and they are gluten free and they ’ ve gotta do Zumba before they go on stage . Rock stars used to shoot up before they went out and played . Now they have Epipens . So yeah , things have changed . We are really losing all our rock stars and the saddest one of all , for me anyway , is Lemmy from Motorhead . That guy , on the music end , was my idol . A lot of the attitude in my comedy comes from him . That sheer determination , and don ’ t let them bastards grind you down , all that attitude I bring to my comedy .
Do you think that Lemmy , and Motorhead , got to be as big as it should have been ?
DON : I think they got as big as they should have been . It definitely took a lot longer because they had bad management and people leading them in the wrong direction . Motorhead was basically like ten members . They didn ’ t know how to take care of the business , and they got screwed over for the first twenty years of their career . And then this guy , Todd , took over as their manager and he brought some respectability to them as a band . But with Lemmy ’ s voice , he ’ s not Mariah Carey . It wasn ’ t like they were going to have number one hits . But now that he ’ s gone , you ’ ve got everybody from Brian May of Queen to you name it all the way down the line , you ’ ve got everybody saying he was the truest rock star of all time . He was what he was . He walked around in the same clothes that he wore on stage . It was the same attitude . No apology . What you saw is what you got .
I saw you one time hold up a Lower the Veil CD on THAT METAL SHOW ! just saying because we are local guys . And these guys might actually hear this but they know this . I got 100 % great feedback from fans who actually went out and bought the record . That ’ s what ’ s up , man .
We ’ ve got clubs dropping like flies . We have seen the decline and continue to see the decline of participation , and attendance . What the hell is going on ?
DON : From my understanding , it ’ s a different business model now . You ’ re not going to get bands as big as Metallica in that genre anymore because records don ’ t sell like they used to . It all trickles down . And it does start at the local level , you know ? If people don ’ t support at the local level , then they ’ re never going to be able to get to the national level and the international level . So that ’ s a big part of it , too , and people aren ’ t going to the clubs , and people aren ’ t selling records . It makes it really difficult for bands to really stand out especially since there really aren ’ t that many record companies left . There ’ s so much stuff out there , which is good and bad . But the bad is it ’ s really tough to stand out in this world amongst a million other bands . This is the thing , man . With heavy music , the popularity always comes in really high ups and then really low downs . I think we are just in a down spot right now . Look at ‘ That Metal Show ’ coming off the air and so many artists and people depended on our show to sell records and promote tours , and whatever else like books and sauces and wines or whatever it was they were doing . We ’ ve got to give it some time and hope that things swing back around . That ’ s all we can do except get the hell out there and support these bands and actually buy their albums . I use Spotify and I get it . But you know what ? If I hear something on there that I like , I go buy it .
SEE FEBRUARY ’ S TOTAL ORDER FOR PART 2 OF THIS INCREDIBLE INTERVIEW . DON : Absolutely ! What I was doing the last couple seasons of ‘ That Metal Show ’ was to spotlight a Jersey band on each season of ‘ That Metal Show ’. I had been following them for awhile and I liked them . I was so proud to promote them on ‘ That Metal Show ’. This is not