[00:05] Speaker 1: This is Bringing the Darkness to the Light with Katherine Nadal, professional psychic medium.

[00:12] Speaker 2: Today's guest is Mark Zonder. He is the drummer for the band Warlord. Warlord is an American heavy metal band that was formed in the 1980s. It's based in Los Angeles, California. Mark is here to talk about their upcoming tour in North America with Onslaught. It's a pleasure to have you on, Mark.

[00:32] Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

[00:33] Speaker 2: Aw, thank you. You know, it's so interesting because I'm a girl of the '80s. I remember going to a lot of the heavy metal clubs and being pushed out of the way with all of the, uh, jamming and slamming and all of that. (laughs)

[00:48] Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.

[00:49] Speaker 2: So, yeah, so you started your career in the '80s. So tell me about the early days of Warlord.

[00:55] Speaker 3: Well, Warlord basically is Bill and I. Bill Samas, who passed a few years back. We met when I was playing in another band called Russian Roulette, and we were playing at a record store, and the lead singer's girlfriend knew Bill from working at a bookstore. And she thought Bill and I would be the perfect combination 'cause Bill was into Rainbow, Sabbath, Uriah Heep, that style, where everything else at the time was not that style. And so Bill and I started jamming, and there was, like, about a year that we were in a warehouse, like an automobile bay, just him and I. It was freezing. It was all stone walls, so it was loud and reverb, and Bill was there in his kiss boots and the whole nine, you know. He would dress in stuff, and we would just play and play and play and play. And that's where the Warlord sound of drums and guitar really came together, and we spent hours and hours and days and days doing that, and it kinda just blossomed from there.

[01:45] Speaker 3: You know, we moved to LA, found other players. A lot of them came and went. Had a very, very difficult time with a singer. We auditioned at least 50, if not more. Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Boals, Neal Herpin. I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on, and they were great singers, but you have to remember back then, no one had money. No one had a record deal. I mean, we had a warehouse, you know. We had Warlord Manor. But all these guys were looking for money, which is fine, and I understand, and I get it. But that was our downfall, per se, is we couldn't find the singer that just fit a- and worked well, and that wasn't gonna be out all night and not rehearsing and not being part of the band. It was very difficult. And it kinda just went from there, you know. Bill and I used to joke, and we looked at each other and said, "Wow, man, if one of us could sing, we wouldn't need anybody else." Uh, we had everything handled between the music and the business.

[02:35] Speaker 3: We- we were good, and the interesting story is Bill and I never had an argument about anything. It was just total respect for each other, uh, both musically and business-wise, and who did what, you know? No one was trying to extend their power into other people, so it was actually very magical in that respect.

[02:54] Speaker 2: That's lovely. Yeah.

[02:55] Speaker 3: Thank you.

[02:55] Speaker 2: I'm very sorry for your loss. You know, he's gone now-

[02:58] Speaker 3: Oh, thank you.

[02:58] Speaker 2: ... almost five years.

[03:00] Speaker 3: Yep. Well, he, he's here every day because we-

[03:03] Speaker 2: Yes.

[03:03] Speaker 3: ... whenever we play or, like, behind me is my drum room. I'm sitting actually in the control room. But whenever I play those songs and whenever I hear those songs, whether I'm half-asleep or if I'm playing, you know, he's there. I mean, he can't, he can't not be there, you know. When you hear Heaven and Hell, Dio's there, you know. When I listen to the song, he's there. He's still living over in Tarzana, which is close to us. I mean, so the music really lives on, and, and that was the big thing 'cause be- before Bill passed, he said to me many times, he goes, "Man," 'cause he was ill, and he couldn't do it. "Just go get a guitar player, and go play. Keep the music alive." He goes, "Just go play." And I, and I didn't think it was right while he was still alive to do that. So he told us many times to continue, "Continue with the music. Don't stop, you know.

[03:49] Speaker 3: Whatever you do, you know, take the ideas, make new songs, write new songs yourself, but just keep Warlord alive," and we always are gonna play the Bill songs. There's no question. I mean, that's what we do right now. We play 17 of the classic songs, and he's there every night, you know. The intro thing rolls, "1984," "The Beginning of the End," "A World At War," and, and I flash back to sitting there eating Top Ramen with Bill at Warlord Manor, you know, where it's 104 in North Hollywood with one window and no air conditioning. So he's always gonna be there. That's all there is to it. There's, there'll never come a time where he's not there 'cause, you know, he was Warlord, so we're, we're carrying on what he wanted to do.

[04:30] Speaker 2: Yes, that's beautiful. Well, thank you for sharing that. You know-

[04:33] Speaker 3: Sure.

[04:33] Speaker 2: ... there's a lot of information about you, and I thought it was very interesting 'cause I didn't know everything. I had read, which I believe is true, that you had created your rehearsal spot into, like, a top recording studio. So how did that come about?

[04:51] Speaker 3: Oh, that's an interesting one. Well, it all started (laughs) thanks to Warlord. So Warlord is living... Picture a 10,000-square-foot building, 5,000 below, 5,000 above, a complete dump, cockroaches, just, just a dump. The guy downstairs was making, uh, leather belts for the police, and he had a press, so whenever he hit that press to stamp the stuff, the building would literally shake. I mean, it was frightening. Cockroaches everywhere. Uh, it was a dump. But we had our little section. We had our little rehearsal. We lived in our little corners. We had bedsheets that hung up. Uh, we makeshifted a shower out of the sink that we had where the tube ran up, and we put it on pallets, and it would always flood the guy downstairs. We had a hotplate. We knew what it was like to go to Bob's Big Boy across the street and five guys eat off a salad plate, the all-you-can-eat salad. Um, I could tell you how many times you can run c- water through coffee grounds before it goes completely flat.

[05:47] Speaker 3: So we're doing that, and then the band breaks up, dissolves, or whatever you wanna call it. Bill had just had enough. So I'm playing the drums. You're kinda stuck, you know. It's like you gotta be somewhere. Then my friend... And it all starts with my friend coming to me, going, "Hey, man, I'll give you 20 bucks if we can rehearse in your studio." Fast forward 30 years ago. Um, it's not that building. I moved out of that building 'cause that was, like, a lease, you know. That wasn't... I didn't own it. About 30 years ago, I bought a building, 6,000-square-foot building in North Hollywood.... tore it out to four walls and a roof. Took seven months to build back in. It was all coded and permitted. At first, it was rehearsal. You know, everything is 21-inch walls with air gaps and, you know, massive air conditioning. Every room was loaded with PAs, lights.

[06:32] Speaker 3: You know, I could name the clients from the Chili Peppers to Stone Temple Pilots before they were even Stone Temple Pilots when they were Mighty Joe Young, to Bernie Taupin to Alanis Morissette. I mean, you name it, i- it was happening. We're... I was very fortunate. And then the industry changed. The rehearsals weren't happening. The labels, as you know, weren't giving the bands the money. The quick story is Counting Crows were my first big, big band. They come in, "Hey, we need six months to write a record. Just bill us book rate." It's like, "Okay, great." Then in the end, it was, "Hey, we need three weeks, and we need a deal." So you could see the industry shifted. I had built a recording studio up in front, like the real way, lead-lined plywood, a room within a room, sand-loaded floors, just like any other major recording studio in town, and I always knew that it was busy. So what I did is I went back and I shifted each room.

[07:24] Speaker 3: Instead of being just a big rectangle, all the gear was out, put a sand-loaded wall, which is the ultimate in soundproofing, between each room, and then took the rooms and built them out with a control room, an iso booth, and like a lounge area. A lot of like Ikea lighting, you know, that kind of stuff. All the studio doors, the glass doors, double doors and everything. So I have 10 of those. All my guys now, there's not a musical instrument in the building. It's rap, hip hop and R&B, producers and engineers, and it's a golden goose. You know, it's- it's what's allowed me to do my music and not worry, "Oh my God, I gotta play this gig." 'Cause I never wanted to be that guy. I never wanted to rely on someone else for a gig, you know, and I saw it in the studio all the time when- when we were in the rehearsal mode, and you have like a big band come in and the drummer was like a session guy 'cause he wanted the job, you know? I mean, I got stories and stories. It's just like...

[08:20] Speaker 3: And I'm thinking, "You gotta be kidding me." You know? Y- really? But again, it's- it's that whole thing. These guys have to eat, you know? It's- it's the kind of the difference between a session guy and a band guy. But I was fortunate enough, and it's been good to me for 30 years. I own the building. You can just imagine in Los Angeles what a building cost 30 years ago to what it sells for now. You know, my kids will be h- very happy when the day comes. But every day, it's- it's like my baby. I love it. I take care of it. I'm constantly changing and improving things. I have great clients. I've got guys that have been there 15 years. It's business, you know, what can I say? <|agent|><|en|> I have to congratulate you.

[08:57] Speaker 3: It's very interesting because for many years, I've always been involved with kind of music studios, but I had dated someone who did a lot of work with SSL, and he would Ugh

[09:09] Speaker 2: ... drag me around with him to different studios in New York City, New Jersey, and I would always think they're all the same. And he was the one that pointed out to me they're not all the same. So I really learned a lot from him, but also, he would kind of talk about the kind of clients and that certain studios preferred certain types of clients and- and that whole thing. So that's the reason why I wanted to bring it up because I have such admiration for studio work and for the whole scene of an actual studio.

[09:41] Speaker 2: And I find it interesting-

[09:43] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

[09:43] Speaker 2: ... with the- the movement of the internet. All these people think that they're, you know, making a break on TikTok and everything, but-

[09:50] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[09:50] Speaker 2: ... they don't have the equipment, and when you really-

[09:53] Speaker 3: No.

[09:53] Speaker 2: ... hear it done professionally, you know that there's no replacing it.

[09:58] Speaker 3: Well, it's a really interesting story is when I first started, it was all rock bands, you know, all these guys and myself included were running around with the long hair. They knew who I was. Fates Warning would rehearse for a tour there. You know, it was- it was that situation. It was like everybody knew. But the way it is now, this is rap, hip hop and R&B, they just look at me as some old white dude. They don't know, you know, what the deal is. And when- when I... When some of the guys have went and looked, their jaws drop 'cause they don't realize, 'cause I've always told them, I go, "Guys, I'm not a suit per se. Everything that you've done, I've done 12 times. I know the hardships. I know when you're not getting paid and something's happening. I know how a client stiffs you or whatever." I go, "So don't look at me as a suit. I get it." And I think that's part of why my place flies. It's a very family vibe.

[10:46] Speaker 3: Once they get in there, I try to treat them right and be that kind of guy because the bottom line at the end of the day, and it's the only thing I really care about, it's money in my pocket. It's business, okay?

[10:54] Speaker 2: Absolutely. Especially nowadays.

[10:56] Speaker 3: It is.

[10:56] Speaker 2: Especially nowadays.

[10:57] Speaker 3: Oh, God. Absolutely.

[10:58] Speaker 2: For sure. Yeah.

[10:59] Speaker 3: Yep.

[11:00] Speaker 2: You had said something earlier. You had mentioned Fates Warning. I remember Fates Warning. Tell me about how you got involved with that band.

[11:08] Speaker 3: Well, it's a Warlord tie. It's a Warlord tie-in. In the early days, Bill Metoyer from Metal Blade, the engineer who did all those Metal Blade records, would bring me in to tune the drums because the guys didn't really know how to tune the drums. Now in a- in a major situation, that's just a luxury for a drummer. Like when Fates Warning did Parallels, Terry Brown, who did all the Rush stuff, brought in someone to tune the drums. And it wasn't that I couldn't do it, but when you're recording a record and you don't have to worry about that, it's good. And he- he was amazing. Silka too was amazing. But Metoyer would bring me in because a lot of the bands were young. They didn't- they didn't have a clue. The drum sets were kind of bad, and we'd always use like my snare drum and stuff like that. So I did a couple of the Fates Warning records that way, met the guys and everything, and found out that Jim Mathaios, the leader of the band, was a huge Warlord fan.

[11:58] Speaker 3: So when they were looking to replace a drummer and Warlord wasn't happening, he just basically called me and he said, "Do you want to... You know, we're looking to change drummers." And I told him very honestly, which sometimes is my downfall, but I said, "If you guys are going to continue in the style that you're at, I'm not your guy 'cause I'm not that kind of thrash, uh, whatever you want to call it, you know, that no exit thing." I go, "That's just not my style. I'm not gonna be helpful to you." He goes, "Oh, no, no, no. We're- we want to change." And then he had me work on a song or two, and the rest is kind of history 'cause it all- it all worked together.You know, and that's the direction they were looking to go, 'cause Jim needed a drummer that could uplift things and change it and take it with the band, instead of, kind of, that same thing that they were doing, 'cause they were looking to, kind of, change it up. 15 years later, that's what it is.

[12:45] Speaker 3: (laughs) You know, there was no, quote, "audition." I worked on the material in my studio in LA, wound up in Connecticut at the Carriage House, recording, you know, with Phil Magnotti, and Max Norman actually produced that record. We were off and running, touring after that, and X amount of records and tours, and that was it.

[13:04] Speaker 2: That's awesome. Yeah, I always find it interesting about stories, you know, how, how certain things come back around to you, you know? That's neat.

[13:11] Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.

[13:13] Speaker 2: Wow. Well, you have so many songs. I was reviewing a lot of them that I weren't familiar with, and I wanted to bring up the song Lucifer's Hammer. As a Warlord song, tell me how that came about.

[13:25] Speaker 3: Well, that's the first song that anybody ever heard. That was the fir- on Metal Massacre II. As much as we walked into Oz Records with Brian Slagel, when he was first starting Metal Blade, we played a, a song called Winds of Thor. That was on a demo tape. And about four bars in, he said, "Oh, you guys want to be on Metal Massacre II?" But we went with a different song called Lucifer's Hammer, and I think we went with that for a couple reasons that I remember. Number one, it was a little bit more of a powerful song. It was a more kick-you-in-the-face song. It also had a really cool intro to it, with the little spoken word that we use today in the live shows. A gentleman named Bill Chrysler, who also did Black Mass. He had that Vincent Price kind of voice. He was very theatrical guy, and just, just the strength of that song. And what people don't under- well, maybe they do understand, but that song is about a nuclear bomb, Lucifer's Hammer.

[14:16] Speaker 3: And it's funny how some of the military strikes these days have been called this hammer, Lucifer's this whatever. Bill was a little ahead of his time, and the story about Lucifer's Hammer that people need to know, you gotta picture this. 17-year-old kid in San Jose, California, and San Jose was not LA, okay? It wasn't hip and cool and, you know, Bill was dressed like he should have been in LA. The tight jeans, the capezios, the striped red and white shirt. He had the sunglasses on, always smoking a cigarette. So, picture a 17-year-old kid without a car at the bus stop with his notebook, writing the lyrics to Lucifer's Hammer. That's the song that we always open with. The one thing, I think, that you can say about any Warlord song is show me two songs that even sound similar to each other. That's the one thing Bill... His strength was songwriting. He was an amazing guitar player and could have played and done anything anybody ever did, there's no question about it.

[15:11] Speaker 3: You know, he was kind of like that Eddie Van Halen who always had a guitar in his hand. But he was into the band, he was into songs, he was into music, he was into the group. He wasn't into being Yngwie. You know, God bless Yngwie and all that, and he actually even sat there a few times at Warlord Manor and watched us play when he first came over here. But Bill was about Warlord. That's all it was, you know? And if you listen to the songs, they're about the songs. It's not about the drummer, it's not about the singer, it's not about, "Hey, let me play the lead all over the place." Bill looked at his composition, and one of the things that Bill did that created the Warlord sound, that I don't know if too many other bands and writers do, is he just looked at the vocal as another instrument. He didn't look at it as a David Lee Roth rockstar kind of thing, which is... David Lee Roth's amazing and what he did was fantastic and great, but it's kind of coming from a different style.

[16:04] Speaker 3: Bill looked at the voice as just another instrument that fit the whole thing. You know, that's why you never really hear, like, ad libs. You never really hear David Lee Roth-isms, you know, per se, whatever you wanna call it. There's a million guys that do that kind of thing. But that was Bill, which, to me, I alwa- I always found it, uh, really unique that he was looking at it that way, but it, but it made that sound. But Lucifer's Hammer, we open with that. That kind of encapsulates the band. It's strong. It kind of kicks you in the face. It has that kind of chant vocal at the end a little bit. It works really well. It works really well.

[16:40] Speaker 2: That's great. So, we're gonna play Lucifer's Hammer now.

[16:43] Speaker 3: (Lucifer's Hammer by Warlord plays) It comes from the heavens on a mission from Hell. A force of destruction that nothing can repel. A story is born that no one will live to tell. Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah. The creation of man is now encased in a shell. At the push of a button, we all will go to Hell. Who will be left to toll the funeral bell? Funeral bell. The hammer will fall on you. The hammer will fall on you. The hammer will fall on you. The hammer will fall on...

[18:19] Speaker 3: (guitar solo)

[18:39] Speaker 4: (Guitar solo) . Devastation, destruction of all the nature. Annihilation, clouding over the sky. Raise the dead from the graves. And throwing themselves on high. Save us. From ourselves. Save us. From ourselves. Save us. From ourselves. Save us.

[20:12] Speaker 2: Yeah, you have so many songs. You know, I always think of the fan base, their interaction with the songs. You know, sometimes fans will say, "These are in my top five," or something. How would you describe the song Aliens?

[20:45] Speaker 3: Well, Aliens was an interesting song because what had happened is we had Deliver Us, the EP album, whatever you want to call it, and then Metal Blade thought we should do a single of Aliens and Lost and Lonely Days. Now, those two songs right there, that's a step in the progression of the band. Now, the- the- what I like about Aliens is, is number one, not that I like it, but, eh, it relates to a lot of people when you start talking about aliens. I don't think there's a whole lot of tongue-in-cheek going on in that one. That one's pretty straightforward, you know, the aliens, the aliens are here. But from a music point of view, Warlord started to kind of stretch out. Not that it was progressive, but it started, especially from a drum point of view, and it always went hand in hand with the guitar.

[21:26] Speaker 3: You know, all that time that Bill and I spent together, just him and I, really created something that worked rather well together and just molded where it wasn't like Bill and the singer, or Bill and the keyboard player, or the bass player, or another guitar player, it was with the drums. And that song, yes, it's heavy, but it's a pop song. It's verse, chorus, bridge, cool lead. Now, the kicker on that one, and people need to know this, during the lead, there's a point where you hear plates crashing, and this day and age, I would just go to the computer, dial it up, plate crashing sample, "Oh, do you want that loud, soft, E, F, backwards," whatever. No, no, no, we didn't have that. We went down to the Goodwill, bought plates for 30 cents apiece, we went into Track Record, which is a high-end studio where we recorded the songs, we got goggles on, they put microphones out, they ran the tracks, and me and Bill were slamming plates in the middle of Track Record. So, that's authentic.

[22:23] Speaker 3: That's, that's Foley. That's what that is. That's Foley right there, you know? Guys go on to make careers in Foley, but no, we were, we were all about the authenticity of what we were doing, and that song, I don't know, to me, it's just a great, great song. Obviously, I like it 'cause it has a drum intro per se, has a couple little sound effect things going on, but it's a pop song. It's, it's a chorus. You know, that's the funny thing about Bill. Yeah, he quote heavy metal, whatever you wanna call him, but they were songs. You know, I've, I've always said this, this band might have a better-looking singer, this band might have a better drummer, that band might have, uh, I don't know, better background singers, whatever, but Warlord has the songs, 'cause Bill was an amazing songwriter that always kept that pop rock thing in there, so it wasn't so far out there that no one got it. So, no, Aliens is one of my favorites.

[23:13] Speaker 2: I could see why. We're gonna play Aliens now, but I thought it was interesting kind of getting the background story, because he's taking on big, kind of big subjects here. You know, subjects-

[23:25] Speaker 3: Well, Bill, Bill-

[23:25] Speaker 2: ... that people don't wanna (laughs) talk about, right?

[23:27] Speaker 3: Now Bi- Bi- Bill was very, very smart. He went back to school, got a degree, I think, in theology, and taught at a private college in, in Florida. This was no dummy. You know, this was a guy that at a very, very young age, the parents put the guitar in his hand and made him take the classical lessons and, uh, you know, that kind of thing, and, and then it blossomed into Ritchie Blackmore. But he, he's just a smart guy. You can just tell. You don't write lyrics like he wrote. You know, there's no, "Hey, baby, baby, what are you doing tonight?" You know what I mean? It's like, this guy was a lot deeper than that.

[23:59] Speaker 2: Yes. So we're gonna play Aliens now. (Aliens by Warlord plays)

[24:49] Speaker 4: (heavy metal music plays) Clamoring and reaching for the highest of beams. We've lost our search for the world's basic needs. The aliens. Inside our dreams. The aliens. Inside of our dreams. The aliens. The aliens are here. Through fiction and lies. We gaze at the skies. For flying saucers and men with green eyes. Creating these monsters we seek to destroy. The children and maid who teach in their toys. The aliens. Controlling our fears. The aliens. So close, yet so near. Ah. The aliens. The aliens are here. (guitar solo) (instrumental break) All listening gods will reply. When sanity and reason begin to tie. Blind eye to the night in which they slay. Will rise to conquer us all. So hear the aliens. Their message is clear.

[27:51] Speaker 4: The aliens. The aliens are here. Ahhhhhhh. Aliens. Aliens. Aliens.

[28:21] Speaker 2: Well, it's just amazing, you know. I wanted to go back to something you had said earlier because you started to talk about how the two of you were, like, a writing team. How did you feel when you actually felt like you had your first break, where you were like, "Oh, we're gonna get a record deal now." Like, how was that? 'Cause it seemed to be, like, your relationship was really formed on doing this as a team. So, how did it feel individually? Like, did you think it was gonna be a reality?

[28:47] Speaker 2: Or you thought, like, "This is not happening."

[28:50] Speaker 3: Well, no. The be- beautiful thing about the '80s was there was hope. Now, whether it was false hope or not, that's a whole different story, but it was the band mentality. We were very realistic. We didn't get the deal from Atlantic Records. We didn't get the tour. We did videos that we paid for. Kinda the story of my whole career is we didn't get the break. You know, Fates Warning never got the break. You know, we never got the tour with Rush. We never got the tour with the Scorpions. We never got that and stuff. We knew without a major something from somebody from... i- it's just not gonna go. We could've beat our head against the wall. But the real moment came when we're playing... whenever it was, 2013. We're playing in Athens. The Greeks are crazy. Going nuts. I think it's, like, 1200 people in the, in the, at the Gagarin or whatever it is, with a balcony and the whole bit. Packed, completely packed. Two nights in a row. Warlord's never played in Greece before.

[29:45] Speaker 3: Me and Bill are sitting backstage, warming up, whatever, and over the top of the band that's playing now, the opening act, you just hear, "Warlord, Warlord, Warlord." It was bittersweet. It's two things. We looked at each other and went, "Wow. This is kinda what Iron Maiden must feel like every night." But at the same time, we both looked at each other and went-What took so long? But we did, we did get the moment. We played where it was ridiculous, you know, we filmed it, it's the Live in Athens Warlord thing. Is it perfect? No. But is it Warlord? Yep. Are the fans going absolutely bananas? Absolutely. I don't know what making it is, you know, I'm sitting here 67 and going out on tour, I guess maybe some would say that's making it. But I still had that drive every day. I still had that thing of getting up every morning and playing. What are we doing today? Okay, let's do this. Okay, you know, we're gonna do another A through Z album. Okay, great, let's do that. You know, do that.

[30:35] Speaker 3: You know, "Oh, I got these ideas." Okay, let's do the videos. I mean, it's kind of one of those things that's just never stopped, you know.

[30:41] Speaker 2: Yes.

[30:41] Speaker 3: Uh-

[30:42] Speaker 2: Well, you make very good points, but one thing I have to say is I feel that you made it because in looking you up and say, "Okay, what are the Warlord albums?" They have them across on the top of the page, you actually have to press the arrow to get to the rest of the album, so you've-

[31:01] Speaker 3: (laughs)

[31:01] Speaker 2: ... made more than one album, so I have to say (laughs) .

[31:05] Speaker 3: Oh, no. No, no, absolutely.

[31:05] Speaker 2: You have made it (laughs) .

[31:07] Speaker 3: Oh, no, I, I, I, I look back and there's, there's a mil- you know, the band Ten, Gary Hughes in Ten, I, I recorded one of those albums, Storm Warning, I think it's Storm Warning. You know, Richard West from the band Threshold, I did a Legal Lights album that I thought was just absolutely amazing, and I've recorded a million different records, but it's never got to that point of that next level. The music is great, the sounds are great. You know, the music industry obviously constantly changes, but I've always said though, it would be nice to just have that one hit or that one thing that enables you to jump to that next level and then just to be able to hold onto that. It always cracks me up when I hear guys that are playing arenas talk about, "Oh, yeah, I want to get back to those down and dirty clubs." I'm like, "I'll trade places with you.

[31:53] Speaker 3: I have no pro- l- here, you come over here and I'll go to the Enormo-Dome." I, I, I get it maybe, but I wouldn't be that guy saying that, trust me. But you gotta, you just keep keeping on. I mean, that's all I can say. Stranger things have happened, but I love what I do. I, I love the guys that I play with. It, that's the, that's the thing, playing with the guys is the pure joy of it and they're all great guys. There's no ego. There's no attitude. You know, when you get older, that's so much more of it. But (laughs) I would still put up with, a, a singer that's a complete pain if it was Ronnie James Dio. If it was Steve Walsh, just to hear that voice every day, there is still something about, yes, you love the guys and there's the emotional part and that's great, but, but, uh, e- true story, I'll never forget, I auditioned for Badlands. Besides the fact that Jake E.

[32:39] Speaker 3: Lee had the loudest guitar I ever heard in my life, when Ray Gillen walked in and just kind of grabbed the mic and opened his mouth, there's something about pure talent. There's something about just like, damn. Like, oh my God. So I can't even imagine what it would be like with Steve Walsh of Kansas in your ear monitor in his prime or Ronnie James Dio, you know, or Klaus Meine. But the guys are great and, and they're overly talented. I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying sitting here, there's something about just unbelievable talent when you see it. And Bill Salmus was one of those guys, I never heard him play a wrong note, I never heard him write a song that wasn't just absolutely spectacular. You know, I've been blessed in that, in that respect. I've played with very talented people over the years.

[33:24] Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's interesting that we're talking about singing because now on this tour and for a while now, you've had the vocalist, Giles Lavery.

[33:33] Speaker 3: Yeah, Giles came to us, we were doing a tour, that first Greek tour in 2013 I think is when it was, and we had a different singer all lined up to go, and as three months out, I told the singer, "Hey man, you know, what about every week, why don't you just send a song that you d- just so we can make sure, 'cause we're not gonna have the big rehearsal. You know, we'll have a few days of rehearsal, but I need to make sure that you're, like, on key, or not key, but, you know, like, you get it, you're, you're knocking 'em out." Well, as things approached, it was obvious this guy's not gonna make it. Th- there's no way it's gonna happen. So Bill knew Giles because Giles sang the one song on, on Kill Zone, the song Kill Zone on The Holy Empire because the reason the other guy, Rick Anderson, didn't sing it was w- that's a tune that's a Priest tune, it's like a Judas Priest song where you need that kind of singer. So he got Giles to sing it.

[34:21] Speaker 3: Bill just called Giles and said, "Hey, we're really in a pinch. We need a singer. Can you come out and do these dates?" And he did, and then the relationship was just kind of formed from there. Also, it's one of those things where it's important to have guys where he gets the job done, but more importantly, he has Warlord inside. Giles is definitely Warlord in that respect, so that's really, really important to have team players that are Warlord.

[34:45] Speaker 2: Yes, and it's so interesting because Giles actually brings forward the theatrical part of Warlord because he has that stage presence and the bit of drama kind of in his singing, the way he performs, that I've seen.

[35:02] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[35:02] Speaker 2: Yeah.

[35:02] Speaker 3: Well, it's him and Diego and Eric, the two guitar players, which is really kind of cool about Warlord out now is you got all the old guys in the back and you have kind of that young presence that has energy. So as much as Warlord's an older band, there's a youthful energy even though it's a band that's older and that energy is really translated between Giles, Diego, and Eric. And it's not taking anything away from guys that are older because I'm obviously older, but it's a nice touch that Warlord has now. We have the younger guys and it, and it, and it translates.

[35:37] Speaker 2: I like that. Yeah. It's similar because other bands are doing that as well. I think Triumph is coming out this summer and they're doing the same, they're bringing, you know, younger guys out with the older original ones. Yeah.

[35:49] Speaker 3: It's interesting because I saw that whole thing going on and, and I have no doubt that those three guys could tear it up by themselves. I think they're just looking for this day and age, things are just done kind of bigger and, and more of that. I'm sure they're gonna come out. Well, here's your six degrees of separation for you. Triumph, we recorded Fates' Warning recorded the Parallels album at MetalWorks, and behind me in the big warehouse was, like, that hand-painted, I'm not sure if the band owns it, but Gil Moore owns that, and at the time, you know, it was a long time ago, you know how, like, sometimes bands have banners that look like they're done with spray paint?... or the fans give him. I had that behind me the whole time that I was recording, 'cause it was their studio and they stored all their stuff there.

[36:31] Speaker 2: Oh, wow.

[36:31] Speaker 3: That, that was an amazing record. But no, I would, I would love to see that too. I'm a, a big Triumph fan.

[36:37] Speaker 2: So am I. I've actually bought tickets to two different locations they're gonna be at. All right, cool. So we're gonna play Kill Zone now.

[36:45] Speaker 5: (helicopters flying) (gunfire) (heavy metal music) Yeah! Insurgents have taken the city. Civilians have moved out of town. A city besieged, the death that will be. For men will be killed and beat down. For men will be killed and beat down. The skies they're loaded with cannons. And I've been thrust into their rows. I smash and destroy the houses of foes. And now I have entered the kill zone. And now I have entered the zone. Soldiery is my life. Strategy, live or die. It's killing time. Killing time. Killing time. It's killing time. The war it just rages for ages. The stench of the dead that I loathe. I feed my machine guns that I roar. Pouring out lead from the zone. Pouring out lead from the zone. Savagery is my light. Butchery or I die.

[39:44] Speaker 5: It's killing time. Killing time. Killing time. It's killing time. (instrumental break) The final assault on Fallujah. Our mission to search and destroy. The foreign jihad has come here to fight. For Allah and prophet they'll die. For Allah and prophet they'll die.

[42:33] Speaker 3: Blades that scatter their brains and scatter the floor. Shredding their flesh and their bones. Shredding their flesh and their bones. Slaughtering, I want more. Annihilating, I am war. It's killing time. Killing time. Killing time. It's killing time. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

[43:54] Speaker 1: (MUSIC)

[44:21] Speaker 2: I wanted to get back to something that I had talked about earlier, but I didn't realize and then recently I started to look at the band again. I think your band has had three different reunions to date. Is that correct?

[44:36] Speaker 3: I kind of look at every gig as a reunion. (laughs)

[44:39] Speaker 2: (laughs)

[44:39] Speaker 3: The very, very, very, very first, quote, gig... Well, it was in a little, little, little club and it's a hoe, but the gig the next day was the real gig at Vakan. I think it was 2004. And that was Joakim Kahn singing from HammerFall. And, and it's interesting because Pasco, the bass player, is playing with us now, and it was Paulo, Danielle, and, and Bill, and it was- you could say that was one lineup. But then when we went back out and, and we played again, we changed singers. You know, that's when, uh, Giles dropped in, and, and it's beautiful because the band has never been tighter. It's note for note, there's no improvisation, and that was the mantra from the beginning that I said. I go, "If we're doing this, think of it as a tribute band or a cover band, because that's what we're doing. We're playing it note for note, because that's what people want to hear." I don't want to go hear Carry On My Wayward Son with a reggae feel when I go see Kansas.

[45:31] Speaker 3: I want it what it is, and that's what Warlord will deliver, because that's what those people that are my age and younger, they want to hear that. I don't think if we bust out Child of the Damned with a swing feel, they're going to go, "Damn, that was great." They're going to go, "Huh? What happened?" So.

[45:48] Speaker 2: I love-

[45:48] Speaker 3: That's the component of it.

[45:49] Speaker 2: I really love this because as a fan, you always very often hear or see now because we're on the internet, people writing comments like, "Why do we need to hear them do a cover? Like, don't they have enough of their own stuff?" (laughs) Like it's so, it's so real. Wow. Well, I'm so-

[46:06] Speaker 3: Yeah.

[46:06] Speaker 2: ... glad that you had mentioned the Child of the Damned. We're gonna roll out with that song, but just before we do that, I wanna be able to touch on this North American tour. So you're gonna be starting the tour, I guess, in March. You're gonna be covering several dates from the West Coast down to Florida, with also maybe one or two dates in Canada. And then there's gonna be a second leg, which is gonna be the Northeast-

[46:35] Speaker 3: Yep.

[46:35] Speaker 2: ... with more Canadian dates.

[46:37] Speaker 3: All the fans were coming, but we're extremely excited. I haven't played in the United States in about 20 years, I think. We are giving an AARP discount. (laughs) No, I'm just kidding. You know, we appreciate all our fans, but those people that are telling me, "Yeah, man, in high school, you know, that's all we used to play was Child of the Damned, and, you know, we'd sit in the parking lot or whatever. We'd be cruising up and down the boulevard, you know, cranking Penny for a Poor Man." Those are the kind of people that you're going to see light up like Christmas trees when they hear it, and it's real. You know, the, the band is strong, loud, powerful. There is no question.

[47:10] Speaker 2: I'm so excited, especially since you're gonna be coming to the New York City area. I will make it out, and I'm looking forward to seeing those dates when they're released. We're gonna roll out with the song The Child of the Damned. Thank you so much, Mark. It's been a pleasure to have you on the show.

[47:26] Speaker 3: My pleasure. I really appreciate it, and we'll definitely see you in New York. Get in touch, and we'll take care of you.

[47:31] Speaker 2: Aw, thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, it's been a great interview with Mark Zahner of Warlord.

[47:37] Speaker 1: (MUSIC) You made me see right past myself, well beyond my fears. Real eyes have seen you grow nice, far beyond my ears. I'm so geared up to let my spirit into their souls. Now that I'm addicted, the hunger only grows.

[48:43] Speaker 4: You have been listening to Bringing the Darkness to the Light with

[51:43] Speaker 4: Katherine Nadal, professional psychic medium, Dream Central Station, LLC. My audio editor is Al Hemberger at the Loft Recording Studios in Bronxville, New York. This is WNEW 102.7 FM Radio.