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The KBEAR dudes interviewing your favorite artists!
The Artist Interrogations podcast. Yeah. Hey. There we go, Ripper. I'm so sorry to keep going waiting.
I saw the email pop up, and I was like, oh, shoot. He's already in here. Yeah. I got I got to get in early. There's there's so many interviews here.
They're all back to back, but I just figured I got it now. Let me get in. There we go. So how does how does someone like you get a sweet nickname like Ripper? I know.
I guess lucky. Yeah. I mean, my last name is Peach, so I go by Peaches, so it's it's even worse. Oh, there you go. See?
Yeah. I guess Rippers. That's alright, though. Peaches is alright. Yeah.
It's fun. It's fun to expect somebody totally different when you see the name Peaches, and you end up getting this, 6 foot 9 dude, so it's pretty funny. Yeah. It is funny. And, I mean, my first question right off the bat for you really is how do you, like, develop your level of singing?
Because I've been listening to your songs, of course, listen to jugular jugulator and, of course, the new EP that we'll get to talk about here shortly. But how do you develop vocals like that, man? It's it's really, really cool to listen to. Well, you're you know, something I was born with to have the the vocals. I mean, I wish I was born with being a brain surgeon or a professional golfer or something, but, unfortunately, I have to be a freaking musician.
But, yeah. You know, you're I was born with it, but then I just try to get better all the time. You know? I mean, I'm I take care of myself and and, try to take care of my voice and and, you know, I'm fortunate that I can sing in so many different styles as well, whether it's like a, you know, super heavy, like a hardcore, or, you know, really kinda deathy kinda stuff to to eighties kinda sissy singing. So, but, you know, fortunate, but it's it you know, I gotta take care of it.
Right. And then what I mean, there's so many projects I think you've done that I'm kinda confused by. You have KK pre KK's priest and your own solo, EP, just known as Ripper. Yeah. You know, in between the KK's Priest records, which KK's Priest is always gonna take precedence, it's gonna be the number one thing, which we have a new record being fit the vocals are finished.
It's being done now, so that's gonna probably take up the next couple years. But, you know, we had some time off in the summer last year, so I've you know, Jamie Joss has been trying to get me to do a solo record for so long and make it heavier and tap into those jugulator and beyond fear type stuff. And so we had it. We did it. You know, the window was there and, and listen.
I'm a musician. I make a living and pay my bills by being a musician, so I do what I have to. And then I I was gonna ask you too about Jamie Josta of Hatebreed producing this whole EP and everything. I mean, did he have a lot of input in the songs or just walk in and say, hey. I wanna do this and just get right to it, or, what was the deal with that?
No. He had tons of influence. I mean, it was his you know, like his baby and his idea, and he really wanted to make it work. So he would send me these songs and all these vocal ideas, and it was just incredible. You know?
I mean, you know you know, he produced Dee Snider's last two records and did those with Dee, and that's why they were so freaking good. I mean, they're not I'm not saying, I mean, Dee, because of Dee as well. But the music, I mean, and the and the stuff. You know, he's he love here's the thing about Jamie. I love Hate Breed and I love, you know, like music like that.
I've always said to myself, I say it all the time. Imagine my vocals over, Hey, Breeda. It would sound so different, but still, you know, have that same music. You know, there's an album couple years ago, Benediction released. And, every time I heard it, I would tell Darren, man, my vocals would sound great in.
And with Jamie, he knows this. So he's like, Ripper, just sing like you, and we're gonna make these records. And he listen. Jamie loves what he does. He's smart.
He's talented. He's an entrepreneur, but he loves what he does. So that's why these songs came out so killer. And, yeah, this, EP, I listened to it all the way through and it it's pretty much there there's no fluff to it. It's just right to the action, right off the bat.
There's no if, ands, or buts about it. It's just straight to that nice heavy action you got there. Well, it is. I mean, listen, the first song I recorded was Die While We're Alive and, and then he sends me, we do, Return to Death Row. And then we did the night take it back, which I think it was called take back the night originally.
That's why I always mess with the name of it up. But I finally said to him after the first three songs, dude, are we gonna have any mid paced songs? It's just this stuff's just full on in your face. But you know what the great thing is about this is that it is even the fast songs, it has melody. The vocals are sound like me singing.
It's not like anybody else, but then the choruses are very catchy and melodic. I think that's the key to this. You know? But, yeah, it's really just listen. It's it's metal.
I grew up listening to thrash metal, and it was great to have a lot of influence in this. Yeah. It's pretty funny. I do this feature called Peach's Pick of the Day, and this week, I've just been playing old school thrash metal tracks. And I was looking up just the, like, the best thrash metal albums of all time, and it's so weird.
Like, Loudwire had this list. The number one was Metallica's Master of Puppets, and then 3 was Slayer's Rain in Blood. And I was kind of saying on the air that Slayer's Reign in Blood is similar to Return to Death Row where it's just nothing but action, just, you know, metal metal metal. Master of Puppets has a bunch of different fluffs, like, stuff in there that they kinda just go away from the hard and heaviness. They have those little slowed down songs here and there, but it's just it's I thrash metal is something that I wish they would bring back because I know there's some bands out there that are doing new metal songs now.
Like, I just yesterday, I interviewed Max Portnoy from the band, Talla. His band is entirely based off of new metal, and I would just love to see thrash metal make a giant comeback, really. I mean, there's gonna be no other band like Slayer or any one of those. Well, yeah. I've always said that the new generation that they're gonna have to do that, but they, you know, they gotta have their own stuff as well.
I don't want them to take all my stuff and my ideas. You get your own, but yeah. I mean I mean, the great thing about thrash metal is people think it there's so many people that think, oh, man. It's so heavy. And I you know, especially when you go back and listen to old thrash, whether it's testament or exodus, whatever, and it's like death angel.
It's not that heavy. Now when I when you go back and listen to I mean, listen to the people always like Metallica got so mellow and I'm like, did you go back and listen to ride the lightning and stuff? I mean, songs like for whom the bell tolls and seek and destroy. I mean, they were pretty commercial. Now they would be commercial Oh, yeah.
Songs. But back then, they were so heavy. It was so killer. But, you know, my I I grew up loving anthrax because they were heavy with cotton and mosh, and and he sang. You know?
And I thought this is a great concept. I mean, not that Chuck Billy and, I mean, death angel. I mean, those guys, they all sang as well. Don't get me wrong. I'm saying saying, like, Steve Perry.
You know what I mean? It was like, all of a sudden, this guy's going, you know. All of a sudden, I'll never go, ah, see the high notes that you're singing. I was like, what the hell is this is he was it was awful, you know, that really caught me. Right.
And I've said many times before on the show too that I'm a big fan of amazing album arts. And looking at Return to Death Row, I did I think I heard you say you had an artist, of course, draw it up, but it's you in the electric chair. There's a syringe. I mean, who who whose idea was it to hear return to death row and just come up with all this in that cover art? I don't I mean, I don't know if Jamie had in Jamie had influence on it.
Dan Goldsworthy is is the artist, and he's first send me the sketch. And, because people's like, it looks just like shocker, you know, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, well, I think originally it wasn't. He made a sketch with these guys in the with the guns and me and the at that time, it was like a didn't look like me in the face. It just was a face.
And I still have it. I'd love to release it one time. I should release it, show people. And, you know, once you put an orange jumpsuit on, it's gonna look like shocker, I guess, because it's it's a guy in electric chair, I mean. And but, you know, I I guess the big part is I'm not returning to death row after all those people there because there's lethal injection, a noose, guns, you know, so electric chairs.
I was analyzing it too and seeing everybody in that thing. I noticed a new thing every time I, like, took another glance at it. I was like, oh, there's someone else there. There's the What's what's great is the the lyric video for return to death row on YouTube, because you really get to see the art because he's you know, it goes in on some of the artwork. It's you know, and it's one of the best lyric videos.
I mean, it's so good. And I I recommend anybody that liked the artwork or the song to go look watch that lyric video. It's so awesome. Yeah. And, like, another thing that I have noticed recently too with bands like, Slipknot, they kinda said, hey.
Like, we're gonna be done pretty much with albums and just release singles from here on out. Do you think you'll follow that similar route as well? Well, we're gonna go from this EP, and we're gonna release a full length, but I don't know. I mean, listen, release whatever. I mean, Beatles did pretty good with doing that.
I don't see anything wrong with releasing singles. I mean, why not just kind of it's because here's the thing that happens nowadays. My record came out December 9th or something like that. But, you know, 3 or 4 songs were already heard by the time it came out. So you're almost releasing singles as you go on before you even release a record anyways.
I mean, what's Metallica just released their second record or a second song from this new record is gonna come out. They'll probably release another one by the time it comes out. So it's almost like you release singles anyways. I mean, it's such a different era now. There was so much excitement back in the day to go to the record store and pick up your CD or your record and and go home and listen to it and go, boy, this is terrible or this is great.
I'm disappointed or I'm so excited. But there was that excitement. Now it's like, I guess you still get some excitement because you get to hear a new song. We're debuting a song Friday from the new record. But, I I think it's not a bad idea from Slipknot.
Why not? Yeah. I know. You're right about the whole, like, you get, like, 5 or 6 singles before the whole album comes out and there's 10 songs in the album. You pretty much have 60% of the album already released.
Yeah. There's just 4 other tracks. And you just mentioned that you're gonna release an, a full length version of Return to Death Row is what you said? Well, we're gonna do a a whole new one. It'll be 10 new songs.
So the the key when Jamie and I talk was let's release a 6 song EP, hit people in the face with it, just just come out of the gate and blast them, and then follow it up this year with a 10 song new 10 song record. That's gonna be pretty cool. I'm excited for that, and that's pretty much be pretty good. I am too. Yeah.
So I don't wanna keep you waiting too long for the next interview and such, but I just wanna say thank you, Ripper, for joining me today, answering my questions, and all that. Hey, Brandon. Anytime listening. You wanna do it again down the road? Just give me a shout anytime, and we'll do it again.
We'll have a little longer time next time, hopefully. The artist's interrogations podcast is a production of Riverbend Media Group. For more information or to contact the show, visit riverbendmediagroup.com.