hendrix or The Beatles I would also love to meet William Shakespeare and tell him that he is a genius and his work will be loved the world over for the next 400 years.
If you were to cover some Metallica tunes – like 3-4 which ones would be your selections?
B: I would cover “Harvester of Sorrow”, “Cyanide”, “Blackened” and “Through the Never”. To my ears all those songs sound great. My favorite Metallica song is “One” but I could not improve on their version.
If your wife sold your album collection or guitars, to buy an expensive ring, how would you react?
B: I would go fucking tits. My wife Rachel knows me well enough not to try something that stupid!!!
Thx so much for taking the time to do this interview Brian. Say anything you feel like saying before we close this interview. Thx for the music dude! Take care!
B: I hope you like the new album “Diamond Head” by Diamond Head and get the opportunity to see the band live soon. (i.n.: See all the tour dates here...)