Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 826 - Helloween's Michael Weikath Discusses "Giants And Monsters" and The Secret to a Long Career in Metal

Transcript

PODCAST: Episode 826 - Helloween's Michael Weikath Discusses "Giants And Monsters" and The Secret to a Long Career in Metal · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

• 0:00
  Like if someone came to me and say like, you know, the giants,
• 0:03
  monsters gives me this or that feel and then I can go, yeah, I
• 0:07
  can relate to this. Or it's like, no, it was totally
• 0:10
  different, but fine for you, you know, enjoy whatever.
• 0:14
  It's like each and everyone is like a different reception of
• 0:17
  things. Or like if you go take look at
• 0:20
  yourself of Uriah Heap, I mean, what do you feel when you listen
• 0:24
  to that? And and I hope that the the
• 0:27
  things we're doing are emanating something like that in that
• 0:30
  direction. And no one goes this with you.
• 0:32
  It's not the heavy metal band, right?
• 0:34
  That's what they do. They just go and that's it,
• 0:37
  right? There's some moods and good
• 0:40
  things coming out of it that would be preferable.
• 0:48
  What's up everybodyitskeith@coastcultmag.com
• 0:52
  I am so honored to be joined by Michael of Halloween.
• 0:55
  How are you doing, Sir? Hello everyone, I hope you're
• 0:58
  having a great time wherever you are.
• 1:01
  Nice. I'm I'm so excited to talk to
• 1:04
  you about this new record, Giants and Monsters.
• 1:06
  But first and foremost, you know, I was reflecting on just
• 1:10
  my own relationship to the band and, you know, the band has been
• 1:14
  through so many, you know, cycles and and seasons and
• 1:18
  albums that I think this is your 18th or 19th album or EP, like
• 1:23
  maybe 20 something releases. 17 or 16, something in between.
• 1:28
  Yes, studio albums, yeah, something like that, plus EPS,
• 1:31
  live albums, et cetera. So it's just like such a huge
• 1:35
  part of your life to make music, especially this, this heavy
• 1:39
  metal music that we love so much.
• 1:42
  You know what, I don't know if there's a secret to longevity
• 1:45
  just in the business because it is a hard business, but you have
• 1:48
  managed to do it over a lot of things over a lot of decades.
• 1:52
  How does how does one do that? I think eating eggs and taking
• 1:57
  Latin in or something, I don't know.
• 1:59
  I've no clue. I mean, keep a keep a nice diet
• 2:02
  that by by chance you know, happens to be good for you if
• 2:05
  you're just eating what you, what you feel you want to eat or
• 2:08
  something, I don't know. And it's OK if you take less
• 2:12
  drugs and if you get less drunk and if you if you sleep a little
• 2:16
  bit sometimes in between. Maybe more.
• 2:18
  Less drugs and more sleep overtime.
• 2:21
  Could be, could be. But you all look great, by the
• 2:24
  way, like I saw that photo and I feel like I'm looking at young
• 2:27
  guys, not like, like older men, but like, you know, grown but
• 2:31
  very fit and healthy looking, which is, you know, I'm happy
• 2:34
  about. We just lost Ozzy and obviously
• 2:37
  he was ill for a very long time. But I just, I'm thinking about,
• 2:40
  you know, all my veteran rockers.
• 2:42
  I don't want to lose any more rock soldiers, as the song says.
• 2:45
  Yeah. But yeah.
• 2:47
  Ace. Ace.
• 2:47
  Really. Yes, that's right, KISS.
• 2:50
  And I mean, what a what a major production that was not back
• 2:53
  then that album. And yeah, well, I mean, there's
• 2:57
  a lot of you. You wouldn't think CGI and and
• 3:01
  AI Photoshoptism involved in band photos.
• 3:05
  You wouldn't think. Right.
• 3:08
  Well, I mean, I know a little bit about I used to do concert
• 3:10
  photography and photo retouching and stuff like that.
• 3:13
  But no, it's a great group of, you know, everybody looks really
• 3:16
  strong and well and the music surely is vital.
• 3:20
  And I love Giants and Monsters coming out soon on Raining
• 3:23
  Phoenix music. And you know, ever since the
• 3:26
  announcement of this new album, I've been so excited because I
• 3:29
  think just this last wave, since the band formed this Pumpkins
• 3:34
  United lineup, we'll call it, I really have been on a high like
• 3:39
  almost when I was a kid for the band.
• 3:40
  My love for the band has grown so much like when I was younger
• 3:44
  because those first few albums meant so much to me growing up.
• 3:47
  And it's, you know, it's healthy to change and you grow as an
• 3:50
  artist. You make different music as you
• 3:52
  get older. But I think it's really cool to
• 3:54
  make such a relevant and vital album now.
• 3:58
  I think this is gonna, this is gonna really surprise people
• 4:00
  when they hear though there's only been a couple like the
• 4:02
  singles, and I think people are really going to love this entire
• 4:05
  thing. Anyways, I, I, I have that feel
• 4:08
  that this time around we're in a very good position with
• 4:12
  especially like the US media. I mean, we're getting a lot of
• 4:16
  good feedback from, from so many people like you.
• 4:20
  This, this, this seems different kind of like it advanced kind of
• 4:27
  something between in the recent years.
• 4:29
  So there's like a lot more interest coming here from, from
• 4:33
  guys like you and that's, that's a good feel.
• 4:35
  Well, thank you very much. I think the label has done a
• 4:37
  terrific job with you. The both the American PR friends
• 4:41
  of ours, C ^2 longtime allies. We do a lot of work with them.
• 4:46
  They've they've been really pressing hard to get us in in
• 4:50
  here and and talk to you, which I'm really again, I can't be
• 4:53
  more thrilled. And this record is monster.
• 4:55
  So I wonder, you know, in general, do you write and
• 4:59
  compose all the time? Do you all sort of submit songs
• 5:04
  and and pitch in together? How does the writing happen for
• 5:07
  such a epic group of people to put music together?
• 5:11
  Everyone possibly does it a slight different way.
• 5:14
  I mean I know that there is always collecting ideas and and
• 5:18
  recording what whatever he has at any given point I would
• 5:22
  guess. So I'm like, I know I have three
• 5:25
  or four or five months for songwriting.
• 5:27
  I mean, I'm collecting ideas now.
• 5:29
  If I have an idea or line or a book, I put that into notes of
• 5:34
  the iPhone. And then if I have a melody
• 5:37
  already, I whistle it or I better sing it because it's that
• 5:42
  thing. You have an idea and you put it
• 5:44
  on and it's like, you know, your reaction then is so you better
• 5:54
  sing it, right? It doesn't just come out right.
• 5:56
  I mean, if you whistle or whatever, could be anything.
• 5:59
  And even with singing, it depends on whatever.
• 6:02
  Anyways, I keep it for later. And then when when I'm getting
• 6:06
  into songwriting for a few months and then I dig out all
• 6:10
  those things, all those fragments.
• 6:12
  And meanwhile 1 is adding kind of like an example.
• 6:16
  You say, Oh, this got to be in the vein of da da, da da XYZ,
• 6:21
  right? And then don't forget and not
• 6:23
  like this and add a choir, like 3 vocals or whatever.
• 6:28
  And then so you have an imagination when you go there
• 6:31
  after like a year or whatever and then you go like arcade.
• 6:34
  This is like a very old idea from whenever the date says.
• 6:39
  And then you were like, yeah, but what was it that you were
• 6:42
  thinking? Right?
• 6:43
  Recorded right And that that kind of works out.
• 6:46
  And then I have a look how I combine things or what I really
• 6:50
  like best actually is like working on one thing, walking
• 6:54
  through the streets or climbing stairs or what wherever you are,
• 6:57
  you know, just like construct the melody, optimize the melody
• 7:01
  and connect it to the next one. And then you say, OK, that's
• 7:05
  pretty obvious. I mean, the chord could be, I
• 7:07
  don't know, slightly higher or something.
• 7:09
  You can optimize the impact of of the enough workings of the
• 7:14
  musical structure can always go like, OK, this works.
• 7:17
  Would there be a better idea? I mean, can you move the level
• 7:21
  of, of the bridge or whatever? Does it sound better if you tune
• 7:26
  it down, if you put it a bit higher until you're kind of
• 7:29
  satisfied? And then I, I usually don't
• 7:32
  start a track on, on the computer on the sequencer before
• 7:37
  I don't already know the main parts.
• 7:39
  You know, that's how I like to do things.
• 7:41
  But you can sit down and do like a drum groove and do a bass and
• 7:45
  then, oh, this reminds me of whatever like this sounds like
• 7:49
  holiday and then you call it holiday or whatever.
• 7:51
  I, I don't do that, that that way very often, rarely, but
• 7:56
  it's, it's a way you just go and you just got to be in a good
• 7:59
  mood or maybe you're melancholic or whatever.
• 8:02
  And then you feel like now I'm going to write a classic no
• 8:06
  one's going to listen to, But then you do it and then you
• 8:09
  release it, and then you're proud of it and you're happy and
• 8:11
  no one can take it. Away from you.
• 8:13
  Nice. That's the best thing about
• 8:14
  being creative. It's kind of interesting.
• 8:16
  I also used to go for like a long walk and come up with
• 8:18
  melodies. Is it easier or harder to write
• 8:21
  for a multitude of vocalists? You've been doing this for so
• 8:24
  long and now the second record with this full great lineup that
• 8:28
  complements it and and contrasts so well.
• 8:30
  Is it easier or harder to compose with everybody in mind
• 8:34
  vocally? No, I'd say about the same
• 8:37
  because like I mean the the saves, the the concept is there
• 8:41
  already. I mean, whether I would have
• 8:43
  done a heavy metal and some melodic like for the terrorists
• 8:52
  or for the kisser or I mean, I, I know how the handsome works
• 8:55
  and I know what 1 can give to him.
• 8:57
  But would be that's why he's doing the iron minions back
• 9:01
  then, right? That's why he does it.
• 9:02
  And no, it's, it's, it's more, it's, it's, it's complementing
• 9:07
  each other more or less. I mean, you can I, I asked the
• 9:11
  producer last time round. This time round I said, why not
• 9:15
  have them both sing the chorus like the one is singing the main
• 9:19
  vocals and the other other ones like singing the the third,
• 9:23
  whatever. And then you have them there.
• 9:24
  And producer said I'd like to do some feature songs with just one
• 9:29
  singer and stuff. And I said, yeah, all right, I
• 9:31
  didn't say anything, whatever. There's so many ways.
• 9:35
  And they all can sing quite great.
• 9:38
  They all sound kind of with their own way.
• 9:40
  And then the the structure of of the tracks we do is this is more
• 9:46
  or less defined same not not not harder or easier, which is a
• 9:52
  good thing I think. Definitely good to know.
• 9:54
  Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, there's, there's so many.
• 9:57
  It's such a multi layered album and I feel like the band, like
• 10:02
  the first record was really great.
• 10:03
  You know, anybody can come, you know, reunite or unite in this
• 10:07
  case across different generations and and go play the
• 10:10
  hits. But to make new music that's
• 10:12
  really meaningful is really special for fans, right.
• 10:15
  And, and I think this album in particular, I like that the band
• 10:18
  is very, there's some progressive songs where you
• 10:21
  don't, you know, some epic ballads and, and there's
• 10:25
  nothing. I didn't feel like anything is
• 10:27
  rushed. It all feels like in its own,
• 10:29
  you know, in a, in a good space writing wise, like, you know,
• 10:32
  whether it's long and short, everything seems to fit and
• 10:35
  work. So I don't get that a lot.
• 10:38
  There's a lot of records I get sent that I skip songs because
• 10:41
  I'm like Nope, Nope, yes. So like, this is a record I
• 10:44
  listened to all the way through a few times and I really loved
• 10:47
  it. For me, if it's one record and
• 10:50
  it doesn't have to be a heavy metal record, if it's there's
• 10:52
  one record that's that's got like a breaker on there where I
• 10:56
  go like, oh wow, this is all I've been looking for.
• 10:59
  You know, it's it's worse owning the CD or whatever just for that
• 11:02
  one track. But I mean, each and every
• 11:04
  album, if it so does, emits certain magic, which you don't
• 11:11
  really sense yourself because it's all circumstantial.
• 11:15
  But it's more for the listener outside.
• 11:16
  I'm thinking of particular Deep Purple albums.
• 11:19
  Like, for instance, come taste the band, right?
• 11:22
  I was like, what am I to expect from this, right.
• 11:25
  And then that was quite different.
• 11:26
  But I mean, yeah, you, you sense the summer, the summer feel you,
• 11:31
  you sense like the characters of the involved guys.
• 11:35
  And you were asking yourself what, what, what kind of weather
• 11:39
  it was, where, where they were were or like they wanted to
• 11:42
  express something, right. And it's got quite different
• 11:45
  feel than storm bringer or burn or whatever.
• 11:48
  And then it's it's it's emerging afterwards somehow, even though
• 11:52
  like if someone came to me and say like, you know, the giants
• 11:55
  monsters gives me this or that feel.
• 11:58
  And then I can go, yeah, I can relate to this.
• 12:00
  Or it's like, no, it was totally different.
• 12:03
  But fine for you, you know, enjoy whatever it's like each
• 12:08
  and everyone is like a different reception of things or like if
• 12:12
  you go take look at yourself of Uriah Heap, I mean, what do you
• 12:15
  feel when you listen to that? And and I hope that the things
• 12:20
  we're doing are emanating something like that in that
• 12:23
  direction. And no one goes.
• 12:24
  Sicily. Yeah, It's not the heavy metal
• 12:26
  band, right? That's what they do.
• 12:27
  They just go and that's it, right.
• 12:30
  There's some moods and good things coming out of it that
• 12:34
  would be preferable. Nice.
• 12:35
  I love the Deep Purple analogy. Along with Bowie.
• 12:38
  I always think they were the first band to really be
• 12:40
  radically different. They're still themselves, but
• 12:43
  different. Every single record.
• 12:44
  They kept improving and changing and evolving up to a certain
• 12:48
  point, which is really great. Yeah, you couldn't take that
• 12:51
  away from them. Whether you liked it or not.
• 12:54
  You couldn't take it away. They did it, they've done it,
• 12:57
  and then it was there and it stood out.
• 12:59
  Right on. I know you.
• 13:00
  You're a big music lover. Are you surprised that vinyl
• 13:03
  made such a comeback the last 10 years?
• 13:06
  It's crazy to me that I like the first Pumpkins records I had on
• 13:09
  it. Like we're on vinyl and now
• 13:11
  vinyl is like back and, you know, quite amazing.
• 13:15
  I'm not so surprised. No, I mean, call it wishful
• 13:18
  thinking or whatever, but like you can't just go and say like,
• 13:22
  oh, I, I wish vinyl would come. I got myself, I got myself a new
• 13:26
  record player just recently, a few months ago.
• 13:29
  Now I'm ordering all the stuff I deemed worthy or whatever, and I
• 13:33
  even got like a stereo tube equalizer in between before the
• 13:39
  final Chinese tube amp. It's like tubes.
• 13:42
  It's all tubes. That's just the magic.
• 13:44
  You cannot recreate with anything else.
• 13:47
  And you can go have a denim, you can go have ACD player.
• 13:51
  That's absolutely great. That's like amazing audio
• 13:54
  Transformers inside. Yeah, fine, OK, but you won't
• 13:58
  get that final magic. It's going to be different.
• 14:01
  It's going to be great. It's going to be whatever.
• 14:04
  It's just not the same. Just recently I I played the
• 14:08
  bridge over troubled water. It's like a clear vinyl edition,
• 14:12
  180 grams. And you know, there was a guy I
• 14:15
  I know and and he came by and said, I, you got all the stuff
• 14:19
  here. I mean, does it is it worth it?
• 14:22
  I mean, what does it do? I mean, is it so important that
• 14:25
  And I said, you know what, sit down.
• 14:27
  Have he never heard that? He never heard that track.
• 14:30
  And then I put it on quite a good volume and his eyes were
• 14:34
  getting bigger and bigger and he was like, it's like cinema or
• 14:41
  studio sound or something. I was just like, yeah, you like
• 14:44
  it. I wouldn't have.
• 14:46
  No, no, he didn't. He never heard the tube and
• 14:48
  before he never heard the final record before then.
• 14:51
  He did. That's a great story.
• 14:53
  I think the, the, the key now is that I think bands, labels,
• 14:58
  mastering experts are realizing that mastering for vinyl's a
• 15:02
  little bit different. And, and the main thing I have
• 15:06
  as a collector myself is I want to make sure I'm getting
• 15:10
  something properly mastered for vinyl.
• 15:12
  Not like from the you know in some things there are no master
• 15:14
  tapes of classic records. There was a fire Universal lost
• 15:18
  the masters of like a whole you know generation of three
• 15:21
  generations of music, maybe more.
• 15:23
  But if it's mastered properly for vinyl, then you know you're
• 15:27
  in good shape. Sometimes things are burned from
• 15:29
  digital or ACD even bad things. But most of the great classics
• 15:34
  of rock and heavy metal and classic rock and other music are
• 15:38
  are mastered correctly. And on this whole new wave of
• 15:41
  like the care and and I got a shout out the label one more
• 15:44
  time Rainy Phoenix. When they send a record out, it
• 15:47
  is beautifully made and and packaged.
• 15:49
  Not just the vinyl variants and things like that, but just the
• 15:52
  packaging is beautiful and they seem to really care.
• 15:55
  Even though the the modern versions tend to sound very much
• 16:00
  alike, whether you have vinyl or CDI mean both are mastered in a
• 16:05
  very good way so that you can hardly tell it apart.
• 16:08
  But that's one thing for knowing.
• 16:10
  I mean, there's just other records that just sound freaking
• 16:13
  magic on vinyl and they don't have on CV, but that's a
• 16:16
  different thing. It's, it's just like in, in the,
• 16:19
  in the current picture of, of, of music production.
• 16:22
  If if you do have like the, the, the, the, the broadband
• 16:26
  frequencies, in the old days, you used to put the treble and
• 16:31
  the bass to full and then you connected the record player by a
• 16:34
  phono input, which was like an entirely different experience
• 16:39
  than nowadays. I mean, you better put the, you
• 16:42
  better put the main amp. You have the stereo amp to 0,
• 16:45
  right? And then the album's got to do
• 16:48
  the master quality, so to say. Or you insert like a preamp
• 16:52
  where you can adjust the mids and the bass and the treble.
• 16:55
  And that may help you, right. But but you better leave the
• 16:59
  main amp untouched on zero and and don't middle around there
• 17:03
  too much otherwise it's not right.
• 17:06
  That's the main difference I I would guess.
• 17:09
  I mean in between the old equipment and vintage equipment.
• 17:12
  And nowadays everything is on what is it called every is
• 17:16
  everything nowadays is linear and then the the medium scatter
• 17:20
  do the job right. You don't have to actually
• 17:23
  change anything at best. Nice work.
• 17:25
  That's very good advice. Thank you, now I feel like I
• 17:30
  want to run over to my stereo and make sure where my settings
• 17:33
  are, but I know they're good. I have a preamp for my
• 17:35
  turntable, it's just how it came.
• 17:37
  Sort of myself a little stereo preamp with with base mitts and
• 17:41
  travel Chinese like and it's and 26 dollars or something.
• 17:46
  And we go in between the CD player and like added like a
• 17:49
  little switch box in between CD and and and record player and
• 17:54
  even that old shape deck. But I I took that off so I can
• 17:57
  easily switch in between record player and and and CD player.
• 18:00
  Nice. Yeah, back to the record for a
• 18:03
  second. You know, another thing that
• 18:06
  occurred to me is the split of the guitar work.
• 18:09
  If it's a song you bring in, does the writer dictate who
• 18:13
  plays what on the song or do you all, it's very democratic?
• 18:15
  How do you choose when you're demoing and and writing
• 18:19
  together? Well, more or less, I mean
• 18:21
  everyone does the demo and then you come up with ideas and, and,
• 18:24
  and basically what we are doing is the producer, the Charlie Bow
• 18:28
  find or the the Dennis Ward. They go about the business as
• 18:33
  they sing as it could be a good idea.
• 18:35
  So then you have like the the two guitars on each side mainly,
• 18:39
  and then you have like a third guitar somewhere in the middle
• 18:42
  field or you exchange it the way it comes in handy for each and
• 18:46
  every track. So it doesn't have to be the
• 18:48
  same all the time. It's it's, it's just several
• 18:51
  things considered by these guys, right?
• 18:54
  And then that's rather the way it goes.
• 18:56
  Then if you do, you can do a demo and you can say, hey, I
• 19:00
  laid out all the tracks for you. Why did you play this?
• 19:03
  I play this and I play this, but not necessarily you.
• 19:07
  You could you do it sometimes, but not most of the time.
• 19:11
  It's it's just being recorded as the producer see fit and then
• 19:15
  it's arranged and mix and master and then it does something.
• 19:19
  Obviously. No, but yeah, you can do it that
• 19:21
  way. That's what we're doing for the
• 19:23
  life. I mean, it's like you play this,
• 19:25
  I play that. And yeah, on the recording it
• 19:27
  says you've got to play this, not that.
• 19:29
  OK, sorry, I haven't listened again.
• 19:32
  Then yeah, you better play that. So that's how we are running
• 19:36
  things right now. Right on.
• 19:37
  I think like in a sports analogy, a certain level of
• 19:41
  player is maybe hard or intimidating to coach for for a
• 19:46
  coach. And I think for the same thing
• 19:47
  for a veteran band with a lot of legends and music makers and
• 19:51
  producers yourselves in the past, you know, you have to have
• 19:54
  a trust, like a really good trust with someone to come in to
• 19:58
  produce the band who you respect.
• 19:59
  So is it at this point, is it easier or harder to work with
• 20:03
  somebody? Because you know what makes
• 20:04
  Halloween sound like Halloween as good as anybody, right You.
• 20:07
  Ever, ever, everyone knows the handsome knows and the Sasha
• 20:10
  knows very well. And then it's, it's like, for
• 20:14
  instance, we, we, we take a track that we played previously,
• 20:19
  right? Then you have an old recording
• 20:21
  from YouTube or whatever. And then you can go over there
• 20:24
  and separate the tracks with AI and then you go like, ah, this
• 20:27
  is what you played. So and the cat Hanson comes in,
• 20:30
  didn't play that because it's been some in between production
• 20:35
  where he wasn't around. And then it's like you think of
• 20:38
  something you want to play that, that fits that, that suits the
• 20:42
  overall thing. And then there may be a little
• 20:44
  short discussion. It's like, but I thought it
• 20:46
  would be like this and yeah, it's a good idea.
• 20:49
  Or like, no, don't do this. That's going to weaken like the
• 20:53
  other stuff that's been done over there on the other side.
• 20:56
  Yeah. OK, OK, a little bit of
• 20:58
  discussion takes place sometimes maybe.
• 21:01
  But I mean, yeah, the the stuff is more or less clear.
• 21:04
  What you do with three guitars, More or less clear, obvious for
• 21:07
  for everyone involved, more or less.
• 21:10
  Nice. It, it kind of writes itself.
• 21:12
  It scripts itself. And then in terms of this new
• 21:15
  material, which I again, I, I can't rave about enough, how
• 21:19
  much of it can we expect to hear live eventually?
• 21:22
  Because I you know, with the career you have in so many
• 21:25
  albums, there's songs. If you take them out of the set
• 21:27
  list to play a bunch of new ones, people are going to riot.
• 21:31
  No, that's the way it is and it's getting more and more
• 21:34
  difficult to, to incorporate stuff and whatever.
• 21:37
  We just always hope that, that, that people enjoy the overall
• 21:41
  concert and, and whatever it is. I, I can't say for sure, but it,
• 21:45
  it looks like there's going to be 3 or 4 bits depending on
• 21:51
  trackless lengths and, and, and kind of composition.
• 21:54
  What what's going to be in the next life set?
• 21:58
  At least three tracks from probably not the ones you would
• 22:01
  think, but but like the, the one set fit in easily or whatever,
• 22:07
  right? We're still not done with yet.
• 22:09
  We're still on the final stages of, of doing it.
• 22:12
  And then, then, yeah, it's going to be what it's going to be.
• 22:15
  Awesome. Well, we're looking forward to
• 22:17
  the next World tour and and new music, music alongside the
• 22:20
  classics. That's that's the best thing.
• 22:23
  You know, we, we live in a strange time where we do have a
• 22:26
  lot of legendary bands still putting out great material.
• 22:30
  I think it's probably a lot different than when I was a kid
• 22:32
  when I think a lot of bands were broken up or not doing their
• 22:35
  best. And I feel like if the, you
• 22:38
  know, right now is a really good time for for heavy music because
• 22:42
  we have classic bands doing vital new music.
• 22:45
  We have brand new bands that are coming up.
• 22:47
  So I think it's a really good time.
• 22:49
  Yeah, you've got high stakes and and then to to fulfill like the
• 22:54
  shoes of someone else or not or do your own thing and present
• 22:58
  yourself. And it's, it's interesting to
• 23:01
  see what's what's going to come as like talking about young
• 23:06
  bands, if they're going to make it to what level they will make
• 23:09
  it. Well, personally I've, I've
• 23:11
  always been like curious like how long it would possibly take
• 23:14
  news to ever get to the top or whatever.
• 23:18
  And it took quite some time. I wasn't quite sure if they
• 23:20
  would ever make it. But that for me, for a long time
• 23:23
  was was like all the stuff I could ever listen to with all
• 23:27
  that other hodgepodge that's been around.
• 23:29
  Like I was glad to have something like news to listen to
• 23:32
  every morning after waking up over.
• 23:35
  So what's going to be the next big thing?
• 23:37
  Who knows, right? Like who's going to be the the
• 23:39
  new mega guitarist no one can copy or whatever, or who's going
• 23:44
  to be like the the the vocal legendary man standing out for
• 23:50
  all the years to come? You never know.
• 23:52
  Now, what's going to be the names?
• 23:54
  Where would they come from? Yeah, but everyone's at high
• 23:57
  stakes. Like there's just so many good
• 24:00
  productions from from old bands, but you possibly wouldn't have
• 24:04
  expected really know. So there's something about it.
• 24:07
  Yeah, fine of the times. Right on as we wind this down, I
• 24:12
  was just also thinking about Walls of Jericho is 40 years old
• 24:19
  again. I remember when it came out and,
• 24:22
  you know, you couldn't even get the tape.
• 24:24
  You had to, like, get it from mail order here in America
• 24:26
  originally. So, yeah, it was hard to find.
• 24:29
  But 40 years. Any recollections back to the
• 24:32
  making of that EP and the first record deal and and those times
• 24:37
  before we got the full Halloween we know, know and love?
• 24:40
  Yeah, we were just utterly convicted and immersed and.
• 24:44
  And in doing that stuff, you got to consider that the I, I don't
• 24:48
  want to be mistaken, but I think we, we had just two weeks for
• 24:52
  recording the words of Jericho. From what I remember.
• 24:55
  I think it was just two weeks, wasn't it?
• 24:57
  Yeah, mini album, a few days and then that was that.
• 25:01
  And I hope I'm not wrong, but I thought it was just two weeks
• 25:05
  and then it had to be done. Was like a 100,000 Deutsche
• 25:09
  Marks production and then it had to be finished.
• 25:12
  I don't know actually how we did it, but like, everyone was
• 25:15
  present, we had lots of coffee, everyone was around all the time
• 25:19
  at every step. Yeah.
• 25:20
  And we wanted to know it. No.
• 25:22
  For sure, right on. Such a such a great way to lift
• 25:25
  off a career. First, a great first step.
• 25:28
  Michael, congratulations on the new album coming out soon on
• 25:32
  Raining Phoenix Music and Giants and Monsters.
• 25:36
  And thanks for hanging out with me today.
• 25:38
  It was really lovely to meet you and talk to you about Halloween.
• 25:40
  Pleasure, pleasure have a. Pleasure.
• 25:43
  All right. Take care.
• 25:44
  Be well, my friend. Hi to everyone, have a nice
• 25:47
  evening or whatever.