- 5/19/2025
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00:00Let's talk about this uh this magic power the all-star tribute to triumph a great group of unbelievable musicians
00:06We were just so honored when we saw the caliber of players that were going on this record, you know
00:11Much less the vocalist. I mean it's it's an incredible list of vocalists
00:16Rock metal frog and everything in between
00:20Welcome to this episode of talk and rock with meltdown
00:23Don't forget to follow the audio-only talking rock podcast on all podcast platforms and now it's time for today's conversation
00:31Here's meltdown gill. I gotta start out by sending my condolences to your hockey team
00:38I appreciate that meltdown. Yeah, that was a rough one last night. It was
00:42Yeah, uh as a matter of fact, I was texting some of my friends that are on this record
00:46Uh what I should ask you about and uh tyler, uh from a theory of a dead man said uh
00:50Are you rooting for edmonton now? You want me to ask you if you're rooting for the oilers?
00:55Well, yeah, i'm gonna stay canadian for sure
00:58You know, we gotta hey, we this is our game. I thought you know, come on
01:01We gotta we gotta see those oilers coming through now
01:04Yeah, they got so much firepower too. I think I texted him about that. It's like uh, you know
01:09I mean, obviously they came close last year, but man just a lot of firepower on that team
01:14Yeah, well, you know us canadian boys know how to play hockey
01:18That's right
01:20Or we're supposed to yeah, did did you play growing up?
01:23Yeah, I sure did. I was I had no intention of being a drummer
01:27That was just a fallback after I failed as an nhl hockey player
01:31Way, I grew up every kid in my neighborhood that you could have done a survey and got 100
01:35Every kid I want to play in the nhl. I want to play in the nhl. I want to play in the nhl
01:39Our dads all took us
01:41you know, uh, you know to hockey practice 4 30 5 30 in the morning something like that and
01:46We started in the toronto township hockey league here in tadpole b
01:50And worked our way up to tadpole a and you know, it kept going from there until we became frogs or whatever. Yeah, that's great
01:58Yeah, um and that and you went to play hockey at 5 30 in the morning before timmy hose was even a thing
02:03Tim horton was still in the league
02:05Yeah, exactly. He was and uh, you know, I gotta tell you there's been great advancements in in hockey, but it's uh,
02:13you know, it was really uh
02:15In my growing up. It was just fundamental to everything and we'd come back from hockey practice and we'd go play ball hockey
02:21Uh on the street. Yeah, I couldn't get it couldn't get enough hockey and you know
02:26Eventually all all of the kids that I grew up with we all we all realized we all looked around
02:31Well, none of us are quite good enough
02:33you know, I think out of
02:35You know about the entire league. I think there's maybe like one or two guys, you know that that made it through
02:40That's how tremendously talented these athletes are you just look at them? They're just
02:44You know one in a million, uh kind of athletes that actually make it through to the big leagues, you know, and uh,
02:51so I get you know started at the bottom again over on the drumming side and uh
02:55Trying to figure trying to figure out how to do that. That's the next move in my life. Yeah, that's great
03:00You know, I I I kind of the same epiphany when I was about 16
03:03It's like do I drive and try to get a job or do I keep plugging away and at five foot six?
03:08I didn't think I was gonna have much luck in the in the pros and I didn't play at a very high level
03:11But yeah, I I I feel you there we come home play street hockey as well
03:15Yep, so well, let's talk about this. Uh, this magic power the all-star tribute to triumph, you know
03:22The one thing that struck me except for the uh, the envy of none track is that a lot of the tracks?
03:27They didn't really veer much from the original
03:30yeah, so there was there were a number like that and uh, and then there was a few that went the other way like
03:36Uh, you know like alex lifeson and uh envy of none. Yeah, they took the track
03:41That they blinding light show and they just made it completely
03:45their own track
03:46Um, i'm friends with all the guys on that band. I the only the only person I haven't met is maya the singer
03:52And she did an awesome job
03:54Uh, you know creating kind of a haunting feel I would call it
03:58Uh, you know a really kind of textural landscape and then the other the other big change up was uh, it was nancy
04:05uh wilson from heart who
04:07Just absolutely killed fight the good fight in only
04:11uh
04:12The only way she could with her signature voice
04:15Uh, very very different from you know, rick's original
04:19Uh, uh melody or I wouldn't say melody so much as style
04:24Yeah, I mean, you know
04:26I was looking at this and I have a million questions. I then i'm like thinking well, do I have any questions?
04:31But let's just start first with I mean just the we were just talking about firepower on the ice
04:35but firepower in the studio there are
04:38I mean
04:39Unbelievable players on this record first of all, let's start from the beginning. How does this project start?
04:44Well, you know to your point, uh, you know your previous question, you know
04:48Yeah, a lot of the tracks were recorded sort of along traditional lines of the triumph recording
04:54So that's why mike clink who is the master?
04:58uh of everything to do with this record mike clink has to get full credit because he
05:04Orchestrated everything picked the musicians and so on and of course his first phone call was to phil x because he's our guy
05:10And so he started back, you know in in the trenches with phil the very first track he recorded was allied forces
05:17You know to your point you said well, is it similar to the original? Well, I don't know. I listen allied forces with phil x
05:23Uh both singing and playing lead guitar on it and I I hear a different I hear a much different track
05:29um the way he edited up the verses
05:32And uh, you know that kind of stuff start thing that he did
05:35Uh, and I and I love it, but that was the fundamental I think starting there and then of course phil's one of the top
05:41Uh session players in in uh in la they were in the middle of covid
05:45So they had to you know, try to do a lot locally there. So some of the guys from slash's
05:50uh organization, you know and or his uh
05:54Musicians that tends to play with live and in the studio slash himself for example is on there playing guitar
06:00a great group of uh
06:03as to your point like unbelievable musicians
06:06Uh, we were just so honored when we saw
06:09You know the caliber of players that were going on this record
06:12Uh, you know much less the vocalist. I mean it's it's an incredible list of vocalists
06:17Yeah, I mean just you can go down the list of drummers bass players vocalists the whole thing. It's crazy
06:23So you just mentioned uh that this this project was kind of uh had its initial start and during during the
06:29Covid era or was it before that?
06:32Well just before but it was like, you know, it was in the in the discussion stages, but when it actually started up
06:38Yeah, mike really had you know one arm tied behind his back because a lot of the studios closed right away
06:44You know studios are fairly close environments. So you can't really get musicians
06:49Uh, you know in a close environment and especially with a vocalist who's blowing
06:54you know if they have if someone happens to be singing while they're cutting beds, for example,
06:58or even the huffing and puffing that just goes on think of a drummer like you're breathing really hard and
07:04you know bad bad bad for covid obviously, so
07:08They had mike had to work around that and so in some cases more isolation was required like within the studio itself
07:14Or there was there's videos of the guys being masked while they're playing and so on
07:19And just getting people to come out, you know
07:20And you know the first thing you'd know you'd have a session booked in the studio would be closed for a week
07:25and then you'd have this guitarist booked or whatever and then he got covid and then
07:29So this revolving door of problems related to covid made it really tough
07:33But at the end of the day mike just you know, he just said hey i'm getting this record done
07:37No matter how much it takes and uh, you know, god bless him. He did
07:41Well, the record's awesome. It comes out on june 6th
07:44And uh, so most of this record if i'm if i'm not mistaken and correct me if i'm wrong was recorded
07:49And produced in los angeles, but it was mixed at your place in toronto, correct?
07:53Uh, correct me if i'm wrong at metalworks metalworks. Is that right? Yeah. No, it was mastered at metalworks
07:59Mike mike kept everything in la pretty much. Um
08:03And it was just it was yeah, we would have loved to do some of it at metalworks
08:06But it just wasn't feasible, you know under the circumstances
08:10Uh, you gotta remember even travel, you know during covid
08:13I mean it was like who would want to travel and go through all the rigmarole and then
08:18Find out that you were uh, you know had to quarantine remember all that stuff. We've
08:22Tried yesterday, but we seem to have forgotten a lot of it like quarantining. What's that? Yeah
08:28Yeah, well, I I hope to forget it. That's for sure
08:30But uh, so when when you start hearing the tracks coming back
08:33I mean, this is your band and and songs that you helped to create. Uh, could you could you remember the uh,
08:39The flood of emotions from hearing other artists do to your songs?
08:44The mind blower for me is just you know, hearing, you know, say you've got a guy like, uh, you know, mickey thomas
08:50Yeah
08:52You know killing spellbound with that vocal and always being a you know
08:56a fan of his singing or or the way larry larry laurence gowan from from sticks just uh,
09:02smoked the the vocal
09:04Uh on somebody's out there and the list goes on and on
09:07How about the singing drummers on here like like joey belladonna who sings like an angel
09:14And dean castronovo from journey who I think I don't think there's a singing drummer anywhere in the world that can sing
09:21uh
09:22Any better than dean? He was just like at the gold pinnacle level of of
09:28olympic medalists
09:30Yeah, not for an exaggeration. Yeah
09:33Medalist yeah, yeah, he's just awesome. Uh, there's no doubt about it
09:37and uh
09:38So those are thrills, you know because you've played those songs like never surrender I played drums
09:43I always love playing drums to that song and rick sang it
09:47um, you know, and then you hear you know dean's
09:50interpretation on the drums and his interpretation on the vocal and it uh
09:54Takes you right back to those rehearsals when the songs were written and we were you know, churning them out
09:59Uh, you know in in in a warehouse somewhere rehearsal hall or at metalwork studios or wherever we worked the song up in the first
10:06Place and uh brings back a lot of memories really does
10:10I can imagine and being a drummer. I mean kenny arnoff, uh, josh freeze brian tissue
10:14Just to name a few of the drummers on this record. I mean like once again just all the firepower on this
10:20Oh, man, you know like brent fitz just he was killer tommy aldridge like you don't get any better than tommy aldridge
10:26You mentioned kenny. I mean, come on. Yeah
10:29These guys it's like it's it's good thing that the record company used all-star on on the
10:35Title of the record because it truly is an all an all-star cast. I mean
10:40We uh, like I said, it was for triumph. It was just like, uh, oh man, we're not ready for this. This is so amazing and
10:48It really makes us. Uh, I don't know how to put it into words. Actually. It's a such uh,
10:54a feeling of um
10:56Gratefulness, I I would say towards all all mike, especially but all the musicians all the singers. We just feel grateful towards them all
11:05Yeah, and I mean you you've touched the lives of so many fans
11:08over the years and now to have
11:11I don't know. There's got to be
11:1230 or 40 different players on this record and I mean
11:16These guys are all fans
11:18From dorothy to I mean the list just goes on and on just you know to touch all these people like triumph did
11:24I I'm surprised. I mean i've been asked, uh, you know, did you you know, did you expect this?
11:30uh type of outpouring or did you
11:33Is there any way you could anticipate and it's like no not a chance
11:36Of course, you know tribes like every other band you start in a in a church basement or a high school gym
11:42And and most of your bands previously have gone nowhere like everybody's starter bands and you know
11:47That's the expectation the expectation as well probably get fired, you know, it probably won't get asked to come back
11:52You know, so they're getting 500 bucks next time we'll get 400 bucks, you know
11:56All these negative expectations and then you know suddenly when the when the audience, uh, you know reacts to the band which
12:03In in triumph was the first time for me
12:05It was ever instantaneous and same thing for mike and rick
12:08and you just go what the heck is this all about these people are just they're you know,
12:11They got the jaw drop going and you know, they're loving what we're doing
12:15And so it was very easy to accelerate the band. It was just like okay pour more gasoline on it. Away we go
12:21Yeah, heck but you never anticipate this outcome. So to to answer your question, you know
12:27No, you can't forecast any of this this uh, this kind of whether it's gold records or hall of fame stuff or a tribute record
12:34You just don't you're just starting you're just kids and you're just trying to make some music and you know, impress some girls
12:42I was gonna say that was always an important part of it
12:45I was just gonna say yeah, the girls have to come in there somewhere, right?
12:48But uh, yeah, my friend bumblefoot is on the record and he is one of the best guitar players i've ever seen
12:54And uh, he just wanted me to say hello and it was a pleasure and honor to be on the album
12:58That's that's you know, that's high praise coming from someone like that
13:00I mean slash is on the record like you mentioned doing that slide guitar. It's just unbelievable
13:06yeah, I mean the the guitarists are are uh,
13:10Just a cavalcade of wizards, you know is is what I would say
13:14And uh, they're you know, they're just there's just in a week there isn't a weak link, you know anywhere in the chain
13:20but you know again credit goes to mike, I mean these are people that he works with and he's made records with and
13:26um, and he has such credibility from all the great work that he's done. I mean, I suppose guns and roses was
13:32metallica probably being uh
13:35You know the two that are most talked about but uh, I know our experience recording with mike. He was our favorite
13:42uh producer engineer
13:45uh confidant
13:46uh mentor that that we ever what we ever worked for he was
13:50He was a master in the studio and not just behind the board and with sounds and things like that
13:55But as a as a person, um as a uh as a coach
14:00Uh, and I and I think that's why he's so respected by the musicians
14:04Uh, you know on this record is they they know what kind of guy mike is and and and how he is to work with
14:09in the studio
14:10Yeah, I was gonna say I never recorded a record but you got the three of you guys, you know
14:14You were rick and mike and then uh, would you say that mike clink a guy like that?
14:17It's like maybe like a fourth member, uh, so to speak
14:21Yeah, he he we formed some sort of bond there that that stayed, uh right to this day. Um,
14:28You know mike's went up to metalworks, of course, and you know, uh, every time he comes north, you know, pretty much i'm gonna see him
14:34Uh one way or the other here at the studio
14:37And and so it become yeah, it's become a lifelong friendship is uh what it amounted to whereas, you know
14:42We had other other great producers
14:44Um that you know, you meet you had a great time with or whatever
14:47But you kind of lose track of each other whereas in this case it became more like
14:51Uh, you know buddies I I would say on a different level
14:55Well, this is really cool. The uh, the record comes out on june 8th the magic power all-star attributed triumph
15:01It's uh, it's pretty cool that in 2025 you're not literally, you know
15:04You're not putting out new music or new albums per se but
15:08This is this kind of puts triumph kind of back in in front of the rock fans again
15:12Maybe for some that may have forgotten or just you know
15:14Are listening to different things?
15:16Yeah, I mean we've been working towards uh a mixed reality tour now for three or four years as well with our lighting director
15:23paul dexter
15:24who's uh, also la based and uh
15:28This this tribute album in a way is kind of maybe a setup for that. Uh, i'm not 100 sure
15:33Uh when this is going to launch but we're we're trying to get it out this year if we can if not
15:37It'll be early part of next year
15:39And uh, I think you're right. There's been a renewed renewed interest in the band
15:43I think it started when we when we had our documentary
15:46Yeah, uh, you know, which has been all over all the various streaming services and stuff
15:51We still hear from people that are you know watching watching it or they're even watching them multiple times with their fans
15:58So it's maybe the fact that we've been away as far as touring
16:02Uh actually is is a good thing and we certainly aren't overexposed. Let's put it let's put it that way meltdown, you know
16:08We played those gigs in 2008
16:11Uh, those two festivals that we played both down by dallas and uh the one in sweden
16:16And and we did that for a purpose we did that because we wanted our kids to see the band
16:20But it wasn't an attempt to put you know, say mike rick and gill back together as the original lineup and and play, you know tours
16:27uh
16:28For different reasons personally. I mean we certainly had the offers to do what we could have done it and uh,
16:33You know my hat's off to the to the bands that are from our
16:38you know era, let's say that kept playing and kept playing and play, you know, the iron maidens and so on and and
16:44Uh, some of the bands that have just seemed to be acdc. Holy smokes. I mean, I know they've lost
16:49Uh, you know, you know some of the some of the members along the way and there's been some tough times
16:54But you know, there's angus, you know still going, you know
16:56Yeah, and I remember him from the very first time when they were just starting out, you know
17:01Yeah, so, uh, but that wasn't triumph
17:03I mean we got to a certain point and we we had different things rick wanted to do some different things musically
17:08I wanted I was more comfortable behind the scenes
17:10so the whole metalworks thing for me was
17:12A passion project and and I had some family issues that made me want to stay home wanted to be with my kids
17:19Uh, you know, so there's there were these personal things that just made continuing touring and being away
17:24Not really what was in the cards for for the three of us
17:29Yeah, and sometimes you're not out there touring not putting yourself in front of people like you said
17:32Maybe you know people forget for a little bit or whatever the case is. You just mentioned a mixed reality tour
17:38I'm, not sure if I know what that is or is it's been announced. I don't I don't even know what you're talking about
17:42Well, the reason you don't know is because it doesn't exist. So, um
17:46And and i've had people ask me well, is that like the what abba's doing in london and I say well no it's not that's
17:51a that's a a lot of three-dimensional content and so on and it's but it's kind of a
17:56An animated movie if you will
17:59whereas, uh paul dexter, uh, you know, he did ronnie deal from uh, black sabbath, uh initial, uh hologram
18:08Events that were done. He also did frank zappa, which is where I caught up from and I said I said
18:12Because we're buddies and I said paul, can we do something with triumph?
18:16So we talked about it and he said well take a look at frank's hologram
18:20And so I went and saw it we went to the you know
18:23Back to the hotel after the gig and I said no this would never work for triumph
18:27so
18:28We were kind of scratching our heads saying well
18:30What could we do because we both like technology and i've always been a geek when it comes to lighting and sound and things
18:36So we started to investigate
18:38My school up here in canada was uh partners with microsoft in their development partner program
18:44They had a mixed reality department and we started looking into it
18:48The next thing, you know, all of a sudden we went off on a different path all together
18:52And we've been through like two or three different technologies that we wanted to use
18:56To bring the original band members into a new band with new musicians
19:01So basically the best of both worlds to try to have you know players that you know can cut the road
19:07And are are younger than us and have got the you know, tremendous playing skills
19:11But be able to give fans kind of the throwback that they that they want
19:16So we thought if we can bring, you know, the the three band members, uh into this and bring phil back to re
19:23Reignite the original band
19:26Now we have a six-piece power trio
19:28So that's why when you say I don't understand I get it. Totally. I don't think anybody will until it's out there until
19:34It's seen but paul and I are doing our best, you know, no wine before it's time
19:39We'll we'll see where it goes. But right now there's a lot of
19:43conversations between you know, mike rick and I and and and phil and our manager jason and uh,
19:49uh, mike clink, of course who's been an instigator in a lot of things and uh,
19:53Hopefully we're gonna bring something out there that fans are just gonna go wow for and then everyone will know what it is
19:59Now
20:01Now you guys seem like the kind of guys and once again, correct me if i'm wrong
20:04You guys seem like the kind of guys where if one guy doesn't want to go out on tour
20:07Then none of you want to go out on tour. And so let me ask you this
20:10Do you do you want to go out on tour? Do you miss the stage? Do you miss playing live?
20:14No, you're 100 right. Uh, we did feel that way and uh,
20:19about it and uh
20:22I
20:23With with me I because I wanted to like I said be at home raise my kids
20:28And I also had an elderly mother. There was reasons why I wanted to stay in toronto
20:31So once it takes you away from that i'll call it live
20:35Uh game, which is truly a sport in a three-piece power trio, especially for the drummer
20:40And if you're going to sing on top of that, you know
20:42It's it's it's a real athletic endeavor and it is for for mike and rick as well
20:47But your life takes a you know takes a turn into into a new area
20:51And and I and I love what we do
20:53Uh at metalworks and I love being with my family so ultimately my family takes precedent over
21:00traveling
21:01And I I know you can get back and forth and so on but I just want to be there all the time for them
21:06So i'm very happy with with that decision if we get this if we get this mixed reality tour
21:12uh rolling it'll be a great way to
21:15really thank the fans because i'm totally blown away with how loyal triumph fans are and
21:21Uh, I guess some of the thinking behind this meltdown is
21:24You know as you know in michigan because you're in detroit
21:27But you know everyone knows in grand rapids you would see triumph you see triumph in saginaw
21:31You see triumph from petoskey. You see triumph in flint
21:34Like we played all of those smaller towns as well and we sneak around the corner and play green bay
21:40Wisconsin, you know or the other way and play toledo like there was always yeah
21:44There were the chicagos the cleveland's the detroit's and the la's and new york's but there were also these smaller towns
21:50That's how we built it up
21:52And that's why I think a lot of those fans have those experiences from those small towns
21:57Not just not just the big ones. We got and this is an attempt an effort to say
22:01Okay, maybe we can take the triumph show back into those markets
22:05And uh and and bring back some memories and also some real surprises
22:11Yeah, i've used this line with many musicians before and even you know wrestling professionals and whatnot
22:16But uh, you you play for free you get paid to travel used to say the travel
22:21Can be kind of tough sometimes
22:23Yeah, and travel's a lot tougher now than it was then I can say that I mean, uh,
22:28All my friends that are still out there that are doing it. I mean, they they're really having
22:33You know having their hands full with all the challenges, uh travel wise and so on. It's not getting any easier
22:38let's put it that way but uh
22:40You know, I guess that's why maybe technology's good
22:42I mean you're starting to see some of these bigger tours where they play less shows
22:46And they're trying to get you know fans to come to the shows and so on where we were the opposite
22:50You know, we were like no we're gonna go to you
22:52We're gonna go to all the small towns along the way. So every 250 miles in america
22:57There's another city, you know that we can play
22:59So if we're playing a state we're playing like four or five cities within that state
23:05So that's that's hopefully something
23:07You know a debt that we can repay because we are in debt to those fans that supported us and still support us to this
23:14day
23:15Yeah, and if i'm not mistaken if my memory serves you guys
23:19Got your start in the states at a radio station in texas. Is that right? Were they the first?
23:23Yeah, kiss fm in san antonio. They were the first uh radio station in america to my knowledge
23:28uh to put triumph on the air now there may be some
23:31You know, you may know if you're from buffalo area
23:34I mean we got on the air pretty early in buffalo and so on too
23:37But the the first I guess real heavy airplay that really meant something was san antonio and what?
23:44Changed things was of course we we got uh pulled down there by the most unlikely, uh of circumstances
23:52Sammy hager was was uh headlining the municipal auditorium there and he had joan jett and the runaways
23:58Uh and yesterday today. Okay special guest and opener
24:03And
24:04Sammy went and decided to pull the plug on that and go and play uh open for kiss in madison square
24:10and uh
24:11his decision to do that we've been very we should guess we should tip our hat to sammy hager for that one because
24:18the they called us and they said
24:21Can you could take take sammy's place and and we're kind of like well, how's that going to work?
24:24You're going to issue a whole bunch of ticket refunds and you know
24:27Oh, no, we don't think people will want ticket refunds. You guys are actually really big here
24:31You just don't know it
24:33And we thought okay. Well, that's nice
24:34But we're also greenhorns and we're really not ready for prime time
24:37But we all looked at each other and just kind of pumped each other up and said hey
24:41It's go big or go home
24:42So you're gonna have to go down there and you're really gonna choke your guts out make a fool of yourself
24:47Or maybe it'll just work
24:48And uh, of course, you know, we go down there
24:51Like I said, this is the first time going from I forget what the biggest gig we'd played was, you know
24:56Maybe 1500 people something like that
24:59The municipal auditorium 5200 seats sold out clean not one ticket that wasn't sold
25:05And they just went berserk
25:07So it was like all of a sudden it was easy. It was like jesus what happened, you know?
25:13And then the promoter's like oh, we got to go play austin. We got to go play corpus christi
25:17We got to go play. Yeah, and that whole we got to go play thing just started like kind of a steamroller
25:22so we that was where the that's where the seed was planted and forever grateful to uh,
25:28You know the great state of texas for launching triumph. Yeah, and sammy I guess in a roundabout way
25:32So you just mentioned uh, you know
25:34You're playing 50 5200 seat theater or something and I was just thinking about this as you were talking
25:38Because I think i've seen footage this online recently and of course i've seen it for years, but that day in the green show
25:44It was what 83?
25:46We played day in the green multiple times. I think I think twice to be
25:51exact
25:52Alameda stadium for bill graham. That was uh, that was big big big crowds
25:57but uh, we
25:59Actually played a bigger show in canada prior to that like right in 1978
26:03Uh when we again we were you know, just beyond fledgling stage
26:08Uh, but we were blowing up in canada
26:11Because of what had happened in texas. So there was all this interest in triumph. So
26:15uh on the canada jam show which was at that point the biggest show that
26:21Festival that had ever happened in canada was 110 000 attendees
26:25At mossport racetrack and uh, you know, we got thrown in the spotlight there on the closing on the saturday night and everything and it went
26:32It went great. So by the time we were down and we were starting to play some of these stadium shows
26:37in in america
26:39Uh, you know, we we were we were ready for it
26:41You know was uh, it was the opposite of all the trepidation when we went to san antonio every band goes through that
26:48I mean, there's just there's always these pivotal moments where you
26:52You know if you start out playing in a church basement or a bar or wherever
26:56High school wherever you start and then you move up to a small theater and then you go from a small theater to a
27:01A bigger one and then you know
27:02You've never seen a 10 10 000 people and then you've never seen 20 000 and so on
27:07But once you get up into the big numbers, it actually be your confidence just kind of grows and it be it becomes much easier
27:14Yeah reminds me of when uh, my son would play hockey
27:17We'll get back to the hockey and he was a 14 year old playing with 16 year olds
27:21And sometimes you got to throw them in the deep end and they they will sink or swim
27:24And the good ones like my son and like triumphs that they swam
27:29Yeah, and and whatever that crucible is at the time. It seems, you know monumental
27:33I mean the first gig I ever played was at a wedding and uh, there was like 50 people there
27:39and you know, i'm there with you know, the other guys on my band and none of us are really
27:44You know, we're not even ready to play a wedding to be honest with you we're just on the amateurs trying to be professionals
27:50And you know, you go and play and people are dancing and you're the drummer and you go
27:54What if I stop what if something goes wrong? They're gonna stop dancing. I'm gonna panic in the disco, you know, it's a
28:01It's crazy and then people say well, you know, but you go on stage at the us festival
28:05There's 350 000 people weren't you nervous? I go. What did I have to be nervous about at that point? Yeah
28:11I can I can do anything. They're not going to stop dancing. I'm not getting fired
28:15You know, this is all this is just a win-win-win no matter what we do because I already know they they're already
28:21Engaged before we even walk out on the stage or whatever. So
28:25You know, it's a whole different ball game at that at that stage. Yeah, I think that's what I was thinking of the us festival
28:30That's the one i've been seeing
28:34Yeah, the us festival was crazy large, you know when we came in and uh
28:38I looked at looking down from the helicopter over over the site when we were coming in you look down you go
28:42Holy smokes are those ants? Is that an anthill or so it's really people, you know, because they're just
28:48It was like a city
28:50Honestly, it was like a city
28:52But we played so much in california up to that point and you know
28:56We played all all the arenas are you know in in la and all in all the secondary markets and and you know down to
29:03San diego in the south and you know, uh, you know up to up the coast, uh to the north and so on
29:10So there was really no
29:12uh hesitancy
29:14on our on our part and uh
29:17Of any sort of thing to do with acceptance nor would there be I think for any of the bands
29:21They were all they were all bands that were headliners in their own right that were on heavy metal sunday
29:25And for crying out loud the day before that show we we just played. Uh stadium was easy top
29:32Uh in the tangerine bowl in orlando
29:34So which is 55 000 which sounds like nothing compared to you know, what happened at the us festival?
29:40But you know 55 000. It's not just your small tea party. Yeah, that's yeah. That's that's a lot as well
29:46Well, i'll tell you what gil will let you fly here to continue watching the nhl playoffs magic power all-star tribute to triumph happens
29:53Comes out on june 6. It's an unbelievable record
29:56Uh, sebastian bach dee snider, I mean, uh, nita strauss and with all the all the musicians we mentioned
30:03It's really cool. And i'm really happy for you guys and to get this honor
30:07I suppose all these great musicians covering your stuff
30:10Yeah, thanks meltdown. It really is. Uh, you know a real uh honor for us. Uh, we were fans
30:16Of you know, so many of them if not all of them, you know
30:19Our paths have crossed with some of them
30:21So there's a few that are friends like sebastian alex lifeson or you know personal personal friends and so on but uh
30:28laurence from sticks
30:30but uh for the most part, you know, like
30:33People that we may have played on stages with or not played on stages with but just admired, you know from afar
30:40Uh listening to their music on the radio like everybody else
30:44And uh to have this all come together
30:47uh
30:48you know with with mike clink's baton and his uh recording and and producing skills is uh a once-in-a-lifetime experience and uh,
30:57Uh, yeah a really a really nice one
31:00And by the way before we go I got to give a shout out to my friends from the killer dwarfs
31:03I wore this shirt just for you. They're a great band. Love those guys. Yeah
31:08That's right, that's why I did it for you so
31:11Gil thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it
31:13Hey meltdown is a real real panic talking to you and a lot of fun. So, uh, we'll see you soon
31:20All right, gil. I appreciate the time. Thank you
31:22Thank you very much
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