Manowar co-founding member and all-round heavy metal legend Ross The Boss is heading back to Australia this November to belt out the classic Manowar album “Hail To England”, an album synonymous with the legacy of the band that helped out the metal genre in the spotlight back in 1984. We caught up with the man himself to chat about the tour and the impact that album has had on the heavy metal world over the years.
Andrew: Looking forward to seeing you back in Australia, it only seemed like a little over a year ago since we last saw you down here!
Ross: Yeah we’re excited I’ll tell you that.
Andrew: So how did that tour go for you?
Ross: The last time was fantastic. It was very well received, I guess that’s why we’re doing another one!
Andrew: This time you are coming back and playing the entire “Hail To England” album, obviously an iconic album so have you guys been playing this on tour so far or will this be the first time doing it?
Ross: Well we’ve performed all these songs in the past, we’re just going to put them together and surround them with other songs. I don’t know if we’re going to do the whole thing the way it was on the tracking, we’ll see but we’ll probably do it the way it was. Then we’re going to add other songs, other classics and obviously some Ross The Boss material.
Andrew: Well this is going to be an exciting thing for a lot of Manowar fans here because that album is a piece of metal history. It’s been such a long time, 1984 is when that album came out so how do you view that album now after so much time has passed?
Ross: You know, that’s a good question. It’s like all those records from that era, OK I did the 6 records with the band, I would say all those albums are classic records, pretty much immortal records that have never been topped, I think. That record “Hail To England” I would say could be my favorite one, besides “Battle Hymns”the first one.
Andrew: Sure I think a lot of fans agree that is certainly an album that stands out and even the press, Rolling Stone Magazine named it number 87 on the top metal albums of all time. When you get that kind of accolades and recognition like that for an album with such longevity, how does that make you feel?
Ross: Incredible, it’s a great feeling. I was just talking to another interviewer, he was asking me about the Dictators and people come up to me and talk about those records so I say it’s a great honour that people love these records and it just makes me feel good that I put that much work into it, we put that much work into it and people still love it which is a great thing. Sometimes you have to take a step back from what you do and just look at it and go, ‘Wow! Look at all that stuff, pretty impressive’.
Andrew: Do you find that because all this time has passed that you appreciate that album and that era more now than at the time you were dong it?
Ross: When you’re doing it, it doesn’t seem like you’re doing it. You’re just doing you’re work as you’re doing it. It’s like, wow take a step back and say, ‘Look at that’. It shines, it’s just that era and those 6 records shines and I’m just very proud to have done that. It’s a great thing and the fact that the people like it so much, it would be shit if noone liked it so much basically.
Andrew: [laughs] Obviously the Australian fans have embraced Manowar so much over the years and obviously Ross The Boss as well and when you played those songs last year for the first time to those people, did you find there was something particularly different about those crowds compared to other places you have played in before?
Ross: Well I can tell you the fact that Australia has never witnessed a Manowar show in the hstory of the band. For some reason we never came and they never came after I left so I don’t know what the problem was with that, I think it’s probably money, had to have been a money issue with Joey as everything is. But with me it’s different, they’re getting Manowar, the stripped down killer version of it and I just think people are in awe of seeing those songs live and the updated versions of those songs live, stripped down with no bullshit attached to it and people are getting their heads wrung off. The way we play is just non-stop. We don’t stop, we don’t take a break, we don’t pander to the audience, we don’t do guitar solos, drum solos, bass solos. We just go right for the throat when we play and people find it very refreshing, especially the fans that have seen Manowar many, many times. They like this better, it’s just more songs, more rock action, more of what made Manowar, Manowar. And of course we do our own things, we start our new record on Saturday. Last year in April “By Blood Sworn” came out and charted well and did very, very well and now I’m doing my fourth record for AFM. So I mean Manowar aside, we are a band with modern roots, we’re in the moment right now so it’s not the fact that we’re not leaning the fact that I invented Manowar which I’ll never get away from but this band is an original band with a lot of music to be heard. It’s just that Manowar is such an iconic band, I mean people want to see it and we’re going to show it and we will do it!
Andrew: It’s interesting because Manowar is part of the lexicon as far as heavy metal is concerned, why do you think Manowar has had such an impact on metal fans all over the world for such a long time?
Ross: Well I can tell you when we started the band we knew that it was going to be totally original and noone was doing anything like what we were doing. It was original, it was fresh. I don’t know, it hadn’t been before so we were paving new roads with Manowar for sure and that’s what I think people were reacting to. For the time it was original, no other heavy metal band was like it and no other heavy metal band is like it to this day so it is it’s own thing and when you make your own thing, that’s all you need.
Andrew: What’s your view on today’s metal scene and today’s form of extreme metal and all that kind of stuff?
Ross: I like some of that stuff, it’s ok. I mean it doesn’t show me much, the guitar players are just dropping tunings and they think that’s heavy and that’s cool. I mean the fans like it, I have no problems with it. But in the meantime the metal scene is very vibrant, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon, Helloween, Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, they are all doing good, all the bands. So there’s the new stuff, there’s the old stuff. The old guard is way very healthy, in great shape and I’m glad it is so count me in, it’s all cool!
Andrew: So you are coming back to Australia and it was only a short run last year, this time you are doing more dates, did you get any time at all last year to see any of the country at all?
Ross: Not really and we’re not big tourists, we suck at being tourists.
Andrew: I suppose it is a thing that bands don’t have a lot of time for anyway, do the show, hit the road, do the show kind of thing.
Ross: Yeah it’s like you just don’t want to see people, you just want to hole up sometimes. Mark (Lopes, vocals) likes to go out and see the place because he hasn’t been around and Steve (Bolognese, drums) don’t give a shit but Mike and I have seen so many places and touring so long…’You wanna go see this church?’ Once you’ve seen one church you’ve seen them all! You want to go see one museum, you’ve seen them all, it’s just old stuff.
Andrew: Yeah I guess it’s interesting as some people say they want to go see this or see that. Go back to the very first tour you ever did for a band, what was that like to be on the road for the first time and do you still have that same passion?
Ross: Well it would be the Dictators on our very first tour opening for Iggy Pop and Blue Oyster Cult. That was exciting! To start playing with some of your idols, I mean that was just unbelievable, we were awe struck. Basically we didn’t know what the fuck we were doing but we were awe struck and we were lucky to be there in that situation and we took advantage of it. I still play every show like it’s my last show, if it’s my last show I will play my fucking heart out as hard as I can. I will give up everything that I got that night on guitar for the crowd, if I got it you’ll get it. Because if I go to bed and I don’t wake up the next day, I want everyone to know that if that was Ross’last show, he gave it his all and that’s very important to me because you never know at this point in life. We don’t know if we’re going to wake up, you don’t know. You want to, you don’t even have to be that old, people go when they are young. But so that’s my thing, I will give it 150 percent every single night like it’s my first show.
Andrew: Awesome well we are looking forward to seeing you back in Australia, doing a full scale tour including the west as well so looking forward to it. Thanks for your time, really appreciated and we will see you in November!
Ross: You better! We will see you in November my friend.
TOUR DATES
Friday 15th November, Auckland, Whammy Bar
Saturday 16th November, Wellington, San Fran
Sunday 17th November, Christchurch, The Club Tavern Christchurch
Wednesday 20th November, Adelaide, HQ Complex
Thursday 21st November, Brisbane, the zoo
Friday 22nd November, Melbourne, Max Watt’s House of Music
Saturday 23rd November, Sydney, The Metro Theatre
Sunday 24th November, Perth, Rosemount Hotel
Tickets: davidroywilliams.com/tours/rosstheboss/
