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Hey all:
Been meaning to post this update for a while now but I've just been too busy with all sorts of stuff........
Anyway, as some of you know by now I was up in Connecticut a couple of weeks ago recording my drum tracks for the upcoming Arch/Matheos album (yeah, that John Arch!) at the Carriage House. I know this news is gonna make some of you die-hard old school Fates Warning fans very happy (read the press release HERE). This thing has actually been in the works for a while but has been kept under wraps. The process started in early 2010 as Jim began e-mailing me Pro Tools sessions and wav files of the songs as Jim and John were writing them. I demoed my drum ideas during the breaks in my 2010 schedule and began sending files back and forth to Jim and John, making changes along the way. There's some amazing music here and it really inspired me to create some unique and challenging drum stuff. And Fates long-time engineer, Phil Magnotti, captured some great drum sounds in the studio so I can't wait to hear the finished product when the CD is done.
Can't believe how fast the last 12 months went by as I'm trying to go over in my head what's been going on in my world. As 2010 changed into 2011, I heard a few people say: "F*%k 2010 - it sucked! Bring on 2011!", and I'm going, "what are these people talking about?! - 2010 was a great year!" As I'm thinking about all the cool stuff that I was fortunate to be part of last year, I just hope 2011 is half as good. I really am grateful for the opportunities I've been given and I don't try to ever take any of it for granted.
I spent most of the first half of the year touring with Sebastian Bach, the second half of the year touring with Halford, and a few other things sprinkled between. January and February took the Bach band all over Canada and the U.S. East Coast for 19 shows with Guns 'N Roses, followed by an extensive tour of South America, also with Guns. We played most countries in South America, which is rare, a couple shows in Central America, and finally Puerto Rico. The craziest show - or lack thereof - was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where we got caught in a major rain storm that tore down the stage only a couple of hours before show time. Only by sheer luck did nobody get killed by flying debris - it was surreal! I happened to have my camcorder rolling and put some footage on my YouTube channel. The video went viral almost immediately and in less than two days it had over 170'000 views before YouTube pulled it. I'm still trying to figure out why and they refuse to tell me. The video can still be viewed HERE. I finally found some time to edit and post 'On The Road - Part 4' with impressions from the aforementioned tour. Check it out on my YouTube channel. More to come in Part 5 so stay tuned!
May time was L.A. time for the Halford - 'Made Of Metal' sessions. Rob and Roy Z had everything written and arranged before bringing us in. They sent me the songs and a week later I was at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys recording my drum tracks. With the exception of 'Crucible', I recorded all the Halford material at Sound City. So many rock and metal classics have been recorded there. I was tracking the same weekend that Ronnie James Dio died. It was surreal seeing 'Holy Diver' on the wall in the hallway when I was recording........ June meant yet another trip to SoCal to record drum tracks at Ocean Studios in Burbank for a project called Cheap Evil. The engineer/producer on the session was Duane Baron who's worked with Ozzy and Dream Theater, among others. Duane helped me put together some cool drum parts and it was great working with him and CE mainman Greg - look for that CD sometime during 2011.
July and I was back in........... L.A. (why did I move back to SA again?)! This time for Halford rehearsals as we were gearing up for our first two shows since 2003, including the awesome Heavy MTL Festival in Montreal, Canada later that month. In between I flew to Stockholm on a Friday and played a festival in Sweden with Sebastian Bach, drove to Norway the next day for another festival, got back in the plane on Sunday, and was rehearsing with Halford on Monday. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.........
By mid-August we were on the road as part of OzzFest: Halford on the main stage along with co-headliners Motley Crue and the (mad)man himself, Ozzy Osbourne. Perfect slot for us. I have fond memories from 2003 traveling around the country with my Halford buddies Metal Mike, Mike D, and Z so I was psyched as I threw my bags on the bus for another adventure. We kicked things off in San Bernardino, CA, and then hit Chicago, Pittsburgh, Hartford, Camden, and Boston. Wish it had been a longer tour but as it turned out we'd be doing more dates with Ozzy down the line.
During my break in early September I got a call for a session with TX-based band Emory Quinn. The music is Americana country rock, which isn't uncommon stuff for me to play when I'm back home in SA. So if you're into a change of pace and some Texas roots music, the album I'm on can be found on iTunes and Amazon.com. Go to their website for more info.
Halford - Made Of Metal' finally hit stores in late September and two weeks later we were off to Japan for a club show and a co-headline slot on the annual Loud Park Festival with Korn. Stone Sour, Accept, Ratt, Hellyeah and a bunch of others were also on the bill with us. I've been lucky enough to play in Japan numerous times since the Riot - 'Thundersteel' days and it's always a treat to play over there. Everything is organized extremely well and the fans are very appreciative. From there we flew to South America for half a dozen shows in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. We played smaller venues than I did with Sebastian on the G'NR tour but the fans were amazing everywhere. It's really interesting how people in different parts of the world react in concert and the South Americans are definitely the most lively. They bring their soccer chants and sing along to the riffs of the songs. A total trip!
We had a break for about a week until it was time to leave for Seattle where we warmed up with a headline show for the Ozzy tour that was set to kick off 2 days later across the border in Victoria, BC. Within the next two weeks we went all across Canada playing many of the same arenas we did on the Bach tour with Guns. Getting to play the Saddledome in Calgary, Bell Centre in Montreal, and Air Canada Centre in Toronto twice in one year ain't too shabby. We then made out way down to the States where we celebrated Ozzy's 62nd birthday at the Izod Center in New Jersey after playing Madison Square Garden the night before. MSG is always a highlight - thank you, New York! We finished out the tour with a string of headline club - no San Antonio date, unfortunately. Would've loved to play my hometown with Halford like we did with Maiden back in 2000. Coincidentally, the last show took place at the Grove in Anaheim, CA where we also played the last show on the 'Crucible' tour in 2003 (check out the 'Live In Anaheim' DVD/CD that's finally out now) before Rob went back to Priest. Great gig to wrap things up, and just in time to hop on the plane and get back to San Antonio to spend Christmas at home with my wife and family.
So now I'm back in Fates world going over songs as we're finalizing the setlist for our upcoming European mini-tour in February. See you in Holland and Germany very soon.
Bobby
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