Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing spoke to “The Rock Show With Lee Graham” about how he came up with the idea of adding a second guitarist to the band’s early lineup, thereby creating the legendary twin-guitar sound that is synonymous with the Rob Halford-fronted outfit. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We were just a four-piece for quite a long time, really. And that particular period kind of set a precedent, I think, for everything that I thought was in my mind as best as I could do it, really. The goal was to be heavy, whatever that meant. And what it really meant was to be emotional with attitude and to be different to what other people were doing, because what other people were doing had a different target audience. So kind of that’s what it was about. And then, as time went on, the idea came about… We managed to get a record deal but they said, ‘Look, there’s too many bands who have the same lineup — FREE, LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, whatever. What about you guys having a saxophone player?’ And I go, ‘No way. You can keep your record deal.’ ‘A keyboard player?’ ‘No. Sorry.’ So I sat and thought about it. I thought, ‘Can we get a record deal and appease these guys?’ And I’m thinking maybe a second guitar player. And I really thought that was a good idea, for lots of reasons. It would fill out the sound when I’m doing a solo. And I’m thinking if we can get another guitar player that can write, and he’s a lead guitar player as well, we’ll be two lead guitar players, two strong songwriters, it will fortify the band. And musically, we can venture into worlds that people haven’t gone into yet. I had this crazy idea we can create heavy harmonies. And we did have a go at that. Because usually harmonies… ‘Cause at the time you heard bands like THE ALLMAN BROTHERS and the JAMES GANG and the great WISHBONE ASH, and I wasn’t a great fan because it kind of sounded a bit too light. ‘Cause that’s what harmonies do — when you start to build harmonies, they start to sound like chord structures, which they inevitably will, ’cause harmonizing with one note will build a chord. So I’m thinking we’ll create… And we ventured out. And we eventually did. There is such a thing as diminished harmonies. You can stack minor thirds together — fine. It will sound not too pleasing to a lot of people, but to me it sounded great; it was dissonant.”

He continued: “We got together [with Glenn Tipton]. And obviously, musically, what Glenn and myself brought together maybe didn’t always agree, but I had a great appreciation, and I think Glenn did as well, is the fact that a band, it’s a combination of people. And so some of the more melodic stuff, the slightly more commercial stuff that Glenn would come up with, I was in acceptance of that because I’m thinking that if we wanna really be successful with our music, then we really do need to broaden our horizons. And obviously, the combination worked incredibly well.”

On January 10, JUDAS PRIEST revealed that it would perform as a four-piece when it returns to the road in early March. A few hours later, the band’s touring guitarist Andy Sneap, who co-produced the group’s 2018 album “Firepower”, released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET in which he said that he was “incredibly disappointed” by PRIEST’s decision to carry on as a quartet and thanked the iconic outfit for the “mind-blowing” opportunity to share the stage with one of his favorite bands. Meanwhile, PRIEST fans were understandably upset about the band’s decision to forgo its classic twin-guitar attack sound and made their feelings known on social media. Some even called for the return of Downing, who joined PRIEST in 1970 and remained in the group until 2011. On January 15, JUDAS PRIEST released a statement announcing that it was reversing its decision to tour as a four-piece, explaining that the bandmembers “decided unanimously” to continue their live shows “unchanged” with Rob, Ian Hill (bass), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Scott Travis (drums) and Andy.

Last week, Downing said in an interview that it was “very, very strange” for PRIEST “to even think about” the possibility of going out as a quartet. “I’m like everybody else. I’m totally bemused,” he told the “Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen” classic rock show. It was just so extreme and insulting in a way, I guess, and insulting to Glenn as well. It was kind of a slap in the face, saying, ‘Okay, you two guys did it, but we think just one guy could do what…’ It kind of made us and everything that we’ve done and created, saying it was all superfluous, really, and didn’t really have the value that… I’m sure Glenn will agree with me that it does have a value.”

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Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen’s project SMITH/KOTZEN played the second show of its U.S. West Coast tour last night (Saturday, January 22) at Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas, Nevada. Joining Smith and Kotzen as part of their touring band is Richie’s wife, internationally acclaimed bass player Julia Lage, formerly of the Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian rock band BARRA DE SAIA. With a strong pedigree in rock, Lage has played alongside the likes of Pat Travers, Elliot Easton (THE CARS), Nuno Bettencourt (EXTREME) and Mark McGrath (SUGAR RAY). In addition, SMITH/KOTZEN has enlisted drummer Bruno Valverde of ANGRA for the U.S. West Coast dates.

Fan-filmed video footage of the Las Vegas concert, including SMITH/KOTZEN’s rendition of the IRON MAIDEN classic “Wasted Years”, with Smith on lead vocals, can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Metal Edge magazine’s “Another FN Podcast With Izzy Presley”, Richie stated about how the short tour came together (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “What happened was it was all just by timing. Nathalie [Dufresne-Smith, Adrian’s wife] and Adrian came into town, and Adrian said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be there for a couple of months. You wanna write some more songs?’ And we did get together and we did about seven things that are in the works; we have some demo stuff that are in the works. And then we started thinking, ‘Man, we’re here. Why don’t we play?’ Julia was in the house and we were talking about it. And it just kind of — boom. It just made sense. ‘Let’s go. Call Bruno.’ And we put it together. It was real easy.”

Adrian added that fans can definitely expect to hear more music from SMITH/KOTZEN, which released a full-length album and an EP during 2021.

“We started writing with a view to doing another album, and then we got sidetracked on dates,” Smith said. “Like Richie said, we’ve got six or seven things. It’s just taking where we left off with the EP — just writing as we do.

“I don’t wanna change the world,” he added. “I just wanna make good rock music. It’s n there, and you’ve just gotta do it. You just have to do it, really. It’s one of those things.”

SMITH/KOTZEN remaining West Coast tour dates:

Jan. 23 – Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
Jan. 26 – Goldfield Trading Post – Roseville, CA
Jan. 27 – The Siren – Morro Bay, CA
Jan. 28 – Ventura Theatre – Ventura, CA (postponed from Jan. 15)

SMITH/KOTZEN’s eponymous debut album was released globally through BMG in March 2021 to media and fan acclaim, charting No. 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart in the U.S., Top 20 in the U.K. as well as in other major markets such as Germany, Japan and Canada. A follow-up EP, “Better Days”, featuring four new tracks was released on November 26 in conjunction with international Record Store Day’s Black Friday event.

Smith is best known as one of IRON MAIDEN’s principal guitarists, having also enjoyed success as a solo artist. Kotzen is the frontman for THE WINERY DOGS as well as having been the guitarist for both MR. BIG and POISON during his long and acclaimed career, which has to date seen him release more than 20 solo albums. Both artists are also prolific songwriters.

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Progressive rock and roll legend Ian Anderson, founding member of JETHRO TULL, spoke to “The Five Count” radio show about the prospect of returning to the road while the pandemic is still raging in most parts of the world. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t think you’re looking at what I’m looking at in terms of the infection rates throughout many countries I’m [supposed to be] performing in, including [the U.S.], where you’ve actually had record infection rates of all time since the beginning of the pandemic, and the same thing applies, as of today, in Italy [and] in Germany. In the U.K., we’re down to, actually, 50 percent of the daily infection rates compared to a couple of weeks ago. And that’s kind of good news, cautiously, because it looks like [the] omicron [variant] has spread so far and so wide throughout the U.K. population that natural immunity from being infected plus the considerable level of vaccination that we’ve achieved here looks like it’s… Obviously, you must never, ever think, ‘Oh, it’s over. We’ve beaten coronavirus.’ It’s not going away. It’s gonna be with us as an endemic disease, whatever happens, for the rest of probably my children’s and my grandchildren’s lifetimes. But hopefully it’s not going to account for too many lives. And we can only hope that in Europe — they’re about, I would guess, three and four weeks behind us in most of Western Europe; same thing with the USA. But there are parts of Eastern Europe where they haven’t even smelt omicron yet, and their vaccination rates are maybe 28, 30 percent. Boy, are they in big trouble. And so am I because I’m supposed to be playing in some of those countries in the weeks to come. It’s gonna be pretty damn serious in a lot of places.”

Anderson continued: “We’re back where we were. Right now, it’s an echo of 2021 and 2020. Already we’ve had to postpone again, for the third and fourth times, two tours in January. I’m hoping that some of the things in February will go ahead. Fingers crossed. And March may be the same. I think by later in April and into May, things will be looking better. But, boy, they’re not looking better at the moment. And the degree to which hospitals can cope with the rising levels of infections from those who are not vaccinated and are becoming seriously ill, then there is trouble ahead.”

Over 90% of those aged 12 and over in the U.K. have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and over 82% have had their second.

Among 15 major nations surveyed in a poll by Morning Consult, the United States and Russia have the lowest rates of vaccinated people and the highest rates of vaccine skepticism, according to The Hill.

In the U.S., more than 63% of the population are currently fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, while more than 75% have received at least one shot, according to data from the CDC.

More than 862,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the U.S.

JETHRO TULL’s first studio album of new material in over 18 years, “The Zealot Gene”, will see a January 28 release on InsideOut Music.

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DEATH ANGEL played a homecoming show last night (Saturday, January 22) at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

DEATH ANGEL released a new live album titled “The Bastard Tracks” last November via Nuclear Blast. Recorded live at The Great American Music Hall on May 22, 2021, and streamed live soon after, “The Bastard Tracks” is a deep-cuts collection of rarely and never performed songs from the band’s catalog that was released digitally and on CD, vinyl and Blu-ray.

In December 2020, DEATH ANGEL streamed its seventh annual “Another Death Angel XMas Show” from The Great Northern in San Francisco.

In October 2020, DEATH ANGEL released a four-song EP, “Under Pressure”. The effort included a cover of QUEEN + David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”, followed by a new track titled “Faded Remains”, plus acoustic versions of “Act III”‘s classic “A Room With A View” and “Humanicide”‘s “Revelation Song”. The EP was mixed by Max Norman (OZZY OSBOURNE, MEGADETH, BAD COMPANY) and mastered by Ted Jensen (LAMB OF GOD, MACHINE HEAD, HALESTORM).

Released in May 2019 via Nuclear Blast, “Humanicide” saw DEATH ANGEL returning to producer and friend Jason Suecof (DEICIDE, TRIVIUM) of Audiohammer studios for the recording and mixing, along with the mastering of the legendary Ted Jensen (SLIPKNOT, PANTERA) of Sterling Sound, who added the final touches and brought it all to life, with artist Brent Elliott White (LAMB OF GOD, MEGADETH) providing the ominous cover artwork.

In March 2020, DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll spent almost two weeks on a ventilator in an intensive care unit at a Northern California hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. He first got sick when he and the rest of DEATH ANGEL spent more than a month on the road in Europe with TESTAMENT and EXODUS as part of “The Bay Strikes Back 2020” tour.

DEATH ANGEL was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Metal Performance” for the “Humanicide” title track. It was the group’s first Grammy nomination.

Carroll joined DEATH ANGEL in 2009 as the replacement for the band’s original drummer, Andy Galeon.

Will can be heard on the last four DEATH ANGEL studio albums: “Relentless Retribution” (2010), “The Dream Calls for Blood” (2013), “The Evil Divide” (2016) and the aforementioned “Humanicide”.

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Michael Sweet of openly Christian rockers STRYPER says that he is “more concerned with the state of our world” as he continues to work on lyrics for the band’s upcoming 14th studio album.

STRYPER’s follow-up to 2020’s “Even The Devil Believes” LP will once again be recorded at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Earlier today (Sunday, January 23), the 58-year-old guitarist/vocalist, who recently underwent surgery for a re-detached retina, took to his social media to write: “I’ll be honest. I’m a little nervous about the new album. Not the music itself but more so the process.

“We’re obviously not operating at 100%,” he continued. “Oz [Fox, STRYPER guitarist] lost the hearing in his left ear and I’ve lost my vision (hopefully and prayerfully short term) in my right eye. We’ll be working this way and it’s certainly a first. How will it affect our performances? Not much. It most likely will take a little longer to get what we want but maybe not. We’ll have to see how that goes.

“I’m also at that place where I’m more concerned with the state of our world. I’m concerned about what I see on the news. Is it just me or does it feel as though we’re in a much darker place these days? Our country, our world. Maybe I’m wrong but it feels as though darkness is overtaking the light. People seem much colder and more concerned about themselves than they do others. There are some good people out there but times are definitely changing sadly.

“So, as I’ve been facedown I’ve been writing lyrics and although there are some straight up songs about love, there’s more of a take on the state of this world with lyrics that definitely address that,” Sweet added. “Maybe, just maybe this album will shed a little light into and onto some dark areas. That’s always my goal and always my desire. To help, not to hurt. To heal, not to damage. This is my intention with every song I write.

“Anyway – we appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we embark on what will be our 14th studio album and I really believe that this one has the very strong potential to be our best. I don’t say that lightly. I would never say it if I didn’t believe it.

“We officially start next Wednesday. I’m excited and I’m ready to have an incredible year.

“I hope to see you all at a STRYPER show in the very near future. It’s been way too long…….

“May God Bless you all”.

Last month, Sweet stated about the musical direction of STRYPER’s new material: “Lots of riffs, grooves, up tempo and mid tempo and everything has a great feel to it. I’ve only sent music to the guys so they haven’t heard any melodies yet but the melodies are strong and powerful.

“It’s always a little strange talking about your own music but I can say that I’m really excited about the direction of this album! I know you will be too. We’ve tuned down to D so the tuning makes it all sound a little fatter and heavier. There are a few songs with the low E string dropped down another step (C) so those songs have a bit more meat and potato’s as well;-) There are a few ballads but they’re not your typical ‘piano’ or ‘acoustic’ ballads. They’re heavy as well and definitely guitar driven.

“Even though there have been obstacles along the way, this album really has shaped up to be an amazing piece of work,” Sweet added. “We’re a long way out but man, I can’t wait for all of you to hear this!!”

Last March, Fox underwent the first of his brain surgeries to treat one of the tumors that were found in his head more nearly four years ago. That same month, STRYPER and Frontiers Music Srl announced that they have extended their working relationship for the release of more new studio albums together.

STRYPER and Frontiers originally joined forces in 2013 for the release of “Second Coming”, an album comprised of new recordings of 14 songs from the band’s early years, as well as two brand new songs. What followed has been a string of critically and commercially successful studio albums, including “No More Hell To Pay” (2013), “Fallen” (2015), “God Damn Evil” (2018) and “Even The Devil Believes” (2020). Additionally, a live album and long-form video, “Live At The Whisky” (2014) was made available. Every one of the albums released on Frontiers in the past nine years has successfully charted on the Billboard 200 chart and topped the Hot 100, Rock, Hard Rock, Current and Christian Music album charts.

STRYPER is one of the most well-known metal bands to emerge from the fertile ’80s metal renaissance over three decades ago. The band first landed on the global scene in 1984 and and is responsible for such classic ’80s metal albums as “Soldiers Under Command”, “To Hell With The Devil” and “In God We Trust” and hit singles/videos such as “Calling On You”, “Free” and “Honestly”. To date, the band has sold upwards of eight million records worldwide and is a Dove Award winner and Grammy nominee. STRYPER was also the first band to have two songs in MTV’s “Top 10 Video Countdown” simultaneously.

After being on a hiatus for much of the ’90s, STRYPER returned stronger than ever in the early 21st century. Musically, the band has progressed and grown their fan base steadily and continuously, being one of the few “classic” metal bands of the ’80s that managed to keep themselves front and center thanks to the consistency of their musical output.

Michael is joined in STRYPER by his brother Robert Sweet (drums), Oz Fox (guitars) and Perry Richardson (bass).

I’ll be honest. I’m a little nervous about the new album. Not the music itself but more so the process.

We’re obviously…

Posted by Michael Sweet on Sunday, January 23, 2022

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During an appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn’s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast, BLACK VEIL BRIDES singer Andy Biersack spoke about his decision to get sober more than six years ago. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was just one of those situations where I was so young. All I wanted in the world was to be in a rock band and to go on tour and to get to do this thing that I had this dream to do. I didn’t really socialize much growing up. Basically, my childhood was I’d play sports and then I’d come home and I’d paint my face and I’d sing into the mirror and then I’d go to hockey practice or whatever and then I’d come back and paint my face and sing into a mirror and dream of drawing and making costumes. So because of that, there wasn’t really much time for friends; I was just kind of a loner kid. And I never really built friendships; I didn’t know how to act around other people. And then I’m touring regionally in a car, things are happening and we go play a basement to five people. Well, that’s five more people than I thought were gonna be there, and they all say, ‘Hey, you’re the shit.’ And I’m, like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome. I am the shit. And you’re 22; you must know everything about the world.’ And so as it happened, being so young and then heading into a career in music, I started kind of piecing together a personality based on these other people that I was around. And everybody in the bands were older than me, and everywhere we’d go on tour were older than me, and I just saw them as they know what their life is; this is what you do. You’ve gotta party hard, you’ve gotta be crazy and you’ve gotta cultivate this personality. And it just became by the time I’m 21, 22, I’ve just got this weird suit of armor that I’ve made of this thing that I’ve read somebody say in an interview and this aesthetic choice that somebody made and all this stuff that I’m kind of taking and making it into whatever my thing is. And by the time I hit my mid-20s, I was just kind of over it.”

He continued: “I’d spent so much time trying to be this character that I had created in my mind and trying to portray this thing. We’ve gotten so much shit from the day that we started from so many people and it made me so mad and angry and I wanted to defend myself and defend my band. And more importantly, as a kid who came from a small town of modest means, who just wanted to be around other people who liked the same shit as me, I felt this sense of responsibility to our audience to be the guy who will stand up for them and fight against people that talk shit about the band. And I still do, but the way that I was doing it at that age was I’d get really drunk and we’d play three songs and I’d spend the rest of the show trying to fight people. It wasn’t necessarily healthy. And then I would feel down and so I’d go to a hotel room and drink by myself and then try to write songs and just spinning out. And it just got to the point where I didn’t have an addiction so much as it was just a crutch. It was, ‘I’m doing this because I’m socially awkward and don’t know who I am and this gives me a personality and makes me feel better about being outgoing and being this person that I wanna be.’ And then it became, ‘Well, I have to do that.’ And then we’d make records. The first major label record we made, the producer told me that I sounded better when I was drinking. So, I’m 20 years old, not even legally allowed to drink, and I’m being told by an A-list producer on my first major label record, ‘You sound better when you’re drunk, so you should get drunk before we track vocals.’ So then I’m, like, ‘Well, I’ve gotta do this.’ And so it just became this kind of self-fulfilling thing. And then my wife [Juliet Simms, a.k.a. Lilith Czar] is also a musician and she is somebody who had dealt with similar things. She started really young and had a very similar trajectory in terms of her life, and we both were just, like, ‘We’ve just gotta cut this shit out,’ and we just did it together. And now it’s been the same amount of time for both of us, and we’re exponentially happier and healthier people than we’ve ever been.”

BLACK VEIL BRIDES’ latest album, “The Phantom Tomorrow”, was released in October via Sumerian Records. The third concept LP from BLACK VEIL BRIDES and the band’s most-ambitious release to date is comprised of a dozen tracks, including the band’s first-ever U.S. Top 10 Active Rock single “Scarlet Cross”.

The cover artwork for “The Phantom Tomorrow” was created by Eliran Kantor, known for his work with TESTAMENT, HATEBREED, HAVOK and Andy Black, to name a few. “The Phantom Tomorrow” was produced by Erik Ron (GODSMACK, DANCE GAVIN DANCE, BUSH) and co-produced by guitarist Jake Pitts.

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SAXON frontman Biff Byford says that it was “strange” for JUDAS PRIEST to announce its plan to embark on the next leg of its 50th-anniversary tour as a quartet.

On January 10, JUDAS PRIEST revealed that it would perform as a four-piece when it returns to the road in early March. A few hours later, the band’s touring guitarist Andy Sneap, who co-produced the group’s 2018 album “Firepower” and has helmed several SAXON LPs in the past, released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET in which he said that he was “incredibly disappointed” by PRIEST’s decision to carry on as a quartet and thanked the Rob Halford-fronted outfit for the “mind-blowing” opportunity to share the stage with one of his favorite bands. Meanwhile, PRIEST fans were understandably upset about the band’s decision to forgo its classic twin-guitar attack sound and made their feelings known on social media. Some even called for the return of guitarist K.K. Downing, who joined PRIEST in 1970 and remained in the group until 2011.

On January 15, JUDAS PRIEST released a statement announcing that it was reversing its decision to tour as a four-piece, explaining that the bandmembers “decided unanimously” to continue their live shows “unchanged” with Rob, Ian Hill (bass), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Scott Travis (drums) and Andy.

Sneap, who is also known for his work in NWOBHM revivalists HELL and cult thrash outfit SABBAT, began touring with PRIEST four years ago after longtime guitarist Glenn Tipton — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease eight years ago after being stricken by the condition at least half a decade earlier — announced in early 2018 he was going to sit out touring activities in support of “Firepower”.

Byford weighed in on PRIEST’s four-piece plans in interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station conducted before the band announced its change of heart. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, it’s a bit strange,” he said. “I do know about it. I’ve talked to Andy about this. But, yeah, it’s a bit strange that they decided to go out as a four-piece. It’s a bit of a wacky decision. I don’t really understand it; I don’t really understand the motives behind it. Obviously, if you play loud enough, it can sound like a five-piece band. Richie is a great guitarist. Looking at the stage and not seeing two guitarists is a bit strange for me. I mean, we have done it. Back in the day, Paul [Quinn] has done gigs — not recently, but back in the ’80s — without Graham [Oliver], the other guy. We have done it, but it’s not really the same.”

He continued: “Yeah, it’s a bit of a wacky one, that. It’s obviously their decision — it’s their band — so you can’t really question their motives behind it. But I think it’s a bit odd. I didn’t expect it — put it that way. It’s a bit of a curveball. I mean, the time to have done it was when K.K. left; that would have been the best time to do it. And then Andy’s been in the band now for four years, hasn’t he? It’s a bit wacky, I think.”

When Meltdown suggested that PRIEST’s decision could be down to some kind of a scheduling conflict, Byford said: “I don’t think it’s anything with Andy; I think Andy is [producing] the next [PRIEST] album. So I can’t see that. I don’t think it’s a problem with Andy or anything like that. I just think it’s a decision they’ve made. I don’t know… Honestly, I don’t have any inside track on it, really.”

Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Halford joined the group in 1973 and Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then came back to PRIEST in 2003. Downing parted ways with the band more than a decade ago and was replaced by Faulkner.

Last week, Downing said in an interview that it was “very, very strange” for PRIEST “to even think about” the possibility of going out as a quartet. “I’m like everybody else. I’m totally bemused,” he told the “Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen” classic rock show. It was just so extreme and insulting in a way, I guess, and insulting to Glenn as well. It was kind of a slap in the face, saying, ‘Okay, you two guys did it, but we think just one guy could do what…’ It kind of made us and everything that we’ve done and created, saying it was all superfluous, really, and didn’t really have the value that… I’m sure Glenn will agree with me that it does have a value.”

Last November, JUDAS PRIEST announced the rescheduled “50 Heavy Metal Years” North American tour dates for March-April 2022. Support on the trek will come from QUEENSRŸCHE.

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In a new interview with “Heritage Musicians In Conversation With Joe Matera”, TWISTED SISTER guitarist Jay Jay French was asked how important veteran hard rock producer Tom Werman was to the commercial success of the band’s triple-platinum “Stay Hungry” album. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Boy, that’s a complicated answer. Because Tom Werman, as a symbol, represented success, because he had enormous, multi-platinum successful records and artists — Ted Nugent and MÖTLEY CRÜE and CHEAP TRICK; I mean, he had a track record. So when the record label said, ‘We’ll get you Werman,’ that was basically like telling Jimmy Stewart in 1940, ‘We’re getting you Frank Capra to direct your movie,’ or someone telling you ‘We’re getting Francis Ford Coppola to direct a movie.’ I mean, if you’re getting those kinds of names, you’re going, ‘Oh, wow. That’s heavyweight.’ Werman was a heavyweight. Regardless of what anyone thinks of his records, how they sounded, he was a heavyweight. So he came on board. And it was controversial because Dee [Snider, TWISTED SISTER singer] didn’t get along with him, and he didn’t like a lot of the songs. Putting that aside, he knew how to make a record sound good on the radio. ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ just exploded on the radio. So regardless of whatever personal issues we had with Werman, the fact is that you can’t deny that he produced a record that has now sold six million copies. It’s like AC/DC saying, ‘Well, [‘Back In Black’ producer] Mutt Lange is bad’ or ‘terrible.’ Well, I’m sorry — he sold you 18 million copies of a record. So it’s unfair to just smear him. I don’t wanna smear Werman. He did what he did, and life moves on.

“You ask a lot of bands if they like the way their records sound, a lot of ’em will say they don’t,” French reasoned. “It didn’t matter what producer produced it. They’ll go, ‘It can always be better. Somebody else could have done it.’ So we did our own version of it called ‘Still Hungry’; we re-recorded everything. Are we the first artist to do that? No.”

Two years ago, Snider slammed Werman over the producer’s work on “Stay Hungry”, saying that he had “begged” Tom to put the songs “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” on the LP. “[Tom] didn’t want those two tracks on the record,” Dee said during an appearance on “The Jasta Show”. “I was on my knees in front of him… I wasn’t begging on my knees, but because he was sitting and there was noise going on… And he’s going, ‘Eh, ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’, it’s a little [hums melody mockingly]’ I go, ‘Trust me. It’s gonna be edgier when we do it. That’s the thing. It’s catchy.’ And his answer was, ‘All right, if you really want it.’ Okay, that was ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’. And ‘I Wanna Rock’, he goes, ‘Eh, I’ve done that thing already with MOLLY HATCHET. [hums galloping rhythm]’ He was mocking my song. He actually presented me with SAXON songs to put on the ‘Stay Hungry’ album from [SAXON’s] ‘Strong Arm of The Law’. He goes, ‘Check this out.’ I go, ‘Yeah, it’s SAXON.’ He goes, ‘It’s really good.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s SAXON.’ He goes, ‘Nobody really knows them.’ I said, ‘We’ve toured with them. It’s SAXON.’ … He wanted us to cover SAXON songs. And I love SAXON, but in my community, it was current. It was their album that came out last. And he had this attitude, like, they were European, they weren’t really big.”

Werman later fired back at Snider over his comments, accusing the singer of “embellishing” the facts and denying that he had the power to singlehandedly pick the songs that were going to be include on the album.

“When an independent producer is hired by a label or a band, he is not given the authority to decide which songs are recorded,” he told Full In Bloom. “It’s a cooperative venture, Now, there’s probably a very good chance that when they played me the demos of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’, I said, ‘Well, it sounds a little bit like a nursery rhyme.’ Definitely catchy. But I probably needed a little bit of convincing. Getting down on his knees and begging? No. No. Dee Snider was there for the mixes. Dee Snider approved every single mix. So, really, if he doesn’t like the album, it’s just as much his fault as it might be fine. So, he blames somebody else…

“There’s no question that my approach to recording music was more pop, but that’s what worked,” Werman explained. “That’s what got people on the radio. That’s why [CHEAP TRICK’s] ‘Surrender’ was a hit. That’s why [Ted Nugent’s] ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ was a hit. That’s why I made hit singles. That was the only way to sell millions of albums, which would have been confined or restricted to FM play only. He’s got one of the most licensed songs in the history of recorded music probably, and he’s bitching and bitching and bitching… It is mysterious to me.”

Tom also addressed Dee’s claim that Werman suggested having TWISTED SISTER cover a SAXON song on the LP.

“I committed the terrible crime of saying, ‘Hey, I like this song. Maybe you could do it,'” Tom said. “[Dee] said, ‘Woah, it’s SAXON.’ ‘That’s right. That’s right. It’s SAXON. I really like this.’ And I think it was ‘Strong Arm Of The Law’ or something like that. SAXON was a good band. He said, ‘We’ve toured with them. We know them.’ But the way he put it, it was, like, ‘What, in God’s name, is a producer doing, suggesting to me, Dee Snider, who writes songs, that I should do a song that somebody else wrote?’ We do it all the time. I’ve done cover songs with everybody. MÖTLEY CRÜE did ‘Smokin’ In The Boys Room’. POISON did ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’ — a Top 10 single. So I said it, I recommended it. And he goes nuts: ‘He wanted me to do a SAXON song, for God’s sake.’ That’s right, Dee. I wanted you to do that. And he said no. Did I force you to do it? No. Because I can’t.

“If I had the power to keep one of Dee’s songs off the album, then I would have had the power — the same power — to force him to put another song on the album,” Werman explained. “Obviously, I don’t have that power as a producer, and I never did, nor do many other producers. The producer is a hired gun; you fire him if you don’t like him. In their case, [Dee] was pissed because he was forced to work with me by Doug Morris, who was a fairly successful record guy, songwriter, number two or three guy in the recorded music history, behind Clive [Davis] and Ahmet [Ertegun]. And he called me up and he said, ‘Tom, you are the only producer I can think of who I think can make a hit with this band. And I really want this band to break a million in the United States.’ So, of course, I said yes, and, of course, I knew that my job was to make them a commercial success.

“I really don’t know what I could have done different to satisfy this guy,” he added, referring to Dee. “I mean, the record that he made with the band, the re-record [of ‘Stay Hungry’], that he said, ‘That’s the way we should have sounded,’ I don’t know who marketed it, but I understood that in the beginning, after it was released, it sold about 25 thousand records. CHEAP TRICK did the same thing.

“Years later, you’re not so good. But at the time, you’re great. They’re selling millions of records — we love you. We love you, Tom. You’re the best. And then, 20 years later, nah, he didn’t get our sound right. He wasn’t focused. He barely gave a damn about us. He tried to keep our best songs off the record. Whatever you like. It’s just, like, I think I’ll revise history here a little bit.”

In a 2004 press release announcing the release of the re-recorded and expanded version of the classic 1984 album — under the aforementioned title “Still Hungry” — French said, “‘Still Hungry’ is ‘Stay Hungry – The Way It Ought to Be’. It has an ultra-heavy sound, which is the way we wanted ‘Stay Hungry’ in the first place. But at that time rock records had a thin, very midrange kind of sound and so ‘Stay Hungry’ was recorded very lightly. We battled Atlantic Records and producer Tom Werman about it, but we lost. These re-recordings are faithful to the original arrangements, but they sound much heavier.”

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Ted Nugent has railed against large social-media companies that block users from their platforms.

The outspoken conservative rocker is an ardent supporter of former U.S. president Donald Trump who was famously suspended from his social accounts in January 2021 over public safety concerns in the wake of the Capitol riot.

During his YouTube livestream on Thursday (January 20), Nugent once again upped his unsubstantiated accusations that tech companies are censoring his speech as Facebook and other tech companies have attempted to limit coronavirus vaccine misinformation.

“Boy, does Big Tech crush the First Amendment, like some kind of devil grease gangbangers,” Nugent said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

“Hey, Big Tech fact checkers, you’re lying scum. And they all have to put up a COVID alert misinformation. No, no, no — everything from Big Tech and the media and the government, that’s the misinformation.

“When I share [information from physician group] Frontline Doctors and epidemiologists and virologists, experts, lifetime dedicated, professional healthcare specialists, doctors and scientists, when I express their findings, that’s not misinformation; that’s pertinent information,” he continued.

“Big Tech, the media and the government, academia and Hollywood, when they identify stuff coming out of me — ’cause I don’t have any medical or science hunches; I’m cocky but I’m not that stupid. So I go to the professional healthcare, dedicated Frontline Doctors, and I share truth, logic and medical common sense. And when they identify it as misinformation, that’s the misinformation. Okay? So let’s be forewarned.”

Addressing the fact that he is still able to share his views on most of the major social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even YouTube, Ted said: “I can’t believe they haven’t kicked me off yet. Twitter has kicked off Shemane [Nugent, Ted’s wife]. She’s like Mother Teresa, Joan Of Arc. She’s the greatest, sweetest, harmless woman that ever walked the earth, and she’s kicked off Twitter because she said something positive about Donald Trump — inconsequential; just a compliment.

“By the way, you know the First Amendment? That was not given to us by the government,” Ted added. “That didn’t start when they wrote it in the Constitution. Tell me you know that when they wrote down self-evident truth in the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights that those rights and those freedoms didn’t begin there; they already existed. We didn’t need a man to put it to paper. We got ’em from God, from the Creator. We were born with all those freedoms, all those self-evident-truth rights. We just wrote it in the documents in case we experience some prick like King George — Joe Biden — who’s gonna try to play tyrannical emperor kingpunk. We just want it on paper just to reference those punks that would try to pry it from our soul. But we know we have it when we’re born, whether it’s on paper or not.”

Last May, Nugent said that he beat COVID-19 by following “intelligent, professionally guided care from the Frontline Doctors,” referring to the aforementioned group of doctors who made a video in July 2020 calling for the use of hydroxychloroquine to battle the novel coronavirus, despite warnings from public health experts.

In the above-mentioned video, a group of people wearing white lab coats calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” staged a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. and made a number of dubious claims, including that “you don’t need masks” to prevent spread of the coronavirus, and that studies showing hydroxychloroquine is ineffective for the treatment of COVID-19 are “fake science” sponsored by “fake pharma companies.” According to Politifact, many of the doctors’ claims contradicted recommendations from public health organizations and experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci. The video quickly went viral on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube before it was taken down for promoting misinformation.

Last month, Nugent told the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3 that he beat COVID-19 by “listen[ing] to what the government told me to do and [doing] just the opposite. And whatever the government told me not to do, that’s exactly what I did do, and I was cured in about two days.”

Nugent, an outspoken conspiracy theorist who has refused to take the vaccine, also once again falsely claimed that public health measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic violate the Nuremberg code, a set of medical experimentation guidelines set after World War Two, as the vaccine is experimental.

In April, Nugent talked about the darkest days of his battle with COVID-19, saying that he had “never been so scared” in his entire life. The 73-year-old pro-gun activist, who had previously claimed the virus was “not a real pandemic,” said: “It was really scary. I didn’t think I was gonna make it. I literally couldn’t function for about 20 hours, and then they came and they rescued me… The six-foot-two, 225-pound headache [this time] was like nothing I have ever experienced. I mean, from my tip of my toes to the top of my hair, I literally was dizzy and weak and struggled to get up to go to the bathroom. And I would lay in the bathtub a couple of times a day with the water as hot as I could take it just to divert.”

In the past, Nugent had referred to the virus as a “leftist scam to destroy” Trump. He had also repeated a narrative pushed by conservative media and disputed by health experts that suggests the official death count from the coronavirus is inflated.

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