Sept. 21, 2026

Metal Church at Louder Than Life: Heavy Metal Past, Present, and the Power of Community

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of The Adventures of Pipeman on W4CY Radio, Pipeman sits down with Kurt Vanderhoof and Ken Mary of Metal Church at the Louder Than Life festival. The conversation dives into Metal Church’s long-standing creative drive, the evolution of heavy metal, artist experiences on the festival circuit, and the power of staying true to classic metal roots. Listener favorites like musician-run coffee, festival life, and the camaraderie of the metal community are also featured.Main Topics Covered

The enduring creativity and songwriting process of Metal Church
Evolution of American and European metal festivals
Artist treatment at Danny Wimmer festivals
The subgenre segmentation in metal and its impact on the U.S. scene
Personal stories from the road and memorable shows
Metal Church's new album, "Dead to Rights"
Side ventures, including the musician-run Ellefson Emporium coffee brand
The importance of authenticity and unity within the metal community

Key Discussions & StoriesSurviving and Thriving at Metal Festivals

Metal Church’s history with European and U.S. festivals, comparing the weather extremes: "either it's super hot or it's raining" 01:02.
The unique, localized vibes of each major festival and being at Louder Than Life with a new album launch 01:38.

Staying Creative After Decades

Kurt Vanderhoof's process: Finding flow in songwriting, gratitude for being able to continue after all these years, and the challenge of staying fresh while remaining authentic 02:21.
On musical focus: “I don't really care about much else other than music...” 02:43.

Festival Organization & Artist Experience

Ken Mary's praise of Danny Wimmer’s festival organization and artist treatment, from great catering and security to efficient tech staff 04:18.
The ease of load-in, sound checks, and on-stage preparation noted for their impact on performance mood 05:06.

Supporting Artists' Side Projects

The festival allows artists to bring unique ventures, like Ellefson’s coffee brand—parallels with bands like Tool and artisanal wine 05:22.
Coffee as a new community ritual for sober musicians and fans: “coffee became the new bro down” 06:10.

Classic Heavy Metal and Subgenres

Kurt Vanderhoof on Metal Church’s sound: classic heavy metal, not chasing subgenres or trends 06:59.
Unity over fragmentation: Nostalgia for pre-subgenre times when a metalhead was simply a metalhead 07:54.
Ken Mary on subgenres' negative impact in the U.S.: “We've segmented... There’s just too many different genres. It should just be... heavy metal” 08:42.

Reflections on Legacy, Musicianship, and Fun

Discussion about age, longevity in music, and having fun performing—“it's pretty darn funny when you got a bunch of senior citizens up there playing heavy metal” 11:25.
Emphasis on multi-generational inclusivity and mentorship in the scene, with shoutouts to Iron Maiden as heroes and influences 10:53.

Metal Church’s New Album and Moving Forward

Ken Mary encourages listeners to check out "Dead to Rights," calling it “ferocious,” and unusual for him to praise an album he played on 12:10.
Pipeman reflects the sentiment of growth, saying Metal Church may be better now than ever 12:35.

Notable Quotes

“Once I get started, if I get in album writing mode… it just goes. I don’t know why or how, but I’ve been very, very lucky in that respect.” — Kurt Vanderhoof 02:21
“He’s musician friendly, and I love that about him.” — On festival organizer Danny Wimmer 05:51
“We are just classic heavy metal… for lack of a better term.” — Kurt Vanderhoof 07:12
“It should just be… heavy metal.” — Ken Mary 09:12
“It’s pretty darn funny when you got a bunch of senior citizens up there playing heavy metal.” — Kurt Vanderhoof 11:28
“If you haven’t checked it out, Metal Church, Dead to Rights, check it out.” — Ken Mary 12:31

Resources & Links Mentioned

Metal Church - Dead to Rights (Album): Available wherever music is sold or streamed 12:10
Ellefson Emporium (Coffee Brand): Various blends curated with a celebrity chef, order and details at the official website 06:00
Louder Than Life Festival: Highlighted as a leading U.S. metal festival, organized by Danny Wimmer Presents
Chicago Open Air: Another notable U.S. festival mentioned in the context of artist engagement 05:22
European Festivals: Wacken, Czech Republic, Germany—praised for their legacy and diversity 01:23

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WEBVTT

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Hey, you're listening to Adventure on W4CY Radio.

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This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventure's Pipe

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Man W4CY Radio, and I'm here with.

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Kurt Vanderhoof of Metal Church.

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Ken Mary with Metal Church. David Ellison, also with Metal Church.

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Nice.

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Is that just a coincidence?

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I know, right?

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How do you all be in metal, church? I don't

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get it. You know, but here we are at Louder

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Than Life. I think it should be renamed Hotter Than Life.

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Yeah, it's a little warm. Yeah.

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A little bit. Like, I live in Florida, and I'm

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ready to go home to cool off, okay?

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And every festival I've done this whole summer has been

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super hot, you know? I feel for you guys as musicians, man,

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getting up there and killing it for us at these

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festivals and there's heat or any show under this heat.

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We're lucky we've been playing these festivals pretty much since

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our career started 40, 45 years ago.

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And either it's super hot or it's raining, right?

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True story.

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You know, we love, you know, these Danny Wimmer festivals

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have been going on now for a while, right? And

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to grab the spirit of every region that he has them,

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it's just like, well, we just got back from Europe.

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We were playing festivals over there, you know, in the

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Czech Republic and in Germany.

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You were at Wacken?

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We were at Wacken. More next year. There's a whole

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bunch next year.

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I was at Bakken, and it was hot.

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It's great, right?

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It was amazing.

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So you know, the spirit of them are very different,

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and I love that every one of these is very localized.

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As big as they are, they're very localized to the region,

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so it's great to be here at Louder Than Life,

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especially for us. We have a new album that came

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out called Dead to Rights back in April, so we're

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kind of right hot on the beginning of the tour

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for the album.

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So I want to talk about the new music, because

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I'm always fascinated... When artists that have been doing this

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as long as you have, no matter what you're doing,

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how you get creative enough to still create new songs.

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It's like you would think you'd run out of ones.

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Not that there's not a lot to talk about in

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the world right now.

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Well, musically, I don't know. I'm very fortunate in that

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once I get started, if I get an album writing mode,

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it might take me a while to get started. But

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once I get started, it starts flowing and it just goes.

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I don't know why or how, but I've been very,

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very lucky in that respect.

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So I don't know.

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I get that.

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It's the fact that I don't really care about much

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else other than music.

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So that's what I think about all the time. That's

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what I do. I listen to music.

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If I'm doing work and playing music, I'm always thinking

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about it. And always as a writer trying to make

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a new record, I'm always thinking about what can we

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do differently but still have it be what we're doing.

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So that's always like a challenge too, which I always

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take on.

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So, I really don't know.

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I'm just very, very grateful and fortunate that I can

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do it. And very grateful that I still get to

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be here doing this now.

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Right.

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After all these years. It's not lost on me at

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the slightest that we still get to do this.

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And it even blows my mind that, like, nowadays you

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could have, like, 100,000 people at a Wimmer Festival for metal.

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Coming from the days old where I went to see

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shows with 25 people at the Troubadour. Or... at L'Amour's

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which is one of my favorite venues one of the

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most iconic shows I ever went there was Slayer at

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L'Amour's and they did four encores and about 500 people

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got pushed out the door on the first note of

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the last encore it was such an amazing club to

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go to but Man, these Danny Wimmer festivals, he really

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knows what he's doing. Like, talking about Europe, he's created

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these U.S. festivals more like the European festivals. And then

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how does he treat you guys as artists? Because I

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always ask that question.

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That's important.

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Are you asking how the festival treats us?

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Yeah, and Wimmer and Wimmer himself.

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They do really.

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I mean, honestly, it's very well organized. It's very well

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put together. And we're actually treated very well. I mean,

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they have great catering, they have great security, they have

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great techs on stage and great techs off stage. And,

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you know, it's honestly, as you look at the organization

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and what they put together, it's really quite amazing. I mean,

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it's really incredible how many people are behind the scenes.

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When you drive around here, there's hundreds and hundreds of

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people that are involved in making this festival go perfectly.

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And right now they're doing a fantastic job. So we

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get treated very well.

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See, I love hearing that stuff because you guys as artists,

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you show up to a festival. It's not like you

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have your own sound people or anything going on. And

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you don't need to have stress when you go on stage.

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And what I always hear is like, load in's easy,

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sound check's easy. And he makes it so that you're

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in such a great mood that you give us a

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great performance.

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And Danny Wimmer is a big fan of my Ellefson coffee.

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That was my way in.

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There you go.

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We did Chicago Open Air. I played there before some

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years back. And he likes to have, he allowed me

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to bring my coffee in, like Maynard from Tool with

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his wine.

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And, you know, he just likes the whole artist engagement.

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And I love that, you know, rather than it just

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only being corporate sponsorship.

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And that sometimes is how it has to go, too.

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Yeah.

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You know, this stuff is not cheap. Someone's got to

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pay for it, you know what I mean? But I

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like that he lets us musicians. music, you know, come

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in and do stuff.

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Right.

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So, uh, he's, he's, uh, he's musician friendly and I

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love that about him.

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So since we're on your coffee, tell, tell people about

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your coffee and how they get it.

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Sure.

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Elfson Emporium is where we sell it all. And, uh, yeah, we,

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we've got a whole bunch of blends. We roll out

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new ones all the time. And, you know, I, I, uh,

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I quit drinking and doing all the other stuff years back.

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So for me, coffee became the you know, the new

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bro down.

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Right.

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Plus, it's good to stay awake if you're in a

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heavy metal band, you know?

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Exactly, you know?

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And, I have heard from everybody I've ever talked to

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that your coffee is some of the best coffee there is.

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It's pretty good.

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I actually had a celebrity chef in Phoenix help me

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curate that, find that company.

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We sat down and taste tested it.

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And to view coffee now as a chef would, you know,

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like that would go good with a cheesecake, you know.

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That would go.

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Really well with a, yeah, yeah, exactly. That was like

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pairing it with wine. I'm like, I got a real education.

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So it's like put my money where my mouth is,

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you know. So, yeah, just fun stuff we get to

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do later in life.

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You know.

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There you go. Metal Church, 2026.

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How would you explain your music now?

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Well, it's definitely keeping true to old school heavy metal.

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We always kind of fell through the cracks between thrash

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and glam and just regular metal. We kind of straddled that.

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So sometimes, like I said, we did fall through the cracks.

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So I think the only way I've ever been able to,

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and I don't know how accurate it is, is we

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are just classic heavy metal. I guess for lack of

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a better term, we're not really a sub-genre.

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I'm glad.

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I'm certainly not trying to break any new ground. I

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don't want to do anything new and different because that

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doesn't mean it's different. Is it good or is it

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just different? So just trying to keep it heavy metal.

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All the aspects of things that made me like heavy metal,

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I want to do that. So trying to keep that

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true in the process of writing and performing.

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What I love about that is before we had all

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these sub-genres, micro-genres, bullshit, it was really just metal.

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Exactly.

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That's it.

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Yeah.

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Like, if you were a metalhead, you were a metalhead.

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Yeah.

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And you went to different metal shows. It didn't matter

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the genre, you know?

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Yeah, Motorhead was different than Metallica. Metallica was different than Anthrax.

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Metalchurch was different than those bands. And then Riot was

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different than those bands because they were more rock and roll.

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I love that.

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And ACDC was still fans like ACDC that would still

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listen to Merciful Fate or any of that stuff. So

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now when you segment it like that, it gets a little,

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like you said, annoying.

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Can it just be heavy metal?

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It gets so ridiculous that there's maybe a handful of

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bands in a subgenre.

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Like, why have a subgenre?

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Let's have one big genre of Our family, our metal family.

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Yes. Let's start now. Let's hear what he has to say.

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No, I agree with that.

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I think it's actually one of the things that's damaged...

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the music industry in the United States. In other parts

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of the world, you can go see a metal band

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like Arch Enemy will play in South America and there'll

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be half a million people. And they play in the

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United States and they're playing at a club with like 1,500 people.

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And why is that? It's in the United States. We've segmented.

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We've got death metal, black metal, heavy metal, thrash metal.

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There's just too many different genres. It should just be

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And separation.

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It causes separation.

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And the thing is, when I go to Europe and

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do the festivals, When I first started doing the festivals

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over there, all the bands I liked back in the

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80s that I thought were gone, they weren't gone.

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They were just in Europe all.

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That time because those people still love that shit. You

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turn on the radio in Europe and they're playing 80s stuff.

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Absolutely.

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To me, that's when there was more musicianship than there

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is now. Now it's like a formula. I see a

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lot of metal bands that use this formula. I remember

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being a teenager back in the 80s and like, oh,

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that stuff all sounds the same. And to your point, no,

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they didn't sound the same. Slayer and Metallica don't sound

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the same, okay? But now you listen to some of

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these bands and they're using this formula, I call it

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an algebraic equation, and I can't tell them apart.

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They literally sound the same because they are the same.

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Exactly, exactly.

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You know, at the end of the day, we're just

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a bunch of black sheep. You know, we're the ones

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that hop the fence and then what's out on there?

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You know, because where it is with all the white sheep,

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we don't fit in here. So it's a pen full

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of black sheep out here today. And that's what rock

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and roll has always.

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Been, you know.

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And, you know, new music is always driven by the

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younger generations, you know. And I think with Metal Church,

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one of the things that we are very firmly and

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proudly a pillar.

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Right in the middle of all of it, you know.

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And we've been here from the very beginning, you know.

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Of the new scene that started happening in the early 80s,

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largely inspired by Iron Maiden, who are our heroes today.

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Yeah. Headlining this. We look up to them.

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We look out to our brothers, and we look behind,

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and we help the next generation up.

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Well, I can tell you what. I love doing this still.

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I love going to metal festivals and metal shows, but

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I really love the fact that I came to Louder

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in Life and Metal Church was here because.

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That makes me feel a lot younger, too. You know?

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There's nothing funnier because we're up on stage smiling and

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having fun.

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Exactly.

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We're happy to be there. But somebody said, well, is

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there really any smiling in metal? I go, it's pretty

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darn funny when you've got a bunch of senior citizens

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up there playing heavy metal.

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You know, and it's true. It's like, but it's not

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just us. It's all of us.

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Right.

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And we're still doing it and doing it right. You know, that's,

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and it's so much fun.

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And for William Shatner to start a metal band at 95,

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that says it all. I had to say that when

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you said Cedar citizens, cause I was like, holy shit.

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Captain Kirk is a metal head.

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That's awesome.

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Right? So any final words you want to tell the

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listeners about what you guys got going on, going in

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the future, and what they should check out?

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Well, check out the album Dead to Rights. If you

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don't have it, get it.

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And I will say that unequivocably because I listen to it.

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I don't normally like to listen to music that I've

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played on, but that album, I put it on my turntable,

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and it just... My word was ferocious, and that's a

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weird thing to say.

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About a band you're in.

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I love that word.

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But it's a ferocious record. If you haven't checked it out,

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Metal Church, Dead to Rights, check it out.

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And I can say, as a longtime fan since the beginning,

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I think your music is better now than ever.

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Thank you so much.

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Thank you for being.

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Here at Louder.

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Thank you, man. Appreciate it.

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And thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man.

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Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pikeman on

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W4CY Radio.

Metal Church at Louder Than Life: Heavy Metal Past, Present, and the Power of Community

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