Project Description
Interview with
PHIL RIND
from
SACRED REICH
Interviewer – James Birkin
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Hey Phil, this is James from AMNplify , thanks for your time. I was so stoked for you guys to finally record another album, 23 years or whatever it was, it is a long time, and I thought Tool were bad. But Awakening is a great album mate, so congrats. You must be happy the way it turned out and its response has been great as well?
Thank you. I mean we’re really pleased how everything’s happened. The response has been great. We’re really proud of the record and the touring has been great. Seeing people react to the record and singing a long with it at shows, and how the new songs fit in well with the old songs, it’s all just been really wonderful. We consider ourselves really fortunate.
And of course you’re heading down under for the first time since 1994, 26 years ago! I was there front row to see you guys, your album Independent got me hooked and I searched out all your back catalogue etc, loved the show, so energetic and of course you were main support for arguably the biggest metal band of the time at that time (besides Metallica,) in Sepultura who were touring the Chaos album. Such a great tour. Any memories from that tour?
Oh man, the shows were incredible. The memories of Australia was that the country was beautiful, the people were so amazing. It just made such an incredible impression on us. Like you said, 26 years, we’re really looking forward to getting back.
And I just saw that you’re hooking up with Sepultura again this March for a string of shows. Amazing how life turns full circle sometimes?
Yeah, it’s going to be great. We’ve known those guys for obviously a very long time, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.
I actually reached out to you guys a few years back, I was writing an article for another website about the infamous Fremantle show from 1994. You’re probably unaware but on the west coast that show with Sepultura is one of the most memorable metal shows ever played in these parts. People jumped off the ceiling. One of them broke their leg. There was a mini riot outside afterwards. Local legends Allegiance played, so yea, just a side note, you are well loved in these parts. Unfortunately you don’t get to Perth this time, but that’s life I guess. It’s just great you’re coming back and you’re bringing Vio-lence with you.
I remember. I read that article. Fremantle was the first show we did on that tour and I was hoping that we could come back. That’s where Bon Scott was from, right?
Absolutely
I love Perth. I remember when we were travelling to Perth and one of the wives said, “Oh Perth is known for its opals, hint hint”. I remember flying Los Angeles to Sydney for 14 hours then we switched planes and flew another 5 hours across Australia. That was a long day. A big country.
And Vio-Lence are coming out too.
We’ve known them since the late ‘80s.I think the fans are in for a big treat. It’ll be a lot of fun.
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Back to the band though you have new and much younger guitarist, Joey Radziwill on board now; damn he has some skills. I’ve been watching him live on the YouTube videos going around. Has he created some energy for you older guys moving forward?
Absolutely ha-ha. I look at Joey and think to myself, “Oh that’s how we used to be”. Long hair, banging our heads, yea it’s awesome. It’s funny because he’s really into the same scene as us. He loves that music from our era. He just kind of fell into our laps and he’s been wonderful. He’s got such a great attitude and such a monster player. We’re lucky to have him.
Dave McLain of course, back from Machine Head. He looks like he’s got a new lease of life too. He was obviously hindered with what he wanted to do with that band but his playing on Awakening and the way it was produced, his drum tracks sounded amazing. Translated well to vinyl too, you guys should be commended whoever did that. He looks 10 years younger, I know that’ll be the vegan in him, but mentally he must be thriving with you guys, he looks happy. How’s he going? Enjoying the Sacred Reich return?
It came at the perfect time for him. We wondering what we were going to do when Greg Hall left. Obviously we knew Dave. He’d already been in the band, we loved him, and so we reached out to him. He was in the middle of releasing the Machine Head album and going on tour and he would be a year, a year and a half away. But we had waited this long, so I said let’s just wait another year for the right guy. So we just worked on the songs. I think Dave was just unhappy in the situation he was in and at one point talking to Dave, I said, “Are you talking about leaving the band (Machine Head)”? and he was like, “Yea”. I just thought it was amazing he would do that and join our band. I mean in status alone, it was a big step down for him. I just think musically he loved our band, and enjoyed the demos and was excited about the songs and the direction. So we’re really happy to have him back. It’s been wonderful.
There is a lot of positivity coming from Awakening and I was interested in reading some material about your Buddhism, and that has obviously translated to your lyrics. The track, ‘Salvation’ for example.
I think most that stuff is on the track, ‘Manifest Reality’, and also ‘Death Valley’. A lot of it straight out of my teacher’s mouth. I think with everything going on in the world today, and not just in the U.S but everywhere we can all use some encouragement and some positivity. So that’s what we wanted to focus on and I think it works. We all need that in our lives and we just wanted to do our part.
I think people look at heavy metal, thrash metal and think all demons and dark thoughts etc. sometimes and there is in some parts but personally, there is so much positivity and love in the metal community too I genuinely believe we are misinterpreted a lot in the wider community, which is a shame. There are some inspiring lyrics and not just religious stuff, I’m talking about self-empowerment etc, would you agree?
Yea. I mean there are so many bands doing inspiring things. There are still a lot of bands doing demons and wizards stuff too but for us we’ve always been socially conscience and politically aware and that stuff is always there for material. But we’ve had 23 years to prepare and acquire ideas for the record and we just wanted to put our best positive foot forward.
And what can fans expect on this trip down under, a bit of old, and bit of new?
The set we’ve been playing is basically half old stuff, half new stuff. We know at this point what people want to hear. We’re not getting out of not playing, ‘Death Squad’, ‘The American Way’ and ‘Surf Nicaragua’ at the very minimum. It should be a great set, the shows are going to be wonderful and people will have a good time. With everything that’s been happening in Australia, people need a good time and it’s great to be out and be amongst people and be positive.
What about future plans for the band? I know Awakening is still fresh but are there already talks about another album down the track or is it a case of one step at a time for now?
We’re going to definitely make another record. We’ve got the beginnings of some stuff for the next record. I mean 2020 is pretty busy as far as touring goes but we’ll see what happens in 2021.
On a purely personal note, will the album Independent get a vinyl re-release at some stage?
I’m working on everything. The rights thing is very convoluted and legal and lawyers stuff that no one wants to deal with, but we’re trying to make it happen.
Thanks for your time Phil. Hopefully Perth gets to see you play live one day down the track but nevertheless enjoy your trip to Australia.
I was a little disappointed we don’t get to Perth this time, those things aren’t really up to me but looking forward to returning to Australia and thanks very much for your time.
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BIO
Sacred Reich is a Phoenix, Arizona based thrash metal band that formed in 1985. Part of the second wave of thrash along with Testament, Death Angel, Destruction and Dark Angel, Sacred Reich has produced a catalog of politically charged aggressive music that has stood the test of time. The band plays a limited amount of shows each year and can be seen performing at several European festivals each summer.
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