Interview with Metal Church

Tailspin - Las Vegas - October 28, 2004

Phil: We're sitting here backstage live with Metal Church, here in Las Vegas, at Tailspin. I'd like to thank you for joining closedcoffin.com. We're sitting here with Kurt Vanderhoof. Who's in the current line up?

Kurt: These guys!

Phil: These guys here? Thank you!

MC: Ronny Monroe/ lead vocals, Steve Unger/ bass, Jay Reynolds/ guitar, Kirk Harrington/ drums.

Phil: How did you guys get this particular group of guys together? Did you contact the original members?

Kurt: Initially yea, Kirk and I decided that it might be time to, at least fulfill the contract we had with Metal Church. When we did The Masterpiece, we kind of fell apart. We'd figure we'd do that, we didn't know to what degree. So, as we started looking for members, basically we found Ronny and that was kind of the catalyst. 'Cause at that point we realized we could not only make the record, but fulfill the contract. We could actually be, really do this, and the old stuff. So, after we found him and he was a local guy, to where we were based at the time. When Jay, Jay came into the band almost cosmically. It was literally out of the blue, one afternoon, I get a phone call from him out of Portland. He had heard Metal Church was getting back together, and I said, yea, but we don't have our second guitar player yet. There was a big long pause over the phone, so why not come up? So, that's literally how that happened. Ronny had been playing with Steve for a number of years in various bands, so he brought Steve into the band and that was a perfect fit. At that point, it was like, yea let's do this! You know, that's pretty much how it happened. It's just step by step.

Jay: I had been acquainted with Kurt for years, and it was kind of funny because I hadn't talk to him at that point, for probably ten years, at least. And just to find out if they could play one of my shows I was booking, I was actually living in Portland at the time. It was a nice surprise to find out, that not only were they getting back together, but...I was bummed they couldn't play the show, but I was actually happier that they were looking for a guitar player, and I had the shot. If I could have picked 5 bands to be in at that point, Metal Church would have definitely been one of them. So it was a dream come true for me.

Phil: Everything's going good so far, I take it. Everybody's getting along, not kicking each others ass and all that type of stuff?

MC: *laughs* I'll kick his ass!

Kurt: That's one of the things that was kind of the inspiration of to why we wanted to keep it going. Is that everybody, you know, just the chemistry worked uncanningly well. It was, it just felt right. We're perfect, as opposed to the other line ups in Metal Church, this is actually the only one that it's ever been!

Phil: So during the mid 90's the band had just gone separate ways? What ended up happening, with all that? What was the reasons?

Kurt: Oh boy! *laughter* Any number of reasons! The biggest reason was probably the climate change in the industry. I mean that's when grunge hit and if you were a metal band, you were like the uncoolest thing. So, that kind of lead to it, everything changed. Bad managementat that point was a real key factor, during The Hanging In The Balance era, It was just kind of one of those inevitable things. The band had been together for about 15 years and it's just things changed. You know, the climate in the industry changed, record sales dropped...not because of the band necessarily...because grunge was it. Everybody was growing up too, and families were starting to happen.

Phil: Harder to go on tour an all that?

Kurt: Absolutely!

Phil: So you have a new album on SPV, how have they been treating you so far?

Kurt: *laughs* Actually they're doing great! Actually for how record companies can treat you, they're doing great! They're doing promotion and spending money on that aspect of it, which is a huge part of getting it out there.

Jay: We're actually presently surprised, they're able to work with us and develop us in America. Not only in America, but abroad, you know SPV is a German based label, and to get their support in America is an ideal situation, because it is a smaller label and their getting involved. They're actually running ads in all the glossy magazines, and there's a TV commercial on MTV2, as well as, Fuse TV and you know they're doing their local promotion on each show. So we're all happy right now.

Phil: The new album, The Weight of the World, how did you come up with that name?

Kurt: Basically because, the title. It came from the fact that it was self inflicted pressure on us because after The Masterpiece record, which that whole thing just didn't work. It was pretty much a do or die situation, that if we didn't make the best possible record then it was done. So, it basically comes from self inflicted pressure on us. Especially with a new line up!

Phil: How are the sales going for the new record, have you tracked any of the sales?

Kurt: We don't really have any numbers right at this point. But we did order some more because we're buying and selling them at the shows. We ordered some more a couple of weeks ago, before we left and they didn't have any because they were out.

Jay: So, that's a good sign.

Kurt: We don't know what any numbers are, we don't know if they pressed up 20 copies, *laughs* but they didn't have any more. So obviously we're selling more than they had thought.

Phil: Tonight will you strictly be playing the new album or you gonna play some old stuff? What are you going to do?

Kurt: Mostly old stuff. What do we do, like three songs of the new stuff?

Jay: Four songs off the first two albums, each. Three off the new.

Ronny: And it's the 20th anniversary of Metal Church also.

Jay: We're covering everything but Hanging in the Balance, basically. We have a big emphasis on the original material, and the new stuff and the songs in between. The set is ever expanding as well.

Phil: Ronny, that's you...you've been compared to like Rob Halford meets Dio. Is that pretty cool?

Ronny: Well, the comparison, basically those were as well as Bruce Dickinson, were my idols, my mentors. I don't know, some reviews have said I'm the American Bruce Dickenson, which is a great compliment. I would like to think I sound like myself, but I drew a lot of my voice from those guys, because I used to sing to their CD's and albums years ago. That's how I began. But it is a great compliment to be compared or even in the same breath as those two people.

Phil: Oh hell yea! So, what's the, how's the response been so far? With all the fans everywhere, with all the different cities?

Kurt: Actually, when this thing started it was, we were pretty worried about that. But the response to the new line up has been more than we had hoped for.

Jay: We're pleasantly surprised! Especially when we went to Germany, we hit four or five warm up shows then went and did a festival in Germany. Not only were we well received, but people were saying we stole the show, it was the comeback of the year. We heard nothing but great stuff, and for us it's a huge relief and quite a nice surprise, It was just amazing.

Phil: Do you think you guys are more popular over in Europe as opposed to America?

Kurt: Absolutely! Heavy metal is more popular over there.

Phil: This is the second time you've been to Vegas, the last couple of times here at. Is there a reason why you haven't played the larger venues, like the House of Blues?

Ronny: I don't know, that's just what our booking agent got us. We have played the House of Blues already over on Sunset strip and we will be Chicago also at the House of Blues.

Jay: It's always nice to play the smaller clubs than the House of Blues because, the way that this club is run, the people actually don't have to pay to get in. So, it's nice to offer a show where the people can come see us and, you know, last time we were here it was a weekend and people had to buy a drink card, but it was no charge. It's really unusual to be able to give people a free show like that, and they treat us well here, so it's nice for the fans as well to be able to come see us and not have to shell out 15 or 20 bucks for a ticket. that means a lot to us.

Phil: Right on! Last time it was packed too! How has the attendance been in the other cities? Has it been pretty good in America?

Kurt: It varies. Depends on the market. It's really hard to say. Some places we're packing it up, selling out, some places...When they are small crowds, they're very mighty and they're very very into it! So it makes up for it a lot.

Phil: Have any headlining tours coming up? With anybody big?

Kurt: All of them! We're going out with everybody! We're playing the anomodome across the world. *laughs* No, there's talk of lots of things going on of lots of things after the first of the year. This tour is going on up until Christmas, so as this tour develops and starts getting more attention, then other offers start coming in. At this point nothing is confirmed.

Kirk: We'll definitely going around the globe though!

Jay: Yea, there's definitely stuff going on, we're in talks.

Kurt: The jury is still out on what we're doing.

Phil: Any bands that you guys have seen that are up and coming? That we can look out for, that we might not know about?

Ronny: 3 Inches of Blood! The one we're playing with tonight, man. They're a pretty good band. Very good band.

Phil: Yea, yea, I'm going to be interviewing them tonight.

Kurt: First time we saw them was last night. That was the first show of this tour, with them. We were all standing around going, yea, ok this is great!

Jay: We've also been doing a couple of shows here and there with Death Angel, who are an older band but we've been having fun with those cats. They're good friends of ours too.

Phil: How about any DVD's or new material?

Kurt: Actually we've got two offers out on the table for DVD's right now, We just haven't figured out how to go about picking one.

Phil: Okay, well that is pretty much it. I'd like to thank you guys for taking the time out with me.

Jay: Thanks for giving us the thought. It's hard enough to do it out there right now, but we feel like metal is coming back, and we're just happy to be out here. We're really thankful that we have a tour and that people are showing up, digging it and buying our record. So thanks to all the fans out there who are keeping metal alive!

MC: Come see us or we'll hunt you down!

Phil: Thanks dudes, later.