Interview with Al Atkins (Founder of Judas Priest) by David Kiss and Didac Metallian.

The good thing about being an independent medium is that you don't have pressure from the music industry, or the record labels, or anyone else, that simply translates into freedom of expression.

Being able to write about relatively new or more alternative groups is beautiful in itself, but the best thing is to interview musicians that you have been following in this or that way, or who thanks to them who were in the beginning were the cornerstone of creating a band to mark the world of Heavy Metal and I have the honor of doing it to Al Atkins.

Maybe you don't know who he is, but lovers of the Heavy metal genre do. This man, a singer to be more exact, formed with bassist Ian Hill and guitarist K.K. Downing the group called Judas Priest, due to financial problems in those years (since he was a fairly young father) he had to support a family, he left the band and his good friend Ian Hill invited his girlfriend's brother who sang very well, it turned out to be Rob Halford, which would eventually change the annals of Heavy Metal.

I got in touch directly with Allan, he quickly answered me, my surprise was capital, he answered me at the moment, my immense happiness! Judas Priest and that it was exciting to be able to do a personal interview with him.

So I told the director of Bathoryzine Didac, the very nervous bastard sent me a series of questions that together with mine we are going to ask Al.

- Hi Al, thanks for attending Bathoryzine.com

A/ Hello David.

-What do you usually do on a daily basis, your daily routine?

A/  , Well i start by taking my dogs out on an early morning walk but a lot of things I used to do like recording have ceased because of this covid shit.. I like reading and writing poetry ,playing drums and guitar.....and drinking beer. I used to do a lot of running marathons but alas old age has caught up with me and my joints..

-My interviews usually talk about the beginnings of the artist, going through his career a bit, anecdotes etc ... Is that okay?

A/ Sure!!.

-You are from Birmingham, your youth I imagine must have been influenced by the styles of rock ´n roll, blues music, do you remember that time?

A/ I have been influenced by lots of bands ..in the 60's it was The Who ,The Yardbirds and Cream..Later it was Led Zep and Black Sabbath to name just a few.

-You like to play the drums! (Laughs)

A/ Yes I started out has a drummer/vocalist in the early 60's and it helped us out once when our first drummer of Judas Priest couldn't make a tour of Scotland in 1970 so I took his kit and played and sang myself...

-I imagine that being a singer is more vocational, right?

A/ Yes I would say so...

-Forms various rock / blues bands …

A/ Again through the 60's I formed or joined various bands .'The Bitta Sweet' was one of the more successful early bands and we played alongside some great artists like Long John Baldrey who's backing band included Elton John on keyboards and Rod Stewart on backing vocals..we also opened David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Robert Plant ...it was great to meet all these top artists of the time.....later I fronted a great little blues/rock band called 'Jug Blues Band', our last gig together was at The Civic Hall ,Wolverhampton with Slade and Spooky Tooth...

-Your childhood friend Bruno bassist had always accompanied you in bands and in your own musical evolution ..

A/ Yes bass player Bruno (Brian Stapenhill) and myself started out together and played in all these early bands  …..we played on and off for  around ten years together.

-A boy K.K.Downing  enters the auditions for your new project. , but he didn't measure up! (Laughs) …

A/ After 'The Jug Blues Band' split up in '69 Bruno and myself started to put together a new band together with John Partridge on drums and Johnny Perry on  guitar..after a few months rehearsing we received tragic news that Johnny had taken his life. After his funeral we decided to carry on with the band just for Johnny and started to audition new guitarists...One kid that came was K.K Downing but although he looked the part he didn't quite hit the spot...

-Choose a guitarist from Earth pre Black Sabbath! (more laughter) …

A/ Yes! We eventually chose anther young 17 year old  from Birmingham name Ernie Chataway who was a brilliant player for his age and he could also play keyboards too..We didn't have a name for the band and Ernie mentioned he had jammed with a band called Earth and the had changed their name to Black Sabbath which we all liked so decided to also come up with a similar double barrel name...

  - In those days someone comes up with the name Judas Priest, who?

    • It was Bruno who came up with the name Judas Priest..he had been listening to a Bob Dylan album called John Wesley Harding and a song called 'The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest'..we all agreed it was a great name! one that people would remember! ..We quickly joined an agency called 'Ace Management' , ran by a nice bloke called Alan Eade who started to book us out to play , also go into the studio's to record some demo's that I had written...Alan said lean towards more commercial songs and I wrote two called 'Good Time Woman' "We'll Stay Together"  we had interest from a few record companies who wanted to see us play live.  The problem was our live set sounded nothing like these demo songs and when they saw us Decca Records said we were like animals and turned us down ...hahaha.

But Immediate Records, London loved us and wanted to sign us …..Robert Plant had just returned from his first Led Zep tour of USA and was at these auditions watching too. We held a champage party at Alans house to celebrate.

-You have a record problem, and I imagine that the pressure vanishes the group …

A/We did some touring and on returning Alan Eade said the record company had folded so we were back to the drawing board...Bruno had an offer from another band with a tour of Denmark and he decided to take it so that was the end of Judas Priest mark one.

--But your influences at that time are Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, etc. I imagine that in the late 60s that kind of hard rock should fly to any kid! (laughs) …

A/ It was a great time for any young kid yes, so many bands emmerging at this time also one of my favorites Deep Purple.

-You know Ian Hill, I think he's with K.K. in a band without a singer …

A/ After we split up I worked with a band called 'Bakerloo Blues Line' for a while but got sacked by Black Sabbaths manager Jim Simpson and so decided to form my own band again.  I went to a local rehearsal studio's called Holy Joe's and one band I listened to was called 'Frieght', bloody awful name but a good young heavy band and featured KK Downing (guitar) who's playing had improved in such a short time , Ian 'Skull' Hill on bass and John Ellis (drums), I asked if they wanted a singer and they said yes so we all went up the pub and discussed it .

-But your forces to regain the name of Judas Priest!

A/ I didn't like the name 'Frieght' and suggested we use my old bands name 'Judas Priest' and we all agreed. MK 11 was born.

-The band is having comings and goings, but you forge a certain reputation as a local band in your hometown …

A/  We got through 4 drummers in four years...but the main three of us KK ,Ian and myself remained strong. We started out playing local gigs but moved swiftly to the larger venues opening for top bands of the time like Status Quo. Slade, Spirit, Gary Moore, Budgie and Thin Lizzy to name just a few...We played over 150 gigs in 1972 alone and I was now writing most of the songs in our set list too like Winter, Caviar and Meths, Never Satisfied and Whiskey Woman ...these songs would feature on JP's first albums,Whiskey Woman evolving into Victim of Changes.

-And even Tommy Iommi is interested in you, was it Ernie who introduced you?

- A/ No! it was our manager at the time Dave Corke who got us into this Birmingham Agency called I.M.A  and ran by Tony and Norman Hood...

-When you are a father, you have a great responsibility in life, but being a musician without a more or less decent salary, was the trigger for you to leave Judas Priest for good?

A/ Yes, I was four years older than the rest of the band and married with a small child to support and without that income from a record company or earnings from gigs which wasn't enough to feed a family I decided to leave and get a normal 9 to 5 . One of my last gigs was at Liverpool Town Hall with Budgie and I realized we had come a long way in a short time starting at 'The Cavern' there a few years earlier..

-What did you think of Rob Halford at first? Did you intuit at that time that he would be one of the great singers of a hard rock pre-scene, over time he would be called heavy metal? Was it presvisible?

A/ The first time I saw JP live with Rob at the helm it seemed a little strange I must admit...Rob was singing my songs but with a high vocal range and I didn't like it at first but he had great stage presence and so did KK now.....Rob's voice grew on me and has he matured into the 80's it became incredible...Glenn also made a massive difference being added to the line up, great guitarist and songwriter.  I don't know where the term 'Heavy Metal' came from but it summed up Judas Priest completely ..

-A short time later you form Lion and tour with The Stranglers, but also with the mythical Sex Pistols !! (laughs) I imagine it must be crazy to play with musicians with so little professional background (laughs) ... it counts! Bill!

A/  'LION' was a monster of a band with Bruno and myself back together again ,Harry 'H' Tonks on guitar and Pete Boot from Budgie on drums...The Stranglers were a very good band actually ...no comment on Sex Pistols...'LION' split up at the wrong time only in the late 70's the NWOBHM kicked off and we would have fitted in with that movement completely well.

ATKINS MAY PROJECT

ATKINS MAY PROJECT : FIGHT

-You return to disappear another time of the music business …

A/  When 'LION' split up around '78 I decided to take a break from playing live and started to concentrate more on my songwriting. I also helped produce young up and coming bands from Birmingham in the studio's, I also did band management for a while too so I kept very busy.  I later split with my wife and bought my own house and built a recording studio to record all the songs that I had been writing over the years and I eventually recorded my first solo album 'Judgement Day' for SPM Worldwide Records in Berlin ..

-You recorded a series of records, what did you think of the arrangement of the song "Whiskey Woman" that later became called "Victim of Changes"? You record the song as it was written at the time, on one of your albums with Dave Holland.

A/ Judas Priest did a fantastic job on my old song 'Whiskey Woman' and created an magnificent song in 'Victim of Changes'... When Dave Holland left JP I asked him to play drums on an album I was working on which contained all the songs I had written and JP had recorded on their debut Gull Record albums and he said yes.  The album also featured Paul May on guitar and It got signed to Neat Metal Records who in my opinion did a great job but I hated the album cover. Neat Metal Records eventually sold up to Universal Records UK along with my album and I thought yes I am now with a big record company but they shelved it when Dave got sent to prison. ''Such is Life''.

ATKINS MAY PROJECT "The War In-Between"

-My favorite formation of Judas Priest has always been Hill / Halford / Tipton / Holland / Donwing, this comes to Dave had a serious problem, which seems to be that later it was not true, in the end he came to live in Spain, away from outside noise , Did you get to have a fluid contact with him? I imagine as a friend, partner, or even acquaintance of Dave, you personally must have been out of place with it?

A/ To be honest I couldn't believe what happened to Dave ? we go back a long way back to his time in 'Trapeze' .  My new album with him on drums was selling really well and so we decided to stick together and had big plans for more recordings . Dave had an offer from a large record company to record an album with all top musicians he had played and recorded with over the years like Glenn Hughes and Rob Halford and he asked me to be on it too so I was well up for that....We also had another deal  offered us to work together again and we met with various people in London. He rang me one morning to say if the press gets on to me say no comment and put the phone down on them...i asked him what was happening and he told me someone was trying to get money from him by making false accusations about him....? I never saw him again and lost contact. I heard he was going to write a book about his life in Judas Priest while banged up in jail and he later moved to Northern Spain on his release but sadly died of cancer..

Atkins May Project "World at War"

-John McCoy I think he collaborated with you, I loved him as a bassist at the time of the Ian Gillan Band ... can you tell me about him?

A/ A lovely geezer and a great bass player..we nearly played together live when he was bassist for Bernie Torme when offered a USA tour some years back but it never came off and I eventually went with Dennis Stratton from Iron Maiden...some years later I asked him to play bass on my 'Reloaded' album and he said yes...top man.

Holy Rage, it was your new band ... but it only lasted a year, right?

A/ No it was much longer than that, we started out has the 'AL ATKINS BAND' and lasted about a year and then called ourselves 'The Holy Rage' and recorded just the one self titled album , we played all over opening for some top bands like Diamond Head, Saxon and Skid Row and even played in Hollywood .USA. We lasted for about 5 years altogether..

-But Paul May appears, with him your musical project is solidified, to this day you have recorded a series of very Heavys albums, Judas Priest line, are they your source of inspiration?

A/ Paul and myself go back 30 years and the only time we didn't play together was in my 'Holy Rage' band...


-Tell me about this project with May, because it has a continuity in which you had not previously found in other formations?

A/  We met about 30 years back when I went to watch his band playing live...a lot of people I know in the music business said how good he was and they were right and I asked him to play guitar on some songs I was recording and we just bonded together.  He has played on all six of my solo albums and when 'Holy Rage' split up he asked if I would sing on a project he was putting together and I said sure...i ended up singing all the songs on the album and we decided to call ourselves 'The Atkins May Project' or 'AMP' for short..we signed a one off record deal with our debut album called 'The Serpents Kiss' and it just took off with big sales which was enough for our record company to ask us to record another,  then another and so it was a good move. Paul has always wanted to form his own record company along with owning his own studio's so we thought it would be a good idea this time to launch our latest offering 'The Final Cut' on his new label 'Dog Ruff Records' it's been a really great success so far, we are now looking for a distributor to push it on across the world...

 -Regular collaborator on your albums, the only original member left of Judas Priest, can you tell me about him? As a person? As a musician...

A/ I can only speak highly of Ian, such a down to earth and freindly guy.   We have remained friends over all these years and he played bass on my 'Reloaded' album which I was honoured because he has never played with anyone else outside of Judas Priest...he also wrote the forward notes in my book about the early years of JP called ''Dawn of the Metal Gods'' so what can I say...TOP MAN.



-Here we end our interview, we always like to end them with a series of questions more in line with the personal tastes of the musician.

-First album you bought in a store and age?

A/ The Beatles..'Please Please Me' 1963....i would have been 16.

-First concert that you attended as an audience? Age?

A/The Ronettes ..Plaza Ballroom...age 16.

-Concert that you will never forget in your life …

A/  ''CREAM''....amazing band for their time mixing Blues/Jazz/Pop and Rock together.



-You never get tired of listening …

A/'Quatermass' album.

-What hobbies do you have?

A/Metal Detecting....i like archeoligy and collecting medieval and roman coins and artefacts.

-Your worst memory of Judas Priest?

A/ Johnny Perry commiting suicide just before we had kicked off.

-And the best?

-A/.Playing alongside Thin Lizzy...great band!!.

-Something to say to our readers at Bathoryzine.com
A/ Stay safe everyone these are strange times that we are living in and keep it metal....thanks David.

-Thanks Al for attending

 VICTIM OF CHANGES taken from the Al Atkins solo album RELOADED FEATURING: AL ATKINS, RALF SCHEEPERS, ROY Z, PAUL MAY

LINKS:

www.atkinsmayproject.com

 https://www.facebook.com/allan.atkins.7

Eamonn McCormack interview by David Kiss,

One day I get the promo for Eamonn, his album "Storyteller", listening to his first song "The Great Famine", a medium tempo song, with a heartbreaking message but it sank emotionally ... Shit! It was the first expression that came out, this bastard has touched me something that has not left me indifferent, I am going to listen to his next topic, next, next, so while I was reading his brief promotional sheet.
Each song, you can feel the influences of musical styles such as wester, blues, southern or musicians of the stature Rory gallagher, Dylan, Thin Lizzy, ZZtop, being a lover of these influences this Irish singer-songwriter cannot leave you inifferent unless you are a fan of U2! (Laughs).
 In recent years it seems that the Blues Rock revival that is being reflected in the media throughout Europe, that we return to the authentic, natural and transmitting emotionality to music, in addition to celebrating the 25th anniversary of the death of Rory Gallagher.
Precisely of the latter, a tribute concert was held for the 25th anniversary on June 14, it was a streaming concert where our protagonist Eamonn and his band were invited to play two songs live. I take advantage of the occasion of his seventh album "storyteller" to learn more about the concerns of this Irish musician.
-Eamonn is a great pleasure to meet you, your music is very similar to my personal tastes, my idea is to talk to you about your life as a musician, do you think?
 Pleasure to meet you David. Yes I believe we are close in age maybe I am a few years older then you, but we must have enjoyed a lot of the same music growing up. I look forward to answering questions about my life as a musician and more.
-Music wakes up very quickly in your life as a child, tell me what do you remember from your childhood? What music did your parents listen to in your house?
In deed I remember music was always there forever. I come from quite a large Irish family and my parents loved music and sing-songs at home at parties etc My Father was from the west coast of Ireland and he would often sing old Irish songs acapella type songs. We had a piano at home but my parents never played an musicial instrument but they loved music and I heard a lot on an old record player we had or on the radio. My Mother loved Mario Lanza. Later my older sisters would buy pop singles and some LP’s of more modern bands which I started to notice at a very young age maybe only 5 years old. One time my sister returned from a holiday in America and brought back albums of Hendrix, Cream and Taste. It changed my life!! (laughs)
-Did you sing in the church also at that time?
Yes for many years I sang and played acoustic guitar at Folk Masses in Church. Haha you could say I had a kind of  like a Gospel up bringing! In fact I leant a lot doing that because I was around 11/12 years old and it kind of gave me my first stage experience to Sunday audiences in full Churches.
-What does the name Gerry Leonard tell you?
Ahh Gerry was the first person I saw play the guitar ever,  in person. Not just on TV. We were in school together and he played a piece of music on an acoustic guitar that was bigger then him!  Hahaha. We were only about 6 years of age. Watching him influenced me to take up the guitar. He’s a wonderful player still and we reconnected again on Facebook after all these years. Gerry is based in New York and has worked with many great artists like Cindy Lauper, David Bowie and now currently tours with Susanne Vega.

-When do you decide that you are going to be a professional musician? Is it in your puberty? What kind of music did you listen to at that age?
I decided at a very young age maybe 13. Nothing else interested me I just wanted to get better and better and play forever! at the time I was starting to play acoustic songs by Cat Stevens and Neil Young but  I also loved Pop Rock bands like Slade, The Sweet, Mud, and was becoming aware of electric guitars being played on Top of the Pops but it was another 2 years before I got an electric guitar. First I got a pickup for my acoustic guitar and played it plugged into a record the world player! hahaha
-You decide to travel to Usa for a few years and form a band, there I imagine that it is not difficult to earn a living as a musician ...

Yes around 20 years old I left Dublin and went to live in America for about 4 years. I loved it and got great experience playing. I did take a few jobs here and there and played in bands at night at first and more playing later and quit the jobs. I travelled across 19 States.

-That band I think had Canned Heat influences .... I used to go down to a club in California called The Keelargo Club and I would play with a band called The Heat brothers which had 2 original members of Canned Heat and Don Preston also on guitar. Prior to that they had another formation of that band which was like Canned heat part 2 , the guitar player left to go play with John Mayall and years later I found out it was my friend Walter Trout that left that band to play with Mayall.

-...and one day the great JJ Cale appears, explains how it was ...

We were just playing and it was a kind of a jam band , one day JJ Cale and the drmmer Jim Keltner ( who played with my greats George Harrison, Clapton)walked into the club and they both got up and jammed with us! that was amazing! yeaah!

-I imagine that filming on the road gives you thousands of experiences and curte as a musician

.. Definitely, I think the road is really the only and best way to learn Rock n Roll and playing many many concerts and festivals. You can only learn so much in Rock Music colleges and now youtube etc but its not enough. At the end I guess it like learning to fly in a flight simulator which is almost like the real thing but nothing beats actually flying for real. I would imagine! I wish we had more footage of my early tourng but this was all pre-smartphone!hahaha

- You form your project as Samuel Eddy, why? Is it easier to work the ego of oneself? (laughs) ...

Well when I came back from America I wanted to have a more Blues musicians type name because I felt my name was too Irish and could be someone in the Dubliners ! hahaha so my full name is Eamonn Samuel McCormack so I took the Eamonn (Eddy in English ) and the Samuel and reversed it so Samuel Eddy I figured it sounded better! hahaha

-Did you record records with multinationals like Virgin and Universal ... burn accounts of that experience?
My first albums as Samuel Eddy were with a Dutch label called Universal Productions which was part of Virgin Records, thats how that came about. But no bad experiences with labels like the horror stories I have heard of many musicians.hahaha

-What can a musician feel when he shares a poster with Robert Plant at a festival in Holland in front of half a million people? Do your legs tremble? (laughs)
That was one of the greatest experience I ever had in Music. It was my Birthday the sun was shining I walked out on stage with my band… 500,000 in the audience. My special guest was my friend the Great Jan Akkerman and Robert Plant walking around back stage. What a memory, Amazing!

-You also got to share a poster with Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band ... I imagine that one must hallucinate playing on stage with bands that have been part of your emotional and youthful development

…Same thing and that venue was the famous Rockpalast Loreley in Germany. David Bowie was playing the night before on the same stage. I’ll never forget that concert and Lynyrd Skynyrd dedicated the song ‘Freebird’ to Rory Gallagher who had just died a little bit before the festival.

-Why do you close the Samuel Eddy project and change Eamonn McCormack?

I had taken a good break from the road and recording and wanted a fresh restart and my Father who was alive at the time said are you going to be yourself or Samuel Eddy and around the same time I met my future wife in Dublin and I told her and she said McCormack is a great name!! use it!! and now she has the same name haha

WHITE VIRGINS (BAND PIC )

-Many people with knowledge of your connection to Rory Gallagher, you get to establish a personal friendship with him ... how does that relationship arise?

Rory was my Idol and hero and I was blessed to meet him backstage at a festival when I was 18 years old and a few years later we met in Hollywood California, but after that we became friends and stayed in touch for years and met and wrote to each other for years up to his early death.

-Getting to record a song with him called "Falsely Accused", on which album this collaboration appears We recorded that just outside London on New Years day 1995. It originally appeared on Samuel Eddy “Strangers on the Run” album on SPV records Germany. It was sadly Rory’s last studio recording. Its now remixed and on “Kindred Spirits” album under my real name Eamonn McCormack.

-You release a new album "Storyteller", from what I have been hearing from your discography, it gives me that it is YOUR DISC, more intimate, more personal, ensuring that your best song ever written is on this album and it is "the Great Famine" .

This is what I hear a lot about Storyteller and I’m honoured to hear this. I am very proud of this album. I wrote it this time with a different approach then the last 6 albums. This time I sat down with an acoustic guitar and a blank page and first wrote down all the topics I wanted to write about and starting with The Great Famine which was very personal to me. All the songs are personal to me. Funny thing, I wrote the whole album in about 5 weeks. Before that I had just a few ideas. It was a very organic way to write and maybe thats why it sounds close to my heart. I will work on continuing writing and recording this way. I think many believe Storyteller also displays my own Style, sure many small elements of my many influences are nicely entwined into it, even if its very subtle, but it’s uniquely my own style. I also made a vow to play all my guitar solo as I do live and that is to suit the song from the heart telling also the stories in my playing. Today I hear many great guitar players just show off playing fast solos which have nothing to say or add to the song or story and thats a pity.

-I say it because this song as I listened to it saddened me, it touched me very emotionally, because of my career involved in so many years in music, many songs make me happy, motivate me, they adrenaline rush me and some excite me and this moved me internally , in such a way that the times I listen to it, I notice the drama you narrate in the song ...

Thank you. This really is the greatest achievement an artist can reach. It’s not about being no. 1 in the charts or selling a million cd’s but really moving people and pulling on their heart strings. That is the true goal of an artist and its wonderful for the listener and very satisfying for the artist. That is the life blood that also keeps an artist doing the art forever! Commercial Pop Stars retire but Old Blues Men go on forever!

-How do you feel until the album has already come out? Talk to me in general about some topics, composition, production, the songs that accompany you …..

I felt great, I had a super band. My bass player Edgar Karg and drummer Max Jung-Poppe are fantastic together and to play with. We had finished a wonderful performance on Rockpalast in Germany in Nov 2019 just weeks before we recorded the album. It was a pleasure to work with Arne Wiegand who is a wonderful producer and keyboard player. (He plays keyboards with Uli Jon Roth) The album just came together quickly and we were also lucky it went out to press and DJ’s 3 weeks before lockdown so many took it home with them.
-To say goodbye, what would you say to the readers of Bathoryzine ..... Stay Safe. I believe things will eventually get back to normal but it will take time. Music is a great !!.
My interviews always end with some more relaxed questions about the musician
-What was your first album bought with your own money?
BB King Live at the Regal
-Your first concert you attended? how old were you ?
 Maybe 10 it was a local band playing in a Tennis club. I also saw U2 play at their school,when they were still in high school.

-You are a fan of some group …
Blackberry Smoke !
-The concert you attended as an audience and you will never forget in your life?
Many, But seeing Rory play for my first time live. Also seeing Neil Young and seeing Eric Clapton playing in Dublin. I saw Marvin Gaye live in USA 5 weeks before he died. These concerts I will never forget.
-Song and album that you would never stop listening to?
Rory Gallagher “Live in Europe”.
-Which group are you ashamed to admit that you like? and you don't know why (laughs)
German Pop singer LENA hahaha Meyer-Landrut! hahaha...
 -Eamonn I have really enjoyed your music and doing this interview, you have a career full of anecdotes and personal experiences, I hope that this interview helped you a little more in your career.
Thank you David it was my pleasure doing the interview. Look forward to meeting you sometime in the future.

           The Great Famine (Official Video)



                                                        Tribute Rory Gallagher

                                                     Eammon with Rory Gallagher

Interview by David Kiss

Interview with Oscar from Lujuria by Didac "Metallian" López.

01 - Hello Oscar, thank you for attending us in this interview for Bathory´zine.
       Last year your thirteenth Lujuria album came out. What has changed on this album compared     to  the former?

Hello, it is a pleasure. Is it 13? I didn't know, but I like the number. An album that talks about Belial deserves that position. With the current situation and the few sales that CDS now have, we only need to sell 666 copies and we have already rounded up all the evil numbers, 13, 666 and all of this published in 2020.What has changed? Ugh so many things ... right now We have two great musicians in the band, Santi Hernández on bass and Nacho de Carlos on guitar who, for the first time, contribute a lot to the composition (especially Santi Hernández) and the production (in the hands de Nacho de Carlos) that has given our music a much higher quality. On the other hand, the maturity that gives us 30 uninterrupted years of metal is also noticeable in the lyrics, although without losing the sense of humor and irony, the trademark of the house, which will accompany me even in my deepest old age, and that is there are things that change a lot and others that never change.

 02 - When a musician is asked what his best album is, they always say, that it is the
        latest. Does the same thing happen to you?

Oh no, we always say ... EVERYONE. You will see, Lujuria always works in a group on themes, they are not usually themes of one or the other although it is true that they are born from someone, (for example in this "We are Belial" and, as I have told you, Santi is the one who has contributed the most no doubt) then we review them and work together. When we choke on a song, we directly send it to shit and when we have the songs for an album, we record them. When we go to record we are fully convinced of our themes, in such a way that none of our albums, in our opinion, has a single filler theme,none. This is how it has been these 30 years and this is how it will continue to be. We really don't understand that desire to make 16 or 17 tracks by some groups and that they themselves know that of those, at least 4 or 5, they don't even like them. Why do you record them then? Everything we publish has always convinced us 100% and, each one in their time, we loved it and we love it. It is possible that depending on the moment or period I like one album more than another, one song than another, but those are tastes, now well in terms of quality conviction, we are all convinced, otherwise we would never have published them. In our history there have been many songs, or better “mediotemas” that we have sent to hell because they did not convince us, in fact if someone ever wanted to make a record of rarities they would not find a single one, we do not keep anything recorded that we have not convinced and what has convinced us we have published. Fuck is that a record of rarities is already the last straw, more or less is, "now that we are famous, known,call it X, we put out this album with what we didn't like shit, we call it oddities and the rock will go crazy for having it, it's amazing "And there will be those who say" this is really good, the real thing "are we stupid? That is what neither has sound quality because the group recorded that in a homemade plan, nor does it have musical quality because the group, in its day, passed from it, wake up treasure hunters who shout gold when you see pyrite, damn it! What is truly valuable are those songs that were to be put on a record and were censored, records that were recorded and then not released, yes, but local scale models of songs that were wasted ... should continue to sleep the dream of the righteous if we want be honest, publishing them is taking money from the already few physical format buyers and that will tire the last buyers.

03 - Para mi Lujuria is one of the great bands in this country along with greats like Barón Rojo, Obús, Banzai .... Have any of these bands influenced you?
All! And many more. We are very followers of the eighties metal of this country and we have sucked with all those bands. And also of bands that we cannot say that they were heavy metal nor did they need to, we loved them and many heavys love them because they always maintained dignity, honesty in their lyrics and coherence, like Barricada (their career is much more dignified than that of any historical band of our metal with the same longevity, you have to acknowledge it) The Soft or Reoffenders. In fact, in recent years, the attitude and coherence of these bands have produced me healthy envy and I think that the heavy metal scene has little things to learn from the rock scene.
And when I name you bands, I will always mention the Banda Trapera del Río, no matter how punky they are, as one of my influences and the rock bands from this country of the 70s that everyone forgets and is so unfair ... The Storm, Lone Star, Los Salvajes, Iceberg ... there is a lot of wealth in our past and we should not put the barrier in the 80s, it is highly recommended to go a little further back.

04 - Memories of your first concerts in Barcelona, ​​my first reaction was Wooow, what a great band and a great frotman (For me one of the best in the country). You go on stage to break from the first second.

 Well, thanks for your words. The other day I was listening to an Argentine musician (I don't remember who, I don't know if Fito Páez, the truth) say that he loved exercise and hated sport. I thought so. What reason was the bastard. Exercise is healthy, when that happens to sports it becomes competition and ends up generating even hatred (hell that kills itself for being from another team) and perverting something so healthy. Music, always, was more heir to exercise than sport, here you do not compete, you do something that comes from within for pure pleasure. In that sense, I've never liked that you're one of the best, the worst, you're number one, 30 or whatever. Lust does not compete. You “exercise” and you do it by loving him. And that's what people see at our concerts. We are doing what we like the most in life, so as not to surrender ourselves to death. We always play with this mentality "Before a concert, the same desire as if it were the first, the same delivery as if it were the last".

05 - Do you just write the lyrics of the songs or with the rest of the band?´

I have always thought that the lyrics should be written by the person who sings them, it is the only way that they carry all the feeling when sung. In that sense, yes, I write them, but I agree with the rest of the band because, from the moment they carry the brand "Lujuria" they represent us all and I am not going to sing something that others do not feel, it would not be fair. That's why all our songs carry the same signature, Lyrics and music. Lust.06 - Lust you have always supported noble causes, for example the rights of women, an evil that is everywhere in the world.
Lust has always felt heavy metal as a way of life and not just any way of life, a way of life with ideas that, I know that there are always those who disagree with me on this, are of social commitment and fight for Justice. Sometimes they give me examples of groups that say they do heavy metal and have ideologies other than metal and I always answer the same thing, that is NOT heavy metal, it is similar music but it is NOT heavy metal. I think like that and so I will continue to think. Heavy is not compatible with according to which ideas, no matter how many people insist that it is.
 07 - The album “Llama Eterna” was something more than a tribute to the bands that you cover in it?

Yes much more. On that album we only do versions of Spanish or Latin groups in which a member has died. It is that I will never understand that our fallen are not respected in the same way that the fallen of international rock are respected. For me, Ignaico “Chiqui” Mariscal is at the same height as Lemmy or Jesús de la Rosa who Dio and I am a bit sad to see that this is not the case for our scene. In that sense I will always say that the Leyendas del Rock stages are an example for everyone.

08 - How do you combine your work as a teacher with the band? Your students must hallucinate to have a teacher who plays in a Hard Rock band?

Hey man, they're used to it. And I am not the only one. Narci de Saurom is from the profession and the Leyenda group always caught my attention because in its beginnings (now some of its members have changed) they were all physics and chemistry teachers. There are many more huh? and this is good. We have always been identified as a "garrulous" movement and it turns out that we have more teachers in metal than in any other musical movement, how do you see it?09 - In a few months you will take out a book. Tell us what it is about?
 Yes sir, I'm giving it the last blows. The book will be titled "Neither politics, nor religion, nor football" because that phrase always annoyed me "If you dedicate yourself to better art, do not talk about politics, religion or football or someone will be uncomfortable." make me uncomfortable, I want to be free and say what I think and if I do Heavy Metal it is because I sweat selling many records, if it were not like that, I would do pop, right? Therefore, and assuming that I am not concerned with reaching many people, I try to reach my people. During the confinement I dedicated myself to expressing everything I think on my facebook and that I have collected, I have added many more details and I plan to publish it, I think at the beginning of October, among other things because I believe that it is necessary to record how There was a confinement in this country in which, far from working to come out more united, better as a society and aware that it is absolutely necessary to have solidarity awareness, we have come out worse and we have generated the era of hatred, a shame. Perhaps this book makes you think, that is my wish, that it makes you think ..
.10 - For many of us, you are a metallic encyclopedia. You know many bands from here as well as in Latin America where you have many fans, where do you get so much time?

They always ask me the same thing, where do I get the time? Well, I have 24 hours a day like everyone else and I dedicate them to what I really like. And I love metal so I read metal books, I do research, I have a program, I spend time on that. There are those who dedicate their time to other things and wonder how I do it, well, the hell stopping me from doing things that you do and I'm not saying that mine is better, eh? I know a peña who knows a motorcycle egg (I love them) but I am unable to fix anything that happens to my donkey and my colleague arrives and leaves her ready to roar again. He spends hours dismantling engines. Another spends hours learning to fix plumbing, and another to study as a doctor. I study bands, it's my passion.

11 - How do you see what is currently happening with Covid 19 globally?

I believe that if all the philosophers of the past who dedicated themselves to theorizing about what the human being is like, woke up now in Spain, they would change all their postulates. Neither man is good by nature, nor is he bad by himself, nor is he a rational being nor is he an animal with instincts, none of that, all philosophers would unite to publish, not a book, a phrase, a single phrase : "After many studies, observations and empirical tests, we can only conclude one thing: The human being is an asshole"12 - The band has thought to give some concert in Streaming?

Not at the moment, we believe that the scene should fight for better solutions before embracing the first thing that comes to mind and before that, of course. We would only do it if it were done from a room that needs it, without platforms of intermediaries through which they secure commissions and if it were within a wide program that serves to help the rooms but just as we are seeing what is being done by now, no kidding.13 - How do you see the current scene in our country?
Right now mortally wounded and fighting to continue. It is not time to make another balance except to send all my support to each band and all my encouragement, and to each room and to each manager's office and to each worker and worker in the entertainment world, from my point of view unity is more necessary than ever and that is the call I make, unity.

14 - How did you live the golden age of the 80s?

As one of the movies that we saw in those years said "Hurry, hurry" I enjoyed it a lot, I enjoyed it a lot and I think it is time to turn the page to these things, gloating in the past only prevents moving towards the future.

Corazón de Heavy Metal 

 15- First album you bought?

On cassette "Matricula de  honor" of Tequila. Then I convinced my santa to buy me a stereo with a vinyl plate and my first vinyl was AC / DC "Highway to hell"
 
16 - First concert you attended?

I will never forget it, Asfaltot here in my city.17 - Band that you are a big fan of?

From Judas to death! 

18 - Finally, thank you for agreeing to give us this interview and say what you want to the people who follow Bathory'zine.

Thanks to you for your interest and to close with the phrase that Chepas said in his day, since then it is our motto and today many people use which we are very happy:

“Por el puto rock and roll!” 

             "For fucking rock and roll!"

 Interview with Oscar from Lujuria by Didac "Metallian" López.

Entrevista a Oscar de Lujuria por Didac "Metallian" López.

01 - Hola Oscar, gracias por atendernos en esta entrevista para Bathory´zine.

       El pasado año salio vuestro décimo tercer disco de Lujuria. Que ha cambiado

       en este disco respecto a los primeros?

Hola, es un placer. ¿Es el 13? No lo sabía, pero me gusta el número. Un disco que habla de Belial merece ese puesto. Con la situación actual y las pocas ventas que ahora tienen los CDS solo falta que vendamos 666 copias y ya redondeamos todos los números malvados, el 13, el 666 y todo ello publicado en 2020.

¿Qué ha cambiado? Uf tantas cosas… ahora mismo Tenemos dos musicazos en la banda, Santi Hernández al bajo y Nacho de Carlos a la guitarra que, por primera vez, aportan, y mucho, en la composición (especialmente Santi Hernández) y en la producción (en manos de Nacho de Carlos) que ha dotado a nuestra música de mucha más calidad. Por otro lado la madurez que nos da 30 años ininterrumpidos de metal también se nota en las letras aunque sin perder en sentido del humor y la ironía, marca de la casa, que me van a acompañar hasta en mi más profunda vejez, y es que hay cosas que cambian mucho y otras que nunca cambian.

02 - Cuando se le pregunta a un músico cual es su mejor disco, siempre dicen, que es el

        último. ¿Os pasa a vosotros lo mismo?.

Que va, nosotros siempre decimos que… TODOS. Verás, Lujuria trabaja siempre en grupo los temas, no suelen ser temas de uno o de otro aunque sí es cierto que nacen de alguien, (por ejemplo en este “Somos Belial” y, como te he dicho, Santi es quien más ha aportado sin duda) luego los revisamos y trabajamos entre todos. Cuando un tema se nos atraganta, directamente lo mandamos a la mierda y cuando tenemos los temas para un disco, los grabamos. Cuando vamos a grabar estamos plenamente convencidos de nuestros temas, de tal manera que ninguno de nuestros discos, a nuestro juicio, tiene un solo tema de relleno, ninguno. Así ha sido estos 30 años y así seguirá siendo. De verdad que no entendemos ese afán de hacer discos con 16 ó 17 temas por parte de algunos grupos y que ellos mismos sepan que de esos, al menos 4 ó 5, no les molan ni a ellos. ¿Por qué los grabas entonces? Todo lo que publicamos nos ha convencido siempre al 100 % y, cada uno en su época, nos encantó y nos encanta. Es posible que según el momento o la época me guste mas un disco que otro, un tema que otro, pero eso son gustos, ahora bien en cuanto a convencimiento de calidad, todos nos convencen, de lo contrario jamás los hubiésemos publicado. En nuestra historia han sido muchos los temas, o mejor “mediotemas” que hemos mandado a la mierda porque no nos convencían, de hecho si alguna vez alguien quisiera hacer un disco de rarezas no encontraría ni una, no conservamos nada grabado que no nos haya convencido y lo que nos ha convencido lo hemos publicado. Joder es que eso de un disco de rarezas es ya el colmo, mas o menos es, “ahora que somos famosos, conocidos, llámalo X, sacamos este disco con aquello que no nos moló una mierda, lo llamamos rarezas y la peña se volverá loca por tenerlo, es flipante” Y habrá quien diga “esto es lo realmente bueno, lo auténtico” ¿estamos tontos? Eso es lo que ni tiene calidad de sonido porque el grupo grabó eso en plan casero, ni tiene calidad musical porque el grupo, en su día, pasó de ello, ¡despertad buscadores de tesoros que gritáis oro cuando veis pirita, coño! Lo verdaderamente valioso son aquellas canciones que iban a entrar en un disco y se censuraron, discos que se grabaron y luego no se publicaron, eso sí, pero maquetas de local de temas que se desperdiciaron… deberían seguir durmiendo el sueño de los justos si queremos ser honestos, que publicarlos es sacar pasta a los ya pocos compradores de formato físico y eso va a cansar a los últimos compradores. 

 03 - Para mi Lujuria es una de las grandes bandas de este país junto a grandes como Barón Rojo, Obús, Banzai.... ¿Algunas de estas bandas os han influenciado?

¡Todas! Y muchas más. Somos muy seguidores del metal ochentero de este país y de todas esas bandas hemos mamado con ansia. Y también de bandas que no podemos decir que eran heavy metal ni falta que las hacía, nos encantaban y encantan a muchos heavys porque mantuvieron siempre la dignidad, la honestidad en sus letras y la coherencia, como Barricada (su carrera es mucho mas digna que la de cualquier banda histórica de nuestro metal con su misma longevidad, hay que reconocérselo) Los Suaves o Reincidentes. De hecho en los últimos años la actitud y coherencia de estas bandas me han producido envidia sana y creo que la escena heavy metal tiene cositas que aprender de la escena rock.

Y puestos a nombrarte bandas siempre mencionaré a la Banda Trapera del Río por muy punkys que sean como una de mis influencias y a las bandas de rock de este país de los 70 que todo el mundo olvida y es tan injusto… The Storm, Lone Star, Los Salvajes, Iceberg… hay mucha riqueza en nuestro pasado y no deberíamos poner la barrera en los 80, es muy recomendable ir un poco más atrás.

04 - Recuerdos vuestros primeros conciertos en Barcelona, mi primera reacción fue Wooow, que pedazo de banda y un gran frotman (Para m uno de los mejores del país). Salís al escenario a romper desde el primer segundo.

 Bueno, gracias por tus palabras. El otro día escuchaba a un músico argentino (no recuerdo quien, no se si Fito Páez, la verdad) decir que amaba el ejercicio y odiaba el deporte. Lo pensé. Qué razón tenía el cabrón. El ejercicio es sano, cuando eso pasa a se deporte se convierte en competición y acaba generando hasta odio (coño que se mata por ser de otro equipo) y pervirtiendo algo tan sano. La música, siempre, fue mas heredera del ejercicio que del deporte, aquí no se compite, se hace algo que sale de dentro por puro placer. En ese sentido, nunca me ha gustado eso de eres de los mejores, de los peores, eres el número uno, el 30 o el que sea. Lujuria no compite. Hace “ejercicio” y lo hace amándole. Y eso es lo que la gente ve en nuestros conciertos. Estamos haciendo lo que mas nos gusta en la vida, como para no entregarnos a muerte. Siempre tocamos con esta mentalidad “Ante un concierto, las mismas ganas que si fuera el primero, la misma entrega que si fuera el último” 

 05 - Las letras de las canciones ¿solo las escribes tu o junto al resto de la banda?

Siempre he pensado que las letras debe escribirlas quien las canta, es la única manera de que lleven todo el sentimiento al ser cantadas. En ese sentido sí, las escribo yo, pero las consensúo con el resto de la banda porque, desde el momento que llevan la marca “Lujuria” nos representan a todos y no voy a cantar algo que los demás no sientan, no sería justo. Por eso todas nuestras canciones llevan la misma firma, Letra y música. Lujuria.

06 - Lujuria siempre habéis apoyado causas nobles, por poner un ejemplo los derechos de la mujer, un mal que esta en todo el mundo.

Lujuria siempre ha sentido el heavy metal como una forma de vida y no una forma de vida cualquiera, una forma de vida con unas ideas que, ya sé que siempre hay quien no está de acuerdo conmigo en esto, son de compromiso social y lucha por la justicia. A veces me ponen ejemplos de grupos que dicen hacer heavy metal y tienen ideologías ajenas al metal y siempre respondo lo mismo, eso NO es heavy metal, es una música parecida pero NO es heavy metal. Pienso así y así seguiré pensando. El heavy no es compatible con según que ideas por mucho que haya quien insista en que sí.

07 - El disco “Llama Eterna” ¿fue algo mas que un tributo a las bandas que versionáis en el?

Sí, mucho más. En ese disco solo hacemos versiones de grupos españoles o latinos en los que hubiese fallecido algún miembro. Es que nunca entenderé que no se respete a nuestros caídos de la misma manera que se respeta a los caídos del rock internacional. Para mi están a la misma altura Ignaico “Chiqui” Mariscal que Lemmy o Jesús de la Rosa que Dio y me da un poco de pena ver que para nuestra escena esto no es así. En ese sentido siempre diré que los escenarios del Leyendas del Rock son ejemplo para todas y todos.

08 - Como compaginas tu trabajo de maestro con la banda? Tus alumnos deben alucinar tener a un maestro que toca en una banda de Rock Duro?

Que va hombre, ya están acostumbrados. Y no soy el único. Narci de Saurom es de la profesión y el grupo Leyenda siempre me llamó la atención porque en sus inicios (ahora ya han cambiado algunos de sus miembros) eran todos profes de Fisica y Química. Hay muchos mas ¿eh? y eso es bueno. Siempre nos han identificado como un movimiento de “garrulos” y resulta que tenemos mas profes en el metal que en cualquier otro movimiento musical ¿cómo lo ves?

09 - Dentro de pocos meses sacaras un libro. Explícanos de que trata?

 Sí señor, estoy dándole los últimos coletazos. El libro se va a titular “Ni política, ni religión, ni fútbol” porque siempre me fastidió esa frase “Si te dedicas al arte mejor no hables de política, ni de religión ni de fútbol o alguien se incomodará” Pues coño, que se incomode, yo quiero ser libre y decir lo que pienso y si hago Heavy Metal es porque me la suda vender muchos discos, si no fuera así, haría pop ¿no? Por lo tanto, y partiendo de que no me preocupa llegar a mucha gente, trato de llegar a mi gente. Durante el confinamiento me dediqué a expresar todo lo que pienso en mi facebook y eso lo he recogido, lo he añadido muchos mas detalles y pienso publicarlo, creo que a primeros de octubre, entre otras cosas porque creo que es necesario que quede constancia de cómo se vivió en este país un confinamiento en el que, lejos de trabajar para salir mas unidos, mejores como sociedad y concienciados de que es absolutamente necesario tener conciencia de solidaridad, hemos salido peores y hemos generado la era del odio, una pena. Tal vez este libro haga pensar, ese es mi deseo, que haga pensar…

10 - Para muchos de nosotros, eres una enciclopedia metaliza .Conoces a muchas bandas de aquí tanto como en Latino America donde tenéis muchos fans, de donde sacas tanto tiempo?

Siempre me preguntan lo mismo, ¿de donde saco el tiempo? Pues tengo 24 horas al día como todo el mundo y las dedico a lo que, de verdad, me gusta. Y me encanta el metal así que leo libros de metal, investigo, tengo un programa, dedico tiempo a eso. Hay quien dedica su tiempo a otras cosas y se pregunta como lo hago yo, pues coño quitándome de hacer cosas que haces tú y que no digo que lo mío sea mejor ¿eh? Conozco peña que sabe un huevo de motos (me encantan) pero soy incapaz de arreglar nada que le pase a mi burra y llega mi colega y en un pliqui me la deja lista para rugir de nuevo. El se pasa las horas desmontando motores. Otro se pasa las horas aprendiendo a arreglar cañerías, y otro a estudiar para médico. Yo, estudio bandas, es mi pasión. 

11 - ¿Como ves lo que pasa actualmente con el Covid 19 globalmente?

Creo que si todos los filósofos del pasado que se dedicaron a teorizar sobre cómo es el ser humano, se despertaran ahora en España, cambiarían todos sus postulados. Ni el ser humano es bueno por naturaleza, ni es malo por si mismo, ni es un ser racional ni es un animal con instintos, nada de eso, se unirían todos los filósofos para publicar, no un libro, una frase, una sola frase: “Tras mucchos estudios, obervaciones y pruebas empíricas, solo podemos concluir una cosa: El ser humano es gilipollas”

12 - La banda ha pensado dar algún concierto en Streaming?

No de momento, creemos que la escena debe pelear por mejores soluciones antes de abrazar lo primero que se nos ocurre y antes de eso, desde luego. Solo lo haríamos si se hiciese desde una sala que lo necesita, sin plataformas de intermediarios de por medio que trincan comisiones y si fuese dentro de una programación amplia que sirva para ayudar a las salas pero tal y como lo estamos viendo que se está haciendo por ahora, ni de coña.

13 - ¿Como ves la escena actual de nuestro país?

Ahora mismo herida de muerte y luchando por seguir. No es hora de hacer otro balance salvo mandar todo mi apoyo a cada banda y todo mi ánimo, y a cada sala y a cada oficina de manager y a cada trabajadora y trabajador del mundo del espectáculo, desde mi punto de vista la unidad es mas necesaria que nunca y ese es el llamamiento que hago, unidad.

14 - ¿Como viviste la época dorada de los 80?

Como decía una de las películas que en aquellos años veíamos “Deprisa, deprisa” Lo disfruté mucho, lo gocé mucho y creo que ya es hora de pasar página a estas cosas, regodearse en el pasado solo impide avanzar hacia el futuro.

Corazón de Heavy Metal

15- ¿Primer disco que te compraste?

En casete “Matrícula de honor” de Tequila. Después convencí a mi santa para que me comprara un equipo de música con plato de vinilo y mi primer vinilo fue AC/DC “Highway to hell”

16 - Primer concierto al que asististe?

No lo olvidaré nunca, Asfalto aquí en mi ciudad.

17 - Banda de la que eres muy fan?

¿De Judas a muerte!

18 - Por ultimo, gracias por acceder a darnos esta entrevista y  di lo que quieras a la gente que sigue a Bathory´zine.

Gracias a vosotros por el interés y cerrar con la frase que en su día dijo el Chepas, desde entonces es nuestro lema y hoy mucha gente utiliza lo cual nos alegra mucho:

                            “Por el puto rock and roll!”

 Entrevista a Oscar de Lujuria por Didac "Metallian" López.