Roy Z interview
23/06/2005
Interview by Mattias (The Bruce Dickinson Well-Being Network).
M = Mattias
R = Roy Z
M. Last time I spoke to you, which is almost four years
ago, we already then talked about the next one after Chemical
Wedding and you said, and I quote you now, that you wanted the next
one to be “an extension of Chemical Wedding” like “ a next phase”.
So now I wonder did you succeed?
R. Its partially an extension of Chemical Wedding and
Accident of Birth. I think it's a meeting ground, a cross road of the
two projects. Originally we wrote a bunch of stuff right after C.W.
But we did not use to much of it.
M. I feel that in a way that you developed a side of CW
but at the same time gone back to more of the sound of AOB. Not
downtuning the guitars and so on.
R. Not tuning down to B and A was something I changed
around in the last minute. Tuning down is to normal nowadays. Tuning
up is not as normal now in Heavy Metal
M. I think the album sounds great. To me it’s got a sort
of up-dated eighties sound, if you see what I mean. It's a clear,
not muddy sounding record.
R. I think people now when they have these really
expensive CD-players and DVD-players are demanding more of a clearer
sound. We just went for the best sounds that we could that fit the
project. Bruce was not there to pick some of the sounds while we
recorded. So I just sort off went for what he normally likes. I would
not say ”eighties”… He really likes the productions of Martin
Birch.
M. Tha’ts what I mean when I am talking about ”eighties
sound”.
R. I was thinking, soundwise, Heaven and Hell (Black
Sabbath), Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden) and Holy Diver (Dio).
M. Exactly. That’s my point.
R. Cool… Well done Mattias! (laughing)
M. This album must have been written over a long period
of time. When I spoke to you in 2001 you said already then that you
had some 6 songs demoed. Has the timespan had any effect on the
final result in any way?
R. Out of all the songs we wrote, we used “Broken” and
“Silver Wings” for “The best of…” We still have some stuff from that
timeperiod put away but the ones we ended up using were “Believil”
and “Tyranny of souls". Those were original demos that appears on the
album now, that we just added drums and added some tracks to. Some of
those other songs just did not make it.
M. When did you start to work on the album that we are
hearing today then? Apart from those two songs.
R. My guess is roughly november 2003.
M. So its not that superlong ago then?
R. No it was more like, Bruce said “Lets write a bunch of
stuff”. So I wrote a bunch of stuff and he picked eight songs from
the twenty I sent him. And he said “I want to use Believil, Tyranny
of Souls and a song called Eternal” which originally was to be on the
album but at the very last minute were decided to not make it onto
the album but that it was to be used as a b-side or a bonus
track.
M. I think its on the japanese version.
R. I like the song, but Bruce said “Its enough right
there, stop it. That’s gonna be bonus” When we had a play back he
felt it was enough for a record
M. The album is, if you compare to other releases
nowadays, quite short, its only like 44 minutes long. Was that a
conscious decision, that you did not want to over do it or was it
just the way it turned out?
R. I know from Bruce perspective I know this is how long
he wanted it to be. A lot more people is making it short and sweet.
Quality over quantity was the motto. For me it made it easier cause
it was only ten songs to do instead of thirteen or something. It made
the workload for all of it a lot easie
R. And I think people’s contracts are only made for ten songs
anyway and a lot of times the extra songs that you do are usually
fillers, if you know what I mean? So we thought “let’s do the
required amount, the perfect amount”.
M. I think it's a good thing that you cut down a bit
cause most CDs today are way too long and have to much what I would
call B-side material on the album.
R. I must say that the band that started this little wave
is The Darkness. They made a really short album. System of a Down
just did it. Their album is like 33 minutes long. It started with the
Darkness and now people are making shorter albums.
M. I think that when the CD-technology came bands were
putting out double vinyl albums without really knowing it. The
quality of records after 92-93 lots of times have been to long.
Having too much “bonus material” that’s not really good enough. But
on the other hand its also positive. Because of it people get the
chance to choose their “own” record. Get to hear songs that
normally would not be there. But in the end the overall quality of
the albums have been decreasing
R. I like records like Number of the Beast. When it
finishes you want more so you start all over again. I love that.
M. Thats better. Moving on... Where was it
recorded?
R. It was recorded at three studios. One called Castle
Oaks in Calabasas up here. The other one in San Diego called
Signature Sound and the rest was done here in my dining room.
M. In your dining room?
R. In my dining room. I set up a futon for Mr. Bruce cause
he was injured. And I used my pro-tools. I have a pretty big dining
room. Most people must think its quite small but its actually fairly
big. Its quite strange cause its right next to the kitchen!
(laughing)
M. But one should not sing with lots of food in your
stomach should you? (laughing)
R. No you should not sing with loads of food in your
stomach but its handy when you need a beer (laughing)
M. I guess so. So for those other two studios you talked
about what did you record there? Bass? Drums? Or did you record
more stuff at home (than Bruce’s vocals)?
R. Most of the guitars, vocals and overdubs… I must say
all of them were made here in my dining room. The drums is where you
really just can’t fake it. But it’s not faking it recording at home.
You are just not paying stupid amounts of money to use one channel on
the board. Why rent a whole studio, a whole board when you are only
using one channel or two at the time when you are doing overdubs and
stuff?
M. So you did not have any trouble with the neighbours
complaining about the racket from the guitars? (laughing)
R. No. Fortunately I am able to get a great sound with not
so much volume. I think I have enough space between me and my
neighbours so they can’t hear it. I don’t live in one of those to
close together communities. What I mean, it's a bit of space between
us.
M. Was it recorded over a short period of time or a long
period of time? You said you actually started to write the album
around 2003. Did you start to record right away or? Did you use a
lot of time to record the album?
R. I always do all my stuff within the first two or three
takes. Mostly its the first take. Because of my experience I have
learned over the years that the first one is usually the most
exciting take. I did all my guitar takes before anything else were
recorded! I did 99% of all guitar parts and solos. I just went for
it. I did not even realize I was recording cause in my mind maybe I
was going to record the takes over. But when I started to redo it I
just realised it did not have the same energy, the same vibe. It the
same with Bruce. He usually does four takes and then we make one take
out of those four. He is very professional, very consistent. He is
right to the point.
M. You never rehearse anything before?
R. We never rehearsed… The great thing about playing with
someone like Bruce live and being his producer is that he knows
already what’s going to work. He can visualize it. The great thing is
from playing with him I can too. So we both can see what those magic
things that the crowd is gonna get off on. You know what I mean?
Normally when we rehearsed it was more to get everyone else up to
speed to be quite honest.
M. You did not have a band to work this time
around.
R. We had Dave Moreno the drummer. He is great. He is
someone I work with a lot now. He is in my band. Him and I have
developed a telekinesis vibe that he knows exactly what I am gonna
ask him so he already starts doing it. So he is very quick. He is
very on top of things. He knows how to play exactly for the songs. He
has a lot of experience from playing a lot of session work here in LA
so he is just the right guy for us.
M. Where did you find him?
R. I have known Dave since he was 13 or 14.
M. So you go way back.
R. Yes. He grew up here in my neighbourhood. He was a
local kid.
M. When did you actually start to play together?
R. I’d say about two years ago.
M. Talking about the musicians we can go through the
others while we are at it. From Tribe of Gypsys Juan Perez on
bass.
R. Juan is an amazing talent. He can play anything. Salsa,
baroque, stand up bass, with a bow. Very super talented guy. He had a
cool project with Dave Lombardo (Slayer) one time. It was called
Clegg Muzzel. He is really into heavy stuff so I picked him for those
heavier tracks because I thought he was gonna give a bit of that
Slayer energy. Cause he is really into Slayer. And he did a great
job.
M. So what songs did he play on?
R. Abduction and Soul intruders.
M. And then you got Ray Burke. The ”Geezer”.
R. When I first saw him I did not know hiw. He sent his
picture and his tape. He wanted to audition for a band I was in
called Warrior. When I was growing up it was my favourite local
band…
M. When was this?
R. Ohh… 91? 92? Around there. We heard his tape… He had a
moustache. People in LA, musicians hardly have moustaches… Both
laughing
M. I think it's nice with a moustache. I am wearing one
right now!
R. Most of the guys around here wearing them are Mexican!
(still laughing) So he had a moustache and shit so I named him
“Geezer” and said “call him up”. We called him up and he was great.
And he has been a friend ever since. You know the guy makes songs
within the songs. He knows how to play that old style of bass playing
these days. Most bassplayers, if you can even hear them, are just
kind of playing with the guitar.
M. Very much so. He is more in the style of Geezer Butler
of Black Sabbath and maybe Steve Harris (Iron Maiden).
R. I’d say more Jack Bruce (Cream) that he is into. I
think he likes Steve Harris a lot but I don’t really see the
influences. When we jam in ‘Serpents and Rainbows’, a side project we
have where we play seventies covers and stuff he just knows how to
play that seventies stuff.
M. Does he play with his fingers or plectrum?
R. It depends. He can go into a Jimmy Bain (Rainbow, Dio)
type thing with a plectrum and then goes into something full on with
his fingers that makes you go ”Fuck man that sounds like Jack Bruce!”
So he is fantastic.
M. So you have known him for quite a while too, then? And
when did you approach him for the actual recording of the
album?
R. I could have done the bas myself to be honest with you.
But I could not have done it from a bassplayers point of view. And if
I did I think it would have sounded a bit too much like Steve Harris.
Cause to me Steve Harris is my favourite heavy metal bassplayer
right?
M. He is not that bad. (laughing)
R. No he is not that bad. (laughing) So I did it on
purpose. If I do this it will sound to much like a Maiden ripp-off.
And that’s what we did not want to do.
M. So you don’t play any bass on the album at
all?
R. I play on two songs. I play on “Power of the sun” and
“Believil” only by default cause that was my original demo bass.
There is a cool Gezzer Butler bassline in there so I said ”Nah, I
just leave my bass. ”
M. The keyboardplayer. The Italian guy Mistheria.
R. He is a fucking mystery to me, I have never meet the
dude. Fantastic, professional. We only correspond over the internet.
I had the pleasure of working with him on other projects and he just
delivered every time. We just sent him suggestions of sounds and what
he should play over the e-mail and it would come back exactly what I
asked. So in this instance he would send us twenty thirty tracks to
each song and then Bruce would just pick what he liked.
M. I did a short e-mail interview with him and he seemed
to be a very nice guy, easy going.
R. What’s he look like? In my mind he looks like a Vivaldi
Mozart looking dude. With a white wig. Does he wear a white wig?
(Both laughing)
M. He has his own webpage you know. And we have some
pictures on the Bruce page as well. Anyway… he has been doing
session work quite a lot and he seems to have been working with
others as he has been working with you. But you worked on a
previous project. The Rob Rock album. So that was your link to
him?
R. That was my link to him. Since then we have been doing
other stuff. And hopefully if I ever do a solo album I’d love to have
him on there.
M. He does some good work on the Bruce album. Actually I
am not that much of a fan of the twiddelywiddely sort of ”I am so
fast on the keyboard” – playing. He is not like that on Tyranny of
Souls.
R. You just got to tell him what you want. He can do
anything. He plays really nice atmospheric stuff. To me he was really
important to this album.
M. Where there any songs that was meant to be on the
“Trinity” project that ended up on “Tyranny of Souls”?
R. Yes. From my memory definitely “Tyranny of Souls”. You
can really hear Bruce and his take on Tate (Geoff) and Mr Halford
(Rob) - the metal god. And maybe “Believil” and “Eternal”.
M. “Tyranny of Souls” is one of the stand out tracks for
me on the album. It is a bit different from the other songs on the
album, the way it is structured and so on. That one and “Kill Devil
Hill” are my two favourite tracks. What are your favourite tracks
on the album?
R. Its hard to pick. Really. I like them all. Which is
rare for me. Normally, on albums there is songs that I can’t stand.
At least three or four that I can’t handle. Normally, at the end of
the thing I don’t like the album. I don’t listen to it at all. But
this is a unique thing for me that I can listen to the album and it
doesn’t make me wanna throw up.
M. Congratulations! (both laughing)
R. No seriously! Lots of times I go ”I could have done
that better! Oh I don’t like that!” I am one of those persons.
M. But are we talking performances or song
writing?
R. Either performance kills it or a lyric kills it for
you. Or you just don’t like the song. ”What were you thinking when
you wrote that song?” Writing songs is like an out of body experience
and then you come back to earth. Sometimes when you are working new
songs its hard to gauge.
M. So there are quite a few songs that we will never get
to hear live?
R. I don’t know… You can take any three or four songs off
this album and play them and people would be cool. There are so many
great thing on this album so many great vocal performances. I mean if
you take the vocal performance from “Kill Devil Hill”, the intro,
Bruce just sounds like God! Then you take a song like “Navigate the
seas of the sun” it’s so intimate. It show the delicacy of Bruce’s
voice. For me a song like “Soul intruder” I really like it. I like
“Believil”. I like ‘em all! That’s the honest answer.
M. “Navigate the seas of the sun” has been one of the
most talked about tracks on the album. Many reviewers feel it’s the
stand out track of the album. Did you discuss ever doing more of
that type of songs?
R. I wouldn’t say discuss but I can tell you that’s a
direction I like and that is a direction Bruce is really comfortable
with. I don’t know if there is ever a chance of doing an acoustic
album. But we work really well in the acoustic field. I really like
the way Bruce writes to the acoustic stuff that I have done over the
years with him… And the cool titles! He comes up with those really
cool titles. Anyway, on the demoes I sent him there was quite a few
acoustic songs. But whatever’s on this album he picked it.
M. You wrote quite a lot of songs for the album. Is there
any chance that the ”leftovers” will be used for a later
project?
R. I think so. There might be two or three that might come
out of there. But if we ever do another album I’d like to do
something completely different from all that we are doing now. Go
through another area. I think this album kind a like brings the last
two albums together. It cements that body of work
M. You were talking about in the previous interview that
we did that you saw you and Bruce doing a metal album trilogy and
this, as you say yourself, the last one. So what do you see in the
future? What would you like to if you had the chance?
R. There could be so many things… You could do something
really progressive. Something experimental like Balls to Picasso.
Although a song like “Believil” is like a not too “Cyclops” for me.
Bruce is a big fan of progressive so we could easily go for three or
four songs like that direction. We could go five or six songs
acoustic. Who knows? Who knows if we ever do another album together?
I don’t know. But if we ever do I know personally that I would like
it to be different from the previous three.
M. That sound like a good plan to me. This might sound
like a strange questions since we are talking about a Bruce
Dickinson solo album but compared to the previous ones I find the
album very vocal orientated. There are very few lengthy
instrumental parts. Was this a conscious decision or just the way
it turned out?
R. I consciously did not want to overdo my thing on it.
This is a Bruce Dickinson solo album. This is what the man wants to
do outside of Maiden. Or we assume that what he wants to do. I wanted
to keep the focus on him. I could have weeddidield and
scouddledoddled all over it. But I don’t think through the years that
it would make a good impression. I don’t think it would last like I
think this albums gonna last. It’s gonna take people a few good years
to realise this album. Some people already get it…
M. I would say most people seem to get it. At least over
here in Europe. You are getting really good reviews.
R. Cool. But I remember when Chemical Wedding came out a
lot of people were disappointed that it didn’t sound like Accident of
Birth. People did not see the album for what it was. And now people
compare this to Chemical Wedding and they got it all wrong. You don’t
do that! It’s stupid to do the same album all over again. We are
artists not factory workers. We live and breath and we change. To me
it was a conscious effort to make it Bruce’s record. It’s an album
that’s always gonna be around. Its an album that got some classic
songs on it already.
M. This time around you did not have a band to work with,
as we discussed earlier. Is this the way that you will continue to
work? Just you and him and session musicians?
R. It’s just the way this one turned out. If Bruce really
wants to work with someone he will tell me. And then we’ll work that
way. We used to do a lot of rehearsing for the previous albums. But
it was mainly to get everyone else up to speed.
M. But wouldn’t you say that you get another sort of feel
for the songs if you play them in a band situation before you
actually record them? Or do you feel so confident on how the end
result will turn out that you don’t really need to do that?
R. This is how it went down. Most of the songs on the
previous ones were written by Bruce and myself. I would programme the
drums I would play bass most of the time on them, That’s how we did
it. So those guys would learn the drums and bass parts. Eddie would
throw in little things here and there I agree. Same with Dave
Ingraham. Some times he pushed it here and there. But the demo was
the blueprint. Even for Bruce, cause he had heard it in a certain way
in his head. And then it was Adrian’s songs which basically was the
same thing. He would demo them and we would learn them pretty much
the way the demo was.
M. So he brought finished demoes with drum machine for
you to listen to?
R. Yeah. Having said that I think there was a certain band
chemistry there, for sure. But most of the time we just showed each
other what the hell to play! (both laughing)
M. You did not have Adrian to play against on this album.
No one to balance up for. Did that make you approach your guitar
playing differently?
R. Yeah it did. I could easily have done Adrian type lick
on it. But I didn’t. I just did what I thought needed to happened on
each song. On some maybe I went over the top. I was thinking in the
terms of guitar like I did when I was 16. The things that impressed
me. I tried to do those things. Do you see what I mean? This is how I
see guitarists. This is the cycle. When they are hot and young they
play amazing stuff. They’re on fire and when they get older they try
to work more on their vibrato and feel and stuff. I tried some ”feel”
on the songs that needed some of that but on the ones that did not I
went all out! All bullets blazing. I just tried to make it exciting.
When Adrian play he plays so melodic that I had to come with some
fire.
M. Yeah, that’s what I meant when I was talking about
”balancing up”.
R. Yeah. So on some of the songs I tried to do the
Blackmoore/Schenker stuff that he came up with. I can’t do it like
him. He is a unique talent. He is brilliant. But if Bruce thought it
was a missing element I am sure he would have said ”Lets call him
up”. So consciously or unconsciously I just went for it. I didn’t
wanna do solos like a yawn. I think a couple of solos you could sing.
Like “Navigate the seas of the sun”. “Soul intruders”, some parts of
that solo you could sing. To me there is the perfect balance of speed
and melody on this album for heavy metal.
M. What are your feelings on downloading?
R. What people don’t realise when they are downloading. Is
that they are actually diminishing the quality of the music that they
are gonna get in the future. Because they are eating away of the
budget. Artist will still make their money cause they do tours and
sell merchandise. But the producers and the studios are all going
under. The quality is going down hill.
M. Studios here in Stockholm have gone down. Polar where
ABBA and Led Zeppelin and Genesis made records closed down last
year. Cause no one was prepared to pay for it.
R. The ABBA studio! The studio where we mixed AOB and CW,
the old Madonna studio does not exist any more. Lots of studios I
have worked in are all gone. It’s harder and harder to make quality
records. I am not saying that people should not download but it’s
decreasing our chances to make quality records. Some people say that
the new one doesn’t sound as good as “The Chemical wedding” and
that’s fine. They can say that. But the bottom line is that we are
restricted with time. We can’t put in the time that we used to
do.
M. When you work as a producer what do you see as your
greatest strengths?
R. I have some strengths and some weaknesses. My main
strength is just to communicate with the artist and figure out what
their vision is and try to make it happen for the album. I try to be
cool with everyone, try not to be an asshole. Make their vision
happen.
M. What part do you like the most. Work on the
performances? Work the songs? The sounds?
R. I love the song writing. I must say song writing and
performing live is my favourite things to do.
M. But if we are talking about when you are in the
studio. What are you priorities?
R. Song is number one. Performance number two. Sound
number three. These are my priorities. I got to make clear we have
good songs, if not we got to do something about it right away. Then
we go through the parts. See so that it’s in the right key for the
vocalist. If it’s not we have to adjust. And that’s learning from
experience. We have lost some good songs because they were in the
wrong key. I can tell you that we lost some mean, mean songs during
Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding that just were not in the
right key!
M. For example?
R. No! They never made the album! They are still on a
shelf somewhere. These are the priorities Mattias. After that
individual performances. That’s it. Artists vision all the way. I
figure out what the artist wants, get the blueprint then just go for
it.
M. Can you tell us something about Stan Katayama?
R. Stan is great. Stan alleviates a lot of the things that
drives me up the wall, where I second guess myself. Stan is a
excellent engineer. Very methodical, takes his time. Really tries to
give you what you want. He is also versatile. He has been a part of
the sound from “Accident of Birth” and on. He has been a real
important gem in those sounds when it comes to the overall drum sound
and the overall mix. He is just great to work with and that’s all I
have to say.
M. Talking about production. You yourself have become one
of the more known names in modern day Heavy Metal. What do you
think about your competition?
R. There are a lot of great guys. Sometimes I hear
productions that makes me go ”Holy shit these guys are on fire!” For
me it’s not a competition. I think my strengths are my strengths and
their strengths are their strengths. What I would like to do in the
future is pair up with one of those guys and go for a ”super
production” – if you wanna call it that. Cause sometimes it seems as
if one is stuck in one area and another in another area. I think its
gonna take two very talented dudes to really make something over the
top. There are so many guys I could start naming but if I don’t name
some other guys I think is good I don’t think its fair.
M. If I put it this way. If you and Bruce were to make
another album and he said that he wanted you to bring in another
producer; what would your first suggestion be?
R. Honestly it depends on the style we are gonna go into.
If it was the same? Is that what you are asking?
M. You can start off with that.
R. I am really happy with a guy like Jacob Hansen who
mixed the Rob Rock for us. Did a fucking fantastic job. Talking about
producers… I have worked with other producers in the past like Richie
Podoler, Joe Barresi both really good. Some guys in Europe… Andy
Sneap does really well engineering work. As far as production I don’t
really know what he does put he seems to do a pretty good job. Over
here; Greg Fiddleman. A good friend of mine who produced that last
Foo Fighters Nick Rusilanicks. Nick and I always talked about working
together. Actually we did on “Puya” but that project got shelved.
There are so many guys I can keep going on and on.
M. That’s a wide selection.
R. It is cause I am into so many styles of music, I’m not
just into heavy metal. Daniel Lanois! Come on dude! For tribe of
Gypsy’s I’d love to have Daniel Lanois!
M. He is amazing.
R. He is amazing dude! I think to myself ”One day I am
gonna get that guy to produce us.”
M. It would be interesting to hear him working on a
really hard album. Cause the way that he works with sounds it would
be interesting to hear what he would do with a loud distorted
guitar, if you see what I mean? I think it would sound
massive.
R. Massive and I think it would just be one guitar. I
really like his productions. Something like that would be interesting
for me as well to work with some one in Heavy Metal. It would just
have to be an artist with a shit load of money. (both laughing)
M. Would you like to tour this album?
R. I would love to tour this album. Touring with Bruce is
fun. I did not realise it until towards the end how much fun we were
having. I hope he decides to tour on this one.
M. It’s too good not to tour.
R. Yeah. But if the fans really want it they got to speak
up! Cause we are listening.
M. Well, I am telling you right now; Go on tour! (both
laughing)
R. Cool. At the end of the day its up to Bruce himself.
The sooner the better for me cause of my schedule. Cause I am going
to take more work.
M. Do you have any big projects lined up for you?
R. You know Mattias I do. But I can’t talk about them
right now. The deals aren’t done yet. But I can tell you that there
are things coming my way that I am looking forward to. Things that I
am excited about, that I want to do. But I am also trying to leave
time for Tribe of Gypsy’s.
M. You have had some change in the personnel in Tribe of
gypsy’s. Dave Moreno is playing for you…
R. Dave Ingraham we lost. He had to bow out. He joined the
Young Dubliners. I love that guy a lot, he knows I do. I am happy for
him. Eddie is now in a position were he is a full time family man, a
father. Sometimes people grow out of it.
M. So what is the sound of ”the new Tribe”?
R. It’s the same really. Very Roots. Very organic,
heritage sound mixed together with influences. Some very aggressive
stuff, some eclectic. And some really ”song songs” if you see what I
mean. The plan is to release an E.P. to introduce the new
vocalist.
M. You got a new singer now?
R. I think so yeah. In two or there weeks we are going to
unveil everything. A new photo session. All will be unveiled in three
weeks or so. Later we will start to book some gigs in California.
M. Any record deals?
R. We’re just gonna make the product and talk to our
labels or former labels or whatever they are. If they want it they
can have it.
M. So “Tribe of gypsy’s” are your main priority now
before you head on to any other big recording projects?
R. I think so. Making this album or EP is my main priority
right now.
M. You know there is a 5.1 version of Balls to Picasso
out. Have you heard it? What do you know about it?
R. I have seen it around. A friend of mine has it. But
it's a thing I am standing away from right now. Cause I am also
starting to do 5.1 mixes. I just want to have my own style so I try
to not listen to other peoples stuff right now. M So you have not
been involved in the mixing of it.
R. No, it’s someone else. Bruce have talked about in the past
about doing Chemical Wedding and Accident of Birth. So if he wants to
I’m ready.
M. I have noticed that there are alternative mixings of
Road to Hell and Accident of Birth on the Best of album. What is
the story behind that?
R. There is always alternative mixes lying around. We do
five or six. Bass up, drums up, vocals up, guitar and so on. And then
we just pick the one out of that. So maybe someone picked another mix
by mistake or maybe on purpose. I don’t know.
M. Tell me about Tribuzy. You were on it, Bruce was on it
and Chris Dale was on it.
R. This guy is smart! I don’t know how he does it but he
gets all these guys on his CD. To me he just comes across as a really
good guy. I love the Brazilians, they are the salt of the earth. Very
beautiful genuine people. He just asked me and I said yes and then he
said Bruce was gonna be on it. So I recorded Bruce vocals while he
was here working on Tyranny of souls. M So he just called you up and
asked if you want to play guitar on my record? Is it that easy?
R. No. I got an e-mail asking me and he said all these other
people was gonna be on it. I noticed my friend Roland Grapow so I
called him and asked what’s up with this? And he said “I don’t know
but Kiske is gonna do it” and then I found out Bruce is gonna do
it!
M. And you did not know about that?
R. No. I didn’t find out until after I said yes to it. I
just thought “any excuse to go to Brazil ‘lets go!’”
M. OK. You have been working really hard now for while.
Doing Bruce, Judas Priest, Rob Rock so do feel you are having a
vacation now? Or are you still working as hard but with the Tribe
of Gypsy’s?
R. Like I said. I am working on some projects that I
really can’t talk about right now. But ToG is top priorities. Get the
line up ready. But working with ToG does not bring in any money, it’s
more a labour of love so I have to fit that in between my production
jobs in some way. I’d love to give up all the producing to be a full
time artist. But you know it’s not every day that a Bruce Dickinson
or a Judas Priest will call you up because they want you to work with
them. So I am lucky in that respect. I am humble and I am thanking
the powers that be. I thank them so much. Call it God or Destiny, I
am very lucky. I don’t take it lightly.
M. You have been very protective on the subject of your
personal life and your background. I have searched the net and
really just found that you are a bit of a sportsfan. But nothing
else really. And I have been given the impression that you are kind
of reluctant to talk about such things. How do you feel about that
today?
R. If you ask me questions I’ll answer them. I’m not shy.
But I am a kind of person that likes to stay a bit private. But it
does not hurt to ask. It’s true I wanted to play sports before I
wanted to do music. But then I got injured and could not do it
anymore. But I still love sports. What else do you want to know? Were
I am from?
M. Yes, things like that. I know you grew up in LA
somewhere.
R. I grew up in the valley in a place called Pacoima. I
was born there, I was raised there until sixteen then I moved out of
home. I still live really near there. It was a very very bad part of
town. Its famous cause Cheech and Chong used to use it to… It's a
really bad place to be from. A lot of shootings. A lot of gang
activity. Lots of friends of mine are either in jail or dead. People
that I grew up with. But it's a beautiful part of my life cause we
were happy! I did not know that I was poor. I come from a very
traditional family, very family orientated. We still see each other
all the time. Very close knit. I am proud of who I am and what I do
and where I am from. And I love music!
M. When did you find music?
R. They say that I was always pretending to play the piano
or grabbing a little guitar when I was very very small. I have always
been around music. I have always loved The Beatles, Led Zeppelin all
of that stuff. So since a very young age music has been a big big
part of my life.
M. Do you come from a musical family or was it something
you searched for?
R. There was always music around but no one was musical. I
think I was the fist one in our family to play. I remember I started
on accordion when I was in school.
M. Accordion!? That’s metal.
R. Yeah dude! You should put it through the Marshall!
(both laughing)
M. You should have that on your next one!
R. Yeah. If I remember how to play! Anyway. Music is a
refuge. Growing up were I grew up you did not have to many escapes.
My brother used to play music, he still kind of does. My brother is
an artist. He directs cartoons now. And he writes his own music for
them. It’s wonderful. I always thought that sports was gonna be my
way out of the ghetto, but its wasn’t. I was lucky. It was music. I
was lucky to have two things to get me out of the ghetto.
M. How old are you?
R. I am 37 but feel 18.
M. Before you met Bruce you had already then started to
produce. I have the first Downset album that you produced.
R. My first professional job was producing Downset. They
were a bunch of local kids that needed someone to record them. When
they were called Social Justice we used to do those seven inches.
After that they decide to do Downset and that they needed some
direction – I got in there and helped them find their sound. It was
my first job outside ToG which I already then had going.
M. And then you meet Bruce which must have been an
overwhelming experience?
R. It was surreal and wonderful. It was pure destiny. The
scary part was that he was so enthusiastic about my music. It
vindicated what I was doing for me. Trying to do Heavy Metal in the
past never got me to meet these kinds of guys or I would meet them
and they would not think about working with me. Then here I am doing
this, what you could call traditional type music and then you get
noticed! I thought it was so strange.
M. I try to imagine myself being in that situation. I
would have been scared! But did you feel confident when he said
that he wanted to make a record? Did you go ”Of course!” Or did you
say ”I am not ready for this”?
R. If you come where I come from you say ”Lets go!” I
jumped on it.
M. I think I would have been to afraid.
R. Well you say that Mattias but if you had been there you
would have been fine.
Here endeth the conversation. My questions had come to an end so I
said thanks to the ever so soft-spoken Roy for sharing his time and
thoughts.
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