“You Can’t Overthink It” – Richie Faulkner on Playing Live & Finding Your Voice

"It's finding the balance, I think, between what's musically interesting and what is, what connects to someone as a piece of music".  Richie Faulkner on Playing Live & Finding Your Voice

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Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest sits down with Sam Bell for Guitar Interactive to talk about tone, songwriting, and life as one of modern metal’s leading guitarists. We dive into Elegant Weapons’ new album Evolution, Richie’s recording process using both analogue and digital gear, and how he balances classic influences with modern production. Richie also shares insights into joining Judas Priest, handling pressure on the world stage, and why melody always beats speed.

Hi, Sam Bell here for Guitar Interactive. I'm here today in London with the amazing UK guitarist Richie Faulkner. Pleasure to be here with you today.

Thanks for having me man. Pleasure.

Those that don't know you, a lot of people actually kind of credit you for kind of injecting a new lease of life into Judas Priest which is no small feat, legendary rock band, and you have a solo project, Elegant Weapons. So I want to talk a little bit about Judas Priest later on, but Elegant Weapons, second album, Evolution. Can you bring us into how that project started and what's different about this album compared to your previous release?

Well, it started during COVID really. Like a lot of people, everyone was off the road. We didn't know if live music was coming back or when it was coming back. So everyone was calling up their producer mates and how do I open Pro Tools? You know what I mean?

Everyone was in the studio. And I got together all the song pieces that I had over the years. I thought, see what I've got, you know, see if I've got a batch of songs, if I've got an EP or an album, see if I've got a band, you know. And when I joined Priest, it was obviously the farewell tour. So it's always been in the back of my mind that, you know, 1 day priests might retire before I do.

And I remember having conversations with Glenn when I joined, he said, you know, he wishes priests would be going for another 30 years, but we know where they are in their career, so to speak. And so it's always been in my mind that if I do get that call 1 day, what am I going to do after? So Covid was the time really where I sort of got everything together, listened to what I had. And I thought, yeah, it's got its own identity. It's got its own thing outside of Priest.

I didn't want anything that sounded like Priest, that's what we do in Priest, it wouldn't be much point, you know. So it had its own character, which was fortunate, I put it together around that and Scott Travis played on the record, Rex Brown from Pantera played on the record, And of course Ronnie Romero sang on it. But when it came to taking it out on the road, Rex obviously went back to Pantera. They'd done the, whatever you want to call it, the tribute or the celebration, whatever it is. Scott didn't want to go out in the split of van around Europe, which I can't blame him for.

So I've got a couple more guys on bass and drums. Davey Rimmer from Uroheap, Christopher Williams on drums, and obviously Ronnie as well. And it's been the same ever since. And we did this record. So the band has evolved in that sense.

So that was 1 reference to the evolution name. We recorded it different than the first 1. Obviously COVID, everyone was kind of locked down in their own sort of, you know, space. And we recorded it separately, put it together after the fact. This 1 was a bit different.

We recorded the drum tracks together. So we got in the studio, recorded the drum tracks playing together. Which I'd only done once before with Firepower with Priest. And I think you get like any spontaneity that happens in the room, whether you play something and everyone fires off for that. So keep that for the next take.

Or if it pushes and pulls a bit, naturally you can capture that as well. So we did that. So that was different. We recorded Ronnie different as well. We had the basic melodies and lyrics for the vocal stuff.

But it was either me or the lyricist singing them. And you don't want to hear that, it's not good at all. But it was enough there to sort of put like a foundation of what they should be. So Ronnie was in his studio in Europe. Sneak was in his studio in the UK and I was in my studio in Nashville.

And we were on a Zoom call. And so if there was any lyrics that needed changing or better suited Ronnie's voice or different technique we could use different harmonies different melodies or anything that suited Ronnie better we could do it in real time, you know So that was you know, the way it was recorded was different as well. So that was an evolution over the first album

So when it comes to the way that was performed, like nowadays everyone's got DAWs on their laptops and things, and it's programming resampling. But the actual live performance was kind of key to get the main tracks done as a foundation. But then you're doing that zoom recording for vocals and stuff there's a mixture of approaches there. Yeah, seeing a part but you know using technology to be as together as we can well without flying everyone around the world to you know I mean So doing it in the comfort of your own space, but kind of together over the internet, you know, using both sort of old school and new school.

Because Judas Priest is a legacy heavy metal band and your style listening to you, you've got such a wide range of influences from those areas as well. And you were saying about the more, it's more bluesy riffing versus the kind of giving a bit of separation between priest and elegant weapons. But that kind of classic approach, mixed with a modern technology, What did you do in terms of gear and amps and things like that for recording? Did you go digital or did you decide to use some nice power amps?

Bit of both. Again, I usually record, so for Sneeps producing again, Andy Sneeps producing a record again, like he does with Priest, And I usually record the guitars at home and I record a DI signal and so I use a Chord Cortex or a Kemper at home because I'm not going to mic stuff up. That's not my wheelhouse, you know, change the mic or put it on. It's to sound good in the room as quickly as possible So and I recorded DI with that as well. So I sense sneak both, you know both The left and right tracks 1 to DI and one's you know affected signal and he gets it he's in and puts it through an amplifier and then reamps it and records the amp you know what I mean so again it's a bit of both so you've got the new technology on 1 end so it sounds good in the room you know from monkey brain so you know what I mean so I can just get it sounding good in the room and then he can do all the stuff with the mic placement and the cabinet you know I mean at the other end so we use a bit of both on that as well.

Andy Sneep is a bit of a legend in the metal production world really so you can trust him with that. Absolutely.

What you hear back is completely I imagine a 3D version of whatever you've given him.

Absolutely. I mean, Andy is the sort of guy you want really. He's so, he's never off. He's always on. And we talk most days really, texts or phone calls, whatever, especially during the recording cycle for a record, either priest or weapons, we get down to the minutiae, like 0.2 of a dB difference on a kick drum.

You'll be like, listen to this, what do you think? And He'll hear it. The rest of the world won't hear it. But to him, that's where it gets to. Once you get to that point, it's pretty much done.

But he's so dedicated to what he does, those differences, they mean a lot to him. So it's not like he clocks in, we've got him for 10 days and that's it, he's done. If you give him 6 months to do a record, he'll use those 6 months and get it absolutely perfect. Plus we spend a lot of time on the road together with Priest. He knows what the band sounds like on stage and what I sound like on stage and what sounds I'm looking for.

I think he knows the differences obviously in the ways the band sounds and the ways, you know, my guitar sounds different in, you know, some ways in Priest and in Elegant Weapons as well. In a way it sounds similar in both.

Has that been a bit of an education for you throughout that long relationship over the years? Has that brought up new things for you in your own playing and your own approach to tone? Has it been useful in that way or has it kind of exemplified certain things and habits you might have before having met him?

My approach has always been pretty simple and he's his too really. Although the production side of things is a lot more complex, you know, compressors and limiters and the tricks you can use to get things sounding like he gets them to sound. But my end of stuff is pretty much guitar into head pedal, you know what I mean? In both bands really. And the lucky thing is obviously with Priest, I'm writing with Glenn and Rob, in Weapons at the moment, I write by myself.

So it's gonna be, obviously it's gonna be different. But then, The good thing is I'm allowed to sort of look at other sides to what I'm doing. You know, something, you know, you've got the priest sound and then you've got, you know, there's other things like more bluesy sound or more Hendrixy sound or whatever it may be. And weapons don't really, At the moment, we're kind of establishing who we are. So not that there's any limits with priests either, but if you came up with like a acid jazz thing for priests and put it on a table, it's probably not gonna make it, but with weapons, I'm not saying we're gonna do that, but there's a little bit more like, who are we?

Does it work? And it's a bit more of a license to do different things because we're finding out who we are. So that's quite an exciting thing as well. Again, not that we're gonna do that, but you understand what I'm saying. So something that might be a bit different, might not be appropriate for priest, maybe it'll work with weapons.

There's a bit more, there's not as much, not constraint, but you know what I'm trying to say.

Absolutely. I'd like to come back to the tone because tone and technique as a guitar has become kind of synonymous how you pick where you pick I'd like to get on to that in a moment but on the album Elegant Weapons you've got to come back to me. It's like a more of a ballad thing and you've got more it's almost like a it's a bluesy almost single coil-esque tone. What guitars are you primarily? What do you gravitate towards? What's home for you?

I always start on I'll have either the Signature V which is you know that I use with Prius that's using the number 1 Or obviously in the studio as well, if I'm not using the Floyd Rose on a studio track, I won't use it, I'll use 1 without so the tuning stays a bit more locked in. So I'll use an Explorer on this 1 or you know use a Strat in a couple of places on this 1. You know you've got to listen to what the song is telling you. You know when you're putting an idea down songs like Come Back to Me and Keeper of the Keys, it's kind of like a rainbowy deep purpley blackmore type thing. So you know if you pay attention to what the song's telling you, you know what not to do, you know what I mean?

You're not gonna, no you've got to kind of be respectful to it and so yeah and guitars are the same, guitars and tones are the same, you know it's not going to be like massively overdriven like you know what I mean? Yeah. That song's actually in standard tuning for the same reason, it sounded better in standard tuning, it sounded more classic in standard tuning and the guitar parts as well So I think I might have used a strat in places on that 1. Okay. Again, that's what it was.

That's what you know, that's where your influence is coming to play. I think what it's telling you is it makes a reference to what you know and what you grew up with. That sounds like it should be a black more tone or that, you know what I mean?

And yeah, that's quite important. I think we've like modelers and things nowadays, especially people who are starting out, they get overwhelmed and they don't know what amp types they're trying to model and referencing to different artists it does become a bit of a minefield really.

Potentially yeah.

So it's a wide range of influences, it becomes like a kind of yellow pages almost like for dialing in a tone.

Yeah, choice paralysis, they call it, it's too much choice. We've got like a Marshall and a Les Paul.

It's a classic combo, everyone, you know what you're gonna get.

Yeah, And if you didn't want a different tone, like a Telecaster, you know, there's a few different variations, or like a Strat for that bit, or a Les Paul, or something like an SG even, you know what I mean? They've got different voices. But yeah, and amp-wise, it's usually the same type of thing. You know, it's usually what we use, and we've got a 900 there today. With the pre stuff we started in the year, it was a JMP from, I think this is a 79 or an 80 I found in a shop.

It just had that kind of the mid bark that the marshals have. And it was synonymous with the early 80s, late 70s metal bands. And again, you're putting down songs and the song's telling you that, that's what it needs. It doesn't need a boogie scoop, you know what I mean? It needs that kind of bark of a late 70s, early 80s marshal and that's what the song's telling you so you know that's what you do.

What you're talking about here is you know you clearly incredibly versatile rock guitar player of lots of influences and almost virtuosic levels of playing but also as a songwriter and about the keen ear for arrangement which I think is a balance. I know you've been playing live for a long time. I imagine that's had a lot massive impact and learning about those tones and what's appropriate, what works for you.

Definitely and what works in a band as well. What works in a live situation is different to what works in your bedroom on your own. You know what I mean? You can hear yourself on your own. You use those tones when you get up in the cover band in the pub on a Sunday and you can't hear it.

And you're thinking, well, I can't hear it. And you work out, you know, fortunately, I was lucky to play in a cover band for a long time and work those things out at a young age, you know. When to play, when not to play, EQ and stuff and where to put the guitar, you know. So I was lucky really to do those 10, 000 hours, you know, in the pubs, in the, live as well. So you haven't got to do over.

You can't like do it again. You've got to find out and make mistakes and think, "that was bad". And then you do it again a bit better next time. So you get hopefully to a point where the first 1 you do is right all the time. You know what I mean?

And it sounds right and that's how you get on top of your game, you know, hopefully.

I imagine there's also turning up a back line that you didn't expect and making the most of it, making that work. Yeah, yeah. Gritting your teeth and making it work. Absolutely. Big skill to have.

Yeah, I think that helps you out as well. As long as you know the fundamentals, as I said, you know where the guitar's gonna sit. Sometimes people get up with their rig, as I said, it won't be a Messer or something and they turn up and the midscoops and whatever it is, they've got delays and whatever. And then someone turns up with the JCM-100 and just blows everything out of the water. You might have to, you play different with the JCM-100, but it cuts through everything.

Whereas mesa guy, he's doing like sweeps and tapping, you can't hear him. But that's the sort of stuff that you learn and it shapes your playing, I think, over the years. You know what you can and can't do on, you know, plexi, for example, you can't do certain things. And I think as amplifiers evolved over the years, so did playing styles, because you know what I mean? In the 60s, they weren't tapping and doing sweep picking because you couldn't do it it's really hard to do you know as gain came in and it became more saturated then you could do that sort of things and the techniques changed you know yeah but yeah and then you find out I mean you were saying about the songs and stuff I think it's primarily about that, you know.

Not everyone's a musician, you know, not everyone's a guitar player. And it's finding the balance, I think, between what's musically interesting and what is, what connects to someone as a piece of music. You know what I mean? It could be the most flashy, Glen always said in Priest, you could have the best riff, the best part of a song, best solo, but if the vocal doesn't connect with it, or if the message in the song doesn't connect with the listener, you're barking out the wrong tree. You might as well shelve it for a little bit and come back later, you know, because it doesn't mean anything, you know.

That's what I'd like to get on with the writing. I found it really, I always like to ask this other musicians like how, you know, as guitarists we do get very sort of staring at our fingers, getting lost in the practice room. And without the live thing, that's a big part of it, but also the craft of songwriting. With the Elegant Weapons stuff, you said you already had material to take some, what, obviously I imagine it looks like many different things, but do you wait for riffs to come about? Do you come up with full arrangements?

Do you have maybe a single riff that suddenly just blossoms into something when you bring it to somebody? What are a few notable things that have worked for you, particularly on this latest release?

All the above really, all the above. There's been stuff that's been around for 15, literally 15, 20 years, never found a home. Come back to me is 1 of them. Choruses, I remember I came up with it in, I was with Lauren at the time in Lauren Harris's band, staying at 1 of Steve's places in the kitchen, came up with a chorus. Never found a home for it.

You know, never found the right song for it to go into. Couldn't put anything around it. So that's taken a while. Actually, when we done the sessions for Invincible Shield, put it in a different format. So the chorus was there, but it had a different verse and stuff.

Rob actually sung a version. And it didn't light up the room. It didn't, you know, sometimes you put, as I said before, if you put something, you know, it doesn't, no 1 was overly enamored with it and then it just goes away you know so I'll try another couple of things later on and it worked I found like a verse that went ah that works well and and so finished it you know what was you know semi finished it, sounded strong and it sort of, that's it, got it. But it took a long way, you know, a long while to get there. Other ones, you know, it's like you've got things, you know, that song there, that song there, and they're kind of filling up slowly and you've got this one's got that much and this one's got that much and you add to that. You know what I mean?

Do you use, I don't know, Pro Tools logic just to just drop some ideas and then you literally build upon them like, like the classic kind of block building and then you come back to it?

Exactly, this one's got 5 blocks in it, that one's got 3, that one's got 2, and then you go up in the morning, as you know, you're tinkering around on the guitar, you come up with something and you think, that could go with the 1 with 3 blocks in it. And you put that in and then it's finished. You finish it, whatever. Or some of them sometimes they just, Generation Me, that just came, Start to Finish, which it never, never normally does.

I never normally write Start to Finish, but that 1 did. And I think I had about 8 ideas as I said the blocks there all around in files everywhere wasn't quite sure what the album was gonna sound like wasn't sure where it was going and Generation became starts to finish and that was the 1 that kind of set the tone for the record. So it's quite an important 1, you know, when you have the direction and you know where you're going and then everything starts to fall in, at least you know where you're going then, you know. So when you get a rift, you know what's appropriate and what's not then, you know. So if you come up with something and you haven't got that direction, you don't know, You don't know.

If you know where you're going, you know what's appropriate and what's not, if that makes sense. So all the above really. I've come up with stuff a few years ago that hasn't made this record. It might make the next 1. It might make, you know what I mean?

So there's always stuff floating around or on phones and you know, that you remember. Sometimes you remember stuff as you're coming up with stuff and you remember stuff that you came up with saying, as I said 10 years ago, you know, you never know.

Well, the idea of like different people bring out different scenarios where the thing you forgot comes to the front. I've got something perfect for that.

Yeah absolutely yeah and I think you're a genius because you just come up with something on the spot you know but no it's been there for as you said it's just like awoken something They've played something that's awoken something in your memory and then you've got a song, you know. So yeah, that's how it normally happens.

So your approach to playing guitar, you know, and writing riffs like that and the collaborative process is important. And you're talking about having these ideas and these influences. What are some notable times in your life that you've noticed, you know, that you get these like plateau, we all experience sort of moments where we feel like we're not getting anywhere and we move and our tastes change. And it's Sometimes it's because of an album or maybe a break or could even be a gig or something.

Are there any moments like that? For example, you know, pre-Priest and now, what have you noticed change in your playing between those in that time?

I think I've slowed down a lot. I think when you're younger, you're eager to impress. So you want to be flash, you want to be kind of fast. And when I joined Priest, I was conscious of the fact that you can't just be a Zach Wilde. You know what I mean?

I used to do that in the cover band. You know, I used to do a lot of Zach stuff. It was impressive. But now you're in a band that's kind of on the world stage and you've got to come up with your own voice, which they did. And a lot of it, you think, a lot of the guitar players around the world that say a lot with their guitar are the ones that have got the most melody.

They're not necessarily the fastest players. They speak to you with melody and note choice and stuff like that. You know, Schenker and Gilmore and Brian May and all these people. Even the guys in Priest, it was never, I mean, with Painkiller it was, but there was still melody in there. There was always stuff you could sing and attach yourself to, you know, said something.

So a lot of it, I find, is more melody based as a move. Obviously there's a time for the shred stuff, if you want to call it that.

And there is some shreddy stuff on there, elegant. It's not like, Widdly Widdly Virgin. It reminds me a little bit of almost like Brian May or Randy Rhoades' element of nicely composed structures within structures.

I appreciate it. Yeah, I've never considered myself a shredder. I mean, what shredders do is metronomic and precise.

Inhuman sounding almost.

Yeah, and what I do is not that at all, it's not precise, it's not metronomic you know, it's a bit more.

It's got some fire to it though I think that's what translates across the speaker.

Hopefully, hopefully. But yeah there's a time and a place for it. But as I said, you know, you hear, I mean, even Malmsteen sometimes, I mean, it's ridiculous, but there's like, or Gilbert, Paul Gilbert, you know, he's known as a shredder, but there's like, there's a grit in there as well, you know. I think that's important, and the melody. So yeah, I've definitely found that over the years, not less is more, but you know what I'm saying?

The melody is in note choice, I think, is more important to me than how many notes there are.

So some names and players that have been notable kind of, ones that you've constantly, all the time you play guitar, you still come back to as like, that you still listen to and think there's still evergreen?

Schenker. Schenker, man. Always. Just the perfect balance I think of all the things that we've been saying, no choice and technique when you need it and speed when you need it, but it does what the song needs you know, always, whether it's doctor, doctor, there's not really a solo in it. Didn't need 1.

Then he got rock bottom lights out and his kids and everything. He does exactly what the song's telling him to do it seems, you know. Melody and just emotion and everything and to this day you know. So he's the main 1 at the moment really for me and he's always been there as I said I have Zach Faves and Dave Murray is another 1 Adrian Smith You know obviously the priest guys, you know coming up and then that twin guitar thing thin Lizzy But Schenker I think has been the mainstay And we were out with him a few years ago. We did a UK tour with, I think it was Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock at the time.

I watched him every night and it was just like a masterclass in all those things. Melody, note choice, phrasing, everything. You know what I mean? So, yeah, I'd say Schenker at the moment.

If someone's listening to this and aspiring guitar, what are the kind of... Because it's easy when you start out, there's so many people saying, work, pick in, do this and that. But what are some, it's often actually the simple things, but they're actually the things that keep, like vibrato and learning how to control and amp and stuff. What kind of those elements do you think would be beneficial? Was it like an easy, not an easy win, but something that could be, that could pay attention to that might make a big change into the playing?

Good question. Great question. I think playing live is a big 1. You know, There's not as much, I don't see as much of it. It's not like, we're in London at the moment, I haven't been here for a while.

And a lot of the places that we used to play when we were younger have gone. There's not a lot of, you used to turn up in a pub and play for 2 hours rock covers, you know, and you'd learn a lot, as you said, like your sound and playing in a band and everything like that. And a lot of people these days, they're online YouTube guitar players is a big thing and they're phenomenal players. But I think a lot is lost. I don't know if it's me getting old, maybe it's just like, back in my day, but I think a lot is lost from not playing live.

I don't think you're learning a different thing. There's so much outside the instrument to learn, you know, than just playing the thing.

So you're saying, in a live scenario, actually, you're presented with kind of roadblocks you can't foresee in a practice room or behind a camera.

I think so.

And you learn things that guitar teachers can't really teach apart from tell you maybe do that, but you find out on the job?

You've got to do it, I think. You've got to go out and find out what works for you in terms of tone and pedals and make mistakes. And making mistakes is a big 1 you know everything online is always perfect you know and we know it's not you know and those things make make the player I think like everything anything you will choose to do you get good at it by getting it wrong you know and it's a great place to get it wrong live because you've got to get it right or you don't get rebooked or you feel bad when you get it wrong. You know what I mean? I think, ah shit, I played that wrong and you don't do it again.

You know, and I think playing live, I think when I got the gig with Priest, a big reason why I felt like I had a shot was because I was playing a lot live and I felt like I was on top of my game at the time. And I only felt like that because I was playing live 4 nights a week, you know. It's a big component of it, I think, is playing live. And I don't see that a lot on that level. I see, you know, you see a lot of arena bands and stuff. You see a lot of people on YouTube. You don't see it.

In the frog and bollock, you know what I mean? You know what I mean? Yeah. So I think that's a big thing. I don't know how people would do that, but I think a lot more playing live, making mistakes, learning from doing it.

Someone watching, they might want to play live, right? And I know going to jam nights and open mic nights for me was a great way in, mistakes and everything that you learn. But if someone is, you know, there's a classic thing, you make a mistake and you get the sense that everyone's noticed that mistake. What are some things that keep you your head in the game? What have you, you know, preparing for a gig and what happens on stage, what are the general things that you would recommend a player, what's been useful for you?

Lots of that. Back in the day, I mean, what's been useful for me, There's no like, you can't really think about it, you've got to do it, you've got to get on and do it. What's been useful is really, yeah, the fact that there's no way out, you can't, you've got to do the gig, you're there to sell beer at the end of the day. So you've got to show up and do your gig and play the song. You could be sick, you could be pissed off, you don't want to do it, whatever.

You've got to get up and do it. So there's no like, I don't know, preparing for it.

Or maybe make the question a little bit more pointed. So going with the first few gigs with Judas Priest, there must've been a sense of pressure. Even though you had lots of, you got the gig incredibly well deserved, but did you feel any pressure initially? Or was the excitement bigger than that?

No, there was a bit of pressure. You know what it means. You know what Priest means to millions of people. That's a big deal. Ken left after 40 years and no 1 saw that coming.

And there's this f***ing new kid. Who does he think he is? And that's a healthy thing. And you know people were thinking it. That's what I'll be thinking.

When Schenker left UFO or when Blackmore, or whoever it might have been, everyone thinks the same thing. So I knew that was going on, but you've got to kind of put it out your head. You trust the guys. They picked you and you're there, you're doing it. You've got to trust them and trust yourself and get out there and do it really.

But I was aware of the situation but you don't get many opportunities like that.

So there's no time to overthink it basically?

Not really, not really. And I don't remember the first gig, that was just like a... I remember the second 1, the second 1 was Swedenrock, big gig. You just get out and do it. What else can you do? You're either doing it or you're not. You do it, that's it really.

The next thing I want to get onto is being a professional player. You're doing a lot of writing, touring, recording. There's life work balance, I guess, but there's also, do you make time to play in between? Do you, I hate the word practice, but do you make time to pick up the guitar? Are there things you're working on in the craft, so to speak, or do you let it go?

I have to, these days I have to. I have to do stuff most days, which is a bit of a chore. But luckily, I mean, I'm always busy. I was complaining with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago.

I was complaining, oh, we're doing this and then we're doing that with it and he said fucking listen, he was complaining too, he's a producer and he said we're lucky to be complaining, we're lucky to be busy and he's absolutely right you know as I said we put down a foundation for the next Priest record in February, this record with weapons is coming out this month going on tour with Priest in Europe in the summer. You know, so there's all stuff happening.

Yeah, and the thing about it is you do stuff now that's gonna be coming out in like a year's time or you say you're working on stuff and so because of the schedules and everything so there's always something to do now because if you stop there's you know I mean so if we did a priest tour and do another record then we're gonna do another priest tour let's say for the new record and then I've got to think about a new weapons record. Well, I need to be thinking about it now. You know what I mean? Because by the time that if we do another priest tour, that's when it should be coming out after that and I haven't got nothing written.

So you've always got to be thinking ahead. It's not a bad challenge to have, you know. As a friend of mine said, it's a lucky thing really, to be busy thinking like that. Especially with a band like Priest, and my own band that I put together, it's a lucky thing to be thinking like that. In an age where there's not a lot of rock and metal around really like it used to be.

Yeah I consider myself lucky really.

So there's a hint of a new Judas Priest release coming next year maybe?

Well, not sure when it's going to be, she's got to because the manager's in there, she's probably listening with like an eagle.

Juggling though those things right, You're writing a record for 1 band whilst thinking about your project and all that stuff. Do you find, are you fairly structured with that in your life or do you find it's just turn up?

No, I'm fairly structured. I enjoy doing it, you know. It keeps me brain busy, keeps me playing. As you said, you know, like life-work balance and stuff. It is easy to, you know, with the family and stuff, get into that.

And, you know, I've got to keep playing, you know, so it does keep me doing that. But yeah, I'm always paying as well. I mean, these things are the most inspirational things ever, really. That's what the band name's about. Elegant Weapons is these things.

And whether they're on the wall or you know guitar shop whatever or in the studio you know you just look at them it's like paintings like these paintings around you know you've got guitars on the wall they inspire me to do things you know you're still excited

yeah absolutely stories to tell and there's like chips and stuff out of it. Where's it been and what are you going to get out of it today? You know, what's going to come out of it today? So I still love doing it.

I was going to ask what modern day stuff are you into? Like what's current that you're kind of into, but it sounds like you've got your own kind of well of inspiration just constantly making stuff, but is there anything particular that you're moving towards or is it just keeping that curiosity going for your own projects and...

It is really, there's a couple of things, but like all stuff that I was into before, you know, the new Corrosion and Conformity stuff I've been listening to, we were just out on the road with them, with Alice, they opened up the show, great, great show, so they've got a new record coming out at the moment, And it's funny, you know, they were talking to the corrosion guys and they said when they came out on the road, they had a goal. They were going to listen to priest record, you know, in what do you call it? In order. Priest record from the start every night. And they only got to they got up to say, well, I guess it was staying class, I think.

And then they just kept playing staying class. They didn't get past that. So a good bunch of guys, great new record. So I've been listening to that recently. And then everyone's been freaking out about that Quebec duo, the, I can't say that the... Oh yeah, and everyone's gonna spot you stuff, yeah.

Everyone's been freaking out about that. There's been like a shot in the arm for everyone. And like it's kind of give an AI like a kick up the ass, you know what I mean? Yeah. Which is really good, I think.

But yeah, apart from that really, I'm kind of, I've got to the point, I know what I like and you know, and then you stay there or do your own stuff. I usually listen to my own stuff more than anything else really, like what I'm working on or you know, mixes and stuff. Yeah, so nothing, nothing I can think of at the moment.

I think that's really important though, because there's lots of, you go on Instagram or TikTok and there's 1000 guitar players and there's albums flying everywhere. But I think the key thing for musicians is to find, not be afraid of the, not the wheel, I don't know what you call it, keeping on your track a little bit, open-minded but following your interest rather than doing what you think you ought to be doing because so-and-so's point of view.

Definitely, I think you are at the end of the day, and you get influenced by different things, but I think if you force it, like if I started to sort of get into, I don't know, if you do something that's not you, just because, as you said, I think it comes across disingenuous and it's not real and people see that, you know. I think we all wear our influences on our sleeve, you know it is, and to be something different for the sake of it. I don't think it'll work, you know, so.

It's your own kind of representation, like you're saying about the songwriting, what comes out naturally is. That's it. I would say like, if you like Eddie Van Halen, it's because you recognise something in yourself almost, that you like it, and you probably like something a little bit different than the next person that's going to come out and play in a different way.

Yeah, but I mean if you said if you like something or try to like something or try to do something that's flavor of the month just because it's flavor of the month, I think people see through that you know. You just got to be, if you like Van Halen, and you like Schenker and Blackmore, and that's what you want to do that. You know what I mean? It's what you love to do. Obviously be open to other stuff.

I think you are naturally, as a musician, you're open to stuff anyway. But do what you love, you know.

Yeah, you can hear that in your playing. It's got that kind of classic edge, but with a contemporary thing, which I think is really cool. And like you're saying, that duo, I forgot the name as well, but the kind of anti-AI thing, real guitars, real amps, people getting in a room recording together and trying to make it as collaborative but using technology as a support.

Amazing stuff, yeah amazing, really different and then people you know the response to it is people have heard that sort of stuff before in other bands like I can't remember, there's a few other, they're drawing references from it. So it's not completely new, it's new to a lot of people, which is the main thing, but they're drawing influences from other stuff as well. And it's just the next incarnation of that. But the great thing is it's reaching a lot of people, you know, and maybe other people will be influenced by that and do their own thing as well Which is how music should work. Yeah But yeah, I mean I was Ozzy's boneyard on listening to like, you know All the stuff that I've always been listening to really so, you know, nothing really new.

I think that's a good antidote to any burnout is to go back to the things that got you excited about guitar in the first place and music.

I mean, Hendrix is 1 as well. You don't see a lot of Hendrix. I don't see a lot of Hendrix. You see Queen, Queen have got a biopic out. You see all these biopics.

I know Hendrix has as well, but there's no Hendrix music in it. You know, 1 of those sort of things. You don't see him a lot, Hendrix. You know, for some 1 reason or another. I always go back to Hendrix and think, fucking, that's why I got into it.

You know, just raw, you know, late 60s, the way he comes out at the Monterey Pop Festival was just shocking, you know. And that's today, that's like 70 years later, whatever. I mean, back then, we always talk about, you know, if you're in a club in London in 1966 and there's a couple of martial plexes, 100 watt martial plexes, like there and you're standing with your head, you know, in front of him and then this guy comes out looking like he looked with an upside down strap doing what he must have.

Like an alien from space.

Exactly that, exactly that. I mean, we've seen all that stuff now, but you've never seen that stuff before. Looking like he did, sounding like he did, with a uni vibe and feedback. I mean, what the fuck? You know what I mean?

So yeah, every now and then I go back to that and just think that's why I got into it. That was the reason my dad showed me that and that's the reason I got into it. You have to go back to it sometimes, back to the beginning. Really important. Really is.

Well, we're gonna have to wrap up soon in a minute but what's the thank you for your time today.

No of course thank you.

We could chat for hours about amps and gear. You mentioned Elegant Weapons Evolution is out on April 24th?

April 24th, yes.

So whenever this goes out check it out, it's an awesome album. Are you taking that on the road? What's the next 6 to 12 months look like for you?

We're looking at dates later on in the year. Obviously with a band like this everyone's got you know the mothership band so obviously Priest, Uriah Heap, Accept and Ronnie's doing his own thing as well. So the challenge is getting everyone together at the same time. So we're looking at, Priest are out until the end of September, so we're looking at stuff after that. Hopefully get everyone together on the same schedule.

Do some dates either here, maybe just dates, whatever, whatever's. But obviously when we do get dates, we'll let everyone know on the socials and stuff like that. So, watch this space, you know.

Awesome, well thank you very much, Richie. Absolute pleasure. Thank you, sir. 

Thank you man.