Already a favorite musician of mine long before I launched this website, Marty Willson-Piper has become my most covered living artist since our initial interview in 2018. This is due to the fact that the man never slows down and keeps coming up with new things for me to write about. Although he is best known for his 33-year run as the guitarist and occasional vocalist for Australian Alt Rock legends The Church, the British multi-instrumentalist has seemingly spent every second of the eight years following his departure from that band creating and celebrating music in any form he can grasp. From overseeing the immense In Deep Music Archive in Cornwall to participating in far too many musical projects and collaborations to list here, he is constantly unveiling new sounds while perpetually jumping to the next thing. (It’s highly likely he’s started at least three new recording projects by the time you finish reading this piece. I’m not kidding.)
Now, not even four months since the release of MOAT’s Poison Stream (the latest album from his extraordinary project with Niko Röhlcke of Weeping Willows; check out my review), Willson-Piper is back with yet another entity, Space Summit, and another new album, Life This Way (coming this month as a download, this September on CD and early next year on vinyl). This time around, he’s crafting tunes with Minneapolis-based singer Jed Bonniwell. Space Summit made its debut with the June 9 release of the aptly named “I’m Electric,” which features Willson-Piper assuming guitar and bass duties in a louder and more raucous fashion than anything heard on Poison Stream. Musically, the track is all over the place in the best possible way, touching on everything from Grunge to Psychedelic Folk to Britpop. It’s a stunningly gorgeous combination that somehow retains a sense of cohesion and Pop sensibility amidst the waves of eclecticism. Have a listen below:
Recorded in America, Borneo, Sweden and the UK during the pandemic, the forthcoming Space Summit album finds Willson-Piper and Bonniwell joined by harmony vocalist Phoebe Tsen (of Borneo-based duo Avery Fos) and a very familiar cast of characters: Willson-Piper’s wife, Olivia, who contributes violin and backing vocals; longtime friend, collaborator and Noctorum partner Dare Mason (who co-produced the album in addition to providing keys and slide); and stellar MOAT/Noctorum drummer Eddie John. Keep watching this space; there will surely be more to come from Willson-Piper, Bonniwell and co. leading up to Life This Way’s release.
Lef to right: Andy Shernoff, Albert Bouchard and Ross The Boss of The Dictators (Photo courtesy of Chipster PR)
The Dictators are making new music in 2021.
For a world hammered by bad news over the past several months, the above sentence should excite anyone familiar with this New York Punk Rock ‘N’ Roll institution. Formed in 1973 and notable for consistently great output despite frequent changes to their lineup (which at various times has included three members of Twisted Sister – drummers Richie Teeter and Mel Anderson and bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza), regular hiatuses and general indifference from the vast majority of the American record-buying public, The Dictators began their latest era in January with the release of a new single, “God Damn New York.” Sure, it was a welcome reformation, but the band looked considerably different from the last time we saw them. The band’s core trio since the beginning – bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Andy Shernoff and guitarists Scott “Top Ten” Kempner and Ross “The Boss” Friedman – were all there, but there was no Handsome Dick Manitoba up front. Naturally, this glaring omission was the first matter of business I addressed with Shernoff (who was actually their original lead singer anyway) during a recent Zoom call.
“Manitoba broke some agreements with us – with me – that he wasn’t going to use the name ‘Dictators.’ He trademarked the name ‘Dictators’ in his own name – not my name or Scott’s name or Ross’ name. Ross didn’t care. I’ve known Ross a long time; if he’s playing, he’s happy. But me and Scott really did care; we really didn’t want control of the trademark in his name. So, we had some lawyers talk it out, and [Manitoba and Friedman’s band at the time] agreed to change the name. It took a while for them to do it, so that was not good for me and Scott. We were not happy about having to go through all that with a guy who we’ve worked with and we’ve trusted for a long time.”
Then came a dispute over digital royalties collected by the performance rights organization SoundExchange.
“It’s similar to BMI, but they collect money from Spotify, Sirius Radio, Pandora, YouTube… It was set up by the US Government to collect digital royalties. We had a lot of money on hold there, and Richard would not sign off on the money; he wanted a piece of what me, Scott and Ross were doing. The funny thing is, me and Scott hadn’t been in touch with Ross. But over the year and a half of this whole situation, we got a little bit closer. Finally, there was a mediator involved […] Richard finally threw his hands up; what should have happened two years previously finally happened, and the money was cleared. At the end of that, Ross goes to me and Scott, ‘Hey, let’s reform the original band!’ I was like, ‘Whoa, I don’t know if I want to deal with that,’ but Scott thought it was a good idea. I love Scott; I said, ‘Let me think about it.’ So, we thought about it; this was the end of 2019. I said, ‘I’ll tell you what. After the holidays and things settle down – January 2020 – let’s start talking about it. January 2020 comes, and we start talking about it. Then, of course in February 2020, the pandemic hits. In March, things were shutting down. I’m really happy I agreed to do, because it kept me kind of sane over the past year, year and a half.”
In addition to Manitoba being out of the picture, the chances of a full-fledged reunion of the classic Dictators were further diminished by the sad fact that both ’70s-era Dictators drummers who appeared on record, Stu Boy King and Richie Teeter, are no longer with us. These absences were remedied through the arrival of longtime friend and former Blue Öyster Cult timekeeper Albert Bouchard.
“We hired him for his cowbell playing, not for any of his other so-called musical skills,” Shernoff jokes, making a clear reference to Saturday Night Live’s notorious sendup of Bouchard’s former band. “He’s just a guy we want to be with when we’re making music, plus we think he’s a great drummer. He’s a songwriting and an arranger, and he helped out with the production of these records. The all-around 360 of Albert Bouchard makes him perfect.”
“These records” refers to the two new tracks The Dictators have gifted us since reforming: “Let’s Get The Band Back Together” (a remake of a track that originally appeared on Shernoff’s 2013 solo EP, Don’t Fade Away) and the aforementioned “God Damn New York.” Both tracks live up to the band’s legacy and absolutely slay. Have a look and listen below:
Sadly, the current incarnation of The Dictators has been forced to carry on without Kempner, who was recently diagnosed with early-stage dementia.
“He’s in Connecticut with his sister. He’s okay; he’s not suffering. Unfortunately, he’s got a disease without a cure that his father had. It eats me and everybody else up, because we really wanted him to be involved.”
The band’s next single is due for release next month, while Shernoff indicated during our talk that a replacement for Kempner would be announced in the near future.
While The Dictators’ activities in the here and now are being lauded as a grand return, they merely represent the latest actions of a band that never really went away. In fact, they have returned every few years in one form or another after first reuniting in 1980 after a two-year breakup following the release of 1978’s fantastic Bloodbrothers, After a recording sabbatical in the ’80s that saw Kempner form The Del-Lords with former Rik L Rik/Joan Jett guitarist Eric Ambel and Friedman gain considerable notoriety as a member of Manowar (following a stint with Shakin’ Street), most of the band’s classic lineup (Manitoba, Shernoff and Friedman) reconvened on record in 1990 under the rebranded moniker Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom.
“Our manager at the time wanted us to call it The Dictators. In retrospect, I think we should have called it The Dictators, but Scott wasn’t in it. I said, ‘It isn’t really The Dictators without Scott,’ but I think we could have done it. If I could go back in time, I would have called it The Dictators. We did pretty well on radio and MTV – a lot better than The Dictators ever did.”
The Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom era was memorialized on the 1990 album …And You?, a fun and updated take on the Dictators sound that was bolstered by the MTV hit “The Party Starts Now.” The album was mixed by Andy Wallace, who would soon earn fame for his work on Nirvana’s Nevermind.
“Andy did a great job, but it really sounds very ’80s to me. But it’s okay. I like the songs, and it’s high-energy. It’s quick and to the point – a lot of fast stuff. I think it’s a fine record.”
With Del-Lords drummer Frank Funaro (who was eventually succeeded by Wild Kingdom’s J.P. “Thunderbolt” Patterson), The Dictators returned to the stage and studio by the mid ’90s, later releasing a long overdue fourth Dictators album, D.F.F.D., in 2001. Later years saw Manitoba, Friedman and Patterson perform under the band name “Manitoba” before morphing into “Dictators NYC,” thus launching the legal back and forth that led us to the present.
With The Dictators again a living and creating entity, Shernoff and company show that longevity has been the group’s greatest strength – even if international fame and massive album sales have always been elusive for them. If you say the word “Dictators” to a hip Tri-state-area music fan of a certain age, you’ll likely see that person stand at attention. If you utter the same word to someone in the Midwest, you’ll likely be met with a blank stare. As legendary as The Dictators are on the East Coast, they have never been a lucrative endeavor on a scale eventually experienced by many of their original-era Punk contemporaries. Why in the world didn’t The Dictators reach a wider audience despite releasing fantastic albums (including two during Punk’s golden age) and being one of the fiercest live acts on the planet? Shernoff has a few answers.
“The first record [1975’s Go Girl Crazy!] came out, and we were kind of amateurs. We got signed [to Epic] very quickly, and Ross was the only guy who could play his instrument. Me and Scott were just kind of faking it, and [Stu Boy King] was totally incompetent. (laughs) It was a fun record, and it was a failure – it didn’t sell. Obviously, it’s been re-released five times since the ’70s, and people consider it a classic now, but it failed at the time. We overcompensated on the second one [1977’s Manifest Destiny]. We thought, ‘We’re going to make a record that’s commercial! We’re going to get airplay!’ We’re not the kind of band that writes commercial songs. So, we overcompensated in 1977; I call it ‘the wrong record at the right time.’ [That year] was really the time you could really make an impact with an off-the-wall record, and we made kind of a straightforward record. We played a lot; we were in England at the end of ’77 when the Sex Pistols record came out and The Clash were happening. We saw all these bands; all of sudden, it was, ‘Whoa!’ In America, nobody really cared; there were no bands that were successful. The Ramones weren’t successful. Blondie had a little bit of success, but nobody was on the charts. But you’d go to England, and The Sex Pistols are on the top of the charts. The Clash, The Stranglers… hit record after hit record. We were saying, ‘Holy mackerel!’ We came back and reassessed; we said, ‘Let’s just stick to the basics here.’ We stripped it down a bit, and I wrote a lot of songs really quickly after I came back from England. We made Bloodbrothers, which would have been the perfect record for 1977 – but it came out in 1978! We had two records on Elektra that didn’t sell, so we got dropped again and took a break.”
Of course, those of us who did buy those albums and have followed The Dictators over the years know how bulletproof they were and still are. They didn’t sell out arenas, but they kicked the asses of everyone who cared to listen. And with new music already here and more on the way – 46 years after the band’s debut album – they stand as one of the most durable acts in American music history. There are plenty of forgotten bands with Gold records, but very few can say they’re creating solid work nearly 50 years later. That’s good enough for Shernoff.
“I’m not like a famous guy, but I’ve made a lot of records. I have 200 credits on albums as a player or producer/songwriter. I’ve been in a dozen bands. I’ve had my songs on TV and in movies. I ain’t complaining. I didn’t have a hit record; I had a career. That’s the way the cookie crumbles, you know? What really counts is that every day you make music is a good day. The fact that I can make music every day is really a tremendous gift, and I think Ross and Albert feel the same way. That’s one reason why we’re really getting along today. We’re not trying to make a hit; we’re not trying to change the world or get rich. We just want to make the best high-energy Rock ‘n’ Roll in that little Dictators format that we can – and we’re doing it!”
It’s tempting to say that GWAR are unlike any other band on Earth, but it would be a great insult to suggest that these sonic warriors have anything to do with this wretched orb of scum and feces.
Hailing from the planet Scumdogia (which, under close scrutiny, looks an awful lot like Richmond, Virginia), GWAR have been punishing the human race with their music and stage shows since the mid-’80s. Although the gallons of blood, jizz and other foul substances they’ve dumped on audiences worldwide over the years have earned most of the attention, there’s always been a truly musical side to the madness that is impossible to deny. Released last week on Pit Records, The Disc With No Name drives this point home more than any other release in the group’s 33-year-old discography.
Issued as a 12-inch picture disc that promptly sold out (with a digital version still available), The Disc With No Name finds our favorite Scumdogs (wait for it) going acoustic. Really. On the surface, it’s a ridiculous concept. Why on any planet would GWAR – a band known for heavy theatrics and grotesque sounds – go the Tesla/Extreme route for fucking anything? Here’s the thing: Remove the costumes and bodily fluids and strip away the Metal and you’re left with… well, four perfectly well-executed and enjoyable unplugged renditions of GWAR classics.
It’s been seven years since GWAR’s fearless and sexy leader, Oderus Urungus (Human Slave: Dave Brockie), lovingly clutched his Cuttlefish of Cthulhu and sailed off this mortal coil to pillage and destroy in the afterlife. This tragic event disrupted the universe enough to bring about the arrival of The Berserker Blothar (Human Slave: Dr. Michael Bishop, Ph.D.), who once inhabited the corporeal form of bassist Beefcake the Mighty. The brave (but still puny) humans who gave the Blothar-fronted version a chance were rewarded with 2017’s The Blood Of Gods, a ferocious album that showed that GWAR had plenty of life left in them despite suffering such a sad loss. That album featured the single “Fuck This Place,” which GWAR recreate here in an acoustic form that adds a clear air of sad reverence to their fallen comrade:
Oderus
You left us stranded on this world of pus
And in death you have forsaken us
Oh, this planet fucking sucks.
Okay, so it’s not “Wish You Were Here,” but this is GWAR – and as poetic and sappy as these cretins are likely to get. The song’s stripped-down approach allows Blothar’s strong voice – a sound not unlike W.A.S.P.’s Blackie Lawless in his codpiece-donning prime – to soar in ways that reveal a truly talented Rock singer underneath the stage gear. (While we’re on the subject of Blothar, check out his human slave’s utterly fascinating TED Talk on the philosophy of GWAR and how it plays into the culture of Richmo…err, I mean Scumdogia. And then checkout the phone sex transcript – sorry, Q&A interview – I did with Bishop’s human slave master a few years back.)
The updated acoustic version of the GWAR love ballad “Gonna Kill You” (off 2007’s Carnival of Chaos) is kinda like Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” but intentionally silly. An upbeat guitar accompanies Blothar’s surprisingly soulful delivery, which – gasp – actually surpasses Oderus’ original. (It’s funny, but I felt a sharp – but not entirely unpleasant – pain in my anus as I typed those words.)
First appearing in electric form on The Blood Of Gods, “I’ll Be Your Monster” gets turned into a ZZ Top-tinged rave-up accented by the Bluesy power of Blothar’s howling.
The EP concludes with a somber take on “The Road Behind” (from 1992’s America Must Be Destroyed). In this form, GWAR’s tale of tour weariness plays like Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” but with considerably more bile and gore:
Hanging out backstage
I'm in a homicidal rage
I signed a million-dollar contract
I puked on every page
Slaughtered half the crew
’Cause they ate my deli tray
Oh baby, hey
Said I'd do the show, but I canceled anyway.
Here’s what Blothar had to say about recording this impressive new release:
“During the quarantine of 2020, I spent long, lonely days with my hand down my pants, hiding out in a fortress made entirely of rolls of toilet paper, drinking hand sanitizer and watching 1000-Lb Sisters... which is business as usual for me. So, I was relieved when I got the call to lay down some vocals on The Disc With No Name. We recorded this record over the telephone, which was fine with me, because I can’t stand to be in the same room as the other members of GWAR.”
Lovely as always, sir.
Ultimately, The Disc With No Name succeeds in showing the rest of this awful planet what those who’ve followed this band for years already know: There’s a helluva lot of brains, heart and songwriting craft fueling the GWAR machine. They may be monsters from another world, but their human slaves are smart and deeply creative souls. It’s really cool to hear the band like this, and I’m hopeful that a triple-CD offering of polka numbers is right around the corner.
If you take a look through this website, you’ll notice very quickly that my musical tastes are over the place. Much of that comes from something I experienced 30 summers ago.
It’s impossible to overstate just how impactful the first Lollapalooza tour was to my generation. Ice-T and Siouxsie Sioux on the same stage? The Butthole Surfers followed by the pre-fame Nine Inch Nails? Really? It was all such a magical mess – and the sort of artistic alchemy that Lollapalooza co-creator Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction/Porno For Pyros/Psi Com/The Satellite Party) has been exploring for 40 years now.
Out today, “Mend” finds Farrell (under the moniker Perry Farrell’s Kind Heaven Orchestra) collaborating with his wife, Etty, alongside Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, Elliot Easton of The Cars, Jane’s Addiction’s Chris Chaney and – get this, folks – Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan.
The results of this personnel mindfuck are extraordinary. Beginning with a dreamy vibe reminiscent of Porno For Pyros’ mellower moments, the track gradually grows into a sprawling and soulful rocker accentuated by some truly stunning musical interplay. While cross-pollinating projects of this nature often feel like Frankensteined parts crammed into an ill-fitting suit, “Mend” showcases individuals who have reached the high-water marks of their respective crafts working together in absolute harmony.
As for the lyrics, “Mend” explores Farrell’s compassion toward a close friend suffering through the loss of a romantic relationship.
“I’ve tried to reach through his ribcage and examine the heart of a good friend – tried to empathize with what he was going through,” he says. “I tried to mend my friend.”
Such a Perry Farrell quote, isn’t it? It’s certainly more colorful than simply reading that he felt sorry for the guy! It’s always a joy when he gifts us with something new – a fresh opportunity to delve inside the creative mind of someone who still blissfully exists somewhere else.
“Mend” hits amidst talk of forthcoming Porno For Pyros material and post-pandemic Jane’s Addiction live dates – news that is certainly welcome in a tired world in need of adventure. Until then, “Mend” serves as a thrilling reminder of Farrell’s fondness for the eclectic and a gorgeous taste of what’s to come.
If the past several months have taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.
When Frontiers Records first announced the release of Sunbomb’s debut album, Evil and Divine, more than a few eyebrows were raised. After all, Sunbomb pairs Michael Sweet, who brought Christian-themed Hard Rock/Metal to millions as the singer/guitarist of Stryper, and guitarist Tracii Guns, the decadent Sunset Strip veteran of L.A. Guns and the pre-fame Guns N’ Roses. Would such a seemingly disparate combination actually work? Forgive me, Michael, but Hell yeah it does!
While many “supergroups” suffer under the weight of high expectations and underwhelming results, Evil and Divine features some of the finest material ever created by either musician. Just take a listen to the burning Dio-era Sabbath groove of the must-hear “Take Me Away.” It is the sound of two distinct creative souls meeting at the peak of their respective powers and showing the world that some of the best things in life come from left field. And that’s just one example of the downright heavy – and often soulful – moments on this bulletproof 11-song collection.
The album also features the grittiest vocal performance of Sweet’s career, proving once and for all that he is as much an intense Metal belter as he is a mainstream balladeer – something that diehard Stryper fans (yours truly among them) have known for years but may come as a shock to anyone who judges the man’s career on “I Believe In You” alone.
On a personal note, Michael is one of my favorite people in the music business: Open, giving, straightforward and someone who calls it as he sees it. He’s Rock ‘n’ Roll through and through and always a great conversationalist – and a person willing to listen to and exchange ideas with people who may not necessarily see eye to eye with him on religion or other areas of life. This point was brought home to me last year when I – a Satanist – showed up in one of his Facebook threads to give him my respect and support. His response of “Thank you, brother” caused a bit of a stir but ultimately resulted in one of the most enriching exchanges between Facebook users I’ve ever witnessed.
With this in mind, I used this latest interview with him as an opportunity to address our drastic differences in religious beliefs head-on in addition to discussing the Sunbomb record. It resulted in one of the best experiences I’ve had in my career. We approached things as gentlemen in a very frank and honest way and – gasp – reached common ground on many things. With Michael’s blessing, I present our full conversation below with as few structural edits as possible. Michael has my deepest respect and gratitude for his willingness to engage in a chat of this nature. I’m a proud fan of his work with Stryper and beyond, and I look forward to our next opportunity to touch base.
It’s nice to hear from you again!
Of course! Thanks for talking to me, buddy. I appreciate it.
This is actually our third interview together.
Well, maybe we’ll be at 30 or 40 someday!
I’d love that! I’m also the Satanist who went on your page last year and gave you props.
Hey, man, you know what? Dude, you know what I preach, and it’s all about loving your fellow neighbor. We’re all brothers and sisters. It’s so interesting how people obviously jump on that ‘separation’ bandwagon and try to divide and separate. It’s crazy to me. God bless you, man! Great to talk with you again. Thanks for giving me props!
Definitely. I’ve seen the band live, and nobody was out there with a clipboard taking a poll on who believed what.
(Laughs) We’re still going. We’re planning on a new album in January; it’s already set. [Guitarist] Oz [Fox] is getting better and feeling well [in his fight against brain tumors]. We’ve still got a little fuel left in the tank, as they say. There’s more to come, for sure.
Right on. Let’s dive into Sunbomb. The combination of you and Tracii is somewhat unexpected, but I think it’s a combination that works extremely well on this record. I cover a lot of Frontiers artists, so I know that sort of collaborative/partnering album concept is a staple of that label. How instrumental was [Frontiers President and A&R Director] Serafino [Perugino] in getting this whole thing put together with you and Tracii?
That’s a good question. Usually, Serafino is very instrumental and the guy who’s basically throwing the idea out there on the table with a lot of these projects. But with this particular project, as far as I know, it originally started out as a Tracii Guns solo album. He was talking to Frontiers about doing a solo record. I think it eventually morphed into a ’supergroup,’ if that’s what you want to call it. It became Sunbomb, but the way I always understood it was it was a solo album. I was just kind of singing on Tracii’s solo album, but it wound up being much more than that. It’s really cool, because it’s got those elements of L.A. Guns, and it has some Stryper elements. I think that’s a given. Love my voice or hate my voice, I have a distinctive voice; it’s easy to tell who I am and where I’m from. So, it’s gonna have the Stryper flavors and the L.A. Guns flavors right out of the box, but it’s also got something really different about it. It’s not a polished record. Stryper is definitely more in that polished vein when it comes to the way that we produce albums. There are more overdubs and whatnot. This is more of a raw approach. My vocal style is a little bit more raw, and there’s not as many pretty harmonies and multilayers going on. There’s just more of an in-your-face approach [with this]. That goes for Tracii’s playing as well, which is really cool.
Did you guys have a lot of history together as far as being friends prior to this whole project taking place?
One would think so, but no. We grew up in the same area at roughly the same time. I’m a little older than Tracii, but he saw and certainly heard of our band back when we were Roxx Regime. That’s going back to 1982, 1983. I, of course, had heard of Guns N’ Roses in the early days when Tracii was a part of that. I actually saw Guns N’ Roses perform with Tracii, so this is going way back. And then with L.A. Guns, our paths of course crossed so many times. It’s really interesting that we’ve never met until recently – basically in the last two-plus years.
How were the logistics of this album handled? Did you guys have an opportunity to start on this prior to lockdown, or did most of it happen during this strange time we’ve all been facing?
The project started before lockdown; it just took a long time to complete and dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Tracii had started working on this, I’m gonna say, maybe even three years ago – certainly two and a half. That was right around the time that we met. He started working on the guitar parts and whatnot, and he had another singer in mind; I’m 99 percent certain it’s the bass player for Whitesnake [Michael Devin]. He was going to sing on the project, and something happened and that didn’t work out. Then, Tracii asked me to do it. There were some little bumps and hurdles to get over with the lyrics. I got the first lyric, and it was about burning witches. I just felt like that wasn’t something I preferred to sing. I didn’t want to alienate my fanbase. I have to feel passionate about whatever I sing. It has to be something that I believe when I’m singing so that I can sing with conviction. I thought it was like April Fools’; I thought it was a joke when I read the lyrics. Most of the lyrics were just not in my wheelhouse, so they had to be rewritten and reworked. It took a little time to do that with our busy schedules – and then with COVID, obviously. But we eventually got around to it and made everything right, and then I got it sung and turned it in. Everybody really liked it – Tracii especially. The rest is history.
Obviously, both you and Tracii have been doing this for a long time. You have a lot of records under your respective belts, and you obviously both know what a song is supposed to be. You’re both coming at this project with a lot of experience. But having done this album with Tracii, what would you say you each brought to the table for the other person that might not have been there without the opportunity to collaborate in this way?
I think you stretch a little bit and you experience a little bit more when you’re working with other people. Obviously, when I got the music beds for each song, I listened to them and thought, ‘Okay, this is different for me. This is not what I would have done if I wrote these songs.’ But that’s a good thing, because it’s different. It’s a little darker and a little bit more raw. That being the case, it made me want to explore a little more and just kind of push myself as a vocalist and definitely stretch out a little bit more. It’s not that when you hear these vocals it’s something completely different; I didn’t try to reinvent the wheel or anything – nor could I. I have the sound of my voice, and it’s always going to be there. But I just tried to make things a little bit more in-your-face and raw and open and not over-perfect things – keep it a little more like we’re almost live in the room performing for you, with the good and the bad. It’s almost like a live performance in terms of the sound.
I started the conversation on Sunbomb by mentioning what I call ‘the Frontiers way’ – putting different people together and trying different things. Some of those albums are good, but some of them – no names mentioned – do sound like a one-and-done kind of thing. But this sounds like a fully realized, living and breathing band to me. With that said, what might the chances be of this becoming something that continues to do songs and perhaps even plays live at some point?
That would be amazing, and I think there’s a good chance of that. The problem we’re all faced with – even more so now – is the backup. COVID knocked us down and out for just over a year. We’re all trying to figure out how to move forward – all the bands in the world – and where to play and how to play and if we can afford it. Obviously, capacities and guarantees are down. The cost of jet fuel is up, and flights are up. It all plays an important part in whether bands like us can tour or not. Of course, bands like KISS can tour; they’ve got all the money and backing in the world. But with bands like L.A. Guns and Stryper, it’s a little more difficult. We rely heavily on the numbers; if they’re not right, then we can’t tour. I think once we kind of get out and get past this crazy pandemic situation, which I think is going to happen, the chances of [Sunbomb playing live] are far greater. There’s no reason why Tracii and I can’t go do at least some ‘weekend warrior’ dates – maybe not a ground run, but certainly some fly dates and do a few shows here and there in key cities. That would be great, man, I would love that.
I want to switch gears and bring up a topic that I’ve wanted to talk with you about since the beginning of the pandemic. There have certainly been times over the course of the past year when I’ve watched the news, lost people due to the virus or experienced various other things, and the song I’ve referred to most in these times is the Stryper song ‘Lost’ from God Damn Evil. That’s certainly helped me feel a bit uplifted when I needed that experience. Obviously, you’re a Christian artist. As such, a lot of people look to you to use your faith as a way to project positiivity and something they can find solace in. How has your faith enabled you to continue to be that public messenger? At the same time, how has your faith helped you personally deal with the unprecedented challenges we’ve all been facing for the last several months?
My faith has certainly helped me get through the past year and a half especially – and my entire life. The darkest point of my life was 2007 through 2009 [with the illness and passing of my first wife, Kyle.] That being said, I’ve fall into depression; I get bummed out, concerned and fearful like everybody else. I’m flesh and blood and human, and it happens to all of us. But my faith does help me get through it. My faith runs really deep. Whether other people believe it or not, I believe that God has helped me and kind of steered the ship throughout my life. I’ve seen it firsthand; I’ve seen miracles and things that shouldn’t have happened that made me say, ‘Wow! Okay, I believe.’ I see it over and over again. Certainly, right now at this point in time, it would be a really easy time for me to lose my faith and to walk away from my faith. I’ll be honest; sometimes, in the back corners of my mind, I question God, too. I think, ‘Hello. Where are you? I don’t see you.’ I’ve been there and done that many times. But somehow and some way, maybe through a simple prayer or maybe through a scripture or someone calling or texting me, I zero in on my faith again and say, ‘Okay. This is where I need to be and where I want to be’ and continue down that path.
I appreciate your answer. One thing I’ve always admired about the opportunities I’ve had to converse with you is your openness and honesty about these issues and that you’ve faced challenges. I think that’s so important, especially these days when I think our greatest strength comes from finding commonality with people.
Absolutely – no doubt about it. Even though it’s a cliché that’s used so many times and almost corny, we really are all brothers and sisters. We’re part of one race. It bums me out to see such division over race still. It’s another cliché, but all lives do matter. We’re all brothers and sisters just trying to figure out life and trying to get through it, survive, pay our bills and put food on the table. In that process, we should be concerned with each other more. We should love one another more and take time for one another. And we don’t, because we’re so caught up in the craziness of this world and our schedules – get up, brush your teeth, eat your breakfast, go to work, come home, eat your dinner, go to bed and pay those bills every month. It’s a struggle we all face, but because of all that stuff, we lose sight of the most important part – which is to love one another. That’s my view.
Absolutely. No matter what religious inclination we have, we all know we start our physical life at Point A and end it at Point B. Some folks like yourself believe in Point C, and that’s fantastic, but we all have those struggles from Point A to Point B. I think the goal is to find some kind of common ground, whether it be through music or whatever. That’s the lesson I think we should take from the last 12 to 15 months.
For sure. It’s interesting, because you do see that lesson being learned and applied by some – but yet by others, it’s almost the complete opposite.
That leads to my next question. Your Facebook page is my favorite to follow – not necessarily because I agree with every word you post; I certainly do not – but I find it refreshing that an artist like yourself – who has a fanbase that may or not follow you in some of your thoughts – still posts what’s on your mind. I find that increasingly rare with a lot of musicians, especially when everything kind of results in a finger being pointed. Why is it important for you to continue to take that position and use social media in the nature you have?
My thinking is that maybe it’ll help somebody. It’s not about Michael Sweet; it’s about much more than that. I’m guilty of this too, but some artists’ pages are always about promotion. I do a lot of that myself, but at the same time, I want to make it about helping people. I want to make it about inspiring and encouraging people. That’s the most important part to me – and also on my tombstone, if it’s written that they remember that, ‘Well, I didn’t always agree with this guy, but he was the real deal. He wasn’t this way in public and then that way in private.’
I’ve met so many people who are one way in public and another way in private. I want to say to them, ‘Why don’t you just be this way in public? What’s wrong with that? Why do you have to present this fake façade image?’ It’s just so weird to me. For example, you’ve got Tom [Araya] with Slayer. I respect Tom – this is no disrespect to him at all – but he’s in Slayer with pentagrams and this image and [mimics Araya’s singing style], and then he’s a church-going Catholic, you know? And that’s great, but my point is, I want to be the same Michael Sweet on stage and off stage. I feel that’s who I am. You might come into my life and spend a day with me and hear a few f-bombs come out of my mouth, and you’ll go, ‘Whoa, I wasn’t expecting that from Michael Sweet!’ But I’ve talked about that before; I’ve said, ‘Yeah, I drink. I smoke. I swear occasionally.’ I’m flesh and blood; I don’t pretend to be something that I’m not.
Frankly, I think that makes what you’re saying even more valid.
Well, it’s important to me – being real, flaws and all. Because I am real and because I lay it all out there, that also opens the door to turn people off and lose fans. I have a lot of Christian fans who follow what I do and what we do, and when they hear I’ve just smoked a cigar, they’re unfollowing me. I just think, ‘Wow. Okay.’ Those are the people who don’t get it, in my opinion. It’s all about judging, and it’s all about the small, little piece of what life should be and what the message should be instead of the entire piece. I just feel like, wow, it’s so backwards and so old. It’s such an old way of thinking, and we need to progress. I just want to be honest. I would love to go to a church and have a pastor come out and say, ‘Man, I got drunk last night. I could hardly wake up this morning. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but it happened, and I just want you all to know that these are the things that happen in my life. I’ve got issues with this or issues with that’ – just that real, from-the-heart mentality.
Well, the ability to embrace obstacles and overcome them is what I feel is perhaps most in line with God.
Yeah! What happens often is that people pretend to be something; when they fall, everyone’s blown out of the water. We all fall. Every single person. I don’t care who you are; you have some issue, some weakness, some temptation – something. We all fall, but we like to point fingers at those who do fall and not at ourselves when there’s so much in our closets hidden deep away.
On another note, you have the new Sunbomb record, and you just released a new version of Reborn. You mentioned there’s new Stryper music on the way. There’s always something in the works with you. Obviously, nobody has a crystal ball with what the world is going through right now, but if you had your wish based on what you’re up to at the moment, what can fans expect to see from you for the rest of 2021?
The Sunbomb album is out, so you’re going to hear most about that over the next few months, for sure. I turned in music that Joel Hoekstra [Whitesnake] and I co-wrote for a new album for Frontiers that has Nathan James [Inglorious] singing. It’s got Tommy Aldridge [Whitesnake/Thin Lizzy/ Ozzy/Black Oak Arkansas] on drums and Marco Mendoza [Dead Daisies/Whitesnake/Thin Lizzy/ Bill Ward Band] on bass. That’s really cool; that’s going to be a great album, man – a throwback to Whitesnake and just really cool. Then, I just finished this new inspirational album that I did. It’s really unlike anything that I’ve ever done. It’s not a Metal album; it’s not even a Hard Rock album. It’s just a really cool throwback. It’s got some ’70s flavors to it, some ’80s flavors to it – more guitar and acoustic bass, lots of organ. It’s just really laidback and cool. Every song is different; every song tells a story. I’m very, very happy and super-excited about that album. I’m going to be talking to labels over the next few weeks and expect to hear about that. Then, I’ve started getting songs from Alessandro [Del Vecchio] at Frontiers for a new project he and I are working on. It’s going to be more in the Journey/Boston/Survivor kind of vein. I’ve started writing lyrics for that. I’ll start singing that in June, and I’ll turn it in in July. After that, in November, [George Lynch and I] start on a new Sweet & Lynch album. It’s going to be a little different, with a different drummer and bass player. [Alessandro] and I are co-producing it. We had to kind of figure out a different way to do it, mainly due to finances. I like to do things a certain way, and it takes a bit of a higher budget to do that when I’m producing albums. But Frontiers wanted to figure out a way to make it happen on a little lower budget, and we were able to do that. It’s gonna be cool; I can’t wait for that. Right after that, in January, the guy come out here and we start on a new Stryper album.
