Pipeman Radio Interviews Tailgunner About Hit The Lights on No Life 'Til Leather

0:04 Hi, you love one to the censure for Wow for you young. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio, and I'm here with our next guest. That Oh one of the first songs I ever loved. We're going to talk about here. So let's welcome Bones from Teil Gunner.

0:46 How are you, hey man, Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for having me. On Oh My Pleasure. And you know, I'm kind of bummed because I was at Download doing interviews in the press and I didn't get to catch you guys playing Hit the Lights at Download. I was like I saw to be I'm like, fuck, I miss that. That sucks. Well, that's the thing with Download is, you know people say these days are you know, Download doesn't have any heavy metal bands anymore, but they don't look so thankfully we'll be back next year and maybe we'll play Hit the Lights again.

1:27 Okay, well I'll be there next year, so I'll make sure to not schedule any interviews during your set then, for sure. So I want to know. Okay, so you're doing Hit the Lights. It's now going to be on the upcoming album No Life Till Leather. What may. Let's start with what made you pick hit the Lights have all the Metallica songs. It was actually picked for us. I gotta admit. We got asked if we wanted to be on the compilation album, and obviously, you know, said yes. We saw Saxon and Motorhead and so many great bands on there. We were never going to turn it down, you know, and so many great British heavy metal bands. But we got sent the track that we were going to do and no complaints. I mean, like you say, here the Lights incredible metal tune and the opener on the album as well.

2:17 You know, can't get better than that. I know, right, And I see I remember, oh, I was there at Metallica's first show, and I remember the first metal Massacre and hearing that song on there, and I was like, oh my god, Now, like that's what turned me into a thrash metal head right there. Before that, it was like Priest then Madeen and then Metallica and Slayer after that. But and that brings me in something else because you guys have a new album as well, and it was produced by KK Downing. How did that happen?

2:59 That's a long story really, I'll condense it down for you I mean, we put out a debut EP back end of twenty twenty two in December could Crash Dive. It's the first thing we have ever released. And somehow I still don't know who it was, but someone turned KK onto it. I mean, I need to find out who and buying the beer one day, right, But KK heard the CP and obviously liked what he heard and we got an invite to open. He was making his big comeback with kk's Priest, the first KKs Priest show at the steel Mill KK steel Mill in Wolverhampton to kill a venue in the Midlands. It was Paul Deanos main support, you know, before he passed away, and then KK asked us to open, which was killer.

3:46 I mean basically he said to his manager, like, this new band tail Gunner, I want them to open this show. And that was It was only the second time we'd ever supported another band. There's a big deal for us, and things really just exploded from there and when crazy really and we stayed in touch with KK over the next kind of year or so and his manager and basically these days we shared the entire same team, so we've we've got all the same people behind us and when it came time to do this new record, our second record, and we were talking about producers throwing names around, and someone went, well, why don't we just ask KK And it was like, fuck, yeah, that's that's perfect, and thankfully he was. He was up for it, and we had a blast. Man, I mean, just learning so much from you know, a heavy metal god.

4:35 Really and he's the nicest guy in the world too, So like it really is. We've been lucky enough to tour with some of our some of our heroes and some big bands and all the rest of it. And you know, you. Meet some some good people, you meet some bad people, but you know, KK is, It's true. He's the nicest guy. I mean, forget, forget Dave Groll. KK is the nicest guy in rock and roll. Yeah, I have to agree, and Dave is nice too, but I mean, like KK is just here's the thing. I think a lot of icons, not all, but most icons they have no clue to icons because they didn't set out to be a rock star. They just wanted to be a musician. And so like they're usually the nicest ones and the most humble because they like they have no clue, you know, in a sense, you know, and it's kind of hard to conceive if you're that not that ego maniac, you know that you're like this metal god.

5:34 Like I would put myself in his shoes, and it's like I'd probably be like, what are they talking about? You know, like you don't really think of it that way. No, he's very humble guy. I mean he'll be telling us stuff about you know who will be in the studio. We were in the studio and he was referring to something priested in the eighties and something super obvious. He'd be like, oh, you know, we had this. Intro on this album we did, Screaming for Vengeance called the HELLI and we're like, we know ken. Right right right, Like it's an obscure song by some band nobody knows. And that see. I think that's cool when bands, you know, they start out obscure that nobody knows, but then they keep that same mindset the whole time.

6:25 You know, Well, the big the big thing is as well. I mean, how many guys from that generation are actively interested in new heavy metal and scene, right? I mean I can't. I can't name really too many people. And that's why to me, he is like the true defender of the faith because he's he's fucking out there and keeping it alive and promoting new bands. I love hearing that, and it's so true as somebody that is og from the eighties time. The my reason I probably know all the newer bands than I do, and I know a lot of them, it's because of what I do, because I talked to my old school friends and I went to shows with in the eighties and I'm like, oh, you gotta listen to this band.

7:06 And the problem was back then, to be honest, it was we were such fucking stupid gatekeepers that God forbid anything news should come along after the eighties. Like my friends from way back, they still kind of think, oh, there's no good band since the eighties, and I'm like, yeah, I'll show you a few bands that'll blow you away. You know. Yeah. The thing is as well these days, it's almost you know. I mean, You've obviously always had the Legends, Priest, Motorhead Made and all the rest of them, but there's a whole wave I think since probably the mid nineties onwards. Bands almost have to be better playing old school heavy metal than a lot of what was around in the kind of say the lower tiers of bands, the lesser known bands back in the eighties, because it's harder to prove themselves because so many like kids these days just want to listen to metalcore or the older crowd from back in the day.

8:04 They have to be, like you. Say, even more convinced, because it's like it's it's these fucking kids playing like what we did forty years ago, you know what I mean. So I feel like you actually have to work even harder. And that's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing. Well, it's definitely true, because it's like, so you take bands like Metallic and Slagh or nobody else was there was nobody else to compare to before them, you know, and then I the best I think of is Venom. Yeah, so back then they were like they considered themselves the only black metal band, and I love them, okay, but it's so funny because black metal bands today would never consider Venom black metal. And even now for me, all these years later, like I remember getting Welcome to Hell, like when it first came out, it was an import and I was literally scared when I listened into it for the first time because there was nothing else like it like that, and I'm reading the lyrics and stuff, and now I listen to those same songs, I'm like, sounds kind of poppy now, you know. And that's why I dig you guys too, because you kind of have that old school feel with new metal, not genre new metal, but today metal, you know, type of modernization I think is the way I look at it. It's like you're the best of both worlds.

9:34 Well, that's that's it. I mean, we don't really try to play you know, quote unquote eighties metal. We just play hitty, right, we don't. We don't deep it too much because there's a whole scene of bands around these days in like in the underground that it's like if it doesn't sound and I'm talking in terms of the production, if it doesn't sound like a demo from nineteen eighty two, then it isn't cool. I'm like, I love that and I love those bands, and I kind of love that mindset. But at the same time, like we're trying to build a career, so it's like, yeah, we are in a position now and being with Napalm Records and things, and obviously working with KK he's not going to let us have shitty sounding drums on a record, or you know what I mean.

10:16 It's like we have an accept we're still doing everything the old school way. But the thing is for me, and I've said this before. In the eighties, a lot of those guys were pushing the envelope. So these days we can look back and go ar, it sounds so old school, sounds a vintage, but you look at you know, okay, extreme example, but def Leopard on Hysteria that was like the cutting edge of technology, and I think it's actually an important thing and priested that a lot. They were always looking to. Do something new and fresh, and we look at if they didn't have that attitude, you would never have had Painkiller. And that's exactly what we're trying to do as well, is still play heavy metal the old school way, the coolest way, but try and push the envelope and take it further and take it to the next thing.

10:59 So it's not just about sounding like it's from nineteen to eighty two, you know see. And I love that attitude because that is what it's all about. We don't need to regurgitate everything that was the beginning and you do need to evolve. Doesn't mean that's not an influence, you know, but it's not like, you know, it's not like Slayers set out to sound like Priest or Maiden. But when Slayer first started, they that's what they did is Priest and Maiden cover songs and stuff like that. You know, Tom didn't even know what heavy metal was when he Drew joined Slayer, So yeah, you know, and then you know, I love your attitude because there are a lot of bands that I see that almost nowadays call this like formula, like an algebraic equation to make the metal, and that's weird to me because you go back then, there was no equation. And in fact, if you talk to a lot of the Urts, okay, like James, he always he talks about how Seeking Destroy is played at the San Jose Sharks game, but he's like, I don't understand why they played the original version, like the one I redid is much better because my voice sucked then. But then you take somebody like me old school that I love that original raw James' voice, but I also know that he's an artist that has to progress and get better as craft and evolve, So I

12:32 like the new voice too, you know. And it's it's kind of you can't stay in one place, is the point. And so even the eighties bands, if they're staying in one place, they didn't make it past the eighties. Metallica evolved. We didn't like it back then, the gate peez oh posers, sellouts, blah blah blah. But you can't deny the Black Album, even though at first we are all, oh, that's a piece of shit. They suck, but you can't deny how great that album is. Without it, you guys probably wouldn't be doing a compilation album of kill ma all. If it weren't for the Bratton Black Album, probably nobody would even remember.

13:17 Well that's the thing. I mean, heavy metal is. Not supposed our rules, you know, right, but oh it's so unmetal to say this has it has to be done this way or it's not true metal. It's like, not fuck off, it's it's true metal because we say it's. True metal, right, And it's because it's a passion, you know. It's like two, I'll talk to people and they're saying, well, I used to like metal, and I'm like, you were never into metal. If you say you used to like metal. That's a matter where where you went in life, how old you are, like you know, it's part of you. It's different, I think than a lot of other music. Punk and metal is more of an identity and music opposed to us music.

14:01 That's why the fans are so loyal as well. Yeah, you look like Motorhead. I mean it just I mean if Lenny was alive now, they'd still be around. But it's it's why a lot of these bands they can have one hit and it's it doesn't fucking matter in metal. It doesn't matter if you never have a chart in hit or a breakthrough or get played on the radio. I mean, Iron Maiden and one of the biggest bands in the world, and they've never really been. A chart band right now. I mean in the UK they had one number one single which was bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter, which is a song. But like as far as like actual Maiden fans go like, who really gives a shit? You know, right totally, And part of the charm for metal was always that too. That's why you got into it and that's why you had a passion for it.

14:48 We're like one big family that I always laugh because I do all these festivals. I do interviews and we let I laugh with some of the rs that we're interviewing. It's like they'll say, yeah, let's keep people thinking were scary. You know. It's like like people think we're so scary, and like, you go to a metal show and it's just one big family and everybody's there for each other and there are no outsiders. And that's what I love about metal today because it wasn't like that in the eighties. It was bullshit in the eighties sometimes, you know, it's like, you know, if you showed up to a Slayer show with a Motley Cruise shirt on, somebody would rip that shirt off your back and throw it up to Tom and he'd burn it on stage, and you were like an outcast. But you know what, that was bullshit. You know.

15:37 I thought it was cool when I was a teenager, and now I realized it was just bullshit, you know. So what got you into metal originally? Fuck? I mean I remember coming home from school as a kid and we had watched the School of Rock movie. Do you remember that was Jack Black? And totally, to be honest, watching the movie, it didn't really have much of an impact on me, but I got there. They played the Rift to. Smoke on the Water in the movie, and I remember coming home from school and like, none of my family are really into into metal or you know, but my dad's into music. And I was just singing this rift, just humming the Smoke on the Water. If he goes, if you like that, you should fucking check this out.

16:24 And he sat me down with a pair of headphones and put on the back in Black album and like, oh man, as soon as I heard Brian Johnson sing, it was like that fucking moment in The Wizard of Oz. I mean, I've heard, but it's like the world went into color. And I mean literally from that fucking moment as a kid until now, I'm exactly the same person, do you know what I mean? And that same night then I heard Guns and Roses and ACDC and the Pistols for the first time and just totally blew my mind. And that's that was it. That was just it. I was away at the races. It's kind of help, right, there's that one time and you're just like I saw Motley Crue live at the Roxy before they had an album. It was the first club show I ever went to and like they weren't hair metal yet, they were horror punk at that time.

17:17 And I remember going to that club show. I'm like, I'm never going to a real concert ever again. Like it was the most amazing experience, you know, And you know, it ended up every Friday and Saturday night. That's what I was doing all through high school, you know. And it's funny you mentioned Smoke Underwater because I wonder if guitars are picking up a guitar for the first time now to learn guitar, if they have the same thing, and I highly doubt they do. When I was a teenager, the first song you ever were taught to play on guitar, everybody was Smoke on the Water.

17:58 I think it's still pretty much to say. I mean, I can't speak for kids now, but bands don't really write the riffs like that. I mean new new stile of bands. I mean, I saw a fucking like a real on Instagram the other day and it was a guy, a guitar player, and how did we how did we end up at this? And he was playing like a modern metal, chuggy chuggy riff when he's like, but forty years ago, we had riffs like this, and he's playing like lay it Down by Rat, you know, and I just no one, no one really, I say, no one. We do because I d push my band, but no one writes riffs like that anymore. Well, that's why they have to check out your version hit the Lights and you know, obviously get the album uh No Life to Leather but more, and also get the album Midnight Blitz because then they could see what you're about. Because I watched the video uh uh you do, even though I was there, I watched the video of you guys do and hit the Lights of download. But then I pulled up your newest video. I was like, now they're bad ass, because that's when you really tell if a band's bad ass, when you hear what they do with their own music, because that's them being totally them.

19:11 And so everybody definitely has to check you guys out. Tell everybody how they reached you on socials, how they get the new album, and you know, check to our dates, buy merch all that good stuff. Whatever's easiest for them. I mean, if you search tailgun or on Google will come up, so that's all they need to do. If they search us on YouTube will be there and if they want to buy our album, whatever way that they would normally go and grab an album, they'll find it nice. Well, I look forward to seeing you at Download Yet next year, and maybe you'll be at Bloodstock too, because I'm also at that one and I think you guys would be great at that one. That's a killer festival. And thanks for being on the Adventures of pipe Man.

19:54 Thanks for having me dude, good speak to you same. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Patement on w for CUI Radio.