Interviews

Interview with Bruce Watson of Foreigner and JiffLube Show Review

Published

6 years ago

July 2, 2018

Ron

FOREIGNER MAY BE A JUKE BOX HERO BUT 40years IN THE GAME THEY STILL KILL IT

FOREIGNER came into Bristow VA on their Juke Box Heroes Tour with WhiteSnake and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience.

A few days before the show, Empire Extreme got to talk on the phone with Guitarist Bruce Watson about the tour and many other things.

Empire: How’s the Tour going so far?

Bruce: It’s been excellent, really. The 3 bands together is pretty powerful. It’s just a great line up and WhiteSnake and Zepplin are two tough acts to follow but it works out.

EE: How’s it like joining Foreigner, I know you’re one of the newer guys to the band?

BW: From day one it’s been a joy, we all get along so well, not only just great musicians but Mick is looking for chemistry. You can tell we are all having fun on stage together, and being a fan of the band and now I’m in it, it’s magical.

EE: Were you a big fan of the band before you joined?

BW: Of course, the first time I heard Mick play that note G note on Hot Blooded I was hooked. He gets such an amazing sound, I’ve played his rig before and still don’t sound like him, he’s a master.

EE: What’s your favorite song to play?

BW: Long Long Way From Home, that one is such an amazing rock song. It’s just so much fun to play.

EE: Yeah, I was talking to someone about the setlist and it’s just all hit songs, which is amazing to play for 1 ½ hours and play all songs that are hits.

BW: Yeah that’s amazing, a lot of people don’t get to experience that, I feel fortunate, and to be honest we could play another 15 minutes and still play more hits. They all held up for as long as they have.

EE: How was it like working with B.B. King?

BW: One of the highlights of my life for sure, it was in the studio and he was incredible. Such a gentleman and they way he handled the people around him.

EE: How did you get hooked up with him?

BW: He was diabetic and did some commercials, a production company called me to put together a package of blues tracks that he would that he would sing and play over. I got to sit 5 feet from him and cue him in, he would lock eyes on me and then play.

EE: You also worked with Rod Stewart, how was that?

BW: Another classy guy, his catalog is jaw dropping. I got to play the mandarin part of Maggie May, that’s one of those things were you could die and feel fulfilled.

EE: I heard you’re into Crafts Beer?

BW: This is True, This is true (Laughs) I recently learned I’m qualified that more into really good beer, because just that it says it’s a craft beer doesn’t mean that it’s always good. I’m certainly like into Bud Light or something like that. I love beer. I’ve been into beer my whole life. Me and keyboardist Michael Bluestein got inspired by our this vision that our managers son, our manager is Phil Carson, his son Jack Carson he works for jagermeister. He said to us that we should get certified, there’s a test you can take to be a certified beer server. So we did that, we took the test and passed. We will do a few beer events, hang out at brewery and chat with people. Music and beer go very well together.

EE: What kind of beer would you recommend for a non beer drinker like myself?

BW: Anything that’s a Pilsner or a Lager, would be the easiest first step to take.

EE: I’m more of a Whiskey and Bourbon Guy, although I love my Ciders.

BW: That’s big leagues, those are good.

EE: What band would you like to see reunite?

BW: I’m amusing it’s a band that can reunite. (Both laugh) I would say Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, not likely to happen but that would be great.

EE: What dead musician would you like to bring back?

BW: If I was smart I would go back 300-400 years and bring back a classic music guy, but as a beer drinking guitar player I would have to bring back Stevie Ray Vaughan. That’s a big hole left and love to hear him play again.

Foreigner came out on the stage and just kept rolling from one hit to the next all night long, so bands may play some hits and then other great songs but Foreigner plays for almost 2 hours and every song is a hit song. I’ve seen Foreigner a bunch of times in my life, I would consider myself a huge fan of their music. This time I got to meet the band before they hit the stage and photograph the band also, which was such a huge honor to me. Mick Jones still shreds on the guitar and his vocals are amazing. Singer Kelly Hansen is a great front man, very energetic and sings the songs to the original in perfection. Thom Gimbel and that sax, oh man it’s like pure heaven in your ears, Bruce Watson adds so much fun and energy to a band that’s so full of energy to begin with, was great to meet up with him and say hello. This band has it all, and with the tunes they have it’s not unbelievable how 40 years later they can still bring out that force.

The setlist like I said was hit after hit, so just imagine the greatest hits album live and that’s the show. My favorites had to be Dirty White Boy, Urgent, Hot Blooded and my one of my favorite songs in the world, which I was so excited to hear was Starrider. During I Want To Know What Love Is, they brought out a school choir from a local school around Virgina to come out and sing the song with them.

Was such an epic night of great music, great friends and just being able to still see bands that not only have Pass the test of time, but are still riding that train and don’t plan on ever slowing down.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

6 days ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

2 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.