Rich Ward Interview

Joe Denby sat down with The Duke of Metal Rich Ward and discussed the re-launch of Stuck Mojo, Fozzy, Metal, vegetarianism, Donald Trump and Movie Remakes!

All About The Rock: How are you today?

Rich Ward: I’m doing great, I’m running around doing some errands, some interview and just trying to get a bunch of stuff done because I leave tomorrow to see the family and have our 4th July weekend. I don’t normally do vacations because I travel so much, although I play at night it’s kind of a vacation, but I get to go see my Dad tomorrow. So I’m just getting stuff done before heading out so it’s nice.

AATR: So stuck Mojo are about to drop their new album “Here come the Infidels” let’s talk about the new album, the new line up and how the band were re-launched.

RW: Yeah, I kind have been through this process a couple of times and we said it’s time to pause in 2000 after “Declaration….” came out we paused and we did a reunion show with a different bass player. We tried again a couple of years later and we went to Europe. We tried numerous times with Bonz. We have had a couple of different drummers. I have explained in the past that being in a band is just a complex process. It entails all the complications of a relationship. There has to be respect and friendship and on top of that you have to compromise creatively and you have to compromise and put your heads together when doing business together and then you must live together on the road and eat together on the road and sleep in the bus or hotels. It’s do-able and it takes a lot of effort and hard work from all people. You even see it in sports Franchises. Even these guys who are receiving these massive pay checks still can’t seem to get along with their teammates. It’s the general trials of working in a team process.

So the last attempt we did at a reunion which from December to April 2015 and we realized it was not to be long lived. I had started writing new material for a new Stuck Mojo record because that was what we had hoped to not only do some shows but to carry on as a recording act. At that point I had rekindled my relationship with Bonz and had told Lord Nelson we were going to try something different. So it’s not like that ended ugly he completely understood and he knew that was the direction we had chosen to move in and Lord Nelson his solo project. I had to take inventory of the band and decide what we were going to do without Bonz as the front man. It didn’t take 24 hrs before somebody sent me a video of a band from Montreal and this band featured Robbie J as the front man and I absolutely lost my mind. I was watching this ideal personality. He was nothing like Bonz or Lord Nelson so there would be no push back from people saying “you’re just trying to get someone who sounds like or looks like….” this would be someone brand new with a fresh approach and it would mark a new chapter. So I reached out to Robbie J via email and we went back and forth, I flew him out to Atlanta to work on stuff. I didn’t tell him I was auditioning him, I just told him I wanted him to do a guest spot. I didn’t want him to be nervous and secondly

I didn’t want it to get out that Bonz was no longer in the band. I didn’t want it made public that Bonz wasn’t in the band until we had a new lineup and new material for folks to listen to. It’s so difficult to say “We’re broken up but trust me I’m gonna find something good and do right by this” it’s hard to put you fans in that position. I hope our supporters like it but I recognize that some people aren’t going to like it no matter what we do.

That was always the case even when Bonz was in the band. Some people complain when you change or people can complain that this album sounds like the last album so I’ve got used to the fact that you’re not going to make everyone happy but you’ve just got to work hard and do what you know in your heart is what is best for the band in putting the next foot forward.

AATR: So, Robbie J. He can rap, he can sing, he can scream. He’s just the whole package isn’t he?!

RW: Yeah he is. He’s such a talented guy.

AATR: When listening to this album it sound very different but when you listening back to the old albums and listen to it again it does fit with the catalogue. It new and different but it sounds like a Stuck Mojo album. It strikes that balance.

RW: That’s something we were conscious of and great for you to say that because it was important for us to not venture too much away from who we were as a band which is why Andy Sneap was brought in. We have a strong history with him and he kept us focused as a group and made sure that we maintained what was special about Stuck Mojo but made sure we weren’t forced, you know Sepultura will never capture what they had when they recorded Chao AD because it was 20 years ago and they have different members and they have had so many different experiences since then. Just you can’t expect Metallica to record another “Master of Puppets” because they are simple different people now. However the DNA is still there and it’s important to remember what made Stuck Mojo special and that didn’t mean copying the riffs and copying the vocal style and it meant capturing the spirit of those albums.

AATR: Let’s talk about the lyrical content. Stuck Mojo were always the opposite of Rage against the Machine and with this album in particular with songs like “Destroyer” “Business of Hate””worst person on earth”. It was a breath of fresh air to hear another perspective from what so much of mainstream entertainment is pushing in 2016. The lyric video for business of hate finishes with a still photo of Andrew Breitbart. Is he a hero of yours?

RW: Dude, that photo is the screensaver on my computer at home. He is a constant reminder to be bold, push back against the bullies and never be afraid. Stand on your core principles and don’t be afraid to defend them. The one thing I liked about Andrew Breitbart was that he was a nice person and he was fun to be around. He would have a civil conversation with people he disagreed with and he was never disrespectful. Which is very important and that lost in society today. When people disagree that resort to calling names and put them down and put people in a box. One of the things that I think is most important about this album is that I believe in the individual.

I don’t believe in putting people in groups. The idea of freedom and the individual, knowing that we’re all different so when you say things about radical Islam or Christianity or Death Metal Satanist’s from Norway! We all have these ideas of what these different groups do but at the core we are just people and people see the world differently.

Now, it’s important to profile. I say this as a guy with long hair and tattoo’s and plays in a band that It’s important to know that the majority of people that look like me and have my profession, you can just about assume that there are going to be some personality traits that come along with it and there’s nothing wrong with saying that. What’s important is that we remember that we are all individuals even though we may have some preconceived notions about people are doing but what’s important and what Andrew would say is that we don’t want the government to institute any type of prejudice against those people. Screening everybody at the airport is a dumb idea, the 82 year old lady isn’t going to be carrying a gun onto a plane and we can spend a lot less time screening people that we know are not going to be a danger. I don’t mind going through extra scrutiny because I am a male between the age of 18 and 50 and the majority of males that are going to be causing trouble will be between that age brackets. So if I’m under a little more scrutiny then I’m OK with that. If someone from Syria I’m ok with them getting more scrutiny not because they are going to be bad but you’ve got to play the numbers. I think we have gotten too scared to offend people and as a musician I don’t mind the extra scrutiny and if you fall into a bracket you should be pissed off with the assholes that caused this shit for you. We all know the majority of those that follow the Islamic faith just live and let live people the problem is that they should be standing shoulder to shoulder with us because there are more of us. The power lies within the masses and the only thing that a predator fears is an overwhelming show of force and that’s how you defeat bullies. You can’t walk up to a bully and say “Please, Stop picking on the fat kid or stop picking on the kid that’s dressed like a Goth” The only way to defeat a bully is to punch them in the face and they will think twice before being bullies again. That’s what the allies had to do in Germany and Japan otherwise more innocents will die. We should welcome and provide shelter for those who want to be part of the west that champions freedom and which champions the individual.

What I’m saying is we have to stop being afraid to offend. We have to stop worrying about saying “Jihad” or Islam because when the catholic priests were molesting children no one worried about calling out the church. We have to call out bad behavior. The only way the Ku Klux Klan was defeated was making them the devils that they are and destroying them. The same with the civil war and the same with slavery.  When people say “We need Government” well all governments have bad track records. You don’t have to look far to see the terrible things carried out in the name of government and it’s a bad idea to empower to this behemoth that can literally destroy your life. That’s what we are saying on this album – the infidels. Free loving individuals that want to government to leave them alone have become pariahs in society. You see what’s going on in your country right now it’s sad to see two people with different opinions where neither is wrong or right, you have the remain and the leave just screaming at each other these terrible names. It’s like, we just see the world differently can’t we have different views on the world?

AATR: I’ve had it myself; I’m an uneducated, racist bigot I’ll have you know!

RW: Of course you are! Because you disagree with someone else who thinks they are smarter than you and the saddest part is the arrogance of someone who would call you a name just because you disagree with them because they are so much smarter than you and how many times throughout history have we all been wrong? I don’t even think I’m right, I’m just willing to say how I feel about things but the problem is when you force the government their power to impose an opinion on someone else. I just assume, let the government be a very small thing and their only function should to protect me from someone who wants to hurt me. That should be their fundamentally premise I neighbor want to hurt me, if my neighbor calls me a name. So what? That’s not a job for the government. To tell us about calling names and policing speech that should not be the role of the government.

AATR: Ok, while we are talking politics I have to ask you. Donald Trump?

RW: (Sighs)

Look I would never vote for Trump if I had an alternative. He’s a big government guy. He thinks there’s a place for that and it’s just the wrong people running it. Look, he says some things that I like. I like that he pushes back and that he’s a heavy puncher and when push comes to shove he’s a hammer. The thing is sometimes he hits the nail on the head but then he’ll hit a puppy!

(Laughs)

I agree with why he’s unpopular but people dismiss why he is popular. It’s similar with what’s happened in the UK. The reaction to Brexit is exactly why Brexit happened and people are ignoring that Trump is filling a void that should never had been able to grow in the first place.

You’re exactly right. The middle class have been pushed around. People who work 40 – 50 hours a week and you’ve taxed them and called them names and they have seen people get benefits and they think “hey, why don’t I just stay home”  They have started to make people who work hard for a living and especially people who are more wealthy. I’ll speak for myself in the States you’re called evil and greedy and someone like Trump stands up and he says “I’m gonna punch in the face those that called you greedy or who called you a racist” and it’s no mystery why this huge populist movement to back him but 50% of the country still hate the guy. I don’t think he really has a chance of becoming president. He has a blue collar backing but he has made fun of John McCain who is considered a hero to many. He has made fun of that journalist who was crippled. He should apologize for things and just stick to the main principles. All I want from a candidate is to say “I will protect America from terrorism. I will make America safe” that’s all you need to say but he dives into all these other things and he alienates people.

I’m in a weird spot because I will never vote for Hillary because at her core she is a Marxist and I could never relinquish my freedom to a government that feels it needs to manage every aspect of my life. But Trump has some of those tendencies too. I’m looking at some third and fourth party candidates. It’s crazy that we have come to this point. All we need is a president that comes out and says “Look, you’re all grownups you are smart people. You know how to raise your kids you know what’s best for your family so we are going to create an environment where you can thrive and small businesses can thrive.” You know Trump does come from that old school where we need to protect failing companies. The thing is a company needs to it can fail. If a company knows that the government can step in then it has no incentive to make smart decisions if that safety net is there.

AATR: So back to the music you have a string of festivals coming up. How’s is the rehearsal going for that?

RW: It’s good we’re looking to play songs from every album. In this set the only album we are leaving out is the great revival.  But we are playing old and new tracks to represent where we are today. I’m actually writing for the next Fozzy Record so we are not rehearsing right now but we have discussed the set and we’ve picked the songs. Everyone is practicing on their own.

When we get together at the end of the month we will tighten things up and make sure we are a angry tank that crushes all things in front of it. I’m real lucky to have two bands that I can write for, so I’m very lucky right now.

AATR: Tell me about how Fozzy came about and how you met Chris Jericho.

RW: Fozzy originally was called Fozzy Osbourne and it was a cover band that had a revolving lineup of local musicians and we played a different set each show. We played Ozzy and Maiden and Judas Priest and Accept, Twisted Sister and Motley Crue. We had members of Sevendust and Devildriver who were signed to Roadrunner. It was designed to just to have fun. Anyway I met Chris Jericho backstage at a WCW event. I had become friends with Diamond Dallas Page because he starred in the “Rising” Video so I met Chris and we spoke for about half an hour about music and we had a lot of common interests. He told me he used to sing in a band before wrestling took over and I said come down and do a Fozzy Show and he said yeah. No rehearsals we just turned up and played. It was probably terrible but we wore costumes and had fun, it was probably what Steel Panther became. Anyway after 4 shows  Johnny Z from Megaforce records said this is amazing you have to make a record, you have to drop the Osborne because I don’t want to get sued but we’re gonna do Fozzy and people are gonna love it. We never thought of doing anything apart from having fun and it grew organically, further down the line we started writing original material and here we are. I’ve done just as many albums with Fozzy as I have with Stuck Mojo at this point.

AATR: I wanted to talk with you about your solo album “My Kung Fu is Good” in 2005 that was my chillout album that summer.

RW: I wrote that album at the end of my first marriage. The core became a breakup album. It was the first time where the lyrics guided the music where with Stuck Mojo and Fozzy you come up with lyrics to go over a riffs or whatever and it was good it gave me a lot of confidence as a writer and I could break away from what I was used to up to that point. It was a very personal album. It was a common theme also, show me someone who hasn’t gone through a painful break up and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t lived. At our core we are such emotional beings, that’s what I love about Heavy Metal because it satiates that testosterone and aggression but then I love 70’s radio rock, you know I love Supertramp and Pink Floyd and Queen and Elton John.

Those influences were a perfect marriage to what I was doing with that and it’s one of my favorite albums. I was funny making music like that because I’m The Duke of Metal and I’m writing a song called “I miss the way it used to be” and I got such shit for that. People were saying “he’s a pussy” and “What the hell has gone wrong” and all that. At that point you couldn’t care what people called me, Devin Townsend was a big influence at that time because he was putting out a lot of album that broke away from the safe space of metal releases he started out doing.

AATR: You just reminded me he produced “Pigwalk”. Do you keep in touch with him at all?

RW: The thing that’s great about him is his fearlessness. He is able to harness all those years of hard work. At that time he had done the Steve Vai stuff but he had only put out the first Strapping Young Lad Album, maybe City’s was just coming out I’m not sure. He had an underground following and he had a lot of respect in the industry but he was still carving out his name.

He inspired me to go vegetarian. My wife is also so it’s like what Samuel L Jackson says in Pulp Fiction “My girlfriend’s a vegetarian, so that makes me a vegetarian” but Devin once said in an interview “you know what feels good? Having sex with lots of women on tour and you know what else? Drugs, Drugs make you feel awesome and eating what you want, eating 12 cheeseburgers but just because it feels good doesn’t make it right. I’m not telling people what to do I’m just telling you what works for me. I don’t cheat on my wife and I don’t want to take drugs because they make me an asshole to my wife and to my bandmates and I don’t want to eat cows because cows are awesome” and that resonated with me. I don’t think eating meat is wrong or owning a gun is wrong. I don’t like black And white’s. I just heard that it just clicked. So Devon has done a lot for me. There’s a madman in there but that madman makes him brilliant.

AATR: On the new album you have a song called “Charles Bronson” based on the Death Wish series. What’s your favorite Death Wish Movie and what do you think of them remaking it with Eli Roth directing and Bruce Willis starring?

RW: I had not heard that yet! Well first off my favorite is the first one because it’s a classic. I mean I love Empire strikes back but Star Wars is the classic right? I love the second one and the third went a bit Hollywood for me. It lost its grittiness. But that’s great news that they are re-launching it. I love Eli Roth and Worship Bruce Willis so it’s a perfect combination but I’ll take a crappy Death Wish movie over no Death Wish movie. If it’s bad I can just walk out.

AATR: Maiden or Priest?

RW: Priest. I love Maiden but as I have grown older I’ve come to appreciate Judas Priest more. Killers to Powerslave are perfect but I’m not that much of fan of their last couple of albums.I don’t think Kevin Shirley is the best producer for them. But hey! It’s like flipping a coin! I’ve made like 18 albums and half I’ve produced so I’m in the business so I approach it differently but I’m probably wrong cos those albums are doing really well. I saw Priest last year and they were fantastic and the new guy Ritchie is brilliant. He has injected a new energy into the band and Rob Halford was on fire.

AATR: Your Top 5 albums?

RW: Ok in no particular order:
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
Ac/DC – Back In Black
Pink floyd – Wish you were here
The first Boston album
And Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power.

AATR: Shit. I forgot Dimebag gave you the name “The Duke” didn’t he?

RW: Well he made it stick, we were on tour and in a German magazine the headline said if Zakk Wylde is the king of metal then Rich Ward is the Duke. So I took the head line and stuck it on the monitors and Dimebag thought it was funny and he started calling me “The Duke” and it stayed with me.