Interview: Michael Sweet
Michael Sweet recently took to the Northeast for a few acoustic solo dates to kick off the month of March, and one of the stops along the way was the Chop Shop Pub in Seabrook, NH. There’s plenty to talk about in the world of Michael Sweet lately, so we sat down for an interview to discuss Stryper’s new record and new member, Sweet & Lynch, Joel Hoekstra, Michael’s autobiography, the Sole DVD release, and much more. After a brief pre-interview chat, the roles were reversed for a change, as things started out not with a question from me to Michael, but from Michael to me.
Have you ever seen an acoustic set by me?
I have not, actually, but I’m looking forward to it.
It’s a whole different thing, obviously. Because when you’re in a Rock/Metal band and you do acoustic sets, it either works or it doesn’t. So I hopefully have figured out a way to make it work, you know. I do “To Hell With The Devil” acoustically, which is odd, but it works.
That’ll be interesting to hear!
It is interesting, it somehow works. Somebody shouted it out – I was taking requests and they shouted it out, and I thought “Ah, that won’t work”, I did it once and I’ve been doing it ever since, so it’s kind of cool.
I’m excited about tonight’s show, it’s going to be fun to see the acoustic side of Stryper.
Yeah, and we might have a hundred people in here or something, it’ll be very intimate, kind of low-key, but that’s another part of the reason why I do this and why I love it. Because it’s just a whole different vibe, it’s really cool, and the people here are fantastic.
Awesome, so you’ve played here before, then?
I haven’t, no, my first time here. Pretty much every place that I’ve done acoustic sets at have all been different, and I haven’t returned. It’s usually a different place every time I go back to that market or that city or that town. I don’t know why it works out that way, but this is the first time here. Never heard of it, had no idea what to expect when I came in, and these people are just rolling out the red carpet for us. I mean, they’re cooking us lobster, they’re really going all out, it’s amazing.
That’s a real New England welcome there, cooking you lobster? I mean, come on. *laughs*
Oh, it’s crazy! So cool.
Certainly on the Seacoast here.
Yeah.
So of course, with the acoustic set, you’re doing your own thing tonight, but I do want to touch on the most recent news and upcoming release, which would be God Damn Evil, new Stryper record. Why don’t you take us to the moment you decided as a band to move forward with a new record, what sparked that decision?
Well, we have been trying since 2005 to really stay up on releasing new music. We feel that it’s very important, myself especially – I mean the other guys do too, but I’m kind of to some degree the driving force behind that – I think it’s important that we stay creative, and the only way to stay creative is to write and record new music. A lot of bands have kind of given up on that, and they don’t have that same passion they had 30 years ago to record new music, and I only know this because I’ve talked to them and they’ve said “Ah, it’s not worth it anymore”. I don’t want to be like that, I don’t ever want to get like that, I want to always retain that passion. So, that being said, it was a few years ago that we released Fallen, so it just felt like time, you know? After a year, it starts feeling like, “Okay, let’s start talking about a new album”. We decided to go with the title God Damn Evil because we had the title, my brother came up with it a few years back. We didn’t feel like that was the right time, because it’s pretty…you know, for a band like Stryper, it’s quite a controversial title or statement, and it can confuse a lot of people. So you want to be cautious of that, but at the same time, part of what we do in our art is to make a statement, musically and lyrically, and that’s always been important to us. We felt like in 2018, it was the perfect time for God Damn Evil because it’s a prayer request from us, really, asking God to damn evil. I mean, we haven’t really seen the level of evil in my lifetime that we’ve seen just in recent times, you know? The Vegas shooting, the school shooting, there just seems to be so much stuff going on in the world, not just our country, but in the world that’s just at new levels of evil. It’s just out of control. So we felt like, “This is the time. Let’s do it”, and some of our fans are confused by it, they think we’re just using God’s name in vain, or shock value, or swearing, or what have you, and it’s really not that at all. Musically speaking, I have said that it’s our best album to date and I guess that it’ll have to prove itself and we’ll have to see what the fans think. But the band thinks that already, we’re excited about it.
That’s good, I’m excited about it too, it’s coming out not too far in the future, and you do have a recent addition on bass – Perry Richardson from Firehouse. First off, how did it come about? Bringing him specifically into the band – and how has it been with him on board?
It’s been great, I mean, we parted ways with our original bass player, Tim, and we started looking for bass players – with Stryper, it’s not as easy as it might be with any other band to just replace a guy because we have so much to think about. It’s not just playing bass, but it’s singing, it’s their values, we want people that are in line with our values and our faith, who we are and what we are. So that makes it a little more difficult to find. Perry’s name came up, and we all just sat around and thought about it, and thought, “Wow, this guy’s perfect”. So we flew him out, and the moment he walked into the room, he just brought this joy into the room, he smiles all the time – it could be the end of the world, and he’d be smiling, saying, “Hey, it’s going to be okay.” He’s one of those guys, which is really cool. Then we heard him play, and we were super impressed, and we heard him sing, and we were super impressed, and we didn’t tell him that day that he had the gig, but we knew he had the gig. He went home, we tried to do it the right way, we all talked about it, we all felt like “This is the guy”, and that was it. We called him and said, “You’re in”. And he’s really perfect, he’s a perfect, perfect match for us.
That’s excellent. And I wanted to ask you about the single “Take It To The Cross”. People have been clamoring about what a different sound it is for Stryper, sort of a thrash vibe in there, and I saw that you said it was actually a tribute to Rob Halford, your favorite metal singer.
In a sense, yes, because when I was singing that chorus, I was definitely channeling my Rob Halford, if I have any Rob Halford.
I think you do, I think it was there.
It’s really weird because with that song, it’s a love or hate relationship. People either love it or they hate it, literally. If you read the comments, one person will say, “I love it, best song they’ve ever done” and the next comment is, “I hate it, it sucks”. Next comment, “Wow!”, next comment, “Ugh”.
Extreme reactions, in any case.
It’s crazy! There’s no middle ground with that song. None. And we kind of expected that, we didn’t throw it out there thinking everyone’s going to love it, we’re not that naive, so we knew it was going to cause a stir. But we wanted to do something different with the chorus, not the typical angelic harmonizing and what’s expected, we wanted to do something a little more unexpected.
Yeah, it’s a little rougher, but in a good sense.
Well yeah, I mean, honestly, taking myself out of the band, I think it’s a cool song, it was one of the most exciting songs to record. Every time we got to that song, we’re like “Yeah!!”, everyone would come in like, “Let me hear that again!”, so we had a blast recording it, and you know what? That’s all that matters. And if the fans connect with it, great.
Absolutely. And on the same line as the whole Rob Halford thing, knowing that you are a Priest fan, what are your thoughts on the new Priest record?
I haven’t heard the whole album yet, but I think a friend of mine’s bringing me the CD tonight. I’ve only heard, like, four songs, and I really like it. I think right off the bat, from what I’ve heard, it sounds like it’s probably going to be their best album in a long time. I don’t know because I’m a fan, and I grew up with the early stuff, I don’t know how it’s going to compare with those, but I’m sure it’s going to be amazing, and once I hear the whole thing, I’ll be able to let you know. I’m a Priest fan through and through, I feel they can do no wrong. Some albums are stronger than others, but every album they do is great, there’s always something great on it.
Exactly. Also, was that the first you’ve done that, paying tribute to a musician you admire through your original music, or your vocals styles, anything?
Not really, there have been other times when I’m singing a particular song that I’m thinking of other people…a lot of times when I’m playing guitar solos. I was really inspired, although I don’t play anything like either one, but I was really inspired by Randy Rhodes and Eddie Van Halen, personally, growing up. I’m sure many other guys were too, of course they were, but I find when I’m writing solos, I’ll be thinking of Eddie or I’ll be thinking of Randy. You know, “What would Eddie do? What would Randy do?” Vocally, it’s usually Rob Halford or Ronnie James Dio, but it’s not like I try to emulate them or sound like them – I never will, I have my own thing, love it or hate it. I’ve been called, what is it? The Dennis DeYoung of Metal or something like that? Which I think is funny. I love Styx, but I never really sat and sang to Dennis DeYoung songs, but I guess I just have a similar tone. I don’t know.
Well, it’s the flexibility, I think, a variety of vocal styles – things like that.
Yeah! Absolutely. And I love Journey, I mean…growing up, I would listen to Priest and Maiden, and then I would listen to Journey, so we were all over the map. We really appreciate just great music, and I loved so many different styles of music back in the 80s. I love New Wave, I mean…a good song’s a good song.
I agree.
It doesn’t matter what style it is.
I do agree, because there does seem to be a lot of segmenting – there are the purists in their own genre, people who will say, “I’ll only listen to this kind of music and nothing else”, but it’s good, especially from a musician’s perspective, to be open-minded.
Absolutely. Unfortunately, that’s the one thing about “metalheads”, or groups of metal people, whatever you want to term them – sometimes you’ll get those guys that are like, “Oh my gosh, you like this, you like that? That sucks!”…you know, you’ve got to be open-minded because that’s how you grow as a musician, and that’s how you grow as a listener. Because when you find a really great song that touches your heart by the lyric, or the melody, or what have you, and it’s not the style you normally listen to, that opens doors. It opens doors for your ears, your heart, your mind, and it’s a cool way to live, I think. Not just with music, but with books, you know, whatever you’re taking in. It’s important to open those doors.
Wise words. Now, with all the Stryper goings-on, what made you break off into this acoustic mini-tour you’ve got going on here right now?
I mean, we try to not oversaturate and tour every year, because we find when we do that, it’s not helpful, it’s not good. We see numbers kind of start to decline in certain markets. When we go out every other year, they grow. So on the offtime, I either record solo albums, or Sweet & Lynch albums, or I go out and I tour acoustically. I do maybe 20, 25, 30 of these shows a year, and it’s just so simple. I live two hours from here, so I throw my guitar in the car, throw some merch in, Lena, my daughter, and my wife, Lisa, we hop in, we go, I play, go home. We’re going home tomorrow morning, but we could go home tonight. It’s just simple and I enjoy it, it’s a nice break away from the craziness of traveling with ten people on a bus, setting up for three hours, loud amps and *imitating high-pitched guitar sound* “WAAH”, it’s just nice doing it this way, I enjoy it.
Yeah, definitely. And you mentioned Sweet & Lynch just now, I did want to touch on that as well – Unified, you released that a few months ago, so any further word? I don’t know if you’re planning on any touring or shows, or is this more the type of thing that sticks to the studio?
You know, it’s a good question, and it has many different answers. I really want it to happen, to go out and tour, George and I, but it never seems to materialize for whatever reason. Because, he’s really busy, I’m really busy, and it’s very difficult to make it happen and put it together, but that being said, we’re working on it. And I think there’s going to be more from Sweet & Lynch…at least another album, maybe two, maybe more. I enjoy recording with George and I hope he enjoys recording with me. We respect each other, and I think somehow, in an odd way, our collaboration works. We’re from the same era of music and we’re really, Dokken and Stryper, kind of cut from the same cloth. We’re both a little more melodic, we were heavy but we were melodic, it was about vocals and melodies, you know, and not just screaming and shredding guitar and stuff. So we’re from that same time period, we come from the same spot, so George and I are just a natural fit, and we work well together.
It’s a great fit, and you make great music together.
I hope so, we try, people seem to like it, and I know there’s a lot more left in us. George is very active, he does probably three albums a year, maybe four albums a year, it’s crazy. I do, usually, a few, one or two. But I try not to do too much because I don’t want to ever get to that point – and I’m not saying he is – I don’t ever want to get to that point where I’m compromising quality because I’m just slamming stuff out. I want to do it right and get better with what I do, and not regress, but I want to progress.
Of course. So now, what’s going on, or what’s coming up, rather, with you and Joel Hoekstra? I have seen some social media hints toward that…
Yes. Well, hopefully, that’s going to happen too. We’ve been talking about it, I think, for three years now. I just saw him on the Monsters of Rock Cruise, and we’re both still very excited about doing it. It’s going to happen. Closest thing we got to it is, on my last solo album, he played on three tracks, and he just killed it. Took the songs to a new level. But when we write together, I think that’s going to be just amazing. He’s a great writer, and he thinks more in line with where I’m coming from too. He’s one of those guys that was born a little later, but he’s a old soul. He should have been back in those times. So I think when we actually write that album and do it, I think it’s going to be very special. I’m hoping, the best album I’ve ever been a part of, and it’ll be cool.
You were talking about releasing 1-2 albums per year, it does seem like you’re very active with recording, you’ve always got some kind of project going on, and another recent thing that I feel might have even slipped under the radar given Sweet & Lynch and Stryper news would be Sole, the DVD that you released. Could you talk a little about that?
Sure, I mean it was a thing where I went and did one of these acoustic sets at a place called the Narrows, and someone had the idea to make it a DVD, so I said, “Let’s do it”. Had no label in mind, no company that was behind it or anything, so we said “Ah, let’s just release it on my website”. So I did, I just kind of threw it out there, put it on my social media, said, “Here’s the DVD”. I think we printed up a thousand copies, it’s almost sold out, but there’s been no real push or press or marketing campaign, or anything like that. It was just a fun thing to do. What a lot of people don’t know is it’s not just me singing, it’s also a lot of interview footage, it has me telling the story behind every song, some really funny stories too, and then there’s a lot of rare Stryper footage in there as well, from way back in the day that nobody’s seen. So people don’t know that because I didn’t really promote that, I probably should, but it’s a really cool package. A guy named Andrew Joyce directed it, produced it, and he’s just so awesome. He’s only like 26 years old, 27 years old? And he’s just so talented, so I’m really happy with how that turned out.
That’s excellent. For the past couple of nights that you’ve been doing shows, you’ve had a few openers, including a young singer by the name of Moriah Formica – I know that you’ve had some involvement with her music…
She guested on my album One Sided War, “Can’t Take This Life”, and she did a version and I did a version, and I also produced a song of hers called “Time”. And that’s really cool, that turned out great. And then she was on “The Voice”, she did really well on “The Voice”, she’s really making a lot of noise, she’s out there touring, she’s very talented, a powerhouse. She’ll sing an Ann Wilson Heart song, “Crazy On You”, with her and acoustic guitar and just kill it. She’s really great. She played with me last night and the night before.
That’s great, it seems like you do a lot to support up and coming artists.
I try. Because I remember when I was young, you know, I worked really hard, and the struggle that it was, and that was then – imagine now. It’s much more difficult now. So when I hear someone that really has the passion, and really has the drive, and really has the talent, it makes me go, “Hmm”. I remember seeing Moriah for the first time when she opened for me in New York a few years back, and I kept going out of my dressing room watching her and listening, and I was just so blown away, and that’s where it all kind of connected. Introduced myself, said, “Hey, I’d love to help in any way possible”, and we wound up working together. She’s so good though, I really think that we’re all going to be hearing a lot more about her in the future.
Yeah, wish I could see her play tonight, but I know she’s not here.
If you can see her ever, go see her. I promise you you’ll walk out of there completely blown away.
Nice. So, as I keep saying, it seems like you always have a lot of different projects going on, and you had your book, Honestly, I’ve heard that you’re thinking of having a follow-up to that coming out as well.
I am. I’ve been talking about that for a while, and I felt like so much has happened between the time we stopped writing the book…which was a year before it came out…to now. So much has happened, and it’s definitely another book, easily. And there’s some other stories too, that I didn’t leave out of the first book, but I just didn’t really get into. I didn’t purposefully leave them out, I just didn’t talk about it. After the fact, you realize, “Oh my gosh, yeah, I forgot about that story!”, you know? You start remembering all this stuff. So there’s a lot more to talk about and, you know, I enjoyed writing that book, it was a chance for me…I always said if I write a book, I want it to be brutally honest, good or bad. Even if people might have me say the story, then they look at me in a different light and think, “Ah, he’s not who I thought he was”. I’d rather be honest and say, “This is really me, I blew it, I did this, this and that, and I regret it, but I’m a new man now because of it”, and that’s kind of what I put in my book. And most people really got it, some people were like, “Man, dude. It really changed my opinion of you”. Well, you know, I’m sorry to hear that.
That’s all part of it, I think, when you’re writing a book. You are opening up and perhaps exposing a bit of vulnerability in that sense, for people to change their opinions…
I mean, I wrote the opening, the foreword was, “I drink, I occasionally smoke, I occasionally swear”, or “cuss”, or whatever word I used, and people were up in arms over that. It’s like, “Wow, what?” Well…yeah! I like a good cigar, I like a good bourbon on occasion in moderation. And I don’t have any issues with that. And it’s funny because a lot of people who are Christian people, they will come up to me and say, “How can you do that? I can’t believe it”, and usually I find when I get into conversation with them and I dig a little deeper, I’ve found out that they have an issue with it. They’re a recovering alcoholic, or they’re addicted to cigarettes, and so they have that wall that’s like, how can you do it, because I can’t do it, you know? And you say, “Well, I’m not you”. So it’s a real fine line because of who I am and who we are.
True. But it’s a still a good step – a bold step, but a good one, to come forward with a book.
Again, when I die and I take my last breath, I want to be remembered for…if I’m remembered for anything, I want to be remembered for being real. Just being a man of integrity, but also a guy with a real heart who just kind of lays it all out on the table, and you get what you get with me. That was the whole point of the book.
So I won’t keep you too much longer, I know you’re going to be heading on stage soon, but you also have another new song from God Damn Evil coming out next week – it’s “Sorry” that’s on the way, should be exciting to hear another new track.
Yeah, that’s the follow-up to “Take It To The Cross”, “Take It To The Cross” was the shocker, not expected, stirred the pot, all that stuff. “Sorry” is a song that’s coming out as a follow-up which will make everybody take a deep breath and relax.
Are you apologizing for “Take It To The Cross”? …I’m just kidding.
No, I know you are, but no. “Take It To The Cross”, we felt was the perfect song to go out with and we wouldn’t change a thing. But it is funny how it really got some people worked up. It’s crazy! It’s just music, it’s just a song. But “Sorry”, “Sorry”’s going to be that song where you’ll hear those vocals, you’ll hear more of that Stryper thing, whatever it is. More straight ahead, more radio friendly, you know? Just…
What people are expecting from Stryper.
It’s got no surprises in it, you know? So I think it’s going to be cool and it’s a very strong song that we’re super excited about. And we’ve got a killer video to go along with it as well.
Excellent!
Yeah, really great music video. We’re slowly getting back into our own in terms of production of music and production of videos. It feels like 1987 again in that big…you know, the video looks super big and expensive, and the song…it’s really cool.
Awesome. Well, that’s definitely an exciting thing to look forward to, so again – God Damn Evil, out April 20th on Frontiers. In light of the release, you’ll be heading out on a Stryper US tour, so just to wrap things up here, tell us what to expect from the upcoming tour, and a closing message to fans?
We’re trying to put together a setlist that’s going to fit everything into it, and that’s difficult because we’ve got a big catalog, so it’s hard to fit all the songs that people want to hear into one setlist and not play for four hours, or even three hours for that matter. But it’ll probably be about a two hour setlist of 21, 22 songs, and some talking and whatnot. We’ve got all the old classics in there, we’ve got probably about four or five of the new songs, we’re really going to play a good amount of the new songs because we want people to hear those songs. And I just sent it to the guys literally yesterday, a rough version of it, and I said, “Add what you want to add, and tell me if you want to cut something”, and I haven’t heard anything. So we’ll see. But it’s going to be a long, great setlist, and we’re super pumped, we’ve got a lot of shows booked and coming up in 2018. We’re really excited, and you know, I just want to thank the fans for supporting us for years, it’s pretty cool. We look out in the crowd and we see so many of the same fans we’ve seen for 34 years, which is amazing. And we also see their kids coming in in Stryper shirts, there’s a new generation of fans as well. So we’re really blessed in that way, we’re very blessed. We’re one of the fortunate bands going right now, I’ll tell you that.
Well, thank you so much for your time, Michael, this has been great fun talking with you.
Thank you so much, pleasure.
Metal Magnitude’s full concert review of the Michael Sweet show at Chop Shop Pub will be up very soon, so keep an eye out. For more, visit http://www.michaelsweet.com and http://www.stryper.com.