Ross
The Boss
Manowar is one of the bands
that really speak straight to my heart with their messages and through
their music, like I told Ross The Boss with whom I had the HUGE pleasure
to talk! Below you'll find what came out of the interview - hope you enjoy
it! HAIL AND KILL!!
1. HELLO! THIS IS DIMITRIS FROM BEHIND THE
VEIL - GREECE CALLING. IS THIS ROSS THE BOSS?
-HOW ARE YOU MAN!
-FIRST OF ALL I'D LIKE TO TELL YOU THAT I'M SHITTING
MY PANTS RIGHT NOW CAUSE MANOWAR'S MESSAGE AND MUSIC SPEAK STRAIGHT TO
MY HEART. SO EXCUSE ME FOR BEING A BIT NERVOUS...
-SHALL WE START WITH THE INTERVIEW?
2.SO, YOU'VE BEEN AROUND MANY YEARS NOW. WHICH
ARE YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS, BE THEM GOOD OR BAD?
Throughout my whole career?
-YES, YES!
Are you talking about everything - Manowar,
not Manowar?
-YEAH! YOU CAN CHOOSE EVERYTHING YOU LIKE - YOU'RE
THE BOSS! :)
Alright baby! Well, I gotta say my most memorable
moments where my first record in 1975, the other one that's hanging out
on the Rock 'n' Roll hall of Fame and my first show with Manowar... You
know Joey and I had made so much work, so much planning and so much work
to finally get on stage and set our first shows in Florida. It was something
unbelievable and then finally when we did a couple of shows in Panama and
we blew the place apart you know...
-YEAH! YOU'RE THE LOUDEST BAND IN THE WORLD MAN!
Hahahaha! yeah! The first shows with Manowar
were very special to me!
3.THROUGHOUT THE YEARS YOU'VE BEEN IN SO MANY
BANDS LIKE MANOWAR OF COURSE, SHAKIN' STREET, MANITOBA'S WILD KINGDOM,
BRAIN SURGEONS AND THE DICTATORS. WHICH BAND'S MUSIC FDO YOU ENJOY THE
MOST AND WHY?
You know I gotta say to you something... I'm
the kind of guitar player more like Eric Clapton, the kind of guy who likes
to play with a lot of different people and not stay at one for my whole
life. You know like some people haha! I can tell you when I'm on stage,
I'm extremely happy no matter who I'm with and I find it challenging too...
You know in the past 2 months I played with 3 different bands... As long
as I have a guitar in my hands I'm very happy!
4.SOME PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR
OTHER BANDS. HERE IN GREECE FOR EXAMPLE WE CAN'T FIND ANY INFORMATION OR
MERCHANDISE...
Yeah, well I'd say look at The Dictators.
If you go to our website http://www.dictators.com
you can find a lot of stuff and information and you can also order stuff
directly from the website.
5.DO YOU WANT TO SHARE SOME INFORMATION WITH US
REGARDING YOUR UPCOMING SHOWS IN GREECE? WHAT WILL THE PLAYLIST INCLUDE
AND WHO WILL THE REST OF THE MUSICIANS BE?
Well, we're gonna be playing as you know a
lot of my compositions for Manowar, like "Manowar, "Shell Shock", "Death
Tone"... I don't wanna say everything - I don't want to give the surprise
away. I know lot of Greek people were at the Keep It True festival, where
I played a couple of months ago... Well and you know "Gloves Of Metal",
"Army Of The Immortals"... We're also gonna do "Each Dawn I Die", "Hail
And Kill", "Battle Hymns", we're gonna do "Thor The Powerhead"... All the
stuff that they don't play anymore. We're gonna play them!
-CAN YOU NAME THE REST OF THE MUSICIANS OR IS
IT GOING TO BE A SURPRISE TOO?
No! My band is fantastic guys from Germany,
Patrick on lead vocals, Columbus - and this is not his real name- on drums
and (note: Sorry, I couldn't get the names right!) on the bass guitar.
6.NAME SOME BANDS OR MUSICIANS THAT HAVE INFNLUENCED
YOU, BOTH AS A COMPOSER AND AS A GUITAR PLAYER. YOU'VE ALREADY TOLD ME
ABOUT ERIC CLAPTON. DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHERS?
Absolutely! I'm influenced by Peter Townsend
and I'm also influenced by Tony Iommi, Black sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne and
the lyrics of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and I love early Iggy Pop
and The Stooges and of course the blues music is my favourite... I grew
up with Muddy Waters and B.B. King - the guitar players that know how to
express themselves with very few notes. The guitar players that actually
say something with their music are the ones who influence me greatly! That's
the kind of guitar player I am. I never put out other forms of guitar playing.
Haha! I'm just the kind of guitar player from that school of rock...Peter
Green from Fleetwood Mac was fantastic, the guitar players that played
in Thin Lizzy - they were all great musicians... what can I say? Brian
Robertson, you know Snowy White and there are so many that I can't remember.
I mean Jimi Hendrix of course! He was my leader - my spiritual leader!
Haha!
7.WHAT'S , ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHAT'S
THE WORST PART OF YOUR MUSIC? IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE OR
IMPROVE PERHAPS?
Yeah! I would have liked to change... Maybe
back when Manowar first started we were so crazy in the press... I mean
it made a lot of people interested in us, but at the same time... I think
that we had so much energy and testosterone. You know what that is right?
-YEAH!
Is that male thing that really makes you wanna
kill animals and kill people you know we had a lot of joy and I had a lot
of intensity - maybe if we could chanell all these back then... you know...Hahahahha...
we could have been... I don't know... Who knows? I can't apologise for
everything that I did or didn't do. I did what I did and I'm proud of it
so...
-SO ARE WE!
8.I'D LIKE TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT MANOWAR
NOW. "SONS OF ODIN" CONTAINS SOME FOOTAGE FROM MANOWAR'S APPEARANCE IN
EARTHSHAKER FESTIVAL IN WHICH YOU GOT ON STAGE TOO OF COURSE. DO YOU WANT
TO TELL US HOW THIS COLLABORATION OCCURRED?
I would love to say something about that.
Well about 2 years before Earthshaker Festival. Joey called me and he goes"
It's the 20 years anniversary of "Battle Hymns" and we should do a tour
maybe. We should do this and we should do that" and I go "OK! Whatever
it takes man! I'd love to do it!". So, that was it and all of a sudden
Joey calls when Dimebag Darell got shot. Remember? When he got killed on
stage?
-YES.
So, Joey called me the next day and he goes
"Listen! Our lives are so precious, we don't know if we're gonna be here
tomorrow" and I say "Yes Joey you're absolutely right it was a tragedy!
I said "We're not getting any younger" and then I said "You know what?
We should do somethign together" So, he came up with Earthshaker festival
blah blah blah and that's how it all started. And then the Earthshaker
festival took place with an orchestra and this and that so it was really
crazy!!
9.YEAH! DOES THIS MEAN THAT WE'RE GOING TO SEE
YOU MORE WITH MANOWAR IN THE FUTURE?
Well you know what? I gotta tell you something.
I have a better relationship with the band now than I've ever had before.
I mean it's not that it was ever bad at all... Joey knows where I am -
I know where he is and I would say that there is definitely a possibility
of doing something in the future.
10.COOL! LATELY MANY OLD BANDS, LIKE IRON MAIDEN,
BLACK SABBATH, ETC. REUNITE WITH THE ORIGINAL LINE UP. IS THAT POSSIBLE
TO HAPPEN WITH MANOWAR? LIKE WRITE NEW SONGS TOGETHER MAYBE?
Yeah well that's the thing! I mean the new
material of Manowar is a bit different from what I've done, but whatever
they do is good. I can't say it's not so as I tell to my friends as long
as I work with my friends, make new friends and play my guitar I'm very
happy!
11.WHICH MANOWAR ALBUM -AFTER YOUR DEPARTURE-
DO YOU LIKE THE MOST? IF NOT A WHOEL ALBUM, THEN NAME SOME SONGS.
I actually haven't listened to them that well...
12.OK! HAS THERE BEEN A DAY IN YOUR LIFE THAT
YOU REGRETTED LEAVING MANOWAR? DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE CREATED SOMETHING
BETTER IF YOU STAYED WITH THE BAND?
No! I have to say that with those six albums
I really made my statement... You know there was a time when I thought
about it. If it was OK - the right thing to do, but I have no problem now,
because after that I got married, I have my son, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom...
I made a lot of records and did a lot of things after that so no I have
no regrets. Never!
13.CAN YOU TELL US WHICH MANOWAR GUITARIST YOU
LIKE THE MOST?
I would have to say that I can't say that.
Both of them are really good guitar players and nice guys. So, I can't
say who I like the most...
-WELL, NEITHER CAN I...
14.ARE THERE ANY NEW BANDS YOU LIKE? WHAT ARE
YOU LISTENING TO LATELY?
I listen to a lot of heavy metal and other
music. I really like Dimmu Borgir, Evanescence, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest.
I mean I still listen to the same stuff. I think the new Slayer record
is very good. I have it, I listen to it a lot. I'm into a lot of things...
Lacuna Coil is pretty good. I would have to say that the new Ross The Boss
band album is gonna be great, because I'm gonna start recording with them
in two weeks when I get back from Greece. We're gonna go to Germany and
record a little bit.
15.WHAT OTHER HOBBIES HAVE YOU GOT BESIDES MUSIC?
I like sports, I like watching baseball...
Well, I'm pretty much into sports and music...
-ARE YOU ALSO INTO WEIGHT LIFTING LIKE ERIC AND
JOEY?
I lift more weight than them! Thoise guys
don't lift weight anymore! Nooo! We stay in shape you know. We take care
of ourselves.
16.WHAT'S THE WEIRDEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED
TO YOU?
Eric split my head open with a sword on the
first show. (Laughter). The first Manowar show in England. That was weird!
-YOU TOOK YOUR VEANGEANCE ON THE "GLOVES OF METAL"
VIDEO...
17.WHAT'S THE STRANGEST OR FUNNIEST THING THAT
HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?
Like something funny that happened to me?
-YEAH SOMETHING FUNNY...
I was playing in San Francisco with The Dictators
and we were playing with the Ramones in a big place. It was sold out and
on our first song I jumped of the drum riser I was wearing leather pants
and I split my pants wide open (Laughter) and I wasn't wearing any underwear...
-OOH MAN!
We were in front of 5000 people... really
amazing and embarrassing. I was in front of soooo many people (laughter).
Unbelievable and I didn't turn around the whole night. I think that was
pretty funny!
18.OK MAN! THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH! PLEASE LEAVE
A MESSAGE TO YOUR FANS AND IF YOU GOT ANY ADVICE FOR US, WE'D LOVE TO HEAR
IT!
Save up your energy, come to see me - You're
gonna need it! It's going to be beyond everything you've ever seen! We're
gonna drop the hammer at Athens and Thessaloniki! It's gonna be fantastic.
I know the people are gonna be great! I can't wait to see everybody and
meet everybody personally and shake everybody's hands! I'd also like to
taste that absolutely great, great Greek food that I've been hearing all
about!
-WELL THANK YOU BRO! I HOPE WE'LL FOREVER HAIL
AND KILL AND FUCK THE REST OF THE WORLD AND POSSIBLY MEET IN VALHALLA OR
IN THE ELYSIAN FIELDS!
Ahahhahaha! Yeah! What gig are you gonna be
at?
-THESSALONIKI. I'M FROM THESSALONIKI.
-BYE!
Dimitris Pantsiopoulos
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