WICKED ANGEL Few bands have ever blown me away to the extent that Wicked Angel have. From the moment I heard their brand of Filthy, Rocking True Metal. I was a slave to their power. Their CD, Heads will Roll (Reviewed in our third scripture) has recently been licensed and re-released in Europe by the legendary Noise Records. Here follows a few words I had with singer, Rob Rose on the fifth of June 1998. CRUSADER: Rob, Tell us more about the band! RR: The band was started in May of 1992. Its always been growing and going through changes until we obtained the ultimate line-up which we now have. The chemistry rocks and the musical direction is incredible. Wait till you hear the next one. CRUSADER: It seems to be stupid to ignore and thus not benefit from technology! How do you feel about a statement like that being used to justify the use of drum machines, computer generated noises and using machines to perfect music to the point where it loses all it's soul. RR: In my mind such bullshit will never ever be an acceptable substitute for consummate musicianship and hard work. I wouldn't touch it with a fifty foot pole...fuck that! Machines have no heart and after all that's where good music comes from. CRUSADER: Considering your type of music, what age groups are present at your shows? Do you feel that true Metal has anything to say to the hordes of MTV clones that are busy growing up now? RR: Our audience typically ranges from age twelve to sixty, no shit. Of course I think true metal is still relevant in the 90's and when people wake up and stop feeling sorry for themselves and start standing up and fighting for their rights metal will be their battle anthem not this cry-baby whinny assed alternative shit. CRUSADER: Would you say the whole band lives the biker life or has being in Wicked Angel put a stop to this? RR: Yes we all do live that way and our crew are all bikers as well. Being in the band hasn't hurt it a bit. CRUSADER: I see that the band was formed in 1992 by you, your guitarist Vicki Rose only joined in 1995, and yet you are married. Did you meet in the band or did you meet before Vicki joined? RR: Yes I hired Vicki as a Guitar player and over the course of her first months in the band we fell in love and got married 18 months later. CRUSADER: What other releases have you had and are any of them still available? RR: The only other previous releases have been self-produced local releases except for the copies of "Saints and Sinners" which our old record label bootlegged on us to Europe. It was never officially released. CRUSADER: Have you started work on a follow up to "Heads will Roll"? RR: We are currently writing material for the follow-up LP which will be tentatively titled "FTW". CRUSADER: Tell us a bit more about the experiences that led up to the track "Twenty Minutes of Pain". RR: The song was written by the bass player, Tony Pack. He was a U.S. Marine in Vietnam and "20 Minutes of Pain" is about his experiences being wounded and medivaced out of Qhue San. CRUSADER: I haven't got any lyrics but the song "White Lies" seems to deal with Cocaine, am I right? Does this song come from any personal experiences. RR: You are correct. It is a definitive statement of my hatred for cocaine and the tragedy it reeks on people's lives. Thankfully the experiences were not mine personally but I've seen the shit fuck up a lot of friends. We are a drug free band!!!!!!!! CRUSADER: Tell me about the track "Hard on You", and about your love for so-called alternative music. RR: Hard on you is our definitive metal battle anthem. It is an all out assault on the cry-baby whiny-assed alternative mother-fuckers pissing and moaning about how bad their pathetic little lives suck and the propensity of radio and MTV to glorify this preposterous angst ridden drivel. Instead of crying in their fuckin' beer these pukes ought get off their asses stand up and fight for what they want and take responsibility of their own lives. And I'm sick and fuckin' tired of people trying to categorize metal as 80's and has been. I think metal is still relevant and there is nothing dated or trite about our music. CRUSADER: How do you feel about the Metal scene in the world and in America? What do you think it's future is? RR: I think that metal is on its way back and will one day again climb from the underground back into the spotlight where it belongs, providing that there are still bands around like us that have the balls to play what they believe in and not what is currently trendy or marketably viable. CRUSADER: What bands provided the most influence for you, and do you still listen to these bands? Is your album title "Heads will Roll" in any way connected to Judas Priest's classic "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"? RR: First of all, no there is no connection between it and the Priest album at all. Its safe to say that we all love bands like Dio, Wasp and Savatage as well as aspects of bands like Slayer and Merciful Fate, although each player in the band has personal preferences and inspirations. CRUSADER: Do you have anything further to add for the readers of The Crusader? RR: Yeah it's good to hear there are some metal heads in South Africa. Keep the faith don't buckle under to the trends and the bullshit hopefully we'll see you on tour.